The difference between weather and climate is survival.
The Greater Crash: The market has now fallen farther faster than during the Great Crash of 1929-1932.
Posturing R Us: Republicans are parading around, beating on their chests and protecting the public from pork-barrel spending. Specifically offensive are some 8,000 pet projects totaling $5.5 billion - a little more than 1% of the budget's $410 billion total. The GOP portion of these earmarks has not been publicly identified. To make the process pure, funding for the pet projects of Senators who vote against the budget should be deleted.
Used Loans: Such a deal. Ford will exchange that $10 billion IOU they wrote and give you $2.9 billion - mostly in stock that's tanking. Call it $3 billion and we'll throw in a tank of gas.
Next? Life!: Having screwed up the rather simple proposition of getting rich off other people's money, the major insurance companies - Hartford, MetLife, Prudential, et al. - are prepping their lawyers and PR flacks for an assault on the Treasury.
Buy & Hope: Adjusted for inflation if you put $1,000 in the DOW in 1966, you've still got your $1,000. And not a penny more. But hang on, investing is for the long term.
Self-Employed: The Fed refuses to release documents under the Freedom Of Information Act because that applies to government agencies and they are not a government agency. They are a private bank. Try to remember that the next time Ben obligates the Treasury for a few hundred billion.
Bloomberg: Pacific Investment Management is postponing the dividend payments three of its funds declared last month because this month they haven't got enough money.
Hat Dance: Last weekend 2,000 Mexican armed federal police and soldiers poured into Ciudad Juarez to join 2,500 soldiers and federal police who have fighting a losing war with drug traffickers. Another 3,000 soldiers and Federales will soon reinforce this effort to wrest control of the city of 1.6 million from the drug gangs.
Where's Smedly? Chavez has nationalized Cargill, too bad the marines are all busy securing poppy fields.
Surrender: So there was Geithner - who didn't pay his taxes - testifying before Charles Rangel - who also didn't pay his taxes - about government finances. We're gonna need more Scotch to get through this.
Me First! Which of the following will lead to economic collapse and social unrest? (a) The credit crisis. (b) Peak oil. (c) Climate change/global warming. (d) Water shortages. (e) Any of the above.
How High Is Up? The Obama housing bailout is ridiculously unfair. Here are some suggestions to level the preying field: Everyone gets $1,000 a year for the next 5 years. All mortgages reset to 2%. Rents are lowered by 35%. All second liens, car loans, school loans, and credit card debt is forgiven. And so on.
Both Sides: Reliance on natural gas as an alternative transportation fuel is a short term solution that will make the long term solution more difficult to reach. While there is a current surplus of natural gas in the US, it will rapidly decline within 20 years, leaving us that much further into petroleum's decline without a long-term solution.
It's Getting Wurst: German industrial orders were down 42% in January.
Implants: Apparently Obama, Biden, Summers and the rest are wearing RFID chips so Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel can keep track of them.
Inflation Quantitative Easing: The Bank of England plans on financing £75 billion "by the issuance of central bank reserves." For which read: "printing pound notes."
Rank In Descending Order: How will GE survive its current difficulties: (a) Sell off parts of the company and call it a diet. (b) Recall Jack. (c) Get lots of money from whoever has some left. (d) Get promises from the Treasury to back GE's debts. (e) Get billions from the government. (f) Survive?
Porn O'Graph: Political geography at work.
4 comments:
"How high is up?"
There can't be a moral hazard if we're a socialist country!
RBM
Possible dumb question here, but I live quite far from the Southeast and know little about it. Regarding the unemployment map, why is it so hard hit?
Where's Smedly? Chavez has nationalized Cargill, too bad the marines are all busy securing poppy fields.
Like the FIRE Criminals, Cargill and other American Agribusiness Corporations have been trying for years to control the World's food supply. One of the methods is to use GMO and also to take out patents on seeds many of which have been used by indigenuous peoples for centuries.
"This company does not hesitate to use new and potentially dangerous food technologies if they may bring in revenue. Cargill pushes genetically modified products, invests in irradiation, and lobbies for the right to use carbon monoxide to artificially imbue red meat with the look of freshness long past its expiration date.
This report, Cargill: A Corporate Threat to Food and Farming, will show that Cargill’s vast influence on global agricultural trade threatens the health of consumers, family farmers, the environment, and even entire economies and governments."
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/pubs/reports/cargill
Those interested in learning more on this subject might read about Indian Physicist Vandana Shiva at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandana_Shiva
In the poorer parts of the World, the US will reap the corrupt crop it has sown. Congrats to Chavez in taking action against Cargill.
Too bad that in the US, the Department Of Justice will not take any action against these Corporations now looting the US Treasury.
Both Sides: Reliance on natural gas...
There is a WIRED article that states that we will run out of domestic helium in 9 years at the current rate of NG consumption.
So no balloons or social security for the grand kids.
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