Europe's Banks Face New Funding Squeeze

LONDON (Dow Jones)--An extraordinary dry spell in the market for long-term European bank funding is amplifying pressure on policy makers to devise a solution to the continent's banking crisis.

For the past three months, European banks have been largely unable to sell debt at affordable prices to investors, who are wary of the banks' vulnerability to risky euro-zone government bonds and other loans.

At $34 billion , the amount of senior unsecured debt issued by the continent's financial institutions this quarter is on track to be the smallest of any quarter in more than a decade, according to data provider Dealogic . Most of those were bite-sized deals of less than $500 million apiece. Traditionally, issuing such debt has been among the most popular ways for banks to finance themselves over the long term.

Bachmann Warns of Hezbollah Training Camps, Weapons in Cuba

Some humor for today:

By Neil King Jr.

Of all the world's woes-- Greece near collapse, the Taliban's surge in Afghanistan , jitters over the rise of China --presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann is giving it to Cuba .

She first laid into the less-than-vibrant island nation during last week's GOP debate in Orlando , noting that Cuba remains on the State Department's list of terrorist sponsors and condemning any push to normalize relations with the communist country.

Cuba came up again at a Bachmann campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa , Monday when a supporter asked her to amplify on her debate comments. This time, the Minnesota congresswoman cited "reports" that Hezbollah , the militant Muslim group based in Lebanon , had established training sites in Cuba and might even set up missile sites 90 miles from U.S. soil.

She was referring to a story that ran in an Italian newspaper and was quickly picked up on various blogs earlier this month.

Panel Puts Nuclear-Disaster Compensation at Upward of Y3Tln Nikkei

TOKYO (Nikkei)-Compensation for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster will cost at least Y3 trillion to Y4 trillion, reckons a government-appointed panel looking into Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (9501.TO) finances, the Nikkei reported in its Tuesday morning edition.

Tepco, as the utility is known, will run out of cash unless it restarts idle reactors at its workhorse Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture or charges more for electricity, according to projections that will be included in the panel's upcoming report.

The compensation estimates assume that the damaged Fukushima reactors are brought to the safe state, known as cold shutdown, early next year and that residents evacuated from the surrounding areas return home next fiscal year.

Oxygen Bio Chief Faked Resume, Abused Position, Audit Body Says

The former head of Oxygen Biotherapeutics Inc. (OXBT) was fired last month for allegedly falsifying his resume and abusing his position to personally enrich himself, according to findings from the company's audit committee.

Oxygen, which has never posted a profit, hopes to commercialize drugs it is developing to efficiently deliver oxygen to tissues for cosmetic and therapeutic purposes. The dismissal of Chairman and Chief Executive Chris J. Stern last month forced the company to push back its annual shareholders meeting to this Friday.

Stern purported to have a doctorate from Trinity University but instead earned the degree from Trinity College & University , an unaccredited institution, the audit committee said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. He also teaches at St. Galler Business School , not the more prestigious St. Gallen Business School , the committee said.

Warren Buffett Scorns Stock Buybacks Except Now

By Shira Ovide

There are a bundle of remarkable things about Berkshire Hathaway's announcement today that it plans to buy back an unspecified amount of its own stock.

One, the conglomerate has never under Warren Buffett's watch repurchased its own shares. That's 40-plus years of never.

Two, this announcement is an implicit admission that Buffett can't grow returns as he has in the past. Buffett has been warning for years that he won't be able to keep pace with his track record of shareholder returns. What seemed like tamping down of expectations may actually be true now.

And third, Buffett really doesn't like stock buybacks -- at least not when other companies do it. Here is what Buffett said, rather snidely, in his 2006 investor letter regarding his company's growth in book value: (Emphasis has been added by Deal Journal )

Azinonomics: Stagnation Nation?

 Very interesting post from Azizonomics :

It has long been my view that most of the seeds of the West’s ills were sown in the 1970s: that was the decade when Western consumerism began to be sated by Chinese imports, and Arab oil, and the decade when America cut the link between the dollar and gold sparked the first flames of the great Keynesian debasement bonfire. Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were the chief architects, of all three of these innovations, and the internationalisation of the dollar as the global reserve currency. As I have reported time and again, it was free lunch economics — but there ain’t no such thing.

In the 80′s, the United States’ trade balance flipped over and the U.S. became a net debtor, sending more and more dollars and debt out to the world as the free lunch got bigger and bigger. But something odd happened from the 70s onwards, as demonstrated by our graphic of the day (Image on the left).
Robert Reich claims that this stagnation began in 1979, but I think it’s obvious from the graph that the wage stagnation began earlier. Ever since Kissinger and Nixon’s innovations wages have been stagnant, while productivity, imports, corporate profits, government debt, the price of gold have all soared.

The reality is that ever since the 70s government policy, and the shape of global infrastructure and industry has favoured the rich over the poor, has favoured the monied over the moneyless, and favoured the powerful over the powerless.

That’s why get skyrocketing corporate profits. [...]

Bernanke at the Economic Club of Minnesota Luncheon

No commitments made. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke at the Economic Club of Minnesota Luncheon, Minneapolis, Minnesota:

The U.S. Economic Outlook

Good afternoon. I am delighted to be in the Twin Cities and would like to thank the Economic Club of Minnesota for inviting me to kick off its 2011-2012 speaker series. Today I will provide a brief overview of the U.S. economic outlook and conclude with a few thoughts on monetary policy and on the longer-term prospects for our economy.