airlines:

UAUA looks interesting-> Soros bought and sold 200,000 shares in the last 6 months, probably at a loss...Bill Miller has been buying all the way down, and now owns 10m shares...

http://tinyurl.com/4nhk8c

Perhaps the SEC should require investment banks publish their positions along with their ratings.

b0ss:

Consider passing on FXP for a week or till FXI breaks 135? If it is not going down..its going up ..till it doesnt, and breaks a trend..

I think is too early to buy the market period.

Despite the apparent strong Retail Sales reported
last week( due to the tax rebate), this number is at recession levels if you deflate it by CPI.

Al other data point to continued weakness / recession.

As I pointed out a few weeks ago, the ADV/DEC Volume indicates more downside to the stock market, confirming the fundamental data.

See
http://wrahal.blogspot.com/2008/06/economic-data-good-and-same.html

ALOHA !!

Bill ... You are right on!!! These guys couldn't rate what they had for lunch without being dishonest!

RATINGS OF A DIFFERENT SORT ... Look what city is rated the worst place to live on Planet Earth, even after we US Taxpayers have spent some $2tril USD on it! Baghdad rates even lower than African cities with ethnic cleansing and recurring genocide! GOOD JOB BROWNIE!!

Honolulu, HAWAII is the highest ranking US city to live in at #28 on the list! US cities couldn't even make into the top 25!

READ ON:
MERCER 2008 CITY RATINGS

European cities dominate the rankings of locations with the best quality of living, according to Mercer’s 2008 Quality of Living survey. Zurich retains its 2007 title as the highest ranked city, followed jointly by Vienna (2), Geneva (2), then Vancouver (4) and Auckland (5).

The highest entry for the United States is Honolulu, appearing at number 28. The cities with the lowest quality of living ranking are Ndjamena (211), Khartoum (212), Brazzaville (213), and Bangui (214). Baghdad, ranking 215, retains its position at the bottom of the table.

The survey also identified those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries. Luxembourg was top, followed by Bern, Geneva, Helsinki and Zurich, all equally placed at number 2. Chicago, Houston and San Francisco are noted amongst the safest cities in the US, all ranking at 53. Baghdad (215) was the world’s least safe city followed by Kinshasa (214), Karachi (213), Nairobi (212) and Bangui (211).

ALOHA !!

And these people are somehow qualified to run the country? Hummmmm???? OPRAH?

READ ON:
Dem convention panel faces $15 million shortfall
Jun 13, 6:35 PM (ET)

By STEVEN K. PAULSON

DENVER (AP) - The host committee for the Democratic National Convention faces a possible shortfall of $15 million, complicating logistics for the August event and forcing it to abruptly postpone a media walkthrough of the site scheduled for next week.

The Democratic National Committee has asked the cash-strapped panel to raise $40.6 million by Monday to finance the event. Last month, the committee said it had just $25 million in cash, and it has failed to meet each of several fundraising deadlines since signing a contract with the DNC last year.

Host committee members consistently have refused public comment on their fundraising efforts. Committee spokesman Chris Lopez could not immediately be reached by telephone Friday.

Last week, Denver city auditor Dennis Gallagher sent a letter to Mayor John Hickenlooper saying taxpayers are concerned they may get stuck with the tab if Denver can't come up with another $15 million by Monday.

Don Coxe - excellent re commodities and bond market...worth your time to listen.

http://events.startcast.com/events/199/B0003/code/eventframe.asp

bbcmoney: Thank you, quite worth listening to.

I've posted the updated Weekly Sector Report which you can find here: http://www.box.net/shared/static/qfqm739lww.xls

Re: Airlines

Note the first line of this article.

"WASHINGTON and RADNOR, Pa. , June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- At current oil prices, several large and small U.S. airlines will default on their obligations to creditors beginning at the end of 2008 and early 2009, according to a study issued today by AirlineForecasts, LLC and the Business Travel Coalition. "

http://tinyurl.com/5qarrl

Oil prices are definitely squeezing airlines, but the business model is worse that subprime, meaning they would have encountered major obstacles if credit spreads widened, and credit derivatives collapsed in value, as their yields climbed. The business plan includes going into and emerging from bankruptcy, but this time around there is no credit available anymore due to the worldwide banking crisis.

The trick will be to find an airline without exposure to off balance sheet credit derivatives that are solvent, should oil prices decline.

Re: Gold

Note that the gold price continues in its correction, but according to timingcharts.com, the seasonal bias is now at a low.

The weekly gold chart portrays the money flow into gold futures at a very low ebb at the same time. I believe that this chart is a good indicator at what comes next, as the seasonal bias has a lengthy period of uptrend before it:

Weekly Gold Chart Through Timingcharts.com:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11747277@N07/2575546113/sizes/m/

David Coffin gives a talk before the New York Hard Assets Conference:

Resource Investor

http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=43395

F6

Bill,

You said of Palladium "I don't see it as an indicator" (like gold and silver). The charts look bullish to me, but in your opinion is Palladium ready to rise here?

Chris

http://tinyurl.com/57rj5l

Bore-Ron's Roundtable...with a touch of Caraism.

Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but water.
It seems to work on a catalytic process that works with water. One litre per 80km. even works on tea and sea water. Too good to be true? see for yourself.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/6dqj9b

There are reports of senior management meetings at Lehman throughout the weekend and on tickerforum there is a rumor of a Blackstone buyout in the works, price unknown.

Amusing HB&B headlines:

BP Fears Loss on Russian Venture
at SmartMoney.com(Fri, Jun 13)

Citi upgrades BP, increases oil price estimate
AP(Tue, Jun 10)

Thanks for that link Yaba. Neat! I'd like to order one now. However, now we will add to the water shortage crisis!! Just kidding (well maybe not). It will certainly work in countries with lots of water, but it goes against oil companies' interests.

Worth the read. Supports what Mr Cara said this morning, "It ought to be an interesting week ahead. Painful for the Bulls, I think."

------------------------------------------------

"The Option Strategist McMillan Market Commentary"

[For charts--> http://tinyurl.com/64ekk ]

The breakdown through several support levels by $SPX has ushered in some very negative market action -- likely setting in motion the next
downward leg of the bear market. Things have really accelerated this past week with the breaking of the 1370 level. That area now
represents major resistance, with several other levels above it. As for support, there may be some near the April lows at 1325-1330, as
today's decline bottomed near that level as well (1331).

The equity-only put-call ratios have remained steadily on the sell signals that they first generated about three weeks ago. The standard
ratio (Figure 2) had a bit of a "wiggle" when $SPX was fooling around at the 1400 level, but that was quickly dispensed -- and a solid sell
signal confirmed -- when $SPX broke down below 1390. As you can see, they are still relatively low on their charts and likely have a long
way to rise while still on these sell signals. As long as they are rising,that is bearish for the broad stock market.

Market breadth has been abysmal on this decline, and as a result breadth is in oversold territory. That does not mean, however, that one can buy the market, for severe declines often occur during an oversold condition.

The volatility indices have established uptrends, and that is bearish. The confirmation of this $VIX sell signal came last Friday
when $VIX spurted substantially higher as the market dropped. That established a pattern of higher highs and higher lows for $VIX, which
defines an uptrend. As long as $VIX remains in this uptrend (Figure 4), it is bearish for the broad market.

In summary, we have no buy signals from our indicators. However, we do have oversold conditions. Thus a short-lived and
potentially powerful rally could spring up at any time. We think any such rallies should be sold.

We think that this new down leg is strong enough that it will have to be resolved with a typical capitulation low -- involving a spike peak
in $VIX and put-call ratio buy signals near the top of their charts. By the time all that happens, it would not be surprising to see $SPX in the neighborhood of the March lows. If so, it will be interesting to see whether or not a "retest" holds.

Forex Market Commentary
By Kathy Lien

".......Surprisingly enough, the rise in core prices has been relatively tepid which indicates that higher food and energy prices continue to be the primary contributors to inflationary pressures. These numbers validate the Fed’s need to be hawkish and support the case for a rate hike before the end of the year. However with such a spectacular move this week, the big question on everyone’s mind is whether the currency’s momentum can be sustained in the coming week. As indicated by the sharp drop in consumer confidence, vulnerabilities still exist in the US economy. According to the University of Michigan, consumer confidence for the month of June fell to the lowest level in 28 years. The sustainability of a turn in the US dollar will be largely dependent upon the outcome of this weekend’s G8 Finance Ministers’ meeting. There has been a lot of back and forth reports from “official sources” on whether the group will talk tough on currencies, keeping alive the threat of intervention. If a comment is made, it won’t be about the Asian currencies this time around and instead will be about supporting the US dollar, which would in turn trigger a sharp continuation rally. If currencies are not mentioned officially, the dollar could give back some of its gains, but that should not stifle the currency’s recent uptrend....."

N225 kicks off the week by gapping up 1%...

notable quotes re oil/oil prices:

http://tinyurl.com/45s7fp

"Khursaniyah will start ``very, very soon, definitely within the next month,'' Khalid A. Al-Falih, who is also an executive vice president at Saudi Aramco, said in a telephone interview today. He couldn't say when full production would be reached. The field is forecast to produce as much oil as the daily output of Ecuador, OPEC's smallest member.

"Oil in New York rose more than sevenfold since trading at $17.45 a barrel in November 2001, and reached 28 record highs this year. A similar pattern was seen in equities eight years ago, when Internet-related stocks sent the Nasdaq Composite Index up 640 percent to its highest level ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Bespoke Investment Group LLC.

``I think that at about $80 the market crossed into the irrational exuberance level,'' said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. ``It's hard to find a rational explanation for the gain of the last six months.'''

stktrader,

I am very interested in a broker that charges $1/contract on options trades. Would you mind sharing the name of your broker?

I know IBKR is cheap, however there is a $10/mth minimum and MB is $1/contract but will not allow naked sells.

Thanks in advance for the info.

kudos to obama..other issues aside, he may be the one candidate with a decent shot at turning the tide in our inner cities...

http://tinyurl.com/52slq2

shanghai back above 2900...

jragusa,
I use TradeStation. The best platform of them all. Free platform as long as you trade 5K equity shares a month or 50 equity/index options a month.

Obama - In my recollection, Bill Cosby didn't receive much fanfare when he delivered that same message.

ALOHA !!

2nd ... Where have I heard that term before "irrational exuberance"?

`I think that at about $80 the market crossed into the irrational exuberance level,'' said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. ``It's hard to find a rational explanation for the gain of the last six months.''

Money supply M3b has increased from 8% rate last year to 16% now. M3 plus credit is pushing $44tril USD while U6 Unemployment has just crossed over into the 20% range where it was in the 1980s. So as the FED and the US Congress intervene by pumping huge amounts of "liquidity"(debt) into the US Banks and programs to revive the US real estate and job markets as welfare and retirement(SS&MED)roles increase all while we conduct a $2tril WAR ON A NOUN in Iraq is it any wonder that "money velocity" is flying off the handle as an abundantly huge amount of unlimited IOUs are printed in an effort to prevent a severe recession. Well guess what? All that excess money has to go somewhere and right now nobody in their right mind would want it near a US Bank, so those huge sums of US Pesos are chasing the only viable "real wealth" left in the World ... commodities and oil is one of them! The Saudis can pump all they want but they will never out pump the US government and the US FED. Its a race between pipelines and VLCCF tankers and refineries against a bunch of monetary mouse clickers at the US Federal Reserve Bank building in NYC! Who do you think will win?

So as the US economy rolls over and "real" unemployment rises dramatically more money is pumped onto the inflation fire! I'm shocked that prices are rising!!!

You can chose to buy into the US government FED data or you can remeasure statistics the way they were measured before politicians redesigned the BLS to suit their needs. I chose M3b and U6+CPI+L ...

Link to M3 and U6 charts: http://tinyurl.com/m7bs7

ALOHA !!

I have to ask people here does anyone here have more savings than their house and cars and stock market holdings are worth?

If you answer that your house and cars and stocks exceed the value of your savings then welcome to the PROBLEM!

ALOHA !!

Another question?

Does anyone here have more debt than savings?

personally, thought cosby's delivery was too antagonistic, and maybe a little self-righteous...

shanghai reverses to test a new 52-wk low...

kaimu- which assets do you include in your definition of 'savings?'

ALOHA !!

2nd ... Savings equals bank deposits,CD, money market, time deposits any vehicle that contains funds that are not traded in stock markets or spent on bills and food and loans. They used to call that a "nest egg" back when it only took one income to support a family!

"$2 trillion spent fighting a war on a noun" is, IMO, pretty close to the truth...the amount of pain and suffering due to terrorism is a drop in the bucket compared to that attributable to the pursuit of power and wealth...

that would be pretty hard to accomplish in the bay area...on days when we move our portfolio to 100% cash, we come pretty close, but it would still be a negative number...(what about gold?)...

latest from craig stephens: http://tinyurl.com/5l9xtk
"As China's stock market completes an eight-day slide, even a muted new margin-lending initiative to deliver a pre-Olympic boost will struggle to turn the tide in the week ahead. Inflation is now the gorilla in the room for investors."

shanghai recovers...HK opens up 1.5%...

nice reversal off 2812-> it's gotten pretty negative...is it possible we're at a pre-august low?

Here is an interesting take on what it's like to be a farmer today. This is from Gartman 12 Jun 08 letter. Interesting.

We wrote yesterday of the problem of leaching of fertiliser from the soils following these massive rains and flooding.We wondered "aloud" about this situation, and asked our clients and friends to tell us what they know. One reader,a fellow "Fast Money" alum, took the time to write us a detailed report on what is going on there, and we have chosen to report what he wrote in its entirety, for what he said is THAT important. Our new friend, Mr. Roger Neshem wrote,
I am a farmer from North Dakota and I manage
over 7500 acres of wheat, soybeans, corn and
canola. On Friday I was in studio at the NASDAQ
doing a bit after you on "fast money" talking ag
stocks in general. I have been their fast farmer
for over a year commenting every now and then
on the general state of ag stocks and giving an
on farm perspective. The question you pose is
actually quite good regarding the fertilizer.
I actually had an email discussion yesterday with
Karen Finerman in which I posed this question of
leaching as possibly being a reason to be even
more bullish of the fertilizer stocks. It was a
reason i presented as why not to put a short term
short trade on Agrium as it had, before today
failed to blow thru its 52 week high and couldn't
get past 92$. Thank goodness I prolonged any
moves to short until I had researched further in
light of Agrium's comments today.
As far as the leaching goes the answer to your
question is yes. The fertilizer that was in place
more than likely has been leached deep down
into the soil where the corns roots will not get toit. The plants will yellow and growth will be
slowed and yields lost. The big question here is
whether or not there is extra fert[tilizer] available to be purchased. More than likely many of the local suppliers only had just enough fert[ilizer]inventory to cover their orders. They started
doing this when the price of fert[ilizer] exploded
because if the market for fert[tilizer] would go
south their businesses could suffer huge losses
or possibly fail. In the past before fert[ilizer]
prices exploded you could tell your dealer in the
fall how much you wanted and then pay in the
spring and they would carry excess inventory
because it was so cheap and there were really
no true price swings. Nowadays we are having to
place a call to buy fertilizer and we promptly
follow the call with a trip to our agronomy centers with a rather large check.
Another factor that would play into the decision tore-fertilize would be whether or not it would be in the farmers best interest to "give up". They could
do this and stand to make nice profits due to the
levels of insurance coverage that producers have
this year. Just to give an example if a farmer had
a 180 bushels yield history and bought 80%
coverage at the $5.40 spring level (Note; this
level will change if the new crop contract average
the month of harvest is greater than 5.40 they will
take the larger of the two) so even at 5.40 the
farmers guarantee is $777!!! This will change to
the upside if the new crop price is say $7.00 at
harvest and the farmer has a revenue assurance
product. You can do the math. Why risk
spending more money when you can stop now
and collect your profit.
BUT........The other side of this that makes it all
the murkier is if the farmer has corn he has fwd
sold and needs to deliver that corn. Then all
attempts maybe made to produce at least the
pre-sold bushels. Even worse though pre-sold
bushels are more than likely dollar's (yes dollars)
less than current prices. This could get very
interesting if all the ethanol plants-contracted
corn is nowhere to be found or farmers are
forced to go looking for corn to fill the contracts
that they could not produce. They would both be
in dire straits indeed if they have overextended
their selling or buying. All of this is so incredibly
bullish for corn one has to step back and breathe
just to settle himself down.
What all this means to soybeans is yet to be
determined. The hard rains that have fallen more
than likely will leave a crust on the soil that the
beans will not be able to grow through thus
needing to be replanted. However once again
with all the soybeans that were supposed to go in
the ground there is more than likely little to no
seed left to plant. If the corn acres are to be
replanted to beans this will do little to fertilizer
demand for most soybeans are planted without
any fertilizer because they make there own
nitrogen and phosphate levels are usually high
enough where none is applied with the beans
because it hurts germination. Also it goes back to
the old saying that all farmers have uttered, "I'm
done spending money for this year!"
The ironic part of your question actually
happened on our farm last night. We started the
year extremely dry and I know of several farmers
who had cut back their fertilizer rates due to the
extremely dry conditions and high costs. The
weather has done a 180 to say the least. All the
weather that has been so terrible for the corn
crop has done wonders to the wheat crop. Just
last night with the forecast calling for more rain
and favorable wheat weather I found some extra
fertilizer and applied it to some of my wheat
because it has the potential to yield very big. We
typically fertilize for a 50 bushel crop here and
last night I upped the target to 70-75 bushels an
acre. So while the corn belt may be applying
fertilizer to restore lost reserves in hopes of
salvaging a crop we are adding fertilizer because
our yield potential has grown and we are
swinging for the fences!!!!!!
The cool wet weather has done wonders for the
[wheat] crop and we have received over 2" of
rain today alone. This is amazing considering it
rained less than 2" from July thru April of this
year. We are thankful for the change in the
weather to say the least!!!
Bearish numbers are in store for wheat but the
question is how high will the high corn price
support the wheat price? There will be a large
increase in cattle fed on wheat this year but will it
be enough to stimulate more demand and cut
ending stocks for wheat? We are definitely in
new waters here!! This weather that has been so
great to wheat is starting to take a toll on our
soybeans and other warm season crops. Most
are behind development and if the weather does
not warm in the near future much of the corn and
soybean crop in ND will be at risk of freezing
before maturity.
I often find it funny that idiots like Al Gore yell
mad in the streets about warm temps as being
bad and never stop to think that the real enemy
to the farmer and mankind alike is the cold. Our
biggest crop failure in the last 20 years here was
2004 when a frost on august 20th decimated
much of the states corn, soybean and sunflower
crops. The great extinctions in history have
occurred when the earth is cooling and the great
population explosions occur when the temps are
warming. I pray for global warming so as our
species can survive!!!I hope some of this helps.
Sorry to get long on the email but I find this all
very interesting and full of profit potential!!
We want our clients to read and re-read what Mr.
Neshem has written. This piece is worth anything that Wall Street has written regarding the grain market in aggregate in the past several years. This is the"analysis" of a large, and profitable farmer, whose been at the business of growing food for many years. When you've re-read it, re-read it again, and consider what he's told us regarding corn, soybeans and wheat. The implications are vast and myriad:

ALOHA !!

2nd ... Americans now move money with the speed of a mouse click! Back in 1929 you had to call or drive down to your brokers office and instruct him to place a trade which could take days to complete. Now it is a matter of seconds! When I trade at IB its like the blink of an eye! So the velocity of money is at its fastest in all recorded human history! Naturally some assets like a home cannot be sold with a mouse click! Just think of all your friends and biz pals who know trade online. I am assuming that most people who visit here at Bill's Blog have an online account. I know those that post regularly do, but maybe there are a few "readers" that do not have an online account/ Maybe there are a few who have never traded a stock in their life yet! Then there are those of us here who have been trading for many decades and have turned it into an art or hobby or an addiction or maybe even a successful business! Most here are "short cutting" the work-a-day process to get to the Bahamas sooner rather than later or not at all!

So the skids are greased and the fuse is lit! In the event of a huge market sell off like 1929 we have never tested the system of online brokers. Not even in 1987 was it tested, because online brokers didn't really come into their heyday until the 1990s just in time for the tech boom! I honestly do not have much confidence that IB or ETrade or Schwab or any of the many online brokers will be able to handle the massive traffic of trades in a modern 1929 meltdown! Heck, IB even has trade issues announced on various platforms on just average days with average volume. Does anyone here have any alternate solutions if you cannot place trades during a crash? Obviously "phoning it in" will not work!

This is partly why I am in junior explorer, mining, oil, gold and silver. These are proven sectors in a monetary crisis and/or stock meltdown. I believe a monetary crisis will go hand in hand with a US market meltdown. Why? Because our PEsos are just fiat ... Is my strategy 100% fool proof? NO ... NOTHING IS! But you have to have a worst case scenario planned for otherwise you're just a sitting duck! I wonder what all those employees and pension funds and MAD MONEY viewers strategy was when BSC collapsed over the weekend? Did anyone get their sell orders filled in time? You never hear much about that ... That Monday during the premarket what was happening to BSC sell orders at the exchanges? Was BSC halted? Anyone here try to sell BSC that day?

Any ideas out there on this issue of selling online during a market collapse? WOW ... talk about "money velocity"!!!

I get the feeling HB&B has us all overloaded on the starboard side of the boat where none of the lifeboats are! HB&B abandons ship while the masses capsize in a frantic grab for whats left of their wealth only to realize there never were any life boats(FDIC/SIPC)!

On the topic of lifeboats ... I recall back in the mid 1970s my Father got a friend of mine a job on an offshore oil rig in Western Australia. One night he heard a bunch of chatter coming from inside one of the rescue bells. Guys were in there smoking pot and eating all the food reserves and using the water for bongs ... "Abandon ship ... Abandon SHIP!!" ... Oops we ate all the food Captain ... we had the munchies! Hummmmmm ???? My friend came off the rig three weeks later with a broken leg. The crane operator accidentally dropped a load of pipe on him! Later the crane operator was fired for being drunk on the job ... Tuff life ... the oil biz!!! Who at Goldman Sachs is risking their life clicking mouses?

BE PREPARED ...

kaimu- well, we can't say there's no one reminding us to be prepared ;) appreciate it...

Kaimu - You know, the American dream has always been to own a home. Most owners are probably house poor, with their savings in 401k's, etc. under HB&B's watchful eye.

Me: I own my home and have no debt, no 401k etc., half my savings is PM's, 1/4 stock, 1/4 cash grand total of which is slightly less in magnitude than my real property. Too late now to exit realestate unless upside down.

Kaimu - You've obviously been trading longer than I, but I seem to recall back in the 90's when the markets were down severly one day and then suddenly closed. Do you remember?

Tellstar - I'm betting there won't be much corn planted to replace losses, the yield won't compensate.

ALOHA !!

If you can't exit real estate then you're at the mercy of "debt attrition", even if you have your home paid off. You still lose your home if you cannot pay property tax or association dues or income taxes for State and Fed(tax lien). Naturally if your home is paid off you are way ahead of the game, but you also have a lot more to lose in another sense ... Having a paid off home in your usual subdivision with an hour commute to work may be a very vulnerable position, especially if gas prices ever reach $10 per gallon like in France now or if job loses take their toll.

The American Dream based on debt is one disaster waiting to happen but then we have to wonder just how well these outer suburbs will work out with high priced commodities like gas and food. It costs extra to commute to work and to have food delivered to suburbia SafeWays! None of this American Dream design is conducive to competing well in manufacturing and exports globally. I mean if an employer has to pay higher wages to cover commuting expenses then we're already behind the eight ball right from the start. This may make downtown Big City real estate a lot more valuable assuming that is where the jobs are. Sometimes jobs are centralized outside big cities in an industrial park or business park. Who the heck came up with that "commuting" concept? It all worked well when the USA was industrializing and gas was cheap and jobs were plentiful after WW2, but now the downside is evident to all, especially commuters ... Gotta go where the work is!

ALOHA !!

Wow ... How timely my talk on US suburbia ... I just checked the website at the CUNNING REALIST and found this ...

This is the "real deal" for many people in the USA. Look 40million are in poverty, mostly the old and children and single Mothers because they are on fixed income. Fixed income does not work in a Fiat World! I believe the Russians will also find that out, even as oil and gas give them a temporary reprieve. All fiat will suffer when the US Peso(as we know it)goes belly up! Lets just hope our ever so wise US government has not sold off all our gold reserves like the UK did! Somehow I do not have much faith otherwise the US Treasury would be very open and ready Eddie for an audit ... any time!

Well as I said a few years ago PUTIN is getting his revenge for what Reagan did to the Communists! Isn't it amazing ... Before it was the Russian Army bogged down in the Middle East now look where the US Army is! The US Banks are not much better off! Its boiling down to "sovereign credit rating" time! If we ever lose our triple As look out below ...

READ ON:
Sunday, June 15, 2008

Legacy

The NYT ran two pieces this weekend that seem unrelated but are actually variations on a theme. Clifford Levy:

Yelena Kasyanova booked her trip at a local travel agency in about as much time it takes to drop by the market for a few groceries. She was soon lounging here by the Mediterranean, a working-class anybody from an anyplace deep in Russia, a child of the Soviet era who still remembers the humiliating strictures that once made it difficult to obtain a passport, let alone a plane ticket.

And all around the beach were so many just like her. ...

There is perhaps no better symbol of the growth in Russian tourism than the very resort where Ms. Kasyanova was staying, the Kremlin Palace Hotel, a kind of Las-Vegas-does-Moscow-by-the-shore extravaganza whose buildings are replicas of major sights at the Kremlin complex and nearby neighborhood. ...

"It is now so easy — buy a package tour for $800, and here we are, in paradise," said Ms. Kasyanova, who, like many Russians here, was amused by the resort’s trappings but also interested in exploring the mountains and other places nearby. "It speaks of the high standard of life in Russia, of the improvement in life in Russia." ...

"For us, it’s like a fairy tale to be here," said Lilia Valeyeva, 46, a clerk from Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains who had never before been abroad when she visited Turkey two years ago. Since then, she has returned twice. ...

Many Russians interviewed here credited Mr. Putin, the former president and current prime minister, for their ability to travel, saying that he was responsible for Russia’s new prosperity.

"It is not like before, when we were afraid of everything,” said Larisa Kazakova, 32, a real estate agent from Yekaterinburg. "We travel, and we live a good life." ...

The writer and commentator Viktor Yerofeyev said he had noticed that the more Russians traveled, the more they tended to lose some of the coarseness that at times characterized Soviet society.

"Through all this travel, we are seeing a change in mentality at home," Mr. Yerofeyev said. "People are now seeking pleasure, whether it is in the night clubs of Moscow or in restaurants. Travel is a continuation of that pleasure. Just to have pleasant lives, not to suffer, to feel positive. Their life compass changes, from ‘I don’t care about anything’ to ‘I would like to have a better life.’ ...

The biggest struggle now for the Turkish hotels is to find enough staff members who speak Russian. Those in the tourism industry who had mastered German and English are returning to language school.

"Everybody is studying Russian now," said Suat Esenli, a worker at the Kremlin Palace Hotel...

And from Bob Herbert's column:

A man who described himself as a conscientious worker who has always pinched his pennies wrote the following to Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont:

"This winter, after keeping the heat just high enough to keep my pipes from bursting (the bedrooms are not heated and never got above 30 degrees) I began selling off my woodworking tools, snowblower, (pennies on the dollar) and furniture that had been handed down in my family from the early 1800s, just to keep the heat on.

"Today I am sad, broken, and very discouraged. I am thankful that the winter cold is behind us for a while, but now gas prices are rising yet again. I just can’t keep up." ...

Senator Sanders asked his constituents to write to him about their experiences in a difficult economy. He was blown away by both the volume of responses and “the depth of the pain” of many of those who wrote.

A 55-year-old man who said his economic condition was "very scary," wrote: "I don’t live from paycheck to paycheck. I live day to day." He has no savings, he said. His gas tank is never more than a quarter full, and he can’t afford to buy the "food items" he would like.

His sense of his own mortality was evident in every sentence, and he wondered how long he could continue. "I am concerned as gas prices climb daily," he said. "I am just tired. The harder that I work, the harder it gets. I work 12 to 14 hours daily, and it just doesn’t help."

A working mother with two young children wrote: "Some nights we eat cereal and toast for dinner because that’s all I have."

Another woman said she and her husband, both 65, "only eat two meals a day to conserve."

A woman who has been trying to sell her house for two years and described herself as "stretched to the breaking point," told the senator, "I don’t go to church many Sundays because the gasoline is too expensive to drive there."

Many of the letters touched on the extremely harsh winter that pounded Vermont and exacerbated the economic distress. With fuel prices sky-high, many residents turned to wood to heat their homes. A woman with a 9-year-old son wrote:

"By February, we ran out of wood and I burned my mother’s dining room furniture. ... I’d like to order one of your flags and hang it upside down at the Capitol building. ... We are certainly a country in distress."

One might argue, perhaps correctly, that these are just momentary, newsprint-ready snapshots of a much larger landscape. Or that after centuries of insularity and suffering, Russia's upward mobility is both natural and long overdue. But the oil-related reversal in fortunes for the U.S. and Russia in just a few years is stunning. While Russians' "life compasses" change (check out the photo at the top of Levy's article here) Americans pawn family heirlooms, use dining room furniture for firewood, stay home from church because they can't afford to go, and fill up their cars a quarter-tank at a time. "Everybody is studying Russian now" sums up this administration's legacy pretty well. Instead of crediting Putin, Russians might want to send their thank-you notes to the White House, care of the Federal Reserve.

posted by The Cunning Realist at Sunday, June 15, 2008

ALOHA !!

In the mid 1990s I volunteered for a food bank in the East Bay of San Francisco called OAKLAND POTLUCK ... I was there for over four years ... Yes, it was based in Oakland, California! There is poverty in California, even when housing was in its heyday! I used to drive to SafeWays and restaurants and pick up outdated food and leftovers and donations and then bring them to homeless shelters scattered around Oakland and Berkeley.

I recently found out that the OAKLAND POTLUCK group has been decimated by former volunteers who were stealing money from the organization a number of fraudulent ways and even using the vehicles for personal usage.

I was thinking the group would have problems with the high cost of gasoline since a big part of the food banks in the USA is "driving" food around towns.

How sad to think people steal from food banks! I have lost touch with all the former OAKLAND POTLUCK members who started the food bank when I first joined up. I honestly do not know if OAKLAND POTLUCK still exists ...

Makes me wonder how viable food banks are ...

Kaimu I was in Moscow last week , everything in the duty free was priced in Euros not Dollars as it used to be. I also watched a documentary about Macau gaming ,gambling industry all the wages values of any type were dicussed in Euros.
Seems no one wants the once mighty Dollar anymore.

test

Gold climbing this morning 867 to 880