Daily Digest 2/2 - Counterfeit Money And Policy, Global Lending Standards Tighten, Food Crisis And Drought In Mexico

• MF Global Customer Funds Were Not "Vaporized" - Stanley Haar Takes WSJ to Task
• MF Global: Oops, They DID Find the Money After All As We Had Said, But...
• Holder & Obama’s Propaganda is “Belied by a Troublesome Little Thing Called Facts”
• Vicious Cycles Persist As Global Lending Standards Tighten
• Counterfeit Money, Counterfeit Policy
• International Pipelines - Peacemakers or Hostages to Fortune?
• Industry Experts Say Iranian Oil Sanctions Will Not Affect Supply
• Oil Rich Venezuela's Electricity Shortfalls Lose Economy $80 Billion
• Food Crisis as Drought and Cold Hit Mexico
• Increasing ocean acidity due to humans’ CO2

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Economy

MF Global Customer Funds Were Not "Vaporized" - Stanley Haar Takes WSJ to Task (June C.)

The bottom line is that customer funds were stolen twice: first by the illegal looting of segregated accounts by MF management, followed by the fraudulent way in which the bankruptcy was structured so as to circumvent the priority status of customers in the distribution of MF assets. This is the real story and scandal of MF Global, and perhaps one day your paper will decide to cover it.

MF Global: Oops, They DID Find the Money After All As We Had Said, But... (June C.)

It is a variation of the spin. No the money is not vaporized, but its complicated. There are lots of possibilities just too complicated to explain to the public, and you have to be patient, little customers, while a pile of creditors' lawyers sit on your money until you hopefully go away.

Holder & Obama’s Propaganda is “Belied by a Troublesome Little Thing Called Facts” (June C.)

Elite financial institutions officers engaged in fraud face a dramatically reduced risk of prosecution compared to 20 years ago when financial fraud was far less common. TRAC reports that the number of financial institution fraud prosecutions under Obama is less than one-half the number 20 years ago. Bush (II) was slightly better than Obama in prosecuting non-elite financial institution frauds, but both were pathetically bad.

Vicious Cycles Persist As Global Lending Standards Tighten (pinecarr)

One of the major factors in the Central Banks of the world having stepped up the pace of flushing the world with increasing amounts of freshly digitized cash is writ large in the contraction in credit availability to the real economy (even to shipbuilders). Anecdotal examples of this constrained credit are everywhere but much more clearly and unequivocally in tightening lending standards in all of the major economies. As Bank of America's credit team points out, bank lending standards to corporates have tightened globally in Q4 2011 and the picture is ubiquitously consistent across the US, Europe, and Emerging Markets. Whether it is deleveraging, derisking, or simple defending of their balance sheets, banks' credit availability is becoming more constrained.

Counterfeit Money, Counterfeit Policy (pinecarr)

What is the difference between printing money and counterfeiting? There is none.

Energy

International Pipelines - Peacemakers or Hostages to Fortune? (James S.)

Neatly encapsulating the dispute, south Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit , speaking at the 18th African Union Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 30 January said, "We acknowledge that most of the oil infrastructure lies on the territory of Sudan, however, the oil clearly belongs to South Sudan. This unilateral decision to take our crude entitlements is unmistakably a violation of the sovereignty of South Sudan and must be condemned."

Industry Experts Say Iranian Oil Sanctions Will not Affect Supply (James S.)

Although oil prices have recently increased due to the worries about Iranian oil supplies the high prices predicted by the IMF should not occur. As I have stated the supply will not decrease, in fact it is more likely to increase. Nor will there be any surge in global demand, again it is more likely to decrease, due to European economic problems and a slowing of the Asian growth of recent years.

Oil Rich Venezuela's Electricity Shortfalls Lose Economy $80 Billion (James S.)

Hitting back at their critics, President Chavez told reporters that Venezuela's electricity-saving measures have eased the burden on the country's overworked power grid and that power generation now exceeds demand by 2,500 megawatts following a package of conservation restrictions implemented last June. Among other restrictions some factories and commercial centers were required to cut consumption by 10 percent or risk being fined. President Chavez added that last year his government added 3,000 megawatts of capacity and plans to add an additional 4,000 megawatts by the end of 2012.

Environment

Food Crisis as Drought and Cold Hit Mexico (jdargis)

The government in the past week has authorized $2.63 billion in aid, including potable water, food and temporary jobs for the most affected areas, rural communities in 19 of Mexico’s 31 states. But officials warned that no serious relief was expected for at least another five months, when the rainy season typically begins in earnest.

Increasing ocean acidity due to humans’ CO2 (Steve)

“Any significant drop below the minimum level of aragonite to which the organisms have been exposed for thousands of years and have successfully adapted will very likely stress them and their associated ecosystems,” Friedrich said in the release.

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