Do you have a question for David Goldman, the New Jersey father who won a bitter, prolonged custody battle for his son, Sean, after his late ex-wife’s family attempted to keep the boy in Brazil? Dateline and Facebook can help.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In Boston they are resorting to the law to settle a pension dispute – it's an indictment of the way the Catholic church treats nuns

At the beginning of next month, Sister Nora Nash of the Sisters of St Francis of Philadelphia will cut an unlikely figure at Goldman Sachs's annual meeting, as she calls on the bank to review "excessive" pay deals. As her community's director of corporate social responsibility, in charge of ensuring the investment portfolio for their retirement reflects their commitment to social justice, she has vowed to make her convent's opposition to corporate excess heard.

Sister Nora is not alone in shattering the traditional image of the nun as compliant and meek. The Daughters of St Paul, Boston are currently taking the unprecedented step of suing their archbishop in a dispute over their pension arrangements that has festered for years. In this latter case, the way the Daughters of St Paul have been treated raises questions about the way women religious are viewed within the Catholic church today.

The Boston community of the Daughters of St Paul numbers about 60 women, and communities of the order are found around the world. The brainchild of Mother Paula Cordero, who arrived in the US from rural Italy in 1932 with little money and no English, the order was established to spread the message of the gospel through publishing. The Daughters now run a considerable media empire, offering everything from holy cards to weighty theological tracts, and even a range of iPhone apps. The Boston community alone has 50 lay employees, and it is their pension provision that has caused the rupture with the archdiocesan authorities.

For five years the Daughters have been trying to withdraw from the Boston archdiocese pension fund and set up their own, which they feel would give their employees a better standard of living in retirement. But their requests have met with a brick-wall response from the pension fund's trustees, including the archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O'Malley. The Daughters allege that they have not even been given a full account of their portion of the fund, despite several applications. Now they are reluctantly suing the trustees and seeking a ruling from the supreme judicial court that orders the trustees either to give the Daughters the requested financial information or to reimburse their contributions to the fund in full. The nuns claim they are owed some $1.37m.

There is something alarming about the treatment of these women. Part of the problem seems to be the apparent ineptitude in the church's administration of the pension fund, but the handling of the issue smacks of disrespect for this female community. The Daughters have been driven to recourse to the law simply to get their voices heard. This is not the mark of a church hierarchy that values its women religious, and one former archdiocesan official has gone so far as to call the Daughters the "Boston pension abuse victims".

That American nuns, at the forefront of the Catholic feminist movement from it inception, could be treated in this way compounds the concern. From the mid-1970s women religious in the US, galvanised by the reforms of Vatican II – the second wave of feminist activism and the civil rights movement – sought a re-examination of the role of women within the church. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the organisation representing 90% of nuns in the US, was a driving force here, with many of its members calling for the ordination of women. This was an issue that became central to the struggle of women religious to be seen as full, autonomous participants in the life of the church. Although the Vatican rejected female ordination outright in 1976, the rhetoric issuing from the Holy See on the matter of gender was increasingly couched in the language of feminism.

Under the papacy of John Paul II, however, that rhetoric became gradually exposed as mere lip service. John Paul showed himself generally unwilling to accept the incompatibility between Catholic social proscriptions and the drive to improve women's lives, particularly in the developing world, and in 1994 he declared that the church had no authority to ordain women into the priesthood, shutting down all discussion of this issue.

It was also under John Paul that another incidence of the silencing of the voices of women religious occurred. In the mid-1990s a number of nuns sought to make the Vatican aware of the sexual abuse of women religious, particularly in Africa, by Catholic clergy. In 1994, Sister Maura O'Donohue of the Medical Missionaries of Mary reported to the Vatican that African nuns were being abused by priests who believed that sex with a virgin would prevent then from contracting HIV. Sister Maura wrote: "When [the nuns] try to make representations to church authorities about harassment by priests, they simply are not heard." Her report, and those of other nuns reporting the same problem, remained unacknowledged for years, until the pope included a fleeting apology in a long address of late 2001. The National Coalition of American Nuns, standing up for their African counterparts, was one of many organisations that called for action on the issue – to little avail.

The nuns in Boston were not trying to do anything so controversial as uncover an abuse scandal or challenge church teaching on gender relations. They simply wanted to look after their lay workers and expected their superiors to be responsive to this. They allege they were ignored. One wonders if a male religious community would have been treated in the same way. Is it that nuns are still seen by some, 35 years after women religious in the US began to make the argument for reform of the position of women within Catholic life, as servants of the church who should be seen and not heard? For Sister Nora and the Boston Daughters of St Paul, this isn't a characterisation that they intend to live out.

Good morning. Here's what you need to know.

• Asian indices were mixed in overnight trading with the Nikkei up 0.13%. Major European indices are down and U.S. futures indicate a negative open.

• 10-year Greek bond yields have surged to 13%, reaching a record high. The country may now have to restructure its debt, a move that could cause bondholders to take a 50% - 70% haircut, according to S&P estimates. Don't miss: Niall Ferguson's new presentation on the decline of the west >

• Producer Price Index figures for March will be released at 8:30 AM ET. The consensus is for a slower 1% month-over-month gain. Follow the release at Money Game >

• Finnish political parties that are against increasing the size of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the Portuguese bailout are gaining popularity ahead of the April 17 election. EU members will watch the elections closely as Finland could block a Portuguese bailout. Check out 14 must see charts from the IMF's latest report on the world economy >

• The House and Senate are expected to vote on the budget today. It was revealed yesterday that actual cuts in 2011 spending amount to $352 million, a fraction of the $38 billion that officials had initially suggested. Here's Paul Ryan's plan to save America from bankruptcy >

• Initial jobless claims data will be released at 8:30 AM ET. The consensus is for a drop to 380K. Follow the release at Money Game >

• Senator Levin believes Goldman Sachs executives were dishonest during last year's Congressional hearings. He has said he would refer the testimony to the Department of Justice for possible perjury charges.

• Glencore has confirmed its $11 billion IPO but did not reveal a new non-executive chairman for the group which is a condition for its listing. The company plans to set its price range on May 4 and trading of shares is set for May 19.

• BRIC and South African leaders met in China to discuss international currency system and commodity price changes. The leaders called for a stable broad-based international reserve currency system.

• BP and Rosneft have agreed to extend the deadline on their $16 billion share-swap to May 16 from the original April 14 date. BP's Russian partners TNK-BP had created a stalemate on the deal that would allow BP to explore for oil in the Russian Arctic. Here's why a former BP executive believes peak oil is real >

• BONUS: Scarlett Johansson is rumored to have moved in to Sean Penn's $3.8 million Malibu home.

For the latest investing news, visit Money Game. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• 10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell
• 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
• 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning

Jeffries wants to compete with the big boys.

Over the past few months, the small investment bank has been hiring senior people from Deutsche Bank and from PIMCO, to name just two examples.

In total, the 3,000-person firm has increased its head count by ~850 people in 2 years.

Now it's buying Prudential Bache's global commodities group from Prudential Financial Inc. for $430 million. 

The new name of the unit: Jefferies Bache, according to the Wall Street Journal. It will be led by Patrice Blanc, whom the firm hired last year. Blanc used to be the CEO of Newedge.

As of now, Jeffries doesn't come close to competing with Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley.

Take for example when Jeffries hired Sean George from Deutsche. It was said that the firm "must have thrown the kitchen sink at him" to get him to move, possibly implying that otherwise he would never consider moving to Jeffries because it's a step down.

Clearly, Jeffries is making aggressive moves to expand. 

Today it also announced a $500 million stock offering, meaning that the firm is looking to raise equity, possibly to expand even more.

Prudential Bache could be Jeffries' break into trading futures and OTC swaps in energy, metals and agricultural markets.

It will be fun to watch what Jeffries does next, and how well it works.

For the latest finance news, visit Clusterstock. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Wall Street Trader Falls To His Death From Upper East Side Apartment In Tragic Accident
• Harvard Business School Students Can Build Their Resumes And Check Out The Hot Assets On Their Peers At The Same Time
• GOSSIP: Today's Wall Street Buzz in 60 Seconds

Advertising agencies are still recovering from the dismal ad market that began to come back to life in 2010. So any return from past investments still helps make a difference. That is certainly true in the case of Interpublic Group, which the Financial Times says has a stake in Facebook that is worth between $200- and $300 million, all from an initial investment of just $5 million in 2006.

IPG has been quiet about its stake in Facebook. As marketers are still looking for the best ways to approach the social network’s the ad holding company’s connection is certainly helpful. It’s also noteworthy given how early in Facebook’s existence the investment was made. The social net, which was founded in 2004, now has about 600 million users.

Still, IPG’s 0.4 percent stake in Facebook is dwarfed by others—but not by much. For example, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has an estimated 1.3 piece of Facebook for a $240 million investment, while Russia’s DST bought in at a $10 billion valuation, has a 10 percent stake in the social net.

Unlike rival ad holding companies Publicis Groupe and WPP Group, IPG has been relatively limited in its interactive investments and acquisitions. Given formation and subsequent restructuring of its Mediabrands unit, which functions as an umbrella over its media buying and digital agencies, over the past two years, that could change as it has put its digital leadership team in place.

In January, after a year of looking for a CEO at Mediabrands, the company looked in-house and selected Universal-McCann’s Matt Seiler as the unit’s head. Leading up to that decision, digital vets Sean Finnegan was tapped to lead hyperlocal subsidiary Geomentum and Tim Hanlon was picked to manage Velociter, the venture capital arm. Velociter is expected to raise IPG’s investment profile over the course of this year, especially as the M&A digital market continues to heat up.

Related

• New Investment By Goldman And DST Values Facebook At $50 Billion
• Microsoft Ad Sales Head Everson Departs For Facebook
• Interpublic Buys Brazilian Digital Shop Cubocc
• IPG Joins Rival Ad Companies In Setting Up Its Own Venture Capital Capital Arm

Tokio.- Pese a un panorama de noticias alarmistas e incertidumbre sobre la crisis nuclear de Fukushima, parte del sector empresarial extranjero ha reforzado su compromiso con Japón confiado en la capacidad de recuperación de la tercera economía mundial.

"El negocio continúa" es la consigna de muchas grandes firmas internacionales en Tokio tras el revuelo inicial por la incierta situación en la planta de energía atómica de Fukushima, que llevó a un buen número de ejecutivos extranjeros a dejar precipitadamente la ciudad e incluso el país.

La lucha por controlar los cuatro reactores con problemas en Fukushima se presenta aún larga y complicada, pero cada vez son más las empresas que, tras el pánico y catastrofismo inicial, han comenzado a dar señales para reafirmar su presencia en Japón.

Gigantes del mundo financiero como Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase o Morgan Stanley han enviado estos días a sus directivos a Tokio para asegurarse de que las operaciones prosiguen sin incidentes y, de paso, hacer ver que no tienen intención de dejar su rentable parcela nipona.

También el director ejecutivo de Credit Suisse, Brady Dougan, aseguró al diario económico Nikkei que su entidad no reducirá su presencia en Japón sean cuales sean las circunstancias y que la asistencia a los clientes y las operaciones de mercado seguirán como de costumbre.

Entre las aerolíneas, mientras muchas se preparan para una temporal caída en picado del número de turistas a Japón, la de bajo coste Air Asia ha insistido en que no frenará sus planes de expansión en el país asiático, donde desembarcó el pasado diciembre con la ruta Tokio-Kuala Lumpur.

El presidente de Air Asia, Tony Fernandes, ha insistido en que éste es el momento de estar con Japón y que, tras el batacazo inicial, el turismo será capaz de recuperarse, como ha sucedido con otras crisis.

La alarma por las radiaciones en torno a la central de Fukushima, amplificada fuera de las fronteras japonesas, ha alcanzado en cambio a algunas compañías de transporte marítimo, como el gigante Hapag-Lloyd AG, que estos días evita los puertos de Yokohama y Tokio, a unos 250 kilómetros de la planta nuclear.

Su decisión, sin embargo, no ha provocado una reacción en cadena: otros grandes del sector, como A.P. Moeller/Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping o Evergreen Marine han hecho saber que mantienen sus rutas tanto a Tokio como a Yokohama, los dos puertos con mayor actividad del país asiático.

Si bien muchos extranjeros abandonaron precipitadamente Tokio en un primer momento, entre los llamamientos a la calma del Gobierno nipón en los últimos días muchas empresas y embajadas han reabierto sus puertas en esta metrópolis de más de 30 millones de habitantes.

Tras el desastre se trasladaron provisionalmente fuera de Tokio 24 embajadas a la espera de que se aclarara la situación en Fukushima y, de ellas, ya han vuelto a reabrir en la capital al menos diecisiete.

Entre estas se encuentra la de Francia, país que habló de "catástrofe nuclear" y cuyo presidente, Nicolas Sarkozy, será mañana, jueves, el primer mandatario en hacer una visita oficial a Tokio tras el desastre.

Ante la amplitud con que se ha reflejado la crisis nuclear fuera de Japón -que sigue viviendo el desastre humanitario que supuso el tsunami, con unos 27.500 muertos o desaparecidos-, el Gobierno nipón insiste en que informa con la mayor transparencia para que lo ocurrido no se sobredimensione.

Un portavoz del Ministerio nipón de Asuntos Exteriores dijo hoy a Efe que es "comprensible" que se exprese la preocupación fuera de Japón, aunque pidió "responsabilidad" a la hora de informar sobre la radiación y la inestable situación en Fukushima.

El Gobierno japonés también ha llamado a la mesura ante organismos como la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC), al que ha pedido que se atenga a los resultados de las pruebas científicas antes de tomar acciones "excesivas" contra sus productos agrícolas.

El Ejecutivo insistió en que aquellos que pueden estar contaminados ya han sido bloqueados en Japón, donde las autoridades han prohibido la distribución de varios alimentos procedentes de Fukushima y las provincias colindantes.

Maribel Izcue

Daniel Mudd is the controversial CEO of Fortress Investment Group, which bought a large stake in the ParkMerced project

rebeccab@sfbg.com

Parkmerced is one of the largest rental properties west of the Mississippi, and with more than 1,500 rent-controlled units, it's an important piece of the city's affordable-housing stock. Among the residents who live in the neighborhood-scale apartment complex are seniors, young families, and working-class San Franciscans, some of whom have called it home for decades.

A plan for an extraordinary overhaul of the property envisions tearing down the existing low-rise apartments and nearly tripling the number of units with a construction project that could take up to 30 years. On March 29, after Guardian press time, the Board of Supervisors was scheduled to vote on whether to uphold the plan's environmental impact report (EIR), a key milestone of the approval process.

The Planning Commission voted 4-3 to certify the EIR, and if the board followed suit by rejecting four different appeals filed against it, Parkmerced would be on track to clear final approval sometime in May.

San Francisco Tomorrow was among the groups that filed appeals against the Parkmerced plan. "They want to destroy a neighborhood without sufficient justification or mitigation," said Jennifer Clary, the group's president, citing concerns about traffic congestion, loss of an historic landscape, and the destruction of rent-controlled housing.

Julian Lagos, a resident of 18 years, filed an appeal on behalf of the Coalition to Save Parkmerced. "It's a very blue-collar community, and they want to replace it with wall-to-wall luxury high-rise condos," said Lagos, who lives in a unit that would be targeted for demolition under the development plan. "I call it ground zero," he said. "And I tell my neighbors, 'You're living at ground zero.' "

Mayoral development advisor Michael Yarne noted that most points highlighted in the EIR appeals had already been addressed, except one charging that there hadn't been adequate consideration over whether a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. gas pipeline running underground near Parkmerced could be jeopardized by construction activity. "The answer to that is, that's a really good question for PG&E," Yarne said. But he asserted that it wasn't a project EIR issue.

Elected officials' reactions to the overall plan were mixed. Lagos noted that campaign filings showed that Sups. Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd had accepted donations from people related to the project, and he predicted that Board of Supervisors President David Chiu would be a swing vote on the issue. Chiu spent several hours touring Parkmerced the Friday before the vote. He did not return Guardian calls seeking comment.

A development agreement between the city and the developer, Parkmerced Investors LLC, promises that existing tenants will keep their rent control at the same monthly rates — even after the apartments they now reside in are razed to make way for new residential towers.

Such a plan typically wouldn't fly under state law because the Costa-Hawkins Act prohibits a city from imposing rent control on newly constructed housing. Yet city officials, with input from the City Attorney's Office, say they've constructed this deal so that it falls within one of the exceptions written into the state law, offering a legal defense in the event of a court challenge and a guarantee against affordable housing loss.

"The development agreement is like a constitution for land use," said Yarne. "You can't get rid of it." If the project changed hands or the developer went bankrupt, the new owner would be bound by the same terms, Yarne said.

However, Mitchell Omerberg of the Affordable Housing Alliance cautioned that he didn't believe there was any guarantee that rent-control housing qualified as an exception under Costa-Hawkins. "Like parking a semitruck in a motorcycle space, it's a poor fit and a risky bet — even before you consider the antipathy to rent control of the California courts," Omerberg wrote in an argument against the plan.

Tenants advocacy groups have pointed to recent court decisions negating affordable-housing agreements in development projects, saying the legal precedent makes the Parkmerced pact vulnerable to a court challenge. In response, Yarne said those cases had strengthened the city's legal strategy for formulating the agreement to guard against such a challenge. "This agreement is actually greatly improved because of those cases," he said.

Nevertheless, there's a clear financial incentive for the developer to strip away the rent-control unit replacement and other valuable community benefits it is required to deliver under the terms of its agreement with the city. An independent analysis of the project's financial plan found that if Parkmerced Investors LLC adheres to all the terms of the agreement as planned, its financial rate of return would be less than ideal.

Drafted by consultant CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) to provide an objective financial picture for the city, the report found that the developer's estimated 17.8 percent rate of return was "slightly below the threshold required to attract the necessary private investment" because investors aim for at least 20 percent in this market. "This means that, based on current and reasonably foreseeable short-term market conditions, the project may not be economically feasible," the report noted. It added a disclaimer saying that cash flow from rent payments could offset that risk.

That lower rate of return isn't a cause for concern, Yarne said, but rather a sign of the city's negotiating prowess, since "we've gotten as much as we can in terms of public benefits. That 17.8 percent rate of return shows that we're probably at the max."

At the same time, the financial analysis showed that the developer's prospects improved under hypothetical "tested scenarios" where the expensive community benefits promised in the development agreement weren't a factor. As part of the analysis, CBRE looked at how the numbers would change if the developer decided to build new market-rate units instead of replacing all the existing rent-controlled units, and found it would fetch a 19 percent rate of return. In a scenario where it stripped out additional costs such as a community garden and new transit line, the rate of return would jump to an eye-catching 23 percent.

But those scenarios are just a hypothetical way to arrive at conclusions about a project's value, said consultant Mary Smitheran, who drafted the report. "The development agreement specifies that those items need to be provided," she said.

City officials have given the impression that they're nailing down a set of requirements that the developer, or any future property owner, cannot get out of. But the people behind this project are some savvy Wall Street investors who are no strangers to controversy.

Fortress Investment Group, a New York City-based hedge fund and private equity firm with directors hailing from Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs, gained a controlling interest in Parkmerced last year after Stellar Management couldn't make the payment on its $550 million debt.

Stellar jointly purchased the property in 2005 with financial partner Rockpoint Group, setting up Parkmerced Investors LLC as the official ownership company. Stellar still manages the property, but Fortress has seized financial control. A recent report on the Commercial Real Estate Direct website noted that its $550 million debt had been modified recently with a five-year extension to 2016.

Fortress made headlines in 2009 after it stopped providing funds to Millennium Development Corp. for the Olympic Village project in Vancouver, British Columbia leaving the city on the hook for hundreds of millions to finish the job in time for the winter games. Meanwhile, Fortress CEO Daniel Mudd recently got formal notification from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) that he could potentially face civil action relating to his former job as CEO of Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage giant, for allegedly providing misleading information about subprime loans.

Stellar, a New York City company run by real-estate tycoon Larry Gluck, was profiled in a 2009 Mother Jones article about Riverton Homes, a 1,230-unit Manhattan rental housing project built in a similar style to Parkmerced, which Stellar purchased in 2005. Although Stellar assured residents that their affordable rental payments would remain unaffected, hidden from view was its business plan estimating that half the tenants would be paying almost triple the rental rates by 2011. Since rents couldn't ultimately be raised high enough to cover the debt payments, the complex went into foreclosure — but Stellar was shielded against loss because, on paper, Riverton was owned by a separate LLC.

Linh Le, a 36-year resident of Parkmerced and former Chevron employee, wrote to the Board of Supervisors in advance of the March 29 hearing to warn of the financial troubles the investors had experienced before.

"This project reflects a pipe dream that was hatched during an era of reckless spending, fake prosperity, and seemingly limitless money that has since crashed and nearly destroyed America," he wrote. "The business model that Parkmerced based this plan on has failed and nearly ruined their enterprise. That era is over and the world has changed."

Daniel Mudd is the controversial CEO of Fortress Investment Group, which bought a large stake in the ParkMerced project

rebeccab@sfbg.com

Parkmerced is one of the largest rental properties west of the Mississippi, and with more than 1,500 rent-controlled units, it's an important piece of the city's affordable-housing stock. Among the residents who live in the neighborhood-scale apartment complex are seniors, young families, and working-class San Franciscans, some of whom have called it home for decades.

A plan for an extraordinary overhaul of the property envisions tearing down the existing low-rise apartments and nearly tripling the number of units with a construction project that could take up to 30 years. On March 29, after Guardian press time, the Board of Supervisors was scheduled to vote on whether to uphold the plan's environmental impact report (EIR), a key milestone of the approval process.

The Planning Commission voted 4-3 to certify the EIR, and if the board followed suit by rejecting four different appeals filed against it, Parkmerced would be on track to clear final approval sometime in May.

San Francisco Tomorrow was among the groups that filed appeals against the Parkmerced plan. "They want to destroy a neighborhood without sufficient justification or mitigation," said Jennifer Clary, the group's president, citing concerns about traffic congestion, loss of an historic landscape, and the destruction of rent-controlled housing.

Julian Lagos, a resident of 18 years, filed an appeal on behalf of the Coalition to Save Parkmerced. "It's a very blue-collar community, and they want to replace it with wall-to-wall luxury high-rise condos," said Lagos, who lives in a unit that would be targeted for demolition under the development plan. "I call it ground zero," he said. "And I tell my neighbors, 'You're living at ground zero.' "

Mayoral development advisor Michael Yarne noted that most points highlighted in the EIR appeals had already been addressed, except one charging that there hadn't been adequate consideration over whether a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. gas pipeline running underground near Parkmerced could be jeopardized by construction activity. "The answer to that is, that's a really good question for PG&E," Yarne said. But he asserted that it wasn't a project EIR issue.

Elected officials' reactions to the overall plan were mixed. Lagos noted that campaign filings showed that Sups. Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd had accepted donations from people related to the project, and he predicted that Board of Supervisors President David Chiu would be a swing vote on the issue. Chiu spent several hours touring Parkmerced the Friday before the vote. He did not return Guardian calls seeking comment.

A development agreement between the city and the developer, Parkmerced Investors LLC, promises that existing tenants will keep their rent control at the same monthly rates — even after the apartments they now reside in are razed to make way for new residential towers.

Such a plan typically wouldn't fly under state law because the Costa-Hawkins Act prohibits a city from imposing rent control on newly constructed housing. Yet city officials, with input from the City Attorney's Office, say they've constructed this deal so that it falls within one of the exceptions written into the state law, offering a legal defense in the event of a court challenge and a guarantee against affordable housing loss.

"The development agreement is like a constitution for land use," said Yarne. "You can't get rid of it." If the project changed hands or the developer went bankrupt, the new owner would be bound by the same terms, Yarne said.

However, Mitchell Omerberg of the Affordable Housing Alliance cautioned that he didn't believe there was any guarantee that rent-control housing qualified as an exception under Costa-Hawkins. "Like parking a semitruck in a motorcycle space, it's a poor fit and a risky bet — even before you consider the antipathy to rent control of the California courts," Omerberg wrote in an argument against the plan.

Tenants advocacy groups have pointed to recent court decisions negating affordable-housing agreements in development projects, saying the legal precedent makes the Parkmerced pact vulnerable to a court challenge. In response, Yarne said those cases had strengthened the city's legal strategy for formulating the agreement to guard against such a challenge. "This agreement is actually greatly improved because of those cases," he said.

Nevertheless, there's a clear financial incentive for the developer to strip away the rent-control unit replacement and other valuable community benefits it is required to deliver under the terms of its agreement with the city. An independent analysis of the project's financial plan found that if Parkmerced Investors LLC adheres to all the terms of the agreement as planned, its financial rate of return would be less than ideal.

Drafted by consultant CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) to provide an objective financial picture for the city, the report found that the developer's estimated 17.8 percent rate of return was "slightly below the threshold required to attract the necessary private investment" because investors aim for at least 20 percent in this market. "This means that, based on current and reasonably foreseeable short-term market conditions, the project may not be economically feasible," the report noted. It added a disclaimer saying that cash flow from rent payments could offset that risk.

That lower rate of return isn't a cause for concern, Yarne said, but rather a sign of the city's negotiating prowess, since "we've gotten as much as we can in terms of public benefits. That 17.8 percent rate of return shows that we're probably at the max."

At the same time, the financial analysis showed that the developer's prospects improved under hypothetical "tested scenarios" where the expensive community benefits promised in the development agreement weren't a factor. As part of the analysis, CBRE looked at how the numbers would change if the developer decided to build new market-rate units instead of replacing all the existing rent-controlled units, and found it would fetch a 19 percent rate of return. In a scenario where it stripped out additional costs such as a community garden and new transit line, the rate of return would jump to an eye-catching 23 percent.

But those scenarios are just a hypothetical way to arrive at conclusions about a project's value, said consultant Mary Smitheran, who drafted the report. "The development agreement specifies that those items need to be provided," she said.

City officials have given the impression that they're nailing down a set of requirements that the developer, or any future property owner, cannot get out of. But the people behind this project are some savvy Wall Street investors who are no strangers to controversy.

Fortress Investment Group, a New York City-based hedge fund and private equity firm with directors hailing from Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs, gained a controlling interest in Parkmerced last year after Stellar Management couldn't make the payment on its $550 million debt.

Stellar jointly purchased the property in 2005 with financial partner Rockpoint Group, setting up Parkmerced Investors LLC as the official ownership company. Stellar still manages the property, but Fortress has seized financial control. A recent report on the Commercial Real Estate Direct website noted that its $550 million debt had been modified recently with a five-year extension to 2016.

Fortress made headlines in 2009 after it stopped providing funds to Millennium Development Corp. for the Olympic Village project in Vancouver, British Columbia leaving the city on the hook for hundreds of millions to finish the job in time for the winter games. Meanwhile, Fortress CEO Daniel Mudd recently got formal notification from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) that he could potentially face civil action relating to his former job as CEO of Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage giant, for allegedly providing misleading information about subprime loans.

Stellar, a New York City company run by real-estate tycoon Larry Gluck, was profiled in a 2009 Mother Jones article about Riverton Homes, a 1,230-unit Manhattan rental housing project built in a similar style to Parkmerced, which Stellar purchased in 2005. Although Stellar assured residents that their affordable rental payments would remain unaffected, hidden from view was its business plan estimating that half the tenants would be paying almost triple the rental rates by 2011. Since rents couldn't ultimately be raised high enough to cover the debt payments, the complex went into foreclosure — but Stellar was shielded against loss because, on paper, Riverton was owned by a separate LLC.

Linh Le, a 36-year resident of Parkmerced and former Chevron employee, wrote to the Board of Supervisors in advance of the March 29 hearing to warn of the financial troubles the investors had experienced before.

"This project reflects a pipe dream that was hatched during an era of reckless spending, fake prosperity, and seemingly limitless money that has since crashed and nearly destroyed America," he wrote. "The business model that Parkmerced based this plan on has failed and nearly ruined their enterprise. That era is over and the world has changed."

Daniel Mudd is the controversial CEO of Fortress Investment Group, which bought a large stake in the ParkMerced project

rebeccab@sfbg.com

Parkmerced is one of the largest rental properties west of the Mississippi, and with more than 1,500 rent-controlled units, it's an important piece of the city's affordable-housing stock. Among the residents who live in the neighborhood-scale apartment complex are seniors, young families, and working-class San Franciscans, some of whom have called it home for decades.

A plan for an extraordinary overhaul of the property envisions tearing down the existing low-rise apartments and nearly tripling the number of units with a construction project that could take up to 30 years. On March 29, after Guardian press time, the Board of Supervisors was scheduled to vote on whether to uphold the plan's environmental impact report (EIR), a key milestone of the approval process.

The Planning Commission voted 4-3 to certify the EIR, and if the board followed suit by rejecting four different appeals filed against it, Parkmerced would be on track to clear final approval sometime in May.

San Francisco Tomorrow was among the groups that filed appeals against the Parkmerced plan. "They want to destroy a neighborhood without sufficient justification or mitigation," said Jennifer Clary, the group's president, citing concerns about traffic congestion, loss of an historic landscape, and the destruction of rent-controlled housing.

Julian Lagos, a resident of 18 years, filed an appeal on behalf of the Coalition to Save Parkmerced. "It's a very blue-collar community, and they want to replace it with wall-to-wall luxury high-rise condos," said Lagos, who lives in a unit that would be targeted for demolition under the development plan. "I call it ground zero," he said. "And I tell my neighbors, 'You're living at ground zero.' "

Mayoral development advisor Michael Yarne noted that most points highlighted in the EIR appeals had already been addressed, except one charging that there hadn't been adequate consideration over whether a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. gas pipeline running underground near Parkmerced could be jeopardized by construction activity. "The answer to that is, that's a really good question for PG&E," Yarne said. But he asserted that it wasn't a project EIR issue.

Elected officials' reactions to the overall plan were mixed. Lagos noted that campaign filings showed that Sups. Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd had accepted donations from people related to the project, and he predicted that Board of Supervisors President David Chiu would be a swing vote on the issue. Chiu spent several hours touring Parkmerced the Friday before the vote. He did not return Guardian calls seeking comment.

A development agreement between the city and the developer, Parkmerced Investors LLC, promises that existing tenants will keep their rent control at the same monthly rates — even after the apartments they now reside in are razed to make way for new residential towers.

Such a plan typically wouldn't fly under state law because the Costa-Hawkins Act prohibits a city from imposing rent control on newly constructed housing. Yet city officials, with input from the City Attorney's Office, say they've constructed this deal so that it falls within one of the exceptions written into the state law, offering a legal defense in the event of a court challenge and a guarantee against affordable housing loss.

"The development agreement is like a constitution for land use," said Yarne. "You can't get rid of it." If the project changed hands or the developer went bankrupt, the new owner would be bound by the same terms, Yarne said.

However, Mitchell Omerberg of the Affordable Housing Alliance cautioned that he didn't believe there was any guarantee that rent-control housing qualified as an exception under Costa-Hawkins. "Like parking a semitruck in a motorcycle space, it's a poor fit and a risky bet — even before you consider the antipathy to rent control of the California courts," Omerberg wrote in an argument against the plan.

Tenants advocacy groups have pointed to recent court decisions negating affordable-housing agreements in development projects, saying the legal precedent makes the Parkmerced pact vulnerable to a court challenge. In response, Yarne said those cases had strengthened the city's legal strategy for formulating the agreement to guard against such a challenge. "This agreement is actually greatly improved because of those cases," he said.

Nevertheless, there's a clear financial incentive for the developer to strip away the rent-control unit replacement and other valuable community benefits it is required to deliver under the terms of its agreement with the city. An independent analysis of the project's financial plan found that if Parkmerced Investors LLC adheres to all the terms of the agreement as planned, its financial rate of return would be less than ideal.

Drafted by consultant CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) to provide an objective financial picture for the city, the report found that the developer's estimated 17.8 percent rate of return was "slightly below the threshold required to attract the necessary private investment" because investors aim for at least 20 percent in this market. "This means that, based on current and reasonably foreseeable short-term market conditions, the project may not be economically feasible," the report noted. It added a disclaimer saying that cash flow from rent payments could offset that risk.

That lower rate of return isn't a cause for concern, Yarne said, but rather a sign of the city's negotiating prowess, since "we've gotten as much as we can in terms of public benefits. That 17.8 percent rate of return shows that we're probably at the max."

At the same time, the financial analysis showed that the developer's prospects improved under hypothetical "tested scenarios" where the expensive community benefits promised in the development agreement weren't a factor. As part of the analysis, CBRE looked at how the numbers would change if the developer decided to build new market-rate units instead of replacing all the existing rent-controlled units, and found it would fetch a 19 percent rate of return. In a scenario where it stripped out additional costs such as a community garden and new transit line, the rate of return would jump to an eye-catching 23 percent.

But those scenarios are just a hypothetical way to arrive at conclusions about a project's value, said consultant Mary Smitheran, who drafted the report. "The development agreement specifies that those items need to be provided," she said.

City officials have given the impression that they're nailing down a set of requirements that the developer, or any future property owner, cannot get out of. But the people behind this project are some savvy Wall Street investors who are no strangers to controversy.

Fortress Investment Group, a New York City-based hedge fund and private equity firm with directors hailing from Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs, gained a controlling interest in Parkmerced last year after Stellar Management couldn't make the payment on its $550 million debt.

Stellar jointly purchased the property in 2005 with financial partner Rockpoint Group, setting up Parkmerced Investors LLC as the official ownership company. Stellar still manages the property, but Fortress has seized financial control. A recent report on the Commercial Real Estate Direct website noted that its $550 million debt had been modified recently with a five-year extension to 2016.

Fortress made headlines in 2009 after it stopped providing funds to Millennium Development Corp. for the Olympic Village project in Vancouver, British Columbia leaving the city on the hook for hundreds of millions to finish the job in time for the winter games. Meanwhile, Fortress CEO Daniel Mudd recently got formal notification from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) that he could potentially face civil action relating to his former job as CEO of Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage giant, for allegedly providing misleading information about subprime loans.

Stellar, a New York City company run by real-estate tycoon Larry Gluck, was profiled in a 2009 Mother Jones article about Riverton Homes, a 1,230-unit Manhattan rental housing project built in a similar style to Parkmerced, which Stellar purchased in 2005. Although Stellar assured residents that their affordable rental payments would remain unaffected, hidden from view was its business plan estimating that half the tenants would be paying almost triple the rental rates by 2011. Since rents couldn't ultimately be raised high enough to cover the debt payments, the complex went into foreclosure — but Stellar was shielded against loss because, on paper, Riverton was owned by a separate LLC.

Linh Le, a 36-year resident of Parkmerced and former Chevron employee, wrote to the Board of Supervisors in advance of the March 29 hearing to warn of the financial troubles the investors had experienced before.

"This project reflects a pipe dream that was hatched during an era of reckless spending, fake prosperity, and seemingly limitless money that has since crashed and nearly destroyed America," he wrote. "The business model that Parkmerced based this plan on has failed and nearly ruined their enterprise. That era is over and the world has changed."

Recorded music, the breaking of new acts and the selling their work is a business in crisis

Edgar Bronfman Jr, the music mogul heir to the Seagram whisky fortune, deals in trophy assets the way other people swap knick-knacks on eBay. Mies van der Rohe's Seagram building, Picassos, Rothkos, huge chunks of the family's business – Bronfman has traded them all. In the process of moving his family back from London, he is selling his $28m Manhattan townhouse, once owned by the Muppets' creator Jim Henson, and looking for another. It's the third piece of prime property he's sold in less than two years.

But it's another set of assets that Bronfman has on the market that is attracting the most attention – Warner Music, the home to Led Zeppelin, Bruno Mars and Plan B. Given the parlous state of the music industry in recent years, when Goldman Sachs was appointed to look at Warner's options back in January, the big question was would anyone care at all? Now a colourful set of contenders are cutting up rough as they line up bids for all or part of the firm.

There's Len Blavatnik, a Russian-born oil magnate turned media player; Ron Burkle, the politically connected supermarket mogul dubbed the "Billionaire Party Boy" by the New York Post; music rivals Sony, and maybe Universal; and a whole host of financial players. And hovering in the wings is the man who killed the music industry, Sean Parker, who co-founded Napster, the downloading service that kick-started the digital revolution, before first joining and then quitting Facebook. A casual observer might surmise that the music industry is hot again. A look at the numbers suggests otherwise.

Warner was Bronfman's comeback deal after his 2000 merger of Universal and Vivendi went disastrously wrong. Backed by Thomas H Lee Partners and others, Bronfman paid $2.5bn for Warner Music in 2003 when the music industry was already struggling. It's got a whole lot worse since. If Bronfman does decide to sell, he will only make a profit thanks to a successful IPO in 2005. He and his investors made their money back then; subsequently the shares, listing at $17, peaked at $30 in 2006, but are now worth less than $6.

Part of the problem is that nobody, not even Bronfman, really knows what is going on. Rumours and counter-rumours are circulating. No one talks on the record. Bronfman had wanted to sell his publishing assets and then bid for EMI, say some well-placed industry sources: a marriage between the two smallest of the sector's major companies has been on and off for the better part of a decade, and Bronfman sees a future where music firms make their money in "360" deals – owning rights to everything from merchandise to tour tickets and digital sales. He believes he could turn EMI's troubled recorded music division around. Scott Sperling, the co-president of Thomas H Lee, is said to have disagreed and pushed for the whole company to go on the block.

The sale has not been made any easier by EMI. Its disastrous takeover by Guy Hands's private equity firm Terra Firma ended in court and control by the deal's largest backer, Citigroup. The bank has begun tentatively talking to potential bidders about selling all or part of the business. EMI arguably has better publishing assets, Warner is stronger and certainly better run in recorded music. The two music firms could argue, and have argued, about who has the stronger assets. In the end it's like asking who do you like better, EMI's Beatles or Warner's Led Zeppelin? The end price is likely to be much the same for either firm.

There are probably so many permutations to this fugue that even Bach, let alone Bronfman, couldn't resolve them. Sadly the same holds true for the entire music industry. Both Warner and EMI have outstanding publishing assets, collecting royalties from a catalogue of the world's best-loved music. Music publishing is a steady, low-risk business that generates lots of cash – just the sort of thing private equity types love. But recorded music, the breaking of new acts and the selling of their work, remains a business in crisis. As Hands will tell you, it will take more than money to change that record.

Glenn Peoples, a senior editorial analyst at the music industry bible Billboard, says he has been surprised by the level of interest. "Publishing I understand, but recorded music? I wonder what the attraction is. The digital age has been great for consumers but it's been catastrophic for music companies, and the bottom isn't in sight. You are probably looking at another decade before anyone comes up with a solution."

In 2000, when the industry and the CD market were at their peak, the total number of music buyers in the US was close to 160 million. Over the course of the past decade that number has fallen to below 130 million. Worse still, the average US music consumer now spends $43 a year buying it, down from $60 in 2000.

Apple's iTunes solved one problem for the music industry, offering a legal alternative to Napster and other free download services. But it presented a new one. Instead of selling CDs at $12 a pop, the industry now sells singles at 99c. "We have moved from a dollars business to a pennies business, sometimes a fractions of a penny business," says one music executive. In this environment only the big survive, he argues. The same holds true for stars.

Lady Gaga can cut a deal to promote Polaroid, Justin Bieber can make 3D movies and shill for Proactiv spot cream, but the cash they make from recorded music will not rival the cash Madonna or Michael Jackson made from selling CDs. Lesser stars have little to prop them up, says Peoples. It's a sad song that is playing across the industry. Warner's revenues fell 13% between 2004 and 2010, EMI's fell an estimated 22%. Cushioned by a big company like Sony or Universal's Vivendi, the leading majors can wait it out, hoping digital dollars will emerge. EMI has already lost its independence. Warner may be the better-run company, but its prospects of keeping running for long don't look healthy.

However, developments over in California could offer a glimpse of salvation. Marissa Mayer, Google's hotshot vice-president of consumer products, is pushing the search firm to focus on music. She recently interviewed Lady Gaga, for example, for its Musicians@Google series. Google now sees music as a crucial battleground in its fight with Apple in an increasingly mobile world.

Its service is likely to provide an alternative to the iTunes model – offering subscriptions, making all of a consumer's music available anywhere on any device, and moving away from Apple's death by singles sales approach.

Google's entry will shake up a market Apple has so far defined, and coincides with a second wave of music services coming online from Spotify and others catering to a smart phone, iPad and tablet PC customer base that's expected to reach nearly 1.5 billion by 2015. Maybe, just maybe, there is a way the music industry could make some money out of all the music that will get played on those devices.

That future seems a long way off to Peoples, however. "At the moment all the music companies are leaky ships bailing water," he argues. Although they may be getting better at bailing, he adds, the leaks are far from plugged. Still, as bids for Warner start to take shape, Bronfman must be encouraged that someone is crying "land ahoy!"

The Wall Street Journal editorial page called her "President Warren" and a "czar" in command of an "empire." Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate banking committee, thinks she's orchestrating a "regulatory shakedown" of mortgage companies. And Spencer Bachus, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told Warren on Wednesday that she is "probably directing the most powerful agency that's ever been created in Washington." [...]

... Warren declared herself to be a mere sheriff's deputy.

"If there had been a cop on the beat with the authority to hold mortgage services accountable a half-dozen years ago," she announced, "the problems in mortgage servicing would have been exposed . . . long before they became a national scandal."

Warren added: "We need a cop on the beat that American families can count on. It is critical that we get this right - a real cop on the beat." "You kept saying 'cop on the beat, cop on the beat,' " complained Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who chaired the day's hearing.

Warren could not dispute this. In reply, she said that banks must know "there will be a cop on the beat" and that her agency will need "enough money to put enough cops on the beat." Before completing her testimony, Officer Warren made four more references to cops-on-beats - possibly putting her in violation of public-nuisance statutes.

But it was a useful metaphor: If she's the cop, then banks are the robbers, and members of the Republican majority on the committee sounded like lawyers for the accused.

Yeah, who would want a "cop on the beat" making sure Wall Street doesn't take down the economy -- again? Well, as I said before, and repeat again (see, I'm learning from Deputy Sheriff Warren) the usual suspects: Wall Street Banksters and the politicians who they own (and I include Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner in that company).

And you know what? If I ran a "criminal enterprise" like Wall Street, whose greed and mendacity is immeasurable, and whose fraudulent activities enriched both the banks and the people who ran them at the expense of millions of Americans, I wouldn't want a "cop on the beat" either.

If I were them, I'd like billion dollar bailouts from a corrupted US political system anytime I lost other people's money. If I were them, I'd prefer not to have a light shone on the shady "con jobs" that I and my co-conspirators pulled on American homeowners, American workers, American taxpayers and American institutional investors. If I were them, I wouldn't want "Deputy Sheriff" Warren talking to state attorney generals about potential prosecutions and how to protect Main Street from the "Greed is Good" crowd. And if I were them, I would attack her with everything I've got in my arsenal, including the politicians I have in my pocket (yes, that;s an allusion to The Godfather):

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) said the agency was "the last thing that our lenders need." Rep. Robert Dold (R-Ill.) ridiculed the "theoretical consumer protection" the agency would provide. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) complained that, in Warren's agency, "consumer protection could trump safety and soundness." [...]

"You have no statutory authority to engage in these matters that you are engaging in," Patrick McHenry of North Carolina informed her. {...]

The final questioner, Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), skipped all but the last few minutes, arriving just in time to suggest that Warren was breaking the law. "What legal authority does a political appointee have in a situation like this?"

Oh, by the way, do you know what Elizabeth Warren's response to Rep. "Not Pat" Garrett's that she was the one "breaking the law? Take a wild guess.

Officer Warren again flashed her proverbial badge. "Congressman," she said, "I think we need cops on the beat to enforce the law."

No wonder Timothy "I sold my soul to Goldman Sachs and Friends" Geithner and the Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee were doing their damnedest to service their puppet masters pulling their strings behind the scenes (Sorry, another Godfather reference, but I can't help myself).

Because Elizabeth Warren scares the crap out of the single most powerful organized "special interest" in the world. More powerful than any organized crime syndicate. A group that controls vast, vast sums of money and influence and has the power to topple governments around the world. A confederation of thieves who have plundered our economy and our government at will, and will continue to do so as long as we have no "cop on the beat" looking out for everyone else's interests.

Let's hope she gets to do her job before they force her to "swim with the fishes."

Discuss

Bruselas.- La Comisión Europea desea endurecer las sanciones aplicables al sector financiero, incluidas penas de cárcel, y armonizar los distintos regímenes sancionadores de los estados miembros para desincentivar los abusos detectados durante la crisis financiera, anunció hoy Bruselas.

"Los operadores y directivos tienen que tener presente que no se saldrán con la suya y que la respuesta va a ser dura, cualquiera que sea el lugar de Europa donde se produzca la infracción", enfatizó el comisario de Servicios Financieros, el francés Michel Barnier.

"Vamos a trabajar en la coordinación. Dejaremos a los estados una flexibilidad para aplicar esas sanciones pero creo que hay razones para establecer estándares mínimos sobre puntos clave, para que las sanciones sean disuasorias, eficaces y proporcionales", añadió el comisario.

Barnier puso un ejemplo: la multa impuesta recientemente a Goldman Sachs por ocultar información al regulador británico ascendió a 17 millones de libras, mientras que la misma infracción está tipificada en unos 150.000 euros en otros estados miembros.

"Hay reglas diferentes, una calificación de sanciones diferente, una aplicación muy dispar de estas sanciones", dijo Barnier.

"Hoy en día, las normas son muy divergentes entre estados miembros y cabe afirmar que muchas veces no tienen un efecto disuasorio eficaz", insistió la Comisión Europea en la nota enviada hoy.

Estos estándares mínimos que la Comisión quiere introducir también afectarán a las sanciones penales, según el comunicado.

Actualmente, sólo 13 de los 27 estados miembros cuentan con penas de cárcel para los que infractores que violen la normativa financiera.

Bruselas abrió hoy una consulta pública sobre este asunto, que estará abierta hasta el 19 de febrero próximo, tras lo cual la Comisión decidirá si redacta una propuesta legislativa al respecto.

La Comisión abrió hoy otra consulta sobre la reforma de la Directiva de Mercados de Instrumentos Financieros (MIFID), que sólo lleva tres años en vigor pero que es necesario reformar debido a la revolución tecnológica en las prácticas de inversión y a los riesgos destapados durante la crisis.

"El mundo ha cambiado y todos sabemos que hay que mejorar el marco actual", explicó Barnier.

"Los rápidos avances tecnológicos, la complejidad y la volatilidad de los mercados financieros, así como las lecciones de la crisis financiera exigen una revisión en profundidad cada vez que se han constatado insuficiencias o se ha juzgado que son necesarias mejoras", añade la nota de prensa enviada por la Comisión.

Bruselas quiere, por ejemplo, afrontar los riesgos asociados a la negociación de alta frecuencia (que permite hacer operaciones en milisegundos para beneficiarse de los pequeños desfases de precios en las distintas plazas) y otras prácticas de inversión "cada vez más complejas".

Asimismo, desea introducir una mayor transparencia para conocer los mecanismos de formación de precios y, en caso de detectar abusos, luchar contra ellos.

En este sentido, Barnier destacó la necesidad de combatir contra la "hiperespeculación escandalosa" en los mercados de materias primas agrícolas, para "evitar las consecuencias que puede tener sobre algunos países y poblaciones" vulnerables a crisis alimentarias.

En este sentido, la Comisión se pregunta sobre la conveniencia de limitar la toma de posiciones para evitar escaladas de precios agrícolas como la vivida en 2007/2008.

Esta segunda consulta estará abierta hasta el 2 de febrero, con objeto de poder presentar propuestas legislativas concretas en primavera.

More photos » Rich Schultz - AP

"Yeah, so I just took the medicine ball and threw it at Baby's head, man. Sucka tried to teach me how to Dougie, T-Teach me how to Dougie."

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Awwwwww snap!!!! Its that time again! I know, you were just sittin' around, countin yo' Benjamin Pile, just thinkin, "Man, I wonder how a bunch of regular guys who never played in the NBA would rank the Celtics in relation to all 30 NBA teams according to a subjective scale incorporating both actual wins, along with preconceived biases towards certain players and locations.."

Well I got news for you pal. You were wondering how the Celtics ranked according to POWER. I'm not talking about the kind of Power that you wish came with your wheels....and I'm not talking about the kind of Power that some people like to go with thier 'hour'. I'm talking about Power; a wondrous made-up quality that means absolutely nothing to anyone of importance. Let's go look that those pretty, pretty, yet completely fictitious numbers. 

The numbers varied this week, but not nearly as much as last week, as the Celtics capped off another perfect 7 day span. They climbed higher into the imaginary halls of 'Power', and trickled up nearly everybody's charts.

The low number on the ladder comes courtesy of AOL's (they still have that??) Fanhouse, and 'author' Brett Pollakoff. Here is how he justifies ranking the Mavs, Jazz, and Magic ahead of Boston's Finest:

Fanhouse- This week: 4, Last Week: 4

Doc Rivers was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for November on Wednesday, and it was the sixth time in his career he's received the honor. All of the other Celtics coaches combined have won four since the inception of the award in the 1982-83 season.

Oh ho...bold move, Big Brett...bold move. You rank us behind the Mavericks, Jazz, and Magic (of course, ranking the Spurs, the team with the NBA's best record when you made the list, at #5...genius), than justify it with some praise for Doc Rivers, and hidden backhandedness for Chris Ford, Jim O'Brien, Pick Ratino, ML Carr, KC Jones, Bill Fitch, and the immortal John Carroll. Now, we know why you spell your name with two 'Ts', Brett Pollakoff. The second T is for Terrible.

Now, we move on to the 3's. Last week, there was a "Boston Three-Party" (har-har), with mulitple sources ranking us in the three-hole, usually behind Dallas and San Antonio. This week however, our friends over at Dime Magazine (apparently the kids call it the "Dime-Mag", or "D-Mag") have skipped us up to a respectable ranking of 3 after killing us last week (and unjustly, I might add) with a number 6. Here's what they're saying now: 

Dime Magazine, This Week: 3, Last Week: 6

Don’t forget, Kevin Garnett once led the NBA in rebounding four years in a row. He’s pulled down double-digit boards in four of his last five games and is averaging 9.6 for the season.

Okay, Dime Magazine. Okay. Instead of telling us how Delonte West is hurt, or how Shaq left a game at halftime, you tell us Kevin Garnett is awesome. Alright, we good Dime Mag.

At the two spot, or, as the spanish would say, "el deucerino", we have the second largest grouping. ESPN's loveable furbie Marc Stein, SI.com's 'tough-guy with a heart of gold' (and part-time Mr. Clean impersonator) Britt Robson,  and whoever has the time to put together the slideshows at the Bleacher Report.

In all three of these 'articles' the Celtics have moved up a spot, from 3 to 2. I guess going 4-0 and rocking out a 7 game win streak (still ongoing) counts for something now a days.

SI.com, This Week: 2, Last Week, 3

The only starter who isn't shooting better than 50 percent happens to be one of the greatest long-range marksman of all time -- Ray Allen, who is hitting 47.2 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from three-point range. That the entire team is at 50.8 percent 20 games into the season is remarkable. Add in a typically suffocating defense that ranks second in efficiency and Boston is humming, concerned more about age and injury than the Magic and Heat. Coach Doc Rivers has cut slightly the minutes of Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo over the last 10 games while still going 8-2 in a stretch that includes strong performances like Friday's rout of Chicago. And the Celtics don't even have Kendrick Perkins back yet.

Bleacher Report, This Week: 2, Last Week: 3

The Celtics are looking like a championship contender and that surprises no one. The Eastern Conference's best team has won seven straight games and as hot as any other squad out there.

ESPN's Marc Stein, This Week: 2, Last Week: 3

The Rondo Effect: Folks are starting to ask on a regular basis whether RR can really pull a Stockton and average 14 dimes for the season. The KG Effect: Boston has started at a brisk 16-4 for the fourth consecutive season. 

Well, I dare say...thanks guys! 'championship contender'? A pretty good blurb detailing the run (lookin at you, Britt Robson)? Thanks guys!

Now...one of these things is not like the other. Britt and Mort Goldman showered us with platitudes and analysis, but all Marc Stein has is something non-committal about KG and Rondo? Thanks for bringing the fruitcake to the Christmas party, Marc Stein. Britt and Bleacher Report guy bring 12 yr old Scotch and homemade eggnog, while you're bringin' the fruitcake. Not cool Marc Stein.

Well, this is no time to dwell on some nay-sayers. We have the highlight the week up next!

In our biggest grouping, with 4 different sources, we have our 'numbero Unos'. SB Nation's Wil Cantrell, "The" Sporting News' Sean Deveney, NBA.com's John Schuhman, and John 'El Machina" Hollinger!

Now, SBNation had our backs last week anyways, but 3 of the 4 number 1's this week are kind of new at this whole "being right" thing. Let's see what they had to say...

NBA.com, This Week: 1, Last Week: 2

Since acquiring Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, the Celtics are 87-14 in games played before Christmas. They're the No. 1 defense in the league again.

Sporting News, This Week: 1, Last Week: 2

PF Kevin Garnett’s production wasn’t that bad last year, but this year, he is moving better and is much more active on both ends. 

SBNation.com, This Week 1.5, Last Week: 2***

Joakim Noah was looking for a little love from his boyhood idol Garnett in Boston but instead, all he got was abuse as the Celts won 104-92. Noah lamented: "Just where is the love, know what I'm saying? None at all." Indeed Joakim, y'all ain't dating, so you best get used to it. (SBNation.com)

John Hollinger's Daily Power Rankings, This week (average position): 1.7, Last Week: 2***

Beep boop. Beep Bung Beep Boop, Beep.

 

***Hollinger's rankings are daily, so his number is an average position, and SBNation only ranks by conference, so they're not an unqualified #1, but for my purposes, if they're less than #2, they're #1.

Aside from Sean Deveny from TSN's lackluster endorsement, I like what I'm reading there. Nice little quote from our blog brothers at SBNation, relevant stats from John Schuhmann from NBA.com (accurately spelled), robot noises from John Hollinger's Soulless NBA Math Machine, I like it.

By The Numbers!

This Week's Average Position: 2.00

Last Week's Average Position: 2.94

The Stupid Teams That Ranked Ahead Of Us! (number of polls, times ranked #1):

Dallas (4, 3 #1's), San Antonio (2, 2 #1's), Orlando (1, 0 #1's), Utah (1, 0#1's)

In Conclusion!!!

This week, we expanded our sample size to include 9 total "Power Rankings", and coincidentally it was on a week when the Celtics were on a roll. We had a nice mix of #2's and #1's, with #'1 occurring in nearly half the Power Rankings sampled. I have no problem really if anyone wants to rank Boston #2...we don't have the best record, we don't have the toughest strength of schedule, and we haven't beaten any of the teams being considered for a #1 ranking (Dallas, San Antonio). In that context, it is really a judgment call. While I believe our boys deserve a #1, I'm not mad that they don't get it from everyone.

The only thing I cannot fathom is: How could anyone rank the Celtics lower than 3rd? Dallas and San Antonio are both pretty good right now (with the Spurs starting to crack), but Boston is 8-2 against teams with .500 records or better (at the time the game occurred). They've clearly showed superior "Power" when compared to teams like Utah and Orlando. 

Well, you can't get everything you want, and this team plays better when it is being challenged, so maybe its for the best that they're ranked #2. Let's see how this week plays out. Catch ya Next Week

This is the awards show that keeps getting bigger and better."
Terry Gilliam

" The British have proved once again that lack of money has proved no barrier to quality or creativity in a year filled with bumper films"
Elliot Grove

The Jury has spoken at a star tudded gala at The Old Billingate Market in fashionable East London. on Sunday 5 December hosted for the sixth year by James Nesbitt.

BIFA are proud to announce the following nominees for this year's awards, the winning films are X'd:

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM
Sponsored by Moët & Chandon

Four Lions

Directed by Chris Morris
Producers
Angus Aynsley, Carole Baraton, Peter Carlton, Will Clarke, Mark Findlay ... executive producer s
Mark Herbert ... producer
Caroline Leddy ... executive producer
Alex Marshall ... executive producer
Derrin Schlesinger ... producer

Kick Ass

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Producers Adam Bohling, Tarquin Pack Brad Pitt, David Reid, Kris Thykier,
Matthew Vaughn

.

.

X The King's Speech

Directed by Tom Hooper

Producers
Paul Brett ... executive producer
Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin

Executive Producers Mark Foligno, Geoffrey Rush, Tim Smith, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein ...

Monsters

Written and Directed by Gareth Edwards

Producers
Allan Niblo, James Richardson

Executive Producer Rupert Preston

.

Never Let Me Go

Directed by Mark Romanek

Producers
Alex Garland, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich ... producer
Executive Producers Mark Romanek, Tessa Ross

.

BEST DIRECTOR
Sponsored by The Creative Partnership

Mike Leigh - Another Year
Matthew Vaughn - Kick-Ass
Tom Hooper - The King's Speech
X Gareth Edwards - Monsters
Mark Romanek - Never Let Me Go

THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD [BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR]
Sponsored by 3 Mills Studios

Debs Gardner Paterson - Africa United
X Clio Barnard - The Arbor
Rowan Joffe - Brighton Rock
Chris Morris - Four Lions
Gareth Edwards - Monsters

BEST SCREENPLAY
Sponsored by BBC Films

Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Simon Blackwell, Christopher Morris - Four Lions
Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn - Kick-Ass
X David Seidler - The King's Speech
William Ivory - Made In Dagenham
Alex Garland - Never Let Me Go

BEST ACTRESS
Sponsored by M.A.C

Manjinder Virk - The Arbor
Ruth Sheen - Another Year
Andrea Riseborough - Brighton Rock
Sally Hawkins - Made In Dagenham
X Carey Mulligan - Never Let Me Go

BEST ACTOR

Jim Broadbent - Another Year
Riz Ahmed - Four Lions
X Colin Firth - The King's Speech
Scoot McNairy - Monsters
Aidan Gillen - Treacle Junior

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Lesley Manville - Another Year
X screenplayHelena Bonham Carter - The King's Speech
Rosamund Pike - Made In Dagenham
Keira Knightley - Never Let Me Go
Tamsin Greig - Tamara Drewe

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kayvan Novak - Four Lions
Guy Pearce - The King's Speech
X MonstersGeoffrey Rush - The King's Speech
Bob Hoskins - Made In Dagenham
Andrew Garfield - Never Let Me Go

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER
Sponsored by Optimum Releasing

Manjinder Virk - The Arbor
Andrea Riseborough - Brighton Rock
Tom Hughes - Cemetery Junction
X Joanne Froggatt - In Our Name
Connor McCarron - Neds

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION
Sponsored by Ascent Media

The Arbor
In Our Name
X Monsters
Skeletons
Streetdance 3D

RAINDANCE AWARD
Sponsored by Exile Media

Brilliant Love

Directed by Ashley Horner
Written by Sean Conway

Producers
Ashley Horner ... producer
Karl Liegis ... producer

Jackboots On Whitehall

Directed by Edward McHenry and Rory McHenry
Written by Edward McHenry and Rory McHenry Writer

Producers: Karl Richards, Patrick Scoffin
Executive Producers: Ibón Cormenzana, Jamie English, Ignasi Estapé, Lukas Klein, Frank Mannion, Debbie McWilliams, Tim Muhlenbach, Adrian Politowski, Nigel Thomas, Charlotte Walls, Gilles Waterkeyn

Legacy

Written and Directed by Thomas Ikimi

Producers: Thomas Ikimi, Arabella Page Croft, Kieran Parker

Executive Producer: Idris Elba

X Son Of Babylon

Directed by Mohamed Al Daradji
Written by Mohamed Al Daradji and Jennifer Norridge

Producers
Atea Al Daradji, Mohamed Al Daradji,Dimitri de Clercq, Isabelle Stead

Executive Producers: Antonia Bird, Emma Clarke, Hugo Heppell, Nashwa Al Ruwaini

Treacle Junior

Written and Directed by Jamie Thraves

Producers
Rob Small, Jamie Thraves

.

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
Sponsored by Chapter Media

The Arbor - Sound - Tim Barker
Brighton Rock - Cinematography - John Mathieson
The Illusionist - Animation - Sylvain Chomet
The King's Speech - Production Design - Eve Stewart
X Monsters - Visual Effects - Gareth Edwards

BEST DOCUMENTARY

The Arbor
X Enemies of the People
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Fire In Babylon
Waste Land

BEST BRITISH SHORT

X Baby
Photograph Of Jesus
Sign Language
Sis
The Road Home

BEST FOREIGN FILM

Dogtooth
I Am Love
X A Prophet
The Secret In Their Eyes
Winter's Bone

THE RICHARD HARRIS AWARD
(for outstanding contribution by an actor to British Film)
Sponsored by Working Title

Helena Bonham Carter

THE VARIETY AWARD

Liam Neesom presented by Ralph Fiennes

THE SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Sponsored by UK Film Council

Jenne Cassarotto

meet the filmmakers

Drew Hallowell - Getty Images

Sebastian Le Toux was the prize of last year's Expansion Draft. Who will it be this year? (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

View full size photo »

Plenty of pundits are releasing their own Expansion Protection Lists. Some of them will, no doubt, be reasonably accurate. Others will be based on horrible misconceptions.

We here at SB Nation have access to people who follow their teams much closer than any national pundit could. As of today, we have blogs devoted to 10 of the 16 teams that played in MLS this season. Rather than do the heavy lifting ourselves, we enlisted those bloggers to help us create our own Expansion Protection Lists. After all, what good is a resource if you aren't willing to exploit it?

To supplement those 10 sites, we enlisted the help of five other bloggers (one person covered both the Galaxy and Chivas USA) to help us round out our list.

The plan is to then take those lists and have our resident Vancouver Whitecaps blogger (86 Forever's Benjamin Massey) and an as-yet-unaffiliated Portland Timbers blogger (Chopping Timber's Geoff Gibson) play general manager for their respective teams and conduct a live mock expansion draft starting at 1 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday.

It's impossible to say how close to reality this will come, but it's our hope that it will give you a pretty realistic picture of how the expansion draft will play out. Some of our other MLS bloggers will provide commentary either here or on their sites, as well.

The basic rules of the expansion draft are these: The 16 existing teams can protect 11 players not including those classified as Generation adidas (GA) or Homegrown (HG) which are automatically off-limits from the expansion draft. After a team loses a player, that team can protect one additional player. No team can lose more than two players. The Timbers and Whitecaps will take turns picking in that order until they have each selected 10 players.

Without further ado, here are our projected Expansion Protection Lists:

Chicago Fire: Marco Pappa, Patrick Nyarko, Bratislav Ristic, Logan Pause, Wilman Conde, Steven Kinney, Dasan Robinson, Freddie Ljungberg, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Nery Castillo, Gonzalo Segares, Corben Bone (GA), Sean Johnson (GA), Victor Pineda (HG).

- Tweed Thornton, Hot Time In Old Town

Chivas USA: Justin Braun, Michael Lahoud, Paulo Nagamura, Carlos Borja, Ben Zemanski, Rodolfo Espinoza, Jesus Padilla, Sal Zizzo, Zach Thornton, Alan Gordon, Jonathan Bornstein, Cesar Zamora (HG), de la Fuente (HG), Blair Gavin (GA).

- Ryan Rosenblatt, SB Nation/Los Angeles and Soccer

Columbus Crew: Chad Marshall, Eddie Gaven, Emilio Renteria, Robbie Rogers, Emmanuel Ekpo, Danny O'Rourke, Shawn Francis, Andy Iro, Andres Mendoza, Brian Carroll, William Hesmer, Dilly Duka (GA).

- Patrick Guldan, Massive Report

Colorado Rapids: Matt Pickens, Anthony Wallace, Drew Moor, Marvell Wynne, Kosuke Kimura, Jamie Smith, Jeff Larentowicz, Pablo Mastroeni, Brian Mullan, Conor Casey, Omar Cummings, Ciaran O'Brien (GA), Davy Armstrong (Homegrown).

- UZ, Burgundy Wave

FC Dallas: Marvin Chavez, David Ferreira, Jackson, Atiba Harris, Kevin Hartman, Ugo Ihemelu, George John, Zach Loyd, Dax McCarty, Heath Pearce, Brek Shea, Josh Lambo (GA), Peri Marosevic (GA), Andrew Wiedeman (GA), Ruben Luna (HG), Victor Ulloa (HG), Bryan Leyva (HG), Moises Hernandez (HG).

- Daniel Robertson, Big D Soccer

DC United: Troy Perkins, Dejan Jakovic, Julius James, Jed Zayner, Rodney Wallace, Clyde Simms, Branko Boskovic, Chris Pontius, Santino Quaranta, Pablo Hernandez, Stephen King, Andy Najar (HG), Bill Hamid (HG), Conor Shanosky (HG).

- Martin Shatzer, Black & Red United

Houston Dynamo: Brad Davis, Geoff Cameron, Bobby Boswell, Lovel Palmer, Andrew Hainault, Corey Ashe, Dominic Oduro, Tally Hall, Brian Ching, Sammy Appiah, Mike Chabal, Tyler Deric (HG), Francisco Navas Cobo (HG), Danny Cruz (GA).

- Zach Woosley, Dynamo Theory

Sporting Kansas City: Michael Harrington, Roger Espinoza, Graham Zusi, Craig Rocastle, Davy Arnaud, Stephane Auvray, Kei Kamara, Ryan Smith, Omar Bravo, Sunil Chhetri, Chance Myers, Teal Bunbury (GA), Jon Kempin (HG).

- Andy Edwards, The Daily Wiz

Los Angeles Galaxy: Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Edson Buddle, Juninho, Omar Gonzalez, Ryan Franklin, Donovan Ricketts, A.J. DeLaGarza, Michael Stephens, Chris Birchall, Todd Dunivant, Tristan Bowen (HG). 

- Ryan Rosenblatt, SB Nation/Los Angeles and Soccer

New England Revolution: Sainey Nyassi, Kenny Mansally, Marko Perovic, Zack Schilawski, Shalrie Joseph, Pat Phelan, Kevin Alston, Seth Sinovic, Matt Reis, Darrius Barnes, Cory Gibbs.

- Russ Goldman, SB Nation/Boston and Cottager's Confidential

New York Red Bulls: Bouna Coundoul, Roy Miller, Carlos Mendes, Tim Ream, Chris Albright, Rafa Márquez, Joel Lindpere, Dane Richards, Mehdi Ballouchy, Thierry Henry, Juan Pablo Ángel, Tony Tchani (GA) and Juan Agudelo (HG).

- Ben Schneider, SB Nation/Soccer

Philadelphia Union: Sheanon Williams, Michael Orzoco-Fiscal, Danny Califf, Juan Diego Gonzalez (I), Sebastian Le Toux, Justin Mapp, Fred, Kyle Nakazawa, Roger Torres (I), Shea Salinas, Toni Stahl (I), Danny Mwanga (GA), Amobi Okugo (GA), Jack McInerney (GA).

- Scott Kessler, The Brotherly Game

Real Salt Lake: Kyle Beckerman, Nat Borchers, Nick Rimando, Jamison Olave, Javier Morales, Will Johnson, Alvaro Saborio, Paulo Junior, Collen Warner, Fabian Espindola, Tony Beltran, Luis Gil (GA).

- Denz, RSL Soapbox

Seattle Sounders FC: Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero, Osvaldo Alonso, Alvaro Fernandez, John Kennedy Hurtado, Blaise Nkufo, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Kasey Keller, James Riley, Mike Fucito.

- Dave Clark, Sounder at Heart

San Jose Earthquakes: Jon Busch, Jason Hernandez, Brandon McDonald, Ramiro Corrales, Joey Gjertsen, Bobby Convey, Andre Luiz, Geovanni, Ryan Johnson, Chris Wondolowski, Sam Cronin, Ike Opara (GA).

- Robert Jonas, Center Line Soccer

Toronto FC: Stefan Frei, Milos Kocic, Nana Attakora, Adrian Cann, Ty Harden, Dan Gargan, Dwayne DeRosario, Julian de Guzman, Chad Barrett, Maicon Santos, Nick LaBrocca, Doneil Henry (HG), Nicholas Lindsay (HG).

- Rudi Schuler, Canadian Soccer News

Academy, Tony and Emmy Award winner Tony Walton directs a staged reading Evening Primrose, the hourlong James Goldman & Stephen Sondheim musical, as a part of the St. George's Society of New York's Anglo-American Cultural Awards. We caught the company in rehearsal on Oct. 19.

Executives and directors from 71% owner Pyne Gould Corporation (PGC) dominate those named to the board and executive team for the proposed "Heartland Bank."

Jeff Greenslade, chief executive of PGC and subsidiary Marac Finance which is being tipped into the proposed new bank alongside Marac Insurance, the Canterbury Building Society (CBS) and Southern Cross Building Society (SCBS), has been named managing director. PGC's chief financial officer Sean Cam has been named chief financial officer of the new entity and PGC's chief risk officer Mark Mountcastle as chief risk officer.

CBS chief executive Bryan Inch will be head of retail. His SCBS counterpart Bob Smith will continue as CEO and a director of SCBS, assisting with project work before "leaving to seek other challenges."

PGC chairman Bruce Irvine will double as chairman of the new group and be joined on the board by fellow PGC directors Greenslade, George Gould, Bryan Mogridge, plus Marac director Michelle Smith. However, George Kerr, a PGC director and the company's biggest shareholder, hasn't been named to the new board. PGC is currently reviewing whether another of its subsidiaries, the Kerr chaired Torchlight Investment Group which operates as a private equity group, fits with its strategic direction as it moves towards applying for a banking licence.

The executive team and board have been named to run what's currently known as Building Society Holdings Limited. PGC aims to merge Marac with CBS and SCBS by January 1 next year, list the new financial services provider on the sharemarket in February, and seek a banking licence from the Reserve Bank by July. PGC will own 71% of the new entity, CBS 14.5% and SCBS 14.5%.

The PGC executive and directors named to oversee the new entity will also remain in their existing roles at PGC.

PGC announced early in June plans to merge Marac with the two building societies, enabling them to create greater scale and tap a bigger retail deposit funding base as they seek an investment grade credit rating and bank licence from the Reserve Bank. The plans envisage a NZX-listed "Heartland Bank" that would aim to double its NZ$2.3 billion asset base within five years through growing family, small business and agricultural lending.

The proposal calls for CBS and SCBS to be amalgamated and then acquire Marac. The group would have about 360 staff and 70 customer outlets. The plan calls for the bank to be established through an NZX listed non-operating holding company, Building Society Holdings Limited. It will oversee the operating company, initially known as Combined Building Society. They will also seek an investment grade credit rating from Standard & Poor's

Standard & Poor's says the so-called "Heartland Bank" has the potential to obtain an investment grade credit rating, which it needs before applying to the Reserve Bank for a banking licence. Currently all of Marac, CBS and SCBS have speculative, or "junk", ratings. However, the birth of the new entity still faces significant hurdles with seven stakeholder groups to vote on its formation.

Read PGC's statement below:

Another significant step has been taken today towards the proposed formation of a New Zealand listed banking and financial services group.

The boards of Pyne Gould Corporation (PGC), MARAC, CBS Canterbury (CBS) and Southern Cross Building Society (SCBS) have today advised the Board of Directors and a designated Executive team for Building Society Holdings Limited (BSHL) – the new entity which will be the listed holding company of that group.

In September the boards determined that their plan to form a New Zealand listed banking and financial services group was compelling and they formally committed to proceed with the merger.

A binding Merger Implementation Agreement was signed dealing with the structure of the merged entity and the various conditions that need to be satisfied. Subject to all relevant regulatory and stakeholder approvals and satisfaction of other conditions, the target date for the merger taking effect is 1 January 2011.

The merged group will seek an NZX listing for the newly created financial services group with a listing date targeted for early February.

Chairman Bruce Irvine says a Board of Directors and designated Executive team has been identified in order to ensure ongoing clarity and direction to the merger process.

The “shadow” Executive team will be responsible for relevant merger workstreams but until all shareholder and depositor approvals are obtained and the merger takes effect, it is business as usual in respect of the management of all existing entities.

The formal appointment of the designated Executive team to positions within the new entity remains subject to the successful outcome of the merger process, and individual confirmation.

“There is still significant progress to be made as the entities work towards getting shareholder support for the proposal. The establishment of the Board and shadow Executive team allows for that process to continue in an appropriate manner, whilst also looking to the future requirements of the new entity once all the necessary approvals have been obtained.

“This is a significant step forward and the calibre of the proposed Board and Executive team will, we believe, give shareholders and other stakeholders faith and confidence in the ‘Heartland’ vision and the merger proposal.”

Managing Director designate Jeff Greenslade is looking forward to the possibility of leading such a strong Executive team and to work with a Board of Directors, who as individuals have high standing and reputations in the business community throughout New Zealand.

“The merged entity will have a home base in Christchurch and an executive presence in the Auckland market as well. This reflects that it will be a national entity that has a strong focus on the Canterbury market.”

Following the merger, the members of the Board and designated Executive team who are also members of the board and executive of PGC will continue to carry out their responsibilities to PGC.

A separate announcement will be made by PGC in this regard.

Board of Directors

The following persons are (and will continue to be following the Merger) the directors of Building Society Holdings Limited, most of whom are also current directors of CBS, SCBS or PGC.

Bruce Irvine - B.Com, LLB, FCA, AF Inst D, FNZIM Chairman Bruce is Chairman of PGC and its subsidiaries including MARAC and Perpetual Trust. He is also a director of listed companies, Rakon Limited and PGG Wrightson Limited, and a number of private companies which include: House of Travel Group, Market Gardeners Limited (MG Marketing Limited), Godfrey Hirst NZ Limited, Skope Industries Limited and Scenic Hotels Limited. Bruce is also Chairman of Christchurch City Holdings Limited, the infrastructure holding company for Christchurch, and its subsidiaries including: Orion NZ Limited, Lyttelton Port Company, Christchurch International Airport Limited, Red Bus Limited, City Care Limited and Christchurch City Networks Limited.

George Gould - LLB, Graduate London School of Economics Director George was elected to the PGC Board for the second time in March 2010, having previously held a directorship from 1990 to 2004. George has extensive experience in the financial and rural services sectors. He was Managing Director of South Eastern Utilities from 1994 to 2001 and Managing Director of PGC, leading the merger with Reid Farmers in 2001.

Gary Leech - B.Com, FCA, AF Inst D Director Gary is the current Chairman of the Board of CBS and a past director of Ashburton Loan and Building Society. Gary is a professional director in a diverse range of business sectors. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, past Chairman of the Canterbury/Westland Branch and is a sitting member of the Institute’s National Disciplinary Tribunal, a position he has held for the last 14 years. Gary has 35 years experience as a chartered accountant practising at Leech and Partners Limited, Ashburton and Christchurch.

Graham Kennedy - JP, B.Com, CA, ACIS, ACIM, AF Inst D Director Graham has been a director of CBS Canterbury for 24 years and has been actively involved in the significant changes occurring within the business over that time, including demutualisation and NZAX listing. He was also Chairman of CBS from 2002 to 2008, a period that included the mergers with both SMC Building Society and Loan and Building Society. Graham is an independent director of a number of companies and holds a number of professional trusteeships covering a wide range of commercial and community activities in Canterbury. He received a Civic Award from the Ashburton District in 2005. Graham has 37 years experience as a chartered accountant in Ashburton and is currently Chairman of Brophy Knight Limited, Chartered Accountants.

Christopher Mace - CNZM Director Chris Mace is a director of SCBS and an Auckland-based businessman with experience in the New Zealand and Australian environments. Chris is Chairman of the Crown Research Institute, NIWA, and a director of a number of private companies. He is a member of the New Zealand Institute, the Antarctic Heritage Trust and was a founding Trustee of the Sir Peter Blake Trust. He is also past Chairman of the Crown Research Institute ESR and Antarctica New Zealand.

Bryan Mogridge - B.Sc, ONZM, F Inst D Director Bryan was appointed to the PGC Board in 2003. He has been a director of the MARAC board since 1992 and is also Chairman of the Perpetual Group Board. Bryan has many years experience in chief executive and senior management positions. He has governance experience as a director of NZSX-listed companies since 1984 and is currently Chair of Rakon and a Director of Mainfreight.

Geoffrey Ricketts - LLB (Hons) F Inst D Director Geoff is currently Chairman of SCBS. He is a commercial lawyer, company director and investor with wide experience in the New Zealand and Australian business environments. Geoff is Chairman of Lion Nathan National Foods Limited, a director of Suncorp-Metway Limited, Spotless Group Limited, The Todd Corporation Limited and a number of private companies. Geoff is also Chairman of the University of Auckland Foundation, a member of the Auckland Catholic Diocese Advisory Board, the Centre for Independent Studies and a consultant to Russell McVeagh, Solicitors (Auckland and Wellington).

Michelle Smith - B.Com - M.Com (Hons), CA (ICAEW), CA(NZICA) Director Michelle is a professional director who has over 20 years experience working within the financial services industry in London. She is currently a director of MARAC and previously held senior positions with Goldman Sachs and Ernst & Young in London. Michelle has extensive experience in banking, particularly risk management and transactional processing. Returning to New Zealand, Michelle is now concentrating on a number of professional directorship appointments.

Jeffrey Greenslade - LLB Managing Director Jeff joined PGC and MARAC as Chief Executive Officer in 2009 and is responsible for the strategy and operational delivery of both businesses. He was appointed to the Board in December 2009. Jeff has 20 years experience as a senior executive in the ANZ National Banking Group, where he last held the position of Managing Director of Corporate and Commercial Banking for ANZ National Bank. From 2003 until May 2008 he spent time on the board of UDC Finance. Jeff has also held a number of senior positions in the Institutional and Capital Markets areas of The National Bank of New Zealand and its subsidiary, Southpac.

Senior Executive Team

Sean Kam - BCom, Dip Treasury, CA, IFINZ Chief Financial Officer Sean is Chief Financial Officer of PGC and MARAC where he has responsibility for the Group’s financial reporting and accounting functions. Sean has almost 20 years experience in senior finance positions, predominantly in the banking sector in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Directly prior to joining PGC he was the Chief Operating Officer and a director of New Zealand registered bank ABN AMRO Bank NV, preceded by roles at Merrill Lynch New Zealand and BZW Barclays New Zealand. A qualified NZX advisor, Sean has broad experience in financial analysis and public reporting, dealing with complex financial transactions including IFRS, NZ taxation, capital markets operations and securities law aspects. He is also Treasury and Financial markets qualified including Regulatory and Risk management.

Mark Mountcastle - Dip Bank Management Chief Risk Officer Mark, currently Chief Risk Officer for PGC and MARAC, has over 20 years experience in banking and finance and an extensive background in risk, originally in the credit risk area. Mark has held a number of senior roles across a variety of organisations and business sectors including ASB Credit, Spiers Finance and Westpac where he commenced his general banking career. He also has managed a trading operation and owned a business advisory consultancy for five years.

Mark Bellas - B.Com (Hons) CA (SA) and ACA Chief Operating Officer Mark joined SCBS in February 2008 as executive responsible for Finance & Strategy with primary responsibility for leading and managing consolidation initiatives. Mark has held a variety of senior management roles in New Zealand over the past 17 years since his arrival from South Africa. These include experience in merger and acquisitions, strategy, and part-time chief financial officer and chief executive roles. Mark, a qualified Chartered Accountant with 25 years commercial experience has also worked for the Skellerup Group and Oceania & Eastern.

Bryan Inch - BAgSci Head of Retail. Bryan joined CBS in October 2008 as chief executive officer and has led the growth of the business since that time. Bryan is an experienced banker with over a decade of senior banking positions in Wellington, Sydney and the Netherlands including: Rabobank’s Deputy Global Head of International Direct Banking (2008); Rabobank (Australia and New Zealand) Head of Financial Services (2003-2008); and Managing Director of Rabobank NZ Ltd (1998- 2003) where he lead the integration of Rabobank NZ with Wrightson Farmers Finance.

James Mitchell - BBS Head of Business James, currently Project Manager for the proposed Merger Group, has over 20 years banking and financial services experience gained working for ANZ and ASB. Prior to leaving ASB in early 2010, James was Chief Executive Relationship Banking responsible for business, commercial, rural and corporate banking and was a member of the ASB Executive Management Committee from 2000. James' career experience includes marketing, cards and payments, investments, insurance and relationship banking. He has experience in New Zealand, Australia and Indonesian business environments.

Chris Flood - Head of Consumer Chris has been with PGC and MARAC for 13 years, eight years as MARAC’s General Manager Consumer Finance where he is currently responsible for the Motor Division. Chris has spent 27 years in the finance and banking sectors having also previously worked in senior management positions with National Australia Bank and UDC. Chris has broad experience in commercial and property finance and all aspects of credit and risk.

Will Purvis - BCom(Ag) Head of Rural Currently Project Manager for the development of PGC’s Rural Strategy, Will has over 20 years banking experience gained working for the Rural Bank, ASB Bank and Bank of New Zealand. Prior to leaving Bank of New Zealand in May 2010 Will was General Manager BNZ Partners responsible for business, rural and private banking. His career experience also includes retail banking.

Michael Jonas - LLB General Counsel Michael is currently General Counsel for PGC and MARAC. He is an experienced banking and finance lawyer, with the major part of his practice acting for New Zealand banks and financial institutions on cross border structured finance transactions. Michael has held several partnerships with the following New Zealand law firms: Bell Gully, from 1990 to 1998; Chapman Tripp, from 1998 to 2007; and Mayne Wetherell, from 2007 to 2010.

Craig Stephen - BSoc Sci (Econ), PG Dip Com, AMP (Wharton), CTP Treasurer Craig has been Chief Investment Officer of MARAC and PGC since 2009 where he is responsible for treasury, capital raising, investors, and mergers and acquisitions. A qualified economist, Craig has 20 years experience in banking and finance industry and has held a variety of senior positions in both the banking (Westpac) and corporate sectors (Fonterra). He has also managed a successful consultancy business in recent years. Craig is a member of the Institute of Directors and a former Board member of the NZ Society of Corporate Treasurers and Institute of Finance Professionals of New Zealand. He currently holds the status of Certified Finance and Investment Professional.

Bob Smith - is currently CEO of Southern Cross Building Society and will continue to carry out his responsibilities as CEO and Director of Southern Cross. He will be assisting with Project work before leaving to seek other challenges. Bob joined Southern Cross over three years ago specifically to assist Southern Cross take a proactive role in industry consolidation. The merger sees that goal achieved.

Background - 1 June - announcement of merger proposal by four established and compatible businesses (PGC, MARAC, CBS, SCBS) with the objective of creating what will ultimately be a New Zealand listed banking and financial services group:

- An opportunity for New Zealanders to own shares in a New Zealand listed banking and financial services group

- Registered office in Christchurch, focused on Canterbury as a home market with a nationwide reach

- Focus on servicing the “heartland” market - small to medium business, the rural sector and New Zealand individuals and families.

- 16 September – the Boards of PGC/MARAC, CBS and SCBS formally commit to proceed with the merger plan and announce the signing of a binding Merger Implementation Agreement that deals with the proposed structure of the merged entity and various conditions to be satisfied. -

The Merger viewed as compelling and beneficial for all four parties and driving superior shareholder returns: - Increased scale, a national platform for accelerated growth and increased market presence and credibility -

A diversified asset portfolio and depositor base

- Access to alternative sources of funding and greater liquidity.

- Subject to all relevant regulatory and shareholder approvals, and the satisfaction of other conditions, the target date for the merger to take effect is 1 January 2011. -

The new entity would comprise a non-operating company, Building Society Holdings Limited (“Merged Entity”), with the operating businesses of CBS, SCBS, MARAC and MARAC Insurance held in operating subsidiaries of the Merged Entity.

- The merger share proportions will be PGC 71%, CBS 14.5% and SCBS 14.5%.  PGC would remain a discrete entity with a single holding in the Merged Entity whereas the individual shareholders of CBS and SCBS would own shares in their own right.

- The Merged Entity would seek a NZX listing with a listing date targeted for early February.

NB: 1. None of CBS, SCBS, PGC and MARAC is a registered bank, and any merged entity will not be a registered bank until it is registered as such under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989.

2. It is intended that application will be made to NZX Limited for permission to list the shares to be issued under the Merger on the NZSX, although the shares have not been approved for trading on a securities market operated by a registered exchange (and no application for such listing has been made) as at the date of this announcement. NZX Limited accepts no responsibility for any statement in this announcement. NZX Limited is a registered exchange regulated under the Securities Markets Act 1988.

Read also: The rest of this special report and MoJo's daily political coverage.

What if members of Congress were seated not by party but according to their major business sponsors? We gave it a try.

The Senate: Lawyers, Drugs, and Money

The Senate

SECTOR | # OF MEMBERS

Finance, insurance, and real estate  57

Lawyers and lobbyists  25

Health  5

Agribusiness  3

Labor  2

Energy and natural resources  2

Miscellaneous business  2

Communications and electronics  1

No money raised  3

Total seats | 100

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) Terms: 2 (9 in House) Total raised: $62.2 million, 27% from finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) Top donors: A major defender of Wall Street interests before the crash, Schumer has netted more big bank money than any member of Congress who hasn't run for president.	Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) Terms: 1 Total raised: $17 million, 7% from FIRE Top donors: In the special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat, Brown's biggest donors were Fidelity Investments, Bain Capital (Mitt Romney's old firm), and Credit Suisse. But—whoops!—he voted for the financial regulation bill.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Terms: 5 Total raised: $37.2 million, 14% from FIRE Top donors: The top Senate Republican's most generous contributors have been US Smokeless Tobacco—now part of Altria, née Philip Morris—and Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel's. Cheers!	Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Terms: 4 (2 in House)Total raised: $35.4 million, 17% from lawyers and lobbyists Top donors: 5 out of the majority leader's top 10 lifetime donors are casinos or gambling interests. The industry has bet more than $1.7 million on him, plus $1.3 mil on fellow Nevada Sen. John Ensign.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) Terms: 3 (5 in House) Total raised: $75.3 million, 7% from lawyers and lobbyists Top donors: Boxer is Hollywood's favorite member of Congress (aside from Sen. John Kerry). Her second-biggest donor is Time Warner; Disney is sixth.	Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) Terms: 2 (4 in House) Total raised: $31.8 million, 12% from agribusiness Top donors: The ranking member of the ag committee has never met a federal farm subsidy he didn't like. He just happens to be Congress' second-most bountiful recipient of agribusiness cash.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) Terms: 4 (4 in House) Total raised: $16.2 million, 13% from energy and natural resources Top donors: Inhofe, who's declared that "man-induced global warming is an article of religious faith," has received more money from Koch Industries than any other company. The oil firm has given nearly $25 million to climate-change denial groups.

The House: Big Labor vs. Big Money

The House

SECTOR | # OF MEMBERS

Labor  159

Finance, insurance, and real estate  159

Health  26

Agribusiness  23

Lawyers and lobbyists  20

Miscellaneous business  18

Energy and natural resources  10

Defense  7

Transportation  6

Communications and electronics  4

Construction  1

Unfilled seats  2

Total seats | 435

Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.) Terms: 21 Total raised: $10.8 million, 21% from labor Top donors: The chair of the appropriations committee and a subcommittee with oversight of labor matters, is the House's second-biggest recipient of union cash. Obey's retiring in the face of a challenge from Real World star Sean Duffy.	Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Terms: 12 Total raised: $11.9 million, 19% from FIRE Top donors: Sure, her husband is a major real estate investor, but the biggest all-time donor to the speaker (who has her own Napa vineyard) has been California wine giant E&J Gallo.
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) Terms: 5 Total raised: $17.3 million, 24% from FIRE Top donors: The top donor to the GOP whip, a leading opponent of cap-and-trade legislation, is Dominion Resources, a Virginia power company.	Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) Terms: 1 Total raised: $6.4 million, 25% from FIRE Top donors: The freshman rep, a former Goldman Sachs veep, now collects campaign checks from the firm—more than any other House member. Financial regulation vote: Yes.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) Terms: 7 Total raised: $50.5 million, 3% from FIRE Top donors: GIs, meet geeks. The small-government libertarian's biggest givers are members of the military, followed by Google and Microsoft employees.	Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) Terms: 13 Total raised: $17.2 million, 19% from energy and natural resources Top donors: Barton, who decried the "shakedown" of BP, has watched the cash flow from Anadarko Petroleum, owner (PDF) of 25% of BP's Deepwater Horizon well.
Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) Terms: 17 Total raised: $8.3 million, 17% from defense Top donors: The Armed Services Committee chair is—surprise!— Congress' top recipient of defense-industry cash.

    

Read also: The rest of this special report and MoJo's daily political coverage.

What if members of Congress were seated not by party but according to their major business sponsors? We gave it a try.

The Senate: Lawyers, Drugs, and Money

The Senate

SECTOR | # OF MEMBERS

Finance, insurance, and real estate  57

Lawyers and lobbyists  25

Health  5

Agribusiness  3

Labor  2

Energy and natural resources  2

Miscellaneous business  2

Communications and electronics  1

No money raised  3

Total seats | 100

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) Terms: 2 (9 in House) Total raised: $62.2 million, 27% from finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) Top donors: A major defender of Wall Street interests before the crash, Schumer has netted more big bank money than any member of Congress who hasn't run for president.	Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) Terms: 1 Total raised: $17 million, 7% from FIRE Top donors: In the special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat, Brown's biggest donors were Fidelity Investments, Bain Capital (Mitt Romney's old firm), and Credit Suisse. But—whoops!—he voted for the financial regulation bill.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Terms: 5 Total raised: $37.2 million, 14% from FIRE Top donors: The top Senate Republican's most generous contributors have been US Smokeless Tobacco—now part of Altria, née Philip Morris—and Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel's. Cheers!	Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Terms: 4 (2 in House)Total raised: $35.4 million, 17% from lawyers and lobbyists Top donors: 5 out of the majority leader's top 10 lifetime donors are casinos or gambling interests. The industry has bet more than $1.7 million on him, plus $1.3 mil on fellow Nevada Sen. John Ensign.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) Terms: 3 (5 in House) Total raised: $75.3 million, 7% from lawyers and lobbyists Top donors: Boxer is Hollywood's favorite member of Congress (aside from Sen. John Kerry). Her second-biggest donor is Time Warner; Disney is sixth.	Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) Terms: 2 (4 in House) Total raised: $31.8 million, 12% from agribusiness Top donors: The ranking member of the ag committee has never met a federal farm subsidy he didn't like. He just happens to be Congress' second-most bountiful recipient of agribusiness cash.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) Terms: 4 (4 in House) Total raised: $16.2 million, 13% from energy and natural resources Top donors: Inhofe, who's declared that "man-induced global warming is an article of religious faith," has received more money from Koch Industries than any other company. The oil firm has given nearly $25 million to climate-change denial groups.

The House: Big Labor vs. Big Money

The House

SECTOR | # OF MEMBERS

Labor  159

Finance, insurance, and real estate  159

Health  26

Agribusiness  23

Lawyers and lobbyists  20

Miscellaneous business  18

Energy and natural resources  10

Defense  7

Transportation  6

Communications and electronics  4

Construction  1

Unfilled seats  2

Total seats | 435

Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.) Terms: 21 Total raised: $10.8 million, 21% from labor Top donors: The chair of the appropriations committee and a subcommittee with oversight of labor matters, is the House's second-biggest recipient of union cash. Obey's retiring in the face of a challenge from Real World star Sean Duffy.	Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Terms: 12 Total raised: $11.9 million, 19% from FIRE Top donors: Sure, her husband is a major real estate investor, but the biggest all-time donor to the speaker (who has her own Napa vineyard) has been California wine giant E&J Gallo.
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) Terms: 5 Total raised: $17.3 million, 24% from FIRE Top donors: The top donor to the GOP whip, a leading opponent of cap-and-trade legislation, is Dominion Resources, a Virginia power company.	Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) Terms: 1 Total raised: $6.4 million, 25% from FIRE Top donors: The freshman rep, a former Goldman Sachs veep, now collects campaign checks from the firm—more than any other House member. Financial regulation vote: Yes.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) Terms: 7 Total raised: $50.5 million, 3% from FIRE Top donors: GIs, meet geeks. The small-government libertarian's biggest givers are members of the military, followed by Google and Microsoft employees.	Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) Terms: 13 Total raised: $17.2 million, 19% from energy and natural resources Top donors: Barton, who decried the "shakedown" of BP, has watched the cash flow from Anadarko Petroleum, owner (PDF) of 25% of BP's Deepwater Horizon well.
Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) Terms: 17 Total raised: $8.3 million, 17% from defense Top donors: The Armed Services Committee chair is—surprise!— Congress' top recipient of defense-industry cash.

    

Classic styles and color palettes are classics for a reason - they are timeless and harmonious, and just simply beautiful! The combination of creamy ivory, pink champagne and sparkling silver is one that will never go out of style, and can be adjusted to suit so many different personalities and seasons throughout the year. Check out this inspiration board made with photos from our Wedding Image Gallery that takes an elegant and romantic approach to this always exquisite color combo. Loving it!

Beautiful wedding photos top to bottom by: Kenny Nakai Photography, Jonetsu Photography, Yvette Roman Photography, GH Kim Photography, Jay Lawrence Goldman, Elizabeth Messina, Elizabeth Messina, Yvette Roman Photography and Sean Flanigan Photography

Tony Walton will direct a staged reading of James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim's Evening Primrose, the 1966 musical-for-television, as part of the St. George's Society of New York's Anglo-American Cultural Awards Oct. 25 in Manhattan.

Tony Walton will direct a staged reading of James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim's Evening Primrose, the 1966 musical-for-television, as part of the St. George's Society of New York's Anglo-American Cultural Awards Oct. 25 in Manhattan.

August 2: Online managing editor Carl Sullivan is leaving for MSN, we reported this morning.

July 13: Two more relatively low-level departures... A Newsweek insider tells us product manager Elisa Karp's last day is tomorrow, and that associate technology director Jeremy Freedman left last week. That brings our count to 10.

July 13:  Senior online articles editor Arlyn Tobias Gajilan confirms that she is leaving to help launch and edit a new website for the Boston Consulting Group, which will compete with McKinsey Quarterly, Harvard Business Review and other similar publications. Katie Connolly emailed to remind us that she left in April for a gig as D.C. correspondent for the BBC.

PREVIOUS DEPARTURES here, here and here.

EARLIER: When you hear about "layoffs" and "unemployment" and "exoduses," it's often easy to forget that underneath those numbers are actual people.

And because most corporations don't list all their employees publicly, it's often hard to tie various "cost reduction initiatives" and "restructurings" to the actual humans affected.

But that's not the case in much of the media industry, where jobs and people are often listed in full detail on publication mastheads.

As they are, for example, at Newsweek.

As everyone knows, Newsweek is now on the block.  The question about what happens after Newsweek is sold is not whether jobs will be lost, but how many. In fact, the question is really whether the buyer plans to gut the place.

And in anticipation of this bloodletting, many of Newsweek's talented folks aren't sticking around to see how that question is answered. They're just heading for the hills.

The most recent departure, announced today, is Newsweek's excellent Tumblr editor, Mark Coatney, who's leaving for Tumblr.

These days, the departures are coming so fast and furious that Newsweek can't keep up with them on its Masthead.  So we'll take that task on ourselves. 

To wit, here's Newsweek's masthead as of July 12, 2010.  It has changed a bit since it was last updated, and we imagine it will change a lot in the coming months.  We will record all departures in strikethrough font, in red.  If we miss anyone, please let us know.

Newsweek Masthead, as of August 2, 2010

(Departures in red)

The Washington Post Company

KATHARINE GRAHAM, 1917–2001
DONALD E. GRAHAM, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
MANAGING DIRECTOR: Ann L. McDaniel
CHAIRMAN: Richard M. Smith
EDITOR: Jon Meacham
EDITOR, NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL: Fareed Zakaria
MANAGING EDITOR: Daniel Klaidman
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Mark Miller (Editor, Newsweek Digital)
EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Ted Moncreiff
EDITORS-AT-LARGE: Evan Thomas, Lally Weymouth (Special Diplomatic Correspondent)
DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL DEVELOPMENT: Nisid Hajari
DEPUTY EDITORS: Julia Baird, Jeffrey Bartholet (Washington Bureau Chief), Kathleen Deveny (Global Business Editor), Rana Foroohar, Debra Rosenberg
CULTURE EDITOR: Marc Peyser
SCOPE EDITOR: Bret Begun
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION: Ignacio Kleva    
CREATIVE DIRECTION: Number 17, NYC
SENIOR ARTICLES EDITOR: Sam Seibert
RELIGION EDITOR: Lisa Miller
SCIENCE EDITOR: Sharon Begley
ECONOMICS EDITOR: Daniel Gross
TECHNOLOGY EDITOR: Daniel Lyons
NATIONAL-AFFAIRS COLUMNISTS: Jonathan Alter, Howard Fineman (Senior Washington Correspondent)
SENIOR WRITERS: Jessica Bennett, Arian Campo-Flores (Miami Bureau chief), Mary Carmichael (Boston), Malcolm Jones, Claudia Kalb, Jeremy McCarter, Andrew Romano, Allison Samuels (Los Angeles)
CONTRIBUTORS: Jerry Adler, Lorraine Ali, David M. Alpern (Newsweek on Air), David Ansen, Christian Caryl, Eleanor Clift, Ellis Cose, Jonathan Darman, Niall Ferguson, David Gates, Alexis Gelber, Peter Goldman, Richard N. Haass, George Hackett, Tamara Haddad, Christopher Hitchens, Barbara Kantrowitz, David A. Kaplan, Ezra Klein, Dahlia Lithwick, David Margolick, Cathleen McGuigan, Stryker McGuire, Susannah Meadows, Claire Messud, Charles Ommanney (photography), Holly Peterson, Peter Plagens, Anna Quindlen, Julia Reed, Robert J. Samuelson, Mark Starr, Stuart Taylor Jr., Louisa Thomas, Jacob Weisberg, Sean Wilentz, George F. Will, Kenneth L. Woodward
EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR: Susan A. McVea      
STAFF WRITERS: Joshua Alston (Atlanta), Tony Dokoupil, Jeneen Interlandi, Raina Kelley, Ramin Setoodeh, Barrett Sheridan, Jennie Yabroff
BUREAUS: Washington: John Barry, Eve Conant, Katie Connolly, Michael Hirsh (National Economics Correspondent), Mark Hosenball, Michael Isikoff, Suzanne Smalley, Daniel Stone, Steve Tuttle, Pat Wingert. Paris: Christopher Dickey, Tracy McNicoll. Beijing: Melinda Liu. Islamabad: Ron Moreau. Jerusalem:  Dan Ephron, Joanna Chen, Kevin Peraino (on leave). Beirut: Babak Dehghanpisheh. London: William Underhill. Rio de Janeiro: Mac Margolis. Moscow: Owen Matthews, Anna Nemtsova. Berlin: Stefan Theil.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Karen Fragala Smith
SENIOR REPORTERS: Nancy Cook, Matthew Philips, Jessica Ramirez, Nick Summers, Seth Colter Walls
REPORTERS: Andrew Bast, David Graham, Katie Paul, Ian Yarett
CONTRIBUTING CORRESPONDENTS: Sudip Mazumdar (New Delhi), Sami Yousafzai (Islamabad), Barbie Nadeau (Rome), Maziar Bahari (Tehran), B. J. Lee (Seoul)
ART: Andrew James Capelli (Design Director), Sara McKay, Sean Noyce, Kristen Ren, Adolfo Valle, Steve Walkowiak
PICTURES: Beth Johnson, Dana Kien, Michelle Molloy (Acting Photo Director), James Price, James Wellford
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Christopher Anderson, Khue Bui, Luc Delahaye, Gary Knight, Alex Majoli, Paolo Pellegrin, Jonathan Torgovnik, Laurent Van der Stockt
EDITORIAL PRODUCTION: Cathy Fenlon (Deputy Director), Sally Atkinson, Dan Brillman, Vicko Fabris, Jean Foos, Deborah Martens, Pierre Metivier, James C. Morgan, John Ramsey, Herbert Samuels, Miguel A. Torres, Ana Zapata
COPY EDITORS: David Olivenbaum (Chief), Andrew Cohen, Lisa DeLisle, Jacqueline F. Kurtzberg, Steve Noveck, Alessandra Rafferty, Carl Rosen, Jay Wilkins    
RESEARCH CENTER: Sam Register


Newsweek International

EDITOR: Fareed Zakaria
MANAGING EDITOR: Tony Emerson
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Arlene Getz (Worldwide Special Editions)
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Michael Freedman
REGIONAL EDITOR: Christopher Dickey (Middle East)
SCOPE EDITOR: Katie Baker
CULTURE EDITOR: Susan H. Greenberg
CHIEF OF RESEARCH: John Wojno
DESIGN DIRECTOR: Leah Purcell
PICTURES: Amy Pereira, Marion Durand

Newsweek Digital
GENERAL MANAGER: Geoff Reiss
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Alix Baudin
EDITOR: Mark Miller
EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Gabriel Snyder
MANAGING EDITORS: Carl Sullivan, Kathy Jones (Multimedia)
SENIOR ARTICLES EDITORS: Mark Coatney, Patrick Enright, Arlyn Tobias Gajilan, Adam B. Kushner
HOME-PAGE EDITOR: Rose Palazzolo
DIRECTOR OF MULTIMEDIA: Jonathan Groat

PRODUCTION
EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION MANAGER: Catherine Fenlon
DEPUTY PRODUCTION MANAGER: Dan Brillman
PRODUCERS: Sally Atkinson, Pierre Metivier, Ana Zapata

ARTICLES EDITORS: Ben Adler, Sarah Ball, Kate Dailey, Jesse Ellison
MULTIMEDIA EDITORS: Margaret Keady (Photo Editor), Sarah Frank, Cara Phillips
ART DIRECTOR: Roberto Gonzalez-Rey
DIGITAL DESIGNERS: Nicole Barth, Monica Parra

AUDIENCE AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT:  Hila Dar
PRODUCT MANAGER: Elisa Karp
CONSUMER INSIGHT AND ANALYTICS MANAGER: Sophie Tseng

TECHNOLOGY
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR: Jeremy Freedman
SENIOR ARCHITECT: Tim Knight
USER EXPERIENCE MANAGER: Adam Clarkson
PRINCIPAL QA ENGINEER: Srijith Gangadharan
SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR: Nate Butler
APPLICATION DEVELOPERS: Mark Catalano, Mike Robinson
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER: Dan Alcalde

Published by Newsweek, Inc.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Tom Ascheim
CHIEF ADVERTISING OFFICER: Alyson Racer
U.S. PUBLISHER & SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT: Patrick K. Hagerty
INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHER & MANAGING DIRECTOR: Rhona Murphy
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER: Angela Leaney
VICE PRESIDENT ADVERTISING SERVICES: John M. Ernst
SALES MANAGERS: Chicago: William C. Youngberg (Dir.).  New York: Brian C. Kennedy (Dir.). West Coast: Peter H. Matthews. Washington: Paul B. Anderson. Digital: Liz Rioux-Christian, Ali H. Dib.
VICE PRESIDENTS: Frank De Maria (Communications), Stephen Fuzesi Jr. (Chief Counsel), Joseph D. Galarneau (Chief Information Officer/Senior Vice President of Operations), Nick Grudin (Strategy and Enterprises), Tracia Luh (Chief Financial Officer/Senior Vice President of Corporate Development), Vanessa Reyes (Revenue Operations), Jeanne Sakas (Human Resources), Jennie Tse Wang (Finance)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Newsweek's Excellent Tumblr Editor Is Leaving For ... Tumblr!
• Newsweek Rejects Our Offer To Buy The Company
• 10 Newsweek Staffers Who Will Help Save The Magazine...Or Be Awesome Hires For Someone Else

Filed under: News

According to Peace FM Online, "The Juice" O.J. Simpson is reportedly tying the knot behind bars. The once-upon-a-time gridiron great is all set to marry a lady love - whom he has never even met face-to-face.

Simpson is currently serving a 33-year sentence behind bars for numerous felonies, which include armed robbery and kidnapping.

Simpson was acquitted of all charges involving Nicole's and her friend's, Ronald Goldman, 1995 murder.

If Anna marries Simpson, she will be wife No. 3.

They say three's a charm!

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China dijo el sábado que haría gradualmente más flexible al yuan, en un gesto que podría evitarle críticas en la cumbre del G-20 de la próxima semana, pero que no provocará un rápido cambio en su moneda.

El tipo de cambio fijo frente al dólar, que ya lleva 23 meses, ha sido blanco de intensas críticas a nivel internacional, dado que las exportaciones chinas se recuperaban mientras que gran parte de la economía mundial se debilitó y se mantuvo asediada por el desempleo tras la crisis financiera.

El presidente estadounidense, Barack Obama, dijo que el anuncio de Pekín era un "paso constructivo" que ayudaría a salvaguardar la recuperación económica mundial, mientras que el secretario del Tesoro Timothy Geithner acogió la medida horas antes e hizo un llamado por su "vigorosa implementación".

"Vemos esto como un gesto positivo, sugiriendo que el yuan pronto reanudará su apreciación contra el dólar", dijeron los economistas de Goldman Sachs, Yu Song y Helen Qiao.

Las noticias podrían calmar los temores de los inversores a una disputa comercial entre Estados Unidos y China en un momento delicado para la economía mundial, además de apoyar a los mercados bursátiles el lunes.

La Comisión Europea dijo que la decisión de China será positiva para el gigante asiático y ayudaría a corregir los desequilibrios en la economía mundial.

Bruselas agregó que espera que las reformas sobre el tipo de cambio del yuan - también conocido como renminbi o RMB - tengan repercusiones positivas para los 16 países de la zona euro.

Sin embargo, un importante senador estadounidense consideró que el anuncio de reforma de Pekín no era suficiente.

"Esta declaración vaga y limitada de intenciones es la típica respuesta china a la presión", dijo el senador Charles Schumer, un demócrata que encabeza los esfuerzos para que Estados Unidos aplique impuestos compensatorios contra países con tipos cambiarios que ve como "desalineados".

En la práctica, el anuncio probablemente implique que el banco central chino usará su sistema de fijar tasas de referencia diarias para el yuan a fin de guiar a la moneda de regreso a un camino de apreciación gradual frente al dólar, que siguió durante tres años hasta mediados de 2008.

Los movimientos iniciales probablemente serán mínimos, pero acumulativamente podrían ser significativa en los próximos meses, dijeron varios analistas.

China ha mantenido al yuan a casi 6,83 por dólar desde julio de 2008. Al sostener un yuan artificialmente barato frente al dólar, logra que sus productos sean más atractivos para los consumidores estadounidenses, y al mismo tiempo encarece las importaciones de Estados Unidos en China.

La situación ha contribuido a un enorme superávit comercial chino frente a Estados Unidos, lo que ha motivado protestas de quienes consideran que la política cambiaria china se mantiene a costa de puestos de trabajo en Estados Unidos.

Goldman sucked wind last night in JP Morgan's annual charity 3.5 mile race, where both the fastest JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley runners beat the fastest Goldman runner, by a lot.

JPMorgan's Sean Swift beat every other banker and came in second overall just 6 seconds after the real winner, Trading Screen's Gian-Paul Caccia, according to Dealbook.

Other notable winners:

Mens #7: Peter Quinzo (Morgan Stanley)

Men's #26: Rich Little (Goldman)

Women's #?: Mary Erdoes (JP Morgan): 25 minutes and 36 seconds

None of the banks can claim to be the real champions though.

Men's #1: Gian-Paul Caccia (TradingScreen) - 17 minutes and 36 seconds

Women's #1: Catherine Mullen (Rockefeller Group) - 19 minutes and 7 seconds

Goldman also didn't have a party tent, which is sad, but apparently JPMorgan was the only one with a tent worth visiting anyways.

And of course this week's real competition wasn't the foot race, but the non-charity beer pong tournament in Atlantic City. The winners took home $25,000.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Here Are The 10 World Cup Venues About To Dominate Your Life
• Check Out This Video Of The Flying Japanese Tackle That Cost A Major Soccer Star His Shot At The World Cup
• The Craigslist Scandals – Babies For Sale, Prostitution, Murder, And More!

El ininterrumpido aumento de las primas de riesgo de los países periféricos del euro frente a los centrales genera interrogantes sobre el futuro y la viabilidad del área, ahora muy distante de ofrecer una imagen de solidez y de grupo compacto y con objetivos compartidos.

"Yo creo que nadie sabe ya qué pensar, ni qué argumentar. Es el tema de todos los días, hasta el punto de que nadie apuesta por un futuro cierto porque todo es global y de largo alcance", dijo un analista.

En este clima, el Ibex-35 bajó un 1,43 por ciento a 8.669,8 puntos, mientras el índice general de la Bolsa de Madrid perdió un 1,46 por ciento a 894,58 puntos.

A última hora de las operaciones financieras, el diferencial de la deuda española a 10 años frente al bono alemán se situaba en 213 puntos básicos (PB), ligeramente por debajo de un nuevo máximo marcado el martes de 217 PB desde la introducción del euro.

"Mientras que los diferenciales de España y Portugal contra Alemania alcanzan nuevos máximos por preocupaciones sobre su refinanciación pensamos que los riesgos de un agravamiento de la crisis (de deuda) continuarán dominando el flujo de noticias hasta que la presión de los mercados interbancarios se suavice y/o otros planes de austeridad sean anunciados", dijo UBS en una nota de análisis sobre el sector bancario.

Los bancos seguían su evolución bajista, con pérdidas del 1,43 por ciento tanto en Santander y del 1,8 por ciento en BBVA.

Popular cayó un 1,9 por ciento a 3,811 euros después del banco de inversión suizo UBS bajara su precio objetivo a 3,8 euros desde los 5 euros anteriores y mantuviera la recomendación en vender.

Bankinter cedió un 2,11 por ciento a 4,18 euros después de que UBS bajara la valoración a 4,5 euros desde los 6,2 euros anteriores y mantuviera la recomendación en neutral.

Sabadell también figuró en terreno de pérdidas. Sus títulos se depreciaron un 1,91 por ciento después de que la entidad suiza rebajara el precio a 3 euros desde los 3,4 euros anteriores, con una recomendación de "vender".

Telefónica retrocedió un 1,51 por ciento.

Entre las compañías más afectadas se situaban las constructoras, expuestas a los recortes de las inversiones para infraestructuras en Europa. ACS, que participa con un 30 por ciento e la alemana Hochtief, cedió un 1,15 por ciento, y Acciona, un 0,9 por ciento.

Inditex, que anunciará sus resultados trimestrales este miércoles, cayó un 2,39 por ciento. Operadores valoraron negativamente las noticias sobre el comienzo de las rebajas por parte de algunos de sus rivales y la puesta en marcha de ventas en Internet por parte del Corte Inglés.

Acerinox, que dijo esta mañana que la fuerte volatilidad de los precios del níquel aconsejaban cierta prudencia en un año de recuperación de la demanda, bajó un 1,32 por ciento.

De los pocos valores que subieron del Ibex, destacó Grifols, fabricante de hemoderivados, que ayer anunció un acuerdo para adquirir la estadounidense Talecris por 2.800 millones de euros. Cerró con alza del 4,02 por ciento.

Al margen del Ibex-35, destacó el grupo de reservas de viaje Amadeus, con un alza del 0,63 por ciento después de que Goldman Sachs, Exane y Morgan Stanley iniciaran la cobertura de la compañía con recomendaciones favorables.

"No me siento a hablar con expertos porque este sea un seminario universitario. Hablamos con esta gente porque posiblemente tengan la mejor respuesta y así puedo saber a quién hay que patearle el trasero", dijo Obama en una entrevista que será emitida el martes por el programa "Today" de NBC News.

Estas son las palabras más enérgicas pronunciadas hasta ahora sobre la catástrofe por Obama, que ha sido criticado por su respuesta al peor derrame de petróleo en la historia de Estados Unidos. Obama reiteró que todos los afectados deberían ser compensados adecuadamente.

Sigue habiendo mucho en juego para todos los involucrados en el desastre, desde las comunidades de la costa del Golfo de México asoladas por la mancha de crudo, pasando por Obama y su posición, hasta BP y su pérdida de imagen entre público e inversores.

Un nuevo sondeo del Washington Post/ABC indica que el 69 por ciento de la población estadounidense cree que el Gobierno ha gestionado el problema "no muy bien" o "mal". Poco más de 1.000 personas fueron consultadas en la muestra, obtenida entre el 3 y el 6 de junio.

Las acciones de BP cerraron el lunes con leve baja en Londres. La compañía ha perdido cerca de un tercio de su valor de mercado desde que comenzó la crisis a finales de abril, y recibió otro golpe cuando Goldman Sachs redujo su recomendación desde "comprar" a "neutral".

Aunque no se prevé que se pueda detener totalmente el flujo de petróleo hasta agosto como mínimo, BP anunció un incremento en la cantidad de crudo recogida desde el pozo submarino dañado, en su último esfuerzo de contención.

El almirante Thad Allen de la Guardia Costera, que encabeza los esfuerzos del Gobierno frente al derrame, dijo que la compañía británica espera recoger 20.000 barriles de crudo al día con una cúpula que colocó la semana pasada sobre el pozo, situado a 1.600 metros de profundidad.

La firma dijo que en las primeras 12 horas del lunes logró capturar 7.541 barriles de crudo.

Si la tendencia se mantuvo durante la jornada podría haber recogido más de 15.000 barriles el lunes, cerca de un 35 por ciento más que la cantidad del domingo.

Ni Allen ni BP ofrecieron una estimación de cuánto petróleo sigue saliendo hacia las aguas del Golfo.

PRESION POLITICA

Lejos del Golfo, la presión política continúa siendo intensa en Washington, donde hay otra audiencia prevista en el Congreso para someter a BP y sus colegas a un nuevo escrutinio.

La comisión judicial del Senado llevará a cabo el martes una audiencia que lleva por nombre: "Los negocios arriesgados de las grandes petroleras: ¿Han alentado las recientes decisiones judiciales y límites de responsabilidad una conducta corporativa irresponsable?".

La audiencia del Senado se llevará a cabo tras la realizada en Chalmette (Luisiana), donde dos mujeres que perdieron a sus maridos en la explosión de la plataforma petrolífera del 20 de abril que desencadenó la crisis instaron a legisladores a responsabilizar a BP por el desastre.

"Les pido por favor que consideren castigos severos para las compañías que eligieron ignorar las normas de seguridad antes de que otras familias sean destruidas", dijo Courtney Kemp, cuyo marido, Wyatt, fue uno de los 11 trabajadores que fallecieron en la explosión.

El derrame ya ha afectado a 193 kilómetros de costas.

Después de contaminar los pantanos que sirven como refugio a la vida salvaje en Luisiana y las islas frente a las costas de Misisipi y Alabama, la marea negra se dirige a las blancas playas de Florida, donde la industria del turismo de 60.000 millones de dólares genera casi un millón de empleos.

Imágenes de aves manchadas con petróleo en las islas de Luisiana y aguas contaminadas con crudo bañando las marismas de frágiles ecosistemas han sumado presión sobre el Gobierno de Obama, que ya se enfrenta a crecientes críticas públicas sobre su gestión de la crisis.

Un tercio de las aguas federales del Golfo de México, unos 200.000 kilómetros cuadrados, permanecen cerrados a la pesca y está aumentando la cifra de aves y animales marinos muertos o heridos.

[FOTO1]O advogado Carlos Nicodemos afirmou que o Brasil encaminhou nesta segunda-feira (24/5) a autoridades norte-americanas um pedido de intervenção para que o pai de Sean Goldman, David Goldman, permita à família materna manter contato com o menino, que completa 10 anos nesta terça-feira (25/5).

"O pedido é baseado nos princípios da Convenção de Haia", explicou Nicodemos. O pai de Sean nega o direito de acesso ao menino para os avós maternos, o que, segundo o advogado, fere a Convenção. A resposta do governo dos EUA deve sair em 30 dias.

Na véspera do Natal de 2009, Goldman conseguiu embarcar com o filho para os EUA. Silvana Bianchi, avó do garoto, reclama que não consegue falar com Sean desde o início de março.

Também nesta segunda-feira, o Ministério Público denunciou por homicídio culposo os médicos Nadir Farah e Eduardo Pessoa Farah pela morte de Bruna Bianchi, mãe de Sean. Ela morreu em 2008, depois de dar à luz a filha de seu segundo casamento.

De acordo com a certidão de óbito, Bruna morreu em consequência de hemorragia pós-parto, atonia e rotura uterina.

A Southern California middle school is the target of an investigation after reports have surfaced that two students engaged in a sex act while their classmates filmed them and the teacher stood by doing nothin.

An eighth grade boy and a seventh grade girl are said to have engaged in an oral sex act at Haydock Intermediate School in Oxnard, a city about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Parents in the school claim to have seen the video tape of the sex act, and are calling for the teacher to be fired.

"A serious allegation has been made that there was a sexual encounter between two students," Oxnard Assistant Superintendent Sean Goldman said. He added that the district is investigating the situation, and expects to release their findings this week.

WATCH the KTLA report:

Clerk Jeff Feld signals near the S&P; 500 futures pit just before the market closed Thursday at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Local financial experts who thought they'd seen it all conceded that their hearts skipped a couple beats Thursday during the stock market's epic wild ride.

"You're always sitting here kind of watching the market out of the left corner of your eye, and then when it started to unravel, you wonder: What is happening here?" said Brian Peardon, wealth adviser with Harrison Financial Group in Citrus Heights. "Your heart does kind of jump. Anybody's would."

Shortly after 11:30 a.m., the Dow Jones industrials fell off the table, plunging more than 700 points in about 20 minutes. Then just as quickly, it rocketed up to erase most of those losses.

By the close of trading, the Dow was down 347.80 to finish the day at 10,520.32. All three major U.S. stock indexes lost more than 3 percent.

During that hour of what historians already are calling one of the most turbulent in market history, local financial advisers said they watched in awe but did not field scores of calls from panicked investors.

"No, that did not happen. We had one call earlier," Peardon said. "Really, it happened way too quick for that to happen."

Peardon said his advice to jittery investors is to re-evaluate their portfolios and reassess their tolerance for risk in these times of volatility in Europe and elevated debt in countries around the globe.

"I think it's important to not make a knee-jerk reaction and make sense out of what is happening," Peardon said. "… The advice I have is to sit down with (your financial adviser) and make an educated evaluation of your portfolio and foreign currency risk."

Sean McCabe, a financial adviser with DeBoer Financial Group in Roseville, agreed that a talk with a financial expert is the way to go.

"Diversification of investments is important, but I think you have to have a more tactical approach to investing today. You have to be more nimble," McCabe said.

Although some sources were blaming Thursday's market plunge on human error – a major trader reportedly entering "billion" instead of "million" in a trade order – McCabe wondered if computerized stop-loss programs also played a role.

Large financial institutions have computer programs that issue large-scale sell-offs if stock indexes or individual stocks fall to certain levels. Huge sell-offs can be stopped with a manual override.

Keith Springer, president of Capital Financial Advisory Services in Sacramento, called such institutional sell-offs as a plague on securities trading.

"It's high-frequency trading by large financial institutions," he said. "Those are the true robber barons, the Goldman Sachs types, doing what we cannot do because we would go to jail."

Springer believes the debt crisis in Greece – blamed for this week's gyrations in markets worldwide – eventually will be resolved. But he's worried that it's a symptom of a larger problem – enormous worldwide debt obligations, including in the United States.

"The problem is that the entire developed world is so overleveraged, and at some point you have to pay," he said. "You can't just keep paying on a credit card if you don't have any money coming in."

Clerk Jeff Feld signals near the S&P; 500 futures pit just before the market closed Thursday at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Local financial experts who thought they'd seen it all conceded that their hearts skipped a couple beats Thursday during the stock market's epic wild ride.

"You're always sitting here kind of watching the market out of the left corner of your eye, and then when it started to unravel, you wonder: What is happening here?" said Brian Peardon, wealth adviser with Harrison Financial Group in Citrus Heights. "Your heart does kind of jump. Anybody's would."

Shortly after 11:30 a.m., the Dow Jones industrials fell off the table, plunging more than 700 points in about 20 minutes. Then just as quickly, it rocketed up to erase most of those losses.

By the close of trading, the Dow was down 347.80 to finish the day at 10,520.32. All three major U.S. stock indexes lost more than 3 percent.

During that hour of what historians already are calling one of the most turbulent in market history, local financial advisers said they watched in awe but did not field scores of calls from panicked investors.

"No, that did not happen. We had one call earlier," Peardon said. "Really, it happened way too quick for that to happen."

Peardon said his advice to jittery investors is to re-evaluate their portfolios and reassess their tolerance for risk in these times of volatility in Europe and elevated debt in countries around the globe.

"I think it's important to not make a knee-jerk reaction and make sense out of what is happening," Peardon said. "… The advice I have is to sit down with (your financial adviser) and make an educated evaluation of your portfolio and foreign currency risk."

Sean McCabe, a financial adviser with DeBoer Financial Group in Roseville, agreed that a talk with a financial expert is the way to go.

"Diversification of investments is important, but I think you have to have a more tactical approach to investing today. You have to be more nimble," McCabe said.

Although some sources were blaming Thursday's market plunge on human error – a major trader reportedly entering "billion" instead of "million" in a trade order – McCabe wondered if computerized stop-loss programs also played a role.

Large financial institutions have computer programs that issue large-scale sell-offs if stock indexes or individual stocks fall to certain levels. Huge sell-offs can be stopped with a manual override.

Keith Springer, president of Capital Financial Advisory Services in Sacramento, called such institutional sell-offs as a plague on securities trading.

"It's high-frequency trading by large financial institutions," he said. "Those are the true robber barons, the Goldman Sachs types, doing what we cannot do because we would go to jail."

Springer believes the debt crisis in Greece – blamed for this week's gyrations in markets worldwide – eventually will be resolved. But he's worried that it's a symptom of a larger problem – enormous worldwide debt obligations, including in the United States.

"The problem is that the entire developed world is so overleveraged, and at some point you have to pay," he said. "You can't just keep paying on a credit card if you don't have any money coming in."