Archive for August, 2011
How to Get $12 Billion of Gold to Venezuela
August 24th, 2011I think the more immediate and pressing matter will be: How to Get $12 Billion of Gold in the First Place. Dear Leader Chavez doesn’t actually believe these banks actually kept all of Venezuela’s gold on hand, does he? He can’t be that stupid. So, I see this as a pretty cunning bit of economic […]
Japan Triples Airborne Radiation Checks as ‘Hot Spots’ Spread
August 24th, 2011Ok, so a diabolical regime with no credibility at all is going to step up monitoring efforts. That’s nice. Via: Bloomberg: Japan will more than triple the number of regions it checks for airborne radiation as more contaminated “hot spots” are discovered far from Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power station. The government […]
Japan Unveils $100 Billion Effort to Cope With Yen
August 24th, 2011Alternate headline: Japan Willing to Break Its Own Back to Remain Strapped to the Mast of the Sinking USA. Via: Bloomberg: Japan unveiled a $100 billion effort to help companies cope with a surging yen, signaling that officials may be resigned to the currency remaining high. The government will release foreign-exchange reserves to the Japan […]
New York: Judge Says Warrant Required for Cell Phone Location Data
August 24th, 2011Good news? Maybe, a little. It would be better if we had amnesia affecting our knowledge of MAIN CORE, Mark Klein, Russell Tice and official, on-the-record admissions from NSA about position tracking via cell phones. *sigh* Via: Ars Technica: In recent years, the courts have struggled to decide whether the government needs a warrant to […]
A Huge Housing Bargain — but Not for You
August 24th, 2011Via: The Street: The largest transfer of wealth from the public to private sector is about to begin. The federal government will be bulk-selling the massive portfolio of foreclosed homes now owned by HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private investors — vulture funds. These homes, which are now the property of the U.S. […]
Strauss-Kahn Criminal Sexual Assault Case Dropped
August 24th, 2011Via: Reuters: A New York judge dropped all criminal sexual assault charges against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Tuesday, leaving him free to return to France and rebuild a shattered career. The decision ended a case that brought three months of sordid headlines on both sides of the Atlantic about a hotel maid who […]
Gold Slammed
August 23rd, 2011Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. Bid/Ask 1828.70 – 1829.70 Low/High 1822.70 – 1906.80 Change -69.40 -3.66% It looks like they fed some gold to the rally monkey and let it loose in that pachinko lounge I laid down a bet in yesterday.
The Informants
August 23rd, 2011Via: Mother Jones: Ever since 9/11, counterterrorism has been the FBI’s No. 1 priority, consuming the lion’s share of its budget—$3.3 billion, compared to $2.6 billion for organized crime—and much of the attention of field agents and a massive, nationwide network of informants. After years of emphasizing informant recruiting as a key task for its […]
Earthquake on East Coast of U.S.
August 23rd, 2011Via: Wall Street Journal: An earthquake just hit Virginia, and the tremors were felt all the way up here in Manhattan, where markets were a little shaken, too. The quake’s epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia, southwest of DC, in the middle of Virginia. The magnitude was 5.9, according to USGS — they upgraded that from […]
New National Debt Data: It’s Growing About $3 Million a Minute
August 23rd, 2011Via: Los Angeles Times: Swallow all liquids in your mouth before reading any further. Updated numbers for the national debt are just out: It’s now $14,639,000,000,000. When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS’ amazing number cruncher Mark Knoller reports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000. That means the debt […]
