Explains a lot about the trendy, oh so thin leftists in NYC and similar cities
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
This brings to mind the "Buffalo Theory" from "Cheers," to wit:
One night at Cheers, Cliff Clavin explained theâBuffalo Theoryâ to his buddy, Normâ¦
âWell ya see, Norm, itâs like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest membersâ¦. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. Thatâs why you always feel smarter after a few beers!â
#2
This reminds me of someone who commented that, "If you want to snort a whole bunch of powder cocaine, you almost have to be a vegetarian, otherwise it is just too unhealthy."
#4
Explains a lot about the trendy, oh so thin leftists in NYC and similar cities
CAESAR: Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. Julius Caesar; William Shakespeare, Act I
[Dawn] China warned Wednesday that tortured efforts to raise the US debt ceiling had failed to defuse Washington's "debt bomb", and that it would further diversify its currency holdings away from the dollar.
US President Barack B.O. Obama finally signed an emergency austerity bill on Tuesday that averted what would have been a catastrophic debt default for the world's biggest economy.
But a failure to rein in US borrowing could "jeopardise the well-being of hundreds of millions of families within and beyond the US borders", the official Xinhua news agency said in a blistering commentary on the deal.
"The months-long tug of war between Democrats and Republicans...failed to defuse Washington's debt bomb for good, only delaying an immediate detonation by making the fuse an inch longer," the commentary said.
"Meanwhile, ...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea: there was a simple way to tell whether Manetti had been the triggerman -- just look at his shoes!... the madcap farce of brinkmanship has disclosed yet another ticking bomb in the heartland of the sole superpower in the world -- the crippling tendency to politicise the economics while trivialising the politics."
China, sitting on the world's biggest foreign exchange reserves of around $3.20 trillion as of the end of June, is the largest holder of US Treasuries.
Xinhua's comments came as China's central bank said it would continue to diversify its foreign currency investments, signalling growing concerns in Beijing over the US debt crisis and economic downturn.
"China's foreign exchange reserves will continue following the principle of diversified investment, enhancing risk management," People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in a statement.
"Large fluctuations and uncertainty in the US treasury bond market will affect the stability of international monetary and financial systems, which will hurt global economic recovery."
The statement, in which he also welcomed the plan, was the first official response to the deal to raise to the limit on US borrowing and enact at least $2.1 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm reminded of the old banking saying.
If you owe the bank a $1,000 and can't pay, you have a problem.
If you owe the bank $1,000,000 and can't pay, the bank has a problem.
#2
But a failure to rein in US borrowing could "jeopardise the well-being of hundreds of millions of families within and beyond the US borders", the official Xinhua news agency said in a blistering commentary on the deal.
China is now concerned about....families? Enuf of your kak. FOAD die you communist bastards!
#3
It would be hard for the Chinese to find a place to invest so much money with the security the US has, the translation is the Chinese want the interest rate on US bonds to increase. Mind you with the debt ratio the US has now and the reality in the short term that it will go up dramatically they have a valid point.
#4
The Wan is useless without the Dollar. The value of currency in China is directly based on the useless currency in the US. We print they buy. They send us cheap goods and we send them devalued currency.
As for the debt-bomb, the road to paying off 14.5 Trillion begins with $1 at a time.
However, given that Foreclosure actions in some states are backed up 50 years, collapse would mean: a lot of people would get a house for free. Would there be starvation? No! There would be a barter economy, with a lot of things going on as usual (except banking; the homeless will be living in banks). Food production would be a priority. Luxury vehicle production would collapse. Alien workers and aliens with alien ideas about sex-after-death, would get the quit boot. A lot of angry people would have a go at the parasites who caused the collapse. (Where is Dick Fuld these days?). But how would international accounts be settled? Quasi-barter is already used. The country would stagnate, but a rudimentary cash economy would likely be revived within a few months.
#8
I suspect the detonation of the US debt bomb would hurt Red China more than it would hurt the US. That's for the PRC to worry about.
The US is already stagnating. We might experience starvation if international trade is that severely damaged. Petro imports are necessary to grow domestic food & to transport it to consumers. People can & will die if the air conditioning and the fuel for heating their homes is not available. How would that be paid for, if & when TSHTF? Barter? Do US Navy ships still carry chests of gold coins to pay for supplies in foreign ports where credit is not available, as they did in the 19th century? Give me a break.
#11
Petro imports are necessary to grow domestic food & to transport it to consumers.
No. The US has plenty of oil to handle food production, electricity production, important goods distribution and a certain amount left to waste.
Do US Navy ships still carry chests of gold coins to pay for supplies in foreign ports where credit is not available, as they did in the 19th century? Give me a break.
In a SHTF situation the USN would be a huge money maker, not an expense. Protection pays well.
Posted by: S ||
08/04/2011 14:21 Comments ||
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#12
Then their is the option of piracy. I always wanted to see the Jolly Roger on a 122 VLS armed cruiser.
#13
Well, the Constitution does expressly permit "letters of marque and reprisal." It'd be nice to see the Navy become the first self-sustaining branch of the military.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/04/2011 16:02 Comments ||
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#14
The republican nominee during the debate should utter: is anyone suprised that the road to big Gov't would be easy. But of course, we'll get some meely mouth McShame-type who won't say any such thing.
Posted by: jack salami ||
08/04/2011 16:27 Comments ||
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#15
Matt, USAF could be a moneymaker if they were allowed to charge for GPS use.
#16
Heh, charging for GPS would be fun... make it free and perfectly accurate 80% of the time, other 20% free but maybe accuracy not so good from time to time.
Posted by: S ||
08/04/2011 18:44 Comments ||
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#17
Next day scenarios of total collapse would not be as harsh as everyone thinks. The big problem would be: the super-rich (2%) would want to retain a cash economy; the beleaguered 98% would want same put on hold. Who do you think would win? Landlords couldn't afford to maintain their properties; Tenants couldn't afford to pay them; Banks couldn't squeeze from Debtors. Hence, everyone stays put in their residence. And everyone eats because the 98% would demand: maintenance - with rationalization in product and packaging - of food production levels. The US doesn't need to import a single food product. (Hawaii grows coffee for those afraid of their daily fix)
More DAY-AFTER scenarios please. Your ideas are as good as mine; or better.
#19
Hupusoper Gurly-Brown8756 Hello. Next day scenario
is good. The problem is your assuming that the population will be well behaved. "Them that has gets and them that don't waits". Weak family ties and many antisocial issues. NRA (national recovery act) again. Rationing and stock outs. Breeding ground for another power mad leader. With all the new technology greater intrusion.
Rather development of each persons gifts to their maximum potential. Everyone that can does something to contribute. Every possible resource must be developed to its fullest potential. We must be engaged and press forward. No other choice for humankind. Should factories be shuttered and the people idle invites death of a people. When you kill the spirit of a people the will alone cannot overcome that.
Look, the US just passed a debt deal that will eventually stop deficit spending and return the dollar to stability as the population grows.
So suddenly the dollar looks like a better bet than the stock market. So, everyone trades their stocks for dollars.
The problem over the past year is that no one knew where to park their money. In oil? Gold? Uranium, Stocks, Bonds, Euros, BRICs? No one knew. Now they know.
The only big country trying to really get a grip on things is -- wait for it -- the good ole US of A and its pesky dollar.
So, now the best bet is to sell all that other crap and get some dollars to stuff under your mattress.
Personally, I prefer handguns and ammo as the currency of the future, but dollars are probably pretty ok too. Everyone who was selling stocks sure thought so today.
Pure speculation, but why wouldn't people get together to create food continuity? Renters couldn't afford rents; landlords and home owners couldn't pay property taxes. But everyone has to eat. A cash economy is a non starter, but people would have to contribute. It sounds communistic, but nobody is going to grab private property. But bank deposits wouldn't be worth squat. Farm enterprises would continue as is, with people paid only in what could be bartered.
Someone should start a DAY-AFTER website. There would be no solution other than partial debt-repudiation - China's $1.2 T would be paid back in bartered goods; others too - and a short term subsistence economy with both martial law and considerable political freedom (there are precedents), would end once a balanced economic system was established.
The DAY-AFTER wouldn't be as bad as you think. You would miss some of non-staple foods but very little cultural product.
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is preparing to charge some large depositors to hold their cash, in the latest sign of global economic worries. The big U.S. custodial bank said this week in a note to clients that it will begin slapping a fee next week on customers that have vastly increased their deposit balances over the past month. The fee is to offset costs incurred by banks holding funds (such as the fee they must pay to FDIC to cover its depositors insurance fund), versus interest paid on very short term loans, which fell below 0% today.
The Federal Reserve has flooded the financial system with cash in its backfiring attempt to ameliorate the depression recession and promote an illusion of economic recovery. But beneficiaries of Fed largess banks and investors are reluctant to throw it away put that cash to work because they are worried about the economic outlook. With no other place to put it, they are parking it in banks. Clients with average monthly balances > $50 million will be affected by the new charges. Other conditions will apply to whether or not charges will be assessed. Mattress, don't fail me now
#2
A New York bank that won $3 billion in taxpayer bailout money was hired by the government to monitor all banks that pocketed public cash - including itself. Guess who?
#7
Opinion from the Daily Telegraph about the inaction of the Euro Central Bank over the spiking interest rates on Italian & Spanish sovereign debt: The fiscal canon is exhausted and policymakers are struggling to find alternatives. Not since the deepest days of the banking crisis, when we were looking into the abyss of a second Great Depression, have things looked so scary. Policy seems impotent before the storm.
[Straits Times] NEW York may attract people from all over the world, but for the second decade in a row, the notoriously expensive state has also seen the country's largest population exodus, a new report says.
'New York's net migration loss - the sum of domestic and foreign migration - increased over the last decade to its highest level since the 1970s,' the Empire Centre for New York State Policy said in the report released on Tuesday.
Some 1.6 million New Yorkers left for other states in the first decade of the 21st century, the fiscally conservative think tank said in the report, which is based on analysis of census data and other statistics.
High taxes, red tape and high property prices drive residents out, despite the historic role of New York City as a gateway to America, analysts say.
Since 1960, the state has lost 7.3 million residents to other parts of the United States, with an influx of 4.8 million immigrants resulting in a net decline of 2.5 million.
Taking immigration into account, the state's population has grown by two million people since 1980, rising 'much more slowly than the national average,' the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Who they going to tax when the Golden Goose has croaked?
#3
Who they going to tax when the Golden Goose has croaked? NYS is TBTF. Remember the last time New York experienced a total collapse of law & order in 1863, the army was sent in to restore it. Posse comitatus is just a law which can be repealed.
Three persons were rubbed out and two others received injuries during a family fight in the Guli Bagh area here on Tuesday, locals and police said. "Ever'body run! Uncle Earl's been in the 'shine again!"
They said the accused Firoz Shah and his brothers Syed Anwar Shah, Noor Said Shah, Rahim Shah and Syed Kamal Shah had developed some differences with their maternal uncle Tahir Shah alias Undar Mula over a matrimonial dispute. "Undar Mula, yew been sniffin' around our wimmin!"
On the day of incident, they said, the accused and their uncle came face to face while on their way to homes and exchanged hot words, "A curse on yer mustache!"
"Them's fightin' words, Undar!"
which caused the former to open indiscriminate fire killing Tahir Shah, a relative Manan and a passer-by Haleem on the spot. "'Scuse me, I'm lost! Can you tell me how to get to -- [BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!] -- aaaiiieee!"
Two other passers-by also received critical wounds. "Ow!"
"Ow!"
All the accused beat feet. "Curly-toed slippers, don't fail me now!"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2011 00:00 ||
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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.
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is preparing to charge some large depositors to hold their cash, in the latest sign of global economic worries. The big U.S. custodial bank said this week in a note to clients that it will begin slapping a fee next week on customers that have vastly increased their deposit balances over the past month. The fee is to offset costs incurred by banks holding funds (such as the fee they must pay to FDIC to cover its depositors insurance fund), versus interest paid on very short term loans, which fell below 0% today. 
Three persons were 
