LA Area Port Traffic in January
Submitted by
CalculatedRisk on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 6:52pm (273 comments)
Shopping at Amazon?
Wait! If you click on the Amazon banner link at the top of the page first, HCN will get a percentage of anything you purchase for 24 hours!
Open predictions
Our local book authors
User login
Who's online
There are currently 3 members and 137 guests online.
Currently online
Recent Recommendations
Number one?
I really wonder of interest rates will only increase by 50-100 basis points.
I'm pretty sure anyone with an ARM who has not refinanced to a record low fixed by now, can not and will be toast.
But it does not matter, people here are still drinking the cool aid, almost as fast as they can find a sucker to lend them the money. Oh wait, that's us as tax payers.
Can we export
at a good enough price 
WHAAAT??? Consumers aren't buying cheap throwaway crap from China with their debt driven purchasing power? That will throw a wrench in the works.
I wonder how annoyed the EU has to get over the Goldman/Greece chicanery, to do some interesting Smoot-Hawley on institutional ownership of Goldman CDS/US Treasuries. I for one would like to see some severing of some of the systemic risk, when a bank failure in the USA takes down an EU government...
Blackhalo wrote:
A) Pissed because of Greece.
B) Very quiet because it is not only Greece.
[crickets]
Twilight moment of the day
Chase sends me a notice about my CC. It's not a interest rate change. It's to remove binding arbitration. Ummmmm.... pardon me while I read the fine print >; )
TBTF now super sized to have even better control!
I'm surprised exports have just stalled - considering what is going on in Europe.
As I've been saying for a couple years now - I don't expect exports to be that significant of a positive factor even as the dollar weakens - but I DO expect import substitution [stuff made here replacing what was imported {exported to us} here] to be a much larger factor and I'm seeing some of that personally with the companies I work with. Not saying there isn't opportunity for importers still - I work with some very goods ones, they'll continue to do fine - its just that it won't be a free ride like it was when the dollar was unrealistically strong. I'd expect the port traffic data will continue to hint at this.
There is a huge underclass in America. People who can only exist in a service driven economy with growth. What happens to these millions upon millions? You can only put so many in jail before that becomes even more of a drag on budgets. The quarterly profit/bonus motive and globalization has sunk our nation. The MBA class were very good at executing their training.
Suburban Homeless: Rising Tide Of Women, Families
Also - talk about the mfg community taking it in the shorts - tonight I'm about an hour north of Little Rock in a mfg town - absolutely shell shocked. About half the mfg facilities are shuttered permanently - many others have laid off. Ironically the one I'm visiting has expanded & has been hiring. I can only imagine the competition for those jobs. In 2004-2006 this place was booming then the wheels fell off [circa 2007 or so].
Oh and the CRE is also in chaos - far fewer salaries means a lot weaker retail sector.
OK. So it has been well established that capitalism, or US capitalsim, does not work. The rules are eagerly applied when they benefit the powers-that-be, but cast asunder when they do not. So it is a rigged and bullshit system,
What's next?
Blurtman wrote:
The squid thinks it works just fine - what's your problem, no bonus?
Am I the only person who heard that a bomb went off outside a JPM branch in Athens and thought Georgia and not Greece?
BBC NEWS | Americas | Grapes of Wrath, a classic for today?
"If I wanted to destroy a nation," he wrote in 1966, "I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy and sick."
- John Steinbeck
Prescient....YES !
Sorry to say Obamanomics is going to fail because today's America is too far down the black hole of debt.
Capitalism works. Abuse and theft will ruin any thing. Part of the failure is the public gambled and did not protect themselves.
Lobbyist Ben Dover wrote:
They believed in the 'system'. They'll know better next time.
I hope our economic and political pilots know whether to pull or push on the stick as the low-flying US airplane of state is loosing engine power and the final stall approaches.
dryfly wrote:
Yeah it's a great game. Just like quidditch... Except that instead of finding the snitch, the wizards of wall street, try to hide the debt.
JimPortlandOR wrote:
If you haven't noticed - they have their parachutes on and are out the door - its the rest of us that get to enjoy the ride.
Deflationary Jane wrote:
That was my first thought as well.
Blurtman wrote:
Just tweak capital gains taxes to at least equate the rates for ponzi gains with hard labor; regulate the public banks as public utilities. End Fed secrecy. After Jubilee, debtors got reset with only their clothes.
The squid shows the way to the next level, pissing on the Reader's Digest depiction of the US economic system, which many folks are just getting up to speed on. The squid has made a mockery of the US financial system, and points the way. Once enough folks catch up to become the next victims, the next level will be illuminated. Currently the squib role is being filled quite well by Goldman Sachs, but the squid is much larger than they.
Believing in the system doesn't add up. The math for many added up to they could not afford what they bought. Their greed for fast profit and toys is just as bad as the Banksters.They failed and the system helped them. There is rarely a victim.
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
Many if not most all creditors too - since a lot of their asset values are tied to debtors repaying.
Blurtman wrote:
The squid has made a mockery of the US financial system, and points the way. Once enough folks catch up to become the next victims, the next level will be illuminated.
It's scammers all the way up and down. I'm not sure we're collectively prepared to face that reality. People still need some amount of hope for the future and belief in ideals, and certainly not the realization that a race of human-like psychopathic aliens holds the reins of power and has captured, bribed, or simply purchased anyone opposed to their goals. The idea that intellectual and cultural superiority entails moral superiority and right to govern will be the most painful myth to fall.
Deflationary Jane wrote:
You aren't wrong, just early.
The math for many added up to they could not afford what they bought.
If the lenders had stayed tied to their loans for better or for worse, I think most of this would not have happened. They would have been far more prudent. Selling their loans enabled them to have all the fun with none of the consequences. And the borrowers were partying children with no parental supervision. Voila - loans that are the taxpayers' burden now, and debtors with stomach aches.
What a coincidence, I'm looking for small cap shipping companies to invest in.
Lobbyist Ben Dover wrote:
Come on, LBD, That's two tries to blame the mostly innocent. Didn't Bush tell the people to just go shopping?
Did my neighbor leverage debt 30 times or more with other people's money?
I'm sorry you can't see how ridiculous it is to excuse the greedful excess of our largest financial institutions. I can almost hear you saying next that regulation of Wall Street caused our downfall, or that big government forced the :squids: to lend to anything breathing.
Lobbyist Ben Dover wrote:
That doesn't count for the 10% who are unemployed... or the pople they owe who now have to lay off to stay afloat [and those workers then too default].
Most everyone in that class thought they'd keep jobs, their benefits & live like they always did. That even if their employers laid off they'd find new jobs. Suckers. They'll know better next time and definitely 'protect themselves' better as a result. They will NOT trust their employers or the 'market' with their well being. Never again. They'll know better & that is probably the best thing that will come out of it. I see it already with my kids.
dryfly wrote:
The value of an asset like land is always tied to what tenants might produce in the future. Actually the nominal (dollar price) value of every asset is tied to the value of all other assets.
The creditors deserve their crew cuts. It's an outrage that Dimon got a $17 million dollar bonus in a year the NY Fed took billions in losses on its Bear Stearns portfolio.
Lobbyist Ben Dover wrote:
There is often plenty of blame to go around.
i usually read the previous thread before posting after being out on the farm all day
but this is too awesome to wait..has it been linked
janet tavakoli on 60 minutes, summary and vid at karl D the capo
"This was a massive Ponzi scheme. And it's the biggest crime against the American economy in our lifetimes, in fact, ever," analyst Janet Tavakoli explained.
Tavakoli is an analyst specializing in derivatives, the exotic financial instruments at the heart of the meltdown. She argues that the bad mortgage loans that fueled the crisis were repackaged by investment banks, sliced into increasingly complex derivatives and resold to other investors, even though the underlying mortgages were often virtually worthless.
"You had various traders buying each others' products to artificially keep the prices up so that the bubble didn't collapse," she told Safer.
Not only that. But the mortgage derivatives being traded were so mind-numbingly complicated, nobody understood them fully. Certainly not the pigeons: the buyers at banks, mutual funds, pension funds and insurance companies who wound up holding a bag full of worthless paper."
60 Minutes - Yes, It Was All A Scam - The Market Ticker
YouTube - TALKING HEADS once in a lifetime
same as it ever was..same as it ever was.same as it ever was sameasiteverwassameasiteverwas sameasiteverwassameasiteverwas sameaasitevermwasamstiesamsame tieverwasmasameasiteverwamsaes ameasaitevermwsaiemssiasasmsas ameasiteverwamsasameasiteversa mwawassameasiteverwasmsamesait everwasmsamesaiteverwasamsamea aaaaaasitEEVER WAAAAAAS!!!
Rob Dawg wrote:
So true... you looked at my 401K didn't you?
It ain't over until a city burns >; )
JimPortlandOR wrote:
No the point you want to displace is the fact people where not honest with themselves and you like many are trying to displace their responsibility else where. More regulation won't do crap if the government refuses to do their job and oversee what is going on. No Bankers on trial? surprise they will never be anybody held responsible as the would roll on the politicians who help them.
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
I fully agree - but it won't be just Dimon - it'll be 401Ks & pension funds and peoples individual IRAs too that get smoked in the jubilee. For the most part we will all walk with just our clothes - figuratively speaking. This thing isn't really over until that math sinks in and is accepted as inevitable.
Outsider wrote:
Not to mention provided the fuel for the securities that the bulk of the leverage is based on, without providing any return in real productivity. Had those ponzi dollars chasing yield, funded new business ventures, R&D or other useful exploits instead of HELOC toys, we might have actually gotten something for our trouble.
dryfly wrote:
Never again, until the next time: (mock reminded us earlier) The Associated Press: Economy prompts fresh look at ND's socialist bank
1915...
Everybody wants some, and I want some, too. From there, the squid operates in overdrive. Testing the boundaries of the rules of finance. Will the rules hold, or be obliterated? So far, it looks like the smart money is on obliterated.
mock turtle wrote:
Ah yes, I see,...there are usually multiple victims.
dryfly wrote:
Who ends up owning the houses, land and corporations then? Ben and Timmy?
the money quote
""You had various traders buying each others' products to artificially keep the prices up so that the bubble didn't collapse,""
we talked about his more than two years ago in terms of equities
bankstas are terrorists...damn fother muckers
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
Dimon in the rough. Don't pick on him. He has potential.
Lack of financial oversight and regulation appears to have been the weak link that knocked all the dominoes down.
If there is one single element all this can be traced to, this must be it.
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
Well of course - nothing really changes in human nature - but it won't happen again until a new crop of virgin suckers walk the earth - my kids kids or their grand kids. Who knows maybe they'll do it all in quatloos.
Dryfly,
Disagree, if you build an economy out of control growth then the jobs are part of the faux consumer economy. The young I would give some slack for inexperience but the older folks sure as hell saw this was nuts. Do we ever learn from our lessons? history says no.
mock turtle wrote:
bankstas are terrorists...damn fother muckers
Yeah, but these terrorists are legal.
mock turtle wrote:
Invest in things you don't understand. The road to riches. The investment advisers are the criminals.
Elvis wrote:
Besides, why blame him for the Fed's crummy business dealings?
Artist : Talking Heads
Song : Once In A Lifetime
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun
shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the
world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a
large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house,
with a beautiful
Wife
And you may ask yourself-well...how did I get
here?
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me
down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.
And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me
down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.
Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...same
as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...same
as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...
Water dissolving...and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Carry the water at the bottom of the ocean
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean!
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me
down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/in the silent water
Under the rocks and stones/there is water
underground.
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me
down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.
And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right? ...am I wrong?
And you may tell yourself
My god!...what have I done?
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me
down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/in the silent water
Under the rocks and stones/there is water
underground.
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me
down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.
Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...same
as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...same
as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...
Externalized Costs wrote:
Even at low numbers, jail is the most expensive place to keep people. You could send them overseas with the Peace Corp for much less.
Blackhalo wrote:
Does it matter? If in the end they aren't supportable w/ incomes? Their values collapse - some are abandoned.
In th eend as yogi said above their values are supported by what they produce and what people can pay for that produce. A jubilee knocks the stuffing out of all the other 'capitalized' costs [coupled credit-debt]... in the end it will be what can they produce [for things like corporations & farms] and given that level of production [priced in what every currency is used at the time] what can people pay for consumption items [like homes which after all aren't assets - they are places to live - consumption].
Jubilee's reset to the basics.
dryfly wrote:
This is a big issue with Elizabeth Warren. Most two income families made plans based on both incomes continuing. If you don't have much in savings, if either of you are unemployed it's trouble. That happens more often with two income families than single income ones.
Blackhalo wrote:
Me. For now the temporary agents (banks, govs, knifecatchers) are just de-optimizing the path to my eventual ownership.
km4 wrote:
Wow, that live version is actually better than the studio version, to me. David Byrne, is a freaking genius.
Tavakoli coined "Hurricane Ponzi" in '07, I think.
"The [Two] Trillion Dollar Meltdown" (Morris, '07) laid it out plainly for me. Dick Fuld probably didn't even realize it was a house of cards, perhaps the sucker at the table. He said, "It's like I'm playing whack-a-mole" towards the end. He thought he was swinging the mallet.
Utterly fascinating the drop in Tbonds by foreigners. Well, Timmae, Crash the Market and send the next bunch into the Tbonds as a flight to safety!
Just a little cynicism. After all, we are in the midst of a wonderful recovery, and I just got a raise, right?
Employment is the key to consumers, along with free cash flow.
Right now everything is constrained, and anybody speaking of great recovery in the real economy is full of poop.
But hey, look at GGP- killer returns buying a bk company;-}
Of course, if we get a serious double dip, this deal will kill SPG dead.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Someday this war's gonna end...
I think it is almost easier to have one income and lose it than to have two incomes and lose one. It sounds impossible, but I think it is the case.
sdtfs
elvis
yeah i remember watching wall street week with lewis rukeyser many years ago
and some of his guests...grant, and others would say
if you cant understand it dont invest in it
I was absolutely stunned this evening--which doesn't happen very often--when I glanced at today's mail.
Aldi is selling a 6000 watt Chinese Honda generator clone for $400.
Elvis wrote:
Like Congress, trusting the Fed's "independence".
Lobbyist Ben Dover wrote:
Yes we learn from our lessons - but not from watching OTHERS lessons.
Most folks have played this game all their lives - jobs - homes - benefits - all ever increasing - deficits don't matter. Boomers & Xers alike - nothing but up up up. Few if any actually saw real hardship up close - say worked through the rust belt or farm crisis... a few did experience dotbomb and while intense for them it was only a few [techies & geeks mostly]. Few experienced anything other than a long protracted 'morning in america'. Now they know better - they will have learned to take better care of their own future. Those coming after won't have learned though until they experience it.
Rinse repeat.
badger wrote:
Depends on who makes significantly more money.
"Capitalism works. Abuse and theft will ruin any thing. Part of the failure is the public gambled and did not protect themselves."
abuse and theft is the final end game of capitalism, communism, socialism and every system in between.
It always has been in the past and always will be in the future. There's nothing unique with what's happening now. It's all part of the credit cycle browsed has alluded to as well as the rise and fall of any empire.
It's built into our genetic makeup.
Blackhalo
may i suggest, if you like music a little different like "once in a lifetime", and i certainly do
suggestion
Rei Momo
"an album by David Byrne, released on October 3, 1989 that features many Afro-Cuban, Afro-Hispanic, and Brazilian song styles including merengue, salsa, samba, mambo, cumbia, cha-cha-cha, bomba, and charanga.
Initially, the album was released with three more tracks on the cassette tape than the LP; all songs are present on the compact disc." wiki
one of my 20 best ever
but
its different...listen to it at least 5 times and then
i guarantee it you will love it or ill buy it back from ya
poic wrote:
Too bad humans don't all have four thumbs. Then we would never have gotten into this mess.
Yes interesting how appropo his 'once in a lifetime' applies to America today although it was different in connotation back in 1980's when Reagan was just getting started with deficits don't matter and the elite taking postions for full control for destruction of middle class.
I would couple this up to this
"If I wanted to destroy a nation," he wrote in 1966, "I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy and sick."
- John Steinbeck
Uhh, Jamie Dimon is the Fed. And I'm outraged at the system, not just him or kind old Uncle Warren.
Jamie Dimon - Board of Directors - Federal Reserve Bank of New York
mp wrote:
A similar store up here in Canada was selling a 3000 watt for $250. Incredible. I have access to a generator, but I almost went out to get it so I had one for myself. Even if it's crap for continuous use--like in construction--it's a cheap insurance policy.
some investor guy wrote:
At least twice as likely, is it not? Plus if a couple is subsisting on a single income, you have the option of both working at lower paying gigs, and still able to get by.
Deflationary Jane wrote:
The Conjure Clock has already ticked because of that.
noob goldberg wrote:
Pretty soon we will have to bulldoze generators.
noob goldberg wrote:
I learned this evening that Sears is selling the same set under their label, so at least parts are available.
One thing is sure we are still going down. Not going to lose any sleep over it. Good night.
mp wrote:
Do you trust it to really really work when you need it to - say in three years? I mean you and I could build & sell $400 generators too - and get clean scott away - if no one actually uses them for say three years? Call it the AIG 6000...
I like how dryfly talks about the Crash in a past tense.
Elvis wrote:
Given the price point, I'm pretty sure they'll bulldoze themselves.
Which, now that I think about it, would be a pretty useful attribute to build into new houses.
The Barclays ponzi team who bought LEH had the decency to refuse bonuses, and shut up about it, despite being the most profitable bank in Europe this year.
Barclays Soars as Profit Doubles; Varley Shuns Bonus (Update3) - Bloomberg.com
dryfly wrote:
No, I wouldn't trust it, but you know that they'll sell a boatload of them.
Hell, if I needed a small job site generator, I'd throw away $400 on one, particularly when parts are available from Sears.
mp wrote:
Might be how they make money - give the generators away and 'sell' parts.
dryfly wrote:
No, I wouldn't. For $250 bucks I'd grab it as a backup, but I'll trust an EM5000 Honda with my life.
dryfly wrote:
Had an old generator that had a blown fuse. By the time I got around to needing it, couldn't get it to start. Hmmm, but if I had a generator setup that just needed a motor to drive it, I might rig it to run off an engine that I do use frequently. Have to think about that.
buy two $400 generators and use one for parts!
Speaking of generators and trust, I am now looking for an old Fairbanks-Morse 1-cylinder diesel.
mp wrote:
I don't trust them foreigners either. Should have nuked 'em all in WWII when we had the chance.
Phoenix is overflowing with gensets. Construction crash is blowing them out cheap:
20 KW DIESEL GENERATOR
20 kw diesel for $3500
Power a cul de sac!!
Or a dairy barn!
Someday this war's gonna end...
noob goldberg wrote:
You are better off without a back up that isn't a reliable back up. Just sayin'...
dryfly wrote:
You want cheap or you want insulation on those windings? Cripes, never satisfied. Eat your melamine, inject your discount off-brand insulin and be quiet.
When would you "need" a generator? Put in a wood stove if you are that nervous. Failure rate is somewhere around 0.
poic wrote:
Build trust, and then betray? Or is just an inflection point when the rewards for betrayal exceed those of sustaining the system? What ever happened to Reagan's "trust but verify?"
Citizen AllenM wrote:
Nice. Rig that to my big wheel and I am the sh#t.
I thought we did?
broward wrote:
You could, but stuff like that always seems to crap out at night when is -10 below, there's a 30 mph wind and you're out of flashlight batteries.
And luck.
badger wrote:
My refrigerator will only keep things cool for a few hours without electricity, my wood stove hardly keeps things cool at all.
mp wrote:
You need to move.
dryfly wrote:
No doubt. The Honda is over $2K, though, so for someone who isn't awash in cash it's better than nothing. For a weekend power outage, I'm sure it would suffice for a few hours of use.
one more point..... Byrne's seizure like dance at 2:00 so appropriate to define today's America's economy
YouTube - TALKING HEADS once in a lifetime
"The keys were in the car and the door was open. I thought I could have it." Do you acquit of grand theft auto, when the defendant is a lawyer?
End the Fed. Tomorrow.
badger wrote:
I have the wood stove already.
Also if you really want to go doomster - build a steam engine to power your generator w/ wood as fuel - I knew a guy who did that on his 400 acre N Minnesota 'get away'. He was a machinist at 3M and built one on 'his time'.
Do you keep over $400 worth of goods in your refrigerator?
4 down sleeping bags, golden retriever very huggable wife and shotgun by the door of the log cabin beats 2 generators
fewer moving parts
and one of the above always comes when you call em
the other comes irregularly
My iPhone won't run on wood, either.
up up away we go tomorrow...
dryfly wrote:
I notice the past tense here. Did he die in a fiery generator accident?
As you note, any true back up is getting closer to service replication and real money. Saw it in IT often.
mock turtle wrote:
See a doctor about that.
badger wrote:
In my freezer sometimes - yes - and even in Minnesota it isn't ALWAYS winter - just seems like it.
badger wrote:
Good point. I'm having a flashback to throwing out three wheelie bins worth of food about a week into Ike.
Three large bins, from the kitchen freezer, and from the garage freezer.
Solar charger. Or use your friggin hand crank...
neither do cell towers
"My iPhone won't run on wood, either."
the iPhone has the application iSteamy for when you lack wood.
Here is something for the "Curious and Curiouser" Department.
I realized just today that I hadn't received my electricity bill, so I phone my neighbor to see if he had received his.
"No," he said. He'd heard on the local radio that all of the bills had been lost in the mail.
I telephoned two different offices of the utility and no one answered the phone until my fourth attempt.
They gave me the balance and wrote a check on the verbal, rather than wait for the bill.
What the hell is going on here?
we did...the doc said parts were performing per specification...and... enjoy the surprise
Elvis wrote:
He might still be alive - not sure. He retired from 3M at age 65 circa 1990. I lost touch with him around that time.
No, a heart attack while chopping wood
poic wrote:
Mock Turtle, You might try this.
badger wrote:
No, point taken,...and that's sort of why I don't have a generator now. But it doesn't keep me from lusting after one.
Incidentally, I'm all electric, the wood stove is outside because the original owner took it out, and I do have well over 400 bucks worth of tropical fish,...but right now, I'd get by for a few days without electricity.
Where did Misean disappear to, again?
Tues 2.09.10| Incarceration As Social Control | Against the Grain: A Program about Politics, Society and Ideas
Slow but steady....
mp wrote:
Free is good. Why ask to pay, mp? It is like you were single and 20 and a beautiful brunette comes up to you, rubs your crotch, and asks you to take her to your room, and you say "I can't leave my friends."
mp,
Just for you...
Concrete - Economic Indicator? (by Biffermas) - Slope Of Hope with Tim Knight
mp wrote:
I heard of one case where the mail truck went into the drink, and everything was lost. But there was no way of knowing what was on the truck except "mail".
I loved business continuance discussions back when I was working. Some of it was valuable. Most of it was coming up with solutions to minor problems when you had major problems. Those high falutin salespeople/consultants, the best kind, loved having me around. I can understand the challenge of selling an intangible product, but charging people x dollars a month so that they could pay full freight when the disaster struck just seemed criminal.
mp wrote:
The end of the world as we know it.
More proof: saw about 100 cars in the ditch on I 35 from Minnesota border to say Des Moines after Sunday & Monday's storms. About a quarter of them had been seriously rolled over... since when did northerners forget how to drive in snow?
What the hell IS going on here?
Got work tomorrow...
mp wrote:
Conjure could tell you. I'm sure he was there for many. I imagine Constantinople 1453 is still fresh in his errr... mind.
Great post LindaJ.
I think I've mentioned in the past that (via WL Livingston), "The Purpose of a System is What It Does"
In your case, if the system overwhelmingly incarcerates young black men, that is indeed its purpose.
The interesting question is 'why?', unless the young black guys are just the easiest target, and the Prison Industrial Complex is just the
in another of its many forms.
TJ and The Bear wrote:
Excellent.
ya know eric,
never had a problem finding wood...as you know my wife and i live in the wilderness
exercise always keeps those home fires burning
its amazing...even at my age, all that tilling, and planting the fields , and cutting splitting and stacking the firewood
keeps me ready willing and able
Do you bill them or they you?
dryfly wrote:
Since the bad economy took their tire treads?
mock turtle wrote:
Good to hear, Mr. Turtle. A little exercise does wonders for warmth. So does a hot explosion from a generator. Given the choice, I'll always pick a Snuggie.
Elvis wrote:
We r in u r ekonomies steelin' u r trakshuns.
Elvis wrote:
Let sleeping dawgs lie. [down, of course
]
Elvis wrote:
Most of them were nice cars - good rubber - you could see they were maintained. Hell most were SUVs [driver invincibility disease maybe]... can only imagine what the East looks like. Maybe they were smarter and stayed home.
GM-Ford-Toyota must be saying - YES! ORDER MORE SNOW!
dryfly wrote:
I saw that here today.
Ahh, so I have competition in my master plan.
Jonathan wrote:
There's also the probability that the value associated with that food will increase dramatically in relation to the length of time without power. Saving $150 worth of food could suddenly seem worth the $500 investment in a generator on day six of a power outage.
Long-term price-setting is only possible during extended periods of stability.
Jobs have sucked for Feb but sex was awesome. Where is the balance?!
I suppose I'll trudge back two miles in 45 degree mist.
From article on Greece losing eu voting authority
"The council of EU finance ministers said Athens must comply with austerity demands by March 16 or lose control over its own tax and spend policies altogether. It if fails to do so, the EU will itself impose cuts under the draconian Article 126.9 of the Lisbon Treaty in what would amount to economic suzerainty. "
got to concentrate, big stack in the ps Tuesday 1/4M.
Very early still (150 left)
noob goldberg wrote:
That's good. That's very good.
In fact, that's Conjure Quality.
I know! Maybe we can export Krugman to Greece along with Stiglitz. They really need help right now and we could use the bump in export traffic. What size container do you think he'll need ?
bearly wrote:
I don't know, but for sure Krugman's head will need a 40-footer.
broward wrote:
Meet a girl named Job and you are living right.
poic wrote:
Anything but that.
Refrigerator food is generally perishable anyway. Dried food and canned goods are the only things that can really sustain you when you are without power or access to grocery goods.
I always thought that the Chinese would be dictating American economic policy.... But maybe we wont be able to say...
First!!!
mp wrote:
I saw it floating down the Hudson today loaded with garbage. Mostly needles and homebuilders. Hope it is all dumped far out in the Atlantic.
Yeah, even if I'd had a generator initially, as I found out later in the 12 day outage, generators use a LOT of gas.
LindaJ wrote:
This is a joke, RIGHT ? Are you claiming that prisoners (white/black/hispanic...) don't belong there, given the already look-the-other-way biased criminal justice system > My god, maybe you ought to go to prison and see for yourself if the residents belong there or if you would prefer having them roaming around continuing to do what they did to earn the right to occupy a cell.
"I always thought that the Chinese would be dictating American economic policy.... But maybe we wont be able to say...
First!!!"
somewhere on a Chinese economic blog someone is saying
"di yi!"
badger wrote:
Just finished going through the canned emergency supplies - now we either have to eat them up or donate them to the food bank before they hit the throwaway date... Be sure to buy stuff you want to eat anyway...
badger wrote:
Or people food. I can send you a complimentary Casual Cannibal's Guide to Summer Cookouts if you want.
Jonathan wrote:
A Fairbanks Morse diesel is the answer to your problem.
mp wrote:
Uh oh, comments like that and I'll need a 40 foot container.
But seriously, the future isn't going to belong to people adept at increasing efficiency, but for those able to quickly recognize and adapt to shifts in value. Volatility requires an entirely different set of business tools.
Externalized Costs wrote:
Biggest items to ship this time of year are those to be stocked pre-Memorial day-- tennis raquets, poolside lounge chairs and the little umbrellas for your frozen daiquiris.
Watch this space!
Jonathan wrote:
nuther good reason to have an rv with a full fuel tank...
noob goldberg wrote:
Smarts is smarts whether it is stable or volatile.
ShadowInventory wrote:
Uh, yeah.
For those with some empirical knowledge, does the typical Chinese citizen feel nationalist in the way that the typical 3rd+ generation American does?
mp wrote:
Make that a 40 high cube!
noob goldberg wrote:
Jesus. When would you like to start.
Just the name puts me in mind of the worlds most recalcitrant engine, as described in 'The Boat that Wouldn't Float'.
http://www.amazon.com/Boat-Who-Wouldnt-Float/dp/055327788X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266381990&sr=8-1
Spark ignition, single cylinder. Impossible to know which way it will turn upon start. Can be reversed by interrupting the spark.
Installed in an application for which being able to start and run a prop can be critical...
Hopefully your engine isn't anything like that...
ShadowInventory wrote:
I dunno... probably last a lot longer if you don't like it.
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
What are the blinds at?
badger wrote:
I'll grant you that point, 100%. As well as Jonathan's comment about fuel consumption; generators aren't long-term solutions.
They merely provide a little bit of extra flexibility to react to stressful periods.
ShadowInventory wrote:
I'm planning on a floating getaway...
250-500
I'm 2 of 126
Money starts at 63
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
I'd venture to say not.
Chinese jingos are about guo chi (national shame) addressed.
American jingos are about accretions of triumphalism.
noob goldberg wrote:
Oh, come on. With an old Fairbanks Morse, you generate 16kw on as little as 1 qt per [veg oil, diesel, road tar--pick one] per hour.
80,000 hours continuous between overhauls.
mp wrote:
I'd best stop whilst I'm ahead
Time to get some real work finished before travelling tomorrow.
.
mp wrote:
If I can get that with an old one, I'll buy new. I'll be swimming in electricity.
I do sometimes think survivalist though. We have a boiler for heat with an electric pump. In short, we are screwed if we lose electricity, a not unheard of event in winter. So when replacement time comes, do we stay with hot water and keep the risk or move to less efficient steam and ensure we'll always have heat?
bearly wrote:
Perhaps you should consider prosecutor incentives and the "law and order" wave that helped fuel a lot of political careers. There may be a substantial number, of once innocent victims, incarcerated under such a wide net. And as conviction rates for minorities are higher, it may be a feedback loop, in an of itself...
Thanks, Jonathan. Here's a book I've been meaning to read about the earlier racist manifestations of our "system." SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME, The Re-Enslavement of Black People in America from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas Blackmon who writes for the Wall Street Journal.
I wonder if asset collection agencies like AACC or PRAA would be good companies to invest in to capitalize on the coming wave of defaults. I wouldn't feel good investing in such things, but then again I bought shares of monsanto today.
mp wrote:
Honestly, mp, I'd never heard of that engine. But if it does what you say it does, I'm intrigued.
Where would you go about procuring such a beast?
Anak wrote:
Superb phrase, syllables and all.
Hoopajoops LTD wrote:
Sure. Start your own instead. Call yourself HoopaCreditCollection instead. You'll make money and get women. The American Dream.
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
no time to be concise, but thanks.
Elvis, I had actually considered that, though I don't think my 80 grand in seed money would give me the volume discounts I'd need on a bad loan portfolio.
Hoopajoops LTD wrote:
You don't need volume discount on bad loan portfolios. It is like paying extra for salt water when you are in the middle of the ocean. There is plenty to be made in debt collection if it is your thing. It isn't mine.
noob goldberg wrote:
noob, I don't know all of the details. Son of mp has been briefing me on this as he is looking for one. The engines were built during the 1910s and 20s. Single cylinder diesels, they weigh about 8,000 pounds. They were built to supply power, run pumps etc for remote mining locations and so forth. The engines are dirt simple and are very quiet as they're only 650 rpm top.
Most are in the hands of collectors. Son of mp says we can get a good one for no more than $3,500. As I recall, he's evaluating the Model H, for "horizontal" cylinder.
I'm not a handy guy and have no hands-on skills apart from knowing how to handle concrete - not a detail job by any means. However, I've got multiple friends with loads of skills and have been working through some scenarios on how to handle a collapse.
All of them are quality - believe me, I culled through a lot of people - and would consider proposing some manner of multi-family business coop. The PM are spread among the small group for each unit to use to support their individual skill base with proceeds going back to the group. Regular meetings of the families to assess what's working and sharing accordingly.
Plus the capital is dispersed, physically and figuratively, improving the likelihood of survival.
It's no joke, Bearly. It can be exaggerated, but it's real. Juries, judges, lawyers, legislators, police would all be more white than black even with perfect distribution. There has been one black female Senator in US history, for one term, despite black females' comprising more than 5% of the population throughout. Only a handful of black male Senators.
Think of a Bush kid caught with coke. Think of Marion Barry's kid caught with coke.
LindaJ wrote:
I've been listening to the show. Essentially it just seems like yet another set of (prison) lobbyists incenting government and law enforcement to fight an expensive drug war with emphasis on poor areas where people don't have the resources to fight back.
I've lived in a crappy part of Houston, I can buy that.
mp wrote:
Sweet. And they are transportable, too.
mp wrote:
Whoa, that excludes FedEx for shipping.
I think my father would be fascinated in dealing with something like that, and my jobber buddy loves a good challenge, although I think something that size would exceed his machining capacity. Thanks for the brain worm.
homedad43 wrote:
Are you a wolf?
Noob, something on this order. I believe this is the type
YouTube - Starting Fairbanks Morse Oil Engine Short version
There is plenty to be made in debt collection if it is your thing. It isn't mine.
If I were the friend of a realtor, I'd be making a killing on nepotistic short sale vulching and flipping.
mp wrote:
Seems like you could figure how to reverse engineer and build,...if anybody could.
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
Marion Barry says "I don't do cocaine, I just like the way it smells."
Things go to shithell, then what makes anybody think that able to get diesel or other forms of oil?
Cooking? I can cobble together a rudimentary outdoor oven heated by wood and use candles for light.
Water? There's a spring down the road and we know the property owners.
Hoopajoops LTD wrote:
80K cash available? You could be a close personal friend to several.
sdtfs wrote:
Well, we could certainly reverse engineer it, but why bother when you can go out a pick one up on the cheap?
Right now, we're counting on VW diesels, but that's not a fuel-efficient solution. Those old Fairbanks engines are extremely efficient.
homedad43 wrote:
I plan on killing whales. Then rubbing myself in blubber. Then cooking it for food. And using the oil for lubricants. It will be dark, but I'll feel satisfied.
You could be a close personal friend to several.
So they're like expensive hookers?
homedad43 wrote:
As I recall, you said you live in farm country. Make an arrangement with your neighbor and grow your own oil.
Hoopajoops LTD wrote:
Hookers can be cheap if you shop around, use coupons, and are a member of Costco.
mp wrote:
A couple of the linked videos showed them operating oil wells on well oil, still in use. Now I'm really intrigued.
But still off to work.
. For real.
Elvis:
Many years ago, in college, roomed with a guy from Iceland. Total pacifist and wouldn't let us even kill flies in the apartment. Spiders, bugs, whatever, take them out and vociferously proclaim their right to live.
For summer between Jr and Sr year, spent the time on a whaling ship.
Then returned to saving the flies at college.
homedad43 wrote:
Fat girls are people, too. Good for him for spreading the cheer.
I wonder how the port traffic is doing in wine country.
Hey CR,
Sasha Cohen isn't skating. Where is the pig?
noob goldberg wrote:
As another Third Coast dweller, that is why I am pricing out the install of a natural gas standby system for the home that will be purchased this quarter...natural gas grid far more robust than electric.
Thanks guys for all the memories. This was in my family room growing up: http://www.oldengineshed.com/graphics/fmcz6.gif
Anything you want to know about running or repairing one I can tell you.
Eskimo Elvis: that whale oil will light a lamp. The rugged Inuit whale hunters outlasted the Viking farmers on Greenland. Of course, they had no need to bulldoze igloos. Actually, they knew never to hunt for sport or trophies, or hoard a surplus if the next umiak came home empty. Not noble savages, just explorers.
energyecon wrote:
Beans, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot, the more you toot, the more energy you have, so eat beans, eat beans for every meal.
Elvis wrote:
Tonya Harding isn't skating. Where is the pig?
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
In Europe. Pork is in the USA. Swine rules.
noob goldberg wrote:
Where would you go about procuring such a beast?
Try the listeroid (an indian copy of the Lister cs of the same era as MP's)
the 6 hp wieghs in at around 600 pounds.
I have one , but they are getting scarce because of EPA regs.
YouTube - Listeroid 6/1 diesel with homebrew axial flux alternator
Lister CS slow speed cold start diesel generator India
bearly wrote:
I am trying to find a link to the documentary, but there are a moderate portion of people in jail who are basically just poor, addicts, or mentally ill. The general public might not be the right place, but jail isn't a particularly good place for the mentally ill.
some investor guy, you mean regean shutting down our insane asylums and dumping the mentally handicapped out into the streets to die from neglect or become incarcerated was a bad idea? But it was supposed to save so much money...
Alford: My Nominee for Worst Macro Paper, Ever (Courtesy the Fed’s Ministry of Truth) « naked capitalism
Blackhalo wrote:
I have 2 cop friends. They regularly share horror stories of frustration about routinely picking up the very same criminals more than once in a week for various crimes, assault, theft, robbery, drug dealing. No racial bias, they come in every shade. If there's a problem it's not enough criminals are behind bars according to those doing the arresting.
alambka wrote:
I've got a flux capacitor but all it does is take me back to the future. I don't want that. I need to cook and stay warm.
Thank Glod! I thought someone found something I knocked out in grad school...
edit:
And some cops (not your friends) will pick up anyone with an arrest record rather than do tedious detective work. "Let the Court sort it out." Some cops will plant evidence.
Anybody else notice today a money-move away from currencies into hard assets - oil, glod, sliver, up 3-4-5% ?
A break-a-way hard-asset chart gap up like today may now, or anytime soon, foreshadow abandonment of the US$ and the corrupt int'l fiat money system. But you won't hear about it from the pollyanna press/blogs, who aren't looking for it.
Huh? Summing: "Frequent Masturbation Feels Good But Hurts?"
Feels good but hurts?
Must be doing it wrong.
bearly wrote:
Bet this isn't CA.
peAk wrote:
Merely a matter of time, not an if.
"A break-a-way hard-asset chart gap up like today may now, or anytime soon, foreshadow abandonment of the US$ and the corrupt int'l fiat money system. But you won't hear about it from the pollyanna press/blogs, who aren't looking for it."
and when w got 5 weeks of a move in the opposite direction was that foreshadowing the opposite?
Not a lot of fans of wind and solar here. Are you expecting the air to stop moving and sun to be blotted out too? Why all the generators?
homedad43 wrote:
I don't want to talk about anal sex. This is a family blog.
Elvis is a fan of wind.
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
Look, I wasn't arguing about whether there's a rougue cop in America. That's another matter entirely and there are systems in place to address these situations. The basic premise was the justice system incarcerates too many innocent people, somehow most of them black. I believe the claim, in general, is nonsense.
I would agree that people at the lowest socioeconomic levels are more likely to commit crimes, for all the reasons we already know and have yet to find a way to cure. But that doesn't mean once a crime is committed, he/she's convicted & sentenced, the perpetrator doesn't have a cell with his/her name on it.
The most important color in the crminal system is green.
Black unemployment is epidemic, but I guess it's all works out if they can put those unemployed people in the slammer and then make money off them too. Two birds kind of thing.
The sun gets blotted out at least once a day...so yes I am expecting it. Of course batteries are readily available, if expensive. "Solar" as people call it, is not the best solution for occasional emergency use actually, as it stands. But for a doomstead, absolutely essential imo.
LindaJ wrote:
Prisoners raise birds? I like parrots and am willing to pay good money for them. Plus, around November, I am willing to pay good money for turkey as well. Shall I give you my cell number so we can do some business? I love chicken, too. Eat more chicken any man ever seen.
Funny, I have many black friends. None of them have ever been incarcerated (to my knowledge). Of course they don't commit crimes (that I know about). Go figure.
No doubt there are even Pinko cops.
"Innocent" or "guilty" is tricky.
Wind and solar tend to not do well in surviving hurricanes, etc.
Same with boats.
bearly wrote:
Are you awake at night? I'm white and I only steal during the day, so they can't see me.
Also, as far as yet another war against black people, there are still some idiots out there that hold on to racist practices or thoughts. There are a lot who don't.
I know a lot of people who would trust with my life, some are black, some are not. I can tell you one thing, none of them are rapist, druggies, thieves, etc.
Now are there innocent people in jail, I'm sure of it, but I also think there are a heck of a lot of guilty people out of jail. I'll rather keep the cop's, and watch them like a hawk.
Got to go, sorry to post and run like that.
OT, I am surprised there isn't more news coverage about this, this is going to wipe out a lot of jobs.
Nummi suppliers face steep job losses
"They are among roughly 1,000 companies statewide that supply parts to Nummi, which, since 1984, had been owned by General Motors Corp. and Toyota. But now the mammoth plant visible from Interstate 880 is scheduled to close, as its distressed former parents pare back their own operations.
The number of workers at supplier firms has been estimated from 20,000 to as high as 50,000, a precise count being difficult because so many small shops are involved."
Generators shmenerators, same goes for concrete. A 4000L/Yr still goes for $25k, molasses is $100/tn, will be able to get used brewing equipment for barely above scrap.
You can do a lot of horse trading with that much liquor.
poic wrote:
Some investors continue to struggle over the choice of locking in a presumably secure, small %, "gov't guaranteed" return during a worldwide credit/business collapse, where dividends and other yields go to zero, or, exchanging fiat money for potentially ongoing productive assets in energy/agriculture/minerals.
I have white friends who break the law everyday, inside their houses, with fancy pipes.
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did in CA.
dr munch wrote:
I'm white. I live in Georgia. And sodomy occurs in my house every day. Sweet sodomy. Don't tell the pigs I'm a criminal.
Ya don't say!
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Slashes Oil, P&G, J&J Stakes - CNBC
Holding for... couple of weeks
Time to go sodomize. I wish I could stop. But it is a physical addiction and I have no choice. At least my narcolepsy gives me breaks. Good night, CR Nation.
Jailhouse for you, Elvis.
some investor guy wrote:
Not much wind here, and I'd love to do solar, but it's still not affordable for me,...so just thinking about the next time I get a disruption in service; not planning for the Mad Max scenario like some here. ( Yet.) So like badger said,... still not quite worth it to me,...but it's getting closer and more feasible.
lost a race, but still 24/40. Heavy tilt toward first 4
Damn. AQ on button. Big stack reraises me all in from BB with A2, hits 2.
40
whales are good eatin' - flies, not so much
Ehp you are
Don't you know curling replays are an East Coast insomniac's wet dream?
Use the damn"spoiler alert" protocol.
edit: Oh, it's US v. Norway, never mind. (But you have been warned)
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
I don't know what that means, but it sounds an awful lot like my experience with the markets.
MLBig responding on last thread.
alambka wrote:
Thanks for that, alambka! That was a really fun site to browse!
It means I was better than 6-1 to win, and it's not a smart play by my opponent with A2. But he beat the odds.
I won $1500, but if my cards had held I would most likely have won much more.
Ace deuce-- my my, some times you just feel like gambling, I guess. Anyway, even AA is supposed to go down 1 in 5. I had a guy hit runner runner against my nut flush. That's when I realized, I'm not cut out for gambling.
Edit: I'm thinking you were closer to15:1? 3/48
AQ to A2o is one of the more dominant matchups, and A2 dominates no hands that I can call with. It is a big dog to any ace and any pair. Not even favored over JTs. In the situation, I had almost certainly committed myself to call the all-in.
Without bad players occasionally winning with luck, the game would be much less popular.
edit: my equity is only a little better than 6-1, as we tie several hands. I'm better than that not to lose. He was trying to bully, but there was too much play left for that to be good strategy. It's only a good play if I over-think and fold in error, but I didn't have enough chips to make that likely..
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
Actually, players looking at the table odds of casino games don't realize they're even worse sitting at a ring game with someone better than they.
I'm thinking he thought you were trying to put a move on the pot from the button.
Gambling, Dutch style:
ING Has Loss, Sets Aside $1.28 Billion for Government (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
Next hand should be interesting. A "transition", apparently.
C
Yes, but with A2 you usually try to flop an ace or push on the flop with A high, or occasionally show it down (or fold pre).
At the stage of the tourney I had no reason to make a move (in the money, with 20BB) so fold equity is minimal. He is not thrilled to see even any suited connector all-in. (Since he's big stack and I'm lower half, racing helps me more than him)
Left work to enjoy a little Fat Tuesday action, and I sure did not miss much.
Those Canadian accents come out in force for the curling commentary.
mp,
re: your electric bill
Server crash. no backup.
or
Switched over to new software and things are not working out.
Same thing happened here with city water.