Moresby

Public sector pensions lost 9% in the first two months of 2009, adding to the 30% they lost in 2008. The losses have left retirement plans about 50% funded. There is a massive national underfunding problem.

Get that money printing machine going, no point trying to make up the short fall by raising tax, we are all broke.

The SEC has announced it will put 5 variations on short-selling rules up for public comment for 60 days. Two are versions of the uptick rule; three are ways to introduce circuitbreakers.

The first rule of any civil service, look busy and generate a lot f hot air; give the impression that you are doing something.
It is to be seem carrying a lot of thick files around that is important, not whether the files are empty.
The more comment you can generate from those 'hot air ballons', the more the political bosses wil be impressed.

You can't make this stuff up: An AP exec threatens an affiliate for posting a video from the official AP YouTube site -- because he didn't know there WAS an AP YouTube site.

Now that he knows, does it means an increase bonus for him?

Faber and Schiff: Inflation Inevitable (So Here's What to Do)

Your are probably right here, and for anyone with credit and are brave, may be get into real estate..... become a landlord or flip those houses when inflation hits.


On Apr 08 09:03 AM epeon wrote:

> Refinance your house immediately. Interest rates are low and, if
> inflation does come along, you pay back with inflated dollars.

Faber and Schiff: Inflation Inevitable (So Here's What to Do)

Forgive me if I show signs of financial ignorance here but -
The Fed - US government
The Treasury - US government
How can taking money from your left pocket an putting it in your right pocket make sense?


On Apr 05 12:46 PM hungrydweller wrote:

> If the only meaningful buyer of treasuries is the Fed I don't see
> how the price goes down. The Fed will not demand a high interest
> rate from the Treasury and will soak up any and all supply if necessary.
>
>
> Although I have a small position in TBT, I like the ag commodities
> and precious metals play better as a hedge against inflation. The
> Fed cannot control those markets.

10 Dangerous Stocks to Avoid

Huge advice to give based on 3 short paragraphs of 'analysis'.....
I am certain those 10 companies can stand on their own records and I sure hope people are going to do their own home work before following the advise here.

Preview from Europe: Earnings Fears Hurt Stocks

Great article, thanks for enclosing the cartoon and the song, loved it; we need some humour to face all those bleak news.
By the way, I wonder if I could apply for a bail out on behalf of my dogs, I have 2 beautiful dogs, one weights 127lbs. he is a big fellow and eats quite a lot; it is not his fault to be such a big built dog.
They looked appealingly with their big eyes at the cashier at Pet Mart but she still ring up the till..... can they be entitled to food stamps?.

The Virtue of Pessimism

Some truth in that, you will have no unpleasant surprises - hopefully and any good news is a bonus.
Applying it in business dealing may be prudent, applying it in life can be a little hard to take for people around.

Listening to the pleas of the the commercial mortgage-backed securities industry, who say the current three-year limit on TALF loans is too short, Fed considers expanding TALF to five-year loans at higher interest rates. One the one hand, the Fed is wary of loosening credit too much; on the other, TALF applications have been weaker than hoped.

Wedged between a rock and a hard place......
I wonder what King Solomon would decide.....
Is there really not other financial instruments there that the Fed can use?

How to Increase Consumption in an Aging Japan: It's the World's Problem

Well thought out article, thanks.
The Economist in its March 28-April 3rd issue has an article 'Mrs Watanabe is tiptoeing back into Japan's stock market' suggest the average housewives in Japan who sits on financial assets of around $15 trillions may be ready to jump back into the market.
As interest rate is 0 while the share yield 2.7%.
However, it seems the bankers are ready to buy yet.

25% of the world's companies, and 40% of American companies, plan to freeze salaries this year.

May be the recession is not so bad if 75% of the companies outside US and 60% of companies inside are giving pay rise, or am I missing something here?

Calling on a Depression-era tactic, a growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money.

Wonderful idea, I better fire up my printer, now how many millions before those inks run out?

A major glitch or an April Fool's Day joke gone badly wrong, online brokerage site Zecco surprised customers with multi-million dollar trading balances. Clients then traded with the money before the joke/glitch was fixed, leading to losses when Zecco panic-sold the purchased stocks. Update: It was a glitch, not a joke.

Did heads rolled or the 'glitcher' got a bonus to sort the 'glitch' out?
Actually this happened to me once, I heart raised when my portfolio total had an extra zero, I was thinking all the things I was going to buy.
Before rushing out shopping, I asked my broker for confirmation, explaining I love to spend some of the money. I never got a call back so swift in my life, it was fun for a few minutes.

"A New Way Forward" is planning protests all over America for April 11 to break up the banks. In its own words, "If it's too big to fail, it's too big to exist."

Is this an April Fool joke that happens to be 10 days late?

Bond trader Andrew Luan quit Deutsche Bank last week after failing to receive a 2008 bonus. Now he's launched a financial meltdown tour, guiding packs of tourists around the epicenter of the collapse and explaining his own role in the crisis.

May be he can find time to write a book as well, it will be interesting to read as I still do not understand how the melt down came about and why it was so swift and the hole so deep.
Kudo to him for doing the tour instead of sitting around moaning and complaining.
The upside to his new job - lots of exercise and fresh air, but beat sitting in the trading office up to 20 hrs a day.