US IN CHARGE OF RECRUITING ARAB/MUSLIM DEATH SQUADES

Central banks expand dollar operations
ReutersBy Sakari Suoninen and Marc Jones | Reuters – SEPT 15,11

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Major central banks around the world will cooperate to offer three-month U.S. dollar loans to commercial banks in order to prevent money markets from freezing up because of Europe's sovereign debt crisis.The European Central Bank said on Thursday it would hold three fixed-rate operations between October and December to offer banks as many dollars as they needed, in order to ease any funding crunch in the year-end period.The announcement sharply boosted European bank shares and the euro. Shares in French bank BNP Paribas jumped as much as 13 percent before coming off their highs.The European Central Bank has decided, in coordination with the (U.S.) Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank, to conduct three U.S. dollar liquidity-providing operations with a maturity of approximately three months covering the end of the year, the ECB said.

Some European banks have struggled to obtain dollar funding in the last several months as lenders have become increasingly nervous about the euro zone debt crisis and the global economic slowdown.The ECB already offers seven-day dollar loans every week, and this offer was tapped for the second time in a month on Wednesday. Previously, banks had not used the ECB's dollar operation since February.The Federal Reserve maintains dollar swap lines with the ECB and other central banks in order to ensure that they can obtain additional supplies of dollars when needed.(Reporting by Sakari Suoninen and Marc Jones; Editing by Andrew Torchia)

Geithner to discuss leveraging EU bailout fund
ReutersBy Jan Strupczewski and Sakari Suoninen | Reuters – SEPT 15,11

WROCLAW, Poland/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will discuss with European finance ministers the possibility of leveraging the euro zone's bailout fund to make it more effective in fighting the debt crisis.Geithner will hold talks with EU ministers in Poland on Friday and will propose that the EFSF, the 440 billion euro fund set up in May 2010, be used in a similar way to an emergency fund created by the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve in 2008 to handle the subprime crisis, sources said.The U.S. emergency fund served to support U.S. banks in the 2007/8 subprime crisis. In a sign of the risks to banks and the world economy associated with Europe's escalating debt crisis, the European Central Bank, the U.S. Fed and other major central banks agreed on Thursday to reintroduce three-month dollar liquidity operations in the fourth quarter.That news sharply boosted European bank shares and the euro. Shares in French bank BNP Paribas jumped as much as 13 percent.Geithner will probably insist on the importance of leverage to have more funds to ringfence the big Europeans, Italy and Spain, and to find a solution for Greece, one EU official told Reuters ahead of the meeting in Wroclaw, Poland.The leveraging of the EFSF -- I think this is something that he will put on the table, the official said. There could be some openness to the proposal.The model for the Europeans would be the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), which the U.S. financial authorities used to jumpstart the asset-backed securities market, which was frozen at the time and stalling recovery.

Under TALF, the New York Fed, where Geithner was previously president, lent out up to $200 billion, taking asset-backed securities as collateral with a haircut, and the U.S. Treasury in turn offered $20 billion credit protection for the Fed.While it remains unclear how the EFSF could be leveraged, one analyst said its funds could be used to guarantee a portion of potential losses on euro zone sovereign debt, giving it more clout than if it just bought the bonds in the secondary market.It is possible to leverage the EFSF so as to expand its headline capacity to support sovereign bonds, for example through the use of partial guarantees against first losses, said Sony Kapoor, managing director of think tank Re-Define.One difficulty is that leveraging a fund that is underwritten by guarantees from euro zone member states could increase liabilities across the board, putting pressure on the triple-A credit rating of countries such as France.

ANOTHER NO FOR EURO BONDS

Leveraging the EFSF would be a radical new approach in the crisis, with financial markets currently fixated on the possibility of the euro zone introducing jointly issued bonds, even though such a move is strongly opposed by Germany and unlikely to happen any time soon.German Chancellor Angela Merkel again bluntly rejected such bonds as a solution to the crisis on Thursday, saying that collectivizing debts would not solve the problem.In order to bring about common interest rates, you need similar competitiveness levels, similar budget situations. You don't get them by collectivizing debts, she said in a speech at the Frankfurt auto show.The European Union's top economic official meanwhile said he expected international lenders to be able to recommend by the end of the month releasing a vital next tranche of aid to Greece, warding off the threat of an imminent default.While that may keep Greece afloat until it gets a second bailout package from the euro zone, the finance minister said the country would remain mired in recession through 2012, the fourth year in a row, a contraction that is only likely to fuel popular outrage at the austerity drive.In Washington, IMF chief Christine Lagarde urged advanced countries to take bold steps to break a cycle of weak growth and high debt that threatens the global economy.Without collective, bold action, there is a real risk that the major economies slip back instead of moving forward, she said in a speech ahead of the IMF and World Bank meetings of global financial leaders next week.On a conference call with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Wednesday, Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy voiced their support for keeping Greece in the euro zone and continuing financial assistance provided it sticks strictly to austerity measures to meet its fiscal targets.

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said he now expected an EU/ECB/IMF troika of inspectors to complete their review of Greece's fiscal targets by the end of the month.Separately, the Commission said economic growth in Europe was slowing down and could come close to a halt at the end of the year, partly because the debt crisis will hit household consumption and investment.The outlook for the European economy has deteriorated. Recoveries from financial crises are often slow and bumpy, Rehn said, rejecting any return to stimulus spending.There were some signs that political support in Germany for continuing aid to Greece was rallying after weekend comments about the possibility of a Greek default and exit from the euro area spooked markets.Michael Meister, deputy parliamentary leader of Berlin's governing conservatives, said Athens was doing its utmost to deliver on its fiscal targets and it would be absolutely fatal for Greece to leave the euro zone.He was also confident parliament would ratify an increased role for the euro zone's EFSF rescue fund on September 29 after votes in the Austrian and Slovak parliaments were delayed by internal opposition. (Writing by Luke Baker; editing by Janet McBride/Patrick Graham)

Lagarde urges unified action against Europe crisis
APBy MARTIN CRUTSINGER - AP Economics Writer | AP – SEPT 15,11
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the International Monetary Fund called Thursday for bold and collective action to combat a slowing global economy and a worsening European debt crisis.IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde also said she welcomed President Barack Obama's U.S. job-creation plan in light of the unemployment crisis in the United States.Lagarde will preside at her first annual meeting of the 187-nation lending institution next week. A former French finance minister, she took over at the IMF in June, succeeding Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned in May to fight attempted rape charges. The charges were later dismissed.We are certainly living through times of great economic anxiety, Lagarde said in an address at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Her speech was billed as a preview of the issues the IMF will address at meetings in Washington next week.Exactly three years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the economic skies look troubled and turbulent as global activity slows and downside risks increase, Lagarde said. Without collective, bold action, there is a real risk that the major economies slip back instead of moving forward.Lagarde said that heavy debt loads were knocking the wind out of the recovery.Weak growth and weak balance sheets — of governments, financial institutions and households — are feeding negatively on each other, fueling a crisis of confidence and holding back demand, investment and job creation,she said.She called this a vicious cycle that's gaining momentum, hastened by policy indecisions and political dysfunction.

Lagarde said Obama's job-creation program must coincide with a credible plan to shrink the federal budget deficits in coming years.For Europe, Lagarde said nations with huge debt burdens must get control of government spending. And she said banks need to boost their capital, the resource a financial institution uses to deal with bad loans.Lagarde's comments followed critical remarks on Wednesday by World Bank President Robert Zoellick. He faulted the 17 nations that share the euro currency for failing to take tough actions to prevent the debt crisis in Europe.Zoellick said that the euro-currency nations created a shared currency without ensuring that it would work. He said they should have first considered those nations that couldn't compete in global trading markets and those that are burdened by debt.Fears that Greece is headed for a default on its debt have roiled global financial markets. A Greek bankruptcy could destabilize other financially troubled European countries, such as Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy.It would also be a blow to many European banks, which are large holders of Greek government bonds. Moody's on Wednesday downgraded the credit ratings of two French banks, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole.

Global Economic Challenges and Global Solutions: an Address at the Woodrow Wilson Center By Christine Lagarde Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Washington DC, September 15, 2011
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As prepared for delivery
Good morning. It’s a pleasure to be here. I would like to thank the Wilson Center for their kind invitation, and I would like especially to express my deep appreciation to Jane Harman. In her long and distinguished career, Jane has worked in the executive branch, academia, law, and of course Congress where she served nine terms in the House of Representatives. She has been, and continues to be, a devoted public servant. Thank you, Jane.There couldn’t be a more appropriate venue for my first major speech in Washington as IMF Managing Director. More than anyone else, it was Woodrow Wilson who championed the cause of multilateralism and global fraternity. The seeds he planted bore fruit in the postwar milieu that produced the IMF and its sister organizations. For at the heart of our mandate lies a simple but powerful idea—that cooperation can bestow not only economic stability, but a better future for all.This idea has never been more important.We are certainly living through times of great economic anxiety. Exactly three years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the economic skies look troubled and turbulent as global activity slows and downside risks increase.We have entered a dangerous new phase of the crisis. Without collective resolve, the confidence that the world so badly needs will not return.Woodrow Wilson once cautioned that the thing to do is to supply light and not heat. I believe that the IMF’s job is to see and show the light when the picture seems so dark, and shine the light on core economic problems—but it can also help by turning up the heat at times! With that in mind, let me offer the following:I believe there is a path to sustained recovery, much narrower than before, and getting narrower. To navigate it, we need strong political will across the world—leadership over brinksmanship, cooperation over competition, action over reaction.

Global outlook

Let me give you a short overview of global economic developments. Our forecasts are coming out next week, so I will confine myself today to broad trends. Overall, global growth is continuing, but slowing down. The advanced countries in particular are facing an anemic and bumpy recovery, with unacceptably high unemployment. The euro area debt crisis has worsened. Financial strains are rising. And again—without collective, bold, action, there is a real risk that the major economies slip back instead of moving forward.And while many advanced economies face these cold headwinds, many emerging markets are facing too much heat—inflation pressures, strong credit growth, rising current account deficits.Low-income countries have been experiencing reasonable growth, but remain highly vulnerable to economic dislocation from elsewhere in the world—including from commodity price volatility, which comes with heavy social costs. I want to draw particular attention to the human suffering from the drought in the Horn of Africa, a devastating catastrophe. These countries need the help of the international community, urgently.We should also keep in mind the Middle East and North Africa—embarking on a historic transformation, with people yearning for a better life and decent jobs. I am pleased to tell you that the IMF recently recognized the National Transition Council as the government of Libya, and we stand ready to help the people of Libya with technical assistance, policy advice, and financial support as requested.

What is the problem?

The title of my speech today is “Global Economic Challenges and Global Solutions”. But before talking about solutions, we need to be clear about the problems. I would isolate three distinct, albeit related, issues—balance sheet pressures sapping growth, instability in the core of the global economic system, and social tensions.
A key short-run issue in advanced countries is that balance sheet pressures are knocking the wind out of the recovery. There is still too much debt in the system. Uncertainty hovers over sovereigns across the advanced economies, banks in Europe, and households in the United States. Weak growth and weak balance sheets—of governments, financial institutions, and households—are feeding negatively on each other, fueling a crisis of confidence and holding back demand, investment, and job creation. This vicious cycle is gaining momentum and, frankly, it has been exacerbated by policy indecision and political dysfunction.This relates to the second, more long-term issue—the risk of core instability. In our inter-connected world, economic tremors in one country can reverberate swiftly and powerfully across the globe, especially if they originate in systemic economies. IMF research has shown that financial linkages transmit such tremors rapidly and broadly. And because of lingering debt problems, financial stability risks have risen significantly.The third issue relates to social tensions bubbling below the surface. I see a number of interweaving strands here—entrenched high unemployment, especially among the younger generation; fiscal austerity that chips away at social protections; perceptions of unfairness in Wall Street being given priority over Main Street; and legacies of growth in many countries that predominantly benefited the top echelons of society. These issues add more fuel to the confidence crisis.

What is the solution?

So, what can be done? I want to propose today four key policy dimensions needed to secure recovery and economic stability—repair, rebalance, reform, rebuild, the 4 R’s.
First, repair. Before anything else, we must relieve some of the balance sheet pressures that risk smothering the recovery—on sovereigns, on households, on banks.
On sovereigns, advanced countries need credible medium-term plans to stabilize and lower public debt ratios. This must come first. But consolidating too quickly can hurt the recovery and worsen job prospects. So the challenge is to navigate between the twin perils of losing credibility and undermining growth. There is a way to do this. Credible measures that deliver and anchor savings in the medium term will help create space for accommodating growth today—by allowing a slower pace of consolidation.Of course, the precise path is different for each country. Some have no choice but to cut deficits today, especially if they are under market pressure. Others should stick to their adjustment plans, but be ready to change course if growth falters further. Others still are probably pushing too hard today, and could slow down a bit.One more point—it’s not just the what of the adjustment, it’s the how. In the short run, policymakers must focus on measures with the biggest bang-for-the-buck, that create jobs and kick-start growth, and that take distributional considerations into account. The how of adjustment is also important in the medium term, where fiscal plans should seek to support growth. I’m thinking of issues like tax reform, including by broadening bases. Equally, entitlement reforms will be essential in establishing long-term debt sustainability in virtually all advanced economies.Policymakers must also deal with household and bank balance sheets.In light of the jobs crisis in the United States, I welcome President Obama’s recent proposals to address growth and employment. At the same time, it remains critical for policymakers to clarify in parallel their medium term plans to put public debt on a sustainable path. In tandem with this crucial employment agenda, it is important to relieve overburdened households through actions like more aggressive principal reduction programs, or helping homeowners take advantage of low interest rates.

In Europe, the sovereigns must address firmly their financing problems through credible fiscal consolidation. In addition, to support growth, via private sector lending, all banks must have sufficient capital buffers.The second R is reform. If repair was about getting the economy moving today, reform is about laying the foundations for a more stable economic future tomorrow.A priority here is financial sector reform. On the plus side, we have broad agreement on higher quality capital and liquidity standards with appropriate phase-in arrangements. But substantial gaps remain in areas like supervision, cross-border resolution, too-important-to-fail, and shadow banking systems. We need international cooperation across all dimensions to avoid regulatory arbitrage. The fact that so many of these issues are still unresolved three years after Lehman should be of concern to us all.We also need to develop and fine-tune macro-prudential tools to guard against financial risks. I’m thinking here of policies like having banks hold more capital when times are good or implementing maximum loan-to-value ratios to guard against housing price bubbles.

Under the reform banner, I would also include the social dimension. Employment must be central. It not only sustains demand, but supports human dignity. In the words of Dostoevsky, deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence. This is especially important among the young, who risk losing the race even before the starting gun has sounded. We should also seek growth that is inclusive, benefiting the whole of society.The third R is rebalance. This has two meanings. First, it means shifting back demand from the public to the private sector, when the private sector is strong enough to carry the load. This hasn’t happened yet.The second rebalancing involves a global demand switch from external deficit to external surplus counties. The idea here is straightforward—with lower spending and higher savings in the advanced economies, key emerging markets must take up the slack and start providing the demand needed to power the global recovery. But any rebalancing so far is largely due to lower growth. In some countries, rebalancing is being held back by policies that keep domestic demand growth too slow and currency appreciation too modest. Some other emerging markets are dealing with dangers from capital inflows that are too rapid.This lack of sufficient rebalancing hurts everyone. In our inter-connected world, any thought of decoupling is a mirage. If the advanced economies succumb to recession, the emerging markets will not escape. Nobody will. Rebalancing is in the global interest, but it is also in the national interest.Woodrow Wilson would have appreciated that, I'm sure.My fourth—and final—R is rebuild. Here I am thinking mainly of the low-income countries that need to rebuild their economic policy buffers—including fiscal positions—that served them so well during the crisis, to protect themselves against future storms. This will also help provide the space for growth-enhancing public investment and social safety nets—for example, allowing countries to deploy well-targeted subsidies to protect the poor from commodity price swings with minimal damage to fiscal sustainability.

So: these are my 4 Rs of recovery. But I think there is a 5th R—the role of the IMF.
I said earlier that the world has entered a dangerous new phase of the crisis. In these circumstances, the Fund—with its 187 member countries—is uniquely positioned to foster collective action among its global membership. How? Our surveillance capabilities can help identify the risks, but also the opportunities arising from the interconnectedness between economies.Our policy advice can help shine a light on the key issues—growth, core vulnerabilities, spillovers—and help guide international cooperation particularly if we use wisely our technical assistance to countries.
Our lending can provide breathing space for countries to overcome a variety of immediate challenges—emerging markets falling victim to external instability, countries facing emergency or transition needs, and vulnerable low-income members.
And looking beyond the crisis horizon, the Fund can also help construct a safer and more stable international financial system. This is our core mandate.We are by no means complacent, of course. Like everyone else, given the new challenges facing the world, we too need to raise our game to respond—to be even more effective in serving our global membership. I will speak more about this next week, at our Annual Meetings—so stay tuned!

Conclusion

To conclude—this is no time for retreat, for half-measures, or for muddling through. Once again, it was Woodrow Wilson who said it best when he noted that caution is the confidential agent of selfishness.Policymakers must also act together. They must reclaim the spirit of 2008, or the spirit of 1944. The Wilsonian spirit—the belief that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If we seize the moment, we can navigate our way out of this crisis and restore strong, sustainable, and balanced, global growth.The path is clear. The time is now. We must act.Thank you.

IMF says policymakers should use all measures
ReutersBy Matt Falloon | Reuters – Fri, Sep 9, 2011

LONDON (Reuters) - Policymakers in advanced economies should use all available tools to boost growth, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Friday, calling for bold action to weather a dangerous new phase of recovery.
Speaking in London, Lagarde also welcomed a $447 billion plan presented by President Barack Obama to boost a sluggish economy and create jobs.Lagarde said countries facing market pressures must press ahead with urgent fiscal consolidation, while there was scope for slower action in other countries not at the mercy of market forces.Economic policymakers had to act with conviction and urgency in supporting a faltering global economy, she said, giving her blessing to further quantitative easing.Policymakers should stand ready, as needed, to take more action to support the recovery, including through unconventional measures, Lagarde said.Financial markets are watching major central banks keenly for signs they are ready to embark on more stimulus and a Morgan Stanley research note ahead of a G7 meeting speculated bankers could announce some kind of coordinated monetary easing.But while decisions by the European and British central banks on Thursday to keep interest rates unchanged accentuated the gloom in Europe, neither indicated that a move was imminent.

Wall Street also closed sharply lower on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave no indications of new stimulus in a keenly awaited speech.Lagarde was due later on Friday to join finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven wealthy nations at a meeting in the French city of Marseilles.She said that meeting and the IMF annual gathering in Washington should help nations to tailor policies to tackle the specific economic challenges they faced.For the advanced economies, there is no question that fiscal sustainability must be restored through credible consolidation plans, she said.But we also know that consolidating too quickly will hurt the recovery and worsen job prospects. So the challenge is to find the pace of adjustment that is neither too fast, nor too slow.Monetary policy also has a role to play in the advanced economies. Broadly speaking, it should remain highly accommodative, as the risk of recession outweighs the risk of inflation, she said.Lagarde also said eurozone countries must implement measures agreed on financing in July and warned that some of Europe's banks would need more capitalThe road ahead may be rocky, but a way forward exists-if we act now. With each country playing their part, we can identify the actions needed to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth,she said.(Reporting by Keith Weir; editing by Patrick Graham)

House probing $528M loan to failed solar company
AP By KEVIN FREKING - Associated Press | AP – SEPT 15,11

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans questioned Wednesday whether the White House rushed approval of a half-billion-dollar loan guarantee for a now-bankrupt solar panel manufacturer once cited as the kind of renewable energy company worthy of federal stimulus money.Solyndra Inc. was a major presence in Washington and spent millions of dollars on lobbying there, particularly about the Energy Department's loan guarantee program. And its executives raised thousands of dollars for Obama and Democrats in Congress.The collapse of the Fremont, Calif.-based company once touted by President Barack Obama ultimately left taxpayers on the hook for $528 million, raising questions if the loan was rushed to accommodate a company event in September 2009 that featured Vice President Joe Biden.The congressional panel examining the loan disclosed emails that appeared to show senior staff at the Office of Management and Budget chafing about having to conduct rushed approvals of federal loan guarantees designed to help jumpstart the nation's renewable energy industry.We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due diligence reviews and have the approval set the date for the announcement rather than the other way around, said one of the emails from an unnamed OMB aide to Biden's office.Obama cited Solyndra as an example of how the economic stimulus bill would create jobs. But the company has since filed for bankruptcy and shed 1,100 workers, saying it couldn't compete with foreign manufacturers of solar panels.Documents reviewed by The Associated Press show Solyndra spent nearly $2 million lobbying the federal government during the last four years, including on provisions of the Energy Department's loan program just months before White House officials urged that the funds be approved.

In the first quarter of 2009, Solyndra paid McBee Strategic Consulting $20,000 to lobby on issues related to the Energy Department's loan guarantee program, records show, and it paid $30,000 in early 2008 to Dutko Worldwide to handle Solyndra's loan application.Republican lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigations panel are questioning why there was a rush to approve the loan and whether the entire loan guarantee program is warranted. Our investigation raises several questions about whether the administration did everything it could to protect taxpayer dollars,said the committee's chairman, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the emails don't suggest that the White House was pushing for the loan to be made.What the emails make clear is there was urgency to make a decision on a scheduling matter. It is a big proposition to move the president or to put on an event and that sort of thing so people were simply looking for answers about whether or not people could move forward, Carney told reporters at the White House.It had nothing to — and there is no evidence to the contrary — nothing to do with anything besides the need to get an answer to make a scheduling decision, he said.The Obama administration and Democratic lawmakers have aggressively sought to invest in renewable energy projects as a way to create jobs and to reduce the nation's reliance on oil. They note that other countries are also investing heavily in solar and that the race for solar manufacturing jobs is worth winning because the global market is going to be worth trillions of dollars.

The Solyndra fallout comes at an embarrassing time for the White House, while Obama is traveling the country promoting his jobs plan, which includes more investments in renewable energy.The subcommittee has been investigating Solyndra for nearly six months as it began to have financial troubles. Shortly after the filing, FBI officials raided the company's headquarters; the company said the FBI was seeking records on the loans.An AP review of Federal Election Commission records shows Solyndra executives have given to both Obama and Democratic-aligned groups. Ben Bierman, Solyndra's executive vice president, and Karen Alter, the firm's marketing vice president, contributed more than $3,500 to Obama's campaign. And one of the company's investors, George Kaiser, was a bundler for Obama's 2008 campaign, raising between $50,000 and $100,000 for the president, records show.Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee had questioned the basis of the Solyndra investigation and in July had voted against issuing subpoenas for documents from OMB. But after the bankruptcy and FBI raid, Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., described the loan Wednesday as a debacle.But Democrats also argued that it's not clear whether the company's financial woes were just a result of unforeseen market conditions or sloppy vetting or corporate malfeasance.Democrats also said that failure to invest in the U.S. solar industry would amount to an economic death sentence that would allow other nations to dominate a growing business.If you live in reality, you know the world cannot continue its dependence on fossil fuels and that we are in danger of losing this industry to our competitors, especially China,said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Federal officials told lawmakers that Solyndra went through three years of review, beginning with the Bush administration, before any taxpayer money was put at risk. Jonathan Silver, executive director of the Energy Department's loan program office, said that the company was well positioned to succeed in 2009.But Chinese companies have flooded the market with inexpensive panels, and Europe's economy weakened demand from customers. The result has been an unprecedented drop in solar cell prices this year.Silver said the loan guarantee program is about giving U.S. companies the tools they need to succeed in the world marketplace, and one of those tools, as other countries have learned, is low-cost financing.This isn't picking winners and losers. It is helping ensure that we have winners here at all, Silver said.But GOP officials disputed that the Bush administration was willing to go along with a loan guarantee for Solyndra, noting that an Energy Department committee voted against offering a conditional commitment to Solyndra in January 2009. The committee said the deal was premature and questioned its underlying financial support, said Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., chairman of the House energy panel.Two Solyndra executives were asked to testify Wednesday but are now expected to appear next week.
Under a loan guarantee, the government will cover a loan in the event of a default. Normally, private banks provide the loans, but in this case, Solyndra borrowed the money from the Federal Financing Bank. The government guaranteed up to $535 million in loans, and Solyndra's bankruptcy filings showed that it has received almost $528 million in federal loans.Associated Press writer Matt Daly contributed to this report.

Merkel: euro bonds absolutely wrong for crisis
ReutersBy Andreas Krner | Reuters – SEPT 15,11

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel bluntly rejected euro zone bonds as a solution to the currency area's sovereign debt crisis, saying on Thursday that collectivizing debts would not solve the problem.The European Union's top economic official meanwhile said he expected international lenders to be able to recommend by the end of the month releasing a vital next tranche of aid to Greece, warding off the threat of an imminent default.While that may keep Greece afloat until it gets a second bailout package from the euro zone, the finance minister said the country would remain mired in recession through 2012, the fourth year in a row, a contraction that is only likely to fuel popular outrage at the austerity drive.
Spain and France both found good demand for their bonds at auctions, but while Paris' short-term borrowing costs fell, Madrid had to pay dearly to sell longer-term debt despite support from the European Central Bank in the secondary market.

Speaking a day after the head of the European Commission raised financial market hopes by pledging to present options soon for issuing such common bonds, Merkel said: Eurobonds are absolutely wrong.In order to bring about common interest rates, you need similar competitiveness levels, similar budget situations. You don't get them by collectivizing debts, she said in a speech at the Frankfurt auto show.The chancellor, facing rising public opposition to euro zone bailouts, said there was no quick and easy way out of the debt crisis, only a step-by-step process of individual countries putting their fiscal houses in order.Many investors see joint debt issuance as the best way out since it would reassure markets that Europe's strongest economies were taking responsibility for weaker states.But Germany, the euro zone's main paymaster, argues that it would raise the borrowing costs of virtuous countries and remove the incentive for profligate states such as Greece or Italy to clean up their public finances.European Central Bank policymaker Lorenzo Bini Smaghi highlighted that risk in a speech in Rome on Thursday.Without stringent constraints, eurobonds risk favoring fiscal policies that, on average, are more expansionary, and a higher debt, whose cost is also shared among the more disciplined countries, he said.And other analysts have described euro bonds as a get out of jail free card for European banks, allowing those with heavy exposure to Greek, Spanish and other risky euro zone debt to mask their contingent liabilities.On a conference call with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Wednesday, Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy voiced their support for keeping Greece in the euro zone and continuing financial assistance provided it sticks strictly to austerity measures to meet its fiscal targets.

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said he now expected an EU/ECB/IMF troika of inspectors to complete their review of Greece's fiscal targets by the end of the month.Over the last weekend, the Greek government took very important decisions that go a long way to meeting the fiscal target for this year, Olli Rehn told a news briefing.It is now essential that they go all the way and convince their partners so that they can expect a decision to be taken by the euro area and the IMF in time before the next hurdles of financing will emerge,he said.
Separately, the Commission said economic growth in Europe was slowing down and could come close to a halt at the end of the year, partly because the debt crisis will hit household consumption and investment.The outlook for the European economy has deteriorated. Recoveries from financial crises are often slow and bumpy, Rehn said, rejecting any return to stimulus spending.There were some signs that political support in Germany for continuing aid to Greece was rallying after weekend comments about the possibility of a Greek default and exit from the euro area spooked markets.

Michael Meister, deputy parliamentary leader of Berlin's governing conservatives, said Athens was doing its utmost to deliver on its fiscal targets and it would be absolutely fatal for Greece to leave the euro zone.He was also confident parliament would ratify an increased role for the euro zone's EFSF rescue fund on September 29 after votes in the Austrian and Slovak parliaments were delayed by internal opposition.German Vice-Chancellor Philipp Roesler also softened earlier comments, stressing he did not favor Greece leaving the euro zone and his party's position was close to Merkel's.(Writing by Paul Taylor; editing by Janet McBride/Patrick Graham)

UBS $2 billion rogue trade suspect held in London
ReutersBy Victoria Howley and Emma Thomasson | Reuters – SEPT 15,11

LONDON/ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS said a trader had lost it around $2 billion in unauthorized deals, and police in London arrested 31-year-old Kweku Adoboli in connection with the case.Adoboli -- a director of exchange traded funds and Delta 1 working in the bank's London office, according to his profile on networking site LinkedIn -- was arrested on suspicion of fraud, sources told Reuters.I can confirm that an employee of the bank was arrested in London in connection with the statement, a UBS spokesman said.UBS said it might post a third-quarter loss after the rogue trades, a huge blow as it struggles to rebuild its credibility after years of crises.The loss effectively cancels out the 2 billion-franc saving that the bank had hoped to make in a cost-cutting program announced last month in which it will axe 3,500 jobs.It also threatens the future of UBS's investment bank, which is being reviewed by chief executive Oswald Gruebel as part of a wide-ranging restructuring following heavy losses in the credit crisis and a damaging scandal over bankers helping rich U.S. clients dodge taxes.UBS, which said no client positions were affected, is scheduled to hold an investor day on November 17 at which it was expected to announce major restructuring of the investment bank.The matter is still being investigated, but UBS's current estimate of the loss on the trades is in the range of $2 billion, the bank said in a statement.UBS employed almost 18,000 people in its investment bank at the end of June, most of them outside Switzerland, particularly in London and the United States.UBS shares were down 9.1 percent at 9.935 Swiss francs at 1320 GMT, while the European banking sector was up 4.78 percent.(This) is a staggering demonstration that all the clever systems that the banks now have, especially after the financial crisis, still cannot stop a determined individual getting round them if they want to, said Chris Roebuck, Visiting Professor at Cass Business School in London.It will yet again confirm to the majority of shareholders who are Swiss that investment banking is not proper banking, as private banking is.UBS had started to see client confidence return this year after it had to be rescued by the Swiss state in 2008 following massive losses on toxic assets held by its investment bank. The bank has had a history of major risk management glitches followed by repeated pledges to fix risk systems.

KERVIEL

Any losses in its investment bank risk scaring UBS's rich clients and prompting a further flight from its huge private bank, the core of its business that used to be the world's biggest wealth manager but has slipped to third place.This loss has the scope to have a material impact on the perception of UBS's private bank, impacting its future operating trends, Goldman Sachs analysts Jernei Omahen and Peter Skoog said in a note.Today's announcement therefore adds to the long list of arguments (and pressure) for a substantially smaller investment bank.UBS's news caused disbelief among market operators.The last similar case was when Jerome Kerviel, then a trader at Societe Generale, racked up a $6.7 billion loss in unauthorized deals revealed in 2008. Kerviel was sentenced to three years in prison in October 2010.
Both Kerviel and Adoboli were the same age when the scandal broke and both worked with so-called Delta 1 products, derivatives which closely track the underlying securities and give the holder an easy way to gain exposure to several asset classes. Examples include equity swaps, forwards, futures and exchange-traded funds.

It is amazing that this is still possible, said ZKB trading analyst Claude Zehnder. They obviously have a problem with risk management. Even when the amount isn't so high, it is once more a loss of confidence that casts UBS in a poor light.With this they are losing a lot of credit that they had regained with effort, he added.
Switzerland's financial markets regulator FINMA said it had been informed of the case and was in close contact with UBS.

HEADS TO ROLL?

The bank has in the past two years tried to rebuild the investment bank that nearly felled it during the financial crisis. It needed a state bailout after heavy losses on U.S. subprime mortgage-related securities.Under Gruebel and investment bank boss Carsten Kengeter -- themselves both once traders -- it hired hundreds of traders in a bid to boost its bond business.Several analysts said the incident made it more likely Kengeter would be in the firing line, while Gruebel could step down sooner rather than later.Gruebel saved the bank from destruction, so his main job is done. It is only a matter of time before he steps down. If it means he leaves a little sooner, it does not change a lot. But the investment bank is a bit of a disaster, and the knives will be out for Kengeter, said Peter Thorne, analyst at Helvea.
Another analyst who declined to be named said: Some important heads are going to have to roll, and some are saying that after a series of missteps with the IB, Kengeter himself will have to go.Former Bundesbank head Axel Weber is due to join the UBS board in May and take over as chairman in 2013.The weak performance of the investment bank and tough capital rules in Switzerland had already attracted intense scrutiny over how UBS will cope, with analysts calling for a retrenchment of the investment bank.The rogue trader scandal came as Swiss politicians were debating tough new capital rules designed to make sure big banks can weather future crises without having to be bailed out by the state.It shows that investment banking is a risky business and that it is important that systemically relevant functions are clearly separated from the rest of the banking business,Caspar Baader, parliamentary leader of the right-wing Swiss People's Party, told Swiss television.(Additional reporting by Andrew Thompson in Zurich, Sarah White, Steve Slater, Keith Weir, Stefano Ambrogi and Douwe Miedema in London; Writing by Sophie Walker; Editing by Will Waterman, Dan Lalor and Alexander Smith)

Coordinated Central Bank Liquidity Offer
Thu 15 Sep 11 | 11:02 AM ET
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000045797#eyJ2aWQiOiIzMDAwMDQ1NzkxIiwiZW5jVmlkIjoiS2JFdVdlZ3NkcWNpL0FXZzB2emJrUT09IiwidlRhYiI6InRyYW5zY3JpcHQiLCJ2UGFnZSI6IiIsImdOYXYiOlsiwqBMYXRlc3QgVmlkZW8iXSwiZ1NlY3QiOiJBTEwiLCJnUGFnZSI6IjEiLCJzeW0iOiIiLCJzZWFyY2giOiIifQ==

The following transcript has not been checked for accuracy.reporter: i wonder if gold is off because it's a little bit coming off of the apocalypse trade because what happened today, a surprise move by the british, japanese, swiss, and european central banks in a joint, coordinated liquidity move. these banks will offer dollar liquidity funding in a coordinated act. this will be three new dollar offerings will happen for three-month money. it's a fixed rate and, basically, what they call full allotment. you can basically go to those foreign central banks and get dollars, dollar funding for in the case of europe euro-based collateral. and again, these are three-month maturities. there is an existing swap line between the u.s. federal reserve and all these other banks. the european central bank had been offering seven-day money and now is going to be offering also three-month money. stocks of course moved up on this action and especially the biggest move seemed to be in the european banks. the biggest part about that is the issue, the ability to get dollar funding seems to be off the table for the time. thank you very much, steve.

gold is moving on the down side so you're right. the apocalypse trade moving to the down side a bit today. one thing that is very important is european banks are very dependent upon short-term funding. loan-to-deposit ratios a lot higher than u.s. banks and they're getting shut out of the short-term funding. that is the reason for the need of the coordinated intervention. things have been quieter this week. steve is absolutely right. euro indicators, euro/dollar is up, euro up about 1%, dollar index down 1% there. it should be barclay's up about 10%. take a look at the major european banks here today and what's been going on. the important thing, barclay's up about 1%. all of the major european banks to the up side the one exception of course ubs and the rogue trader story down the high single digits. take a look at the major sectors for the s&p 500. these would be a little higher if we wouldn't have weak economic data. the claims numbers were again high, north of 400,000 again. the cpi was a bit higher than some were comfortable with. these would be up high fer we had better data. rick santelli in chicago, that might be a problem for of course our central bank as well. reporter: it is. unless you were the person in the pool who picked the most popular term of the month to be stagflation. i think the guy behind me won.

if you look at an intraday of the euro versus the dollar you can clearly see, boy, when that announcement adding 83 days from seven to 90 days on the swap operation we clearly jumped from 13740 to around 139 1/2 briefly. it was an amazing move. put it in context of the last time the euro was at those lower levels earlier in the week going back about six and a half months you could see maybe this is going to turn us back into the meat of the range closer to 140. if you're looking at ten year the response was swift there as well. yields moved higher. especially with the equity component thrown in which rallied greatly no matter what country you're in and the last chart, the when was the last time tens were hovering at a yield close near 2.10? earlier in the month. liquidity is a function of insolvency they say. all of these programs cure liquidity but the issue is based on insolvency. does anything get fix thread? no. bob pisani talks about it almost every day.
URL:http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000045791

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

U.S. Ambassador to Syria in charge of recruiting Arab/Muslim death squads Wayne Madsen Opinion Maker September 14, 2011

WMR has been informed by reliable sources that the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert S. Ford, is the key State Department official who has been responsible for recruiting Arab death squads from Al Qaeda-affiliated units in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Chechnya to fight against Syrian military and police forces in embattled Syria. Ford served as the Political Officer at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad from 2004 to 2006 under Ambassador John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985. Negroponte was a key figure in the covert U.S. program to arm the Nicaraguan contras and his support for vicious paramilitary units in El Salvador and Honduras earned him the nickname of Mr. Death Squad.Negroponte tasked Ford with implementing the El Salvador option in Iraq, the use of Iraqi Shi'a irregulars and Kurdish Pesh Merga paramilitary forces to target for assassination and kidnapping/ torture Iraqi insurgency leaders in Iraq and across the border in Syria. The operation was named for Negroponte's death squad operation in Central America in the 1980s.Ford has become the point man in the recruitment of Arabs and Muslims from the Middle East and beyond to battle against the security forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The U.S.-backed terrorists have not only carried out attacks on Syrian security forces but have also massacred civilians in false flag operations later blamed on Syrian government forces. WMR has been informed that Ford's operations in Syria are being carried out with the assistance of Israel's Mossad.The El Salvador option has also been used in Libya, where Al Qaeda irregulars, drawn from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen, have been carrying out murders of Libyan civilians, especially black Libyans and African guest workers, on behalf of the Libyan rebel government. Some of the murders of civilians have been blamed on pro-Muammar Qaddafi forces but they have, in fact, been carried out by Al Qaeda units fighting with the rebels and which are being directed by CIA and MI-6 advisers. Ford has been providing advice to the Libyan rebels on how to carry out their death squad attacks.

From 2006 to 2008, Ford served as U.S. ambassador to Algeria, a nation that opposes the Libyan rebel government and a nation that has begun to see a re-surgence of "Al Qaeda" terrorist attacks against Algerian government targets. In fact, Algeria is viewed as the next domino to fall as the U.S. seeks to establish total military and political hegemony over North Africa.WMR has learned from a source who was recently in Libya that the Libyan rebel transitional government has agreed to allow the U.S. to establish permanent military bases in Libya, including on the Algerian border. The rebels have also agreed to permit an American to serve as the chief political officer for the planned Libyan transitional advisory body due to be organized by NATO and the United Nations. The body will be modeled on the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

US Homeland Security now tracking medical records of Canadians Jonathan Benson Natural News September 13, 2011

Wikicommons imagesIf you are a Canadian citizen trying to visit the US, but have a history of mental illness — even just a minor, non-violent incident that was recorded in official records — you could be denied entry by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to a recent report by CBCNews in Canada.
Sixty-five year old Lois Kamenitz from Toronto found this out the hard way recently when US customs officials at Pearson International Airport (PIA) refused to allow her to board a flight she booked to Los Angeles, Cal. Because Kamenitz had tried to take her life back in 2006, which was recorded by police who were present after the woman’s partner called them to the scene, DHS ultimately refused her entry.When questioned about the incident, DHS officials claimed they did not actually access Kamenitz’ medical records, but instead obtained information via a contact note from the police that had visited her home. According to a Wikileaks report released earlier this year, all information that is entered into the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database, including Kamenitz’ suicide incident, is fully accessible to US authorities.In Kamenitz’ case, her suicide attempt was not a crime, it did not involve violence, and she has not had any further incidents since that date. But because DHS was able to access her private information without so much as a cursory review of the circumstances, they ultimately prevented her from traveling on the basis that she might be a threat to herself or others.

But the real question is this. Why do US authorities have access to private information about Canadians in the first place? CBCNews explains that both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and DHS have reciprocal direct access to criminal databases, but it also appears that they might have reciprocal access to details, which they then use to gain further access to private medical records.These are private and personal medical records that I’m now handing over to a foreign government, said Kamenitz to CBCNews, following her eventual admittance into the US. DHS ultimately forced her to surrender a copy of her medical records, and pay a DHS-approved doctor $250 to gain official clearance into the US.

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU SEPTEMBER 15,2011

09:30 AM +2.43
10:00 AM +90.18
10:30 AM +87.38
11:00 AM +78.60
11:30 AM +82.08
12:00 PM +98.52
12:30 PM +116.70
01:00 PM +129.19
01:30 PM +144.25
02:00 PM +150.34
02:30 PM +158.14
03:00 PM +176.27
03:30 PM +161.43
04:00 PM +186.45 11,433.18

S&P 500 1209.11 +20.43

NASDAQ 2607.07 +34.52

GOLD 1,792.10 -34.40

OIL 89.29 +0.38

TSE 300 12,424.80 +131.50

CDNX 1764.30 +10.40

S&P/TSX/60 708.19 +8.88

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +83 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +1 points at low today.
Dow +153 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,791.90.OIL opens at $89.42 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow +1 points at low today so far.
Dow +186 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow +1 points at low today.
Dow +186 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,902.60 (NOT AT CLOSE)

NATURAL GAS THURSDAYS +87 BCF

Wi-fi refugees shelter in West Virginia mountains
By Jane O'Brien & Matt Danzico BBC News, Green Bank SEPT 14,11

There are five billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide and advances in wireless technology make it increasingly difficult to escape the influence of mobile devices. But while most Americans seem to embrace continuous connectivity, some believe it's making them physically ill.Diane Schou is unable to hold back the tears as she describes how she once lived in a shielded cage to protect her from the electromagnetic radiation caused by waves from wireless communication.It's a horrible thing to have to be a prisoner, she says. You become a technological leper because you can't be around people.It's not that you would be contagious to them - it's what they're carrying that is harmful to you.Ms Schou is one of an estimated 5% of Americans who believe they suffer from Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS), which they say is caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields typically created by mobile phones, wi-fi and other electronic equipment.

Hiding in a cage

Symptoms range from acute headaches, skin burning, muscle twitching and chronic pain.
Diane Schou in West Virginia Diane Schou says she was forced to live in a shielded cage in Iowa, prior to moving to West Virginia.My face turns red, I get a headache, my vision changes, and it hurts to think. Last time [I was exposed] I started getting chest pains - and to me that's becoming life-threatening,Ms Schou says.To alleviate the pain, her husband built an insulated living space known as a Faraday Cage.He covered a wooden frame with two layers of wire mesh and a door that could be sealed shut to prevent radio waves from entering.Diane spent much of her time inside it, sleeping on a twin mattress on a plywood base.At least I could see my husband on the outside, I could talk to him, she says.Diane believes her illness was triggered by emissions from a mobile phone mast.Her symptoms were so severe that she abandoned her family farm in the state of Iowa and moved to Green Bank, West Virginia - a tiny village of 143 residents in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains.

Outlawed wireless technology

Green Bank is part of the US Radio Quiet Zone, where wireless is banned across 13,000 sq miles (33,000 sq km) to prevent transmissions interfering with a number of radio telescopes in the area.The largest is owned by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and enables scientists to listen to low-level signals from different places in the universe.Others are operated by the US military and are a critical part of the government's spy network.As a result of the radio blackout, the Quiet Zone has become a haven for people like Diane, desperate to get away from wireless technology.The radio telescope in Green Bank The world's largest, fully steerable radio telescope is operated in the town of Green Bank.Living here allows me to be more of a normal person. I can be outdoors. I don't have to stay hidden in a Faraday Cage, she says.I can see the sunrise, I can see the stars at night, and I can be in the rain.Here in Green Bank allows me to be with people. People here do not carry cell phones so I can socialise.I can go to church, I can attend some celebrations, I can be with people. I couldn't do that when I had to remain in the Faraday Cage.But EHS is not medically recognised in the US.

Debated condition

The wireless association, CTIA, says that scientific evidence overwhelmingly shows that wireless devices, with the limits established by government regulators, do not pose a public health risk or cause any adverse health effects.And the World Health Organization, while acknowledging that the symptoms are genuine and can be severe, says: EHS has no clear diagnostic criteria and there is no scientific basis to link EHS symptoms to EMF (electromagnetic field) exposure. Further, EHS is not a medical diagnosis, nor is it clear that it represents a single medical problem.However, new research by scientists at Louisiana State University and published by the International Journal of Neuroscience, claims to show that EHS can be caused by low frequency electromagnetic fields found in the environment.The study provides direct evidence that linking human symptoms with environmental factors, in this case EMF, says Dr Andrew Marino, a neurology professor who led the study.It's a watershed in that regard. There have been no previous studies that scientifically assess whether electromagnetic fields in the environment could produce human symptoms.And the symptoms matter because they are the first steps that show how EMFs produce human disease.Scientists conducted a number of tests on a 35-year-old physician who had diagnosed herself with EHS.She was seated on a wooden chair while voltage was applied to metal plates for pulses of 90 seconds to create a series of magnetic fields. The woman was asked to describe her symptoms after each exposure and after random sham exposures when, unknown to her, there was no voltage.She reported headaches, pain and muscle twitching during the genuine exposures and no symptoms for the majority of the sham exposures.The scientists concluded that such consistency could not be attributed to chance.But other experts still disagree that a link exists.

Technological ignorance

Bob Park is a physics professor at the University of Maryland.He says that the radiation emitted by wi-fi is simply too weak to cause the type of changes in the body's chemistry that could make people sick.Nikki Fox's House Nichols Fox lives alone in a home powered primarily by gas just outside the Quiet Zone.The bigger problem that we face is that in our society, driven by technological change, people have very little education, he says.There are lots of things people need to learn and they're not learning it. The thing that's going to kill them is ignorance.Seventy-year-old Nichols Fox says she understands such scepticism - it took several years before she became convinced that her debilitating pain and fatigue were caused by electromagnetic radiation emitted by her computer.Towards the end of my normal life when I still could watch television I could actually cut my pain off and on with the remote control device, she says.It was such an enormously clear association there was just no denying it.Her symptoms are so severe that she has isolated herself almost entirely, living in a remote house surrounded by fields and woods just outside the Quiet Zone. She says even the low-level electromagnetic fields generated there affect her health.She uses hardly any electricity - her refrigerator operates on gas, light comes from kerosene lamps and a wood-burning stove provides most of her heat.A thermostat is set to switch on electric heaters if the temperature drops to a level where she is in danger of hypothermia.It's so important that people understand that this is a very serious disability, it's a life-changing disability. It leads to an earlier death - I have absolutely no doubt about that and I think it's just unfortunate that this is not recognised,she says.
But even in this secluded part of America, the incursion of wireless technology is relentless. Planning permission has been granted for a cell tower a few miles from her home, and Nichols says she'll have to move.I'm getting older and I really don't know where I'm going to go or what I'm going to do, she says. It's really quite frightening.