The stock market hickuped yesterday

I've never claimed to be an economic guru but it doesn't take a genious to figure what's happening. We're in a real mess at present. Let's give a summary.
Banks and brokers gave away the store to get a signature on contracts hence raking in the commissions and making annual reports look like the sky was the limit. Rules were tweeked or flat out ignored to seek that end result. It didn't take long for those who could not afford those loans to default. The grand and overblown scheme just started to unravel in spring of 07 but the banks and brokers were able to ward off any attention to the matter until late in 07 till about Jan. 08. Then the house of cards started falling and the impact was felt around the world. In it's true day late and dollar short manner our government took to providing an economic stimilus package to try and get things going but it was too little too late. By the time checks reached main street America, people were already walking away from their home and beginning to live on credit cards. Those not living pay check to pay check were fearful of being laid off and merely slipped that money into a savings account.
So where are we now in terms of jobs and employment? With housing down construction jobs have been hammered (pardon the pun). With gas prices up SUVs and trucks ( the highest profit items) sit collecting dust at dealers. I get at least one letter a week from dealers asking that I trade in the family car and buy an SUV. They'll even throw in cheap gas. Note that with gas prices up and SUV sales down the car makers have no choice but to lay off workers and close factories. It will take one to two years to retool plants to produce smaller more economical cars. Good luck trying to snag a Prius, Honda hybred or other econobox car. You'll find at least a six month waiting list.
Then there's the airline industry. Fuel prices have slammed them. They have no choice but to cut back on unprofitable routes, shrink staffs and eliminate older ageing aircraft. Losses just last year were put at $1 billion. They've been holding their prices while adding fees to make up a bit of the difference but that will soon change and when it does I'd bet that airlines will be putting a hold on those orders for new aircraft. The machinists who build the aircraft are racing to get wage increases before the work runs out. There's two possibilities here. Either the company heads let the union go on strike thereby putting the orders on hold. (Oh and the company gets a good percent of the price even before the plane is built) Or the company ramps up production to get as many planes out the door before the orders are put on hold by the airlines. Either way it won't be a great 2009 for the aircraft builders. Then the lay offs will start. Each aircraft worker supports at least two other jobs in the economy.
With the election comming in the next few months I'm just wondering if the Shrub will thrown one more monkeywrench in the scheme of things. Remember he was the one who when leaving the Texas governors mansion said about the sad state of Texas "That's the next guy's problem." He also was just short of flipping them off at the G8 summit.

Why do we have to spy on our own government?

An email has disclosed that EPA is not to discuss any matter with a congressional investigation. Specifically this deals with how the EPA is responding to and enforcing laws on water pollution and global warming. It (EPA) ignored a petition by California to incorporate stricter standards on greenhouse gases.

EPA tight lipped

Got news for Bush and the EPA cronies. A state may institute stricter laws and guidlines. EPA regs are a minimum.

Let's try this

flashvars="file=http://www.theonion.com/content/xml/82644/video&debugging=true&autostart=false&image=http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/NO_VALUES_VOTERS_article.jpg&bufferlength=3&embedded=true&title=%27No%20Values%20Voters%27%20Looking%20To%20Support%20Most%20Evil%20Candidate" height="355" width="400" >
'No Values Voters' Looking To Support Most Evil Candidate

Hope this works. A funny from the Onion

Think I need a little help on posting videos. Wayne! You out there?

Some funny photos

for Gary





via Icanhascheezburger

Is this the start of something bad?

Hope you don't have money in one of these banks that isn't FDIC insured.

Bad business bad banks

Look for the bears running loose on Monday.

We interupt the regularly scheduled beaver Friday

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY
We're sorry to interupt beaver Friday with a call for help.
A long time blogger and all around good guy Monkeyfister is having puter problems. The Monk has done so much for blogging and the internet I feel that we owe it to him to lend a hand. Any of you computer geeks out there who's got a minute pop over to his place. I'm no hardware whiz, but I think the problem might be with his ram. Without seeing the problem first hand I'd only be guessing. You can get to his site at the following link:

Monkeyfister

A quick response would be in order here as he is thinking of trying out his 12 guage on it in the back yard.

Beat your feet on the Mississippi oil?

Forget about the millions of dollars of damage to fishing shrimping and other commerce, but God forbid I should smell fuel oil while haveing dinner in the French Quarter. There'll be hell to pay if that happens!

What's that smell?

As I said in my earlier post they only got a fraction of the oil that was spilled. And they didn't have to read my post to realize the stench that fuel oil leaves behind.

Note to government: Stop letting Liberian registered ships into our waters. How many have sank or broken up over the years?

This isn't good

An oil spill on the Mississippi river has closed traffic on the river. Over 400,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil spilled when a barge split in half. I've worked with No. 6 fuel oil in the past. We called it Bunker C. It is a very heavy oil the consistancy of peanut butter that is or was used in ships as thier fuel. I've cleaned several large tanks with residual oil and it's no fun. The stuff is so thick you have to spray it with diesel to got it soft enough to scrape. In spite of wearing gloves, moon suit and respirator the stuff manages to get on your skin and clothes. It doesn't smell too pretty either. Just glad I didn't do too many of those tanks.

Mississippi mud?

Oh and a bit of a news flash. In spite of the best efforts by the clean up crew they'll only be able to soak up about 10% of the spill. The rest will sink to the botton and poison the bottom feeder fish and critters. That's not me that's just the facts of how things work.

I've heard it all now

McCain is now blaming Obama for the high price of gas.

http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2008/07/21/daily17.html

Hello! who's been the acting president of this country for the last 7+ years?
Who promised to "talk" to the Saudis about the high prices when gas was $2.50 a gallon?
Who's held the power in the congress and senate for the last 6+ years?

The amount of oil gained by drilling more of the off shore leases would amount to about SIX MONTHS SUPPLY of what this country uses in any given year. LOOK IT UP DUMBYS!

Say hi to

Rmx77 of Computer hardware help

He's a college student who's a whiz at what's under the hood of computers. He knows a great deal about the hardware but knows only a little about html. So he asked me to help him start a web page. I hope you can find some good information about the hardware and how to at least identify problems before seeing the repair guy.

Watch out for these banks

To get an idea of which banks might fail next there's something called the Texas ratio. It's the amount of liabilities divided by the cash on hand a bank has as well as money set aside to cover liabilities. Check out the article at the link and scan down the page for a listing of banks that might be in trouble. Banks until recently guarded this info like a national security issue.

Banks to watch

Update: If you are curious as to how banks are doing and which ones are troubled check out:

Implode o meter

It shows some of the extent of the damage.

I'm from KBR I'm here to help

Yeah right.

Our boys in Iraq are getting electrocuted because KBR ( you remember the no bid contractors tied to Cheney busy sucking from the government trough) has hired cheap Iraqi subcontractors for a few bucks a day to do wiring in the U.S. troop housing.

Yeah we support the troops

This is I guess what happens when you give no bid contracts with no oversight. Just wonder how much they stole from us for this work.

Here's a glimpse from:
Take it from sombody's who's been there

How does this work?

I always thought that when you hit 65 or older depending on what the new rules are you could collect Social Security but that you could not earn more than a certain amount or you would not be considered retired. Anybody out there know the rules on this?

Seems John McCain a fully employed senator is collecting Social Security. He gets a check for around $1900 a month while earning $169,000 a year for his senate position. His wife earned 6 million dollars last year.

Social Security and McCain

Now I have no objection to anyone collecting social security no matter how much they made during their working life, but to collect it while you're still making over $100K a year and your wife is a millionaire just seems wrong. The system was set up as an aid for retirees to "supplement" retirement income. We did after all pay into the system. We should at least get out of it what we paid into it.

McCain of course is totally against the system that he so gladly will use to his advantage.

This just blows my mind

They just found 3 million barrels of oil in the U.S. supply. No this isn't something to be expected from off shore oil drilling this is in the system right now. How do you misplace 3 million barrels of oil? Was it hiding in the back of Bush's closet?

Lost oil

Bush's veto gets overridden

For all those out there relying on Medicare for their medical you can thank the Democrats for saving a bill that prevented a cut in medicare payments to drs. Had Bush's veto survived doctors having their payments cut would have no choice but to cut patients.
And 21 Republicans helped overide the veto. Can we call the Shrub "lame duck" now.

Medicare safe

I should ask how's that doughnut hole system for the drugs working out? Maybe somebody will fix that the next election.

How to borrow an image

For Gary who was wondering how to capture images from a web page.
1. Click on the image you want to use.
2. With the image highlighted (it turns blue) hold the mouse button and drag the image to your desktop.
3. Go to the add image button over your create post box (second little picture icon from the right)
4. Click on add image.
5. In the upload image box click on choose file.
6. A box with your computer files comes up.
7. Click on the image file from the list
8. Click the choose button on the right of the files
9. Click upload image button
10.Click done when the image finishes uploading

When the image is uploading you'll see an exclamation point with spinning dashes going around it. Sometimes for some unknown reason the process will hang and not finish. If the image doesn't upload in a minute or two then try again. Sometimes the server is busy or they are working on the system.
This is the way it's done with a Mac and should work with Windows. If you are using Windows and having problems you'll have to ask Wayne or Rose. I don't do Windoz

Here's your mug

Say hi to

Wayne John
(Not to be confused with John Wayne)
If you ever wanted to know a few things about blogging Wayne knows more about what's under the hood than anyone I know. He also get's quite a few characters hanging out at his place.

Sorry Wayne I should have posted this sooner.

The economy

With fuel prices sucking the life blood out of this country the subprime and adjustables squeezing the remaining embers of life from our economy this is easily the worst time in American history. I've never claimed to be an expert on macroeconomics but it doesn't take a phd to figure out what's happening. If you tune into the financial networks with any regularity ( I check them about once a day) you will continue to see a parade of economic cheerleaders that would make any high school proud. No matter what the news whether it be a bank failure or unrest in a foreign country affecting the costs of oil the talking heads always put a positive spin on things. I always try to look at the fundamentals for our future situation. Sorry to report the future does not look good. I think I've said it a few times before but I'll say it again "you ain't seen nothing yet". Now before you think I didn't do my homework on this I can tell you I've been on this for a couple of years now preparing my own bunker for the economic air raid that has only started.

Let's take a look at the facts:

Fuel prices are double what they were just a few years ago.
We've shipped off hundreds of billions of dollars to Iraq. Estimates put it at 3 trillion when it's all said and done.
Our federal debt is now around 9 trillion.
With oil so high the costs of everything that (if they haven't already) are going up.
Speculators have made a bad situation worse by dumping money into energy and commodities.
Companies faced with rising energy and material costs and lower demand are laying off.
Incomes are flat to falling.
Consumer confidence is at an all time low.
The subprime mess. The entire credit situation is estimated to be around 5 trillion.
People are using their credit cards to pay mortgages and make ends meet.
People are paying their credit cards late.
Bankruptcies are at an all time high.
Home prices are falling squeezing equity credit.
The reporting figures have been changed to exclude things like energy, housing and food. Hmm what does that leave?

Now a peek into the future:
Fuel prices going up even more. $5 a gal. may be cheap next year.
A few more natural disasters and our national debt will go up more.
Costs of electricity will go up by 20 to 30%. (takes a while to get okay for rate hikes)
Cost for water and sewer will go up at least 15%
Garbage rates will go up.
Prices of food will continue go up.
More lay offs ( the fireings will continue until the economy improves)
Hospitals faced with higher costs will lay off and close branches (saw that happen already)
At least one U.S. car maker will go under.
Several airlines will go out of business.
Property taxes are already going up and will continue.
Smaller towns will go bankrupt and unincorporate.

Hey but don't believe me what do I know?


If you want the info from the smexperts pop over here and take a look.

Bad times ahead

Friday beaver late

This guy needs some whitener and a dental plan.

This doesn't sound good

One of the nations larger banks has just failed. Had to dig to find info on this one. Indymac is now under FDIC protection. So keep your eyes peeled out there I'm sure more are to follow in the coming months / years.

The sky IS falling

As I may have mentioned before FDIC only covers the first $100,000 of deposits. If you should be lucky enough to have more than that in a bank your SOL. The other thing is that 100K is for all deposits no matter how many banks you deal with. The last issue is that FDIC can hold out on paying for weeks or months.

Being forclosed on? Here's some help

I was going to slip this post in some time earlier this week but it slipped my mind. I hope this might help somebody who's about to loose their home. If you aren't one of those you might want to file this for the future just in case. You never know in this economy.

Notes? my dog ate the note

Hat tip to Randi Rhodes

The new illegal FISA law

Congress passed the new warrentless surveillence program on Thursday but it seems the ACLU and a few other groups have different ideas about the legality of this program. Like the fact that it violates the fourth ammendment to our constitution.

Not so fast boys

Stories of this lawsuit have left MSM faster than rats leaving when the lighs are flipped on.

McCain Obama comparison

McCain




Obama

I hope they arrest this SOB

No one is or should be above the law.

Rove

By logic Rove is no longer a part of the executive and therefore no longer has executive privilage.

An answer to Gary's question

Reader Gary points out that I'm against a lot of things and he wants to know what I'm FOR

gjg said...
its easy to be against something,---but its hard to be FOR something. You have made it clear you hate all republicans, for being republicans, but what are you FOR?----show us what your are for----thats what promotes YOU.

So Here goes...
What am I FOR?
I'm FOR wiretaps with a warrent. 4th ammendment
I'm FOR due process.
I'm FOR treating prisoners like human beings.
I'm FOR free speech. 1st ammendment
I'm FOR the constitution.
I'm FOR America not being sold out to corporations both domestic and foreign.
I'm FOR a sane energy policy not one put together behind closed doors in secret.
I'm FOR renewable clean energy.
I'm FOR our troops being out of Iraq.
I'm FOR proper health care for all americans especially our vets who have been treated like second class citizens.
I'm FOR companies that keep their operations here in the U.S. and not send them over seas.
I'm FOR a government that is for the people.
I'm FOR actually funding programs like FEMA.
I'm FOR putting competant people in those programs.
I'm FOR education.
I'm FOR rewarding good educators.
I'm FOR people making a living wage.
I'm FOR rebuilding our failing infrastructure.
I'm FOR safe food.
I'm FOR keeping toxic things out of the environment.
I'm FOR not privatizing social security.
I'm FOR fair elections.
I'm FOR all the things most republicans are against.


Is that enough for you Gary or should I continue the list?

And another reason

GOP sides with profits over public safety.

GOP to the rescue

They (GOP) blame everybody but themselves. These guys make me sick.

One of the many reasons I hate republicans

A 61 year old librarian was removed and sighted for tresspasing from a PUBLIC McCain event in Colorado for having a McCain=Bush sign.

Freedom of Speech?

Yeah John you have to watch out for those youngins they could cause trouble.

Obese

Saw a blurb on the news last night about young kids needing statins. You know, the colesteral drugs for overweight people with heart problems. Sorry but I'm not buying it. Is there a weight problem with kids today? Of course there is because schools have installed snack machines with all the junk food they could ever want. If that wasn't bad enough most schools have eliminated PE - gym classes and paved over playgrounds so teachers can park their cars. I even wonder if there is a physical requirement other than be warm and breathing to graduate.
So if these kids are experiencing colesteral problems I'd say they are either cheating on their diets or have a genetic problem which is very rare. My second guess on this is that the Pharmacutical companies are pushing this to increase profits. Figure it this way. Many of the boomers will be eating dirt in the not too distant future so where are they going to sell their drugs. I noticed that Japan is cracking down on fast foods they imported from us. If China is smart they'll do the same.

That reminds me I need to get back into shape before work calls.

Housing bubble what housing bubble?

To tie into a post over at Blah3 by Invictus, somebody wanted to know where the figures are coming from about housing. I recalled seeing this chart from Bondad's blog (check the right hand side of the Blah3 blog for a link). You might need to click on the image of this chart for a larger image but it will give you a clear picture what is about to happen if we don't get our arses moving and do something about it.

Friday beaver night

We interupt the usual friday beaver post with the following photo post. To the honor of fellow blogger Pygalgia who posts boobie photos on friday (silly hobby we have here). The regular Friday beaver will return next week. We thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Bozo the clown is dead

No not the one in the White House...

Bozo

Salmonella different strains same result

There are 2500 strains of Salmonella and now Denmark is faced with the same problem as we face here in the U.S. only difference is the strain. The Danes suspect that the outbreak came from meat but like us they are not sure. Their government appears to be looking under every rock and possibility.

Let me slip on the tin foil hat for a moment. What better way to wreck havac on an economy and psyche than to incorporate a bacteria into a population. It has the population wondering is it in vegtables or beef and what is safe to eat?

The Sal you don't want to meet