We're on an Apollo 13 mission: Gen Kranz the Flight Director at the time said,"When bad things happen, we just calmly laid out all the options and failure was not one of them". Tough and competent, "we are forever accountable for what we do or fail to do. We will never take anything for granted. We will never fall short of our knowledge or our skills".
No Name has put on quite a show during and since his exit from Congress. Terminal brain cancer to a boot that switched legs and message to President Trump as to not attend his funeral. On Aug 24th, he has now chosen to discontinue medical treatment. On Aug 25th, the public learns of his death. There is much pain coming down the pike for members in Congress, many have stepped down others are in fear of contagion of disturbance of who will sing? With the money, No Name has amassed for himself is it possible to avoid conviction and witness your own funeral?
For this moment in time the Budapest Film Orchestra performs the score an 'Army of Strings'.
President Donald Trump changed the appointment process for administrative law judges on Tuesday with an executive order that puts the power with federal agency heads or the president himself.
Issued as he flew to the NATO summit in Brussels, the order follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that decided administrative law judges of the Securities and Exchange Commission are subject to the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
In the Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the justices held the administrative law judge who handed down a fine on an investor was not constitutionally appointed. The ruling put in doubt the constitutionality of other administrative law judges and opened up potentially thousands of cases to be re-litigated.
The White House framed the executive order as a solution to “ongoing legal uncertainty over administrative law judge appointments and authority” and allowing “the enforcement of dozens of important laws protecting Americans.
The order also serves as an “important step in preempting arguments going forward that administrative law judges have been unconstitutionally selected and that their decisions should be overturned.”
The Fed has released the results of its most recent Dodd-Frank Stress Tests. This year, 18 of the largest and most complex banks were subject to both the quantitative and qualitative assessments. The 17 other firms in Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) were subject only to the quantitative assessment. Decisions as a manager, you take into account qualitative factors like reputations, brand strength and employee morale, as well as quantifiable data such as sales figures, profitability and return on investment. Quantitative factors include a firm's projected capital ratios under a hypothetical scenario of severe economic and financial market stress. Qualitative factors include the strength of the firm's capital planning process, which incorporates risk management, internal controls, and governance practices that support the process.
The Board objected to the capital plan (share buybacks) from Deutsche Bank USA Corporation due to qualitative concerns. Due in part to recent changes to the tax law that negatively affected capital levels. The cut in the corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 20 per cent cut the value of deferred tax assets. Furthermore, Trump tax reforms eliminated a beneficial tax treatment that had enabled banks to smooth their earnings by carrying losses forwards or backwards from periods of crisis.
The Fed failed the U.S. subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG, citing widespread and critical deficiencies in its planning, limiting the unit’s ability to send capital home to Germany.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley agreed to freeze payouts at previous years’ levels. Both banks were required to rein in their dividend and stock buyback plans after the Fed warned their initial, more bullish, proposals would have left them with inadequate capital buffers.
JPMorgan Chase, American Express, KeyCorp and M&T Bank Corporation also rethought their original plans for payouts to shareholders, although they got the thumbs up after submitting more modest plans in the past week, the Fed said.
List of Banks moving forward with capital planing and distributions to share holders.
Ally - Buy Back $1b Shares, raise dividend to 15c/shr from 13c/shr
American Express - Buy Back $3.4b Shares, raise dividend to 39c/share, from 35c/share
Bank of America - Buy Back $20.6b Shares, raise dividend to 15c/shr
Capital One - Buy Back $1.2B Shares, keeps dividend at 40c/shr
Citi - Buy Back $17.6b Shares, raise dividend to 45c/shr from 32c
Goldman Sachs - Buy Back $5.0b Shares, raise dividend to 85c from 80c
JPMorgan Chase - Buy Back $20.7b Shares, raise dividend to 80c/shr from 56c/shr
Morgan Stanley - Buy Back $4.7b Shares, raise dividend to $0.30/shr from $0.25/shr
PNC Financial - Buy Back $2.0B Shares, raise dividend to 95c/shr from 75c/shr
U.S. Bancorp - Buy Back $3B Shares, raise dividend to 37c/shr from 30c/shr
Wells Fargo - Buy Back $24.5b Shares, raise divined to 43c/shr up from current 39c/shr
Global debt rose to a record $233 trillion in the third quarter of 2017. According to the most recent data (6/6/18) from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the total notional amounts outstanding for contracts in the derivatives market is an estimated $542.4 trillion!
In violation of the Truth in Lending Act, Wells Fargo has created and maintains a credit card program through which it actively encourages retailers to build the “fees” that these merchants must pay Wells Fargo into the regular-price of goods and services, while representing to retail consumers that the goods and services that they purchase are being financed at zero percent interest. In reality, Wells Fargo’s financing scheme results in the creation of illegal hidden finance charges, and the imposition of double-digit interest rates on consumers. (still making money the old fashion way, steal it!)
6/28/18 - Former Chief Financial Officer of Bankrate Inc. Pleads Guilty
Edward J. DiMaria, 53, of Fairfield County, Connecticut, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make false statements to a public company’s accountants, falsify a public company’s books, records and accounts, and commit securities fraud; and one count of making materially false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The scheme caused more than $25 million in losses to Bankrate’s shareholders.
“The consequences of this type of financial fraud scheme are far reaching, affecting not only the economy in the United States, but also the world’s financial markets,” said Inspector in Charge Adame. “Those who engage in this type of abuse of power while in positions of authority should know they cannot escape detection. They will be found and they will be held accountable for their actions. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has a long history of investigating complex financial fraud schemes, like this one, in order to protect investors and the integrity of the financial marketplace.” (end DOJ news)
It's good to see many Banks raising dividends for shareholders and increasing capital position. But we're not out of the woods yet, we're still seeing market manipulation which has been with us since inception and what's good about that it's being exposed.
Be careful out there and stay frosty, luck is not a factor.
The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said he would “absolutely” advise the Tory party to get rid of Theresa May as Prime Minister. “I mean, she’s boxed herself into a position now where we will for the foreseeable future actually be in a worse position than we were before we voted to leave. It’s ludicrous. The potential Brexit deal is of course worse than being in the European Union."
It's obvious that the puppet masters of pro-Brussels Tories don't want Britain to exit the EU and the people of Britain want PM May sacked!
The Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn asked PM Theresa May when meeting POTUS at the G-7 did she do as the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson suggested?
"We had productive discussion on having fair and reciprocal trade and market access."
"We're linked in the great effort to create a more just and prosperous world. And from the standpoint of trade and creating more prosperous countries, I think they are starting to be committed to more fair trade. We as a nation lost $870 billion on trade...I blame our leaders and I congratulate leaders of other countries for taking advantage of our leaders." (that's a real slap!)
"If they retaliate they're making a tremendous mistake because you see we have a tremendous trade imbalance...the numbers are so much against them, we win that war 1000 times out of a 1000."
"We're negotiating very hard, tariffs and barriers...the European Union is brutal to the United States....the gig is up...there's nothing they can say."
"We're like the piggy bank that everybody's robbing."
"I would say the level of relationship is a ten - Angela, Emmanuel and Justin - we have a very good relationship. I won't blame these people, unless they don't smarten up and make the trades fair."
Asked if Crimea should be considered Russia now:
"You'd have to ask President Obama because he's the one who let Crimea get away. He allowed Russia to take Crimea. I may have had a much different attitude.
Some people like the idea of bringing Russia back in." (end quotes)
Like anything, there's the rub when the feed bag is going to be removed from politicians. No more games folks, Putin and Trump are running the show and who's riding shotgun? The people of the world.
Now for that clip after the briefing, seems like a Kleenex monument.
