Daily Digest - November 3

• The Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex
• Geithner "Burned Billions," Shafted Taxpayers on CIT Loan, Prof. Bill Black Says
• The Social Management of Foreclosures
• IMF Sells Gold to India, First Sale in Nine Years
• It is Japan We Should Be Worrying About, Not America
• $2.3 Billion CIT Loss Is Just The Tip Of The Iceberg
• FHA Will Be The Next Giant To Tumble
• Treasury May Block Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae Deal
• Monthly Business Bankruptcy Filings Rise 7%
• House Health Bill Totals $1.2 Trillion
• What Are The Stakes In The U.S.-China Yuan Tussle?
• Fed's Path To Higher Interest Rates Begins To Take Shape 
• Vladmir Putin's Deputy Visits London Seeking Financial Relief For Russia
• Powering a Green Planet: Sustainable Energy
• Energy Seminar (2008-2009) from Stanford University (Video)
• Meeting The Energy Crisis With Potatoes
• Everybody In The Pool Of Green Innovation
• Snow Cap Disappearing From Mount Kilimanjaro

Economy

The Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex (Claire H.)

Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired United States Army soldier and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Wilkerson is an adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary where he teaches courses on US national security. He also instructs a senior seminar in the Honors Department at the George Washington University entitled "National Security Decision Making." This talk by Larry Wilkerson was the keynote speech given at an event sponsored by the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence, American University History Department, American University's Nuclear Studies Institute on Oct 21, 2009 at American University in Washington DC.

Geithner "Burned Billions," Shafted Taxpayers on CIT Loan, Prof. Bill Black Says (SolidSwede)

"If that's true we've got to get rid of capitalism," he warns, "because if we can't recognize losses in a capitalist system we have no future."

The Social Management of Foreclosures (David M.)

Government, lenders, and various lender-sponsored "help" agencies have acted in unison, using fear mongering tactics and shame to manage the housing crisis for the sole benefit of lenders. Thanks to Brent T. White at the James E. Rogers College of Law and the Sacramento Bee and for a fascinating called article called Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis.

IMF Sells Gold to India, First Sale in Nine Years (Livio S.)

The International Monetary Fund sold 200 metric tons of gold to the Reserve Bank of India for about $6.7 billion, its first sale of the precious metal in nine years. The transaction, which involved daily sales from Oct. 19-30 at market prices, is in the process of being settled, the IMF said in a statement yesterday. The average price in the sales to India was about $1,045 an ounce, an IMF official said on a conference call with reporters. Gold for immediate delivery rose in Asia, approaching a record $1,070.80 an ounce. “The most important thing is that people want gold even at these prices,” said Ghee Peh, head of mining research, with UBS AG in Hong Kong. “There’s good support for prices for now” from the IMF’s disposal of bullion, he said.

It is Japan We Should Be Worrying About, Not America (pinecarr, nncita)

Japan is drifting helplessly towards a dramatic fiscal crisis. For 20 years the world's second-largest economy has been able to borrow cheaply from a captive bond market, feeding its addiction to Keynesian deficit spending – and allowing it to push public debt beyond the point of no return.

$2.3 Billion CIT Loss Is Just The Tip Of The Iceberg (M.W.)

Eight banks that are behind on their dividend payments have at least $100 million in Treasury loans, and there are 32 other TARP recipients that missed their quarterly dividend payments due in August.

FHA Will Be The Next Giant To Tumble (M.W.)

To illustrate the disaster that is potentially pending, 34% of the loans guaranteed by the FHA in 2007 have already gone into default, and the FHA has already begun to ask the Federal Government for more money. The FHA’s portfolio is near $1 Trillion and while we cannot expect all of those mortgages to fail, according to Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, the FHA will end up costing taxpayers $100 billion.

Treasury May Block Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae Deal (M.W.)

Goldman is reportedly in talks with Fannie to buy millions of dollars in tax credits, but Treasury stands in the way of the deal. While the deal would help Fannie Mae improve its precarious financial state, it could also trigger more political criticisms about the close ties between Goldman Sachs and Treasury.

Monthly Business Bankruptcy Filings Rise 7% (M.W.)

Through the first 10 months of the year, 74,832 businesses filed for bankruptcy, a 16% increase from the same period last year. The total number of October bankruptcies, including both personal and commercial filings, increased 20% from the same month last year.

House Health Bill Totals $1.2 Trillion (M.W.)

The health care bill headed for a vote in the House this week costs $1.2 trillion or more over a decade, far higher than the $900 billion cited by President Barack Obama as a price tag for his reform plan. When asked about the higher estimate, [Nancy] Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said the measure provides critical health insurance reform in a way that is fiscally sound. "It will not add one dime to the deficit."

What Are The Stakes In The U.S.-China Yuan Tussle? (M.W.)

China's reluctance to let markets play a freer hand in setting the value of the yuan, also called the renminbi, is a festering irritant that both the United States and China want to keep from getting out of hand.

Fed's Path To Higher Interest Rates Begins To Take Shape (M.W.)

Federal Reserve officials are thinking about how to unwind the unprecedented stimulus they've pumped into the economy. Eventually that will mean raising interest rates. The contours of what a rate-boost cycle could look like are beginning to come into focus as the Fed's next policy meeting approaches Tuesday and Wednesday.

Vladmir Putin's Deputy Visits London Seeking Financial Relief For Russia (M.W.)

The Russian government is to announce an £11bn bond issue in London this week in an attempt to draw Western investment into its crisis-hit economy.

Energy

Meeting the energy crisis with Potatoes (David M.)

The coming decades are going to result in lower energy availability per capita. Though there is plenty of energy, how much is affordable, procurable per unit time, in a form that our culture has become dependent on, is an open question. Our current integration of oil, transportation, and food systems, is highly mechanized and efficient, but not without risk. Given the many possible post-peak trajectories, my caloric shortfall risk is not only reduced somewhat by having local access to food, but the % of food I eat that is non-processed has improved as well. So, by devoting these 60 hours to this one root crop, I've done a tiny amount of meeting energy descent part-way by netting some few hundred thousand calories from potatoes.

Energy Seminar (2008-2009) from Stanford University (Video) (E.S.)

Powering a Green Planet: Sustainable Energy (M.W.)

Two Scientists offer a radical plan to achieve 100% clean energy in 20 years. This Web-only article includes an interactive infographic to illustrate the plan.

Environment

Everybody In The Pool Of Green Innovation (M.W.)

Several major corporations have taken inspiration from the open-source software movement and are experimenting with forums for sharing environmentally friendly innovations and building communities around them.The concept is straightforward: Companies pledge environmental patents to the commons, and anyone can use them — free.

Snow Cap Disappearing From Mount Kilimanjaro (M.W.)

Some 85 percent of the ice that made up the mountaintop glaciers in 1912 was gone by 2007. The African mountain's white peak — made famous by writer Ernest Hemingway — is rapidly melting.