Eideard

The SETI Institute’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence is back on track, thanks to more than $200,000 in donations from thousands of fans. “We’re not completely out of the woods yet, but everybody’s smiling here,” the institute’s chief executive officer, Tom Pierson, told me today.

In April, the institute had to put its big ear for hearing E.T.’s radio call, the 42-antenna Allen Telescope Array in Northern California, into “hibernation” due to budget woes. The biggest hit was the loss of funding by the University of California at Berkeley, the institute’s partner for operating the antenna array.

The SETI Institute has been around for decades: It stepped in to help keep the search for alien radio signals active after NASA cut off funding for the quest in 1993. It’s not the only organization doing SETI, but it’s the leader in the field. The Allen Telescope Array, or ATA, was launched with $50 million in contributions from software billionaire Paul Allen and others — and if the array ever takes in 350 linked antennas, as it’s designed to do, it would rank among the world’s premier radio-telescope facilities.

But in light of the financial challenges, that’s a huge “if” right now. In fact, until last week it wasn’t certain if or when the ATA would come back online…

Pierson said the institute’s managers and scientists were drawing up a plan that would restart science operations in September…

Eventually, astronomers at the SETI Institute hope to use the ATA to listen for signals from the most promising planetary systems identified by NASA’s Kepler planet-hunting mission. Jill Tarter, the institute’s director of SETI research, said in April that the fund-raising target for the Kepler follow-up project would be $5 million.

Two websites you need to know about, to consider aiding and participating: setiQuest is a locus for data sifting – SETIstars remains to receive donations.

Thanks, Ursarodinia

Veteran journalist Mark Haines, a fixture on CNBC for 22 years, died unexpectedly Tuesday evening. He was 65 years old.

Haines, founding anchor of CNBC’s morning show “Squawk Box,” was co-anchor of the network’s “Squawk on the Street” program, providing insight and commentary sometimes humorous and occasionally acerbic.

CNBC President Mark Hoffman called Haines a “building block” of the financial network’s programming. Hoffman said Haines died at his home. “With his searing wit, profound insight and piercing interview style, he was a constant and trusted presence in business news for more than 20 years,” Hoffman said in a statement to CNBC employees. “From the dotcom bubble to the tragic events of 9/11 to the depths of the financial crisis, Mark was always the unflappable pro.

“Mark loved CNBC and we loved him back. He will be deeply missed.”

Haines may be best remembered for his calming and commanding presence during the 9/11 tragedy when he reacted unflappably to the furious stream of incoming rumor and even more astonishing truth with a professionalism that rivaled any television anchor, said CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Liesman…

Haines served as a news anchor for KYW-TV in Philadelphia, WABC-TV in New York, and WPRI-TV in Providence, before joining CNBC.

Haines held a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and was a member of the New Jersey State Bar. In 2000, he was named to Brill’s Content’s “Influence List.”

His death quickly reverberated through the financial community…

Traders at the normally bustling New York Stock Exchange paused for a moment of silence…

Haines was known for a lawyer-like determination to get at the truth, pressing guests for answers if they tried to avoid his pointed questions. CNBC reporters and anchors remembered Haines holding them up to the same standard…

I’m an old fart who didn’t get serious about investing till this last Great Recession pissed me off. Between incompetent mutual fund managers and the ever-increasing blather of “news” channels – I found myself watching the two professional financial channels to see what was going on in the real world.

Tears fill our eyes, sadness our hearts. He will be missed.

1965

Lee Kuan Yew, the architect of modern Singapore, said on Saturday he was leaving the cabinet, the first time he will not be part of the government of the wealthy city state since independence in 1965.

Lee and Goh Chok Tong, who succeeded him as prime minister in 1990, announced in a joint statement that they were opting out of government since last week’s general election signaled the emergence of a new generation. Both men were returned to parliament in the poll.

“We have made our contributions to the development of Singapore,” the two said. “The time has come for a younger generation to carry Singapore forward in a more difficult and complex situation.

“After a watershed general election, we have decided to leave the cabinet and have a completely younger team of ministers to connect to and engage with this young generation in shaping the future of our Singapore…”

The long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), co-founded by Lee Kuan Yew, won the May 7 election with 81 of 87 seats, but took only about 60 percent of the popular vote, its lowest ever since independence.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Kuan Yew’s son, said after the election there had been a distinct shift in the political landscape.

“Many (Singaporeans) wish for the government to adopt a different style and approach,” he said at a news conference last week. “Many desire to see more opposition voices in parliament to check the PAP government.”

This election was remarkable for the stridency of anti-government rhetoric both at opposition rallies and on the Internet.

The PAP-led government has transformed Singapore from a third world backwater to a first world financial center, but critics say decisions are not taken in an inclusive manner, and dissent is muzzled.

That’s putting it gently.

It appears that the shifting dialectic of democracy is on the upsurge, once again, and taking a leading role in the future of Singapore. Welcomed, of course, by those who fought at all levels – and there were many – to get to this day without destroying the dynamic growth of the city-state’s economy and standard of living.

Istanbul is renown as the place where east meets west, the only city in the world to straddle Europe and Asia. But it may soon lose this unique status if the Turkish government goes ahead with a plan to divide it in two.

The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former Istanbul mayor, has announced what he described as a “wild project” to split the city into European and Asian sides to make it easier to govern. “We will build two new cities in Istanbul due to high population,” Erdogan said, announcing his party’s manifesto for June elections.. “One on the European side and one on the Anatolian side.”

Istanbul’s official population is soon expected to reach 17 million, with thousands more unregistered people living in the city.

Tahire Erman, an urban planning expert at Ankara’s Bilkent University, said this caused significant problems for authorities: “[Istanbul] is already overgrown, and there are already many problems in the provision of infrastructure and municipal services to the city.”

Should the plan go ahead, the two cities would be well connected by transport links promised by the ruling party, including a third bridge over the Bosphorus, the strait that divides the European and Anatolian sides of the city, and two tube tunnels for cars and rail transport under the water. Two bridges and frequent ferries already connect the two sides of the city…

Plans have been announced to build a new financial district in Atasehir, a booming district on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, as part of a government pledge to increase Turkey’s global stature by 2023, the centennial anniversary of the Turkish republic.

The politicians in power think it’s a wonderful idea. The politicians out of power think it’s a silly idea. The concept does make sense. If anyone had their brains switched on after World War Two, the same might have been done with London, Tokyo or Los Angeles.

Tim Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

It isn’t often that the government launches a major program that achieves its main goals at a tiny fraction of its estimated costs. That’s the story of TARP — the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Created in October 2008 at the height of the financial crisis, it helped stabilize the economy, using only $410 billion of its authorized $700 billion. And most of that will be repaid. The Congressional Budget Office, which once projected TARP’s ultimate cost at $356 billion, now says $19 billion. This could go lower…

One lesson of the financial crisis is this: When the entire financial system succumbs to panic, only the government is powerful enough to prevent a complete collapse. Panics signify the triumph of fear. TARP was part of the process by which fear was overcome. It wasn’t the only part, but it was an essential part. Without TARP, we’d be worse off today. No one can say whether unemployment would be 11 percent or 14 percent; it certainly wouldn’t be 8.9 percent.

That benefited all Americans. TARP, says Douglas Elliott of the Brookings Institution, “is the best large federal program to be despised by the public.”

The source of outrage is no secret. Bankers are blamed for the crisis and reviled. The bank bailout — TARP’s first and most important purpose — was instantly unpopular. Most Americans, says Elliott, “believe that taxpayers spent $700 billion and got nothing in return…”

… As it was, TARP invested $245 billion in banks (and about $165 billion into the other programs). The extra capital helped restore trust. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve increased its lending; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guaranteed $350 billion of bank borrowings. Banks resumed dealing with each other because they regained confidence that commitments would be honored.

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The Vatican will announce new rules to combat financial crime on Thursday as it continues to deal with a money-laundering probe that has seen 23 million euros frozen from its banking institution.

The Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday that Pope Benedict would issue a so-called apostolic letter on combating financial crime, money laundering and the funding of terrorism. The Holy See would create a financial information authority.

The Vatican bank, formally known as the Institution for Religious Works (IOR), has been under investigation for suspected violations of European Union money laundering rules since September. It denies any wrongdoing…

Finance police have frozen 23 million euros of the IOR’s funds held in an account in an Italian bank in Rome after authorities deemed that two transactions were suspicious.

Oh – the rule?

Thou shalt not hire crooks to run the bank!

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission
You get to know “this much”

Tony Blair made made a profit of at least £710,000 last year from a mysterious web of companies set up to further his business interests, it can be revealed.

The former prime minister’s companies also declared net assets of £2.2 million – four times what they were worth last year – suggesting Mr Blair’s “pulling power” is as strong as ever.

The profits, funnelled through an “opaque” and highly complex web of financial structures, was declared to Companies House as it closed for business for Christmas last week.

The money is believed to have come from his often controversial private work, including his six-figure speaking fees, his banking and insurance consultancies, including work for JP Morgan, and his pay from advising Middle Eastern and African regimes.

Mr Blair – who has made at least £20million since leaving Downing Street – has a commercial consultancy, called Tony Blair Associates, plus paid jobs advising a US bank and a Swiss insurer.

In addition, millions of pounds have passed through two parallel company structures, called Windrush Ventures and Firerush Ventures, in the last three years.

Mr Blair has so far refused to discuss what these financial structiures, centered on a pair of mysterious limited partnerships, are for…

The public declarations come in the wake of claims that Mr Blair is earning up to £100,000 for making guest appearance and was paid a reported £600,000 signing on fee by the prestigious Washington Speakers Bureau…

He is also said to have earned around £6 million in consultancy fees, including £500,000 a year from Zurich Financial Services, £2 million from JP Morgan, the investment bank, and another £1 million from the Kuwaiti Royal Family…

The accounts give no indication of how much Mr Blair pays himself from the fees and other money channelled through his companies.

The profitable sleaze that follows upon time in office is no surprise. No doubt, some of this may be legitimate charity, legitimate enterprise. I wonder, though, how much is payment for services rendered while in office?

TARP repaid with interest – $20 billion spare for bonuses
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Goldman Sachs Group Inc has quietly reached an agreement to end a legal dispute with a blogger who will be allowed to keep running a website critical of the investment bank.

The agreement required blogger Michael Morgan to post a disclaimer on his goldmansachs666.com website, saying it has no affiliation with the financial firm.

Morgan, a Florida investment adviser, uses his blog — whose name combines Goldman’s name with numbers used to evoke connotations with the devil — to criticize the bank and its large profits.

The bank this week posted a 33 percent increase in quarterly earnings on blowout trading results, putting its employees on pace for big bonuses at a time when many Americans are struggling…

Goldman spokeswoman Gia Moron said on Friday that “our concern about this site ceased when Mr. Morgan posted a prominent disclaimer making it clear that his site was not associated with Goldman Sachs.”

If the little financial smurf had posted a disclaimer from the beginning, he never would have been bothered by Goldman-Sachs’ legal beagles.

Yes, all the lawsuits sound silly and petty. What you don’t realize is that they are required to protect rights to a brand name. The classic defense goes back around a century with Bayer filing to defend its rights to a product they called “aspirin”. They were too late and the word went into the public domain.

Another Saudi who likes to hang out in Yemen

Al Qaeda’s top financier for Yemen and Saudi Arabia has been taken into custody, the Yemeni government has announced.

“He is expected to be an intelligence mine for information which will hopefully result in the capture or killing of al Qaeda militants,” the government said in a news release.

Hassan Hussein Bin Alwan was arrested in the eastern province of Marib.

The news release included a quote from an anonymous security official saying the government had been tracking Bin Alwan, and calling the arrest “a major coup in the war on al Qaeda.”

“Bin Alwan’s arrest will be instrumental in understanding the system of global terrorism financing.”

How much of this follows on from Richard Holbrooke’s speech in Pakistan where he pointed a finger towards Saudi Arabia and the UAE – as the source of financing for the Taliban?

How much of this results from the Obama administration unravelling the tightly knit alliance between Gulf oil sheikhs and the Oil Patch Boys in Texas?

Last month Frank Koppe gathered together all 50 of his employees at Koppe-Apparatebau for coffee, cake and the kind of bad news that has lately become all too familiar. He told them the small company’s business, designing and manufacturing custom equipment for industrial plants, had been sliced nearly in half.

But rather than resorting to layoffs, Mr. Koppe asked half his employees to come in every other week. The government would make up roughly two-thirds of their lost wages out of a fund filled in good times through payroll deductions and company contributions.

The program — known as “Kurzarbeit,” which translates as “short work” — and others like it lie at the heart of a heated debate that has erupted on the eve of next week’s Group of 20 meeting of industrialized and developing nations and the European Union, creating a rift between the Obama administration and European governments. The United States is pressing for a coordinated package of stimulus plans by member countries to encourage economic growth…

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