Hard hitting global and local news
Boehner Floats Fiscal Cliff “Plan B” Both house speaker John Boehner and president Obama have given ground in the “fiscal cliff” drama. The sides are still far apart but concessions now are steady
Also consider Calpers Bankruptcy Strategy Pits Retirees vs. All Others .
Empire State Manufacturing Index Declines 5th Straight Month; Profit Squeeze Underway Posted by Michael Shedlock at 2:46 PM Disclaimer: The content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be taken as investment advice. All site content, including advertisements, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument, or to participate in any particular trading or investment strategy. The ideas expressed on this site are solely the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions of sponsors or firms affiliated with the author(s)
The days of getting carpal tunnel syndrome from cutting meat are now over, at least as measured by a meat processing plant in Greece, shown in the video below. The video starts out a bit slow, but is rather fascinating once it gets going.
Car sales are up in the UK, but down 10% on average in the EU. Overall sales, including the UK, are down for the 14th consecutive month
Those looking for a step in the right direction today can find it in the Financial Times Live Blog which announces “EU drops timetable for creating eurozone fiscal and banking union”. EU heads of state and government have started gathering in Brussels even though their summit isn’t scheduled to begin until 5pm.
Small Business Owners Cut Capital Expenditures, Plan to Cut Even More According to the latest Gallup survey, Small-Business Owners Pull Back Capital Spending Plans . Moreover, net capital spending by small businesses declined over the last year as well
Today the Federal Reserve issued this Policy Statement Regarding Purchases of Treasury Securities and Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities . On December 12, 2012, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) directed the Open Market Trading Desk (the Desk) at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to purchase longer-term Treasury securities after the maturity extension program is completed at the end of December 2012, initially at a pace of about $45 billion per month. The FOMC also directed the Desk to continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) at a pace of about $40 billion per month. These actions should maintain downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative. The FOMC also directed the Desk to maintain its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from the Federal Reserve’s holdings of agency debt and agency MBS in agency MBS, and, in January, to resume rolling over maturing Treasury securities into new issues at auction.
The Wall Street Journal has a nice interactive map that lets you Make Your Own Deficit-Reduction Plan . I balanced the budget easily without doing things that I think need to be done such as eliminating the department of energy, the department of education, slashing military spending by 35%, etc., etc.