Budget Shenanigangs

I am watching the stuff going on in Washington, I shake my head.

Don't people get it?

The USA and just about every country has debt problems.

Print more money>? Raise the debt ceiling>? Stiff Bond holders.

What a time.

Jobs, the future and failure and option?

Too many part time jobs.

Men of a certain age, out of work now, will never work again.

The Movie Industry, about the only engine in the Vancouver economy, sucks.

The Tea Party loonies have screwed the USA into a credit downgrade.

That will be fun.

Seen the stock markets lately?

I have no one in a good mood.

My owner, that I told I was moving.

The new owner, landlord, that had to spend thousands to remediate from a punk.

It's a weird time and much angst in the air.

Watch Obama - something up his sleeve?

The CA$D is doing great things against the US buck - and that hurts Canadian exporters.

Americans are not much on touring, and they are so broke, they aren't coming - in droves.

The Pacific Northwest and BC has been very cold and weird this summer.

Now. We wait for the junk for Fukushima to destroy our Beaches and way of life.

Greek Bonds are two steps from Default

The folks in Greece will be paying through their Drachmas, for the next thirty years, as their Bonds crashed today.

Consider:

Bank of Montreal's Sherry Cooper wondered aloud last week whether we'll all look back at this some day and "see this as a period of global economic mismanagement of historical proportions." Only time will tell of course, but I'm sure BMO's chief economist is right

Austria and Italy cancelled a bond auction.

Bond Vigilantes are mounted up and are heading to Washington.

What the heck is going on with the US? (* Impeach Obama?)

Will the World Reserve Currency, the US Dollar, lose that role?

So many questions, and so many answers about to come to the fore.

What a day! Gold and Silver could go to the moon.

Rick Rule (* a genius) - expects good Jr Companies in gold and silver might be takeover targets.

We shall see.

I just have this sinking feeling.

The US will default.
It is going to happen.

As improbable as another Hurricane Katrina - this could actually happen?

Most of the smart people I admire have pooh poohed -and said this is posturing for 2012.

Obama s done anyway. But why are the Republicans playing high wire>?

This has catastrophic consequences.

God Help Us.

On a side note.

Amy Winehouse.

Alcohol is not the only dangerous drug out there.

Capiche?

Canadians not using their cars as much (*Gas too expensive?)

Canadians are putting off summer vacations, new car purchases, and are becoming more strict with budgets so they can better handle higher gas and food prices and reduce their debts, according to a survey by Royal Bank.

The Canadian Consumer Outlook Index released Wednesday suggests Canadians are looking for ways to save as they grapple with gas prices that rose 29.5 per cent in May alone and food prices that grew 4.2 per cent that month.

"Canadians are continuing to focus on managing their debts - a very good sign as we enter the second half of the year," Richard Goyder, vice-president, Personal Lending, RBC said in a statement.

"It's encouraging to see consumers are trying to live within their means and seeking out very practical ways to not only pay their bills but also to save and invest."

The survey was released the same day Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney warned in a speech that agricultural product prices are up substantially since interest rates last went up, and will continue to rise.

"As we tried to explain in April, our expectation was that these food prices would come into the economy over about a six-month period. That's been the historic experience and that's exactly what's happening."

"So there's a bit more to come, given the recent rises in food. Food, unfortunately, is going to remain relatively expensive and get a little more expensive in the coming months."

Canadians Hooked on the Internet - TV and Phone fading.

One-fifth of Canadians polled in a new survey said they would turn down a million dollars in order to keep their Internet access - a possible sign that our reliance on the World Wide Web is slowly catching up to the television and phone, telecom experts say.
The survey conducted by Angus Reid Forum for Primus Canada, showed that almost half of those polled would give up watching television before they would give up surfing the Internet or using their phones.


Of the 1,009 Canadians surveyed, one-third said they would rather give up their phone to keep online and television services. Only 20 per cent said they would give up their Internet access.
Western Canadians and senior citizens were more likely to give up the tube in order to keep their Internet or telephone, with 61 per cent of British Columbians and 58 per cent of Albertans saying they would live without TV.


The survey also found that higher income respondents, earning over $100,000, were also more likely to ditch their televisions to keep Internet and phone access.
The online poll was conducted between May 23 and 24 by 1,009 Canadians over 18. The margin of error was 3.1 per cent.

Read more:

Fiduciary Duty - The Ships that never were and cheaters?

They are the two ships no one wanted, almost constantly embroiled in one dispute or another for the past 25 years. The two Navy behemoths have never gone on a mission, were never even completed, yet they cost taxpayers at least $300 million.

Now the vessels, the Benjamin Isherwood and the Henry Eckford, are destined to leave Virginia waters for good and be scrapped at a Texas salvage yard, with no money coming back to the U.S. Treasury.

The Isherwood, stretching more than 660 feet, began its final journey this week, unceremoniously towed Tuesday from its mooring spot in the James River Reserve Fleet, also known as the "ghost fleet," near Fort Eus-tis in Newport News.

Its destination: International Shipbreaking Limited in Brownsville, Texas, just above the Mexico border. There, the vessel will be cut up, its innards removed and disposed of, and its steel and other metals sold as recycled products.

The Eckford, of equal size, is scheduled to follow next Tuesday, leaving behind fewer than 20 junk ships in the ghost fleet, the smallest number since its inception during World War I.

Once the two Navy oilers have departed, "it will close one of the saddest chapters in American shipbuilding and for that matter, federal fiduciary folly," wrote Joseph Keefe, a global maritime commentator, this week on the website MaritimeProfessional.com.

In seeing the two ships headed for a scrap heap, the U.S. Maritime Administration, which oversees ghost fleets in Virginia, Texas and California, also will close one of its most contentious disposal contracts - one that spurred environmental protests on both sides of the Atlantic, caused lawsuits over American toxic dumping, and drew condemnation by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In 2003, the Maritime Administration announced a $17.8 million contract with Able UK, a shipyard in northeastern England, to dismantle 13 ghost ships from Virginia.

Able UK, which had never demolished a ship before and did not have permits to do so at the time, also was to receive the Isherwood and Eckford as perks to sweeten the deal.

Only four ghost ships arrived at the yard in Hartlepool, off the North Sea, the rest blocked by legal orders and political maneuvering. There they sat for nearly seven years before finally being recycled in late 2010, according to company and government officials.

Able UK won title rights to the Isherwood and Eckford after completing the work and took ownership in June, said Kim Riddle, a spokeswoman for the Maritime Administration, a branch of the U.S. Transportation Department.

Uber Editor:

You wonder why the US Treasury is thin?

Before Canadians laugh and point - remember the 2 Billion buck Gun Registry?


Meanwhile > Atlanta cheaters in School? TEACHERS. 200 > LINK >


95% of American High School kids admit to CHEATING in recent study. Huh?