Bob Morris @ 22:14 Category: Election 2008;
This is the first time the Trib has endorsed a Democrat for president since their founding in 1847.
Colin Powell may endorse Obama tomorrow. The rumors have been flying and Powell hasn’t denied it.
Bob Morris @ 18:44 Category: Unfiled;
An six year old boy was kidnapped in Las Vegas allegedly by a Mexican drug cartel because his grandfather owes them millions of dollars.
“These are extremely dangerous people,” [police captain] Cannito said. “This is as bad as it gets.”
The kidnappers were described as three Hispanic men who spoke with heavy accents.
Parts of Mexico are already beyond control of the government. What happens when such violence increasingly spills across the border? And it will.
Bob Morris @ 18:41 Category: Unfiled;
The inevitable privatization of security continues. Somalia and shipowners are considering hiring Blackwater to provide security for cargo vessels against the increasing threat of piracy.
In Licensed to Kill. Hired Guns in the War of Terror, (reviewed here) Robert Young Pelton says that among private military corporations, Blackwater has a reputation for only hiring those with serious police and military backgrounds. So, in a conflict between hardened pros with state-of-the-art weaponry and presumably disorganized semi-amateurs, my money would be on the PMCs. (But then I suppose the pirates could join forces with crime cartels and the whole thing could escalate…)
As states continue to hollow out, private corporations, military or otherwise, will increasingly fill the roles once handled by governments.
Bob Morris @ 13:15 Category: Solar power;
The panels can charge the battery enough for a 3-mile trip in just one hour. After a full charge of 30 hours in the sun, the car can travel up to 90 miles.
Bob Morris @ 09:29 Category: Credit crisis;
Global markets in ‘black swan’ event. The Bloomberg Financial Conditions Index is now at nine standard deviations from the norm.
“It’s way off the scale, a one-in-billions chance,” said Marriott, a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. “This is absolutely a black swan event.”
In statistical theory, about 68 percent of events are within one standard deviation above or below the average, 95 percent are within two deviations and 99.7 percent within three. Markets are currently 9.47 so-called standard deviations from usual levels, the Bloomberg index shows.
Krugman: Economic slump “nasty, brutish — and long”
Bank bailout not working. The banks are holding onto the money, and not lending it.
Next steps? Find a way to force the banks to write their assets down to nuclear winter levels.
Bailout plan has contrary effect. Mortgage rates go up, not down.
The collapse of Lehman, a huge dealer in swaps, taught many that buying credit protection is a useless hedge if the seller isn’t stable themselves.
In recent weeks, some people have called for the regulation or even wholesale elimination of the CDS market. They can relax. The financial collapse is totally taking care of that!
Iceland default triggers CDS worries. Because of course lots of financial institutions sold CDS on Iceland banks and now will have to cough up some serious money. How rude is that? Credit Default Swaps are a type of bogus insurance that no one ever expected would ever have to be paid off, so they morphed into a form of speculation instead. But then banks started cratering.
Warren Buffett says, I’m buying stocks now. If he has to publicly proclaim this, it just shows how scared people are now.
Lehman Brothers CEO subpoenaed, others too. I see show trials.
Housing prices far from bottom
Bob Morris @ 08:52 Category: Credit crisis;
How Barclays might tackle the credit crunch (Mirror UK)
From Mirror UK and Calculated Risk (especially in the comments), gallows humor on the financial crisis.
Q: What the difference between today’s investment bankers and pigeons?
A: Pigeons can still make a deposit on a BMW.
Went to Best Buy to get a toaster and they gave me a free bank with purchase
I went to an ATM today, and it asked to borrow a twenty till next week
The most popular game for Icelandic families in 2009?
Go Fish!
How do you define optimism?
A banker who irons five shirts on a Sunday
George Bush was asked today “what did he think of the Credit Crunch?”
He replied: It was his favourite Candy Bar.
Bob Morris @ 02:45 Category: Renewable energy, Wind turbines;
Compared to standard wind turbines, the Aerocam from Broadstar Wind Systems is more efficient, more compact, and can generate power with a little as 5 mph wind, a major improvement.
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