Friday Reading
A few worthwhile reads before the weekend:
• Credit Ratings Now Optional, Firms Find (WSJ)
• Why the Goldman Sachs-AIG Story Won’t Go Away (Bloomberg)
• Victory for Obama Over Military Lobby (NYT). Now what about Banking Lobby?
• Why Didn’t Inventories Go Up? (Norris)
• Mortgage Payments Declined in Q3 (Real Time Economics)
• Fed’s Regional Chiefs ‘Fight’ for Monetary Policy Independence (Bloomberg)
• 5 Nightmare (not forecasts) Scenarios for the Economy (MoneyWatch)
• Investors Sense Rout in Stocks After 8-Month Rally (Bloomberg)
• For Equestrians, a Buyer’s Market in Horses (NYT)
• Scott Brown on Why America Is Finally Ready for Doctor Who (Wired)
Its the weekend, I am getting ready for some extensive travel — time to fire up the Tardis!
What are you reading (in or out of a small blue police box)?
October 30th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
The ChiNext stock market, China’s long-awaited Nasdaq-style second board, debuted on Friday with a speculative surge that more than doubled the price of all 28 stocks during intraday trade.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59T0F920091030
October 30th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Watch out for Daleks, Barry. “We will EX-TER-MIN-ATE”. You’ll be safe at the top of the stairs…..
A chart for you, Barry, VIX = 31. Game on?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/cbuilder?ticker1=VIX%3AIND
October 30th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
the AIG-GS article from Bloomberg-
can’t get enough of that story- especially since our man at the Treasury- Geithner was at the head of the NY Fed office-
i think most of us have a pretty good idea that GS was protected form losses after the takeover of AIG
October 30th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
@Michael M:
ChiNext 5000 or bust!
October 30th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
@emmanuel117: I honestly think that people would “buy” soiled TP from each other if we had an ETF for it. Hey, a soiled TP ETF would probably have at least as much real underlying value as some of the crap people have been buying and selling in recent years. It IS paper, after all. That’s what our “markets” have come to.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Barry, I see your Nightmare Scenario from Moneywatch as the most likely outcome. Timely for Halloween as it is pretty frightening, too.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Inventories didn’t go up for several reasons. The most glaring are lack of demand and running thinner on inventory builds. Neither show “strength” in the economy but the latter shows better run businesses that are afraid to increase inventories when demand really falls off.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Barry: Regarding your scenario, which I could see happening, there is a major difference that most analysts tend to overlook. Japan’s unemployment rate held between 3-4% throughout the 90’s. Even now they’re at 5.5%. We have a much bigger problem with employment here. And the scary part about that is, where are the jobs going to come from?
October 30th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
One consolation for bulls: August and September both ended like October only to move to the next leg higher as the following month moved forward. I don’t think that’s the case this time, although I could be wrong obviously. Volume was a bit heavier and all the “great” earnings came out. That leads me to confirm the move downward.
*harry, if you’re the real harry, post you’re 99% bearish somewhere on TBP, also, say you sometimes wear your right shoe on your left foot, and visa-vera! (Note – I’m actually 100% bearish right now)
October 30th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
“…Scenes from Obama’s America: Riot police at the Pittsburgh G-20 summit deploy the Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), a crowd-control weapon first used as part of the Iraq occupation.
Exactly the same process is underway here in the United States.
Appropriately enough, the consolidation of economic power in the hands of our ruling oligarchy began with a March 2008 meeting in Moscow between Commissar Hank Paulson and the Goldman Sachs board of directors. Shortly thereafter, the controlled demolition of the financial sector began, with secretive and powerful interests deliberately clearing the way for an unprecedented consolidation of political and economic power — and profiting handsomely from the carnage.
Winsome and appealing as many find him, Obama is the willing and witting figurehead of this insatiable oligarchy — a ruling elite at least as depraved and bloody-handed as its Soviet predecessors. He is indecently eager to do its bidding, whether that entails murdering hundreds of innocent Pakistanis through Predator strikes, or unleashing paramilitary violence against peaceful demonstrators (and pedestrians) in Pittsburgh during the recent G-20 summit.
Among the few principled commentators on the left who see Obama for what he is can be found former war correspondent Chris Hedges, who has consistently condemned the warfare state under both Republican and Democratic management.
“The right-wing accusations against Barack Obama are true,” writes Hedges. “He is a socialist, although he practices socialism for corporations. He is squandering the country’s future with deficits that can never be repaid. He has retained and even bolstered our surveillance state to spy on Americans. He is forcing us to buy into a health care system that will enrich corporations and expand the abuse of our for-profit medical care. He will not stanch unemployment. He will not end our wars. He will not rebuild the nation. He is a tool of the corporate state.” (Emphasis added.)
Yes, they can use them at home, too: Bush the Dumber inspects a Predator Drone — the same robot aircraft used to kill suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan — used by the Department of Homeland Security to patrol the U.S. border…”
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2009/10/obama-and-predator-left.html
~~
“…”This software allows an attacker to call a user’s BlackBerry and listen to personal conversations,” the US-CERT said. In order to install and setup the PhoneSnoop application, attackers must have physical access to the user’s device or convince a user to install PhoneSnoop.”
…The Apple (sp)iPhone is not immune to remote snooping. In 2007, security researchers Charlie Miller, Jake Honoroff and Joshua Mason demonstrated a proof-of-concept vulnerability that enabled an attacker to take full control of the iPhone including its camera and speaker. A demonstration showed the vulnerability’s ability to make phone calls and send all stored data to any remote server…”
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid14_gci1372852,00.html#
The government’s agents can do this for all speakerphone equipped phones, but I guess when ordinary people do it, it’s a problem..
http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=speakerphone+eavesdropping
October 30th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
nice…
It turns out the decision to make the banks whole wasn’t AIG’s. It was made by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, back when its president was the current U.S. Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, and its chairman was Goldman Sachs director Stephen Friedman. (Friedman resigned from the New York Fed in May, after the Wall Street Journal reported he had bought more than 50,000 shares of Goldman stock following AIG’s takeover.)
Before AIG was seized, its executives had been negotiating for months with the banks, trying to get them to accept discounts of as much as 40 cents on the dollar, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Fed was on the side of the banks, and GS, in particular…omg, gasp, gasp
October 30th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I’m with you Harry. This last week has had the feel of another round of deleveraging. Someone pulled the plug on Monday at about 11AM. Would like to know what the catalyst was. Suspect someone knows something about something that we don’t know about.
btw, I got into SDS, SCC & SKF based on your earlier comments. Thanks for making me some money!
October 30th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Wes Schott Says:
“(Friedman resigned from the New York Fed in May, after the Wall Street Journal reported he had bought more than 50,000 shares of Goldman stock following AIG’s takeover.)”
In an honest world, Friedman would be in jail right now. Tell me how this cannot be insider trading. They are all F@#king crooks!
October 30th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
bsneath –
correcto mundo
more fundamentally than this being a financial crisis,
it is one big freakin’ moral crisis, and it has been building for years
October 30th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
“Friedman resigned from the New York Fed in May, after the Wall Street Journal reported he had bought more than 50,000 shares of Goldman stock following AIG’s takeover”
doesn’t mean he did anything wrong- does it?
lol
what a gig that dude had- director- knowing that GS would be covered- easy $$$$-
these people aren’t smart- just connected
October 30th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
The more I think about it, Stephen Friedman should be held as a test case on the honesty and integrity of our society. Sort of the present day Polanski, if you can follow my convoluted logic on this.
Here is an individual who, at the very height of a global financial crisis, and who is in an important position of public service and who therefore carries on his shoulders the immense burden of looking out after the best interests of the public, apparently (I don’t want to get sued) elects instead to trade on his insider knowledge and buys 50,000 shares of Goldman Sachs for personal gain.
This is absolutely outrageous. His fortune amassed from this transaction was at the expense of a loss by someone else. That someone else could very well have been a pension fund, a college endowment or some retiree’s 401K.
Yet, what happens to Mr. Friedman who I presume is well thought of in the elite circles of finance? He resigns from his position and quietly goes on his way.
What if Mr. Friedman were perhaps from Sri Lanka? Do you think he would have been given a bye?
What if he were you and you traded on information that you learned at the office. Would you get away with it? Fuck no you wouldn’t.
This is really a travesty. If Friedman’s actions are not investigated, but swept under the rug, then why should ANYONE IN THIS COUNTRY BE HONEST IN ANY OF THEIR ENDEAVORS?
This just totally sucks!
October 30th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
bsneath, it is the internal advance decline line it has been in delcine for over a month, that internal weight is finally pulling the amazons and apple’s down, the only thing not broke yet is copper and oil can always go back up and retest the 81 ish level………………………i run a dozen fake portfolio’s with approx ten stocks per portfolio, same dollar size, on a monthly basis, like I have a few what if’s for August 8th when we got a huge increase in PMI or something, it was an expansion day, in that folio were the ten strongest stock over a hundred bucks that are loved by all, equal weighted, the high a week ago was a 13.5% gain, it’s now at 9%, if you took on double etf’s at the low, like uwm, the russell 2k you’re down almost 25% from you’r peak 7 days………..i got a basket of all those crap stocks that have gone ballistic, it has lost 80% in two weeks, of course it’s still up 220% lol………….it all depends on how people like BR decide to let things ride or put money back too work………….any trader has taken alot of the gains off the table, gains like these are unsustainable
October 30th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
CNBC Headline
“Why Real Estate May Be Better Investment Than Stocks Now”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/33289780
wow- deja vu all over again-
but- it has been a few months- memories fade- lol
October 30th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Finishing up “The Science of Fear,” which is pretty good at explaining why a random child kidnapping 1000s of miles from my life freaks me out and how we’re all going to die of diabetes or car wrecks rather than terror attacks or global warming.
Then I think for fun I’ll pick up “Driving Like Crazy: Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-Bending,” by P.J. O’Rourke. I’m not at all a car person (I drive a boring Toyota) but love reading C/D during workouts at the gym. Sure beats watching the schlock on TV. I have no idea how people can stomach CNBC & the like.
Am trying to figure out the who and where can I get of a saxophone/piano jazz duet on my local radio station a few days ago but a playlist is not available on the station website.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Obama will have a victory over the Military Industrial Complex/Lobby when he slashes the Pentagon’s budget by half. Anything less is a Pyrrhic victory, at best.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
This, from the WSJ, is another reason that the US might end up, like BR says, as another Japan:
“A coveted visa program that feeds skilled workers to top-tier U.S. technology companies and universities is on track to leave thousands of spots unfilled for the first time since 2003, a sign of how the weak economy has eroded employment even among highly trained professionals.
The program, known as H-1B, has been a mainstay of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, where many companies have come to depend on securing visas for computer programmers from India or engineers from China. Last year, even as the recession began to bite, employers snapped up the 65,000 visas available in just one day. This year, however, as of Sept. 25 — nearly six months after the U.S. government began accepting applications — only 46,700 petitions had been filed.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125677268735914549.html
~Any economic system dependent on growth (as is ours, since its inception) will crash when population stops growing, as would be happening in the US, except for immigration. If immigration becomes emigration, the gig is up. Lou Dobbs will be happy, for awhile, until his bosses realize there’s nothing left to report, and he suffers a cruelly ironic, but deserved, fate of having to look outside the US for a job.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
The wise man sees in the misfortune of others what he should avoid.
- Marcus Aurelius 121-80 AD, Roman Emperor, Philosopher
October 30th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Why the Goldman Sachs-AIG Story Won’t Go Away: Jonathan Weil
“But why the rush to pay the banks in full once Geithner’s team took over the talks? The public has never gotten satisfactory answers, notwithstanding that the government’s commitment to AIG now stands at about $182 billion.
Goldman’s chief financial officer, David Viniar, said in March. “There would have been no credit losses if AIG had failed.”
Then again, Viniar is the same guy who this month made the ridiculous claim that Goldman doesn’t have a too-big-to-fail guarantee from the government. Goldman has refused to identify who the counterparties were on the other side of its hedges, rendering Viniar’s statement in March unverifiable.”
October 30th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
well Marcus- explain how we can invade countries without a big military budget-
sheeeeesh-
next thing you know- you’ll be saying we need to re-think the war on terror and the war on drugs
October 30th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
The Curmudgeon Says:
~Any economic system dependent on growth (as is ours, since its inception) will crash when population stops growing, as would be happening in the US, except for immigration. If immigration becomes emigration, the gig is up. Lou Dobbs will be happy, for awhile, until his bosses realize there’s nothing left to report, and he suffers a cruelly ironic, but deserved, fate of having to look outside the US for a job.
You are right on. We have not only been living off of other country’s money, we have been living off of their talent as well. So many of the technological breakthroughs of the past decades have come from talented immigrants. Now for us to not be able to even fill the existing H-1B visas is a scary proposition (and one Mr. Dobbs does not understand at all.)
October 30th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I read the 5 Nightmares…then said the only one that looked like it made any sense was number 4…turned out to be Barry…good job. I would add to it that we could turn out to be Japan on steroids given our lack of savings and sheer size in the global economy.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601014&sid=anNG9T__.c_M
Paul Tudor Jones Says Now Is Time, Place for Gold as an Asset
“I have never been a gold bug,” Jones, whose company manages about $11.6 billion out of Greenwich, Connecticut, told investors in an Oct. 15 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. “It is just an asset that, like everything else in life, has its time and place. And now is that time.”
….I did see the Fast Money video posted yesterday where the “Bold Traders” smirked there little asses off at David Rosenberg’s pragmatic view…I wonder how much money they lost today?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1312665355&play=1
October 30th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,570469,00.html?test=latestnews
WASHINGTON — Two years ago, a United Nations scientific panel won the Nobel Peace Prize after concluding that global warming is “unequivocal” and is “very likely” caused by man.
Then came a development unforeseen by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC: Data suggested that Earth’s temperature was beginning to drop.
…More of the same unanswerable fight…both sides “know” they are right…I would compare it to just another religion at this stage….
October 30th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
“5 Nightmares” before Halloween. Seemed fitting.
Of the five, only your piece refers to a deflationary environment. “even though they’re not lending as they’re supposed to do.” The FED is going to pay them a better interest rate than mom and dad can get to sit on all that money. If not, then we’ll have the second shoe drop; velocity.
October 30th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Steve Barry Says:
October 30th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I read the 5 Nightmares…then said the only one that looked like it made any sense was number 4…turned out to be Barry…good job. I would add to it that we could turn out to be Japan on steroids given our lack of savings and sheer size in the global economy.
I think we are going to have a 4 – 5.
We are in 4 today which is ironic because the policy makers said before the crash that we would never follow the mistakes made by Japan and yet, as Barry points out, we are doing exactly the same things with the change in accounting rules and federal subsidies keeping the zombie banks alive.
But your point is well taken that we are different from Japan in that we are an importer, not an exporter and a spender, not a saver. Eventually this will have to result in a much weakened dollar, lower living standards and a collective WTF on the part of the people when everything that is traded globally (food, oil, etc.) costs orders of magnitude more than they do today.
We also need to consider what is going to happen when taxes are eventually raised to balance the federal books and how will these taxes be assessed? Will the middle class be required to absorb the burden though a value added tax at the same time that the costs of any and every commodity good has gone through the roof?
October 30th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
BinT, re: Global warming
There’s no such thing as a sure thing. However, the chances that we’ve made a substantial negative impact on the environment in general and the climate, specifically, since the Industrial Revolution, are better than 50-50 in my view. The conservative reaction (and by “conservative” I don’t mean what passes for political conservatism nowadays) would be to minimize the potential risk that we have done so. Too bad there’s no profit (as opposed to benefit) in mitigating the potential.
On a related note, here’s an often overlooked impact resulting from our unprecedented release of CO2 into our atmosphere:
http://royalsociety.org/document.asp?id=3249
October 30th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Phenomenal Exclusive with Arianna Huffington:
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/knowledge/interview-knowledge/arianna-huffington-we-do-not-live-in-an-age-of-misinformation/?p=3180/
S&P 400?
Is David Tice the John the Baptist of Wall Street?:
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/breaking-news/economy/is-david-tice-the-john-the-baptist-of-wall-street/?p=3162/
Exclusive Interview: Options Trader Price Headley Shares His Trading Lessons:
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/knowledge/interview-knowledge/exclusive-interview-options-trader-price-headley-shares-his-trading-lessons/?p=3139/
October 30th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
In another encouraging sign for the economic recovery, Megan Fox Buzz reports that Megan Fox has been contemplating a 14 – 28% increase (one or two more) in her number of tattoos.
http://meganfoxbuzz.com/tattoos/
Now, that’s what we call blue-green shoots.
PS: I continue to be amazed that you peeps ascribe enough legitimacy to this money-printed reflationary recovery and the overall US economic system of intractable trade and fiscal imbalances that you take these threads so seriously.
October 30th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Barry:
Re: Mortgage Payments Declined in Third Quarter
I’ve seen 2 columns in the WSJ, including this one, this week that hail the reduction in mortgage payments as a potential powerful force going forward. I think that both writers miss the mark in their conclusions. Mortgage payments represent (a portion) of a homeowner’s cost of shelter. Everyone has a cost of shelter, whether in the form of mortgage payments or rent payments. It’s highly likely that those individuals who are shedding their mortgage payments are simply transferring those payments to rent payments. They aren’t magically relieved of the cost to provide shelter to their families in the future.
In fact, it’s possible/likely that their cost of shelter will actually increase if the increasingly normal delinquent-soon-to-be-foreclosed-upon borrower holds: no mortgage payments for xxx months, foreclosure, former homeowner must vacate premises to new digs where, most likely, she has a monthly rent payment due (and a newly-dinged credit profile). So, they actually go from no cost of shelter for a period of months (until foreclosure), to having a required monthly shelter payment.
Who’s with me?
J
October 30th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
TGCNBCS -”that you take these threads so seriously.” HEY!!!! I am a Serious person, so pthththththt!!!
Also, who is Megan Fox? And how much is a 14-28% tattoo increase for her – Now these are the things we NEED to know.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Mangy Mutt! How are you, Doggy (franklin420d)?
Megan Fox is widely described as a hottie, having starred in the Tranformers movie franchise, the first of which I had the misfortune of seeing. She has 7 known tattoos so 1 or 2 more would be a 14 – 28% increase. What can I say…I’m a numbers man.
When I think of America these days, I think of fantasy football, peopleofwalmart.com, and Megan Fox and her 7 known tattoos.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Until we have enough engineers to build a Death Star, I’d say slash the military budgets, it’s just a big wack a mole game. Once our engineers have reached critical mass however, Watch out!
October 30th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
My favorite story of the week has got to be that the gubermint is giving people a 5000 dollar tax credit to buy a golf cart http://contraryriches.blogspot.com/2009/10/govt-giving-ya-5000-smackers-to-buy.html
October 30th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
well over @ fannie-
delinquencies have gone parabolic-
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/10/fannie-mae-delinquencies-increase.html
awesome-
and here’s ZH’s take on the same phenomena-
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fannie-maie-seriously-delinquent-rate-hockeysticks-445-417-august-157-august-2008
but the good news is- by not paying the mortgage- look at all the freed up cash to shop- you know- at Walmart and shit
October 30th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
gdp numbers?
http://baselinescenario.com/2009/10/30/baseline-scenario-october-30-2009/
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/10/fed-watch-sustainable-growth.html
silver spoons over time?
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/10/the-silver-spoon-in-ancient-societies.html
traders as second class members in the market?
http://www.finreg21.com/news/lawmaker-urges-dark-pool-restrictions-stop-move-a-%E2%80%98trader%E2%80%99s-market%E2%80%99
October 30th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
cre crash?
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/10/martin-wolf-interview-wilbur-ross-on.html
cit to file bankruptcy?
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/10/report-cit-to-file-bankruptcy-on-sunday.html
October 30th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
” 5 Nightmare (not forecasts) Scenarios for the Economy (MoneyWatch)”
The nightmare has already occurred (over the past forty years) for the vast majority of Americans. What institution in this country has NOT been trashed by the parasites in financial services?; our manufacturing economy exported; education, a joke; health care, a travesty; the legal system, for sale; the political system, sold; financial services, itself, completely and utterly corrupt.
So, we hear time and again from those in the financial services industry who are now afraid that they might lose all their hard earned money. Well, ya know what, it all works out in the end. The bill for your free lunch is coming due!
October 30th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
“…growing up in the ’80s. I guess it’s a little different now with the Internet and information being available, but in the ’80s, you would have no clue of nothing but what you saw on 10 channels on TV…”
http://www.avclub.com/articles/rza,34255/
RZA, another dumb-ass pop “artist” who doesn’t read.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
impermanence Says:
“So, we hear time and again from those in the financial services industry who are now afraid that they might lose all their hard earned money.”
_______
Hard earned?
October 30th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Vanguard is slowing withdrawals! I made a withdrawal from Vanguard a week ago, normally I RECEIVE the check in 4 business days. I checked today and my withdrawal is still in process!!!! WTF???!!! They held it until month end, normally it’s a 1 day turnaround because I receive a check, not a transfer, easily within a week.
Big, conservative Vanguard is holding individual disbursements a week til monthend. They have never done that before, weird. Why would they do that?
October 30th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
cash flow problems as vanguard?
October 30th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
The GS/AIG story is very interesting. We’ll see what comes out of it.
Meanwhile, as markets move up and down almost daily, an investor can only succeed if they have a way to time the market.
Consider http://invetrics.com
Its daily DJIA index trading signal is up a respectable 65% for the year (as of October 29, 2009) and it is free of charge for individual investors.
October 31st, 2009 at 12:28 am
Looks like Fidelity is having the problems, too:
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE59T4H420091030
My single biggest concern through the crisis has been how paltry SIPC will be if one of the big boys goes under. My guess is that it is levereged about like Ambac or MBIA.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:08 am
Today’s lead story:
Nine U.S. banks seized in largest one-day haul
By Sam Mircovich and Edwin Chan Sam Mircovich And Edwin Chan
1 hr 55 mins ago
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. authorities seized nine failed banks on Friday, the most in a single day since the financial crisis began and the latest stark sign that substantial parts of the nation’s banking industry are being crippled by bad loans.
The move brought the total number of failed banks in 2009 to 115 — their highest annual level since 1992 — with analysts expecting more to come. Among the lenders seized Friday was Los Angeles-based California National Bank, in what was the fourth-largest U.S. bank failure this year.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:29 am
Bruce in TN, …sigh… So, the probability of global warming is too low to justify strong precautionary measures because the temperature isn’t hitting new highs every day? You’re killing me….
>> “A coveted visa program that feeds skilled workers to top-tier U.S. technology companies and universities is on track to leave thousands of spots unfilled for the first time since 2003, a sign of how the weak economy has eroded employment even among highly trained professionals.
Curmudgeon, what’s funny about that is the way it’s written, with the phrase “leave thousands of spots unfilled”. At first, I interpreted “spots” as “jobs”, because industry complains (ad nauseum) about not being able fill jobs. Anyway…
Hypothesis: Besides the recession, another factor might be at work: Companies might’ve moved enough of the development work overseas — and created enough of an offshoring infrastructure — such that they don’t need more H1B’s onshore now anymore! … Okay, maybe GDII is the bigger factor right now. But, it’s accelerating a move to an equilibrium where we don’t need more people over here. All the labs and development continue to move offshore.
October 31st, 2009 at 3:31 am
@ rktbrkr
Ahh, this is why I counsel people to be very careful of mutual funds. They are great when things are good but when times of crisis come they are dangerously dumb money.
The propaganda that mutual funds are run but ’smart money managers’ is just that. The reason is because in times of crisis the fund is run by cash outs. The more people start the vicious circle of cashing out the more the money managers hands are tied. They have to sell in order to meet distributions. If cash outs exceed cash on hand then funds have to sell stock. This lowers the price of stock and affects the NAV of the funds if the sales are big enough and across enough funds. This then causes more people to cash out which continues the vicious circle
Now that people’s unemployment checks are running out there is probably millions of folks dipping into their long term savings. That is probably why you are seeing a slowdown in payouts. Because these funds tend to have more shares on hand than the average daily volume of pretty much every stock they hold they are really in a dilemma if they try to cash out of the market to meet distributions.
So beware folks. In times of crisis mutual funds can be the dumbest money on Wall Street because they are beholden to the herd and this is he portion of the herd that does not follow the markets closely except what they read in their monthly statement of accounts
October 31st, 2009 at 4:14 am
US Defense Bill would pay Taliban to switch sides:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/28/afghanistan.taliban.pay/
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSN2796610._CH_.2400
Is this better or worse than the use of our tax dollars to bail out the financial parasites that enslave us?
I’m sure those taliban soldiers won’t use the money against us. . .ahem . . . Iran ring a bell?
The stupidity of humanity is confounding at times.
October 31st, 2009 at 5:47 am
First site:
Link was down when I tried to click on it just now but it might come back up again later
Dangerous Side Effects of Ultra-Easy Money
A good example of why you should trust the market over ‘politicians’. No matter how smart you perceive them to be:
PDF warning:
Economic Forecasts from
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
2007 & 2008
May 17, 2007: “The effects of the troubles in the subprime sector
on the broader housing market will likely be limited, and we do not
expect significant spillovers from the subprime market to the rest
of the economy, or to the financial system.”
July 18, 2007: “If energy prices level off as currently anticipated,
overall inflation should slow to a pace close to that of core inflation
in coming quarters.”
October 15, 2007: “The banking system is healthy… Rather than
becoming more crisis prone, the financial system is likely to
emerge from this episode healthier and more stable than before.”
I hate to pick on Ben, he seems quite likeable. It wasn’t the same with Greenspanic. He was easy to go after because he had an “I’m the Emperor and this is the way it is going to be” air about him. At least Bernanke comes across as someone who doesn’t really want to hurt you while fulfilling the banking agenda. That said, I do have to constantly remind myself that these guys are economic sociopaths who want to get the population of ‘common men’ to a place they don’t want to be themselves.
When I remember that, my sympathy evaporates and I am back to digging in the muck in an effort to put these guys back where they belong
October 31st, 2009 at 6:46 am
It sounds like the problem at Fidelity might be caused by the fact that they have laid off thousands of people, and they usually lay off the peons who process the cash-out requests not the portfolio managers.
Also, I know a few folks who have been cashing out their mutual funds as the rally progressed, maybe investors who were burned in 2001 and 2008 are getting smarter and cashing out before the next crash.
It is probably a combination of things, fewer employees, people cashing out of fear or living expenses, Fidelity not wanting to create a self fulfilling run on their portfolios.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:08 am
http://briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicReleases/income.htm
Key Factors
None of the data in the personal income and spending release is new as the September data was included in the quarterly averages found in the Q3 GDP report.
•That said, the income data looks much weaker when transfer receipts (Social Security, disability, and unemployment benefits) are stripped from the total receipts. This figure better represents labor income and, in real terms, fell 0.3% in September after declining at the same rate as August.
•The decline in labor income does not bode well for future spending and a continued high unemployment rate will put further downward pressures on wages.
•The decline in consumption expenditures was due to the severe drop off in motor vehicle spending after the Cash for Clunkers stimulus plan ran its course in August.
•Excluding motor vehicle spending, personal consumption would have increased a healthy 0.3%.
•The Fed tries to maintain a target core PCE inflation rate between 1.5% and 2.0%. At 1.3%, the Fed will not be worried about increasing the fed funds rate anytime soon.
…Yes, browsing through the makeup of the personal spending numbers, it appears Harry was right about his business, and by extension other businesses, that consumers are pulling back rather than loosening the pursestrings…
More rain today in East Tennessee…
October 31st, 2009 at 8:25 am
wunsacon:
You prove the point. Both sides see it as religion now. You are swimming in the kool-aid too.
You can’t help it.
B in T
October 31st, 2009 at 8:41 am
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aoRYl03Rw1_g
Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) — Billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross Jr., said today the U.S. is in the beginning of a “huge crash in commercial real estate.”
“All of the components of real estate value are going in the wrong direction simultaneously,” said Ross, one of nine money managers participating in a government program to remove toxic assets from bank balance sheets. “Occupancy rates are going down. Rent rates are going down and the capitalization rate — the return that investors are demanding to buy a property — are going up.”
U.S. commercial property sales are forecast to fall to the lowest in almost two decades as the industry endures its worst slump since the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s, according to property research firm Real Capital Analytics Inc. The Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Indices already have fallen almost 41 percent since October 2007, Moody’s Investors Service said Oct. 19.
Billionaire George Soros, speaking today at a lecture organized by the Central European University in Budapest, said a “bloodletting” may be coming for leveraged buyouts and commercial real estate.
“The American consumer will no longer be able to serve as the motor for the world economy,” said Soros, 79.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:02 am
how are the money market funds different than the funds that make up 401K? if they are the same, then the problems affecting funds will affect your 401k (ok 20.5k). it also sounds like a bank run. only does any thing really protect it?
October 31st, 2009 at 9:08 am
bman: What if we supplanted a military of helping people (domestic and foreign) onto, for the meantime and for good once the rest of the world catches on to it, the existing one and use it to aid any country, province, island, state, county anywhere that needs disaster relief, forest fire help, earthquake shelter and logistics, hurricane devastation clean-up and re-build, levee installation, tsunami relief, mud-slde recovery and removal, etc. Let this part of the military budget grow while the part that funds destruction and killing becomes replaced over time. Who would need an army if everyone was helping each other out all over the planet and things were POSITIVE and conducive to growth for the species AND the planet? Notwithstanding if and when that eventually could happen, at least it’s a step in the right direction.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:30 am
I’ve thought the same thing mathman, why don’t we just set up a budget and build roads, hospitals, schools, electric grid, and water system in afghan…………a simple kiss plan, like we will be here ten years and build xyz, and try not too kill folks, lol,…………what would happen? IMHO, what happened in IRAQ was that the strong emotion of HATE finally prevailed, as a whole society hated dying and being in total confusion day after day after day, so it was the social pressure of the whole that changed things. The iraqi’s fianally concluded, these guys f’d up, yet, as much as we hate them for it and what they did they are in fact trying to make it better, and trying to help folks, as opposed too insurgents killing and others bombing………….the social pressure prevailed, u could not get enough recruits on the insurgent side, it was the dying side and people kind of like too live………the social pressure ended up being okay, help us but then u need to go, as long as u stick with that plan we are cool……….my view is afghan will end up the same, the taliban prevails due to the fact a large portion of people are not educated, and cut off from communication of the rest of the world, bomb them with cell phones, laptops, and wireless infrastucture is my motto
October 31st, 2009 at 9:37 am
Vanguard has a rep as a conservative, low cost operation and I requested my cash out THE DAY HARRY CALLED THE TOP so they should have had no problems selling that day. I wonder how much of yesterday was month end selling vs reaction to economic reports – which were not as greenshooty as the CNBC pimps portrayed.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:40 am
saturday reading, viewing
we’ve seen the future, and it’s unemployed http://bit.ly/2yuh1Y
it’s all one way, it’s all one trade, no diversification, according to the Braveheart of fund managers. http://bit.ly/1w1h0o
October 31st, 2009 at 10:05 am
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man – John Perkins
Renegade by Richard Wolffe
Republican Gomorrah by Max Blumenthal
Every Young Man’s Dream by Morry Frank
October 31st, 2009 at 10:09 am
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8ce10586-c4fc-11de-8d54-00144feab49a.html
Japanese prices fall sharply
By Justine Lau in Hong Kong
Published: October 30 2009 03:03 | Last updated: October 30 2009 03:03
Japanese consumer prices continued to drop sharply in September, building further pressure for the central bank to take action to curb the fall.
Core consumer prices excluding fresh food dropped 2.3 per cent last month from a year ago, slightly lower than the record 2.4 per cent fall in August, according to data released by the Statistics Bureau on Friday.
….But we are not Japan…but we are not Japan…but we are not Japan….etc.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:41 am
Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme
- Public Version -
http://www.sec.gov/news/studies/2009/oig-509.pdf
pdf file 477 pages
October 31st, 2009 at 11:31 am
Disappearing glaciers, thinning ice. Yep, Bruce, must be the Koolaid. If I’d only stop drinking it in favor of the water on tap at the “Fox & Friends” bar you patronize, I’d see everything clearly.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:49 am
Sorry for my excessive sarcasm, Bruce. It’s borne of my frustration with the climate “skeptics” who come up with one “justification” after another not to do anything, where said justification after some analysis/research always led me to dead-ends. (I was shooting for a “snark” but it came out a little too antagonizing.)
October 31st, 2009 at 11:59 am
wunsacon-
i don’t really buy into the whole global warming thing either- especially that it is man made- what were the Inuit thinking when the sea started to rise and temperatures starting to warm? possibly that they should cut down on their camp fires- lol-
however – i like things nice and clean- air and water and land- so any legislation which suppresses polluting in my book is ok-
if it helps the global warming crowd- so be it
October 31st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
the problem with global warming is that it’s turned into a political issue instead of a scientific issue. follow the money.
October 31st, 2009 at 12:17 pm
more on GDP
http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-now.html
October 31st, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Wunsacon -
You should never apologize to a Republican, a Libertarian, or a Southerner, whether seriously, half-seriously, or in jest. Never ever ever.
The great tragedy with left-wing wimps in this country is that they try to justify policy arguments based on the practical rather than the philosophical content of their arguments. “Health care reform will lower health care costs of corporations.” “Cap and trade is necessary because or rising global temperatures.” It is lunacy.
Why don’t you left-wing wimps just say:
1. In a country where the annual defense spending has been approaching upwards of $1 trillion, not including the cost of two wars, all Americans deserve free healthcare coverage paid for by the likes of Larry Kudlow.
2. Those old margarine commercials taught us not to fool with Mother Nature. Whether or not it leads to higher temperatures, spewing carbon emissions through power generation and manufacturing adds a significant element of man-made risk (clearly of a much greater magnitude than campfires, ahab) to a complex system that is fundamental to life on Earth. Is that an element of risk we all want to take? Some do, some don’t. I don’t. Majority wins. By electoral proxy, the decision to act on “climate change” was already made on November 4, 2008. End of discussion. Case closed. You have a supermajority in the House, 60 Democrats in the Senate, and Obama in the White House. Ram the fucking legislation down their throats and give them the middle finger.
You US left-wingers need to develop a spine.
The Great CNBC Sucks
October 31st, 2009 at 12:50 pm
CNBC sucks: correct diagnosis.
October 31st, 2009 at 1:09 pm
CNBCS-
the earth will be here with or without us- i am not at all certain that are tiny little time frame of existence means much to systems that stretch into billions of years-
when people talk of climate change and global warming they are expressing a desire to keep things exactly as they are now- mountains- shorelines-glaciers-ice caps- etc- etc- etc-
but- from the time frames of solar systems- these things will change regardless of our desire to keep them static-
and if after suppressing everything- and if we could- even the use of fire- which is where all our problems start- as opined by the late great Kurt Vonnegut Jr-
and the earth continued to warm- what then oh Great One
October 31st, 2009 at 1:42 pm
“You US left-winger need to develop a spine.”
that’s oxymoronic. among the definition of liberal, before the word was turned into a stigma, are:
- open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.
- characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts:
Obama wins by selling change and kumbaya. but its change you’ll never get, especially in D.C.
October 31st, 2009 at 1:43 pm
this: “…Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, and Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, the banking committee’s top Republican, plan to consider stripping commercial banks’ power to appoint regional Fed presidents as part of an overhaul of regulation.
Allowing banks to select their supervisors is “absolutely backwards,” Dodd said this month, without mentioning Fed interest-rate policy.
“There is an inherent conflict of interest in the selection of reserve presidents,” Shelby said in an Oct. 14 interview.
Commercial Banks
Commercial banks currently elect two-thirds of regional- bank directors, who choose presidents of the regional banks. The Fed’s Washington-based governors pick the other third of the directors in each regional bank…”
from http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aIww4fZIKpRM
it’s funny that peep can wail and caterwaul about ‘public co.s’’s CEOs picking the Boards(of Directors) that approve their, the CEOs, pay packages, but, few, can see the parallel when drawn to the FedRes..
LSS: the whole ‘idea’ of FedRes ‘independence’ is a, grand, canard..
they, the FedRes, should prove otherwise and give up the ‘Legal Tender’ status of their vaunted currency–you know, as a show of ‘good faith’.. as iifff..
peep would do well spending some time understanding http://themoneymasters.com/ + http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=the+money+masters
it’s, only, your Slavery at stake..
October 31st, 2009 at 1:54 pm
correction – 1:09 post-
i am not at all certain that OUR tiny little time frame of existence means much to systems that stretch into billions of years
October 31st, 2009 at 1:58 pm
ahab, did anything that I wrote appear to you as if I were concerned about anything than my own personal self-interest?
October 31st, 2009 at 2:19 pm
“when people talk of climate change and global warming they are expressing a desire to keep things exactly as they are now- mountains- shorelines-glaciers-”
project much there ahab? i’m going to off myself today, since i’m going to die eventually anyway so why even bother.
environmentalists are very much like credit card consumers, they have no wealth or power to lobby, that’s why they’re always bent over. mother nature doesn’t have lobbyists. she doesn’t have money to fund non-profit groups pretending to be independent.
when you put ice cubes into a drink, it melts very slowly, then it’s exponentially fast. when will that happen? maybe never, maybe next year. i’m not going to give up my car or air conditioning, but i’m not foolish enough to think that the industrial revolution doesn’t contribute to climate change. contribute, not the cause of global warming. climate change is not tomorrow’s business or even next decade. it’s a quaint problem when we have the financial crisis. who cares about melting glaciers when you can’t pay the mortgage, or put food on your family, to quote W.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Global Warming (with caps) is neither a scientific nor a political issue. It’s a tribal one.
To be a member of our tribe you have to believe (or at least publicly claim to believe) in Global Warming. Whether it’s completely, partially true, untrue, or irrelevant does not matter in the least. If anything, it HELPS if it’s unbelievable and mocked (as it helps define the tribe’s “us versus them” mentality).
If you run for Town Dog Catcher you are asked, “what is your stance on (not the environment but) Global Warming”? “What is your stance on (not abortion but) Pro Choice”? Nobody believes the dog catcher has any control or influence over these matters. It’s simply the secret handshake — whose side are you on? If you refuse to answer because the question has no bearing on the position, then you’re on NOBODY’S side — so you answer whatever the majority of voters in your town say and get elected because you’re “one of us.”
What you’re seeing here folks, is Religion in its formative stages.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:47 pm
“i’m going to off myself today, since i’m going to die eventually anyway so why even bother.”
well hue- didn’t mean to send you over the edge-lol-
but really- are we really all that? we must think we are pretty omnipotent to make even the slightest difference in the march of time that spans billions of years-
it is about us and keeping the climate, the flora and fauna as WE think it should be- because it is all that we know-
i am under no illusion that anything we do will make one difference to how this earth evolves and ages- whether we botch it for 10,000 years or 1,000,000 years- it is still insignificant-
remember- we don’t need to save the earth- it was here before us- it will be here after us- when you here that refrain it only means-
“save the earth” as how we know it- but hue-
the earth warms and cools without us- glaciers come and go- why so disheartening? as i have opined before- i don’t mind legislation to suppress pollution because i like a clean environment- but THAT’S what i like- the earth is indifferent-
and as i said- were the Inuit wringing their hands about the warmer days and the disappearance of the Bering land bridge?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_land_bridge
October 31st, 2009 at 2:55 pm
@Ahab — Do I even DARE to mention that humans are PART of the environment?
October 31st, 2009 at 3:05 pm
bergsten-
sorry dude- we are in charge of everything- masters of the environment and every living and non-living thing-
lol-
if i get too much further out there on my train of thought from my last post i will spontaneously combust while sitting in a lotus position-
http://www.clubfuji.com/Ash/BurningMonk.jpg
it’s all impermanence
October 31st, 2009 at 3:34 pm
not sure about how we got on global warming. but consider this. if the normal operations of the environment is with in 2 or 3 percentage points of the tipping point, all human activity has to do is add an additional percent or 2 to accomplish the deed. i am more concerned about the health conditions that we add when some thing that doesn’t exist in nature. the other half is that at some point any finite resource will run out (ex oil. it takes longer to get more, and it will be a lot more expensive to get what we haven’t already gotten). and consider this, the cause of the large dust storms was man. its always dry in some parts of the country (OK and TX for example) but only because we didn’t properly manage the fields we created those monsters.
October 31st, 2009 at 3:35 pm
ahab, i hope you got my offing myself thing as your attitude about climate change.
saving the earth is not my argument, and you’re making the cartoon out of the climate change argument. of course, we’re not saving the earth, we’re saving the earth for our own consumption. the earth was here long before us and long after us.
humans may not be omnipotent, but we’ve have done a lot to the earth in our nanosecond here. i don’t think dinosaurs smokes cigarettes, pour cement over the earth to drive hummers and lived in mcdinomansions. the same scientists who put men on the moon, are now telling us we are contributing to climate change. i chose to believe them. scientists can measure carbon emissions, and CO2 is being at such amount that is changing the ocean chemistry, destroying coral reefs and habitats. even the Bushies were shocked about that. if we worried that banks are interconnected, natural habitats are even more.
Easter Island used to have forests, and they cut down to trees and used them to move rocks and put up statues of human heads. of course, climate and environmental changes attributed to the deforestation. as they chopped down that last patch of trees, Easter islanders were thinking, the forest is dying anyway, trees come and go, are we so omnipotent? The stone heads are still there, and little else.
climate change is a objective issue. we chose to make it subjective, with tribal and political arguments. we used to believe the earth was flat. the earth is round was a religion.
October 31st, 2009 at 3:39 pm
willid3, blame wuscason and bruuuuuce. one tangent here turn into long threads …
my cHokies laid an egg Thursday night at home no less, so i’m only keeping an eye on the games today for the benefit of my football pool. Go Cowboys over the Horns.
October 31st, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Hue, not really a problem. just thought i was some thing different for what is mostly about economics. but i guess it is related too
October 31st, 2009 at 3:54 pm
climate change = politics = cap and trade = economics
October 31st, 2009 at 4:07 pm
from the way this reads.
http://www.sipc.org/who/who.cfm
you would think the SIPC only really works if assets are stolen. and only from brokerage houses. if it really even works of course
October 31st, 2009 at 6:47 pm
check this link out about the ongoing disintegration of the physical gold market
http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/10/gold-market-reaching-breaking-point.html
there’s a run building here. everyone wants to take delivery. this is surely going to blow up the gold market. don’t know what it will do to the rest of the financial system.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:24 pm
CNBC, I hear what you’re saying. But, I see no reason to have any more heated debates over GW. It’s not going to change Bruce’s mind. (Or ahab’s.) They’re adults. If they think something is wrong with the basic science that CO2 allows shorter-wave radiation thru but traps longer-wave radiation (after bouncing off the earth), they can google to their hearts’ content, ask themselves questions like “how the surface of Venus can be 200 degrees hotter than Mercury?”, etc., and decide for themselves. I don’t think in all my years of debating anyone about anything that anyone has ever changed their minds based on what I’ve said.
If I held office, I’d vote to tax CO2 emissions, regardless of what Bruce thinks. (And that’s what I want our government to do.) That’s all the spine I can muster.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:30 pm
One other thing that bugs me is when people trot out the “it’s a religious issue” argument. I happen to be atheist. It’s ironic that many people who believe in the “man-in-the-sky” tell me that because they disagree with me that *I* happen to be prone to irrational reasoning…
October 31st, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Wunsy — Don’t get bugged by other people. What I have realized is that we are a right-of-center nation that is unfortunately beyond repair. Not even a “left-wing” President like Obama can fix the place. However, Obama is useful for one sure thing: annoying those people who would be annoyed by Obama.
As a registered Republican with misanthropic tendencies, my plan is to relish every anti-Obama post that I read on this blog moving forward. It will give me great pleasure to know that our President is bugging somebody enough to make them spend the time and energy to write something on the Ritholtz blog. I hope people really hate Obama, because the greater their pain, the greater my pleasure. In some cases, I may even “heighten the pleasure” by following up with the question, “Is Obama annoying you?
” It’s gonna be a blast!
And so, the latest mtheme from The Great CNBC Sucks is born. Happy Halloween!
October 31st, 2009 at 10:18 pm
CNBC, you have a healthier attitude. And I’m trying to develop one. I.e., I’m trying not to be bugged and to instead “embrace doom, for fun and profit”.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:22 pm
@wunsacom — “I don’t think in all my years of debating anyone about anything that anyone has ever changed their minds based on what I’ve said.”
That’s the single smartest and truest thing I’ve read on the web, ever. Pity is, I already knew.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
ahab, just noticed your Berengia argument. ever heard of continental drift? http://bit.ly/2HbQQk
noboby on the climate change side argues that we’ve never had ice ages and extreme hot temperatures before humans. i don’t get this argument that if you believe in climate change, you believe that humans are omnipotent. oh well, not trying to change in heart or mind here, or even if it’s possible
wunsacon, when people trot out the religious argument, they really are religiously projecting their opposite point of view.
back to the Oregon USC game. Okie State blows.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:33 pm
@wunsacom 8:30pm — Athiesm is an (unprovable) belief too, and thus is also a religion. Sorry.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:39 pm
@wunsacom Your link (www.unknownliberal.org) seems broken…
October 31st, 2009 at 11:05 pm
The best thing out of all this is, if you ever visit my blog, you will know that I generate reasonably good traffic (1/130th of a Ritholtz!) of horny, impressionable, voting-age American men, to whom I deliver very simple, digestible, and unequivocal political messages. Ritholtz uses reason to try to enlighten his audience, while I go straight to “large br*asted women tend to be Democrats”. Over time, I have driven quite a bit of traffic to the Democratic Party Web site. I get remarkably few dissenting comments. And I don’t have to post too often.
I save humanity and Western civilization with each horny, impressionable male voter who visits my Web site, and I don’t have to try very hard.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:27 pm
i’ve seen the racks over at CNBCS. now that’s a religion, change i can believe in.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:55 am
I think my favorite argument about AGW was the moral one. How they stood at their pulpits and shook their fingers at us saying that 50 million people would die in 50 years if we did nothing to stop this ‘crisis’.
Meanwhile, 30 million innocent children will die this year for lack of about $70 billion in basic nutrition. It would also take about $2 billion dollars to put clean water wells across the entire continent of Africa saving God knows how many lives. But uncle Algore and the gang who can only see problems down the road are worried about the 50 million that will die in the future…..
……hypocrites
November 1st, 2009 at 3:16 am
India May Import Rice, Fueling ‘Panic,’ IRRI Says
Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) — India, the world’s second-largest rice grower, may become a net importer for the first time in 21 years in 2010, potentially sparking the kind of “panic” that sent prices to records in 2008, an agricultural economist said.
November 1st, 2009 at 3:36 am
come on common man, we never give rat’s ass about the third world. we’re talking about 50 million American lives. there’s not enough resources for everyone to consume like Americans. why do you think we never step into any wars/ genocide (rwanda/liberia/darfur), famine, or dictators in Africa (except that one short time in Somalia, which probably because we didn’t want to waste the aid). but we needed save Iraqis from Saddam? let’s not kid ourselves, we don’t even try to save the poor in America.
just like ahab, you’re missing the point, we’re not trying to save the earth, we’re trying to keep the earth in a state where we can still drive hummers and live in mcmansions.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:36 pm
more on goldman sachs
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/economy/story/77791.html
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/77788.html
November 1st, 2009 at 5:18 pm
The healthcare bill is national suicide.
http://theburningplatform.com/economy/the-nanny-state
November 1st, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Bears honor Payton at halftime
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQBO5qysH3oB_SAf_KlmUsM9u0ogD9BMV95O0
Walter Payton, the best football player. Ever.
P.S. While Favre plays for the Vikings, Emmitt Smith played for the Cardinals, Walter Payton would never have played for a Bear’s Divisional Rival. Ever.