Greece’s credit ratings were cut to the lowest level by Moody’s Investors Service after the country negotiated the biggest sovereign debt restructuring ever.
Moody’s dropped Greece’s rating to C from Ca late yesterday, saying in a statement that investors who participate in the nation’s debt exchange will get about 70 percent less than the face value of their holdings. The deal constitutes “a distressed exchange, and hence a default,” the New York-based rating company said.
The downgrade follows S&P’s decision on Feb. 27 to lower Greece to “selective default” after the announcement of the plan for investors to trade their bonds for new securities. The swap will reduce Greece’s 200 billion euros ($264 billion) of privately held debt by about half if all investors participate.
Greece negotiated the restructuring as it seeks to reduce national debt to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, from 160 percent last year, and to meet the terms of a 130 billion euro international bailout.
The country faces a high risk of default even if the plan is successful, Moody’s said. It will be unlikely to be able to sell bonds to private investors once its bailout package runs out, according to the rating company.
Obama Calls Student After Limbaugh’s Attacks
A law student subjected to personal slurs by radio commentator Rush Limbaugh for advocatinghealth insurance coverage for contraception received a phone call offering support yesterday from President Barack Obama.
The student, Sandra Fluke, was barred from testifying last month before a House committee on what became an all-male panel talking about women’s access to birth control. She appeared a week later before House Democrats and discussed the need for insurance to cover contraception for women.
Sandra Fluke, a third-year law student at Georgetown University and former president of the Students for Reproductive Justice group there, during a hearing before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on February 23, 2012 on Capitol Hill. Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Obama called Fluke, who is attending Georgetown University’s law school, and spoke with her for several minutes, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters. Obama thought Limbaugh’s comments were “reprehensible,” Carney said.
“He wanted to offer his support to her,” Carney said. “He wanted to express his disappointment that she has been the subject of inappropriate personal attacks and to thank her for exercising her rights as a citizen to speak out on an issue of public policy.”
Fluke said on MSNBC that Obama “encouraged me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women” and told me to “tell my parents that they should be proud.”
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California decried the “vicious and inappropriate attacks” leveled against Fluke, and House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, criticized Limbaugh’s remarks in a statement from his spokesman, Michael Steel.
Fundraising Appeal
BP reaches $7.8 billion deal over Gulf of Mexico spill
(Reuters) - BP PLC has reached an estimated $7.8 billion deal with plaintiffs suing over the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the company said on Friday, but the oil giant still faces claims by the U.S. government, Gulf states and drilling partners.
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who is overseeing the litigation, said in a court order that the proposed terms of the class settlement would be submitted to court for approval.
He also adjourned the first phase of the trial over the spill, which had been scheduled to begin on March 5. He had previously delayed the start of the trial to allow a group called the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC) to negotiate a settlement with BP.
The committee represents fisherman and businesses who say their livelihoods were damaged by the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and subsequent spill from the Macondo well.
Lawyers for the committee, Stephen Herman and James Roy, said the settlement would compensate hundreds of thousands of victims.
"It does the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people," they said.
BP said the cost of the proposed settlement would be around $7.8 billion, including a commitment of $2.3 billion to help resolve loss claims related to the Gulf seafood industry.
It said the proposed settlement was not an admission of liability and that BP would assign to the PSC some of its claims against Transocean and Halliburton.
OTHER CLAIMS PENDING
Apart from BP, which owned 65 percent of the Macondo well, the main corporate defendants are Switzerland-based Transocean Ltd, which owned the Deepwater Horizon, and Houston-based Halliburton Co, which provided cementing services for the well. They are also suing each other. Several other companies are involved in the trial.
Eleven people were killed and 4.9 million barrels of oil spewed from the mile-deep well in by far the worst offshore U.S. oil spill.
A settlement would remove a significant portion of the complex case, but it would not put an end to BP's exposure.
The oil giant still faces claims by the U.S. government, which is pursuing violations of the Clean Water Act and other laws, which could result in fines totaling billions of dollars.
BP also faces claims from Gulf states as well as its drilling partners.
"Delays or deals made by other players do not change the facts of this case and we are fully prepared to argue the merits of our case based on those facts," said a spokesman for Transocean.
The U.S. Justice Department said it was prepared to go to trial to hold those responsible accountable for outstanding federal claims.
"The United States will continue to work closely with all five Gulf states to ensure that any resolution of the federal law enforcement and damage claims, including natural resources damages, arising out of this unprecedented environmental disaster is just, fair and restores the Gulf for the benefit of the people of the Gulf states," department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said.
David Uhlmann, a University of Michigan law professor and former chief of the Justice Department's environmental crimes section, said the settlement was good news for the victims of the Gulf oil spill "who will see their losses compensated much more quickly than the victims of the Exxon Valdez oil spill".
"It also paves the way for BP to negotiate agreements with the federal and state governments and begin the process of moving beyond the Gulf oil spill," he said.
20 comments:
You can't have it both ways. If you want the government to stay OUT of the bedroom, you have to keep it out all together. This is what irks me. People want government MONEY to support some stuff but not others. As for his calling her, what about calling those who DISAGREE with him? How much better of a world would we have if our leaders reached out to those who they disagreed with? THAT is what brings about change. I have never liked Rush. I find his description of 'being on loan from God, (or whatever that tag he uses is) as offensive. I have to chime in on this as I'm someone who 'should' be a Rush follower according to some of my political/religious beliefs but am NOT.
And, for the record, I'm a 'born again' who wouldn't find the idea of taxing churches offensive. I don't GIVE to get something off my taxes. Once a church takes money from a government it is 'bound by Caesar'. Far better it follows theology than government. And that would set the cat among the pigeons in a BIG way as these huge churches would throw fits. Thing is a 'church' is its people. It is not buildings or even denominations. And it will go on (some of them, anyway) no matter what edicts any government elects to proclaim or enforce.
I'm just tired of sloppy reporting...such as the 1% restaurant tip story which was FAKE. Rush is an 'entertainer' same as Jon Stewart and others. Jon Stewart made VILE comments that offended me and where was the hue and cry? If you elect to hold someone's feet to the fire, please make sure you hold ideas/people equally responsible. So, in that effort, how about the story on this:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ethicists-who-argued-that-after-birth-abortions-are-ethical-receive-death-threats/article2356577/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2356577
Australian ethicists are arguing that "'after-birth' abortions are acceptable if raising the child would put an unacceptable burden on the family." These are NEWBORN BABIES.
We are fast approaching zero ground. Who will decide who should live and who should die? Girl babies in some countries would die. Those considered 'diseased' would die. And it's a quick jump to the elderly or the sick in society. One COULD argue that Stephen Hawking should die, right? I mean, he isn't perfect. Let's not look at his contribution to society.
This idea reminds me of something...wonder what?
Okay, rant over but I had to do it. And this isn't directed to Queenbee but rather the 'big' media. Queen is simply posting stories of interest which is her right. I just wanted to bring in an opposing point here to remind people that there are forces in charge of WHAT you read and what is REPORTED and what stories are 'acceptable' to be a cause.
It's a moot point anyhow because what is the government going to use for the MONEY? Hello??? Clean up of Monopoly money on aisle 7.
I read an interesting article at Minyanville yesterday about 'new' ways of looking at energy including using volcanic thermal energy for power. IF we ruin the oceans and our water, the world is ruined as it will affect not only weather but life itself.
To end, let's all remember and donate what we can to all in KY, Indiana, TN, etc. who have lost EVERYTHING yesterday and last night. Let's remember that ALL faiths will be down there helping, many of their people doing so without payment and donating their time. It is never governments that win causes...it's PEOPLE. And people of all kinds, all faiths, all colors, all make-ups, make the real difference in this world!
CL thank you for your opinions. Abortion is a hot topic and people seem to be for or against. The point of the story for me is that Limbaugh is an idiot and a liar. I am not god and I don't know when abortion is anything other than a personal decision that I will never be confronted with. I take no side on this issue. This is about Limbaugh.
"The student, Sandra Fluke, was barred from testifying last month before a House committee on what became an all-male panel talking about women’s access to birth control. " Why is it that men make these decisions?
What business is it of Limbaugh and to call someone he knows nothing about a “slut” and a “prostitute” on his March 1 show, according to a transcript posted on his website. A day later, he said on his program that Fluke admitted to “having so much sex that she can’t afford it anymore. And thus, a new welfare entitlement must be created so that society will pay for it.”
I think we know who the slut and whore is and he is a fat old man who abused drugs while decrying them and then got off scott free.
What is sad is millions of people actually believe the garbage this man spews on the radio and he is defended as an entertainer. Wasn't Don Imus pulled off MSNBC for calling the Rutgers female basketball team something similar? Thanks to the sponsors who pulled out.
Have you noticed that the BP spill is no longer news? All the oil just melted away. It was forgotten as fast as the nuclear melt down at Fukushima. I assume that fish on the West Coast are now sufficiently irradiated. Now that is where we can direct our outrage. The oil and radiation is now well into the food chain.
Greece just seems to be a black hole that the ECB is happy to pour money into. That video that GAW posted shows the great lengths in which these financial terrorists will go to obscure the truth. We are bailing out banks that made bad loans at the people's expense and that is the truth. Why? Because these criminals are in charge.
Hey Queen, Imus is actually back ON tv. These people (Rush, Imus AND Jon Stewart, and the other guy whose name I forget..Colbert?) etc. are all part of the reason we don't have intelligent discussions in this country any more. You can add Rachel whatever-her-name-is, Ed, Hannity, etc. to that pile. Sorry, but I remember when you had Dick Cavet (very intelligent gentleman) William Buckley, Jr. Now THERE was an intelligent man who could argue a point with reason and logic while remaining a gentleman. Whether you agreed with him or not, he'd have NEVER sunk to the level of attacking this girl's PERSONAL life.
I agree with Rush about personality. I would never, however, speak to his personal problems as we all have them and I've learned to be mighty careful because, 'there but the grace of God go I'. It's like saying, "I'll never do that."
I just wish we could have had a female presenter of opinion that could express their LOGIC against the idea rather than someone who feels that government OWES her this 'right'. I don't know about you but no one gave me a DIME for birth control in all my 40 years. And, my father was the best birth control going. Knowing the shame (in MY day it was shame) that I would bring to him and my family in getting pregnant before marriage managed to cool many a heated exchange. That said, I have a FAR different childhood than many in knowing I would have been accepted and loved had I ended up that way. I would NOT, however, been given a big baby shower with all the trimmings and lauded for such conduct. I'm afraid I am a dinosaur as I don't particularly care for this 'new' attitude that people who have lived together for 5 years expect others to shower them with money and gifts for their big 'wedding' as their children run down the aisle as ring bearers and flower girls. It is a judgment on my part and I accept it as unworthy but it's the way I feel. I accept mistakes. I simply think there is a line between accepting responsibility and erasing such. Guess that isn't particularly worthy on my part but I've never claimed sainthood. I have to admit, I wouldn't be happy with that situation even with my own granddaughters.
To my mind, this is just one more example of building anger in our society over who is accountable for what. If we think this is contentious, wait until all these state pension funds come due. It's all going to come down to a have vs. have not battle. But who decides WHERE the line is with the 'haves'? There is a 5th grade teacher across from me who says she refuses to assign home projects because some students bring in a box with little or no home involvement and no money for 'fancy' projects vs. those who build elaborate stuff you can tell the parents did. She has a 5th grader who still doesn't know where to put a zero when adding...but that same kid has a iPhone, an iPad, a computer, gold earrings, etc. while she's on free lunch and has a HUD home and parent collects welfare. Then we have YOU who can't get a dime of help with all your medical stuff. And we have my godson's roommate who is getting his Master's in 'fiction' on public money. Huh? Maybe I need to apply for a government grant for my commenting on blogs? I'm sure there has to be some program for it?
Greece is a perfect example of a country that should have taken bad-tasting medicine. Look at Iceland. Perhaps that is the difference between realists and dreamers? In any case, Denninger and others are right when they quote math doesn't lie. There is not going to be 'enough' money for every program or person but the fantasy and lies live on. I'm afraid that, like you, I wish the entire affair OVER. I'm big on taking the bad news first. Hiding your head in the sand never gets one anywhere, IMO.
Whoops,,, I agree with YOU on Rush. Not I agree with Rush. That wouldn't happen very often I think
Another case of fingers going before brain.
Banksters win, economy loses:
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/03/foreclosure-settlement-a-failure-of-law-a-triumph-for-bank-attorneys/
"After many months of wrangling, a foreclosure settlement has been reached between 49 state attorneys general and a consortium of banks.
It is an epic failure of law and a triumph for bank attorneys.
It will accomplish little of value...
...The bigger issue is the economics of criminality. Most people who get caught committing crimes are punished. Commit a felony — if you run a bank — and your shareholders pay a monetary fine. Violating the law has merely become the banker’s cost of doing business.
Thus, the robosigning agreement has allowed the mass production of perjury. It has gone unrecognized and unpunished. It has made perjury a business expense, like travel or office furniture. The same reckless approach to giving loans to unqualified people was institutionalized, leading to another reckless approach to foreclosing homes.
We still don’t know who ordered these crimes, who is responsible for this, whether they still are in their jobs — or whether they are in a position of authority to do the same thing again.
Last, politically, the settlement reveals the corrupting influence of bank bailouts. Government is supposed to enforce laws equally and fairly. Instead, it is protecting its investments in rogue banks. They are committed to their original error and are loath to admit it."
chicken little - Thank you for your thoughtful comments!
"I'm big on taking the bad news first. Hiding your head in the sand never gets one anywhere."
Too bad you are one of the tiny minority who feel this way. Especially the "leadership", who have never seen a fact that they couldn't spin to support their unsustainable spending and totally unrealistic "plans".
Karl has been exactly correct since he started his Blog over 5 years ago:
"...the screaming about re-imposing Glass-Steagall (or anything that smells like it, such as One Dollar of Capital) has been extreme. The reason is obvious -- leverage is a great friend when it comes to making "profits", but it is a menace when things go wrong. Therefore, if you can shift the risk of things going wrong to someone else then you can put together a "heads I win, tails you lose" system -- and that's exactly what has been done.
This insanity must and will end; we are only choosing between doing so voluntarily and having the entire game come apart on us with catastrophic consequences. The remaining time to do the right thing runs short; at present we must cut the size of the Federal Government by some 50% or more, more than a doubling of what was necessary to restore balance just five years ago when I began writing The Ticker.
Those who believe this can and will continue for a decade or more into the future need to go back and re-learn their basic mathematical functions. In 2000, 7 years before, we needed to contract the government by about 10% to restore balance. In 2007, it was between 20-25%. Now it's by half, a clean doubling in five years.
If from this you deduce that in another five years we'd have to contract the government by 100%, you're right. If you further deduce that such a "contraction" will inevitably come, if we let things go that far, through economic and political collapse, you're also right.
Yes, a 50% contraction would be extraordinarily painful.
But it beats a 100% one, and that's what we're headed for."
The "Big Government" simply needs to stop spending, at the behest of vacuous politicians who direct the Budget, much more than it takes in.
Which involves a large contraction in the economy, as the deficit financed "government spending" (charging up one credit card to make a minimum payment on another) is simply not sustainable.
An "economy" that is dependant on borrowed "government spending" money far beyond what is collected in taxes will fail. Period. All we are debating is how long that will take, 2 years or 5 years.
I give the USA 3-5 years, unless the course is changed radically (given the current politicians, not likely), before it is just like Greece is now. As EUrope and Japan will likely blow up first.
While things may look bleak for many nations and regions, short term, there is little doubt that the continuation of large deficit spending is coming to an end.
EUrope will eventually have it's house in order, in 5 years it is doubtful that any nation there will be able to run a large defitct - their Budgets will be balanced, one way or another. While we can debate how long that process will take, it has begun, and will only continue, as it has to - deficit spending has hit the economic wall.
Japan will have to make the same painful adjustment, and so will every other Western (and BRIC etc) nation, over the next few years. The UK has begun the adjustment, Canada will have a balanced Budget in 3-4 years etc etc etc
At that point (3-5 yeare), the USA will be alone globally (possibly China as well, but that is another issue) in not having dealt with the Budget and economic sustainability issues in a realistic fashion.
4 more years of Obama will ensure that no realism will break out in Washington until forced to, and the Republican "budget plans" will only hasten the end, as they plan on doing more of the wrong things (cutting taxes, no significant Defense cuts etc).
And that is not a position that an ecnomy wants to be in - tha last huge deficit spending pie-in-the-sky reality detached one.
Kicking the can as usual won't be possible anymore, and the necessary adjustment will be hugely painful, as Karl says. It should have been done in '08, and so the economy would have been well into a real recovery by now.
Things like contraception and abortion etc, like religion, are private decisions for adults in their own lives, and the Government has no place there, either way, just like in the bedrooms of the nation. Certainly NO Government mandate money should be forced to be spent on them.
As one born Catholic, I should be totally opposed, but in the real world I can see that they are necessary for some people at some times in their lives, as a private decision, not Governmental mandate. There is a place for regulation of how the practise is done, medically, not "morally".
As long as children are loved and cared for and raised properly to be responsible adult citizens, I don't care if the parents are married or living together or whatever. Those are private decisions among adults, others should not judge or impose their own standards.
These are all part of living in a free democratic society, you get to make your own decisions, as long as whay you decide does not harm others. It's messy, inefficient and offensive to many, as humans are - the worst possible system, except for all the others.
Thank you GAW for a thoughtful comment on the above issue. My issue is that Limbaugh has been given license to slur anyone and sponsors line up to let him do it. The man is a menace to society and needs to have his big fat mouth sewed together after he apologizes for being a total buffoon. CL listed a good many of them too on both the right and left. I have no use for any of them. Ergo the only way I hear about it is from other people.
In regards to TV I honestly believe that I could turn it off permanently and after the initial empty space it would be filled with other activities that are far more productive.
I wish there was one glimmer on hope in regards to changing the government in the US, but alas I feel it is hopeless with the choices that we have and the average intelligence of the American people.
So, are we here more intelligent? More educated? If so, how or why? Why can we here agree to disagree? Why not more of our fellow compatriots?
It interests me. Is it because others just don't WANT to know? Or have been TAUGHT not to care or want to know? Or been taught that only THEIR way is right?
Don't get me wrong, I have my own 'moral' lines and I do feel society has to draw some, but it is as if we can bury everything we disagree with rather than try to come to terms. Does that help or harm a civilization? Are there absolutes?
I mean, we all scream about the lack of justice we are seeing where one segment of society appears to escape any form of paying the price for their actions. Why do we allow this? Especially in a country where Lady Justice is supposedly blind?
I wonder if it is because we are not 'educating' others in how to read, research, and form opinions AND be able to defend them without rancor? ::::Sigh::: We claim to have come so 'far' yet there are days when I see the same 'cavemen' mentality and think we've never progressed.
Do they even teach philosophy or the great works in schools any more? I know a nearby Middle school had their kids read THE HUNGER GAMES. I mean, really? Sure on their own time. But slogging through Dickens and Aristotle and Shakespeare TEACHES you. Are we going to have a Snoop-Doggy-Dog (or whatever his name is) society to model ourselves after in the future?
okay, enough philosophy. There are times when the unbelievable happens. Call is a miracle. Call it fate. Whatever you want to call it, they just found a baby girl in a field 10 MILES from home. She is in critical condition. I pray she pulls through. THIS, however, is what allows humanity to keep going through circumstances that seem impossible to overcome.
As far as the ginned-up contraception "controversy" goes, the issue started because the drug coverage rules under Obamacare would mean that the Pill and other birth control were required to be part of the mandatory insurance plan. It's not that the government itself would pay for birth control. The government would be forcing the insurance plans to provide it. And Catholics said "Not OUR insurance plans, buddy." Then, away it went.
This is not an issue in countries with socialized medicine. I don't know what coverage, free pills, or discounts on pills, they have in Canada or Australia, to say nothing of other Western nations with government health care.
(Meds are NOT free in Canada or Oz, BTW. The cost is less because of government price controls, and you get certain rebates from your private insurance companies, if you have that coverage too. Maybe if you're poor, you get free meds.)
I suppose that if a right-wing group wanted to whip up a furore over "The government is paying for sluts to have sex!" they could try, but people in these countries have too much sense, or at least a sense of calmness, to get excited about such shit.
I say, if you don't like abortion, don't have one. If it's a sin in the eyes of God, then God will set you straight when you get up there. If you don't like gay marriage, don't marry a gay person. If you don't like birth control, stop having sex, or deal with the constant pregnancy. And if you don't like the idea of the government paying for some other peoples' birth control, boo-freaking-hoo. What does that cost YOU, maybe 50 cents out of your tax bill each year? Cry me a rubber... (sic)
Chicken Little, abortion is one of those 'hot-button' issues used by the people in power to divide the population and to draw their attention from knowing just how badly they are being screwed over.
Every day I am thankful for the troubled 23-year old who gave up her newborn baby in 2006, rather than have had an abortion.
It was her choice to make.
Bee
Do not get worked up about Rush, just remember he is a morbidly obese drug addict with a string of failed marriages behind him. He is hardly an expression of conservative family values.
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