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Moral Hazard & Relying on Faith Based Reality


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HOW TO ENJOY HOLIDAY SHOPPING

 

1. Take 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they aren't looking.

 

2. Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

 

3. Go to the Service Desk and try to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.

 

4. Move a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

 

5. Set up a tent in the camping department and tell the children shoppers you'll invite them in if they bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department.

 

6. When a clerk asks if they can help, begin crying and scream, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'

 

7. Look right into the security camera and use it as a mirror while you pick your nose.

 

8. While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk where the antidepressants are.

 

9. In the auto department, practice your 'Madonna look' by using different sizes of funnels.

 

10. Hide in a clothing rack and when people browse through, yell 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'

 

11. When an announcement comes over the loud speaker, assume a fetal position and scream 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!'

 

12. Go into a fitting room, shut the door, wait awhile, then yell very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here.'

 

I had a great laugh at those ideas Drano.....tanks! :D

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My guess Xmas/other similar celebrations involving buying will suck this year. But that people might get into other holiday festivities such as not buying gifts, but spending time with one another.

 

On another note, last fall I went to Sears in two different states. Both were nearly vacant. I went during the work-day times (weekends might be different). More sales people than shopping people and near vacant parking lots. In one state, that involved driving by other "malls" that were pretty vacant for lack of tenants (and looked like foreclosure candidates, if they weren't already). On the other hand, while Walmart was huge in size and had more peeps walking around, apparently they had inventory in such control than one needed to go Sears to see if they had an item in stock. Anecdotal only.

 

I read somewhere months ago that our percentage of mall space per person in the US is ridiculous in terms of overcapitacy. If anyone would compare countries on that, I'd be happy. Although I don't have a feel for that: if we are at overcapacity, why wouldn't continue to do that everywhere until we all globally choke on it, because everyone if keen :blink: to show growth?

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1.

Fitch: No Asset Bubbles Yet

Fitch Ratings executive David Riley says investors worried about a bubble in global financial markets are jumping the gun.

A bevy of excess capacity will keep inflation down, limiting the possibility of a bubble, the heads of Fitch�s global sovereign ratings told Bloomberg.

 

�Some concerns about the asset-price inflation are overstated,� he said.

 

�Policy makers want to reflate asset prices as part of the recovery. If that starts getting out of hand, then you can get worries about future asset bubbles. These concerns I think are somewhat premature.�

 

Some, such as NYU economist Nouriel Roubini, say the dollar carry trade has helped fuel bubbles in everything from U.S. stocks to commodities to Asian real estate.

 

Yet some agree with Riley that bubbles aren�t yet brewing.

 

Investment legend Jim Rogers is one. He points out that sugar and silver are about 70 percent below their record highs and that coffee, cotton and the Shanghai stock exchange are down about 50 percent from their all-time peaks.

 

Those certainly aren�t signs of a bubble, he told Bloomberg.

 

Laurence Fink, CEO of money management monolith BlackRock, also doesn�t see bubbles blowing.

 

�Bubbles don�t happen when people are talking about them,� he told The Wall Street Journal.

 

�Bubbles are occurring when people aren�t aware of it. . . There are just too many articles about this liquidity bubble again.�

http://www.moneynews.com/streettalk/fitch_.../12/285313.html

 

2.

BlackRock's Fink says: forget 'bubble'

NEW YORK—Laurence Fink, chairman and chief executive of money manager BlackRock Inc., said there is all too much talk of a bubble being created in the stock market, and that the economy is now in a period of stability.

 

"I think things are playing out as they should," Mr. Fink said in The Wall Street Journal's latest Viewpoints executive-breakfast session, speaking to editor Alan Murray. "We are now seeing record amounts of cash being put to work," with huge flows even going into hedge funds recently, said Mr. Fink, who dismissed talk of a bubble.

 

There are too many articles in today's newspapers about bubbles, he said, adding that crises occur when they aren't in the rearview mirror.

 

The financial system needs change, including increased disclosure, more derivatives trading on exchanges and regulatory change, Mr. Fink said. He also said that although BlackRock misjudged the commercial real-estate sector, it is an area on which it will be refocusing and that the asset-management business is changing drastically.

 

Mr. Fink also said he didn't think the U.S. dollar would fall that far, though it will slip lower versus the Chinese yuan, the Brazilian real and other countries' currencies. "I don't know if this is a bad thing," he said. "Hopefully, a weakening dollar will produce more companies willing to manufacture here."

 

As for the crisis, the financial system needs to be a lot more responsive to society and make sure this doesn't happen again, Mr. Fink said. "Risk has to be a lot more transparent to investors. I think that is happening."

 

The system is dialing back risk substantially, bringing down leverage, Mr. Fink said. It also needs more derivative products trading on exchanges and to make sure everything is done on balance sheet, he said. But regulatory change also is in order, Mr. Fink said, calling for global consistency in regulation and risk management.

 

One question that needs to be answered is, "Where will capital come from to finance America next year?" Mr. Fink said. The Obama administration's theory is that if interest rates are kept low, banks may start lending in the mortgage area, he said.

 

"I hope the private sector will come in," he said, but noted that there is currently a reluctance to buy mortgage securities because of the uncertainty around rights as a first-lien holder.

 

In addition, a new ratings system is needed if there is going to be more private-sector involvement in the mortgage market, he said.

 

Mr. Fink also launched into a defense of mortgage securitization, calling it "a good thing" that went bad in this decade. "For 30 years, mortgage securitization saved American homeowners 250 basis points" on their mortgages, he said. It wasn't the structure, but the underwriting and the acceptance of risk that became a problem, he said.

 

As for commercial real estate, BlackRock "probably had an overzealous view of where real estate was going to go," Mr. Fink said, noting that before 2006, it has been a sector where there had been "tens of years of success."

 

Commercial real estate hasn't rallied much, and if you believe that tight spreads and high yields will continue and that the U.S. can expand only about 2% a year, "we are going to have slow healing," he said.

 

Nevertheless, it is an area on which BlackRock will be revisiting, he said, noting that for the first time in a year, an investor has given the asset manager money to be put into the sector "because they think values are now appealing."

 

As for the asset-management business, it is being redefined, with more clients seeking holistic advice and increased use of traditional index-tracking products, Mr. Fink said.

 

BlackRock is helping clients manage large chunks of their portfolios "almost like a fiduciary outsourcing," he said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...1750488434.html

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It's just so infuriating that tout rags like the WSJ, with that little ass licking whore Murray hanging on every ounce of flatulence from Rupert Murdoch's fat fascist ass, keep talking to the same criminals responsible for this outrage as if they are credible authorities on what's going on. Asking the opinions of these financial bosses, and their ratings agency consiglieres on whether we're in a bubble, is like asking the Mexican drug cartels how the drug trade is becoming more socially responsible. Or it like asking a mafia don whether there's less bribery and extortion in the concrete business today due to the downturn in the economy.

 

Please stop posting references to anything published by one of Rupert Murdoch's dangling organs. That includes the Whore Street Journal, Marketupwatch, Faux News, Dow Jones Tout Wires. These people make me sick, and we shouldn't be promoting them in any way shape or form.

 

Bloomberg is a little more credible.

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Can't wait for next weeks lunacy....Hey CB....our Bears Suck....here's our future !!.....First Benson...then Orton....

 

 

 

Maybe they should get him lubed before the game - he couldn't get any worse. They call that "aiming oil" in Nebraska hunting terminology.

 

Da Bears suck - its really depressing. I thought we'd be that much better with Cutler this year. We need an offensive line and a better secondary.

 

 

jickiss is back!

 

jickiss is back!

 

and

 

first, thank you Trader Joe for mentioning your jickiss. a very excellent salesman that you jickiss worked with in the 90s said that we have two ears and one mouth, and that understanding this ratio was a key factor in successful salesmanship.

 

today, it is incredible how much is said off the cuff, even in venues where one imagines that them that present should know better.

 

the net has turned millions into twitterers, often Wrong, but NEVER IN DOUBT.

 

Right on guys! Any moran can flap their gums, spewing out nothing. Ever go to a party and just observe people? The ones talking the most are usually the dumbest ones in the room. Listening is an art very few people have mastered.

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