Bettyblue

New Jersey is paying $1M a month to Goldman Sachs (GS) for protection against rising interest rates - on bonds that were redeemed over a year ago. The state's transportation fund entered a swap agreement in 2003 that doesn't expire until 2019, though it replaced the auction-rate bonds last year after that market froze. Says one rulemaker about swaps: "The world’s got to see what stupidity even the sophisticated investors like the transportation fund can get into."

Protection money: Yes, it's the Russian Mafia thing.

The Coming Depression: See It Clearly Through Historical Eyes

@you kidding: Jim Rogers looked at those cycles and started investing into commodities. He made a fortune with it. Obviously you won't.

Jim Rogers on the Economy - Bearish on Stocks and Government

Americans go around lecturing everybody else about capitalism and why it is such a better system compared to everything else on the planet. Except when that system should apply to them as well. Then suddenly they want the Chinese to pay the bill.

To all those who say he is a jerk: Why don't you call Wall Street bankers and the politicians who were paid by them jerks? Get real and down your high American horse. This pseudo-patriotic gibberish is plain immature.

Jim Rogers on the Economy - Bearish on Stocks and Government

Americans go around lecturing everybody else about capitalism and why it is such a better system compared to everything else on the planet. Except when that system should apply to them as well. Then suddenly they want the Chinese to pay the bill.

To all those who say he is a jerk: Why don't you call Wall Street bankers and the politicians who were paid by them jerks? Get real and down your high American horse.

Thrown Overboard - Fast Money Recap (10/3/08)

Amen.

The Die Is Cast

Socialism cannot compete:

It appears you believe the official statistics. Those statistics are heavily manipulated.

Bailout Bill Passes; What Happens Now?

To American in Europe:
Well, I go to Europe anytime. What do I get from living in Switzerland and paying about the same amounts of tax as in the US? Good social security (where "security" is not meant as a joke), free education that is even high quality, public transport that works, an efficient government, high salaries, health care for everybody, and yes, a political system that is as close to democracy as it can get.
Maybe you should travel more and not look at the world just in white (we Americans) and black (those socialists). But then, people in the US seems to get brainwashed at an early stage. And I guess the American Enterprise Institute did not forecast that the US at the end of the crisis is going to be owned by trusts from China, Singapore and the Middle East. Kind of ironic when one thinks that was thanks to Bush/Cheney.

Hedge Funds Eat Their Young

www.inveztor.nl/viewim...

Patriot Coal: Death Rattle or New Birth?

Who knows. PCX may soon become a target for the Chinese since it is so cheap now and the dollar is going down. Also, Saudi Arabia is building a number of coal-fired plants to cover their energy requirement. So, I think the price of these companies is going to change dramatically through mergers in the future. Now is a great time to buy.

Offshore Drilling Ban Lifted: Oil Stocks to Fall?

If you believe in peak oil, it would be stupid to go drilling. Better to use the oil from the Middle East now, actually invest in some alternative energy, which, by the way would generate new jobs and prevent you guys from being destroyed by technologically more advanced foreign competitors (see US car industry). Once the oil price is high sometimes in the not so distance future, you might actually profit from that oil. But then again, Americans seem to be unable to think longer than 4 years into the future.