When crooks rule they rule poorly.

Guest Post: Capitalism, Socialism or Fascism? - Naked Capitalism 25 Oct 2009 "Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. They are just different brand names for the same basic type of economy. All three systems allow giant businesses which are friendly to the government to keep enormous private profits but to pass the losses on to the government and ultimately the citizens."

Now that New American Century closed well meaning Fascists can gather here

http://www.aei.org/ American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research this whole non-profit setup to be a propoganda voice for the corporations funding it thing has to be revisited.
Was NAC closed because it provided clear evidence the latter Bush administration had an agenda to invade the Middle East before 9/11? --I wonder.

Think you are getting ahead financially eh?

Try out the BLS inflation calculator and see how that goes....works in either direction. Sometimes it helps doing it both ways to get a feel for inflation's pernicious nibbling away.

I wondered in the 80's why retail borrowing rates didn't go down when the wholesale rates did....

The Largest U.S. Banks Have Repeatedly Gone Bankrupt Due to Wild Speculation, and the Fed Blessed the Speculation and then Helped Cover Up Their Bankruptcies

Volcker's covert rescue of the American banks using secrecy and a high fat spread didn't cost U.S. taxpayers a cent -Koo

The latter statement ignores the fact that American Taxpayers are also bank credit card users and apparently were paying an undisclosed fee in the form of the increased spread to pay for the money center banks losses.

"The increase in liquidity is not available for growth – it is needed to offset losses inside of the banking system."

Leading Economic Indicator Isn't Indicating the Real Recovery  -SeekingAlpha
"My position is that if a recovery were under way (we even have government rebates for first time buyers in play) – this discussion would not be taking place. The increase demand would be clear and obvious" "The economy is not creating jobs." "The surprising data this week was the increase in mass layoffs in August 2009. Because it was believed the worst was behind us..." "Our Great Recession is a wealth and debt driven recession which turned into a enormous world wide recession. Structurally, recovery is dependent on wealth restoration and resolution of credit defaults." " The average Joe is not seeing any green or purple shoots." -- some excerpts

Cue the Kipling: Re Afghanistan

Lessons of history: Spirit of defiance lives on in a land no outsider has tamed  -

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains And the women come out, to cut up what remains Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains And go to your Gawd like a soldier.

Good read.

The Perestroika Deception:Fact or Opportunistic Interpretation?

The Perestroika Deception  -American Thinker

Review of the book by 'Golitsyn was a high-ranking KGB official involved in espionage and counter-espionage who defected to the United States in 1961.'  - The Fatima Network

Explores the notion that the cold war never ended and was in fact a ruse to allow the revolution overthrowing capitalism to go on....

Curiously similar to some of my speculative ravings that the conversion to the Euro was an action plan under a similar ruse...so these guys are nuts I suppose. However, see next post above....

Iran Crux

"It is a certainty to all of our secret services. Iran is working today on a nuclear [weapons] program," Sarkozy told lawmakers from his UMP party on Tuesday, according to Press TV. 
-The Jerusalem Post via The Jawa Report 16 Sep 09

- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was quoted on Thursday as saying he does not view Iran as a threat to the existence of the Jewish state, a view that would seem to depart from Israeli statements of the recent past.
-Reuters via TPM 17 Sep 09 Nodes of term Caspian Sea Zero Hedge Submitted by Keyser Soze 19 Sep 09 

Do these mean the Caspian Sea is now Russia's new lake?- a done deal? -The 'Arctic Sea' melted into the Caspian Sea? Iran already sanctioned before sanctions and more geographically contained?

'Understanding the Securitization of Subprime Mortgage Credit' sr318

A beauty. Alternate titles 'Everything you wanted to know about the 2006 vintage'  'Everybody is Guilty no one's to blame'

click the link for the pdf from New York Fed
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr318.pdf

Table 2 - Who's here now? A gem. Though its rumored Countrywide 'privately' call their new company BOAC.

Who sells the most CHICKENS in the World?

     Brazil does. They sell a lot to China. A recent move in commodities markets a couple of years ago Brazil invested in the latest chicken raising technology (the late comer's advantage) and proceeded to move to the forefront of the chicken biz.Brazilian beef producer to be bigger than Tyson also note in this article at MSNBC the purchase of Pilgrim's Pride also puts JBS in the position to sell chicken meat to the U.S. market.

'JBS said the newly minted JBS-Bertin will be the world's largest meat producer with an annual income of $28.7 billion, just edging out Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods Inc.'

   Gotta love Brazil. - while America (U.S.) sleeps. Then there is their exquisite derivatives exchange...

Britain's own Euro-Mediterranean Partnership

A couple of links pointing in the direction that the EU and Britain know where oil and gas comes from and will partner with anybody therefore. Our (U.S.) friends in Europe!?

France's idea Euro-Mediterranean partnership mostly a dud though one sees Libya back on board recently.

Recent articles due to Lockerbie bomber being sent home to die (he is).

Trade Between Britain and Libya Set to Soar   Business Week, August 24, 2009

Britain's carefully crafted diplomatic relationship with Libya starts to unravel 
Telegraph.co.UK,  08 Sep 2009

UK in Libya - the official website of British Embassy in Libya

BP owns Britain.

Arctic Sea Cargo Vessel...More or Less under U.S. media radar

A story no one will get to the bottom of....

'Russia's Kommersant daily cited a senior Kremlin source. The revelation appeared to support maritime and military experts who have claimed the ship was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles for Iran, that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, found out, and that the Kremlin was given time and space to stop the delivery and cover it up in order to save face.' telegraph.co.uk via SILObreaker

Context: U.S. attempting to talk with Iran re nuclear capabilities, Russia arming Venezuela with tanks and missiles...

It would seem arriving a conclusion as to what the facts are (...is Russia out of control of its weapons systems which are being dealt without the Kremlin's knowledge...or have they been shipping to Iran for a while now despite agreements which preclude shipping S-300 missiles...)in the context would make sense. Yet it won't happen.


Disturbing aspects: Russia sent their navy to get this ship. H. Clinton was reported in Cape Verde around the time the Arctic Sea was 'found' in the vicinity. 'Pirates' were transported to Russia in the largest cargo aircraft.

Afghanistan a sensible approach...

Go to Newsweek here  newsweek

'The Way Out of Afghanistan' - Fareed Zakaria

'We need to buy off our enemies.'

'The focus must shift from nation building to dealmaking. The central problem in Afghanistan is that the Pashtuns, who make up 45 percent of the country and almost 100 percent of the Taliban, do not feel empowered. We need to start talking to them, whether they are nominally Taliban or not. Buying, renting, or bribing Pashtun tribes should become the centerpiece of America's stabilization strategy, as it was Britain's when it ruled Afghanistan.'

 _______________
not only feasible, likely cheaper too