A $40 Billion Pile of Leveraged Loans Battered by Big Losses… Fed’s Powell Says Planned Bond Buying Isn’t Emergency Stimulus… Investors Are Skeptical

by

Murky corporate debt revealing a key risk for the US economy. Leveraged loans perhaps leading overall stocks to the downside. pic.twitter.com/EJQ1naPR01 — Otavio (Tavi) Costa (@TaviCosta) October 8, 2019 via Bloomberg: Sudden drops reflect growing distaste for shakier issues Energy leads list of losers with $12 billion of loans affected Barely noticed in a corner of … Read more

Greece issues negative yielding debt for the first time

by

https://www.wsj.com/articles/greece-once-in-crisis-joins-negative-rates-club-11570640925?shareToken=st41c05cd052b54d56aa5329eb9f4f571c Apologies if there are paywall issues. TL;DR: Greece issued €487.5 million worth of three month bonds yielding -0.02%. It’s obviously a short duration, but still a watershed moment.   To think less than five years ago there was a serious risk of the SYRIZA-led government defaulting. Now people are not only willing to lend … Read more

GE’s Gaping Pension Deficit Is Just a Tiny Part of Companies’ $269 Billion Gap

by

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ge-gaping-pension-deficit-just-100000314.html (Bloomberg) — General Electric Co.’s gaping pension deficit certainly stands out for its size. But the company is hardly the only one at risk of potentially shortchanging some of its employees come retirement. All across corporate America, underfunded pensions have become the norm. Even now, a decade after the financial crisis, the largest plans … Read more

No, The Poor Don’t Pay Higher Taxes Than The Rich

by

Authored by Phillip Magness via The American Institute for Economic Research, Are the poor actually paying a larger share of their earnings in taxes than the ultra-wealthy? That’s the claim at the center of a new New York Times article purporting to trace the effects of the previous year’s tax cut package. While supporters of wealth taxation quickly … Read more

POTUS: “Military Industrial Complex got tremendous power. They like fighting. They make a lot of money. But it’s time to bring our soldiers home.”

by

by ShortTrifle0 Answering questions to reporters, Trump explains why he came to the decision in Syria. He says he wants to double down on bringing the troops home from overseas. He also warns against the Military Industrial Complex and it’s influence in Washington, pointing out the resistance against withdrawing forces. He says the Washington bubble doesn’t … Read more

Attention Bay Area Liberals! THE PURGE Power Outage Begins At Midnight Tonight! Enjoy the benefits of Liberalism!

by

By night two, the East Bay Democrats will be eating the San Fran, San Jose liberals. No internet, no EBT, NO ALARM SYSTEMS…. THIS SHOULD BE GRAND! https://weather.com/news/news/2019-10-07-california-counties-power-outages-wildfire-threat Looks like they just started. https://poweroutage.us/area/state/california h/t FE

And the Democratic Party just went bankrupt….

by

SOUNDS GOOD TO ME: But I expect that, if nominated, Warren will “suddenly” become aware of all this, and break her promise. FLASHBACK TO 2008 (From Ed): Obama tarnished by rejecting public funds for election fight. Candidate reneges on vow to stick to state-set limit.   h/t SG

BLOOMBERG SYNDROME IN ACTION:

by

● Shot: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Elected to Chair Global Climate Leadership Group. —LA’s KFI 640 AM today. ● Chaser: Some L.A. officials want a state of emergency declared as homelessness crisis worsens. —The Los Angeles Times, September 30th. In 2011, Victor Davis Hanson warned of “The Bloomberg Syndrome:” “Quite simply, the next time your elected local or state official … Read more

TWO PHILADELPHIA 76ERS FANS BOOTED FROM GAME — IN PHILADELPHIA — OVER ‘FREE HONG KONG’ SIGNS.

by

via NYPOST: “Un-freaking-believable,” Rod Dreher adds. “In Philadelphia, the birthplace of American freedom! This is the United States of America, not the Communist Party of China’s b*tch. Every single NBA fan should go to every single game wearing shirts or carrying signs defending Hong Kong. What a disgrace these craven American businessmen are.” Dreher’s post … Read more

GRAFT IS EXPENSIVE: Audit Finds Cost of Building Supportive Housing in L.A. Exceeds Median Price of a Market-Rate Condo.

by

via Reason: High fees, excessive regulation, and NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) opposition to new housing have contributed to Los Angeles’ worsening homelessness crisis. Those same things are now frustrating the city’s efforts to construct thousands of units of affordable and supportive housing, where social services can be offered on-site. On Tuesday, Los Angeles Controller … Read more

Chinese Citizens Will Be Required to Scan Their Faces to Use the Internet

by

(AP) — The Chinese government continues its Orwellian practices with the announcement that citizens will have to use facial recognition technology to access the internet (which is already highly fire-walled.) This is all a part of China’s social credit system that will take effect on Dec. 1st.  After the law is in effect, Chinese citizens who … Read more

This article perfectly shows how Uber and Lyft are taking advantage of drivers that don’t understand the real costs of the business.

by

by theVoxFortis I happened upon this article about a driver talking about how much he makes driving for Uber and Lyft: https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-lyft-driver-how-much-money-2019-10#when-it-was-all-said-and-done-i-ended-the-week-making-25734-in-a-little-less-than-14-hours-on-the-job-8 In short, he says he made $257 over 13.75 hours of work, for almost $19 an hour. He later mentions expenses (like gas) but as an afterthought, not including it in the hourly wage. … Read more

Powell says the Fed will start expanding its balance sheet ‘soon’ in response to funding issues

by

POINTS The Fed will start expanding its balance sheet again “soon,” Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday. Trouble in overnight lending markets several weeks ago helped spur the the Fed into action. Pertaining to interest rates, Powell did not commit to a future course, saying the Fed will stay data dependent. The Federal Reserve will soon … Read more