• 1) Bair Says Using TARP as Bank Capital Helped Fuel Public Outrage

Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) — Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said using the Troubled Asset Relief Program to inject capital into struggling banks was “not a good idea” and helped erode confidence in the regulatory system.

“I just see all the problems it’s created now, the horrible public outcry,” Bair said in an interview for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on PBS, which released excerpts from tonight’s broadcast. “It’s had a terrible, terrible impact on public attitudes toward the financial systems, toward the regulatory community.”

• 2) Qatar wants more discussion on dollar pegs

“‘I think they should be more prepared to talk about their currency pricing because what we are having now is the dollar sliding and it is having an impact on the price of currencies linked to it,’ Ibrahim al-Ibrahim told Reuters in an interview.”….

“But Qatar’s Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said in October the debate was ongoing on using the US dollar for oil trade or shifting to a basket of currencies.”

• 3) Dollar Overwhelms Central Banks From Brazil to Korea

“Brazil, South Korea and Russia are losing the battle among developing nations to reduce gains in their currencies and keep exports competitive as the demand for their financial assets, driven by the slumping dollar, is proving more than central banks can handle.”….

“We have to be careful that our exchange rate doesn’t appreciate too much as to deindustrialize the country,” Marcos Verissimo, chief of staff at Brazil’s state development bank known as BNDES, said yesterday at a conference in Sao Paulo. “The capital goods industry has suffered tremendously.”

• 4) Economists fear impact of ‘dollar carry trade’

“The global economy may be poised for the creation of a massive and potentially explosive “dollar carry trade” — just like the pre-crisis yen carry trade, only more frightening and potentially much bigger.

The warning was issued today at a summit of Asia Pacific leaders in Singapore and comes as a diverse variety of assets have begun to display bubble-like patterns of inflation: everything from gold and copper to fine wine and Hong Kong penthouses.”

………4A) Fed May Cause Next Crisis, Hong Kong’s Tsang Suggests

“Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve’s policy of keeping interest rates near zero is fueling a wave of speculative capital that may cause the next global crisis, Hong Kong’s leader said.

“I’m scared and leaders should look out,” said Donald Tsang, chief executive of the city, said in Singapore today. “America is doing exactly what Japan did last time,” he said, adding that Japan’s zero interest rate policy contributed to the 1997 Asian financial crisis and U.S. mortgage meltdown.”

…….4B) Yuan ‘Straitjacket’ Risks Inflating China Bubbles

“Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) — China is facing the biggest challenge to its currency policy since the start of the global recession as economists warn the peg to the dollar risks causing an asset bubble.”

• 5) Trade deficit widens more than expected in Sept.

“The Commerce Department says the trade deficit jumped 18.2 percent in September to $36.5 billion. That was the largest deficit since January and more than the $31.7 billion imbalance economists had expected.”

• 6) New state deficit: $2 billlion+ (Washington)

“Here’s what makes it so tough. The state has to fund education. It must fund Medicaid. In fact, federal and state law protects 70 percent of the state budget.

The unprotected budget is just $9 billion.

“So we take about $2 billion out of $9 billion. What is that? Social services, health care, corrections. It’s really very, very difficult,” Gregoire said.

Here’s the math. Budget available for cuts: $9 billion. Cuts needed : $2 billion.That’s a 22-percent cut for prisons, health care and human services.”

• 7) Hawaii to lay off 650 state workers by year’s end

“Gov. Linda Lingle in July said she wanted to reduce the state’s payroll by 1,100 workers. But state law allows certain workers to “bump” those with less seniority. Another process permits workers to keep their salaries even if they wind up in lower-level jobs.

Lingle has said that a second round of layoffs is possible. The state’s budget shortfall is estimated to be more than $1 billion through June 2011.”

• New Saab owner to terminate 81 U.S. dealerships

“DETROIT, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Swedish carmaker Koenigsegg will terminate more than a third of U.S. Saab dealers when it completes its purchase of the premium brand from General Motors Co [GM.UL], GM said in a letter to dealers on Thursday.”

• 9) Another stimulus bill? (Alec Phillips of Goldman Sachs on Nightly Business Report)

“GHARIB: Everybody is so focused on the deficit and the government pouring more money towards the economy, so is there a magic dollar number that will be politically acceptable for any new jobs program?

PHILLIPS: We’ve assumed $250 billion in additional stimulus in our forecast, which is really spread over the next three years as we see it. I would say a couple of months ago that actually seemed pretty radical and probably more aggressive than where the politics were at the time. Now it actually seems pretty conservative and the risk is probably to the up side of that $250 billion. With that said, I really don’t think that we see another stimulus package anywhere close to the size of the first one, so around $700 billion.”

• 10) Budget catastrophe escalates while law makers watch (Illinois…opinion)

“While the Tribune was right to emphasize the Minority Report of the Pension Modernization Task Force (”Just send your $7,000,” Nov. 8), even that report understates the full extent of the calamity now at hand. That report showed that unfunded liabilities of the five pensions that the state guaranties total $95 billion – roughly $7,000 for every person in Illinois. In fact, the broader problem is over twice that size:

• Illinois has over 600 other municipal pensions with at least $62 billion in unfunded liabilities, aside from the five pensions guaranteed by the state,. Those pensions are generally ignored and were not part of the task force report. Their deficits are reported biannually by the Illinois Department of Insurance and the reports are on their website. That $62 billion deficit figure is from the 2007 report – before the markets tanked – so the 2009 report will likely be much worse.

• Retired state workers also get state-paid health care, which has also been mostly ignored. That’s another $40 billion unfunded liability, based on an earlier study by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and $2 billion more per year is required just to cover the growth in this liability.

Add these two items to the $95 billion state-guarantied pension debt and you get $197 billion, which is roughly $15,000 for every person, or $60,000 for every family of four in Illinois. Most families don’t have resources to pay off a debt that size and shifting an even higher burden to everybody else would spark a genuine tax revolt.”

• 11) Utah’s $6.3 billion in unfunded, long-term liabilities (Pensions)

“The crux of the problem is this: A plummeting stock market left the Utah Retirement Systems with about $6.3 billion in unfunded, long-term liabilities. To make that up and pay for the benefits for new employees, the state will have to pay a bigger chunk of retirement benefits, creeping up by $400 million by 2016.

Liljenquist says that is unsustainable because it means that a huge chunk of a new employee’s compensation — salary, benefits and pension — would be committed to the retirement benefits. As a result, school districts, police and fire departments and state and local governments wouldn’t be able to pay the salaries to lure new workers.”

• 12) Ala. board suggests teachers pay more for benefits

“Morton said maintaining benefits at their current level will require an extra $238 million for health insurance in the 2010-2011 school year and $57 million more for retirement.

With the recession shrinking Alabama’s tax collections, that kind of money won’t be available, he said. Morton said the only way to maintain benefits without charging educators more is to cut classroom programs.

“We are in dire straits,” he said.”

• 13) Meetings on Arizona’s state retirement system’s $6.5 billion shortfall

“Hours of listening to numbers didn’t add up to any solutions Thursday to the state retirement system’s $6.5 billion shortfall, now expected to grow even bigger because of “double-dipping” by rehired retirees.

Members of the Legislature’s Retirement and Independent Entities Committee offered no recommendations at what is expected to be their final meeting before the 2010 legislative session begins in January.

That despite sitting through four hours of testimony, including a lengthy analysis showing the retirement system could run out of money in under 30 years if the government’s contribution isn’t increased.”

• 14) Minnesota falls short on Medicaid for nursing homes

“Minnesota’s long-term care facilities face a substantial gap between the rates paid by Medicaid for nursing home residents and the actual cost of providing care. This shortfall is not unique to Minnesota, but we struggle with a higher shortfall than most states. The national average shortfall between Medicaid reimbursement and actual cost of care is $12.48 per Medicaid patient per day, but Minnesota’s shortfall is almost double at $23.26. If that number sounds fairly reasonable, perhaps the total will make more of an impression — for 2008 the estimated total was $156 billion.”

• 15) Md. school boards petition state legislators…(the state’s $2 billion deficit and teacher pensions)

“Both boards of education oppose any retreat from that funding level, in addition to any attempt to shift millions in teacher pension costs to the districts. They are currently covered by state funds.

State Sen. Nancy King, D-Montgomery, said that no one is certain yet where the money will come from to fund the $2 billion deficit, but that the pension costs likely will remain with the state

“That’s a die on your sword issue,” King said, explaining that to shift the cost could bankrupt some counties. “It’s a big price tag, and there will be legislative staffers suggesting it, but none of us are for it.”"

• 16) Dollar down again, while gold is higher.

……Sort of interesting seeing the headline “Geithner Affirms Strong Dollar Policy” in the Wall Street Journal   and then reading the text saying:

“Lack of major changes in his tone indicates that, while he doesn’t want any dollar freefall to shake the recovery in the U.S. economy, he may find it comfortable as long as the currency declines at a manageable pace.”

Message to Mr. Geithner: Nice moves, but  we aren’t fooled