LIBOR

• Obama, Boehner hold "frank" meeting amid "fiscal cliff" frustration (Reuters)
• Rice Ends Bid Amid Criticism (WSJ)
• EU summit delays crucial decisions (FT)
• EU moves to cap bank bonuses at 2 times annual salary (CBC)
• Europe Wins a Battle, but Not Yet the War (WSJ)
• Banks Spurn Europe Bond Rush Amid Central Bank Loan Largesse (BBG)
• German-French Sparring Over Euro Caps 2012 Crisis Fight (BBG)
• Fed begins stress tests on bank liquidity (FT)
• Draghi’s rallying cry for new EU powers (FT)
• EU Seeks Plan to Handle Failing Banks Amid Cost Concerns (BBG)
• Berlusconi says Monti has strong EU backing (FT)
• Abe Set for Japan Victory Faces 7-Month Window to Keep Hold (BBG)
• Japan's Abe would try to keep China ties calm-lawmakers (Reuters)

Ever get the feeling that the entire global economy is one big experiment conducted by several former Keynesian economists from MIT with a bent for central planning, who sit down in conspiratorial dark rooms in tiny Swiss cities and bet it all on green until they double down so much nobody even pays attention to the game? No? You should. Jon Hilsenrath, of all people, explains why.

• Here come the low margin products: Apple Tests Designs for TV (WSJ)
• Obama and Republicans Trade Offers to Avert Fiscal Crisis (BBG)
• Carney broaches dumping inflation target (FT)
• Bernanke Critics Can’t Fight Bonds Showing No Inflation (BBG)
• Corporate Taxes on Table in Cliff Talks (WSJ)
• US business chiefs back tax rise (FT)
• Greece Confident Bond Buyback Needed for Aid Succeeded (BBG)
• New Faith in Europe's Banks (WSJ)
• European Bank Sees Little Room for Rate Cuts (WSJ)
• North Korea Claims Success in Rocket Launch (WSJ)

• Fed Seen Pumping Up Assets to $4 Trillion in New Buying (BBG)
• China New Loans Trail Forecasts in Sign of Slower Growth (BBG)
• U.S. "fiscal cliff" talks picking up pace (Reuters)
• Insider-Trading Probe Widens (WSJ)
• U.K.'s Top Banker Sees Currency Risk (Hilsenrath)
• Three Arrested in Libor Probe (WSJ)
• Nine hurt as gunmen fire at Cairo protesters (Reuters)
• Egyptian President Gives Army Police Powers Ahead of Vote (BBG)
• Pax Americana ‘winding down’, says US report (FT)
• Japan Polls Show LDP, Ally Set for Big Majority (DJ)
• HSBC to pay record $1.9 billion U.S. fine in money laundering case (Reuters)

Bankers have engaged in a huge misinformation campaign against gold and silver to deliberately keep people out of buying gold and silver. If you’re a newbie thinking about buying gold and silver assets for the first time ever, here’s what you need to know.

• Two weeks ago here: The Latest Greek "Bailout" In A Nutshell: AAA-Rated Euro Countries To Fund Massive Hedge Fund Profits... and now on Bloomberg: "Hedge Funds Win as Europe Will Pay More for Greek Bonds" (BBG)
• Oracle sends shareholders cash as tax uncertainty looms (Reuters)
• GOP Makes Counteroffer In Cliff Talks (WSJ)
• Iran says captures U.S. drone in its airspace (Reuters)
• IMF drops opposition to capital controls (FT)
• Vogue Editor Wintour Said to Be Possible Appointee as U.K. Envoy (BBG)
• Juncker Stepping Down French Finance Minister to Head Euro Group? (Spiegel)
• Australia cuts rates to three-year low (FT)
• Europe’s banking union ambitions under strain (Reuters)
• EU Nations Eye New ECB Bank Supervisor Amid German Doubts (BBG)
• Frankfurt's Ambitions Get Cut Back (WSJ)
• House Republicans Propose $2.2 Trillion Fiscal-Cliff Plan (BBG)

• As this has been priced in since September 13, it should come as no surprise to anyone: Fed Stimulus Likely in 2013 (Hilsenrath)
• Bowles Says Fiscal Cliff Deal Unlikely by End of Year (Bloomberg)
• Argentina debt repayment order frozen (FT)
• Obama Is Flexible on Highest Tax Rates (WSJ)... not really
• Geithner deployed for fiscal cliff talks (FT)
• Audit firms Deloitte and KPMG sued in HP's Autonomy acquisition (Reuters)
• Euro-Zone Budget Proposal Is Unveiled (WSJ)
• EU Nations Clash on Thresholds for Direct ECB Oversight (Bloomberg)
• LDP leader Abe: BOJ must ease until inflation hits 3 percent (Reuters)
• SNB’s Jordan Says High Swiss Franc Burdens Many Companies (Bloomberg)
• EU to launch free trade negotiations with Japan: EU officials (Reuters)

When it comes to government bailout case studies, the past four years have plenty. One among them is the financial company jovially called Ally - a name which well-paid nomenclature consultants were convinced would inspire confidence and trust. And to an extent they were right - after all we are talking about a firm which several years ago had a far more unpleasant name: GMAC, short for General Motors Acceptance Corporation. It was GMAC which, as one of the various entities on the receiving end of involuntary taxpayer generosity in 2008/2009, received a $17.2 billion bailout. The reason for GMAC's Ally's collapse is that the firm was loaded up to the gills on various subprime and other NINJA auto-financing loans used to purchase cars made by that other spectacular collapse: General Motors, maker of such external combustion vehicles as the Chevy Volt. Over the past several months the Ally CEO, Michael Carpenter, decided to little by little start paying taxpayers back, having sold a Canadian unit to RBC in October for $4.1 billion, and its Mexican Insurance business to Ace Ltd for $865 million. Moments ago the firm just announced it would be selling its international auto-finance businesses, including its operations in Europe, LatAm and a 40% stake in its Chinese JV (a business it previously said it would not seek to divest), for a total of $4.2 billion. The buyer? Another previously bailed out company, and one which still counts the government as its biggest shareholder: General Motors. And so the vendor financing circle is now complete, with GM finally reuniting with its old captive finance units, or at least the international part of them, which were fully owned until GM sold 51% of it to Cerberus in 2006, after which everything went to hell.

• Rough start for fiscal cliff talks (Politico)
• Europe Fails to Seal Greek Debt-Cut Deal in IMF Clash (Bloomberg)
• Japan’s Exports Reach Three-Year Low as Recession Looms (BBG)
• Beggars can be angry: Greek leaders round on aid delay (FT)
• More financial blogs launching soon: Financial Times Deutschland closing (Spiegel)
• China's backroom powerbrokers block reform candidates (Reuters)
• BOE Voted 8-1 to Halt Bond Purchases as QE Impact Questioned (Bloomberg). In the US the vote is 1-11
• UK heads for EU budget showdown (FT)
• Eurodollars - another epic scam: How gaming Libor became business as usual (Reuters)
• Clinton Shuttles in Mideast in Bid for Gaza Cease-Fire (Bloomberg)
• Fed Still Trying to Push Down Rates (Hilsenrath)

• Israel Mobilizes Troops as Hostilities Escalate (WSJ)
• FHA Sets Stage for Taxpayer Subsidy With 2012 Deficit (Bloomberg)
• On eve of fiscal cliff talks, positions harden (Reuters)
• Japan PM Noda contradicts challenger Abe on BOJ (Reuters)
• Regulators cut JPMorgan's ability to trade power (Reuters)
• EU Should Reach Agreement on Greek Aid Next Week, Grilli Says (BBG)
• Moscovici rejects talk of French crisis (FT)
• Egypt Urges Push for Gaza Peace as Rockets Hit Israel (BBG)
• Leading Japan politicians draw election battle lines (Reuters)
• Fed Push to Tie Zero-Rate to Economic Goals Faces Doubts (BBG)
• China’s commerce minister voted out in rare congress snub (Reuters)
• China’s new leaders could have reform thrust upon them (Reuters)
• Both Sides of Gaza Border Brace for Further Conflict (WSJ)
• Fed Sees Hurdles in Housing Rebound (Hilsenrath)
• The Complete 2012 Business Schools Ranking (Bloomberg)

• Wal-Mart misses topline expectations: Revenue $113.93bn, Exp $114.89bn, Sees full year EPS $4.88-$4.93, Exp. $4.94, Unveils new FCPA allegations; Stock down nearly 4%
• China chooses conservative new leaders (FT)
• Eurozone falls back into recession (FT)
• Moody’s to Assess U.K.’s Aaa Rating in 2013 Amid Slowing Economy (Bloomberg)
• Another bailout is imminent: FHA Nears Need for Taxpayer Funds (WSJ)
• Hamas chief vows to keep up "resistance" after Jaabari killed (Reuters)
• Obama calls for rich to pay more, keep middle-class cuts (Reuters)
• Obama Undecided on FBI's Petraeus Probe (WSJ)
• Battle lines drawn over “growth revenue” in fiscal cliff talks (Reuters)
• Rajoy’s Path to Bailout Clears as EU Endorses Austerity (Bloomberg)
• Zhou Seen Leaving PBOC as China Picks New Economic Chiefs (Bloomberg)
• Russia warns of tough response to U.S. human rights bill (Reuters)
• Japan Opposition Leader Ups Pressure on Central Bank (WSJ)
• Zhou Seen Leaving PBOC as China Picks New Economic Chiefs (Bloomberg)

Just out from Bloomberg:

• RBS, UBS TRADERS SAID TO FACE ARREST WITHIN MONTH IN LIBOR CASE

Note the word "traders" - not CEOs, not COOs, not General Counsels, not Managers, not Supervisors... Traders. Because remember: it was a scheming 28-year old Frenchman that was the mastermind behind Goldman's CDO fraud for years. Nobody else. Just him. That said, we are looking forward to the latest minimum prison reality TV show: "How Many Cigarettes* For A Bollinger?"

It just is not Barclays' year. After being exposed (so far the only one) as a ringleader in a massive LIBOR-rigging scandal which cost Bob Diamond his job, yesterday the British bank added insult to injury, after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) fined it $470 million - the largest penalty ever levied by the energy regulator, and even larger than the bank's LIBOR fine - for getting caught doing what Enron got caught doing about a decade ago: manipulating California's electricity markets. Although while the former ended up being the biggest corporate bankruptcy at the time, led to the end of one of the nation's largest auditors and sparked a scandal so great it was all corporate America spoke for about for the next year, this time the news has come and gone, and nobody cares. Perhaps this is to be expected: in a time when none other than the central bank intervenes each and every day in every single market to preserve the "wealth effect", habituation to epic corporate manipulation of every imaginable kind is perfectly normal.

Defending the indefensible? In the past weeks, there has been a 'revival' of news related to high-profile inside trading cases. Insider trading is accurately pictured in that great movie called "Wall Street", by a famous line of Gordon Gekko to Bud Fox. Gordon said: "If you’re not inside, you are outside". Gordon was right. If only people understood that this is just a natural thing... It has nothing to do with ethics. Yes, we know that there is something in our argument that may not make sense to you... and we dare to guess that it is because you expect fairness when you invest your savings in a public security (i.e. a stock or a bond). But in all honesty…have you ever asked yourself why you expect fairness? We are not implying people should not trust those who issue or market these securities. But if they do, they should recognize that there is the risk that they may suffer a loss due to insider trading. Public securities, ceteris paribus, should trade at a discount to private securities, to compensate for the risk of lack of control and transparency. Yet, today, the opposite applies.