Free Republic

You’re right. But it’s even more insidious than that. They want to divert our attention from the upcoming PPIP auctions that will enable banks to buy toxic assets from each other at the government’s expense and leave the taxpayer holding the bag. This is going to leave us on the hook for TRILLIONS of dollars and makes TARP look like chump change.

For more info on how this is going to work, check out my ‘Econ 101’ blog archive for March 23 at http://myecon101.blogspot.com

If you think we're out of the woods with the banks, you've got another think coming. The banks and the government are, once again, trying to sucker investors to part with their hard-earned money to prop up the banks and keep the exec's in their houses in the Hamptons. Of course judging by the markets on Friday, we seem to be buying into it, so perhaps we're getting what we deserve. I just hate to see more and more average Americans robbed of the savings that they've worked their whole lives to accumulate. There are rough waters ahead, so stay prepared.

Of this isn't enough to make your blood boil then you're taking too many tranquilizers and anti-depressants.

Because we don’t know whether the US strain is less virulent or not. It may be that we just haven’t seen enough cases yet to see any mortality, or because those who have been infected here, because they have generally been youngsters or teenagers, are not part of the most vulnerable groups. It may also be that this strain has yet to mutate, as the Spanish flu did, and emerge even more deadly than before. It could also easily become resistant to the antivirals being used. Because this flu does not follow the mortality pattern of common flu, but more closely looks like Spanish flu patterns, people are nervous. I don’t blame them. There is no reason to panic, but there is much to be cautious about.

Average death rates from flu are about 0.06 percent. Death rate from the Spanish Flu was between 2.5 and 5 per cent (depending on your source). So far the mortality rate in Mexico (if you trust the figures of 1600 reported cases and 149 reported deaths) is about 9.3 per cent or roughly double (or more) the death rate from the Spanish Flu which was the most deadly pandemic in history. Now whether or not the strain in the US is more benign or not remains to be seen. My concern would be that if Mexican nationals cross the border illegally to avoid the epidemic and are already infected, then they would probably avoid going to the doctor so their illegal status would not be detected. That would make it easier for it to spread as well as giving it more of a chance to mutate. Just my 2 cents.

The program basically sets limits on carbon emissions (caps) for every industry. This cap acts as an ‘allotment’, so that businesses that use less than their cap can sell (trade) that amount to businesses who want/need to use more than their allotment. Businesses like Algore’s then act as clearinghouses for the exchange of the carbon allotments and they take a percentage of every transaction, much like a credit card company does. Hope that explains it.

I also wonder (since this wasn’t clarified) whether Algore takes a salary for administering the non-profit that he ‘donates’ all of his global warming money to? If so, how much? He could easily be giving himself a Wall Street-sized salary with full benefits (including company cars, airplanes, travel expenses, entertainment, health and dental, severance and a retirement package) and still have the company keep it’s ‘non-profit’ status since all of the above would become an operating expense. It’s a common game that the big-boys play.

The U.N. is adding fuel to the fire. Nowack (the U.N.’s chief ‘rapporteur’ on torture) is now demanding prosecution of those in the Bush administration who used or authorized waterboarding.

Obama is fiddling while the country burns, and his solution is more 'blood and circuses'.

What I can't believe is that none of this has shown up in the American Media. All I've heard about Strasbourg and the NATO meeting is how everyone though Michelle was soooo fashionable, Obama convinced NATO to help us in Afghanistan (MAJOR overstatement) and now he is adored by everyone and even got a kiss from a French woman.

No one mentioned demonstrations and violence. No one mentioned the burning of the police station and the hotels and no one noted that the police had to stop an additional 1,000 or so protesters from crossing the bridge over the Rhine to join in the pillaging. Also no mention of the fact that the trip to the cancer hospice center by the first ladies had to be canceled because of threats of violence from the 1,000 protesters that were waiting there for them.

Instead all I hear is some commentator gushing about how much like the Kennedy's the Obama’s are, and how now that he's president everyone wants to be an American. I nearly gagged.

That was the head of Ford who wanted $4 a gallon gas

What happened to my country?

You’re wrong about that. There is a strong, almost pioneer spirit still rife in Oregon. Until I moved to southern Oregon I never saw so many ‘get the U.S. out of the U.N.’ signs posted on peoples’ property. Unfortunately, in the population centers of Portland, Salem and Eugene there are many, many Democrats and they dilute the vote of eastern and southern Oregon which is mainly rural and remains a bastion of independence and conservative thinking. In fact there is still a strong contingent that believes southern Oregon and the northernmost parts of California should secede from their respective states and form a new state called Jefferson. It’s not a new idea, but it still has merit.

Hope you’re right, but in the ‘80’s we weren’t buying our own debt.

Just wanted to update you on the money supply found a GREAT CHART here. Basically, since the economic trouble hit at the end of 2008 the money supply has gone from just over 800 billion dollars to 1.7 trillion (with a T) dollars. We've more than doubled the supply. Ouch.

Not sure how many total ‘shares’ are out there, but the Fed just utilized their Doomsday option. Their only recourse is to continue to dilute the market as they drive away other prospective buyers. Somehow I don’t relish $50 a gallon gas and $20 a loaf bread, but that’s just me. Hyperinflation here we come. Maybe we should invest in wheelbarrows. We’ll need them to haul around all the money it will take to do the grocery shopping.

If you think the Federal Reserve's move to buy long-term treasuries yesterday was was just a quick fix designed to help bump up the stock market and unfreeze credit markets, think again.

I’d agree except a lot of them (like me) have rates based on the LIBOR or other instruments that haven’t come down. My current interest rate is just over 9% and I can’t sell ‘cause the bottom has dropped ou of the market.

Good Luck with the G20, Tiny Tim!

You’re right. More foreclosures = more bank sales and auctions of homes. New home sales are still waaay down and new home starts are almost non-existent (all-time lows) Part of the problem is that the cost to build a new home is higher than the cost of purchasing a similar existing home because foreclosures have been driving down prices. 4 foreclosed homes on my son’s street (he lives in CA near Sacramento) have been bought since the first of the year by one man who is looking for bargains to invest in. Is it part of the process of realigning the market? Yes. Is it a signal that the economy is turning around and everything is on the verge of being sweetness and light? I doubt it.

A teachable moment in government accounting.