Hotel Occupancy Rate: Just below 2008 Levels
Submitted by
CalculatedRisk on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 10:36am (352 comments)
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Finally, and
Thank god almighty pigged at last
Minor Family Hotels Files for Chapter 11 Protection | Business Wire
shill wrote:
As long as it's only a minor chain.....
Our goal is to complete this project, save taxpayers additional costs, and provide much needed jobs for the community as well as bolster local businesses by completing this first-class hotel,” said Chief Executive Officer Halsey Minor. “I am committed to seeing this through and the Chapter 11 process allows us to resolve the legal disputes delaying this important project for my hometown....
It is unfortunate that our lenders and the FDIC have forced us to take this step. However, the Chapter 11 process provides us with the most expeditious manner in which to resolve the litigation that has effectively shut down the project and put people out of work.
so why is it bad if consumers file BK?
Holy chit man these are some big numbers
GSC files for Chapter 11 - Pensions & Investments.
Infinity Business Group declares bankruptcy »
Local News »
TheTimesTribune.com, Corbin, KY
shill wrote:
Should have stuck with mining for gold.
Whenever the data looks bad just put on some S & G ...
Where have you gone, hotel RevPAR
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Woo, woo, woo) ...
shill wrote:
It's funny how after BS, Lehman, AIG, TARP, et al, XX,billion just doesn't seem as big as it used to....
DO YOU SEE IT NOW?
fredgraph.pdf - Google Docs
From the
thread:
mp wrote:
Isn't productivity supposed to fall simultaneously with the unemployment rate?
If UE isn't falling, but productivity is...
Tribune isn't a hotel but man if the creditors don't come around soon it's gonna be a monster.
Tribune Co. bankruptcy case gets mediator - Bankruptcy News - BankruptcyHome.com
More storm warnings: Old GM, GSC Group, Innkeepers, Tronox: Bankruptcy (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
noob goldberg wrote:
Yes, yes. Now, take the next step.
"If UE isn't falling, but productivity is"
Yer scurvy bilge rats, work harder and faster or Yer KEELHAUL bait!
mp wrote:
Why do I get the image of Wiley E. Coyote and that next step?
Going for a swim with the fishes, AMF
mp wrote:
Yep. Could be double dippy. Where's that damn dog?
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
AMF, you haven't used that for a long time.
mp wrote:
I see that in the past, the red and green lines have been inversely proportional, but the unit labor cost isn't changing while the output per hour is. Does this mean pricier labor has been replaced by cheaper labor as of late?
mp wrote:
Since unit labor costs won't increase, No pay raise for you. deflation in wages?
Layoffs redux
Rob Dawg wrote:
Lower productivity leads to--->
Higher unit labor costs, which leads to--->
Lower corporate profits, which leads to--->
Lower equity prices, and--->
Higher unemployment.
mp wrote:
The obvious explanation is that orders are drying up, so output per worker is drying up. It would feed positively into UE as workers are let go.
But since that chart is looking at YOY % change, I suppose we'll have to see if it bottoms before we can predict a full on contraction. The slope is certainly not pleasant at the moment.
Lehman Brothers rescue would have been unlawful, insists Bernanke | Business | The Guardian
Redacted
Lobbyist Ben Dover wrote:
I assume there was a missing
at the end of that comment, but (leaving off the "moochers") I think there is too much truth in this comment to dismiss. Everyone pays taxes; most are fairly well obscured as they are embedded in everyday transactions. The exceptions are income and property taxes. These are the ones we are most aware of.
The illusion of many non-income-tax paying citizens (and that is about 40% of the population) is that they don't have skin in the game, and treat it accordingly.
It's not that "taxes should hurt," but the system should encourage everyone to feel like they have some ownership in the decisions, and the outcomes.
•З‐‹ wrote:
Worse: http://economistsview.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b33869e20133f33ec2f3970b-800wi
Basel Too wrote:
Because senators are paid by the consumers' creditors to say it is. A senator can work up quite a red-faced outrage if the wages are right.
Steepening, narrowing economic pyramids are a feature of failing political structures for several reasons, some of which are self-reinforcing. Winners keep putting the screws to losers with increasing resources to drive their policy engines.
energyecon wrote:
Yeah but Bear Stearns, AIG, CITI, Bank of America, FNM, FRE, etc.. where.
hence the keyboard...
energyecon wrote:
I know, I just had to say it out loud, so I won't have to kick the cat.
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
It would be fascinating to examine which is cause and which is effect.
Kabul Bank Bailout? Mahmoud Karzai, President's Brother, Calls For U.S. To Shore Up Bank
If this trend in productivity continues, we'll have a full-on downturn by the end of Q4.
Rob Dawg wrote:
I wounder how disposable income is increasing.
Rob Dawg wrote:
I think Olson is dead on. Narrow vested interests have a tighter OODA loop than the public, capture the political structure, and drive policy in their own short-term interests. When there's no more free territory, they start to squeeze.
I guess in autocratic states there's a question of, how did Han Fei get ignored, why weren't the vested interests strangled, but that's really laying blame.
The mechanism is led by the disproportionate ability of large landlords (or whatever) to influence public policy.
mp wrote:
This seems like a self-reinforcing cycle.
mp wrote:
Right about now there's likely a scramble in the halls of misgovernance to make sure the Q3 print is greater than zero.
mp wrote:
No biggie if it manifests after Nov.2nd...or is that the 9th?
Cinco-X wrote:
We're sticking to our original story.
Recession 2010-Q3.
It should be very visible by Q4.
mp wrote:
Before or after the election? Happy Holidays!
To little data to say anything... Anyone can use this data to say what they want.
Deflationist:
"This means more layoff or wage crimp will be coming, so here comes the deflationary cycle"
Inflationist:
"This means the businesses have exhausted their available slack and will be forced to hire soon or risk losing market share"
Doomsayer:
"This means net production will start declining in Ernest, and we'll have negative GDP."
Anti-Globalization:
"This means jobs have been exported and continue to be exported outside of USA and any recovery will be in non-USA jobs and will not affect USA UE for quite a while."
This is a moot data point. You can use it to pleasure yourself with mental masturbation, but it doesn't prove anything.
Moody's Says U.S. Debt Could Test Triple-A Rating - NY Times
BOOOOOOMMMMM!
mp wrote:
It's a good story, and you should stick with it. What does Conjure think of a divided Congress? Good, bad, indifferent?
My point is, and I've been trying to make it all morning, is that this productivity report is a key data point.
It explains, at least in part, what happened with the ISM number.
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
Someone needs to find/replace "The Tao of Physics" to create "The Tao of Politics."
And the ISM number means what to you mp?
hc wrote:
That is a load of rubbish. The data speaks for itself.
This doesn't speak to inflation or deflation. In this environment, it speaks to a downturn in corporate profits.
I know someone posted this earlier, but this Kabul Bank story is fascinating. it seems as if the Afghans have learned something from the Wall St banksters. GIVE US MONEY OR ELSE!!!
Karzai's brother calls for U.S. to shore up Kabul Bank as withdrawals accelerate
Kabul Bank handles salary payments for soldiers, police and teachers. It has scores of branches across Afghanistan and holds the accounts of key Afghan government agencies. The collapse of the bank would likely spread panic throughout the country's fledgling financial sector and wipe out nine years of effort by the United States to establish a sound Afghan banking system, seen as essential to the establishment of a functioning economy.
Action by the United States, said Mahmoud Karzai, would prevent a run on Kabul Bank and protect other banks, too. He said Kabul Bank is "stable and has money" but cannot withstand a stampede by panicked depositors.
"If the Treasury Department will guarantee that everyone will get their money, maybe that will work," said Karzai, who holds 7 percent of the bank's shares, making him the third-biggest shareholder.
shill wrote:
The ISM print reflected, at least in part, what was happening on productivity side in terms of employment and prices paid.
It was an overshoot.
I'm belong to a couple of hotel chain frequent-stayer programs and the promotional e-mails have been hot and heavy, especially the last month or so.
shill wrote:
That's a mar-15 report. Busted. well alright, at least its Mar-15-2010
mp wrote:
There is also some question in my mind of inventory trends be captured accurately. Not that the number is wrong or tweaked but that their sample slice just wasn't representative. Happens.
Meaning? And yes Skk that is March....I don't print the links I just provide them....
Down in USA Productivity and flat in USA UE means downturn in corporate profits???
Where has outsourcing factor gone?
Frankly, USA Labor is becoming less and less a US Corporate concern as time passes by. Pretty soon the only people (In the USA) will be CEO plus a few of his guys. Everyone will be workers in China or India.
USA UE could go to hell for all corporate profit cares. They'll only care if they cannot sell their wares, and right now we still have an active sales cycle, despite the UE.
Don't assume a strong tie from macroeconomics with corporate profits. It's only loosely related; plus this downturn has shown private corp profits can continue to go up despite terrible UE.
This can continue still.
Vic wrote:
That's exactly what it is.
picosec wrote:
Dear picosec,
On topic comments are not allowed between the hours of 6:00 AM to 5:59AM the day after, Monday through Sunday.
Thank you for your understanding
the Hoocoodanode commentators.
"Moody's Says U.S. Debt Could Test Triple-A Rating"
Wow, Brits and Yanks evaluating themselves...so gonna believe it! How about putting some Frankfurt German accounting firm to look at your books?
reading the Bible...
mp wrote:
Even Henry Ford saw this.
hc wrote:
They need to sell to someone.
So, there's more people staying in hotels than last year, but since restaurants continue to see poor revenues, that means? All the hotel guests are getting their meals from food trucks? (see prior posts on observed increase in traveling cafes/food trucks) Or are people bringing their own food?
hc wrote:
Not without government stimulus it can't. A shrinking US market won't work out well for corporate profits.
amiramr0 wrote:
Sorry. I forgot the protocol.
hc wrote:
UNTIL you run out of productivity gains.
And it appears we're fresh out.
Harrisburg Default Hits Muni Market - WSJ.com
But all is well indeed.
hc wrote:
It can only continue to the extent that the U.S. government runs massive and growing deficits. This is highly unlikely for political reasons, IMHO.
Rob Dawg wrote:
I'd like to see how demand factors into this cycle...
noob goldberg wrote:
USG is taking over at least a portion of the demand using money printed from thin air....
hc wrote:
Yes, but are the profits driven by the top line or via reducing labor costs? If overseas sales are driving profits, this should be visible in the top line.
Edit: As mp has pointed out, we have maxed productivity gains, this means that demand has been tapped out.
noob goldberg wrote:
Just sell it to other companies, And buy an equivalent amount from that company. That way they can increase their revenue without any need for end consumers.
mp wrote:
The productivity number going down is an artifact of slowing fiscal deficit growth. I agree, mp, that productivity declines do not bode well for corporate profits, but the root cause is a slowdown of federal dissaving.
Rob Dawg wrote:
I'm not familiar with the book, is it of good quality?
I think you'd like Han Fei if you've never read him. Great book about leadership -- Taoist basis but it's really all about human resource management.
Anyway, my self-inflicted break time is over. Back to the grindstone.
Basel Too wrote:
The jerk who ran the bank "invested" 100% of the equity in UAE, not in Afghanistan. Toss him to the Taliban.
And he loaned 100% to a friend who is nepotically related to the VP of the country. Toss him to the Taliban.
Fire their asses. Save the little people and wipe out the equity holders and bond holders. Somewhere in this world someone has to be rational. Let's start there. When the guys are flat broke, we can deal.
Create an instant FDIC, or the US FDIC should adopt them. But for heaven's sake, wipe out the equity and bond holders.
Cinco-X wrote:
If demand doesn't pick up, the downturn will be even worse.
amiramr0 wrote:
Even better, just keep the money and stop all production. It's so old fashioned to actually have machines running.
Slumdog wrote:
If they didn't do it in the USA, why in the world would they make the Afghani's do it?
noob goldberg wrote:
Yes but with my plan they can increase their revenue to infinity
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
I can think of no book that I would put on a higher shelf.
mp wrote:
In your scenario, demand WILL get worse if the USG doesn't pick up the slack, and if it does, well that's a bad thing too though for other reasons...
Cinco-X wrote:
In a word, yes.
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
Do you recommend an edition?
mp wrote:
There's only two ways that happens:
1) Fiscal stimulus
2) Aliens
I guess 1 is more likely than 2, but not by a lot before 2012, and we'll be royally screwed by then.
I like this.
Test Article - MarketWatch
What this data is saying is that corporate profits are going to roll over.
That isn't going to please Mr. Market.
edit:
It's also going to increase unemployment, unless demand picks up, which seems unlikely.
Wow, I feel like I provoked an angry bear nest...
Selling to someone nowadays is more dependent on Fed, Govt, Debt, Asset, Refi, Stock gains programs than wage growth (or lack thereof). Wage hasn't been a driver for a decade or more for consumption, why suddenly it will now? US planner's policy hasn't changed, they still want US to spend what we don't have.
Token and Blackhalo, I would refer to the articles by Michael Pettis. To believe that the govt won't run more deficit, is to believe that electing Republicans will reduce the deficit. The REAL Powers that be, which is all the foreigners trying to export their way out of trouble, will flood the USA with so much capital and "force feed" USA to absorb exports lost by EU dropping, by PIIGS unable to consume, etc; that to hope you'll see no govt increase is quite a far off hope.
China Financial Markets » The capital tsunami is a bigger threat than the nuclear option
Oh, the Govt will accumulate more debt; the fed will print. China, Germany and the rest of the world will force it. We'll much more likely see more bubbles in assets before they give up exporting.
If you're really short the market, I would be EXTREMELY CAREFUL going forward.
Imagine what higher unemployment does to the banks..
St. Louis Fed: Series: LLRNPT, Assets at Banks whose ALLL exceeds their Nonperforming Loans
amiramr0 wrote:
Well they should stop actually producing stuff. Maybe just simulate production, and then do actual trades with each other based on that simulated production. Then, once that's perfected, they could do it really fast.
Maybe we could call it High Frequency Trading.
mp wrote:
No reason why it should, since everyone is sitting on their money, and everything government does is bad
and it shouldn't spend our money yadda yadda. I would hold that holding society together is an excellent reason for government stimulus spending. This societal edifice we all live in is quite fragile. Aside from the fact that parts of the economy that provide necessary services are inordinately wasteful and actually fear gov't initiatives as a competitor they couldn't keep up with.
noob goldberg wrote:
Yay for noob!
Some housing doom map porn from Richard Florida, who introduces a Housing-Mortgage Stress Index based on % underwater, total LTV of all residential real estate, and monthly mortgage cost to income ratio. Then he maps it:
Mapping Troubled Housing Markets - Business - The Atlantic
no surprises here, I don't think, just good maps
OT: Gold. Look at the daily chart for the past 6 weeks. The rising arc is bending down. It's convex. There is so much pressure on this market, on the down side, big pressure, that we have only two options.
A major, one day market crash to run massively the stops on the downside, and to allow those who are short to get out "even".
Or, the alternative, a capitulation of the shorts which will whip the price up like a spring, up 100 pts within 2 days.
My bet has been for this spring, up.
Now, I despise being on the horns of a dilemma. Of course, I've made money in the past few days. But I hate getting caught in this day-price-break. It's impossible for me to discern which way it's going. One break down is rare. And the shoot up, is even more rarely seen.
I'm gonna stay long, right through the domestic holiday. Gold is not a US controlled metal any longer. The US has lost its right to govern price.
What a living tragedy. The rats, like Romer, are fleeing the ship. The public still suffers the fools. The money pours out.
Many Americans Don't Even Know They're Fat - Yahoo! News
Must be that American exceptionalism mentality
noob goldberg wrote:
MLM wrote:
Like Kent Brockman, I welcome our new alien overlords, because I think the prospects of option 2 might be more likely than option 1.
mp wrote:
Recent profit reports were fiscal adrenaline spasms not reanimation. 50% stock price declines are not out of the question. I'm thinking closer to 40% but even that leaves forward P/Es in unsustainable territory.
hc wrote:
I completely agree, and I'll also be the first to admit to completely underestimating the fed/gov response in 2008/2009. However, the past decade required end consumers to be willing to assume high debt levels as a proxy for wage increases, which inexplicably they did.
That doesn't appear to be happening again, even with the deficits being run. So wages have to go up.
And, lower equity prices imply high bond prices, lower yields.
But they take Comfort slum...Football season starts soon.
Oh Markets open.
mp wrote:
I've been assuming that's a done deal. It's been thrashing around in a range since May, we'll see if it falls to the low end of the range, or drops way down below.
Bob Dobbs wrote:
Your snark tag should have been after this remark and not where you put it. Sure the government can "out compete" private companies, but only because it can tax the companies AND their customers and use that to subsidize its own efforts. On a "level playing field", the USG can never keep up.
obesity may be becoming the norm just like 10% U3 is new normal
Yikes what a combo - too many fat unemployed Mericans...can I get fries with that
hc wrote:
hc, I think you mistake growing deficits with deficits--continued, growing deficits are required for profits to increase and the markets to accelerate to the upside. Pettis, God love him, is more in tune with China than he is with the U.S.--both economically and politcally. "Force feeding" doesn't work if there is no mechanism to do so; you can't force a horse to drink, and the U.S. electorate does not have the ability to grow debt at the household level and is revolting at the government's desire to grow debt at the sovereign level. I would guess that you will see capital controls before you see "force feeding." But, feel free to go long. YMMV.
Slumdog wrote:
So I guess you're saying that gold will either go down, or up. Hmmm.
Slumdog wrote:
Slumdog wrote:
Sept 2nd, 2010 Slumdog calls for a $100 bump in gold by close of business Sept 7th. Unless he doesn't.
km4 wrote:
i think sustained 10% U3 will take care of obesity over time.
Rob Dawg wrote:
I see. =)
Burton Watson.
Amazon.com: Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings (9780231086097): Burton Watson: Books
Be warned, this is a very accurate review (quoting from Amazon):
Han Fei's "Legalist" writings on government may be the most brutal and amoral in China's long written history. I can't even call it vicious - his grasping, avaricious view of human nature displays the same bizarre innocence as a snake crushing a rat.
It's very much like The Prince, and like Machivaelli, it's worth noting the author died in disgrace.
That said, it's well worth your time to read, because it is an actual instruction manual for real tyrants. The instructions are not of low quality and he really cuts to the heart of the issues. If nothing else, you can rest assured every major leadership figure in China has read it at least once.
"too many fat unemployed Mericans"
UN just voted 193-1 Americans to be the first line defense against flesh eating Aliens. Good luck !
glimmerman wrote:
Being unemployed will cause folks to exercise more and eat better? Not likely.....
mp wrote:
That's my bet for the fall, and maybe longer.
Merican lousy eating habits over past 20- 30 yrs will be hard to break and its much cheaper to eat unhealthy foodstuffs.
glimmerman wrote:
No
In the US, poverty and obesity go hand in hand - think cheap food, like McDonalds - along with high medical bills that get chalked up to the tax payer and to the insured population who pay for the uninsured who use emergency rooms.
scone wrote:
Yes, all of the incoming data now seems to be pointing in that direction.
scone wrote:
Same here. Ben can print all he wants, but it's just going to show up as excess reserves. Unless he decides to buy houses with it. That might be more interesting.
longtimelurker wrote:
And this other hobby horse here. Check it out.
noob goldberg wrote:
Costs of living will have to fall, first. Until education, housing and health care costs come down, they will be a drag on US labor expansion.
Government cheese equals saddle bags. And folds. And 6 month old candy bars in those folds. All warm and gooey.
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
huh?
shill wrote:
PPT has taken control of this market with low volumes and low interest...
MLM wrote:
I see the beginnings of what may be a genuine M&A frenzy. If the money must be lent (and there is great pressure to lend) it will be lent to dinner-table companions.
MLM wrote:
Yes. More interesting and productive.
According to U.S. Center for Disease Control & Prevention, 34% of adults aged 20 and older are obese, and 34% are overweight.
Jeebus 68% of Mericans
"In the US, poverty and obesity go hand in hand - think cheap food, like McDonalds "
That is really sad. There are so many places in the USA that could grow so much more delicious grapes, vegetables etc etc etc than in France but what you do, Mosanto shit and trucking. Luckily, Northern California and maybe some towns in New England realized the potential...
noob goldberg wrote:
Overall, wages can't go up in this environment.
.
km4 wrote:
And 97% of those 68% spend too much time on the internet and not enough time exercising.
I figure I burned about 3800 calories on my 25 mile kayak trip last Sat.
Hard to get fat doing that.
km4 wrote:
It is an issue, but do mind the moving goalposts.
Public health theory embraces manipulation of public perceptions to create a sense of crisis in order to mobilize sentiment.
SPIKE!
HomeGnome wrote:
If you eat Cheetos the whole time and guzzle malt liquor, it is surprising how fat kayaking can make you. The real problem occurs when the kayak won't come off.
Everyone buying their stocks in front of the number?
Buy now or.......
km4 wrote:
Not this American. Mrs. mp pulled out my old Class A's the other night and they still fit perfectly.
What a night.
MLM wrote:
Ben cannot print all by his lonesome. Someone has to be at the other end taking a loan for credit to be created. This "someone" is the gubmint, since American consumers don't want to/can't take on more debt. Having the gubmint take up the slack in demand just results in winners and losers being chosen on a political basis and not a merit basis, and this leads to even more malinvestment. This is endemic of the policies that got us here, and is unlikely to to get us OUT of here....
mp wrote:
Here's a little tidbit. My credit union is backed up with refi work, so we had to extend the financing deadline. They are down to 4.125% on the 15 year, which they say is a popular option. So that frees up a bit more cash to stuff under the mattress or buy
or even groceries.
Cow burns 5000-7000 per day but weighs 1300 pounds
That is why vegans are planet destroyers...
Slumdog wrote:
It's almost like he sits in front of the keyboard, about to hit "Save", then he thinks "Oh shit, forget to forecast the other side", then he adds a sentence, and saves.
Yup gotta do both....I've never been out of shape and still within 10 lbs of my high school weight which was 35 yrs ago
Time to survey the RIETS.
(shill's comments not with standing)
Re the GSC BK "sell all “assets with economic value,”: --- Oh please not the children, not the children.
scone wrote:
Well, you're seeing mortgage rates go back to where they were during the '60s.
edit:
early '60s, IIRC.
HomeGnome wrote:
2 calzones and a diet Pepsi....
Eric wrote:
i'll be buying some bgz in about 10 minutes, this is all govt fluff to provide some downside cushion when the numbers come out tomorrow.
Credit growth is the requirement for that, no?
St. Louis Fed: FRED Graph
St. Louis Fed: FRED Graph
St. Louis Fed: FRED Graph
St. Louis Fed: FRED Graph
St. Louis Fed: FRED Graph
St. Louis Fed: FRED Graph
LoserBeachBum wrote:
I name my vegetables when I eat them.
Eric wrote:
He forgot to cover himself in case we're just flat.
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
Yep. Companies buying sales because they can't generate them organically, with generationally cheap capital (provided by their dinner companions).
MLM wrote:
Does this sound like good allocation of capital?
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
as opposed to what other kinds of theory?
war theory: Saddam Has WMD!
real estate theory: Buy Now or Be Priced Out for Ever!
police theory: Crime Crime Crime!
CR Doomster Theory: Sell This! Sell That! Buy Gold! Go Short!
Sarah Palin/Glenn Beck Theory . . .
Hank Paulson Theory . . .
look, with the possible exception of Pacific Islanders being killed by the derivative effects of SPAM (Hormel SPAM, to be precise), Americans on average are the fattest people on earth.
if goal posts have been moved, it has mainly been to allow more American to fit through them so they can get to the emergency room
MLM wrote:
Organics is overrated. And overpriced.
LoserBeachBum wrote:
Easy to prattle.
1) Healthy food in modern America is a status marker. You'd shun it if it was affordable. If they made suet $20/lb you'd rediscover the old-world charms of its taste. And if not you, because of course you are the paragon of moral rectitude, then your peers. How many of those astride their high horse here are really saying they are better than the poor and the black? Of course not yourself, the soul of rectitude, but others no doubt.
2) People eat what they can afford. Bring your organic grass-fed Richie Rich food to the tables of the masses in an affordable fashion. It is grown because it is high-margin but high-margin products cannot feed a population.
mp wrote:
make the visions stop, please!
mp wrote:
I'm thinking it may get a little lower than that, officially, but at some point the banks start raising the egg management fees to make any money on the deal.
they can't generate them organically
Have a look @ KFC's expansion in Asia - baboom
mp wrote:
but good for you and Mrs MP, all the same
Here's something pretty important, seems to me...
SkunkPost.com || Blackberry battle: UN says share the data
Squid extending tentacles and applying pressure to sensitive areas...
Hotels got bed bugs. If you don't want bed bug bites, don't stay at a hotel. (bug icon here)
*the egg management fees *
scone +1
Elvis wrote:
The quadruped Dish of the Day is an Ameglian Major Cow, a ruminant specifically bred to not only have the desire to be eaten, but to be capable of saying so quite clearly and distinctly. When asked if he would like to see the Dish of the Day, Zaphod replies, "We'll meet the meat." The Major Cow's quite vocal and emphatic desire to be consumed by Milliways' patrons is the most revolting thing that Arthur Dent has ever heard, and the Dish is nonplussed by a queasy Arthur's subsequent order of a green salad, since it knows "many vegetables that are very clear" on the point of not wanting to be eaten — which was part of the reason for the creation of the Ameglian Major Cow in the first place. After Zaphod orders four rare steaks, the Dish announces that it is nipping off to the kitchen to shoot itself. Though it states, "I'll be very humane," this does not comfort Arthur at all.
longtimelurker wrote:
And then you cite a long list of bad results brought on by these policies.
And you can stand beside them in your self-appointed referee's garb and cry foul. Oh thank you, Protestant moralism. Surely you are one of the elect. "Sinner at the hands of an Angry God", yes yes, I would love some of your tracts.
Cinco-X wrote:
My prediction is that in a little over two years, your newly elected Republican overlords (who only a few months earlier swore on a stack of Bibles they would be fiscally responsible) will announce the mother of all fiscal stimulus programs. They'll probably announce they are reluctantly doing it for the children, and for the troops.
Offshore Oil Platform in the Gulf of Mexico Explodes - NY Times
...Coast Guard officials said a sheen measuring one mile long by 100 feet wide had been spotted near the damaged production platform...
longtimelurker wrote:
Thank you, and having said that, I'd like to add that Viagra is for dysfunctional teenagers.
Wow, sounds so much better than let's say 1960's America? When you guys were much poorer but healthier. How it was possible? Eat your beans and vitamins, son!
LONDON (AP) — BlackBerry's Canadian manufacturer should give law enforcement agencies around the world access to its customer data, the U.N. telecommunications chief said, adding that governments have legitimate security concerns that should not be ignored.
LONDON (AP) — BlackBerry's Canadian manufacturer should give law enforcement agencies around the world access to its UN employee and staff and embassy data, The U.N. telecommunications chief said, adding that law enforcement agencies have legitimate security concerns that should not be ignored.
MLM wrote:
Walmart has hit the "wal" as to generating increased same store sales. Their trick of extorting millions from municipalities is no longer working. Face it. The US is over capacity in near every consumer sector.
Former Idealist wrote:
Who knows what added gifts might be coming back with you luggage too!
Can bedbugs carry pathogens?
time to get some BGZ
Rob Dawg wrote:
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
Suet is great. Nothing wrong with it in proper use for pie crusts and french fries, when pie and french fries are consumed as part of a balanced diet in a balanced life. That is why the French and Italians and Spanish, etc, are trimmer than Americans. And I mean the working class. hell, even the unemployed. Probably the heroin addicts are healthier there, too.
The choice is not McDonalds vs Vegan, nor vs expensive 4 star cuisine. Its between a diet dominated by fast food versus almost any diet of home cooked real foods, suet included.
Blackhalo wrote:
Nope, and this is one of the more mysterious things about them. Scientists have tried to give them all sorts of things, it never sticks. Good thing for NYC - if they carried HIV effectively, manhattan would look like detroit in a few years.
Cinco-X wrote:
I blame it on the stock market, which is clearly full of morons (I guess they are followers of Elvis, who doesn't believe in organics -- except maybe the occasional organic solvent).
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
Thanks Byz. I've gotten some greta book recs from this site (e.g. Only Yesterday, Since Yesterday)- I'll add this to the list.
excellent work by the ppt, the dow now has 300+ pts to give on the numbers tomorrow.
longtimelurker wrote:
I agree, lurker.
glimmerman wrote:
To the upside!
glimmerman wrote:
I couldn't pull the trigger on FAZ.
what the employment report is going to be tomorrow, with the ISM and all.
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
I understand your point but I'm looking at us having 11x the square feet of retail space compared to say Italy. The presentation, last mile end is so far over any sustainable ratio that I don't understand why the bubble continues.
longtimelurker wrote:
Dumplings. Don't forget Mrs. mp's dumplings.
longtimelurker wrote:
.....you've learned a lot, grasshoppa.......
Thats a good question about pathogens. Everytime this topic gets discussed, I get itchy. I'm sooooo glad I don't have to travel anymore. But its not just bedbugs that you can get in public places, lice, scabies are also easily transmitted in upholstery. I had the wonderful pleasure of watching one mite (they are nearly microscopic anyway) I plucked off a patient one time, die a slow death under a microscope. Their abdomens are translucent so I could watch the blood being processed over time. This was when I was a young greenhorn..it tells all of you why I'm sick and twisted now.
OT
But just to clear up some things about the prior conversation about distant stars.
Just as I thought, yes some nearby large stars and disks of debris around them have been resolved for some time.
But, this was through interferometry, something quite different than resolving something optically, say via Hubble.
Organic foods are full of pathogens. And overpriced.
I've spent too much time here. There are things to do.
Thanks for the feedback and have a great day.
The universe is big, but if it ate organic food, it would be much smaller. And poorer.
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
I'm an atheist talking public policy and cultural norms linked to economics: poverty on one side, national agricultural policy tilted to mass produced derivatives of corn on the other side.
No god. Not talking about individual virtues or vices, nor individual choices. Not talking about self-discipline. And not endorsing thinness, either.
I am pro-suet.
Elvis wrote:
True, but the regular ones are bland and the production is too monopolized.
There's only one good option.
That's why I like growing what I can myself.
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
.....That surely takes care of any desire to eat lunch NOW......thnx, Nanoo......
Comrade Janošik wrote:
I just harvest from my neighbors' gardens at night. In a bunny suit.
mp wrote:
I agree with both you and blackhalo, that wages can't go up in this environment, or that it's necessary for living expenses to fall first.
I was just saying what was necessary, not what will happen. I think blackhalo is correct, that costs will fall first before households can start really healing the family balance sheet.
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
...and why you fit in so well here.
MLM wrote:
And their dinner companions don't realize that they are what's for dinner...
Oh Gwad.....
now we have ATARP
Karzai's brother calls for U.S. to shore up Kabul Bank
Karzai's brother calls for U.S. to shore up Kabul Bank as withdrawals accelerate
Former Idealist wrote:
I have no choice, so I sleep on top of the sheets.
apologies BSR...my poor husband learned NOT to ask how my day was at dinner.
mp wrote:
This could be getting too intimate.
I think that's something that the deflationistas and inflationistas can all agree on (kind of like
in the middle east) - it will be a cold day in hell before penny one of QE v.1.0-4.0 means a penny of increase in average incomes. Much like the medical insurance giveaway a few months ago will never mean lower health insurance rates for anyone.
longtimelurker wrote:
You should really change your HCN handle. That one is much more memorable.
oh Scone...Outsider and I have decided to declare our properties up here as sovereigns and hoped you might like to join us, become a trading partner!
Elvis wrote:
Get off of my lawn!
From the intensity of that stare, I think Crouching Cheetah is on to me. Once I had mad, passionate sex with a cheetah. But, it wasn't my fault. She didn't tell me that she was married. Oh, Hilary. How I miss and long for your touch. Just leave Bill for good.
longtimelurker wrote:
e.g., Conjure Bag attempting to pull off the San Diego Surprise?
(No disrespect, mp.)
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
Dawgifornia recognizes both Outland and Nanooatonia.
REBear wrote:
One time, I thought I saw a 100 foot Martin Sheen, but it was turned out to be a 900 foot Jesus.
Prehistoric time, beds and pillows were put in the sun to kill off crawling thingie's + our mothers were careful as to whom we invited home to nest in those bug free beds.
YES! This could be the start of something BIG.
Gary wrote:
I don't know what that means, I am not going to Google it, and please do not tell me.
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
So I can be Queen Scone? Hey, gay band meets toasted bread product. I can do that.
Rob Dawg wrote:
I would have guessed, Ork.
Byzantine_Ruins wrote:
There is a keeper.
All signs point to continuing Las Vegas exodus - Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun
“People are moving out more than usual,” said Sherry Clark, a sales representative for the moving company Allstate Moving in Las Vegas.
Where o where is that next Merican dream
Gary wrote:
longtimelurker wrote:
My guess is that it has something to do with the San Diego Chicken and a box of light bulbs, but I'm not sure.
Blackhalo wrote:
Illegal aliens!
scone wrote:
It makes me uncomfortable when you two talk about your buns like this. We can all see them just fine.
They're fabulous.
As your own sovereign, you are free to set up any governing process you choose AND your own currency. Ain't being queen great?
So, has CNBC been taken over by Fox News?
It's NOT the Economy, Stupid: It's the Mess in Washington - Yahoo! Finance
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
Ain't it great to discover we actually live under 15th century laws?
LoserBeachBum wrote:
Yeah, but if you're just barely making ends meet are you going to buy truly awesome $3/pound heritage tomatoes, or 89 cents a pound for the tasteless hard pink jobs from Glod knows where. Even here in Paradise (TM) where the vegetable fields start at the edge of town, there's plenty of demand for the pink jobs.
Businesses-especially smaller businesses, independent businesses-they don't know what their cost structures are going to be because of government-imposed changes
did they know what their cost structure was going to be when the government was debating $800B in stimulus or $700B in TARP...
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
testing: OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
Yes, I can see the appeal.
AMF, as in Adios MF's
Bob Dobbs wrote:
That's dirty.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
I know but couldn't resist the "other" possibility.
I'm setting up my own torture basement for any wayward elite bankstas that trespass my land. I've got a contract out to bring back Phil Gramm alive; for him, I have some very special plans.
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
You've always been Gramm-negative. I can tell, from all the safranin you've been ordering.
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
Will you be auctioning off turns at the gelding hooks?
Bob Dobbs wrote:
No, but I'll sure grow a bunch of them!
Basel Too wrote:
Agora 5-minute Forecast today has a rant about costs and small business.
Agora Financial's 5 Minute Forecast
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
That was a pretty quick swim, JD.
How much distance did ya cover?
Black Star Ranch wrote:
All the sillier since the mess in Washington is now likely to be extended gridlock piled on top of timidity in the face of the big banks, meaning not much change . . . which implies lots of predictability.
I would chalk this up to the media being 24/7 and therefore repeating what it says. The news is that someone sad something, therefore it is believed and must be reported on.
Remember Dick Cheney and Condi Rice quoting the NYT on aluminum tubes in Iraq, after first planting the story in the NYT, and then it was to the races throughout the press, except for the McClatchy newspapers that actually investigated the story?
HomeGnome wrote:
I knew it; You're a cultivator!!
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
Oh yeah.
Just transplanted nine blue ballet plants today.
Blue Ballet - Johnny's Selected Seeds
HomeGnome wrote:
Always the best option if you have the time. Though we've had a cool, grey summer in these parts and everybody's been moaning about their evergreen tomatoes. Til that blast of heat we got last week, anyway, which apparently was enough to ripen them up.
MLM wrote:
Mmmmmmmm.......organic solvents
I just posted a poll: Bank Failure Friday Poll for Sept. 3rd 2010
Cinco-X wrote:
part of a properly varied diet that keeps things, uh, flowing
But when everybody does that, like in Russia 1994? Different animal.
MLM wrote:
I'm not sure that the public has in its heart forgiven them for 2000-2006, so I doubt they'll win both houses, and winning even one is a stretch, but if they do, I regret that your prediction is probably correct. However, it will take Democratic support for them to do it....
HomeGnome wrote:
FIRST!
:fistpump:
It's a swiiming hole, so in theory you don't really go anywhere aside from about a 10 by 20 foot stretch of river festooned with rocks, etc., but if they make it an olympic event in 2012, i'll consider training harder.
Warning: LSD turns hot dogs into screaming trolls with 7 children - Boing Boing
glimmerman wrote:
Probably means more Mc Donalds One Dollar Value Meals...
sm_landlord wrote:
....damn good 5-min. read.........
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
I've got rolling practice in about an hour.
Hopefully I won't do too much swimming....
That chart gives me arachnophobia...
YouTube - The Who - Boris the Spider
MLM wrote:
Wow, you are one smart guy. Plus 0.000001
If you are covered with disgusting bed bug bites people will think you are a unsanitary low life loser. They will also think the bugs are jumping off you and onto them. Your wife won't let you in your own house for fear you will contaminate the place, causing a massive infestation. The hotel industry has a serious problem here.
longtimelurker wrote:
Check out:
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats | Hoocoodanode?
Lard is a better choice than suet, which is really best used as part of bird feed. That said, your observations otherwise jibe quite nicely with the author's. I still get queasy thinking about raw meat and organ meat, but it's all good for you when cooked properly....
Black Star Ranch wrote:
Great just great. The economy is slowing, businesses are stretched, 15% of the labor force that could be working isn't and the elites are afraid of the bogeyman.
amiramr0 wrote:
Here's the joke. You guys can't see timing. Thus you're blind. Last week, I said the market would rise dramatically and quickly. Out of the blue I said it would rise immediately. Well, one week later, this sob market rose to the point of either do or die explosion. I went long. What the heck did you do? Get another wit storm?
Stephen Hawking in his new book written with American physicist Leonard Mlodinou, "The Grand Design", now believes that God does not exist. He states, "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing".
God Has No Role in Universe, Says Stephen Hawking
longtimelurker wrote:
There's nothing silly about uncertainty. Business big and small hates it. Would I buy a house now? No. Only an idiot would buy anything major in this mess (with rare exceptions). Laws du jour are a deathknell for an effective government and a cohesive economy.
t r orwell wrote:
That's just what he wants you to think.
Who invented gravity? Al Gore?
Cinco-X wrote:
Yum. I confess that I did hesitate at eating what the Italians rather transparently call "lardo."
How could we ever be worthy compared to you, sire?
Black Star Ranch wrote:
Have the hotties suddenly gotten hotter? Why do you ask?
I'm outta here.
With any luck, I'll make it back.
:kayak icon:
I don't believe it. I actually saw that film in Junior High. I always wondered where that movide with the troll in the hot dog bun came from.
There's something about a curvy wench reading somebody else's words from a teleprompter that just doesn't do it for me, sorry.
He is hawking his new book
Yes, and who created Al Gore?
flaminia wrote:
Lard in an Alfredo Sauce is quite good too, though still a bit chewy....
t r orwell wrote:
Manbear pig a mutant offspring of the mortgage pig
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Rosenberg says "ISM Flunks Sniff Test "; Cashin calls ISM "an Outlier"; ADP, Other Data Does Not Confirm
Lot's of folks questioning the ISM report....
Someone with a sense of humor?
t r orwell wrote:
Leslie, of course.
YouTube - Leslie Gore- "You Don't Own Me" Live
•З‐‹ wrote:
What's your regular handle?
God...out of what...five billion galaxies and cares about particular galaxy of trillions of stars and a particular wing of it and particular cluster of stars of that wing and particular planet of one star. Well, maybe. After a man ejaculates pretty much the same ratio before having a baby
But this is the time of growing up. 20th century was the teenager years of humanity, now is the real thing and real shit ahead. Whether Jesus comes for 2nd visit or not...it is up to us.
Maybe if hoteliers were to include a can of Raid in each room, the RevPar would go up?
JD: How could we ever be worthy compared to you, sire?
JD, I know wtf I'm doing in this gold and silver game. I've stepped forward to speak as if I were talking to a mirror. My track record of successful shots when I say "pull" are frankly second to none. I'm conservative as all get up about when I take the risk, and I'm fast to get out of the way if the risk turns even a hare's breath against me. That's all I gotta say.
I'll continue to post as I see 'em and when I pull, I say so, none of this after the fact bullogna that populates the whore-calls by the paid subscription rip-off artists. My insights and calls to you are free. When I pull the trigger, I make money or break even. I don't gamble in this game. This is my hobby. I like to kill the market when I can. Otherwise, I won't play as I don't need the bucks and don't see it as an income. So, IMO, that makes my insights a tad more valuable, by a league, over most of the others, including those who trade for a living. I don't need to and I don't play around.
Cinco-X wrote:
........that was the first line of the first comment re. this news article. Due to the typical left-handed swing here, I figured it would garner some idle curiosity......I'm too dmned tired to even think about anything having to do with "babes" or "hotties"......
On The Eve Of The Big Jobs Report, Gallup Says Underemployment Jumped In August
U.S. Underemployment at 18.6% in August
Al Gore is the product of his environment where he was born and raised...the DC beltway from which the source of global warming arises, the billowing bags of hot air that has increased over time while what they produce serves only their contributing masters..
Tipper sings the same song
LoserBeachBum wrote:
This may be the clearest thought you've ever written on this site.
I agree.
Black Star Ranch wrote:
I take it that young wife is wearin' you down
Most lefties are right handed, but categorize us as you must.
puffer fish - Google Search
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
flaminia wrote:
Don't eat those!!!!!
Black Star Ranch wrote:
Oddly enough, in the real world I'm considered pretty right-wing.
OT: Gold will punch to new highs very shortly. There is nothing in the MSM saying this is it. So, this is it. I will steal a first exit on one contract at 1260, just so there's no cost to the game. I'm in for free at that moment, with no way the market can do anything but cause me to break even, and leave plenty for a nice little dinner for 2 at Bartolatto at the Wynn.
Whatevs,
I'm just here to watch history assert itself and pick up a few clams, while i'm waiting.
noob goldberg wrote:
If you call Canada the real world, then yes....
fudge_hend. on a different computer today.
Cinco-X wrote:
.....right again.....
Stan Rogers must be in tears.
CBC News - North - Fuel tanker runs aground in Northwest Passage
Gold is near it's all time high and you're only near break even? Wow.
On the economy: It's just as I've said, there's no cushion or flexibility left. We're all dependent on the feds printing more money. We're all losers but for those with deep inventories that have secure markets, and those with lots of PM and a diversified handful of forex.
Housing will tumble. LT rates will drop to 0.5%, and the USD will be worth a lot less.
noob-my husband is VT and considered himself a conservative, that is, until....he moved to Atlanta and found out what that word really means.
U.S. Underemployment holding steady at 18 - 20% for past few mo. and next yr or 2 so when combined with 10% U3 as 'new normal' that's alot of Mericans
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
VT? Very Tall? Virtually Tan?
Having been chastised once for attempting to be on topic, I'll leap into the fray once again.
Is the number of available rooms published?
Some chains/franchsees shutting down; hotels closing off floors. In the face of reduced demand, an obvious business policy would be to reduce capacity.
As an economic indicator, the question is, "How many rooms are being rented compared to the past?"
VERY TALL, VERY (especially next to me). from VT...from VT.
The powers that be like to keep the dow at 10,300. Don't ask me why, but I'm sure its an inside joke like bailing out Fan and Fred on Christmas Eve.
and ATL is fairly non-conservative. go to South Ga...
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
Precisely! Coming out of University, believing in the power of efficient markets, attending church, with an upbringing steeped in family entrepreneurship and independence, and having difficulties with overly-comfortable government safety-nets I figured I was a shoo-in as a conservative.
But now I realize that I'm only a slightly right-leaning but still left-of-center liberal.
Arizona has my sympathy, not that there is a dearth of good leaders in this country but this is even substandard in today's political climate.
Jan Brewer Starts Badly, Finishes Worse, In Last Night's Arizona Gubernatorial Debate (VIDEO)
Basel Too wrote:
Georgia is fairly liberal. Go to Lower Alabama....
picosec wrote:
I remember CR posting in previous releases that the supply of rooms is increasing... I'll try and find it.