And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.
We have now had 2 straight weeks of only 1 bank failure.
I am not sure if this is improvement, if the things are just piling up behind the dam, or if we are simply running out of Banks.
In any case, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):
My new laptop, a birthday gift from DoD (Dear old Dad) has arrived, which means that I will be WiFi enabled down in Northern Virginia, which means that I can get my daily dose of Maddow online, and blog more.
So you will see more writing, but, as is my tradition, shamelessly swiped from the brothers Magliozzi, it will remain “unencumbered by the thought process.”
Still, being able to video phone back home on the weekdays via Skype is nice.
That representative Joe Barton (R-TX) is a complete moron.
You see, he publicly apologized to BP for what he called a, “$20 billion shakedown” by the Obama administration in getting the giant oil company to pay into an escrow fund. (He has since recanted)
To my mind, if the Dems don’t run with this like an overpaid wide receiver at the Superbowl, they are morons.
But you should know that the president of Xe, the company formerly known as Blackwater, mercenary rat Eric Prince is planning to leave the country and settle in the United Arab Emirates, and the UAE has no extradition treaty with the United States:
Sources close to Blackwater and its secretive owner Erik Prince claim that the embattled head of the world’s most infamous mercenary firm is planning to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Middle Eastern nation, a major hub for the US war industry, has no extradition treaty with the United States. In April, five of Prince’s top deputies were hit with a fifteen-count indictment by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, weapons and obstruction of justice charges. Among those indicted were Prince’s longtime number-two man, former Blackwater president Gary Jackson, former vice presidents William Matthews and Ana Bundy and Prince’s former legal counsel Andrew Howell.
The Blackwater/Erik Prince saga took yet another dramatic turn last week, when Prince abruptly announced that he was putting his company up for sale.
While Prince has not personally been charged with any crimes, federal investigators and several Congressional committees clearly have his company and inner circle in their sights. The Nation learned of Prince’s alleged plans to move to the UAE from three separate sources. One Blackwater source told The Nation that Prince intends to sell his company quickly, saying the “sale is going to be a fast move within a couple of months.”
Rest assured, if Prince is has charges filed, we can be sure that Obama and His Evil Minions™ will turn over no stones at all in an attempt to bring him to justice.
After all, Prince might roll on senior Bush White House officials, and the uproar might force Obama to investigate them, which appears to terrify him.
But this weeks jobless claims numbers still suck wet farts from dead pigeons.
Perhaps the British royal family is not as overpaid as I thought:
You would have to pay me a lot of money to make me wear those hats, and I occasionally frequent the company of Orthodox Jewish women at services, and their bad taste in hats is legion, though clearly nothing compared to this.
Link.
A stint of unemployment, can make you wonder about whether or not one’s technical skills have gotten dulled in the interim.
Fortunately, there is no problem here. I picked up ProE as if I had not been off it at all.
On the other hand, I seem to have lost the ability to navigate my way through cubical farms.
At least 3 times a day, I walk back to my cube, and take a wrong turn, and end up at someone else’s cube, and this is just a medium sized office.
Being a man, I don’t ask for directions, of course.
I’m just saying.
Paul Krugman finds this quote from Adam Posen of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee regarding people who think that somehow the European Central Bank is not “Chaste” enough in matters of fighting inflation because it is engaging in quantitative easing (printing money) in the form of buying bonds:
Cultures which make a public fixation of virginal maturity, of a stylized maiden’s reputation, tend to be backward superstitious cultures that impede people exercising autonomy and making responsible choices.
Word up.
*So far.
So, a preacher in Ohio with a lot of money and wacked priorities decides to erect a six plus story statue of Jesus, because helping the poor is for punks.
I imagine that he thought that God is much bigger into graven images than he is into helping the downtrodden.
Well, the score is now God:1, religious and self-aggrandizing nut-job:0.
Lightning struck the statue and it burned to the ground. Doubtless the preacher won’t even feel a shred of doubt though.
Posted via mobile, which is why I am not composing a filk of Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” (“Smoke on the Jesus?”) for my blog.
Between my daughter’s bat mitzvah yesterday, and her reception today, I am completely wiped. Everything went pretty much to schedule, but the last minute running around was completely nuts.
I’m starting a new Job on Tuesday,* so I am hip deep in continued preparations, and adjustments for some days, as I will be away from home 4 days a week.
Hopefully, I’ll try to get back into the proverbial groove over the next week or so.
*And there was much rejoicing
I’ve got some stuff queued up, but I am heading off to a family get together on the Delaware shore, and then my Daughter is having her Bat Mitzvah this Saturday, so I will generally be away from the computer.
I have some stuff queued up, but volume should be light.
I have post dated this post until Sunday, after her reception, so scroll down for new posts.
A day late, because my Daughter had her bat mitzvah, (my reflections on that later) but here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.
And here are the credit union closings:
So FDIC bank failures seem to be moderating a bit, but credit union failures appear to be picking up a smidgeon.
In any case, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):
Not everything that pops into your head has to come out your mouth.
— My brother, Dan Saroff, to my dad
Just so you know, we were all drinking, Scotch for the Saroff boys, and red wine for the parental unit, at the time.
Blanche Lincoln won the runoff, I still think that she is going to lose the general, and this season, the Democratic wing of the Democratic party won’t be spending time, effort, or money on her.
On the plus side, it was her, intended-to-fail derivatives proposal that really got the financial regulation bill moving in the right direction in the Senate.
In California, Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman proved that rich people can buy primary elections in California, which is not a surprise.
Meanwhile, South Carolina, once again proves Congressman James Petigru’s adage, “South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum,” true, with the Democratic Party’s primary of Alvin Green, an unemployed dishonorably discharged veteran facing felony obscenity charges who ran no campaign.
The theory is that he won because his name appeared first on the ballot, but this does not explain how he came up with a $10,400.00 filing fee.
This gets curious because SC Senator Jim Demint (R) was considered to be one of the more vulnerable ‘Phants this year in the Senate.
I’m wondering who counted the ballots.
I mentioned the interview earlier.
I start next Tuesday, and you can be sure that I will post very little about my employer, even if I come across a story about them in the news.
I think that blogging about one’s employer is a good way to make an employer* a former employer.
Since they are near Dulles airport, about 80 miles away, I will be getting a room in area (already lined up), and it includes Internet (Wifi).
Unfortunately, I do not have a laptop at this time, so I am looking to get a wireless enabled one, which is why I’ve changed my donation button to read Matthew’s Saroff’s Beer (and Laptop) Fund and Tip Jar.
I will be using the laptop for blogging, and to Skype video calls to Sharon† and the kids.
It’s the 2nd item down in the right hand column.
Needless to say, my blogging time will be more restricted, though the fact that I will be without a TV may make the effect on my blogging a wash.
Still, having a job as an engineer after 11 months of not having one (the 1 month gig was as a tech writer) is a very good thing, and I am close enough to head home for just an evening occasionally.
*It’s a temporary contract, so technically, they are a client, but still…
†Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
Well, the GDP numbers for the 1st quarter were revised again, and they were revised down again, down to a 2.7% annual rate, revised down from 3%, which was itself revised down from 3.2% initial figure.
Funny, isn’t it.
Meanwhile, initial unemployment claims fell, but still remain well into the “major suckage” range.
