“On the red carpet at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, television personality Joan Rivers said President Obama has not lived up to her expectations, urging him to “stop campaigning” for re-election and “take care of the f***ing country.”
Comments »Dylan Grice: Being in cash insures you’re keeping up with inflation
Cash, gold, and silver is where you want to be since the S&P is at 0% gain for the year in relation to the value of the dollar…
Comments »Silver Mania….NOT ! (video)
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLHUOnVEOBE 450 300]
Comments »Your Tax Dollars at Work
It’s just paper fun…..
“The United States is on track to spend nearly $3 million a mile on a new highway in southernAfghanistan, making it a monument to corruption and ineptitude.
The Gardez-Khost Road was conceived to link the Afghan government to remote areas of the country south of Kabul near the border with Pakistan. So far, the still unfinished 64-mile road has cost $121 million to build. The final expenditure will probably be closer to $176 million.
At least $1 million was paid to a shady figure known as Arafat, who promised protection to the subcontractors working on the project. Arafat reportedly has connections to the insurgents battling American soldiers and may have staged attacks himself in order to raise the praise of his security contract.”
Comments »So Much for Strength in the Dollar
the bounce was ephemeral to say the least….we shall see over the next few days
Comments »Ford Auto Sales up 16%
DOJ Sues Deustche Bank For $1 Billion in a “Civil mortgage fraud lawsuit”
“The DOJ is suing Deutsche Bank for $1 billion.
The suit will be a “civil mortgage fraud lawsuit.”
It sounds like what happened is, Deutsche Bank was one of the firms that selected mortgages that would be insured by the government.
The government says DB “repeatedly lied” in order to be in the strategic position…”
Comments »Nissan Wins NYC Taxi Contract
May 3 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T) won New York City’s 10-year contract to build the next generation of taxis for the city, a deal estimated to be worth more than $1 billion, the New York Daily News reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.
“Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission were due to announce the winner later on Tuesday.
The other two finalists for the concession were Turkish manufacturer Karsan Otomotiv (KARSN.IS) and U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co (F.N).
The “Taxi of Tomorrow” would replace the 16 models now authorized. The 10-year contract is expected to begin in 2013.”
Comments »GM Sales Up 27% vs Consensus of 18%
- “Chevrolet Cruze posts best month since launch with 25,160 total sales
- GMC Terrain, Chevrolet Equinox set April sales records
- Retail sales rose 25 percent for April; up 35 percent year to date
- Incentives decline more than 10 percent while retail sales rise 4 percent from March
General Motors dealers in the United States reported 232,538 total sales in April, a 27-percent increase versus April a year ago. Solid gains by GM’s lineup of fuel-efficient passenger cars and crossovers powered the gains, led by the best sales month for the Chevrolet Cruze and record sales for the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain compact crossovers.
Retail sales, those to individual customers, rose 25 percent versus last April with cars and crossovers up 49 percent and 28 percent, respectively. Retail sales for the Cruze were 180 percent higher than the Chevrolet Cobalt it replaced. The Equinox and Terrain also posted retail sales records, up 53 and 61 percent respectively….”
Comments »Samsung Flat Panel Shipments Drop 31% in Q1 of 2011
“Samsung Electronics’ flat-panel TV shipments in first-quarter 2011 reached 8.8 million units, a 5% increase compared to the same period last year, but a 31% decline from fourth-quarter 2010, according to the company.
Sluggish demand in the Europe and US markets along with the earthquake in Japan oppressed growth for the TV market….”
Comments »White House To Release Osama bin Laden Photo
Osama bin Laden’s Neighbor: None of This is True (video)
Wiki Leaks at it Again: North American Union and a World Currency
“As early as January of 2005, high-ranking officials were discussing the best way to sell the idea of North American “integration” to the public and policymakers while getting around national constitutions. The prospect of creating a monetary union to replace national currencies was a hot topic as well.
Some details of the schemes were exposed in a secret 2005 U.S. embassy cable from Ottawa signed by then-Ambassador Paul Cellucci. The document was released by WikiLeaks on April 28. But so far, it has barely attracted any attention in the United States, Canada, or Mexico beyond a few mentions in some liberty-minded Internet forums.
Numerous topics are discussed in the leaked document — borders, currency, labor, regulation, and more. How to push the integration agenda features particularly prominently….”
Comments »LMAO on “Orthorexia Nervosa”
“Do you avoid foods that contain artificial colors and sweeteners, and stick to whole, unprocessed foods instead? If so, you just might have orthorexia, an imaginary “disease” created in 1997 by Dr. Steven Bratman that appears to be gaining more attention in recent days. According to a recent report in Yahoo! News, restricting one’s diet to healthy, pure foods is a compulsive disorder that requires cognitive behavior therapy in order to cure.
Written about in so-called respectedhealthjournals like theJournal of the American Medical AssociationandPsychology Today, “orthorexia nervosa,” which means “nervous about correcteating” in Latin, allegedly causes malnourishment, anxiety, and social disorders. Its creators claim it stems from a type of obsessive compulsivedisorder, and that it can lead to anorexia.”
Comments »March factory Orders: Prior -0.1%, Market Expects 1.8%, Actual 3.0%
From Black to Red: A 10 Year Breakdown of Fiscal Calamity
“Contrary to popular belief, there the “wasteful spending” slice of the federal budget pie that is often blamed for America’s ballooning national debt is actually a slim one in comparison to decreased revenues. The debtor situation facing the U.S. is a product of many decisions made during two presidential administrations that were deemed important to the country, regardless of their long-term fiscal impact.”
Comments »More Analysis on the Bearded Clam AKA Bernanke Put
“John Hussman’s weekly letter has some excellent insights into the unusual market conditions we are currently confronted with. Clearly, the Bernanke Put has exacerbated moves in just about every market. The result is an ever increasing disequilibrium. This, after all, is what the Greenspan/Bernanke Put has been doing to the market for the last 25 years. Rather than allowing markets to be markets, the Fed has felt the need to coddle and “talk up” markets at every chance possible. They see this as some sort of positive contributing force. I see it as a highly destabilizing market force that significantly contributes to the volatility of the business cycle. The market is not the real economy. Therefore, focusing government policy on nominal wealth creation is just another way of putting the cart before the horse.
So, just how extreme are the current conditions? Mr. Hussman notes:…”
Comments »Bin Laden Raid Details Changing Already
The White House backed away Monday evening from key details in its narrative about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, including claims by senior U.S. officials that the Al Qaeda leader had a weapon and may have fired it during a gun battle with U.S. forces.
Officials also retreated from claims that one of bin Laden’s wives was killed in the raid and that bin Laden was using her as a human shield before she was shot by U.S. forces…..”
Comments »GAO Finds 3 Convicted Terrorists Become U.S. Citizens
Okay so they were not found guilty of terrorism, but were investigated for links to terrorists and found guilty for fraud, conspiracy, false statements, drug charges, and immigration problems…..
Comments »Stephen Roach: “Years of Retrenchment for Zombie U.S. Consumer”
“Morgan Stanley’s Stephen Roach sees “years of retrenchment” ahead for the “zombie” U.S. consumer, a trend that he says will force Asia’s giant exporters to look inward for growth.
“Afflicted by historically high unemployment, massive under-employment, and relatively stagnant real wages, while burdened with underwater mortgages, excessive debt, and subpar saving, U.S. consumers are stretched as never before,” Roach writes in an online column for Project Syndicate.
“Yet the U.S. government has tried virtually everything to prevent consumers from adjusting.”
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