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Given that the open thread on the main page got out of control---impossible to navigate---there you go. (Marla, this needs to be on top of the ZH page to work)

 

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Sun, 09/06/2009 - 22:11 | 61272 AN0NYM0US
AN0NYM0US's picture

AIG of Drugmakers Pfizer Is Too Big to Be Guilty: Ann Woolner

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=ahodmf54hyPA

 

"...So how does Pfizer get away with civil settlements given its history? The penalties have ranged from hand slaps to a light punch in the gut, none of which have hurt the company enough for things to change. Last year Pfizer earned $8.1 billion on sales of $48.3 billion...."

 

answer:

The same way GS, C et. al do

 

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000138

 


Mon, 09/07/2009 - 06:15 | 61444 Spartacus
Spartacus's picture

The  WORLD MARKET ARE screeming ahead. It seems ,ZERO HEDGE and its participants(me included) are far away from truth. THE TRUTH is each and every equity market is a screaming buy!!!!!!!!!!!!(MY COnclusion from the market)

Sun, 09/06/2009 - 23:44 | 61310 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

Andy, thank you for being the beacon for order and sensibility on this forum. Alas, now it is my turn to inject disorder and chaos into the equation.

Is time and arrow, line, dot or nothing at all?

Why do the banks hate us so much?

The eye on top of the pyramid on the one dollar bill bothers me.

The two dollar bill on the other hand is quite pleasing to the eye.

Did the CIA kill JFK? An agent on his deathbed said LBJ ordered it.

How hard can it really be to survive in the Canadian tundra?

When is the stock market making new lows?

when is the stock market making new lows in terms of S&P500/Gold?

What price of gold will be the last recorded price on the NYMEX?

What price of oil will be the last recorded price on the NYMEX?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFNdAmvpaKs&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Who will be the next POTUS?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gNoDE61GBmeDo0ljKVtSbr...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/09/director-michael-moore-...

Michael Moore declares war on capitalism with a sure fire box office hit.

Warning, eating at burger king will give you tiny hands!

They were looking for water in Bahrain but found OIL!

The Federal Reserve is evil.

and now a poem by Kurt Vonnegut

Bird got to fly,

Tiger got to hunt;

Man got to sit and wonder "why, why, why?"

Tiger got to sleep,

Bird got to land;

Man got to tell himself he understand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46bkXgxb66E

Would you live in South Korea right now? I'm considering it.

Nothing will happen December 21st 2012 SO STOP WAITING! (in case that is what you're doing. stop it.)

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:08 | 61347 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

mekak mne ne poimat molneyu v golove!

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:47 | 61377 CD
CD's picture

I am afraid the phonetization of the original into English does maim the words a little bit; though as my vocabulary is stuck around 'tovarish uchytyelnyitza, nekto nye aht soostvooyet' it probably wouldn't help me much even if I saw the original text.

 

I did want to bring attention to  HUGE green shoot, though:

"U.S. weapons sales jumped nearly 50 percent in 2008 despite the global economic recession to $37.8 billion from $25.4 billion the year before."

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5851XH20090906

Who says the US doesn't manufacture anything anymore, or that it is no longer a world leader in products that matter? 2009 figures are better still:

http://www.reuters.com/article/AerospaceandDefense08/idUSTRE4BE6KB20081216

 

Sure, the infrastructure is crumbling a little:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/06/BAQU19JGKE.D...

But the 'czars' just keep multiplying (I am always amused by the US use of this term):

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090906/AUTO01/909060341/1148/Obama+s+to...

The question among all of these musings is whether or not a 'hot' war of relatively large scale (meaning more 'action' than the two ongoing ones) is not in the actual playbook for the future as a Plan B for when the financial manipulation begins to inevitably waver and fail? Nothing focuses and rallies everything from public opinion to economic output like the beginning of a new campaign -- the crash and thunder of which can crowd/drown out discourse on a lot of different topics (like who's the man behind the curtain).

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:31 | 61407 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

It sure seems that way. This is a topic I believe is thoroughly dissected in the other super chaotic thread but as you point out no matter where such a conflict would happen, the chances of it happening are very high; it would be such a shame to let all those toys go to waste.

For all the people who think that the US will fall apart, like that Russian professor, it is silly to believe it will happen in a non-violent manner.

Sun, 09/13/2009 - 01:54 | 68040 Boldhawk
Boldhawk's picture

 

Of course, the US is a major exporter of death and destruction! The GDP however, should show how much wealth is created by the use of this weaponry.

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:00 | 61386 Steak
Steak's picture

g'd up from da feet up, big kang dang a lang, a pimpnamedsliqbak, stankoniaputonya, n whatchutalkinbout fo gud mezure ondamicrofone.

oh, and music too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UyzY7Ry9NQ

Sun, 09/06/2009 - 23:59 | 61331 Project Mayhem
Project Mayhem's picture

wow you rule,haha

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:10 | 61349 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

gratzi

If my memory serves me right PM you hail from the cesspoll we know as the district.

I used to live there and might be visiting sometime this fall. Do you frequent Adams Morgan?

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:20 | 61361 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

I'm not sure how I feel about the place being overrun by hipsters. Indeed I am very very confused about how I feel about hipsters in general.

I was always a big fan of Asylum and that place where they would serve me Irish coffee for cheap on those saturday afternoons when anything else just would not have done the job.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:37 | 61367 Project Mayhem
Project Mayhem's picture

Yeah Adam's Morgan is okay ,there's other places too.  The area around Chinatown is okay as well , there's a good goth/darkwave party night at Spellbound near 19th and L NW.  If you want to know the new hip spot its around 12th and H St NE on H St there are a lot of good bars with cheap drinks over there, like Little Miss Whiskey's, our friend owns that spot and the decor is awesome.

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:47 | 61376 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

Yea Chinatown along with U st are two can't miss spots. Never hung out on 12th and H so I'll have to check it out.

Late night, if all out fails, there is always the option to hang out on M st and make fun of people going in and out of the Camelot. Saw two white bentleys, a sedan and convertible parked outside there once, must have been wizards players. Pretty ironic place DC is, now that I think back on it.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:06 | 61390 Steak
Steak's picture

The strip clubs suck too hard to even give a chance...RocketBar in Chinatown be most solid :-)

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:09 | 61392 Steak
Steak's picture

Yo AVB plays at Fur like 3 times a year, ever been Mr. Project?

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 10:25 | 61494 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

http://www.yelp.com/biz/little-miss-whiskeys-golden-dollar-washington

Looks well-received.  "Great beer selection".  Sweet!

 

Edit: what's the best way to get there by Metro?

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 09:32 | 61476 thegreatsatan
thegreatsatan's picture

you have not seen the scourge of hipsterism until you have been to Zeitgiest in SanFran. It's like a Cobrasnake photo shoot run amok.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:17 | 61562 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

my condolences

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:05 | 61389 Steak
Steak's picture

My favorite memory from Adams Morgan:

There is this spot called Jumbo Slice, just an open storefront and big azz pizza slices.  Well its in the middle of a massive night scene so sometimes people and lines and alcohol don't mix, but people still need their pizza.

So two folks squaring up both with boxes of pizza in their hands.  A crowd has circled up and everyone is talkin shit.  Those fools hold onto their pizza till the first punch is thrown.  Then as the fight progresses the crowd collapses around the pizza boxes now on the ground. 

A fight in Adams Morgan, everyday...free jumboslice on account of that fight, priceless.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:20 | 61399 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

LOL ...Stupid drunk people. Jumbo Slice has got to make absolute bank. I don't think I've ever walked by it after a night of indulging the pimp juice and not been captured by those neon lights calling out my name.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 05:50 | 61443 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I'm so disappointed. Here, I've been picturing you all living in luxury penthouses in exotic locales---but you're here in Toolville with me.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 15:39 | 61657 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

I'm actually also surprised that there are so many DC people here as well. I am not a current resident, but am still to wash myself clean from my time spent there. I actually live in the greatest place on earth, due north on 95.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:57 | 61385 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

You are in big trouble if you have planted the seed for another 600 post thread like last night... Andy is trying to keep this all orderly-like... he does not seem like a chaos-man to me... and how in the world could you have the Chemical Brothers, Paul Simon, and Kurt Vonnegut in the same post...

So, I'll play...

Is time an arrow, line, dot, or nothing at all...

If time is an arrow then the tip of the arrow represents the present moment and the shaft represents the past.  The future isn't part of the arrow.  Instead the future is an open sea of potentialities rather than well-defined by the rest of the arrow.

If time is a directionless line then it could be logically reasoned that we could move forward and backward along that line.

If time is made up of dots, then each event at a specific time occupies its own unique place in space-time... therefore all events occurring at all specific times, co-exist and there is no flow to time.  For example, it you were having a great time contributing to the thread last night, then you still are, since that is just one location in spacetime. 

Or maybe time is nothing at all and it is an illusion created in your head...

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:27 | 61404 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

:-)

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 08:56 | 61466 I need more cowbell
I need more cowbell's picture

Oh, Andy, c'mon. Our little nanosecond of eternity is no more consequential than those rascal hard to find/observe particles we need to smash atoms to produce. On the scale of time, 80 years is not much different.

Unless you spend most of it on shrooms, that stretches it out a bit.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:31 | 61571 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

I just found out where the phrase "I need more cowbell" came from... had to Google it... laughed my self sick... good choice...

"Guess what...  I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell."

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:32 | 61403 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

As an agent of entropy I just can't help my dumb self. There was an open orderly vacuum and I had to fill it.

The question however, is not answered fully, because while your description of the line and arrow concepts is all swell, you bailed on the "dot". If you are picturing time as a collection of dots, an infinite one at that, then that is nothing different than a line. If time is a singular dot, however, then is might as well be nothing at all. What would be the different between time being a single dot and nothing at all? Maybe nothing.

PS I can't make out the new avatar, whatizit?

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:39 | 61409 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

Space-time is four dimensions... therefore each dot expresses an "event + the specific time of its occurrence" and all dots co-exist at the same time... yet are not connected. 

That is the best I can do without totally annoying Andy... and I better put something financial in here so I don't get kicked off... so here it is... uh-oh its all been said in the last 24-hour thought orgy... so since I can't think of anything that means I am off to bed.  Good-night.

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:49 | 61414 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

Yes... I know... and Robo promised to alternate pictures... to appeal to some of the women... he reneged... and instead throws in Kathy Lee Gifford every other week... and everytime I see that picture I think to myself what guy on this blog thinks she is hot... what he sees in her is beyond me :-)  

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:40 | 61410 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

It's the Northern Lights :-) 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 02:27 | 61417 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

OK... and just one more of the things I like to twist in my brain... a moth is flying around a lightbulb that happens to be immediately above a stage where an outdoors opera is taking place... the moth is completely oblivious to anything but the lightbulb, including the drama being played out below it on the stage...  (you can also substitute a tiny fish in the ocean who is completely oblivious to the celebration that is going on aboard the cruise ship that passes above it)

So then what complexity that is playing out around us humans, that we are completely oblivious to (because we don't have the proper senses or intelligence)?  We humans always like to think we are king of the hill... but what if we are not?

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 04:55 | 61436 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

So then what complexity that is playing out around us humans, that we are completely oblivious to (because we don't have the proper senses or intelligence)?  We humans always like to think we are king of the hill... but what if we are not?

We're not. Trust me; the explanation is very long ( at least 5000 pages of text  ); but i can assure you we are not. Just an example; put a grown man without clothes, food or water; or any tool or weapon into the wilderness and put any animal with the same variables into the wilderness. The human doesn't stand a chance. Yeah; i know some of you will immediately cite Helmuth Plessner and adaptation via cogito; but it's a no go; simply because we are structured on belief not knowledge ( not my observation; simply a derivation from epistemology ).

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 09:01 | 61469 I need more cowbell
I need more cowbell's picture

Easier yet. Yes, we all have the big brain thing going, my aren't we all just so very special, but all the data we process comes from just the five senses we have. Our eyes detect a very narrow spectra of energy, visible light. Our ears aren't so hot, we don't even have sonar or radar; touch, eh; smell, eh; taste, eh.

OK, so we have imagination, thats is pretty special. Still, all in all, with very limited senses, we are totally blind to most of whats occuring every day.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 14:14 | 61488 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

Absolutely 100% agree... and how do we really know our brain is really any better than an ant brain... when you look at some ant societies they seem more balanced and harmonious than our own... and they figured out how to do that that without our huge ole' human brain (An ant brain has about 250,000 brain cells. A human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human.) And when you fly in an airplane over a city and look down at the 'human ants' they don't look anymore intelligent than when we look down on the 'ants' in our backyard.  It is just through our close interactions with other humans can we actually divine the human intelligence that is there... so maybe in ant world they have similar types of interactions that denote a different (but not better type) of intelligence that we humans simply cannot grasp.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 10:34 | 61487 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

So, the ant thinks he is 'king of his world' as he happily builds his ant hill in my backyard... he is quite happy in his tiny world... knows nothing external to his world like Wall Street or Disneyland.  His primary senses are tactile and chemical detection via its antennae... hearing and sight are almost non-existent... so it has no awareness that there are humans that co-exist in his world....  and since he only lives for 90 days then a black swan event in his life is when forget that I left the hose on in the yard and I flood his ant hill.

So, then extrapolate that same scenario to human beings... we happily build our cities (aka ant hills)... we are quite happy in our tiny world... we know little about what is external to our world except the limited information we can gather through our five senses... we live for 80 years so a black swan event for us would be an asteroid that hits the world we have created.  So, because of the inadequacy of our human senses, are we simply like the ant and cannot detect the larger 'world' that is swirling around us? What if we had just one more 'sense' would that allow for better awareness of potentially a larger world around us that we simply can't detect (just like the ant). 

Descartes thought that since the only method by which we perceive the external world is through our senses, and that, since the senses are not infallible, we should not consider our concept of knowledge to be infallible. In order to consider something "infallibly true," he said, would be to pretend that an omnipotent, deceitful being is tampering with one's perception of the universe, and that the logical thing to do is to question anything that involves the senses. 

So, if we extrapolate for a moment and agree that the omnipotent, deceitful being may not be omnipotent or deceitful at all... but something living that simply co-exists with us, like humans with the ant...  but we can't detect that existence except through random events in our 'ant hill' world... then what is a human being, but one huge ant :-)  

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 08:20 | 61458 grasshopper
grasshopper's picture

iif infinity exists, then all possible outcomes exist. universes are infinite - each universe a drop in an infinite storm of universes where all possibilities exist.

Therefore, it's inevitable that you have done everything you've ever dreamed of, and everything everyone else has ever dreamed of, in all possible worlds.

 

I'm drunk

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 08:33 | 61465 grasshopper
grasshopper's picture

sorry ... all impossibilities exist simultaneously, so the the idea of "possible" is irrelevant. This beer in this dimension at this granular time-point in this singular universe in which i find myself conscious - is cold and delicious.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 10:31 | 61499 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

Time is best thought of a merely a convenient construct to enable minds to grasp sequence, as in Was, Is, Will Be.  I'm not saying that's what it really is....

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 10:44 | 61505 spanish inquisition
spanish inquisition's picture

Time is to keep you from experiencing everything all at once.

 

Sun, 09/06/2009 - 23:58 | 61329 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

What do you guys think of this idea?

Please follow the the link.

http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/402756-mansoor-h-khan/26372-a-plan-for...

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 19:29 | 61779 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

see my reply on SA.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:12 | 61353 RobotTrader
RobotTrader's picture

Not much happening tonight...

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 18:04 | 61700 JohnKing
JohnKing's picture

Timmay handing out USB thumb drives with gun-junker-momo-algos at G-20 summit, wait til the boys plug them in tomorrow.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:25 | 61365 Comrade de Chaos
Comrade de Chaos's picture

world is up, i guess they expect Labor Day sales figures to be less disastrous than expected - you ether lower your expectations or bye bonus or ELSE.

p.s,  ANyone bought anything over this weekend? I bought some tequila.. got to be prepared for the next 3 - 5 weeks. 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:31 | 61372 Project Mayhem
Project Mayhem's picture

I ran out of vodka so I ended up buying some Sam Adams

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 00:53 | 61380 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

I recently re-upped on my skittles supplies.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:10 | 61394 Comrade de Chaos
Comrade de Chaos's picture

is there a dry beer out there (rofl), they say one has got to be prepared for everything :)

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:22 | 61401 CD
CD's picture

It's kind of hard to fully dehydrate alcohol, but concentration is certainly possible... it would still be a liquid, but with a few CO2 cartridges and proper dilution, it could work.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 02:27 | 61419 Comrade de Chaos
Comrade de Chaos's picture

was kidding, I am sure one could buy concentrated C2H5OH, however in order for it to be solid, CO2 won't be enough. The liquid nitrogen might do it, the freezing point of Ethanol is rather low. I bet it would look like broken clear class. WOuldn't want to get it on my skin prior to phase change. (into liquid) 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 03:03 | 61425 CD
CD's picture

LOL I didn't take the thought that far; you are right, one would need liquid N or He to do the trick. The CO2 was intended to re-carbonate your concentrated 'dry' beer -- nothing worse than a re-constituted flat brew.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 04:57 | 61437 Cheeky Bastard
Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:52 | 61582 Comrade de Chaos
Comrade de Chaos's picture

Cool! On the other hand, there is no alcohol in that powder. :) 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 01:15 | 61397 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

why dont we coordinate a sell-off if the market will not do it for us ? do our own anti-SPY gunning (right after the JPM/GS SPY gun) ? any takers ?

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 08:26 | 61463 Sqworl
Sqworl's picture

Good morning Gladiators!!!  A gorgeous morning in South Hampton with a monster size Tequila hangover...;-(  No more Lily Pond for me!

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 09:19 | 61471 I need more cowbell
I need more cowbell's picture

Mitch Hedberg, RIP:

- a severed foot is the ultimate XMas stocking stuffer

-  An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience

- Dogs are forever in the push up postion

- I don't have a girlfriend. But I do know a woman who'd be mad at me for saying that.

- I  had a stick of CareFree gum, but it didn't work. I felt pretty good while I was blowing that bubble, but as soon as the gum lost its flavor, I was back to pondering my mortality

- ( for Cheeky ) I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long

- I like refried beans. That's why I wanna try fried beans, because maybe they're just as good and we're just wasting time.

- I once saw a forklift lift a crate of forks. And it was way to literal for me

- ( for Marla ) I remixed a remix, it was back to normal.

- I think foosball is a combination of soccer and shish kabobs

- ( for me ) I used to do drugs. I still do drugs. But I used to, too

- ( for Timmy, Ben , et al this'll show 'em, bastards ) I want to get a vending machine, with fun sized candy bars, and the glass in front is a magnifying glass. They'll  be mad, but it will be too late.

- I  was at this casino minding my own business, and this guy came up to me and said, "You're gonna have to move, you're blocking a fire exit." As though if there was a fire, I wasn't gonna run. If you're flammible and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 09:29 | 61473 I need more cowbell
I need more cowbell's picture

Part Deux

- I wish I could play little league now. I'd be way better than before

- I would imagine that if you could understand Morse code, a tap dancer would drive you crazy.
- I'm a heroine addict. I need to have sex with women who have saved someone's life

- I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.

- It's very dangerous to wave to people you don't know because what if they don't have hands? They'll think you're cocky

- My belt holds my pants up, but the belt loops hold my belt up. I don't really know what's happening down there. Who is the real hero?
- My friend asked me if I wanted a frozen banana. I said 'No, but I want a regular banana later, so... yeah

- My sister wanted to be an actress, but she never made it. She does live in a trailer. She got halfway. She's an actress, she just never gets called to the set

- Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something

- The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall. They are relentless, man.

- Wearing a turtleneck is like being strangled by a really weak guy, all day. Wearing a backpack and a turtleneck is like a weak midget trying to bring you down

- When someone hands you a flyer, it's like they're saying, Here you throw this away

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 10:15 | 61491 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

Good Morning...Someone clearly got way to much sleep last night and has way to much energy this morning... very funny compilation... I have cut and pasted and will share SOME of them at our Tuesday meeting to get everyone's week started off right... thanks!

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 14:01 | 61618 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

This made my night (It's night in Asia.) One of my favorite comedians of all time + My favorite website of all time. Thanks.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 09:29 | 61474 AN0NYM0US
AN0NYM0US's picture

If there was ever a reason to totally and completely boycott CNBS as in no mention, no links etc... this is it

 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/32372470

 

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 09:36 | 61475 AN0NYM0US
AN0NYM0US's picture

at the very least some of the creative folks here could contribute to the Town Hall Meeting sponsored by CNBC with special Guest Tim Geithner hosted by Steve Liesman and Erin Burnette

 

Send us your questions for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and we’ll ask them on your behalf. Here’s how:

Submit a video  http://www.cnbc.com/id/32643997

Send and email  http://www.cnbc.com/id/32626454

Join the "Banking on Geithner" page on Facebook and send us a video.

 

 

  •    
Mon, 09/07/2009 - 09:37 | 61478 AN0NYM0US
AN0NYM0US's picture

(I realize I just put a bunch of links to CNBC but you know what I'm getting at)

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 11:02 | 61515 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

ANONYMOUS... you morphed again... a slow strip-tease reveal... MsCreant picked up on this phenomenon last evening... I think we like...

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 10:25 | 61492 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

A town hall with Timothy Geithner...

"MsCreant" you better polish up your pitchfork and be on your way... I think you are the official ZH townhall representative because of the clear lead you have in actual pitchfork/townhall experience...  which you disclosed to us on Saturday evening.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 09:45 | 61482 I need more cowbell
I need more cowbell's picture

HAPPY LABOR DAY IN-FUCKING-DEED

( from Ritzhold site )

Speaking with Marketwatch’s Rex Nutting, I learned yet another incredible datapoint: Over the past decade, the U.S. private-sector has lost 203,000 jobs.

That’s right: Zero job growth for 10 years.

In the 1940s, we created 10 million jobs. In the 1990s, we added 19 million new jobs. Even during the much-maligned 1970s, we added almost 16 million jobs.

The 2000s might be zero. Some economy, huh?

The government has created 2.1 million jobs over that period — primarily teachers. And, that’s the weakest government job growth in nearly two decades.

Happy Labor Day!

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 09:57 | 61484 Sqworl
Sqworl's picture

New York Slimes today announced that a minor official in the WH resigned!!!  Grey lady needs to go down...

 

Right wing translation: Racist Green Czar taken down by Glen Beck!!! 

Happy Unemployment Day...18% and growing daily...

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 10:39 | 61502 AN0NYM0US
Mon, 09/07/2009 - 10:40 | 61503 Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh's picture

And there you have it; put out on a non-news day.  The UN still labors towards its goal:

 

UN Says New Currency Is Needed to Fix Broken ‘Confidence Game’

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aSp9VoPeHquI


"UN countries should agree on the creation of a global reserve bank to issue the currency and to monitor the national exchange rates of its members, the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development said today in a report."

...

“There’s a much better chance of achieving a stable pattern of exchange rates in a multilaterally-agreed framework for exchange-rate management,” Heiner Flassbeck, co-author of the report and a UNCTAD director, said in an interview from Geneva. “An initiative equivalent to Bretton Woods or the European Monetary System is needed.”

...

“The most important lesson of the global crisis is that financial markets don’t get prices right,” Flassbeck said. “Governments are being tempted by the resulting confidence game catering to financial-market participants who have shown they’re inept at assessing risk.”

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 10:49 | 61508 RobotTrader
RobotTrader's picture

Looks like "true love" for stocks this morning in Europe:

 

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 11:31 | 61529 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

Yep... you better just run for the hills because SWRichmond is not going to like this at all, AT ALL  :-)  

And although I thought I would never see a worse picture posted than Christine Romer after she 'ate the whole stimulus'... you actually managed to accomplish that... nice job...

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:14 | 61560 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

Well that spells pure class (with tongue).

You mine as well put jail bait cyrus up doing her stripper pole dance in her underwear, on the Disney channel (can't say ass on the channel because it is a family network)

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:56 | 61587 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

Does a valtrex prescription come with that?

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 13:01 | 61592 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

i am going to guess more risk than reward in that.  but not judging (hahaha)

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 13:53 | 61613 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

my point exactly.....

Run Away!  Run Away!

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 13:54 | 61614 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

AAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 13:03 | 61589 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

Andy,have you learned nothing?  A minimum of 6 carats, flawless, princess cut,  is required for True Love.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 13:23 | 61597 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

It isn't different than a call girl (except she doesn't leave once the evening ends, which is the purpose of a call girl in the first place).

But it is a trade off, that both parties go into with their eyes wide open. 

She is merely monetizing her looks, and he is purchasing a commodity. 

It is all about chasing the print. But once the trade is up, there is always another print to chase.

The thing is, it is disappointing at the time.  And then you see that life, and they way it is being lived, and you can't help but think "fuck am i lucky"......

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 17:13 | 61709 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

Knowing something is the easy part, saying it out loud to yourself, well that it the really hard part.

Andy my friend, it take two to tangle.  Why do men prefer to purchase the hottest girl (as perceived by others) money can buy, rather than risk the real deal?

Alas, the reality often isn't as black and white as we have portrayed.  As we get older we all make compromises that we once would have scoffed at.....

 

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 18:05 | 61740 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

If they are both hot, i am going to guess one party has more money and status (status is just another word for power). 

Being an attractive couple does not negate desire for something or someone else. Especially in NY.

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 14:30 | 61631 I need more cowbell
I need more cowbell's picture

The call girl or mistress is far better, in that there is no unstated or squishy agenda, the details of the contract are quite explicit and well-understood by both parties, thank you very much. Though, sometimes the acting job of the "girlfriend"  is actually more believable, if she's really good.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 22:09 | 61890 Howard_Beale
Howard_Beale's picture

Got to get out of the city Andy...lots of self-esteem in Egypt. Clarification: the land of denial.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 10:52 | 61509 spanish inquisition
spanish inquisition's picture

reposted from tail end of old thread

 

by spanish inquisition
on Mon, 09/07/2009 - 08:42
#61481

So just as every fiat currency has failed, so has every gold based one failed. Based on my reading, I have a theory. Each system fails through corruption. An Austrian pure gold standard, through tight monetary control, does not allow for the cost of corruption to maintain power. Or expressed another way, when I invest in a politician, I expect a certain return on my investment. I would like to receive dividends and growth rather than maintain a status quo. As campaigns increase in cost, the amount of return that they get is decreased hindering the politicians ability to be reelected. So the corrupt elements then remove the country from the gold standard. A Keynesian model has no controls on corruption (ROI) and will always end with rampant corruption that will always collapse a currency. Maybe I am oversimplifying here, but as I understand it, any money put in to an economy will stimulate it from a Keynesian view. This implies a certain randomness that has not been seen in the current crisis. To find corruption in a Keynesian system you just need to follow the flow of the blow it seems. I don't think either school has adequetly factored corruption in their formulas, maybe its a subset under value or something that needs to be defined. Let me know if you think I am full of shit.


by Bob
on Mon, 09/07/2009 - 09:03
#61486

Beautiful insight regarding corruption!  I cant think of any theories that have formally recognized, much less accounted for it, except in their rejection of competing theories and systems.  In a sense I suppose that Nash's game theory could be said to have been built upon a cynical foundation of greed as the basic motivating factor, but that's not quite the same thing you seem to be mulling over. 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 11:20 | 61520 Intuition
Intuition's picture

Just when I was finally psyching myself into naively thinking that we may somehow be capable of gathering the momentum necessary to soon challenge the system, a friend sends along a link to this article in WaPo:

Could the court really allow corporations and their agents -- the Chamber of Commerce, say, or coalitions of companies created for the purpose -- to campaign openly for or against individual candidates for federal office? Yes, it could. Campaign finance reformers are afraid that the two newest conservative members of the court, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, may be eager to overturn a long line of precedents. This would revolutionize our elections and could profoundly corrupt our government.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/04/AR200909...

 

The court will be hearing a rare re-argument on the case and apparently the parties have been asked to argue the broad constitutional implications. Could be a dangerous case, IMO.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 11:42 | 61538 AN0NYM0US
AN0NYM0US's picture
Venezuela's Chavez at Venice film festival

 

http://www.happyvenice.it/hugo-chavez-in-venice/

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 11:56 | 61546 AN0NYM0US
AN0NYM0US's picture

nice post from Tim Knight (SlopeofHope) - nice to see someone working today:)

 

The True Middle Class

http://slopeofhope.com/2009/09/the-true-middle-class.html

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:09 | 61555 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

Should be a MUST READ for every ZH'er... we exemplify Illuminata Miserque...

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 13:34 | 61604 Frank Owen
Frank Owen's picture

...the principal result of which is agitation.        So true, that it hurts.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:08 | 61552 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:06 | 61554 Cindy_Dies_In_T...
Cindy_Dies_In_The_End's picture

2000 out of about 18000 sick at WSU Pullman. (11%) but the football game is still on WHEEE!!! Go Team, spread the virus!

 

No dead or hospitalized (yet).

 

Hope they come to their enses and cancel classes and the game.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:13 | 61559 Veteran
Veteran's picture

Regarding ads on this site. . .

 

What's the dealyo with the hooker-rich guy ads?  Do you not have a choice when it comes to ads?  Just curious.  Seeing those ads leaves me with a sense of frustration and anger, because I think it encompasses all that is wrong with the finance industry en toto and also because I ain't a sugar daddy.  In fact, I need a fucking sugar momma, (I may have to lower my standards and get a sugar daddy the way things are going), and I hate the competition

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 16:07 | 61677 AN0NYM0US
AN0NYM0US's picture

blame robotrader and his pictorials - the adbots seem to think you're visiting a porn site

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 22:22 | 61922 Howard_Beale
Howard_Beale's picture

The ads are on rotation with Google re: financial, free energy, and whatever else their bots find appropriate for the words on the site. Just clicking on them, without consumating a transaction, does not in and of itself generate income for ZH. They make real money when we actually pay up, subscribe to a newsletter, etc. So click all you want on the ads--it has some effect on ZH revenue--but if you don't actually buy, the income stream is much less.

That said, all ad rates paid to Google are set for the number of eyes that see it. As ZH continues to grow (can't wait for a Vanity Fair article by Michael Lewis to talk about this site since that would truly give it the rocket blast it needs for real revenue), the more eyes that see your ads, and the more valuable they are to the advertiser. However, if there is not of a buy percentage amongst us cynics and basically very independent thinkers that don't click on the schtick, then at best they will need our contributions to continue operations.

TD, correct me if I am wrong.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:36 | 61575 AnonymousMonetarist
AnonymousMonetarist's picture

Greenspan should go away.

'He knows that, for his professional career, the secret sauce of 'enhanced government productivity reporting mixed with overinflated GDP and underreported inflation' has spiced the witches brew of currency debacement that masquerades America's wealth exporting machine and is promulgated by his type as America's resiliency.'

http://anonymousmonetarist.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-can-see-error-of-their-ways-mine-not.html

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:44 | 61577 AnonymousMonetarist
AnonymousMonetarist's picture

Get folks to ask the wrong questions and you don't have to worry about their answers.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 12:49 | 61580 AnonymousMonetarist
AnonymousMonetarist's picture

Regarding Greenspan , I share this little nugget from Jim Grant:

"Janet then seized the initiative", Former Fed governor Laurence H. Meyer related,"asking the chairman how he would define price stability. Greenspan tried to get away with his vague definition; 'Price stability is the state in which expected changes in the general price level do not effectively alter business or household decisions.' But Yellen pressed him and asked him if he could put a number on that. Remarkably, the chairman agreed, and said he preferred zero inflation, correctly measured. Janet asked him if he could settle for 2% incorrectly measured."

Meyer finished his story;

During a go-around on the topic, only a few Committee members preferred a target of zero, and the consensus was very strong for a 2% target. The chairman ended up summarizing the discussions 'an agreement for 2%' but he cautioned members not to reveal that such a discussion took place.

http://anonymousmonetarist.blogspot.com/2009/04/deceit-aint-just-where-you-place-da-bum.html

 

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 15:01 | 61639 James Beeland R...
James Beeland Rogers Jr.'s picture

Cotton will be the greatest store of wealth in the 21st century.

 

 

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 21:40 | 61893 Howard_Beale
Howard_Beale's picture

Love that...need the cotton candy. How about water?

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 18:26 | 61749 NRGTDR
NRGTDR's picture

No surprise to me. It's all going according to plan.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSp9VoPeHquI

UN Says New Currency Is Needed to Fix Broken ‘Confidence Game’

By Jonathan Tirone

Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar’s role in international trade should be reduced by establishing a new currency to protect emerging markets from the “confidence game” of financial speculation, the United Nations said.

UN countries should agree on the creation of a global reserve bank to issue the currency and to monitor the national exchange rates of its members, the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development said today in a report.

China, India, Brazil and Russia this year called for a replacement to the dollar as the main reserve currency after the financial crisis sparked by the collapse of the U.S. mortgage market led to the worst global recession since World War II. China, the world’s largest holder of dollar reserves, said a supranational currency such as the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights, or SDRs, may add stability.

“There’s a much better chance of achieving a stable pattern of exchange rates in a multilaterally-agreed framework for exchange-rate management,” Heiner Flassbeck, co-author of the report and a UNCTAD director, said in an interview from Geneva. “An initiative equivalent to Bretton Woods or the European Monetary System is needed.”

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 18:41 | 61753 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

“The most important lesson of the global crisis is that financial markets don’t get prices right,” Flassbeck said. “Governments are being tempted by the resulting confidence game catering to financial-market participants who have shown they’re inept at assessing risk.”  (from Bloomberg article referenced above)

I wonder who he is talking about... certainly not the USA... no confidence game here... no catering to financial-market participants who are inept here... no inaccurate pricing by financial markets here.

So does anyone have a prediction if there will be traction with this?

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 21:44 | 61894 Howard_Beale
Howard_Beale's picture

I have my Ouiga board....eyes closed....moving the hands slowly...ok!

Here we have it: not for at least 6 months. I'll get out the tarot cards when warranted.

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 22:48 | 61938 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

Hi Mr. Beale...

Thanks for that very scientific calculation... and it will probably be better than what anyone else can do...

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