#1
...A friend of mine was standing on shore when the CVN USS George Washington sailed into New York after the 9/11 attacks - he says to this day he's never heard cheering as loud and as long as he did when that carrier arrived. Guessing that the same thing happened in Galveston.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/22/2008 9:50 Comments ||
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#2
Thanks Mike. I had never heard that before. I know that had I been there I would have felt the same way. Too bad the media never tells these great stories.
Saudis are lining up in droves for a ticket to outerspace, topping the list of passengers who have booked a ticket on board the first commercial spaceship.
With tickets costing $200,000 (750,000 Riyals), Virgin Galactic, the first commercial spaceline, reported that Saudis top the list of space travelers from the Middle East. These space tourists will be among the first 1000 humans to have left the planet.
Saudis are among the most interested in space tourism and top the list of soon-to-be astronaut tourists from the Middle East, followed by Kuwait and U.A.E. according to Virgin Galactic's marketing manager, Sharon Garrett.
Saudi travel agencies have also expressed their desire to create Saudi-based divisions devoted to space travel, she said.
More than 65,000 passengers from 125 countries have already registered and paid the $20,000 deposit, according to the company. The $200,000 price tag gets space tourists a two-and-a-half hour flight at least 100 km above earth (68 miles) and includes three days of pre-flight training. Each flight will carry 6 passengers, who will be able to get out of their seats and experience weightlessness, and two pilots.
Virgin Galactic, which will launch its service in January, wants to give people -- not just professional astronauts -- the chance to explore outer space. The company's outlook is that in the future space travel with be as common as normal air flights.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2008 00:00 ||
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#4
Coming soon to a space station near you perhaps, "Wahhabi's in Space". How are daily prayers going to be handled I wonder. On commercial airliners, space can be a bit cramped. I wonder if Virgin Atlantic has given thought to this possible problem.
#5
Read the same story TW, as I remember the whole idea was population control, the ships were NOT expected to make the journey, but just shoddy enough to lift clear of the atmosphere before failing.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/22/2008 13:12 Comments ||
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#6
Can it be a one-way trip? For all of 'em?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/22/2008 13:19 Comments ||
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#7
I think you are talking about C.M. Kornbluth's The Marching Morons. Nothings better than a trip to Venus, once people get there they don't want to come back!
Posted by: bruce ||
09/22/2008 17:53 Comments ||
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#8
I also recall the "Leader" was stuffed into the last "Heavy lifter", that solved a whole slew of problems right there No tial, just justice.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/22/2008 18:22 Comments ||
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#9
If they ever get to enjoy an actual orbital flight they'll have to put there prayer mats on a lazy susan.
Posted by: Bob ||
09/22/2008 19:20 Comments ||
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#10
as I remember the whole idea was population control
Population reduction and chopping off the left half of the bell curve. The ad man was indeed allowed to make the trip... and he was excited until the ship started to take off, as I recall -- the liar who fell for his own lies. The Marching Morons sounds right. I do love Rantburgers!
Venezuela will buy combat and training aircraft from China this week, leftist Venezuela President Hugo Chavez confirmed in a television broadcast Sunday. The purchases will be made as part of a six-country tour, Chavez said in his broadcast of the "Alo President" television program from the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, hours before leaving on a "strategic interest" trip to Cuba, China, Russia, Belarus, France and Portugal.
Chavez, a staunch foe of the US government, confirmed that during his stay in Beijing he will purchase 24 K-8 aircraft "to train fighter pilots." The planes could be part of Venezuela's air force by next year.
The president also confirmed that while in Beijing he will arrange the construction of tanker vessels in Chinese shipyards, with the aim of installing a shipyard in Venezuela in the near future. These plans come in addition to the construction of a refinery in China to process oil from Venezuela, and plans to create a bi-national company to install a refinery in the remote oil-rich Orinoco region in eastern Venezuela.
Caracas provides 500,000 barrels of oil per day to Beijing, a trade which is expected to increase to one million barrels a day by 2012.
Chavez, who describes China as a strategic ally, will move forward with a six billion dollar bilateral investment fund. China will contribute four billion dollars to the fund, and Venezuela two billion dollars. Caracas will use the fund for "socialist productive projects."
Just taking care of his friends ...
"Before we had to go to Washington to beg for money. Not now. Now we negotiate with the Chinese," said Chavez. Chavez announced that during his visit to Beijing the investment fund will benefit from an additional four billion dollars for further "development" in Venezuela.
After China, Chavez will head to Moscow. Chavez's trip is expected to last until September 27.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
and some cookies.....oh and don't forget the milk...lots of milk
#3
A fighter plane is only as good as the pilot. I have no faith the Venezualan pilots would put up any kind of fight against the US. I wonder if we might find Venezuelan pilots speaking Russian for the next decade or so.
#4
If the planes aren't any better than the baby milk, dog food, autos, etc, etc., the Hugos in trouble. Let's not tell him and let him find out himself.
#6
The J-* can also be used as a ground-attack/COIN aircraft. As far as Venezuelan pilots - no doubt a sizable cadre of trainers comes along with the support package.
#7
Interesting that he bought this plane from China instead of buying more AMX's (a similar type of plane, can be used for light attack or training) from Brazil (you know, leftist government, right next door, etc)?
A Russian navy squadron set off for Venezuela on Monday, an official said, in a deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere unprecedented since the Cold War. The Kremlin has moved to intensify contacts with Venezuela, Cuba and other Latin American nations amid increasingly strained relations with Washington after last month's war between Russia and Georgia.
During the Cold War, Latin America became an ideological battleground between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser accompanied by three other ships sailed from the Northern Fleet's base of Severomorsk on Monday. The ships will cover about 15,000 nautical miles to conduct joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy, he told The Associated Press.
Dygalo refused to comment on Monday's report in the daily Izvestia claiming that the ships were to make a stopover in the Syrian port of Tartus on their way to Venezuela. Russian officials said the Soviet-era base there was being renovated to serve as a foothold for a permanent Russian navy presence in the Mediterranean.
The deployment follows a weeklong visit to Venezuela by a pair of Russian strategic bombers and comes as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- an unbridled critic of U.S. foreign policy who has close ties with Moscow -- plans to visit Moscow this week. It will be Chavez's second trip to Russia in about two months.
The intensifying contacts with Venezuela appear to be a response to the U.S. dispatch of warships to deliver aid to Georgia, which angered the Kremlin. "It's a show of the Kremlin irritation about the U.S. deployment to Georgia. It's a signal to the United States: You have broken into our zone of influence, and we will show you that we can enter yours," said independent military analyst Alexander Golts.
Golts added that the small Russian squadron could not pose any threat to the United States. "Without protection from the air, it makes a sitting duck," Golts said. "It's ridiculous to even talk about the Russian ships providing a counterweight to the U.S. Navy."
Chavez said in an interview with Russian television broadcast Sunday that Latin America needs a strong friendship with Russia to help reduce U.S. influence and keep peace in the region. In separate comments on his Sunday TV and radio program, he joked that he will be making his international tour to Russia and other countries this week aboard the "super-bombers that Medvedev loaned me," a reference to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "Gentlemen of the CIA, to be clear, I'm joking," Chavez said with a laugh.
He repeatedly has warned that the U.S. Navy poses a threat to Venezuela.
Russia has signed weapons contracts worth more than $4 billion with Venezuela since 2005 to supply fighter jets, helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. Chavez's government is in talks to buy Russian submarines, air defense systems and armored vehicles and more Sukhoi fighter jets. Russian and Venezuelan leaders also have talked about boosting cooperation in the energy sphere to create what Chavez has called "a new strategic energy alliance."
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who visited Venezuela last week, announced that five of Russia's biggest oil companies are looking to form a consortium to increase Latin American operations and to build a $6.5 billion refinery to process Venezuela's tarlike heavy crude. Such an investment could help Venezuela, the world's ninth-biggest oil producer, wean itself from the U.S. refineries on which it depends to process much of its crude.
Russia's Gazprom state gas monopoly also said in a statement Monday that its delegation that visited Venezuela last week signed a tentative agreement to tap its offshore gas fields.
Sechin warned the United States that it should not view Latin America as its own backyard. "It would be wrong to talk about one nation having exclusive rights to this zone," he said in an interview broadcast
#6
Sechin warned the United States that it should not view Latin America as its own backyard. "It would be wrong to talk about one nation having exclusive rights to this zone,"
In other words, Russia gets to have military and political control over its near abroad, but the U.S. does not. Oh, well. No doubt it will be good experience for the sailors, and it will be nice for them to feel welcome when they land.
#7
Sechin warned the United States that it should not view Latin America as its own backyard. "It would be wrong to talk about one nation having exclusive rights to this zone," he said in an interview broadcast
Sechin must not be familiar with the MONROE DOCTRINE.
#8
Dygalo refused to comment on Monday's report in the daily Izvestia claiming that the ships were to make a stopover in the Syrian port of Tartus on their way to Venezuela. Russian officials said the Soviet-era base there was being renovated to serve as a foothold for a permanent Russian navy presence in the Mediterranean.
What the heck do Russian sailors do on shore leave in Syria?
#11
Hugo, Hugo, Hugo - we're way down the list of your problems. For starters, look closer, and behind you.
As for the soviet cruise, does the soviet navy even have tropical gear? Is there a Milo Minderbinder in the fleet who's got a big consignment of Hawaiian Tropic to unload?
#12
I forgot to add earlier that back in the olden times the CIA made a big deal about the Russian aircraft carrier ?Kudnestoff? trasiting from the northern fleet to the Med. It got about 100 miles out before it had to turn back. I think the Indians bought the leftovers.
An illegal migrant boat carrying 83 Egyptians headed for Europe has gone missing off the coast of Greece after leaving Egypt three days ago, Egypt's foreign ministry said on Sunday. "The foreign ministry has learned that the boat left Damietta (on the northern coast) three days ago and that communications were cut off, and there has been nothing to suggest it reached the Greek shore," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said it had been alerted to the disappearance by Egypt's embassy in Athens, and that Egypt was coordinating with the Greek rescue authorities to locate the vessel. Greek authorities said they were unaware of any such incident off the Greek coast.
Egyptian authorities have warned citizens of the dangers of trying to cross the Mediterranean illegally, saying many of the boats are overcrowded and unseaworthy. At least 21 Egyptians drowned in two incidents off the Italian coast in October 2007.
But people are willing to pay around $2,000 for the chance of a new life, and authorities in Egypt and other Mediterranean countries have had to rescue survivors or locate the bodies of illegal migrants after several failed attempts.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2008 00:00 ||
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German police said tens of thousands of Cologne residents took to the streets Saturday to protest an "anti-Islamization" conference of European far-right leaders.
Carrying banners saying: "We are Cologne -- Get rid of the Nazis!" protesters gathered outside the city's cathedral to demonstrate against the congress organized by the local far-right group Pro-Koeln (For Cologne).
Pro-Koeln began two days of seminars Friday during which speakers denounced an influx of Muslims to Germany and the construction of one of Europe's largest mosques in the city.
Earlier Saturday, police banned a rally organized by far-right adherents in Cologne just as it was about to begin, following clashes with thousands of opponents.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Roughly 1/2 of Cologne population is now Muslim. They are about to erect one of the largest mosks (and arms storage facilities) on the Euorpean continent. Who mught the anti-islamo protestors have been ? They apparently violently attacked these protestors, who were native Germans, and who did the cops suppress ? You guessed it.
Posted by: ed ||
09/22/2008 11:16 Comments ||
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#3
The Muslims are an interesting group. They are savy enough to use our systems and prejudices to advance their own agenda but not savy enough to shut up and breed and win outright without warning.
If it ever gets to a shooting war they also have the disadvantage that they tend to congregate to known locations for Friday Sermons.
#4
"We are Cologne -- Get rid of the Nazis!" Gotta love it when idiots show their political naivete. islamofascist supremacists run neck and neck for first billing with nazis on the political spectrum - from the LEFT.
#5
Whoops, I stand corrected, Ed. I was thinking total population around 360,000. Mebbe that's what it was some 38 years ago, the only time I visited. But, that's worse. That means the Muzz start their takeover moves and beligerence once they exceed 10% of the population. At 12%, they ought to be squashed like a bug on a sidewalk and nothing more be said.
#3
Up here in Canada too many people still believe in the cradle-to-grave nanny state and that the evil conservatives have a 'hidden agenda'. The Conservatives are ahead in the polls but they still have only about 40% support. The remaining 60% is split between the 4 socialist parties, the most popular of them being the Liberals. The main reason why the Conservatives are ahead of the Liberals (the 'natural governing party') is that the Liberal leader is a complete wanker. However in the system we have here, one can still win the majority of the seats in the Parliment with less than 50% of the popular vote. Typically you need 40% or better to do so.
WASHINGTON Throw the flag against: Barack Obama. Call: Unsportsmanlike conduct. What happened: Obama played the fear card, telling the elderly they'd have lost their Social Security last week had John McCain been president.
"If my opponent had his way, the millions of Floridians who rely on it would've had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week," Obama said.
"How do you think that would have made folks feel? Millions would've watched as the market tumbled and their nest egg disappeared before their eyes."
Obama rolled out the incendiary comments in Florida, home to a large retiree population and a crucial battleground state in the election. He trails McCain by nearly 3 percentage points there in an average of recent polls compiled by www.realclearpolitics.com.
Why that's wrong: McCain doesn't propose that the elderly divert their Social Security money into the stock market. He's said that he wants to allow younger workers not current retirees or those close to it to divert some of their Social Security taxes into privately managed accounts that could include stocks. He's said that he'd want a plan "along the lines of what President Bush proposed."
Bush said flat out in 2005 that current retirees and those close to retirement wouldn't be included and their benefits would remain exactly as they were now. Only those born after 1950 55 or younger at the time of Bush's proposal would have the option of diverting some of their taxes into private accounts.
In an interview Sunday with CNBC, McCain repeated his support for voluntary private accounts, but said again that they'd be available only to younger people.
"I still believe that young Americans ought to . . . be able to, in a voluntary fashion . . . put some of their money into accounts with their name on it," he said.
Penalty: 15 yards for using a financial crisis to scare the elderly.
Just got off the phone with Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney, who was able to confim that "investigatory activity took place in Knoxville over the weekend."
In keeping with policy of not commenting on active investigations, Ms. Sweeney said she "can't be more specific than that." However, she did say that the Department has had several media inquiries. "It's a pretty big news story," she said. No further official Department comment is to be expected unless and until someone is charged in the case.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/22/2008 13:03 ||
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John McCains campaign released one of its hardest hitting ads in this election on Monday, aiming to ratchet up the guilt-by-association game by linking Barack Obama to convicted felon Tony Rezko.
The new spot, Chicago Machine also connects the Democratic presidential nominee to three prominent Illinois politicians former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, Illinois state Senate President Emil Jones and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich all of whom have faced criticism for questionable ties to businessmen and political power brokers.
The ad claims Obama is born of the corrupt Chicago political machine, before calling Jones his political godfather and Rezko his money man.
Jones and Blagojevich are under an ethics cloud, says the McCain camp, relating to investigations into nepotism and favors to political donors by the two pols. As for Daley, the ad suggests cronysim is at play for the former Fannie Mae lobbyist and brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.
The ad is to be released nationally. The Obama campaign responded by saying the Democrat is the true maverick when it comes to ethics reform.
Its no coincidence that on the very day newspapers reported that John McCains campaign manager was paid $2 million to lobby against tighter regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the McCain campaign would launch this false, gratuitous attack, said spokesman Bill Burton.
Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate as an independent Democrat. He took on the Chicago Democratic organization in a primary to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. And in both Illinois and Washington, he has challenged the Old Guard for landmark ethics reforms, Burton said.
McCain campaign advisers say that they decided to make the ad in response to the association game played by Obamas campaign, which most recently issued a Spanish language ad linking McCain to Rush Limbaugh on the topic of immigration.
The first ad to hit Obama for would-be shady associations came out last week. It tied the Illinois senator to former Fannie Mae executives Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson.
Still untouched by the McCain camp are Obamas connections to Weather Underground co-founder Bill Ayers and Obamas controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama called Wright a legitimate political issue back in the spring. McCain advisers say those names and associations will not be off-limits and could come up in the last 43 days before the Nov. 4 election.
#1
These guilty-by-association ads never seem to work for me. It won't work for McCain/Bush or Obama/Rezko. What's most important is who says the right thing most of the time without making up this weak gossip and rumors.
Rantburgers have contributed links to this. Rusty Shackleford at My Pet Jawa and his posse did the sleuthing on this. Ace of Spades and Michelle Malkin are all over it. Go read 'em for additional comments, but read this linked work at My Pet Jawa first.
#1
Update here. More circumstantial evidence that the Obama campaign was behind it.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/22/2008 9:56 Comments ||
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#2
Axelrod at his best. What a slumdog. Every election he's involved in has turned into a slime-your-opponent contest. Nothing new. Big pal of yer fav Mayor...Daley.
#3
And the walls come tumblbling down... Thanks, Rusty.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/22/2008 10:38 Comments ||
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#4
Great detective work!
VIOLATION OF FEC RULES?
Federal election law requires that a disclaimer from those paying for campaign ads, "must appear on any "electioneering communication" and on any public communication by any person that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate or solicits funds in connection with a federal election." Even when the ad is not paid for nor coordinated with the candidates election committee, "the disclaimer notice must identify who paid for the message, state that it was not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee and list the permanent street address, telephone number or World Wide Web address of the person who paid for the communication."
#5
Unless the Main Stream Media carries this info it will not get out to the average American and the meme the Dems have been working on for a month (That McCain ran the dirtiest campaign in history and Obama ran a squeeky clean one) will become the conventional wisdom no matter how distorted.
The Media is almost broken but they still are the guardians of the information for a large swath of political johnny-come-lately. Of course if McCain asks Obama directly in a debate we might get the word out as well. hint, hint.
#6
Daily Kos is the blog that really launched Obama's successful campaign. DailyKos diarist "geekesque" tells his audience of a plan to get this and other smear videos to go viral. And I mean just that: he admits that the video and others like it make false claims, but that the ends justify the means. It's pretty long but I'll post the whole thing just to show I'm not taking this out of context:
Viral attacks are where it's at in 2008. Emails, blogs, online news sources. Content flows upstream in today's media environment.
We can be the gun.
Indeed, if Barack can't or won't do the dirty work, then we have to do it for him. No excuses. No more hand-wringing.
Let's get to work.
How, you ask? Simple.
It's all about finding really damaging stuff--news stories, YouTubes, informative blog posts. And then circulating those with the intent of having them work their way up the media stream. Email it to your friends. Email it to any journalists whose email you have. Post it in diaries or blog comments.
Example, here is a devastating YouTube on Sarah Strangelove:
[The Palin smear video was inserted here]
You should email this to ten people. Or ten bloggers. Or both. Spread it far, spread it wide.
If you would like to do this on a regular basis, I've set up a couple of Google Groups to help out with that process.
One group, [group's name] is a gathering point for potentially damaging stories about the enemy. Folks who belong to that one can post whatever stories they find anonymously. Just post a link or create a page, and others will take it from there.
That brings me to the other group, [other group's name]. This group is the actual action group--the one where the most damaging stories collected by folks at the VMP. It's real simple. You log in or get an email alert, you copy and paste, and you email it to various folks--either friends and family or content-based websites like blogs and online news sources.
I am more than happy to add folks to either group or both. Just email me at:
[redacted e-mail]
and let me know which you'd like to join.
Let's go out and expose these bastards for what they are.
To the barricades.
Note: If you don't believe in scorched-earth politics, no one is forcing you to join this effort, of course. We all contribute in our own way.
#7
So....just for the hell of it, let's assume this all pans out to be 100% true. What would the consequences be for Obama? Is there a possible fine, jail time, burning at the stake, what?
#8
The Klan has return to its roots. Nightriders of intolerance and hate to put down anyone who dare challenges the power of the 'MAN'. The same self rationalizing gutter bigotry, just a different target. The same nod and wink from their establishment, cause it keeps them in the seats they lust for. What's the next level above 'get in their face'? Cause we all know what the Klan did next to those who didn't go along.
#13
The McCain camp could line up Barry for a knockout blow over this. This is a direct violation of McCain/Finegold and if they play their cards right they could have Barry scrambling for an entirely new PR firm at best...
Oh hell, who am I kidding? The McCain camp won't do or say a thing about this.
I emailed every TV station and newspaper in town anyway. Can't say I didn't do my part.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/22/2008 18:01 Comments ||
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Millions of voters in US states crucial to this fall's presidential election received DVD copies of a controversial documentary film as advertising inserts in their morning newspapers last week, with more sent out over the weekend. The 2006 film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," which has been accused by critics of encouraging Islamophobia, was reportedly delivered, or slated for delivery this weekend, into tens of millions of households in states such as Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Missouri and other "swing states" that don't vote consistently for either party and usually decide elections.
Republicans and their candidate, Senator John McCain, have made battling the threat posed by radical Islamists a central platform of their campaign, while presenting their Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, as being weak on the issue. Obama has also fought off persistent smear campaigns, particularly aimed at Jewish voters, that he is a "closet Muslim."
Gregory Ross, the spokesman for the Clarion group, which produced and is distributing the DVD, told the Harrisburg Patriot-News that the movie was being delivered to 28 million homes throughout the month of September and that the intention was not to sway voters to either candidate.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I got a copy in my local paper on 16 Sept at the local library. I asked the librarian if I could borrow the DVD, and she gave it to me instead, saying they had no way to catalog newspaper inserts. I'm a bit surprised it took so long for news articles about the DVD distribution to appear.
#2
I was walking out of Park's Seafood in Ormond Beach on Saturday evening. I heard a plane go over very low and one nearly hit my car in the parking lot.
Theo Van Gogh was the Dutch co producer of "Submission" and was murdered. The other co producer being Ayaan Hirsi Ali. This was in 2004. It emphasizes the violence against women that is inspired by Islam.
In 2008, the movie Fitna was produced by Dutch elected official Geert Wilders. It shows how specific verses in the Koran inspire specific forms of violence.
Obsession is a 2006 film in documentary style with lots of interviews of counter terrorism officials and also ex Muslims which goes into the methods and strategies of Jihad.
#6
Gentlemen, you're correct about my confusion. Clearly it was the -ssion ending that had me confused, along with the closeness of the Dutch and German languages. (And skipping my morning nap. I don't think at all well without the extra sleep.) Thank you very much.
#7
You callin' me a shadowy, right wing Zionist? That's a Federalist, Christian, armed to the teeth, shadowy, far Right Wing Zionist to you libtardcommiecrat mfer!
Like I said, companies that haven't made losing bets with too much money (i.e. they're not hedge funds in drag) have nothing to worry about from short sellers.
Okay, someone left this in comments but we can't find anything like it online (we also called DHIL for comment but apparently the guy who answers questions on the matter is out to lunch 'til 2:30).
"NASDAQ issuer Diamond Hill Investment Group, Inc. (DHIL) has voluntarily opted-out of NASDAQ's list of Covered Securities under the SEC's Emergency Order, effective today, September 22, 2008. Diamond Hill Investment Group, Inc. will not be subject to the restrictions of the Emergency Order."
If this is true, GOOD FOR DIAMOND. While GS et. al. apparently need the protection of Christopher Cox, you are sending a message that the big bad short sellers can huff and puff all they want, but unlike Lehman's house of straw and Bear's trailer park of hemp, your house of bricks ain't coming down.
#1
The one sure way to prevent financial stocks from going down is to ban selling. It's possible that the best minds at the SEC are working on this as I type this.
#2
ZF, I believe the Feds are looking for breathing room until liquidity can be restored. By limiting short selling and rapid price declines, stocks will still have some value that they can use to borrow working capital until some confidence in the capital market can be restored.
Posted by: ed ||
09/22/2008 17:10 Comments ||
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#3
By limiting short selling and rapid price declines, stocks will still have some value that they can use to borrow working capital until some confidence in the capital market can be restored.
One of the big reasons for a public stock listing is to get working capital and money for expansion. These companies are publicly listed. They have gotten their pound of flesh from stockholders. It's practically criminal that they don't have any working capital on hand. If these companies need to borrow money just to stay afloat, they've made too many bad bets with too much borrowed money, and deserve to fail.
#4
Companies don't use equity to fund ongoing operations. Even if they have lots of money in the bank, they still borrow short term to meet operating expenses.
Posted by: ed ||
09/22/2008 17:53 Comments ||
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#5
Companies don't use equity to fund ongoing operations. Even if they have lots of money in the bank, they still borrow short term to meet operating expenses.
They don't issue new stock to fund ongoing operations. But some of the cash from their previous stock issues ought to have been on hand as a buffer in cash of a temporary hiccup. If they can't generate sufficient cash from operations to pay for day-to-day expenses, they ought to be in liquidation.
#6
For rantburgers who know nothing about finance, for a company, cash from operations can be explained in this way - if you were given - free and clear - the company tomorrow, with its payroll, assets, and so on, would more cash come in than go out? If this company can't make payroll without borrowing money, it shouldn't be in business.
Note that companies in technology don't borrow money to make payroll; banks don't generally lend to them, because nobody knows if they'll ever make a buck. What they do is issue lottery tickets in the form of stock.
#7
They don't issue new stock to fund ongoing operations.
Wrong, Ford just did exactly that, selling 500 million bucks (Around 125 Million new shares)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/22/2008 18:30 Comments ||
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#8
They don't issue new stock to fund ongoing operations.
Wrong, Ford just did exactly that, selling 500 million bucks (Around 125 Million new shares)
Well, that just proves my point - Ford is a basket case, along with Chrysler and GM. They just asked for $50b from the federal government. And their stock prices (and yields for Cerberus's debt) reflect this. The right thing to do would be to grind the unions to powder by declaring bankruptcy and wiping out the union contracts, so that in the long term, they can survive against foreign competition. Instead, they're asking Uncle Sam for a handout.
And you know what? If we're gonna give handouts, I prefer to give them to the Big 3. They are the repository of a lot of manufacturing technology. In the long run, we can do without the specific banks and brokerages that might go under without a bailout plan. But the Big 3 are the last of the Mohicans. If they go under we will have lost access to an important set of manufacturing skills. This country will never have a shortage of banks and bankers. Car makers are a different story.
#9
It's practically criminal that they don't have any working capital on hand. If these companies need to borrow money just to stay afloat, they've made too many bad bets with too much borrowed money, and deserve to fail.
Shareholders demand the most return possible on quarterly financials. Any corporation that kept major amounts of cash on hand would have a lower ROE and ROA than one that stayed cash lean by investing cash in a variety of instruments, usually money market funds and short term CDs, and then in option positions related to their industry, etc.
B-school 101A. But don't blame it on the MBAs - blame it on investors (at the big houses and Mr. I'm Getting Rich By Day Trading In My Free Time From My PC) for demanding very short profit horizons instead of investing for the longer run.
When I was an operating executive that investor mindset drove me crazy.
#10
B-school 101A. But don't blame it on the MBAs - blame it on investors (at the big houses and Mr. I'm Getting Rich By Day Trading In My Free Time From My PC) for demanding very short profit horizons instead of investing for the longer run.
This is why these types of companies need to be liquidated. This would wipe out the stock holdings of this class of investors. Rescuing these companies with taxpayer bailouts handouts would simply encourage investors to take greater risks, knowing that the taxpayer will bail them out. Bottom line - investors and company management need to learn the meaning of prudence, which means keeping corporate debt ratios within safe limits.
#12
investors and company management need to learn the meaning of prudence
The only way to teach this lesson is to let their investments tank. But this would tank everybody else's investments as well. And the cost would be greater than the cost to bail them out. So we will bail them out and no lessons will be learned. Like busting up concentrations so no one is too big to fail.
#13
The only way to teach this lesson is to let their investments tank. But this would tank everybody else's investments as well. And the cost would be greater than the cost to bail them out. So we will bail them out and no lessons will be learned. Like busting up concentrations so no one is too big to fail.
We let the Nasdaq tank from 5000 to almost 1000 not too long ago. We seem to have made out OK. The Japanese organized bailout after bailout. They've been stuck in a zero-growth time warp for 20 years. The cost of bailouts is no growth. We pay off the enablers only at the expense of everyone else.
#14
RNJ: They don't issue new stock to fund ongoing operations.
Wrong, Ford just did exactly that, selling 500 million bucks (Around 125 Million new shares)
In 2000, management handed out $5 in special dividends and bought back $5b in stock priced at $25. My feeling is that that is $10b they could use today. Some managements have no concept of saving for a rainy day, even in industries that live by the product cycle. This is why Ford suddenly had to issue stock at $5 that they had previously bought back for $25.
#15
If businesses have to make dumb investments that prevent them from wisely holding their own operating capital, then this item is a perfect opportunity for regulation. With an enforced regulation, the playing field would be even and cheaters would pay big enough fines to make cheating unprofitable. Just like environmental or safety regulations.
Now with that said, why is it better for a firm to hold their operating capital?
#16
Now with that said, why is it better for a firm to hold their operating capital?
Here's the analogy - why do you keep money aside for rent and groceries every month? Why not max out your margin brokerage account with investments and rack up charges on your credit card to pay for day-to-day expenses? Because you might not be able to service your debt due to job loss, your credit line might get canceled, your car might need fixing in a way that more than maxes out your credit line or the market might crash just as you need money for some major expense. This is why having some cash for emergencies is so important - nobody knows what tomorrow will bring.
#17
Alternatively though, they could invest that cash in their business, which grows the company and economy and pays a better return than the market or the company would dissolve, and then borrow at market rates for operating funds.
Even a small amount more growth compounded over time provides a competitive advantage.
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats began to set their own terms on Sunday for a plan to rescue the nation's financial institutions, including greater legislative oversight of the Treasury Department, more direct assistance for homeowners and limits on the pay of top executives whose firms seek help.
The Democrats' demands came as Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. blanketed the Sunday talk shows to promote the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout package, emphasizing that it was needed not just for Wall Street, but for all Americans. He urged Congress to move swiftly to approve a "clean" rescue plan without tacking on extra programs. "I hate the fact that we have to do it, but it's better than the alternative," Mr. Paulson said on "Fox News Sunday."
The Bush administration proposal could be the largest government bailout of private industry in the nation's history, and it calls for nearly unfettered powers to the Treasury secretary. There is intense pressure to pass a rescue measure quickly because the markets remain jittery.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
as Democrats pushed for oversight authority of the bailout program.
Mules, 40 acres, reparations, all credited to the Obamessiah, Pelooosi, Harry Reid? They simply cannot let any type of salvation take place during a "W" administration.
#6
We need a Special Prosecutor to expose and indict the democrats who have contributed to this clusterphuck mortgage situation. That $700,000,000.00 is your money, don't let go without kicking ass a plenty. Demand full accounting, or surrender to corruption.
This scam started by Slick Willy Clinton, and enhanced by Dodd, Obama, Kerry, Barney Frank and company. Let's roll !
#7
I have no problem with some oversight -- nice to see the Dhimmis finally agree that oversight is needed after years of killing the calls for oversight of Fannie and Freddie. In return for more oversight, not a single earmark. Not. One.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2008 9:26 Comments ||
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#8
From what I can gather, Senator John Kerry (or at any rate his charming wife) and Representative Nancy Pelosi lost pots of money when Fannie and Freddie fell of the cliff.
I nominate Rudy Giuliani to set it up! We need to shut down operations like this CARPETBAGGER! who have been making housing loans to the unqualified for years and immediately pawning them off to Freddie and Fannie.
#10
Reed wants Treasury to speculate in firms under temporary regulation with *warrants*? Yeah, that'll end well.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/22/2008 10:56 Comments ||
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#11
Pig Men Lobbyists moving in
"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it...investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees." -- These are the same firms that earned millions of $ originating these bad assets. Nice work if you can get it.
You're setting the wolves who've been eating your sheep to be your sheepdogs if you let the dems get anywhere near this cash, it sticks to their hands FIRST, then what's left MIGHT go where needed. (But don't count on it)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/22/2008 13:26 Comments ||
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#13
Still we need _some_ oversight. Or at least make this very, very, transparent. No 'secret funds' or 'An undisclosed congressman asked for 45M for Hostile Takeover Bank in bumcluck Iowa'...
Unfortunately I fear that, while we need this now, the Democrats in congress won't be able to decide which pork, earmarks, and outright giveaways to include in this before its too late.
Its a case of so-much pork to choose from.... so little time...
#16
This two-year plan would be risky even if you trusted Paulson to do the right thing (which I don't). The fact is - in four months, a Democratic presidency might be in charge of this thing. Why would we give them a blank check over $700b?
#17
Think of the "Fox in the henhouse," "The inmates in charge of the asylum" and the donks in charge of the checkbook. I don't see much of a chance at a break for the American people anytime soon unless McCain get elected. Even at that I would anticipate more of the same--an obstructionist Congress at every turn and partisan politics ratcheted up a few more notches.
#19
The following is why the bailout must not go forward - while we're allocating dollars to the bailout, Democrats have insisted on the continual addition of new items to the books that will require future bailouts. From the Journal:
Fan and Fred's patrons on Capitol Hill didn't care about the risks inherent in their combined trillion-dollar-plus mortgage portfolios, so long as they helped meet political goals on housing. Even after taxpayers have had to pick up a bailout tab that may grow as large as $200 billion, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank still won't back a reduction in their mortgage portfolios." In the Journal's Political Diary, Holman Jenkins Jr. adds, "[Frank's] House Finance committee quietly voted out a reversal of a recent mortgage reform. The latest bill would again require the Federal Housing Administration to allow seller financed downpayments which even the FHA calls an engine of fraud.
#20
While we can blame Paulson, a Bushite, or even Phil Gram, the Republican instigating part of the legislation that led to it, it isn't addressing the problem. Many consider the Fed Reserve Chairman to be the most powerful person in the US, as well as the world, as they determine monetary policy yet are unelected and without oversight. The Depression era banking laws separating the investment banks were repealed by Allan Greenspan(wife is Andrea Mitchell, of oppositional NBC infamy) during the Clinton years. Paul Volcker, former Fed chief, was at the helm of the UN when Oil-for-Food was set-up, yet got to conduct the investigation into it, absolving himself from any responsibility. The UNDP's investment banks have even been traced to financing the Nork's nuclear program and have been unaccountable. Bernanke should have seen this coming, too. I hope Congress doesn't hastily pass legislation without correcting the real problem. And since these CEO's have paid themselves billions while stealing bread from the taxpayers' children, I'd hope some tracking of their Swiss/offshore accounts would lead to funds for restitution to our coffers. Every billion helps.
#21
Dodd just came up with a good idea - that Paulson opposes - any losses from the disposition of assets bought by the government from the banks or brokerages should be made good as debt owed to the Federal government on the balance sheets of those banks and brokerages. Paulson appears to prefer handing out free money at taxpayer expense by buying bank assets for more than they're worth.
The US government's $700bn bailout plan needs a name what should it be called? The US Treasury likes 'Troubled Asset Relief Programme', or Tarp. One of our readers suggests 'Secured Housing Investment Trust'.
#26
Dodd just came up with a good idea - that Paulson opposes - any losses from the disposition of assets bought by the government from the banks or brokerages should be made good as debt owed to the Federal government on the balance sheets of those banks and brokerages. Paulson appears to prefer handing out free money at taxpayer expense by buying bank assets for more than they're worth.
I'm no fan of the bailout, but that won't work. No chance of a buyout ot merger for any of these banks or brokerages if there's still an outstanding debt of yet to be determined amount.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/22/2008 18:50 Comments ||
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#27
No chance of a buyout ot merger for any of these banks or brokerages if there's still an outstanding debt of yet to be determined amount.
My view is that any bailout should consist of an attempt to stabilize the markets and ensure that assets are sold at fair, not fire sale prices. If they get fair prices, and the banks get liquidated, that's fine with me.
Bernanke, while fed chairman, testified to congress that bank write-offs would be $50 to $100 billion max. He has no idea what he is doing.
He understands numbers in a book, but not human behavior. He has no understanding of the source of wealth - productive capacity.
The best solution I see is debt forgiveness/default. Bad banks fail. Debt holders take haircuts and either receive/issue equity or sell assets. Look at the results of the Lehman failure - within a week large portions of Lehman are fuctioning again.
Short term lending at a real rate of interest is a necessity. Forcing negative rates stifles the basic reason for investing - to earn a return.
The market was 500 trades away from Armageddon on Thursday, traders inside two large custodial banks tell The Post. Had the Treasury and Fed not quickly stepped into the fray that morning with a quick $105 billion injection of liquidity, the Dow could have collapsed to the 8,300-level - a 22 percent decline! - while the clang of the opening bell was still echoing around the cavernous exchange floor.
According to traders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, money market funds were inundated with $500 billion in sell orders prior to the opening. The total money-market capitalization was roughly $4 trillion that morning.
The panicked selling was directly linked to the seizing up of the credit markets - including a $52 billion constriction in commercial paper - and the rumors of additional money market funds "breaking the buck," or dropping below $1 net asset value.
The Fed's dramatic $105 billion liquidity injection on Thursday (pre-market) was just enough to keep key institutional accounts from following through on the sell orders and starting a stampede of cash that could have brought large tracts of the US economy to a halt.
While many depositors treat money market accounts as fancy savings accounts, they are different. Banks buy a variety of short-term debt, including commercial paper, with the assets. It is an important distinction because banks use the $1.7 trillion commercial-paper market to fund their credit card operations and car finance companies use it to move autos. Without commercial paper, "factories would have to shut down, people would lose their jobs and there would be an effect on the real economy," Paul Schott Stevens, of the Investment Company Institute, told the Wall Street Journal.
Cracks started to show in money market accounts late Tuesday when shares in one fund, the Reserve Primary Fund - which touted itself as super safe - fell below the golden $1 a share level. It had purchased what it thought was safe Lehman bonds, never dreaming they could default - which they did 24 hours earlier when the 158-year-old investment bank filed Chapter 11.
By Wednesday, banks sensed a run on their accounts. They started stockpiling cash in anticipation of withdrawals. Banks, which usually keep an average of $2 billion in excess reserves earmarked for withdrawals, pumped that up to an astounding $90 billion by Wednesday, Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrighton ICAP, told The Journal.
And for good reason. By the close of business on Wednesday, $144.5 billion - a record - had been withdrawn. How much money was taken out of money market funds the prior week? Roughly $7.1 billion, according to AMG Data Services.
By Thursday, that level, fed by the incredible volume of sell orders pouring in from institutional investors like pension funds and sovereign funds, had grown to $100 billion. It was still not enough to stem the tidal wave. The banks knew something drastic had to be done. So did Paulson.
The injection of capital into the market was followed up by calls from Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to major money market players like Bank of New York Mellon and State Street in Boston informing them that federal money was in the market and they should tell their clients the Feds would be back with a plan to stem the constriction in the credit market.
Paulson knew the $105 billion injection was not a real solution. A broader, more radical answer was needed. Hours after Paulson made his round of calls to calm the industry, word leaked out that an added $1 trillion bailout of banks was being readied. Investors cheered. At about 3 p.m., news of the plans was filtering up and down Wall Street, fueling a 700-point advance in the Dow Jones industrial average through 4 p.m. Friday.
By that time, Paulson had announced the plan. It included insurance on money market accounts, a move that started in quiet Thursday morning, when the former Goldman Sachs executive saved the country from a paralyzing meltdown.
#1
The Treasury has since limited its new FDIC-like coverage of money market funds to those on deposit up to 9/19/08, new deposits will not be covered. The commercial paper market may still be in trouble.
#3
Had the Treasury and Fed not quickly stepped into the fray that morning with a quick $105 billion injection of liquidity, the Dow could have collapsed to the 8,300-level - a 22 percent decline! - while the clang of the opening bell was still echoing around the cavernous exchange floor.
In 1987, we had a similar decline. Seems to me that we're still around today.
#4
Looks like we are becoming Japan, a country that sought to prevent rapid movements in its capital markets, unless those movements were in an upward direction. The result? The Nikkei average is less than 1/3 of its peak levels in 1987.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Saudis are lining up in droves for a ticket to outerspace, topping the list of passengers who have booked a ticket on board the first commercial spaceship. 
Venezuela will buy combat and training aircraft from China this week, leftist Venezuela President Hugo Chavez confirmed in a television broadcast Sunday. The purchases will be made as part of a six-country tour, Chavez said in his broadcast of the "Alo President" television program from the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, hours before leaving on a "strategic interest" trip to Cuba, China, Russia, Belarus, France and Portugal.
An illegal migrant boat carrying 83 Egyptians headed for Europe has gone missing off the coast of Greece after leaving Egypt three days ago, Egypt's foreign ministry said on Sunday. "The foreign ministry has learned that the boat left Damietta (on the northern coast) three days ago and that communications were cut off, and there has been nothing to suggest it reached the Greek shore," the ministry said in a statement.
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats began to set their own terms on Sunday for a plan to rescue the nation's financial institutions, including greater legislative oversight of the Treasury Department, more direct assistance for homeowners and limits on the pay of top executives whose firms seek help.
The market was 500 trades away from Armageddon on Thursday, traders inside two large custodial banks tell The Post. Had the Treasury and Fed not quickly stepped into the fray that morning with a quick $105 billion injection of liquidity, the Dow could have collapsed to the 8,300-level - a 22 percent decline! - while the clang of the opening bell was still echoing around the cavernous exchange floor. 
