Friday Beaver soon to be the last for this season Fear not the pussies are coming

So much news it's almost overload

Where to begin? The irony meter blasts the scale with this on. Seems the blood suckers of Wall Street don't like it when things happen to them. Goldman Sachs employees in Switzerland have complained to the government about not being paid for overtime. What you didn't make enough selling off grandma's mortgage in the derivative bundle to make an even bigger bundle? Oh forgot you do that with entire countries now, pity you.

Totally under reported or non reported for that matter is the fact that every teacher in Mexico is now on strike. Tis true there's a rather large gathering in Mexico city so large the they shut down major highways but not by intent. It's just that so many came all at once. Reason? President and congress just passed a bill requiring all teachers to pass a standardized test in spanish or lose their license. Sounds good on the surface until you realize that there are over 300 different languages spoken in the country and so many of those areas are so remote they have little access even to learn spanish. In other news of that land they want to privatize the national oil company the country's primary source of revenue.

Other little snippets not getting reported was a protester killed in Turkey three days ago which caused more riots in the streets in Ankara. Noting to be seen of protests in Bulgaria or Slovenia so I guess they just don't count.

While we've heard much about tar sands oil spills of late in Mayflower and the train explosion in Lac Magantic (just who switched labels on the train at the border?) no reports from the Dominican Republic about what a certain Canadian gold mining company is doing to their environment. After polluting their streams beyond usability the company was so kind enough to provide water to the near by villages, a whopping 40 gallons per week for entire families to drink bath and wash their clothes. Much like saying "here's a quarter kid don't spend it all in one place". This scene by the way is being played out in so many countries as corporations use their grasp on governments to change laws to their favor. Harper in Canada is sending in his cronies to the western provinces to convince First Nation chiefs to cough up their land so he can ship more dirty tar sands oil to China. Forget about the environment and what long term damage it will do and don't believe all the hype about creating local jobs, most big outfits import their own cheap labor under special laws that lock out the locals. And as efficient as construction has become the whole thing could be built in 12 to 18 months. Once built it doesn't take an army of workers to run it either. They must think we've forgotten that systems are computerized and only need a handful of people to maintain.

The same is playing out in so many countries now it's hard to keep track. There's fracking just about everywhere now, that is if the land isn't being dug up to find gold. Coal seems to be taking a back seat for the moment but as the price of natural gas drops you can bet all but the biggest players will drop out and coal will be king once more. Poor West Virginia may land up as flat as the prairies with all the hill top mining and Pennsylvania could look like swiss cheese with all the gas drilling. You realize of course all of this is not good for the environment. They realized this way back when Pittsburgh was called "the smokey city" and finally decided to clean up the air. Now it's an assault on water and soil all driven by a quest for more profits. One thing to remember here is corporations could give a tinkers' damn about human life. They are in business for one reason and one reason only and that's to make money.

On that note bank fails later...  
UPDATE: Two banks failed this week. One in Texas and on in CT.   

Look! Not over here over there!

Digging through the fluff of U.S. main stream media past the latest diva temper tantrum or cute kitty playing the piano we search for real news that actually effects our lives. Buried deep in the far recesses you might find the truth, but it takes a big shovel and plenty of elbow grease.

While the primary focus has been an impending war with Syria, yes let's face it once the first missiles are fired it will be game on for the region, the economy sputters along producing little more than make work jobs that don't pay enough to cover the rent. Call me Henry Ford if building a hamburger can be considered a manufacturing job but it is. Where in this world the bullies of Wall Street and their partners in crime resort to line their pockets once again but by picking on the weakest. In the UK it's been by imposing a bedroom tax to those living in public housing as if they had much of a choice to their circumstances. How they're expected to downsize to avoid being thrown out on the street with draconian taxes is beyond belief, especially when there are no alternatives and no plans in the works to build smaller flats. In the U.S. it's been a freeze to public housing preventing those in line from even being considered. The lines have been so long in past years that it takes over a year to get a unit. While some advances were made prior to the melt down with duplexes being torn down and four and six-plexes built it did little to improve the situation with the poor being added. That would be those that lost good paying jobs and couldn't sell their homes with the mortgage melt down and that 's not to mention many losing much of their retirement income which was not FDIC insured.

Then we have the phony unemployment numbers. While they are reported as having gone down and seem to keep going down, it takes no genus to figure that something's awry when the jobs added and the claims filed don't quite jive especially when those who have fallen off unemployment when their claims ran out are no longer counted. I know of three such people in my neighborhood alone.

So what are our elected officials doing about all this? The senate has only now come back from it's long summer break but when they left it was mainly electing judges to the federal circuit courts a job that should have been done 4 years earlier.

On the House side it was business as usual with a bill to permit more foreign investment. Nothing like selling off the remains of our manufacturing to a foreign country. Do we still make anything other than planes or bombs? Then of course there's the favorite past time of the republicans getting rid of Obama care any way they can. Their latest ploy is to prevent the IRS from enacting any penalties by hand cuffing the secretary of the Treasury from enforcing the law. Further eroding the process was another amendment requiring stringent income verifications for anyone who may benefit from the program and receive a subsidy or co pay from the government. Once again proving that if they can't eliminate a program they'll make it extremely difficult to use much like what they've done to voting in many states.

Needless to say I have no use for republicans unless it's for a door stop or paper weight.       

Friday beaver - Insanity edition

(That is if there were any to be found)

While Assad has gassed his people and killed many more with rockets, Obama calls for the attack of Syria. But there's more. All the while U.S. drones kill six more in northern Pakistan. And while all this is going on Iran is calling for more bombings in Iraq of U.S. interests. Has the world really lost it's mind? Dead is dead no matter the method and pointing fingers when you are doing much the same is no answer.

In the UK companies are beginning to start fracking operations a dirty process of extracting gas a mile deep under the earths surface. This much to the objections of the local residents who have seen the damage it does to the water table. If that wasn't bad enough the offer for royalties was worse, a mere 1% of the rewards. That's 99 for me and one for you. The sheer greed of this is unthinkable. It's the town's mineral rights and the people aren't dumb enough to sell away their rights for a trinket or two. What's even worse is that most jobs will not go to the locals but some fly by night outfit from Texas who will hire migrant workers from some third world country at the lowest wages.

Yet again we're seeing the system cracking with workers not making enough to survive. Thailand rubber farmers not getting enough for their products. Coffee farmers in Columbia not making ends meet. Thirty years ago you could get a container of coffee for around $5. Granted the can was a bit larger back then. Today it can be had for $7.50 here so factoring for inflation farmers are making far less than they were back then. It's understandable that prices can never be frozen, Nixon tried that little trick back in the 70s, but it shouldn't take a genus to figure out that speculators should not be in the market. They have no interest in farmers or the consumers. 

Over all it's beginning to look like the sides are lining up and the future doesn't look too bright. Never mind what the wall street boys are saying they're on some type of cocaine high at the moment. They've raped enough countries to have a fat bank statement and all neatly hidden in the Caymans. And speaking of bank statements....

Bank fails later... 
UPDATE: No bank fails this week 

The perfect storm

The perfect storm is brewing and it appears October is the month to watch.

What gives? Many factors are about to converge all at once in that month. Where to begin? First up is the budget debate that must be addressed. We've seen the can kicked so many times there it's surprising that it looks like a can anymore. Tied to it is the debt ceiling. The minions in congress will huff and puff about shutting things down but we know they won't for to do so would be political suicide. Any wagers as to who's buying hedges against a large dip in the stock market?

Then of course there's Syria. And even if there's no air strike authorized there's still the drain on neighboring countries who are hosting 2 million refugees and climbing. With the economic strains on countries like Greece (which is selling off its' national assets), Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal all of which is now spilling into countries as far away as South America is it any wonder for such thinking? Then there's Japan with it's leaking nuclear plant quietly buried in the news. When they down play the extent and try to tell you that everything will be all right it's time to worry. Hanford and Chernobyl will look like child's play compared to this disaster. Hanford by the way has spent the last 25 years and tens of billions of dollars just trying to find a solution to the problem and they aren't there yet. So when Japan tells you it has the solution don't believe them.

There's a tipping point at which people will say enough is enough and I think we're getting close. Never before have fast food workers walked out on strike that I can recall. In other countries it's farmers in South America and miners in Africa on strike. But we've seen all this once before during the great depression when pickers weren't paid enough to even feed themselves.

And I forgot the 800 lb. gorilla in the room that nobody's talking about - from the G20 summit: An initiative will be presented to leaders on refining regulation of the $630-trillion global market for financial derivatives to prevent a possible markets blow-up. ("Refining regulations"! It's an unregulated market who are they kidding? )

So enjoy the rest of your day while we still have it. The sun will come out tomorrow and if it doesn't then it'll be just more rain and when it rains it pours. Who will stop the rain?

Beaver Friday war edition or not

(Okay this isn't the usual sexy beaver and we know Canadians won't be sending anybody to war)

Getting serious about Syria.

 I've been scanning news reports on the situation in Syria from an up close and personal perspective. I like to dig through on the ground interviews from people who were actually there to piece together the facts. One man reported hearing the artillery shells at about 3 AM. I've watched these myself via Livestream one night last year. You hear the shot go off followed by the whiz of it traveling through the air then the explosion and smoke. In this man's case there was no explosion after hearing the shells. He reported smelling something like rotten eggs and said he ran with his family to a basement. He was one of the lucky ones and was later able to get away from the carnage that ensued. Such is the nature of chemical weapons and hazardous chemicals. It's a matter of how near you are to them and the space around you.

So from what I've read and my knowledge of such things (I am trained for such an attack believe it or not) I surmise that the weapons used were a combination. First there was the mustard gas which can produce a rotten egg smell. Also used was phosgene. I can't speculate on Sarin even though many of the symptoms were there. The reasoning behind these first two are that they are easily produced and therefore it would be easy to blame the other side. Do I think the rebels used the gas? No. It wouldn't make sense. The rebels were ill equipped to protect themselves having a limited supply of gas masks and very little in the way of protection. You will note the photo of the "cache" of chemical weapons discovered by the Syrian Army showed mostly gas masks and atropine which is an antidote to a chemical attack.

How will this end? That's anyone's guess. To attempt a strike on Syrian targets would do little to deter Assad and like striking a hornets nest could do more harm. Like or not we'll have to live with the current situation until a later time. There's too many players in this game with Russia China Iran and the U.S. playing the proxy war. Until all sides come to meet nothing will change. The only winners in this game at the moment are the arms dealers and even they will have a tough time when most of their customers are dead.

Bank fails later.
Update: No fails this week

Master disaster economically speaking

After all who doesn't like a good disaster?

The slow motion train wreck we call the worlds economy took another leap forward. With bent tracks and a very large curve ahead you'd better hold on to your hats and wallets too. 

India's rupee sank yet again. Just announced today that it's near to impossible to get a business loan in the euro zone. Oil has shot through the roof while investors have sought the safety of gold. Only problem there boys and girls is that you can't eat gold and most stores don't take it as tender.

The lame stream media continues it's drum beat to the build up of the attack on Syria. Geez you'd think Evil Knevil had come back from the dead and was about to jump the empire state building. All they need now is a sponsor. How about Smith & Wesson that might be fitting? This is all dick waving so just don't get caught on the backswing. There's enough lies and half truths flying about out there to make a conspiracy theorist's head explode. So what's this really about? It's about  money oil and power plain and simple. But for the media it's all about the show and how many bodies they can present on the nightly news because after all like a good action movie it's not over until the hero has gunned down an entire regiment of baddies. As the expression goes "if it bleeds it leads". In this case they have plenty of time to hype it and no one will really see who did what to whom until the dust clears.

Checking the trends you'd think that the biggest focus was about the latest indiscretion of the trending entertainer. After all they make a career out of it. Bad publicity is better than none in that business, but you'd be wrong. Not about the entertainers but about the trends. Latest I'm hearing facebook and twitter (although I use neither) is more about fears of an animal attack than any dress malfunction or bawdy performance. A gator attack in Florida and a wild big cat in Detroit seem to be making the top of the list. Syria is in there but it's nowhere near the top. But hen again our priorities shift as we get older. 

But this whole post was supposed to be about the economy. You can just about take any city state or country and plug it into the latest economic disaster report. If a city state or country says it's doing well they're lying. The only ones making it are those who have their money stashed in Switzerland Luxembourg or the Caymans. That's a fact you can take to the bank.

For me it's just about making it to the finish line before I take a dirt nap.  

Just eat it

Is it my imagination or is the news getting recycled?

Suddenly missing Nixon tapes surface. Former president recalling an assassination attempt that happened nearly 40 years ago. Civil rights marches that haven't been seen since the 60s. Did somebody reset the Delorian time settings Marty?

Good is becoming bad and bad good. Hannah Montana doing a dirty dancing bit. Enough to have old Walt Disney spinning in his grave. But then again who didn't have the hots for Annette, but I digress.

Where was I? Back to the regurgitated news that's been chewed up swallowed and analyzed to death only to be served up on our viewing plates cold. Tell us something we don't know. Area 51 again? Yeah yeah we know and there wasn't any aliens mucking about, but where else are you going to test planes at mock 1 or 2 without the Ruskies  snooping? Finally fess up to the fact that we overthrew the elected leader of Iran back in the 50s because he was leaning socialist and just might have nationalized the oil fields?

Next thing you know they'll have found the whereabouts of Judge Crater or the body of Jimmy Hoffa. Seems anything is fair game as long as it detracts from the fact that our government is doing absolutely nothing about anything. Naming a post office or installing another federal judge may sound like you did something but to us it doesn't really count. Nothing on the event calendar you say then just throw in another awards ceremony. That's good for at least a day and a half's news cycle. And not to dishonor our military folk but have you ever noticed that so many receive a metal for screwing up? They get captured by the enemy after making a wrong turn on the road, have to be rescued and they're considered a hero? No I'll tell you who the real heros are. They're the ones who did their jobs and came home who are now jobless and without a home and who can't medical help when they need it. These are the guys who did three four and even five tours of duty in a god forsaken desert yet their reward is little more than lip service and not a bright future.

But yet again I digress. Let's have another round. Beers? No talks. Talks about what to do about Syria. Let's get this right. (Wait for it this gets snarkier). We'll hold high level talks with our allies where we can discuss our options. All options are on the table and a plan of action must be forged out. Alternative plans must be taken into consideration and additional channels of communication must be kept open. All resources must be put in play. A coalition must be formed and consensus reached. No clear evidence has been established. High ranking members of an international team are set to hold talks yet that has been delayed. The current situation has caused the markets to tumble (hope you bought your hedge insurance) and crude prices to skyrocket (so much for the long labor day outings) .

Okay okay I'll step off the ivory flakes box. You can get back to shopping. Nothing to see here.