InvestmentWatchBlog – NY Fed President: Some Wall Street Banks Are Just Morally Bankrupt – 8 November 2013

Yesterday, New York Federal Reserve Chair William Dudley gave an ominous speech about the danger of ‘Too Big To Fail’ on Wall Street, in part blaming the industry’s very nature for its continuation.

The speech was long, but his points were simple — TBTF is alive, and while coming up with a doomsday plan and making banks hold more money is important, it’s not enough. Regulators must find a way to change management incentives on Wall Street so that risk is mitigated far before a bank comes close to failing.

If that can be achieved, questions about the size of U.S. banks are less important (though worth discussing with appropriate respect for their complexity).

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/dudley-too-big-to-fail-speech-2013-11#ixzz2k4JsAOp6 via www.investmentwatchblog.com / link to original article

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DealBook – UBS Pays $3.76 Billion To Swiss Central Bank In Buyback Of Toxic Assets – 8 November 2013

DealBook

By CHAD BRAY

LONDON — In the latest sign of a strengthening environment for European banks, the Swiss bank UBS said Friday that it paid $3.76 billion to Switzerland’s central bank to repurchase the remaining value of a portfolio of troubled assets taken off its books during the financial crisis.

As part of its rescue plan five years ago, UBS spun off $38.7 billion in illiquid or distressed loans, securities and derivatives into a fund backed by the Swiss government and the Swiss National Bank. The underlying assets in the fund have been sold over time.

Read the whole article at: www.dealbook.nytimes.com / link to original article

Saint Germain And Méline Lafont – The Collective Choice And Energy Update: A Shift Within A Shift, Within A Shift – 8 November 2013

My dear friends,

I think I can speak on behalf of all of us when I say that these past few weeks and more specifically these past few days of the solar eclipse have been rather rough and have led us to specific insights and to situations that can only contribute to our evolution. In my point of view (and I feel this personally as well) we are currently dealing with a very intense energy wave which is straining at times but nevertheless something we can cope with. I especially notice it around me in “Living together”conditions with others (in my case living with my children) and I can easily see the effects this energy shift has on them and I have to learn how to deal with it in conjunction with my own process and that of friends and family. All in all, it is sometimes difficult to remain in a balanced state or to regain it. HOWEVER what I find highly effective is to retreat yourself temporarily and to go within, to feel yourself in that moment and to just be without any obligations or expectations. To enjoy yourself, to take care of yourself, to open yourself up. Being quiet and giving yourself completely in full trust to the currents of energy flowing through you all the while being aware that you are those energies. You cannot keep this source of energy from flowing and moving into who you really are lest you remain fixed in this duality (denial, separation and density). You want to expand, to flow and to ascend : you, being an energy, want to break free out of the box (dense physical body) but simultaneously you keep yourself locked in this box. As a result you are becoming restless because you want to grow, you want to break free and for some reason or another this doesn’t happen. You don’t see that it is you who is holding you back and keeping you fixed. I have a feeling that it is with this inward struggle we truly are getting a helping hand. Dare to have faith in yourself (your Divine Self not your alter ego) and in your guides closest to you; they are so very near and palpable even recognizable and in plain sight.

Dana Mrkich – Being Squeezified And Juicified – 8 November 2013

Only a week into November and we’ve already had 8 M-class Solar Flares and 1 X class (although the most recent M class today was nearly an X class and felt like it too!).

This journey of being squeezed and expanded continues, and I know everyone must get tired of hearing this and are exhausted from the process. I got the image of an orange being squeezed, and the message that this is how we get the juice. The rind is discarded much like a snake shedding its skin. So too we are shedding what we no longer need, and are being squeezified and juicified (if these aren’t already real words they should be!) and turning into lighter, healthier, less-dense versions of ourselves. 

Michael Pilarski – Prayers To The Devas Of Radioactive Elements – 8 November 2013

At the risk of making my own website get blocked for posting “malicious content,” as my web security claims when I opened the Friends of the Trees/ INW Permaculture Guild newsletter on my laptop instead of my iPhone, I feel this information and prayer are important enough to share. I don’t know if it’s the Fukushima information that’s objectionable or some other part of the newsletter, but here goes. Michael asked for people to share the prayer, and I believe it’s a powerful one.

CNN – Super Typhoon Haiyan, One Of Strongest Storms Ever, Hits Central Philippines – 8 November 2013

Super Typhoon Haiyan makes landfall

(CNN) — With 25 million people in its path, Super Typhoon Haiyan — one of the strongest storms recorded on the planet — smashed into the Philippines on Friday morning.

As the storm plowed across the cluster of islands in the heart of the country, casualties were reported, more than 100,000 people took shelter in evacuation centers and hundreds of flights were canceled.

Read the whole article and see video at :  edition.cnn.com/link to original article 

(Lucas : Update : I am sorry to say in this moment at 17 PM European Standard Time (Daylight Saving)  there are 4 people who have died  due to Haiyan in the Philipines.)

Paul Craig Roberts ~ How America Was Lost – 8 November 2013

How America Was Lost

Paul Craig Roberts

“No legal issue arises when the United States responds to a challenge to its power, position, and prestige.” Dean Acheson , 1962, speaking to the American Society of International Law.

Dean Acheson declared 51 years ago that power, position, and prestige are the ingredients of national security and that national security trumps law. In the United States democracy takes a back seat to “national security,” a prerogative of the executive branch of government.

Read the whole article at: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/ link to original article

Top US, EU Officials In Geneva To Push For Iran Deal Amid Israeli Protest – 8 November 2013

Diplomatic heavyweights including US Secretary of State John Kerry have flown to Geneva for nuclear talks on Iran, in a sign that there could be an end to a decade-long deadlock. However, Israel has resolved to reject any proposal under discussion.

Diplomatic heavyweights including US Secretary of State John Kerry have flown to Geneva for nuclear talks on Iran, in a sign that there could be an end to a decade-long deadlock. Israel has resolved to reject any proposal under discussion, however.

Leading diplomats from the six powers negotiating with Iran – the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – have rushed to Geneva for talks that could see a landmark deal with Tehran reached.

Read the whole article at: www.rt.com / link to original article

Phys.org – Australian Claims Huge Bitcoin Robbery – 8 November 2013

Phys.org

An Australian man claimed Friday to be the victim of a massive bitcoin robbery, saying hackers had stolen more than one million dollars of the digital currency from his website.

The man, known only as TradeFortress, said about 4,100 bitcoins worth about Aus$1.1 million (US$1.04 million) that he was holding for his website’s users were stolen from his site in two hacks.

Read the whole article at: www.phys.org/ link to original article

Matt Taibbi – Chase Isn’t The Only Bank In Trouble – 8 November 2013

I’ve been away for weeks now on a non-financial assignment (we have something unusual coming out in Rolling Stone in a few weeks) so I’ve fallen behind on some crazy developments on Wall Street. There are multiple scandals blowing up right now, including a whole set of ominous legal cases that could result in punishments so extreme that they might significantly alter the long-term future of the financial services sector.

As one friend of mine put it, “Whatever those morons put aside for settlements, they’d better double it.”

Read the whole story at : www.rollingstone.com/ link to original article