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B4 The Bell, Moonday,October 18


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:D Welcome to another week of trading, humor, insights, served with some political barbs and what-not at B4 the Bell! :D B4 has as its central theme short-term trading, lead by the astute technician Brain4. But it is also about any technical and economic issues that members think affects that - in a cordial atmosphere of a 24/7 international family lounge.

 

Sweet Harmony:

 

JOHANNESBURG -- Harmony Gold Mining Co. Monday launched a 52.9-billion-rand ($8.23 billion) takeover offer for South African peer Gold Fields Ltd., in a move that could break up Gold Fields' proposed deal with IamGold Corp.

 

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Rules: Doc says - "... discussion of politics and world affairs on this thread is permitted, but 911 conspiracy discussions are off limits. I just want to add that as a general rule, I do not want to see the use of innuendo on this board. It is too easily misused, misread, and misconstrued. In any discussion, on any subject, state your theory, and the facts and logic in support of it."

 

Good trading! ;)

 

Goldfields:

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http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1016-04.htm

 

Published on Saturday, October 16, 2004 by the Associated Press

Ex-Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft Rips Bush Diplomacy

 

 

WASHINGTON - The national security adviser under the first President Bush says the current president acted contemptuously toward NATO and Europe after Sept. 11 and is trying to cooperate now out of desperation to "rescue a failing venture" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

Brent Scowcroft, a mentor to the current national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, also said in an interview published in England that Bush is inordinately influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

 

"Sharon just has him wrapped around his little finger," Scowcroft told London's Financial Times. "I think the president is mesmerized."

 

Scowcroft said Sharon "has been nothing but trouble."

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Some 200 people were arrested near the "Ground Zero" site of the World Trade Center on the afternoon of the 31st. The protest had begun with a one-hour vigil at Ground Zero and was to be followed by a solemn march toward the Republican National Convention and then a "die-in," an act of nonviolent civil disobedience calling attention to the terrible toll the Bush administration wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have taken. Just before the march was scheduled to begin, police and march organizers negotiated about how the march might be held without disrupting traffic; a march that doesn't disrupt traffic is legal under the First Amendment whether or not it has a permit.

 

Yet once the march began, police fenced off an entire block and arrested everyone within the area, including bystanders, some legal observers and some members of the press. "After Mayor Michael Bloomberg's declaration that free speech was a not a right, but a privilege [on August 16, at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice], we thought his administration might try to annul our First Amendment rights," said WRL Board member, Frida Berrigan. "So we planned for the march to start from several different places. Some of us completed the march and the die-in. Generals aren't the only ones who know how to plan campaigns."

 

The arrestees were flex-cuffed; some had to sit in the sun for several hours.

 

http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1011-23.htm

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/opinion/18mon3.html?th

 

The Scalia/ Thomas Court. NY Times finally waking up to the stakes. It took way, way too long.

Wait a minute! Do you mean to say - do you meeeeaaaan to saaay - the New York Times actually printed something that wasn't about Mary Cheney being a (horrors) lesbian? With the election less than three, count 'em, three weeks away - they actually printed something that might have some meaning and substance in regard to this election?

 

Do you know what - this might start a trend - maybe, just maybe in the next week or two another newspaper might mention that we are getting our butts beat in Iraq. After that maybe in four or five weeks or so another newspaper might mention that our debt is out of control.

 

I smell a revolution here. It'sa comin' hold on to your hats.

 

Spoo futures below FV. Might be a good opening. This being October 18th - who knows what might happen.

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http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?s...=nested&order=0

 

 

Central Command originally proposed a force of 380,000 to attack and occupy Iraq. Rumsfeld's opening bid was about 40,000, "a division-plus," said three senior military officials who participated in the discussions.

 

Near the end of his presentation, an Army lieutenant colonel who was giving a briefing showed a slide describing the Pentagon's plans for rebuilding Iraq after the war, known in the planners' parlance as Phase 4-C. He was uncomfortable with his material - and for good reason.

 

The slide said: "To Be Provided."

 

 

 

Every effort was made to get those who were interviewed to speak for the record, but many officials requested anonymity because they didn't want to criticize the administration publicly or because they feared retaliation.

 

One official who was deeply involved in the pre-war planning effort - and was critical of it - initially agreed but then declined to cooperate after expressing concern that the Justice Department might pursue a reporter's telephone records in an effort to hunt down critics of the administration's policies.

 

Some senior officials spoke up about their concerns for the first time. President Bush and top officials in Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld's office never responded to repeated requests for interviews. They've publicly defended their plans for the invasion and its aftermath, and now some top officials are blaming the CIA for failing to predict the messy aftermath of Saddam's fall.

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Here's a Bloomberg article about a topic Brian mentioned yesterday, the new U.S. anti-dumping duties on Canadian hogs:

 

Canadian bacon

 

Several things are troubling about this decision. One is that, as always when oligopolistic interests interfere with free trade, consumers pay:

 

"We expect that prices in the U.S. will increase somewhat, and that is exactly what the law intends,'' said Mary Staley, a lawyer for Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC who represented the eight state pork-producer associations and 119 companies that filed the trade complaint. "This seems like the right result."

 

Second is that the surge in Canadian pork exports seems to have been partly a side effect of last year's U.S. ban on Canadian cattle exports:

 

Livestock producers in Canada have been exporting more hogs after the U.S. banned cattle from that country following the disclosure in May 2003 that mad cow disease had found in Alberta.? ? ? ? ?

 

U.S. imports of hogs from Canada rose 30 percent to 7.44 million head last year from 2002, U.S. Department of Agriculture figures show.

 

In other words, one ham-handed, ill-advised gov't action leads to another, in a sort of "cascading stupidity."

 

The third disturbing aspect is the U.S. finding that Canadian hog farmers are "subsidized." That may be -- I don't know -- but a couple of years ago, the Bush administration passed one of the largest 'farm bills' in history, providing massive subsidies to U.S. agriculture.

 

So the U.S. subsidizes its own agriculture, then accuses others who may do the same of "dumping"?

 

Whatever -- anti-dumping is a policy which receives bipartisan support from the ruling Depublicrat party.

 

Screw the Matrix, and screw the corporate farmers ... :mellow:

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/opinion/18mon3.html?th

 

The Scalia/ Thomas Court.  NY Times finally waking up to the stakes. It took way, way too  long.

Wait a minute! Do you mean to say - do you meeeeaaaan to saaay - the New York Times actually printed something that wasn't about Mary Cheney being a (horrors) lesbian? With the election less than three, count 'em, three weeks away - they actually printed something that might have some meaning and substance in regard to this election?

 

Do you know what - this might start a trend - maybe, just maybe in the next week or two another newspaper might mention that we are getting our butts beat in Iraq. After that maybe in four or five weeks or so another newspaper might mention that our debt is out of control.

 

I smell a revolution here. It'sa comin' hold on to your hats.

 

Spoo futures below FV. Might be a good opening. This being October 18th - who knows what might happen.

BREAKING NEWS!

 

We now interrupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news in the Scott Peterson trial. In what prosecutors are calling a blatant attempt to distract jurors from the evidence, Scott Peterson has sneezed in open court.

 

Pssshhht.

 

BREAKING NEWS!

 

We now interrupt this breaking news to bring you even more breaking news. Starbucks has announced it is rolling out a new drink with lots of fat and calories! It's going to be chocolate flavored!

 

We now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast.

 

In other news, John Kerry's face is abnormally long.

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Here's a Bloomberg article about a topic Brian mentioned yesterday, the new U.S. anti-dumping duties on Canadian hogs:

 

Canadian bacon

 

Several things are troubling about this decision. One is that, as always when oligopolistic interests interfere with free trade, consumers pay:

 

"We expect that prices in the U.S. will increase somewhat, and that is exactly what the law intends,'' said Mary Staley, a lawyer for Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC who represented the eight state pork-producer associations and 119 companies that filed the trade complaint. "This seems like the right result."

 

Second is that the surge in Canadian pork exports seems to have been partly a side effect of last year's U.S. ban on Canadian cattle exports:

 

Livestock producers in Canada have been exporting more hogs after the U.S. banned cattle from that country following the disclosure in May 2003 that mad cow disease had found in Alberta.? ? ? ? ?

 

U.S. imports of hogs from Canada rose 30 percent to 7.44 million head last year from 2002, U.S. Department of Agriculture figures show.

 

In other words, one ham-handed, ill-advised gov't action leads to another, in a sort of "cascading stupidity."

 

The third disturbing aspect is the U.S. finding that Canadian hog farmers are "subsidized." That may be -- I don't know -- but a couple of years ago, the Bush administration passed one of the largest 'farm bills' in history, providing massive subsidies to U.S. agriculture.

 

So the U.S. subsidizes its own agriculture, then accuses others who may do the same of "dumping"?

 

Whatever -- anti-dumping is a policy which receives bipartisan support from the ruling Depublicrat party.

 

Screw the Matrix, and screw the corporate farmers ... :mellow:

Subsidies? How about $10 billion in payouts just to tobacco farmers:

 

Charlotte Observer (NC)

Copyright 2004 The Charlotte Observer. All rights reserved.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

 

IN DEPTH A U.S. TOBACCO BUYOUT WILL BRING MILLIONS TO RURAL PITT COUNTY, BUT THE PROGRAM COULD HURT HUNDREDS OF FIELD WORKERS AND AN AILING ECONOMY.

 

More than $3.8 billion in federal tobacco payments is expected to flow into North Carolina over the next 10 years, providing growers and landowners with an instant infusion of heady cash. Proponents of the buyout predict entire communities will benefit as newly enriched residents spend more at local retailers, eateries and equipment stores. Supporters say the buyout may even entice farmers to start new businesses, fattening county coffers.

 

Where will money go? At Bum's restaurant in Ayden, 10 miles south of Greenville, half a dozen neighbors gathered for lunch one day last week. As many as one in 12 residents of this 4,600-person town could receive money from the buyout, based on a federal list of recipients.Over plates of fried chicken, barbecue and home-grown collards, the group talked local politics. Framed photographs of former President George Bush and President George W. Bush hung on walls, alongside pictures of John Wayne and pigs carved out of wood.

 

Latham "Bum" Dennis, the restaurant's owner, and Shirley, his wife of more than 42 years, took time out from cooking to join the banter. On a column near the group hung a bundle of cured tobacco, a reminder of the crop's importance to the community.

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ECRI warns.

 

NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - A leading index of the U.S. economy fell in the latest week due to a rise in people filing for initial jobless claims and lower mortgage applications, a report showed on Friday.

 

The index's annualized growth rate, which smooths out weekly fluctuations, fell to an 81-week low of -1.0 percent from a revised -0.7 percent in the prior week.

 

The Economic Cycle Research Institute, an independent forecasting group, said its weekly leading index (WLI) dipped to 131.0 in the week ended Oct. 8 compared with 131.8 in the previous week.

 

"The 81-week low in the WLI growth rate underscores the fact that the economy will not re-accelerate above trend growth any time soon, said," Lakshman Achuthan, Managing Director of ECRI.

 

"The course that the WLI growth rate takes in the next month or two will clarify if economic growth breaks to the upside or the downside around the spring of 2005," Achuthan added.

 

http://www.businesscycle.com/showstory.php?storyID=731

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