According to Salon.com,

Willem Buiter, the London School of Economics professor who has delighted in launching blog posts like grenades throughout the course of the global financial crisis, has been named Citigroup’s Chief Economist.

This is from his blog post titled “Support Markets, Not Banks”:

I cannot think of a single financial institution that is too big to fail, in the sense that it would damage some systemically important social institution. . .

I recognise the upside of bail-outs for those who arrange them: they look like movers and shakers, making and shaping events. It’s heroic, in an industry where heroism can be rarely displayed. But in all of the examples mentioned above, the bail-out did more harm than good.

Now, Buiter will be taking a fat paycheck from one of the very biggest of the too-big-to-fail banks.

Thirty global financial institutions make up a list that regulators are earmarking for cross-border supervision exercises, according to the Financial Times.
List includes:
Insurance companies – Axa, Aegon, Allianz, Aviva, Zurich and Swiss Re – which sit alongside 24 banks from the UK, continental Europe, North America and Japan.

Banks:
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup of the US; Royal Bank of Canada; UK groups HSBC, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered; UBS and Credit Suisse of Switzerland; France’s Société Générale and BNP Paribas; Santander and BBVA from Spain; Japan’s Mizuho, Sumitomo Mitsui, Nomura, Mitsubishi UFJ; Italy’s UniCredit and Banca Intesa; Germany’s Deutsche Bank; and Dutch group ING.

The list has been drawn up by regulators under the auspices of the Financial Stability Board .

PBS Frontline – As credit card companies face rising public anger, new regulation from Washington and staggering new rates of default and bankruptcy, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman investigates the future of the massive consumer loan industry and its impact on a fragile national economy.

In The Card Game, a follow-up to the Secret History of the Credit Card and a joint project with The New York Times, Bergman and the Times talk to industry insiders, lobbyists, politicians and consumer advocates as they square off over attempts to reform the way the industry has done business for decades.

“The card issuers could do anything they want,” Robert McKinley, CEO of CardWeb.com, tells FRONTLINE of the industry’s unchecked power over consumers. “They could change your interest rate. They could impose an annual fee. They could close your account.” High interest rates along with more and more penalty fees drove up profits for the industry, Bergman finds, as the banks followed the lead of an aggressive upstart: Providian Bank. In an exclusive interview with FRONTLINE, former Providian CEO Shailesh Mehta tells Bergman how his company successfully targeted vulnerable low-income customers whom Providian called “the unbanked.”

“They’re lower-income people-bad credits, bankrupts, young credits, no credits,” Mehta says. Providian also innovated by offering “free” credit cards that carried heavy hidden fees. “I used to use the word ‘penalty pricing’ or ’stealth pricing,’” Mehta tells FRONTLINE. “When people make the buying decision, they don’t look at the penalty fees because they never believe they’ll be late. They never believe they’ll be over limit, right? … Our business took off. … We were making a billion dollars a year.”

It took the economic collapse in the fall of 2008 to set the stage for potentially historic change in the consumer credit business. President Obama and his team pushed through a credit card reform bill in May, and they’re now looking to establish a new Consumer Finance Protection Agency. But the banking and financial services industries contribute huge amounts of money to Congress — and the jury is still out on whether the new regulations can pass. “It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s a modest step,” says Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren. “It’s a set of very discrete new laws. And the credit industry instantly set to work on how they could run around them. By itself, that set of rules won’t change the game.”

“It’s hard for them to get a bill through the U.S. Senate when the industry is pouring money into Washington,” says Martin Eakes of the Center for Responsible Lending of the banks’ political clout. “As Sen. [Dick] Durbin from Chicago recently said, ‘the banks, even as unpopular as they are right now in this crisis, still own this place.’”

Bloomberg – The concentration of the credit- default swaps market in the hands of a few players is increasing risk and should be remedied by more transparent reporting, according to Celent.

Five banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. accounted for about 90 percent of the credit-default swaps market in 2009, the Boston-based research firm said in a Nov. 25 report.

“The leading banks and dealers in the over-the-counter derivatives market are the main buyers and sellers of CDS and hence the chances of having them as a counterparty are quite high,” Anshuman Jaswal, a Celent analyst and author of the report, wrote in an e-mailed note. “This circularity within the system increases risk and we need to tackle it.”

Moves to regulate the OTC derivatives market by introducing measures such as central clearinghouses accelerated after President Barack Obama’s administration described the securities as a “major source of contagion” in the global financial crisis. The derivatives market outside exchanges relies on counterparties negotiating their own buy and sell orders, with no guarantees either will complete the trade.

Daily reporting of individual transactions to regulators and central data repositories would “help build an important check into the system,” the report said. It also said clearer guidelines are needed on conflicts of interest.

Credit-default swaps are contracts investors use to protect against bonds defaulting. Traders use them to speculate on credit quality and the contracts pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities if a borrower fails to meet its debt agreements.

Barclays Plc, Deutsche Bank AG and Morgan Stanley round out the top five banks. U.S. banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup Inc. account for $29 trillion of the total outstanding U.S. credit derivatives market, Celent said. That’s 95 percent of the market, leaving $1.38 trillion for all other firms.

“This poses a dilemma for the participants as well as the regulators as the counterparty risk is quite concentrated,” the report said.

Work6, originally uploaded by sizzled.

this is a mouse’s equivalent of an out of office email auto-reply. he’s done for the week.

Depois de declarações atrapalhadas sobre o apagão nosso ministro diz que anda muito bem informado. Ouvi em uma destas rádios de noticias que a fonte, segundo o “Lobão trapalhão” foi o próprio Presidente, acho que ele vai levar um puchão de orelha, ele tem orelhas grandes segundo a vovozinha.

Mas não vai acontecer nada, como sempre.

Alison Endler

—————————————————————

24/11/2009 – 19h48

Mantega contradiz Lobão e nega que Citigroup tenha oferecido ações ao governo

LORENNA RODRIGUES

da Folha Online, em Brasília

O ministro Guido Mantega (Fazenda) negou nesta terça-feira que o banco americano Citigroup tenha oferecido uma participação minoritária ao governo brasileiro, contradizendo o colega Edison Lobão (Minas e Energia).

Lobão disse no início da tarde, em conferência com investidores em Nova York, que a proposta foi feita ao setor público no início do ano, mas foi rejeitada.

“Acho que o ministro [Lobão] deve ter feito alguma metáfora porque não houve nenhuma oferta do Citibank ao setor público. Só se eles fizeram para o setor privado, mas para o setor público eu desconheço isso”, disse Mantega durante coletiva de imprensa onde anunciou a prorrogação da redução do IPI (Imposto sobre Produtos Industrializados) para carros flex até março, além de outras desonerações para o setor automotivo.

Segundo o ministro de Minas e Energia, o governo brasileiro rejeitou a oferta, entendendo que a economia precisava se recuperar da crise primeiro.

“Acho que foi uma boa oportunidade que perdemos”, disse Lobão durante a conferência. “Mas qualquer governo prudente teria cautela naquele momento. E o Brasil foi cauteloso.”

SÃO PAULO – Enquanto a série de indicadores norte-americanos agendados para esta sessão não sai, é o mercado de commodities quem sustenta as altas registradas pelas principais bolsas do mundo nesta quarta-feira (25).

Novos dados sobre a economia norte-americana serão divulgados a partir das 11h30, como o número de pedidos de auxílio-desemprego, a renda e gasto pessoal dos cidadãos no país, a confiança dos consumidores e o número de casas novas com compromisso de venda, mantendo certa cautela entre os investidores.

Mas a manhã é positiva nos mercados. A segunda prévia do PIB (Produto Interno Bruto) do Reino Unido no terceiro trimestre mostrou contração menor que a registrada na primeira medição, alimentando esperanças de uma recuperação. O Federal Reserve elevou suas projeções para a alta do PIB dos EUA em 2010, enquanto no Japão uma melhora significativa no volume de exportações foi constatada entre setembro e outubro.

Em meio a tais referências positivas, as principais commodities operam em forte alta, puxando consigo o desempenho das bolsas na Europa e dos mercados futuros em Wall Street.

Petrobras e Citigroup
No plano doméstico, a Petrobras (PETR3, PETR4) volta a ser notícia. A estatal teria firmado dois contratos com a Keppel no valor total de US$ 165 milhões, para pré-conversão de um navio-plataforma e conserto e modificação de um navio lançador de tubulação semissubmersível.

Já no setor financeiro, o destaque fica para declarações do ministro da Fazenda, Guido Mantega, que negou na última terça-feira qualquer proposta do Citigroup para venda de suas atividades no Brasil ao governo, respondendo a rumores alimentados pelo ministro de Minas e Energia, Edison Lobão.

Aviação
O setor de aviação também marca presença. A Embraer (EMBR3) informou em nota a celebração de contrato com a austríaca NIKI Luftfhart GmbH para a venda de mais dois jatos Embraer 190. O acordo confirma direito de compra datado de julho de 2008.

Enquanto a Embraer vende mais jatos, a TAM (TAMM4) firma novas parcerias. A companhia anunciou a realização de uma parceria com o Banco do Brasil (BBAS3) que facilita aos correntistas do banco a compra de passagens aéreas pelo site da TAM. “Planejamos fechar outras negociações do mesmo tipo, com outros parceiros, nos próximos meses”, afirmou a empresa.

Ofertas
Por fim, a quarta-feira também traz novidades no que diz respeito ao calendário de novas ofertas na bolsa. A Anhanguera Educacional (AEDU11) anunciou os termos de sua distribuição secundária de units, cada uma representando uma ação ordinária e seis preferenciais. Um total de 29 milhões de papéis será distribuído inicialmente, mas a oferta pode ser elevada caso a empresa exerça a opção de lote suplementar.

Enquanto isso, a Energias do Brasil (ENBR3) encerrou o processo de bookbuilding de sua oferta secundária de ações, que com isso, foram precificadas a R$ 28,50, abaixo da cotação de fechamento da última terça-feira (R$ 29,10).

Já a Cosan Limited (CZLT11) poderá vender cerca de 5.500.000 ações ordinárias classe A nos próximos 12 meses. A possível operação seria fruto do planejamento societário nas empresas de seu grupo controlador, composto pela Aguassanta Participações, Queluz Holdings Limited e Usina Bom Jesus.

Complete info on the PBS Frontline segment called: The Card Game”

Click here to watch

“As credit card companies face rising public anger, new regulation from Washington and staggering new rates of default and bankruptcy, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman investigates the future of the massive consumer loan industry and its impact on a fragile national economy.”

THE FIGHT OVER INTERCHANGE FEES: “Interchange fees are now the central issue in what is being called the largest private antitrust litigation in U.S. history.  Five years ago, Mitch Goldstone, an independent owner of scanmyphotos.com, an online photo service company, was struggling to keep his Southern California shop afloat. He began scrutinizing every expense and revenue stream of his small business. When he realized that an already costly expense — interchange fees – was increasing, he was livid.  “It got to the point where I had just a few employees and things were looking really bleak,” said Goldstone. “Interchange fees were the one expense that was going up, no matter what I did.”  In 2005, Goldstone (PDF) and more than 30 other merchants filed antitrust lawsuits in U.S District Court against Visa, MasterCard and several of their member banks, accusing them of breaching federal antitrust law by fixing the prices on interchange fees.”

[/source]

Meredith Whitney, prominent banking analyst at her self-named advisory group, should have worn a bib to protect her from the adoring drool supplied by Maria Bartiromo in a recent CNBC interview. Ms. Whitney has quickly become a banking rock star during this “Great Recession” period.  She was right at a critical juncture, and as a result she was thrust into the limelight. Much like Abby Joseph Cohen, the perma-bull Goldman Sachs strategist who gained notoriety in the late 1990s, Whitney (the perma-banking bear) will continue having difficulty living up to the lofty expectations demanded of her.

Despite the accolades, Whitney’s crystal ball has gotten cloudy in 2009. I suppose accuracy is not very important, judging by her bottom-half 2007 ranking (year of her major Citigroup call) in recommendation performance and 48%-ile ranking in the first half of 2008. Analysts, much like reporters, can avoid looking dumb by reporting the news du jour and by following the herd. Whitney has followed this formula with her continuous bearishness on the financial sector, excluding a brief but late upgrade of Goldman Sachs in July. Not only was her analysis tardy (Goldman’s stock tripled from the 2009 bottom), but her call has also underperformed the S&P 500 index since the upgrade.

Incoherent Inconsistencies

Like a bobbing and weaving wrestler (her husband John Layfield is a retired staged professional wrestler from the WWE), Whitney tries to concoct a completely mind-boggling narrative to explain her forecasts this year in the CNBC interview with Maria Bartiromo:

11/18/09 (XLF Price $14.60): “For the year, I have been at least ‘cover your shorts, go long.’ I haven’t been this bearish in a year.” (See Maria Bartiromo Interview)  

Hmm, really? Are you kidding me? Wait a second…is this the same “go long” Meredith Whitney that expressed the following?

3/17/09: (XLF: 8.55 then, 14.60 now +71% ex-dividends): “These big banks are sitting on loans that were underwritten with bad math, and the stocks are going to go down…these stocks are uninvestable.”

(Fast forward to minute 8:20 for quote above)

2/4/09 (XLF: 8.97 then, 14.60 now +63% ex-dividends): “Investors should not even consider owning banks on an equity basis” (Click here and fast forward to minute 8:10 for quote).

The schizophrenic accounting of her postures are all the more confusing given her stance that the sector was “fairly valued” in October, according to the CNBC Bartiromo interview.

Don’t get me wrong, she made an incredible bearish call on Citigroup in the fall of 2007 and was expecting blood in the streets until a massive rebound in 2009 surprised her. Investors need to be wary of prognosticators that get thrust into the limelight (see Peter Schiff article) for a single prediction. The law of large numbers virtually guarantees a new breed of extreme forecasters will be rotated into the spotlight any time there is a major shift in the market direction. I choose to follow the footsteps of Warren Buffett and stay away from the game of market timing and market forecasts. I believe James Grant from the Interest Rate Observer states it best:

“The very best investors don’t even try to forecast the future. Rather, they seize such opportunities as the present affords them.”

Meredith Whitney may be a bright banking analyst and perhaps she’ll ultimately be proven right regarding the downward banking stock price trajectories, but like all bold forecasters she must live by the crystal ball, and die by the crystal ball.

Wade W. Slome, CFA, CFP®

Plan. Invest. Prosper. 

DISCLOSURE: Sidoxia Capital Management (SCM) and its clients own certain exchange traded funds (including VFH), but currently have no direct positions in C, GS, or XLF. No information accessed through the Investing Caffeine (IC) website constitutes investment, financial, legal, tax or other advice nor is to be relied on in making an investment or other decision. Please read disclosure language on IC “Contact” page.

The swine flu vaccine has been in short supply nationwide because of manufacturing delays, resulting in long lines at clinics and patients being turned away at doctor’s offices.

Goldman and Citi have the H1N1 flu vaccine amid a shortage.

Wall Street bankers once again are the target of populist outrage, this time over the news that Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and others are receiving limited doses of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

Following a story on BusinessWeek.com, and its subsequent pickup on NBC’s Today Show and other media outlets, politicians, lobbyists, and bloggers launched blistering attacks against New York City health officials, the White House, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and, of course, the “fat cat bankers” themselves.

Other big New York City employers that have received doses of the vaccine include Columbia University, Time Inc., and the Federal Reserve Bank.

Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington, a D.C.-based watchdog, is asking Obama’s Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to investigate why the CDC approved the distribution of the H1N1 vaccine to Wall Street firms. “In what world do Wall Street employees deserve to be vaccinated ahead of high-risk children, pregnant women, and health-care workers?” said executive director Melanie Sloan in a statement on Nov. 5. “Unfortunately, for the thousands being turned away in clinics across America, the CDC has decided to prioritize the millionaires over the masses.“

Representative Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) also criticized the Obama Administration’s distribution approach. “While many Missourians are still at risk, Wall Street bankers are at the head of the line for H1N1 vaccine,” said Blunt

Calgary Hockey Team And Players’ Families Privately Received H1N1 Vaccinations

An unidentified Alberta health care worker who allowed the Calgary Flames hockey team and players’ families to privately receive H1N1 vaccinations last week has been fired, Alberta Health Services announced this afternoon.

“The decision to allow preferential access to the Flames and their families was a serious error in judgment on the part of the staff involved,” Stephen Duckett, who is president and chief executive officer of the board that governs health delivery in the province, said in a statement.

CitiBank Strikes Again

Most consumers are aware that the credit card vendors are raising their rates, lowering limits, enacting fees, and just outright closing accounts of their card holders before the new law comes into effect in Feb. 2010. Credit card holders must always remember that the credit card vendor will never look out for your interests; only their own. You are their meal ticket and they want you fattened up. This is all about making money off of (or taking from) the consumer and enriching the banks.

Now comes CitiBank with their latest attempt to appear as the white hat good guys riding in on their white horses to offer the card holder a way to reduce their interest rates. By using circular logic they offer you a reduction of the interest rate (that they just jacked up) if you regularly spend more. (I smell a trap at the pass awaiting all who enter there.)

Please read the linked article below and be aware that this is probably just the first of many more schemes and gimmick offerings by the credit card industry to get deeper into your pocket and keep their hand in there longer.

I don’t know if I should recommend you take aspirin or oxygen as you read this. But I will say this: BEWARE – THE CONTENT OF THIS ARTICLE COULD BE VERY HARMFUL TO YOUR FINANCIAL HEALTH.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10630251/1/citigroup-gets-creative-to-boost-cards.html

Total Score Repair

CitiBank Strikes Again

Most consumers are aware that the credit card vendors are raising their rates, lowering limits, enacting fees, and just outright closing accounts of their card holders before the new law comes into effect in Feb. 2010. Credit card holders must always remember that the credit card vendor will never look out for your interests; only their own. You are their meal ticket and they want you fattened up. This is all about making money off of (or taking from) the consumer and enriching the banks.

Now comes CitiBank with their latest attempt to appear as the white hat good guys riding in on their white horses to offer the card holder a way to reduce their interest rates. By using circular logic they offer you a reduction of the interest rate (that they just jacked up) if you regularly spend more. (I smell a trap at the pass awaiting all who enter there.)

Please read the linked article below and be aware that this is probably just the first of many more schemes and gimmick offerings by the credit card industry to get deeper into your pocket and keep their hand in there longer.

I don’t know if I should recommend you take aspirin or oxygen as you read this. But I will say this: BEWARE – THE CONTENT OF THIS ARTICLE COULD BE VERY HARMFUL TO YOUR FINANCIAL HEALTH.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10630251/1/citigroup-gets-creative-to-boost-cards.html

Elite Debt Management

CitiBank Strikes Again

Most consumers are aware that the credit card vendors are raising their rates, lowering limits, enacting fees, and just outright closing accounts of their card holders before the new law comes into effect in Feb. 2010. Credit card holders must always remember that the credit card vendor will never look out for your interests; only their own. You are their meal ticket and they want you fattened up. This is all about making money off of (or taking from) the consumer and enriching the banks.

Now comes CitiBank with their latest attempt to appear as the white hat good guys riding in on their white horses to offer the card holder a way to reduce their interest rates. By using circular logic they offer you a reduction of the interest rate (that they just jacked up) if you regularly spend more. (I smell a trap at the pass awaiting all who enter there.)

Please read the linked article below and be aware that this is probably just the first of many more schemes and gimmick offerings by the credit card industry to get deeper into your pocket and keep their hand in there longer.

I don’t know if I should recommend you take aspirin or oxygen as you read this. But I will say this: BEWARE – THE CONTENT OF THIS ARTICLE COULD BE VERY HARMFUL TO YOUR FINANCIAL HEALTH.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10630251/1/citigroup-gets-creative-to-boost-cards.html

United Credit Source

"Hell of a job, Brownie!"

Rising CO2 Will Cause Catastrophic Sea Level Rise Finds Antarctic Study by Louise Gray, Environment CorrespondentThe Telegraph/UK

Sea levels could rise by up to six metres if the world fails to get pollution under control, according to the latest study in the Antarctic.

The British Antarctic Survey is the latest research to warn of the consequences of increased greenhouse gases on the Earth’s climate. Carbon dioxide is rising at record rates putting the world on a pathway for a 6C rise in temperature, which will cause a sea level rise of up six metres, threatening coastal cities like London, New York and San Francisco.

The recent studies add pressure on world leaders to agree to an international deal on climate change at a UN summit in Copenhagen this December.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/11/18-6

How Limousine Liberals, Water Oligarchs and Even Sean Hannity Are Hijacking Our Water Supply By Yasha Levine, AlterNet.

A group of water oligarchs engineered a disastrous privatization scheme to make a fortune out of California’s most precious natural resource.

A group of water oligarchs in California have engineered a disastrous deregulation and privatization scheme. And they’ve pulled in hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars without causing much public outrage. The amount of power and control they wield over California’s most precious resource, water, should shock and frighten us — and it would, if more people were aware of it. But here is the scary thing: They are plotting to gain an even larger share of California’s increasingly-scarce, over-tapped water supply, which will surely lead to shortages, higher prices and untold destruction to California’s environment.

California is in year three of a fairly nasty dry spell. And some very powerful forces are not letting this mini-crisis go to waste, fiercely lobbying Governor Schwarzenegger and Senator Dianne Feinstein, paying off corporate shills like Fox News’ Sean Hannity and capitalizing on people’s fear of drought to push a massive waterworks project that will pump more water, build more dams and keep sucking the state’s rivers dry. …This drought hysteria is nothing more than political theatrics, a scare tactic backed by big agribusiness to strong-arm California voters into building a multi-billion dollar system of dams and canals that would not really help small farmers — of which there are very few anyway — but would deliver more water to corporations, subsidize their landholdings, fuel real estate development and enable large-scale water privatization. At its core, it is a war waged for water by California’s megarich on everyone else.  READ MORE:

http://www.alternet.org/water/144020/how_limousine_liberals%2C_water_oligarchs_and_even_sean_hannity_are_hijacking_our_water_supply

Rachel Maddow Interview with Former Evangelist Frank Schaeffer: Christian Right Is ‘Trolling for Assassins’ AlterNet.

Schaeffer: “There is a crazy fringe [receiving] messages that have been pouring out of FOX News … talking about doing away with Obama, asking God to kill him.”  READ MORE:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/144054/rachel_maddow_interview_with_former_evangelist_frank_schaeffer%3A_christian_right_is_%27trolling_for_assassins%27

Shocking Benefits of Legalizing Pot By Ami Cholia, AlterNet.

There are some pluses to legalization that you probably haven’t heard about.

The war on drugs may be a noble intention, but the illegal growing of marijuana is destroying our environment.

Primarily run by Mexican drug cartels California’s illegal growers aren’t your typical peace-loving hippies of the 70s. These men live illegally on farms all summer, putting tons of waste into the soil and water. Pesticides drain into creeks and enter the food chain, sickening wildlife.  Each plant also uses about 15 gallons of water per day soaking up a large part of the water resources around.

Organized crime groups who cash in on the drug war’s distortion of supply and demand dynamics have little regard for the environment. Even illegal growers of organic marijuana impact the environment by felling trees in national forests to make room for illicit grow sites. The plants are seasonal, but the environmental damage lasts forever.

There is a serious exception to be made. Many medical – legal – marijuana growers are among the most responsible citizens around. They buy soil in bulk, use rat traps instead of poison, water with timers and drip systems. They have very little physical impact on the land.

Outside of the obvious benefits of hemp — bio-diesel, burns cleanly, soil builder, better cheaper paper, etc. — organic and sustainable practices for growing marijuana would bring in tons of revenue for the states, clean up the environment, and save the government $150 billion on policing and courts, since 47.5% of all drug arrests are marijuana-related.

We’re not promoting drug addiction.  The positive benefits to the environment by making marijuana legal definitely seem enough to take action.

Even Glenn Beck seems to think this is worth it.  READ MORE:

http://www.alternet.org/environment/144052/world%27s_biggest_polluters_strike_a_deal%3A_u.s._and_china_agree_to_comprehensive_clean_energy_and_climate_plan?page=3

World’s Biggest Polluters Strike a Deal: U.S. and China Agree to Comprehensive Clean Energy and Climate Plan By Joseph Romm, Climate Progress.

The overall plan is much more ambitious in scope and depth than anticipated.

A comprehensive plan for U.S.-China cooperation on clean energy and climate change was announced in Beijing by President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao. The plan contains directives to create various institutions and programs addressing a wide array of cooperation on clean-energy technologies and capacity building, including very important efforts on helping China build a robust, transparent and accurate inventory of their greenhouse gas emissions.

These efforts include cooperation in the following areas:

1.      Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

2.      Joint Clean Energy Research Center. (Factsheet)

3.      Electric Vehicles. (Factsheet)

4.      Energy Efficiency. Building on the Ten Year Framework on Energy and Environment Cooperation, government officials of both countries will “work together (Factsheet)

5.      Renewable Energy. (Factsheet)

6.      21st Century Coal. The two countries will “launch a program of technical cooperation to …develop clean coal and carbon capture and storage technologies.” (Factsheet)

7.      Shale Gas. The U.S. and China will “assess China’s shale gas potential, promote environmentally-sustainable development of shale gas resources, conduct joint technical studies to accelerate development of shale gas resources in China, and promote shale gas investment in China through the U.S.-China Oil and Gas Industry Forum, study tours, and workshops.” (Factsheet)

8.      Nuclear. The two countries reaffirmed the goals of the Third Executive Committee Meeting of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership to promote the peaceful use of civilian nuclear energy, and “agreed to consult with one another in order to explore such approaches—including assurance of fuel supply and cradle-to-grave nuclear fuel management so that countries can access peaceful nuclear power while minimizing the risks of proliferation.”

9.      Public-private partnerships on clean energy. A new U.S.-China Energy Cooperation Program (ECP) will “leverage private sector resources for project development work in China across a broad array of clean energy projects, to the benefit of both nations.”

The two countries hope that the upcoming United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen will follow this example and focus as much on bottom-up technological strategies for achieving real reductions in emissions as it will on top-down targets for carbon caps.  READ MORE:

http://www.alternet.org/environment/144052/world%27s_biggest_polluters_strike_a_deal%3A_u.s._and_china_agree_to_comprehensive_clean_energy_and_climate_plan?page=3

Push to Curb Credit-Card Rates Fades as Democrats resist consumer outcry by Michael KranishThe Boston Globe

WASHINGTON – Efforts in Congress to cap credit-card interest rates are faltering because of opposition from Democrats and a lack of specific support from the White House, despite growing consumer outrage over a rush by banks to impose rates as high as 30 percent.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama vowed to back a strict limit on credit-card interest rates. But the White House is not yet behind any plan.

The Senate soundly defeated legislation in May introduced by Senator Bernard Sanders, the Vermont Independent, to cap most credit-card interest rates at 15 percent. Nearly half of the Democratic senators joined Republicans in defeating the measure, 60 to 33.

Consumer groups say the problem of skyrocketing interest rates has worsened since that vote, as banks scramble to boost rates in advance of a new rule scheduled to take effect in February, requiring banks to give consumers a 45-day advance notice of rate increases.

Sanders said many of the credit cards in the hands of American consumers are issued by four banks that received taxpayer bailout money after last year’s economic meltdown: Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

“People are disgusted. We bailed these [companies] out and they then had the gumption to raise interest rates on the American people,” Sanders said in an interview. Sanders said he plans to reintroduce his proposal to cap rates at 15 percent; he predicted it will have more support this time.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/11/18-7

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit thinks giving money to groups that hate capitalism is a great idea.

Should Citigroup, a recipient of U.S. government aid, be giving tax dollars to any political group, especially one as notorious as ACORN?

And as evidence continues to pile up showing ACORN’s criminal proclivities, why is Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit actually considering restoring funding for ACORN?

Pandit said his company is awaiting an ACORN-sponsored inquiry into the group’s corruption that was prompted by the emergence this fall of several hidden-camera videos. The videos show ACORN employees eager to help a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute open up a brothel using government funding.

“We, as a company, would like to see that report,” said Pandit. Asked if he could envising Citigroup permanently cutting financial ties with ACORN, Pandit said it “completely depends” on the outcome of the report, reports the Boston Herald.

Citigroup’s charitable foundation has given ACORN affiliates more than $1 million since 2003. It’s also funded other left-wing groups including Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, World Resources Institute, Aspen Institute, Rainforest Alliance, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Another Citigroup executive, Eric Eve, has indicated through his actions that he has no belief that  ACORN has the ability to reform itself . Eve (pictured below) resigned from the ACORN Advisory Council, a phony, allegedly independent panel that is supposed to suggest ways to reform the incorrigible group.

Eve’s departure removes one of the few people on the panel who could even remotely claim to actually be independent.

Meanwhile, another hidden-camera video has surfaced that shows ACORN employees behaving badly. The footage, shot at ACORN’s Los Angeles office, involves ACORN’s usual activities such as child prostitution, money laundering, and the like.

Just another day at the office for ACORN.

Turns out Sin City is far from recession-proof. Citigroup Global Markets analyst Anil Daswani has doubts that MGM Mirage’s latest offering on the Las Vegas Strip, the gargantuan $8.5 billion CityCenter, planned for official opening and much fanfare on Dec. 16, will have tourists racing to plunk down what little cash they have left. 

“With CityCenter to open within a month … we do not believe that CityCenter will successfully drive visitation without incentives,” Daswani said in a note. “In our view, 5,000+ new rooms will be hard to absorb.” 

CityCenter is the largest privately financed development in the U.S. 

However, noting visits to Las Vegas are trending down 7% in 2009 while unemployment levels have now hit double digits, having some of the highest unemployment figures in the U.S., Mr. Daswani is concerned the new building will cannibalize demand from MGM’s existing properties while adding pressure to room rates.

Citi has a “sell” rating for MGM Mirage.

I read this article on msnbc.com.  In the economic state we are seemingly in, I thought that this would be an interesting post for many readers.

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CONFESSIONS OF A CREDIT CARD TELEMARKETER

What if there were a way to have your credit card debt erased if you lost your job or became disabled? That’s the pitch behind debt cancellation, a service offered by many credit card issuers and retailers.

Debt cancellation doesn’t come cheap: it costs between $1 and $2 per $100 balance.  A consumer with a $3,000 balance, for example, could pay nearly $60 a month for debt cancellation service.

That might not sound like such a great deal, but thousands of consumers sign up anyway. Why? One telemarketer who sells the service told msnbc.com recently that there’s only one reason: Sellers intentionally confuse cardholders about the programs and their costs.

“I hate flat-out lying to someone, but that’s exactly what we do, 150 calls a day,” said the telemarketer, who requested anonymity out of fear of losing his job.  “I have seen so many people ripped off that I had to attempt to let people know.”

He works in tiny Pennington Gap, Va., a small Appalachian town near the Kentucky border that’s been hit hard by the economic downturn.  But he works for some of the biggest firms in America. For the past year, the telemarketer has sold debt cancellation for Macy’s retail credit cards issued by Citigroup, working for a third-party firm named Aon Integramark, which contracts work to a local firm, the Kavanaugh CallCenter Group.  Aon is one of the world’s largest insurance firms, with 37,000 employees and 500 offices in more than 120 countries. It insures nearly everything — from Hollywood movies to container ships – and markets debt cancellation programs to credit card issuers through its Aon Integramark division.

“Are you realizing the power of debt cancellation?” the firm asks of banks and retail stores on its Web site. “These programs provide lending customers with new power and control over their finances — especially in tough times that can affect anyone.”

Quietly, a huge industry
Debt cancellation is a large and profitable business for credit card firms and retailers who issued private-label credit cards.  In 2003, the Center for Economic Justice estimated that consumers paid $2.5 billion in fees for such programs, but card firms paid only $125 million in benefits. In other words, the issuers kept nearly 95 percent of the premiums paid. 

In standard insurance products, firms pay out about 80 percent of the premiums they collect.  The enormous margins in debt cancellation are possible because the programs are not considered insurance and are not regulated as insurance products, thanks to a 1986 Circuit Court ruling. 

Few financial products are more profitable than unregulated insurance products, and the bonanza that is debt cancellation (sometimes called debt suspension) have led to aggressive sales techniques for the products. Those have been redoubled during uncertain economic times.

Debt cancellation – and its predecessor, credit insurance  — has a soiled reputation. The Internet is littered with complaints from consumers who say they were signed up for the service and billed hundreds of dollars without their consent.

In 2006, Red Tape readers were first introduced to the problem by Steve Monteith, a reader who purchased a new flat-screen television at Best Buy using a familiar “Same as Cash” program. He ended up getting a surprise bill for $472, thanks to his unwitting enrollment in a debt cancellation program.

Now, thanks to the telemarketer who came forward to describe what he calls unfair sale tactics, msnbc.com can offer insight into why consumers keep falling for the same tricks.

Sounds like it’s free
The telemarketer’s job may be unsavory, but the call center pays $8.75 per hour – an offer that’s hard to refuse in an area where minimum wage is standard for many employers.  When openings occur, applicants go to great lengths to land one of the jobs, he said.

“Before the minimum wage went up, this was by far the best-paying job in the area,” he said.

The power of the debt cancellation pitch lies in the presentation, said the telemarketer.  The first lie, he said, is the price. Scripts handed to phone operators there have been carefully worded to make the program sound like it’s free. Here’s what the script provided to msnbc.com instructs telemarketers to tell customers:

“The cost is only $1.89 per $100 of the outstanding account balance shown on your statement at the end of a billing period and best of all, there is no charge when you don’t have a balance shown at the end of a monthly billing period.” That assertion is repeated later: “And remember, if you have no outstanding balance at the end of the month, there is no charge. “ 

That’s deceptive, the telemarketer said, because consumers who pay their balance on time every month are left with the impression that the debt-cancellation service will be free.  It’s not.  Re-read the cost description.  The cost is computed when the billing cycle ends and a bill is generated, not after consumers pay their bills. That means consumers who initiate any charges during a month will have to pay for the service. There is no “grace period” for debt cancellation, and even if there are no finance charges, there are debt cancellation charges.

“This information is not told to the customer,” the telemarketer said. “They are only told what I quoted above. If the customer asks, ‘Well what if I pay off my balance every month?’ we are told to just read the ‘cost of program’ script again, and hope they don’t ask any more questions.”

His assertion of confusion seems to be backed up by another portion of the telemarketing script which anticipates consumer frustration on this point.  If a consumer asks, “I Thought There Was NO Cost, Since I Do/Did Not Carry a Balance?” the operator is told to answer, “You are correct; your Macy’s account will be billed for the Credit Protection program fee only when you have a balance on your account at the end of a monthly billing period. 

Those who do probe deeper and manage to get an accurate sense of the program’s true costs rarely sign up for the service, he said.

“Only 1 out of 50 who find out all the details actually sign up,” he said. “Deception is essential to our sales.”

Macy’s: ‘Neither misleading nor ambiguous’
Beth Charlton, a spokeswoman for Macy’s, confirmed the scripts shared with msnbc.com were authentic.  But she defended the sales pitch and disputed the employee’s assertion that it was deceptive, saying the scripts are “neither misleading nor ambiguous.” 

“You are confusing payment with charges,” she said.  “It seems that your informant confuses the concepts of payment in full, no balance carried forward with the concept that even if the consumer pays in full each month, if she makes new charges, a new outstanding balance is created for which a fee will be assessed.”          

She also said debt cancellation fees are clearly listed on credit card statements, so consumers should not be confused about the cost of the product.

Aon Integramark CEO Steve Williams said he could not speak directly about Macy’s customers because of confidentiality agreements, but he agreed to discuss Aon’s debt cancellation business in general.  He said his firm went to great lengths to make sure consumers were treated fairly.

“The level of disclosure on these programs is incredible,” he said. “There is a tremendous amount of oversight in these programs.”

Among other safeguards, calls are regularly monitored both by Macy’s and by an independent third party to make sure consumers are fairly treated, he said.

When asked about possibly ambiguity about the terms, and about possible confusion over when there is no charge for the product, he said: “Frankly, this concept is not hard to understand.”

Williams also said there are liberal refund policies for the debt cancellation service, some as long as 90 days. So even if consumers are initially confused, they can easily reclaim their money, he said.

“Our business rules are we don’t want to irritate our customers,” he said. “We face penalties if we do something wrong. We have millions of customers and (if there’s a complaint) there is a major fire drill to find out what happened, and we submit a detailed report to our client. The last thing we want to do is have a problem with consumer.  If we ever did anything knowingly deceptive, we would be out of business with the level of monitoring that goes on.”

Requests for comment from Kavanaugh CallCenter Group went unanswered.

Punishment is severe
The telemarketer said he is closely monitored while on the job, and penalties are severe for straying from the script.  On second offense, a sales rep will be suspended without pay for three days. A third offense results in firing, he said.

“There are new classes all the time, there are always people lined up for our jobs,” he said. “But the turnover rate is unbelievable, too. … There’s only two people left from my original class of 12.”

The telemarketer said he is required to close four sales per 100 calls, leading many operators to resort to ever more persistent and aggressive tactics. But most consumers who fall for the pitch are either poor or elderly women, he said.

 “Honestly, the little old ladies are the people who buy the most,” he said. “What if it was you mother daughter or calling, would you want them to be lied to?”

A quick Internet search unearths a myriad of complaints against Aon and Macy’s. Some are related to unwanted calls from Aon sales staff pushing debt cancellation; others say they were signed up for the service against their will.

“It just sneaked a charge into my Macy’s bill,” reads one account. “Before that I had no idea that I ‘bought’ a credit protection plan that I never wanted at all. … This is just outrageous!”

The telemarketer did not blame Macy’s for what he called deceptive sales tactics.  He said the firm routinely listens in on what it thinks are randomly selected phone solicitations. But the calls actually are orchestrated so Macy’s officials don’t hear the deceptive tactics practiced at the call center, he said.

“I would not be surprised if some of (Macy’s) surprise is genuine,” he said. “We hide the stuff we’re doing from Macy’s.”.

Other assertions he made about the Macy’s program, which he called unfair, included:

* Consumers are told they have 30 days to cancel the service and avoid any charges, but materials involving the cost of the program don’t arrive for two weeks, limiting the amount of time consumers have to review their choice. Both Aon and Macy’s denied this, saying the paperwork is sent within three days, as required by banking regulations.

* New Macy’s cards arrive with a sticker urging consumers to call an 800 number, similar to stickers that urge new credit card customers to call and activate their accounts. But Macy’s cards arrive pre-activated. Calls to the 800 number are simply routed to the telemarketing center for the debt cancellation service, confusing consumers. The scripts provided to msnbc.com suggest this is intentional, and include a response for the complaint “But I just called to activate my card.” 

Charlton, of Macy’s, said the sticker on the card clearly says “call … to hear about optional programs” and is not an activation sticker.

* There are complaints of repeated unwanted phone calls by Aon sales representatives.  Williams said his firm “would never want to call a customer twice. … It’s expensive to call and it’s a bad business move.”   Charlton there were no federal Do Not Call violations, because the firm is allowed to call cardholders with offers because it has an existing business relationship with them.
Red Tape Wrestling Tips
It’s hard to imagine a situation where debt cancellation is a good deal. Other forms of insurance are cheaper and will also pay your bills in some situations. 

While debt cancellation isn’t viewed as insurance by regulators, it’s essentially the same type of product.  And as with any insurance, you never know what you have until you have to make a claim.  Debt cancellation claims can be a hassle. Firms often require tedious amounts of paperwork and require that consumers be out of work for at least 90 days before they receive any benefit.

Pushy telemarketing isn’t the only way debt cancellation is sold to consumers. Store clerks sometimes fill out credit applications at cash registers for consumers, and check a box automatically signing up the applicant for debt cancellation service. That’s what Jamison Frady of Reno, Nev., said happened to him. He bought a television for $2,400 from Best Buy in 2008 using a “Same as Cash” program, and ignored his bills for about a year, as he had no balance due. Only then did he notice that Best Buy had enrolled him in a $20-per-month debt cancellation service provided by HSBC Retail Services – and he had racked up more than $200 in charges. When he complained, he received an e-mail from HSBC saying, “We would be more than happy to discuss the advantages of this program with you.”

Consumers should always fill out their own credit card applications – even if there’s a big line behind you at the store – and make sure the debt cancellation box is not checked.

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Click here to follow the link:  http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/11/what-if-there-were-a-way-to-have-your-credit-card-debt-erased-if-you-lost-your-job-or-became-disabled-thats-the-pitch-behind.html

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