Outbreak of apoplexy in Brussels.

The question to ask the Finance Minister of Belgium is "How much money does Belgium need to borrow from the EFSF?"

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

He really had no idea, did he?

Bankers gotta live somewhere, yo.

Purely academic economists with no practical business experience, is a dangerous combination...

At least the Germans have some guts.

I read somewhere that if we used the very same criteria for unemployment that we used in 1964, current rates would be close to 20%.

CalculatedRisk wrote:

The bond yields aren't spiking - so obviously this was no surprise to investors.

Some have likely seen a round or two of Franks and Gauls previously.

shill wrote:

driving by my local soup kitchen Saturday morning on my way to work..I have never, I repeat NEVER! seen the line so long in all the months/years I have been paying attention...this line wrapped at least 2 full blocks..I was taken back for a moment for sure.

Poverty and Hunger are now visually apparent in parts of the country? Someone send in a choppa!

Juvenal Delinquent Select ratingCancel ratingIgnoredOkayGoodGreatCancel ratingIgnoredOkayGoodGreat wrote:

I read somewhere that if we used the very same criteria for unemployment that we used in 1964, current rates would be close to 20%.

JD, do you have a link or a citation? I am very interested in exactly that kind of analysis. I am interested in comparing apples to apples, which is why I love CR. His graphs, particularly his unemployment related graphs, really tell the story.

The government has criticized the ex-footballer's call for the public to stage a mass cash-withdrawal protest

France awaits Eric Cantona's cashpoint revolution | World news | The Guardian

Bank rush tomorrow, be very careful with your longs

Shill, where you be?

Massachusetts. ( Liberal squallier)

Good morning all. Here there be dragons.

!! He's been suing them all; but, if the wheels of justice turn as they normally do, it will be a decade to maybe recover funds and by that time, who knows what the par value will be.

yagij wrote:

Poverty and Hunger are now visually apparent in parts of the country? Someone send in a choppa!

To strafe and scatter the line, doubtlessly. If food lines are allowed to form, the terrorists win.

shill wrote:

Bank rush tomorrow, be very careful with your longs

Surprise! A bank holiday!

Not to worry, US Treasury will eventually announce CAMP for the PIIGS....

(Country Affordable Modification Program)

Bernanke: Without Fed's actions, unemployment rate might have hit 25%

This is the same number paulson came up with to scare legislators. Without wading into a 400+ comment thread, did bernanke say why this high? Or (like paulson) we're supposed to take this as gospel (though he has been wrong so long)?

I can't seem to remember, higher oil prices are increases disposable income and thus is good for the economy. Right?

ratefink wrote:

Angela says behave! Or else the leathers come out!

We usually have to extra for that!

I can't seem to remember, higher oil prices are good for disposable income and thus good for the economy. Right?

....now that food stamps are plentiful, there's a lotta excess cash .... see ?

Hackman wrote:

I am interested in comparing apples to apples, which is why I love CR.

This might help........"Based on that research, he was able to generate a mathematical formula to calculate U3 and U6 unemployment for the entire period since 1900. He found that at the peak of the Great Depression, U3 was 25.2%. U6 was 37.6%."

U3 and U6 Unemployment during the Great Depression | The Economic Populist

Thanks, BSR.

Nice to see you back Hackman.

Euro's Worst to Come as Best Forecasters See Crisis Spreading - Yahoo! Finance

Max Deficit ... you know it's coming.

"Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that he expected the "recipe" for a tax-cut compromise to included extensions of unemployment benefits and Bush-era tax rates for all income brackets."

Kyl: 'Recipe' for tax compromise is likely to include unemployment benefits - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

I watched a bit of Face the Nation. The article leaves out a key durbin comment. He said something along the lines of "some of the republicans voting to extend tax cuts for all (and blowing out the deficit) will be the same ones in a few months who will be bitching (my word) about the deficit and vote to not raise the debt ceiling"

Figure "F" seems to be a bit off after the years 2000......

ratefink wrote:

be a unified money market,

One constraint that the German government has is that the Constitutional Court only approved the Euro based on there being no joint liability for government bonds. E-bonds or other similar schemes would be struck down by the German courts. Changing the German Constitution is not in the cards.

Interesting development in the ForeclosureGate

Judges Are Waking Up To Fraudclosure in [Market-Ticker]

ratefink wrote:

right now, the plan is to drive the PIIGS off a cliff, slash the illusion of social support, and snap up their assets for a song.

Yes, but that's the IMF game, not specifically Merkel's.

shill wrote:

Judges Are Waking Up To Fraudclosure in [Market-Ticker]

It's morning in America, and they haven't had their . So it'll be awhile.

Rob Dawg wrote:

Remember, the Gaul produces bile which is a digestive liquidity. Irritate it and you get stones that need excision.

I get the snark, but I'd still point out that the primary purpose of bile is to trigger the gut to "make room" for incoming food. It doesn't provide any other digestive function that I'm aware of, though pancreatic enzymes use the same duct. Bile is also what give #2 it's characteristic color.

black dog wrote:

>

Kyl: 'Recipe' for tax compromise is likely to include unemployment benefits - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

. . . durbin comment. He said something along the lines of "some of the republicans voting to extend tax cuts for all (and blowing out the deficit) will be the same ones in a few months who will be bitching (my word) about the deficit and vote to not raise the debt ceiling"

Absolutely correct. Obama's going along with full extension of the Bush Tax Cuts is the final act of political suicide. It breaks a campaign promise. It is bad economics, since the rich merely save the excess tax savings. It follows a pay freeze for federal workers, so Obama pays more money to the rich while holding down workers & middle class peoples' wages and salaries . . . and last but not least it continues to balloon the deficit, an issue on which Obama has already caved to Republican propaganda. Before the Republicans had a defecit club with which to beat Obama. Now they have gotten Obama to wire himself to an exploding political suicide vest while keeping the trigger in their own hands.

I find it unbelievable, yet it is true and right in front of our eyes.

shill wrote:

Speaking of Soup kitchens, driving by my local soup kitchen Saturday morning on my way to work..I have never, I repeat NEVER! seen the line so long in all the months/years I have been paying attention...this line wrapped at least 2 full blocks..I was taken back for a moment for sure.

However. I had a conversation with a soup kitchen director in Portland who said that the system was under such strain, they might have to consolidate into fewer branches to save money, since they weren't taking in as much in monetary donations. Her soup kitchens were renting their facilities. So you could be looking at the same number of clients, having to go further for the meal. Obviously that's not good, because it passes the costs down to those who can least afford it.

But it might or might not mean that the number of clients is increasing. In the soup kitchens I've worked in, there is a sign up sheet for clients. In the past, that list stayed pretty steady from week to week. You'd have to ask whether the 'new clients' list is getting longer, or something like that, to see if the number of people served is increasing, locally. There might be better stats at the higher network levels, too.

Man, Rich's SLW continues to run...now at 40.38...great call, Rich.

Tom Stone wrote:

Nice to see you back Hackman.

Agreed. Tom, did you see my 2 1/2 year listing last night? Repeat:

Tonight's real estate as investment disaster:
1280 Calle Aurora, Camarillo, CA 93010 - Zillow
Date Description Price % Chg $/sqft Source
11/18/2010 Sold $775,000 -3.1% $248 Public Record
09/23/2010 Listing removed $800,000 -7.9% $256 Keller Williams Realty
02/25/2010 Listed for sale * $869,000 -24.4% $279 Keller Williams Realty
09/09/2008 Listing removed $1,149,000 -- $369 Postlets
08/08/2008 Listed for sale * $1,149,000 -- $369 Postlets
07/05/2008 Listing removed $1,149,000 -- $369 Prudential California
04/06/2008 Price change * $1,149,000 -9.5% $369 Prudential California
03/15/2008 Listed for sale * $1,269,000 37.2% $407 Prudential California
01/06/2005 Sold $925,000 123% $297 Public Record

What's Wrong with the Job Market? - Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. - Mises Daily

Where are these new businesses and why are they not starting as we might expect?

Let us count the ways.

New businesses need to depend on a stable legal environment and a bright outlook for the future. These are both missing. The supposed recovery has been phonied up in every conceivable way: nationalizations, bad debt swept under the carpet, money creation by the Fed, make-work jobs paid for by the taxpayer. No one really believes all the hokum. The question is not whether the recovery is phony; it is, what is real and what is not real? No one knows for sure.

Despite every attempt by the Fed to provide oceans of free credit, banks are still extremely reluctant to lend when the payoff is not there and the risks of lending are extremely high. This means that prospective new businesses have to raise their own capital from a massively depleted capital stock.

Looking at the risks, it makes far more sense to hire no employees beyond temporary contract workers. Consider the payroll tax, the largest burden on both employees and employers. It does not benefit either party at all. It is sheer robbery that vastly increases the cost of hiring.

The problem of healthcare mandates is very intense. Employees who expect these benefits are mostly going to choose between obtaining them and getting a job. But for certain firms and under some conditions, they are unavoidable and unpayable.

Business taxes are all too high and probably going higher. Regulations on all businesses in every sector of life have been intensifying for decades. No industry is free of them. Even formerly frontier sectors like software are becoming legal thickets of patents, protections, and scary mandates.

The minimum wage is way too high to encourage new job growth among new businesses. And given all the legal mandates and potential lawsuits, everyone knows that once you hire employees, you are pretty much stuck with them for some period of time. You can test the waters. But you have to be sure. And no one is sure.

Businesses thrive in an environment of freedom. But enterprise is no longer free in any area. In boom times, the consequences are less obvious. In the bust, the regulatory thicket, taxes and mandates, and legislative threats all become decisive in a way they were not before.

None of these problems are intrinsic to the business cycle. They are all imposed by government. The same problem afflicted the economy during the Great Depression, but back then the central planning was newly imposed. Now is different: the old central planning is killing us day by day, even without dramatic new legislation.

Cinco-X wrote:

Euro's Worst to Come as Best Forecasters See Crisis Spreading - Yahoo! Finance

ain't afraid of no damned euro.

Rajesh wrote:

One constraint that the German government has is that the Constitutional Court only approved the Euro based on there being no joint liability for government bonds. E-bonds or other similar schemes would be struck down by the German courts.

Yes, exactly. I would say that this was no spur of the moment idea, and this kind of crisis was discussed in detail already in the early nineties with the collapse of the ERM.

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

You know how when you mix oil and water, and the oil gloms together?

It's all about titration, right Hoops!

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

Bile is a surfactant, like soap. It allows otherwise immiscible substances, like fat, to be dissolved in water, and thus present greater surface area for the gut to encounter and absorb them. It turns one big giant micelle of fat into a bunch of tiny micelles with a larger surface area. You know how when you mix oil and water, and the oil gloms together? Bile stops that.

I stand corrected having assumed bile was just the residue of the liver's "poison filter" function....should'a check wiki before posting that....

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

You know how when you mix oil and water, and the oil gloms together? Bile stops that.

So by slicing it up and dispersing the contents all risk of of not being adsorbed is avoided. Bile is a RMBS.

isn't afraid of no damned euro.

....at least so long he has a cabinet full of pomo steroids

Rob Dawg wrote:

Bile is a RMBS.

Best post I've read in a month!!!!

Hackman wrote:

Good to read your posts, too, Tom. I loved the one about the third annual open house. That is an instant classic!!! Keep hope alive indeed. Houses like that remind me of one of my favorite sayings that my dad used: "There's an ass for every saddle, son."

Thanks,Hackman. The sad thing is that by insisting on "Their" Price,the owners have left several hundred thousand dollars on the table. And agents (#4 now) keep listing it. At least this keeps one greedy incompetent from being a serious competitor.

who would have thought that Borders would be buying out Barnes and Noble, and not the reverse?

2nd UPDATE: Ackman Offers To Finance Borders Buyout Of Barnes & Noble - WSJ.com

It's an interesting poker game, Julian vs TPTB.

On one side, the player knows what the other guy is holding, and on the other side-they haven't a clue, even though they dealt it...

Hackman wrote:

He still doesn't have any idea

Do you think he has ever received a map and a flashlight as a gift?

Basel Too wrote:

2nd UPDATE: Ackman Offers To Finance Borders Buyout Of Barnes & Noble - WSJ.com

They'll probably boost their efficiency by eliminating those redundant Borders locations....

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

and just who will provide that funding to the IMF?

Bernanke said the Fed would chip in as necessary. Merkel is saying knock yourself out.

I don't know how FedEX office stays in business. I do all my printing at a local mom & pop, 5 cents a copy, though most of the stuff I do through them is more complex work like posters and postcards for various charitable events I organize. They were closed Sunday and I didn't want to call them and have them open up for me just for a tiny job, so I went to FedExKinkos. 10 cents a copy, basically double the price on everything, the constantly rotating minimum wage staff was unhelpful...

...but the goddamn place was packed.

What the fuck. An inferior product at an inferior price, yet the place does a hell of a lot more business. Can someone make sense of this?

I'm tempted to design some marketing materials for the local copy shop.

Mr Slippery wrote:

I hope Luxembourg doesn't roll their tanks into Berlin

The IMF is on the record reminding people that wars often occur in circumstances like the current ones.

some investor guy wrote:

Do you think he has ever received a map and a flashlight as a gift?

Here is an idea, everyone on CR sends a map and a flashlight to Ben Bernanke as a Christmas gift. That would be hilarious!!!!

Rob Dawg wrote:

Tom Stone wrote:

Nice to see you back Hackman.

Agreed. Tom, did you see my 2 1/2 year listing last night? Repeat:

Tonight's real estate as investment disaster:

Thank you for reposting it,I missed it last night. I talk to agents who do this. They get desperate for business,any business. The thinking seems to be that the seller will be willing to face reality and lower the price if no offers come in a couple of weeks (the hopeful agents) or that buyers are just too stupid to see what a wonderful opportunity they have (the stupid agents). I have to run,biz is picking up. As a matter of fact, I leased the same tollbooth on the golden gate bridge five times last week.

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

Retail book stores?
...they make for good kindle-ing

A piece of hardware that's useless for its designed purpose unless massa says I can use it, to view authorized content...

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

...but the goddamn place was packed.

Could be just a Sunday phenomenon. Check again on Tuesday.

I can't decide where the serious and sustained flash point will be.

China's Hu tells Obama Korea tension could go out of control - Yahoo! News

some investor guy wrote:

And my view is that investment losses are the penalty for lending to those who behave badly.

I am not so convinced that people who lent money to the Irish govt before 2008 are in the same group as those who gave money to the Irish banks to help with their bubble.

nice spotlight on the private/public arbitrage . . . or should we call it three card monty?

I think the new $100 bill delay is bupkis...

It's not like they're reinventing currency, most of the new security measures on the new Benjamin have been done before in Europe, a decade ago~

Printing problem stops production of new $100 bills
Government can’t print money properly - Yahoo! News
The new bills are the first to include Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's signature.

Now we know why and Ben's drops on hold

The money quote from the Hendry based article that Cinco-X posted:

"But the latest, most recent round of QE, he says, is like the Fed "dancing around a bubbling cauldron, rubbing two chicken bones together."

Sarah Palin Shoots A Caribou In Alaska

CR:
The key 10-year bond yields fell sharply last week (Ireland, Portugal, Spain), but are up slightly today.

I wondered where the money in the oil play had gone.

Former Idealist wrote:

Buy the fking dip.

Channeling Pink Floyd: How can you have any chips if you don't buy the f#cking dip?!? All in all, you're just another brick in the wall.

Equities and oil move UP as UE rate moves higher.

Just imagine how high equities can get if UE hits 25%!

BOYAHHHHHHHH!! BULL MARKET!!!!!!!!!

Oil is over $91.50 a barrel

Golly, it couldn't have been more than 10 days ago when CR mused whether 'will oil in the mid $80s affect mileage driven?'

Breaking up the euro area: How to resign from the club | The Economist

Byzantine_Ruins wrote:

and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior,

Is there a recommended ETF in revelations?

Byzantine_Ruins wrote:

Purely due to the moral weakness of the starving, I assure you. If they had worked harder and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior, they would be prosperous.

I think the clear white light of free market capitalism would have liberated them from the bondage of turning the karmic wheel...

dance dance!

sportsfan wrote:

The world is turning faster than it used to.

Rev on the redline. Faster, faster Pussycat!!! Folks, welcome to the new and improved manic-depressive eCONomy!

black dog wrote:

Oil is over $91.50 a barrel

And we haven't even gone over the cliff-- we are still navigating a plateau, although 2005 still has not been exceeded in production of C+C.
The backside should be a hoot!

OP-ED COLUMNIST; Let’s Not Make a Deal - NY Times
PK:

if Democrats give in to the blackmailers now, they’ll just face more demands in the future. As long as Republicans believe that Mr. Obama will do anything to avoid short-term pain, they’ll have every incentive to keep taking hostages. If the president will endanger America’s fiscal future to avoid a tax increase, what will he give to avoid a government shutdown?

So Mr. Obama should draw a line in the sand, right here, right now. If Republicans hold out, and taxes go up, he should tell the nation the truth, and denounce the blackmail attempt for what it is.

Yes, letting taxes go up would be politically risky. But giving in would be risky, too — especially for a president whom voters are starting to write off as a man too timid to take a stand. Now is the time for him to prove them wrong.

Hackman wrote:

Oil is over $91.50 a barrel

Today marks my 1-yr of full telecommuting

for all I care

black dog wrote:

Oil is over $91.50 a barrel

Is that Brent? I see WTI holding steady at 89 1/4.

Obama may as well draw a line in the sand on tax cuts for the wealthy, because if he doesn't, it's all over for him -

After considering all of the great comments here on CR and having worshipped at the CR altar for a few years now, I've decided there is big money in chinchilla ranching. My only worry is whether global warming will affect the premium fur market. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Worried that lawmakers will allow taxes to rise for the wealthiest Americans beginning next year

all that is left is for someone to photo shop O's head here ...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_LWXfO_9CJtc/SWwlzp3ir3I/AAAAAAAAEag/PQYprRH4xck/s400/neville_chamberlain_PEACE.jpg

Byzantine_Ruins wrote:

Is that Brent? I see WTI holding steady at 89 1/4.

Yes, Brent. I don't follow West Texas Intermediate.

shill wrote:

Judges Are Waking Up To Fraudclosure in [Market-Ticker]

Meanwhile:

Galvin wants court OK before homes are seized - The Boston Globe

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

Can someone make sense of this?

People like things that are 'familiar', FedEx is one of those things. Easily located on a google map, or google search. One days visit turns into the next days habit.

An inferior product at an inferior price? The same thought goes through my mind when I see the drive-thru at McDonalds at noon.

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

It's a tentative line in the sand, but there's still time for him to smooth it over with his shoe.

I need a waterproof keyboard. CR is getting to be an expensive pursuit for me.

personally, I'd be OK with raising the cut-off point to 500K, or even 1M to get a deal, but that's it -

Cinco-X wrote:

Hardly; that's what "makes" the deal. Otherwise, they'd just be rolling over on taxes...

Eggsactly, the red team and the blue team have been setting this up for at least two months, they're just rolling it out via MSM for the troglatdytes to lap up.

ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:

By 2012, I'd vote for a stuffed capuchin monkey for President.

we might be lucky enough to have that as an option.

MattFea wrote:

Galvin wants court OK before homes are seized - The Boston Globe

FWIW, in this highly Dem state, Bill Galvin is one of the few that I might actually consider voting for. However, he hasn't bothered to run for another higher office like governor (he was often the acting, weekend governor during past Repub administrations), indicating that there must be something in his past preventing a run.....too bad-

barfly wrote:

even 1M to get a deal,

Senate Republicans (and some Democrats) have rejected that deal already. Their position is all or nothing.

black dog wrote:

"Advance to the Rear"

"I've got to tell the 'merican people they can't have tax cuts and social welfare?"
.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:

By 2012, I'd vote for a stuffed capuchin monkey for President.

Two words: Sarah Palin.
.
I'm dead serious. I have reached that point that I want to see if the system can get any more broken and goat I want DC to have to deal with her. If she wins, I'm collecting money to buy a page in the NYT telling the RoW that I'm sorry for the results but it had to happen.

black dog wrote:

It's a tentative line in the sand, but there's still time for him to smooth it over with his shoe.
"Advance to the Rear"

Now that's how you organize a community!

ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:

Now that's how you organize a community!

It worked for the Greeks for centuries.

Think about it folks, BHO is Peter Pan. He's never grown up. All he knows is that choice requires exclusion, so he just moves his mouth and makes no real decisions (i.e., his f#cking mouth writes checks his a@@ will never cash).

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

What the fuck. An inferior product at an inferior price, yet the place does a hell of a lot more business. Can someone make sense of this?

My local UPS Store converted earlier this year to a FedEx affiliate. They charge much more to ship.

Byzantine_Ruins wrote:

I know. It's a common belief of our era. The people who supported Bush were especially loud and proud about it.

I've seen plenty of union Democrat types at the soup kitchen who believe they have offended God in some way, and therefore punish themselves to save Him some work. Self-inflicted hell. Particularly the ex-military guys.

yagij wrote:

social welfare?"

welfare? Think it out. The largest and most productive population in the history of 'merica paid for SS benefits, up front, the first generation to do it their entire working lives. OOOPS, sorry, we put it in the general fund and well, now, um its the fault of you lazy shiftless elderly people who won't stand on their feet 12 hours a day and do heavy lifting with osteoporosis, arthritis, poor hearing and vision. How dare you actually age.

Byzantine_Ruins wrote:

Watch your ass from several angles. Now with automation assist.

Clear rooms with tons of survellance. Seriously. If you can hire these people for 10 USDs/hr, do it. Half of you watch; half of you sort. If some bad 100s creep out into the market, so be it. It isn't like the USG wasn't giving them a few hundreds anyway.

Byzantine_Ruins wrote:

I know. It's a common belief of our era

Country.... common belief in our country.

The US sticks out alone when comparing religion to education. Usually the trend is inversely related.

Not Here. Here, we are an astounding outlier..

black dog wrote:

Golly, it couldn't have been more than 10 days ago when CR mused whether 'will oil in the mid $80s affect mileage driven?'

Gas just topping $3 (or right at it) in my area.

Merry !

How many of you have driven past retail stores in your community for a decade or more, and never once stopped in them to check out their wares?

Getting someone in the door the first time increases the likelihood of them coming back, but you got to get them to make an effort in the first place...

MattFea wrote:

Cinco-X wrote:
The Fed Has a $110 Billion Problem with New Benjamins - Yahoo! Finance
oooo, collector's items!

Confederate money! Ken? Paging kcoop... [hint]

ECONOMIC VIEW; Uncertainty Over Bush Tax Cuts Is Not Hindering Recovery - NY Times
By CHRISTINA D. ROMER

Cinco-X wrote:

Another option: sorting in the nude.....

paper cuts...

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

OOOPS, sorry, we put it in the general fund and well, now, um its the fault of you lazy shiftless elderly people who won't stand on their feet 12 hours a day and do heavy lifting with osteoporosis, arthritis, poor hearing and vision. How dare you actually age.

I appreciate this but, a lot of this is people who hung themselves. They screamed for the sprawling prison system to protect them from Those People. They cheered for the aircraft carriers and the spendthrift wars. They spent the money and figured they'd just rob the kids some more when the time came. The people who are aging now are the people who were in charge 20-30 years ago making all the wrong choices.

Obviously, we're going to need to do something about it, but I wish there was a way to check their records of supporting impecunious government spending on their pet obsessions and then deduct from their monthly payments accordingly.

Vic wrote:

Of course, this would never happen as he is a politician whose party has to depend on donations from these guys for the next election.

The game is already over. Obama knows which side of his a$$ cheeks are buttered. He is the biggest disappointment in the history of the White House. He should go ahead and announce he isn't going to run in 2012.

true story, I can't tell you how many local stores I've never bothered to go into -

NOTaREALmerican wrote:

If they had called them U-Bonds perhaps the Germans would have supported them.

can we have A-bonds too? Please?

Or just combine Asia, America & Australia and call them AAA Bonds!

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

lazy shiftless elderly people who won't stand on their feet 12 hours a day and do heavy lifting with osteoporosis, arthritis...

aside, standing and lifting are both good for osteoporosis and arthritis....

When I was a kid, you could buy brand new 1864 Confederate $20 banknotes for around $5, as many as you wanted and then some, but now they are worth around $40 a piece.

sportsfan wrote:

Another option: sorting in the nude.....

Old folks would have trouble getting hired.

But then we wouldn't need to worry about surveillance film being leaked onto the internet....

Cinco-X wrote:

From the link: Sorting such a huge quantity of bills by hand, the officials estimate, could take between 20 and 30 years.

LOL.....such amateurs.........by just distributing the damned bill guarantees a face value worth MORE than the $100 to anyone including collectors......It also guarantees it will be held for investment.

adornosghost wrote:

But we needed it to cover the bad bets of the spoiled little rich boys.

BINGO!

Everyone wants to cast blame and there is plenty of it to go around. The system was hijacked, it didn't happen in one or two years but was progressive. What we have now is nothing more than a first world banana republic which will continue to long grind down.

I thought we were done with her, what gives?

Former Idealist wrote:

Am I the only one that thinks the Double Dip is already here

I don't see it. I think it's because of my job and where I live tho. But, there doesn't seem to be any worsening of mood amongst people I know. I'd have to go with "maintaining altitude".

Rickkk wrote:

WikiLeaks Supporters Aim Cyberattacks At PayPal

Couldn't happen to a nicer group of people...

Cinco-X wrote:

ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:

Another option: sorting in the nude.....

Puzzled paper cuts...

Thumb rubbers....

U R not doin it rite. familyblogfamilyblogfamilyblog

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

What we have now is nothing more than a first world banana republic which will continue to long grind down.

Unless saving the nobility actually does save the country. Which would make Ben a noble-prize candidate.

RealClearMarkets - What the Simpson-Bowles Plan Left Out

Cinco-X wrote:

IIRC, Romer was at one time popular on this blog.

Romer has not been popular since the 4th grade.

Rob Dawg wrote:

U R not doin it rite. familyblogfamilyblogfamilyblog

Rule 34: Thumb/Finger Rubber
SFW....

Black Star Ranch wrote:

Romer has not been popular since the 4th grade.

When she got her glasses?

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

When I was a kid, you could buy brand new 1864 Confederate $20 banknotes for around $5, as many as you wanted and then some, but now they are worth around $40 a piece.

Uh, . . . did you notice that just about everything else is also eight times higher in price?

Except the lowly dime that is now worth over $2.

adornosghost wrote:

The Jobs Picture - Clusterfuck Nation

Fun to read, but he's an intellectual - so he's (shall we say) confused about the average people.

You want full employment? Reduce the work week to 4 days. Eliminate all immigration. Subsidize the hell out of stupidity (like my Train scam). Problem solved. We've GOT to be better than the USSR was. The godless commies lasted 70 years on socialism, we can do better.

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

and so the answer is to outsource it ALL from the prison system to military security.

The answer is not to have the felonized society or the massive military establishment.

adornosghost wrote:

the idea that people used to spending long hours in cubicles staring at video screens may, at some point ahead, begin to spend their days in the fresh air, cultivating food crops.

....this is called "subsistence farming" in the more backward areas of the world.....Welcome to 21st Century USA Job Growth

Dull Fisclosure: That be Me!

But, there doesn't seem to be any worsening of mood amongst people I know. I'd have to go with "maintaining altitude".

The top quintile (for many) think we're out of the woods. Spring home selling season will be a slap to their senses ...

TheMoneyIllusion » Do the QE opponents have ANY good arguments?

1) Inflation only seems low because the Fed ignores food and energy.

The core rate is only 0.6%, but even the overall CPI is only running 1.2%. So that argument is flat out wrong. Yet it doesn’t stop some people from making it.

2) History shows that when central banks print lots of money, high inflation results.

Actually no. History shows that when central banks print lots of money at the zero rate bound, one generally doesn’t get much inflation. Japan has been printing lots of money for years, and has also run big budget deficits—thus they’ve been monetizing the debt. And their price level is lower than in 1994.

3) Japan is different. When the Fed has printed lots of money we’ve had high inflation.

Actually no. Again, when at the zero rate bound, printing money is not necessarily inflationary. The Fed printed lots of money in the 1930s, indeed the monetary base nearly tripled. Yet the price level fell during the 1930s.

4) The gold market shows that high inflation is just around the corner.

Actually no, for reasons discussed in this earlier post. Every direct indicator we have of inflation expectations shows very low inflation in the years ahead. CPI futures markets, 5-year TIPS spreads, the consensus economic forecast, they all point to low inflation.

5) OK, in the past printing money didn’t produce high inflation at the zero rate bound, and we don’t have high inflation now, and both forecasters and markets tell us not to expect high inflation in the future. But I just can’t believe we can print that much money without eventually suffering from high inflation. Monetarist theory tells us . . .

Monetarist theory has nothing to do with the current policy environment. Monetarist theory is all about the impact of printing non-interest bearing money–aka “high-powered money.” The reason it’s called high-powered is because it lacks interest, and thus is a sort of “hot potato,” an asset that everyone tries to get rid of, and the in process drives up prices. Milton Friedman and Karl Brunner would be rolling over in their graves if they knew people were claiming monetarist theory meant than the issuance of reserves paying interest at rates higher than earned on T-bills was some sort of “high-powered money.”

6) If the policy does raise NGDP, interest rates will also rise, causing the Fed to suffer capital losses on its large bond portfolio.

Conservatives presumably believe in efficient markets, and thus the expected loss is approximately zero. The term structure of interest rates has already priced in the expected increase in rates that will occur as the economy recovers. Yes, there is some risk, but far less than people think. The Fed is mostly buying medium terms bonds, for which the price risk is rather low. And if the recovery is much stronger than expected, the gains to the Treasury would far exceed the losses to the Fed. This is NOT an argument for leaving millions of workers unemployed. Especially given that the Fed took far greater risks to save the big banks.

7) Yes, they are paying interest in reserves, and that prevents inflation right now, but when the economy recovers there will be tremendous pressure on the Fed to avoid raising the interest rate on reserves, and they will spill out into the economy.

Even distinguished economists such as Becker and Posner are making this argument, but I find it the most perplexing and feeblest argument of all.

Right now the Fed is under tremendous pressure not to do more monetary stimulus, despite 9.8% unemployment and below target inflation. There is little pressure on the Fed to do more. Yet somehow we are to believe that when the economy recovers somewhat and inflation is much higher, and unemployment is lower than today, there will be tremendous pressure on the Fed to not raise rates? And all this despite the fact that the Fed is almost universally blamed for holding rates too low for too long, and inflating the housing bubble? That makes no sense.

Actually, I'd suggest that QE is the wrong solution to our current problems....

NOTaREALmerican wrote:

Fun to read, but he's an intellectual -

Actually, for most of his life more bohemian, and worked those survival jobs of the lower proletariat.
He is obviously supporting himself as a writer now.

adornosghost wrote:

that people used to spending long hours in cubicles staring at video screens may, at some point ahead, begin to spend their days in the fresh air, cultivating food crops. I'm sure this sounds outlandish.

That really worked well for the Chinese, not. What are you going to do, send office workers out to the mega-farms of Iowa, where they watch the giant combine harvesters, running biodiesel, roll past them? The nostalgia about farmers and farming is just "return to the virtuous past" wishful thinking.

You'd be better off if Ben issued a chit to every American, that worked only on American made goods. And then get an industrial policy. And then tax the rentiers. Oh, and several other impossible things.

barfly wrote:

true story, I can't tell you how many local stores I've never bothered to go into -

"It smells like an immigrant in here !"

YouTube - Ballad of John Henry's Hammer

Byzantine_Ruins wrote:

[JHK] wants to see peasantry to satisfy his own personal desire that the 21st century get its comeuppance.

Perhaps. Given the photos he selects most often, I think he just misses Norman Rockwell.

This is interesting:

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_daily_extent_hires.png

It appears that parts of the Chukchi Sea, Hudson Bay, and Davis Strait are unusually free of ice, while ice is forming early at lower lattitudes, eg. between Sakhalin Island and Siberia, Baltic Sea, and the Gulf of St Lawrence.

So much fun, but the salt mine is still there. Have a good day, folks.

If work is so important, how come they have to pay us to show up?

NOTaREALmerican wrote:

You GOT to punish the failure. Those who own FIRE have to take the hair-cut they deserve for the system to work.

Oh, I'm sure that despite their millions/billions, lavish lifestyles, and contempt toward their inferiors, their struggle with conscience has punished them enough...

Interesting chart linked over at Felix Salmon's blog -

This chart should be ingrained in the mind of anybody who cares about fiscal policy. The main things to note:

* Federal taxes are the lowest in 60 years, which gives you a pretty good idea of why America’s long-term debt ratios are a big problem. If the taxes reverted to somewhere near their historical mean, the problem would be solved at a stroke.
* Income taxes, in particular, both personal and corporate, are low and falling. That trend is not sustainable.
* Employment taxes, by contrast—the regressive bit of the fiscal structure—are bearing a large and increasing share of the brunt. Any time that somebody starts complaining about how the poor don’t pay income tax, point them to this chart. Income taxes are just one part of the pie, and everybody with a job pays employment taxes.
* There aren’t any wealth taxes, but the closest thing we’ve got—estate and gift taxes—have shrunk to zero, after contributing a non-negligible amount to the public fisc in earlier decades.

If you were structuring a tax code from scratch, it would look nothing like this. But the problem is that tax hikes seem to be politically impossible no matter which party is in power. And since any revamp of the tax code would involve tax hikes somewhere, I fear we’re fiscally doomed.

Vic wrote:

He should not make any deal. He should force a vote on this and let the measure fail. Then, he should go on national TV and explain the situation to his fellow countrymen, treating them like adults. Of

This should have happened in September or October, next choice November, last straw now.

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

This is a huge problem and one which divides us and keeps us pointing fingers back at each other rather than careful examination of all sides and repairing each.

Yeah but, the jabbering is eventually judged, and good jabber is yelled louder and louder, until eventually there's an agreement on something incredibly stupid that most people can claim they didn't think of.

this is called "subsistence farming"

Subsistence farming is really a misnomer in most locales. It's really unsubsistence. Doable though if you have neighbors to trade with.

BSR - You're probably gone, but for future, what kind of puppy were you talking about last night? I had great success teaching my lab mix not to eat chickens, but it took time standing over her, very firmly, as we interacted with the chickens to do that. Of course, puppyhood may be too young for a dog to understand. You can send her my way if you want.

It's good to shop local, and all that, but there's a hidden bad feedback loop in there. For example, there are about 6 hair cutting salons on a particular stretch of road near me. Let's say all these businesses got started because of the low barriers to entry and the lack of any other jobs. So all of them are competing for the same steady level of business. The more local haircutting places that sprout up, the less business for each. Zero sum. Multiply that by every other category of business that you can name.

The only way out of that trap is to create more demand, and new demands for new products. Say, for example,and just temporarily, by increasing your marketing catch basin on the internet. But that scenario is "damped" by more and more potential buyers getting sucked into these types of low-barrier-to-entry small local businesses. And they will eventually enter e-tailing as well. So there's a vicious circle for you.

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Edit: Site must be seen. Great stuff. Becoming a cop is the new route to victimhood. They're another graphic designer or medical assistant.

he's been talking about it forever. Obviously, you never watched any of his campaign speeches prior to this latest election.

Byzantine_Ruins wrote:

FBI Career | Job Education | Government Jobs

Mine a all Forex banners....I guess I should stop pissin' on the Euro

Byzantine_Ruins wrote:

If taxes reverted to somewhere near their historical mean, the economy would collapse in a few weeks.

Wow, the ultimate hostage argument, and the threat is belied as fictitious by the historical data for the US and also by the contemporary examples of France and Germany.

Most supermarkets don't allow fido in the door, so I haven't had any problems with chicken yet.

Outsider wrote:

Subsistence farming is really a misnomer in most locales. It's really unsubsistence. Doable though if you have neighbors to trade with.

I am member of a gardening collective, and rarely buy vegetables anymore, even in winter.

I collected a big bag of golden chanterelle the day before yesterday, and have been also supplementing the diet with foraging other food.

Obviously, this would not work with 7 billion people.

barfly wrote:

he's been talking about it forever. Obviously, you never watched any of his campaign speeches prior to this latest election.

I know it was in his 2008 campaign speeches and mentioned willy nilly after that, but he never did anything to force the matter to a vote in Congress. He allowed (or encouraged) the Democratic dominated Congress not to bring taxes up for a vote before the Nov 2010 election.

the issue isn't just talking about it, but doing it, or at least fighting to do it and not caving in.

My ad is for discount stoles.

You live someplace where they don't have a large cash economy. Here in Phoenix, I just don't use a $100 bill at a small store- but Costco or any grocery store doesn't even bat an eye, as long as you are not buying a pack of gum.

Take it to the bank and get it broke for change? I haven't heard that for at least 20 years.

Cash is cash, but $20 are preferred,and quite frankly, more likely to be fake. When I sold my truck a few years ago, it was slightly inconvenient to count out $9k in cash, but I took the time. The credit union took the deposit without batting an eye.

$100 bills in Vegas are like confetti- taken everywhere, but the cash economy there is rampant, right down to casino chips.

Someday this war's gonna end...

adornosghost - I only say because my g'father was a homesteader in the dust bowl. Farming is so dependent on weather, which often does not cooperate with caloric needs. I'm all for growing your own food, but I would hate to have to depend on it.