Big 15 - Measures Extended / Group Photo Op/

 

The Circus is in town! The Circus is in town!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 15 European Country Leaders visited W today, presumably to not only say Na Na I told you so!... BUT to also say Damn, we're in this handbasket too and it's sure rolling downhill fast!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  This picture has nothing to do with all that hullabaloo in Washington, but I just had to find a way to 'model' it.

 

Also, I had all these depression era pics from the prior post that I didn't use, so I figured, hey... recycle, right?

 

 

 

 

 

Caption:  What? This isn't the line to the new Ironman Movie? Damn it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caption:  The Kneebenders Union was on strike, for about an hour today.  It's a tough union after all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAPTION:  French President Nicolas Sarkozy bags the Fearsome Capitalist Tiger for the greater good of the Socialist World.

 

As I write this the Markets (EVERYWHERE) are in TOTAL Meltdown.  The Credit Market (especially Short Term Loans) are FROZEN like Lake Erie in the Depths of The Ice Age.  We're talking GLACIER LOCKED.  We might not want Global Warming, but the Banks sure could use some thawing! 

Got a 401K?  Forget it.  It's toast.  Around 50 % down from the peak last year (about this time).  September 29th was labeled Dark Monday.  That day is the largest point drop in the Dow on record:  -777.68.  Today it took another -650 Kick in the Nads.  Yup, it's ugly on Wall Street, boys and girls.  Very, very ugly.

Your Mortgage?  Possibly worth less than your remaining loan.  That's called 'Being Underwater' (and drowning).  If you live in California, Florida or other high-speculative markets you might as well mail the keys to the banker, buy a Harley with the remainder of that retirement fund and hit the highway, hobo style. 

We are talking Recession today, Depression tomorrow and Hell is on it's way, pronto.

What's an Average Joe Six Pack going to do?  He hopes his job is there week by week.  He hopes he can keep that job, there are rumors flying that layoffs are being considered just to meet payroll.  Joe is nervous.  He even wonders if the Bank will cash his check next Friday.  Or even if the Banks will be open.  He doesn't even want to know what his house is worth right now, he's scared it will be too shocking to hear! 

Where's Franklin Delano Roosevelt when you need him?  Where's the heroic actions that right this sinking ship?  What will stop this rollercoaster that's hell bent on diving to the center of the earth with the entire world riding it?  Where's Franklin damn it?  Where is the Leadership to  restore calm to the Markets?  To be sure you can sense the CAPITULATION of the die hard investors (SELL! SELL! SELL!  THE FUCKIN' SKY IS FALLING! SELL!)  ... but ... will it finally BURN OUT ... SOON???  We're at 8,500 and change... with no bottom in sight.  We will very soon freefall right past that nasty 9-11 mark... 7550.

Baron Rothschild  is screaming BUY! THERE'S BLOOD IN THE STREETS!  BUY LOW! BUY NOW! But the Knife is Falling and who in their right mind wants to catch that?  Dead Cat Bounce anyone?  There but for the Grace of God go I. 

Will we have a Recession?  YUP. In fact we've been in one since... well, for quite a few months now.  Perhaps not Technically (2 successive Qtrs of negative GNP).  The real question to ask in THIS FINANCIAL HURRICANE is Will we have a DEPRESSION ... perhaps even a GREATER than the GREAT One?  It's certainly possible.  It will seem strange, but I suppose the Great Depression looked pretty weird to the Roaring Twenties crowd too, eh?  Soup Line forms behind me, buddy.

We're bailing out the Banks and other odd ball Financial Houses (Casinos).  We basically mortgaged our future, our grandchildren's future and perhaps our great-grandkids as well. The Debt Clock BROKE today!  It went over $10 Trillion and the clock didn't have that many digits.  May you live in interesting times, indeed, Confucius.

The Japanese, seeing our pain have a strange sense of deja-vu.  They sigh and tell us this is just the tip of the iceberg we're about to ride.  At least Iceland doesn't have to worry about Global Warming.  Their country is already in Meltdown Mode!  Our Institutions are shaken to the CORE.  And there's an election on the horizon!  One of the candidates is a terrorist, we're told, but we're not sure which one. I also saw a show on the Science Channel that was warning that we are pretty much at the Limit of Moore's Law.  And that spells another kind of Financial Meltdown.  But not to worry cause there's bound to be an asteroid with our name on it before then, right?  Murphy (of Murphy's Law) must be laughing his butt off at us mere mortals right about now.  Got Antichrist?

Meanwhile the Mother of All Wars grinds on in Iraq & Afghanistan.  North Korea is acting all bellicose, but that's just par for the course.  Iran is all smug and sassy.  Fuckers.  Even good ole Russia is getting it's Bear On in the Woods of Georgia.  Yes, the World has gone INSANE these last few weeks.  ABSOLUTELY BUGGERS! 

Don't look here for answers, Joe.  Do I look like Franklin to you?  Me?  I'm just driving back and forth across town to work and home... at $4.00/gal.  I'm just a smuck like you.  I'm scared and if you aren't ... you're just uninformed or slow.  We'd like to yell at someone, anyone... STOP THIS!  We want to blame someone, anyone... but we know in our hearts... we're all guilty.  The Rich, The Poor (who took that easy credit to actually own a home, but they knew it was beyond their means to pay or else they were gullible).  I'd like some Fat Cats to go to Jail, but, truth be told, what would it solve?  Hopefully we (Congress) will get to the bottom of it all... the Investigations could get pretty ugly.  Hell, they already are ugly! AIG, LEMMING, err, LEHMAN BROTHERS have each taken their place on the Hot Seat of Congressional Investigation... more is likely to come... it might even get to be a regular feature, Joe McCarthy style!

Main street and small business will likely survive.  I'm drawing an analogy between this Crisis and the Mass Extinction of the Dinos.  Jon Stewart opened his Daily Show by laughing to his audience 'clearly they haven't seen the Dow today' (down another 650, 6th day in row of triple digit losses).  Headline on the Daily Show: Clusterf#@k to the Poor House.  But back to the   Dinosaurs.  Small furry business (mammals) are the only ones that are likely to be nimble enough to survive this Financial Implosion (sorry, that's the closest I could come to an Asteroid Impact Analogy). 

 

 

Next week we can 'look forward' to more of the same it seems.  The good news?  The Dow only has 8,500 to go! Oh wait, that's not good at all. Well, I suppose you could say that this Forced Recession will be beneficial for the Planet. Less gas use, less consumption, less global warming, less pollution. That's the Proverbial Half-Full Glass philosophy, which is generally only 1/2 right.  Shrug.  Brother can you spare a dime?

... Well, that's Zenny's take on this Mega-Disaster. I'd appreciate it if you'd take a moment to leave a comment (at the top of this post is an 'Add Comment' button - with an express lane 'registration form')... let me know what effect, if any, this Meltdown is having on your Financial Picture. Or just leave a message saying whatever you feel like (as long as it is somewhere near the center of the discussion, of course!)

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FREAKY FRIDAY RECAP:
DOW OPENED -700, RECOVERED TO 0, DIVED TO -350, CLOSING: 8,451.19 -128.00 / -1.49% . GO FIGURE! OTHER NEWS TODAY:

Wall Street's tumble was part of a global evisceration of wealth that has affected investment bankers and retirees alike. Going into the trading day, stocks on the benchmark MSCI main worldwide index had lost $14.3 trillion of value since October 31, 2007, leaving the global equity benchmark worth less than $20 trillion for the first time in four years.

The MSCI has lost nearly $4.6 trillion in value in the previous seven days alone.

Bourses in Iceland, Russia, Austria, Indonesia, Romania and Ukraine all closed as a result of the share price falls. Peru closed it stock market indefinitely.

In one glimmer of hope, there were signs of a thaw in the credit markets, which Bush identified as a fundamental cause of the distress.

Many investors have been looking for global leadership, but Bush is a lame duck ahead of the November 4 presidential election. Democratic nominee Barack Obama said the crisis required coordinated international action and Republican John McCain argued his experience made him the candidate who can lead Americans through a time of economic tumult.

It is simply uncanny how 'spot on' Tina is in imitation of Sarah Palin.  The faux Canadianish accent, the winks, the loose grammar and vagueness of her answers, the religious fervency and down-home doggone-it's and by gollies... absolutely amazing to watch!  Here is the video reposting of it.  Enjoy!  Oh yeah, the guy playing "Say it ain't so, Joe" Biden, Jason Sudeikis, was pretty good too!

Here's the prior Palin Skit:

I was lazily reading My Yahoo! when I saw this picture:

 

 

This is an Amazingly Surreal Picture of The Most Emailed Pictures on Yahoo! News.

Shown are 3 recently discovered Elvis pictures, a 2 headed baby in India, a species of Frog without a lung, a carcass of a 4 month old Mammoth, a montage of Snowflake the Polar Bear and couple of computerized average person pictures.  Basically, this is like a Celestial Conjunction of Aquarian Oddities with an Elvis Back.  I'm serial!  This is a Very Important Event people!  Wow!  And Elvis!

Zenny, and Elvis!

 

Ok, lot's of folks have dumped on poor Britney... no, make that the entire damn universe!  Let's face it, Train wrecks are fun to watch when you're not on board!

So, there I was in line at Best Buy... checking out the magazine rack... when I see this picture of Britney on the Cover of (the) Rolling Stone.  What made it UNIQUE, however, was how someone had put the front magazine back onto the rack.  That wrinkle/frown on Brit that resulted ... was ... too friggin' cool.   Click from my smart phone and there ya have it.  They say A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words.   I think this one says it all!  So, without further ado, I give you "Britney's Rolling Bummer Stoned"