07:56 – Imagine you’re not only dead broke, but owe the bank $500,000 on a previous loan that you’ve refused to make payments on. So you walk into the same bank, sit down with a loan officer, and tell him that you’d like him to lend you $100,000 more, but you won’t agree to the bank’s terms for that loan and you have no intention of ever repaying it. That’s pretty much the position Greece is in now vis-a-vis its lenders, except that the numbers for Greece are a million times larger. And all this time I’ve thought chutzpah was a Yiddish word.
Barbara’s back to work today. I’m shipping orders and building kits. I have orders for chemistry and forensics kits to ship today. Those are in stock. But I also have an order for a biology kit, and zero of those in stock. So my priorities are to ship the orders I have in stock and then to build another batch of biology kits.
At some point, you have to question the sanity of the banker who knowingly loaned money to a person know to be a penniless deadbeat. On the gripping hand, asking such questions is considered treasonous in some quarters…
Banks and bond buyers feel safe because they’re convinced that the Troika won’t let Greece default. They simply can’t refuse the high yields on Greek paper. This morning, for example, Greek 10-year bonds were selling at nearly 20% yield. Gamblers are willing to risk a default, convinced (a) the EU won’t let them lose their money, and (b) they’re so smart and so fast that they’ll be able to get out of their Greek paper before it turns to complete crap.
How soon we forget our Savings & Loan Crisis that ran from the mid-80s to mid-90s. Guess what, it’s baaack.
In what should have been my Dad’s early retirement years, he and several other gray-beards with experience in the banking and S&L industry were recruited by the Guberment to try and “fix” the problem. The trouble was that politics destined them to fail. The situation was much worse than the public was ever told and the problems were never really corrected.
If you know where to look you will see that once again people who shouldn’t get a loan for a bicycle are getting 0 down loans for $300,000 to $500,000 homes. Basically to qualify you cannot be “a white or black republican”. My Dad and his friends are rolling in their graves.
Haven’t heard much out of Ireland, Spain, Italy, and the other problematic EU countries. Have they resolved their issues or is the Greek debacle just hogging the headlines?
The Southern Tier is still utterly broken. The only thing keeping their bond yields reasonable is the ECB’s “big bazooka”. Basically, the ECB can devote up to a trillion euros to buying worthless bonds from those countries, which are already bankrupt. They’re doing that now, which is the only reason the yields on ST bonds haven’t jumped into the 10%+ range already. As I said, investors are willing to take risks for that kind of yield, especially when they think there’s no risk because the ECB will continue propping up those countries’ bonds.
In other words, the financial speculators, geniuses, wizards and the politicians over in Europe and here will continue to kick the can down the road for as long as they possibly can and keep the party rockin’. Keep printing fiat currency and keep telling us the party will go on forever.
And for you voting enthusiasts out there, not one of the candidates thus far has addressed this, from either half of the War Party, nor have any of them discussed our burgeoning police/national security state or our crumbling infrastructure. Whoever gets elected, Field Marshal Rodham, of course, just wants to control the power and money allowed them and take care of all their cronies and factions, been going on a long time. And once in, no matter which side of the War Party, they’ll double down on what the Obercula, Bush and Klinton regimes have done to us.
We live in a:
Corporate
Fascist
Oligarchy
How effective are elections and voting in such a regime? How did that work for the Italians and Germans and Japanese in the last century? How’s it been working for the Russians?
But hey, cue up Fleetwood Mac and run right down and mark your worthless ballot and revel in the freedumb and your “civic dooty.” Everything’s gonna be great.
Sing along with all the Obummer and Klinton voters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un1_fSJcpKU
Well, I offered to run for Dictator of the World in 2016, but so far I haven’t gotten any campaign contributions.
On the other hand, I did have a few conversations with David Koch back during the 1980 presidential election….
Money is such a funny thing. Your entire life’s savings is nothing more than an electronic record in a table in some database somewhere. Same is true for real estate. The only thing that says you own some piece of the planet is a piece of paper on file at the county courthouse (assuming it too isn’t digitized and justs some 1’s and 0’s on some server somewhere). Really absurd if you sit back and ponder it for any length of time.
piece of paper on file at the county courthouse (assuming it too isn’t digitized and justs some 1’s and 0’s on some server somewhere)
Probably that way in most counties. When I paid off my mortgage I asked for a copy of the deed from the credit union. They had no such paper. I asked for copy of the deed from the courthouse. They had no such paper. All the county could provide was a computer print out that says there was no mortgage. All the credit union could provide was a document stating the loan was paid.
I asked for a notarized copy of the loan pay off document that indicated the credit union no longer had an interest in the property. They complied after I pushed them really hard. I also asked for a notarized copy of the computer print out indicating that that there was no lien on the property. The clerk refused. I wrote a letter to the county commissioner asking that I be provided such a document that clearly states the property is unencumbered. I finally got a document.
I really wanted that piece of paper as I have been burned in the past when a mortgage company reported to the IRS interest I paid them as interest they paid me. When a significant financial transaction is involved getting immediate proof may be the only hedge against real problems. I don’t want to be in the same cell as Mr. OFD for tax problems. Not that I don’t like Mr. OFD I just want him to find me “attractive”.
You want OFD to find you attractive?
” I finally got a document.”
Very nice. And good to know for future reference. Can’t even trust the bastards to keep decent records and give them to us as is our right.
“Really absurd if you sit back and ponder it for any length of time.”
Better not. And extrapolate from that up several orders of magnitude to governments; it’s all just fairy dust.
What happens with all this dust if and when the Grid goes down for a while? Should be quite fascinating.
And that reminds me; we need to hump the 150 feet over to the town hall here and get the historical data on our house.
“You want OFD to find you attractive?”
He’s just all excited about this recent SCOTUS decree. He’ll calm down in a day or two.
Here’s a picture of Mr. Ray’s and Mr. OFD’s first baby together.
Our second child is due in November of next year:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9tC7P46u0mU/UYDZsZQvTnI/AAAAAAAAAJw/YSwCnzqOEqM/s1600/The-Omen-4.jpg
You want OFD to find you attractive?
Ah, the perils of a missing word discovered after it is too late to edit.
Not that I don’t like Mr. OFD I just don’t want him to find me “attractive”.
Ah. Given the recent SCOTUS decision, I thought maybe you were coming out.
Speaking of which, when OFD mentions the gay population as 3%, what he’s not counting is that a whole lot of gays, probably > 50% are still in the closet because of perceived risks to their jobs, friendships, etc. Obviously, I don’t have a statistical universe, but I know more gays who are still closeted than I do gays who’ve come out. When you consider that I probably know gays whom I don’t know are gay, that leads me to believe that there are probably twice as many still closeted as open. That’d take that 3% up into the ~ 10% range, which I think is a reasonable guess, particularly if you include bisexuals. I’m not sure what the obsession with percentages is about anyway. The simple fact, which I think everyone can admit, is that there are a significant minority of gay people in this world, and that having government discriminate against them is simply wrong.
Incidentally, I can empathize with gays. Until not that many years ago, I was explicitly legally prohibited from running for public office because I’m an atheist.
Incidentally, I can empathize with gays. Until not that many years ago, I was explicitly legally prohibited from running for public office because I’m an atheist.
So…are you saying you’re a gay atheist?
Ah. Given the recent SCOTUS decision, I thought maybe you were coming out.
I hope I did not give OFD heart failure by my little blunder.
No, I’m a straight atheist. I’ve been attracted to girls/women since I first noticed them.
It’s Gay Day! Yay!!
With so many records going digital, paper records aren’t worth the paper they are printed on. Oh, wait 🙂
But seriously, folks… a signed piece of paper is becoming less relevant. Note that many financial institutions no longer accept a notarized signature, and instead require a Medallion signature guarantee. What next?
“I hope I did not give OFD heart failure by my little blunder.”
It’d take more than that, but I came close in the last 24 hours when Princess actually THANKED me twice for stuff I did. I hadda siddown for a minute, wave a fan in front of my face and look for the smelling salts…
“I’m not sure what the obsession with percentages is about anyway.”
Hey, don’t look at me; they’re the ones that kept harping for decades that it’s at LEAST 10% and now they’ve got the masses believing it must be around 50%. And it was homosexual academic activists in Kalifornia, of all places, several years ago who came up with the 1.5-3% figure.
No, I don’t believe the State should discriminate against anybody, but don’t ask me to joyfully celebrate and applaud what I consider a contravention of nature and Catholic Christian teaching (yeah, yeah, the gay priests all molest little children, etc., etc.). I think we’re also seeing that this SCOTUS decision, as alluded to here by several questioning posts recently, will open up a giant can of legal worms, too. Have at it, my little gay buddies! You’re in for a world of shit now, just like us married straight breeders gotta deal with.
Haven’t heard much out of Ireland, Spain, Italy, and the other problematic EU countries. Have they resolved their issues or is the Greek debacle just hogging the headlines?
By all accounts they have been doing what they need in the short term to get their houses in order, especially Ireland. Portugal and Spain are in the middle, Italy is lagging. However, I wouldn’t buy bonds from any of them.
/startflashlightwar
The results are in. The most popular flashlight on Lifehacker is the Fenix PD35. Pussy light.
I’m making the laser shotgun. That puppy will make a great goblin nuisance weapon. Mount it back from the front door for when the jack-booted thugs come a calling for your guns. I hope they’re wearing night vision.
/endflashlightwar
A most excellent toy from a most excellent boy! That kid is going places! Now let’s hook it up to an actual “street-sweeper” semi-auto 12-gauge! While the goblins’ eyes are steaming out of their heads, half a dozen 00-buck shells turn their insides to splattered jelly in seconds!
I bet that kid’s parents and friends are just a wee bit nervous around him…
Wow, even some of that reflected off a white wall is enough to permanently remove your ability to see color.
Just the 5w blue diodes in a projector reflected off white will permanently use up all your blue…
That is INSANELY stupidly dangerous.
I’m really glad he built it.
nick
maybe off topic
http://www.historynet.com/confederate-flags-in-times-square.htm
I think a lot of you people will laugh
Watch now, some prog bastards will now try to gin up a protest and get them removed. I love how the writer keeps referring to Confederates as “Rebels,” when in truth it was the North who were rebels, against the original intent and purpose of the republic. Lincoln, Bismarck, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and Mao; all proponents of the Big Lie. Tell it outrageously and often enough, and all come to believe it.
I expect several of you read and enjoyed Jerry Pournelle’s series There will be war, with its mix of essays and short fiction. I’ve re-read much of it since, but it is sadly dated, since it was put together during the cold war.
So I have a question, and a book recommendation for y’all.
Yesterday, I tripped across Riding the Red Horse by Vox Day. Vox Day is involved in (responsible for?) getting Jerry’s series republished. However, this book is the first volume of his modern series, continuing the tradition. I’ve just read the first two stories and essays, but they are exactly what I hoped for. Highly recommended!
Also, for those looking for unabashedly un-PC commentary, I can recommend Vox Day’s blog.
Vox is currently “teh EEEVVVVVIIIIILLLLL” according to the SJWs, mainly because he called a vicious (black) racist a “half-savage.” Also for his efforts during the current Hugo award controversy, as leader of the “Rabid Puppies.”
A couple of the articles/stories in Red Horse had me snoozing, but there is much good there too.
nick
What’s the other half?
Possibly Vox meant “half-witted savage”.