1. Second round of Quantitative Easing will cease on schedule. 1
   

Amid increasing political pressure and turbulent financial conditions in the world economy, the Federal Reserve is letting its massive bond-buying stimulus program expire in the next few days without a new initiative to prop up the weak American recovery.

Why we can’t afford more war.
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In Congress, divisions over Libya

I only have to say that we do not need yet another trillion dollar war. Current expenses are at 700 million USD, that’s only 300M$ shy of a billion. I say to stop it there and padlock our wallet.

The cost of U.S. involvement in Libya has been estimated at $700 million so far, and comes at a time of growing ( Read more... )

On the LA Times re: Gay judge wasn’t required to remove himself from same-sex marriage case, U.S. judge rules

A commenter named Ann Common said: “What we hate is sexual perversion.”

This is my response:

And now the truth is revealed! You are a hater. It may interest you to know that Victorian modes and culture [should have] died with Queen Victoria ( Read more... )

Gone with only a laptop, smart phone, iPaq PPC. No servers at destination but will have Inet access.

This is the geek version of “roughing it”
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I could have sworn that I had already commented on this but it appears that I haven’t.

First, the California Proposition that tried to ban gay marriages (the infamous Proposition 8)  has been found unconstitutional. 1

Then the Pro8 folks tried to overturn that ruling based on the fact that the Judge was openly gay.

Finally, the US District Court ( Read more... )

Does your laptop have rights?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things ( Read more... )

Alejandro Lazo, of the Los Angeles Times, reports that fewer homeowners are underwater on mortgages. The first quarter of this year saw a miniscule drop in the number of upside-down mortgages from 11.1 million to 10.9 million. That’s a measly 0.2 million or only 200,000 1 .

The decline in the number of borrowers owing more on their mortgages than ( Read more... )

If congressional negotiators fail to resolve their impasse over the federal debt ceiling, we may recall this moment in history as one of the nation’s worst since the morning Custer awoke thinking it might be amusing to go and annoy Sitting Bull.

It came from an article in in the LA Times by Tim Rutten, “They drank the tea.”

The highlighting ( Read more... )

Against the Swiss Franc, the US Dollar is now down to 83.4 centimes and dropping fast. This follows closely on news of the double-dip in the housing market and it is a not an inconsequential corollary.
The reason that it is called Real Estate is because land is the only real value. Given a sufficient a amount, you don’t need anything else because ( Read more... )

The good news, for me, is that I was correct and yet another prediction has come to pass.

The US Dollar is now worth only 84.7 centimes or 0.847 Swiss Francs.

Contrary to what this sounds like, it isn’t good news for the US economy. In fact, it is a leading indicator for Gonzalo Lira’s Hyperinflation scenario and this happened about 4 months ( Read more... )