[Business News around the world]

Sen. Bernie Sanders has a new bill out to kill fossil fuel subsidies that come in the form of tax breaks for the oil and gas industry. Instead, Sanders would redirect those funds to generate 10 million solar roofs in America, which would create installation jobs and significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption.

“We’ve got to end all of the tax breaks for the oil companies and coal companies and I’m going to introduce legislation to do just that,” Sanders told demonstrators clad in black-and-white striped referee shirts who rallied to “blow the whistle” on members of Congress and Big Oil.

Ending tax breaks and subsidies for oil and gas companies would reduce the deficit by more than $40 billion over the next 10 years. Sanders’ legislation will end those tax breaks and tens of billions of dollars in other special subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.

It’s sadly not realistic to think this will go anywhere in Congress, at least not this year. But it’s worth pointing out that, if you care about climate change, if you want to see a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions the best thing you can do for the planet is to end these fossil fuel subsidies. It will get you halfway to the reduction in greenhouse gases we need, according to new studies. [cont'd.]

In data released this month as part of the IEA’s (International Energy Association’s) latest World Energy Outlook report, (Fatih Birol) shows that in 2010 the world spent $409 billion on subsidizing the production and consumption of fossil fuels, dwarfing the word’s $66 billion or so of subsidies for renewable energy. Phasing fossil fuel subsidies out would be sufficient to accomplish about half the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions needed to meet the goal of preventing average world temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius [...]

Far and away the biggest problem seems to be that misguided sense that countries that are large producers of certain kinds of fuels ought to subsidize domestic consumption of the fuel in question. Thus Saudi Arabia spends more than $30 billion a year on gas consumption subsidies while Russia spends $17 billion on natural gas subsidies. Iran, which produces both, subsidizes both, spending $66 billion in total plus an additional $14.4 billion on electricity consumption subsidies. Large-population developing countries such as China, India, and Indonesia are also important players in the subsidy game. In no case do these subsidies make sense.

Compared to this, the US, with its relatively smaller amount of roughly $4-5 billion a year in fossil fuel subsidies, is a mere piker. However, it can lead by example. President Obama made a vow at an international summit in 2009 to end all fossil fuel subsidies around the world, and while he keeps putting it in his budgets, we haven’t accomplished that on our own shores. Until we end our fossil fuel subsidies, we won’t have much success at all getting other countries to end theirs.

I recognize that a lot of these subsidies are used by governments around the world as giveaways to the poor (in fact, the IEA study shows that this is not entirely true). There are simply other ways to do that that don’t harm the planet, and the US has some influence over those decisions. But we have to be willing to lead ourselves. Bernie Sanders has a way forward.

(Lire la suite) David Dayen

Newt Gingrich Still Holds Large National Lead par Jon Walker Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Firedoglake :: RSS

While in Florida momentum has quickly shifted away from Newt Gingrich and to Mitt Romney, on the national level Gingrich is still going very strong. Two national polls out today both give Gingrich a solid nine point lead over Romney. From MSNBC on the new MSNBC/WSJ poll:

Gingrich leads Romney 37 percent to 28 percent nationally among registered Republicans likely to vote in the primaries; Rick Santorum is in third with 18 percent, and Ron Paul is fourth with 12 percent.

[...]

Gingrich is also viewed as the most electable candidate by GOP primary voters. He leads Romney 2-to-1 among those who picked electability as mattering most to them in a candidate. He holds a narrow lead, 46-44 percent, among those who say views on issues matter most.

If the primary ends up just a Romney versus Gingrich contest, Gingrich’s lead would be even larger. The poll found (PDF) that in such a theoretical head-to-head match Gingrich would win 52 percent of the vote compared to Romney at 39 percent.

The Gallup national daily tracking poll also has Gingrich leading by nine. Gallup currently has it Gingrich 32 percent to Romney 24 percent. For roughly two weeks the poll has found Gingrich gaining steadily on Romney. There is no indication that Gingrich’s current drop in Florida is part of a national turn away from Gingrich.

Of course since presidential primaries are a contest-by-contest fight spread over months, national standing isn’t as important as the polling in the upcoming states. A win in one state often creates momentum going forward into the next contests. Still, a nine point lead in national polling is a substantial lead. I would not count out a candidate while that candidate is still the clear national front runner.

(Lire la suite) Jon Walker

Over 700 Nominations for Outstanding Local Occupy Activism — And Counting par Jane Hamsher Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Firedoglake :: RSS

There have already been over 700 nominations of local occupations for outstanding community activism, representing 149 occupations across the country. Occupy Supply announced the contest yesterday, and we’ll be accepting nominations up until this Monday.

Five occupations will receive command post tents worth $5000 each, three will receive media laptops, and twelve runners-up will receive a credit for supplies at the Occupy Supply store.

These are the occupations that have been nominated to date:

Albany
Albuquerque
Ann Arbor
Asheville
Ashland
Atlanta
Austin
Baltimore
Bangor
Beaverton
Bellingham
Berkeley
Boca Raton
Boise
Boston
Boulder
Buffalo
Cape Cod Hyannis
Carson City
Centralia & Lewis Co.
Charleston
Charlotte
Chattanooga
Chicago
Chico
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Colorado Springs
Columbia
Columbus
Conway
Dallas
Davis
Delaware
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
Eugene
Everett
Fort Lauderdale
Fort Wayne
Frankfurt
Franklin County
Frederick
Freedom Plaza
Fresno
Fullerton OC
Gainesville
Glasgow
Grand Junction
Grass Valley
Greensboro
Gwinnett
Harrisburg
Hartford
Helena
Hendersonville
Homer
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Iowa
Kalamazoo
Kansas City
Klamath Falls
Kona
Las Cruces
Las Vegas
Lincoln
Little Rock
Longview
Los Angeles
Louisville
Lubbock
Madison
Maine
Manchester
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Minnesota
Monterey Peninsula
Nashville
New Hampshire
New Haven
New Orleans
New Paltz
New Port Richey
Newark
Newport OR
Northampton
Nottingham
Oakland
Ocean Beach
Olympia
Orlando
Palm Beach
Pasadena
Pensacola
Petaluma
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
Plymouth
Portland
Prescott
Providence
Raleigh
Reno
Roanoke
Rochester
Rockford
Roseburg
Rutgers
Sacramento
Saint Louis
Salem
Salmon
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
San Luis Obispo
Santa Barbara
Santa Fe
Santa Rosa
Sarasota
Savannah
Seattle
Sebastopol
Shelton
South Bend
Spokane
St. Louis
Stockton
Syracuse
Tacoma
Tallahassee
Tampa
Taos
Trenton
Tucson
University of NM Albuquerque
Utica
Wall Street
Washington DC
Wenatchee
Wilmington
Wisconsin

We also received a number of nominations for occupations outside the US — St. Paul’s UK, Vancouver BC, Melbourne, Glasgow, Frankfurt and Kingston among them. Because of the limitations on shipping the tents and computers out of the country they aren’t eligible for the prizes, so we’re looking into other opportunities to reward outstanding activism by occupations outside the US.

For more information on the contest, see yesterday’s post.

Nominate your occupation for a chance to win a command-post tent or laptop with webcam!
DEADLINE: Monday, 1/30/2012

Download the Contest Flyer for distribution to occupations: Downloadable PDF | Online version

Contest Rules: Downloadable PDF | Online version

Occupy Supply has raised over $180,000 to supply occupations across the country. 100% of all money received goes to the purchase and distribution of supplies. You can donate to Occupy Supply here.

(Lire la suite) Jane Hamsher

Liability Release on Foreclosure Fraud Settlement Narrow, but a Host of Questions Remain par David Dayen Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Firedoglake :: RSS

(photo by The Lane Team/flickr)

Former Obama Administration transition official Mike Lux was the first to report that the liability release on foreclosure fraud “looks tight.” In other words, the release is limited to mostly post-crisis conduct, basically robo-signing and servicer abuse. Private right of action would still be available under any settlement – Attorneys General cannot stop the right of an individual to sue over misconduct – and there would be no criminal liability release. In addition, these avenues of inquiry would still be available.

No release on any fair housing, fair lending, or civil rights claims.
No release on any Federal Housing Finance Agency or Government-Sponsored Enterprise claims.
No release on any Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims (which would admittedly be modest, since the Bureau was only established in July 2011).
No release on tax liability claims.
No release on criminal liability claims.
No release on SEC claims.
No release on National Credit Union Association claims.
No release on FDIC claims.
No release on Federal Reserve claims.
No release on the “vast majority” of origination claims.
No release on the “vast majority” of securitization claims, including all claims of state pension funds.
No release on legal liability surrounding Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS).

Sam Stein and Zach Carter back this up with their reporting. And it matches with mine. My sources tell me that the release is one area where progressive pressure has dialed back the initial offer, which actually included securitization, among other things. “It looks substantially different on the release question today than it did in August,” said one official close to the talks. Of course, the current terms have been enough to keep at least Beau Biden and Kamala Harris off the deal, and Eric Schneiderman actually remains opposed to the final language, so it’s clearly not perfect. [cont'd.]

But there are several things related to this. First of all, the liability release isn’t the only issue with the settlement. The penalty is probably paltry for the extent of the crime, which remains uninvestigated to any thorough degree. Under the settlement, 750,000 wrongfully foreclosed borrowers – people who had their houses ripped away from them – will get $1,800. That’s borderline insulting. The principal reduction will do very little for the housing market. And we’re talking about systemic abuses covering up a greater fraud in origination and securitization that we’re only now getting around to investigating.

Furthermore, enforcement is a MAJOR question. I don’t care what kind of penalty you get on paper, it’s meaningless if the banks just blow it off, as they have done historically. And the banks can, under the deal, stick other people with the bill for the fraud, like mortgage backed securities investors. What’s more, you’re talking about an entire model – servicing, the use of MERS, mortgage documentation – that I would say is irreparably broken, and we haven’t seen how that will be standardized and fixed so we aren’t just pretending that we’re using legitimate documents in the housing market, and that MERS is a peachy entity, and that the servicers have their back office and servicing software fixed. Those are huge, ongoing problems, and there must not be any release of liability without untangling that mess, regardless of the penalty (which is too small).

Then you get into the question of why the banks would want to do this settlement at all, if they won’t get a full liability release, and the claims will still hang over the head of their businesses and their stock price. Eric Schneiderman announced today subpoenas for 11 banks coming out of the new mortgage fraud task force, and he announced the participation of all the Justice Democrats in the investigation:

Schneiderman said in a press conference Friday that he will be joined by Delaware AG Beau Biden, Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley, Nevada AG Catherine Cortez Masto, California AG Kamala Harris and Illinois AG Lisa Madigan.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said 15 lawyers and investigators are working with the group. The FBI will add 10 agents, and another 30 lawyers and staff will join the group [...]

“We have jurisdiction to go after every aspect of the mortgage bubble and the crash of the financial market,” Schneiderman said. “We have jurisdiction over every MBS issued over the last decade with Delaware and New York joining the group.”

Holder said if there is evidence of it, civil and criminal charges will be brought.

So why settle, with this still out there? Well, because the banks are basically afraid to foreclose right now. The liabilities in securitization and origination are real but different. The banks are having trouble clearing their product because they don’t know their liability. So if they get a settlement, where they can spend other people’s money and get to fire up the foreclosure engine again, why wouldn’t they get on board? It gives them clarity, the costs are spread out over many years and aren’t even theirs in many cases, and they can move on. The end result of a settlement would be MORE foreclosures, not less, as the market “clears,” to use the parlance.

So while this narrow release is decent enough, I don’t know why you wouldn’t investigate the full nature of this – the registers of deeds have offices full of fraud, literal crime scenes – rather than moving on to the next thing and trying to make that the big reckoning.

(Lire la suite) David Dayen

Jeff Madrick and Tom Ferguson Sound Off on Real Messages of the SOTU par Bryce Covert Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: New Deal 2.0 :: RSS

After Obama’s State of the Union on Tuesday, Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellows Jeff Madrick and Tom Ferguson took to the airwaves to dissect it. Was there substance behind the soaring rhetoric? Can the proposed policies really solve our economic ills?

Jeff Madrick joined Eliot Spitzer on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown, and his analysis could be summed up as: “It was a tougher speech than I expected.”

Despite what some naysaying economic advisers may be telling President Obama, “he said forget about all those constraints,” Jeff pointed out. “Let me go after the Chinese, let me develop some tax breaks, let me develop some tax penalties.” Those FDR fans among us may remember his famous welcoming of Wall Street’s hatred, a stance Obama has mostly shied away from. Yet, as Jeff notes, not only did he go after Republicans in Congress and big oil, “he said some pretty nasty things about Wall Street.”

His policy proposals were important too, Jeff said. “Few things are as unambiguous as a need as updating the American infrastructure,” and that was a big part of his “constant mention of jobs.” Plus there was a heavy emphasis on bringing back manufacturing, although the question remains as to whether that’s really possible.

Meanwhile, Tom Ferguson, while “intrigued” by some of the policies, was “underwhelmed” overall. He told Paul Jay of the Real News Network that “when you start to look at the details” of Obama’s proposals, they’re “almost meaningless.”

More at The Real News

Take the plan to have a massive mortgage refinancing program. That could be “a really striking thing and it would likely have a huge effect on the economy,” Tom said. But “their record in the last three years is they keep announcing programs and they all fail.” Plus the taskforce on mortgage abuses “looks to me like an effort to to rein in the attorneys general” at the state level, he said.

Things were worse when it came to the “utter tameness” of the ideas around money in politics, Tom said. While banning Congress from insider trading is a good idea, “he’s not really touching the essence of the money in politics problem,” he points out. “He’s basically punted on that one.” What could he have proposed that would work? “You could do a lot by simply making the federal election commission a serious part of the civil service to get it out from under its ridiculous domination by Congress,” Tom suggests. It’s not just Citizens United that should be on reformers’ radars.

And overall, while some of the economic policies may sound good, the underlying push from the administration for austerity and a focus on the deficit went unaddressed. “My guess is that these folks are not planning to change course on the economy,” he concludes.

(Lire la suite) Bryce Covert

EUR/USD Analyse du 25/01/12 Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: AaZSysteme Day Trading :: RSS

foxytradingclub.com -Une récession bercerait donc l'Europe en ce premier semestre dixit Bruxelles. Lors de l'ECOFIN d'hier, Rehn a estime que l'activi (Lire la suite)

EUR/USD analyse du 6/01/12 Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: AaZSysteme Day Trading :: RSS

foxytradingclub.com -Le climat est loin de se réchauffer en cette entame de l'année sur les marchés financiers. L'Europe revient à la surface avec son (Lire la suite)

January 27: Sums More Equal Than Others par Tim Price Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: New Deal 2.0 :: RSS

What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical debates.

Click here to receive the Daily Digest via e-mail.

Compiled with the help of Roosevelt Institute intern Elena Callahan.

Jobs, Jobs and Cars (NYT)
Paul Krugman notes that the GOP praises Steve Jobs for the independent vision that put so many to work (in China), but hates the auto bailout for showing that a healthy economy sometimes depends on the government, not Randian supermen.

Is Obama’s ‘Economic Populism’ for Real? (Rolling Stone)
Matt Taibbi writes that President Obama certainly wants to appear like he’s started taking corruption seriously, but appointing Eric Schneiderman to his financial fraud task force would inspire more confidence if he wasn’t accompanied by chaperones.

Old mortgages rise from the dead, haunt homeowners (Reuters)
Foreclosing on people who fall behind on their mortgages is the banks’ old standby, but they’ve decided to diversify their operations by cracking down on people who have paid off or refinanced their mortgages or, just for fun, never even had one.

The Occupy Effect (The Nation)
Katrina vanden Heuvel points out that if nothing else, the Occupy movement has ended America’s 24/7 deficit mania by busting down the doors of the quiet rooms where inequality and greed were being discussed and handing out megaphones.

Greed is good? The GOP seems to be okay with that. (WaPo)
Eugene Robinson argues that while Republicans begrudgingly endorse the idea of fairness in the tax code, they don’t think working-class earnings really “count” as much money earned the old-fashioned way, by having lots of it and then waiting.

Talk of Taxing the Rich More Faces Political Realities (NYT)
Even if the president could get the Buffett Rule through a Congress that can’t agree to a vacation without a partisan showdown, experts question the point of adding yet another facet to a tax code that already looks like the world’s ugliest mosaic.

Pentagon budget set to shrink next year (WaPo)
Hide your kids, hide your wife, because the Defense Department’s budget could face an unthinkable 1 percent decrease next year, leaving it with just $525 billion, the world’s premier military force, and a legion of lethal robots to protect us.

The True Cost of High School Dropouts (NYT)
Responding to President Obama’s proposal to make students attend high school until they graduate or turn 18, Henry Levin and Cecilia Rouse write that money spent on reducing drop-out rates is worth every penny if it prepares our kids to compete.

The British Economy is Now Doing Worse Than It Did in the Great Depression (Grasping Reality)
Brad DeLong notes that the confidence fairy has forsaken the current British government, as its austerity measures are producing what could be Britain’s worst economic slump ever. Keep the bleeding going; the humors are almost balanced!

At Euro Talks, a Calm Arm-Twister From the U.S. (NYT)
Annie Lowrey profiles Lael Brainard, the top American financial diplomat who’s been sent to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland and assigned to talk the euro zone down off a ledge and convince it that it still has so much to live for.

(Lire la suite) Tim Price

La pilule empoisonnée d'Illumina face à l'offre hostile de Roche Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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Samsung publie un bénéfice record grâce aux smartphones Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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Succès de l'OPA de Technip sur Cybernétix, qui va être retiré de la cote Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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Bouygues Construction remporte un contrat à Hong Kong via sa filiale Dragages Hong Kong Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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Le CAC 40 attendu sur une note prudente avec le PIB américain Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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Point avant l'ouverture Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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Les valeurs à suivre à la Bourse de Paris Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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BNP voudrait céder 11 milliards de dollars de prêts à l'énergie Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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Publicis lance une OPA sur l'allemand Pixelpark Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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Point à la clôture de Wall Street Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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Le fondateur de PIP mis en examen pour blessures Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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La Bourse de Tokyo finit en baisse de 0,09% Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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"Dans le centre de Clermont-Ferrand, les prix démarrent dès 1600 euros le mètre carré" Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

Les ventes et les prix se stabilisent sur le marché immobilier de la préfecture du Puy-de-Dôme. Détails avec Stéphane Roume, directeur d’agence Century 21. (Lire la suite)

Dix-huit mois avec sursis requis contre les époux Lavier Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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Les discussions sur la dette grecque reprennent contre la montre Vendredi 27 Janvier 2012 :: Capital.fr - Rumeurs :: RSS

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