Yeah, it's all fun and games until they do a skit about blog addiction.

Am I crashing a private party here?

SNL skit - it's funny cause it's true.

Rob Dawg :
Yeah, it's all fun and games until they do a skit about blog addiction

Agreed (hilarious). But look at how much time we used to watch TV, and there, were completely brain dead.

Are you implying that we can't quit anytime? You, sir, are out of order.

KR,

Still July here in Cali! Don't rush the summer, dude.

Damn, all I get from the video is this:

We're sorry, currently our video library can only be streamed within the United States. For more information on Hulu's international availability, click here.

Does anyone know how to stream this through a proxy in the US?

Dazed, try finding it on utube.

Does anyone know how to stream this through a proxy in the US?

Try this

the-cloak anonymous web surfing (anonymous proxy)

There's a bandwidth limit, though.

Dazed, try finding it on utube.

I looked already. The closest thing is a homemade recreation of the skit. I searched on Google, and all references point back to Hulu.

"But look at how much time we used to watch TV, and there, were completely brain dead. "

Are you suggesting we're half brain dead?

Priceless.

dryfly,

Great story. That's the upside of Schumpeter's creative destruction, a true (albeit tiny) green shoot. Unfortunately it'll take years and tens of thousands of those before we see real broad swaths of lush green.

that SNL skit NEVER gets old

I like this one better:

Dear Sister Shooting SNL Digital Short – Hilarious.net

Thanks, dry. That's worth more than 100 Bloomberg news articles.

1 currency now -yogi
Are you suggesting we're half brain dead?

I wasn't exactly, but probably you're right. Becuase the left brain does well here, but the right brain lacks pictures...for example...i was in the local bar today, and the waitress...well, that was a picture. We exchanged looks, and then some pedestian words on the way out. I can tell you, my brain was full engaged, but mostly through silent communication. Sorry if i digress...

Get more people willing to take a 80% loss and then we'll have a for real recovery, not a technical one

Until they were forced to 'recognize' the loss...

Sadly this is exactly the opposite of what TPTB are engaged, otherwise the country as a whole could escape purgatory quicker.

Lies are pain medicine for the soul. Watch fantasy gain in popularity as the dark days descend and linger.

broward : I used to think so, too. But now I think what's important is that the lies not be too outlandish and that most of the population believe the same core set of lies.

How true and also profound. And i think we know they are lies, but there is a comfort threshold...and Kissinger to explain it all

TJ - I agree. There is a time to hold & a time to fold. For those guys it was way passed fold. They should have sold their stake long ago... what was it Tanta would say? "Your first loss is your best loss". Was true here.

By Chris Hedges, Nation Books
Media and Technology: A culture that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion dies. A visit to a Las Vegas porn convention reveals we are dying now.

The Rise of Gonzo Porn Is the Latest Sign of America's Cultural Apocalypse | Media and Technology | AlterNet

I really don't want to to hit that link or get further involved, but what on earth is "gonzo porn" (I'm asking about the "gonzo" bit...)

Hell, I've been at respectable conventions in Vegas, and the place is still the definition of seedy.

Not that I'm complaining.

Hey there dryfly. Monterrey is doing good. When are you coming back down again? I've got a bottle of tequila in the freezer. We can sit and do a few shots. Sounds like there are lots of interesting things going on up north.

I am guessing we'll be back with in a month. And yes it is getting interesting.

Question - a 'hypothetical' question... how long would it take for a shipment of parts to get from Monterrey to Juarez? Is it an eight hour drive? More? They wouldn't have to go up to Texas then across & back down would they? I know the roads aren't great over the mountains but not so bad they'd have to go up into Texas - right?

The book will never sell. Who's going to buy something that's free? And "one page long" ? Sheesh! Who's got time to read a tome like that?

DF- Really??? Do they put the display up in the main area where they stage everything? If it's the same place I was at earlier this month -it would be interesting.

To answer the question from earlier... Yes, it feels like a weak recovery. Things are getting less bad and in some cases improving.

We have a long way to go, on a volitle road, but the light at the end of the tunnel exists.

To answer the question from earlier... Yes, it feels like a weak recovery. Things are getting less bad and in some cases improving.

We have a long way to go, on a volitle road, but the light at the end of the tunnel exists.

I used to ship the other direction, Juarez to Saltillo. With team drivers, it was about a 20 hour run. Add another hour to Monterrey. The roads are pretty good, IF you make sure the drivers will go on the toll roads. I had a couple of shipments where the drivers pocketed the toll money and went on the free roads. The shipments were late and damaged.

As far as shipping via Texas, obviously the roads are better, but you will loose 2 to 4 hours at each border crossing. Also, the customs broker costs are higher because you do 2 exportations and 2 importations.

TJ - some are worse than others. Javitz in NY, McCormick in Chicago, Vegas are some of the more difficult in that respect. It increases the cost some but mostly it is only a PITA.

Dazed,

You can GPS the trucks and track'em these days, so it's not like they could get away with that now. Any bandits in the high country?

Nytol would come in handy about now.

Nite dry

TJ, not all of the carriers have GPS in Mexico, especially the cheaper ones.

Bandits....well lets say cargo theft is a distinct possibility. It pays to have high quality cargo insurance. I often hear stories about trucks loaded with consumer goods getting stolen.

TJ- Would completely agree with Dryfly. Definitely depends on the location. Out in RI, I wasn't able to bring a small box (kinko's copies) into the hall without severe harassment from the union guys (seriously thought they were going to beat down a gal in 2" heels). Down in Ft. Lauderdale, I sat for 4 hours waiting for the guys to bring my stuff the 10 ft from the dock to my booth. Just a general rule, the further west of the Mississippi I go the more relaxed the staff, with the exception being McCormick

In case anyone missed this on GDP today and PCE related non-durable consumption shit, here is some poop:

GDP: Uuuuggghhhh (Denninger says Q2 GDP Numbers Suck)
GDP: Uuuuggghhhh (Denninger says Q2 GDP Numbers Suck)

Those "green shoots" were either marijuana plants (and were being smoked by the media) or worse, they have been running around with cans of green spray paint, "colorizing" the dead brown weeds, then pointing at them and screaming "green shoots!"

Goodnight

This is interesting (from the gonzo porn article ref'd above):

And porn is very lucrative to some of the nation's largest corporations. General Motors, for example, owns DirectTV, which distributes over forty million streams of porn into American homes every month. AT&T Broadband and Comcast Cable are the currently biggest American companies accommodating porn users with The Hot Network, Adult Pay-Per-View and similarly themed services. AT&T and GM rake in approximately 80 percent of all porn dollars spent by consumers.

Rob Dawg :
Yeah, it's all fun and games until they do a skit about blog addiction

Wore my Mortgage Pig shirt the other day, then realized: What the hell!? You guys will all be here.

Dry, there are guys that will overnight a load in 14 hours
It's been almost ten years since I've been in Mexico (I don't count trips down the coast to TJ and Ensenada), but I have a vivid memory of every steep grade having a trailer rig or bus over the side at the bottom.

When they say PELIGROSO, they mean it. Hairpin turns like bobbypins, complete with little wiggles after the main loop. If you're heading down one at a sensible speed, odds are you'll get passed by a bus rocketing down as if it had no brakes. Little crosses set up along the side allow you to assess the mortality rate.
Don't remember clearly the highway down to Monterrey, we drove round the clock in shifts out to Cuatro Cienagas and back, maybe it's straight?

Funny, but also stupid.

When you're talking about goods that represent years of human labor, like homes, it's simply impossible for everybody to save that much money. Not unless they've continually deposited their savings at a bank, which has lent their money out to ..... homeowners that have borrowed to buy a home. As a matter of fact, any savings you have IS somebody else's debt in our monetary system; It's one for one.

People dis debt, but it's one of the greatest inventions of humanity. Unfortunately it's also dangerous and easy to abuse.

As a matter of fact, any savings you have IS somebody else's debt in our monetary system...
--marksf

Not true if your savings are in precious metals.

I was looking through CBO cost estimates and they estimate that raising the FDIC insurance level will only have a net impact of like $8B over 2009-2014. From the CBO estimate We assume that the FDIC will reduce certain special assessments on the financial industry that otherwise would take effect within the next 12 months, resolve certain cases more quickly, and
reduce its reliance on loss-sharing methods to resolve failed institution in some situations.

Wait; so by giving the FDIC a bigger loan ceiling they won't impose special assessments on the financial industry? Even though these assessments are deemed needed? So instead of these assessments, which we should be getting they just will rely on the bigger loan authority for FDIC?

Another nice little nugget in this CBO estimate, this is regarding the expansion of Hope for Homeowners:
To determine this subsidy cost, CBO estimated the volume of loans that will be refinanced under this voluntary
program and the likelihood that borrowers will default on their refinanced mortgages.
Based on participation in the current Hope for Homeowners program, the FHASecure
program, and information from mortgage industry participants, CBO estimates that as
many as 25,000 additional loans will be refinanced as a result of the amendments to the
program, representing a loan volume of about $5 billion over the next four years. (As of
June 2008, only one loan has been guaranteed under the Hope for Homeowners program.
In addition, about 4,000 delinquent borrowers refinanced their loans under FHASecure
over the 16-month lifetime of the program.)

CBO estimates that the program, as modified by the bill, will have a subsidy rate of
14 percent of the loan value. This estimated subsidy rate assumes that the cumulative
default rate for the program will be about 40 percent and that recoveries on defaulted
mortgages will be about 60 percent of the outstanding loan amount. Those rates reflect
CBO’s view that mortgage holders will have an incentive to direct their highest-risk loans
to the program and are based on the expectation that the underwriting standards
established for the new program will be less restrictive than those currently in place for
FHA’s single-family loan-guarantee program, thereby allowing FHA to insure loans with
a greater risk of default.

I was just reading about how they estimate the cost of $100B added to FHA. The subsidy cost is something like 2%? Since the estimates on loan losses is apparently low.

Now, the question is are the losses through FHA about to go through the roof if all of the Fannie/Freddie "junk" gets funneled there?

Ahhhh hell wtf is the point in posting this on an over-night Friday thread?

"Not true if your savings are in precious metals. "

... or oil baseball cards or whatever hard asset. Even under the gold standard, the amount of gold-denominated savings/debt was vastly over the amount of actual gold.

We need a Cash for Banksters program. Fill their mouths with sand and crush them...

FDIC Bank Failure Update

"Karl Denninger of MarketTicker has become the spearhead of the Harsh Truth Troops. He's getting CNBC time, and Bernanke fielded one of his questions in a town meeting a few days ago."

Wow. Just why he keeps coming back to get pwned over and over by that moron Spiky Hair Boy is beyond my ken.
/////////////////////////////////////

"Sooner or later, TPTB are going to have to either co-opt him....

Otherwise he'll be running for President in four years. And he'll win."

You're demonstrating a remarkable vacuity for presidential politics. While recent administrations have been lefties (the hand they write with), there has not been a single candidate, let alone nominee from any party that had his head festooned by a hair piece.

BSR: ahhhh! yer in yer usual cheerful spirit once again

well, not to worry, it's early, things will get worse

Gang bang porn flicks (and live events) are nothing new. They've been around for at least 10 years if not more. The Alternet writer apparently just heard of them, however. I recall reading an article in Slate (I think) years ago about some "event" that involved one woman shooting for a goal of 500 in one day, although their definitiion of a sexual act was rather loose.

And the author's content about "separating fantasy from reality" being somehow the building block of culture, is dead wrong. We don't have culture today; we simply repackage culture that evolved back in the days of "fantasy." We repackage this culture and sell it to each other. A "cultural scene" basically means that there are a lot of outlets for one to consume culture created by other, more so-called "primitive" and "fantasy-based" societies around the world. In that sense, the idea of say, New York City being a "cultural hub" just means that it's a good place to go and consume re-packaged bits of other people's cultural heritages. Culture develops from societies that are struggling for subsistence. A wealthy and well-fed society generally stops developing its own culture and starts consuming (cannibalizing?) the culture of others.

new world odor? Do you live in New Jersey by any chance?

Karl,
Go to sleep-