SAR #10018

21st Century wars are so 20th Century.

Revenge of the...  Option-ARMs have a default rate second only to sub-prime mortgages.  Estimates are that while most of the sub-prime damage has been done, Many Option-ARM payments will at least double, leading to a repeat of the damage.

One, Two, Three:   Sooner or later someone is going to grab control of the internet, either corporations like ATT, or the FCC, or Homeland Security.

In the Public Interest:  The current overseers of AIG – a company 80% owned by the US taxpayer – are the  Chairman of the Board of the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, a former member of the board of the NY Fed, and a former senior executive at the NY Fed.  They were all selected by the NY Fed to protect the interest of the Fed and bankers taxpayers.  The Fed is a private corporation.

Wish I'd Said:  “Growth doesn’t pay for itself... Growth eventually undoes itself ”

Scary Words:  “China and India have only one option: growth... and this depends on fossil energy and depleting mineral and metal resources, and applies unremitting pressure on global natural systems and the environment.”

Churn Baby, Churn:  FHA is suspending its rule that prohibits it from insuring a mortgage on a home owned by the seller for less than 90 days.  Ah, the old flip-'em for the fast buck scam.

Pressing Matter:  Last year the Fed printed enough dollars to do away with that miserable little raise you got as inflation-adjusted wages fell 1.6 percent.  Consumer prices rose 2.7%, with the increase in gasoline offsetting a decline in food costs.  This is the worst gap between wages and inflation in 20 years.

Multiple Choice:  Why is Haiti so poor? a) The French b) Deforestation c) Population d) Thomas Jefferson e) Wall Street.   Answer:  More or less all of the above.

Get That Education:  One in 20 college graduates cannot find a job, which means that the cost pressure from the higher-educated workers is disappearing.  In that rising labor costs drive inflation, don't expect the Fed to push up rates any time soon.

Asked & Answered:  Will China squeeze the West on rare earth metals?  Yes.  Soon.

Ms. Hubbard:  Investor Jim Rogers says that the financial melt-down has prevented many farmers from borrowing money to buy fertilizer for their crops.  No fertilizer, no crops.  Someday soon there will be serious food shortages world-wide and prices will “go through the roof.”  So says Mr. Rogers.

Location, Location, Location:  Between 1890 and 1990 real home prices in the US did not increase.  So sayeth Mr. Shiller.

Stair Steps:  The Dow is 1,000 points – 8.5% - lower today than it was ten years ago, and this only after an astonishing bull run fed by free money.   Technical analysis suggests we are near a top and that the next collapse will lead to a multi-year decline, “possibly all the way to zero.”

Facts in a Certain Order:  The headline claimed ExxonMobil has used “new technologies” to extend the life of a mature East Texas oilfield and recover an additional 40 million barrels of oil.  Terrific, except : (a) They have been using this 'new' technology in this same field for about 10 years now.  (b) The US uses about 20 mbd, thus this expensive effort will keep us supplied for two days.