Blog 100: British pound seems to be going for a plunge.

My 100th blog post in 13 months.
A third of the blogs were written this October. Ahhh... there is far too much to write about and I am going to get tired of blogging all this. I didn't think there would be so much to write about each day. The Telegraph is reporting Europe on the brink of currency crisis meltdown.

The British pound seems to be going into free fall this week.... Ouch!

More here:
http://www.economicpopulist.org/?q=content/scary-possible-currency-crisis

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Are we really going to trust banks a second time to get this right?

I am glad I was not scammed into buying a house a couple of years ago. From July 2008 and September 2008, one hundred and twelve Americans each hour of each day and night lost homes to a foreclosure --about two Americans a minute. What a scam!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/26/AR2008102600954.html


The missing money from inflated assets will have to be repaid. The problem unfortunately is not going to go away by simply making tax payers help out the banks to write off asset losses. This will just move the problem elsewhere. The economy certainly has no chance of any recovery in the near future at this rate. Asking people to pay taxes who already can't afford their mortgages, credit card payments or health insurances, is not going to sustain a sinking economy. On top of this, innocent renters are going to re-pay taxes for home owners asset losses for many years to come. In such a climate of high taxes, small businesses will struggle and this will lead to higher unemployment rates. The general population will have to consume a heck of a lot less than they did during the never ending credit generation of the past 20 years. They will certainly not be purchasing Ipods and lap top computers every other year to keep up with tech fashion.

In my opinion, the world leaders using the panic buttons and trusting the same banks and institutions (who wrote the bad rules in the first place) to keep the system going is very short sighted. Already since the bailouts begun, bank bonuses have grown by 3%

NEW YORK (AP) Bank bonuses grow by 3% despite bailout, review indicates
— Despite the Wall Street meltdown, the nation's biggest banks are preparing to pay their workers as much as last year or more, including bonuses tied to personal and company performance.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/oct/26/bank-bonuses-grow-by-3-despite-bailout-review/

Some banks are even going to contribute further grief in the foreclosure crisis by exploiting a loophole to seize homes for credit card defaults as little as £1,000.

Banks and credit card companies are exploiting obscure legal powers to seize the homes of thousands of people who cannot pay their credit card bills.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5014781.ece?ref=patrick.net

We're going to have to see global reform or it will be a repeat of the 1930s... I still remember the milder recession in1991 and it was not pretty at the time.

I think Barak Obama has the clearest vision in this US election for our best hope towards a brighter future. George Bush's very right wing ideology and short shortsightedness has seriously (in my humble opinion) strewed things up for generations to come. This eight years has been as ugly as everyone predicted and I am not just talking about finance. Using fear to gain voters may have worked in the past but finance is something most people cannot ignore. In this case, this once in a life time financial collapse accelerated by 8 more years of excessive greed, may have become a blessing in disguise for an Obama win, although his hands will be tied for four years. This financial disaster could set a beginning of a new vision for common sense and brighter future, but having said that, the disaster is still in the process of deepening. I do still wonder...

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Here is an interesting graphic view showing US Real Estate Home prices adjusted for inflation plotted as a roller coaster:

Enough!

Sarah Palin

Palin charged the state $21,012 for her children to travel with her to events they were not invited.

She later amended expense reports to specify they were on official business.

Some of the hotel rooms were in the range of $400 a night.

OK, enough. It has been seven weeks and I think we have a good idea of the kind of person she is --somewhere between manic and completely unqualified for the job.


http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jwb6ekOiK0T9yFvw_WURcrdPI65QD93V4AJ82
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Wor, Colin Powel makes sense, never thought I would see the day!

I always wondered about Colin Powel. Intuition says he is not mad and what he has to say today is very important. I recommend watching these videos. He is spot on. These are very obvious comments but well said. I am glad someone like Colin Powell has stood up for something that is so important:

Here is Elsheba Khan at the grave of her son

(young Muslim who fought for the USA)
Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/09/29/slideshow_080929_platon?slide=16


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Sarah Palin? SNL comody? What?

Intuition tells me the Sarah Palin appearance on Saturday Night Live was not such a good idea for McCain camp. I watched the full clip on youtube before it got pulled by NBC for copyright reasons... hmmm, I wonder why just this one got pulled so quickly... Anyway, I did find some news footage showing clips from the show right here. Check out half way with Alec Baldwin. Here is a newspaper review from the independent.co.uk



Now does this Sarah Palin comedy appearance remind you of anything?
It reminds me of when the Scottish Member of Parliament George Galloway representing Bethnal Green in London appeared on Celebrity Big Brother to try and gain popularity with young voters.

George Galloway has been branded a "laughing stock" by a Labour opponent after the Respect MP imitated a cat on Celebrity Big Brother.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4608082.stm

Now in Sarah Palin's case, her appearance is not as crazy as George Gallaways (acting like a cat on Celebrity Big Brother) but in my opinion it falls into the same territory, especially as Sarah represents a potential candidate for the vice president of the United States. I don't think she is in a position to goof around like this --as much as I like a good laugh myself. Polls show 61% agree with what I am saying. The world is not in great shape and most people hardly know who Sarah Palin is. A few may know her in Alaska, but from what I hear in the press, she has at least one unresolved scandal. The BBC reports of a probe that she abused power there.

Palin abused power, probe finds:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7662820.stm

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By the way, I never got to blog about Mr. 15 minutes of fame (Joe the Samual plumber of 34, of suburban Toledo, Ohio). He earns $40,000 a year according to his divorce records of 2006 working for a business of two employees. He wants his taxes below 250K to not go down as this "spreads the wealth", but if he suddenly becomes part of the 5% of the population who earn over $250,000 a year, he does not want to pay 3% extra tax (above the 250k) which is what tax rates were before Bush came into office. Keep dreaming Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher.He would already have been richer today under Obama's law. Also, I am sure Samual is blaming McCain for the media humiliation. McCain war hero? forcefully brought up Samual's middle name (Joe) up on more than one occasion to the third presidential debate. Sorry Sam, for your hassle in the media, although you could probably say you have learned a lot from this media experience! :)

Here are some related videos explaining how the taxes would work (which would actually favor Joe the plumber under Obama's plan):

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao5V66m5FaA
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?aq=f&aq=f&emb=0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2Fvideosearch%3Fq%3Djoe+the+plummer+obama&v=vFC9jv9jfoA

I.O.U.s: Assets must deflate to their proper values...

"That's as good as money sir. Those are I.O.U.s"_

From Dumb & Dumber

It has been a breathtaking week. Last Friday, world markets were down $7 trillion dollars:

World market losses
-$7 trillion dollars
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24479442-643,00.html

The American stock markets alone lost 2 trillion of this amount. Over this past weekend, European governments have formed a coalition to put together a package of $2.3 trillion on line to try and protect the banks world wide.

European tax payers
+$2.3 trillion dollars
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/13102008/2/biz-finance-european-governments-2-3-trillion-line-banks-ease.html

Ultimately a giant bailout package was needed to keep the gears of the banks in motion to prevent a seizure of banks. This was required to prevent markets from going further into free fall. The dollar figure Europe has provided has dwarfed the Bush administration's $700 billion rescue, which only last week seemed huge:

USA tax payers
+$0.7 trillion dollars
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7651823.stm

So the total bill from tax payers worldwide was a grand total of 3 trillion dollars --that's $3 with 11 zeros after it and this demands a flashing number:

Thanks to everyone who pays taxes for these huge bailouts ; -) $3,000,000,000,000

As a result, markets have climbed significantly this Monday to recover about a quarter of the losses from last month. Nations act markets soar
The interesting thing here is that tax payer money is now propping up the bank system. Now the collapse happened when private money was used to prop up the markets using imaginary highly inflated ASSET (HOUSING BUBBLE) money, created through Sub-Prime mortgage lending and other forms of bad lending based on "stated income". Mortgage contracts were signed world wide (and not only in the US) to allow low income families to buy over priced houses in a feverishly exited speculative market they could not afford. These toxic mortgages become unfordable when the introductory artificial rate of monthly payment expired to follow current market rates which are unaffordable. These purchases of overpriced houses were essentially IOUs (certificates saying I owe you the money) and later became worthless pieces of paper floating around the stock markets. The certificates labeled Collateralized Debt Obligation were referred to as toxic dept by 2008 as soon as the markets realized they had been holding onto an empty asset.

I.O.U: You've gotta watch this short clip from Dumb and Dumber:

"Ahhh -- Where's all the money?"
"That's as good as money sir. Those are I.O.U.s"
"Go ahead and add it up. Every cent is accounted for.... you might want to hang onto that one"

Going back to reality, this fake money bubble (relying on people to pay for artificially inflating housing asset prices) came from people like this well known foreclosure guy, Casey Serin, the poster child for everything that went wrong in the real estate boom:



The trouble is, after the stock market TECH BUBBLE crash of 2000, we created a MORTGAGE BUBBLE. Now that the spectacular bubble has popped and has almost crippled the financial system worldwide, we have found there is no more bubble. Unfortunately, this has put the world economy into a dicey situation. I myself was hoping that the next BUBBLE will be green renewable energy. The trouble is, when demand for energy goes down during a world recession (in this case it is fossil fuels) the price of fuel goes down too. When the price of fossil fuel goes down, there is no incentive to invest in green markets as they will not offer a profitable alternative. At the moment I see we have got ourselves in a stale mate situation [a term used in a game of chess].

Intuition tells me people are paying for their madness and it will take a while to get out of this pickle. All I can say is I don't think there is going to be much growth going on (certainly not in assets) until we weather this financial storm. (Even Speilberg is affected by the money crisis). Assets will have to deflate to their proper values for the system to work properly which means house prices going down. Unfortunately I believe this could take quite some time.

Poll: Bush Approval Hits New Low

I think the Americans were rather slow on this occasion, but finally understand what Bush is about with his approval rating at an all time low. I wish they could have foreseen this earlier.

I remember warning about Bush 8 years ago when Bush first came into office.... Intuition tells me the Bush's exit will be equally as dramatic as his entrance. The disenfranchised voters and 30+ day fiasco in the supreme courts (deciding who should win the 2000 election) was a very bad sign, wouldn't you agree?

Poll: Bush Approval Hits New Low On Iraq, Economy and Ethics, a Perfect Storm Bedevils Bush

An increasingly unpopular war, an ethics cloud, and broad economic discontent have pushed public opinion of the Bush administration from bad to worse, infecting not only the president's ratings on political issues but his personal credentials for honesty and leadership as well.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/PollVault/story?id=1278080

Gold rush? Is this what we call a full circle?

(72 years ago)	Let's compare 1932 and 2008. (people say history can repeat itself) February 28, 1932, Sunday --- GOLD-SELLING FEVER GRIPS THE BRITISH People In Rush to Exchange Coins, Jewerly and Heirlooms for Paper Pounds. FEAR OF DEFLATION IS GONE Movement Promptedby Business and Patriotism Extends to Ireland and India. HOARDED MONEY IS DUG UP If Rush Is Continued, Government Should Find It Easier to Pay, Franco-American Credits. By FERDINAND KUHN Jr.Wireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES. Section: WEEK END CABLES EDUCATION WATCH TOWER LETTERS TO EDITOR, Page E3, 1030 words LONDON, Feb. 26 -- The British people are in the grip of a treasurehunt that is less heroics but no less astonishing than the great gold rush of the Forty-niners. [ END OF FIRST PARAGRAPH ] (Today) -- October 12, 2008, Sunday -- MARKET TURMOIL SPARKS GOLD RUSH TO SPECIALIST FUNDS Turmoil in the financial markets has created a “flight to safety” mentality among investors, who are pouring cash into low-risk assets such as gold. Financial vehicles called Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), which allow individuals to buy a stake in a gold bar without holding the metal itself, have received unprecedented flows of new money. [VIEW FULL STORY]
The big question is which way is the circle spinning. If you look long enough at this animation cycle, you may see it change direction.... http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22492511-5005375,00.html --

I am going to rename my 401k pension plan to a 201k

I peeked at my 401k today through online banking...

2008

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10689940

My third-quarter 401(k) statement will arrive any day now.

I wonder if they'll send it in a teeny-weeny envelope. It's going to be lighter than usual, and thinner — say, by 30 percent or so. I'll probably need a microscope to look at it. So I'm not going to. I'm not even going to open it. I'm just going to shove it in a drawer. I won't check my progress — or lack of it — on the Web. My online account is off-limits. I've already seen the accounting of my assets in my nightmares: One hot plate. One can of Alpo.

Fear grips world stock markets...

Investigative journalism?

I would be interested to hear what people think about the tone of this British BBC news report? To me it is bazaar because the tone is rather grim and monotonous, but at the same time it depicts all the juicy sensational headlines using advanced animated graphics.

How did we get to all this mess I ask myself? Could a crisis such as this one have been averted with more investigative journalism in the past? Most of the press in my opinion (including institutions like the BBC) are almost asleep (when it comes to investigative journalism) and only seem to report what goes on after the fact which to me is not responsible. The report here sounds like it was just another day and it looks as though most of the BBC budget has gone into the graphics. Just my opinion...



The best investigative news reporting I would recommend is http://www.democracynow.org


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Is the world is in a pickle?

Would I be making an outrageous statement if I said the world has got into a pickle?...
I clearly remember this song from the 1990s and realize this singer Jay Kay, from the band Jamiroquai was not far off...
Jamiroquai- Virtual Insanity Oh yeah, what we're living in (let me tell ya), It's a wonder man can eat at all, When things are big that should be small, Who can tell what magic spells we'll be doing for us And I'm giving all my love to this world Only to be told, I can't see, I can't breathe, No more will we be,And nothing's going to change the way we live Cos' we can always take but never give, And now that things are changing for the worse See, it's a crazy world we're living in, And I just can't see that half of us immersed in sin Is all we have to give these - [Chorus] Futures made of virtual insanity, now Always seem to, be govern'd by this love we have, For useless, twisting, our new,technology Oh, now there is no, sound - for we all live underground, And I'm thinking what a mess we're in, Hard to know where to begin If I could slip the sickly ties that earthly man has made,And now every mother, can choose the colour Of her child That's not natures way, Well that's what they said yesterday There's nothing left to do but pray, I think it's time I found a new religion,Waoh - it's so insane, To synthesize another strain, There's something in these, Future's that we have to be told [Chorus] Now there is no sound, If we all live underground, And now it's virtual insanity, Forget your virtual reality Oh, there's nothing so bad,, I know yeah [Instrumental break] Of this virtual insanity, we're livin' in,,Has got to change, yeah, Things, will never be the same, And I can't go on, While we're livin' in oh,, oh virtual insanity, Oh, this world, has got to change Cos I just, I just can't keep going on, it was virtual,, Virtual insanity that we're livin' in, that we're livin' in That virtual insanity is what it is [Chorus] Living - Virtual Insanity, Living - Virtual Insanity,Living - Virtual Insanity, Living - Virtual Insanity Virtual insanity is what we're living in

Just look where we are, especially this weekend...

WMD have been found: Troops deployed on U.S. streets

Could the weapons of mass destruction have finally been found?...
...hidden in our banking system?

Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out "Crowd Control"
http://www.alternet.org/rights/101958/thousands_of_troops_are_deployed_on_u.s._streets_ready_to_carry_out_%22crowd_control%22/
Background: the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, three to four thousand soldiers, has been deployed in the United States as of October 1. Their stated mission is the form of crowd control they practiced in Iraq, subduing "unruly individuals," and the management of a national emergency. I am in Seattle and heard from the brother of one of the soldiers that they are engaged in exercises now. Amy Goodman reported that an Army spokesperson confirmed that they will have access to lethal and non lethal crowd control technologies and tanks.



Welcome to bank run #1





Pressure builds for a global economic strategy
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-global10-2008oct10,0,72305.story

Next stop: inflation

The bailouts are risky business and could cause severe inflation...

Intuition tells me if the dollar gets too weak, China will pull out of the dollar and this would be catastrophic.
For now the dollar is OK. Let's keep out fingers crossed these bailouts work, because if they do not, we could see marshal law in the US. We do NOT EVER see this happen. I know the bailouts were ludicrous (should never have happened along with the Iraq war) but if these bailouts fail, everyone will be severely affected for years to come.

Intuition tells me something will resolve with all the emergency measures going on, but it is not going to resolve quickly and things will be quite different once this bank seizure is finished.

Zero Dollar Bill



Artist Laura Gilberts' print 'The Zero Dollar' protesting the breakdown of the American economy. Gilbert distributed 10,000 of the fake greenbacks in front of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 to call attention to the economic crisis gripping the nation.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Zero-Dollar-Bill/ss/events/bs/100808zerodollargilb

It is time to pay up -- for the madness of the past 8 years

The UK tax payers are going to pay serious money (£20,000 = $40,000) for people who have gone mad... -- and we are still in for a deep long recession! It could not be any more brutal, except what I am about to talk about in the next blog... I am not making all this stuff up either. I am just reflecting the reality of what is going on.

Financial crisis: £500 billion bail-out plan helps stabilise banks

Each taxpayer faces a potential liability of almost £20,000 after the Prime Minister announced the biggest emergency rescue ever launched by a British government.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3162206/Financial-crisis-500-billion-bail-out-plan-helps-stabilise-banks.html

US dept clock needs a new digit

The National Debt increased $1.36 billion per day since September of 2006:
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$10,187,754,347,408.87

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— US debt as of October 6, 2008 —

* ** * * Eleven Trillion * * * * *
htttp://www.thewe.cc/contents/more/archive/us_debt.html
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Telegraph (UK) - Financial crisis: US debt clock runs out of numbers

The US National Debt Clock was installed in Manhattan by late real estate developer Seymour Durst in 1989 to highlight what was then a $2.7 trillion debt. But when the total crept over 10 trillion on September 30, owners of the clock realised they had reached a watershed moment - they needed another digit, a fourteenth.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3162951/Financial-crisis-US-debt-clock-runs-out-of-numbers.html

Wall Street Shuffle

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled past the psychologically meaningful 10000 barrier, and European stocks charted some of their biggest declines in 20 years, as investors concluded that the crisis gripping the financial sector is spilling over into the broader economy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122333567578609541.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

For 10CC fans, check this out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNYBh4ryl5

OK, this has got me going... remember this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5xm3F-s6xE

	Fed can't save stocks A volatile session ends with losses as investors remain wary despite cut. more Credit freeze: It's still on Rate cut gives dollar a ride

Mortgage definition

THE TERM MORTGAGE WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

The great jurist Sir Edward Coke, who lived from 1552 to 1634, has explained why the term mortgage comes from the Old French words mort, “dead,” and gage, “pledge.” It seemed to him that it had to do with the doubtfulness of whether or not the mortgagor will pay the debt. If the mortgagor does not, then the land pledged to the mortgagee as security for the debt “is taken from him for ever, and so dead to him upon condition, &c. And if he doth pay the money, then the pledge is dead as to the [mortgagee].” This etymology, as understood by 17th-century attorneys, of the Old French term morgage, which we adopted, may well be correct. The term has been in English much longer than the 17th century, being first recorded in Middle English with the form morgage and the figurative sense “pledge” in a work written before 1393.

Unfortunately these days, it is no longer just one person who's pledge is dead as to the mortgagee, it is everyone. We all get screwed when others miss their mortgage payments.

By the way, the AIG company American International Group, Inc (NYSE: AIG) who provide insurance for mortgages (bailed out by the government) have had their luxury hotel resort bills exposed on ABC news today.

ABC NEWS
AIG documents obtained by Waxman's investigators show the company paid more than $440,000 for the retreat, including nearly $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 in spa charges.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5973452&page=1

Intuitin tells me the run on the bank has already started...

Run on the bank!
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It has not started officially, but I think a run on the bank in 2008 is already starting quietly...
Intuition tells me it is starting in Europe and could spread if people go mad...
This time (unlike the lines of the 1929) it will start silently with a few clicks of a mouse....



(Remember what I wrote in my first blog? We tend to "follow mostly what others do around us")

It is time to speak up to the government. The time is now folks. I do not think I am mad.... everyone else does for point ing this out.... Sorry to bear the bad news but we have to be realistic.

Bank savers run at the click of a mouse
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE49600Z20081007

Total collapse

Unfortunately we're witnessing sophisticated banking computer models collapsing fast...
(just like these computer hard drives... ouch!)




By the way, the US $700 bailout was NOTHING, check this out!

OK, I am scared folks -- I really am this time!

ugly


A Look at Wall Street’s Shadow Market

"We face extreme danger. We risk a disintegration of global finance within days. Nobody will be spared"

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Archives2008/October06.html

Europe financial crisis deepening...

Europe is in deep S H *I T folks.

Time to get out the wellington boots....

FINANCIAL TIMES
This was the week that the US-originated financial crisis was distributed to Europe with a vengeance. With five European banks having crashed in a matter of days and a French budget minister finally acknowledging yesterday that the eurozone's second biggest economy is in recession, the leaders of France, Britain, Italy and Germany will hold an emergency meeting this afternoon in the gilded splendour of the Elysée palace in Paris to discuss their response.

Bailed-Out executives lived It up last weekend on your dime!

Wow check this out:

A little over a week after the American taxpayers were forced to give AIG an $85 billion bailout, AIG executives attended a lavish retreat at one of the nation’s most luxurious and expensive resorts.

On September 26, still basking in the glow of an $85 billion taxpayer-funded windfall, AIG executives could be seen sipping wine and strolling the grounds of the ultra exclusive St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort . They were there for a conference being held by one of their subsidiaries, AIG American General. http://newsbyus.com/index.php/article/1700

Here is the resort AIG used this week on US taxpayers money (over $500 a room per night):

Let's vote these corrupt republicans in again - whadya think?

Screwed...

It has become clear the world has hit a bottom line of unsustainable credit...

People around the world are wondering what the hell is happening with the collapse of banking...

With all the laws that have written by highly paid attorneys at law, with software programs using sophisticated computer models written by world class engineers operated by highly trained business accountants, I ask...
--how the hell did all this happen?

Well here is one contribution: Casey Serin, the 24 year web designer who bought and lost 8 houses.

The path of capitalism has climbed to its all time high and is now collapsing like a wave. Tomorrow will be the start of something new, the start of something better... This is not he end of the world --just the end of the world as we know it!!!

You Tube - REM END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (AND I FEEL FINE) And I Feel Fine !! That's great, it starts with an earthquake ... 4 min 12 sec - www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGqroT1FZ5Y Rated 4.7 out of 5.0

I suggest we boogie on down more..

Downtown Reykjavik City, Iceland FINANCIAL CRISIS ~ oops

Where is Iceland?

The capital Downtown Reykjavik:

The financial news there is rocky, very rocky...

Iceland's economy is on the brink of collapse, after the krona
fell 27 per cent against the dollar last week. The fall sent fresh
shockwaves through the UK financial system, as Icelandic banks
have invested billions in the British economy. One of the biggest,
Kaupthing, is estimated to have underwritten about £3bn in debt
to finance deals in this country, and just two of the banks have
more than 150,000 British internet customers.

Wow!

The $700 Bailout (1 day result)




I am thinking back to the historical stock market chart I found (and talked about on Intuitive Blogger) in March 2008.




I was asking: are we in for a kondratieff winter? (starting this sumer)

Publish Post

Well it looks like the time has come to put on our winter coats.

We must finally acknowledge this and find ways to live within our means and become sustainable. My intuition about the 700 billion bailout doing Jack Shit (not working to alleviate the mess in the stock markets) is happening and Europe is panicking (they find it harder to print money or do whatever short term thing it is to add another band aid to this joke of a bank system that has been allowed to go on for so long).

• Brown convenes economic 'war cabinet' Prime minister appoints Paul Myners, chairman of Land Securities and Guardian Media Group, as City minister. By Richard Wray

• World economic crisis: France moves into recession The French premier, Francois Fillon, today warned that the world was "on the edge of the abyss" as his country moved into an official recession.

• Haunted by history America has never fully forgotten the horrors of the Great Depression. Could the present economic crisis lead to suffering on a similar scale once again? Clive Webb examines the parallels

THE TERM JACK SHIT: from urbandictionary.com/ JACK SHIT Definition: Nothing, or something equivalent to nothing. Jack shit has the remarkable property that its absence and presence are identical. Typically used with or without a negative to describe a total lack of knowledge, value, or significance. Its use carries a strong negative connotation which can express frustration, disdain, ignorance, or other negative qualities. I don't know jack shit about that. / I know jack shit about that. It's worth jack shit. / It isn't worth jack shit. I didn't get jack shit. / I got jack shit.

(I used to play in a band called Jack Shit)