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Friday, June 24, 2011

Friday Pot Pouri

Astute Illinois Farmers Make Out Like Bandits

"Farmers, who bet on the weather each growing season, have emerged as the shrewdest gamblers in the housing industry.

A decade ago, they began seeing land values escalate as homebuilders needed raw land to satisfy demand. They sold land to homebuilders at high prices, took their profit and invested in land downstate that they leased to local farmers. Now they are back in Chicago's far-flung suburbs, spending a pittance of what land sold for five to 10 years ago, planting crops and profiting from surging commodity prices."


One Eerie Thought About Magnificent Mile Gang Violence

"Over the last few days, I've been asked by many people: "Why aren't you writing about the downtown 'flash-mobs'? There's so much to say about race."

I've been thinking about the situation a lot. Pondering it. Wondering what's going on to make these crimes that are so very ordinary just a few miles away from the Loop finally happen there.

The truth is, I don't have much to say. I could go on and on about how this sort of criminal activity happens all the time, and why doesn't the media cover it? But that's too naive. I know perfectly well why they don't."


A storm that shook the ’burbs

Any of these photos could have been my block. It looked like a war zone when I left town. Interestingly enough, it did not seem like a terrible storm as it happened. Just a bit of high winds and not much rain.

17 comments:

  1. @ICan:

    Your 9:23:

    If Wen declared it, it must be so. Who are we to claim otherwise?

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Todd:

    Nice work. 1% per day is around 220% per year.

    A wee bit better'n a CD, eh?

    I would trade more, but I'm too timid. So I bought the RMB as a trade, and as China lets it float and Benny devalues the $, %age wise it's a good deal.

    I walked by a large HSBC office, and they advertise a 4.6% return on the Australian $ with a 6 month commitment.

    but even at half your rate, a 100% return can't be beat.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PIIGS take turn.

    Too Greecy to handle.

    Better to deal one at a time. Now, it's Italy - Marketwatch.com


    ICan

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  4. Michael Hudson's latest:

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/michael-hudson-whither-greece-without-a-national-referendum-iceland-style-eu-dictates-cannot-be-binding.html

    So instead of banks being insolvent (which, many still are, but don't have to admit it), it are nations all around the world, as we idiots took on all of the bad debt for them. Very nice deal. For the banks and elites. Not so much for the Global Sheeple. Has this reality set in yet? That bad debt is still there and growing. It's just been shifted onto the backs of the Global Sheeple.

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  5. Interesting open. Was expecting a rally. Guess not? All over the place lately.

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  6. I think this is spot on. Without more fiscal stimulus Benny & the Fed are in a box or limited in terms of what else they can do. The idiots in D.C. who want to cut our way to grwoth just might put us into another recession or worse.

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/what-can-the-fed-do.html

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  7. Yves just eviscerates elite's lackey, Ezra Klein this morning. Wow.

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/ezra-klein-should-stick-to-being-wrong-about-health-care.html

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  8. Morning all! Great post Denise! take care of your house!

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  9. Denise - From the sounds of it you did not fair too badly during the storm.

    I am glad that you weathered (Tee hee) your way through it without much difficulty.

    Thank you for taking the time to post the pictures and todays post.

    Mutt

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  10. Ditto, Denise. Great post. Read Takavoli's article on Huffpo this morning. Very good.

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  11. Thor - You beat me to it buy 1 minute.

    You must have cheated somehow :p

    Mutt

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  12. Manny - oooooh, yes, very good! reading now

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  13. As Greece Ponders Default, Lessons from Argentina

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/business/global/24peso.html?_r=1&ref=business

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  14. Thanks everyone. We were happy that our house was not initially damaged. But without a working sump we have our fingers crossed with the basement, which normally is very dry even without the sump.

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  15. Rock's second favorite short, RIMM, getting smacked again today.

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  16. Weak close. Even TLT down. What's in store for next week? I'll be out of town next week for most of the week but will try to get my Monday post up before I leave on Sunday morning. Have a great weekend everyone!

    ReplyDelete