Category: Odds ‘n Sods

RL sent us this hard-hitting piece: The “Mark To Model” Lie    o o o Just as I predicted, things are looking grim for the hedge funds: Market chaos batters hedge-fund star. By borrowing short and lending long, they are at huge risk when credit markets fluctuate widely. And in a time of financial crisis like this, where liquidity has dried up almost completely, the hedgers will likely fail in large numbers. (A hat tip to Cyberiot for sending the article link.)    o o o Eric sent us this from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Demand on pantries grows as food …

Craig R. and Costa Rica Jones both sent us the link to this amazing video clip: Life in Foreclosure Alley. Do you remember what I wrote about “Midnight Flits”? Don’t miss the part near the end where they spray paint a dead lawn green. Its all about “curb appeal.”    o o o More Nanny State meddling, aimed at reducing bovine flatulence: Meat must be rationed to four portions a week, says report on climate change.    o o o Michael Z. Williamson sent us this video link showing home-brew autonomous gun developments. This kid could get a DARPA contract! …

Rourke flagged this article from Marysville, California: Preparing for financial apocalypse: Wall Street scare has some thinking chaos coming    o o o Commander Zero posted some interesting commentary in his blog about why people don’t prepare, even in the face of immediate and overwhelming threats like the current economic meltdown.    o o o The gasoline shortage in the southeast has intensified.    o o o The latest news is that the banking crisis isn’t any better in Europe: France seeks €300 billion rescue fund for Europe. And meanwhile, Senator Harry Reid drops a bombshell: Another major insurance company …

Back in 2005, I began warning SurvivalBlog readers that derivatives were a much larger threat than the housing bubble. Now we read in the mainstream media: The $55 trillion question. The article begins: “The financial crisis has put a spotlight on the obscure world of credit default swaps – which trade in a vast, unregulated market that most people haven’t heard of and even fewer understand. Will this be the next disaster?”    o o o Safecastle just a started an unusual 25%-off Mountain House sale. The sale ends on October 14th. Get your order in immediately for the best …

I noticed that spot silver dropped a full dollar per ounce on Tuesday, and spot gold was down about $30 per ounce–both moved by short term gains by the US dollar in international trade. Buy on “dip” days like these! As I’ve said before, I think that gold will outperform silver in the next run-up. Get out of dollars and into tangibles. But remember what Doc Sweeny calls The Five Gs. (GGGGG.) Get right with God and then acquire your guns, groceries, and ground before you buy any gold. Be advised: You can’t eat gold, and Krugerrands make very expensive …

Some more newspaper gleanings, most coming from our Economic editor: Citigroup to buy Wachovia banking operations — Bailout Failure Will Cause US To Crash (For full disclosure, I would append the headline with: “But Bailout Success Will Cause Dollar to Crash”) — UK Banker Leaps To Death In Front Of Express Train — Fed Pumps Further $630 Billion Into Financial System — House defeats $700 Billion financial markets bailout    o o o Hawaiian K. suggested an article over at Treehugger on aquaponics    o o o Reader FFF spotted this: How China has created a new slave empire    …

“BeePrepared” wrote us to recommend the Hippo Roller as a method to transport large amounts of water without a vehicle.    o o o Cheryl (our Economic Editor) sent us this raft of news and commentary. The first item should not come as a surprise to you, since I’ve been warning about the derivatives threat for years: Bailout Secret: To Prevent $68 Trillion Derivatives Collapse — Financial TEOTWAWKI: LIBOR TED Spread Flashes Trouble. (“I don’t want to name names, … but there is a silent bank run going on. There are no lines in the street, but it is a …

Some Treehuggers concede that we may be right, after all, even if we do use Excessive and Gratuitous Acronym Diversions (EGADs).    o o o From our Economic Editor, starting with the most disturbing news: Bloomberg Analyst Marc Faber: $700 Billion Bailout Could Balloon To $5 Trillion — WaMu Is Gone, But Trouble Spots Remain (The banks to watch: Wachovia, Comerica, Marshall & Ilsley) — Wachovia, Citi In Merger Talks — Stocks Rebound On Renewed Bailout Hopes — The US Banking Collapse Was A Controlled Demolition Let’s Play Wall Street Bailout (Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio rants well) — They Want …

Cheryl, our Economic Editor, sent us these: Congress Restarts Troubled Bailout Talks — Stocks Mostly Decline As Investors Remain Tense Over Bailout — WaMu Becomes Biggest Bank To Fail In US History — Wachovia In Huge Mortgage Mess — UK Banks May Get $180bn From US Bailout — Wachovia Shares Begin Dive After WaMu Death — JPMorgan Buys WaMu For A Mere $1.9 Billion (“To put the size of WaMu in context, its assets are equal to about two-thirds of the combined book value assets of all 747 failed thrifts that were sold off by the Resolution Trust Corp. – …

Several readers sent us this article, suggesting a correlation with my recent Pre-Crash Checklist: China banks told to halt lending to US banks    o o o Cheryl found this for us: Shipping Container Homes    o o o Rod McG. sent us this: In Israel, Kibbutz Life Makes a Surprising Comeback    o o o Dan and Becky flagged this: confirmation that the growth of the Mother of All Bailouts is not slowing: House clears $25 billion for car makers    o o o Some news and commentary gleanings from our Economic Editor: WaMu’s Hopes For Capital Drying Up …

Norman in England suggested a piece of commentary about the Mother of All Bailouts: The Rescue of the Wealthy    o o o Brad E. and Kevin A. both forwarded some bad news from Forbes, that confirms what the Peak Oil crowd has been telling us: Here comes $500 oil. The law of supply and demand is inescapable. I do, however, have my doubts about the supply side of the equation. (See, for example, the arguments presented by the Abiotic Oil proponents.)    o o o More Odds ‘n Sods gathered by Cheryl N., our Economic Editor: Dow Down 373 …

Eric sent a link to a London Telegraph article: Financial crisis: Default by the US government is no longer unthinkable.   o o o Wayne S. suggested this article: Great Myths of the Great Depression. Wayne’s comment: “I found it to be a great educational primer on the Great Depression. It is interesting to draw parallels with today’s tumultuous times and MOAB with the government policies of the 1929-to-1941 Depression years.”    o o o Eric also found this important tidbit in The Des Moines Register: Brasher: Corn, soybean supply on brink of shortages. Stock up!    o o o Laura …

Nanny State Britannia run amok: YouTube bans knife and gun videos in England. I suppose that this ban will also include instructional and safety videos, but worry not: They tell us that it is all for the public good! (Tut, tut! We mustn’t “glamorise!”) OBTW, I think that using a third party web browsing portal such as Anonymizer will probably remove any do-gooder impediments. (And, BTW, it is wise for everyone to use  Anonymizer, just on general principle, to prevent leaving an audit trail of your web browsing. Think OPSEC!)    o o o From Cheryl, our Economic Editor: Bush, Congress …

From the folks over at The Oil Drum: How Much Will Gustav and Ike Affect Gas Supplies? An Update    o o o More on the MOAB, from The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Bailout Plan Calms Markets, But Struggle Looms Over Details    o o o Another slug of cheer from SurvivalBlog’s Economic Editor: Stocks Soar As Investors Look To Gov’t Rescue Plan — Current List of Failed Banks (another bank failure was announced on Friday) — Wall Street Dumps Mortgage Corruption on Taxpayers — New Wall Street Crisis Will Create a New Financial World Order — Forecast: US Dollar …

Our Economic Editor sent us another huge batch of news and commentary–plenty for you to digest over the weekend: But I’ll focus on perhaps the most important article, that confirms my prediction of a gargantuan Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB): Paulson plan could cost $1 trillion. And now for the rest: Treasury pulls out stops to support money markets — Fed, Central Banks Move to Boost Global Confidence (“Wall Street’s biggest crisis since the Great Depression forced the Federal Reserve and central banks in other countries to pump billions of dollars into the world’s banking system in an urgent bid …