Tuesday, December 07, 2004
The Dollar: 3 commentaries from subversive rags- The Financial Times, The Economist, The International Herald Tribune. Yes, we should be concerned.
Oil exporters have sharply reduced their exposure to the US dollar over the past three years, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements. Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries have cut the proportion of deposits held in dollars from 75 per cent in the third quarter of 2001 to 61.5 per cent.
Middle Eastern central banks have reportedly switched reserves from dollars to euros and sterling to avoid incurring losses as the dollar has fallen and prepare for a shift away from pricing oil exports in dollars alone.
Private Middle East investors are believed to be worried about the prospect of US-held assets being frozen as part of the war on terror, leading to accelerated dollar-selling after the re-election of President George W. Bush. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/67f88f7c-47cb-11d9-a0fd-00000e2511c8.html
America's current-account deficit is at the heart of these global concerns. The OECD's latest Economic Outlook predicts that the deficit will rise to $825 billion by 2006 (6.4% of America's GDP) assuming unchanged exchange rates. Optimists argue that foreigners will keep financing the deficit because American assets offer high returns and a haven from risk. In fact, private investors have already turned away from dollar assets: the returns on investments in America have recently been lower than in Europe or Japan. And can a currency that has been sliding against the world's next two biggest currencies for 30 years be regarded as “safe”?
The dollar's loss of reserve-currency status would lead America's creditors to start cashing those cheques—and what an awful lot of cheques there are to cash. As that process gathered pace, the dollar could tumble further and further. American bond yields (long-term interest rates) would soar, quite likely causing a deep recession. Americans who favour a weak dollar should be careful what they wish for. Cutting the budget deficit looks cheap at the price. http://economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3446249
Aslim Tadjuddin, deputy governor for monetary policy at Indonesia's central bank, dropped that bombshell in a recent Bloomberg interview.Indonesia's was merely the latest central bank to suggest that it may sell some U.S. Treasuries if the dollar continues to decline. Days earlier, Russia's central bank rocked currency markets by suggesting it might switch from dollar-denominated assets to euro assets.China Business News also raised eyebrows late last month after it reported that Beijing had cut its U.S. debt holdings. The news shook markets because China, with $174 billion of Treasuries, is the second-biggest holder after Japan. While a Chinese central bank official said the report was "distorted," markets fear the worst.Taiwan, the third-largest holder of foreign-exchange reserves, had to deny reports that it planned to reduce U.S. debt holdings as the dollar slides. Such a move by the island, which has $57 billion of Treasuries, would surely bolster U.S. debt yields. http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2004/12/06/bloomberg/sxpesek.html
3 from other communist periodicals- the New York Post, the Moonie-owned Washington Times, and CNN
More on Bernie Kerik new head for “Homeland Security”:
In prepared remarks praising the new nominee last week, President Bush ranged across the whole of Kerik's career, from his days as a beat cop in Times Square, to his hands-on work at Ground Zero on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
Yet the President was oddly — and utterly — silent on Kerik's work in Baghdad, and perhaps for good reason. Though Kerik presided over the hiring of thousands of recruits for the reconstituted Iraqi police force, most were hired without background checks, and many turned out to be hardened criminals. As a result, some 30,000 of them, or roughly 25 percent of the entire force, are now reportedly being let go, with the U.S. footing the bill for $60 million in severance payments. http://www.nypost.com/business/35781.htm
Iraqi Vets
Veterans of the war in Iraq are starting to show up at homeless shelters, experts say. "When we already have people from Iraq on the streets, my God," said Linda Boone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. "I have talked to enough (shelters) to know we are getting them. It is happening and this nation is not prepared for that."
Some homeless-veteran advocates fear that similar combat experiences in Vietnam and Iraq mean that these first few homeless veterans from Iraq are the crest of a wave not seen since the Vietnam era. http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041207-015431-3807r.htm
Harry Reid: The Good and the Bad
When asked to comment on Thomas as a possible replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Reid told NBC's "Meet the Press": "I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court.
"I think that his opinions are poorly written. I just don't think that he's done a good job as a Supreme Court justice.
But the Nevada Democrat said that he could support Thomas' fellow conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia, if he were nominated. Citing a hunting trip Scalia took with Dick Cheney before hearing a case involving the commission the vice president set up to work on an energy bill, Reid said the justice has some ethics problems."So we have to get over this," he said. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/05/judges.reid.frist/index.html
Election Fraud: Making the rounds, courtesy of Brad Friedman. Legs?
In stunning revelations set to rock the vote from Tallahassee to Capitol Hill -- and perhaps even a bit further up Pennsylvania Avenue -- a Florida computer programmer has now made remarkable claims in a detailed sworn affidavit, signed this morning and obtained exclusively by The BRAD BLOG
http://www.BradBlog.com.http://www.rawstory.com/images/pdfs/CC_Affidavit_120604.pdf> (Generously hosted by Raw Story !)The programmer claims that he designed and built a "vote rigging" software program at the behest of then Florida Congressman, now U.S. Congressman, Republican Tom Feeney http://www.tomfeeney.com/ of Florida's 24th Congressional District.Clint Curtis, 46, claims that he built the software for Feeney in 2000 while working at a sofware design and engineering company in Oviedo, Florida (Feeney's home district).Curtis, in his affidavit, says that as technical advisor and programmer at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) he was present at company meetings where Feeney was present "on at least a dozen occasions".Feeney, who had run in 1994 as Jeb Bush's running-mate in his initial unsuccessful bid for Florida Governor, was serving as both corporate counsel and registered lobbyist for YEI during the period that Curtis worked at the company. Feeney was also concurrently serving as a Florida state congressman while performing those services for YEI. Feeney would eventually become Speaker of the Florida House before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002. He is now a member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. http://www.bradfriedman.com/BRADBLOG/
Olbermann on Ohio
Kenneth Blackwell this afternoon made the November 2 vote official. With provisionals, absentees, and corrections, it turned out to be not a 136,000 vote margin for President Bush, but rather one of 119,000. The certification was almost immediately greeted by two protests, the prospect of a third, and the details of a fourth.
Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb today scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon in Columbus at which the re-count request from he and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik will be formalized.
Still delayed, a long, long, long-shot bid - spearheaded by attorney Cliff Arnebeck - to have an Ohio Supreme Court Justice contest the actual election — holding off making the first count official until voting irregularities are reviewed. Mr. Arnebeck told us this afternoon that it now may be Wednesday before his suit is filed.
But the protests are not just from the fringes any more. Citing the long lines, shortages of ballots, voting machine meltdowns, and spoiled ballots, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe announced his party would spend "whatever it takes" to conduct what it calls "a comprehensive investigative study" of the vote in Ohio, one to be completed some time next year
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6533008/#041202a
Newest Marriage: Clear Channel and Fox News
The country's largest radio station operator, Clear Channel Communications Inc., the country’s largest radio station operator, has chosen Fox News Radio to provide its national news for the majority of its news / talk stations. Clear Channel, owner of over 1200 stations, is owned by Tom and R. Steven Hicks, the brothers who have notable ties to Junior Bush. While R. Steven, is a Bush Pioneer, Tom bought Bush’s shares of the Texas Rangers (most of which were given to Bush in other quid pro quos), and has a slew of crony-capitalist ties to Bush. S’nuff said. www.freepress.net/news/5634
Civil Rights Commission (Follow-up)
Today’s news detailed the formal discharge of Mary Frances Berry, the too outspoken (and critical) chair of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. The replacement is thought to be Gerald Reynolds, a corporate attorney/regulator who’s on record as detesting affirmative action.
President Bush on Monday moved to replace Mary Frances Berry, the outspoken chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission who has argued with every president since Jimmy Carter appointed her to the panel a quarter century ago.
But Berry balked at leaving now, arguing through a spokesman that she and vice chairman Cruz Reynoso, who also is being replaced, have terms that run until midnight Jan. 21, 2005. The White House maintained that their six-year terms expired Sunday and that Berry and Reynoso had been replaced.
The eight-member panel investigates civil rights complaints and publicizes its findings. It has no enforcement power. Four years ago, Berry and the commission were heavily critical of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for his administration's handling of the disputed presidential election won by his brother.http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41494-2004Dec6?language=printer
Pat Tillman, the Reality. The feel good story is, sadly, another myth. The former NFLer (that’s football, for those not in the know) was lionized for his giving up his millions to enlist post 2001 and saw action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, the Washington Post reports:
It was also a distorted and incomplete narrative, according to dozens of internal Army documents obtained by The Washington Post that describe Tillman's death by fratricide after a chain of botched communications, a misguided order to divide his platoon over the objection of its leader and undisciplined firing by fellow Rangers.
The Army's public release made no mention of friendly fire, even though at the time it was issued, investigators in Afghanistan had already taken at least 14 sworn statements from Tillman's platoon members that made clear the true causes of his death. The statements included a searing account from the Ranger nearest Tillman during the firefight, who quoted him as shouting "Cease fire! Friendlies!" with his last breaths.
Army records show Tillman fought bravely during his final battle. He followed orders, never wavered and at one stage proposed discarding his heavy body armor, apparently because he wanted to charge a distant ridge occupied by the enemy, an idea his immediate superior rejected, witness statements show.
But the Army's published account not only withheld all evidence of fratricide, but also exaggerated Tillman's role and stripped his actions of their context. Tillman was not one of the senior commanders on the scene -- he directed only himself, one other Ranger and an Afghan militiaman, under supervision from others. And witness statements in the Army's files at the time of the news release describe Tillman's voice ringing out on the battlefield mainly in a desperate effort, joined by other Rangers on his ridge, to warn comrades to stop shooting at their own men.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37679-2004Dec5.html
What’s Happening, Iraq: The intensifying “war” has, once again, intensified. Newest CIA report admits our position is “deteriorating”. www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/international/middleeast/07intell.html
Beware habituation. This CAN’T be tolerated.
Krugman interrupts vacation. On target, as usual.
There's no honest way anyone can hold both these positions, but very little about the privatizers' position is honest. They come to bury Social Security, not to save it. They aren't sincerely concerned about the possibility that the system will someday fail; they're disturbed by the system's historic success.
For Social Security is a government program that works, a demonstration that a modest amount of taxing and spending can make people's lives better and more secure. And that's why the right wants to destroy it. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/opinion/07krugman.html?oref=login&oref=login
Dr. Frist, candidate in 2008. In case you missed it.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, let me switch to another subject. There was a bit of an uproar in Washington this week about this issue of these abstinence programs that are funded by the Federal government, the funding has doubled over the last four years but there was a report by the minority staff at the House Government Affairs Committee that showed that 11 of 13 of these programs are giving out false information. I want to show some of the claims they identified in the curricula. One of them was, one of the programs taught that "The actual ability of condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS, even if the product is intact, is not definitively known." Another, "The popular claim that condoms help prevent the spread of STDs is not supported by the data." A third suggested that tears and sweat could transmit HIV and AIDS. Now, you're a doctor. Do you believe that tears and sweat can transmit HIV?
FRIST: I don't know. I can tell you ...
STEPHANOPOULOS: You don't know?
FRIST: I can tell you things like, like ...
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, wait, let me stop you, you don't know that, you believe that tears and sweat might be able to transmit AIDS?
FRIST: Yeah, no, I can tell you that HIV is not very transmissible as an element like, compared to smallpox, compared to the flu. It is not, but the first slide, because I think it's dangerous to show that and then sort of walk away.
http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2004/12/index.html#004945
-R
Oil exporters have sharply reduced their exposure to the US dollar over the past three years, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements. Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries have cut the proportion of deposits held in dollars from 75 per cent in the third quarter of 2001 to 61.5 per cent.
Middle Eastern central banks have reportedly switched reserves from dollars to euros and sterling to avoid incurring losses as the dollar has fallen and prepare for a shift away from pricing oil exports in dollars alone.
Private Middle East investors are believed to be worried about the prospect of US-held assets being frozen as part of the war on terror, leading to accelerated dollar-selling after the re-election of President George W. Bush. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/67f88f7c-47cb-11d9-a0fd-00000e2511c8.html
America's current-account deficit is at the heart of these global concerns. The OECD's latest Economic Outlook predicts that the deficit will rise to $825 billion by 2006 (6.4% of America's GDP) assuming unchanged exchange rates. Optimists argue that foreigners will keep financing the deficit because American assets offer high returns and a haven from risk. In fact, private investors have already turned away from dollar assets: the returns on investments in America have recently been lower than in Europe or Japan. And can a currency that has been sliding against the world's next two biggest currencies for 30 years be regarded as “safe”?
The dollar's loss of reserve-currency status would lead America's creditors to start cashing those cheques—and what an awful lot of cheques there are to cash. As that process gathered pace, the dollar could tumble further and further. American bond yields (long-term interest rates) would soar, quite likely causing a deep recession. Americans who favour a weak dollar should be careful what they wish for. Cutting the budget deficit looks cheap at the price. http://economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3446249
Aslim Tadjuddin, deputy governor for monetary policy at Indonesia's central bank, dropped that bombshell in a recent Bloomberg interview.Indonesia's was merely the latest central bank to suggest that it may sell some U.S. Treasuries if the dollar continues to decline. Days earlier, Russia's central bank rocked currency markets by suggesting it might switch from dollar-denominated assets to euro assets.China Business News also raised eyebrows late last month after it reported that Beijing had cut its U.S. debt holdings. The news shook markets because China, with $174 billion of Treasuries, is the second-biggest holder after Japan. While a Chinese central bank official said the report was "distorted," markets fear the worst.Taiwan, the third-largest holder of foreign-exchange reserves, had to deny reports that it planned to reduce U.S. debt holdings as the dollar slides. Such a move by the island, which has $57 billion of Treasuries, would surely bolster U.S. debt yields. http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2004/12/06/bloomberg/sxpesek.html
3 from other communist periodicals- the New York Post, the Moonie-owned Washington Times, and CNN
More on Bernie Kerik new head for “Homeland Security”:
In prepared remarks praising the new nominee last week, President Bush ranged across the whole of Kerik's career, from his days as a beat cop in Times Square, to his hands-on work at Ground Zero on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
Yet the President was oddly — and utterly — silent on Kerik's work in Baghdad, and perhaps for good reason. Though Kerik presided over the hiring of thousands of recruits for the reconstituted Iraqi police force, most were hired without background checks, and many turned out to be hardened criminals. As a result, some 30,000 of them, or roughly 25 percent of the entire force, are now reportedly being let go, with the U.S. footing the bill for $60 million in severance payments. http://www.nypost.com/business/35781.htm
Iraqi Vets
Veterans of the war in Iraq are starting to show up at homeless shelters, experts say. "When we already have people from Iraq on the streets, my God," said Linda Boone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. "I have talked to enough (shelters) to know we are getting them. It is happening and this nation is not prepared for that."
Some homeless-veteran advocates fear that similar combat experiences in Vietnam and Iraq mean that these first few homeless veterans from Iraq are the crest of a wave not seen since the Vietnam era. http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041207-015431-3807r.htm
Harry Reid: The Good and the Bad
When asked to comment on Thomas as a possible replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Reid told NBC's "Meet the Press": "I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court.
"I think that his opinions are poorly written. I just don't think that he's done a good job as a Supreme Court justice.
But the Nevada Democrat said that he could support Thomas' fellow conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia, if he were nominated. Citing a hunting trip Scalia took with Dick Cheney before hearing a case involving the commission the vice president set up to work on an energy bill, Reid said the justice has some ethics problems."So we have to get over this," he said. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/05/judges.reid.frist/index.html
Election Fraud: Making the rounds, courtesy of Brad Friedman. Legs?
In stunning revelations set to rock the vote from Tallahassee to Capitol Hill -- and perhaps even a bit further up Pennsylvania Avenue -- a Florida computer programmer has now made remarkable claims in a detailed sworn affidavit, signed this morning and obtained exclusively by The BRAD BLOG
http://www.BradBlog.com.http://www.rawstory.com/images/pdfs/CC_Affidavit_120604.pdf> (Generously hosted by Raw Story
Olbermann on Ohio
Kenneth Blackwell this afternoon made the November 2 vote official. With provisionals, absentees, and corrections, it turned out to be not a 136,000 vote margin for President Bush, but rather one of 119,000. The certification was almost immediately greeted by two protests, the prospect of a third, and the details of a fourth.
Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb today scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon in Columbus at which the re-count request from he and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik will be formalized.
Still delayed, a long, long, long-shot bid - spearheaded by attorney Cliff Arnebeck - to have an Ohio Supreme Court Justice contest the actual election — holding off making the first count official until voting irregularities are reviewed. Mr. Arnebeck told us this afternoon that it now may be Wednesday before his suit is filed.
But the protests are not just from the fringes any more. Citing the long lines, shortages of ballots, voting machine meltdowns, and spoiled ballots, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe announced his party would spend "whatever it takes" to conduct what it calls "a comprehensive investigative study" of the vote in Ohio, one to be completed some time next year
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6533008/#041202a
Newest Marriage: Clear Channel and Fox News
The country's largest radio station operator, Clear Channel Communications Inc., the country’s largest radio station operator, has chosen Fox News Radio to provide its national news for the majority of its news / talk stations. Clear Channel, owner of over 1200 stations, is owned by Tom and R. Steven Hicks, the brothers who have notable ties to Junior Bush. While R. Steven, is a Bush Pioneer, Tom bought Bush’s shares of the Texas Rangers (most of which were given to Bush in other quid pro quos), and has a slew of crony-capitalist ties to Bush. S’nuff said. www.freepress.net/news/5634
Civil Rights Commission (Follow-up)
Today’s news detailed the formal discharge of Mary Frances Berry, the too outspoken (and critical) chair of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. The replacement is thought to be Gerald Reynolds, a corporate attorney/regulator who’s on record as detesting affirmative action.
President Bush on Monday moved to replace Mary Frances Berry, the outspoken chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission who has argued with every president since Jimmy Carter appointed her to the panel a quarter century ago.
But Berry balked at leaving now, arguing through a spokesman that she and vice chairman Cruz Reynoso, who also is being replaced, have terms that run until midnight Jan. 21, 2005. The White House maintained that their six-year terms expired Sunday and that Berry and Reynoso had been replaced.
The eight-member panel investigates civil rights complaints and publicizes its findings. It has no enforcement power. Four years ago, Berry and the commission were heavily critical of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for his administration's handling of the disputed presidential election won by his brother.http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41494-2004Dec6?language=printer
Pat Tillman, the Reality. The feel good story is, sadly, another myth. The former NFLer (that’s football, for those not in the know) was lionized for his giving up his millions to enlist post 2001 and saw action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, the Washington Post reports:
It was also a distorted and incomplete narrative, according to dozens of internal Army documents obtained by The Washington Post that describe Tillman's death by fratricide after a chain of botched communications, a misguided order to divide his platoon over the objection of its leader and undisciplined firing by fellow Rangers.
The Army's public release made no mention of friendly fire, even though at the time it was issued, investigators in Afghanistan had already taken at least 14 sworn statements from Tillman's platoon members that made clear the true causes of his death. The statements included a searing account from the Ranger nearest Tillman during the firefight, who quoted him as shouting "Cease fire! Friendlies!" with his last breaths.
Army records show Tillman fought bravely during his final battle. He followed orders, never wavered and at one stage proposed discarding his heavy body armor, apparently because he wanted to charge a distant ridge occupied by the enemy, an idea his immediate superior rejected, witness statements show.
But the Army's published account not only withheld all evidence of fratricide, but also exaggerated Tillman's role and stripped his actions of their context. Tillman was not one of the senior commanders on the scene -- he directed only himself, one other Ranger and an Afghan militiaman, under supervision from others. And witness statements in the Army's files at the time of the news release describe Tillman's voice ringing out on the battlefield mainly in a desperate effort, joined by other Rangers on his ridge, to warn comrades to stop shooting at their own men.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37679-2004Dec5.html
What’s Happening, Iraq: The intensifying “war” has, once again, intensified. Newest CIA report admits our position is “deteriorating”. www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/international/middleeast/07intell.html
Beware habituation. This CAN’T be tolerated.
Krugman interrupts vacation. On target, as usual.
There's no honest way anyone can hold both these positions, but very little about the privatizers' position is honest. They come to bury Social Security, not to save it. They aren't sincerely concerned about the possibility that the system will someday fail; they're disturbed by the system's historic success.
For Social Security is a government program that works, a demonstration that a modest amount of taxing and spending can make people's lives better and more secure. And that's why the right wants to destroy it. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/opinion/07krugman.html?oref=login&oref=login
Dr. Frist, candidate in 2008. In case you missed it.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, let me switch to another subject. There was a bit of an uproar in Washington this week about this issue of these abstinence programs that are funded by the Federal government, the funding has doubled over the last four years but there was a report by the minority staff at the House Government Affairs Committee that showed that 11 of 13 of these programs are giving out false information. I want to show some of the claims they identified in the curricula. One of them was, one of the programs taught that "The actual ability of condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS, even if the product is intact, is not definitively known." Another, "The popular claim that condoms help prevent the spread of STDs is not supported by the data." A third suggested that tears and sweat could transmit HIV and AIDS. Now, you're a doctor. Do you believe that tears and sweat can transmit HIV?
FRIST: I don't know. I can tell you ...
STEPHANOPOULOS: You don't know?
FRIST: I can tell you things like, like ...
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, wait, let me stop you, you don't know that, you believe that tears and sweat might be able to transmit AIDS?
FRIST: Yeah, no, I can tell you that HIV is not very transmissible as an element like, compared to smallpox, compared to the flu. It is not, but the first slide, because I think it's dangerous to show that and then sort of walk away.
http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2004/12/index.html#004945
-R
