But not in my house, it’s not kosher, but it looks like there are people in Australia who think that a greater reliance on Kangaroo meat will reduce global warming.
Kangaroo meat, which has a taste similar to farmed venison, was banned from sale for human consumption until 1995 on Australia’s eastern seaboard, including in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, according to Kelly of the kangaroo association.
So it doesn’t taste like chicken.
So, I read that J.P. Morgan bonuses are to be slashed by 30-50%.
They are getting public money, and they are still getting bonuses?
I’m not sure whether to laugh or to cry.
He hasn’t let the Nobel go to his head.
Read his Op-Ed.
He is saying that there is not much that the Fed can do by lowering interest rates, they are already at 1%, after all.
He is saying that they have shot their monetary wad, the classic phrase is “pushing on a string”, and that Congress needs to go with fiscal stimulus, meaning that Congress needs spend money on things like infrastructure, etc.
Think New Deal and the WPA.
Go read the shrill one.
Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Krugman R’lyeh wagn’nagl fhtagn!
Not a great day.
Consumer confidence had the largest plunge ever, from 70.3 to 57.5, and home construction fell to a 17½ year low.
There are some indications that the credit freeze is relaxing, at least temporarily, the short term spread between LIBOR and Treasuries has dropped a bit.
I’m not sure that there is a real thaw, as evidenced by the fact that hedge funds are hemorrhaging money and investors.
The dollar, meanwhile was largely static today.
In energy, oil is back above $70/bbl, but that is likely the result of OPEC holding an emergency meeting to cut production.
The Ohio Republican Party got lower courts to approve their voter suppression tactics, which would have allowed them to use things an error in coding a middle initial to prevent people from voting.
Well, by a 9-0 unanimous vote, the Supreme Court told them to go Cheney themselves.
I’m not sure what shocks me more, the fact that the Supreme Court ruled this way, or that it was unanimous.
It’s clear that the ruling was narrow, on the basis that the Ohio Republican Party lacked standing in the suit:
Instead, they said they were granting Brunner’s request because it appears that the law does not allow private entities, like the Ohio GOP, to file suit to enforce the provision of the law at issue.
My guess is that they had 5 votes for democracy, and the other 4 got this narrow ruling, so they wouldn’t look like completely political tools….See Bush v. Gore in 2000.
The money quote is, “This international gap has widened even though the United States devotes a far greater share of its national wealth to health care than other countries. In 2006, Americans spent $6,714 per capita on health — more than twice the average of other industrialized countries.”
The gap referred to is infant mortality in the United States, and our numbers stink.
From Joe Kline, which I guess proves the old adage about even stopped clocks being right twice a day:
Ronald Reagan used to say that the most frightening nine words in the English language were ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’ That is no longer true. This year, the most frightening eight words are ‘I’m John McCain and I approved this message.’
(emphasis mine)
That should go a long way towards alleviating the snark shortage.
I wonder how long this will last. There are still elements in Syria that look toward a “Greater Syria” which would incorporate Lebanon.
At least, it offers the possibility of a resolution of the Shebaa Farms conflict.
Bush is determined to push through rule changes to allow dishonest companies to kill and injure ordinary citizens:
Bush administration officials, in their last weeks in office, are pushing to rewrite a wide array of federal rules with changes or additions that could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states.
The administration has written language aimed at pre-empting product-liability litigation into 50 rules governing everything from motorcycle brakes to pain medicine. The latest changes cap a multiyear effort that could be one of the administration’s lasting legacies, depending in part on how the underlying principle of pre-emption fares in a case the Supreme Court will hear next month.
Because they know, just like investment banks, nothing untoward will be done by companies, because the holy market place would punish them for maiming children.
Only to go.
Irt appears that the new pact calls fortroops to leave Iraqi cities by June with a complete widhdrawal by the end of 2011.
Basically, the Obama plan.
Also, it’s clear that the Iraqis knew that they had the US over a barrel, because immunity for US soldiers is severely curtailed:
U.S. negotiators demanded exclusive jurisdiction over all soldiers and contractors. But Iraq insisted on a role to convince the public that Iraqis – and not Americans – were in charge of their own country.
Under the compromise, the United States would have the primary right to try troops and Pentagon contractors for alleged offenses committed on American bases or during military operations, the officials said.
Such language would presumably shield troops from prosecution for accidentally killing civilians caught in crossfire during authorized combat operations.
But Iraq would have the first option to try U.S. military personnel and contractors for serious, premeditated crimes alleged to have been committed outside American bases and when they were not on an authorized mission, the officials said.
…
American troops would no longer be allowed to detain suspects or search homes without Iraqi legal authorization except in cases of active combat, the officials said. Anyone detained by the Americans must be handed over to the Iraqis within 24 hours
I would note that our status of forces agreements with our NATO allies and Japan give the local authorities far less access to soldiers accused of wrongdoing.
It appears that some members of Congress are having a cow over the potential exposure of US troops to Iraqi justice.
Unfortunately, the Iraqis know that if there is no deal by the election, it will be even worse for the ‘Phants, and applied the old adage, “If you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.”
Alan “Bubbles” Greenspan said that it was impossible, so all that could be done was to clean up afterwards, though it’s clear that Ben Bernanke is s looking at ways for the Federal Reserve to intervene before bubbles get too frothy.
He’s also looking at how excessive consolidation in banks made the current troubles worse.
This is a clear repudiation of Greenspan’s policies and philosophies.
Kevin Drum nails the problem clearly, at least with respect to housing, when he asks when do asset bubbles become inflationary.
While it is hard to claim that the Dot Com boom was inflationary, it’s clear that the housing bubble was. These were not abstract financial assets, they were essentials of life that people pay for, but the Fed, and the BLS, specifically gamed the inflation data so as not to have to count double digit increases in the cost of shelter as inflation.
Of course Alan “Bubbles” Greenspan, who hates wages, but loves unearned income, would never subscribe to the idea that this was inflationary, but he’s a complete wanker.
She is polling ahead of incumbent right wing bigot Marilyn Musgrave in a district that normally trends red, but the Republicans are now flooding the zone with money.
She is on my Act Blue page.
I’m so not shocked.
John McCain is the most lobbyist tied presidential candidate ever.
Or, more accurately, they are looking at returning to New Deal style regulations of the financial market.
The more I hear about the current state of finance, the more I am amazed at the degree to which FDR got everything right on regulation of banks and finance.
The arrest of Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman likely means nothing, and is little more than an attempt to prevent an indictment of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
Either it’s a phony arrest, and he will be on the streets again in a few months, or he will have an “unfortunate accident” in prison.
In either case, he will be unavailable to UN investigators.
Because his suggestion that a banking plan must involve restraining executive pay does not also call for fierce criminal prosecution of wrong doing.
There are thousands of people involved in this who should be in jail for a very, very long time.
Deutsche Bank Executives have agreed not to take bonuses for 2008.
Well, it’s a start.
It appears that former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg is less than satisfied with the deal he got when the US Government bailed out the insurance company, and he has written a letter to current CEO demanding more money.
In related news, Greenberg has invoked the Fifth Amendment with regards to inquiries from the New York State Attorney General.