Arkansas Blog

Hey my funky investment newsletter called it last week on Wachovia. Should have done a put.

The final Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, aka Wall St. bail-out is on my name.

I noted executive pay for firms whose assets were purchased is limited to $500K.

It also blocks profiteering in preferred stock of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

There's no mortgage relief for strapped home owners.
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$700 billion more debt = a weaker dollar = higher oil prices = long recession

Sometimes "solutions" do more damage than good.

I'm sure it was only co incidental but I couldn't help laughing at the right side bar ad on the NYT story site....

"Fly the Emirate A380, private cabin, non-stop JFK to Dubai."

After this deal I expect many will. So long USA, good ride while it lasted.

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Notice the markets are way down. What a cute trick! Many times I've pretended to be very sick....barely able to crawl to the door when the landlord came for the rent. Don't you think the stock markets are reprising the role Barbara Stanwyck played back in 1937 in Stella Dallas, today? Oh I'm so pitiful....I'm dyin here.....you got to vote for the BAIL-OUT TODAY...cause I will surely die before the morrow.......

You don't think a bunch of adult Wall Street crooks are above such behavior...such dirty tricks....such criminal acts....do you? And it is no accident that the bargain fares to Dubai are posted along side the bail-out story. Hope you get an orgasm with your screwing....so far I'm feeling nothing but disgust.

All the things you like most about America, groovy little corner restaurants, mom and pop shops, the fully functioning, diverse family farm-- these things stand a better chance of making a comeback when you don't breathe temporary life into the thing that killed them. We are being forced to bet in a race of horses bound for the glue factory and the glue factory is closing too! This is at best a very temporary fix. These crooks just want to get us all to put our name on the note. How can a man get out of this without renouncing citizenship? I don't mind so much being from my neighborhood but being a U.S. citizen ain't much of an investment today.

All that nasty business in the shale play and the coal plants in Hempstead County and in Shady Point Oklahoma would be greatly diminished if we gave pause to this bailout. We're fast-tracking our own demise. Wake Up People! At least delay it a bit. How are Ark. reps and senators going to vote. Let's get a side pool going...

Who will buy all these properties the Fed is going to take over?

Will factory workers from Ohio buy lots?

Takes jobs and good ones to buy homes.

Jobs are shrinking. At least ones that pay enough to have a mortgage.

With no serious political opposition looming this year, all six members of Arkansas's congregration ... delegation, I mean ... will vote for it.

This whole fiasco is best (kindly) described as congress putting lipstick on the wrong end of a pig.

Unless you want to call it the largest grift in US history outside of MIC spending.

In the last few weeks over 600 billion in military spending and 1.5 trillion in bailout money which does nothing about the leak in the sinking boat. Over two trillion bucks which will not only do nothing to fix the problems but insure they get worse in the long run.

The House is voting now... it's going to be close!

Lorda Mercy! Such gloom and doom. Do you fellas REALLY think THIS is the end of the world? Whether the "bailout" or "buy-in" fails or prevails in the Congress, my prediction is that this country is going to be OK in the long-term.

It's about time that we overcome the shock and mobilize to march on the financial criminals who brought on this debacle. The French had a good idea, but the guillotine is too civilized for these self-styled aristocrats. The princes of Wall Street and Main Street need to stop eating cake while we are eating the dust of the destruction of our homes and incomes.

We claim to refuse to give in to terrorists who hold people in an airplane, but we pay off the calculatingly incompetent profiteers who hold our economy hostage. They took foolish risks to make money, but they hedged their bets by entangling this country's economy as their duped accomplice. The architects of this debacle shrewdly and amorally put the average home owner at risk of underwriting their gamble.

The impact of this disaster is worse than 9/11 on the lives of Americans. The machinators of this attack on America should be prosecuted at least as if they were al-Queda terrorists. The American economic terrorists are worse, they did it against their own nation, for personal profit. They have destroyed the lives of millions of Americans and citizens of other nations. The President and the Members of Congress are their paid collaborators. These financial terrorists are criminals of the worst kind.

Where is the outrage? Where are our elected "leaders" who should be demanding the economic terrorists be held accountable? They have been bought. We have been sold.

They own the government, so they they will escape prosecution and their hounds will squelch and mollify dissension. They will try to convince us that it is our fault. Failing that, we, not them, will be branded as anti-American. Have we become a nation of compliant sheep? Bah!

Woody Guthrie remains as one of the most prescient American analysts, as in his "Pretty Boy Floyd" lyrics ( http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Pretty_Boy_Floyd.htm ):

"...Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home."

Political theatre, nothing more.

Hundreds of Billions for Haliburton, a couple of big oil fields for Exxon and Shell, now trillions for wall street. Great Job Bushie!!

This hasn't been a democracy for a while. Sad stuff.

Gold just jumped to 905.5 from 888.50 a few hours earlier.
Keep in mind Hog Fans, to reach it's price adjusted historic levels it
still has 1200 more points to rise.

Seems to day is T-Bills and Gold.

Dow dropped 300 before noon.

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ONLY THE BRAVE NEED SEE THIS.
>
> MessageClick/ Or copy and paste on the video link below, find out how much money our senators
> received from fannie mae & freddie mac as campaign contributions
> from 1989-2008, and who was behind the failed banks. (use the pause
> button ( II ) & the slider to view the small print, it's tricky, but worth
> the effort.
>
The Root Cause of US Financial Crisis
>
> This summary video takes about 9 minutes. It's like drinking out of a fire hose
>
> as facts come at you faster than you can absorb, but you grasp enough to get
>
> a feel for the origins of the sordid mess. There is a lot of material here that
>
> McCain should have used last night.
>
> Also, here is an interesting video regarding the financial situation we are in.
>
> This was forwarded to me by a former U.S. Attorney:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH--o

WOULD LOVE TO HEAR A REVIEW OF THIS YOU TUBE.

re: "this country is going to be OK in the long-term."

Do you mean OK as in Oklahoma. If yes, I agree with you. If no, please tell me how you define "OK"

LARGEASSHOLE if you find 2 people willing to read your nonsense I would fall over is surprise.

The House is in session now, live on C-Span, voting upon an amendment to the Wall St. Bailout.

Name

Hey...this bill is failing in the House where it was supposed to go dancing on thru......and the stock market is down 450 at the moment. Hell...it's all over my head at this point....I don't know which way I'd vote. Telling us life as we know it is over sure amounts to a gun to our heads....but are they lying....guess we're fixin to find out. Prayer pray!

Oklahoma during the dust bowl. (if not now.. in a very short while)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this vote is about the long term. Last time you had to scrounge up 700 billion, how long did it take?

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
OK /ˈoʊˈkeɪ, ˌoʊˈkeɪ, ˈoʊˌkeɪ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[oh-key, oh-key, oh-key] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation adjective, adverb, interjection, noun, plural OK's, verb, OK'd, OK'ing.

1. all right; proceeding normally; satisfactory or under control: Things are OK at the moment.

2. correct, permissible, or acceptable; meeting standards: Is this suit OK to wear to a formal party?

3. doing well or in good health; managing adequately: She's been OK since the operation.

Unrelated directly, except for the Stephens connection to all things financial, losing Constitutional rights, government access...
Among the UAMS police reports for September is this gem:

"9/22/2008 200800756 RIOA Information Closed
Officer observed a subject setting up near RIOA to take photographs of the Stephens building. When advised they had to have permission to take photographs they left the area."

Since when does one, presumably a taxpayer, need to ask permission to take photographs of a publicly-funded, state-owned hospital building that is part of a publicly-funded state-owned university? Are they patrolling the surrounding area for long-range zoom lenses? What about camera phones? Will we be frisked for cameras upon entering the grounds? What is the concern with photographs? Controlling the PR? Got something to hide? You can't seriously play the "terrorist security risk" card.

They better pull the photos from the UAMS web site, then:
http://www.uams.edu/stephensinstitute/default.asp
and remove them from Google Street View.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=stephens%20uams%20little%20rock%2Car&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl

Hey DK, are ya old enough to have a Mom & Dad who told you about the Great Depression. We were a much more rural country then, many people lived off the land, hunted & trapped. My Dad worked in the big woods cutting timber, 10 hours a day, had to walk in several miles to get there, all for 50 cents a day. Not a nice proposition now considering we got many more mouths to feed, no more living off the land cause its full of insecticides and you darent eat anything grown in it. Nothing to hunt or trap cause all the land is paved over in wally world parking lots. If unemployment hits about 30% you'll get an everyday view of how bad it is, unless of course you live in one of those enclaves where you do not have to mix with the hoy poli.

Yeah I got the doom and gloom. Even if we slide out of this, it will be at least 5 years of pain for many folks who had nothing to with it, so don't be dooming and glooming those who speak negatively about the situation, they got a right to complain about the stupidity and greed of those who put us in this position.

Trading haulted in gasoline and some other commodities - everything tumbling at once

95 Democrats 133 Republicans against this bill. That's the closest ratio I've seen in a long time.

Yeah, ArkansasTraveler, I'm old enough to know all about the Great Depression. And I've done my share of bitching about this mess, but I don't think it's the end of the world, even though the bailout has now failed in the House and the Dow is down 600.

Click on blue name for some commentary on the bailout bill and a couple of faxes you can send to our reps and senators telling them to NOT vote for this bill.

The economy has been a binge-eating slob for years and now it's got chest pains and no health insurance.

Hold on tight fellers...if Cheney-Bush won't leave the White House...we'll starve them out!

Well if this doesn't cause the end of the world it has to be good. /s

On second thought...where's Warrick and his camera? Someone needs to set up Jumper Watch down in the financial district. The good news is you may not have to pay your mortgage payment ever again. I just hope when the Rockefellers move in next door that they're quiet at night. Me and the Mexicans...we need our sleep!

The bailout failed.

Taking in boarders. Nice home in Hillcrest. Must be able to grow own vegetables, milk a goat and slaughter and cut up chickens just like I saw my grandma do. (Will give special deal on rent if boarder can hunt. Allsopp Park has all kinds of good eatin' -- squirrels, raccoons, possums!)

Times could be very hard indeed -- for a while. But the rest of the world can't afford to let the U.S. fail. We buy their stuff and their economies depend on us buying their stuff. Of course, we may be in debt to Russia and China ("The horror. The horror.") for a generation, but, hey.

One of the main problems is that George Bush has no credibility with so-called Main Street. Remember WMDs? So why should constituents trust him now?

If you're not catching FOX Noise you should. They're doing Palin-talk in between blaming Nancy
Pelosi for making a "partistan" speech. Unbelievable, they don't even know what is at stake.

Wingnuts in Congress then came out AFTER Fox Noise was sounding off with virtually the same talk, blaming Pelosi.
Had it all line before the vote was finished.

Gold is going up. $8 higher since I last posted. Now at 913.70 .

How's your portfolio doing durango?
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>>Correct me if I'm wrong, but this vote is about the long term.<<

No Rod. This bill is about NOW. As in next week, next month.

America runs off of credit. Companies leverage their assets into loans.

When the collateral and other leverages become worth much less then margins
are called or sharply reduced and credit is curtailed.

You deposit 10K into your bank. They loan out 80%-90% per cent of it. If they have
other portfolio problems with assets-investments they will not be able to loan
out 80% of your deposit because it's needed to cover their bad assets, like mortgages.
That's a simplification but the principle is correct.

American business works from numerous short-term loans. You have a record store
and have an opportunity to do a large purchase of records, cds, etc at what will be
a bargain price and hence you will earn good profits. You go get a loan to make the
larger than average inventory purchase. There's no money to loan. Multiply that
a few hundred thousand times in a week and see how fast things shut down.
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"How's your portfolio doing Durango?"

As of Friday, I was down by about 11% on paper, eLwood, thanks to very broad asset allocations, including mortgage-free rental units. I'm not selling anything until things settle down. You don't lose unless you sell at a loss, as you know. I understand all the concern, but I grieve to see so many people in the panic mode, and doing such foolish things.

JUST WONDERING.. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DONE DEAL PELOSI AND REID ARE TALKING ABOUT BEFORE MCCAIN CAME BACK TO WASHINGTON.

THIS NEEDS TO PASS. AND IF IT IS SO BAD. WHY ARE THE MAJORITY OF DEMOS VOTING AYE THIS IS NOT A BAILOUT. ITS A QUICK FIX GIVING THEM TIME TO FIX THE MESS. EVEN A GRADE SCHOOLER COULD FIGURE THIS ONE OUT.

AFTER ALL LOOK HOW MUCH MONEY HAS BEEN RAISED IN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS. NOT EVERYONE IS IN BAD STRAITS. ASK OBAMA FINANCE PEOPLE

GET THIS DONE AND QUICK.. THE BIG GUYS HIRE THE LITTLE GUYS. IT DOESNT TAKE A ROCKET SCIENTIST TO FIGURE THIS OUT.
THEN WORK NAFTA OVER. BUT FIRST THINGS FIRST. WHAT ARE THEY DOING... IT IS JUST WHAT AL QUAIDA HAS SAID IT WANTS TO DO TO US.. TAKE US DOWN. THE MORE THOSE REPS TALK THE WORSE IT GETS. WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN MIND IF NOT THIS.. SHOW AND TELL IS IN ORDER.

SORRY MAX.... GEORGE W IS NOT IN CHARGE.. MIZZ NANCY IS DRIVING THIS BUS.. AND ITS HEADED FOR A CLIFF.

94 DEMS VOTED NAY.... WHATS THE DEAL .

COULDA PASSED IN ONE FELL SWOOP, NOW THE JEWISH HOLIDAYS. CAUSE NANCY WONT OFFER DEBATE OR ANOTHER VOTE. WHOSE SIDE ARE THESE GUYS ON. NOT THE SUFFERING AMERICAN PUBLIC.

Excuse me for this. LargeAss you goddamn fool! Turn on the radio or the TV and see who voted against the bill. Don't come on here all ignorant and lie about Democrats being the big numbers voting NO. It was YOUR REPUBLICANS voting hand over fist NO NO NO NO 133 times along with 95 Democrats. Read!

And a little clue....except for losing your job when the plant closes down, this bill isn't about YOU. Yea or Nay YOU get hurt right along side me. They aren't voting things about us....it's about RICH FOLKS...that lets both of us out.

Ideally the House and Senate will NOT vote for this bill until it is fixed so it doesn't favor the very people who brought us this meltdown. If it takes a day or a year. You want to rush a vote that will kill all your kids and farm animals as written currently? Or would you rather work and work until a fair deal is struck that spares your kids and those lovely farm animals? Bush is trying to get away with blackmail and of all people, his own Party isn't buying it. Watch....I'll probably never say this again in my life.....Good for the House Republicans!

The only difference between the
Democrats and the Republicans
is that the Democrats allow
the poor to be corrupt, too.
- Oscar Levant

"How's your portfolio doing Durango?"

>>As of Friday, I was down by about 11% on paper, eLwood, thanks to very broad asset allocations,<<

Smart fellow for sure.

My gold shares-certificates are up 250%. I figure to bail out at $1800 cause I'm risk adverse. It could go as high as $2100-2300 which would be the price adjusted highs from 1979-80.

On the other side, the non-perishable food I stocked up on in May -most of it has doubled in price. A little savings here and there.

What I'm going to keep an eye out for is political donations. Wonder if they will dry up and McBush turns out better financed than Obama.
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Do ya think this crisis will bring down the price of the hookers on 9th street in Fort Baptist? .......busy looking for any and all silver linings.......

re: "You have a record store
and have an opportunity to do a large purchase of records, cds, etc at what will be
a bargain price and hence you will earn good profits. You go get a loan to make the
larger than average inventory purchase."

You were right up until the "you go get a loan" part.

......found another silver lining! The price of oil is plunging this week. Take comfort from the fact that you'll now be able to afford to drive yourself to the poor house.

my friend's son texted her a joke yesterday while we were out running errands, lets see how much of it I can remember, and, warning, it's not very nice, ok?

There is a plane crash and both Obama and McCain are killed immediately. Who wins the upcoming election?

Answer: The People of the United States.

I told you it wasnt very nice.
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now, i dont read that drivel or crap, but could someone please tell me how to put large-ass on IGNORE if that is possible? Its posts take up a lot of room. thanks.

obama and McCain have failed miserably to lead. We have a severe leadership failure in this country from the Presidency through the Congress. Mrs. Pelosi also failed miserably and should resign immediately. She is a pathetic excuse for leadership. Her failure to count her own votes and the idiotic dumping on republicans whose votes she needs is pure stupidity.

Click on the name to find out how we got here.