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Investment Postcards from Cape Town
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Video feast: Make Markets Be Markets
The Roosevelt Institute recently hosted an investment conference, "Make Markets Be Markets", in New York City. All the presentations are posted on Vimeo, icluding speakers such as George Soros, Joseph Stiglitz, Simon Johnson, Jim Chanos and Elizabeth Warren. Click through if you have some spare time over the weekend....
Picture du Jour: Chinese construction – boom or bubble?
It would not take too much guessing to figure out where the bulk of the world's construction activity is taking place. Of course, it is in China, but who would have thought global construction would decline from a year-on-year rate of almost 20% to close to zero once China is...
Lehman Brothers, the next Enron?
Dylan Ratigan talks with former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer about the release of a 2,200 page report laying out a potential criminal case against Lehman Brothers....
National debt – maxing out the card!
View the national debt of the US as a credit card statement ......
Marshall Auerback: Fighting deficit hysteria
Are deficit hawks right about the dangers of mounting government debt? Or, is pursuing fiscal sustainability a recipe for continuing the economy's downward spiral? BNN speaks to Marshall Auerback, fund manager, RAB Capital....
Econbrowser
Update: the 2010-19 Impact of PPACA on Budget Balance
And a quantitative comparison to previous reconciliation measures. The CBO and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have updated cost estimates for H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), as it was passed by the Senate on December 24, 2009. The figures are here. I've incorporated the...
Durable Goods and the Collapse of Global Trade
From a Dallas Fed Letter by Jian Wang: Durable goods represent a moderate share of the economy in most industrial countries -- in the U.S., for example, they accounted for 23.6 percent of real GDP in 2008. However, durable goods make up a large share of international trade. In the U.S.,...
Political pressure seems to be mounting for yuan appreciation. [0] Figure 1 depicts the stability in the USD/CNY nominal exchange rate over the past year....
Modeling problems in credit markets
On Friday I joined fellow blogger Mark Thoma (and a good many other economists) at a very interesting conference on financial markets held at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Here I share some ideas I expressed at the conference about the directions I feel this research ought...
Russ Roberts writes: Menzie Chinn invokes the CBO "estimates" to argue against those who say the stimulus didn't work. Did the stimulus help turn the economy around and create jobs? I'm skeptical on logical grounds but I confess that I do not have strong empirical evidence on my side. But those...
Speaking of Unfunded Liabilities: Medicare Part D
The Financial Report of the United States Government, 2009 was released last week. Perusing the tables, one encounters the gigantic new, unfunded entitlement enacted in 2003, namely Medicare Part D....
The Big Picture
Lehman Brothers, the Next Enron?
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy...
I noted this morning that BLS will release the March Employment Situation report on Friday, April 2 — Good Friday. A holiday for the NYSE. Not sure the last time this happened. Could make for some interesting fireworks on Monday, April 5th (and Thursday, the 1st, for that matter). Now back...
Debasing & Defacing the Dollar
Heh heh: Not what you Dollar Bears thought! These are a half dozen of my favorites from 30 Bizarre Examples of Defacing Money from the aptly named site, MONEY MUMBO JUMBO: Sparta! iPod Head shot Alice in Wonderland Moth Eaten: And even though I was never a big Kiss fan, this one still tickles me: Kiss Source: Money...
Between Dire and Disastrous February 12, 2010 By John Mauldin A Path-Dependent World Between Dire and Disastrous A National Suicide Pact It’s More than Just Greece R.I.P., Walt Ratterman The NBA, Snow, and No Power The news is somewhat “All Greece, All the Time,” but most of the pieces miss the more critical elements, and in today’s letter we...
James Chanos on Earnings, Shorting, China, Greece
Famed short-seller James Chanos, president of Kynikos Associates, shares his market insight. Airtime: Thurs. Feb. 4 2010 | 7:05 AM ET Part 2 Airtime: Thurs. Feb. 4 2010 | 7:35 AM ET Part 3 Airtime: Thurs. Feb. 4 2010 | 8:20 AM ET Part 4...
Greg Mankiw's Blog
It is a rare opportunity when I find myself to the left of National Public Radio. But sometimes it happens.A blog reader alerts me to this NPR story, which says:economists frown on what they call "Pigovian taxes," which are designed not only to raise revenue but put to governments in...
I will be talking at Oberlin College tomorrow evening....
The Problem with Deficit Neutrality
Imagine you have a friend who has a budget problem. Every month he spends more than he earns. His credit card bills are piling up. He is clearly on an unsustainable path. Then one day he comes to you with an idea.Friend: I am going to take off a few...
The great financial economist Eugene Fama offers a retrospective....
In my most recent Times column about the President's budget, I wrote, Making matters worse, these bleak budget projections are based on relatively optimistic economic assumptions. The administration forecasts economic growth of 3.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2010, followed by 4.3 percent the...
Source. Thanks to Joshua Gans for the pointer....
The Reformed Broker
Saturday Night Video: Iron Man 2 Looks Ridic
Iron Man 2 trailer....
The Shortest Review of ‘The Quants’ Ever
Book review. You remember books, right?...
Excessive Use of Repo 105 is White Collar Crime
Repo 105 - we know fraud when we see it....
Stock Wars Episode 5: Amylin Pharma
The latest installment of the Emmy-award winning drama, Stock Wars....
The Retailer Rumor Mill in High Gear
Everybody's talking takeover....
…and the Blogger Sentiment Indicator is Born
Bloggers as contrary market indicators....
Jesse's Café Américain
SP, NDX and US Dollar Daily Charts
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NY Fed Implicated in the Accounting Fraud at Lehman
Quite a bombshell from Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism tonight.I wonder if the US mainstream media will ignore and dismiss it as they did the exclusion of the Wall Street banks from European debt sales in response to their fraudulent CDO sales. Is there a 'reverse gear' on the Voice...
Feldstein: Worry About the Dollar, Not the Euro: Keep an Eye on Sterling
Here is Marty Feldstein's view of the economic fundamentals in the euro and dollar portion of the forex markets.Fundamentals mean little in the short term for trading purposes, at least in my own judgement. However, it does look as though the euro/dollar cross is a bit overdone. If that is...
The Case Against the Fed from a US Senator
If you read through this letter from US Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who is also the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Economic Policy, you will get a grasp of how badly the Fed has mishandled its responsibilities over the past ten years at least.I thought the Senator was far...
Investors Who Lost In Madoff and Stanford Schemes Want Government to "Make Them Whole"
These are, by and large, relatively well-to-do people who were considered 'qualified investors,' or ought to have been. They were able to place large sums of money in obviously risky investments seeking abnormally high rates of return, which they did receive for many years.The notion that the government should retroactively...
And Here Come Those Treasury Auctions
The US equity markets are holding on to the rumour-inspired gains from yesterday, as commodities are hit and the longer end of the bonds slump a bit."There is also the matter of the 3, 10, and 30 year Treasury auctions this week. The dollar is often dressed up for the...
Calculated Risk
Chinese Premier: Currency not undervalued, warns of "Double Dip" Recession
From Bloomberg: China’s Wen Rebuffs Yuan Calls, Is ‘Still Worried’ About Dollar "I don’t think the yuan is undervalued,” Wen said at a press conference in Beijing marking the end of China’s annual parliamentary meetings. Dollar volatility is a “big” concern and “I’m still worried” about China’s U.S. currency holdings,...
It has been a month since Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister and chairman of the 16 euro-zone finance ministers, said that Greece had until March 16th to show progress on their budget. The euro-zone finance ministers meet this week, and apparently Greece has meet the short term goals....
Unofficial Problem Bank List at 640
This is an unofficial list of Problem Banks compiled only from public sources. Changes and comments from surferdude808: There were several additions and removals during the week that left the Unofficial Problem Bank List totals almost unchanged. This week there are 640 institutions with assets of $325.6 billion compared...
Nearing Retirement and Unemployed or Underemployed
One of the groups seriously impacted by the great recession is the "pre retirement" generation - currently the "Baby Boomers" - the workers between the ages of 45 and 64. Click on graph for larger image in new window.This graph shows the unemployment rates for two groups: 45 to 54...
IMF Official: World's Regulatory Supervision Shockingly Inadequate
From Tom Abate at the San Francisco Chronicle: Financial leaders dissect meltdown "What is quite shocking," [John Lipsky, a senior official of the International Monetary Fund] said, is how inadequate the world's regulatory supervisors were in curbing the lax lending standards at the heart of the housing and credit bubbles....
LA Area Port Traffic in February
Note: this data is not seasonally adjusted. There is a very distinct seasonal pattern for imports, but not for exports. LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation's container port traffic.Sometimes port traffic gives us an early hint of changes in the trade deficit. The following graph shows the...
Ultimi Barbarorum
Econobloggers need their crisis back
I think so, dear readers. With the advent of peace and plenty, as we move to the broad sunlit uplands of The Recovery, I fear some of the spice has gone out of the commentary on sites like this one, and its friends. Where people used to read econoblogs to...
Baruch, in this post: A new piece of information, augmented by local insight, that amounts to yet another upside case for Apple. And yes, it involves the iPad. The new information: This past Thursday, Apple revealed plans to open 25 retail stores in China. Currently, there is one swish Apple Store...
In defence of the Verizon iPhone
Baruch has already forgotten about the iPad. Whether chick magnet or large print e-Reader for the elderly, any ideas we have about its significance are speculation at this point, and will probably unravel in the face of reality. The most tangible action at the moment is in the iPhone, and...
iPad: forget the old people — it’s a chick magnet
The iPad: Bloggers hate it. Investors hate it — AAPL is down 4% in the cold light of the day after. Fake Steve Jobs doesn’t seem to like it much. Even Andrew Sullivan is down on it. What do all these people have in common? They’re all (mostly) men. What are their...
The real reason why the iPad will be a success
Those who are dubious about the iPad’s impending success (and I suspect that you are one of them, Baruch) are of course in danger or repeating history (qv iPod, iPhone). I have no intention of replicating all the arguments pro- and con the iPad, so I will limit myself to...
Baruch, Symbolism is never lost on the Chinese, who are the masters of signaling, and thus there was some great poignancy to Google’s A new approach to China being posted to the blogspot.com domain, which is blocked in its entirety by China’s censorious government. This proved quite a sassy way to...
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
Here are a few stories this past week that caught my eye that I have yet to mention.$3 Trillion Tax IncreaseObama's $3,000,000,000,000 Tax Hike From the Heritage FoundationWhen he released his new budget proposal on February 1, President Barack Obama asserted that the government "simply cannot continue to spend as...
Spotlight on the Non-Recovery in Texas; Heads Still Buried In The Sand
Here are a pair of articles about the recovery in Texas that simply did not happen. Please consider New data, new story on jobs.For much of 2009, Central Texas business leaders hung their hats on reports that showed, even in a recession, Austin was still adding jobs.Turns out there was...
As noted on numerous occasions, public union greed and arrogance has no bounds.Worse yet, today we have yet another major example that shows many elected politicians still have zero political willpower to do anything serious about it. In Montgomery, Maryland, the politicians are even willing to cook the books...
On March 12 the Guardian reported Greece debt: EU agrees bailout dealExclusive: Germany plays pivotal role in potential eurozone rescue package for Greek debtsThe eurozone has agreed a multibillion-euro bailout for Greece as part of a package to shore up the single currency after weeks of crisis, the Guardian has...
Stimulus About To Wither On Vine; A look At February Retail Sales
Jed Graham writing for Investor's Business Daily says something I have been saying for several months: Extra Stimulus Aid Fuels Sales, But Fiscal Flood Cresting EarlyIn gauging the economic recovery's trajectory, you shouldn't forget that this is not a normal tax season.People who don't pay income tax are getting an...
Marc Faber and Mish on Tech Ticker; Mish vs. Dr. Doom
I had the great pleasure of meeting Marc Faber in person over the past couple of days after having exchanged emails with him about various things for the past several years. Marc is not only extremely knowledgeable about investments and strategies, he is also a lot of fun to be...
Zero Hedge
Dear Zero Hedge readers and blogger fans, it is time to move on......to our new home: www.zerohedge.comFor a little over 6 months blogger has served us well, and yet it reached its limitations some time ago. Our new website, in addition to all currently existing features, now has a full...
Hey Ron, didn't realize your new position as a contributing editor on CNBC came with the contributing title of "Portfolio Manager." Didn't Stevie put a one year kibbosh on that? But I digress... And in all honesty I am surprised that you seem to have the correct spin on things...
1 To 3 Years Of Securities Recalls Aka Forced Squeeze To Go
After numerous posts on this blog discussing speculation of assorted forced buy ins, it seems that this phenomenon is quite factual and quite pervasive among the asset management community. As Zero Hedge has noted previously, forced buy-ins are a critical issue as it leaves shorts at the mercy of their...
NYSE Claims It Does Not Engage In Flash Trading
From an interview earlier with NYSE's Larry Leibowitz, who is surprisingly vocal against Flash trading. Larry - since the NYSE does not engage in Flash trading, can you please indicate whether or not the SLP program provides advance notice to Goldman Sachs ala Direct Edge's ELP program. Regardless, the escalation...
The Goldman VaR Exemption Question Escalates
It seems only yesterday that Zero Hedge had some questions in regard to Goldman's VaR Fed exemption. No response was received from 85 Broad. Today it appears several Congressmen, lead by Alan Grayson, are willing to drive a sharp stick pretty deep into the hornets' nest, by sending a letter...
Schumer Letter To Mary Shapiro
"I write out of concern that the integrity of our capital markets is being compromised by the ability of some insiders to view order information before it is available to the entire market, and use electronic trading strategies to profit from that information at the expense of other investors."Full letter...
The Baseline Scenario
By James Kwak Mike Konczal did some more great work earlier this week in two posts on the not-so-exciting topic of second liens. I don’t have much in the way of new insight or analysis to provide, so let me just summarize. A second lien is a second mortgage on a house....
What’s Wrong with the Financial System in Eight Minutes
By James Kwak Yesterday I was at a conference on “New Ideas for Limiting Bank Size,” hosted by the Fordham Law School Corporate Law Center. Simon gave the keynote speech over lunch. It’s actually the first time I’ve seen Simon give a presentation; we’re rarely in the same city at the...
By James Kwak I have a lot to catch up on from this past week, like the Lehman report, but first I have more important business to attend to: the NCAA Division I men’s college basketball tournament. Tomorrow is Selection Sunday, the day when sixty-five teams are selected for the tournament....
The German Finance Minister Needs To Confront Investment Banks
By Simon Johnson Wolfgang Schauble, German finance minister, has a surprisingly sensible op ed in today’s Financial Times. As we suggested yesterday, first the relevant Europeans should decide if they want to keep the euro - more precisely, who stays in and who leaves the currency union – then policy must be adjusted accordingly. Mr Schauble is obviously correct that existing...
By Simon Johnson Senator Richard Shelby, ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, today issued the following statement, “Republicans remain open to finding common ground with Chairman Dodd. If my Democrat colleagues are interested in enacting reforms that protect American taxpayers, promote economic growth, and preserve the competitiveness of our financial markets, there...
By Peter Boone and Simon Johnson Bubbles are back as a topic of serious discussion, as they were before the financial crisis. The questions are: (1) can you spot bubbles, (2) can policymakers do anything to deflate them gently, and (3) can anyone make money when bubbles get out of control? Our...
Africa Business Source
Renaissance Capital launches South Africa operations, hires Clifford Sacks
Renaissance Capital, the emerging markets investment bank, announces today that Clifford Sacks will join as CEO South Africa and Head of Pan-African Equities and will lead the Firm’s expansion into the continent’s largest economy. Sacks joins from Merrill Lynch, where he was Co-CEO South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. The South Africa...
Opportunity to process fruit for guaranteed local market, Malawi
There is an opportunity to establish a fruit juice concentrate processing plant to cut back on imports that currently form the bulk of juices sold in Malawi. Malawi’s excellent climate favours the growing of a wide range of fruits including pineapples, tangerines, mangoes, bananas and avocados. However, there is limited fruit...
New Offshore Oil Discovery in Angola
Petrobras, this week announced two new oil discoveries made in Block 15/06, in deep Angolan waters. The Company holds 5% stakes in Block 15/06 and Eni is the operator, holding 35% of the working interest in it. The wells Nzanza-1 and Cinguvu-1 are located around 350 km northwest of Luanda, in...
Ayisi Makatiani is the Managing Partner and CEO of Fanisi Capital Ltd., which manages the Fanisi Venture Capital Fund for investing in East Africa (Kenya,Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda). Makatiani holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Minor in Economics with a...
The 2010 African Business Conference - Howard University
Howard University African Students’ Association will be hosting an African Business Conference from February 25 to February 27, 2010. The primary aim of the conference is to highlight business and career opportunities in African countries. This aim will be achieved by featuring speakers on various panel sessions; the speakers, who...
IFC Launched its Business Edge Management Training System in Cameroon
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, on Feb. 18 launched its Business Edge management training system in Cameroon, increasing its support for entrepreneurs and small and medium sized businesses in the country.Business Edge is an interactive learning program that offers skills training to help managers increase their knowledge...
naked capitalism
Apologies for thin posts, but the time change (did you reset your clocks?) and the book chat (see preceding post, we went nearly three hours) cut into my blogging time in a major way. In pictures: Bear power BBC The greatest film scenes ever shot Guardian. One of my favorites is...
Book (and Other Hot Topics) Chat on FireDogLake
I chatted at the Book Salon on FireDogLake on Saturday (yes I screwed up completely in not notifying Naked Capitalism readers). The conversation was hosted by masaccio and led to a wide ranging discussion. The chat started with his summary of the book: Yves Smith brings the same clear and concise...
A Game of Tag Breaks Out Between London’s Graffiti Elite Wall Street Journal (hat tip reader Lance) Climate linked to smaller birds BBC The Dollar, the Deficit, and Accounting Identities Dean Baker Fragile riches Rolfe Winkler CSI Lehman-Barclays: Who Really Killed the September 2008 Deal? WSJ Deal Journal. Note the examiner’s report...
From the December 2009 issue of The Baffler (no online version of this article available). For those not familiar with The Baffler, this is the revival of a magazine of business and culture edited by Thomas Frank that had previously been published from 1988 to 2007. This issue was called...
Your Humble Blogger Talks About Lehman on BNN
Enjoy! View the segment here....
Guest Post: We Can’t Inflate Our Way Out of the Debt Crisis … So What CAN We Do?
By Washington. As I wrote last August: Commonly-accepted wisdom says that we can inflate our way out of our debt crisis. *** But as I have previously noted, UBS economist Paul Donovan has demonstrated that governments can’t inflate their way out of debt traps, saying: The problem with the idea of governments inflating their way...
Manage Anger Daily
By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. Chelsea King, 17, went for a jog after school last Thursday. Her body was found Tuesday in a shallow grave a half mile from her car. Chelsea was a straight A student, an athlete and a musician in the prestigious San Diego Youth Symphony. Beloved by many...
By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. It poses quite a challenge to an anger management professional when your website gets hacked. That’s exactly what happened to us two weeks ago. Some lonely soul with too much time on his hacker hands sent visitors to our site on a joy ride through Chinese websites. ...
What to Do When Your Boss is Evil
By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. Most baby boomers will switch jobs 10 times in their life, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ideas about corporate loyalty and job security seem quaint and antiquated now. Today everyone is a free agent. When job competition appears steep and jobs are scarce, a...
The 2009 Road Rage Award Goes To…
By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. The 2009 Road Rage Award goes to Dr. Christopher Thomas Thompson, 59. The doctor wins for speeding past two cyclists, slamming on his brakes, causing one to hit the rear window of his red Infiniti, and the other to suffer a separated shoulder. Dr. Thompson, unable to...
Predictions for 2010: Mental Health
By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. At the start of a new year, news outlets, psychics and financial analysts give their predictions for the new year. Psychic Sylvia Browne predicts 2010 will bring an increase in childhood skin cancer and a cure for the common cold. CNN predicts web trends like more television...
By Gina Simmons, Ph.D. As a child I was blessed with two friends who profoundly inspired me. Michelle, blind from birth, was one of the most popular girls in the school. With exquisite auditory acuity, she recognized voices and would shout out across the quad, “how ya doin’ Gina!” before I...
Real Estate Investing For Real | A BiggerPockets Investment Property Blog
Can SMS Real Estate Marketing Attract more Home Buyers?
SMS Real Estate Marketing is a creative way of marketing a home through the use of text messaging. Statistics show that billions of text messages are sent per month. In fact, the number of text messages sent from a cell phone can easily out number the amount of phone calls made...
How Long Did It Take You to Get Your First Real Estate Deal?
How long did it take you to get your first deal? It took me a little over four months. And an investor I know just got his first deal after almost a full-year. Also, this guy was actually doing marketing and trying to get a deal the entire time. But...
How To Succeed in Anything in Life – Don’t Do This And You’ll Fail… Every Time!
A couple of days ago, I was watching a presentation by a very successful business building consultant and he said something that prompted me to write this article. Why? Because the very same success tip he talked about has allowed me to be where I am at right now in...
Celebrate The Five Year BiggerPockets Blog Anniversary!
Time certainly flies, doesn’t it? Today marks five years since I started the BiggerPockets Blog (formerly known as “Real Estate Investing for Real”) with a post that set off a revolution! Ok, actually, the first post on this blog, Real Estate Is a Very Hot Investment, was pretty weak, but...
Here’s an Answer to a Major Burning Question When Dealing with Private Investors
Remember those 1980’s workout tapes? There would be a guy or girl on with leg warmers, Spandex, huge hair that would catch fire if it got close to something hot, a perma-smile and they were always encouraging you to “feel the burn!” (not that I ever worked out any of those tapes…) Often...
The Ten Best in RE.net This Week: Mar. 13, 2010 Edition
1 ) Real Entrepreneurship – This was a very enjoyable read. You may not think this way often, but real estate agents are true entrepreneurs. 2 ) How To Shop For Mortgages And Keep Your Credit Scores High – Dan Green offers a wealth of information in here that...
Race-Talk
Afghan Prince says U.S. and Coalition Forces making big mistake
Prince Abdul Ali Seraj is a direct descendant of nine generations of kings of Afghanistan. He is also the president of the National Coalition for Dialogue with Tribes of Afghanistan, a grassroots trans-tribal movement that has had much success in unifying all the tribes and an organization that works towards...
It all started with The Root. The staff constructed a somewhat comical list of black folks they’d like to erase from black history. (Think Flavor Flav, Marion Barry, and The Apprentice’s Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth.) Okay, I thought, we can toast to that. Then came John McWhorter, the conservative scholar and author, who...
Waste` (wash-tay) Chicago; Omaha no good
In 1952 the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a subsidiary of the U. S. Department of the Interior, initiated a program for Indians living on reservations that sounded a heck of a lot like a pogrom used in Nazi Germany during World War II. America’s “pogrom” was called the “Urban Indian...
Want to know what’s wrong with the War on Drugs?
By Madhuri Mohindar and Ishita Srivastava It’s the first time that 1 in every 100 adult Americans is in prison, proof of an exploding prison system that our country can ill afford and a movement away from rehabilitation programs. Even more disturbing are the racial disparities within the...
Stop the racist attacks on our children
Originally published in Indian Country Today Just as we think we’re making progress, another hate crime rears its ugly head. And this time, it’s against our children. Last week the Web site UsedWinnipeg.com ran an advertisement headlined “Native Extraction Service” with a photograph of three young Native boys....
What “Precious” tells us about images Of blackness
Originally published on NewsOne Image is everything. Whoever said that was apparently right, especially in the Los Angeles area, home of the movie industry, the recent Academy Awards and the annual Wadsworth Elementary School Black History Month parade. All have been in the news lately highlighting the continuing...
Denise Richardson
Tell the Senate: Work for Us, Not Big Bankers.
Join the National Call-In Week and Call Your Senator Today!The process is easy and the message is clear: Congress must rein in the reckless greedy behavior of Wall Street and create an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency! More than a......
Homeowners not getting Loan Modifications. What lies between the excuses?
Even though the Obama administration created a $75 billion program to limit foreclosures and help make homes more affordable through loan modifications -I think it's fair to say that the program isn't working as intended. When questioning why they continue......
Bank of America charged with Fraud
The New York Attorney General's office announced today that they're charging Bank of America and its former CEO Ken Lewis with fraud. The charges stem from BofA's disastrous merger with Merrill Lynch and their alleged failure to disclose important information......
Journalists Tracking Education Stimulus Spending -- and how you can help!
The recent economic stimulus package included billions of education dollars. We all know that whenever large sums of money are involved, it is of utmost importance to follow its trail -- right from the start! How else do we know......
New Twist On Counterfeit Check Scheme Targeting U.S. Law Firms
The FBI continues to receive reports of counterfeit check scheme targeting U.S. law firms. As previously reported scammers are sending e-mails to lawyers claiming to be overseas and seeking legal representation to collect delinquent payments from third parties in the......
There is a cold chill running throughout this country -and it's not necessarily all about mother nature. Though most of us will soon begin to thaw-out from this latest arctic blast, there seems to be deep freeze surrounding Wall Street......
Suhaib Webb
By Yasmin Mogahed | originally published by InFocus Roses have always been my favorite flower. I’m always struck by how perfect they are—for a moment. But in that moment, and even more so the moments that follow, roses have taught me an invaluable lesson. And I don’t mean a lesson in botany or...
A Lecture by Suhaib Webb | Transcribed by Fuseina Mohamad Part I We came together for a noble purpose: to study the book of Allah, the Qur’an. The Qur’an is the speech of Allah, innahu kalaam Allah. This is the speech of the Creator talking directly to the creation. That is why...
Question I am having trouble understanding the following narration from al-Bukhari’s Sahih: “The divine inspiration paused for a while and the Prophet ﷺ became so sad, as we have heard, that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains, and every time he went up the top...
Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
by Maryam Amir-Ebrahimi What do you think of when you see a sister who isn’t wearing hijab? How about a brother who is laughing with many girls? Ever look down on them? Think you’re better than them? It’s easy to be self-righteous. It’s even easier to fall prey to this attitude if...
by Shazia Ahmad Question I understand that hijab is required, and I’ve been wearing it for some time now but I feel like putting it on might have been a mistake. I don’t feel like it’s made me become a better Muslim, and I feel almost like I’m deceiving people because...
by Jinan Bastaki The Salah Series: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X We all know that proper wudhu (ablution) is a prerequisite to the prayer. Thus, many of us see wudhu just as a means. One thinks,...
The 'Critic Magazine' Blog
Muslims Are Their Own Worst Enemy
By Paul Craig Roberts @ VDareMuslims are numerous but powerless. Divisions among Muslims, especially between Sunni and Shi’ites, have consigned the Muslim Middle East to almost a century of Western control. Muslims cannot even play together. The Islamic Solidarity Games, a regional version of the Olympics, which were to be held in...
Survey - Should Religious Scholars Evolve?
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'Graveyard of Empires': Who's Next?
Genghis Khan could not hold onto Afghanistan. Neither will the United Statesby Dahr JamailOn September 7 the Swedish aid agency Swedish Committee for Afghanistan reported that the previous week US soldiers raided one of its hospitals. According to the director of the aid agency, Anders Fange, troops stormed through both the men’s...
Poisoning Children in Pakistan
An investigation undertaken by this newspaper (The Dawn) has revealed the presence of dangerously high levels of contaminants in toys commonly available in Karachi. These toxic metals and chemicals include elements such as lead, cadmium and various phthalates that are serious health hazards. Worryingly, there is no system in Karachi —...
US plans $1.4bn media aid for Pak
By Reuters Published Monday, March 01, 2010The Obama administration sent lawmakers this week a plan for $1.45 billion (Dh5.32bn) in aid for Pakistan this year, funding media campaigns to counter extremist views as well as water, energy and other projects.The 2010 spending plan, obtained by Reuters, was sent to lawmakers...
'The Picture' By David Glenn Cox
I want you to look very closely at this picture and try and keep it in your minds eye. This was a perfectly healthy twenty two-year-old young man who in the service of his country got half of his head blown off. I think that’s important, I think that’s newsworthy....
Jr Deputy Accountant
Blowing a Bigger Bubble: The Green Scam
I remind you I live in San Francisco. California. You know, the state that invented hijacking tax refunds because it cannot pay its bills - ever the trend-setter, California may not be alone this year in holding on just a tad longer to money that was never theirs in the...
No Administration Left Behind, Just America's Few Remaining Geniuses
My what is a dumbass?! (seriously, it's real) Ask Skeptical CPA how he feels about the state of education in America. I am compelled to agree with him, the educational system in this country is a fraud, plain and simple. Some have suggested state-subsidized "higher" education is little more than a...
Obama's Foreclosure Plan a Success (Half of One, at Least)
There isn't much to say about this, least of all "I'm shocked" or "OMG you have to be joking me!" - more like "yeah, and?" WaPo: About 90,000 distressed borrowers have lost their mortgage aid under the government's foreclosure prevention plan, and many more are at risk of losing the help, according...
OMG! Obama Moves Quickly to Populate the Fed, Announces 2 Possible Board Picks
Pic credit: married to the seaSuddenly concerned with filling up vacancies at the Fed Board of Governors, Obama is busting his ass to get his picks into the temple on 20th and Constitution. I need not even express my skepticism, I'm sure you all already know how I feel.NYT:Moving quickly...
JDA's Worst Nightmare Comes True: Obama Taps SF Fed's Janet Yellen as Fed Vice Chair?
Pic credit: married to the seaFirst the official stuff and let me just tell you, I had to step outside and get a breath of fresh air after I read this just to make sure I wasn't suffering from some kind of paranoid delusion. Was I sleeping? Someone fucking pinch...
Drug Dealers and Crackheads Go Free in San Francisco
Seriously. First California is broke and has to release state prisoners to alleviate part of the costs sunk into housing their bad asses, now the SFPD drug lab has a cokehead problem and the City Attorney's office has to let a bunch of criminals go as a result. What the San Francisco...