Don’t panic! Preliminary data suggests earthquakes are indeed increasing worldwide

Earthquakes, The Fuse That Ignites Volcanoes, Have Increased Worldwide

Guardian Express,

16 December, 2012

Earthquakes and Volcanic eruptions have always been closely related. For instance, if you look at a map of quakes worldwide and compare it to a map of volcanoes, you’ll find that they match closely. Both earthquakes and volcanoes occur at the boundaries of tectonic plates, which make up the Earth’s surface. Earthquakes are caused by the release of pressure built up when the plates spread apart or move past each or under each other. In slightly more complicated ways, magma is generated at most plate boundaries, and this magma rises to the surface to form volcanoes. In recent weeks, earthquakes have exponentially increased in magnitude worldwide, worrying some researchers as they provide the fuse that ignites volcanoes.

The movement of magma within a volcano causes earthquakes, usually small ones. Earthquakes are also caused by adjustments to the flanks of volcanoes and the plates under volcanoes.

For decades, a source of powerful earthquakes and volcanic activity on the Pacific Rim was shrouded in secrecy, as the Soviet government kept outsiders away from what is now referred to as the Russian Far East.

In the last 20 years research has shown that the Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands are a seismic and volcanic hotbed, with a potential to trigger tsunamis that pose a risk to the rest of the Pacific Basin.

A magnitude 9 earthquake in that region in 1952 caused significant damage elsewhere on the Pacific Rim, and even less-powerful quakes have had effects throughout the Pacific Basin.

“There’s not a large population in the Russian Far East, but it’s obviously important to the people who live there. Thousands of people were killed in tsunamis because of the earthquake in 1952.

Earthquakes greater than magnitude 8 struck the central Kurils in 2006 and 2007, and both produced large local tsunamis, up to about 50 feet. Though the tsunamis that crossed the Pacific were much smaller, the one from the 2006 quake did more than $10 million in damage at Crescent City, Calif.

In 2009, Sarychev Peak in the Kurils erupted spectacularly, disrupting air traffic over the North Pacific.

Clearly, determining the frequency of such events is important to many people over a broad area, Bourgeois said.

“Let’s say you decide to build a nuclear power plant in Crescent City. You have to consider local events, but you also have to consider non-local events, worst-case scenarios, which includes tsunamis coming across the Pacific,” she said.

But that is only possible by understanding the nature of the hazards, and the historic record for earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions in Kamchatka and the Kurils is relatively short.

In addition, because the region was closed off from much of the world for decades, much of the information has started becoming available only recently.

Much has been learned in the last 10 years in the examination of tsunami deposits and other evidence of prehistoric events, but more field work in the Kamchatka-Kurils subduction zone is required to get a clearer picture.

For hazard analysis, you should just assume that a subduction zone can produce a magnitude 9 earthquake.

So it is important to “pay attention to the prehistoric record” to know where, and how often, such major events occur.

It has been noted that in the last 25 years research in the Cascadia subduction zone off the coast of Washington, Oregon, northern California and British Columbia has demonstrated that the historic record does not provide a good characterization of the hazard.

It was once assumed the risks in the Northwest were small, but the research has shown that, before there were any written records, Cascadia produced at least one magnitude 9 earthquake and a tsunami that struck Japan.

Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and the Komandorsky Islands, an extension of the Aleutians controlled by Russia, are another source of seismic and volcanic activity that need to be evaluated for their potential risk beyond what is known from the historical record.

“The Aleutians are under-studied,” Bourgeois said. “The work in the Russian Far East is kind of a template for the Aleutians.”

Ideally, a dedicated boat could ferry researchers to a number of islands in the Aleutian chain, similar to how Bourgeois and other scientists from the United States, Japan and Russia have carried out a detailed research project in the Kuril Islands in the last decade.

Over the last couple of years researchers have gradually shifted from the decades old belief that asteroids killed the dinosaurs. As a former college history professor, I can confirm that almost all text books claim dinosaurs were killed 65-million-years ago by an asteroid slamming into the earth.

Today, research suggests that tens of thousands of years of lava flow from the Deccan Traps, a volcanic region near Mumbai may have spewed poisonous levels of sulphur and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and caused the mass extinction through the resulting global warming and ocean acidification.

The findings are the latest volley in an ongoing debate over whether an asteroid or volcanism killed off the dinosaurs in the mass die-off known as the K-T extinction, the ‘Live Science’ reported.

Proponents of the old hypothesis argue that a giant meteorite impact at Chicxulub, Mexico, around 65 million years ago released toxic amounts of dust and gas into the atmosphere, blocking out the Sun to cause widespread cooling, choking the dinosaurs and poisoning sea life.

The further point out that the meteorite impact may also have set off volcanic activity, earthquakes and tsunamis.

In 2009, oil companies drilling off the Eastern coast of India uncovered eons-old lava-filled sediments buried nearly 3.3 kilometers below the ocean surface. They contained plentiful fossils from around the boundary between the Cretaceous-Tertiary periods, or K-T Boundary, when dinosaurs vanished.

The sediments bore layers of lava that had travelled nearly 1,603 km from the Deccan Traps.

The volcanic region, today, spans an area as big as France, but was nearly the area of Europe when it was active during the late Cretaceous period, said Adatte Thierry, a geologist from the University of Lausanne in France.

The idea that volcanic eruption may have terminated life on earth for the dinosaur, simply wakes you up when you consider the true danger an eruption poses to civilization. It’s even more daunting when you grasp the fact that earthquakes are essentially the fuse that sets them off.

In recent weeks, worldwide earthquake data indicates an increase in the magnitude and a significant increase in the frequency (magnitude > 5.5) of earthquakes.

Current graphs clearly show an alarming worldwide trend of increasing earthquake strength and frequency. These results are in agreement with the USGS statistics page, which shows an increase in the frequency of stronger earthquakes (M > 5.0).

These trends also show that the depth of earthquakes has diminished, they occur closer to the Earth’s surface. Shallow earthquakes occur along fault lines and are due to the accumulation of stress. Earthquake waves can also propagate far enough to trigger other earthquakes; this may explain the noted increase in earthquakes.

Certain scientists have stated that the increased frequency of earthquakes is due to the increased number of detection instruments installed worldwide. This would cause more sensitive earthquakes to be measured. However, these graphs show an increase in stronger earthquakes; it is also important to note that the earthquake Richter scale is base-10 logarithmic.

The fact that the world’s population has increased doesn’t help, more people are affected by these events.

There is increased media availability and attention. However, due to recent events, it is now easy to convince even the average person, that there are more and more strong earthquakes occurring worldwide:

A Yellowstone National Park earthquake in Wyoming was felt in sections of Montana and Idaho. The Wyoming earthquake, which occurred on December 15, 2012 was centered in the northwest corner of the state. Though there were no reports of damage we must remember Yellowstone Caldera is located in the northwest corner of Wyoming.

Here’s the history lesson. Yellowstone lies over a hotspot of molten mantle rock that occasionally rises towards the surface.

Over the past 18 million years, Yellowstone has generated a succession of violent eruptions; some of them have been classified as supereruptions.

Volcanic eruptions can empty their storage of magma so quickly that they can cause the superimposing land to collapse into a magma chamber, forming a geographic depression called a caldera. I’m talking about a lake the size of the state of Texas and perhaps that estimation is significantly under estimated.

Yellowstone Caldera is called a Supervolcano because it’s able to produce extraordinarily huge volcanic explosions.

Because of the volcanic and tectonic nature of the region, the Caldera experiences somewhere between 1000 and 2000 earthquakes a year.

The last supereruption on the Yellowstone volcano occurred approximately 640,000 years ago. The event ejected more than 240 cubic miles of volcanic ash into the sky and across the plain.

On Saturday December 15, 2012, shortly after 12:25 p.m. local time, a light earthquake stuck Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The quake, however, had nominal depth. Officials say the quake was only six miles below the earth’s surface. As a result, the quake could be felt across the region.

USGS indicates that the quake erupted twenty-five miles south of Cooke City-Silver Gate, Montana. The quake was also forty-four miles southeast of Gardiner, Montana. Officials tell news the quake was forty-seven miles west of Cody, Wyoming and roughly two hundred eighty miles north of Salt Lake City, Utah.

As I mentioned earlier, quakes visit the area frequently, without causing major alarm. Nevertheless, the Yellowstone Supervolcano is amongst the largest in recorded world history, thus it poses a threat of considerable proportions. Most researchers claim that if it erupted today, it would come close the obliterating the entire land area known as the United States. In addition, it would likely have an enormous consequences on world weather, agriculture and quality of life.

There are an estimated 1,500 active volcanoes around the world, 50 to 60 erupt every year, spewing steam, ash, gas and lava. These reflectively, mild outburst don’t come close to the dangers Yellowstone present. The fact is, if it were ever to erupt, it would only take moments to end the life of everyone in close proximity. If you like in the USA, the idea of escaping its reach is borderline fantasy. In other words, it would be practically impossible. One can only hope that it doesn’t blow in our lifetime; but it is certain to erupt in someone’s lifetime.

All it takes is a few well placed earthquakes for it to blow.

Technology certainly has its hands full.

Costa Rica saw most seismic activity in past 62 years during 2012

Inside Costa Rica,

31 December, 2012

December 31^st, 2012 (InsideCostaRica.com) According to the Costa Rican Volcanology and Seismology Observatory (OVSICORI), after the magnitude 7.6 earthquake which occurred on September 5^th, 2012, the country registered the highest level of earthquake activity it has seen in 62 years.

 

The strongest earthquakes in Costa Rican history occurred in 1950 in Nicoya, with a 7.8 magnitude quake, followed by the 2012 earthquake that occurred in the same area, of a 7.6 magnitude.

 

After the September 5^th earthquake, OVSICORI reported 75 earthquakes that were felt by residents during the 4 months after the main event.

 

2010 saw a total of 6,245 earthquakes, in 2011 there were 5,483, and in 2012 the total was 11,049.

Over 3,000 Noticeable Quakes Hit Japan In 2012

RTT News

31 December, 2012

Japan had experienced a little over 3,000 noticeable earthquakes in 2012, nearly 60 percent of them aftershocks from last year's massive tremor that devastated the country's northeast, Japanese media reported on Monday.

Quoting the Japan Meteorological Agency, the NHK broadcaster reported that a total of 3,134 quakes had been felt across Japan until Sunday (December 30) which is about 1,000 more than the annual average from 2001 to 2010.

An analysis of seismic waves indicates that there were more than 10,000 noticeable quakes in 2011. While the number of quakes decreased from that of last year, seismologists continue to monitor frequent seismic activity.

They urged people to be on the alert for possible strong quakes with a magnitude of at least 7 or those triggering tsunami.

The March 11, 2011 quake and the tsunami it triggered had left more than 15,000 people dead or missing besides wreaking havoc in Japan's northeast, including the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that leaked radiation forcing the evacuation of more than 160,000 residents.

Obama extends warrantless wiretapping

Obama authorizes five more years of warrantless wiretapping

Federal detectives won’t need a warrant to eavesdrop on the emails and phone calls of Americans for another five years. President Obama reauthorized an intelligence gathering bill on Sunday that puts national security over constitutional rights

U.S. President Barack Obama (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

RT,

31 December, 2012

President Barack Obama inked his name over the weekend to an extension of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, a George W. Bush-era legislation that has allowed the government expansive spy powers that has been considered by some to be dragnet surveillance.

FISA, or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was first signed into law in the 1970s in order to put into place rules regarding domestic spying within the United States. Upon the passing of the FAA in 2008, however, the online and over-the-phone activities of Americans became subject to sweeping, warrantless wiretapping in instances where investigators reasonably suspect US citizens to be engaged in conversation with persons located outside of the country.

Congress had only up until the end of 2012 to either reauthorize FISA and the FAA, or let the bill expire. Despite a large grassroots campaign from privacy advocates and civil liberties organization to ensure the acts would fade from history, though, the Senate approved a five-year extension of the legislation on Friday. Just two days later, Pres. Obama signed his name to the act, opening up the inboxes and phone records of US citizens to the federal government until at least 2018.

Although on the books since 2008, the FAA has come under increased criticism this year thanks to efforts from a select group of lawmakers who have adamantly demanded answers about a program largely considered to be cloaked in secrecy. In May, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mark Udall (D-CO) sent a letter to the National Security Agency asking for an estimate of how many Americans have been targeted since the FAA went on the books. In response, Inspector General I. Charles McCullough said honoring that request would be “beyond the capacity” of the office, and that “dedicating sufficient additional resources would likely impede the NSA’s mission.”

“If no one will even estimate how many Americans have had their communications collected under this law then it is all the more important that Congress act to close the ‘back door searches’ loophole, to keep the government from searching for Americans’ phone calls and emails without a warrant,” Wyden, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told Wired.com’s Danger Room.

Although Americans cannot be specifically targeted under the FAA without getting the approval of a select panel of FISA judges, the warrantless monitoring of messages involving anyone outside of the country can easily collect collateral information about US citizens.

Speaking on the Senate floor on Friday before the FISA vote, Wyden warned, “You can’t just go out checking everybody in sight with the prospect of that maybe there’s someone who’s done something wrong.”

“Government officials may only search someone’s house if they have evidence that someone is breaking the law and they show the evidence to a judge to get an individual warrant,” he said.

Despite attempts from Wyden and others to overturn the FAA, though, it cleared the Senate by a vote of 73-23 on Friday and was signed by Pres. Obama in Washington just two days later.

Even as the FISA renewal was up for debate on Capitol Hill, attempts to add privacy safeguards that would prevent the collection of personal data pertaining to US citizens were ignored. Sen. Wyden and others had asked for amendments to be included to this year’s update, but all provisions were rejected before the final bill was passed.

Trevor Timm, an activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, writes, “all the proposed amendments that would have brought a modicum of transparency and oversight to the government's activities, despite previous refusals by the Executive branch to even estimate how many Americans are surveilled by this program or reveal critical secret court rulings interpreting it.”

“The common-sense amendments the Senate hastily rejected were modest in scope and written with the utmost deference to national security concerns. The Senate had months to consider them, but waited until four days before the law was to expire to bring them to the floor, and then used the contrived time crunch to stifle any chances of them passing.”

In July 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama voted in favor of the FAA but said in a statement that it wasn’t an “easy call” since the legislation was “far from perfect.” 

In particular, Obama said he was concerned with a section that provided retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies that cooperated with Pres. Bush’s requests for warrantless wiretapping in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Sen. Obama said he would work to remove that provision from the bill if elected president, but reauthorized it for another five years on Sunday without any comment.

Iranian military drill

Iran stages cyber warfare drill alongside Hormuz naval exercise

Iranian forces have conducted a cyber-warfare drill for the first time as their naval forces conducts major exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, testing a brand new air defense missile system.

A picture dated September 21, 2012, shows a Raad air defense system carrying Taer missiles being displayed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, during an annual military parade which marks Iran's eight-year war with Iraq, in the capital Tehran. Iranian forces have carried out what they called cyber warfare tactics for the first time as the Islamic republic's naval units staged manoeuvres in the key Strait of Hormuz, media reports said on December 31, 2012.(AFP Photo / Atta Kenare)

RT,

31 December, 2012

The Iranian navy has staged a cyber-attack against the computer network of its defene forces in order to simulate a hack or a virus infiltration of a foreign aggressor, the English language Iran Daily reported, quoting Rear Admiral Amir Rastegari.

The Rear Admiral continued that the fake cyber-attack was successfully blocked by Iranian forces.  

Tehran has developed military and civil cyber units in the past few years to counter cyber-attacks on its nuclear sites, oil and industrial facilities, its communications network and banking systems.

Tehran has allegedly been attacked by the Fame, Stuxnet and Gauss viruses, which managed to gather sensitive information about Iranian equipment and have hampered the work of its nuclear centrifuges. The US and Israel have been tacitly implicated in the virus attacks.

Naval exercises are also taking place in the  Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, which Iranian military officials have stressed are for showing off the country’s “defensive naval capabilities and sending a message of peace and friendship to regional countries.”

Several submarine based missiles were tested during the attack, according to Iranian media sources. These included an Iranian made air defence system called Raad, or Thunder and domestically produced hovercraft.

Iran says the Raad system is more advanced than the Russian one it replaced and can knock out fighter jets, cruise missiles and drones at a height of up to 23 km.

Tehran has been trying to build up a self-sufficient military in particular its navy since 1992,as Iran believes any future conflict will be fought on the sea and in the air.

The drills come at the same time as the West is increasing pressure on Iran over its nuclear program which it suspects is aimed at producing a bomb. Iran insists it is purely for the peaceful production of electricity.

The west has slapped sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program which they maintain is for the production of nuclear weapons. The west argues that imposing sanctions will make it harder for Iran to acquire the money and materials to develop a bomb. Iran has threatened to retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz

Earthquake in Taranaki, New Zealand

Three earthquakes rock Taranaki

The first, a severe, magnitude 5 earthquake struck at 3.11am

Stuff,

1 January, 2014

A series of three earthquakes rocked Taranaki early this morning.

The first, a severe, magnitude 5 earthquake struck at 3.11am and was centred 5km deep and 30 km north-west of Opunake, GeoNet reported.

A smaller, magnitude 3.2 quake, centred 5km and 20 km north-west of Opunake, then hit at 3:27am.

The third, a magnitude 4.3 quake centred 6km deep and 25 km north-west of Opunake, hit at 3.42am.

On their twitter page the Taranaki Civil Defence said there was no tsunami warning and it was unlikely the event would be severe enough to generate one.

"If there are aftershocks, remember to Drop, Cover, Hold," they tweeted.

"Well, that was a short, sharp welcome to the New Year! No reports of damage so far," they said.

People throughout Taranaki reported being woken up by the quakes and turned to twitter to share their account.

"All three earthquakes managed to wake me up when alarm clocks won't, can't sleep now due to fear of fourth," Sean Kelly said on twitter.

"Was about to go to bed and I heard the first one come. It shook the house from side to side and lasted about 30 seconds," William Johnston said.

In July 2012 a magnitude 7.0 quake centred 230km deep and 60km south of Opunake, was the largest to strike the Taranaki Bight area for 100-120 years.

(Major) Earthquakes list December 31, 2012

Relatively strong and shallow earthquake near coast of New Zealand’s North Island

 
A relatively strong earthquake NOT reported ny the international agencies which occurred at 03:11 on New Years night. Shallow and close to one of the bigger cities in New Zealand, Plymouth.

Also very close to Mount Egmont (also called Mount Taranaki), an active volcano, but there are NO signs that this earthquake has any volcanic link.

The Magnitude of the earthquake was reported as a M5 at a depth of 5 km.
Geonet New Zealand has labelled the intensity as “severe” although NO report of damage was received by the authorities so far.

The mainshock was followed by a number of aftershocks.

Some more information of the volcanic activity of Mount Taranaki (we like the Maori word) :

The most recent volcanic activity was the production of a lava dome in the crater and its collapse down the side of the mountain in the 1850s or 1860s. Between 1755 and 1800, an eruption sent a pyroclastic flow down the mountain’s northeast flanks,and a moderate ash eruption occurred about 1755, of the size of Ruapehu’s activity in 1995/1996. The last major eruption occurred around 1655. (source Wikipedia)

 

Moderate earthquake at intermediate depth in central Peru

Based on an increasing number of visitors joining us from Peru, we believe that an earthquake was felt. When you are one of the people who experienced this earthquake, please fill in the form behind “I Felt A (not Listed) Earthquake”. Thank you.

Update 08:57 UTC: No seismological data yet, but the first message from Peru indicates Moderate to strong shaking in Lima for a longer time than usually felt.

Update 08:59 UTC: Based on the number of visitors we experience at the moment and the time of the night, we can confirm that this earthquake is being felt as exceptional.

Update 09:00 UTC : No doubt that there was some shaking in Lima (all traffic we see in the site originates from the greater Lima area).

Update 09:01 UTC : First data that comes in is reporting a Magnitude of 4.4 at a depth of 53 km. Harmless but enough to wake up a lot of people.

Update 09:06 UTC : The epicenter is (based on the preliminary data) located in the Huaura district close to the city of Huacho where almost everybody left their houses. People indicate in this district that the earthquake felt really strong.

Update 09:10 UTC : We can conclude that this earthquake was frightening but luckily harmless (providing that the current earthquake data are correct).

Update 09:13 UTC : Data from USGS are now in and indicate a M4.9  at a depth of 70 km

Update 09:22 UTC : IGP Peru reports a Ml of 4.7 at a depth of 53 km. MMI III to IV at Huacho, III in Lima. Epicenter at 49 km from Huacho. We will add the IGP data in our listing below.

SRC	Location	UTC Date/time	M	D	INFORMATION
ER	I Felt A (not Listed) Strong Earthquake	Dec 31 23:59 PM	4.6	0.1	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Balleny Islands Region	Dec 31 20:02 PM	5.2	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Balleny Islands Region	Dec 31 20:02 PM	5.2	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia	Dec 31 14:15 PM	4.7	82.2	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia	Dec 31 14:15 PM	4.7	100.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Banda Sea	Dec 31 14:15 PM	4.7	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEONET	Opunake	Dec 31 14:11 PM	5.0	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Off East Coast Of Honshu, Japan	Dec 31 09:36 AM	4.9	20.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Off The East Coast Of Honshu, Japan	Dec 31 09:36 AM	4.8	34.3	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Off East Coast Of Honshu, Japan	Dec 31 09:35 AM	4.8	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	South Indian Ocean	Dec 31 08:50 AM	4.9	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	South Indian Ocean	Dec 31 08:50 AM	5.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	South Indian Ocean	Dec 31 08:50 AM	5.0	9.8	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Near The Coast Of Central Peru	Dec 31 08:46 AM	4.9	69.8	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Near Coast Of Central Peru	Dec 31 08:46 AM	4.6	60.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Flores Sea	Dec 31 06:01 AM	4.6	594.4	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Mid Atlantic Ridge	Dec 31 01:45 AM	5.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Mid-atlantic Ridge	Dec 31 01:45 AM	4.6	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Northern Mid-atlantic Ridge	Dec 31 01:45 AM	4.7	10.1	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Guatemala	Dec 31 01:15 AM	4.9	112.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Mexico-guatemala Border Region	Dec 31 01:15 AM	5.0	142.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Chiapas, Mexico	Dec 31 01:15 AM	5.0	113.9	MAP	I Felt It

US Fiscal cliff negotiations

Fiscal cliff deadline looms as talks on a deal continue

the Guardian,

31 December, 2012

McConnell: deal to avert tax hikes has been reached

The Associated Press has a news flash:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he and the White House have agreed on preventing tax hikes that the fiscal cliff will trigger after midnight. And he says they are very close to an overall deal that would also prevent budget-wide spending cuts.

The Kentucky Republican did not provide any details. But he said on the Senate floor that lawmakers should pass legislation averting tax increases that would otherwise take effect at the start of New Year's Day.

US To Officially Go Over The Fiscal Cliff

Zero Hedge,
31 December, 2012



As we forecast back in November, it is now official that the House will not vote on any deal out of the Senate, assuming there is one which there won't be of course, later today, which means America will officially slide off the Fiscal Cliff. And now cue everyone being very hopeful and optimistic a deal will get done momentarily, if not sooner, in 2013. Of course, we all know just how far optimism takes America's dysfunctional Congress. The biggest irony in all of this is that the only winners today were the much hated "1%"-ers, whose taxes may or may not go up, who just got to book major year end profits on this last minute ramp. The remainder of America's population can quietly look forward to 2013 with "hope" and "optimism" that in 2013 Congress will finally stop being dysfunctional. Good luck. Oh, and before we forget, America just breached its debt ceiling: now the pillaging of various government retirement funds begins.