Pat Shuff

The Depressing Income and Poverty Data

Tall People Are Happier Than Petite Peers, Princeton Test Shows

Height brings happiness, according to a study that also suggested tall people are more likely to have higher levels of income and education than smaller peers.

www.bloomberg.com/apps...

This study suggests stretching the lower income quintile on a medieval torture rack may be of help. It couldn't be any worse of a stretch than another Salmon contribution.

Investing and Genetics

Graphs

www.cxoadvisory.com/bl.../

relatedly--

according to a study that also suggested tall people are more likely to have higher levels of income and education than smaller peers.

“There is good evidence that cognitive and physical function develop together,” the researchers said. “It is this lack of full cognitive development that accounts for lower levels of education, and lower earnings in adulthood which, in turn, are almost entirely responsible for lower levels of life evaluation, and poorer emotional outcomes.”

www.bloomberg.com/apps...

The FHA Meltdown

Wall Street greed and politician's depravity have always existed, but this time an uncritical view of diversity let them both out of their cages at the same time. A mere mention much more attempted taming meets with Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy treatment.

Government Policies to Correct 'Unfairness': Inherently Unfair

It doesn't seem understood that where costs or taxes are imposed and where they are collected are different places.
Imposed at the refinery, collected at the gas pump. Taxed at the corporate level, collected at the retail level at the cash register, the utility bill, the insurance premium. Don't tax me, don't tax thee, tax the man behind the tree. But there is nobody there. Borrowing half of what is spent at the federal level will also be borne across all segments of society, despite 'fair share' sales and marketing to the contrary. And anyone who doesn't like it will just have to be reeducated and learn to lump it. Enjoy the camping.

Hello muddah, hello faddah
Here I am at Camp Piñata.

Investing in Farmland: Considering Schober's Article

Also holding Sprott Resource Corp since Dec. '08.

Canadian farmland investment premise from Agcapita Partners LP:

www.farmlandinvestment...

Zero till farming allows credits to be claimed in both Alberta and Saskatchewan currently.

Vehicles for mining carbon credits, turning green into green?

hillandpartners.com/04...

www.smalldeadanimals.c...

How it works
According to Alberta regulations, carbon credits can be generated through various methods. One attracting the most attention is through “no till” practices in the agriculture industry.

“Basically, no-till means that instead of tilling their land, farmers would do direct seeding. This process removes carbon from the air and stores it in the soil,” explains Larry Ruud, Meyers Norris Penny’s director of intensive livestock.

Larry adds that most businesses generating carbon credits will want to use an aggregator or carbon credit trader to help market the credits. Aggregators pool the carbon credits from farmers and other sources, then market them to utilities and other major companies to offset their own emissions. Meyers Norris Penny held information seminars on the new industry in February 2008.

“Carbon credit trading is an emerging market. It rewards farmers and others for pursuing more carbon-neutral ways of doing business.”

An Insider's View of Ginnie Mae MBS

The Mortgage Dept., the Ministry of Housing...Fannie, Freddie, Ginnie, FHA, FHLB, VA...are political entities managed for political reasons, to effect public housing policy in a nationalized home loan market.

"So, it has reached the point where Washington is underwriting the majority of existing mortgage debt throughout the system and is now backing essentially the entire amount of net new mortgage Credit."
www.prudentbear.com/in...

As the CEO of Freddie Mac noted at the shareholders' meeting they are not managing the enterprise to achieve a profit, they are operating according to marching orders given by their controller to achieve public policy goals which involves employing capital that ensures loss instead of positive returns. That is easier rationalized and justified with other people's money in full faith and confidence that no one has, is or will pay any attention
and be penalized accordingly by the blind poetess of justice.

Fannie and Freddie: Sticking it to the Taxpayers

It is as well worth noting that Fannie Mae increased its book of business (retained mortgages and MBS guaranteed) by $70bn in the past two months (to $3.22 TN). And, according to Bloomberg data, y-t-d issuance of agency (Fannie, Freddie, and Ginnie) MBS is already approaching $1.3 TN, compared to full year 2008’s $1.153 TN, 2007’s $1.148 TN, 2006’s $903bn, and 2005’s $958bn.

So, it has reached the point where Washington is underwriting the majority of existing mortgage debt throughout the system and is now backing essentially the entire amount of net new mortgage Credit.

www.prudentbear.com/in...

Fannie, Freddie, Ginnie, FHA, FHLB, VA have essentially become the Mortgage Dept., the Ministry of Housing.
The cumulative and combined losses are mounting by the month as lending standards are weakened by the week.
In this brave new world of nationalized housing finance replacing the former private capital sources, the solution being sought is to double down with more lax lending standards identical but larger than previous proven failure.

Hong Kong Recalls Gold Reserves: Why No News Coverage?

Dubai Moves Its Gold From London Back Home

The new vaults of DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodity Center) will be home to the gold allocated to the Dubai Gold Securities (DGS) Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). The vault may also become a natural choice for storage of gold reserves by central banks in the regional market, analysts said.

prudentinvestor.blogsp...

First Dubai now Hong Kong. Perhaps just part of the process, if history serves guide, of financial centers migrating to where the money is, the changing domiciles
of capital and savings.

DWS Real Estate Fund II: Expect Shareholders to Succeed with Liquidation at Full NAV

Horejsi bailing out of SRO

www.sec.gov/Archives/e...

Externalities of the Economic Stimulus Program

Cash for coffins are shovel ready projects, the funeral processions also causing traffic delays.

www.usatoday.com/news/...

U.S. National Debt: Deficit Hypocrisy

re: Clinton surplus. Because of convoluted government accounting a deficit can be a surplus and vice versa depending who's counting what and how. A billion seconds is 31 yrs. A trillion seconds is 31,000 yrs. One may as well attempt to grasp light-years or kiloparsecs because these astronomically incomprehensible sums have become unthinkable, farcical and absurd.

How The Federal Reserve Is Monetizing Debt

Richard Werner said...
I believe I am the originator of the phrase 'Quantitative easing'. The original Japanese expression is 'ryoteki kinyu kanwa' or 'ryoteki kanwa' for short. Both are, literally translated, 'quantitative easing'.

wanted to avoid expressions such as the figurative 'printing money' and the common 'expanding the money supply', not only because they would unnecessarily alarm Japanese lay readers, but also because these are traditional monetarist prescriptions, which I argued would not work (as the monetarists argued for an expansion of bank reserves). At the time I was chief economist at Jardine Fleming Securities (Asia) Ltd. and Assistant Professor at Tokyo's Sophia University and known as the BoJ's fiercest critic. The Bank of Japan adopted my expression in 2001 as its official policy. The BoJ used exactly my Japanese phrase, and in its English-language press statement literally translated it.

nihoncassandra.blogspo...

There is a certain anodine perfection to the phrase, quantitative easing, unlike anything else in the entire rather utilitarian financial or economic lexicon. It sounds wonderful, functionally-useful tonic, though certainly not dangerous or hazardous to our well-being. Yet it remains sufficiently innocuous so as to escape scrutiny and with it, the associated public examination that prying eyes bear. It is entirely Madison Avenue rather than inflated Goebbels-like propaganda or overly-wooden Soviet or Pyongyang slogans.

nihoncassandra.blogspo...

The Swiss chose 'forceful relaxing' instead of queasing for their printing announcement, same pleasant, sedative connotations. Mr. Dollar go see our euthanasia specialist Kevorkian in Room 101 and just relax, it won't hurt at all.

The CFTC Is Needlessly Breaking Good Products

Phil and Wendy (Bonnie & Clyde) needed a driver.

Study: Shift Computing to Where Power Is Cheapest

The former aluminum smelters lining the Columbia River and its WPA hydro projects have shut down and now server farms line its banks, MS, Goog, Yahoo etc. Out with the solidified electricity (aluminum), in with primates pounding keyboards by the zillions and still no Shakespeare, the New New Deal.

Iceland has cheap power, some aluminum smelting migrated there.

U.K. Continues to Monetize Debt: This Won't End Well

Richard Werner said...
I believe I am the originator of the phrase 'Quantitative easing'. The original Japanese expression is 'ryoteki kinyu kanwa' or 'ryoteki kanwa' for short. Both are, literally translated, 'quantitative easing'.

wanted to avoid expressions such as the figurative 'printing money' and the common 'expanding the money supply', not only because they would unnecessarily alarm Japanese lay readers, but also because these are traditional monetarist prescriptions, which I argued would not work (as the monetarists argued for an expansion of bank reserves). At the time I was chief economist at Jardine Fleming Securities (Asia) Ltd. and Assistant Professor at Tokyo's Sophia University and known as the BoJ's fiercest critic. The Bank of Japan adopted my expression in 2001 as its official policy. The BoJ used exactly my Japanese phrase, and in its English-language press statement literally translated it.

nihoncassandra.blogspo...

There is a certain anodine perfection to the phrase, quantitative easing, unlike anything else in the entire rather utilitarian financial or economic lexicon. It sounds wonderful, functionally-useful tonic, though certainly not dangerous or hazardous to our well-being. Yet it remains sufficiently innocuous so as to escape scrutiny and with it, the associated public examination that prying eyes bear. It is entirely Madison Avenue rather than inflated Goebbels-like propaganda or overly-wooden Soviet or Pyongyang slogans.

nihoncassandra.blogspo...

The Swiss chose 'forceful relaxing' instead of queasing for their printing announcement, same pleasant, sedative connotations. Go see our euthanasia specialist Kevorkian in Room 101 and just relax, it won't hurt at all.