Archive for October, 2008
UK: Government Will Spy on Every Call and E-mail
October 6th, 2008Mmm hmm. Via: Telegraph: Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain. GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre, has already been given up to £1 billion to finance the first stage of the project. Hundreds of clandestine […]
Proud American
October 6th, 2008I’ve never smoked crack before, but I’d guess that watching Proud American would produce similar effects. Nope, it’s not Idiocracy 2, but it is “Presented by CocaCola, MasterCard, American Airlines and WalMart.” Research Credit: JF
Blackwater Weapon Found in Raid on Iraqi Insurgents
October 6th, 2008Via: ABC News: An M4 machine gun [SIC] sent to Iraq by the Blackwater private security firm somehow disappeared from the company’s storage facility in Baghdad and was later discovered during a US military operation, apparently against suspected insurgents, people familiar with the situation have told ABC News. The incident, in 2006, has been kept […]
Iceland: Crash
October 6th, 2008Via: Guardian: Iceland is on the brink of collapse. Inflation and interest rates are raging upwards. The krona, Iceland’s currency, is in freefall and is rated just above those of Zimbabwe and Turkmenistan. One of the country’s three independent banks has been nationalised, another is asking customers for money, and the discredited government and officials […]
Video from Foreclosure Ground Zero
October 6th, 2008I don’t want to think about how much of my metered bandwidth I used to watch this piece, but once it started, I couldn’t look away. Via: KCET: For the past few years, the Inland Empire in Riverside County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the state – home to a major […]
The United States of Goldman Sachs, Paulson’s $700 Billion Boy, Conflict of Interest and More Conflict of Interest
October 6th, 2008Via: Washington Post: The Treasury Department plans to tap Neel Kashkari, an assistant secretary of international affairs and a former Goldman Sachs banker, to oversee the government’s $700 billion financial rescue program, sources familiar with the situation said yesterday. Kashkari has been a close adviser to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. on the credit […]
Oil Takes Out $90 to the Downside
October 6th, 2008Via: AP: Oil prices fell to an eight-month low below $90 a barrel Monday on speculation that the spreading financial crisis will exacerbate a global economic slowdown and cut demand for crude oil. Significant gains by the U.S. dollar against the euro also contributed to slumping oil prices. By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude […]
Yakuza: Organized Crime Represents The “Biggest Private Equity Firm in Japan”
October 5th, 2008I’ve said it before: The setting in Snowcrash is the best guess about where we’re headed. Maybe with hints of Syndicate Wars… Via: Times Online: Japan’s powerful yakuza organised crime syndicates are mounting a widespread assault on the country’s financial markets that may have left hundreds of listed companies riddled with mob connections. In a […]
Schwarzenegger: California May Need $7-Billion Emergency Loan
October 5th, 2008Via: Los Angeles Times: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, alarmed by the ongoing national financial crisis, warned Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson on Thursday that the state might need an emergency loan of as much as $7 billion from the federal government within weeks. The warning comes as California is close to running out of cash […]
U.S. Congressman: “I’ve seen members turn to each other and say if we don’t pass this bill, we’re going to have martial law in the United States.”
October 3rd, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instruments. It’s almost certainly going to pass the House. If it doesn’t, however, you probably won’t be able to move your assets out of the U.S. You might not even be able access your bank or brokerage accounts at all for some […]
