SHASTA LAKE - A group of 15 teachers and administrators at Shasta Lake School, who've been playing the state lottery together for seven years, picked the winning numbers for a $76 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot that was drawn on Saturday.
"Better never than late." - Rob Dawg on climate change legislation. Mr Markey said the debate in Congress was no longer focused on whether to pass climate change legislation but on how much to spend on it. His committee’s goal is to complete legislation by Memorial Day so it can go to the House floor.
“We know the G8 and the rest of the world is waiting for the United States to stop being the laggard and be the leader,” Mr Markey told CERA, a week-long energy conference that began on Monday. “There are potentially catastrophic consequences for the planet if we do not act.’’
Mr Markley said that neither the government or the private sector has invested enough in combating greenhouse gas emissions.
“The tools to solve these problems, in many instances, have not been invented yet,’’ Mr Markey said.
He urged Congress to set market-driven policies to give energy companies certainty and opportunities to participate in the “revolution” about to take place around climate change. He likened it to the developments that took place in telecommunications sector.
Despite the attempts of the Federal Reserve to drive such borrowing costs lower by purchasing home loans, average mortgage rates have risen from 5.04 per cent on January 13 to 5.51 per cent last Friday.
The mortgage subsidy plan was a centrepiece of the Republicans’ proposal for an alternative stimulus to the versions pushed by the White House and congressional Democrats. The proposal would in essence cap mortgage rates at 4-4.5 per cent and would, its proponents say, help to stabilise house prices and hence prevent the downward spiral of falling asset values, bankrupt households and troubled lenders.
Now let me explain what is almost certain to happen if you are foolish enough to let Taxcheat Timmy pull this garbage.
See, these assets really are trash. Yeah, right now they are kicking off cash flow. For now. But they're impaired and while their coupon will pay for a while they will ultimately default on their face value and recovery is pennies (and in the case of synthetics, zero) when they do.
So what happens here is that you provide 95% non-recourse financing. Sir Hedge Fund buys a buttload of this garbage having only 5-10% of the face at risk, and that's all they need to put up as well, since the government is going to provide the financing - as a "no recourse" loan (presumably very cheaply.) They get a 6-7% coupon which means that in one year they're covered, and in two they're making money like a madman, up 200% or more on their original risk capital.
ACORN. We've heard this before. Only difference is the $4.1 billion price tag. I don't need to explain where that "stimulus" goes. Other than that, SOP:$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
$380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
$300 million for grants to combat violence against women
$2 billion for federal child-care block grants
$6 billion for university building projects
$15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
$4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
$1 billion for community-development block grants
$4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
$650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”
If it weren't so serious this would have devolved in farce long ago. Finally a little detail on the chickens panicking in Washington. Excerpts from the New York Times:Wall Street helped produce the global financial and economic crisis. Now, as the Obama administration prepares to unveil a revised bailout plan for the banking system, policy makers hope Wall Street can be part of the solution.
Administration officials said the plan, to be announced Tuesday, was likely to depend in part on the willingness of private investors other than banks — like hedge funds, private equity funds and perhaps even insurance companies — to buy the contaminating assets that wiped out the capital of many banks.
The officials say they are counting on the profit motive to create a market for those assets. The government would guarantee a floor value, officials say, as a way to overcome investors’ reluctance to buy them.
Details of the new plan, which were still being worked out during the weekend, are sketchy. And they are likely to remain so even after Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner announces the plan on Tuesday.
But the aim is to reduce the need for immediate federal financing and relieve fears that taxpayers will pay excessive prices if the government takes over risky securities. The banks created those securities when credit and home prices were booming a few years ago.
Besides devising a way to bring private investors into the bank bailout, the Treasury plan is expected to inject more capital into some banks and to give many homeowners relief from immediate foreclosures.
It also is expected to increase financing for a Bush administration program intended to encourage investors to finance such things as student loans and credit card debt.
The Treasury Department had intended to unveil the plan on Monday. But on Sunday Mr. Obama’s economic advisers said they would wait another day, to keep the focus on winning Senate approval of an economic stimulus program. Mr. Obama plans to promote the stimulus package in a televised news conference Monday night.
...After it turned out that the banks were in even worse shape than thought, the Bush administration decided it was more important to invest directly in the banks.
It was also unclear how the assets would be valued, raising political questions about whether the purchase prices would be fair both to the banks and to the taxpayers. But as those assets have remained on the banks’ balance sheets, they have continued to decline in value, producing more multibillion dollar losses.
The securities are complex and hard to evaluate, and there is little public information about precisely which assets are owned by each bank. And some prospective purchasers say banks are not making many available for sale, or have refused to accept the prices being offered.
Dissonance and consonance are relations among cognitions that is, among opinions, beliefs, knowledge of the environment, and knowledge of one's own actions and feelings. Two opinions, or beliefs, or items of knowledge are dissonant with each other if they do not fit together; that is, if they are inconsistent, or if, considering only the particular two items, one does not follow from the other.
1. One may try to change one or more of the beliefs, opinions, or behaviors involved in the dissonance;
2. One may try to acquire new information or beliefs that will increase the existing consonance and thus cause the total dissonance to be reduced; or,
3. One may try to forget or reduce the importance of those cognitions that are in a dissonant relationship (Festinger 1956: 25-26).
Truly one-of-a-kind large estate with three levels. This 8100+ sq. Ft. Gated Mediterranean Villa has it all. 7 Bedrooms 9 Bath, Theater Room, Private Office, formal Dining Room and Living Room, Oversized Family Room with Fireplace and Media Center. Huge Kitchen with Viking Stove. Built-in Espresso Maker. Massive Master Suite with Fireplace and Balcony. Spectacular Bathroom with His and Hers Sinks Jacuzzi Tub and Steam/Shower. Front-Entry has large Double Wrought Iron Doors with Bubble Glass. Beautiful Foyer with 25 foot Ceiling and Massive Motorize Chandelier that can be lowered. Five balconies, Custom Wood floors, Travertine and Tufted Carpeting. Hand Carved Built-in Cabinets, Central Vacuum, 3 Air-Conditioning Units, Walk-in Safe, Fire Sprinkler System. Exquisitely Decorated. Circular Driveway with Breezeway. Pebbled Bottom Pool and Spa. Covered Patio with Stamped Concrerte. Wrought Iron fence around pool. Horse Property. 4.6 acres This Home is Priced Millions Below Replacement Cost.
Oh goodie. Straight from the taxpayer's pocketbook to the GMAC black hole. Let's be clear what the Senate is trying to do. They are trying to get consumers to take on more debt. This is a microcosm of their whole game plan. Time for someone to talk about the emperors clothes. Every single proposal from the smallest to the grandest ultimately involves some form of additional debt. This has to fail. It doesn't matter how many Nobel wanna bes make powerpoint and blog posts. The flaw is not inside the bounds of their thinking. 
-- National Fuel is reporting a loss for the quarter of $42.7 million or $0.53 per share. The loss is due to the previously announced $108.2 million (after tax), non-cash impairment charge to write down the book value of its oil and natural gas producing properties as a result of significantly lower commodity prices at December 31, 2008. 
Welcome 21st Century. When you hear "smart grid" you need to start thinking socialized power. Rather than build capacity you'll hear about smarter uses of the electricity we already produce. By "smarter" the government means they know better what temperature your home should be than you do.
In a previous post I suggested a store level protest of Oxnard's new sales tax increase. This was one reply:And the only reason I'mNow Arlo was talking about the draft and the Vietnam War but regardless of the issue the concept is timeless.
singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a
situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get
anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if
one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said
fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.
And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and
all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the
guitar.
Home Depot ends Olympics sponsorship programAnybody who spins this badly deserves to to screw themselves. On second thought I'll just take a closer look at those rings.
Thu Jan 8, 2009 3:03pm EST
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc is ending a sponsorship program under which it paid full-time wages and benefits for part-time work to athletes training for the Olympic Games.
The company currently employs 98 people in the Olympic Jobs Opportunities Program, in which it had been a sponsor since 1992.
After March 2, those athletes will no longer receive full-time benefits. They can remain in their part-time jobs, apply for full-time positions, or discontinue their employment at Home Depot.
"We feel the time has come to look at new ways to enhance our brand and provide exciting, new programs that appeal to our customers and associates," spokeswoman company Jean Niemi said on Thursday.
WSJ reports:In a concession to lenders, if a lender is found to have violated the Truth in Lending Act during bankruptcy proceedings, the institution would be subject to fines, but would not have to forgive the loan, as is the case currently.WTF?!?
"Due to the difficult economy and severe winter weather in some regions, the holiday season was more challenging for retailers than expected," said Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. "We are pleased that we had positive traffic for the third month in a row and that Walmart performed relatively well given the environment."
We got the end of year relief rally after meeting fund redemptions. 8800 and 8200 seem to bring back any pice tthat strays too far. Flat to a slow grind down from today's close to the inauguration and one last euphoria defiant bounce then the market opens for 2009. Right back down to 8200 then long slow grinds with occasional stairsteps down. All the way down to 6800. It may go breathtakingly below that very briefly but 6800 will be the new gravity well. We'll go into fall low 7000s. Finish? Not a clue. Ask my assistant:
Jan '07 Fed Funds Rate 5.25%, 30yr conforming mortgage 6.1%, ∂ 0.85%
House prices fell 23% from their July 2006 peak to October 2008, the latest data available, based on the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price index, which tracks home values in 20 cities. Mr. Zandi expects an additional 10% drop to a bottom late this year.
