Hard to imagine a more fitting last agreement for the Administration that would not talk to anyone it didn’t like: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/16/AR2009011602207.html The fighting in Gaza is going to end because Israel and the US sign something? Were we smuggling weapons? Have to hand it to Israel for ending its war right on schedule – bit [...]
Archive for January, 2009
Negotiating With Yourself
Posted in Middle East on January 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
$52,000?
Posted in Corruption, Miscellaneous on January 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
That’s the wholesale price of a Playmate? Good Lord that’s cheap. http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/01/14/2009-01-14_hugh_hefners_playboy_lifestyle_isnt_what.html Have to hand it to Hefner for making his lifestyle pay. The guy runs a terrible business that underperforms even its dying industry (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=PLA), but he gets to live in a house that is probably worth more than the company by running each [...]
Sudden Event of a Water Landing
Posted in Inspirational, Miscellaneous on January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The exceptionally rare water landing that does not shatter the plane, conveniently located just off of Midtown: http://gawker.com/5132377/us-airways-plane-crashes-into-hudson-river I am amazed no one seems to have gotten hypothermia. They picked a cold day to go down, although perhaps with better search/rescue opportunities than Air Florida #90 (also, conveniently, taking place shortly before the State of [...]
Another Day, Another Dollar
Posted in Finance, Meltdown on January 15, 2009 | 1 Comment »
This is mind-boggling, although so many mind-boggling things have happened with our bailouts it’s hard to focus. But let me try to pin this down. Lehman is about to fail. It is #4 of the investment banks (BSC – already dead, LEH, MER, MS, GS) Bank of America is approached to buy Lehman at death’s [...]
Oil Prices
Posted in Energy Policy, South America on January 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
First question: why would anyone agree to a long-term deal with Chavez? Seriously. Talk about an obsolescing bargain. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/world/americas/15venez.html Second question: why are oil stocks up from October, despite a significant decline in the price of, you know, oil (West Texas Intermediate has gone from $77/bbl to $45/bbl)? XOM was $62 then; now it is [...]
Pilot
Posted in Miscellaneous on January 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Obviously easy to say in hindsight, but wouldn’t it have been just as easy to fly out of the country and just run from there? http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/570632 I guess the guy spent too much time reading this story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper
Huh?
Posted in Finance, Foreigners, Meltdown on January 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
So to be able to continue making the claim that it has not taken government money, Deutsche is going to end up linked with the post office? That should make for wonderfully productive board meetings. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/business/15deutsche.html If they wanted a figleaf, why not have the German government set up a corporation with E5bn in cash [...]
Housekeeper
Posted in Corruption, Hillary Clinton on January 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
So Geithner goes to all the trouble of getting a legal housekeeper, and her immigration status changes three months before the end of her time working for him, and this is supposed to be a big deal. The guy doesn’t pay self-employment taxes of $50,000 while working in the US with the goofy idea that [...]
Stock Transfer Tax
Posted in Finance, Meltdown on January 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Not a terrible idea: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/opinion/13herbert.html I doubt it would raise the kind of revenue projected, because I suspect folks would set up offshore exchanges (Cayman Depository Receipts?) to shadow the US markets, but worth a shot. When stocks were traded in eighths there was effectively a $0.125/share tax on a transaction that went straight to [...]
Football Thoughts
Posted in Football on January 12, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The Broncos have hired Josh McDaniels, Patriots offensive coordinator, to replace Mike Shanahan. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3826234 To be clear, that means they fired a guy who is 146-95 in his career (not too different from Coach of All Coaches Belichick, who is 153-90), has won two Super Bowls, and had the #2 team in the NFL in [...]
