ek hornbeck – Page 676

Italian prosecutors push for speedy trial in Berlusconi prostitution case

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has weathered many scandals during his career, could be in court within weeks to face charges related to underage prostitution.

By Nick Squires, Correspondent, The Christian Science Monitor

February 9, 2011

The prosecutors in Milan said they had “sufficient evidence” for the case to be sent to trial without the need for preliminary hearings, meaning the prime minister could face court within weeks.

…

Prosecutors have accused Berlusconi of paying to have sexual relations with a 17-year-old nightclub dancer, Karima el-Mahroug. Investigators also allege that the prime minister abused his office by putting pressure on police in Milan to have the Moroccan-born teenager released from custody after she was arrested on suspicion of theft – an allegation that carries a maximum 12-year prison term.

Berlusconi has admitted personally calling a police station in Milan to intervene in the case, justifying his actions by saying that he believed Ms. Mahroug’s claim that she was the granddaughter of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak.

Today on The Stars Hollow Gazette

By ek hornbeck

Our regular featured content-

On This Day In History by TheMomCat
Punting the Pundits by TheMomCat
Evening Edition by ek hornbeck
Prime Time by ek hornbeck

And these articles-

Tip of the Iceberg by ek hornbeck
Our Global Elites by ek hornbeck
Under The Radar: Open Thread by TheMomCat

The Stars Hollow Gazette

Feb 09 2011

Tip of the Iceberg

By ek hornbeck

Crossposted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

Banks face $60 billion mortgage hit: S&P

Cleaning up the mortgage mess isn’t getting any cheaper.

Posted by Colin Barr, Fortune

February 8, 2011 12:48 pm

The banking industry could find itself picking up a $60 billion tab for souring home loans, Standard & Poor’s Ratings says in its latest report on so-called mortgage putbacks.

When S&P last looked at the issue in November, it said the six biggest U.S. lenders faced $43 billion in mortgage-repurchase costs. That was itself up from July’s estimate, which held that the leading banks would have to build their reserves to the tune of $24 billion.

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February’s estimate stems largely from rising projected costs to settle claims by private mortgage securities investors and monoline insurers.

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S&P has been raising its forecasts for the costs of settling disputes with private investors and monoline insurers who promised to pay when borrowers fell behind. The rating agency now estimates the cost of settling those cases at $29 billion, evenly split between the two categories.

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Rising projected costs for settling the private label and monoline claims could hit bank earnings at a time when tighter rules and slow economic growth are already weighing on profits. What’s more, the report highlights the risk that the banks could yet take more lumps, depending on how various cases turn out and whether investors become more aggressive in pressing their grievances.

The world’s dumbest banks

Ireland’s disastrous banks continue to punch above their weight.

Posted by Colin Barr, Fortune

February 9, 2011 6:36 am

(A) list of the most reckless banks wouldn’t be complete without a mention of Merrill Lynch, which was sold in distress to Bank of America (BAC) with $668 billion in assets just before Lehman Brothers failed, or Wachovia, which was raffled off to Wells Fargo (WFC) a couple weeks later with $764 billion worth.

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The good news is that one of the guys who made out like a bandit while running into the ground, former CEO Sean FitzPatrick (of Anglo Irish Bank), has already reached this acceptance state. This after he took 80 million euros in loans from the bank without telling shareholders, then declared he had frittered it all away.

“I am very happy to put my hands up,” he told the Irish Sunday Times last month. “I am very happy to apologize to all my creditors. I don’t feel ashamed, but I do feel regret, very serious regret, and I am sorry that it is going to cause people losses.” Talk about an understatement.

I repeat my offer to lose $24 Billion for a much more reasonable rate than 80 Million Euros. I bet I could manage to do it for a mere Million or 2 a year.

Feb 08 2011

Today on The Stars Hollow Gazette

By ek hornbeck

Our regular featured content-

Six In The Morning by mishima
On This Day In History by TheMomCat
Punting the Pundits by TheMomCat
Evening Edition by ek hornbeck
Prime Time by ek hornbeck

And these articles-

Sorry, Ariana and Markos, No More Free Content For You by davidseth
Reportng the Revolution: by TheMomCat
Neglected Tropical Diseases by TheMomCat

The Stars Hollow Gazette

Feb 07 2011

Today on The Stars Hollow Gazette

By ek hornbeck

Our regular featured content-

Six In The Morning by mishima
On This Day In History by TheMomCat
Punting the Pundits by TheMomCat
Evening Edition by ek hornbeck
Prime Time by ek hornbeck

And these articles-

Why IS Ronald Reagan a Hero to Conservatives? by TheMomCat
HufffPo Bought By AOL by davidseth
Under The Radar: Open Thread by TheMomCat

Along with Translator’s weekly feature Pique the Geek: and mine- Monday Business Edition.

The Stars Hollow Gazette

Feb 06 2011

Today on The Stars Hollow Gazette

By ek hornbeck

Special Super Bowl Schedule!

Our regular featured content-

Six In The Morning by mishima
On This Day In History by TheMomCat
Punting the Pundits by TheMomCat

And these articles-

Not Watching The Hype by ek hornbeck (Today’s TV Listings)
Making The Independent Judiciary A Joke by davidseth
Mr. Grumpy Vs. The Snow Plow Driver by BobbyK
TWiEC: Winds of Change in the Middle East – as Seen By Foreign and American Editorial Cartoonists by JekyllnHyde
Puppy Bowl VII by ek hornbeck
XLV: Steelers v. Packers by ek hornbeck
Reporting the Revolutions: Obama backs the CIA’s Torturer by TheMomCat

Along with The MomCat’s weekly feature Rant of the Week.

The Stars Hollow Gazette

Feb 05 2011

Today on The Stars Hollow Gazette

By ek hornbeck

Our regular featured content-

Six In The Morning by mishima
On This Day In History by TheMomCat
Punting the Pundits by TheMomCat
Evening Edition by ek hornbeck
Prime Time by ek hornbeck

And this article-

Is the Unemployment Rate Really Only 9.0 %? by TheMomCat

Along with The MomCat’s weekly feature Health and Fitness News and mishima’s weekly feature Random Japan.

Tomorrow there will be 3 special posts by yours truly-

Not Watching The Hype (alternative Super Bowl programming) @ 5:45 am
Puppy Bowl VII (with Bissell Kitty Halftime Show) @ 2:45 pm
XLV: Steelers v. Packers (you will know how to root) @ 5:45 pm

The Stars Hollow Gazette

Feb 05 2011

How’s that austerity thing working out for you? Part 3

By ek hornbeck

Crossposted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

Long story short- Samuelson Economics is science. It’s predictive and the predictions are confirmed by observation.

Voodoo Economics is just that. A bunch of rattle shaking shamen dancing around you shouting and chanting in tongues motivated by vanity, greed, and the academic desire for novelty.

Let’s start with Bloomberg shall we?

Conservative Austerity Idea Is Failing: David G. Blanchflower

By David Blanchflower, Bloomberg News

Jan 27, 2011 10:15 PM ET

Fiscal austerity has already been started in Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal, and this seems to be pushing all of them back into recession. Over the last four quarters, growth in Greece was negative and falling, and bond investors are once more demanding sky-high returns to compensate their risk. The excuse in these countries was that they have little choice because they are stuck in the European monetary union and don’t have the ability to depreciate their exchange rate.

The U.K. may be a purer case of the harm austerity at the wrong time can inflict. Britain now looks as if it is headed back into recession on fear about the damage that will be done by massive spending cuts and tax increases, which haven’t even gone into effect yet. Government ministers with their talk of austerity have already smashed confidence.

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Despite the government’s claims that its intent was to raise confidence, consumer and business confidence tumbled right after the new government took office.

Businesses and consumers know what is coming and have cut back accordingly. Retail spending has flat-lined. The balance of trade is deteriorating. Unemployment is rising, and house prices have started to fall again.

The Great British austerity experiment

With deficit hawks poised in the US, we watch with great interest UK economic policy. It’s not looking an enviable example so far

Dean Baker, The Guardian

Tuesday 1 February 2011 21.00 GMT

The elite media and the politicians whom they promote would love to see the United States follow the austerity path of the UK’s new government. However, if this path takes the UK into dangerous economic waters, it could provide a powerful warning to the public in the United States before we make the same mistake.

The British economy looks like it is doing its part. The fourth-quarter GDP report showing that the economy went into reverse and shrank at a 2.0% annual rate is exactly the sort of warning that many of us here were expecting. Weather-related factors may have slowed growth some, but you would have to do some serious violence to the data to paint a positive picture. Of course, the austerity in the UK is just beginning. There will likely be much worse pain to come, with a real possibility that the country will experience a double-dip recession, or at least a prolonged period of stagnation.

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The takeaway lesson should be “austerity does not work; don’t go there.” Unfortunately, in the land of faith-based economics, evidence does not count for much. The UK may pursue a disastrous austerity path and those of us in the United States may still have to follow the same road anyhow. But we opponents of that course all appreciate the willingness of the UK to demonstrate the foolishness of this action.

McCaskill Leads Democratic Rush Toward Austerity

By: David Dayen, Firedog Lake

Wednesday February 2, 2011 11:08 am

You could simply not accomplish the cuts in this proposal without massive reductions to Social Security and Medicare. And the fact that this puts those programs “on-budget,” despite their dedicated funding source, is the real tell here. That means that it would be part of the automatic cuts from OMB.

Harry Reid opposes this bill and will fight efforts to put it into action. But it’s only one of multiple efforts where Democrats are crossing the aisle in a bid for austerity. Mark Udall pledged support for a balanced budget amendment, introducing the bill with Richard Shelby. Kent Conrad – who finds McCaskill-Corker unacceptable because it does nothing on the revenue side, which just shows you how extreme a proposal it is – has been working to revive the Bowles-Simpson cat food plan on the Senate Budget Committee. Jeanne Shaheen and Johnny Isakson’s proposal for a two-year budget cycle is perhaps the most inoffensive of these plans (I’d actually go along with that one).

The point is that, with a struggle over the new budget and the debt limit looming, and with conservative activists rallying their representatives to stand firm, you have multiple Democrats perfectly to cut and cap spending, reduce Social Security benefits, and basically drown the government in the bathtub the way that conservatives have always wanted.