Frequent content contributor Cheryl N. sent this. How Wall Street Wrecked Your Retirement. Cheryl notes: “Our dysfunctional financial system hit a new low last week when Citigroup, the hopeless wreck of Wall Street, announced it had lost $2.5 billion in the past three months–a cheer went up, and so did the Dow. Only $2.5 billion; people were afraid the losses would be much higher. Happy days are here again.” Meanwhile, President Bush very quietly signed a massive bailout bill, for individual mortgage holders, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. Just as I predicted, we are witnessing the near-continuous growth of the Mother of all Bailouts (MOAB). Perhaps I should start referring to those profligate spending politicians in Washington, D.C. as “The Moabites.”
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In a NewsMax piece, Ken Timmerman (one of my old associates with Defense Electronics magazine in the 1980s) reports: U.S. Intel: Iran Plans Nuclear Strike on U.S.. I trust Ken Timmerman. He is an old hand at Middle reporting. He was headquartered in Paris for many years, where he developed quite extensive contacts in both diplomatic and military circles. His MEDNews (Middle East Defense News) newsletter had a loyal following and was considered a key open source publication by the western intelligence community. I have little doubt that Iran will use nukes if and when they are able to obtain them. But I think that it may be a decade before their “home grown” nuclear program reaches the pint that they can assemble a bomb that will actually reach critical mass.
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A.V.S. found this at Time magazine’s site: Designer Bulletproof Fashion. Rather than buying over-priced “designer” vest/garments, I recommend that you buy more affordable standard body armor vests from reputable vendors. (One great one advertises on SurvivalBlog)
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Frequent content contributor Cheryl N. flagged this: Merrill Woes Could Spread. Here is a good observation included in the piece: “Sovereign-wealth funds from Asia and the Middle East and private-equity firms swooped in with capital infusions for many big banks during the winter when it appeared the worst of the housing meltdown was behind the market. But with many of those bets now under water, such investors might be reluctant to pour new capital in given the prospect of further troubles with so-called collateralized debt securities, or CDOs, which include bundles and bundles of now near-worthless home loans that were sold off to investors around the globe.”