COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, March 23, 2009

"Brownie, you are doing a heck of a job"



I found this post from an Indian newspaper, India Daily

Interesting.
_________________

Barack Obama - a President without Presidency – the secret money trail from AIG to Goldman
Tania Solani
Mar. 21, 2009



A good man he is. Somber, gentleman, honest and careful he is. But he fell victim to the trap of American oligarchs. They selected him to continue brainwashing the common people of America. President Obama is a US President but real control and power lies with people that really controls America from behind the curtains.

Otherwise why he cannot sack Geitner? Otherwise why he has to maintain the Clinton-Bush status quo that led US to its worst ever depression and the world into deep recession?

Obama was selected as the preferred successor to George Bush in 2004 when as an unknown man in politics he delivered the keynote speech in Democratic conventions. No one knew this man. John Kerry just like Al Gore knew very well that he would lose through some voting manipulation in Ohio and barrack would be the next “Bill Clinton” taking the torch over from George Bush to guard the interests of the American oligarchs.

Today the change has run its course. The Bush is no longer there. But still Goldman Sachs gets most of the welfare bail out from US Taxpayers hard earned money. Welfare for the richest and hardship for the rest continues as Barack Obama continues his speeches brainwashing people and soothing down the anger of the middle class. He is no President. He is just the agent of the oligarchs that tell him what to do. His current job is to get the budget passed, and sooth down the American middleclass anger and frustration, and maintain the stays quo.

You cannot write about this too much. World’s most vigorous democracy has a new rule implanted by Bush-Cheney and never repealed by the “new Bush” Obama – the US Administration reserves the right to jail any one they do not like without any legal defense or intervention of the judicial system in the name of homeland security.

a The judicial system is also tilted. The Supreme Court really represents the American oligarchs that keep the politicians as servants.

Look at what happened in AIG. Do not look at the $200 million or so they distributed to some morons that were worth nothing but jail terms. Look at the tens of billions of dollars Goldman Sachs got as charity from the taxpayers money through AIG.

Goldman’s collaterals were protected by its former boss Henry Paulson – yes that guy who George Bush allowed to hand over the US treasury to the rich American oligarchs. Timothy Geitetner and Somers represent the interest of the American rich oligarchs. You can flip the coin from Democrats to Republican and back; you find same old junk – the representation of the rich, corrupt, greedy, blood sucking American oligarchs. If you have any doubt, listen to this: Senator's Todd, Kerry, Obama, and Clinton were the top receivers of Fannie Mae political contributions from 1989 to 2008. They also received top funds from AIG.

Do not focus on the bonuses. The real monster is in the secret money trail from US Treasury to AIG to Goldman Sachs. There are many AIGs and Goldmans. Obama, Bush, Paulson, Geitner, Bernanke, Somers, Clintons – all are involved. The foxes are guarding the hens since 1980.



168 comments:

  1. Lurking in the shadows, Goldman Sachs, power behind the throne.

    From Wikipedia:
    The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., or simply Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), is a bank holding company that engages in investment banking, securities services, and investment management. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869, and is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City at 85 Broad Street but has its secondary office at 30 Hudson Street, Jersey City, New Jersey.[1] Goldman Sachs has offices in all financial centers. The firm acts as a financial advisor and money manager for corporations, governments, and wealthy families around the world. Goldman offers its clients mergers & acquisitions advice, underwriting services, asset management, and engages in proprietary trading, and private equity deals. It is a primary dealer in the U.S. Treasury securities market.

    Goldman was the second largest donor to the Barack Obama campaign and the fourth largest to the John McCain campaign in the 2008 presidential election.[citation needed] Former Goldman Sachs employees such as Hank Paulson and Robert Rubin have held high positions in the federal government, regardless of which party was in the White House.

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  2. Kroft to Obama: Are you punch-drunk?

    Nah. He's just got a case of the nerves having to perform without his teleprompter. A cheap Chicago pol reverting to community organizer behavior under stress.

    Dr. Sanity or Shrinkwrapped or Neoneocon will probably have it laid bare by tomorrow.

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  3. Why The Nationalization of Our Banks Won't Happen
    Bunch of Timmy Links here, from Larsen

    - Has a ‘Katrina Moment’ Arrived -
    Has a ‘Katrina Moment’ Arrived?
    By FRANK RICH

    A CHARMING visit with Jay Leno won’t fix it. A 90 percent tax on bankers’ bonuses won’t fix it. Firing Timothy Geithner won’t fix it. Unless and until Barack Obama addresses the full depth of Americans’ anger with his full arsenal of policy smarts and political gifts, his presidency and, worse, our economy will be paralyzed. It would be foolish to dismiss as hyperbole the stark warning delivered by Paulette Altmaier of Cupertino, Calif., in a letter to the editor published by The Times last week: “President Obama may not realize it yet, but his Katrina moment has arrived.”

    Six weeks ago I wrote in this space that the country’s surge of populist rage could devour the president’s best-laid plans, including the essential Act II of the bank rescue, if he didn’t get in front of it. The occasion then was the Tom Daschle firestorm. The White House seemed utterly blindsided by the public’s revulsion at the moneyed insiders’ culture illuminated by Daschle’s post-Senate career. Yet last week’s events suggest that the administration learned nothing from that brush with disaster.

    Otherwise it never would have used Lawrence Summers, the chief economic adviser, as a messenger just as the A.I.G. rage was reaching a full boil last weekend. Summers is so tone-deaf that he makes Geithner seem like Bobby Kennedy.

    Bob Schieffer of CBS asked Summers the simple question that has haunted the American public since the bailouts began last fall: “Do you know, Dr. Summers, what the banks have done with all of this money that has been funneled to them through these bailouts?” What followed was a monologue of evasion that, translated into English, amounted to: Not really, but you little folk needn’t worry about it.

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  4. I think it's his elitism showing through, too, Linear.

    He's never hung out with the working class, either revolutionary scumbags, drug dealing scumbags, or the Ivy League Set.
    Never done an honest days work or run a business.
    All he knows is that profits are made to be distributed.

    "Spread Around,"
    as he said to Joe.

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  5. RULE 1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have."
    Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood.
    (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)


    Obama and his "Main Street Brigades" have teamed up with the Boners and their minions. Obama walks the line of BSing the general public better than most recent politicos.

    The reason he is laughing, the joke's on anyone that's watching, the game is elsewhere. It's in the Streets, Wall and Main, and Obama is mobilized on both.

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  6. Think of the number of businesses and jobs that have been tanked by his big, ignorant, negative, blame ridden mouth.
    The Blame Thrower

    Whole industrys, like Exec Jets and Hospitality Industry and all those little people out of work.

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  7. Anything happen with that Ammo Shredding Story?
    Still shredding small calibers?

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  8. Obama's troops are walkin' the Streets while the Republicans fly overhead, on radio waves.

    The new definition of fly over country.

    One presses the flesh, the other rants, unheard by the multitudes.

    Heard, just this morning, that the White House 'thinks' the AIG tax on bonuses is "DANGEROUS"

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  9. The more I think about Government Volunteers, showing up at your house, clip boards in hand, enquiring about your support for the Chairman's programs, the worse it becomes.

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  10. Talk about a power grab. You thought Card Check at work was bad. Now they are checking on you at home.

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  11. Are they "Government", duece, or "private"? Seems from your description and what they said about the solicitation permit that they are a "private" political action group.

    Out campaigning for the Presidents' policies on a grassroots level. The battle does not end, with elections, but continues through policy. Proposal, passage and procurment.

    RULE 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up."
    ...
    (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)

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  12. I don't know DR, are suicide bombers official or volunteers? Check your rule book. I think unpaid minions are probably more toxic.

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  13. They are going to rapidly change that trendline in Figure 9, page 11.

    That is the "Plan". It has been published by your Government.
    There will be debate on the margins, but the US will "Stay the Course".

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  14. They are taking the "Perpetual Campaign" to a whole new level, leaving the Rove miester and his direct mail minions in the dust bin of history.

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  15. Lester Crown and his cohort, they have been 40 years in building and developing their revolution.
    Since Chitown of '68.

    They are surfing the cultural wave, with President Obama out on the nose, hangin' ten.

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  16. I got published in the Times of India, or the India Times, something like that, a magazine, once. The Wall Street Urinal was having an off day, and a discussion about some guy who killed a dog in frustration on an LA freeway, during a traffic backup. Question was, should he be punished? My offering stated he should use the 'Rene Descartes' defense, relying on one of our fathers of western thought, who believed the animals to be a kind of robot, feeling no pain, just putting on a good show of doing so. Make 'em prove beyond a reasonable doubt the dog suffered, says I. Didn't make the Urinal, they were having a kind of contest, but did get a call from those Indian folk. Even sent me a copy of the magazine, in which they had edited and slaughtered my letter. What does all this mean? If you can't make it here, outsource to India!

    The clipboard guys worry me too. But I'm not sure how much they should. I can't see them making a whole lot of converts. Probably just piss people off. But, I don't know....

    In all my listening to Coast To Coast I can't recall having heard of plasma wave civilizations, so I can't comment:) Quess I could write to SETI and ask about the theory, see if they know about it.

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  17. Anything happen with that Ammo Shredding Story?
    Still shredding small calibers?


    Think I read the ammo shredding deal had been rescinded, so we're back to normal, for now.

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  18. I think, therefore I am.

    That's us.

    I think not, therefore I am not.

    That's the animals.

    I am can feel pain.

    I am not, cannot.

    The California freeway canine killer could be charged with the destruction of someone's property, but not with animal abuse.

    So meandered my argument, under the 'Descartes Defense.'

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  19. 1. The only ammo shortage is for 380...

    there is no lack of ammo for anything else...

    2. Time to read Atlas Shrugged

    3. Learn about ole Tim when he was at the IMF...

    It's the Peter Principal... people being promoted to their highest level of incompetence...

    All hail the Great Father who says...

    Ah ah ah eh eh ehe heh eh....

    I am the PREZIDENT....


    Never before have so many been "led" but someone so inept...

    We are watching the creation of the "Joe Cool meets Stalin" as our new figurehead leader...

    The elite cadres will control the means of production, set "job" definitions, wages & taxation rates...

    Ten of thousands of Acorn type workers will be getting government sponsored college education (and living expenses) to become "community organizers" poli-sci and education majors who will then come out of college to become the controlling micro class of elite robots....

    Those clip boarders, knocking on door will be transformed into paid stasi like community enforcers....

    This is our future, East Germany 1963....

    All hail the Great Father.. (who made 8.9 MILLION for his revolutionary red book) and the Great Mother (who made 400k a year as an worthless administrator based on her skin color)

    As Martin Luther King Jr (the modern day MOSES? my ass) said...

    I dream of a day when people will be judged by their no whiteness of their skin, and how much the white western capitalist pigs society has harmed them...

    Oh yeah, he never said that....


    Yep I dont see armed struggle this summer as an issue, America in 21 months will react and put balance to our current moronic potus, however I do see an upsurge in gang violence, drive by shootings and inner city times that will make the TV show Good Times look like luxury for the inner city...

    Obama is not a friend of the ghetto dwellers, he seeks to control them just as any good marxist/commie dictator...

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  20. It's scary thinking about the 2010 elections. If no gains are made then, things will really look grim. Unfortunately, the Repubs don't look too well positioned in the Senate races. On the other hand, Dodd's popularity is way down, so who knows, and the House is wide open as always.

    Wake up American people.

    ----

    DJIA is up a couple hundred points so far this morining, so my darts were way off.

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  21. Update:
    (wretch)
    Paul Krugman has joined the growing ranks of the depressed. Even though it’s Bush’s fault (of course), he now believes that the Geithner plan will lead to catastrophe. Krugman argues in a NYT article called “Financial Policy Despair” that America will get one shot at fixing the crisis, and that by all indications, Obama’s shot will miss by a country mile.

    If the reports are correct, Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, has persuaded President Obama to recycle Bush administration policy — specifically, the “cash for trash” plan proposed, then abandoned, six months ago by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. …

    It’s as if the president were determined to confirm the growing perception that he and his economic team are out of touch, that their economic vision is clouded by excessively close ties to Wall Street. And by the time Mr. Obama realizes that he needs to change course, his political capital may be gone. …
    But the fact is that financial executives literally bet their banks on the belief that there was no housing bubble, and the related belief that unprecedented levels of household debt were no problem. They lost that bet. And no amount of financial hocus-pocus — for that is what the Geithner plan amounts to — will change that fact. …

    You might say, why not try the plan and see what happens? One answer is that time is wasting: every month that we fail to come to grips with the economic crisis another 600,000 jobs are lost.

    Even more important, however, is the way Mr. Obama is squandering his credibility. If this plan fails — as it almost surely will — it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to persuade Congress to come up with more funds to do what he should have done in the first place.

    All is not lost: the public wants Mr. Obama to succeed, which means that he can still rescue his bank rescue plan. But time is running out.

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  22. An alternate universe exists for you pleasure:
    Humbolt
    (for an hour and a half)

    …the setting is 100% authentic, has been since the 60’s!
    But now the cartels are moving in, or so it says in the movie.

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  23. I see we're finally coming to realization that what I was saying is true. So now the question is, what are you going to do about it? What can be done about it?

    Chewbacca, you need not reply.

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  24. One bit of good news:
    I predict cap and trade is DOA for now, at least.

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  25. Mat,
    Unleash the dogs of Natural Gas!
    Palin for President!
    Build that pipe.
    Build! Build! Build!
    Drill! Drill! Drill!

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  26. Wipe Out was UCSB's school song, 'Rat!
    ...when I moved down there from Beserkley, I thot I'd landed in Heaven.

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  27. I posted the rosetta stone first!

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  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  29. Mat,
    Unleash the dogs of Natural Gas!
    ==

    That's a good suggestion, Doug.
    Btw, have you had a chance to view this video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgMclXX5msc

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  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  31. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  32. India launches the Tato Nano two cylinder, top speed 43 mph, less than $2,000 American. Not to be sold in the USA for now. Hindu equivalent of the old 'people's car' the original volksvagen. From the article sounds like it's held together with glue, and maybe some duct tape.

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  33. Crap!
    I just made 4-5 priceless posts in the Previous Thread.
    ---
    Be sure to search for "Humbolt"

    ...just fucked up THAT LINK TOO!

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  34. The short of it, you're spending trillions to sustain the unsustainable. You're wasting trillions on unproductive production, and really what you're doing is hollowing out your economy.

    As far as the political system goes, you need to keep the good words of the US constitution, but have them actually have meaning. You need to replace this Imperialist Republic with a true grass roots multi party Democracy, and give the States their independence.

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  35. Not to be sold in the USA for now.
    ==

    Not to worry, by the time it will be sold in the US it will cost $200,000 USD.

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  36. Gee Mat, we got a transformative President, what's the prob?

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  37. Doug,

    What Obama is going is no different than what Bush1 Clinton Bush2 did. Stop with the dimwit partisan theater nonsense. Watch the video!

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  38. It's been 15 years since Clinton was elected, Mat!

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  39. (we know how you Che-Relativists work!)

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  40. Why don't you just take up Kickboxing?

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  41. ...or just drill out a few nerves w/o anesthesia.

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  42. Transformative is a "partisan" comment?

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  43. I would never kickbox bubble boy.

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  44. I think I'll replay 'Rat's Wipe Out instead.
    Nite, All!

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  45. Good Morning with a blast from the past, al-Bob!

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  46. A blast from the past:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79v97DcIU98

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  47. 52. Derek:


    I’m not depressed at all.

    I read of historical situations; the lead up to WWI, the euphoria of the prewar industrial age, the despair of the Titanic. The raging 20’s, the fall and depression of the 30’s that stewed the vile ideologies until they took over the world in destruction.

    I yearn for the taste of those times. How did my father feel learning aircraft identification in school in 1943? Or my grandfather, a man broken by the trenches and gas, seeing it all fester again as his life drained away? Or my great grandfather, losing his fortune in the crash of 1914, then losing his lands to the tax collector?

    Oddly enough, I can see, feel and taste all those things. What thoughts and feelings move vast mobs of people to fall as suckers for hope mongerers? How can seemingly rational men one decision at a time destroy and plunder everything that has taken generations to build? How can educated men, leaders in their field miss the obvious in front of their eyes? What pathological thinking patterns occur in those instances?

    We are seeing the answers every day. I never was depressed reading the accounts in history books, why would I be depressed in seeing it happen before my eyes?

    Derek

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  48. Max Keiser speaks on Error Accounts:

    http://karmabanqueradio.com/2009/03/23/max-keiser-on-sebastian-in-the-morning-2/

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  49. Dougy, do you also remember when oil was free? :D

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  50. Belmont Club has become the pit of despair - and so, one of my guilty pleasures.

    One would think that a bunch of nutters capable of waving the pompoms on every day of that mass assfuck that was 2003-2007, would readily drum up a cheer for our current predicament. I guess they're all cheered out.

    It's Morose Republican Monday. I'll be celebrating with a fine Argentinian red. Just as soon as the hour's respectable.

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  51. Imagine there's no heaven
    It's easy if you try
    No hell below us
    Above us only sky
    Imagine all the people
    Living for today...

    Imagine there's no countries
    It isn't hard to do
    Nothing to kill or die for
    And no religion too
    Imagine all the people
    Living life in peace...

    You may say I'm a dreamer
    But I'm not the only one
    I hope someday you'll join us
    And the world will be as one

    Imagine no possessions
    I wonder if you can
    No need for greed or hunger
    A brotherhood of man
    Imagine all the people
    Sharing all the world...

    You may say I'm a dreamer
    But I'm not the only one
    I hope someday you'll join us
    And the world will live as one

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  52. I missed the Morose, Trish!
    ...you too.
    Why be a lurker only?

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  53. "I missed the Morose, Trish!"

    What, the demise of the Republic as we know it? Did you not get the memo? Are you not feeling the end times upon us?

    I only regret that I'm not available to go door to door, querying in my most ominous tone, "You DO support the President's plan. Don't you."

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  54. Not really a query, but rather a strong suggestion.

    That old interrogation training comes in handy on many an occasion.

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  55. That's right, Trish, hold your Zimbabwe Passport with pride. And don't forget to swagger into the local liqueur shack, as you handover your $20 billion USD bill, so they might accept it.

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  56. Belmont didn't want to hear what I was saying, Trish. When Richard blocked my post, I did not go back. One strike and you're out. That's always been my policy.

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  57. Beverly and Sgt. Mom are giving the Bluto speech from Animal House. Infiltrators into the Den of Despair. That requires a strong counter, if you ask me. If your post is removed, that only adds to the knowing fun.

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  58. The reality of the situation:

    Max Keiser talks about the g20 meeting, Hank Paulson and bonds counterfeit schemes.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZiWd0bGAdc

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  59. Why bio fuels are a waste of time.
    Interview with Nate Hagens:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8980485670494666459

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  60. I ambled by the BC one day, weeks ago, lurking in the shadows, when lo and behold, there was PeterBoston telling the assembled crew that it was like the "good old days", but then lamenting the fact that I was not there to dash the cold water of reality in their faces.

    It's Ricards' business, now.
    Fuck 'em.

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  61. Well, westhawk has used his blog to get published in a real magazine and ... drum roll ... onto NPRs' "Diane Rehm Show".

    So, trish, where did you hear of PJ Medias demise?

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  62. From John Cole at Balloon Juice. Must've been a month or so ago. R. Simon sent out notice that PJ TV would continue, but the blogger portal was folding.

    I, for one, hope it continues as is. As it provides a not inconsiderable portion of my weekly entertainment.

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  63. John Cole, BTW, a recovering Republican, took pains to note that PJM has been an excellent partner, extremely efficient in their set-up and never once attempting to censor or influence - or even criticize - his somewhat token opinions. He has been very happy with the arrangement.

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  64. I used to go round and round with Peter Boston. He is a bullshit artist and got caught out on his so-called military resume.

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  65. Trish does whatever the visa-hungry folks at her wine shop recommend. In the way of spirits.

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  66. "One would think that a bunch of nutters capable of waving the pompoms on every day of that mass assfuck that was 2003-2007, would readily drum up a cheer for our current predicament. I guess they're all cheered out."

    Something about sucking something through a garden hose.

    Trish wins potty mouth award.

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  67. She is a continuous shocker here at the bar. The shock with the red flock.

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  68. if you need a good drinkable wine that will accompany some spicy oriental food, try a Malbec Rose. Inexpensive and perferct for the balance. Optima is one name.

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  69. Mass assfuck.

    Mass assfuck.

    Mass assfuck.

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  70. Malbec Rose.

    Will inquire this evening.

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  71. Who is Woodie? Is he with you, trish?

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  72. With the increase in quality wines from South America, Malbec is becoming more well known to wine drinkers.

    Once known as a varietal of Bordeaux, Malbec has found a new home in South America. This grape has thin skin and needs lots of sun. The Malbec of Argentina (sometimes called Malbeck) and Chile is rich and supple.

    These words are often used to describe Malbec. It can be called Merlot's softer, lusher brother. While the wines are made from different grapes, they can be very similar in style. Malbec has often been used to blend with other wines.


    Hmm, I like Merlot.

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  73. Have to answer an email from a banker in Malaysia seeking my help on moving $10.5 mil, of which, he says, 30% will be mine.

    Not bad, huh?

    Also, I am advised by Mr. Orman P. Jack that I have been selected to receive

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  74. "...a donation of The ATM Card Value of $1,800.000.00 USD to 2 lucky recipients,as New Year promotion in accordance with the enabling act of Parliament."

    Wow, my lucky day! With with the $1,800.000.00 USD ATM Card, I think I can afford to treat the EB Board and regulars.

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  75. Clusterfuck Nation by Jim Kunstler

    Full Commanding Denial

    If central casting called for a poised, straight-talking, and capable-seeming president, it would be hard to come up with someone better than the Barack Obama who walked and talked around the White House grounds with Steve Croft on "60-Minutes" Sunday night. He may perfectly represent the majority who elected him, though, because he also appears to be in full commanding denial of the realities overtaking our American experience.
    Those realities include the fact that we can't possibly return to the easy credit and no money down "consumer" economy no matter how many nominal dollars get shoveled into the fiery furnaces of banks too-big-to-fail. As Treasury Secretary Geithner's underling, Stephanie Cutter, said last week, "Our singular focus is on increasing lending to support economic recovery. Everything we do to stabilize the financial system is done with that goal in mind."
    Lending on the scale that became normal over the last decade is for sure the one thing that we will not recover. We turn around in 2009 to find ourselves a much poorer nation than we thought we were a year ago, especially among that broad range of formerly middle-class wage-earners who lived so luxuriously until yesterday. The public can't process this reality and the president, for all his relaxed charm, is either not ready to articulate it, or can't process it himself.
    Everything that we're doing right now is engineered to avoid reality, to sustain the unsustainable, to recover the unrecoverable, when the mandate of reality compels us to face our losses in order to move on to the next chapter of a collective American life. The next chapter would be a society that runs on a much more local and modest scale, centered on essential activities like growing food, requiring harder physical work, and focused attention -- in other words, the opposite of a society lost in abstractions, long-range daisy chains of off-loaded responsibility, and incessant pleasure-seeking.
    In retreat from this reality, we've set in motion two forces that are pretty certain to bring us to grief. The first proceeds from the fateful FMOC decision last week at the Federal Reserve Bank to begin buying massive amounts of our own treasury bonds and bills. This is predicated on the idea that the mechanisms of wealth production -- even of illusory wealth, such as the fortunes created by trading securitized unpayable debt -- can keep chugging along, spinning off limitless additional suburban villas, chain stores, car trips, and deep-fried snacks. It would be sententious to explain how this destroys currencies, but wherever "monetizing debt" has been tried before in history, that is the outcome. The result would be ruinous at every level and would lead straight to the second terrible force: social upheaval brought on by the conversion of economic problems into political turbulence.
    Those two forces are underway right now, in fact, since the overt monetizing of last week was preceded by the shoveling of bail-outs, which tacitly guaranteed a collapse of credibility in US debt instruments. I'm not in favor of violence and anarchy, but after the AIG bonus affair, it's hard to imagine that we are not one more corporate misdeed away from a rocket-propelled-grenade, or something like that, being fired into a glass office tower somewhere -- and then the "first-broken-window" rule of social disintegration comes into play. Meanwhile, I stick to my time-table of six-to-eighteen months before the reckless creation of new money-for-nothing filters through the system, overcomes even compressive mass bankruptcy, and starts expressing itself in the sinking value of dollars and the revved up velocity of their circulation in pursuit of tangible commodities.
    We're already seeing the first twinges of that in the up-creep of oil prices, busting through the $50-a-barrel barrier last week. Since scarcity tends to express itself in gross volatility, it's easy to imagine oil prices rising swiftly beyond the $147-per-barrel record level of last year. As that occurs, the most basic premises of everyday life in the USA will be called into question. If you think car sales have been bad lately, with oil in the $35-a-barrel range most of the winter, just wait. The newly-minted unemployed will be marooned in their subdivisions. They will not be buying GMC Yukons on 48-month installment contracts, let alone X-boxes on their Visa cards. They might be very very hungry, though. All bets are off as to how these social classes may organize themselves to alleviate their hunger (and express their anger about it).
    Given all this, it's kind of hard to believe that the savvy, thoughtful Mr. Obama is going along with such a disastrous program as the one his "team" is rolling out. Perhaps his ease and confidence masks a tragically conventional world-view, an incapacity to imagine "change" outside a very narrow range of possibility. I must say I doubt this is the case. I think, he is going along, for the moment, with a consensus of wishes to prop up life as we know it at all costs. This consensus emanates from the top down and the bottom up. The millions of "Joe-the-Plumber(s)" out there don't want to rethink the terms of existence anymore than the lords of Goldman Sachs. I also think that circumstances will force Mr. Obama's hand before long -- specifically that a moment will arrive when he goes on TV and tells the American public that things have changed way beyond the scope of what they even imagined when they pulled the levers last fall and voted for an uncharted future.
    Capable observers are calling, meanwhile, for a robust bear market rally moving through Spring, on technical grounds that have little to do with the greater forces roistering in the background. Reality is a cruel mistress. If the stock market rally rolls out as predicted, it will surely fake-out the mainstream media. They'll conclude wishfully and foolishly that something like "recovery" is underway. They may even interpret rising oil prices as a "positive sign" that the great groaning enterprise of the something-for-nothing economy is back "on track."
    They'll be shocked sometime after Memorial Day when it all comes off the rails again. We have a lot to sort out and very little time to get on with job. Notice, I haven't even mentioned the potential for mischief and instability coming out of the rest of the world -- enough black swans to blot out the sun. Want some concrete advice? For those of you sitting on US Treasury bonds and bills, now would be a good time to get out.

    http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2009/03/full-commanding-denial.html

    http://snipurl.com/ef0b9
    ==

    Because it's Monday!

    ReplyDelete
  76. "From John Cole at Balloon Juice. Must've been a month or so ago. R. Simon sent out notice that PJ TV would continue, but the blogger portal was folding.

    I, for one, hope it continues as is. As it provides a not inconsiderable portion of my weekly entertainment.
    "
    ---
    All they'd need is an home page linking all the different BLOGGER blogs.
    Probly too edukated to figure that out.

    ReplyDelete
  77. I think my Hufpo post was Kunstler.

    ReplyDelete
  78. They would not utilize their own ad space. Seems more than a few of the INet sites follow that model. It is a major error. A print publisher would NEVER send blank pages to the printer. The INet publisher is just telling the world that they do not value their own products' asvertising response.

    Not even worth the effort of putting the artwork together and posting it.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Kuntsler sounds like a Kommunist.

    ReplyDelete
  80. If one was going to organize a group of blogs, the RCP site would be the one to clone.

    Links to the current postings, with regular updates

    Simple banner ads.

    Then again, Forbes is now their financial partner. You'd never see Malcolm Forbes print empty space where the ads were slated to go, if he could not sell that space.

    Not a chance in hell, of that.

    Still remember when those RCP boys solicited the readers for donations, they said the raised about $50,000. Did it a couple of time, before Forbes rode onto their ranch.

    ReplyDelete
  81. No. The Communists are sitting in the Pentagon.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Probly only spent 10 or 20 times as much @ PJ

    ReplyDelete
  83. They were trying to be dynamic, doug.

    And play to their own egos.

    I just looked and now, at least, they have the PJTV ads instead of empty ad space. Should have been there from the get go. Or book ads or some other subscribtion based service that PJ should have developed.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Ad space is irrelevant. Without credibility you have no business.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Hey, if the Fed can do it, why not PJ?

    "Well I don't give a damn about a PJ Dollar,
    Spend it fast as I can...
    "

    ReplyDelete
  86. NY Times Front:

    Reader-Submitted Video
    A Grandmother Remembers the Depression

    Samuel Crane of Oak Park, Ill., interviews his 82-year-old grandmother, June Reistroffer Hamer, who grew up in Chicago during the Great Depression.

    ReplyDelete
  87. The stock market is again being manipulated for PR purposes to push thru another idiotic and fraudulent scam. Kustler seems to have almost an instinctive understanding of this.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Geithner's Plan:
    The Treasury describes it here.

    A quick review suggests that it’s at least worth of careful consideration. The market is reported to have climbed on its disclosure.

    My own reaction to the proposal is that it constitutes an attempt to create a market for bad assets which are currently hobbling the financial system. Government will assume part of the risk, providing both loans and equity, but ultimately at least some of the assets will be purchased by private entities who may see in them bargains or opportunities.

    The good news is that 1) the price of divested assets will be set in some sort of competitive environment; 2) state and private funds will complement each other in sharing the risk. Of course this only mitigates, but does not eliminate the size of the public sector assumption of debt. Also, it makes the integrity of the auction process crucial. They are going to be picking through and selling off vast quantities of assets. That’s always a time to be careful. But as I said, it’s not completely outrageous and should be read carefully.

    The other thing to remember is that this plan is aimed at restoring the financial system to health. Even if it were brilliant of itself, it doesn’t really address the issues including in the administration’s fiscal spending package, which includes tons of pork and politically motivated programs; it has nothing to do with the debate over carbon trading, health care, or education. In other words it might be a cherry, but still a cherry atop a mud sundae. However, it is worth judging on its own merits and I hope the commenters will consider its strengths and weaknesses carefully . Here’s an excerpt from the Treasury’s Plan describing its philosophy.
    ---
    ...or as we'd say @ EB,
    A Shit Sunday on Monday

    ReplyDelete
  89. E.P.A. Moves Toward Regulating Greenhouse Gases
    The agency has moved to declare that greenhouse gases are pollutants that pose a danger to the public’s health.
    Times Topics: Global Warming
    ---
    I predicted Cap and Trade was DOA cause of Dem defections.

    Does this mean they'll do it without bothering to go through Congress?

    ReplyDelete
  90. For decades now Japanese real estate prices have been declining. The are now at 1984 levels.

    ReplyDelete
  91. 6. Thrasymachus:

    "I just skimmed it and there aren’t a lot of numbers- and gets 50% of the profit. The private investors put up 12.5% of the money and get 50% of the profit. About *seven* (that’s *7*) times more profit per dollar contributed."
    ---
    Good to know the profit's staying right where it always was.

    Woulda been a shame to expend 3 Trillion on Tax Cuts.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Mish on Geithner's "plan"

    http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/03/geithners-galling-and-dangerous-plan.html

    http://snipurl.com/ef6ns

    ReplyDelete
  93. 6. Thrasymachus:

    I *think* I see the scam here. The “equity”- about 15% of the total from what I can see- is split between the government and the private investors. So the profit is split, right? Except that’s complete BS. The government is putting up 87.5% of the money- forgive me if my percentages are off, I just skimmed it and there aren’t a lot of numbers- and gets 50% of the profit. The private investors put up 12.5% of the money and get 50% of the profit. About *seven* (that’s *7*) times more profit per dollar contributed.

    The distinction between *guaranteed loans* and *equity* on the government sinde is completely meaning less. It’s all government money. If the government is putting up almost all the money, why are any private investors needed at all? The Treasury can buy assets from the banks directly, as Paulson was going to do in the first place.

    The difference I think is now more money goes to the hedge funds and less to the banks. Plenty of money for all the right people though. No fortunes will be made, but many will be recovered, and many will be vastly increased.

    If I’m wrong please somebody explain why.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Wisdom from Humbolt:

    "It is a foolish man who underestimates his enemies.

    It is a STUPID man who underestimates the Feds.
    "

    ReplyDelete
  95. The Fed has no collateral, Doug. Well, that's not exactly true. They have Saudi oil, but at a negative cost ratio. As they say economics class 101: "We lose money on every sale, but we make it up in volume." :)

    That's an unsustainable situation.

    ReplyDelete
  96. ..As they say ^in economics class 101..

    ReplyDelete
  97. Nov 2008

    And finally, all this is reflected in a crashing stock market. Stock markets are usually the first to predict impending collapse but I would say by this housing and credit led bubble, the first sign would have come from housing starts.

    They peaked in late 2005 and have fallen ever since. The stock market peaked in August of 2007. Not really a good indicator of what was to come.

    The Dow is now down 41 percent from that peak and the S & P 500 is down 45 percent. These are significant drops. We are approaching a 50 percent decline in slightly over one year. This is a crash. And the United States is not the only one facing destructive market declines. Japan, England, Germany, Brazil, China, Russia, Mexico, Canada, and practically every other market has seen similar if not worse declines.

    This last year has seen the largest amount of wealth evaporate in the history of humankind. These signs are not pointing to a minor recession. This is a significant worldwide recession.

    ReplyDelete
  98. California, Chile, Argentina and Australia produce a formidable alternative to the traditional wine makers in Europe, but there are tens of thousands of small vineyards around the planet that continue to delight and surprise wine lovers.

    About six or seven years ago, I went to what was recommended as one of the best steak houses in Tuscany. As soon as my date and I entered the restaurant we realized I had been well advised.

    My lady friend was charmed by the decor and the aged beef being served at the other tables looked and smelled superb.

    I did not recognize any of the wines being offered and simply asked the waiter to serve the best from the region. He said 1997 was a great year for the local area and made a recommendation that turned out to be more than he promised it to be.

    Dinner was flawless and we finished two bottles of the highly recommended chianti. When the bill was presented, I was stunned that they were $6 each.

    ReplyDelete
  99. I don't know who Woodie is. But I remember the last person to complain of my "potty mouth."


    Doug, I want to see the Pajamas Media brand continue in its full glory.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Will you finance that, Trish?

    ReplyDelete
  101. Mark Cuban backed "Humbolt"
    ---
    Pretty slick anti-drug anti alt lifestyle message, probly depending on the viewer.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Wife was buying Italian wines.
    Parnoid me warned her she might poison herself.
    ...has happened.

    ReplyDelete
  103. I think the World Economy is being Stressed Tested.
    Little Tim, always out front ahead of the curve.

    ReplyDelete
  104. March 21st, 2009
    Finding the True Unemployment Rate: Is the Government Listening to Financial Bloggers? Bureau of Labor and Statistics now has Annual U-6 Data for Individual States. California U-6 Rate for 2008? 13.4 Percent.
    ---
    You tell me how this is good for the housing market? The government through bailouts, fiscal stimulus, monetary programs, and every other imaginable bailout has committed over $9 trillion to the cause. You know how many $50,000 a year jobs we can buy with that for one year? 180,000,000. Even with the $1.2 trillion committed by the Fed with the TALF and buying treasuries to lower the interest rate, we could have literally bought 24,000,000 jobs at $50,000 for one year. We could have put everyone back to work for the price of making mortgages go back down to 4% and giving Wall Street another crony capitalist present. Money well spent right?

    ReplyDelete
  105. Bwaney Fwanks Calls Justice Scalia A 'Homophobe'

    That's the term gays use for anyone that doesn't toe their line.

    ReplyDelete
  106. Will you finance that, Trish?

    Mon Mar 23, 08:18:00 PM EDT

    Just as soon as two children are done with college, you betcha.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Inglewood McMansion, lordy, what that place needs is a match.

    ReplyDelete
  108. August 23rd, 2008
    Real Homes of Genius: Revisiting a Past Downey California Home. $305,000 Discount in 2 Years. $1.7 Trillion in California Equity Gone in One Year.

    It is amazing that this home with an assessed land value of $125,733 in 2005 suddenly saw a jump to $648,100 in one year!

    That is, the land magically went up in value by $522,367 in one year. Welcome to California folks.

    So now that prices are correcting it is the land value that is getting hammered. After all, concrete, wood, windows, and all the other pieces that psychically build a home have either gone up in price or have stayed the same.

    I’ll leave it up to you to judge whether that $600,000 price is a good deal. Today we salute you Downey with our Real Homes of Genius Award.

    ReplyDelete
  109. "Heard an interesting item on the radio the other day. A guy bought a $430K house he decided he could not afford. He was able to sell it for $330K and his lender agreed to accept that. He moved into a new, cheaper, house and all was fine. And then, he received a Form 1099 from his old lender indicating that they had reported $100K in capital gains to the IRS, reflecting the fact that he had a “gain” on the house he got rid of. I wonder how many people disposing of toxic assets will have that experience?"
    ---
    Pea Brain Alert:
    What am I missing?
    I don't get that at all.

    ReplyDelete
  110. The lender's forgiveness of 100k is income, al-Doug.

    What doesn't make sense is trying to sell these toxic assets and raising the capital gains rate at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  111. 119. Oscar the Grump:


    I remember when Joseph Stalin would give a speech and everyone would stand up and clap. They would clap for hours even though Stalin had left the building. The first person to stop clapping was taken out of the building and shot.

    I wonder if this will apply to our big ‘O”. We will have to keep laughing after he tells a joke or else…..

    ReplyDelete
  112. I want some toxic assets too. I like that term. At least people wouldn't try to rob you blind to get at those toxic assets, their hands might drop off.

    ReplyDelete
  113. "The Treasury has released, at long last, additional details of its plan to address toxic assets.

    (I refuse to use Treasury’s Orwellian Newspeak “Legacy Assets.” That sounds like a funeral home advertising slogan.)"

    ReplyDelete
  114. FT.com / Asia-Pacific - China calls for new reserve currency

    China's central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.

    In an essay posted on the People's Bank of China's website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank's governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency "that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies".

    http://bit.ly/34w6LE

    ReplyDelete
  115. Mr Zhou said the proposal would require “extraordinary political vision and courage” and acknowledged a debt to John Maynard Keynes, who made a similar suggestion in the 1940s.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  116. Better save them alpacas for the Chinezies.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Streetwise Professor » We Were Awaiting Judgment Day, But Tiny Tim Delivered Groundhog Day

    In brief, this plan, despite months of preparation, is still not ready for (sub)primetime.

    It is not, in other words, a completed plan. Many holes still exist. The document released by the Treasury states that the “Legacy [read Toxic] Loans Program will be subject to notice and comment rulemaking.” In other words, this is not ready to go. There will be a time consuming, and perhaps contentious, period of public comment. With respect to the Legacy [Toxic] Securities Program, the Treasury says: “Haricuts will be determined at a later date [!] . . . .Lending rates, minimum loan sizes, and loan durations have not yet been determined. [!!!!] These and other terms of the program will be informed by [!] discussions with market participants. [What have they been doing for the past weeks/months?]”

    If haircuts (i.e., the amount of leverage), loan size, rates, and maturities have not been determined, pray tell what has?

    At best, the plan warrants a grade of “I” for incomplete. As a result, it will take months to get off the ground.

    Moreover, the program does not touch one of the most important categories of toxic assets: CDOs, CDO squared, etc. The Legacy [Toxic] Securities Program is limited to residential mortgage backed securities, commercial mortgage backed, and asset backed securities (ABS). CDOs, etc., are collateralized by ABS, so they would not be eligible. Thus, a good slug of the bad assets in the system will inevitably stay on bank balance sheets.

    In sum, in my view, based on both the big picture and the details, this plan is a failure on its own very modest terms: “to restart markets for troubled assets, begin the process of repairing balance sheets, and eventually lead to increased lending.” The worst banks and the worst troubled assets will avoid the program like the plague.

    Sad to say, addressing the fundamental problem of the banking system—insolvency and near insolvency of major banks—will require compulsion of some sort. This compulsion could come through existing legal processes, notably bankruptcy. It could come through new forms of government compulsion, such as Humpty Dumpty or the compulsory formation of bad banks.

    ---
    2 Comments »

    1. The management of many banks teetering on insolvency have strong ties to various parts of the government. Hence it is no wonder that they are exercising that nexus to the max in order to prolong the illusion of staying afloat. Their idea is that if you lie long enough, it becomes the truth. The ideal government is supposed to act independently and on behalf of the people, but human frailty ensures that it would never happen. It doesnt matter whether it is Paulson or Geithner , the well connected will find ways to remain relevant and well connected.

    ReplyDelete
  118. "The lender's forgiveness of 100k is income, al-Doug."

    The Smuck that paid $400k could spend forever looking for that lost pay stub!

    ReplyDelete
  119. NUCLEAR ON THE MARCH

    Greetings,



    Welcome to the 16th issue of the Idaho Energy Newsletter. We hope to bring regional journalists a collection of recent news in the energy field, with an emphasis on nuclear energy. This newsletter is a product of Alternate Energy Holdings Inc. www.alternateenergyholdings.com), which has proposed the Idaho Energy Complex (www.idahoenergycomplex.com) will be a large advanced nuclear reactor with low cooling water requirements located about 65 miles southeast of Boise, in Elmore County. Company officials plan to submit a Combined Operating License Application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2010. The approval process is expected to take three years and cost $80 million. Construction could begin as soon as late 2012 and finish with power generation beginning in late 2016.



    You may also be interested in Don Gillispie’s blog at www.cleanidahoenergy.wordpress.com. Don, the CEO of AEHI, gives his take on energy-related issues and we invite you to visit and comment.



    Please call or write if you have any questions,



    Martin Johncox

    Alternate Energy Holdings Inc.

    208-658-9100
    Gallup poll finds record support for nuclear power
    Fifty-nine percent of Americans support using nuclear power and 27 percent “strongly” support its use, according to a new Gallup poll. Majorities of Republicans and Democrats also support nuclear, joining political leaders on both sides of the aisle. The poll also discovered 75 percent of Americans with household incomes of $75,000 and above support nuclear; among those with incomes of $30,000, support fell to 41 percent. The Gallup poll results reinforce what industry-sponsored polls have also found, including 82 percent of Americans who live in close proximity to nuclear power plants favor nuclear energy, and 71 percent are willing to see a new reactor built near them. http://www.gallup.com/poll/117025/Support-Nuclear-Energy-Inches-New-High.aspx

    “There’s no such thing as nuclear waste”
    A recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal states what the nuclear industry in other nations has long known: spent reactor fuel is a valuable resource that should be reprocessed. The editorial points out 95 percent of the potential uranium energy remains inside spent fuel, which France, England, Japan and other countries convert into more usable fuel. “So shed no tears for Yucca Mountain … it gives us the chance to correct a historical mistake and follow France's lead in developing complete reprocessing for nuclear material,” wrote William Tucker. “France, which completely reprocesses its recyclable material, stores all the unused remains - from 30 years of generating 75% of its electricity from nuclear energy - beneath the floor of a single room.”
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123690627522614525.html?mod=rss_opinion_main

    Swedes pledge to restart nuclear program
    Sweden is joining the ranks of nations that are lifting their bans on nuclear power and making plans for new reactors. Last month, the government proposed allowing the construction of new reactors to replace the country's aging ones, which provide nearly half the nation's electricity. "People shout about wind power, but it's only providing 2 percent" of Sweden's electricity, said Ake Hjort, a Swedish energy engineer. "To replace one nuclear plant you need 5,000 to 6,000 windmills. For us, it's not a question of wind power or nuclear power but the proper mix." More than 370 rectors are proposed worldwide in China, Italy, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and other countries and the European Union and United Nations have called for more nuclear power to counter global warming. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-europe-nukes-2_goeringmar11,0,7790030.story

    Wind turbine collapses, burns, starts fire
    A wind turbine in Noble Environmental Power's Altona Windpark, Altona, New York, collapsed after the blades spun out of control in early March. The resulting force knocked about two-thirds of the tower over and onto a roadway. A fire occurred in and around the nacelle of the GE 1.5-megawatt turbine, which fell into snowy forest. Officials believe a malfunctioning brake caused the incident.
    http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20090310/NEWS03/303109944

    Oklahoma passes resolution supporting nuclear
    A bill to encourage construction of nuclear power plants in Oklahoma passed the Senate by a 36-9 vote on March 10. The Nuclear Energy Incentive Act would help companies that want to build nuclear power plants recover the money spent on construction. "We need to explore all the options for generating power,” said Sen. Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, author of Senate Bill 831. Oklahoma is one of 16 states without a nuclear power plant. Bingman said nuclear power plants are an economic development boon that brings good-paying jobs to an area. Oklahoma joins Utah, Kentucky and Georgia in recent official displays of support for nuclear plants. http://newsok.com/senate-energizes-nuclear-plant-push/article/3352261

    Credit crisis blamed for slowing U.S. plant development
    The economic and credit crises have slowed the growth of the nuclear industry, says U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Dale Klein. A GE Hitachi executive also said financing is slowing down development of U.S. nuclear power plants. http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTRE52A03120090311

    Areva opens Idaho office for proposed plant
    French nuclear utility Areva has opened an office in Idaho Falls, Idaho, in order to facilitate the construction of the $2 billion Eagle Rock enrichment plant. Areva has already filed an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and officials hope the plant will provide an economic boost for the area. http://www.idahobusiness.net/archive.htm/2009/03/02/Areva-opens-Idaho-Falls-office-appoints-key-execs

    ReplyDelete
  120. To replace one nuclear plant you need 5,000 to 6,000 windmills.
    ==

    That's simply not true.

    Average windmill is ~3.5MW.
    Average nuke plant is ~900MW.
    260 windmills per nuke plant.

    ReplyDelete
  121. The Gallup poll results reinforce what industry-sponsored polls have also found, including 82 percent of Americans who live in close proximity to nuclear power plants favor nuclear energy, and 71 percent are willing to see a new reactor built near them. http://www.gallup.com/poll/117025/Support-Nuclear-Energy-Inches-New-High.aspx
    ==

    Bob, how many times did they count your vote? :)

    ReplyDelete
  122. I can hardly wait until the Obama youth come knocking at my door. It's just the tonic I need to get me out of the doldrums. I can see myself now, putting an Army Ranger choke hold on one of them and dragging them off my property.
    Why, I am just giddy with the thought!!
    I'm drooling.
    #4 jappy on 2009-03-23 19:34

    ReplyDelete
  123. Stein addresses Barry's "Gallows' Humor" remark by reminding us that Gallows' Humor refers to folks actually facing the Gallows, whereas Barry maintains all the Perks of Office as he chuckles at the citizens lining up at the gallows.

    "Punch Drunk" is putting it charitably.

    When have the crowds he's always hung around ever been standouts in the Empathy Olympics?

    ReplyDelete
  124. Sorry, Bob, no sale. Modern windmills are rated at 3.5MW, not 1.5MW.

    ReplyDelete
  125. The wind blows 48 hours a day, Bob, you nincompoop!

    ReplyDelete
  126. Areva Rolling Out 5MW Offshore Wind Turbines

    http://wind4me.com/2009/01/23/areva-rolling-out-5mw-offshore-wind-turbines/

    http://snipurl.com/efnfq

    ReplyDelete
  127. The wind blows 48 hours a day, Bob, you nincompoop!
    ==

    Even if you multiply by 3, that's still less than 1000, and certainly less than the ridiculous number of 5,000 to 6,000.

    ReplyDelete
  128. The wind blows 48 hours a day, Bob, you nincompoop!

    And 14 days a week.

    Two years per annum.

    ReplyDelete
  129. Windmill was spinnin' so fast
    Took nine stitches out wildcats ass

    ReplyDelete
  130. Wind turbine collapses, burns, starts fire
    A wind turbine in Noble Environmental Power's Altona Windpark, Altona, New York, collapsed after the blades spun out of control in early March. The resulting force knocked about two-thirds of the tower over and onto a roadway. A fire occurred in and around the nacelle of the GE 1.5-megawatt turbine, which fell into snowy forest. Officials believe a malfunctioning brake caused the incident.


    Those babies are dangerous.

    Plus, they kill birds by the tens and hundreds of thousands.

    You often see a cloud of feathers around a windfarm.

    ReplyDelete
  131. According to a 2007 Stanford University study published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, interconnecting ten or more wind farms allows 33 to 47% of the total energy produced to be used as reliable, baseload electric power, as long as minimum criteria are met for wind speed and turbine height.[22][23]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power

    http://snipurl.com/efowc

    ReplyDelete
  132. Plus, they kill birds by the tens and hundreds of thousands.
    ==

    So do redneck hicks. :D

    ReplyDelete
  133. Bob, typical capacity factors are 20-40%. So my 3x multiplier is just right.

    ReplyDelete
  134. I don't have anything against wind power. I kind of like how they look too, there on the horizon. Always gives me the feeling I'm Don Quixote, as I stop the car and get my lance out of the trunk.

    We saw some blades being trailered down the highway in the midwest. Those things are big.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Yes, but that bit of propaganda from your nuke friends is a tad ridiculous, no? Why such a blatant lies to sell nukes?

    ReplyDelete
  136. Mat, with the new global cooling the wind is not going to blow nearly as hard as it has. Even now, the number and intensity of the hurricanes world wide are down more than the stock market. The seas are becalmed, the dust doesn't rise on the plateaus, not even the barley waves in the wind. We are entering the much feared global calming period.

    ReplyDelete
  137. I thought wind was a function of topography.

    ReplyDelete
  138. Topography doesn't change, or at least, only very slowly. And so if topography controlled the winds, the winds would not change. But, we know we get a north wind, a south wind sometimes, even an evil east wind, in addition to blessed west wind. How do you explain that?

    Aeolis and the breezes, that's how.

    And they are disgusted with mankind now, and are going to teach us a lesson.

    ReplyDelete
  139. Mətušélaḥ said...

    To replace one nuclear plant you need 5,000 to 6,000 windmills.
    ==

    That's simply not true.

    Average windmill is ~3.5MW.
    Average nuke plant is ~900MW.
    260 windmills per nuke plant.

    Mon Mar 23, 10:30:00 PM EDT


    More mattie math here, readers.

    The average wind turbine has a capacity factor of 25%, which means that it will take four turbines to equal the nameplate-rated output of one turbine.

    But only if the wind blows 24/7. Which it don't.

    In truth, although the availability factor of the wind turbine is 100%, because it is available to produce power at any time, wind turbines actually produce power less than 25% of the time, and that is only when the wind blows.

    I doubt if any of mat's claimed 3.5 or 5 MW turbines is actually standing up and spinning long enough to have produced a valid performance history to determine the rating factors.

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  140. Capacity Factor and Availability Factor statements above were lifted verbatim from Bob's EIR link.

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  141. So are these snips:

    Unless you want to kill people by energy starvation, wind is useless for an industrial society. It is intermittent, unreliable, subsidy

    dependent, with high costs and low energy density, and, for these reasons, wind requires a full-time back-up power source.

    ---

    Denmark has more wind turbines per capita than any country in the world, and still, it has not been able to turn off even one coal-fired plant.

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  142. Denmark has more wind turbines per capita than any country in the world, and still, it has not been able to turn off even one coal-fired plant.
    ==

    That's where EVs come in. And your oil imports drop to zero. Chew on that, Chewy.

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