http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/speculation/ en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:32:13 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413622/posts Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. But he only comes for kids -- not for governments that have bragged, borrowed and spent their way into bankruptcy. Two Thousand Ten is going to belong to the Grinch. For spendthrift governments around the world, the new year's going to bring massive defaults. The new globalization may be the globalization of a second wave of financial crises. The world economy is not convalescing. It's just been pumped full of unaffordable medicines. Borrowing madly, countries as diverse as Greece and Dubai have been buying time, not fiscal health. NY Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413622/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:32:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395757/posts Tiger Woods did not suffer facial lacerations from a car accident. They were inflicted by his wife, Elin Nordegren -- according to a conversation Woods had Friday after the accident. Tiger has yet to be formally interviewed by the Florida Highway Patrol -- that should happen this afternoon. But we're told Tiger had a conversation Friday -- with a non-law enforcement type -- detailing what went down before his Escalade hit a fire hydrant. We're told he said his wife had confronted him about reports that he was seeing another woman. The argument got heated and, according to our source,... TMZ.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395757/posts#comment Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:50:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395833/posts Tiger Woods was injured early Friday morning outside his Florida home when his car struck a fire hydrant, then crashed into a tree. Tiger Woods, bolting his Florida mansion after a reported late-night fight with his wife, was found dazed and bleeding Friday after plowing his SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree. The world's No. 1 golfer was pulling out of his driveway at 2:25 a.m. when he double-bogeyed the getaway in his 2009 Cadillac Escalade, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Wife Elin Nordegren heard the crash from inside the couple's $2.4 million home and went to her... New York Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395833/posts#comment Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:19:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2395635/posts Tiger Woods’ wife rescued him from the wreckage of a late night car crash by smashing a golf club through the window, police said. Mrs Nordegren told police she was inside the couple’s house in a gated community in Orlando, Florida when she heard the accident and ran outside. She grabbed a golf club and smashed the rear window of the black Cadillac Escalade to get to her husband. Woods was on his own in the car and no other vehicles were involved. It was unclear where he had been intending to go at that early hour. The accident happened... telegraph uk http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2395635/posts#comment Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:30:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395410/posts Should we use taxes to deter financial speculation? Yes, say top British officials, who oversee the City of London, one of the world’s two great banking centers. Other European governments agree — and they’re right. Unfortunately, United States officials — especially Timothy Geithner, the Treasury secretary — are dead set against the proposal. Let’s hope they reconsider: financial transactions tax is an idea whose time has come. The dispute began back in August, when Adair Turner, Britain’s top financial regulator, called for a tax on financial transactions as a way to discourage “socially useless” activities. Gordon Brown, the British prime... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395410/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:20:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395157/posts November 27, 2009 Dubai in Deep Water As Ripples From Debt Crisis Spread Patrick Hosking and David Robertson Work has been halted on the artificial islands Fears of a dangerous new phase in the economic crisis swept around the globe yesterday as traders responded to the shock announcement that a debt-laden Dubai state corporation was unable to meet its interest bill. Shares plunged, weak currencies were battered and more than £14 billion was wiped from the value of British banks on fears that they would be left nursing new losses. Nervous traders transferred the focus of their anxieties from the... London Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395157/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:12:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389851/posts Brazil sparks wider currency control fears By Peter Garnham Published: November 19 2009 11:37 | Last updated: November 19 2009 11:37 Asian currencies came under pressure on Thursday as a move from Brazil to further curb foreign inflows sparked fears that other countries would follow suit. Brazil moved overnight to close a loophole that had allowed investors to avoid a 2 per cent tax on foreign investment in equities and bonds announced last month. The government announced a 1.5 per cent tax on American Depositary Receipts. Guido Mantega, Brazil’s finance minister, said some foreign investors had been buying ADRs to... FT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389851/posts#comment Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:04:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383865/posts FORT HOOD — One of the most sensational allegations stemming from last week's shooting spree at Fort Hood was a claim that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shouted “Allahu akbar!” before firing into scores of soldiers at a large post processing center. A day after Army chief of staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. expressed concern over potential anti-Muslim reaction in the wake of the mass shooting, Fort Hood appeared to distance itself from the controversy. A spokesman for the post, asked to clarify comments made last week by Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the Fort Hood commander, who suggested that Hasan... San Antonio Express-News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383865/posts#comment Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:43:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2372855/posts [UPDATE: Lambeth Palace has denied reports that there is to be an emergency meeting of Church of England bishops to discuss the Pope's offer tomorrow.] Here’s what I think Dr Rowan Williams is most worried about as the reality of the Pope’s offer sinks in: the prospect of the Bishop of Chichester and many of his clergy signing up to the new Ordinariate. Bishop John Hind put out a statement today which denies that he is about to become a Roman Catholic. Read between the lines, though. It doesn’t mean that he won’t join the new Papal structure in the... The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2372855/posts#comment Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:00:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2368002/posts Wall Street is up to its old tricks again. One year later, one of the key excesses that led our consumer-based economy into an historic downturn is being abused in the exact same way that got us $147-a-barrel oil last summer. Worse, many in the media are again getting the facts wrong on oil prices and demand— Forget what Cambridge Energy Research Associates reported on Oct. 13. By its calculations oil demand actually peaked in 2005 among the industrialized members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation, while in the U.S. alone oil usage has dropped by 2 million barrels a... Businessweek http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2368002/posts#comment Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:06:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2326754/posts <p>ANNANDALE, Va. (MarketWatch) -- It's hardly earth-shattering news that the last six months have been a speculative period for the stock market.</p> <p>Nor is that a big surprise: The initial thrusts upward of a brand new bull market are always speculative.</p> Market Watch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2326754/posts#comment Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:35:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2323176/posts Back in 2002 and in the aftermath of the Enron and Worldcom implosions, former Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., and former Rep. Mike Oxley, R-Ohio, created the Sarbanes-Oxley bill, meant to curb allegedly funny accounting and business practices. As President George W. Bush asserted in signing the bill, "There will not be a different ethical standard for corporate America than the standard that applies to everyone else." Nice political theater for sure, but then reality set in. Fast-forward four years, and the joke was on politicians naïve enough to believe that corporations with aspirations of going public would lie prostrate before... Forbes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2323176/posts#comment Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:28:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2307316/posts Do you have to be a power-plant owner to really understand the natural gas market? Should makers of aluminum siding being the only ones allowed to buy aluminum? These are the kinds of questions being raised in many commodities markets today. The issue is speculators versus users of fuels, metals and agricultural products. Both of these groups are big investors in commodities. Users buy these goods to consume them. Speculators buy without any intention of ever using them. A speculator looks purely to make a profit by buying and selling the rights to a pound of copper or a barrel... www.energy321.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2307316/posts#comment Mon, 3 Aug 2009 19:07:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303665/posts The staggered phase out of energy-wasting light bulbs begins on Sept. 1 in Germany. The unpopularity of the energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs that will replace them is leading consumers and retailers to start hoarding the traditional bulbs. As the Sept. 1 deadline for the implementation of the first phase of the EU's ban on incandescent light bulbs approaches, shoppers, retailers and even museums are hoarding the precious wares -- and helping the manufacturers make a bundle. The EU ban, adopted in March, calls for the gradual replacement of traditional light bulbs with supposedly more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL). The... Speigel Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303665/posts#comment Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:45:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303512/posts http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahZl9asR.GX8 Bloomberg http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303512/posts#comment Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:04:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2302567/posts The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is planning to issue a report next month that suggests that wild swings in oil prices were significantly driven by speculators, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Tuesday. A 2008 report by the main U.S. futures-market regulator that attributed oil-price swings primarily on supply and demand was based on "deeply flawed data," Bart Chilton, one of four CFTC commissioners, told the paper in an interview on Monday. The CFTC did not reveal preliminary figures from the report to the paper and declined to discuss the previous data. Reuters attempts to... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2302567/posts#comment Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:22:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2291714/posts Big speculators such as hedge funds and investment banks have sharply reduced their buying positions in oil futures in recent weeks, just as regulators are considering setting limits in energy speculation. The drop in speculative positions likely contributed to last week's 10% slump in oil prices -- the biggest weekly loss in six months, analysts said. Long, or buying, positions held by non-commercial traders, a category the regulator uses to classify big speculators, dropped by 16,382 contracts in the week ended July 7, according to the weekly Commitments of Traders report released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission late Friday.... Market Watch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2291714/posts#comment Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:31:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284661/posts ‘Rogue broker’ blamed for oil spike By Javier Blas and Izabella Kaminska in London Published: July 2 2009 12:07 | Last updated: July 2 2009 20:26 The startling spike in oil prices to their highest level this year on Tuesday was caused by a rogue broker who placed a massive bet in the Brent oil market, triggering almost $10m (€7m) of losses for his company. PVM Oil Associates, the world’s largest over-the-counter oil brokerage, said on Thursday it had been the “victim of unauthorised trading”. The privately owned company said that as a result of the unauthorised trades it had... FT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284661/posts#comment Fri, 3 Jul 2009 05:30:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2264892/posts Air France pilots battled for up to 15 minutes to save the doomed flight that went missing over the Atlantic this week, electronic messages emitted by the aircraft have revealed. Details have emerged of the moments leading up to the disappearance of flight AF 447 with 228 people on-board, with error messages reportedly suggesting the plane was flying too slowly and that two key computers malfunctioned. Flight data messages provided by an Air France source show the precise chronology of events of flight AF 447 before it plummeted into the sea 400 miles off Brazil on Monday. These indicate that... Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2264892/posts#comment Thu, 4 Jun 2009 20:26:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2253971/posts Florida-based radio station KissFM reports that Patrick Swayze has died. So sad if its true KissFm http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2253971/posts#comment Tue, 19 May 2009 15:53:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2237961/posts Although the CDC has not explained whether the current swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the United States is bioterrorism, influenza can be very readily manipulated and may be one of the best candidates for weaponization for several reasons: 1) Terrorists can prepare a vaccine to protect themselves and their host populations in advance of its release. 2) Influenza is airborne, it is transmitted through either solid or lipid aerosol, therefore it’s easy to spread. 3) There is a normal period of incubation during which time the carrier displays no symptoms, but can infect others. Therefore, dispersion is very efficient.... Greg's Blog on Terror http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2237961/posts#comment Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:29:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2237554/posts In a discussion this morning with a cell biologist and medical doctor working at Johns Hopkins, my friend thought this 4-part flu combination is highly unusual and looks like it could be man-made. Especially because it has an avian strain. My doctor friend (he's Taiwanese) explained that in Asia, it's common for a avian-swine-human flu to happen naturally, but this virus first showed up in Mexico, where pigs and ducks are not usually raised together. Also, recombination of more than 2-different flu viruses is extremely rare. I'm just repeating what he said as an expert in the field. He says... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2237554/posts#comment Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:51:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2230424/posts The recently released Department of Homeland Security assessment of rightwing extremism represents an alarming politicization of that huge federal agency. The 10-pages document is entitled: "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." Its source is the Extremism and Radicalization Branch of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis Assessment, of the Department of Homeland Security. (Imagine the size of their security badges.) Read it here. American Thinker Jim Byrd's article entitled "Is Texas A Terror State?" provides a catalogue of transgressions that cumulatively define rightwing extremism. Byrd concludes that, when measured against Governor Rick Perry... The American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2230424/posts#comment Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:58:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2220898/posts As state budgeters look toward another multi-billion dollar budget deficit this summer, attorneys for the Legislature and Gov. Schwarzenegger have issued a new opinion reaffirming the legality of a plan passed by Democrats last December that raised revenues without requiring a two-thirds vote. The March 9 opinion from Legislative Counsel Diane Boyer-Vine, addressed to Gov. Schwarzenegger, reaffirms a 2003 opinion by her office that finds a bill that raises one tax and lowers another by an equal or greater amount only needs simple majority votes in each legislative house. “We think that a tax bill is not subject to the... Capitol Weekly http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2220898/posts#comment Thu, 2 Apr 2009 18:52:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2217354/posts How Goldman Sachs was at the center of the oil trading fiasco that bankrupted pipeline giant Semgroup. When oil prices spiked last summer to $147 a barrel, the biggest corporate casualty was oil pipeline giant Semgroup Holdings, a $14 billion (sales) private firm in Tulsa, Okla. It had racked up $2.4 billion in trading losses betting that oil prices would go down, including $290 million in accounts personally managed by then chief executive Thomas Kivisto. Its short positions amounted to the equivalent of 20% of the nation's crude oil inventories. With the credit crunch eliminating any hope of meeting a... Forbes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2217354/posts#comment Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:06:33 GMT