furst

That's what Greece said!

It's "The little grecian that could"

poic wrote:

> "The little grecian that could"

More like "The little grecian that will ..."

(Get hosed, that is.)

I lived in VA for about 7 years. Snow covered Virginia is with no cars running, is a pretty damsel!

a pretty damsel ...

or, 'pretty damn dismal'?

Oxtail wrote:

I miss snow. It's been 10 years since I've seen falling snow.

I'll send you a video.

dr munch wrote:

dr munch

muddle forward! YouTube - Mr Muddle

The 80-20 rule in play across the Eurozone.

The situation in Europe is getting a lot of analysis...when it's all said and done like the AIG deal or the rest of the bailouts in the U.S....who's going to come out way ahead? Some big banks and hedge funds or hedge funds inside big banks?

Samdog wrote:

or, 'pretty damn dismal'?

Can be I suppose! I recall sliding down a steep slope, with a foot of snow, in my VW micro bus, leaning on the horn, so cars coming uphill could get out my way! Slip sliding all the way to Campus!

Just face facts and call Greece; California v0.3.

noob goldberg wrote:

EDIT: Okay, wow EHP. That was actually the Mr. Muddle from my childhood. That is all sorts of awesomeness.

the internet is awesome

Thanks to the wonderful Potomac Electric Power Co site, I can see that my old neighborhood in Montgomery County is still without power.

So glad that they know how to do snow here.

noob:

Don't worry, they'll get bailed out ... Europeans won't mind paying even more astronomically higher taxes.

dryfly wrote:

LOL - I was looking at the WaPo pix and quite frankly I have that much snow in my backyard now myself. But some how they didn't consider it newsworthy.

We've had a slow snow year thus-far: only 3 feet. By the end of April 2008 we had received 440 centimetres that winter, or just under 14.5 feet. It was everywhere, and piled in gargantuan heaps because it never got a chance to melt until well into March.

How important was Vietnam in the scheme of things in the 60's, really?

...and look how it changed our country

The Chinese use them as one of the lower tiers of AROP, presently.

The debt cord is only in need of a small spark~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

short term: the dollar rallies, gold tanks, euro tanks, equities tank, bonds tank, ammo soars.

medium term: the yen crashes, stock markets crash, treasuries default, mobs attack banksters, european union breaks up

long term: dog food looks better and better if you put some away

Krugman is saying that the case of Spain is not fiscal irresponsibility but there was a huge boom in Spain largely driven by a houising bubble that drove up wages and financed by capital outflows from Germany. Then the bubble burst leaving labor overpriced with unemployment rising and budget deficits from collapsing revenues. But Spain's government did not overspend but what happened to Spain reflects 'the inherent problems with the euro'.
So other regional currencies or an international currency may not work based on how the euro is working? Also, is Germany responsible for Spain's RE bubble by funding their bubble? Didn't other banks fund Spain's RE bubble?
The Spanish Tragedy - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com 

Too bad we don't have any regular posters from Germany. I'd really like to know what the mood in Berlin is right now. How much of a political price is Merkel going to have to pay for bailing out the PIIGS? I just can not fathom Germany lettings the PIIGS default and take down the Euro.

DeeperDepression,
So what are the dogs gonna eat?

It's a very strong El-Niño, aka Pineapple Express, this year. Hot air from Hawaii is keeping the northwest coast warm + wet, which is forcing the cold arctic air to come down harder on a smaller area on the eastern half of the continent
CRWS Jet Stream Map Menu
If this becomes more of the norm, then sure, get some equipment that can be quickly converted to snow duty (or offer to hire anyone with a pickup that has a plow on the front), have a snow driving education campaign, maybe bring in a mandatory snow tire bylaw, standard post-snowfall street parking procedures so streets can be plowed, etc...
If it's once every 10 years, the best solution is probably just to take it easy for a couple of days where they just worry about emergency stuff

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

It's a very strong El-Niño

This strong El Niño? : YouTube - El Nino

yagij,
I was reading that 2nd homes and vacation homes were very popular in Spain for middle-class and upper-class Europeans...so German banks financed & funded those purchases...

Oxtail wrote:

can someone ask him what the view of the situation is from Germany?

Hahahahahahahahaha... Oxtail must have come after the Werner Show.

merchants of fear wrote:

so German banks financed & funded those purchases...

Right. Follow the Euros. Germany doesn't want to bail out its debt holes, but if it doesn't, its banks could get creamed.
.
Uh oh...

I happened to be looking at GAO site today.

This Report on TARP released a couple days ago

The Federal Reserve created TALF under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, which permits the Federal Reserve to authorize a Federal Reserve Bank to lend to nondepository institutions in “unusual and exigent circumstances.” The Federal Reserve viewed creation of TALF as part of its monetary policy activities because, having already reduced the federal funds target rate to close to zero, it needed additional mechanisms, like TALF, to provide liquidity directly to borrowers and investors in key credit markets. GAO is prohibited by statute from auditing deliberations, decisions, or actions by the Federal Reserve or any Federal Reserve bank

TALF is monetary policy? Bullshit!

YLSP wrote:

TALF is monetary policy? Bullshit!

You didn't get the memo?

GAO was tracing the TARP money into TALF, sorry here's more:

TALF may present risks beyond the potential risks to TARP, such as the risk that FRBNY might fail to identify material noncompliance with program requirements by TALF participants. Because the Federal Reserve views TALF as a monetary policy tool, however, statutory limitations on GAO's authority prohibited GAO from auditing FRBNY's role in administering TALF. Treasury has not fully documented its rationale, as part of its decision-making processes, for reaching final decisions related to the risks of TALF--including decisions involving other agencies. For example, the outcomes of Treasury's internal analysis of the amount of equity that TALF borrowers should hold in TALF ABS collateral, along with other TALF program terms, sometimes differed from FRBNY's. However, there was no clear documentation or explanation of how the discrepancies were resolved or how final decisions were made with FRBNY.

I had read that one of Spain's largest banks has a lot of bad RE loan exposure also...

mp wrote:

That made me think of det[onation] cord. I haven't thought about det cord in a long time.

Avoided the Mission Impossible movies, didn't you?
.
Or is "det cord" the cord used to wire explosives to detonation switches?

If this becomes more of the norm, then sure, get some equipment that can be quickly converted to snow duty (or offer to hire anyone with a pickup that has a plow on the front), have a snow driving education campaign, maybe bring in a mandatory snow tire bylaw, standard post-snowfall street parking procedures so streets can be plowed, etc...
If it's once every 10 years, the best solution is probably just to take it easy for a couple of days where they just worry about emergency stuff

having lived in Vermont during my formative years, this lack of can do around snow removal is just such a joke. I had to dig my car out every day so I could drive it to High School 45 minutes in a white out..what a bunch of BS

poic wrote:

Werner so shocked how prescient we all were that he was left speechless.

I'm hoping his American employer, presumably in auto parts, around Bavaria didn't lay him off or put him on short time. I actually think a big part of it was the change in commenting systems acting as a small barrier and he just passively didn't want to hear "I told you so" from everyone re: decoupling, I like to think he still reads the comments though.

Greece's largest union is about to strike? Timing may be bad.

dryfly wrote:

They'd rather bail out THEIR banks rather than bail out the PIGS.

Germany does not bailout, Germany does not bribe, Germany is open to workers across Europe, Germany loves France

DeeperDepression wrote:

and then what will THEIR BANKS invest in ?

I think I just left something in the toilet that Deutschebank/Commerzbank/Hypo/Landesbanks/etc wanted to invest in (edit: don't call me to share in the spoils, they apologetically full with bad shipping loans)

So if a supposedly fically responsibe govt. can get in trouble from an internationally financed boom/bust...then any nation can be taken out with risky capital inflows in our global economy...and financially networked 'system'...

This take on Google's commercial last night is epic...

So if a supposedly fically responsibe govt. can get in trouble from an internationally financed boom/bust

Can you name a fiscally responsible government?......

It really is hopeless...

DeeperDepression,
I think Krugman was saying that Spain was running a budget surplus with low debts relative to GDP even on the eve of their 'crisis' and thus were fiscally responsible...

But Palin might be 'more of the same' especially on war over-spending...thus a trojan horse...unfortunately...

For Dawg...

Washington, District of Columbia (20001) Conditions & Forecast : Weather Underground
.

Tuesday
Cloudy...snow...mainly in the afternoon. Snow accumulation around an inch. Highs in the lower 30s. North winds around 5 mph...becoming east in the afternoon. Chance of snow 80 percent.
.
Tuesday Night
Snow. Snow may be heavy at times after midnight. Additional snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches. Lows in the upper 20s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.
.
Wednesday
Snow...mainly in the morning. Snow may be heavy at times in the morning. Total snow accumulation of 12 to 16 inches. Highs in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.

"A potential 'independent' third party movement of disaffected, disgruntled, and disgusted voters has already been subverted and hijacked by a trojan horse."

you betcha!!

hijacked by a trojan horse.

we need a good horse thief

Oh, I firmly believe it will be a whole lot more of the same.

No one's going to try and stop the runaway train so might as well shovel more coal into the furnace.

crisis was 'created'
Probably a lot of evidence for major boom/bust credit cycles being created repeatedly by political/economic policies...but a lot of social resistance for this 'theory'...

poic,
What's Palin's stance on attacking Iran?

For YLSP also...what's Palin's position for attacking Iran?

Not sure...because I didn't catch the tea party send off.

merchants of fear wrote:

What's Palin's stance on attacking Iran?

Missionary.

Timeline: now or never?

broward wrote:
Missionary
Palin strikes me as more a reverse cowgirl type (apologies to BSR )

Dawg,the demographics im N'awlins changed drastically after Katrina.

I don't know; I only watched 10-15 minutes of her speech.
I did find it funny that Teaparty Convention got top billing over whatever the DNC was doing. To be honest I can relate more to teaparty folk, than RNC or DNC politicos; as they appear to be earnest people... they just need to dump Palin as their speaker and move more "independent". But I don't think they really or.

Palin strikes me more of a "I have a headache" type...

EHP,

Never worked with it myself, though did get through an underground mine safety course where we shot a round at the mine face - all electrical setup, drilled the shot using a compressed air jackleg and all that - "fire in the hole!" Shock wave through the ground tickles your toes first then the compression wave comes out of the adit... thing is about working underground is that everything has to work right or you die.

energyecon
What government department or agency do you specifically think should be given bunker cave priority then?

poic wrote:

I saw them on her palm

Palm reading will soon replace economic forecasting and models.

I nominate Steve Forbes

Expect a move in the stock market 2/10... Bernanke is going to speak to Congress about how to remove some of the liquidity the Fed introduced...

Unwinding Emergency Federal Reserve Liquidity Programs and Implications for Economic Recovery

I'm listening to some of the Volker Rule hearing...
I don't know who is talking to him, but some Senator said something like,

Southern Senator: "In this last crises... we didn't have any proprietary trader lose money."
Volker: "In this last crises? I recall at the beginning... a very large loss of a French bank from a single loan trader that cost hundreds of millions of dollars."
Senator: "In the United States of America, there was not a single loss..."
Volker: "I'd have to go and look back at the trading I do know that some companies suffered plenty of losses in their trading desk" .
Senator: "I'm just going to say that is a fact unless someone tells me any different."

And then the Treasury witness gets in about how banks took losses in their proprietary trading and other losses...

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

IIRC, det cord is basically a really long straw full of PETN with a propogation rate >20,000 ft/sec...

Yeah, it's very fast. I remember det cord was a really dark green and, at night, it was almost impossible to tell the difference between it and powder fuse, which was black, as I recall. I hope they fixed that problem.

I stand corrected, it is Senator Corker (looking at the video...)

YLSP wrote:

Bernanke is going to speak to Congress about how to remove some of the** liquidity **

It's a big problem now that Edward Kennedy is dead.

Blackhalo wrote:

Euro Rallies, Metals Gain

Pa-per.

Must.. print...

more...

{huff} {puff} {huff} {puff}

pa... per.

Contagion risk has been proven! Yay!

Well, at least as far as a couple of IMF Monetary and Cap Markets guys reckon. Which smacks somewhat of the highly paid studying the blindingly obvious, but there ya go.

Anatomy of distress: New insight on the probability of bank turmoil | vox - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists

Get the feeling they might be caught without a good answer to an immediate and time-bound policy or investment question, like "what is the interbank counterparty risk of the past 3 months of sovereign credit movements, by instrument, scale, and institutional domicile?"

C

Probability of bank turmoil, you say? Maybe we should alert somebody.

Nahh, data's not conclusive. Best wait until Q1 is in before acting. Wouldn't want to appear rash.

C

... And yet another FREE Public Service, brought to you, by the bloggers of CR:

Re1: Krugman Speaks Monday August 13, 2007: Financial chaos spreads worldwide

"The scariest thing about liquidity crises, said Krugman, is that it is very hard for policy makers to do anything about them. Central banks can respond by cutting interest rates or lending money to banks that are short of cash

“But when liquidity dries up, the normal tools of policy lose much of their effectiveness,” said Krugman. “Reducing the cost of money doesn’t do much for borrowers if nobody is willing to make loans. Ensuring that banks have plenty of cash doesn’t do much if the cash stays in the banks’ vaults.”"

Re2: Krugman Speaks Again, November 23, 2007 : OP-ED COLUMNIST; Banks Gone Wild - NY Times

“What were they smoking?” asks the cover of the current issue of Fortune magazine.

part of the answer lies in what hasn’t happened to the men on that Fortune cover — namely, they haven’t been forced to give back any of the huge paychecks they received before the folly of their decisions became apparent.

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

The US owes $2 trillion to the Chinese.

they should let us defraud them with currency manipulation is absurd.

The accumulation of that $2 trillion, WAS currency manipulation. I'd tend to think that after the first trillion they have pretty much abdicated any room for complaint. He who lives by the peg...

More good news - up is good, right?

iTraxx Europe 95 Spread 3.90%
iTraxx Europe Crossover 497 Spread 1.03%
iTraxx Europe HiVol 137 Spread 2.07%
iTraxx Europe Senior Financials 106 Spread 3.04%

Sooo, lemme see here, iTraxx Main credit risk is blowing wider, 'bout 8 bps since ?Friday, and snr financials are too, slightly faster. I don't have the chart on hand but a danger zone (pre-LEH, or BSC at the brink) was when Main less Snr Fins is around -10bps. Okaaay.

But it's slow. Compared with some Latin or Eastern Yerp maneuvers, this is just getting going - regionwide.

(Are we there yet? Are we there yet? say the doomer kids in the back...

Dammit, quieten down back there. We're getting there, promise!)

C

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

Who got taken?

The dollar was also artificially inflated relative to the Yuan, resulting in an awful lot of US industry moving to China, and costing the US a somewhat disproportionate level of job and industry loss. Had China diversified their holdings to Yen and Euro, it might not have been quite so painful for US labor, and they might not be quite so over the barrel, with regard to dollar devaluation.

Just a little comment to those who always make snide comments about how DC people can't handle snow. Yes, that IS true. But keep in mind that WITHOUT snow, The DC region has the second worst traffic congestion in the nation. So Imagine LA, put a slippery oil slick on every road, and then remove a ~1/2 lane from the interstates and get rid of the merge lanes. It would be a nightmare EVEN IF everybody knew how to drive in it.

It is always thus. Lending to the profligate does not make them happy. The result is usually a bitter debtor, blaming his lender for the injustice of his interest payments.

I don't quite understand Krugman's insistence that Spain is fine and it's all the Euro's fault.

I'm with you oxtail. Remember those economists back around 2004-5 who were saying that Increasing levels of consumer debt despite stagnating wages were OK because the balance sheets were fine? How'd THAT work out?

Absolutely, LBD. Currency printing doesn't fool anyone anymore. Is Zimbabwe better off than Greece?

End the Fed.

Then why are T-Bills interest rates so low,

Because the Fed and its insider prime dealers are buying.

(Anyone who still believes in the Fed is a fool. I meant no intelligent person paying attention is fooled, anymore.)

END THE FED

Who sold and cleared CDS on Spain, Greece and Portugal?
Why are the central bankers of the world meeting in secret?

End the friggin Fed, already.

Then why are T-Bills interest rates so low,

interest rates are usually at their lowest at the end of the credit cycle. As capitalist garner ever greater amounts of promises, they have to reinvest them back into the same paper. Exactly what happened just before the John Law bubble blew out.

I am the ONLY customer at the 13 Coins restaurant.

Holy cow.

Nickels were recently worth more melted.

The idea that the Fed can stimulate employment by handing cheap credit to bankers is a sick joke. We got fooled again. Who could have imagined.

Because the Fed and its insider prime dealers are buying.

Then why does that appear to "fool" some of the people most of the time?

I don't understand much about this stuff. It seems the fed having to backstop an auction is kind of coprophagous, and would repulse existing holders of these instruments.

The paper has to go somewhere. Think of it as supply and demand. Tons of paper building up against a shrinking supply of willing borrowers. Price of paper (interet rate) collapses, at least until faith in the paper fails.

As other posters mentioned above, the currency games take two to tango. The incomplete sterilization of all that RMB sloshing around the economy has got to be a headache in itself. I think they're about to discover there is no graceful way to deflate such asset bubbles.

Meanwhile, they're taking it out on the folks at home as well. The following story about dissident crackdowns is getting a lot of coverage in HK since a bunch of reporters from HK were roughed up today at the sentencing.

China jails Sichuan quake activist Tan Zuoren for subversion - Times Online

Meanwhile the SCMP reports that an elite school to train super journalists for the state owned media will attempt "world class communications and image building".

"The accumulation of that $2 trillion, WAS currency manipulation. I'd tend to think that after the first trillion they have pretty much abdicated any room for complaint. He who lives by the peg."

China is already about 4500-4800 billion dollar economy, will be second biggest economy soon, bypassing Japan. Loans and exports to USA are both pretty much irrelevant to them already, few hundred billion dollars per year. More like a hobby now.

Even if USA would disappear from the map, it would only be temporarily nuisance for Chinese, lasting about few years with their current growth rate. They do have a quite nice dollar reserve that they can use to buy strategic resources (from all around the globe).

GDP Index in real terms (baseline 1952):
1990: 1855
1995: 5849
2000: 8947
2003: 13582
2005: 18387
2007: 24662
2008: 31404
2009/1-9: 21782. (corrected, 7.7 percent growth expected last year).

China is growing 10 percent almost every year. Internal demand there just is so huge with four+ times the population of USA. Of course there will be problems sooner or later because of lack of democracy with one party rule (two-parties-turned-into-one rule is so much better in the USA, right?) but that will be another story.

It would surprise me if welching on the IOU's was part and parcel of any master plan. I think our deficit spending and debt driven consumption mentality had its own dynamic. While it was certainly enabled by the Chinese, but there were plenty of wise heads who said, and continue to say, that the debt can be serviced, higher value added is found in tech, and profits are to be enjoyed by design and marketing-- the whole platform company chimera.

Meanwhile, barring a trade war, the global wage arbitrage box will remain open. China's short circuiting of exchange rate movement is hobbling the development of lesser (than she) developed countries (and states of the union, one might add).

Without cheap uncensored public access to the internet China (and Russia) will never be attractive to live in

The idiom here could be:

井底之蛙
Jing Di Zhi Wa

A frog at the bottom of a well, whose only vision of the world is the tiny circle of light above.

The common Chinese view of the outside world is fraught with "contradictions", and stoked with very potent jingoism.

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

I told you so...

My jaw is on the floor, my breath is taken away. Thank you yogi for posting this.

We are sooooo screwed.

The Canadian Press: European stocks up cautiously on hopes for Greece

From Trichet To Greece's Rescue? - Forbes.com

> LONDON -- Europe was all abuzz with expectations for a European Union-led rescue attempt of Greece, following news on Tuesday that European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet was set to leave a meeting with the Reserve Bank of Australia in Sydney a day early to attend an informal gathering of E.U. leaders on Thursday.

Though the subject of the meeting is not yet known, market watchers speculated that officials would be exploring solutions to Greece's debt problems.

"So muddle through might work."

right. we aren't talking about UK or Japan, here. not yet.

"As we approach the one-year mark for CDS clearing, five trillion dollars in CDS cleared is an important milestone in the reduction of systemic risk, and a significant technical achievement," said ICE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher. "We are clearing a range of CDS indexes and single-names in the U.S. and Europe, which is an accomplishment we share with clearing members, buy-side participants and regulators. Our stress-tested risk management platform, including a complete segregation and portability framework, is backed by a $3 billion guarantee fund dedicated to CDS."

Through January 22, ICE Trust cleared over $3.5 trillion in CDX and $10.3 billion in single names, resulting in $234 billion and $7 billion in open interest, respectively.

Leveraged only 80-1. Reduced risk... BWAAAHHHAHHH.

yogi...I saw that and highlighted that part to my poor email friends I rant to. Without the changes made in the CFMA this market couldn't have even existed. I want to throw Uncle Phil a party.

and yogi...all those who don't think commodities are not manipulated needs to read the article linked above. If people believe their investments in the ETF sector is wise then check out the majority holders, you're a little ant in a universe of smart amoral scumbags who will squeeze every last cent from the serfs in these opaque markets through manipulation of commodities. Bend over.

I take a GIANT issue with a sovereign taking physical ownership of international producers AND playing in the ETF/futures commodities sector. No rules, just chaos and we are sooooo screwed.

"Our stress-tested risk management platform, including a complete segregation and portability framework......"

What could possibly go wrong?

From: Greece: Bear or Lehman? | Herald Sun

There's no 'good' solution for Greece just as there wasn't back in 2008 in New York. Neither the BearS bailout nor the Lehman burnout was the 'right' choice - the one that 'could have' avoided financial Armageddon. For just as it wasn't all and only 'about' BearS or Lehman, it also isn't so with Greece. Like the earlier two, it's just the entry point to a bigger, deeper and wider mess.
...
This goes to the second, more fundamental and more disturbing issue which links what happened in 2008 with what we might face in 2010. Or later, if we manage to postpone it by 'succeeding' with Greece. For simply, we 'solved' the 2008 problem of too much debt in the (developed world) private sector by shifting it to the public sector. By the trillion. We took all that dodgy bank and other debt and turned it directly and indirectly into Triple-A sovereign (country) debt. We now see the consequences, starting most graphically with Greece - and Spain, and Portugal. With Italy and Belgium and Austria coming up behind. And the UK and the US?

Rob Dawg wrote:

We'll be lucky if we don't get a full-blown hot war.

As a resident of the Middle East, we all just can't wait for the big "surprise" Iran is supposed to announce on 2.11. We've also noticed the commitment to build up an arms race in Saudi as well.

Best article I've read on PIIGS sovereign default: {watch out for the red hat - I just posted this above}

Greece: Bear or Lehman? | Herald Sun

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

No rules, just chaos and we are sooooo screwed.

It's interesting that the Chinese have taken positions in Motorola, Coke, etc. The Japanese preferred golf courses. But there was and is no talk of manipulation. But if the Chinese buy oil or zinc, then they are manipulating the market? To me, those investments are promoting research into alternative energy development and substitutes for zinc (like plastic). It will be interesting to see what China does with crude oil delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma.

The key to speculative trades like oil or CDSs is adequate margins, not who owns them.

The Chinese own dollars and want to spend them, what should we tell them? I don't think we need an approved investments list or require 100% margins.

traderwalt wrote:

It's interesting that the Chinese have taken positions in Motorola, Coke, etc. The Japanese preferred golf courses. But there was and is no talk of manipulation.

The fat lady hasn't sung in China yet. Wait until the bubble blows up there. Webster's dictionary will start spelling DEFLATION in all caps.

I suspect China will blow off a hand while trying to assemble a financial terror bomb. Their $2t won't help when social pressures at home disrupt the export machine.

American Airlines quietly announced last week that it would eliminate free blankets in coach and sell an $8 packet that includes a pillow and blanket starting May 1.
Passengers Must Pay for Blankets on American - In Transit Blog - NYTimes.com

---Let the screwing continue!

The Chinese took the Plaza Accord as an object lesson in how not to engage in multilateral agreements to revalue.

Looks like they'll make their own mistakes, their way.

• As part of a humanitarian effort China agrees to build and operate a deep water port on the west coast of Mexico.

Christ was right. It is better to give than to receive.

dum luk wrote:

Christ was right. It is better to give than to receive.

James Monroe had other ideas. And just as China had her tribute from surrounding states, I think they'd avoid our backyard unless they intend direct provocation.

That's called capitalism. I loved People Express no frills NY to Miami for $59. If there is competition, consumers should pay for what they consume. There are no free blankets.

Safety shouldn't be compromised, and monopolies must be busted. You could hire non-union airport checkers at below minimum wage. More planes will explode, however.

We are lucky we get to pay for TSA twice.
Once with taxes and once with a "9/11 security fee".
That isn't capitalism, is it?
Is the TSA unionized?

Traderwalt wrote:

No customers lost any money. Remember that futures trading is a zero sum game. The money is still there someplace.

Wrong. Take ICE Trust, above. $240 billion open interest secured by $3 billion. Cascading defaults will crash the system like in '32, once the last backdoor bailout card is played. Meanwhile the bankers eat their bonus cake.

No, the $8 blanket you complained about is capitalism. I like the choice. Transportation safety is socialism. Fly Air Somalia if you don't want taxes. I'm sure the blanket is gratis.

From Employers that cut 401(k) match will reinstate them in 2010 - Feb. 8, 2010

Of companies that suspended or reduced 401(k) match programs, 80% planned to restore them this year, according to a survey conducted by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting firm

So price discovery is set by those who take delivery but futures (and shorts) can and do affect market price. I laughed my ass off in '08 when someone didn't get a memo...got squeezed big in oil and had to sell fast...in a span on one hour there was a perfect inverted V. Sell or take delivery...I would have loved to see those leaky oil barrels sitting in front of some pretty offices in NYC.

I firmly believe after '08 and the volatility over such a brief period of time was a perfect demonstration of how institutional traders can not only affect end product pricing but squeeze the producer/supplier contracts.

Its obvious and now we have a sovereign nation getting into the game with exceptionally large dollar holdings. Lets see how that works out for J6P truck driver buying diesel and just who profits by how much. We already know that answer to that question.

The CFMA has proven itself to be destructive and highly flawed after a mere 10 years. Its time to repeal it NOW. The futures markets worked just fine for 60+ years and was created after GD1 when those markets were identified as a factor which led to GD1 and deepened the misery. The CFMA and Enron loophole it created is clearly doing the same now except in vastly larger ways than prior to GD1.

Yogi is spot on.

Yes, you see there's this thing called the profit motive. If you pay people shit they won't care much about their job. We've had prevailing wage statutes longer than unions. But the knee-jerks don't bother with history. Boy I hope the NFL goes on strike again.

1 currency, not necessarily. Most exchanges, I believe, can require more money immediately and then liquidate you. Since the clearing firm guarantees your margin, they pretty much can liquidate you for any reason. That "any reason" could be that they just don't want any risk in the market you're trading in. Their compensation is minuscule relative to the risk they assume, so they will do almost anything to keep from suffering losses. Also they have been in business for long enough to realize that there are only two kinds of risk managers: the quick and the dead.

HomeGnome wrote:

Do you maintain that spending tax dollars on "transportation safety" is the only way to make travel "safe"?

You misspelled "security theater".

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

If you pay people shit they won't care much about their job.

You and I agree with THAT statement. Unionization though is not necessarily the "magic fix". BTW, People's Express you talked up was a non-union company (now called Jet-Blue).

Eric<

It was intentional.

good morning

Fire Department Bills for Basic Services Horrify Residents, Insurance Companies - ABC News

It's about time they cut out that socialist crap...BWAHAHAHAHA

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

I firmly believe after '08 and the volatility over such a brief period of time was a perfect demonstration of how institutional traders can not only affect end product pricing but squeeze the producer/supplier contracts.

I'm not disputing that there's a big influence, just questioning why standing for delivery (or not) is evidence of a short squeeze.

In fact I am quite sure that Spring Summer '08 was such an instance and hurt a lot of traders, some fatally. But how much was passed through to retail markets? How about in rice, where there was a spike in prices . . . but no futures market involved. Just old fashioned panic buying and hoarding, if I'm not mistaken.

New regs, scrutiny over what's going on w/ sovereigns? Absolutely needed, sure.

there's plenty you can do to distance yourself from their actions...

What - the Amish are accepting converts ?

....this is what happens in the REAL world when news isn't accommodating to its major sponsors......

"Toyota dealers in five southeast states have pulled their commercials off ABC TV local affiliates, complaining about the coverage of Toyota safety problems by ABC News and its chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross."

Toyota Dealers Pull ABC TV Ads; Anger Over Excessive Stories on Toyota Safety Problems - ABC News

The big banks face a choice. They can agree to sensible reforms that protect consumers and rein in the excesses of the past decades. Or they can simply decide to screw customers, but do it openly this time, since they have so much market share it almost doesn’t matter what customers think.

Elizabeth Warren Calls Out Wall Street « The Baseline Scenario

Unionization though is not necessarily the "magic fix".

There is no magic fix. Trusting Dimon and Blankfein ain't so smart either. Everybody complains that other Americans don't want to do cheap menial labor. So get a job as a security checker at an airport without union wages and benefits. Show us how it's done.

Greeks may strike any day. Nothing personal, just leverage.

1 currency. There is a difference. Nobody is going to bail out any risk manager. Firms have risk and the exchange members have risk and the exchange has risk. Governments may bail out bad actors, but not risk managers, and the risk managers know this. "Pulling the plug" and "blowing you out" is a survival skill to them just like breathing .

gabyjan wrote:

good morning
Fire Department Bills for Basic Services Horrify Residents, Insurance Companies

I would insist that the city council reduce next years budget by any amount billed. Not collected, billed. And not the inflated wishing budget either. It amazes me when public servants miss the point of their existence.

gabyjan wrote:

Fire Department Bills for Basic Services Horrify Residents, Insurance Companies

....our town is trying this - it was just proposed at the last Town Board meeting.........Chief Lewis says ONLY the insurance companies will be billed for a "few" services.......and then tried to minimize the effect.

EU searches for way out of debt crisis - Yahoo! Finance

BRUSSELS (AP) -- Markets somehow expect the European Union to backstop Greece's sagging finances. But with officials denying a bailout is needed, the precise path out of the crisis for the EU's incoming new leadership remains fogged with uncertainty.

The European Union's own government-backed lender said Tuesday that it cannot bail out Greece or any other European country that can't pay its debts.

The European Investment Bank said in a statement that it could "only finance economically viable projects" and that its rules would not allow it help an EU nation cover a budget deficit.

That narrowed the options as Europe's currency union faces an unprecedented crisis as financial markets and the euro currency have tumbled in recent weeks -- with the euro now trading near an eight-month low against the U.S. dollar -- on worries that Greece might need financial rescue to cope with its soaring debt and deficit.

I will be selling today.....

Fire Department Bills for Basic Services Horrify Residents, Insurance Companies

Proves you can go private and have price competition. Rural areas some insurance companies charge houses at burn down rates. Volunteer fire department and distance from fire station over 5 miles was my qualification. RG is right if the cost are not reduced from taxes then they are double dipping.

"TBTF will have their cake and eat it too"

......my deer departed maternal grand mother would always chide me on this statement. It apparently was originally, "Eat you cake and have it too"

Black Star Ranch wrote:

it was just proposed at the last Town Board meeting

how long before they let you attend the meetings again?

Congressional Democrats point finger of blame at Rahm Emanuel - TheHill.com

See; it's not the repubs-

Black Star Ranch wrote:

then tried to minimize the effect

another burden for future home semi property right buyers

Did someone already post Rosie's take on EMU and sovereign default?

Rosenberg Recaps The European, And Sovereign, Risk Soap Opera In Ten Paragraphs Or Less | zero hedge

[guess not]

Cinco-X wrote:

it's not the repubs

it's the effing retards

volker the viking wrote:

how long before they let you attend the meetings again?

another 6-months........like some of the casinos here.......I don't work and play well with others....imagine that!

Buck up little campers ... 's coming back out to play!

YouTube - Good mornig, good morning

Another Pavlovegas-adjacent hotel bit the dust yesterday, 400+ jobs gone.

Has anyone read this book:
Amazon.com: Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy (9780393075960): Joseph E. Stiglitz: Books
I saw it at the bookstore on Sunday an it looked interesting-

YouTube - bob marley-everything's gonna be alright

Not sure how Bob Marley could have sung a song that was written in 1988, seeing as he died in 1981.

Something is amiss.

seems to be chic these days:
How to invest for a global-debt-bomb explosion
Prepare for an apocalyptic anarchy ending Wall Street's toxic capitalism

he Big One is coming soon, bigger than the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 subprime credit meltdown combined. A huge market blowout. And as Bloomberg-BusinessWeek predicts: "The results won't be pretty for investors or elected officials."

After the global-debt bomb explodes don't expect a typical bear correction followed by a new bull. Wall Street's toxic pseudo-capitalism is imploding. Be prepared for a massive meltdown. Yes, already the third major bubble-bust of the 21st century, triggered once again by Wall Street's out-of-control Fat Cat Bankers. And it's dead ahead.
Can your family survive in the anarchy after the debt bomb explodes?

America's already descending into economic anarchy. We're all trapped in a historic economic supercycle, a turning point that must bleed through a no-man's land of lawless self-destructive anarchy before a neo-capitalistic world can re-emerge. Investors tell me they "feel" it at a deep level, "know" it's happening. They keep asking: "What's the best investment strategy to prepare now?"

This is no joke, folks. Are you prepared? Or preparing? Will your family survive in a post-apocalyptic world, when anarchy is rampant in America? Look at Washington, Wall Street and Corporate America today. You know it's already begun.

awww shucks BSR, what a nice thing to say! You just made my day!

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

volunteer privatized Air Force?

a well armed militia

NFIB: Small Business Owners Report "shortage of customers"

nanoo
marie antonette(sp) let them eat cake is completly different from "eat your cake and have it too"

Outsider wrote:

Cinco-X -- that didn't work out so hot for Ruby Ridge.

Note the bold text: "His advice: Make tons of money"

“All divisions are profitable, and now UBS needs to work on its image and reputation so that clients’ withdrawals reverse,” said Teresa Nielsen, an analyst at Vontobel Holding AG in Zurich who has a “buy” rating on UBS.

Does anyone here believe that? Where would UBS be without the AIG back-door bailout?

UBS Reports Higher Client Outflows, Return to Profit (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

........Ruby Ridge was a learning experience for some..........

The Lorax wrote:

Love this kind of fiction. The reality is that Americans have no stomach for anarchy and an everlasting hope for "the American dream".

Have you been reading Nova's novel? What struck me about this piece is not so much what it said as the fact that this meme is beginning to go mainstream-