-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Currency Markets Yen Soars Hint to Bank of Japan: Just debase the currency. Financial markets were braced for further intervention by the Japanese authorities on Friday after the yen made its largest one-day gain so far this year. The yen's rise, from about Y106 against the dollar to Y102.2, took the currency well above levels at which the Bank of Japan has recently sold yen for dollars in the market to prevent further appreciation. Economists said the rise was fuelled by growing optimism over the state of the Japanese economy before the Bank of Japan's quarterly survey, out on Monday. Markets also put a rosy interpretation on a slew of economic figures released on Friday which showed a rise in unemployment but also increased consumer spending, housing starts and construction orders. "The yen's rise is a leap of faith by the market that Japan's economy is now on the recovery path and can continue to grow without the need for fiscal support from the government," said Paul Chertkow, of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in London. But he added that the appreciation might be premature, impairing the competitiveness of Japanese companies in export markets and jeopardising the recovery. "An aggressive bout of intervention to stem the rise is all but inevitable," said Mr Chertkow. Recent estimates suggest that the Bank of Japan may have purchased about $10bn (�6.3bn) in March as part of its long-running campaign to curb yen strength. Friday's economic data painted a mixed picture of Japan's recovery. The unemployment rate rose to 4.9 per cent in February, from 4.7 per cent a month earlier, amid restructuring and company bankruptcies after the economy weakened in the second half of last year, said the Management and Co-ordination Agency. The agency warned that the jobless rate could hit 5 per cent in March and April as new graduates flooded the labour market. But in spite of the record levels of unemployment, spending by salaried households rose 3.8 per cent month on month, the highest level in almost three years, the agency said. Housing starts rose 2.4 per cent in February year on year and construction orders at Japan's 50 largest contractors increased 3.2 per cent year on year, the Construction Ministry said. Economists sounded a note of warning about the consumer spending data, and warned that the increases were skewed by an extra day in February because of the leap year. The 3.8 per cent monthly jump in February's spending would have shown a slight decline if the leap year effect had been taken into account, they said. The number of people employed fell 0.4 per cent to 63.1m and the number of people forced to leave their jobs through restructuring or bankruptcies surged 20 per cent in February from a year earlier. The jobs-to-applicants ratio was unchanged at 0.52, meaning there were 52 jobs for every 100 applicants in February, the same rate as January's 19-month high. But there was a shortage of skilled people to fill the jobs being created. The rise in construction orders was largely due the government's Y18,000bn (�1 07bn) November stimulus package, which focused on public works, economists said. The Financial Times, April 1, 2000 More Financial Big Brother Time to Pull the Plug on SEC's Net Snooping WASHINGTON, DC -- A plan by the Securities and Exchange Commission to scan the Internet for "suspicious" words and phrases -- and maintain a secret database of the results -- is an electronic "stop-and-frisk" that will treat innocent Americans like financial felons, the Libertarian Party warned today. "Under this plan, anything you say electronically can and will be used against you in a government database," said Steve Dasbach, the party's national director. "The SEC says it has 'zero tolerance' for financial fraud, but this proposal proves that the commission has zero tolerance for privacy, Constitutional protections, and the concept of being innocent until proven guilty." This week, the SEC admitted that it was in the process of creating a multi-million-dollar surveillance system that will automatically scan websites, Internet message boards, and online forums for language that could indicate financial or stock fraud. The SEC's automated web "crawler" would search for up to 40 words or phrases like "get rich quick" or "make money now," collect the e-mail addresses and names of people posting such messages, and then store that information in a database for possible investigation and civil action. Such a surveillance scheme is allowable, argued SEC assistant general counsel George C. Browne, because "the Constitution doesn't give people the right to use the Internet to commit fraud." But, countered Dasbach, "The Constitution doesn't give the federal government the right to scoop up information about individuals without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, and dump that information in a secret database without their knowledge or consent." Libertarians oppose the SEC scheme for several reasons, he said: * It secretly monitors the lawful actions of millions of innocent Americans in an effort to catch a few crooks. "A basic premise of American law is that you are innocent until proven guilty," said Dasbach. "Under this SEC plan, you could be monitored and investigated without any search warrant, suspicion of wrongdoing, or criminal charges. For example, if you mention on an Internet forum that you bought a government lottery ticket in an effort to 'get rich quick,' you could be tagged by the SEC as a potential swindler." * It may constitute an unconstitutional "search." "The law is murky on this topic, because the courts have not decided exactly what the Internet is, or what constitutes a digital search," admitted Dasbach. "Is it like a telephone, in which case the SEC would need a warrant to spy on you? Or is it like a discussion in a public square, in which case the SEC can eavesdrop at will? But given the government's long history of violating civil rights and privacy, Libertarians would argue that the Internet deserves the most robust Fourth Amendment protection possible -- and the SEC's plan deserves zero tolerance from the courts." * It may violate the federal government's own Privacy Act. "Under the Privacy Act, Americans have the legal right to correct false information about themselves in a government database," noted Dasbach. "But under this SEC plan, you won't be informed that information has been collected about you and put into the SEC's investigative database. You could be in their files as a potential financial felon -- and not even know it." For all these reasons, the SEC should scrap its automated snooping scheme, said Dasbach. "SEC bureaucrats should pull the plug on this automated webcrawler, and let it crawl off and die," he said. "Instead of spying on innocent Americans who want to get rich quick, this high-tech surveillance scheme should get canceled quick." Libertarian Party News Release ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SEC CHARGES INTERNET MESSAGE BOARD POSTER WITH SECURITIES FRAUD The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed a complaint charging Fred Moldofsky, a self-described day trader residing in Houston, Texas, with securities fraud for posting a fake press release related to Lucent Technologies, Inc. ("Lucent") on a Yahoo! Finance message board. The complaint alleges that Moldofski posted the fake release, which purported to announce a quarterly earnings shortfall, more than 20 times on March 22 and March 23, 2000. The complaint alleges that Moldofsky violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. In a related action, Moldofsky was arrested on charges of securities fraud contained in a criminal complaint filed by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the United States Postal Inspection Service. United States v. Moldofsky, 00 MAG 0622. That complaint is based on the same conduct. The Commission's complaint alleges the following: * During the afternoon of March 22, Moldofsky posted several messages using the alias "kahuna_and_the_brain" reporting rumors that Lucent would not meet quarterly earnings projections. * In the evening of March 22, Moldofsky posted a message using the alias "hot_1ike_wasabe" with the headline "LUCENT RELEASES EARNINGS WARNING!DAMN!" The text of that message purported to be a copy of a Lucent press release announcing that it would not meet analysts' earnings estimates for the quarter ending March 31, 2000. In fact, Lucent had issued no such release. * Beginning at 7:56 that evening and continuing through the end of the morning on March 23, Moldofsky reposted that press release 20 times using the alias "F1oydian_us." Moldofsky had created that alias that day. It was designed to resemble a screen name used by a frequent commentator on the Lucent message board, who historically had expressed a positive view of Lucent stock. The reposted messages bore a variety of lurid headlines emphasizing the disastrousness of the news and/or the genuineness of the release. * While he was posting and reposting the fraudulent press release, Moldofsky posted additional messages using other screen names that commented on the release or on the poster's conduct. * Lucent stock closed on March 22 at $62.625, down $2.625 from the opening price that day. On March 23, Lucent opened at $62.125 and traded as low a $60.375 before the fraudulent press release was disavowed. The complaint alleges that Moldofsky violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. It seeks an order permanently restraining and enjoining him from future violations of those provisions, as well as civil penalties. SEC Press Release ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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