3/16/11 - Wild Wednesday Stuff

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TSPking
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3/16/11 - Wild Wednesday Stuff

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GAO Finds Big Flaws In Planning For Navy's Next-Gen Network

The Government Accountability Office issued a scathing report on March 11 criticizing Navy plans for the $50 billion Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN). The project is supposed to replace the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, the largest intranet in the world and by most accounts a system that is meeting user needs well.
http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/gao-f ... a=1&c=1171

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GAO to Navy: Rethink $50B NGEN

I've been so busy with earthquake coverage that I've neglected the boilerplate of my beat, which includes reading GAO reports -- a tough job, but someone has to do it.
http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2011/03/ ... b_ngen.php

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Defense outlines furlough policy

Military personnel must report for duty without pay and complete any work left undone by furloughed civilian employees.
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?a ... dcn=e_gvet

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Congress Won't Consider Defense Spending as Separate Issue, Durbin Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-1 ... -says.html

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Lawmakers Eye Defense Add-Ons To Latest Temporary Fed Budget
By Emelie Rutherford

As Congress prepares to take up yet another temporary federal budget extension this week, defense-minded lawmakers are
trying to attach Pentagon policy measures to the bare- bones continuing resolution (CR).

Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Ranking Member John McCain (R-Ariz.) said yesterday he wants to add the entire
defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2011 to a three-week CR working its way through Congress this week. Across
the Capitol, House Armed Services Committee (HASC) member Todd Akin (R-Mo.) has sought to attach language allowing the
Navy to proceed with stalled ship contracts.

Just how successful such proposals will be remains to be seen. The House Rules Committee was slated to meet last night,
after press time, to set the parameters for debate as soon as today on the three-week CR; the panel was expected to forbid
House floor amendments to the basic resolution, which largely extends the federal government in FY '11 at FY '10 levels
while trimming $6 billion in non-defense spending.

Released by the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) last Friday, the thee-week budget resolution would start after
another current CR temporarily funding the government expires this Friday. The HAC's version of CR would continue the
Pentagon's budget for FY '11, which began last October, at FY '10 levels and prevent new weapon-system contracts from
starting.

McCain told reporters at the Capitol yesterday he will introduce an amendment to the CR, once it reaches the Senate,
"to fund the defense of this nation for the entire year."

"I know that the secretary of defense says it will cripple out national security if we don't, so I would think that
that might have some impact on my colleagues," he said.

McCain said some of his fellow Senate colleagues support his plan, "but how it translates" into votes is not clear.
Some congressional observers predicted McCain's amendment would generate debate on the Senate floor but ultimately fail.

McCain said his amendment will would appropriate $535 billion for the base defense budget and $159 billion in war funding.
He described such an amendment last week, after the after the Senate rejected two competing proposals--from House Republicans
and Senate Democrats--for funding the government in FY '11, both of which contained full-blown FY '11 defense appropriations bills.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said the Pentagon needs $540 billion for the rest of FY '11, a figure McCain said last
week he doesn't agree with.

"I think we can do it with $535 billion," McCain said March 9. He said, during a Senate floor speech, that his amendment
would cut some of the Pentagon's requested funding for non-defense spending including medical research. He also wants some
funding requested in the war-funding legislation shifted to the base defense budget, for hardware including F- 18 Hornets,
unmanned-aerial vehicles, and missile interceptors

SASC member Susan Collins (R-Maine) "strongly supports" McCain's defense amendment, after previously proposing a similar
one herself to patent-related legislation, her spokesman Kevin Kelley said yesterday.

"The Secretary of Defense and the Chief of Naval Operations, among others, have testified that continuing to operate on
a CR or significantly reduced spending would severely affect military operations and readiness, service members and their
families, and private sector jobs in critical defense-related industries," Kelley said.

In the House, Akin asked House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a March 11 letter to allow language in the new CR that would
permit the Navy to proceed with stalled ship purchases and repairs. The service would be constricted under FY '10 funding
levels under the proposal from Akin, who chairs the HASC's Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee.

"Without the necessary legislative authorities provided to the Navy to increase shipbuilding quantities, begin new start
programs and realign funding within the (Navy Shipbuilding and Conversion) account under a CR, vital programs such as the
Virginia-class submarine, DDG-51, Mobile Landing Platform, aircraft carrier nuclear refueling overhauls and large-deck
amphibious ship programs are put at risk," Akin wrote to Boehner. "Not allowing the Navy to proceed as planned in their
fiscal year 2011 budget will increase the future costs of these programs in a time in which we cannot economically afford it."

The House Rules panel was slated to decide last night whether to allow debate on amendments allowing such language to be
added to the three-week resolution.

Conservative lawmakers voiced opposition to the new CR yesterday, with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio),
the head of the House Republican Study Committee, declaring they will vote against it. Still, aides said they expect Congress
to send the legislation to President Barack Obama by the end of the week.
#####

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Lockheed F-35 Faces 'Significant' Software Delays, GAO Says

F-35 SOFTWARE PROBLEMS - Engineers are behind schedule in developing crucial software for the F-35, as Tony reports,
and GAO inspectors fear another important block of code that was supposed to be ready this year won't appear until 2015.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-1 ... -says.html

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Some JSFs Return to Flying, Others Remain Grounded

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=5971384

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Navy Needs to Consider 'Ownership' Costs, Yard Official Says

For every dollar the Navy spends on buying a new ship, it pays an average of two dollars to operate and maintain
the vessel throughout its 35-year service life. Those resulting "life cycle costs" are breaking the bank, say
Navy officials.
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/ ... lSays.aspx

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Northrop Approves Shipbuilding Spinoff

Northrop Grumman's board of directors on March 15 approved the spinoff of its shipbuilding operations as
a wholly owned subsidiary to be called Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. (HII). ...
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=5969846

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Air Force Sees Up to Four Competitors for New Helicopter Program

The Air Force is leaning away from a single-source plan for its new utility helicopter, Tony writes, after all
that noise about it buying a bunch of Army Black Hawks without open bidding, etc. As many as four vendors want
to try to get in on this deal.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-1 ... ogram.html

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Army Shifts Focus to Dismounted Soldiers

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/ ... diers.aspx

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Why General Dynamics Could Outperform Amid Defense Cutbacks

Among the handful of big military contractors that survived the post-Cold War consolidation of the defense sector,
none has performed better than General Dynamics.
http://blogs.forbes.com/beltway/2011/03 ... -cutbacks/

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Budget Impasse Could Impair U.S. Edge In Undersea Warfare

In the world of federal contracting, success seldom goes unpunished. Take the Virginia-class attack submarine,
currently the U.S. Navy's only undersea-warship construction program. Since the program began in the 1990s,
prime contractors General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman have gradually cut the number of man-hours required
to build each new vessel from 15 million to 10 million.
http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/budge ... a=1&c=1171

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Warning Prompts Call For Fine-Tuned U.S. ASW

The scientific community has U.S. Navy submarine operations and data to thank for a truer picture of
how climate change is affecting the world's polar regions.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/ ... U.S.%20ASW

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Administration backs delay of contractor tax withholding

Controversial provision would require the government to withhold 3 percent of its payments to industry firms.
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?a ... dcn=e_gvet

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Successor to virtual border fence faulted by auditor (Concrete would have been cheaper)

The Homeland Security Department has provided no evidence that a new plan to intertwine surveillance technologies
across the nation's southern border will be more practical and cost-efficient than the failed $1.5 billion virtual
fence the project is supposed to replace, a federal auditor said on Tuesday.
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110 ... ne=NGtoday

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The Pentagon Labyrinth

The Pentagon Labyrinth aims to help both newcomers and seasoned observers learn how to
grapple with the problems of national defense.
http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm ... /index.cfm

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Blast at Fort Bragg Injures Ten

Eight Marines from Camp Lejeune and two Sailors were injured in an explosion during a live fire training exercise
at Fort Bragg Monday night. A spokesman said the explosion happened about 8 p.m. when members of the 10th Marine
Regiment were firing a 155mm howitzer.
http://www.military.com/news/article/bl ... s-ten.html

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Senate Committee Confirms Dempsey as U.S. Army Chief

The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee voted March 15 to clear the nomination of U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey
as the next chief of staff of the Army. He would succeed Gen. George Casey, who is scheduled to retire in April.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=5967394

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CIOs Face Skills Gaps

Chief information officers are seeing some gaping holes in the competencies of their IT staffs,
in part thanks to rapidly changing technology, according to a new survey by CIO magazine and the
MIT Center for Information Systems Research.
http://wiredworkplace.nextgov.com/2011/ ... skills.php

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Diamonds in the Rough

By identifying and grooming top talent, managers can play an important role in
encouraging the next generation of leaders.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0311/031611mm.htm

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Report outlines billions in possible savings by cutting pay, benefits

The government could save tens of billions of dollars during the next decade by trimming pay and benefits for
civilian employees, the military and retirees, the Congressional Budget Office says in a new report on options
for reducing the federal budget deficit.
http://www.federaltimes.com/article/201 ... 40303/1001

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Government would save billions by capping pay, CBO says (As long as you Cap Congress too)

Latest report from the Congressional Budget Office explores potential savings of reducing annual
military and civilian pay raises.
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?a ... dcn=e_gvet

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Congressional pensions fall on high end of scale (HMMMM!!!)

Members receive much heftier retirement packages than most private-sector
employees and state workers do.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ailarticle

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Bipartisan Debt Panel: Defense Must Be on the Table (So must Social Security and Medicare/Meicaid)

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=5968439

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House passes government funding bill for three more weeks

Measure now goes to the Senate for consideration later this week.
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?a ... dcn=e_gvet

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House Passes Spending Bill, but Not Happily

The House passed another stopgap spending measure, but many Republicans opposed it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/us/po ... l?emc=eta1

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Fed Staying on Current Path, With Job Creation as Top Priority

The Federal Reserve said it would continue to try to stimulate the economy and job growth by buying
securities and keeping interest rates low.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/busin ... l?emc=eta1

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Hidden workforce challenges domestic economic recovery

The biggest challenge to the nation's economic recovery is Americans who have
stopped looking for new jobs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ailarticle

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Oil Price Falls as Investors Dump Commodities (Speculators!!)

A move to safer assets sends American crude oil below $100 a barrel for the first time in two weeks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/busin ... l?emc=eta1

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World Markets Dive as Investors Retreat to Safety

Japan's nuclear disaster, the latest blow to the global growth prospects,
led to heavy selling in equities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/busin ... l?emc=eta1

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Ohio Town Sees Public Job as Only Route to Middle Class

Public sector jobs in southeast Ohio, with benefits and good wages, are considered plum by
the workers who hold them, but ripe for cutting by state lawmakers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/us/16 ... l?emc=eta1

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Freddie Mac's Former Chief May Face S.E.C. Action (Good)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives may face S.E.C. civil actions as a result of the subprime
mortgage crisis, but no criminal charges have been made.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/ ... /?emc=eta1

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U.S. Urged to Raise Teachers' Status

An international education study says the United States must improve the way
it recruits, trains and pays teachers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/educa ... l?emc=eta1

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Loan Study on Students Goes Beyond Default Rates

A nonprofit policy group tried to give a broader picture of students struggling with debt.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/educa ... l?emc=eta1

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HP's new 'personal cloud' combines work and life

Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker is taking cloud computing to the forefront of HP's strategy,
a move that reshapes how the company will serve its consumer and enterprise customers.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/ ... 2011-03-15

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Obama Stands by Nuclear Power

Obama administration officials Monday brushed aside calls for a freeze on new U.S. nuclear power development,
and sought to reassure the public the nation's nuclear facilities are safe and the threat of harmful radiation
reaching U.S. soil from Japan is minimal.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 00488.html

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Nuclear Strike On U.S. City Would Change Disaster Response Tactics

A terrorist nuclear strike in a major U.S. city would kill and injure so many people that disaster planners
rewrote the rules for dealing with casualties.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/201 ... 4_ST_N.htm

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For Petraeus, apathy about Afghanistan may be the biggest challenge

General's Hill visit will be less scrutinized this week.
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?a ... dcn=e_gvet

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Petraeus to testify before HASC on Afghanistan

WASHINGTON - The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan insists the military can boost Afghan security forces
to fight the Taliban, begin a troop drawdown this summer and fulfill President Obama's...
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/03/a ... an-031611/

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Petraeus: Taliban's Momentum Stalled

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday that much of the Taliban's battlefield momentum has been halted,
putting the U.S. on course to begin pulling out troops in July and shifting security responsibility to the Afghans.
http://www.military.com/news/article/pe ... alled.html

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Gates Unaware of GCC's Bahrain Plans

The U.S. may have been caught by surprise when several Persian Gulf countries on Monday deployed troops
and police to Bahrain -- home port of the U.S. 5th Fleet -- where popular demands for reform have graduated
into calls for an end to the monarchy.
http://www.military.com/news/article/ga ... plans.html

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Congress members struggle to define message on Mideast, North Africa

How difficult are the decisions the president must make about the turmoil in the Mideast?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ailarticle

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U.S.-Saudi Tensions Intensify With Mideast Turmoil

Saudi Arabia's decision to send troops to Bahrain underscores the delicate position of its
ruling class and creates a challenge for the Obama administration.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world ... l?emc=eta1

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Bahrain vows 'crackdown on lawbreakers'

MANAMA, Bahrain - Bahrain's king declared a state of emergency Tuesday, imposing a curfew, banning
rallies and handing broad powers to a military bolstered by the fresh arrival of dozens of tanks
sent by other Gulf monarchies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ailarticle

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DoD offers to move families in Bahrain

MANAMA, Bahrain - As a month-long standoff in Bahrain escalates between protesters and the government,
now bolstered by a Saudi-led military force that arrived Monday, Bahrain-based 5th Fleet closed a base
school, warned personnel to steer clear of protest areas and...
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/03/n ... n-031511w/

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Israel Navy Seizes Weapons Boat 'En Route To Gaza'

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=5965478

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Libyan Forces Rout Rebels as West's Effort for No-Flight Zone Stalls

Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi routed insurgents in Ajdabiya, their last defensive line
before the rebel capital of Benghazi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world ... l?emc=eta1

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Fresh Influx of Boat People Reaches Italy in Past 24 Hours, UN Reports

Twenty-two boats carrying more than 1,600 persons, nearly all young Tunisian males, have landed on the small
Italian island of Lampedusa in the past 24 hours, bringing the number of Tunisians reaching Italy since mid-January
to just over 10,000, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201103160099.html

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U.S. Drones Fight Mexican Drug Trade

The Obama administration has begun sending drones deep into Mexico to gather
intelligence on trafficking.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world ... l?emc=eta1

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Germany Shuts 7 Nuclear Plants as Europe Plans Safety Tests

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said that seven older plants that began operating before
1980 would be temporarily closed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/busin ... l?emc=eta1

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Japan crisis spawns new look at U.S. reactors' design and preparedness

What does the crisis at a Japanese nuclear power plant mean for U.S. reactors'
design and preparedness?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ailarticle

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Last Defense at Troubled Reactors: 50 Japanese Workers

A small crew of technicians, braving radiation and fire, became perhaps Japan's
last chance of preventing a broader nuclear catastrophe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world ... l?emc=eta1

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Relief Crews Exposed to Radiation in Japan

More U.S. military crews were exposed to radiation Tuesday as the Pentagon ramped up relief flights
over a Japan reeling from an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.
http://www.military.com/news/article/re ... japan.html

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Navy families in Japan urged to stay indoors

The commander of Naval Forces Japan is recommending that sailors and their families at Fleet Activities
Yokosuka and Naval Air Facility Atsugi take special action to limit their exposure to radiation.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/03/n ... s-031511w/

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In Remote Towns, Survivors Tell of a Wave's Power

In coastal towns, mountains and deep inlets amplified the power of the tsunami.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world ... l?emc=eta1

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Certainties of Modern Life Upended in Japan

Tokyo residents are learning that things they have taken for granted
can quickly slip beyond their reach.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world ... l?emc=eta1

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Experts: North Korea not likely to use quake as opportunity for aggression

The ongoing disaster in Japan could ironically have a positive impact on relations between the two Koreas,
rather than setting the stage for the North to initiate more aggression, according to a sampling of experts.
http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/ear ... -1.137918#

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TSPking

It's a gift...and a curse ~ Adrian Monk

User avatar
Pocono13
Posts: 541
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 4:40 pm

Re: 3/16/11 - Wild Wednesday Stuff

Post by Pocono13 »

Hi King
raym0826 is on my watch list and shows no pending allocation change. However, in the list of allocation changes, it shows that he is going to the F fund. Why is this not showing up in my watch list :?:

User avatar
TSPking
Site Admin
Posts: 1066
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Re: 3/16/11 - Wild Wednesday Stuff

Post by TSPking »

I added raym0826 to my Watch List which shows 100% F in the Pending Allocation column.
TSPking

It's a gift...and a curse ~ Adrian Monk

User avatar
Pocono13
Posts: 541
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 4:40 pm

Re: 3/16/11 - Wild Wednesday Stuff

Post by Pocono13 »

TSPking wrote:I added raym0826 to my Watch List which shows 100% F in the Pending Allocation column.

Sorry. My bad. I did not see that that the space between the current allocation and the pending allocation.

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Fund Prices2024-03-28

FundPriceDayYTD
G $18.15 0.05% 1.05%
F $19.08 -0.06% -0.74%
C $82.21 0.11% 10.55%
S $82.43 0.30% 6.92%
I $42.57 -0.24% 5.95%
L2065 $16.38 0.02% 8.37%
L2060 $16.39 0.02% 8.38%
L2055 $16.39 0.02% 8.38%
L2050 $32.73 0.01% 6.95%
L2045 $14.91 0.02% 6.58%
L2040 $54.38 0.02% 6.22%
L2035 $14.34 0.02% 5.79%
L2030 $47.67 0.02% 5.38%
L2025 $13.15 0.03% 3.43%
Linc $25.61 0.03% 2.82%

Live Charts

Pending Allocations

Under development. For now, you may view Pending Allocations by going to "fantasy TSP" and selecting "Leaderboard sort" of "Pending Allocations".