Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
The danger of early spring.
It's been a warm week here in central Missouri. 40s early on, up almost to 70 midweek. Yesterday it was 60s. With sun, and the sort of rain you get in early spring.
Little wonder that the trees are starting to bud, jonquils break through the topsoil, snowdrops in full riot.
Naturally enough, it's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow.
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NPR had a fascinating - and frightening - story this morning:
Taxpayer Beware: Bank Bailout Will Hurt
A single piece of paper may just be one of the most surprising and illuminating documents of the whole banking crisis.
It's a one-page research note from an economist at Deutsche Bank, and it outlines in the clearest terms the kind of solution many bankers are looking for. The basic message: We should forget trying to get a good deal for taxpayers because even trying will hurt.
"Ultimately, the taxpayer will be on the hook one way or another, either through greatly diminished job prospects and/or significantly higher taxes down the line," the document says.
The story called the piece of paper a "Ransom Note." Or, as the presenter put it another way, "That's a nice global economy you got there. Be a real shame if anything happened to it."
Shakedown, baby.
* * * * * * *
But it may be too late for that, already. Surprising everyone, the US economy contracted at an annualized rate of 6.2% in the last quarter of 2008. Overnight, the government worked out a deal to own upwards of 36% of Citibank Corp. Consumer spending has dropped off radically as people react to the uncertain economy and start to pay down the historically high debt ratios - ratios which haven't been seen since 1929.
And it's not limited to just us. Japanese manufacturing output fell 10% just last month, on top of a 9.8% drop in December - a stunning drop, the likes of which has not been seen for over 50 years. That is a reflection of the drop off in demand globally.
* * * * * * *
There will be snow tonight and tomorrow. How much damage it does to the flowers and trees will remain to be seen. But it sure seems that spring is a long ways off.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to my blog.)
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Wish this were IT
In the IT world, when things start getting flaky you start chasing the bugs, hoping to find the cause of the problems before they escalate. Sometimes, though, more and more areas start failing, and before long you realize that it's just a big Gordian's knot, and you ain't going to figure it out in a reasonable amount of time, and the client doesn't want to keep paying you for hour after hour of trouble-shooting.
When that happens, you just make sure you back up the data and settings, then wipe and reinstall everything. Yea, it's a pain in the ass, and you'd rather not do it unless absolutely necessary, but there are times when it's just the best (and sometimes only) thing to do.
So, where's the global economy's reset button? Since I still owe money on a house and a credit card, I don't even care if the data is backed up.
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.