MF Global trustee says most missing money found

A trustee seeking to distribute customer securities overseen by bankrupt MF Global Inc. said Monday that they have traced a majority of the cash that disappeared from the commodities broker.

Last time I checked, “a majority” = 51%. Not to mention that “trace” is not “retrieve”.
This ain’t over.

Senate Passes FAA Bill With Anti-Union Measure

Once a blackmailer is given into, expect that blackmailer to come back and back again; absolutely incredible that Obama and Dems keep giving the blackmailers what they want.

It passed 75 to 20, with a majority of Democrats backing it.

Awesome way to rally the base for November.
Here’s the roll call. Never forget and never forgive.

Indigenous peoples continue the struggle for the earth.

Panama police attack mine protesters

“Panama police fired tear gas on Sunday to clear blockades of the Pan-American highway erected by indigenous groups protesting at changes to mining laws.

“One person was killed and 39 injured in the resulting clashes.

“Activists started blocking the key highway linking Panama and Costa Rica a week ago over concerns that amendments to the mining law will enable transnational firms to take over their ancestral lands.”

LINK.

“Tips”? It’s already been tipped, dudes.

China growth could halve if Europe crisis worsens: IMF

“China’s annual economic growth could be cut nearly in half this year if Europe’s debt crisis tips the world economy into a recession, putting pressure on Beijing to unveil “significant” fiscal stimulus, the International Monetary Fund said.”

LINK.

Biller Keller, carrying water for the entertainment industry, tries to split the anti-SOPA coalition:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/opinion/steal-this-column.html

He says the idea that someone could shut-down the whole Wikipedia if one of its hundreds of thousands of editors linked to an infringing site seems far-fetched, even though that’s exactly what SOPA prescribes.

THis is a more in-depth look at this very cozy arrangement that was exposed not very long ago.

Wall Street’s Secret Spy Center, Run for the 1% by NYPD

“The facility is designed with three long rows of computer workstations.  The outside of each cubicle bears a brass plaque with the names of the occupants: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorganChase, etc.

“You won’t find photographs showing these firms in the surveillance center in any U.S. corporate news outlet, but a foreign news service has them openly displayed – a news organization servicing countries of the former Soviet Union.  These photos were taken during a large gathering of reporters and photographers at the invitation of the NYPD.  As shown in the photos, the event was hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Very secret counter terrorism operation, indeed, with global reporters and photographers coming and going in both 2010 and 2011.”

More.

A bright spot in today’s news!

Consumers Willing to Buy Sustainable U.S. Cotton, MU Researchers Find
“Studies show importance of transparency in U.S. apparel production ”

LINK.

December, 2011, was the 100 year anniversary of Amundson’s trip to the South Pole. Now it’s this nasty race to extract the oil and make lots of money. Yeah: drill! drill! drill!

Race to drill into Antarctic lake
Russian scientists are racing to beat US and UK rivals and be first to drill into an Antarctic sub-glacial lake.

LINK.

This is a few days old, so maybe people have already seen it, but anyway:

Landowners fight eminent domain in Pa. gas field

A pipeline operator assured federal regulators it would minimize using eminent domain against private landowners if given approval to lay a 39-mile natural gas pipeline in northern Pennsylvania’s pristine Endless Mountains.
Yet the company was readying condemnation papers against dozens of landowners even as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was considering its application for the $250 million MARC 1 pipeline. Within two days of winning approval, Central New York Oil & Gas Co., LLC went to court to condemn nearly half the properties along the pipeline’s route — undercutting part of the regulatory commission’s approval rationale and angering landowners who are now fighting the company in court.

http://lwr.org/site/c.dmJXKiOYJgI6G/b.7908769/k.CDA1/Philippines_Floods.htm

“Emergency Alert – Updated January 25, 2012

BACKGROUND
A severe tropical storm struck the southern Philippines on December 16, causing landslides and massive flooding on the island of Mindanao, where Lutheran World Relief is implementing a number of sustainable development projects.

Two major cities in northern Mindanao, Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, were badly hit, as were many surrounding areas. There have been 1,257 casualties reported, more than 4,663 injured, 101 remain missing and more than1.1 million affected, many living in areas where LWR works.

Water access remains the priority concern as is shelter with more than 48,000 homes damaged and more than 13,000 completely destroyed. LWR staff on the ground report that 69,287 people are living in evacuation centers while an additional 391,747 people are staying with relatives or in makeshift structures.”

One domino down.

Romanian government collapses amid public outrage over austerity

“Opposition leaders are calling on President Traian Basescu to step down as well. Crin Antonescu, who heads the opposition Liberal Party, called it “the most corrupt, incompetent and lying government” since the 1989 revolt against communism, the report said.”

. . .

“Such austerity cuts are often a tit-for-tat for strapped nations’ financial survival: Romania made sweeping cuts to secure a $26-billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Bank to keep paying salaries as its economy shrank. Sales taxes were hiked from 19% to 24%. Government workers took a 25% pay cut. ”

LINK.

Could someone please explain how injecting boric acid into one of the Fukushima reactors is supposed to work? Please keep the explanation on the “for dummies” level. Thnx.

My state’s Evil Twins of Deception, Boxer and DiFi, both voted yea. No surprise there.

One of the two common isotopes of Boron, Boron 10, is good at capturing the neutrons that are the mediators of fission chain reactions.

The temperature at the bottom of reactor #2 has begun rising and so they are trying to absorb enough neutrons to damp the fission occurring in the core… wherever that core might be.

I made two previous comments on recent events in reactor #2

http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/01/20/the-roundup-for-january-20-2012/#comment-169112

http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/01/23/the-roundup-for-january-23-2012/#comment-169396

And no, this boron treatment is not a good thing, much less when they are blindly throwing it into a hollowed-out reactor shell that they are trying to pretend is in a state of “cold shutdown.”

But since TEPCO is steadfastly refusing to actually confirm the location and status of any of the three melted cores then anything that happens down underneath the reactors cannot be regarded as surprising.

Your oligarchy at work.

December, 2011, was the 100 year anniversary of Amundson’s trip to the South Pole. Now it’s this nasty race to extract the oil and make lots of money. Yeah: drill! drill! drill!

“Race to drill into Antarctic lake…”

Errrr… no. Wrong hemisphere :)

This drilling is purely scientific, looking for ancient life locked away from the passage of time. It’s a case of Russian and American scientists competing for fun and prestige…

… unlike the case in the Arctic where the <1%ers are staging a kabuki fight over oil spoils that they've already divided up in private.

Thanks for the explanation–and for making it simple enough for me.

Sorry about the Arctic/Antarctic thing. It’s been an upside-down day.

Brazil privatises operations at three airports

“Brazil’s government has awarded contracts to privatise operations at three of its most important state-owned airports.

“The move by the government aims to get the country’s overcrowded airports ready for the 2014 World Cup and the Olympics in 2016.

. . .

“A consortium of Brazilians and South Africans paid about $9bn to operate Sao Paulo’s Garulhos airport for 30 years.”

LINK.

The maneuvering just doesn’t stop.

Banks See Paying Bonus to Troubled Homeowners Beats Foreclosure: Mortgages

“Lenders have routinely delayed or blocked such transactions, known as short sales, in which they accept less from a buyer than the seller’s outstanding loan. Now banks have decided the deals are faster and less costly than foreclosures, which have slowed in response to regulatory probes of abusive practices. Banks are nudging potential sellers by pre-approving deals, streamlining the closing process, forgoing their right to pursue unpaid debt and in some cases providing large cash incentives, said Bill Fricke, senior credit officer for Moody’s Investors Service in New York.”

LINK.

Thanks for that link. I hadn’t heard about these incentives. As I was reading the article I kept thinking there had to be a catch. It says there are no obvious guidelines and it’s more like the homeowner is ‘tapped on the shoulder’ and given the offer. Finally there is a mention that some think these incentives are offered on loans where the bank doesn’t have the paperwork to legally foreclose.

If that’s the case, for example if the bank making this offer is the servicer and they can’t find the original documents needed to foreclose, does that increase the likelihood of chain of title issues further down the road? If so, does having the owner sell the property (rather than the bank selling it) put the burden on the owner (seller)if the new owner (purchaser)later faces someone claiming to have an unpaid mortgage on the property?

I’m not a lawyer (obviously) but I do know that the requirements for sellers to disclosure known problems with the property became more stringent in the last few years. I don’t know if that just applies to physical issues–like they’re aware there’s a leak or a structural problem–or if it extends to title issues.

If the current owner doesn’t know the title is clouded, they wouldn’t have to disclose something they don’t know. But if the bank knew (even though they had convinced a judge they owned the note and mortgage) that there could be chain of title issues in the future, wouldn’t they be required to disclose that?

I’m probably speculating wildly here, because the banks haven’t shown any reluctance about committing all sorts of fraud…so why would they be concerned enough about breaking a few disclosure laws to motivate them to give the homeowner $20,000 or so to sell the home instead of foreclosing on it. But there does seem to be more to this than meets the eye.

Maybe it’s just that they know they can’t legally foreclose (maybe in a locale where the judges have wised up to the fraudulent documents) and possibly have no right to it at all, so getting the short sale proceeds minus 20 grand is better than nothing.

Fractal and realitychecker and any other attorneys out there: Do you think these incentive programs have ulterior motives connected to chain of title issues? Or is it more likely that the folks who are given these offers couldn’t be foreclosed on legally–the homeowner still owes someone somewhere the unpaid balance on the note, but the note is no longer tied to the mortgage and is in effect unsecured, so the homeowner could keep the house even if they default on the note?

Good questions and insight, crowinghen. Hopefully, the lawyers will address the issues you raise today as we move along in this sticky, frothy topic.

Thanks for that link! It was the first I had heard of this phenomenon…a big departure from loading on fees that put people in foreclosure, and many homeowners would be relieved to just be allowed to do a short sale and not be stuck with a judgment for the difference between the loan balance and the sales price. Banks aren’t exactly known for being generous, so I suspect that the speculation that it’s happening when the banks know they can’t legally foreclose because they don’t have the original note and mortgage is correct. (And if that’s the case, the homeowner could keep the home, though they would still owe the money on a now unsecured note. It would be nice if they knew that was an option.)

And thanks for all your links….I really appreciate them and a lot of them are to articles I wouldn’t stumble across on my own.