16-Jul-10 News -- Health care plan damages the economy

[John]

16-Jul-10 News -- Health care plan damages the economy


** 16-Jul-10 News -- Health care plan damages the economy
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/cgi ... 16#e100716

Contents:
"Obama health care plan does real damage to the economy"
"Congress passes sweeping financial restructuring."
"Illinois leaps into the list of the world's defaulting governments"
"Additional links"
Arab countries join with Israel to stop Iran nuclear development
Jundullah claims credit for suicide bombings in Iran
Iran has decided against sending Iraning vessel to Gaza
Congress is considering a 'telework' bill for federal employees
China is gating and locking migrant neighborhoods overnight
War games by U.S. and S.Korean navies in Yellow Sea
Street violence in Kashmir is called the "Kashmir intifada"

[thomasglee]

A new propaganda poster has popped up on Pyongyang. You think the norK's are rubbing it in the ROK's face?

Poster in Pyongyang recalls the Cheonan
A poster spotted in Pyongyang by a visiting Chinese businessman seems to admit North Korea’s role in the sinking of the South Korean naval ship Cheonan in March, according to Radio Free Asia yesterday.

The U.S.-based media outlet reported on its Korean Web site that the poster shows a fully armed soldier cutting a corvette similar to the Cheonan in half with his bare fist. Below the image is the phrase “Deom-byeo-deul-myeon Dan-mae-e!” (“Ready to crush any attack with a single blow!”).

The Cheonan was split in two pieces on March 26 by a torpedo attack from a North Korean submarine, according to a South Korean-led multinational investigating team. Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed.

Radio Free Asia based its report on an interview with the businessman, who took the photo of the poster on a recent trip to North Korea. The poster is shown on the RFA Korean Web site. The RFA did not specify the date the photo was taken but, citing unnamed sources, said it was likely the poster was made after the Cheonan sinking to encourage military heroism among North Korean soldiers.

The RFA quoted the Chinese businessman as saying, “Officials in North Korea have claimed that the South Korean government’s accusation of North Korea as the culprit in the Cheonan incident is a false charge, but the propaganda poster showing the breaking of a ship in two pieces seems to conflict with their claim.”

The RFA also cited a North Korean defector who said a rumor circulated within the North Korean military after the Cheonan sinking that “the heroic navy landed a blow.”

Despite an indirect condemnation by the UN Security Council Friday, North Korea is reiterating its claim of innocence. The state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday that the country remains resolute in digging out the truth behind the Cheonan incident.



In Hangul it reads, "Ready to crush any attack with a single blow!”

[ridgel]

banks are still extorting 30% interest rates from their credit card customers, and using the money to pay themselves million dollar bonuses,

How can you complain about government interference in health care in the first paragraph and then complain about non-government interference in the second with regards to 30% interest rates? No one is forced to carry a credit card balance. Anyone who does is financially ignorant and should be told so just like we tell people to cover their mouths when they cough.

Not that I disagree about both health care and banking bills being a sad joke on the American people. But there's far better things to attack the banks for, like being bailed out to the tune of trillions from the treasury and the Fed.

[vincecate]

With CDS prices for Illinois debt now at 315 basis points, it means that it costs $315,000 to insure $10,000,000 of debt for five years.

If there is a 24% chance of default then $315,000 is not nearly enough to insure $10 mil. My guess is that should have been $3.15 mil.

On price controls I like this:

George Washington's revolutionary army nearly starved to death in the field thanks to price controls on food that were imposed by Pennsylvania and other colonial governments. Pennsylvania specifically imposed price controls on "those commodities needed for use by the army," creating disastrous shortages of everything needed by the army. The Continental Congress wisely adopted an anti-price-control resolution on June 4, 1778 that read: "Whereas it hath been found by experience that limitations upon the prices of commodities are not only ineffectual for the purpose proposed, but likewise productive of very evil consequences--resolved, that it be recommended to the several states to repeal or suspend all laws limiting, regulating or restraining the Price of any Article." And, write Schuettinger and Butler, "By the fall of 1778 the army was fairly well provided for as a direct result of this change in policy."
http://mises.org/daily/1962

[John]

Dear Vince,

> If there is a 24% chance of default then $315,000 is not nearly
> enough to insure $10 mil. My guess is that should have been $3.15
> mil.

As I understand it, the $315,000 has to be paid each year. Also, the
assumption is that in case of default, only a fraction of the $10
million will be lost, not the entire amount.

I've never bought a CDS, so I'm a bit in the dark about some of these
mechanics. If anyone here who knows what he's talking about cares to
educate me, please go ahead and do so.

John

[vincecate]

As I understand it, the $315,000 has to be paid each year. Also, the
assumption is that in case of default, only a fraction of the $10
million will be lost, not the entire amount.

Ok, that make sense. More info at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap