Archive for November 19th, 2007


French insurer pays Armenian genocide claims

So I guess they think it happened, eh?

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Thank you again, Panera Bread

Our cable modem is down at the house (should be fixed by later today), so I’m blogging from the always wonderful Panera Bread - good food and coffee - and free wi-fi.

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Then: Still in Saigon

Now: Still in Baghdad. The walking wounded.

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More cheery economic news

Short version

There’s a greater than 50 percent probability that the financial system “will come to a grinding halt” because of losses from mortgages, Gregory Peters, head of credit strategy at Morgan Stanley, said.

Long version - from The Oil Drum, a comprehensive look at the credit crisis and the dominoes about to fall next, specifically bond insurer companies.  One unbelievable fact, a bond could be worthless, but if a bond insurer insures it, then the bond assumes the AAA rating of the insurer.

Except now the bond insurers are in trouble. If they lose their AAA ratings, then pension funds and other such entities are legally required to sell bonds insured by them because those bonds will no longer be AAA-rated. Sounds like a giant Ponzi scheme, doesn’t it?

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Any questions?

Global warming to continue for centuries, UN says

Climate change may continue for centuries, and governments will have to spend billions of dollars annually to slow warming and adapt to its effects, a United Nations panel said.

Somehow, someway, we  as a planet need to start working  together on solutions for global warming. Starting now.

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