Obama Praises Job Growth In Entertainment Industry

“Contributing to the President’s campaign or being a political supporter of the President doesn’t guarantee a presidential visit, but it shouldn’t exclude you from one either,” Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said aboard Air Force One. Absolutely Nothing wrong with ACA Law. Wrong lies with GOP garbage. O.k. November 26, 2013 07:43 am at 7:43 am | RIchard Long Fundraiser-In-Chief rubbing elbows with Hollywood elite while millions of ‘commoners’: – get their healthcare policies eliminated – have to pay higher insurance rates – still having to deal with a 7+% unemployment rate – have to face a $17 Trillion debt Let them eat cake! November 26, 2013 08:30 am at 8:30 am | Rudy NYC Layoffs at Dreamworks is not too surprising.
Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/26/obamas-hollywood-searchlight-finds-firm-of-major-donor/

That picture of a chastened leader now appears to be gone. During a three-day Western swing through Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, Obama touted the accomplishments of his signature law, popularly known as Obamacare, and promised the glitches were going away. Although he occasionally referred pejoratively to the “darn” website, HealthCare.gov, he made a point of shifting his message to the positive benefits his law had achieved and piling on Republicans for rooting for its failure. “Yes, we decided to fix a broken healthcare system,” Obama told workers at DreamWorks Animation on Tuesday, the final day of his trip. “I was talking to some of the studio execs here and I said, ‘You know the rollout of the healthcare marketplace was rough’ …
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/26/us-usa-obama-idUSBRE9AP1CB20131126

25, 2013 7:42 p.m. ET SAN FRANCISCOPresident Barack Obama renewed his call for the House to pass immigration legislation, framing the issue as crucial to boosting the U.S. economy in remarks that also included an unscripted exchange with a young man protesting deportations. Speaking Monday at a community center in this city’s Chinatown neighborhood, the president invoked the stories of generations of Asian immigrants, including the parents of San…
Source: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304281004579220570721731550

The president said, “Magic has become our prime example of somebody who was blessed with incredible fame and fortune from a sports career and understood his next step is to build institutions and businesses, and employ people.” There’s also the memories of Game Six in 1980. Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who had won a college national title at Michigan State in 1979, made his name as a 6-foot-9-inch point guard, exceptionally tall for the position. On May 16, 1980, with the Lakers leading the 76ers three games to two in a best-of-seven series, the 20-year-old Johnson was pressed into emergency duty as the team’s center, replacing the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As Obama pointed out during the fundraiser, the Lakers clinched the title as Johnson proceeded to score 42 points — to which Johnson quickly voiced another impressive stat from that night, his 15 rebounds. “I remember the stats,” Obama joked to Johnson.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/11/26/obama-magic-johnson-los-angeles-lakers-democratic-fundraiser/3747799/

As his aides reached out to senior congressional leaders for delaying the sanctions, President Barack Obama told his nation that now was the time to pursue diplomacy over conflict. Huge challenges remain. But we cannot close the door on diplomacy, and we cannot rule out peaceful solutions to the worlds problems, Mr Obama said in a speech in San Francisco. The US and five other world powers signed a deal with Iran this weekend, which seeks to cap Tehrans nuclear capabilities in return for relaxation of US-led sanctions, which had crippled the Iranian economy. Now thats the right thing to do.
Source: http://dawn.com/news/1058790/obama-seeks-to-delay-new-sanctions-against-iran

He has a healthy sense of self, but he is a great friend and somebody whose counsel and advice I value and I’m incredibly grateful to be here at this wonderful institution that he helped to build.” White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Monday that Obama chose the DreamWorks Animation site because of the studios track record in creating jobs, not because of Katzenbergs fundraising. Employment at DreamWorks has risen by 50% since January 2008. PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times DreamWorks has generated billions in box-office revenue from its hit “Shrek,” “Kung Fu Panda” and “Madagascar” movies, expanding its business in China and overseas markets and branching into television with a recent partnership with the Netflix streaming service. Guided by Katzenberg, Obama got a lesson in how animators use motion capture to bring animated characters to life and had a funny exchange with actors Steve Martin and Jim Parsons, who were recording lines for the studio’s upcoming alien-invasion film, “Home.” Obama continue reading this.. greeted the actors in a small sound studio. He shook hands with Parsons but not Martin, who declined, explaining that he had a cold.
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-et-ct-obama-speech-dwa-20131126,0,3997822,full.story

Singapore Exchange Steps Up Stock Trading Scrutiny; Confusion Over Curbs

Automate trades with Mirror Trader -The line that originates from the June 2012 low defines the long term trend but the trend since April is sideways. -NZDJPY ends the week at a Fibonacci confluence; the 61.8% retracement of the decline from the April high and 61.8% retracement of the decline from Sep 19th-Oct 2nd. Fridays high is also right at the 9/26 high. Trading Strategy: Exited longs Friday. This market ends the week at resistance but the near term picture is too uncertain to take a near term view.
Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/trading-risk-trends-japanese-yen-210400631.html

Why credit trading needs to learn from ABS

“Owing to the confusion, many clients have sold these securities before the due date,” Jimmy Ho Kwok Hoong, President of The Society of Remisiers (Singapore), wrote in a letter to The Straits Times on Friday. “They now run the risk of a possible buying-in with fines for short-selling, unless the SGX makes an exception to the rule for these trades.” All this comes on top of trading losses racked up when these three stocks crashed. All have dropped by more than 80 percent since last Thursday’s close, turning them back into the penny stocks they were before their dramatic gains in recent months – a surge analysts said was not backed by business fundamentals. Some brokerage clients have refused to pay up, or have disappeared, three traders told Reuters on Friday. Individual traders, or remisiers, who have to foot the bill may have to declare bankruptcy or sign a bond to pay off what they owe in installments to the brokerages. “Because SGX lifted the suspension so quickly (on Monday), there wasn’t time for information to be disseminated down the stream,” said one of the Singapore traders.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/11/singapore-stocks-scrutiny-idUSL4N0I113620131011

<h3 http://www.etftradingsignals.com style=”clear:both”>Trading Risk Trends in Japanese Yen Pairs with Stock Market Levels

Current trends cannot continue. Trading firms need to find ways to greatly reduce the chance of such adverse outcomes or abandon trading all together. These challenges exist in an ever increasingly difficult environment to manage traders and avoid investigations and penalties. Trading in these products is very complex and the criteria used by regulators for establishing manipulation are increasingly murky, yet the incentives to traders to push the limits are as strong as ever.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/energysource/2013/10/11/stepped-up-oversight-of-energy-markets-may-push-some-trading-firms-out/

Why would SEC suspend trading in penny stocks?

Trades which are close to offsetting but which do not quite match – say, selling iTraxx Senior Financials index versus buying most of the underlying single names with slightly different maturities – are simply added up. Even if banks try to shift everything to central clearing counterparties, some categories of CDS, such as on financials, cannot be cleared yet. “Frequent rolls in IG credit create small mismatches leading to gross-up,” said Nick Waring, head of European IG credit and ABS trading at Deutsche Bank. “Trading strategies that involve monetising small arbitrages are definitely under pressure from the leverage ratio.” Pattem, however, has already turned away from a typical IG credit business using lots of CDS.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/11/credit-trading-idUSL6N0HT1U620131011

Stepped Up Oversight Of Energy Markets May Push Some Trading Firms Out

Q5: Is it fair for the SEC to suspend trading in penny stocks? A5: Stopping crimes before they happen might sound like it’s out of science fiction. But that’s been an increasing goal of the Securities and Post to Facebook Why would SEC suspend trading in penny stocks? on USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/1arvaDQ Incorrect please try again A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Sent! A link has been sent to your friend’s email address.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/krantz/2013/10/10/penny-stock-suspend/2885621/

Experts Offer Advice About Paying Off Those Dreaded Student Loans

Shana Click here to get my free my weekday email newsletter with the latest tips and advice on how to beat debt and do better financially. Subscribe now. Dear Shana, While it might not feel like it you are a lot further ahead than a lot of people who now owe more on their student loans even though they’ve been making payments. It sounds like you are on some interest only repayment plan and that just buys you time but won’t get you out of debt. So we need to change things around a bit.
Source: http://www.wral.com/are-there-any-programs-to-help-with-my-federal-student-loans-/13099507/

I am speechless and disgusted and losing sleep over this. I am very sure there are thousands and thousands of others struggling too. She does NOT want to file bankruptcy – she want to pay what she owes…she is a good kid… My daughter borrowed $35,000 in PRIVATE school loans..She has paid at least $15,000 back-yet her total debt is now >$45,000!!!! How can this happen???
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-rhode/my-daughters-life-is-over_b_4256568.html

“While there have been some improvements, I still hear from veterans who are upset about it.” Additional federal benefits are available for service members directly in the line of fire. Troops stationed in hostile areas that qualify for special pay “do not have to pay interest on Direct Loans made on or after October 1, 2008, for up to 60 months,” according to the Department of Education , and those injured while serving may be able to have all of their federal student loans discharged. Full-time, active-duty service members are not the only ones who qualify for student loan relief. The National Guard has a student loan repayment plan for guardsmen who enlist for at least six years and meet other requirements. The program pays up to $7,500 annually, with a maximum total benefit of $50,000, for those who qualify.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/11/student-loan-relief-service-members_n_4254872.html

Im a high school teacher and I see way too many graduates go off to college and come back in December or May with their tails between their legs because they were not ready. As a result, they have lost confidence and gained tens of thousands of dollars of debt. The difficulty I have is determining (or helping students determine) whether they should go to college or go to work. By the way, Im a big fan of community colleges. Its a great opportunity for some students to get exposure to college without the cost of dorms, meal plans, and high tuition. May 22, 2013 at 10:00 http://www.obamastudentloanforgiveness.net am Ive worked as a financial aid counselor and a few things that are never made clear by the school are the loan origination fees imposed by the DOE.
Source: http://www.ed.gov/blog/2013/11/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-your-student-loans/

PIRG also found that high debt borrowers are also disproportionately PSL borrowers, often with $40,000 or more in total debt. Even worse, PSL repayment was the subject of nearly 65 percent of the more than 4,300 complaints received by CFPB from October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013. Repayment concerns included fees, billing, deferment, forbearance, fraud and credit reporting. Additionally the inability to repay was found to a pivotal factor in default, debt collection and bankruptcy. How borrowers incurred these PSL debts is also addressed by PIRG.
Source: http://northdallasgazette.com/2013/11/10/private-student-loans-no-better-than-using-a-credit-card-for-college/

However, without some sort of congressional action, that rate would have been 6.8%. Because this year’s rate dropped under the new law, politicians were quick to praise themselves. “It is an encouraging step forward in our effort to keep college affordable,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement in July. Republican Rep. Tim Walberg, a member of the House Higher Education Committee, also cheered the move.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/25/student-loan-rates-will-feed-fed-profits/2696241/

Borrowers, however, can unknowingly extend the statutes and invite lawsuits by making a single payment on an old debt or even acknowledging a debt is theirs, which is why Kantrowitz recommends hiring a lawyer to pursue a private student loan settlement. Settlement certainly isn’t an easy way out. Borrowers often face a tax bill for any portion of a loan that’s forgiven, since tax authorities consider forgiven debt to be income. Settlements also have severe negative repercussions for borrowers’ credit scores. That’s why Minsky counsels his clients to consider all other options first, including loan forgiveness, income-sensitive repayment plans and loan rehabilitation, a federal student loan program that expunges defaults from borrowers’ credit reports after they make nine on-time monthly payments. Some clients decide to take those other paths, while others see a settlement as a way to close out a difficult chapter of their lives.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/04/us-weston-studentloans-idUSBRE9A30Q920131104

But the debt constantly weighs on her. My tactic is to tread water, Banks said. Pay the minimum payment that I can. I keep thinking Ill just save money and have a big chunk and pay it all off, but something else always comes up. Prioritizing payments is key, said Jim Zeberlein, a certified financial planner in Salt Lake City. When I look at debt whether its a student loan, car payment or house payment it comes down to making sure you prioritize that and making sure its something you pay before anything else, Zeberlein said. The most appropriate thing to do in any situation, he said, is to pay loans off as soon as you can, most likely on a standard, level-payment plan.
Source: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865590273/Experts-offer-advice-about-paying-off-those-dreaded-student-loans.html?pg=all

Best Stock Market Since 1997 Seen With S&p 500 Momentum

So basically what we’re saying is that while the US economy already suffers from insufficient demand, there is a mechanism via the stock market that creates a bit of a feedback loop in which, due to insufficient demand, companies cannot grow the top-line much, focus on the bottom line by cost cutting which, while great for profits, reinforces the demand problem as: Companies don’t create much new production capacity (despite record low interest rates, record profits and record cash balances) Try to be as lean as possible by not hiring many new people and/or cutting wage cost. This basically redistributes income from labor to capital and this go here now is quite visible in the data. Profit shares have risen to record highs, and the labor share fallen a lot, to such an extent that even The Economist is taking notice . (click to enlarge) (click to enlarge) Conclusion Apart from funding some start-ups, the stock market seems to have lost its main function as a source of funding for companies.
Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1806472-has-the-stock-market-become-dysfunctional

“I think individuals, especially high-net-worth individuals, have huge cash positions. I just think that right now stocks don’t have any respect. I think there’s a feeling that the best way to make money is through fixed income or real return instruments. And I think people are forgetting over time equities have been a great real return vehicle.” On CNBC’s ” Halftime Report ,” Lee said that there would be a market tilt toward cyclical stocks.
Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101168070

Yet, what we have seen for months is the opposite and the reason for this perverse stock market behavior is the Federal Reserve policy of Quantitative Easing. In complete opposition to the normal behavior of the stock market, for months now bad economic news has been good for stock prices. When job growth is below expectations, the market goes up. When GDP growth is slow, the market goes up. Bad news for a specific company pushes that companys stock down, but bad news in the aggregate makes the stock market rise overall.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2013/11/05/the-stock-market-is-telling-everyone-the-fed-has-it-wrong/

So far, 366 of the S&P 500 companies have reported their corporate earnings for the third quarter of this year, and only 53% of them have reported sales above the expectations. (Source: FactSet, November 1, 2013.) Consider General Electric Company (NYSE/GE), one of the major companies in the S&P 500. In the third quarter of 2013, revenues for the company declined 2.3% from the same period a year ago. (Source: Investor Relations, General Electric Company, October 18, 2013.) But the company is buying back its shares! The board of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE/IBM), another big component of the S&P 500, authorized an additional $15.0 billion for the companys stock buyback program.
Source: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/days-stock-market-irrationality-numbered-172511846.html

Chief Executive Officer Laurence D. Fink, whose company is the worlds largest money manager with $4.1 trillion in assets, said Fed policy is contributing to bubble-like markets, such as the surge in stock prices. Weve had a huge increase in the equity market, Fink said on Oct. 29 at a panel discussion in Chicago .
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-04/best-stock-market-since-1997-seen-with-s-p-500-year-end-momentum.html