Current News & Events

From the Financial Times:

Russia announced a 12-month extension of its grain export ban on Thursday, raising fears about a return to the food shortages and riots of 2007-08 which spread through developing countries dependent on imports.

The announcement by Vladimir Putin came as the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation called an emergency meeting to discuss the wheat shortage, and riots in Mozambique left seven dead.

NEW ORLEANS -- One person was injured after an explosion on an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

It happened around 9 a.m. Thursday, and as of 1 p.m., the platform was still burning, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.

Coast Guard officials reported that a mile-long oil sheen was seen spreading from the platform. But Mariner Energy -- the company that owns the platform -- said a flyover could not confirm any oil in the water.

Video

http://geraldcelentechannel.blogspot.com...

I LOVE THIS -- by Jess Bachman, posted at ritholtz.com. It's a vivid takedown of the extortionate educational-political-industrial complex. This should be posted in every high school counseling office as a mandatory Truth in Education Disclosure.

Yesterday Paul Kasriel (one of the few economists who actually has a clue) had an essay posted at Safehaven.com. He found that despite being used in several leading indicators, M2 money supply has lost its correlation with one measure of demand (final sales of domestic product) since 1990.

Kasriel went looking for a better indicator, and found that bank credit (excluding commercial and industrial loans) is still correlated to final sales. I asked him in an email what the major components of bank credit are, after excluding C&I loans. He responded:

Customers are lining up to withdraw deposits from Kabul Bank, says the WaPo:

A nutjob just stormed into the Discovery Communications building with a gun making crazy societal demands about population control, global warming, oil, immigration... 

A Termite-Riddled House: Treasury Bonds

“Financiers – like bank robbers – do not create wealth. They merely distribute it. While the mob may idolize holdup men in good times, in the bad times it lynches them. What they will do to the new money men when their blood is up, we wait eagerly to find out.”  - Mobs, Messiahs and Markets

I would think that most everyone on this site is now listed as an "Extremist" by the US Government and DOJ!  This really should scare the hell out of everyone here!  I've worked with these people, this is another step to vilify people of our stature, as enemies of the state!  This IMO is getting more serious by the day.