Who Will Screw Us Next?
Jan 14, 2009 General Nonsense |
I was one of Enron's victims when that company manipulated the energy prices in California and looted the residents.
A recent report on 60 Minutes described how big banks, speculators, and hedge funds caused oil prices to skyrocket in 2008 despite falling demand and rising supply. I got screwed in that deal just like the rest of you.
And of course there was the Dotcom stock bubble that cost lots of people a bundle, thanks to the many unscrupulous financial "experts" and lying CEOs who made it possible.
Some would argue that the war on terror is really about channeling taxpayer money to the military industrial complex. I don't think that's the whole story, but the war in Iraq probably wouldn't have happened unless someone was sure to make a profit.
Then there was the bogus move to ethanol that made food prices skyrocket. Thank you lobbyists!
Now the housing bubble and the mortgage backed derivatives are picking my pocket along with yours.
And don't get me started about Bernie Madoff, although I think I dodged that specific bullet. It's hard to tell.
This got me wondering who will screw us next. You know someone is manipulating the market whenever you see a bubble, a relatively sudden shortage, a scare, or any investment that is too complicated to understand. Armed with that knowledge, where is the next bubble, scam, scare, or artificial shortage?
The obvious next candidate for a financial disaster involves all the government money intended to stimulate the economy. It's the biggest game in town for 2009, so every crook in a suit is figuring out how to get a piece of that action. I'm sure the upcoming administration means well, but the criminals have improved their methods since the New Deal. Watch out for any sort of confusing organization or fund that gets created to manage and distribute the stimulus money. We could save time by arresting those guys in advance.
I expect another financial disaster to be in the "green" field. Look for more inexplicable shortages, bubbles, and of course confusing investment opportunities in that area, possibly in conjunction with the stimulus funding. Many companies in that industry already had a good run up in stock prices, but I think that's just the beginning. If you don't see Warren Buffet investing in that area, there might be a good reason.
Health care costs are going through the roof in the U.S. One assumes that increase is a simple function of an aging population, rising costs, malpractice insurance, patented treatment options, etc. I'd watch that area for the next big scam or bubble. It seems ripe because everyone already expects those prices to keep rising quickly.
You have been warned.
A recent report on 60 Minutes described how big banks, speculators, and hedge funds caused oil prices to skyrocket in 2008 despite falling demand and rising supply. I got screwed in that deal just like the rest of you.
And of course there was the Dotcom stock bubble that cost lots of people a bundle, thanks to the many unscrupulous financial "experts" and lying CEOs who made it possible.
Some would argue that the war on terror is really about channeling taxpayer money to the military industrial complex. I don't think that's the whole story, but the war in Iraq probably wouldn't have happened unless someone was sure to make a profit.
Then there was the bogus move to ethanol that made food prices skyrocket. Thank you lobbyists!
Now the housing bubble and the mortgage backed derivatives are picking my pocket along with yours.
And don't get me started about Bernie Madoff, although I think I dodged that specific bullet. It's hard to tell.
This got me wondering who will screw us next. You know someone is manipulating the market whenever you see a bubble, a relatively sudden shortage, a scare, or any investment that is too complicated to understand. Armed with that knowledge, where is the next bubble, scam, scare, or artificial shortage?
The obvious next candidate for a financial disaster involves all the government money intended to stimulate the economy. It's the biggest game in town for 2009, so every crook in a suit is figuring out how to get a piece of that action. I'm sure the upcoming administration means well, but the criminals have improved their methods since the New Deal. Watch out for any sort of confusing organization or fund that gets created to manage and distribute the stimulus money. We could save time by arresting those guys in advance.
I expect another financial disaster to be in the "green" field. Look for more inexplicable shortages, bubbles, and of course confusing investment opportunities in that area, possibly in conjunction with the stimulus funding. Many companies in that industry already had a good run up in stock prices, but I think that's just the beginning. If you don't see Warren Buffet investing in that area, there might be a good reason.
Health care costs are going through the roof in the U.S. One assumes that increase is a simple function of an aging population, rising costs, malpractice insurance, patented treatment options, etc. I'd watch that area for the next big scam or bubble. It seems ripe because everyone already expects those prices to keep rising quickly.
You have been warned.
Votes: +4
Comments
User Name: rickgore
Jan 18, 2009
0
Mr. Adams,
Have you thought of writing a serious book or pamphlet, in a funny way of course, on financial planning. I know you have the 129 words of financial planning, but most people need more explanation. I think it would be a big help because too many look for the magic formula when there isn't one. You could take each of the nine steps and illustrate each one with a Dilbert cartoon and provide a one page explanation why this approach is necessary and preferred.
Best wishes,
Rick
Have you thought of writing a serious book or pamphlet, in a funny way of course, on financial planning. I know you have the 129 words of financial planning, but most people need more explanation. I think it would be a big help because too many look for the magic formula when there isn't one. You could take each of the nine steps and illustrate each one with a Dilbert cartoon and provide a one page explanation why this approach is necessary and preferred.
Best wishes,
Rick
User Name: graciemaesharpei
Jan 15, 2009
0
Avi, I think you hit the nail on the head in more ways then one.
User Name: avi_wollman
Jan 15, 2009
0
You yourself. As usual either it's from greed or fear or something like it. we ARE !$%*!$%* ourselves. How to get out of this type of mess ? Let God (yes the one with a clean spirit which you know and feel inside of you) guide you.
User Name: rjmunro
Jan 15, 2009
0
I've been reading the book "Sustainable Energy - Without the hot air" http://www.withouthotair.com/ which has properly worked out numbers on most "green" technology, and comparisons with normal. It's a bit UK centric, but a lot of useful numerical facts are buried in it's pages.
If you're interested in green technology or global warming, it's compusory reading, and if you don't want to buy the book, you can just download it as a PDF.
If you're interested in green technology or global warming, it's compusory reading, and if you don't want to buy the book, you can just download it as a PDF.
User Name: fpainestam
Jan 15, 2009
0
Scott, I think you've hit the nail on the head so hard and so accurately that it's come out the other side of the board. I particularly like the idea of saving time by incarcerating the guys in advance...Someone told me the other day--and I'll grant right away that I have no idea about the source of his information---that 97% of the funding for Obama's election came directly or indirectly from corporate sources. I suspect that the proportion for McCain was similar, the point being that corporate thieves contribute big dollars to BOTH sides. Why? Because that's where the money is, as Willy Sutton said about banks. They all want a piece of what's in that big government cookie jar...Isn't this fun? Cheers!
User Name: gargamel9
Jan 15, 2009
0
Although it doesn´t qualify for the thing you were asking here I know you like it a lot when someone ignores your point and starts ranting about what he wants to rant about (hehe)…so…I will say that sadly it doesn´t even surprise me anymore that guys on suits (CEO bankers politicians consultants…) are doing crook stuff, I would say well what else is new! To me the thing is the sector that seem to be getting infected by crocks. Did you notice how many books just popped up explaining the crisis and bubbles and stuff. I cant really say but I expect that most of those authors were writing books about the end of poverty and economic crisis only a few years ago (or in case they were greencommies about the impending doom they’ve been predicting since the 60-70´ies and so they taken this as the prelude they were predicting).
I have this picture every time I see a new one of those books of a guy sitting on the sidewalk watching a rubble that was just moments before his home and this guy on a suit selling him a book of why his house came down.
So to me the new wave of crooks is the great hindsight 20/20 book writers (and some of them don´t even get it right even then!).
I have this picture every time I see a new one of those books of a guy sitting on the sidewalk watching a rubble that was just moments before his home and this guy on a suit selling him a book of why his house came down.
So to me the new wave of crooks is the great hindsight 20/20 book writers (and some of them don´t even get it right even then!).
User Name: KevinKunreuther
Jan 15, 2009
0
The next scare tactic to be related in the media will concern the coming "worldwide" draught in Asia, Africa and Western areas of North America, a close second, the calamitous overfished areas in the North Atlantic and in the Pacific. Water becomes more precious than gasoline, and eating fish will become almost as bad a faux pas as wearing fur.For added comedic irony, protesters will waste water by splashing celebrities coming out of sushi restaurants, crying out at them, "Shame! Shame!" I'll be right behind the water throwing protesters with a flame thrower pointed in their direction, shouting, "Shame! Shame!" at them for wasting water.
The scams being executed on the elderly right now (especially those who lost their pensions and savings in the current financial crisis) are very fishy so-called reverse mortgages (a real reverse mortgage is actually a good deal for seniors with good home equity but a fixed income, especially those who manage to become super-centenarians and outlive the mortgage company or individual making the loan) that actually steal the homes from seniors, leaving them with little or no money at all and their homes taken away and sold out from them very quickly. Despicable.
Starting now, the next forty years will be a golden opportunity for the senior living and senior healthcare industry. The big money will be between now and 2034. Undoubtedly, at least half of these operations will be poorly run and be fleecing their charges for as much as they can get. Government regulation or oversight will be laughable and scandalous. Some will be lucky enough to get good to great care in their senior years, but many - fuggedaboutit! The media will call attention now and again to the "crisis" and the scandal of all the people profiting from from others misery, but too little will be done too late.
Another possible scam will be several people claiming they can take you to the Moon and back for $50,000 or less, cheaper and safer than NASA or any government space agency. Affordable space travel for the common man. Based in Brazil and Kazakhstan. Disaster in the making.
Unless an unusually large number of the boomers become super-centenarians, the number of senior boomers should start subsiding by 2050 and be down to a few score thousand by 2060. Interestingly, if I may be allowed to !$%*!$%* a little more here or "forecast", by such a time, the world human population should top out between 15-20 billion, resulting in inevitable large recurrence of waves of outbreaks and epidemics of disease that cuts down this population high to a relatively "flat" level, fluctuating between eight to twelve billion by the end of the century as rising sea levels will negate the existence of many Pacific atoll nations, many coastal and low lying river urban areas, such as New York City, London, etcetera and low lying areas such as East Anglia, The Netherlands, The Ganges Delta, half of the Florida Peninsula and Gulf of Mexico coastal regions (new areas to settle will occur in the forthcoming Greenland Archipelago, an even more pleasant if slightly temperate Alaska, a more tolerable climate in Yukon, mining and fishing opportunities Northwest Territories and Nunavit, a milder Eastern Siberia and select outlying coastal areas of Antarctica for the adventurous) . If people haven't gone totally b-a-t-s-h-i-t and started annihilating each other en masse (again) due to food shortages, water deprivation, fuel riots or they simply don't like their neighbors, there may be a tendency towards a grumbling or resigned co-operation between different peoples for the sake of mutual survival and most peoples being tired of being angry and agitated and blowing each other up for differing ideologies and centuries old feuds, animosities and prejudices. Religion doesn't disappear but most of them become a lot more peaceful and considerate of other people of different faiths. There is a reversion to analog and mechanical technologies in many places.
Manned space travel is abandoned, for the time being, most extra-terrestrial exploration will be done by probes, robots, satellites. The Moon will be exploited like nobody's business by several robot mining operations. Scientists, industrialists and engineers begin to target Mars for "rehabilitation" or to be terraformed for human habitation with a goal for migration to begin between five hundred to eight hundred years.
The scams being executed on the elderly right now (especially those who lost their pensions and savings in the current financial crisis) are very fishy so-called reverse mortgages (a real reverse mortgage is actually a good deal for seniors with good home equity but a fixed income, especially those who manage to become super-centenarians and outlive the mortgage company or individual making the loan) that actually steal the homes from seniors, leaving them with little or no money at all and their homes taken away and sold out from them very quickly. Despicable.
Starting now, the next forty years will be a golden opportunity for the senior living and senior healthcare industry. The big money will be between now and 2034. Undoubtedly, at least half of these operations will be poorly run and be fleecing their charges for as much as they can get. Government regulation or oversight will be laughable and scandalous. Some will be lucky enough to get good to great care in their senior years, but many - fuggedaboutit! The media will call attention now and again to the "crisis" and the scandal of all the people profiting from from others misery, but too little will be done too late.
Another possible scam will be several people claiming they can take you to the Moon and back for $50,000 or less, cheaper and safer than NASA or any government space agency. Affordable space travel for the common man. Based in Brazil and Kazakhstan. Disaster in the making.
Unless an unusually large number of the boomers become super-centenarians, the number of senior boomers should start subsiding by 2050 and be down to a few score thousand by 2060. Interestingly, if I may be allowed to !$%*!$%* a little more here or "forecast", by such a time, the world human population should top out between 15-20 billion, resulting in inevitable large recurrence of waves of outbreaks and epidemics of disease that cuts down this population high to a relatively "flat" level, fluctuating between eight to twelve billion by the end of the century as rising sea levels will negate the existence of many Pacific atoll nations, many coastal and low lying river urban areas, such as New York City, London, etcetera and low lying areas such as East Anglia, The Netherlands, The Ganges Delta, half of the Florida Peninsula and Gulf of Mexico coastal regions (new areas to settle will occur in the forthcoming Greenland Archipelago, an even more pleasant if slightly temperate Alaska, a more tolerable climate in Yukon, mining and fishing opportunities Northwest Territories and Nunavit, a milder Eastern Siberia and select outlying coastal areas of Antarctica for the adventurous) . If people haven't gone totally b-a-t-s-h-i-t and started annihilating each other en masse (again) due to food shortages, water deprivation, fuel riots or they simply don't like their neighbors, there may be a tendency towards a grumbling or resigned co-operation between different peoples for the sake of mutual survival and most peoples being tired of being angry and agitated and blowing each other up for differing ideologies and centuries old feuds, animosities and prejudices. Religion doesn't disappear but most of them become a lot more peaceful and considerate of other people of different faiths. There is a reversion to analog and mechanical technologies in many places.
Manned space travel is abandoned, for the time being, most extra-terrestrial exploration will be done by probes, robots, satellites. The Moon will be exploited like nobody's business by several robot mining operations. Scientists, industrialists and engineers begin to target Mars for "rehabilitation" or to be terraformed for human habitation with a goal for migration to begin between five hundred to eight hundred years.
User Name: etiennecalame
Jan 14, 2009
0
Hi Scott,
do we have here a new Dilbert Principle?
when you says "[...] but the war in Iraq probably wouldn't have happened unless someone was sure to make a profit." can we undertsand that :
"nothing happens unless someone is sure to make a profit"
This is finnaly the word of the gut: all livings should spend less calories to hunt or feed than they will get with the prey or the grass.
do we have here a new Dilbert Principle?
when you says "[...] but the war in Iraq probably wouldn't have happened unless someone was sure to make a profit." can we undertsand that :
"nothing happens unless someone is sure to make a profit"
This is finnaly the word of the gut: all livings should spend less calories to hunt or feed than they will get with the prey or the grass.
User Name: grgeil
Jan 14, 2009
0
NEXT BUBBLE: The cost of college education has to burst, along with the push to make every teenager an "above average" student and shove him into college. I shuddered when some of my friends came out of college 20 yeras ago with $10,000 in student loans. Now they are coming out with $100,000 in debt. And the mechanically inclined who should be going to trade school first head off to college to accumulate debt (to feed the bubble) before they renege on their debt and pursue a trade wat which they can excel.
NEXT SCAM / SCARE: As documented here in other posts, the Global Warming / Carbon Credit scam in which Al Gore is both the scaremonger and the scamster. He should try growing a handlebar mustache instead of a beard for he is one heck of a snake oil salesman.
NEXT ARTIFICIAL SHORTAGE: There will be periods when there is not enough fresh water to sustain the water consuming habits of dry areas like Central Texas. When supplies become (temporarily) so low that we are restricted to water for consumption and limited bathing only, it will be scary how people react. Of course, this will probably lead to a de-salination bubble along coastal areas.
NEXT SCAM / SCARE: As documented here in other posts, the Global Warming / Carbon Credit scam in which Al Gore is both the scaremonger and the scamster. He should try growing a handlebar mustache instead of a beard for he is one heck of a snake oil salesman.
NEXT ARTIFICIAL SHORTAGE: There will be periods when there is not enough fresh water to sustain the water consuming habits of dry areas like Central Texas. When supplies become (temporarily) so low that we are restricted to water for consumption and limited bathing only, it will be scary how people react. Of course, this will probably lead to a de-salination bubble along coastal areas.
User Name: graciemaesharpei
Jan 14, 2009
0
Oh, I SO have to comment on this one!
In my opinion, it will be (and already is) healthcare and health insurance. Here's why:
-Most providers can no longer work for themselves due to low insurance reimbursements. They have to work for a group or corporation.
-Corporations see your illness as a "product" from which they can bilk the insurance companies for.
-The insurance companies in return reduce payments to providers and increase premiums.
-Corporations find more ways to bill insurance for your condition (even if that means tacking on a few 'extra' diagnoses to get more procedures from, etc)
-Everyone pays more out of pocket (if you can even GET insurance) while the corporations and insurance companies make a profit.
-Physicians and therapists, who are now middlemen, can't pay back their student loans.
I work in healthcare and I see this debacle everyday. I'm actually afraid to go to the doctor because I don't know if the diagnosis I get is real and the treatment is really necessary or if I'm being told something unnecessary so my insurance can be billed.
There's more to it then my short post can provide, but I truly think this is going to be the next big mess to blow up in our faces.
In my opinion, it will be (and already is) healthcare and health insurance. Here's why:
-Most providers can no longer work for themselves due to low insurance reimbursements. They have to work for a group or corporation.
-Corporations see your illness as a "product" from which they can bilk the insurance companies for.
-The insurance companies in return reduce payments to providers and increase premiums.
-Corporations find more ways to bill insurance for your condition (even if that means tacking on a few 'extra' diagnoses to get more procedures from, etc)
-Everyone pays more out of pocket (if you can even GET insurance) while the corporations and insurance companies make a profit.
-Physicians and therapists, who are now middlemen, can't pay back their student loans.
I work in healthcare and I see this debacle everyday. I'm actually afraid to go to the doctor because I don't know if the diagnosis I get is real and the treatment is really necessary or if I'm being told something unnecessary so my insurance can be billed.
There's more to it then my short post can provide, but I truly think this is going to be the next big mess to blow up in our faces.
User Name: language
Jan 14, 2009
0
One group that is being taken to the cleaners is the doomsday survivalists. gold has skyrocketed and survivalism is distracting people from being as productive.
they aren't necessarily getting a lot of money, since survivalists tend to not have lots of $, but they are fleecing some folks.
the truly rich don't worry about survival on this level, they worry about buying an island and having resources to maintain a small staff after bailouts and handouts combine to bring capitalism down.
the higher functions of openmindedness and racial tolerance are a luxury for the wealthy. this is going to end badly, you can be sure obama's skin color will be in play.
---
should USA recover instead of descend into anarchy, new businesses that will have power will be those who milk govt for $, such as child care. Security will expand too. Having a person you can trust to protect your trophy wife without seducing/violating her will become a commodity. When poverty comes, all sense of morality flees.
they aren't necessarily getting a lot of money, since survivalists tend to not have lots of $, but they are fleecing some folks.
the truly rich don't worry about survival on this level, they worry about buying an island and having resources to maintain a small staff after bailouts and handouts combine to bring capitalism down.
the higher functions of openmindedness and racial tolerance are a luxury for the wealthy. this is going to end badly, you can be sure obama's skin color will be in play.
---
should USA recover instead of descend into anarchy, new businesses that will have power will be those who milk govt for $, such as child care. Security will expand too. Having a person you can trust to protect your trophy wife without seducing/violating her will become a commodity. When poverty comes, all sense of morality flees.
User Name: EDoubleC
Jan 14, 2009
0
Life insurance.
The Chinese market for life insurance is ripe for a bubble. Here's how they work.
1) Guy purchases a life policy from X co.
2) Guy maintains that policy for a few years.
3) Y co under bids X co.
4) Guy purchases new life policy from Y co
5) Guy pays cancelation fees to X co
6) Guy maintains that life policy for a few years
7) Z co under bids Y co.
8) Guy purchases new life policy from Z co
9) Guy pays cancelation fees to Y co
This results in current profits for life insurance writers from the policy cancelation and cancelation fees. The problem is you also have companies under funding their pools with insufficient premiums. They will argue that they have reinsurance on their policies to cover catastrophic risk. However, the bonds tied to the housing bubble also had insurance; there might not be enough cash in the system to cover those losses.
They operate this way because someone always under bids them. However, like the housing bubble, once X, Y and Z Co stop under bidding each other and those policies are maintained or cashed out, you could see some real problems.
The Chinese market for life insurance is ripe for a bubble. Here's how they work.
1) Guy purchases a life policy from X co.
2) Guy maintains that policy for a few years.
3) Y co under bids X co.
4) Guy purchases new life policy from Y co
5) Guy pays cancelation fees to X co
6) Guy maintains that life policy for a few years
7) Z co under bids Y co.
8) Guy purchases new life policy from Z co
9) Guy pays cancelation fees to Y co
This results in current profits for life insurance writers from the policy cancelation and cancelation fees. The problem is you also have companies under funding their pools with insufficient premiums. They will argue that they have reinsurance on their policies to cover catastrophic risk. However, the bonds tied to the housing bubble also had insurance; there might not be enough cash in the system to cover those losses.
They operate this way because someone always under bids them. However, like the housing bubble, once X, Y and Z Co stop under bidding each other and those policies are maintained or cashed out, you could see some real problems.
User Name: EDoubleC
Jan 14, 2009
0
Life insurance.
The Chinese market for life insurance is ripe for a bubble. Here's how they work.
1) Guy purchases a life policy from X co.
2) Guy maintains that policy for a few years.
3) Y co under bids X co.
4) Guy purchases new life policy from Y co
5) Guy pays cancelation fees to X co
6) Guy maintains that life policy for a few years
7) Z co under bids Y co.
8) Guy purchases new life policy from Z co
9) Guy pays cancelation fees to Y co
This results in current profits for life insurance writers from the policy cancelation and cancelation fees. The problem is you also have companies under funding their pools with insufficient premiums. They will argue that they have reinsurance on their policies to cover catastrophic risk. However, the bonds tied to the housing bubble also had insurance; there might not be enough cash in the system to cover those losses.
They operate this way because someone always under bids them. However, like the housing bubble, once X, Y and Z Co stop under bidding each other and those policies are maintained or cashed out, you could see some real problems.
The Chinese market for life insurance is ripe for a bubble. Here's how they work.
1) Guy purchases a life policy from X co.
2) Guy maintains that policy for a few years.
3) Y co under bids X co.
4) Guy purchases new life policy from Y co
5) Guy pays cancelation fees to X co
6) Guy maintains that life policy for a few years
7) Z co under bids Y co.
8) Guy purchases new life policy from Z co
9) Guy pays cancelation fees to Y co
This results in current profits for life insurance writers from the policy cancelation and cancelation fees. The problem is you also have companies under funding their pools with insufficient premiums. They will argue that they have reinsurance on their policies to cover catastrophic risk. However, the bonds tied to the housing bubble also had insurance; there might not be enough cash in the system to cover those losses.
They operate this way because someone always under bids them. However, like the housing bubble, once X, Y and Z Co stop under bidding each other and those policies are maintained or cashed out, you could see some real problems.
User Name: EDoubleC
Jan 14, 2009
0
Life insurance.
The Chinese market for life insurance is ripe for a bubble. Here's how they work.
1) Guy purchases a life policy from X co.
2) Guy maintains that policy for a few years.
3) Y co under bids X co.
4) Guy purchases new life policy from Y co
5) Guy pays cancelation fees to X co
6) Guy maintains that life policy for a few years
7) Z co under bids Y co.
8) Guy purchases new life policy from Z co
9) Guy pays cancelation fees to Y co
This results in current profits for life insurance writers from the policy cancelation and cancelation fees. The problem is you also have companies under funding their pools with insufficient premiums. They will argue that they have reinsurance on their policies to cover catastrophic risk. However, the bonds tied to the housing bubble also had insurance; there might not be enough cash in the system to cover those losses.
They operate this way because someone always under bids them. However, like the housing bubble, once X, Y and Z Co stop under bidding each other and those policies are maintained or cashed out, you could see some real problems.
The Chinese market for life insurance is ripe for a bubble. Here's how they work.
1) Guy purchases a life policy from X co.
2) Guy maintains that policy for a few years.
3) Y co under bids X co.
4) Guy purchases new life policy from Y co
5) Guy pays cancelation fees to X co
6) Guy maintains that life policy for a few years
7) Z co under bids Y co.
8) Guy purchases new life policy from Z co
9) Guy pays cancelation fees to Y co
This results in current profits for life insurance writers from the policy cancelation and cancelation fees. The problem is you also have companies under funding their pools with insufficient premiums. They will argue that they have reinsurance on their policies to cover catastrophic risk. However, the bonds tied to the housing bubble also had insurance; there might not be enough cash in the system to cover those losses.
They operate this way because someone always under bids them. However, like the housing bubble, once X, Y and Z Co stop under bidding each other and those policies are maintained or cashed out, you could see some real problems.
User Name: inteja
Jan 14, 2009
0
Actually Warren Buffet has recently been investing in green tech - a Chinese battery company that has moved into the hybrid and battery electric vehicle market with a new battery that by all accounts could be the EV magic bullet that the everyone has been waiting for.
http://evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1604
http://everythingwarrenbuffett.blogspot.com/2008/09/reuters-buffetts-byd-endorsement-sends.html
http://evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1604
http://everythingwarrenbuffett.blogspot.com/2008/09/reuters-buffetts-byd-endorsement-sends.html
User Name: jwlynn64
Jan 14, 2009
0
Based on your criteria, it has to be in education. It costs 50 times what it did back in the early 80s. What exactly caused that increase?
User Name: tartanmarine
Jan 14, 2009
0
When they deregulated energy in Pennsylvania, a new "green" energy company was formed. They went to existing generating companies and asked how much of their power came from wind and other renewable sources. If the company said 2%, they said, fine, we want to buy 2% of your output. Then they resold that power to customers as "green energy" at a premium, as it was "green." Of course, they just took power off the grid, as did their customers. So there was no way to know which electrons were green, and no more green electrons in the system. Just less green in the pockets of idiots who wanted to be green.
My new motto is: I'm greener than gore--that's green enough!
But the next big scams will be two:
Well, with the League of Leftwing Lawyers" in charge of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, watch for lawsuits to explode, and lawyers to get richer off all of us. Every leader on the Democratic side is a lawyer. Enjoy.
On the bailout, the Republican Saint Barack put in charge of the infrastructure rebuilding is part of the famous Illinois Combine, with lots of ties to constructions, lobbyists and earmarks. Here in Blagobamaville, party doesn't matter, only "who sent you?"
So your dollars will be going to laywers and politically-connected construction combines. say goodnight, Chet.
Those interested in where their bailout dollars will go should see the Washington Post story on this guy:
LaHood Sponsored Millions in Earmarks
Transportation Pick Directed Money to Donors
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 14, 2009; Page A02
The former Republican congressman chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to direct billions in federal highway spending has been an unapologetic advocate of earmarks, a practice Obama now opposes, and has used his influence to win funding for projects pushed by some of his largest campaign contributors.
 Ray LaHood, who represented Illinois in the House for seven terms, sponsored $60 million in earmarks last year, steering at least $9 million in federal money to campaign donors, a Washington Post analysis shows. An opponent of earmark reform efforts in Congress, LaHood ranks roughly among the top 10 percent in the House for sponsoring earmarks in 2008, according to a watchdog group.
My new motto is: I'm greener than gore--that's green enough!
But the next big scams will be two:
Well, with the League of Leftwing Lawyers" in charge of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, watch for lawsuits to explode, and lawyers to get richer off all of us. Every leader on the Democratic side is a lawyer. Enjoy.
On the bailout, the Republican Saint Barack put in charge of the infrastructure rebuilding is part of the famous Illinois Combine, with lots of ties to constructions, lobbyists and earmarks. Here in Blagobamaville, party doesn't matter, only "who sent you?"
So your dollars will be going to laywers and politically-connected construction combines. say goodnight, Chet.
Those interested in where their bailout dollars will go should see the Washington Post story on this guy:
LaHood Sponsored Millions in Earmarks
Transportation Pick Directed Money to Donors
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 14, 2009; Page A02
The former Republican congressman chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to direct billions in federal highway spending has been an unapologetic advocate of earmarks, a practice Obama now opposes, and has used his influence to win funding for projects pushed by some of his largest campaign contributors.
 Ray LaHood, who represented Illinois in the House for seven terms, sponsored $60 million in earmarks last year, steering at least $9 million in federal money to campaign donors, a Washington Post analysis shows. An opponent of earmark reform efforts in Congress, LaHood ranks roughly among the top 10 percent in the House for sponsoring earmarks in 2008, according to a watchdog group.
User Name: KWSVentures
Jan 14, 2009
0
The 60 Minutes story on oil prices was terrible. It was another obvious ignorant media scare tactic. Funny, how it was terrible "speculators" that drove the price of a barrel of oil to $147.00. Have we already forgot how much oil China , India and other emerging were using for their fast growing economies? Yet, only a few months after hitting that high, the price of oil went as low as $33.00 per barrel. How did that happen? Oh, the same type of speculator drove the price down? No. The world economy slowed and the need for so much oil declined. Well? Understand that the futures markets are absolutely necessary. Investors, speculators call them what you want take all the risk. Those that produce the commodity get to lock in their price many months in advance so that can run their businesses. No futures market would be a monster disaster. The great thing about the futures market is that anyone with some money (and it doesn't take lots of dough, either) can get in the market. It isn't just some big, awful entity. I was an"nasty" speculator in that oil market, myself. I saw what was happening and bought a few oil contracts and made some money. Now, if I would have lost money I wouldn't have asked for a taxpayer funded bailout. I wouldn't be crying the blues that "someone" screwed me. I read the other comments and I see "crooks in suits". There are a lot of babies on this blog that always want to blame someone else and say they are "victims". Grow up. Get educated. Learn from your mistakes and quit blaming others for "your" problems.
User Name: HumilityRocks
Jan 14, 2009
0
Scott,
There was a fantastic West Wing years ago called (I think) Isaac and Ishmael.
Part of the dialogue made what I thought was a great point about the war on terror. In essence it was that a spy busboy with a silencer might be more effective than an armored tank division.
Made sense to me at the time and it still does.
Let's double the budget of the CIA and focus a bit less on brute force and more on drone-like surgical strike / spy moves.
On a note a little post related, can't you cartoonists figure out a way to screw everyone and make a tidy profit?
And least it would be clever, or amusing as we got taken to the cleaners.
There was a fantastic West Wing years ago called (I think) Isaac and Ishmael.
Part of the dialogue made what I thought was a great point about the war on terror. In essence it was that a spy busboy with a silencer might be more effective than an armored tank division.
Made sense to me at the time and it still does.
Let's double the budget of the CIA and focus a bit less on brute force and more on drone-like surgical strike / spy moves.
On a note a little post related, can't you cartoonists figure out a way to screw everyone and make a tidy profit?
And least it would be clever, or amusing as we got taken to the cleaners.
User Name: Zuluwarrior
Jan 14, 2009
0
Phantom,
Green is not just the new Red, it's the new religion. If you want your children to eat well, let them grow up to be "environmental engineers."
Shaka
Green is not just the new Red, it's the new religion. If you want your children to eat well, let them grow up to be "environmental engineers."
Shaka
