Granberry's Parlor

Anyone know, like, hate Shadow Stats?

http://www.shadowstats.com/

For instance :

Han shot first?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44184348



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2011 03:05AM by El Jeffe.

All of the ratings agencies should be facing criminal charges for their role in the 2007/2008 financial meltdown.

As the piece states - the investigation started well before the recent credit downgrade.

again, it'd be nice if currency was based/backed on something. Or controlled by something other than a private entity with pseudo-(portion of a large)-government oversight.

It is backed by something - credit/debt.

Basing it on a precious metal doesn't link it to anything that has a real value, it just caps the currency to something which can't appreciate on its own. Gold market fluctuations are just as detrimental to the value of a currency as debt market fluctuations.

I don't necessarily agree with the Fed being a private entity, but as far as issuing currency your choices are basically these:

- Government controlled banks
- Private banks print the money with government oversight and direction (what we have now with the Fed)
- Credit Unions

With government-only banks, the process becomes more opaque.

With only public credit unions, you have no central authority, and so you'd end up with multiple currencies.

That's the way that it used to be in the US. You didn't just have to negotiate a price on a deal, you had to factor in the credit-worthiness of the bank that issued the currency.

Franken rant. Spot on, IMHO.

Quote

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Al Franken.

No, they're not. The opinions expressed in that commentary are shared by many, many others.

Franken has been an excellent Senator, IMO.

I don't know if I know enough to make an informed comment on the ramifications of this so I won't (for now), but the article is certainly interesting.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-21/wall-street-aristocracy-got-1-2-trillion-in-fed-s-secret-loans.html

DPBD: Several birds appeared to be harmed in the casting of this one stone, but interesting insight. (Politics, TARP, bailouts, etc)

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/18/how-washington-is-destroying-the-economy/

I don't know if this was already posted, but I found it pretty funny.

All good and well ... but how's he going to FIX IT? :)

Kill the internet, protect the Eagles' IP!

Mojo Nixon was right...

Yep. So, so right.

So, the leaked e-mails 'global warming is a scam' debate has now been concluded. Even FoxNews has a 5 line article about it.

The verdict? No malpractice has been found...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2011 01:01AM by tliet.

Traditionally, I have regarded the relative decline of American power and influence as analogous to the decline of the Roman Empire. Lately, a much more apt model seems to be Louis XVI's France. Either way, the end is going to be messy.

Just curious: can anyone name when the end of a state was not messy? I suppose the transition from the white-only S.A. government could be a sort of example -- but getting there was hella messy.

ddt

Same kind of deal with Ireland. In general, it seems like the Old Regime goes out on bayonets. I just want to know if I have to worry about Visigoths or short Corsicans.

The Brits have nearly perfected the ceremonious transitioning out of many places.