Simon Johnson at Baseline Scenario provides more detail, actually chilling detail, about the purchase of Volvo from Ford.
Geely Automotive has acquired Volvo from Ford. This is a risky bet that may or may pay off for the Chinese auto maker – after first requiring a great deal of investment.
Goldman Sachs’ private equity owns a significant stake in Geely, with the explicit goal of helping that company expand internationally. Remember what Goldman is – or rather what Goldman became when it was saved from collapse by being allowed to transform into a Bank Holding Company in September 2008 (which allowed access to the Federal Reserve’s discount window, among other advantages). Goldman’s funding is cheaper on all dimensions because it is perceived to be Too Big To Fail, i.e., supported by the US taxpayer; this allows Goldman to provide more support to Geely (and others).
Our Too Big To Fail banks stand today at the heart of global capital flows. People around the world – including from China – park their funds in the biggest US banks because everyone concerned believes these banks cannot fail; they were, after all, saved by the Bush administration and put completely – gently and unconditionally – back on their feet under President Obama. These same banks now spearhead lending to risky projects around the world
In other words, if this deal ends up going titties-up, the American taxpayer could again be on the hook to rescue Goldman and its investors from the consequences of a mistaken decision.
('ScuzMe while I gather my thoughts: !!!!!******!!!!!***%%%%!!!!!****&&&&&!!!!!: !!)
There. That's better.
This stuff is making money for some folks now, but will hasten the day when my children will have both a lowered standard of living and significantly higher tax burdens.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Three Cheers For #365: Daniel Hannan, Keynes, And St. Matthew In The European Parliament
Well, maybe pigs do sprout wings! Dan Hannan speaks kind words about Keynes, which draws a chuckle from the chair, and then proceeds to teach basic economic and political realities from the pages of Holy Scripture, which draws more of a chuckle from the chair--applause and smiles from the folks around him.
Of course, he quoted from the Authorized Version, and referred to Jesus of Nazareth as 'Our Lord', and cheerily assumed the chair knew the story of Jesus being questioned about taxation.
It's a wonderful performance, a classic. You can feel him twist the intellectual knife into the ribs of the Euro, using the eternal truth of the Savior's words.
Priceless.
Hot-damn! If only we could rent this guy out for a couple of decades. He would set us straight, or at least remind us how to be brave in public again, and how to use truth set to words to skewer the socialists.
Of course, he quoted from the Authorized Version, and referred to Jesus of Nazareth as 'Our Lord', and cheerily assumed the chair knew the story of Jesus being questioned about taxation.
It's a wonderful performance, a classic. You can feel him twist the intellectual knife into the ribs of the Euro, using the eternal truth of the Savior's words.
Priceless.
Hot-damn! If only we could rent this guy out for a couple of decades. He would set us straight, or at least remind us how to be brave in public again, and how to use truth set to words to skewer the socialists.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Paying For 2010 Schools With 2003 Revenues
Peter, meet Paul.
This is just one example in one of Tennessee's ninety-three counties, and this one probably is faring better than most.
The county promised the schools some 19 million through the fiscal year, ending June 30. Some 12 million has been paid. But revenues are down to 2003 levels, and the county finishes collecting property tax revenues by the middle of March. They can't fork over money they don't have. They can't print it or borrow it like the federal government can.
That little cliff-diving red line on the sidebar chart represents sales tax revenue for 09-10.
In economist's parlance: 'Ruh-roh!'
In the meantime, more families are pulling out into home-schooling, and a private church-based academy is opening its doors. The bump of cash from all that 'stimulus' money will run out soon. The day of reckoning is at hand.
Ruh-roh...
This is just one example in one of Tennessee's ninety-three counties, and this one probably is faring better than most.
The county promised the schools some 19 million through the fiscal year, ending June 30. Some 12 million has been paid. But revenues are down to 2003 levels, and the county finishes collecting property tax revenues by the middle of March. They can't fork over money they don't have. They can't print it or borrow it like the federal government can.
That little cliff-diving red line on the sidebar chart represents sales tax revenue for 09-10.
In economist's parlance: 'Ruh-roh!'
In the meantime, more families are pulling out into home-schooling, and a private church-based academy is opening its doors. The bump of cash from all that 'stimulus' money will run out soon. The day of reckoning is at hand.
Ruh-roh...
The Politics Of The Memory Hole, And The Value Of Memory
People with memories, and who know how to write, are a problem for totalitarians.
Pat Buchanan is one of those troublesome people. He addresses the hysteria about 'right-wing fanatics' that the Left is attempting to foment, in order to silence any and all who might object to their leadership. He takes on Frank Rich's assertion that the right 'went off the rails' in the mid-60's in the wake of civil rights legislation.
Was Rich awake in 1964? Because it wasn't the right that went off the rails. The really big riot in 1964 was in Harlem, lasting five days, with 500 injured and as many arrested. The Watts riot in 1965, Detroit and Newark in 1967, Washington, D.C., and 100 other cities in 1968, all bringing troops into American cities, were not the work of George Wallace populists or Barry Goldwater conservatives. They were the work of folks who went "all the way with LBJ."
Buchanan cites several more examples, all damning of the Left, because it was the Left that embraced political violence as the generation that now leads the majority in Congress was in its formative years.
OS remembers those years too, as a young person, watching the country come unwound, and attending the funeral of a young friend of the family, a Marine killed by the Viet Cong during a 'Christmas Truce' called by the Viet Cong. In those days, the Left was referring to young men like him as 'murderers'. He was anything but, but it little mattered to the totalitarians in training, who idolized Ho Chi Minh, Mao, Castro, and Che Guevara, mass murderers all.
It is a cultural issue, at bottom, is it not? At the underpinnings of the discipline, history needs to be taught in terms of 'This happened on such a date, and these particular people performed these acts'. Without the ideology or hysteria, just the facts, ma'am. These things, although unromantic, really matter. It's more fun to opine than research and report accurately.
Otherwise, everything goes down the 'memory hole', history is re-written to suit today's exigencies, and the entire concept that words have meaning deteriorates rapidly. Entire chapters of the past vanish. People vanish as well, as if they never existed.
A quick review of the fate of Russia as the USSR should be an object lesson. The few souls like Solzhenitsyn, who carefully preserved history with specificity, ended up underground and/or dead or exiled, their work passed hand-to-hand in dark of night. Bonhoeffer's great essay 'After Ten Years' lived buried in his back garden, unearthed after he was hanged a few days before the collapse of Nazi Germany.
The cultural collapses long predated the political ones. They always do.
Pat Buchanan is one of those troublesome people. He addresses the hysteria about 'right-wing fanatics' that the Left is attempting to foment, in order to silence any and all who might object to their leadership. He takes on Frank Rich's assertion that the right 'went off the rails' in the mid-60's in the wake of civil rights legislation.
Was Rich awake in 1964? Because it wasn't the right that went off the rails. The really big riot in 1964 was in Harlem, lasting five days, with 500 injured and as many arrested. The Watts riot in 1965, Detroit and Newark in 1967, Washington, D.C., and 100 other cities in 1968, all bringing troops into American cities, were not the work of George Wallace populists or Barry Goldwater conservatives. They were the work of folks who went "all the way with LBJ."
Buchanan cites several more examples, all damning of the Left, because it was the Left that embraced political violence as the generation that now leads the majority in Congress was in its formative years.
OS remembers those years too, as a young person, watching the country come unwound, and attending the funeral of a young friend of the family, a Marine killed by the Viet Cong during a 'Christmas Truce' called by the Viet Cong. In those days, the Left was referring to young men like him as 'murderers'. He was anything but, but it little mattered to the totalitarians in training, who idolized Ho Chi Minh, Mao, Castro, and Che Guevara, mass murderers all.
It is a cultural issue, at bottom, is it not? At the underpinnings of the discipline, history needs to be taught in terms of 'This happened on such a date, and these particular people performed these acts'. Without the ideology or hysteria, just the facts, ma'am. These things, although unromantic, really matter. It's more fun to opine than research and report accurately.
Otherwise, everything goes down the 'memory hole', history is re-written to suit today's exigencies, and the entire concept that words have meaning deteriorates rapidly. Entire chapters of the past vanish. People vanish as well, as if they never existed.
A quick review of the fate of Russia as the USSR should be an object lesson. The few souls like Solzhenitsyn, who carefully preserved history with specificity, ended up underground and/or dead or exiled, their work passed hand-to-hand in dark of night. Bonhoeffer's great essay 'After Ten Years' lived buried in his back garden, unearthed after he was hanged a few days before the collapse of Nazi Germany.
The cultural collapses long predated the political ones. They always do.
Ford Sells Volvo To the Chinese
It wasn't pretty. But it was probably inevitable.
The Chinese car maker Geely has signed a deal to buy Volvo from US car giant Ford for $1.8bn (£1.2bn).
The agreement, which was first announced in December, is the biggest overseas purchase by a Chinese car manufacturer.
"Today represents a milestone for Geely," the company's chairman Li Shufu said.
Loss-making Volvo has been on the market since 2008, when Ford put it and several other brands up for sale.
Jaguar and Land Rover in the UK have already been sold to India's Tata Motors.
Ford hopes that the sale of Volvo will help it pay off its debts and focus on its core brands, following a dire period for the global car industry.
The deal represents a loss for Ford, however, having bought Volvo in 1999 for $6.5bn.
Wowee! That's a haircut! But it is indicative, as Robert Peston elegantly points out, of how the ground has shifted under our feet.
The Chinese car maker Geely has signed a deal to buy Volvo from US car giant Ford for $1.8bn (£1.2bn).
The agreement, which was first announced in December, is the biggest overseas purchase by a Chinese car manufacturer.
"Today represents a milestone for Geely," the company's chairman Li Shufu said.
Loss-making Volvo has been on the market since 2008, when Ford put it and several other brands up for sale.
Jaguar and Land Rover in the UK have already been sold to India's Tata Motors.
Ford hopes that the sale of Volvo will help it pay off its debts and focus on its core brands, following a dire period for the global car industry.
The deal represents a loss for Ford, however, having bought Volvo in 1999 for $6.5bn.
Wowee! That's a haircut! But it is indicative, as Robert Peston elegantly points out, of how the ground has shifted under our feet.
Monday, March 29, 2010
The 'Birmingham Hoard': Saxon Art Treasures To Remain At Home
This is happy news, an inspiring moment.
An amateur metal detector enthusiast discovered a collection of 7th century Saxon gold artifacts in the Midlands. Valued initially at over three million pounds, the collection could have probably brought more, were it broken up and auctioned to the highest bidder.
As it turned out, the money was raised, and a plan developed, to keep the collection together, and in residence in Birmingham.
And, long term, the rewards, both cultural and financial, for that region of the UK will far outstrip the wads of short-term cash that could have been made.
And, it was a voluntary and cooperative effort!
It can be done this way, without anyone inflicting trauma on anyone else.
Green Shoots Nomination, definitely, to all involved.
OS hopes you take a few minutes to view the slideshow of these artifacts.
Breathtakingly beautiful pieces, made more enjoyable by knowing the story.
An amateur metal detector enthusiast discovered a collection of 7th century Saxon gold artifacts in the Midlands. Valued initially at over three million pounds, the collection could have probably brought more, were it broken up and auctioned to the highest bidder.
As it turned out, the money was raised, and a plan developed, to keep the collection together, and in residence in Birmingham.
And, long term, the rewards, both cultural and financial, for that region of the UK will far outstrip the wads of short-term cash that could have been made.
And, it was a voluntary and cooperative effort!
It can be done this way, without anyone inflicting trauma on anyone else.
Green Shoots Nomination, definitely, to all involved.
OS hopes you take a few minutes to view the slideshow of these artifacts.
Breathtakingly beautiful pieces, made more enjoyable by knowing the story.
The Moscow Subway Mass Murders: One Question For Us Here In The US and UK To Ponder
The supply of ink, words and emotional outrage about this sort of thing ran out a long time ago.
The most horrifying aspect is that we have come to expect this, or at least are no longer surprised by it.
"It was a terrorist act carried out by the female suicide bombers," said Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, in reference to the first and most lethal explosion, citing the Federal Security Service. "They were specifically timed -- for ... the train was nearing the station -- to make the most damage."
So, to The Question: What are the odds, once the Russian security services run the perpetrators to ground, that they will be read their Miranda rights, housed safely with Halal meals and Muslim chaplains, provided lawyers and tried as civilians at the courthouse closest to the scene of the crime?
And, while we're at it...
What are the odds, also, that these murderers are traced back to Pakistan via Chechnya?
The most horrifying aspect is that we have come to expect this, or at least are no longer surprised by it.
"It was a terrorist act carried out by the female suicide bombers," said Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, in reference to the first and most lethal explosion, citing the Federal Security Service. "They were specifically timed -- for ... the train was nearing the station -- to make the most damage."
So, to The Question: What are the odds, once the Russian security services run the perpetrators to ground, that they will be read their Miranda rights, housed safely with Halal meals and Muslim chaplains, provided lawyers and tried as civilians at the courthouse closest to the scene of the crime?
And, while we're at it...
What are the odds, also, that these murderers are traced back to Pakistan via Chechnya?
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Searchlight, Nevada: Harry Reid's Hometown, Or What CNN Can't Report
CNN, it is reported, claimed a few dozen protesters showed up in Searchlight, Nevada for a Tea Party event. Since that is Harry Reid's hometown, it would be embarrassing if perhaps 10,000 people were to materialize to express their opinion of the man.
Yesterday's online print story did say the event happened, but never got around to mentioning how many folks showed up.
So, in the spirit of public service, OS found a picture or two of the event. One shows the length of the caravan through the desert to Searchlight, and an overhead shot around the stage is also informative.
Really, it's tough to get one's job done when there is so much fawning over the President to do.
Jes' trahyin' to be neighborly, helpful, and all, ya'll.
No worries, Senator Reid.
No worries, Mr. President.
These people aren't motivated to actually do anything come November.
Honest. Ya'll just go on back to your offices, now. It'll all be all right.
Yesterday's online print story did say the event happened, but never got around to mentioning how many folks showed up.
So, in the spirit of public service, OS found a picture or two of the event. One shows the length of the caravan through the desert to Searchlight, and an overhead shot around the stage is also informative.
Really, it's tough to get one's job done when there is so much fawning over the President to do.
Jes' trahyin' to be neighborly, helpful, and all, ya'll.
No worries, Senator Reid.
No worries, Mr. President.
These people aren't motivated to actually do anything come November.
Honest. Ya'll just go on back to your offices, now. It'll all be all right.
This Is How Wars Begin: Obama Shuns Netanyahu, Hamas Stages An Ambush
...and an Israeli family loses a second son to the jihadists. Not a murmur from our press here--just another day. How many column inches devoted this week to the latest from Sandra Bullock? The NCAA? 'Medical marijuana'?
From the Jerusalem Post, the account of an incursion into Gaza by a tank unit, confronting Hamas fighters planting IED's near the border.
Two Israeli soldiers killed:
On Friday evening, Maj. Eliraz Peretz, 31, from Eli, deputy commander of the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion, and St.-Sgt. Maj. Ilan Sviatkovsky from Rishon Lezion were killed during combat with Palestinian gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip, near Khan Yunis.
Peretz led a force into Gaza after two Palestinians were spotted laying improvised explosive devices near the border security fence. During the ensuing fire exchange, a grenade in Peretz’s vest was hit by a bullet and exploded, killing him and wounding two of his soldiers. Sviatkovsky was then shot and killed as well.
Israeli officers still lead their troops, and suffer losses accordingly.
Further down the article, the poignant news is related:
Peretz’s brother, Lt. Uriel Peretz, 22, of Givat Ze’ev, was killed by a Hizbullah bomb along with St.-Sgt. Nitzan Balderan, 19, of Kibbutz Lotem, on November 25, 1998, when the IDF was still deployed in the security zone in south Lebanon. Both men were in the Golani Brigade. The family has another brother serving in Golani Battalion 13. The third brother participated in Operation Cast Lead last year.
OS doesn't know whether to weep, rage, or some combination of the two. Deepest condolences to the families. Who can imagine, much less endure these sorts of losses?
Our President won't be photographed with your Prime Minister, won't break bread with him. He's planning a state dinner for President Calderon of Mexico next month, the leader of one of the most chaotic, brutal and corrupt nations of modern history.
Something is terribly, tragically awry in the White House.
This is how wars begin...
From the Jerusalem Post, the account of an incursion into Gaza by a tank unit, confronting Hamas fighters planting IED's near the border.
Two Israeli soldiers killed:
On Friday evening, Maj. Eliraz Peretz, 31, from Eli, deputy commander of the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion, and St.-Sgt. Maj. Ilan Sviatkovsky from Rishon Lezion were killed during combat with Palestinian gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip, near Khan Yunis.
Peretz led a force into Gaza after two Palestinians were spotted laying improvised explosive devices near the border security fence. During the ensuing fire exchange, a grenade in Peretz’s vest was hit by a bullet and exploded, killing him and wounding two of his soldiers. Sviatkovsky was then shot and killed as well.
Israeli officers still lead their troops, and suffer losses accordingly.
Further down the article, the poignant news is related:
Peretz’s brother, Lt. Uriel Peretz, 22, of Givat Ze’ev, was killed by a Hizbullah bomb along with St.-Sgt. Nitzan Balderan, 19, of Kibbutz Lotem, on November 25, 1998, when the IDF was still deployed in the security zone in south Lebanon. Both men were in the Golani Brigade. The family has another brother serving in Golani Battalion 13. The third brother participated in Operation Cast Lead last year.
OS doesn't know whether to weep, rage, or some combination of the two. Deepest condolences to the families. Who can imagine, much less endure these sorts of losses?
Our President won't be photographed with your Prime Minister, won't break bread with him. He's planning a state dinner for President Calderon of Mexico next month, the leader of one of the most chaotic, brutal and corrupt nations of modern history.
Something is terribly, tragically awry in the White House.
This is how wars begin...
Space Exploration From Yorkshire UK: Green Shoots Nominee
An admiring shout-out to this creative eccentric, who proves that engineering trumps technology.
This Yorkshire hobbyist rigged up a digital camera bought on eBay in a mount, complete with tracking device. Attached to a weather balloon, it travels some twenty miles to the edge of space, and captures stunning photos of the curvature of the earth. Balloon bursts, camera returns to earth by parachute, and our good Yorkshireman locates it with the tracking device.
Cost per exploratory trip to The Final Frontier: £500.
Green Shoots Nominee for creativity and inspiration.
The story mentions that NASA has shown some interest. Given what the current administration has done to its budget, this may be prudent!
HT to Breitbart.
This Yorkshire hobbyist rigged up a digital camera bought on eBay in a mount, complete with tracking device. Attached to a weather balloon, it travels some twenty miles to the edge of space, and captures stunning photos of the curvature of the earth. Balloon bursts, camera returns to earth by parachute, and our good Yorkshireman locates it with the tracking device.
Cost per exploratory trip to The Final Frontier: £500.
Green Shoots Nominee for creativity and inspiration.
The story mentions that NASA has shown some interest. Given what the current administration has done to its budget, this may be prudent!
HT to Breitbart.
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