Posts from — October 2008

The BBC proves that people are getting desperate: Marx popular amid credit crunch

Karl Marx is back in fashion, says one German publisher, who attributes his new popularity to the economic crisis.

Publisher Karl-Dietz said it sold 1,500 copies of Das Kapital this year – up from the 200 it usually sells annually.
…

“It’s definitely in vogue right now,” said the publisher’s director Joern Schuetrumpf.

“The financial crisis brought us a huge bump.”
…

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Early voting started today and runs until November 1^st, Monday through Saturday 8:30AM to 4:30PM in Okaloosa County.

The County has two sites:

• North County: Robert L.F. Sikes Public Library on Commerce Drive in Crestview.
• South County: UF Research & Education Education Facility on the corner of Lewis Turner Blvd. and North Poquito Road.

The Supervisor of Election offices will be limited to handing out absentee ballots.

Note: I’m voting NO! on all of the constitutional amendments except 3 & 6.

Amendment 2, the marriage amendment is toxic.  Don’t think that it doesn’t affect you because you aren’t gay.  It is a badly worded chunk of garbage that can be put to a lot of nasty uses by an enterprising attorney or religious mental case.  When you put vague and undefined phrases like “substantial equivalent” before an attorney, don’t expect they won’t use it in innovative ways.

I was reminded today of life during the Cold War, specifically when I was in middle school in Germany.  The context was the tactics of fear that have been used so broadly by the Hedgemony.  People today are a bunch of gutless wimps, jumping at things that go bump in the night.  They cast aside the rights that people fought and died for to gain an illusion of security.

If you had looked in the trunk of our family’s car when we lived in Germany, you would be taken aback. In the trunk was a case of C rations, a metal box of .30 caliber carbine ammunition, a steel pot helmet, and an M-2 carbine. The M-2 was a variant of the M-1 with a fully automatic mode. My Dad was required to take these things with him everywhere.

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Anglachel has good, solid, well thought out plan for helping home owners in her post, Mortgages, Foreclosures and Moral Hazard.

A feature of putting the proposed system in place that isn’t discussed is that this plan will establish a framework that many banks will adopt to reduce their losses, so it won’t be a government only system. Banks do not want to own houses. They will lose even more money if they foreclose and the property doesn’t sell quickly. An unoccupied house or condo goes downhill amazingly quickly and the bank is liable for the property taxes and any code violations while it is in their possession, so the losses mount over time. If there is an accepted framework for restructuring loans that reduces losses and provides an on-going revenue stream, the banks will take it.

If the government can “create” $700 billion to bailout the banks, who did this to themselves, it should be able to find some money to save other “victims”. We might even make a profit.

Lambert’s And also without comment and Digby’s Newtie’s Allies – read them and weep for what might have been.

BBC reports that the IMF to investigate its director

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is investigating whether its French director abused his power in an alleged relationship with a subordinate.

The IMF said the inquiry was instigated by a long-serving governing board member, Shakour Shaalan of Egypt.

In a statement Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he was co-operating with the inquiry but denied abusing his power, according to Reuters news agency.

It comes as the world grapples with the worst financial crisis for decades.

At this point there is probably a majority opinion that we should line all of the world’s bankers up against a wall and shoot them.  This is definitely not the time to hear about misconduct of any kind that is connected to international banking in any way.

The Shrubbery is about to start talking about the economy again: Bush to host world leaders at crisis summit

US President George W Bush has agreed to host a summit of world leaders to discuss the global financial crisis.

Mr Bush made the announcement as he greeted French leader Nicolas Sarkozy and the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, at his Camp David retreat.

Mr Bush stressed that the summit, called in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, should not seek to undercut the basic economic principles of international capitalism.

For the sake of investors the man should just go away and shut up. Every time he talks about the economy the markets drop like a rock. They may be holding this in the US, but realistically Bush is the lamest duck the country has ever had, and no one cares what he thinks anymore.

Australian Broadcasting reports on the results of yesterday’s election: Macklin shrugs off Labor’s election fright night

Federal Government frontbencher Jenny Macklin says Labor’s poor results in the ACT election and three New South Wales by-elections are not a reflection on federal Labor.

Labor suffered a swing of about 10 per cent against it in the ACT while in New South Wales the party lost the previously safe seat of Ryde and saw its vote haemorrhage in Lakemba and Cabramatta.

Ms Macklin has told Channel Nine voters have sent the ACT and NSW governments a strong warning to improve.

“What we have seen in NSW and the ACT is very particular state and territory circumstances,” she said.

People are upset about the economy, and want change. This is worldwide and any politician currently in office is in danger because of this. Australia is actually is very good shape in comparison to most places, but what is an “economic downturn” to a pundit who still has a paycheck, is a “Depression” for the people have lost their jobs.

[ACT is the Australian Capital Territory, the equivalent of the US District of Columbia]

Position: 33.4 N 50.7 W [10 AM CDT 1500 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [045°] near 15 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1002 mb ↑.

It is 820 miles [1320 km] East of Bermuda.

It has become a remnant low and this is the final advisory.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Here’s a left to right list of the political parties on the Florida ballot with links:

Party for Socialism and Liberation
Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Party
Green Party
Ecology Party of Florida
Prohibition Party
Democratic Party
Republican Party
Libertarian Party
Boston Tea Party
Constitution Party
America’s Independent Party
Objectivist Party

Yesterday I received an offer to meet with a UBS broker to discuss “my options in a volatile market” via snail mail. I might have been more inclined to listen if I hadn’t see an article on the BBC site titled: Switzerland unveils UBS bail-out.  If they can’t handle their own money, why would anyone else accept their advice?

The problem with all of the mergers and the expansion into other areas is that that if any unit has a problem, they all feel the heat.

Unless you are totally off the grid [which you can’t be or you wouldn’t be able to read this] you have heard of the ACORN kerfuffle*. A lot of voter registration forms have been turned in that are self-evidently bogus, and this is a crime.

Now, it doesn’t matter what state you are in, or what your election laws say for this to be a crime. The election laws may make it multiple crimes, but there is always the basic crime involved – fraud. Not election fraud, which is dependent on local law, but common, everyday fraud, and the victim is ACORN.

We have a lot of initiatives in Florida which has led to having a lot of companies that specialize in gathering signatures. California suffers from the same disease, but every attempt to stamp it out fails because certain people know the only way of making their hare-brained schemes law is by ballot initiative. They also know that they can’t get enough volunteers to gather the required signatures within the average human lifespan, so they need paid gatherers.

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Position: 31.5 N 52.8 W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [040°] near 16 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [100 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 989 mb ↑.

It is 705 miles [1135 km] East of Bermuda.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Curious & Crazy

You can release me, I’m not dangerous.

[Editor: CC [Crazy Cat] was hand raised by my Mother, and now lives with her neighbor. Originally named for her habit of joining you in the shower, she has had some world class cat fits. The neighbor has all of his cats on leads when they are outside.

Friday Ark