Terrifying thought of the day
It cost JP Morgan less money to purchase Bear Stearns than it would have cost them to purchase Alex Rodriguez’s contract from the New York Yankees. And between you and me, I think A-Rod would have been a far better investment.
On a related note, aren’t you glad now that Bush didn’t succeed in privatizing Social Security?
UPDATE: Oh yummy:
As feared, foreign bond holders have begun to exercise a collective vote of no confidence in the devaluation policies of the US government. The Federal Reserve faces a potential veto of its rescue measures.
Asian, Mid East and European investors stood aside at last week’s auction of 10-year US Treasury notes. “It was a disaster,” said Ray Attrill from 4castweb. “We may be close to the point where the uglier consequences of benign neglect towards the currency are revealed.”
The share of foreign buyers (“indirect bidders”) plummeted to 5.8pc, from an average 25pc over the last eight weeks. On the Richter Scale of unfolding dramas, this matches the death of Bear Stearns.
Maybe I should take advantage of plummeting home prices and purchase a shack somewhere in rural Idaho. After society collapses, I’ll move out there with my telepathic dog and invite you guys over for a big-ass post-apocalyptic party. Sound like a plan?
Gavin adds: How will you keep up the payments on your immortal robot body?
…Oh, and by the way, “the uglier consequences of benign neglect” is totally my phrase of the day. Just this morning, I was very near a point where the uglier consequences of my benign neglect toward looking both ways before crossing the street were, you know, revealed.
UPDATE II: Will somebody please, please, please tell Bush to stop talking?
President Bush gave assurances this morning that financial markets are continuing to function, adding that the U.S. is “on top of the situation.”
“One thing is for certain, we’re in challenging times,” Bush told reporters after meeting with his top economic aides. “The United States is on top of the situation.”
Speaking after the Federal Reserve’s moves late Sunday to shore up money markets, and J.P. Morgan Chase’s cut-rate purchase of Bear Stearns Cos., Bush said he supported the central bank’s action.
“The Federal Reserve has moved quickly to bring order to the financial markets,” he said.
The Dow has dropped by over 140 points so far today.1
This reminds me of Bush’s great statement about the Iraq war being “hard work”:
We’re so screwed.
1 Gavin adds: Hey, the Dow is now up by 21 points. The recovery has begun1!!1one!
Thus, A-Rod’s impact on the economy is more valuable than Bear Stearns.’
A-Rod, who is Latino, is better for the heartland USA than the old white dudes on Wall Street, GArY.
But who wants to purchase a melancholy, moody, overpriced metrosexual with a shitty-ass agent and shitty-ass boss on a shitty-ass team?
I sense this thread will commence into a Yankees-bashing free-fer-all. And I thank me for it.
I am glad, but it seems they’ll eventually succeed. They just need a buzzword, like “socialized retirement.” I look forward to selling shoes when I’m 80, just like one of my coworkers right now.
Say what you will, LIEbral, but I for one welcome and love our new Banking Overlords and their seemingly endless supply of Soylent Pittance they generously give us. Now who wants to help me wheel these crates of money down to the store for some bread and toilet paper?
If he had privatized Social Security, I suspect that any difficulties with CEOs looting funds to pay for their yachts and mistresses and gold-plated yachts and platinum-plated mistresses would all be the fault of foolish, anti-American, non-capitalizm-understanding workers (who are also totally socialists and commies and terrorists and gay) for not realizing that Congress would just let CEOs loot Social Security funds.
You’re talking about Bear-Sterns, right?
I think you’re on to something here.
I think the plan to privatize Social Security was intended to leave us holding the bag on all this crap, while the Wall Streeters walked away with the bags of cash.
It would be a conspiracy theory if we didn’t already know how these guys operate.
Perhaps because I dread another baseball thread at this point, I offer the following OT bizarro-world development: Bob Novak outraged over GOP dirty tricks in the Spitzer case and Ben Stein deeply concerned about investigative overreaching in the same case.
Yeah, I know. I don’t get it either. Unless maybe they’re both about to be outed in a goat-blowing scandal or something.
They’ll just take the lousy economic environment they created and use that as an excuse to eliminate social security and medicare. We’ll hear no end of Welfare Queen stories about rich baby boomers living high on their Social Security hog while poor young people support them.
Older people will be the Jews of Conservative Communism.*
*Socialism for the wealthy, capitalism for the poor.
I think Bob and Ben are worried that all of a sudden getting caught with an attractive young female prostitute is somehow bad. This is not the America they know and…. and….
Also, don’t forget that the Fed. is willing to chip in $30 billion of tax payer dollars to hold Bear-Stearns’s margin calls. How much do you want to bet that the top executives at BS will still get their tens of millions bonuses each next year, despite making shitty investment and business decisions that caused the demise of their corporation?
Must be nice getting rewarded for being a fuck-up.
who wants to help me wheel these crates of money down to the store for some bread and toilet paper?
You need a new paradigm! Forget wheeling the crates of money to the store for toilet paper! You already have a supply right there!
*Socialism for the wealthy, capitalism for the poor.
Privatize the profits; socialize the risks. It’s the American way!!
And don’t forget the most important lesson of all: it’s leftists that are the bad stewards of the economy.
Something tells me that the creepy underground city that’s run by three people on lawn chairs, and where everyone has a painted clown face, is where all the neo-cons wound up.
Something tells me that the creepy underground city that’s run by three people on lawn chairs, and where everyone has a painted clown face, is where all the neo-cons wound up.
Midian is where the monsters live.
So I wonder how Moxie did this morning standing in line waiting for her bank to open?
Brad, if you get a shack up in Idaho just promise you won’t go all ‘Mountain Dougie’ on us.
Bob Novak and Ben Stein …. both about to be outed in a goat-blowing scandal or something?
I think they’re both simply upset that they only rate one diamond each.
How is using an asset worth $1 million as collateral for a $10 Million loan any different than bleaching a buck and printing a ten?
Speaking of Harlan Ellison, I once received a letter from him (in reply to one I wrote) that began with the greeting, “Dear Asshole.”
Stay classy, Harlan!
…Oh, and by the way, “the uglier consequences of benign neglect” is totally my phrase of the day.
“Moral hazard” is mine. If you’re not angry enough already today you can read this interview of teh Preznit by Larry (the Fable Guy) Kudlow wherein they discuss the Bear Stearns bailout and throw the term around without any apparent trace of shame.
Now who wants to help me wheel these crates of money down to the store for some bread and toilet paper?
Sorry, toilet paper will be well beyond the means of anyone except the likes of, well, Alex Rodriguez. But I’m sure Brad will have a fresh copy of last weeks National Review in his outhouse.
Moral hazards are for the little people.
Have they started saying “nobody could have know this would happen” yet? Becasue I”ve been reading warnings that this could happen for three years.
I like this line, also by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at the Telegraph:
This one has the added advantage of being inscrutable to Andrew Ferguson.
“nobody could have know this would happen”
That’s the Bush administration’s motto.
I respecfully decline due to my tender-and-juicy-ness.
Oh, today my favorite CNN headline is “Man hits meat thief in face with icy ham.”
Right, g. It should be carved over the doorway on Bush’s new library at SMU.
Bush *IS* privatizing Social Security as we speak. Where do you *THINK* he got the money to invest in Bear Stearns?
I’ve noticed that food prices at all the local restaurants are skyrocketing. I have to grocery shop today and have a feeling I’m in for some sticker shock. I’m going to lay in some supplies. I feel bizarre saying this, but I think it’s probably a really good idea to start putting some stuff in the freezer and pantry before it goes so high I can’t afford it.
Welcome to hard times.
I can haz revolushun now?
I wish I had a euro for every fucking time over the last few years I got a blank stare from one of my cow-orkers in response to, “Do you think it is a good idea to finance the war by mortgaging the country to the Chinese?” Seriously, I could have bought Bear-Stearns myself.
I was wondering what we’re to use after BushCo uses up all existing copies of the Constitution.
“Remain calm! ALL IS WELL!!”
So any ideas on where to purchase my new de rigeur Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome-esque outfits? I’d really like to get them bought before the catastophic inflation sets in.
I’d especially like one of those flag-like things on the end of a long pole that juts up way over my head…that was teh awesome!
We’ll hear no end of Welfare Queen stories about rich baby boomers living high on their Social Security hog while poor young people support them.
Older people will be the Jews of Conservative Communism.
Are you kidding? All the old Baby Boomers will begin retiring and suddenly be very involved in the electoral process because it’s the only thing that differentiates them from the dead people (except in Illinois).
The young people will be the scapegoat in that instance, for not having jobs, not being enough of us, and otherwise being un-American and refusing to support the GREATEST GENERATION (the Boomers).
Though I suppose we could blame the illegal immigrants if we’re evil.
I’m sure this is nothing a round of top-bracket tax cuts won’t fix.
Why I’m shocked, shocked I tell you to find out that foreigners are not willing to pour their money in US economy without any considerations.
Are they saying that running a huge deficit for years and racking up a huge loan without any plan to pay it back *isn’t* a viable economic model?
I have to say, I always though it would take untill 2012 or so before US would crumble under it’s own weight like soviet union did in 1991.
If this thing goes along the worse fears, I guess Bush doesn’t have to worry about his legacy, he is sure to be remembered.
Not a coincidence that the economy starts looking bad when Democrats try to pass massive tax hikes,
Not now, Gary. The grownups are discussing the disaster your favorite Preznit and political party foisted upon us. Run along and play.
That Telegraph article is some scary stuff.
If the rest of the US is anything like hurricane-season Florida, invest in liquor, toilet paper and gasoline. If you have enough of those, you can trade for whatever else you need.
“Gary Ruppert said,
March 17, 2008 at 19:00
Not a coincidence that the economy starts looking bad when Democrats try to pass massive tax hikes,”
A man drives down a downtown street at 120 km/h. when coming to intersection, the light is red. The man slammsthe brakes, and loses the control of the car. It skids, and eventually crashes newspaperstand on the sidewalk, killing two people. Police arrive to the scene, and ask the man what happened.
“It’s the damn traffic light, if it has stayed green, this would not have happened!” man answers.
Oh, and you forgot “the fact is…” from the start.
What is a coincidence is a trillions-dollar debt on two major foreign occupations, demanding a permanent tax-cut to the extravagantly rich, the continued welfare to religious and wingnut machinery, and no doubt every campaign contributor to the Republican part having corruption and bankruptcy charges against them.
Those are all coincidences and/or never happened.
You just know the wingnuts will be blaming policies that forced the banks to offer mortgages to those poor people, even though they claim there ARE no poor people in the U.S.
Man, I envy the amount of cognitive dissonance they can live with day to day.
Anyway, there will be a headline along the lines of “Don’t Mess With Free Markets,” or something like that.
Uh oh. I used the last roll of Charmin this morning.
Sagra: Also, fill your bathtubs with water, because when we go under, no more filtration.
Right, g. It should be carved over the doorway on Bush’s new library at SMU.
“Man hits meat thief in face with icy ham.”?
That too.
What disaster? the economy is better now than it was when Bush came into office. He delievered America from the Clinton recession and enhanced our economy.
Perhaps the Bush Administration’s intent to make Iraq just like America is working after all! If the economy, the shredding of the Constitution, and the respect for the rule of law continues as its going, pretty soon the US will be just like Iraq
This past December we had a hellacious storm that left pretty much everyone and everything in my small city without power, and without a way out of town, for about a week. The looting started within a few hours of the power outage but was pretty quickly curbed, more by neighbors than police. The grocery stores were empty within a day. People who had generators ruled until the gas ran out. People with batteries and firewood and stocked pantries did OK for the duration. Lots of people weren’t prepared — didn’t even know what kind of food would make the most sense to buy in those hours before the grocery shelves were empty. Most people weren’t physically hurt, most houses were either undamaged or sustained only minor damage. But people snapped. Seriously, the community fell apart because we lacked electricity and passable roads for a week. I don’t have much optimism for the way people will react when their government shrugs and says, Oops. Our bad, and then boards the jets for Elsewhere, Fast.
So yeah, g, at the very least I’d add toilet paper to the list.
Gary, even your dumbass Preznit has a better grasp on the situation than do you. That’s kinda funny.
You must be a parody Gary.
Shorter Gary
The fact is that you leftists have been predicting doom for years, and yet, it’s not happening.
You all whine when Bear Stearns is helped out, because you wanted it to go bankrupt, instead of being rescued by Morgan.
My small community has dealt with natural disaster emergencies before, what with the flooding and the fires, so there is a community infrastructure of neighbors helping neighbors, people coordinating rescue activities and the like. I don’t know how long it will maintain itself if a longer, more slowly evolving disaster occurs. Interestingly enough, my community was the setting of a novel about future disaster, “Golden Days” by Carolyn See – which I have not read. But maybe I should.
Hasn’t anyone told you guys that once we elect Obama he’s gonna wave his magic wand and make all this shit better?
My favorite Bush quote from today:
“Energy: Our energy policy has not been very wise. You can’t build a refinery in the United States. You can’t expand a refinery in the United States.”
Yeah, THAT’s been the problem all along.
Smiling Mortician, we didn’t have any looting or craziness during the floods of ’93 when Des Moines lost the water supply – and the power was out for several days in many areas – for a week, but then again, we still had National Guard in this country which trucked in water and gave the people a sense of security, and a functioning FEMA which did its job. I’d hate to think what would happen in a situation like that right now. Probably look like Katrina.
It’s better to be safe than sorry. Toilet paper and beer, at least.
You might want to invest in one of those little camp showers, too. You fill them with water, hang them in the sun where the water gets nice and toasty in its little black bag, and then you have a nice two bucket shower. Summer’s coming on, thankfully.
you know, I went through a week of that kind of shit in 1993. I don’t think I could stand that for a prolonged period of time. I would be in a really pissy mood, and I don’t think I would be alone. Might be a run on pitchforks and torches.
Gary, who did the rescuing?
…the Federal Reserve provided $30 billion in funding…
There hasn’t been a refinery built in America since the 1970s due to far left environmentalists.
We need to be able to tap our own resources
I’m gonna print up a bunch of bumperstickers that say, “Hungry? Guess you should have voted for the boring guy.”
No, wait. No one will have money for gas.
Ok, T-shirts that say, “I was promised an ownership society and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”.
You fill them with water, hang them in the sun
What is this “sun” of which you speak? Sorry, I live in the soggiest corner of the PNW so I can’t quite picture it.
Many people here have some hurricane supplies, but nobody is prepared for city life without services. After Hurricane Rita we had to wait a few days for trucks to start delivering meat, dairy, bread and gasoline, but that would be nothing compared a real disruption.
I can’t imagine what it would be like to live with constant violence, and a shortage of essentials like water, electricity, and fresh food. What kind of people would do that to a country?
US refineries closed to hike oil prices.
“Don’t you see? Potter isn’t selling, he’s buying!”
Anyone know how much of Morgan is owned by the Evil Bush Family Empire?
When has the far left ever (ever) been in a position to create environmental policy? Or is this Gary Ruppert (a proud graduate of the finest wrestling message boards) simply being Gary Ruppert and accusing anyone against making baby seal burgers of being a Marx-humping pinko?
Check this graph out-
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/BOGNONBR
Looks like the Federal Reserve’s cupboard just got cleaned out.
No worries, though, Bush is on top of it.
I’m working on patenting an engine powered by conservative talking points.
But the lefties won’t give me any funding because they hate free enterprise.
When has the far left ever (ever) been in a position to create environmental policy?
When Jimmy Carter was president
Your mom is getting pretty fed up with you constantly “tapping your own resources,” Gary. Other people would like to use the boarding house bathroom too, you know.
I thought Gary was a proud graduate of Diesel Driving Academy.
Does anyone else remember that catchy song they had? I’m sure it’s what caught his attention:
“When you…can drive a truck…you’ve got a job my friend
Diesel Driving… Academy will teach you all…you need to know
Call 1-800….559-8900
The road starts right here!”
Wait a second, how exactly is having less refineries that turn oil into gasoline causing higher oil prices?
Is this a classical case of anti- supply and demand?
“If you won’t buy all our oil, you have to pay more per barrel?”
Gary:
They said “the far left.”
Jimmy Carter only counts as far left to the totally delusional. Such a characterization of Jimmy Carter automatically marks you as too dumb for anything except a career with the Bush Administration. Send in your resume NOW in case they need another Attorney General soon.
Smiling Mortician, ’tis true that the bags function better in more sunny climes. On the plus side, in the PNW you can always shower in the rain. A friend of mine actually did that here during the floods. The neighbors came out and saw him and shortly thereafter they were out there in their underwear with bars of soap themselves. Of course, the floods were in July and it was nice and warm out. It’s raining here today but only 35 degrees. I would just have to live with funky.
Travis:
Like so many scapegoats, the far left has absolute power in this country, somehow without ever being anywhere near the public view of politics.
I can’t imagine waht benefit we would get from allowing the elite aristocracy to utterly gut and destroy the country’s coffers at the expense of everyone else in the country. Can’t think of any reason why we would do that.
Nope, drawing a blank.
Heh heh.
He said “tap our own resources”….
Heh heh huh….
mikey
I’m screwed.
As I live paycheck to paycheck during good times, I can’t afford to do much stocking up.
Maybe someone will have a harem I can join.
Wait a second, how exactly is having less refineries that turn oil into gasoline causing higher oil prices?
They refine for a fee: too many refineries=lower fees.
We need to be able to tap our own resources
Ice Cold is right there with ya, Gary.
Hello again…
”
Righteous Bubba said,
March 17, 2008 at 19:48
Wait a second, how exactly is having less refineries that turn oil into gasoline causing higher oil prices?
They refine for a fee: too many refineries=lower fees.”
Yeah, but they refine oil. Why would oil price be affected. It’s like saying I’t like saying prise of beef is rising because there are less hamburger places?
Hey, 1929!
Tell me, are you at least going to throw the stock brokers out of windows again? Cause I kind of miss that.
Bush really can only keep a few thoughts in his head at any one time.
The cold showers are fine in Florida, especially during hurricane season.
…aren’t you glad now that Bush didn’t succeed in privatizing Social Security?
Indeed. I’m scared to check my 401(k) account and see how much money I lost this week.
Um, crude oil is next to useless, it all has to be refined, it’s like saying the price of beef is going up because there are fewer butchers.
While Hoosier X is correct that Jimmy Carter was as far left as my right nut, just think: What if Carter’s energy policies had been allowed to continue? I wonder if anything would be different.
Hmmm.
Gary Ruppert wrote:
Now that’s what should be carved over the doorway on Bush’s new library at SMU.
Um, crude oil is next to useless, it all has to be refined, it’s like saying the price of beef is going up because there are fewer butchers.
Except the barrel price of oil is pre-refinement… the price of beef at the store would go up in your example, not the price of beef on the hoof.
”
Stevenovitch said,
Um, crude oil is next to useless, it all has to be refined, it’s like saying the price of beef is going up because there are fewer butchers.”
Crude oil might be useless, but it is oil. As in the oil prices oil.
So the oil prices are high, because there are less refineries that buy that crude oil? How does that work?
Bob Novak outraged over GOP dirty tricks in the Spitzer case and Ben Stein deeply concerned about investigative overreaching in the same case.
Yeah, I know. I don’t get it either. Unless maybe they’re both about to be outed in a goat-blowing scandal or something.
I’ve been wondering to what extent, if any, Emperor’s Club VIP was a honey pot.
Often sectarian, authoritarian abuses of law enforcement and prosecutorial powers are used to punish or damage enemies and keep allies in line. If the U.S attorney’s office and various law enforcement agencies can mobilize their resources, put together a criminal case, and publicly embarrass Client 9, a Democrat, well, logic dictates that if necessity dictates, they certainly could do it to a friend, too. I think that’s one message to be heard in this constant leaking from the Spitzer case.
Bush really can only keep a few thoughts in his head at any one time.
So you think he’s more the icy ham than the meat thief, then.
Well as long as they don’t get their greedy fingers of my late Granny’s recipe for chicken fried squirrel. The demand for the tasty rodent would cause their populations to plummet and tree seeds wouldn’t get dispersed and no trees means a drop in atmospheric Oxygen and certain suffocation for the human race, and other critters too.
“Nobody could have know this would happen” will appear above the doorway to one room in the Bush Library. The door to that room will be kept constantly ajar by a system installed by KBR at a cost of $67M (2000 dollars). Resting precariously atop the door will be an iced ham. When uncharacteristically curious wingnut fuckwit vistors push the door open they’ll have just enough time to catch a glimpse of the iced ham smashing into their faces. And as they crawl around the floor in a confused daze looking for their teeth an audio loop will play of W looking for those missing WMDs on his office floor. It’s an interactive experience that showcases our great Preznit’s delightfuly sadistic sense of humor.
Can I get an Amen?
via Atrios
While you’re out stocking up, you might want to get a couple pairs of durable footwear. Finding someone to sew up your clothes is one thing, but cobbling is almost a lost art these days.
“So the oil prices are high, because there are less refineries that buy that crude oil? How does that work?”
Certainly fewer refineries helps keep the price of gas high. Keeping the #2 oil reserves pretty much in the ground also benefits the OPEC countries.
I used to think we invaded Iraq to steal the oil. Now, I think we invaded to keep the Bush family’s #1 benefactor, the House of Saud, happy. 15 of 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi’s, so how do we make SA pay?
* exit the bases in their country
* invade their #1 threat and secular enemy, Iraq
* keep the Iraqi oil pretty much in the ground, making SA product more valuable.
I wonder how we’d have treated Saudi Arabia if they nuked us?
I can’t help but think that Bush’s idea of being “on top of the situation” is very much like that of the way the guy was on top of things in regards to that nuclear bomb at the end of Dr. Stangelove.
THE FACT IS: WE’RE DOOMED, DOOMED I SAY, BREADLINESSSSS!
Remember kiddos.. Barack Obama is A-OK, despite being down 20 in Pennsylvania and slipping in the polls.
But when the Stock Market has a rollercoaster day with stocks hitting the green multiple times, it’s a sign of the worst crisis ever.
Day 1 thus spake Garyruppert!
Innocent Bystander said,
March 17, 2008 at 19:38
Check this graph out-
Is that graph saying what I’m thinking it says? Is it really saying that 40 billion of funds in the Federal Reserve bank in St Louis disappeared almost overnight? How can it drop down past $0 unless you start sucking the air out of the building too?
I don’t know why the strike HTML doesn’t work.
But the Dow is just experiencing a rollercoaster day.
Obviously “dropping” 150 points for a few minutes is a big deal, but surging 150 points in 15 minutes is nothing.
We’re DOOMED! BREADLINES! HOOVERVILLES!
Lyndon LaRouche is restrained compared to you chicken littles.
So what the fuck is this “moral hazard” Bush keeps yammering on about in the Kudlow interview? When the boat’s sinking, do you worry about the “moral hazard” of bailing it out using the hooker’s handbag or do you just start bailing?
Just reading that transcript gives me a headache.
Gary obviously hasn’t been doing much outside reading today.
We’re DOOMED! BREADLINES! HOOVERVILLES!
Don’t be ridiculous. They’ll be called “Bushvilles” this time around.
when we start seeing a “brain drain” (or just a lack of foreign students) in this country due to poor of job opportunities, that’s when we know were in trouble.
At least this should lead to the mother lode of comedy gold, as various wingnut websites take a stab at explaining the financial situation and attempt to align with Bush’s optimistic outlook.
“Is it really saying that 40 billion of funds in the Federal Reserve bank in St Louis disappeared almost overnight? How can it drop down past $0 unless you start sucking the air out of the building too?”
Scary, no? I think it’s telling us the Fed sucked all liquidity out of their reserve account and took out loans on top of that…but I’m no banker. If the Fed were a patient, I’d assume it just gave up the ghost.
I am investing everything in NCAA tournament brackets.
“Is it really saying that 40 billion of funds in the Federal Reserve bank in St Louis disappeared almost overnight? How can it drop down past $0 unless you start sucking the air out of the building too?”
I’m betting it has more to do with the webserver suffering poor communications with the database.
And now the Dow is around 12000 for a 30 point gain.
WE’RE DOOMED
If the Fed were a patient, I’d assume it just gave up the ghost.
That graph was less about giving up the ghost and more about jumping out of a 40th floor window. Not enough left to bury.
If I can be considered a representative sample, I’d say that US productivity has dropped about 30% today. I don’t handle chaos and poverty well…
I don’t handle shortsighted morons very well either.
We taxpayers are on the hook for the Bear Stearns bailout. But if the dollar continues its freefall, it’ll be a pittance.
Stearns was a very nasty outfit. They cleared for all those grifters in the penny market etc…. Rodrigues would have to murder a billion people to equal the karmic debt.
Gary, shut up.
Brad re-think that Idaho part.
But who wants to purchase a melancholy, moody, overpriced metrosexual with a shitty-ass agent and shitty-ass boss on a shitty-ass team?
Los Angeles Galaxy, apparently.
Um, actually Stevenovich is correct. The “price of oil” that is often thrown around is for light sweet crude (now just under $110/bbl.). The stuff coming out of the ground is heavy sour crude.
What’s the diff? Well, “heavy” means it has the viscosity of Jello… it’s extremely thick; “sour” means it has a high sulfur content. How do you get light sweet crude? You refine it.
So how much does heavy sour crude go for? I have a cousin in Montana who works in a refinery getting oil from shale sources in Canada. The refinery buys that stuff from them for around $30/bbl… far, far below the price quoted on the market.
Maybe I should take advantage of plummeting home prices and purchase a shack somewhere in rural Idaho.
Hey, good idea!
You could get Randy Weaver as a roomate!
I hear he’s single. (Sorry)
Might keep the FBI outta your hair…
mikey
I call Fake Gary. The real Gary doesn’t know what Hoovervilles are.
Crude is crude. Sweet vs. sour refers to the amount of sulfur the crude oil contains, which varies depending on where it comes from.
The stuff coming out of the ground is heavy sour crude.
…the viscosity of Jello…
…a high sulfur content…
Formerly known as Carbon based life-forms.
I wonder tho. If Fossils are tricks of the Devil as I’ve heard some Fundies declare, what does that make oil?
sweet vs. sour?
excuse me, but in AMERICA it is sweet AND sour, and we add pork.
USA USA USA
From a european point of view..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/17/economics.useconomy
( So stop your petty comment bullshit and start rioting before its to late you idiots! 😉 )
The fact is my life savings just disappeared. Curse you, free market! I’m joining the Communist Party tomorrow. Onward to victory over the oppressors, proletarians!
Crude is crude, but light is easier and cheaper to refine than heavy.
Don’t be ridiculous. They’ll be called “Bushvilles” this time around.
I think “Chimpytowns” is catchier.
Yes, that’s certainly true, but you don’t refine one type of crude oil into another. Either way, the butcher analogy doesn’t explain why scarce refineries would make crude oil prices rise.
A tool of the Devil. Therefore, fundies need to burn all their nylon, polyester, styrofoam, at least 2/3rds of plastics, roof shingles, car tires, asphalt, and renounce the use of oil and gasoline (I guess they could burn vegetable oil for Diesel… but good luck finding oil for the engine).
And while we’re at it, magnetism is “just a theory”, just like EVILution. Therefore, they should destroy all their electronic items, as electronics are based on the Theory of Magnetism.
“won’t you take me to… Chimpytown?”
When the next president Bachman Turner Obama looks to talking with other countries, all he’ll get to say is Yessir! How High? in Mandarin
tigris – heh, that had crossed my mind…
Oh God, I can’t get it out of my head now. It’s like a saccharine-hydrochloric acid brain douche.
Who could have predicted that keeping credit artificially low in order to encourage people to buy houses they couldn’t afford, then packaging the mortgages as securities, could lead to financial disaster? Not I, surely.
…Won’t you take me to…..CHIMPYTOWN
…Won’t you take me to….Chimpytown…
So is the Bush administration “on top of the situation” like they are “on top of” the situation in Iraq?
If anybody wants me, I’ll be under my desk, in a fetal position, sucking my thumb.
So stop your petty comment bullshit and start rioting before its to late you idiots!
The men who’ve perpetrated this crap are incredibly gated and can afford private security who wouldn’t be disinclined to go mercenary. We’re not going to run into them at Starbucks. I think the history of riots in this country is one of poor neighborhoods being destroyed because of internal rage with oppressing forces from outside the neighborhoods. Usually followed by the banks making a killing on redeveloping the destroyed neighborhoods.
At this point, I don’t know if people know who or what to burn, given that EVERY level of power is in on this charade. At some point, forclosed houses may start going up in flames, but I think that people at the street level are trying pretty hard to keep their neighborhoods and lives together thru this. There’s not much else to depend upon and certainly no room left for screwing up.
late to it, but I couldn’t pass up Candy’s misplaced hyphen:
I wish I had a euro for every fucking time over the last few years I got a blank stare from one of my cow-orkers in response to, “Do you think it is a good idea to finance the war by mortgaging the country to the Chinese?” Seriously, I could have bought Bear-Stearns myself.
Mostly cows, with placid eyes and dreamy looks on their faces, and some nasty orc-like management wannabes — that describes the cow-orkers in my office too.
I stole that cow-orkers thing from Scott Adams of Dilbert fame, Douche Baggins.
I did indeed misplace a hyphen in Bear Stearns, I note.
I am with you, I think we need to calmly lie to the President and tell him in no uncertain terms the economy is going to well for him to get involved. Nothing to see, go cut some brush, go ride your bike…
I couldn’t think of anything more depressing than Gary Ruppert joining the left.
As long as he’s out there, I know there’s still some semblance of order in the world.
Also, anyone who views a single day stock index as indicative of overall financial health of the system is more than an idiot, and needs to have sharp implements and matches kept out of their reach.
Los Angeles Galaxy, apparently.
Barrack it like Bimler!
It’s the market, a lowering in the supply of usable oil has made the price of refined oil go up, which makes crude oil a more valuable resource. If you’re a slaughter house do you keep selling beef at 5 cents a pound when the butcher is charging 40 bucks a pound? Yes you could argue competition would prevent meat suppliers from raising their prices, but that’s why we invaded Iraq in the first place, to prevent Saddam from underselling the big oil companies under several lucrative oil exporting contracts with the French. (I’m sure it’s also just a coincidence that the French were against invading Iraq).
At this point, I don’t know if people know who or what to burn, given that EVERY level of power is in on this charade. At some point, forclosed houses may start going up in flames, but I think that people at the street level are trying pretty hard to keep their neighborhoods and lives together thru this.
I don’t think that rioting is gonna get us anything useful. Better to do like Mikey was suggesting a coupla threads back. Look around. See what you can use. Try to stock up on stuff. Think and plan. I don’t know if that will really help that much, but I really doubt that rioting will help matters either. Like gbear said, the perpetrators are too well-placed and well-defended.
Did some of the upper class plan on this? Or is it just a colossal fuckup? Who knows?
If that little fascist Gary joins the left, does that lend credence to the concept of liberal fascism? Is it central to the point?
If you’re a slaughter house do you keep selling beef at 5 cents a pound when the butcher is charging 40 bucks a pound?
If the prices to the consumer are high because the supply of butchers is what’s low rather than the supply of beef cattle, the butcher can always buy from another slaughterhouse which doesn’t raise prices. Increased demand vs. supply due to downstream bottlenecks don’t necessarily translate to higher demand upstream, or higher prices to upstream suppliers.
Atheist, I think it’s always been in the cards to grab as much of everything that they could get before things fall apart. Why help fund police departments when they can keep that money as tax cuts and then hire private security that will do exactly as they’re told?
“I was promised an ownership society and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”.
You used to hear the Liberal Lie that “the Ownership Society is only for the wealthy”. Current events have revealed the untruth of this… the poor people always own the problem!
when i said you could argue that competition would prevent raising prices I didn’t mean it literally.
And from selling the oil in euros, instead of dollars.
Did you say Iran?
Wiki says:
Yeah yeah yeah. But it’s not like invading Iraq got rid of the competition, it just affected one producer. And it still doesn’t explain how a bottleneck in the refinement stage would cause a price increase for the raw material, whether those supplying the materials desire one or not.
I must’ve not been paying attention.
I’ve always heard that the lack of refinenry capacity in the US has lead to higher gasoline prices, especially for the special formulations, not higher oil prices. If that is being argued then yes, it does seem counter-intuitive…
mikey
Right, my bad for not making the link say something more accurate.
Gasoline is high b/c of a lack of refining capacity.
not crude oil.
You’ve heard of OPEC yes? The meat market gets skewed when 35.6% of the world’s meat comes from one price fixing region. Especially when you add in the necessity index. If you want to continue with the Meat market analogy, ask yourself how many meat producers would keep producing meat at 5 cents a pound when Butchers are selling at $40. There’s something wrong with that market and things will be equalized. Consider that raising a cow is more expensive than chopping up dead cow, much like mining oil is more expensive and risky than refining oil, no supplier would tolerate such a disparity down the stream and shrewd suppliers will conglomerate, or move out of cattle raising and into butchering, since obviously the meat supply market is extremely over-saturated.
If this argument is more than shits and giggles for you then I suggest reading a book about how people have been trying to understand economics for the last 100 years, and failing at it.
With constant (or growing) demand, if there is less supply, then the price rises. That’s why fewer refineries means higher gas prices. Now that the refiners are making more money, the oil producers say “Hey, they can afford to pay more now. Let’s raise our prices.” That’s how it works in classic terms. That’s how OPEC has managed prices since day 1 – by limiting production.
In the present case, things are horribly compounded by loss of confidence in the US dollar. Which, as we know, is a direct RESULT of the Bush tax cuts and the $3 trillion war. I believe the housing bubble / mortgage crisis could be ridden out if not for the fact that the economy was already wrecked by the Bush tax cuts and borrowing everything to pay for the war.
Ahem. Gary, (or fake Gary, I don’t recall) use the tag.
Jennifer – aint you over that yet?
Can’t we please have some comments focused on poop? The situation is getting dire out there. There’s nothing for it but mass revolt and putting them up against the wall (in which case ‘them’ would include you, Gary) or have poop jokes.
Take your pick.
oops, that didn’t work. Put the word ‘strike’ between the brackets, not the letter ‘s’.
oops again
I vote poop jokes. At least in 20 years poop will have a higher favorability rating than Reagan and Bush combined.
I have become so anti-Bush that I have shaved my pubes.
Please make him shut up.
-GSD
This is all part of a plan to panic everyone into going out and buying shit for survival so that it will actually stimulate the economy
President George W. Bush is a war president, and in the heartland of America, he’s a USA American president who would never stoop to scaring folks for his own purposes.
Trust me, you have much graver issues than the economy to be worried about. I haven’t slept a wink in days as Islamohomos keep creeping around outside of my basement….they want my essence and I WILL DENY THEM.
Conservatives, one lol cat away from cracking up.
“Im in yur bassmunt, kunvurting yur cat to Islum.”
The fact is, Gary’s a cross-dresser.
Submit to the will of Ceiling Cat.
“Trust me, you have much graver issues than the economy to be worried about. I haven’t slept a wink in days as Islamohomos keep creeping around outside of my basement….they want my essence and I WILL DENY THEM.”
Thou doth protest too much, RiM. Why don’t you just go ahead and let them in to share your “essence” . I bet they’ll leave you alone and you will have serviced your fantasies. Win Win all around.
Why don’t you just go ahead and let them in to share your “essence”
“Well, I, uh… I… I… first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love. Yes, a uh, a profound sense of fatigue… a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I… I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence. I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women uh… women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh… I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I… I do deny them my essence. “
Rogered in ManTuna:
Whassamatter, got a problem with your CRM114 discriminator?
Why does Rogered in Montana think anyone would WANT his essence, anyway? Eau de Pemmican doesn’t appeal to many.
Whassamatter, got a problem with your CRM114 discriminator?
Is that what’s allowing me to hear voices in the static of my shortwave radio? I have to be really quiet to hear them, and even then, I’m not sure if I’m understanding the instructions correctly. For example: I was listening to them last night and it sounded like they were saying “God is loud, eat leaves”. Am I wrong in thinking that that doesn’t make sense? Maybe is was the distraction of the Islamahomos outside (they were right by my garbage cans, over by the garage, just creeping around REAL quiet like) but I don’t think I’m receiving the instructions correctly. Can you get me a replacement CRM114 whatchamacallit?
Stevenovitch, all I pointed out is that, in the real world, without resorting to ludicrous price disparities, scarcity in butchers will affect the price of prepared beef to consumers in stores rather than the price for beef cattle – which fits with what the refinery article said. Maybe if the closed refineries led to a gas/crude oil price disparity similar to the one in your butcher scenario the analogy would work, but until that happens the price for crude is set by the market as a whole, not just at the whim of producers wanting a bigger piece of $3.28 gallon gas.
Mostly because I’ve long been teased about my future in the wilderness, because I have long joked on the square that a Teddy K. shack was in my future. I assure my family and friends that I won’t do it without high speed internets and HDTV and maybe a hot tub and guest room. But it will be far from the madding crowd.
If there are enough people around, I’ll close it all with, “It’ll be a nice Kaczynski-shack or I wouldn’t do it,” and everyone breathes this vaguely uncomfortable sigh of relief, laughs one more time, and changes the subject.
Personally, I’m circling the wagons in a big way. For the first time since I was a little guy, I have considered buying a rifle. (Only for self-defense, and knowing it is not a good self-defense instrument. mikey.)
I’m telling you, we’ve lost our memory for really shitty times, and those who forget history, or read it like shit, are doomed to be fuckheads.
I got that quote by some famous dude close, right?
Someone at NBC must read you guys, because Brian Williams just made the Bear Stearns/A-Rod comment.
WF
Damn! My cat hit enter on my new Mac laptop!
What I meant to say was that, Brad, that part was really funny to me. Thank you.
That’s right, blame the cat. I have paws. What’s your excuse?
I was listening to them last night and it sounded like they were saying “God is loud, eat leaves”. Am I wrong in thinking that that doesn’t make sense?
You could not be wronger, RiM. What you heard was a paraphrase of “Eloi, eloi, Lemme see botany” *, i.e. the last words of Christ on the cross.
*Pay no attention to other transcriptions.
If you control both the supply and demand for crude oil, then you control the price.
If you control the supply and can predict the demand, then you can manage the price.
If refining capacity lags the demand for refined products, then refineries will always operate at full capacity.
If the refineries always operate at full capacity, then predicting the demand for crude oil is simple.
This is known as the Tao of OPEC.
I got that quote by some famous dude close, right?
I think the quote you were after was along the lines of “Those who intend to repeat the past must first ensure that everyone else forgets it.”
Thanks, Smut!
Who said it? Was it one of our great Founding Fathers, or O’Reilly?
They’re the same you know.
John has three cats, John’s Cat.
And the guilty one is without question a dick. He knows what he’s doing. Maybe not all the way down to the keyboard functions, but he’s Siamese, therefore inscrutable.
I’m surprised that nobody’s mentioned the playing bridge angle (via Atrios).
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bear Stearns Cos Inc (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chairman Jimmy Cayne was playing cards in a tournament late last week while his company’s future appeared to be at risk, according a published report.
As the bank hammered out an emergency funding deal on Thursday with the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which resulted in Bear’s shares falling by as much as half, Cayne was playing in the North American Bridge Championship in Detroit, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Friday.
Whoops, linkamajjink.
He knows what he’s doing.
That’s what they want you to think.
Hey, at least you gotta give the Bush Jr. guys credit. Whereas you and I saw the Savings & Loan disaster as an example of deregulation gone amok for private financial interest at public cost, they saw it as an opportunity to show how much bigger they could make a financial disaster than Reagan did.
Ah, Righteous, that story just made me laugh.
It’s not big news in Corporate America that the higher you are in the food chain, the more bridge is important to the goodwill the company enjoys.
Susan, I would be with you in general, but this one won’t let me sleep in, paces incessantly in front of everything I’m doing, with the unmistakeable air of, “What, me?,” and generally demands the most.
He’s a blast. He’ll take luvin’ from anyone, but when he’s on my best friend’s lap, he won’t let the man touch him. Goes to bite at the first movement of the arm.
Cracks us up, because my pal likes to mess around aggressively with the cat, and the cat digs it, obviously.
He’s a good, smart, cuddly prick.
they saw it as an opportunity to show how much bigger they could make a financial disaster than Reagan did.
Hell, they saw it as a challenge.
$3.28 gallon gas
I can’t remember the last time I saw gas at this price. On a related note, local gas stations have installed digital price signs.
Heh, I walk or take the train, I had to go here.
$3.70 for me.
But that’s only because I have to fill the Hummer with premium.
$3.28 gallon gas
Why are they giving it away?
What kinda rifle are you thinking, John?
.270 is powerful and quite widespread. Gives you a lot of options, but not great for combat or defense. .22 is almost a necessity, just get one, its a hundred bux, cheap, robust and can turn small critters into food and discourage big critters from fuckin wit ya.
Mini14/Ranch14 is a real good option. Lots and lots of .223 and 7.65×39 to be picked up, stolen and taken off the dead. And you can get plastic furniture for it, folding stocks and big mags.
.308 is a powerful round, and you can pick it up everywhere, but not generally available in semiauto and kind of more powerful than you’d ever need, so I’d think about passing.
So what’s your plan?
mikey
Alas, my preferred rifle is now all but useless. Winchester 0.33, Model 1886 firing 200 grain flat points. Casings have been reloaded about as many times as I’m willing to risk it. My first deer rifle as a kid (handed down several generations) and still my favorite. Especially in brushy country.
mikey, the truth is I want a good rifle and my definition of “good” is that it is an excellent marksman’s rifle, capable of hitting a Diet Coke can from 1/4 mile in the hands of a good shooter.
I’m willing to practice.
Suggestions welcome.
I won’t be thinking crazily about cost if I buy a rifle. I’ll be thinking about survival and practice and deterrence.
Ideally, it would have a night-scope and silencer, though I understand the latter decreases accuracy, so I’m willing to pass on that, at least on the original purchase.
🙂
From great golf to frisbee to basketball to darts I’ve always had a fascination with being accurate from long range. You name it, and I think I should be able to project it from myself to where I think it should go.
It’s just a thing with me.
Looking around, hoarding stuff, thinking and planning, I can get behind all of that. But then what? Rioting is inelegant. Time for a new paradigm. One that’s efficient, effective and undeniable. Hm. Wonder if these crates full of Guy Fawkes masks will ever come in handy?
I want a good rifle
Despite what Mikey said about .308, it’s a superb round for what you’re talking about. If money isn’t a problem, look at FAL-FN and the variants built around that platform. When properly tuned and sighted in, they’re deadly accurate and (forgive the term) bulletproof as far as normal gunk and grime and mishandling. You need a rifle built for military purposes, rather than a normal “truck” firearm.
But then what? Rioting is inelegant.
I’d suggest that everyone keep their head down when things get out of control. You’ve gotta know that these clowns are aching to declare martial law and make Chimpy President-for-Life Bush.
Thus the long-range functionality, Lardass.
LOL.
I’ve never owned a gun. Mom said I’d shoot my eye out.
Shot a bunch of ’em in my younger days, and have an uncle with a full-blown arsenal, so I can get the practice.
Purely in self defense. Of course. I’m combative, but non-violent.
LardA, how much for a nicely equipped one?
It isn’t like money is NO object, since I can’t imagine using it for anything but target practice.
FN FAL, or in my case G3, is fine. You might have a hard time buying one. I’d choose .270 win almost over anything. Amazing impact, popularity, and reduced recoil.
But its not a fighting gun, its a hunting gun. So think about what your goals are, what your needs are, and what you hope to accomplish.
Just saying….
M
This one looked pretty good from an idealist point of view.
I just want the bullet to go where I aimed it, at the best possible value, from potentially far away, or to scare some moron who breaks into my house for food because 20% of us are in soup lines.
http://www.mauser.org/rifles/blackarrow/blackarrow.jpg
Just surfing and having some fun on the ol’ birthday thinking about a nice target rifle, which is my right, dammit, Mr. NSA. I’ll register the thing.
This one looks kind of good, too.
Just for targets at long-range, for sure.
http://www.mauser.org/rifles/black%20lightning/index.htm
Wow! A whole new world out there! I mean, I’m serious about not being a gun culture guy. Honest, I’m a pacifist.
But I’m not big on being a victim. Go, NRA!
*wry grin*
All right, time to rejoin the world of the rational, y’all.
As usual, it has been funny and fun.
Suggestions still appreciated, just because. I have the time to learn the ins and outs.
Good night, in 20 minutes or so!
And I should add that my new MacBookPro is far cooler than any gun could ever be. So far.
mikey, my plan is to make myself useful to some big, mean mf.
…..sssoooooooo, you see yourself having a need for someone who knows how to build shit?
c247t
c310t
c150t