From Alan Abelson's weekly column in Barron'sIt increasingly looks "like the evermore freewheeling financial environment that we've taken for granted for the last 25 years is behind us." Or, as the [Bank for International Settlements] declaims "has run its course."In
What's up with oil prices? Well, it's not speculators, and there's no relief in sight, meaning at least five more years of high prices with no easy fixes. The ugly truth? Peak oil isn't fringe anymore—it's going mainstream.The dozens of
Why? Because plane flights elsewhere are cheaper but mostly because foreign tourists increasingly believe, with obvious good reason, that customs and security procedures are onerous and extremely unfriendly. So they are traveling elsewhere, this even when the dollar is low
The Flat Earth Society in the White House may deny it, but even the World Bank is now saying that using cropland to grow corn and other crops for biofuel is a primary reason for the worldwide rise in food
An individual bond is rated based on the rating of the company that insures it. A bizarro concept, when you think about it. Shouldn't a bond be rated on its own merits? But they aren't.This cozy system worked fine, generating
When Walmart moves, others follow. Maybe becaue they have to. Walmart pushed hard for CFLs and was a major force in them becoming a mainstream product. Will they now do the same for locally grown produce? Or maybe they already
From WikipediaHadji "Hi Jolly" Ali (1828 — December 16, 1902) was a Greek-Syrian specialist who was one of the first camel drivers ever hired by US Army in 1856 to lead the camel driver experiment in the Southwest.I took this
A financial analyst fresh from a tour of construction sites in the Inland Empire is warning Wall Street of a "ghost town" where finished homes sit vacant and additional homes are still under construction.This is in the Inland Empire area
Not the other way around. All commodities traded on the futures market are priced this way. So, yes, speculators can influence prices. But they can't control them. Besides, speculators don't move en masse. Some are short, hoping prices will fall,
We just moved to a new web host, they are moving things around on servers this week and we're traveling. So our regular posting schedule has been a bit bouncy these past few days. Things should be back to normal
We were at a funeral today for a relative of Sue's who died at the age of 100.Her birth name was Faire Virgin. She married a man named Sax. Thus her name became Faire Virgin Sax.I am not making this
Total job losses since the first of the year are now 438,000. That's a loss of 73,000 a month. The economy needs to CREATE 125,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.In other words, this hole is
An attempted stock market rally yesterday failed. An analyst said a bankruptcy of GM is possible. Oil hit another all time high. Bad moon rising.Disclosure: I own puts on financials.
Mullen's remarks are jaw dropping because they expose the unwillingness of the Pentagon to support an attack upon Iran.I think the Bushies have been sending up trial balloons to see if there is support for their insane plan. The answer
