It's OK; the worse the number is, the higher the Dow will jump.

Blame it on the SnowJOB; the only type of job coming out of Washington.

Hmmmm, maybe they can influence the weather after
all.

If the earthquake caused the earth to be slightly flatter, the earth
will spin faster. If mountain-building happened it slowed down.

Re: "Take the February report with a shovel of rock salt, but lets see the disclosure"

Someone has been reading too many stories @ CR!

OT- Few threads ago we were discussing rate of return assumptions used by CALPERS and other pension plans.

Looks like CALPERS is being urged to get more realistic.

Calpers May Cut Rate-of-Return Forecasts - WSJ.com

Does Calpers cut cord?
| 89.3 KPCC

In normal times, as in before the world’s financial roof collapsed, returning 7.75 percent on an investment portfolio was considered ambitious but doable, especially if the investor was an institutional giant like Calpers. But some experts are telling California's pension fund to forget about the 7.75 percent. In the new normal, securing such a return – and doing it safely - might be too challenging. Instead, the board has been urged to cut the promised return to 6 percent or lower. It's a good idea, but the higher rate has been used to determine future contributions from employees and local governments - money that's needed to cover the payouts that have been promised to state retirees. If they go with a lower rate, somebody has to make up the difference. From the WSJ:

"Paying more into Calpers could deepen the financial misery facing many California governments. Some likely would increase taxes or cut services. For the pension fund, lower investment-return expectations could reduce the temptation to seek outsize profits through real-estate, private-equity and other nontraditional investments that wound up burning Calpers with big losses."

In case you're wondering, the 7.75 percent rate of return is no higher than many other public pensions. Actually, a survey by Pew Center on the States says the most common projected return is 8 percent. But that doesn't take into account the losses that pension funds have suffered during the recession.

PLEASE,tell me he plays poker!

Who? Why?

http://dealbreaker.com/2010/03/ping-jiang-i-left-sac-capital-on-good-terms/?show=comments#comments

this is my first comment moderation post.

He needs a neck.

He doesn't like wemmin prolly 'cause they don't like him.

Jobs market clouded by storms in February Economic Preview - MarketWatch

Payrolls have declined in 24 of the past 25 months. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch are forecasting that payrolls will fall by 85,000 in February, with much of the decline due to the weather. The unemployment rate is expected to rise to 9.8% from 9.7%.

This should goose

lawyerliz wrote:

He doesn't like wemmin prolly 'cause they don't like him

Maybe, he's waiting for the right vegan?

Dodd doesn't have a neck either right?

March numbers are expected to be affected by Madness. April will be impacted by Showers. May is slated to be a big month for Flowers.

I thought Dodd was a neck for someone else's brains.

March numbers are expected to be affected by Madness. April will be impacted by Showers. May is slated to be a big month for Flowers.

No work in June - everyone's either getting married or going to a wedding.

Fireworks in July - distracting.

August - too hot to work.

September - we'll think of something...

Max hurricane season!!

Max hurricane season!!

Of course!

October - there's a chill in the air.

November - election day!

December - off for the holidays.

January - expect snow and ice.

Back to February.

Poor Bernanke having to walk that tightrope between deflation and inflation. Too much liquidity and the bursts; too little and

Then Nobama having to walk that tightrope between too much bad weather and too much good weather. If the weather is too bad then no-one can find a job. If the weather is too good then everyone sits outside looking at the and smoking and no-one buys anything at the malls.

YouTube - Frank Zappa - I am the walrus
I am the walrus

I remember when we all were "looking past" the summer of 2008 to the "second half recovery". I believe back then the terminology was that we were looking "over the valley" and it was all priced in. Long before "green shoots". Anyone who spoke of a recession was ridiculed. Back then they wouldn't even say "recession". It was only referred to as "the r-word".

Idiots.

The newly organized Fox Protection Agency launched their new ad campaign today. Their new slogan, "Chicken - It's what's for dinner!", is reported to have polled very well in the pullets and capons demographic.

broward wrote:

It's harder to use a guillotine on them

That's an old Illuminati trick, but I think you just have to use a duller blade...

mortgage insurance (MI) companies are increasingly denying claims for defaulted loans that allegedly do not conform to underwriting standards, increasing costs for servicers and investors.

And here I thought this line of business was completely gone....there are still companies offering mort. insurance?

It's the cockerels you have to sway, but all you have to do is promise change, and....

Barley wrote:

there are still companies offering mort. insurance?

FT.com / UK - Boon for new US mortgage insurers

Apparently.

From the left coast I saw all that snow in the east so I fired 10 people...?

Just wait until you hear them blame the weather for the terrible auto sales we'll see tomorrow. Same thing, bad number but not horrible, market rallies.

Pavel,I would love to play poker with summers.Watch the videos again and count how many "tells" he gives when he lies.I do not want to play at my house though,the cost of the exorcism would exceed all but a HUGE profit.

It was cold here in Central Florida, but we didn't see
snow.

I guess they didn't buy 'cause they were watching the snow
on tv and couldn't pull themselves away from the weather
channel.

Tom, I did watch. Yes. Indeed.

Didn't someone on the board go all-in with MBI or ABK in early 2009? IIRC he bought ABK at ~$1.0. Oops.

JD

+1T (Don't get too cheery. What with cudo inflation, they're not quite worth what they used to be.)

But then, what is?

the looting going on in Chile

They're in very bad Moody's down there.

pavel.chichikov wrote:

the looting going on in Chile, do you find it as ominous as I do?

No, I don't own anything anymore.

It's not that they don't have necks.

It's just that those necks need stretching!

I was on the outside looking in on the L.A. Riots from my perch high atop Topanga State Park watching south central LA burning from afar, and I couldn't see the looting there, but it was all over tv.

10% of the population pissed off, and it didn't spread any further than their neighborhood for the most part...

lawyerliz wrote:

Do we really care if the guillotine hits short or long?

It's a matter of taste and also experience, and one assumes that practice makes perfect! Next....

lawyerliz wrote:

it has to be repressed.

Survival?

Nah, looting.

I think it's common knowledge that Pelosi has a fat neck and we need to make this fair and include everyone in the spectrum!

25 Random Things About Me, Nancy Pelosi | Parcbench

Demotivational Calendar:

September - gathering in the harvest (pertinent to commodities brokers only)

Survival?

What seems to be going on in Chile exceeds survival. Apparently, there's arson and other forms of gratuitous destruction.

Who's getting looted in Chile? Stores? The rich? or everyone?

Do people mean to say that it just isn't the good will of the oppressed that a minority is allowed to live an opulent and care-free life? Is it really the state, for whom all the pseudo wealthy protest against, that is really the guarantor of that opulence?

September - gathering in the harvest (pertinent to commodities brokers only)

Which one is Wool Gathering Month? I don't have sheep so I'm not au courant .

this seems to be the season for government and university budget cuts
a lot of people will be released from their high-value jobs
(not necessarily valuable work, but a job that has stability/insurance/lifetime employment kind of situation)

Haitians interviewed said it was not nearly so bad as
reported in the media. Media got them nervous, but not
what was actually happening around them.

Which is not to say that bad stuff didn't happen.

It sounded a bit out of control.

Payback for decades of repression, maybe?

Wool gathering would be in the Spring as the little lambs are shorn of their coats.

Funny, that's when the card carriers raise their interest rates.

Next month, blame it on the thaw. Then we have a tough period to get through before we can blame it on the heat. Finally, hurricane season.

lawyerliz wrote:

If the earthquake caused the earth to be slightly flatter, the earth
will spin faster. If mountain-building happened it slowed down.

Does that mean that I have to replace all of my clocks? :greenshoots:

Only if they are really, really really really. . . .really, really accurate.

How long has it been since locust caused a commotion?

COSMIC-JUSTICE: Mortgage Bankers Assn. Defaults on Headquarters Loan and Rep. Grayson educates Wall Street and Banksters on Capitalism

fiat accompli

pavel.chichikov wrote:

I don't think Chile and Haiti are the same cases.

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. Chile is not in the same category.

The different reactions of the populations was not lost on me . . . and, yes, I considered it scary for the simple reason that a similar reaction in the U.S., if based on relative affluence, would be a nightmare.

Not saying there will be a nightmare here following a major disaster, but the difference within the first 24 to 48 hours between Haiti and Chile was remarkable.

wally wrote:

Next month, blame it on the thaw. Then we have a tough period to get through before we can blame it on the heat. Finally, hurricane season.

I work at a gas/electric utility. It's been much warmer than normal this year in the PNW. Gas sales are only about 80% of normal. Jan/Feb, and Nov/Dec provide about 70% of our earnings.

We're already blaming it on the heat.

I found dinner for Tuesday:

http://citypaper.net/blogs/mealticket/2010/03/01/testing-deep-dish-pie-at-garces-trading-company/

You're in Philly, Doc? What a coincidence.

edit: Just read the deep dish blurb. Sounds promising. I'll have to put my food taster on the trail.

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

south central LA burning

I remember a photo of a man shooting a rifle or shotgun into the crowd of looters from the rooftop of his business...

The Zimmerman Telegram?

Oh. The original vagabond.

there are just so many cuts/layoffs from so many states in the news right now
Words like "massive" for layoffs in Georgia, Florida looking to do most of the balancing with layoffs, Chicago transit taking a strike vote, NJ transit voting between layoffs or pension cuts, Nevada just did some education cuts
It seems March 2nd is a popular day to reconvene legislatures

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

The BC provincial budget is coming up tomorrow, big cuts expected. Word is $1bn deficit.

I only know one narrow aspect of the BC government's fiscal situation, and it's pretty austere, to say the least. I've never heard of a governmental minister being forced to tele-conference into a ministerial meeting to avoid travel costs, but the new BC government's done it twice.

Saskatchewan has over a $1 billion deficit just on their potash royalty calculation adjustments alone.

The states really are gonna have to work at it.

Wife told me that she threw out mail from PA Lottery which was a coupon for lottery tickets, buy two and get a third of some other knock-off drawing for free.

That's truly pathetic, 'dad. (Haven't seen those myself; only the stuff that doesn't hit the round file first.)

BREAKING

Australia hikes policy rate to 4% as expected

.25, .75, 4, HIKE!

If necessary, they can then repay California with large quantities of WATER.

There,

Anonymous Bosch wrote:

If necessary, they can then repay California with large quantities of WATER.

Not necessary. Larry Summers says any water problems are just an aberration in the data, and we need to look past them.

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

HIKE!

I can only wish - my money market fund is now paying .01% interest - that's correct - one tenth of one percent.... I will have to expand my spreadsheets if they add any more zero's after the decimal point... Not to worry - planning to sell more bonds in anticipation of the inevitable interest rate increases....

g'night folks

Interest Rates Jump | RBA
edit: ok 25bp hike to 400bp

We should have put all the snow in gondolas and shipped it to CA. Warren would have died of ecstasy.

I'll give the president credit for following through on the NASA cutbacks. I think that the public that is interested in space can see that private organizations are on the verge of being able to perform most of the launches that NASA did; using modern technology.

rosethorn wrote:

NASA cutbacks

I agree. Manned spaceflight is incredibly expensive, and most of what has been done so far could have been done with automatons for a lot less money.....

noob goldberg
you were quick, I had a brain fart and then caught myself, at first I remembered the 100bp global target rate cut as being Aussie cutting to 100bp but that didn't make sense, then I realized my mistake
http://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/cash-rate.html

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

you were quick, I had a brain fart and then caught myself, at first I remembered the 100bp global target rate cut as being Aussie cutting to 100bp but that didn't make sense, then I realized my mistake

It's extremely rare, EHP, to ever catch you in a brain fart. And I still didn't expect this hike--even 25bp--given the reports I had read a week or two ago.

Time to head to bed. .

Brown will make 'major announcement' Tuesday

Jerry Brown to announce candidacy for CA governor

Good luck with that.

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

How do you know she doesn't own the store?

Damn right. From the photo, it looks to me like she is returning those valuable items back to the shelves.

Summers might as well have said look past 2010 and the debt pile-up at the treasury too while you're at it.

Geez,Rosethorn, Talk about a stark reminder of how broken the political system is here in California.I can think of two people on my street who are more qualified than any of the three major candidates.

NorkaWest wrote:

OT- Few threads ago we were discussing rate of return assumptions used by CALPERS and other pension plans.
Looks like CALPERS is being urged to get more realistic.

This happens every time there is a long bull market or a crash. During the long bull markets, people look back 3-8 years and say "What, are you crazy? You're asking us to contribute based upon a conservative 7.75% return? That's making our contributions too high. Things are different. Returns have been high for years, and they will likely stay at similar levels"

Right after a crash, you get the opposite, people worried that the the recent poor returns will continue on a time span of decades.

These are examples of recency bias, and they are quite annoying to anyone involved with trying to do real forecasting or modeling. This approach leads to some problems which aggravate budget cycles, and make contributions more volatile.

It's funny that people aren't talking about the real reason to reduce expected rates of return: lower inflation. However, if you have lower inflation, you should also be adjusting other things in your actuarial models. The net effect won't be very big. If however you adjust only the expected real rate of return, the effects are quite noticeable.

YouTube - Chile's presidential elections highlight rich-poor divide
YouTube - Raw Video: Looting Persists in Chile
YouTube - Chile looting.mpg
you can spot which class the looters belong too, low to middle class, which would be majority of population
compare the people who wear suits, are supervisors, are police officers to the people doing the looting
their skin, their hair, are they wearing a sweater or a coat, baseball cap,...

And here in Washington State, they are raising taxes by $758 million to balance the budget.

Politics Northwest | House Democrats propose $758 million in new taxes | Seattle Times Newspaper

2010 Quebec budget: http://www.budget.finances.gouv.qc.ca/Budget/2009-2010/en/documents/pdf/BudgetSpeech.pdf

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

I can't speak for the entire USA, but I've seen enough stories showing up to suggest that layoffs and not attrition are the theme for 2010

Yes, real layoffs. In the news today are totals of how many public health workers have been laid off.

Especially in the case of CA, some cuts will actually make things work better. You know, stimulate business and improve quality of life by firing the entire Parking Enforcement Office. They don't have nearly as much to do lately.

RoseThorn,I have met and spoken to Jerry Brown and lived in Oakland when he was Mayor,he was not merely incompetent.If you chose a Governor randomly from the population,excluding those with IQ's under 50 and those who are actually incarcerated in prison or mental hospitals it would almost certainly be a better choice.Does anyone know if his sidekick Barzhagi is still around?

Interesting; I guess the "moonbeam" label was an appropriate label.

That Barton Fink Feeling wrote:

Then again, ask yourself if the US needs any more business grads. Haven't the existing ones done enough damage?

As both an MBA and a physics/math grad, those physics/math people can be really dangerous doing financial modeling with no business background. This is especially the case if not raised in the US and if they haven't been employed through an entire business cycle. Then, they more easily miss details which fairly regular people would have known just by being raised here.

Thanks for the correction.

RoseThorn,jerry Brown is completely devoid of common sense,it is very striking to meet someone with none at all.

These are examples of recency bias, and they are quite annoying to anyone involved with trying to do real forecasting or modeling. This approach leads to some problems which aggravate budget cycles, and make contributions more volatile.

Agreed.

That is why your are supposed to use a really long term average rate of return when setting your pernsion assumptions and then save up your above average returns to offset periods of below average returns.

California went out and spent the above average returns so now must live hand-to-mouth on the upcoming below average returns.

Western Europe (geographically, on the Atlantic coast) is getting pounded by wind/rain/flooding
http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/infographie/2010/03/01/le-trajet-de-la-tempete-xynthia_1313048_3244.html#ens_id=1311986
it's in French, but mostly graphical
El-Nino is having a monster of a year, I'd hate to own any kind of re-insurer at a time like this

Sh#t. got locked out of editing my typos so I will repost.

These are examples of recency bias, and they are quite annoying to anyone involved with trying to do real forecasting or modeling. This approach leads to some problems which aggravate budget cycles, and make contributions more volatile.

Agreed.

That is why you are are supposed to use a really long term average rate of return when setting your pension assumptions and then save up your above average returns to offset periods of below average returns.

California went out and spent the above average returns so now must live hand-to-mouth on the upcoming below average returns.

The key things are to keep making your contributions, and not to give away new benefits in good times.

Agreed, again.

rosethorn
Ummm gasoline consumption was down for 7 straight months because the snow prevented people from driving. Larry Summers can't imagine the economy heading for a new normal, or even a double dip. He refuses to imagine it in fact.

it may have been more of a political statement, but it was an interview about economics and Summers said he refuses to believe that the American economy is capable of, and will produce nothing less than what it did in the 1990s in terms of growth

just dropped in to snark after reading previous thread

where it was said, paraphrasing

RayOnTheFarm wrote 4:57 pm

Someone passed me on the road last week, with a sign in the car window that said Palin/ Cheney 2012!

hmmmmm

so this would be cheney's third terrm as president, right?

Associated Press | It's hard enough to find a job in this economy, and now some people are facing another hurdle: Potential employers are holding their credit histories against them.

With that mind, state legislators in Illinois and 15 other states have proposed bills to ban credit checks on most job applicants, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Hawaii and Washington already have such bans in place.

"We are in the great recession and this creates a vicious cycle," said Maryland Delegate Kirill Reznik, who drafted a bill being considered in his state. "People lose their jobs, that naturally precipitates them getting behind on bills, their credit scores go down, they are trying to find a job to pay off the bills, and employers won't hire them because of their credit score.
Sixty percent of employers recently surveyed by the Society for Human Resources Management said they run credit checks on at least some job applicants, compared with 42 percent in a somewhat similar survey in 2006.

Economic Uncertainty Means Fewer Male Babies | Smart Journalism. Real Solutions. | Miller-McCune Online Magazine
The researchers examined California’s ratio of male to female births from mid-1995 to the end of 2007 and compared it to the federal Labor Department’s monthly statistics on mass layoffs in the state. The government reports a mass layoff has taken place when 50 or more people file for unemployment insurance from a single company over five weeks.
After doing some complex calculations, they estimated that news of impending mass layoffs “predicted the loss of 3,090 males in utero” during the 61 months (out of the 141 they examined) in which unemployment claims exceeded the expected number.

a minor effect, but then again the periods of unemployment for young families were probably relatively mild
something to look back at in the next few years

Aussies have upped rate to 4%, have been gradually hiking rate, and yet their economy continues to grow.

Bernanke has ZIRP, and our economy continues to struggle.

Cause/effect?

from huffpo

regarding new consumerr protection agency dodds proposal

what a joke

"Dodd's proposal puts a variety of obstacles in front of the proposed agency, which would be called the Bureau of Financial Protection and housed in the Treasury Department.
Story continues below

Each time the agency wanted to write a rule, it would have to consult with bank regulators. The agency would then have to respond to each and every bank regulator objection in the Federal Register. If the bank regulator was still unsatisfied, it could appeal to the "systemic regulator," whose mission is to protect the safety and soundness of the banking industry.

Anytime a new rule is proposed, bank lobbyists argue that it will be burdensome and make the system less safe and sound. If the systemic regulator agreed with the banks -- as they often do -- then the consumer protection rule would be voided.

Notably, the consumer protection agency has no veto power over any rules issued by bank regulators, which demonstrates which regulator will be superior. The first concern is the banks.

Dodd's proposal is much weaker than that called for by the House and by President Obama.

"Abusive lending made possible by inadequate consumer protections was a major cause of the financial crisis, and we cannot allow the status quo to continue," said Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice President of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, in a statement. "Big banks and abusive lenders fought responsible regulation before the crisis, and we are all paying the price. It is unacceptable for Congress to allow them to succeed again."

The new BFP would not be allowed to enforce rules on banks with less than $10 billion in holdings, according to the memo, unless the bank regulator's Inspector General determines the regulator is failing at its duty -- an extremely unlikely scenario.

The proposal also makes it nearly impossible for the agency to enforce rules against non-bank financial operations, such as payday lenders. Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), next in line to become chairman of the Banking Committee when Dodd resigns, and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the top-ranking Republican, are both very close to the payday lending industry.

Consumer Groups Rip Chris Dodd Over Financial Protection Agency Compromise

homedad43 wrote:

If things really go to hell, I'm gonna take a cart to a really tony neighborhood and offer up my services as a valet or personal looter.

US State Department warning alert for visitors to Chile, looting rampant (photos, pictures, video)

I think that's a fantastic idea, but watch out for the dudes in that video homedad43!

Me, I'll just wait for the good to show up on craigslist.

I understand the fear that widespread looting leads to lawlessness and a breakdown of society. But I was stuck by the thought that in a truly horrendous calamity, there wouldn't be any way for the goods to flow in a normal channel; no banks functioning, no currency available, perishables rotting, people suffering while just on the other side of the glass is the remedy. Now I realize that a TV or a camera doesn't fit that description, and in the general melee those things are going to be stolen, but at some point in a disaster (low as it may be), looting makes sense.

Brown's ahead in the polls by like 10 points. Meg Whitman not a particularly inspiring candidate for the GOP. Brown's just wacky enough that it's hard to lump him in with the Boxer/Pelosi crowd. I think Brown takes it in the fall.

Not that it matters all that much. CA gov is pretty handcuffed by the state legislature and all the rules and laws we have on spending and taxes.

efficient in that you could go to a mob run market, and get whatever you needed at a market clearing price
it's a huge story in itself, laid the foundations for 6 decades of Japan's post-war political scene

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

6 decades of Japan's post-war political scene

Ahhhhh, the rise of the Yakusa.

Actually, I was just musing on the near universal nature of looting after a natural catastrophe and wondering if there were an economic justification, vis a vis an"efficient market" type thing, or turning it on it's head, an "inefficient market" avoidance thing. Still trying to sort through if you could/should distinguish between a natural disaster and a general societal breakdown.
After all, if your child is hungry, who wouldn't grab a loaf of bread? But that's one slippery slope: from bread to toilet paper to the cool taste of Laramie cigarettes.

Bart: Uh, say, are you guys crooks?
Fat Tony: Bart, is it wrong to steal a loaf of bread to feed your starving family?
Bart: No.
Fat Tony: Well, suppose you got a large starving family. Is it wrong to steal a truckload of bread to feed them?
Bart: Uh uh.
Fat Tony: And, what if your family don't like bread? They like... cigarettes?
Bart: I guess that's okay.
Fat Tony: Now, what if instead of giving them away, you sold them at a price that was practically giving them away. Would that be a crime, Bart?
Bart: Hell, no.

Thanks to whoever recommended Hurt Locker. Excellent movie.

Slow-moving, deliberate and tense.

The Hurt Locker Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes (High rating)

Baseball bat + Al Capone in the Untouchables.

GM recalling 1.3 million vehicles over steering problems

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co is recalling 1.3 million compact cars in North America to address a power steering problem that has been linked to 14 crashes and one injury, the company said on Tuesday.

Anonymous Bosch wrote:

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co is recalling 1.3 million compact cars in North America to address a power steering problem that has been linked to 14 crashes and one injury, the company said on Tuesday.

At long fucking last!

I was researching the Pontiac G6, and kept running into horrible stories about the electrically assisted power steering.

E.g. Steering Lockup Issues & Discussion - Pontiac G6 Forum

Excerpt 1: I returned to the car about 90 minutes later and was able to drive home with no problems. I was in the car two more times that day with no problems as well. At midnight, however, when I was picking my wife up from work, I experienced the same gradual tugging on the steering wheel and it eventually locked up again right when I was pulling up to our house.

Excerpt 2: it happened again! when i first started the car yesterday, i put it in reverse to back out of a parking spot; when i put the car into drive, the steering wheel flew all the way to the left on its own. the wheel locked up again and the "power steering" message appeared on the DIC.
its back in the shop. more later!

"After our in-depth investigation, we found that this is a condition that takes time to develop. It tends to occur in older models out of warranty," GM Vice President of Quality Jamie Hresko said in the statement."

"Recalling these vehicles is the right thing to do for our customers' peace of mind," he said.

Cynical Bosch said, "Someone tipped them off."

You'd think they could design it just to fail, leaving you with manual steering.

GM said the affected vehicles can be still be "safely controlled" but it may require greater steering effort under 15 mph. Drivers will see a warning light and hear a chime if the power steering fails.

for a strong guy like Bosch.

I think it was my Rabbit that had no power steering. Parallel parking with 3" clearance was a nice workout.

Drivers will see a warning light and hear a chime if the power steering fails.

But will drivers know what the light and chime mean? Most drivers I meet these days are terrified that the car will go rogue on them at any moment.

With an uncommanded turn to the left, perhaps at speed, a warning chime will be the least of their problems.

Anonymous Bosch wrote:

and pump a couple of .45 rounds into the computer. "Take that, you POS!"

I'd rather save the ammo for something better.

Something about asking someone else to shoot your own dog.

I'm very disappointed that Netflix appears to have stopped adding new titles to the Instant Watch list. When the revolution happens I may have to join just out of boredom.

Ooh, schrapnel.

Notes on VIX: crushed flat, and dropping. For the past year, few months have not seen a spike after the games of opex week, sometimes a massive spike into month-end, on several occasions a dip into month end from the spike.

It's quiet. Too quiet. Like the hostage has been gagged and has a gun to his head, while the crazed captor listens to the sounds outside the room in case the law's on its way. /lights flicker, extra close-ups of whites of eyes, sweat beads, drips...

C

"In a related concern, the light and chime tend to fail when the electronics do..."

"In a related concern, the light and chime tend to fail when the electronics do..."

Whoa! How cool is that?

That's a NY cab driver under normal conditions.

Of course you've seen this:
[Warning, comical]
Family Guy Osama Bin Laden Clip (Banned from TV) | SPIKE

Greece Now, U.K. Next as Scots Investors Ready for 20-30% Plunge in Pound That should be a boon for British manufacturing.

yogi. That osama always was a real cut up.

Off to read VIX and More.

...

Anonymous Bosch wrote:

That should be a boon for British manufacturing.

I still wouldn't buy a Land Rover for 30% off and what other manufacturing is left in England?

Deflation in the things you don't want (like, say, a mortgage-backed security now owned by the Fed)

And what have we here, a FTSE VIX too. I say, jolly good show.

Euronext - Charts > Charts analysis

I haven't found a live, free Nikki VIX. There's some academic work extrapolating what it would have looked like. Useful for 20:20 hindsight. Ah, so that's why I lost my shirt and browned my pants...

C

Nikki Vix live, eh? I think I saw the show in Amsterdam.

Pretty much, if volatility is up it means more and greater positions are being taken to hedge against swings, and when it spikes, like in September 08, it suggests the whipsaw cometh. It's neither good nor bad, just a reflection of market sentiment. Now, if you're a , then some of your business lines are predicated on making money out of volatility, so if it goes down, your arb opportunities reduce. Leading into that situation it's probably a good idea to ramp up elsewhere, rotate sectoral exposure, invent some volatility in stocks or something else to arb. Or you could hunker down and just print money from borrowing at effective zero from your friendly local CB and lend and lever longer. But then you get very unhappy campers in your executive committee because most of the thrillseekers can't run lucrative risk plays.

As to M1 multiplier declining, I think mp is suggesting the money supply is wearing concrete boots.

C

Mine's only a half-assed understanding based on doing time on a risk committee in a medium-sized finance outfit (whoa, there goes a worrying admission), and most of our work was in credit risk, some country and political risk too. It just seemed useful to do a bit more on wider considerations, market indicators, correlations, especially as we got, uh, a little busy in 08. Used to drive me nuts listening to some of the silo speak from one or other side of the business. All contained, that may be a problem over there but not here, we're different ,diversified, hedged, prudent, only moderately leveraged and so on.

C

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and Republican Senator Bob Corker are nearing a deal to create a consumer authority at the Federal Reserve, according to two Republican Senate aides.

Dodd, Corker Said to Near Deal on Giving Consumer Power to Fed - Bloomberg.com

I love it! (Really) The fallout from this spectacular stupidity could bring down the Fed.

OMFG. That is the answer to what problem exactly?

Words fail.

C

The stand-alone consumer protection agency was the one idea I was actually impressed with when Obama/Geithner belatedly put forth the financial reform package. I shouldanode...

Why on Earth would the President try to squeeze the recalcitrant Republicans (and some turncoat Democrats) by sticking up for an agency which protects consumers from banks. That would never sell to the American people. We crave bipartisan compromise.

At least Dodd is revealed as a shameless shill.

In America memories of Katrina will influence events far more than most people realize. Deep down, where the survival lizard lives, any calamity will send a message straight to Mr Lizard. His reply will be "Hssssss....Remember Katrina. You think the government is going to help you....Hssss."

File this one under "Texas Justice"

BBC News - Texas 'rapist' granted state's first posthumous pardon

The governor of the US state of Texas, Rick Perry, has posthumously pardoned a man who had died in jail after being wrongly convicted of rape.

Good morning sters...we are so freaking SCREWED.

Sawgrass Resort Linked to Tiger Woods Apology Files Bankruptcy - Bloomberg.com

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- The owners of Florida’s Sawgrass Marriott Resort, the site of the U.S. PGA Tour’s Tournament Players Championship, sought bankruptcy protection from creditors including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

RQB Resort LP listed assets and debt of as much as $500 million each in Chapter 11 documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Jacksonville, Florida. RQB Development also sought protection. The resort is the home of the TPC Sawgrass golf club where Tiger Woods apologized on Feb. 19 for his marital infidelity.

The 508-room hotel resort has rights to 85 percent of starting times each day to the Players Stadium Course through 2089.

In July 2006, Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Capital LP helped finance the $220.5 million purchase of the 65-acre resort in Ponte Vedra Beach by RBQ Resort and RBQ Development.

Does anyone else have an Apocalypse kit in their home? : reddit.com

Why yes, a few of them actually.

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/8502/img0662xp.jpg

No, but I have 42x 60 pound bags of cement.

You building a sarcophagus

The Precious (can't find the youtube clip)

We are planning to cement in the spots where windows and doors used to be in our house, that's why mp told us to buy so much, right?

Thanks to whoever recommended the following video series; great stuff! I watched all 9 parts and found them to be very watchable and very informative. I sent the link to friends with growing kids.

YouTube - The Hazards of Sugar (Part 1 of 9)

I have to worry today more about brownies for Youngest's class. The gold/tungsten thing (http://www.zerohedge.com)  will just have to wait.

Later, folks.

This is why it is best to buy your Assayed, even if it is just by the Gram, good to have your stuff Assayed before you have it in hand.

I see you have already started JD hahah!

http://oursideofthemountain.com/familyblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/img_0821.JPG

Counterpointer,option volatility represents the perceived risk that the underlying instrument will not move too far too fast for options traders to adjust their positions and avoid loss.

Wolfram Hi-Jack would only work with larger bars, as tungsten is too brittle of a metal to fake with coins or smaller ingots. Towards the end of this video is a 1/2 kilo bar and you can plainly see it has an actual outer 1/8th inch shell of the real deal.

YouTube - tungstengold.flv

Not much of an Apocalypse kit. No water filtration kit? No beans? Rice? Half a cow? Amateur...

(CBS) Postmaster General John E. Potter is to herald his vision of a shorter post week - eliminating all Saturday deliveries - at a conference Tuesday addressing the future of the U.S. Postal Service, according to a report in USA Today.

According to the article, Potter revealed his intention to seek a shorter delivery week on Monday, saying it was an absolutely unavoidable move if the debt-mired service is ever to climb back into the black.

Postal Chief Seeking 5-Day Delivery Week - CBS News

---Only five days of junk mail?
Ah, man...

HomeGnome wrote:

According to the article, Potter revealed his intention to seek a shorter delivery week on Monday, saying it was an absolutely unavoidable move if the debt-mired service is ever to climb back into the black.
Postal Chief Seeking 5-Day Delivery Week - CBS News
---Only five days of junk mail?

And 1-3 fewer days in your credit billing cycle. Not that the consumer credit companies would ever stoop to timed mailings of your bill. That's just