Apparently the current excuse for the stock market slump is “fear” of banks being nationalized.

We have been nationalizing banks for years. That is one of the main jobs of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC]. They seize troubled banks, usually on a Friday, clean up the balance sheet, and sell them to another bank, so that when customers show up on Monday, they still have access to their money. Washington Mutual was nationalized fairly early in this mess.

Normally, stock holders lose, but they should have been demanding truth from management and not taken rosy scenarios accompanied by high dividends for granted. When a corporation starts doing a whole lot better than anyone else in their sector, they may have discovered the perfect business plan, but it is more probable that whatever they are doing is going to end badly. Any time you encounter a management team that is unwilling or unable to explain what they are doing, sell the stock.

BTW, you shouldn’t be taking investment advice from me or anyone else. If you don’t understand what is going on, don’t get involved.

Blonde Sense has an embedded video of a commercial opposing the stimulus that apparently Jersey Cynic doesn’t like.

Fine, you want to make a point about the damn commercial, no problem … except when it auto-starts and blares out of my speakers, that can’t be stopped, that can’t be turned down, that scares the cats.

The offender is well down the page and is a Flash module.

Don’t subject people to this crap. If someone stops by your blog at work, their cover is blown, and they will have to explain what they are doing. Give visitors a little control.

I didn’t comment over there, because I don’t want to deal with the blaring sound.

The leaders on the trail are: William Kleedehn (12), Hugh Neff (23), Jon Little (18), Sebastian Schnuelle (20), and Brent Sass (13).

All the teams have reached Dawson.

David Dalton (21) scratched on arrival, and Yuka Honda (24) got dinged with a 30 minute penalty for needing to replace her axe. [An axe is mandatory equipment.]

You can get Race Updates here.

Post Updated below the fold:

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Hanging With Sox

zzz ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz

[Editor: Property likes to stay around Sox whenever she can. She knows her brothers won’t risk annoying Sox to bug her.

Friday Ark

In Memoriam

Mimi: 10 January 2004 – 16 February 2009. Jams has more Mimi photos up. She was a sweetheart.