THE Vice-president Of The European Commission Says Taxpayer-funded Bank Bailouts Remain A Possibility

It’s official: Obama nominates Janet Yellen as first woman to lead Federal Reserve

(Photo: Eugene Hoshiko / AP file)

President Barack Obama nominated Janet Yellen on Wednesday as the next head of the Federal Reserve, positioning her to become the first woman to head the central bank in its 100-year history.

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Petraeus Op-ed on Iraq is the latest in his elaborate comeback

By Brian Jones, October 30th from Business Insider

America loves a comeback kid, and Former CIA Director and retired Army Gen. David Petraeus is on a comeback tour. 

After resigning in disgrace as Director of the CIA last year because of an extra-martial affair, Petraeus has worked hard at getting back to a good place in the eyes of the American people.  

The first step was a philanthropic tour as a professor at New York City's public university, for which he was paid just $1. 

It didn't go as well as planned, as students affiliated virulently protested his presence there. Six were eventually arrested. 

But why is Petraeus so invested in rehabilitating his image? Perhaps he is mulling a run for political office. Maybe he is just trying to protect a once virtually spotless legacy.

The keystone of that legacy is the belief that Petraeus won the war in Iraq. He commanded the war during President George W. Bush's "surge" and is widely heralded as the architect of the Counterinsurgency strategy that surge forces worked to implement. 

Yesterday, Petraeus took the next step toward that end with an exhaustive, nearly 8,000 word op-ed in Foreign Policy called "How We Won In Iraq."

The timing is odd. Right now, Iraq is on fire. More than 7,000 civilians have been killed this year, a pretty clear indication that whatever perceived security gains were made prior to the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. combat forces were not sustainable. And so it's strange for Petraeus to take this moment to remind everyone about his greatest "success" in Iraq.

And yet he does, in dense fashion. Using the word "surge" 74 times. 

"I recognized early on that I had become the face of the surge," he writes. "I had not asked for this role, but whether I liked it or not, I had to fill it."

He breaks his editorial down into sections:

The Surge of Forces and the Surge of Ideas

The Sunni Awakening and Reconciliation

Targeted Special Operations

The Development of Iraqi Security Forces

The Civilian Components

Detainee Operations and Rule-of-Law Initiatives

The Iraqi Political Component and Strategic Communications

The Magnitude of the Difficulty

Commanding MNF-I

The Road Ahead

Petraeus shows off his Ivy League doctorate in political science and years of first-hand experience in the region. And regardless of the motives, it's a remarkable account  from the perspective of the general who ran the war — a rare historical insight.

He also addresses some of the more questionable and ambiguous history of U.S. operations in Iraq, including whether the surge precipitated the Anbar Awakening.

He concedes that the Anbar Awakening started before the surge, and before he arrived in the region, but he claims his strategies made it spread throughout Iraq.

"The spread of the Awakening was not serendipity; it was the result of a deliberate decision I took soon after taking command," he says. 

But embracing the Awakening often meant forming alliances with the same people who had previously been fighting American forces for years. Petraeus acknowledged it was a tough sell to other military leaders.

"Many correctly pointed out that the leaders and members of the groups that wanted to reconcile with us groups that might be willing to embrace the Awakening ... had American blood on their hands." 

Simultaneous to the surge, Petraeus, working with the then commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, a lieutenant general named Stanley McChrystal, expanded a program to capture or kill high-level operatives. 

"Although I publicly acknowledged from the outset that we would not be able to kill or capture our way to victory (hence the need to support the Awakening)," Petraeus writes, "killing or capturing the most important of the 'irreconcilables' was an inescapable and hugely important element of our strategy."

He concluded by saying that Iraq has slipped back into chaos because the surge tactics stopped:

What mattered most was the surge of ideas -- concepts that embraced security of the people by "living with them," initiatives to promote reconciliation with elements of the population that felt they had no incentive to support the new Iraq, ramping up of precise operations that targeted the key "irreconcilables," the embrace of an enhanced comprehensive civil-military approach, increased attention to various aspects of the rule of law, improvements to infrastructure and basic services, and support for various political actions that helped bridge ethno-sectarian divides.

But Petraeus' account of the history of the war was immediately met with some criticism:

Chase Winter, an international development officer at the American University of Iraq, tweeted that Petraeus outlined "what we did to win, [without] defining winning."

"For Petraeus to write this while Iraq burns takes enormous balls," tweeted Joshua Foust, a former intelligence analyst and freelance journalist.

The claim that the surge worked in Iraq is a bit of a point of contention. An Army lieutenant colonel named Daniel Davis gained notoriety last year by publishing a blistering account of the war and said that any gains made were pure luck. Davis was deployed to Iraq from 2008-2009. 

Now that the long overdue (and predicted) contagion from the cash market has hit repo, things are going from bad to horrifying. Following overnight news that HK is hiking haircuts on Bill collateral, and with increasingly more counterparties now segregating what collateral is eligible, if not shutting down the bill market outright, suddenly the universe of eligible repo market securities has imploded. It also means the overnight repo rate, as we said on Monday would happen, is exploding. Moments ago ICAP reported, via SMRA, that the general collateral overnight rate has nearly doubled from 0.15% to 0.27% and rising.

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KKR's continued asian adventure, this time India.

We have been following KKR's on going investment crusade in Asia. As part of their $6 billion dollar asian fund, the New York based firm has been investing all over the region. There is speculation that much of KKR's foreign investments are guided by its Global Institute. 

Some of the countries they have so far invested in this year include Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, China and Japan. 

Now the firm is likely to announce in the coming weeks a major investment into India's Gland Pharmaceuticals. This deal would be worth around $150 million and would be the second sizable India investment in six months. In April KKR bought a controlling stake in India's Alliance Tire Group from Warburg Pincus LLC for what sources estimate to be around $500 million. 

Gland Pharma was started in 1978 and makes active pharmaceutical ingredients and formulations for a number of different injections. 

Investments have been falling in India. Compared to this time last year the amount of private equity investments has dropped 67%. 

Shutdown summit: Obama invites top Hill leaders to White House

(Photo: Larry Downing / Reuters)

House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, set for meeting at 5:30 p.m. ET.

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KKR and Panasonic Agree on a Price

Earlier in the month we wrote about the announcement of the Panasonic health sale to private equity firm KKR. The sale has now been finalized, KKR will own 80% of the Panasonic healthcare unit for a price of $1.67 billion an Panasonic will hold the remaining 20%. Panasonic has lost more than $7 billion a year for the last two years on their healthcare unit. The chief executive of Panasonic when asked about his thoughts on KKR said, "We believe that partnering with K.K.R will also allow us to learn from K.K.R.'s global operational and business management expertise as we pursue the next stage of growth for Panasonic." KKR's founder Henry Kravis said in a statement that Japan was, "a very important and attractive market for K.K.R., and our experienced tam on the ground in Japan looks forward to leveraging KKR's Global expertise experience." Other notable leaders on KKR's global team include former General David Petraeusand former RNC Chairman Kenneth Mehlman.

http://aclassasset.blogspot.com/2013/10/kkr-and-panasonic-agree-on-price.html

Apple reveals iPad Air, new Macs and new OS X

(Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage here in San Francisco to talk about “a lot”: New iPads, new Macs and the latest version of OS X — plus a lot of premium apps that are now free.

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3 early investors in Twitter will make 2x their entire FUND on Twitter IPO

These are some insane numbers to think about: (nearly) all 3 of the firms who invested in Twitter early on will make 2x their entire FUND in returns on the Twitter IPO. Talk about a bet paying off big time. Comment on this post and others you love. Finally, comments on Tumblr posts! Learn how. Posted by Patrick Hannigan.

Northwestern University unveils some shiny, new design proposals for the former Prentice Women’s Hospital site on its Chicago campus.

Designs submitted by Goettsch Partners and Ballinger, Perkins & Will and Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture and Payette made the final three and now the university wants feedback.

So, tell us: Which design do you like best?