Thursday, June 25, 2009

Hair of the Dog Losing Effectiveness

From Jenna Orkin:

Quote of the day:

We're in the third and fatal stage of a great country - the political stage. In this stage, money and power migrate from the financial community to the political community. The politicians get away with taking trillions out of the productive economy and spending them on their pet projects and private corruptions.

Economic Crisis/Americas
What Happened to American Sovereignty at G-20?
Big Brother in Basel: Are We Trading Our National Sovereignty for Financial Stability?
Well we're trading our national sovereignty for sure. Anyone want to bet we'll get financial stability in return?
ECB Opens the Taps, Cheers Europe
Hair of the dog. Bottoms up.
Bernanke Advocates Bigger Role for Fed
Bernanke Prepares to Defend Record as Debate Over His Reappointment Begins
Emerging-Market Stocks Tumble 10% from Peak; Oil Declines, Yen Strengthens
The 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street
Transfer of Wealth
Watch Out for a Big Jump in Consumer Prices
Downturn pushing charities over 'the cliff'' (from Rice Farmer)
UK recession to be much worse than forecast

Factoids:

1. All the U.S. coins and bills in general circulation today have a total worth of about $829 billion. 2. Two-thirds of that cash is held overseas.
3. Filthy lucre: In a study last year, researchers found more cocaine residue on U.S. bills than on any other currency.

RGE Monitor: The IMF, the third largest official holder of gold intends to sell 403 tons of its 3217 tons in gold holdings, pending approval from 85% of its members which will likely be given in fall 2009. Any sales will be gradual. IMF gold sales are unlikely to be a negative disruptive factor for the gold market and could be a very positive development if it is purchased by other official investors (central banks) [UBS]

Mexican Cartels Lure US Teens as Killers
Who Are We?
The honeymoon's over. Stirrings of truth at the New York Times, at least on the Op-Ed page.

It was thought by many that a President Obama would put a stop to the madness, put an end to the Bush administration’s nightmarish approach to national security. But Mr. Obama has shown no inclination to bring even the worst offenders of the Bush years to account, and seems perfectly willing to move ahead in lockstep with the excessive secrecy and some of the most egregious activities of the Bush era.
Senator Claire McCaskill's Two Statements on White House's Reasons for IG Firing
The first comment, incisive; the second, apparently appeased.

Intelligence/Terrorism
New Military Command for Cyberspace
Documents Back Saudi Link to Extremists
Trials Seen as Hurting Terror Investigations
How long before we read, "Human Rights Seen as Hurting Profits?"
DOD Considers Protests a Form of Low-Level Terrorism (from Rice Farmer)
CIA Delays Release Of Inspector General Report On Torture
Obama team looks to colleges for future spies, considering spy ROTC program (from Rice Farmer)
Confidential Memo Reveals US Plan to Provoke an Invasion of Iraq (from Rice Farmer)
J. Orkin comment: This is the infamous "U2-reconaissance-plane-painted-in-UN-colors" memo which I have special fondness for as it's the same idea I came up with to solve the Cuban missile crisis when I was a kid.
EU Asks Horse Owners to Pledge Not to Eat Their Horses
The new regulations come into force on July 1. Horses born after this date, and those born before June 30 who have not been issued a horse passport, will also have a microchip implanted.

Resources/Pathogens
Deep in Bedrock, Clean Energy and Quake Fears
Justices Say Waste Can Be Dumped in Lake
Thirst for Profit: Corporate Control of Water in Latin America (from Rice Farmer)
Open your wallet: Electric rates already moving higher to finance new nuclear power (from Rice Farmer)
Guerrilla gardener movement takes root in L.A. area
Is Farming the Root of All Evil?
Possibly, but the guerrilla gardener movement isn't what we mean.
Life-Threatening Disease Is the Price We Pay for Cheap Meat
Thanks to the New York City Peak Oil Meetup for this link.

"If you wanted to create global pandemics, you'd build as many of these factory farms as possible. That's why the development of swine flu isn't asurprise to those in the public health community. In 2003, the AmericanPublic Health Association--the oldest and largest in world--called for amoratorium of factory farming because they saw something like this wouldhappen. It may take something as serious as a pandemic to make us realizethe real cost of factory farming."
In New Theory, Swine Flu Started In Asia, Not Mexico
Pets Pass Superbug to Humans (from Rice Farmer)
Oceans Rising Faster, Polar Caps Melting More Than UN Projections of 2007
Lethal Crop Dusters (from Rice Farmer)

Eurasia
Chavez Asks Russian President to Help Hike Oil Prices
...to $100pb.
Medvedev Trip Looks to Secure Africa's Riches
Tax payments down a third in Russia this year
Hundreds picket Russian embassy in US over Iran elections
Russia helps Taiwan design own fighter jet - report
Russia’s Sberbank shares tumble 19% in 30 minutes
IKEA sues Russian energy suppliers over gas and power shortages
Attack from breakaway Abkhazia damages Georgian power grid
Terrorist leader gunned down in North Caucasus
Cargo branch of Russian Aeroflot goes bankrupt
World Bank Warns Neighbors Of 'Damaging Russian Waves'
Op-Ed Contributor: A Possible Trap Awaits Obama in Moscow
Assassination attempt raises fears of 'new Chechnya'
Window on Eurasia: Wealthier Moscow Teenagers More Inclined to View U.S. as Russia's Enemy
Latvian Firm Accepts Souls as Guarantees for Loans
You're on.

Europe
British workers face 20% cut in pensions
Pensions Crisis to Hit Millions of Workers
Global pensions under stress Data for the last year show assets falling in value and liabilities Switzerland faces sanctions over banking secrecy

Asia
Bleak Forecast Hits Asia Hard
Iran Overtakes Saudi as China's Number One Oil Provider
But Saudi hasn't peaked; they've got enough to last for decades.
OPEC Says Low Oil Prices Could Lead to Underinvestment
Agents say DEA is forcing them illegally to work in Afghanistan (from Rice Farmer)
Afghanistan's Failing Forces
The Pentagon also neglected to keep track of weapons it gave out, like mortars, grenade launchers and automatic rifles. Tens of thousands disappeared, sold to the highest bidder and, in some cases, used against American soldiers.

Comment: I'm shocked that there's gambling in this casino.

The Bush administration planned to increase the Afghan Army from 90,000 troops to 134,000. That still won’t be big enough to secure a vast, rugged country with a larger population than Iraq’s. American planners propose expanding it to as many as 260,000 troops — roughly the size of Iraq’s Army. No decision has yet been made.
US offers Kyrgyzstan $1 billion over Manas air base
In Reversal, Kyrgyzstan Won’t Close a U.S. Base
Baitullah Mesoud's Taliban Rival Killed
Qinagdao Raises Algae Bloom Alert Level to 3
Cities Battling Unwanted Water Life
Japan's industrial electricity demand falls 19.4% in May (from Rice Farmer)

13 comments:

tony said...

I have a question about the Arab world. Nowadays the US still has a lot of influence there (in the form of military bases) but this situation obviously can't be sustained, so what will happen in the Middle East in the medium term? Could there be some reunified Arab/Islamic empire?
Disavantages are that they need to import food, don't have an ideal water situation, and don't have coal or metal ores (very few anyway). On the other hand of course there's the oil and gas reserves, which could be overstated though...

anton v said...

Wonder how long before something similar happens here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1194891/Pensioners-kidnap-financial-adviser-lost-2m-batter-Zimmer-frames.html

A peon said...

Cynthia McKinney and Crew Being Kept From Gaza

Jenna Orkin said...

sambahdi wrote in part:

I'm still reading the site most days. Keep up the good work Jenna.

sambahdi included a link which a couple of others have also submitted regarding a 9/11 videographer whose work is not adequately substantiated for this blog.

RanD said...

As for whether "trading our national sovereignty" is going to take anyone to "financial stability"... a big fat Ha!, of course. What we're experiencing right as it's being reported here are the death throes of the profit motive along with EVERYTHING it brought us that we really never needed... other than that one inevitable essential big fat lesson on why worshipping Mammon invariably leads to a big fat dead end!

Ditto: as Herb Stein so tidily put it: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”

Thank goodness.

Anonymous said...

I like to keep an open mind and might be interested in the link that sambahdi tried to post. Can we have it and decide for ourselves if it is worthy of consideration?

Pandabonium said...

FT News

"BP’s new chairman...Carl-Henric Svanberg, chief executive of Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson, told the Financial Times that the pace of growth of car ownership and air travel was unsustainable."

“With a normal growth rate, the world’s GDP will triple by 2050 and we will probably see another 2bn people in the world,” he said. “And if we continue to do things in the world in the same way as we do today, it will not be so easy for this planet to cope with that. So we have to find more intelligent solutions and the energy industry is in the centre of that.”

more at the link

John Kelty said...

cj,

Google "9/11 videographer" and the story should be at the top of the list.

agape wins said...

CJ,
If you are interested you can just Google 9-11, you will find some clean sites, and a lot
which have some good information--but a lot of crap. You will find others which are
downright misleading, you should know from the past postings that MCR, & Jenna
are super cautious about what is printed, there are other sites which will post anything!
No matter how open minded you are YOU/I can still be suckered.
FTW still posts links which I cringe at, yet some I think are clean are rejected--Google it!
Remember you do not have to be interested in every link, or
read them all- you CAN seek your
own path.
I have been working on a post
which will border on RandD's &
the last by Businessman, it may confuse many but if it enlightens
one or two (I may Never know!),
I'll be happy, what is happy anyway?

Paul said...

UK 'has cyber attack capability'

quote

(Lord West) refused to be drawn on whether it was used for military purposes.

He was speaking as the government launched a new cyber security strategy aimed at combating online attacks.

He told BBC Radio 4's PM programme the UK faced coordinated cyber attacks "on a regular basis" from other countries including Russia and China.

unquote

Metem said...

I want to say I read about this somewhere recently but I searched all over this blog and couldn't find mention of it. But if it's old news to you I apologize.

Just wondering if this is significant.

"The Energy Department is proposing to amend its procedure for releasing documents under the Freedom of Information Act, and to raise its rate for reproduction of documents to 20 cents per page for both paper-to-paper copies and for microform-to-paper copies. . . . The agency also refers to other changes that will appear in the final rule, but will not be made available for public review and comment. Of particular concern is the proposed elimination of the “public interest” balancing test. This provision, the agency states in the rule, requires the agency to release documents otherwise legally exempt under FOIA and creates an administrative burden for employees. Moreover, the DOE says removing the test will not affect the decision to withhold information; it will only eliminate an onerous step in the FOIA process."

http://www.propublica.org/special/midnight-regulations#reg-6874

Velobwoy said...

Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression:

http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/06/goldman-sachs-engineering-every-major.html

RanD said...

Agape wins... I'm very much looking forward to your post.