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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (46013)	2/7/2006 12:18:13 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Speeding Tickets in Illinois Illinois will begin using photo radar in freeway work zones in July. Second offense tickets are $1,000 with license suspension. Speeding Tickets in Illinois An email from a friend: Beginning in July the State of Illinois will use speed cameras in areas designated as "Work Zones" on major freeways. Anyone caught by these devices will be mailed a $375.00 ticket for the FIRST offense , but he SECOND offense will cost $1000.00 and comes with a 90-Day suspension. Drivers will also receive demerit points against their license, which allows insurance companies to raise their rates. This represents the harshest penalty structure yet for a city or state using PHOTO enforcements. The State will begin with TWO camera vans issuing tickets in work zones with speed limits lowered to 45 MPH. Photographs of both the Driver's face and License plate are taken. for more info: dot.state.il.us

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (46013)	2/7/2006 12:20:24 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Credit Crunch Last month American Express gave me some horrifying news: The minimum monthly payment had been jacked up from roughly $500, which I'd been making in interest-only payments ever since Amex raised the annual percentage rate on my credit line to a brutal 29.24 percent, to more than $1,200. If I could barely make the minimum payments before, how in the world would I be able to make them now? Such is the dilemma that many struggling working families are now facing. In response to an advisory issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates national banks, banks and credit card companies are significantly increasing the minimum payments they require from their credit card customers each month. Until recently, credit card companies would typically string customers along, allowing a payment schedule that could have no end. Now, when customers make minimum payments, the credit card companies are obligated to charge an amount that includes not only the cost of outstanding fees and finance charges but at least 1 percent of the amount owed. Although responses have varied, credit card issuers have typically doubled their payment minimums from 2 percent to 4 percent. For those who have been using credit cards to pay for day-to-day living expenses — I racked up an $11,000 debt during a time when I had temporarily lost my income — this increase in the minimum payment is a mixed bag at best. The OCC's policy forces the one out of seven customers who routinely make minimum-only payments to actively reduce their debt and actually pay less over the life of their debt. At the same time, this "tough love," as some have called it, throws many cash-strapped consumers, especially those tied to punitively high interest rates, into a short-term crisis. Those families that have been just barely getting by may be forced to default on their credit card debt. Right after Bank of America began to raise the minimum payment, charge-offs on bad loans increased by 63 percent. It seems that these days working families just can't seem to catch a break. Short-term interest rates are currently at 4.25 percent. The benchmark rate has been raised thirteen times in a row since the Fed began raising rates in June 2004. Meanwhile, inflation has gone up 3.4 percent since December 2004, and real wages have dropped 0.4 percent over the same period. Recent dips in inflation have helped earnings recover a bit of lost ground, but working families are still not quite as well off as they were just a year ago, much less in November 2001, when the nation began to pull out of recession. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the nation's savings rate was negative in the third quarter of 2005, the first negative savings rate since quarterly updates were made available in 1947. Ironically, this is partly what has the OCC so spooked in the first place — the day of reckoning for creditors and the cash-strapped consumers on whom they've been aggressively feeding. With families skating on the edge of default and bankruptcy, the effect on consumer spending and the overall health of the economy is potentially calamitous. “This advisory was not intended to help consumers,” Robert Manning, author of Credit Card Nation, recently said on National Public Radio. “It was intended to force banks to essentially clean up their under-performing portfolios.... The average consumer is being penalized by the concern of regulators about the true value of many banks' credit card portfolios." The OCC's advisory has not exactly been embraced by banks and credit card companies, especially because it suggests that creditors may have to actually reduce their interest rates and fees to give cardholders a fighting chance of reducing their balances. Also, there have been attempts by consumer groups, advocates of low-income communities and politicians like Vermont Independent Congressman Bernie Sanders to blunt the harsh effects of the minimum payment hikes on cardholders. But notwithstanding the new bankruptcy laws, which were virtually penned by the credit card industry, and considering all the other economic pressures on low-income communities and working families, comprehensive credit card reform, which is actually created with the consumer in mind, is long overdue. The vulnerable and embattled position in which millions of consumers find themselves is a Bush Administration betrayal of the same "ownership society" that reinforced the vaunted role of debt and the consumer in the nation's economy. Rather than serving as passports to economic citizenship, credit cards are among a growing range of financial services that surround consumers like landmines, carefully calibrated to dramatically increase fees and interest rates for those least able to afford them. Nationwide, household debt has soared to more than $10 trillion and makes up the highest percentage of household income ever measured. It's not surprising that credit card companies made a record $30 billion in profits in 2004, largely off of the backs of debt-ridden families. The imbalance of power between consumers and credit providers couldn't be more obvious. Luckily, I was able to pay off my entire $11,000 American Express debt in one fell swoop, thanks to proceeds from the sale of my late mother's house. I guess the moral of the story is that my mother had to die in order for me to escape credit card default and possible financial ruin. For too many American families, not even this bargain with the devil is available. cbsnews.com

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (46013)	2/7/2006 12:29:55 PM
From: shades	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Lockheed Martin Plans Unmanned Aircraft What is chavez and his 1 million rifles gonna do to these? slashdot.org Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday February 07, @09:06AM from the release-the-drones dept. Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Lockheed Martin's secretive Skunk Works unit--which previously developed U-2 spy plane, the SR-71 supersonic spy plane and the radar-evading F-117 stealth fighter--has big plans for its latest project: drones. Among the concepts under development, according to the Wall Street Journal: 'One drone would be launched from, and retrieved by, submarines; another would fly at nine times the speed of sound. A third, which is off the drawing board but not quite airborne, has wings designed to fold in flight so that it could rapidly turn from slow-speed spy plane to quick-strike bomber.' The WSJ's reporter also is allowed a rare visit to the Skunk Works complex: 'A factory hall was filled with the prototype of a massive helium-filled airship that one day might ferry troops and heavy equipment to distant battlefields faster and more efficiently than ships--no port or airbase needed. The blimp would float just above the ground on four hover pads, meaning that "you could literally pick a farmer's field" to set down in, says program manager Robert Boyd.'"

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (46013)	2/7/2006 12:59:36 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

Nymex Gas Falls as U.S. Supplies Adequate to Meet Demand From Cold Spell Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas fell to the lowest in more than six months as forecasts for colder weather in the northern U.S. failed to stoke concern about supplies. A surge of colder air is predicted to spill over much of the gas-consuming regions of the Midwest and Northeast by this weekend, according to government and private forecasters. The cold still looks to be just below seasonal norms for this time of year, forecasters said. ``By the time it does get cold, it will be the second week of February, almost the third week,'' said Chris Ovrebo, a broker with FC Stone LLC in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. ``It just seems like we are getting that much closer to spring.'' Gas for March delivery slid 22 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $7.775 per million British thermal units at 12:08 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price touched $7.70 in overnight electronic trading, the lowest since July 28. Futures have tumbled 51 percent from the $15.78 record reached in December. Temperatures in the central U.S. will average 3 degrees Fahrenheit below normal from Feb. 9 through 11, according to forecasters at MDA EarthSat Energy Weather. The cold is expected to last through Feb. 21, though the models disagree about the strength of the cold blast. `Comfortable Cushion' Buttressing any cold weather breakout is a supply base that's soared in recent weeks against historical averages, the product of mild weather during the time of year that's typically the coldest. U.S. supplies, at 2.406 trillion cubic feet, are 28 percent higher than the five-year average and 14 percent above last year, according to Energy Department data. ``We do have a comfortable cushion,'' Ovrebo said. ``Even if it does get cold, inventories will be able to pick up the slack.'' U.S. gas stockpiles may have dropped by 54 billion cubic feet last week, according to the median estimate from 10 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. A drop of that size would compare to an average decline of 158 billion during the previous five years and expand the surplus against the five-year average to 37 percent, from 28 percent. Supplies fell by 179 billion cubic feet during the comparable week a year ago, based on Energy Department data. The report is expected at 10:30 a.m. Washington time on Feb. 9. Homeowners in the U.S. will pay an average of $920 to heat their homes with gas this winter, down 8 percent from an estimate last month, as a warmer-than-average January cut demand, the U.S. Energy Department said today in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook. Costs still will be 24 percent higher than last winter. Natural gas will average $8.87 per thousand cubic feet this year, 1.4 percent lower than last year and 9.5 percent below last month's estimate, the report showed. The price next year will average $8.70. Wholesale natural-gas prices at the benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana will average $9.30 per thousand cubic feet this quarter, a 26 percent drop from the fourth quarter. bloomberg.com

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (46013)	2/7/2006 1:40:01 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

German Industry takes second dip in a row Tuesday, February 7, 2006 3:19:44 PM FXstreet.com FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Germany industrial production unexpectedly fell in December by 0.5 percent undershooting all forecasts, the Economy Ministry data showed on Tuesday. The main factor behind the decrease was a 0.8% drop in output in the manufacturing sector. In contrast energy output was higher, rising by 1.4%, and construction output climbed by 3.4%. Moreover, EUR/USD fell back above the 1.2000 barrier following disappointing German industrial production numbers printing at -0.5%, much lower then the expected 0.7% increase. “Industrial production, which has now declined for the second time straight month, is seen as one of the many indicators with which to gauge health of the economy and ultimately the future of interest rates,” said Kathy Lien Chief Strategist of FXCM.

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (46013)	2/7/2006 1:42:58 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

edition.cnn.com Google says it will temporarily or permanently suspend any site that breaks its rules. BMW denies any wrongdoing. A Google spokeswoman said: " We can confirm that BMW.de has been removed from our search results. We never comment on the specifics of individual cases but we would stress that the quality of our index and search results is of the utmost importance to Google. "We cannot tolerate Web sites trying to manipulate search results as we aim to provide users with the relevant and objective search results. "Google may temporarily or permanently ban any site or site authors that engage in tactics designed to distort their rankings or mislead users in order to preserve the accuracy and quality of our search results. ---------------- Comment from USD on the FOOL but somehow, paid search, their very business model, isn't a form of "mainpulation of search results"? yeah, some principals. they're just mad that BMW didn't pay for product/search placement

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (46013)	2/7/2006 1:45:20 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

UK pay pressures subside in January - survey Tuesday, February 7, 2006 10:18:11 AM afxpress.com LONDON (AFX) - The pressure on earnings from sky-high oil prices does not look like it is materialising to the extent the Bank of England's rate-setters had been fearing, a survey suggested today In its monthly survey, Voca, the processor of over 90 pct of UK salaries, said pay packet inflation had a sharp fall of 0.5 pct in the year to Jan 2 from the December equivalent following six consecutive months of rises. Voca said the fall came from both the services and industrial sectors Despite the January fall, Voca noted that its main take home pay index still stands at a relatively high level of 5.3 pct. In January last year it stood at 4.1 pct. In only two months out of the last 12 was it higher "Despite this fall, take home pay inflation is still high, perhaps fuelled by end of year bonus payments," said David Sear, Voca's commercial director Even though take home inflation remains relatively high, it is unlikely to influence Thursday's expected no-change decision by the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee. All 34 economists polled by AFX News expect the MPC to keep its key repo rate on hold at 4.50 pct for the sixth month running MPC members have been voicing concerns that there may be second-round effects in the current pay bargaining round from the sharp spike up in oil prices over the last year. The MPC gets particularly concerned about the inflation impact of wage growth when earnings are rising by 4.5 pct or more. Voca says it compiles its index, along with the Centre for Economic and Business Research, from the salary payments of a sample of FTSE 350 companies, using data captured by Voca which process all automated payments in the UK

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (46013)	2/7/2006 2:00:15 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

OZ - Our great task: weathering a Chinese storm Is Ross Garnaut right to doubt our economic regime's capacity to handle a downturn? In March, John Howard will have been Prime Minister for a decade and, as a corollary, Peter Costello Treasurer for 10 years. They have been remarkable years for the Australian economy. During this period the economy has been able to run close to its potential growth rate, averaging almost 4per cent, with low inflation, falling unemployment, rising incomes and no booms and busts. If we start a little further back, at the end of the early 1990s recession, Australia is now in its 15th year of growth, the longest continuous expansion in its economic history. If we accept the Treasury's forecasts and projections in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, growth will continue at about 3 per cent with low inflation until at least 2008-09. .... .... theaustralian.news.com.au