Markets are on a crazy, sugar-fuelled journey – ‘When the music stops,” Chuck Prince famously observed back in mid-2007, “things will get complicated”.

by Liam Halligan, The Telegraph:

The then chief executive of the US banking giant Citigroup was admitting that growing concerns about sub-prime loans could ultimately shatter what we now know was “irrational exuberance” on global financial markets.

“As long as the music is playing, though, you’ve got to get up and dance,” Prince continued. “And we’re still dancing.”

There’s a “we’re still dancing” mood on global markets today, just as there was six years [...]

JOHNSON & JOHNSON ADMITS THEIR BABY PRODUCTS CONTAIN CANCER-CAUSING FORMALDEHYDE

by The Savvy Sister, World Public Union:

No more tears? I would rather have no more formaldehyde. I just might get my wish. Today, the personal care giant announced that it would voluntarily (after consistent pressure from the public and groups like EWG) remove hidden formaldehyde from their baby products like baby shampoo and baby washes.

Don’t see formaldehyde listed on the back of your bottle of “no more tears” shampoo? Formaldehyde is [...]

SAMSUNG claims 5G breakthrough: Download films in a second with faster smartphones

Samsung claims breakthrough in 5G mobile broadband: Download films in a second with 100 times faster smartphones

South Korean giant aims to commercialise technology within seven years

It’s one faster, isn’t it? With most people still waiting to upgrade to a phone or contract package that will allow them to skim the internet using 4G, it is with a weary shrug to the inevitability of progress that we acknowledge the news from [...]

Giant 85 meter wide sinkhole swallows three buildings in central Russia

A sinkhole measuring nearly 85 meters wide and 15 meters deep engulfed three houses in a town outside Russia’s fifth-largest city Nizhny Novgorod as some residents of the small village were slumbering.

One of the houses in the town of Buturlino was completely demolshed. Residents managed to escape the building a few minutes before it literally collapsed like a house of cards on Wednesday night.

“I just barely left the house as [...]

Unusual foam-like bubbles” covering parts of giant Louisiana sinkhole (VIDEO)

http://onwingsofcare.org/index.php/protection-a-preservation/humanitarian/394-20130506-bayoucorne-flyover7.html

Today we made our seventh flyover since last August of the sinkhole in Bayou Corne, Louisiana. The pool of liquid did not seem too much larger than it appeared to us a month ago

Utility Company Collecting Hundreds Of Millions From Customers In Federal Taxes — That Don’t Exist!

NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11) – No one enjoys paying taxes. But everybody has to do it… or do they?

CBS 11’s I-Team has obtained a study that says Oncor, the giant electric utility company in North Texas, is collecting hundreds of millions of dollars from customers for federal taxes that don’t exist.

“Since 2008, they have collected $500 million for the purpose of paying taxes on their income,” said Randy Moravec, executive director [...]

1,500 Page Immigration Bill to Drop One Day Before Only Hearing?

According to an ABC News report, senators from the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” pushing immigration reform are expected to drop their bill, estimated at around1,500 pages, on Tuesday, mere hours before the only scheduled Senate hearing on the topic.

“A bipartisan group of senators plans to introduce its long-awaited immigration bill on Tuesday, Senate sources confirmed to ABC News,” Jim Avila and Jordan Fabian wrote on Friday. “Four Democrats and four Republicans, [...]

Apple WILL pay for water-damaged phones: Firm to shell out $53m in class action pay day for iPhone and iPod owners

Hundreds of thousands could get $200 settlement after owners under warranty were denied servicing from the tech giant due to faulty ‘liquid contact indicators’
The 3M company, but not Apple, admitted their technology may have been to blame in the case that stretches back to the earliest iPhones and iPods

 

After years of  iPhone and iPod owners getting turned away for replacements because their devices indicated water damage, and thus a voided [...]

Watch: “Sinkhole tidal flow” — Water movement observed on surface of giant Louisiana sinkhole (VIDEO)

 

 

Goofy for God

Giant Mothership hovers over New York City

The craziest footage I have ever seen.

TTIOT

HSBC faces new money laundering claims in Argentina

Banking giant HSBC, which was hit with a US fine for money laundering last year, is facing fresh accusations of illegal activity in Argentina.

Argentina has alleged that the bank used “fake receipts” to facilitate money laundering and tax evasion, and launder 392m pesos ($77m; £50m).

The country’s tax authority said it had filed criminal charges against HSBC.

HSBC said that it would cooperate with the investigation, adding that the allegations were [...]

Google facing online backlash from irate users after it kills off Reader app, to be retired on July 1st.

App to be retired on July 1st
Online petition to save it garners 54,000 sign-ups in 16 hours
Google cites lack of usage, shifting company focus for closure

 

Google has angered thousands of internet users by announcing it is to close its ‘Reader’ service.

The service lets users see updates from their favourite websites in one place.

However, the growth of Twitter has made it far less popular.

Google announced the closure of Reader is this [...]

Baltimore Residents Freak Out Ahead Of Giant Snowstorm

A big storm is making its way East, and it has people scrambling for supplies.

 

The Baltimore area has a 40 to 50 percent chance of at least 8 inches of snow and a 20 to 30 percent chance of at least a foot of snow, which could mean wide-spread power outages as downed trees take out power lines.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/baltimore-residents-gear-up-for-up-to-a-foot-of-snow-2013-3#ixzz2Mh8VRDqg

Chinese Property Stocks Are Getting Massacred

The Shanghai Composite is off 2 percent and is being dragged down by property stocks. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Property Index (SHPROP) has tumbled 8.7 percent. (via @Bill Bishop).

China Vanke, a property giant, and Poly Real Estate Group are both down nearly 10 percent.

This comes after the government published an online notice stating that homeowners who sell their homes will be taxed 20 percent on the profit they make, according to [...]

Spain and Italy: The Euro Crisis Gnaws at Europe’s Underbelly

from Spiegel International:

The euro crisis may have dropped out of the headlines recently, but Spain and Italy would seem to be doing their best to bring it back. Real estate giant Reyal Urbis’ bankrupcy has raised fresh concerns about Spanish banks and many fear that a Berlusconi election victory could drive Rome to seek emergency aid.

It had become a trend among top European politicians to forecast that the worst of the [...]

Facebook admits it was hacked last month in a ‘sophisticated attack’

Official statement claims no user data was compromised, as far as they know

Announced just weeks after Twitter experienced similar attacks

Both companies said the events were not isolated, Java software vulnerability likely to blame

 

Social media giant Facebook has announced that several company computers were victims of a cyber attack that occurred sometime last month.

‘Our systems had been targeted in a sophisticated attack,’ read the statement dated February 15.

The company says the [...]

Another Hedge Fund Has Completely Dumped Apple

Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners has completely divested its stake in Apple, according to a 13F filing for the fourth quarter ended 12/31/2012 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

At the end of Q3, the hedge fund held 143,148 shares of the tech giant, the Q3 13F filing shows.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jana-partners-dumps-apple-2013-2#ixzz2KsxHuPZx

A piece of the pi: Google offers $3.14159 in cash rewards to any hacker who can crack its Chrome operating system

Google is so confident in security on the company’s Chrome operating system its offering $3.14159 in cash rewards for successful hacks of the system at this year’s Pwnium hacking contest.

The figure is a nod to pi, an irrational number that has intrigued mathematicians for thousands of years.

Previously the tech giant has offered reward of $1 million and $2 million to crack its systems.

The most likely outcome is that multiple hacks [...]

Cassini Spacecraft Reveals Unprecedented Saturn Storm

John Matson
Scientific American
January 18, 2013

Just as regions of our planet have monsoon season, or tornado season, so too does Saturn have its own stormy season.

Once every Saturn year or so—which corresponds to roughly 30 Earth years—a giant, churning storm works its way through the clouds of Saturn’s northern hemisphere, sometimes encircling the entire planet like a belt. Lasting a few dozen days or more, these storms have been documented as far back as [...]

Bank of America to Pay $11.6 Billion in Fannie Mae Settlement

AFP
January 7, 2013

Bank of America said Monday it would pay $11.6 billion to settle claims on soured loans sold to mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae.

The settlement covers residential mortgage loans originated and sold directly to Fannie Mae from January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2008, the big US bank said in a statement.

Under the agreements, Bank of America will pay $3.55 billion in cash to the government-controlled Federal National Mortgage [...]

UPDATE: AL-JAZEERA buys CURRENT TV from Al Gore

from NYT:

Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant, has long tried to convince Americans that it is a legitimate news organization, not a parrot of Middle Eastern propaganda or something more sinister.

It just bought itself 40 million more chances to make its case.

Al Jazeera on Wednesday announced a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore, a former vice president, and his business partners seven [...]

Pimco’s El-Erian: Divided US Government No Longer Good for Economy

from The Daily Bell:

A divided government no longer benefits the U.S. economy as it did in the past, said Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of fund giant Pimco. In the past, indecisiveness and political stalemates in Washington prevented policymakers from passing laws that got in the way of the private businesses, which were otherwise free to go to work with Washington out of their hair. “It was once fashionable to argue that a [...]

GOOD NEWS: Deal kills unfunded Ted Kennedy legacy

Tucked inside the “fiscal cliff” deal is a provision repealing the CLASS Act, a giant unfunded mandate that was part of President Obama’s health care law.

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports program was a priority of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and was designed to create a program for long-term care for the functionally disabled.

Mr. Obama halted the program, saying he couldn’t find a way to [...]

Hospital Opens Food Bank For Their Low Wage Employees

Instead of paying a decent wage so that their employees can eat and support their families,this hospital has asked their employees to donate canned good donations for the lower paid staff.Tell me this aint fucked up.Read this…you’ll be amazed

http://www.pghcitypaper.com/Blogh/archives/2012/12/11/upmc-opens-food-bank-for-struggling-employees-misses-point-completely

Employees of UPMC can no longer say that their employer hasn’t been listening to their concerns and addressing their needs.

Since non-medical employees began seeking unionization earlier this year from SEIU, they have been telling [...]

Italian Tax Police Raid Facebook Offices

AFP
December 8, 2012

Italian police on Friday raided the Milan offices of US social media giant Facebook over possible violations of tax laws, Italian media reported.

Facebook Italia is based in Milan and is associated with Facebook Inc. in the United States and Facebook Ireland.

“Facebook pays taxes in Italy as part of its activity in the country and takes its obligations in terms of Italian tax law very seriously,” the company said [...]

Slow collapse of New York Times as digital subscriber strategy fails

by Ethan A. Huff, Natural News:

Perhaps the nation’s most well known mainstream media source, the New York Times (NYT) is struggling hard to retain subscribers these days, even with its gradual transition into a paid, digital subscription model. As reported by The Week, the news giant recently announced that it will be offering buyout packages to 30 of its newsroom employees, with the hopes of eliminating managers and other non-union employees that are simply costing [...]

Giant sinkholes in Queens after Hurricane Sandy,Alarm street may collapse(VIDEO)

Caption: Residents have noticed a cluster of similar holes on their properties, causing alarm that the street may collapse.

Storm recovery volunteer Steve Major picked up on a pattern of the holes as he was going door-to-door for a relief group last week along Beach 68th St. near Bayfield Ave.

“I’m extremely concerned that what’s visible isn’t the full extent of it,” said Major, an engineer and construction worker who came from [...]

Video Report: Giant Middle East War Looming

Infowars.com
November 18, 2012

As the exploding conflict between Gaza and Israel intensifies, it’s important to point out this is being done intentionally to bankrupt nations and to further increase dependency on foreign banks.

Ikea ‘deeply regrets’ use of forced labour in Germany

Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant, has expressed regret that it benefited from the use of forced prison labour by some of its suppliers in communist East Germany more than two decades ago.

from The Telegraph:

The company released an independent report showing that East German prisoners, among them many political dissidents, were involved in the manufacture of goods that were supplied to Ikea 25 to 30 years ago. The report concluded that Ikea [...]

A Precondition For Hyperinflation Is Upon Us

I was a super bull of long-term bonds. I stated my case over 3 years ago with a yield target on 30-year maturities of 2.5%. Back then, the timing and structure looked right for another run to new highs. Discussions about hyperinflation were premature.

The pre-condition I had been waiting for has now arrived. In my opinion, we have seen the end of the bull market in bonds.

There is a delicate [...]

If the U.S. were to join Europe in recession, there would be the risk of a serious shock from global financial markets.

From WSJ:

China’s main appearance in the U.S. election battle was Mitt Romney’s threat to name the country a currency manipulator. But the real threat to the Asian giant is from Washington’s impending “fiscal cliff.”

In the absence of a political agreement after the election, hefty automatic spending cuts will kick in on Dec. 31. The Bush-era tax cuts …

Read more

Supreme Court Covered In Giant Dollar Signs

Great work.

To mark the Citizens United 2nd anniversary, a group called The Other 98 lit up the outside of the Supreme Court with giant dollar signs to send a message: rights are for PEOPLE, notcorporate ”persons.”

This time in the light of day:

Toss the Citizens United decision out, but make sure it applies to unions as well.  There should be limits on political spending by both corporations AND unions.

 

dailybail

Romney’s 52-point debate victory over Obama is the biggest in Gallup poll history

Romney also enjoyed a five-point national poll swing putting him level pegging with Obama at 47% 
Even among Democrats, 49 per cent thought Romney was the winner with only 39 per cent of his own supporters saying Obama had won the day

Mitt Romney won the first presidential debate by a whopping 52-point margin according to Gallup – the most resounding margin since the polling giant began tracking debates 20 years ago.

In [...]

250,000 AmEx Customers Will Receive A Check In The Mail By March. All You Have To Do Is Wait.

If you signed up for the American Express ”Blue Sky” credit card within the last 9 years, you could be cashing in a refund check by springtime.

 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered the credit giant to pay out $85 million to 250,000 customers for deceptive practices it claims occurred “at every stage of the consumer experience.”

Unlike the massive, multi-lender mortgage settlement announced earlier this year, the AmEx refund process will be much simpler: All you [...]

Huge 158.2 carat diamond with an estimated value of more than $1.5m found in Russia

An enormous diamond with an estimated value of more than £1million has been discovered in Russia.

The precious 158.2 carat gem was uncovered by the Alrosa company, the country’s largest diamond mining enterprise, it was revealed today.

The find was made last month at diamond-mining factory number 16 of the Nyurbinsk ore mining and processing enterprise in the republic of Yakutia in the north-east of Russia.

This huge diamond with an estimated value [...]