Liberal Media Censorship In Action

I was sent this message about video that was suppressed by threat of law suit by Time Warner at the behest of liberal media supporters of the Democrat party and supporters of the Obama campaign:

Object: The video clip that was not allowed in the USA - Pass this on to everyone.

This video shows that George Bush tried to warn Congress starting in 2001 that this economic crisis was coming, if something was not done. But congress refused to listen, along with Barney Frank. This video says it all.

The liberal AMERICAN media did not want this video on You Tube, so they had Time Warner threaten a law suit (proprietary rights) if it was not taken off.

This link is of the same video but is routed through Canada . Everyone in America needs to see this!

video

the video is linked through Canada because it has been blocked for the US by the very people should be the gaurdians of free speech.

Obama Budget Analysis

I have not yet read a detailed version of the budget. I have only heard descriptions of it from partisan representatives of both parties. But I can summarize my current evaluation with two comments:

Anyone who will rob Peter to pay Paul can count on the vote of Paul.
and
If you work and produce and save then BOHIC.*




* BOHIC: bend over here it comes.

Tim Price:on "Dilbert, Dow and Gold Theory"

Very good article by Tim Price at the Price of Everything and I include this chart from that article.

The Next Shoe Drops: Collapse of Eastern Europe

Looks like the next shoe is dropping. How many feet does this thing have? Henry Blodgett puts together a very informative article on the financial troubles in Eastern Europe and the resulting problems that will mean for Western Europe and the ECB. The Picture is not pretty.
If you think things are bad here, take a quick peek at what's going on across the pond:

The Telegraph: Stephen Jen, currency chief at Morgan Stanley, said Eastern Europe has borrowed $1.7 trillion abroad, much on short-term maturities. It must repay – or roll over – $400bn this year, equal to a third of the region's GDP. Good luck. The credit window has slammed shut.

Not even Russia can easily cover the $500bn dollar debts of its oligarchs while oil remains near $33 a barrel. The budget is based on Urals crude at $95. Russia has bled 36pc of its foreign reserves since August defending the rouble.

"This is the largest run on a currency in history," said Mr Jen.

In Poland, 60pc of mortgages are in Swiss francs. The zloty has just halved against the franc. Hungary, the Balkans, the Baltics, and Ukraine are all suffering variants of this story. As an act of collective folly – by lenders and borrowers – it matches America's sub-prime debacle. There is a crucial difference, however. European banks are on the hook for both. US banks are not.

Almost all East bloc debts are owed to West Europe, especially Austrian, Swedish, Greek, Italian, and Belgian banks. En plus, Europeans account for an astonishing 74pc of the entire $4.9 trillion portfolio of loans to emerging markets.

Continued at Clusterstock
This problem is why we have seen both the dollar and gold going up.

Congressman McTierney of California advocates 90% marginal tax rate.

Oh yeah that will be good for the country.
this from a reader letter at Instapundit that must be read.

New York Post: The Foreclosure Five

A NATIONAL CRISIS? HARDLY. THE REST OF US ARE PAYING FOR THE IRRESPONSIBILITY OF A FEW STATES

This is an interesting article and worth a read. Puts a diferent spin on the housing problem.

A new candidate for Commerce secretary

Clusterstock

Stanford bank board member O.Y. Goswick lives nearby and is a family friend. Mr. Goswick had a stroke in 2000 and "can't string seven words together," said son Richard Goswick, also of Mexia.

Can't be any worse than another Congress person.

Good News But Faster Please As Glenn Reynolds Says

Bloomberg:

Genentech Finds Alzheimer’s “Death Receptor” Target for Drugs

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- A protein that trims unneeded neurons in early brain development takes on a more menacing function later in life as a trigger for Alzheimer’s disease, Genentech Inc. researchers have discovered.

The particle, dubbed “death receptor 6,” plays a previously unknown role in sparking mass cell death in Alzheimer’s disease, said Marc Tessier-Lavigne, executive vice president of research drug discovery at the South San Francisco, California-based biotechnology company. DR6 does this by binding to a fragment, called N-APP, of amyloid precursor protein, a known bad actor in the brain degeneration of Alzheimer’s.

The interaction of the death receptor with N-APP may play an innocent role in a developing brain by pruning neurons until there is just enough for normal brain function, said Tessier- Lavigne. In Alzheimer’s disease, this process gets hijacked and triggers runaway cell suicide that destroys memory and cognition. The discovery may offer new targets for drug development to slow degenerative brain diseases, he said.

Jeesh! At least a bank robber uses a gun and makes it clear he is out for his own benefit.

Bloomberg:

Citi Cost-Cutters Skip Offices, Staff for Ex-CEOs Prince, Reed

The present and former management of this bank continue to show a complete disregard for the interests of the shareholders. Shouldn't there be some requirement of management that they look after the shareholder's  best interest rather than just loot the company?

Ireland in the crosshairs for default watch.

Timesonline: Ireland "could default on debt."

FEARS are mounting that Ireland could default on its soaring national debt pile, amid continuing worries about its troubled banking sector.

The cost of buying insurance against Irish government bonds rose to record highs on Friday, having almost tripled in a week. Debt-market investors now rank Ireland as the most troubled economy in Europe.

I believe the next aggressive move needs to be made by the ECB who look to be fiddling while the economy burns. ECB inaction seriously risks another leg down for the global economy.

Pajamas Media: The Continuing Decline Of Free Speech In Britain

Why Britain Should Never Have Banned Geert Wilders

No one even pretends that a person expressing views similar to Wilders’ with regard to Christianity or Judaism would be banned from entering the UK. That’s because the people who might take issue with such sentiments tend to write angry letters, rather than blowing themselves up on buses. While the government has banned some of the more outrageous purveyors of Islamist ideology, others, such as Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Mousawi, have been allowed to enter Britain. And Lord Ahmed himself has, in the past, had no problem with inviting extremists to speak at the House of Lords — just so long as they’re his kind of extremist.

go read it.

4 more banks shut down

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Banks in Florida, Illinois, Nebraska and Oregon were shut by state regulators, boosting the toll of failed institutions to 13, as a worsening economy and slumping housing market pushes home foreclosures to records.

Four banks closer to the bottom.

Bloomberg: G-7 Says ‘Severe’ Downturn to Persist, Vows to End It

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Group of Seven finance chiefs vowed to tackle a “severe” economic downturn that will persist for most of 2009 without spelling out new steps to do so.

yada yada yada    Geithner was more specific than this.

CFTC to get ability to ban CDS

FARM FUTURES

The bill also imposes a clearing requirement on OTC derivatives contracts and empowers the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with the ability to suspend trading in naked credit default swaps under certain circumstances.

A trillion here, a trillion there …

Christopher Fountain;

A bail-out of the toxic assets held by European banks’ could plunge the European

Union into crisis, according to a confidential Brussels document.

Infectious Greed: Rail Traffic Falls Off

another indicator of economic weakness from Paul Kedrosky at Infectious Greed:

January U.S. Rail Traffic: Motor Vehicles Off 63%

Bloomberg: Pimco Says World Economic Crisis Faces ‘Second Wave’

Bad news in China

Bloomberg: China’s January Exports Fall 17.5%, Most in Almost 13 Years

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- China’s exports fell by the most in almost 13 years as demand dried up in the U.S. and Europe, worsening the outlook for jobs and industrial production in the world’s third-biggest economy.

This is still fall out from the consumer panic of oct through Dec in the U.S. Watching the stats going forward should be interesting.

DCexaminer:Blue Dog nips Obama with a better stimulus idea

Mish on the stimulus plan

Stimulus Spending Over Time

click to get a sharper image

Milton Friedman destroys pompous leftist celebrity.

Via Instapundit

WSJ:January Proved Kind to Closed-End Funds

From the WSJ:

Unlike most stock-market investors, closed-end-fund investors enjoyed a strong, stable January. But they might not want to get too comfortable.

With last fall's wild stock and bond markets giving way to relatively steadier days this past month, huge discounts that dogged these funds for months have largely disappeared, helping investors offset the month's 8.8% drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Many bond funds had a double boost: rising bond prices and the shrinking discount.

I mentioned in this post that I was long some closed end bond funds that had not yet made any price gains. Since then some of those heavily discounted funds advanced to big premiums to net asset value. I sold those and I am hoping for that kind of discount to occur again. Nice to have those work in January because GE and BrK.B sure did not.

No wonder Democrats don't care about higher tax rates

Clusterstock:

Tom Daschle, Nancy Killefer Withdraw Nominations

If you're up for a big important economy job like Treausry Secretary
it's ok to have messed up on your taxes. Anything lower and you're
gone. Two of Obama's cabinet nominees, Tom Daschle (Health and Human
Services) and Nancy Killefer (chief performance officer) withdrew today
due to tax issues. Either they messed up on them, or purposefully
avoided paying them or something in between. If Obama is going to raise
taxes at some point in the future, it won't look very good to have a
team full of people branded as cheats.

These political types seem to think no one from IRS would dare audit their returns so they cheat with abandon. At least a gunman who robs you has the decency not to claim he looking out for you.

The Senate Carves $90 Million Out of Stimulus For Liberal Activist Group