ABC News

With REO-to-Rent now yesterday's trade, the Baltic Dry Index stumbling along near its lows (along with a glut of containers), and a 'recovery' in US housing, what better than to leverage all of these themes; to wit, as ABC News reports, the first U.S. multi-family condo built of used shipping containers is slated to break ground in Detroit early next year. So forget Trailer Parks, now the increasingly mothballed ports of America will be wonderful waterfront property courtesy of your very own (slightly used) cargo container. One proponent of this 'cargotecture' warns that although containers can be bought for as little as $2,500, they should not be thought of as a low-cost housing solution. Tempted? We are sure; below are several current developments.

It’s really hard to ignore what’s happening today; the election phenomenon is global. The entire world seems fixated on this belief that it actually matters who becomes the President of the United States anymore... or that one of these two guys is going to ‘fix’ things. Fact is, it doesn’t matter. Not one bit. And we’ll show you why mathematically... This is not a political problem, it’s a mathematical one. Facts are facts, no matter how uncomfortable they may be. Today’s election is merely a choice of who is going to captain the sinking Titanic.

As the first exit polls start trickling in, readers can keep track of the live action with the following handy maps, selected from various websites. As a reminder, exit polls are about as predictable as any other polling 'data point' based on +/-4% error margin sampling, which in turn is virtually every data point used to feed Garbage In, Garbage Out "predictors", "simulators" and other "black boxes" which forecast the future with triple digit "accuracy." Simply said, in an election in which the margin of difference in the key electoral states (not to mention the popular vote) is far narrower than the error rate, take everything you have heard about the final outcome and burn it, or sell it and buy several Stat 101 credits at the local community college.

While Government Pretends America Values Freedom of the Press, Real Journalists Are Treated As Terrorists

Prevent WWIII  (Which Would Be Really Bad for Your Investment Portfolio, Notwithstanding Keynesian Thinking) by Learning this Little-Known Secret of History 

And NOTHING Has Changed ...

American Officials Admit that the U.S. Is a Huge Sponsor of Terrorism

Whether Technology Imprisons Us Or Frees Us Remains To Be Seen … The Result Is Largely Up To Us: Scientists, Engineers And We The People As A Whole

Excuse a rant...

Clusterfukushima ... Part Deux

My sense is that the government has been watching the number of expatriates rise over the years, and simultaneously watching the value of the exit tax fall… and they’ve been looking for an excuse to make sweeping (i.e. retroactive) changes. Eduardo Saverin is the perfect excuse. The Facebook co-founder’s recent renunciation of US citizenship has become a rallying cry for politicians to go back in time and steal money from former citizens retroactively…plus establish a larger base for future tax revenues. This is a truly despicable thing to do considering that these former citizens followed the appropriate rules at the time, paid the tax, and moved on with their lives. Now Uncle Sam wants to go back in time to unilaterally change the deal, and expect everyone to abide even though they’re not even citizens anymore. The arrogance is overwhelming. More importantly, this bill is also a major deterrent for people who are thinking about renouncing US citizenship today.

All you need to read and some more.

• It just get worse and worse: After McClendon's trades, Chesapeake board gave blessing (Reuters)
• Iran Accepts Renminbi for Crude Oil (FT)... which is not news: recall China and Iran Bypass Dollar from July 2011
• As Gas Prices Fall, a Sigh of Relief  (WSJ)... so now people can direct their disability payments to where they belong: extra fries
• Greece Braces for a Repeat of Elections (FT), as first predicted by Zero Hedge, this will be a recurring affair
• China dissident Chen says officials must face justice (Reuters)
• Merkel Urges Athens to Stick With Reform (FT)
• Hollande’s Win is a Chance for Change (FT)
• U.K. Manufacturers Expect Exports to Rise (WSJ)
• U.S. Says Bomb Plot Disrupted Before Public Threatened (Bloomberg)
• Santorum Endorses Romney as Republican Nominee (Bloomberg)
• Beijing May Host OTC Market (China Daily)
• India Delays Tax Avoidance Laws (FT)

Senator Frank Church's Prophetic Warning in 1975

Just because the imminent launch of a North Korean rocket along a trajectory which will likely force Japan to strike it down, something which Pyongyang said would be equivalent to an act of war, was not enough, it now appears that South Korea has commenced the hunt for Red Pyongyang or four, as it is now "searching for four North Korean submarines that disappeared after leaving their bases on the tense peninsula." ABC News reports that "A military source quoted in a South Korean newspaper says up to four North Korean submarines slipped out of port in recent days and have so far avoided detection. The source was also quoted as saying that Pyongyang has stepped up submarine infiltration drills as the weather has warmed." As a result, "Seoul is now on alert for a possible strike against a South Korean naval ship." This won't be the first time a North Korean sub is implicated in potential wrongdoing: "The South accuses the North of using a midget submarine to sink the corvette the Cheonan two years ago, which left 46 South Korean sailors dead."