Things must be pretty bad if the next company to falter because of exposure to subprime loans isn’t a bank, per se, but an online brokerage devoted to helping ordinary people invest their spare change.
And yet E*Trade Financial (nasdaq: ETFC – news – people ) found its shares down nearly 60% Monday after an analyst used the “b” word about the firm. Though the company says it can weather a $1 billion hit, investors aren’t buying it. The company faces unspecified write-downs on a $3 billion portfolio of mortgage securities and credit derivatives. E*Trade has a bank unit, with $36 billion of deposits, all but $15 billion of them covered by federal deposit insurance.
Worries about the state of the banking system are mounting. Major brokerages report fourth quarter and year-end results soon, and the crystal ball remains cloudy. Investors expect write-downs, stock declines, and perhaps a merger or the ouster of chief executive ouster before the problems are worked out.
Somehow, I don’t think the American answer to every problem (“just go shopping”) is going to fix this mess.
I don’t know about investment firms, and try though I might, my eyes still glaze over when trying to understand even the basics of the market.
My husband is a mortgage officer in a bank and he says that he has never seen the economy so far in the toilet in all his years in the business. Problem is that with outsourcing good high paying jobs, and the glut of illegal workers, many many people who were just fine financially a few years ago now have now lost their jobs and are often working in lower paying jobs and find themselves one paycheck from oblivion.
All this while corporate America grows fatter. Add the legalization by the Republican congress of predatory lending practices and you have a lot of middle class families slipping lower and lower towards poverty.
People can now longer afford to have what they took for granted a few years ago. That is the true Republican legacy for the economy of this country.
And then when I look at the list of Hillary’s big donors in BooMan’s current front page post and how many of them are tied up in the current financial mess, I can’t help but wonder how much (little?) Hillary will do differently for the little people bearing the brunt of the fallout from Republican rule.
The financial industry had plenty of help digging that hole:
In the past six years they (109th Congress) have . . . installed a host of semipermanent mechanisms for transferring legislative power to commercial interests. They aimed far lower than any other Congress has ever aimed, and they nailed their target. [Matt Taibbi/RollingStone: The Worst Congress Ever (17 Oct ’06)]
Educators and psychologists have long feared that children entering school with behavior problems were doomed to fall behind in the upper grades. But two new studies suggest that those fears are exaggerated.
One concluded that kindergartners who are identified as troubled do as well academically as their peers in elementary school. The other found that children with attention deficit disorders suffer primarily from a delay in brain development, not from a deficit or flaw.
Experts say the findings of the two studies, being published today in separate journals, could change the way scientists, teachers and parents understand and manage children who are disruptive or emotionally withdrawn in the early years of school. The studies might even prompt a reassessment of the possible causes of disruptive behavior in some children.
“I think these may become landmark findings, forcing us to ask whether these acting-out kinds of problems are secondary to the inappropriate maturity expectations that some educators place on young children as soon as they enter classrooms,” said Sharon Landesman Ramey, director of the Georgetown University Center on Health and Education, who was not connected with either study.
More on the ADD from the same article:
In the second study, government psychiatric researchers compared brain scans from two groups of children: one with attention deficit disorder, the other without. The scientists had tracked the children — 223 in each group — from ages 6 to 16, taking multiple scans on each child.
In a normally developing brain, the cerebral cortex — the outer wrapping, where circuits involved in conscious thought are concentrated — thickens during early childhood. It then reverses course and thins out, losing neurons as the brain matures through adolescence. The study found that, on average, the brains of children with A.D.H.D. began this “pruning” process at age 10 ½, about three years later than their peers.
About 80 percent of those with attention problems were taking or had taken stimulant drugs, and the researchers did not know the effect of the medications on brain development. Doctors consider stimulant drugs a reliable way to improve attention in the short term; the new study is not likely to change that attitude.
But the greatest delays in brain maturation were found in precisely those areas of the cortex most involved in attention and motor control, said the lead author of the study, Dr. Philip Shaw, a psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health.
“Those are exactly the areas where we would expect to find differences,” Dr. Shaw said.
Doctors cannot diagnose attention deficit or any other psychiatric disorder with imaging technology, in part because brains vary so much that a single series of images can seldom reveal who has a disorder. The new findings suggest that searching for a clear abnormality or flaw is the wrong approach, at least for attention problems.
“The basic sequence of development in the brains of these kids with A.D.H.D. was intact, absolutely normal,” Dr. Shaw said. “I think this is pretty strong evidence we’re talking about a delay, and not an abnormal brain.”
About three in four children do grow out of the problem by early adulthood, he said.
If ADD is a matter of slower brain development (and it’s so widespread that it may represent the far end of the normal range), does this mean that maybe we shouldn’t be drugging first graders into sitting in their seats like docile little robots for 7 hours a day? Maybe we should incorporate some actual physical activity into the school day? Or is medication an appropriate short-term answer to the problem?
CNN’s brain surgeon presented this as don’t worry, they’ll grow out of it. He completely ignored the problems created by not learning the basic fundamentals.
I think that more activity would be great for all kids. PE and recess are being phased out. We do need to accept that we all have different learning styles and speeds.
I think there tends to be too much of a punitive attitude towards kids with more challenging learning styles and varying speeds of neuroplogic development. I realize that it’s hard when classrooms are so full of kids, but I remember our teachers being out on the playground with us at least twice a day, helping organize games of 4-square and dodge ball and jump rope. Now, the kids are put out for 20 minutes at lunchtime to mill about on a small area of pavement, with minimal supervision.
a new look at the indirect costs of our two misadventures:
‘Hidden Costs’ Double Price Of Two Wars
The economic costs to the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so far total approximately $1.5 trillion, according to a new study by congressional Democrats that estimates the conflicts’ “hidden costs”– including higher oil prices, the expense of treating wounded veterans and interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars.
That amount is nearly double the $804 billion the White House has spent or requested to wage these wars through 2008, according to the Democratic staff of Congress’s Joint Economic Committee. Its report, titled “The Hidden Costs of the Iraq War,” estimates that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have thus far cost the average U.S. family of four more than $20,000.
.
.
…the report’s finding that the United States is dangerously increasing its reliance on foreign debt and that Americans will be paying the price for generations. Hormats, author of “The Price of Liberty: Paying for America’s Wars,” said that in every other major war, the United States has financed the conflict.
.
. wapo
and the people least able to afford are, once again, being stuck with the tab…any wonder the economy’s in trouble?
the head of the energy information administration expects gasoline prices to increase 20¢/gal before december:
More pain at the pump may be ahead
…gas prices rose slightly overnight to a national average of $3.105 a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline, according to AAA. Last year at this time, it was $2.22 a gallon.
Last year at this time, they had pushed the price all the way down there in hopes of saving the Republican candidates a beating in the 06 elections.
I guess we’re all going to see lots of media handwringing over the decrease in holiday retail sales and ‘consumer confidence’ in the next few weeks? Gosh, I wonder why.
for Gore supporters…this does not bode well for the chances that he’ll enter the race:
Gore joins major venture capital firm
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Vice President
Al Gore announced Monday he’s joining Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture
capital firm to guide investments that help combat global warming.
.
.
Gore is expected to be a high-profile, active partner at Kleiner Perkins.
He’s already a senior adviser to Google Inc. and a member of the board at Apple
Inc. Alliance for Climate Protection, the advocacy group he co-founded, is based
in Palo Alto.
.
. link
Russian Oil Spill
PORT KAVKAZ, Russia – Fierce winds today hampered crews struggling to clean up in the wake of a killer storm that sank at least 11 ships and split an oil tanker in two, spilling tons of petroleum in the waters near this southern Russia seaport.
Officials called the breakup of the tanker an environmental disaster for the region and warned that the 2,000 metric tons of spilled fuel oil, which has killed an estimated 30,000 birds, could cause long-lasting damage to marine life.
Leading Russian environmentalists, meanwhile, said the oil spill was triggered by years of official negligence that allowed oil transport ships to use outdated and inadequate equipment.
“It’s a long-expected disaster,” environmentalist Sergei Golubchikov told journalists in Moscow today. “We could lose the Black Sea if we go on this way.”
Bad week for oil spills this week, isn’t it? And why are these oil transport ships allowed to fall into such disrepair while the oil companies make record profits?
Hi CG, thanks, it’s nice to be here and as you could tell from yesterday’s question about code, I have been out of the pond water for so long I forgot how to do everything, lol.
About the oil spills, I think that’s all we need to add to the ocean situation, with the jellyfish problem in Japan, to the declining tuna population, again, around Japan, to the dying reefs all over the globe, well I could go on and on.
Anyway with election time approaching, I thought I might dip my toes into the water and see how it feels.
EFF has partnered with a coalition of government watchdog groups in launching governmentdocs.org, a site that consolidates government documents produced by Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from various organizations. The FOIA is a law that forces the federal government to disclose documents detailing its activities when asked.
Often, organizations making FOIA requests seek to hold the government accountable for abuse, corruption, and unfulfilled promises to citizens. Governmentdocs.org allows visitors to search a database of government documents uncovered by watchdog groups, facilitating broad citizen review of critical records of government activity. In addition, registered users of the site can comment on documents, bringing their own insight and expertise to the table.
EFF’s FOIA Project has focused on uncovering government documents related to privacy and technology, and has made important and chilling discoveries, such as former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ long-standing knowledge of the FBI’s abuse of National Security Letters (NSLs) in the wake of surveillance loopholes created by the USA PATRIOT Act. EFF has a tradition of posting searchable PDFs of government documents for anyone to review, and is committed to broadening open government efforts by sharing our findings with other organizations through governmentdocs.org. Documents obtained by EFF through its FOIA requests will continue to be posted at the EFF website, in addition to the new collaborative site.
I thought that some of you might enjoy this one… Tools of the Blogging trade an’ all. 🙂
Federal legislation is unlikely this year. But the chatter about fundamental changes in health insurance comes as a declining percentage of employers are offering coverage. That’s fueling concern among consumers such as Ruggiero who say the system isn’t working and is poised to leave rising numbers of people — particularly those with health problems — struggling to get insurance:
The percentage of all employers offering health insurance in the past eight years peaked in 2000 at 69% and has fallen steadily since, hitting 60% this year, according to an annual survey of employers by the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation. Among small firms of three to nine workers, the percentage offering insurance has dropped even more — from 58% in 2001 to 45% this year.
*From 2001 to 2005, the number of uninsured U.S. workers rose by 3.4 million. Almost 19 million workers — 17% of all employees — were uninsured in 2005, according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
“I don’t think people realize” how easy it is to become uninsured, says Ruggiero, 41, who says she used to think “the only uninsured Americans were the homeless.”
I remember quitting my job with benefits to work for myself, and having all sorts of people go: “but what about health insurance?” Now it looks like you can be wondering the same thing even if you work for someone else…
on November 13, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Hence government’s “need” to require people to have insurance. You must, citizen, support Dick Rumsfled’s big pharma industry.
Now even if you do have “insurance” the scam factor of that is increasing. I mean denials of benefits in an organized and systematic manner by United Health Care. So bad they were sued under the RICO statutes, the very same ones the feds used against the mafia.
What is does mean is half hour phone calls to United’s phone tree hell and disputing line item by line item.
on November 13, 2007 at 9:00 pm
You may Google Plantgate, it is the latest term fully endorsed by the right wingers. As both political parties though slip equally into the full destruction of America theme I submit this quote.
“Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order [referring to the 1991 LA Riot]. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond [i.e., an “extraterrestrial” invasion], whether real or promulgated [emphasis mine], that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government.”
Dr. Henry Kissinger, Bilderberger Conference, Evians, France, 1991
Forbes
Somehow, I don’t think the American answer to every problem (“just go shopping”) is going to fix this mess.
I don’t know about investment firms, and try though I might, my eyes still glaze over when trying to understand even the basics of the market.
My husband is a mortgage officer in a bank and he says that he has never seen the economy so far in the toilet in all his years in the business. Problem is that with outsourcing good high paying jobs, and the glut of illegal workers, many many people who were just fine financially a few years ago now have now lost their jobs and are often working in lower paying jobs and find themselves one paycheck from oblivion.
All this while corporate America grows fatter. Add the legalization by the Republican congress of predatory lending practices and you have a lot of middle class families slipping lower and lower towards poverty.
People can now longer afford to have what they took for granted a few years ago. That is the true Republican legacy for the economy of this country.
And then when I look at the list of Hillary’s big donors in BooMan’s current front page post and how many of them are tied up in the current financial mess, I can’t help but wonder how much (little?) Hillary will do differently for the little people bearing the brunt of the fallout from Republican rule.
Hence, my sig line.
Amen to that!
your sig line, then maybe you’ll find this interesting. ‘The fix is in’
Crisis in the U.S.: “Plan B?”
The financial industry had plenty of help digging that hole:
Your sig line is perfect.
on classroom behavior (bolded text mine): NYT
More on the ADD from the same article:
If ADD is a matter of slower brain development (and it’s so widespread that it may represent the far end of the normal range), does this mean that maybe we shouldn’t be drugging first graders into sitting in their seats like docile little robots for 7 hours a day? Maybe we should incorporate some actual physical activity into the school day? Or is medication an appropriate short-term answer to the problem?
What do you think?
CNN’s brain surgeon presented this as don’t worry, they’ll grow out of it. He completely ignored the problems created by not learning the basic fundamentals.
I think that more activity would be great for all kids. PE and recess are being phased out. We do need to accept that we all have different learning styles and speeds.
I think there tends to be too much of a punitive attitude towards kids with more challenging learning styles and varying speeds of neuroplogic development. I realize that it’s hard when classrooms are so full of kids, but I remember our teachers being out on the playground with us at least twice a day, helping organize games of 4-square and dodge ball and jump rope. Now, the kids are put out for 20 minutes at lunchtime to mill about on a small area of pavement, with minimal supervision.
a new look at the indirect costs of our two misadventures:
and the people least able to afford are, once again, being stuck with the tab…any wonder the economy’s in trouble?
lTMF’sA
the head of the energy information administration expects gasoline prices to increase 20¢/gal before december:
no connection(s) here….move along.
lTMF’sA
Last year at this time, they had pushed the price all the way down there in hopes of saving the Republican candidates a beating in the 06 elections.
I guess we’re all going to see lots of media handwringing over the decrease in holiday retail sales and ‘consumer confidence’ in the next few weeks? Gosh, I wonder why.
for Gore supporters…this does not bode well for the chances that he’ll enter the race:
more at fdl, and energy smart.
it ain’t over till it’s over
lTMF’sA
Bad week for oil spills this week, isn’t it? And why are these oil transport ships allowed to fall into such disrepair while the oil companies make record profits?
[It’s good to see you here 🙂 ]
Hi CG, thanks, it’s nice to be here and as you could tell from yesterday’s question about code, I have been out of the pond water for so long I forgot how to do everything, lol.
About the oil spills, I think that’s all we need to add to the ocean situation, with the jellyfish problem in Japan, to the declining tuna population, again, around Japan, to the dying reefs all over the globe, well I could go on and on.
Anyway with election time approaching, I thought I might dip my toes into the water and see how it feels.
I thought that some of you might enjoy this one… Tools of the Blogging trade an’ all. 🙂
a disappearing benefit? Reuters
I remember quitting my job with benefits to work for myself, and having all sorts of people go: “but what about health insurance?” Now it looks like you can be wondering the same thing even if you work for someone else…
Hence government’s “need” to require people to have insurance. You must, citizen, support Dick Rumsfled’s big pharma industry.
Now even if you do have “insurance” the scam factor of that is increasing. I mean denials of benefits in an organized and systematic manner by United Health Care. So bad they were sued under the RICO statutes, the very same ones the feds used against the mafia.
What is does mean is half hour phone calls to United’s phone tree hell and disputing line item by line item.
You may Google Plantgate, it is the latest term fully endorsed by the right wingers. As both political parties though slip equally into the full destruction of America theme I submit this quote.
“Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order [referring to the 1991 LA Riot]. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond [i.e., an “extraterrestrial” invasion], whether real or promulgated [emphasis mine], that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government.”
Dr. Henry Kissinger, Bilderberger Conference, Evians, France, 1991