Here we go.......Obama Administration finally set to boot their thorn in the side Ed Demarco for Mark Zandi ?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-13/moodys-mark-zandi-set-head-fannie-freddie
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/13/2013 10:49 -0400
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-13/moodys-mark-zandi-set-head-fannie-freddie
Moody's Mark Zandi Set To Head Fannie, Freddie
Ever since Moody's head economist Mark Zandi, together with Princeton's Alan Blinder, authored a paper in July 2010 titled "How We Ended The Great Recession" (which incidentally is wrong on two key counts: i) it is a great depression not recession, and ii) it has not ended as three years later and $5 trillion in extra central bank liquidity the economy is in worse shape now than it was then), it became clear that the Keynesian sycophant would not rest until he somehow found a way to penetrate deep inside one or more of the darkest administrative orifices of the Obama regime. Surely, Zandi must have been heartbroken when it was not him but Jack Lew picked to replace Tim Geithner - a post the Keynesian had a desperate craving for.
Yet his recent appointment to head up the ADP "payroll" joint venture, which was nothing more than a test of his propaganda skills, should have given us advance notice something was cooking.
Further notice should have emerged when the US Department of Injustice launched its rating agency witch-hunt campaign only against S&P, not Moody's, where the abovementioned Zandi still officially works. Last night all of this finally fell into place, when the WSJ reported that Zandi has emerged as the leading candidate to head the FHFA - the regulator in charge of the two zombiest of zombie US institutions: the still insolvent Fannie and Freddie, in the process kicking out current FHFA head Ed DeMarco who recently emerged as Obama's persona non grata number 1 for his stern refusal to espouse socialist practices and wholesale debt forgiveness and principal reduction.
Mark Zandi, a prominent economist, has emerged as a leading candidate to head the regulator of mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac amid signs that he would likely attract support from Senate Republicans, according to people familiar with the matter.The FHFA director has become an increasingly important economic-policy position in Washington, because the agency serves as the warden of Fannie and Freddie, which own or guarantee half of all the nation's mortgages.Mr. Zandi, co-founder of an economic-forecasting firm that was purchased by Moody's Corp. in 2005, serves as chief economist of Moody's Analytics. A registered Democrat, he was an economic adviser to the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). He speaks frequently on the economy, fiscal issues and housing—testifying before Congress at least nine times in the last two years—and played a key role advising congressional Democrats on the 2009 economic-stimulus bill.The FHFA's current director, Edward DeMarco, took the job four years ago in an acting capacity after his predecessor left for the private sector. Mr. DeMarco has at times clashed with the Obama administration over homeowner aid, and left-leaning groups have campaigned to replace him. The agency, created five years ago, has never had its own director confirmed by the Senate because of Republican opposition to an earlier nomination.
Why is Zandi acceptable to both the left and the right? Because the Wall Street puppetmasters behind America's politicians love him for his policies which will merely perpetuate the interests of Wall Street by not even remotely daring to rock the boat.
Mr. Zandi has attracted attention, in part, because he may have a good chance at winning Senate confirmation. Senate Republicans have largely supported Mr. DeMarco and are expected to scrutinize his successor closely. But Mr. Zandi may placate these critics.Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), who serves on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a written statement Friday: "If Mark Zandi and the administration have an acceptable plan to transition us away from our dependence on [Fannie and Freddie], I'm optimistic that he could do a good job helping our country effectively execute that plan while also protecting the taxpayer."
What happens when Zandi takes over Fannie and Freddie? Nothing but 4 more years of living mortgage free for all those who bought homes at the peak of the housing market and are still tens of thousands of dollars underwater on their mortgages.
Replacing Mr. DeMarco could give the administration greater latitude to expand initiatives to help homeowners facing foreclosure and to mediate disputes over when banks should be forced to "buy back" defaulted mortgages, which some policy makers fret has kept credit standards too tight. But people familiar with the process have said that the Obama administration's push to fill the FHFA position has less to do with specific policy flare-ups and more to do with its desire to have a permanent director oversee the process of overhauling Fannie and Freddie.
Which begs the question: why does anyone still pay their mortgage in the US? It's not like the US banks need the money - after all they are drowning in fungible liquidity courtesy of the Fed and its nearly $2 trillion in excess reserves, they mark any and all non-performing mortgages on their balance sheets to whatever mythical price they want, and nobody dares to ask any questions because it would collapse the entire house of cards for everyone involved. As for the US consumers still paying mortgages, this is hundreds of billions in dollars that could be redirected away from paying banks into much more important purchases: like iGizmos, or whatever the next iteration of "cool" purchases is now that Apple is so 2012, or in other words, helping funds the Chinese trade balance and boosting China's GDP.
In fact, while we are here, why pay taxes? With the Fed funding about half of the annual US deficit and rising, is there any other point to pretending the country even needs taxes to operate aside from fanning the flames of class warfare and scapegoating those who are evil enough to be rich based on whatever Obama's daily definition of "rich" and "fair" may be?
Virtual economy mascot currency - " Bitcon " ....... let's make Mark Zandi the Carnival Barker for the " Bitcon " instead.....
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-is-up-92-since-yesterday-2013-4
Bitcoin Is Up 92% Since Yesterday
The remarkable ride for Bitcoin traders continues today.
The virtual currency is now trading at $115, nearly double where it was yesterday, when Bitcoin plummeted to a low of $60 following a 12-hour trading halt on the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox.
On Wednesday, the currency topped out at $266 after staging an incredible run from levels around $15 in January.
The chart below, which goes back to April 6, shows the big crash this week and the big rebound over the last 24 hours or so.
12 April 2013 Last updated at 06:01 ET
Well known owners of bitcoins include the Winklevoss twins, who own about $11m of the virtual currency
Cyber thieves target bitcoin owners
Well known owners of bitcoins include the Winklevoss twins, who own about $11m of the virtual currency
The bitcoin virtual currency has had a volatile 24 hours that saw values plummet, hack attacks, trading shutdowns and bitcoin-stealing malware.
From the high of $260 (£169) for each bitcoin on 10 April, bitcoins are now worth less than $100 (£65) each.
The main bitcoin exchange shut down for 12 hours to install hardware to help it cope with trading volumes.
In addition, malicious software is emerging that seeks out and empties the virtual wallets of bitcoin owners.
MTGox, on which most bitcoin trading takes place, was overwhelmed earlier this week by the amount of people who joined the exchange to trade the virtual cash. The computer problems prompted a round of panic selling that forced values to plunge.
The exchange went offline to beef up its hardware to cope with trading volumes and stem the fall in value. However, soon after trading resumed the site came under a sustained hack attack which saw it bombarded with data. In a tweet, MTGox said the it was being hit by a "stronger than usual" attack.
It went offline again to avoid the attack and when it re-started, bitcoins continued to fall in value. Early on 12 April each bitcoin was worth about $90 (£58).
'Litecoins'
Owners of bitcoins have also become the target of cyber thieves keen to cash in on the boom in the digital currency.
A phishing gang posted a message to the discussion forum of a website used by many bitcoin traders saying MTGox was about to start trading "litecoins" - an alternative to bitcoins. In the message was a link that supposedly connected to an official MTGox chat site.
In fact, the site that people were taken to if they clicked on the link was fake and, via a booby-trapped update file, installed malicious software that then emptied digital wallets of bitcoins. At least one trader was hit in the attack and lost 34 bitcoins as a result.
In a post about the theft posted to the Bitcointalk forum, the victim said he was "stupid" not to have taken more trouble to stay safe but added: "This is a serious loss for me, and unless this is handled correctly this can also badly affect the community."
It has also emerged that Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who famously sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg claiming they had the original idea for the social network, have substantial bitcoin holdings. In an interview with the New York Times, the pair said they owned about $11m of the virtual coins - about 1% of the global supply.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57579127/bitcoin-currency-in-24-hours-nosedives-from-$266-to-$55/
Bitcoin currency in 24 hours nosedives from $266 to $55
25 bitcoins / RICK BOWMER/AP
Updated at 2:16 p.m. ET on April 12, 2013
LONDONIt's a promising form of electronic cash free from central bankers and beloved by hackers. It - Bitcoin - may also be in deep trouble, registering catastrophic losses that have sent speculators scrambling.
Though the cybercurrency has existed for years as a kind of Internet oddity, a perfect storm of developments have brought it to the cusp of mainstream use.
As currency crises in Europe piqued investors' interest, a growing number of businesses announced they were accepting bitcoins for an ever-wider range of goods and services. The value of a single bitcoin began racing upward amid growing media attention, smashing past the $100 mark last week before more than doubling again in just a few days.
Then came the crash.
The price of Bitcoin has imploded, falling from around $266 on Wednesday to just above $40 on Thursday, according to bitcoincharts.com, which tracks trades across the Internet. The best-known exchange, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, has suspended trading for what it described as a 12-hour "market cooldown." By late Thursday, the currency was back up to just more than $100.
Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist for the ConvergEx Group, said it was a "great question" whether the currency could survive the wrenching up-and-down.
"At this point I would say yes, since it has before," Colas wrote in an email. But he noted that, unlike previous oscillations, Thursday's collapse was taking place in the full glare of international media attention.
"A lot more people know about Bitcoin than during the prior problems," he said.
To its supporters, Bitcoin has enormous promise.
They describe it as the foundation stone of a Utopian economy: no borders, no change fees, no closing hours, and no one to tell you what you can and can't do with your money.
Some of that promise is being delivered: When Bitcoin first got its start in 2009, the currency could buy almost nothing. Now, there's almost nothing that bitcoins can't buy.
From hard drugs to hard currency, songs to survival gear, cars to consumer goods, retailers are rushing to welcome the virtual currency whose unofficial symbol is a dollar-like, double-barred B.
Just days ago the total value of bitcoins in circulation hit $2 billion, up from a tiny fraction of that last year. But late Wednesday, Bitcoin collapsed, shedding roughly 75 percent of its value in a series of stop-and-start crashes that left many enthusiasts anxious and many skeptics saying "I told you so."
"Trading tulips in real time," is how longtime UBS stockbroker Art Cashin described Bitcoin's vertiginous rise, comparing it to the now-unfathomable craze that saw 17th-century Dutch speculators trade spectacular sums of money for a single flower bulb.
"It is rare that we get to see a bubble-like phenomenon trade tick for tick in real time," he said in a note to clients.
Colas seemed to reject the idea that the suspension of trading at Mt. Gox was a sign that Bitcoin was coming apart at the seams.
"For the average user, losing Mt. Gox for 12 hours is like going to an ATM and finding that it is out of money," he said.
But he prefaced the statement by noting that bitcoins suffered from the same weakness of any other form of money. If people increasingly believe they're not worth anything, then they're not worth anything - no matter how clever the currency's design is.
"The future of bitcoin is, like all currencies, going to come down to trust," he said.
One Bitcoin supporter with a unique perspective on the boom-turned-to-bust might be Mike Caldwell, a 35-year-old software engineer based in suburban Utah. Caldwell mints physical versions of bitcoins at his residence, cranking out thousands of homemade tokens with codes protected by tamper-proof holographic seals - a retro-futuristic kind of prepaid cash.
His coins are stamped with the words "Vires in Numeris" - Latin for "Strength in Numbers."
Some may wonder whether Caldwell's coins will one day be among the few physical reminders of an expensive fad that evaporated into the ether.
When asked, Caldwell acknowledged that bitcoin might be in for a bumpy ride. But he drew the analogy between the peer-to-peer currency enthusiasts who hope to shake the finance world in the next decade with the generation of peer-to-peer movie swappers who challenged the entertainment industry's business model in the 2000s.
"Movie pirates always win the long game against Hollywood," he said. "Bitcoin works the same way."
TOKYO - JAPAN - April 09, 2013 Orders will only be accepted when there are enough funds available in your wallet! Dear users, starting on April 17th we will be rolling out a minor change on how people place orders via the Mt.Gox interface. Until recently, anyone could place a buy or sell order for Bitcoin, regardless of how much funds were actually available in their wallet, resulting in an order showing a "Not enough funds" error status in the Open Orders list. Starting on April 17th, this counter productive scenario will no longer be possible and will be automatically rejected before validating your order; until you have enough funds in your wallet to match the order value. While this change should only affect a minority of users, it will however have a major impact on our trading platform and improve our system overall performance.
Regards
Mt.Gox Co. Ltd Team.
Mt.Gox Co. Ltd Team.
Mt.Gox announces new withdrawal limit rules for its customers
TOKYO - JAPAN - March 13, 2013 Due to recent events in the Bitcoin community and the spike in the Bitcoin price we at Mt.Gox are putting in place a new daily withdrawal limits. While our daily limits for traditional currencies will remain unchanged with a maximum of $1,000 USD per 24 hrs, the Bitcoin daily withdrawal limit will change from 200BTC to 100BTC per 24 hrs for unverified customers. Verified and Trusted customers that already have their daily/monthly limit raised will not be affected with this change, however, Verified and Trusted customers that have not yet asked for their withdrawal limit to be raised will then be offered the following limits : Verified Status (Level 1) Maximum monthly withdrawal of 50,000 USD (or equivalent) capped to a maximum of 10,000 USD per 24 hrs and a 1,000 BTC withdrawal per 24 hrs without any monthly limit. Trusted Status (Level 2) Maximum monthly withdrawal of 500,000 USD (or equivalent) capped to a maximum of 100,000 USD per 24 hrs and a 10,000 BTC withdrawal per 24hrs without any monthly limit. Of course we will re-evaluate these limits and adapt and revert them to their past value if necessary and if the value of Bitcoin against USD decreases.
Regards
Mt.Gox Co. Ltd Team.
Mt.Gox Co. Ltd Team.
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