Video: Is The Dollar Done As The World's Reserve Currency? (Bloomberg Interview With World Bank President Robert Zoellick)

Nicely-done 2 part sit-down from Tuesday with Bloomberg's Peter Cook and Robert Zoellick, President of The World Bank.  Summarized, Zoellick supports a strong U.S. Dollar (big shock), but warns that for many reasons the global markets need to work towards an alternative reserve currency.  Will it be the Euro (fat chance), the Yuan-Remninbi, or something entirely new? 

Zoellick also places himself into the debate on new financial regulation saying the Treasury and not the Federal Reserve should be granted greater power.  He takes a clean shot at the Fed, labeling the cabal a group of too-powerful technocrats.  Take that Bernanke.

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Guide To The Financial Crisis That Only A Lawyer Could Love

"For anyone who wants to understand the flurry of new legislation, old law used in new ways, contracts with Treasury, press releases, frequently asked questions, guidelines and other rulemaking that has occurred at a dizzying speed over the last year and a half as a result of the financial crisis."

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Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead, The Wicked Witch Is Dead

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White House Economist Austan Goolsbee Gets Another Free Pass

It's very late and this clip struck a nerve.  I am forced everyday to repeat a harrowing and debilitating existence, not completely unlike that of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.  The stories never change, the corruption never stops, and I move closer to insanity and an early death.  So I swallow the pain each and every f*cking day and move a step closer to a straightjacket and an invitation to the psych ward.  I've had enough.  The rest of this story is on the inside and there will be profanity.  I apologize but I seem to have hit a breaking point.  So consider yourself warned, and if you don't like it, then just don't click.

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Tracking The Stimulus: GAO Issues Report To Congress (& Cartoons)

The results are decidedly mixed; $50 Billion has gone out with $170 billion set to flood states and municipalities in 2010-11.  The other $530 billion is being tracked separately, and consists substantially of un-needed (in deficit terms) tax cuts.  The downside is the lack of transparency and accountability, but the GAO's Chris Mihm says they're still working on that part.

That's a relief.  What could possibly go wrong with gifting $780 billion of your children's borrowed future to a bunch of bloated-budget bureaucrats.  Heaven forbid, states and local governments use the recession as an opportunity to pare back excesses built over a 20-year revenue boom. 

But that would only happen if decision makers cared about responsible governance as much as re-election.  Inside we have compiled the complete, embedded GAO report, an extensive review from the AP, 7 more cartoons, and a 2-minute, CNBC clip from GAO Managing Director Chris Mihm.

Don't Get Mad, Just Get Even--Vote Them All Out In 2010!

Enjoy The Cartoons

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Mark Mobius Should Be Required By The SEC To Register As A Shill

Perma-Bull Mark Mobius Talks His Book ($600 Trillion Derivative Cluster Bomb)

In a perfect world, Mark Mobius would be required by the SEC to register as a shill.  It might also help my mood if Craftsman would finally pay attention to my letters and declare him a tool. 

If you're looking for proof, then read this.  Need more convincing, then look here.  In late August of 2007, he declared the sub-prime contagion contained and the financial crisis to have run its course.  It hadn't even begun.  Nice call, Mark.  He was too busy cheerleading for new market highs to substantively consider the facts. 

He's a bull-market Susan, pulling out the pom-poms, and donning the short skirt any time the cameras are rolling.  In 23 years I have never heard him make a bearish call.  And this clip is no different.

Why then are we showcasing this video?  For the first time in memory, Mobius said something of actual value, as he reminds viewers of the $600 trillion in derivatives still floating on balance sheets (or hidden off-sheet) at corporations, mostly financial institutions, all over the globe.

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Al Hunt Interviews Free Money Alan Greenspan (Bloomberg Sep. 30)

Sir Alan Greenspan, Queen of All Free Money, continues his reputation-restoration tour this morning with a sit-down with Al Hunt of Bloomberg News.  Among other things, the sullied, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve had this to say:

• "Regarding the stimulus, I'm not sure it does all that much." 

Did you hear that Krugman, (freaking idiot and generational rapist), even one of your own Keynesian witch doctors admits the stimulus is useless.

• “We are still by any measure in a disinflationary environment.”

• “The odds are we flatten out,”  referring to the equity market. “That flattening out will put some sort of dull face on 2010.” 

Short but interesting clip that runs about 2 minutes.

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Ron Paul On The Daily Show: It's Hard To Enforce Fraud When The Government Is The Main Perpetrator (Video Broadcast Sep. 29)

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Alan Grayson To Alex Jones: "The Fed's Lobbyist, This K-Street Whore Linda Robertson Is Trying To Teach Me About Economics" (Radio Broadcast, Sep. 24)

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95 Year-Old Jack LaLanne On Healthcare Reform, Exercise, Diet, And Sleeping With Richard Simmons

Jack LaLanne visited with Neil Cavuto yesterday to promote his new book Live Young Forever.  Not only could he lay waste to Pandit and Geithner in bare-fisted Brazilian jujitsu, or pretty much any style death-match those punks could throw at him, but he operates with the smooth understanding that at his age he can say whatever the hell he wants, especially about Richard Simmons.  Some would say entertaining, others might reach for a motion-sickness bag. Oh and then there was LaLanne's self-referential comment regarding his male prodigiousness.  Like we said, he's 95 freaking years old.  What are you gonna do about it?  Cavuto's crew loses it.

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Updated Financial Comedy Collection

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Madoff The Failed Matador (Photo & Sculpture)

Did you hear the one about the guy who stole $20 billion and then had his ass perforated by a bronze bull?

From the BBC

Chinese artist Chen Wenling critiques the global financial crisis in What You See Might Not Be Real, on display at a Beijing gallery. The bull is said to represent Wall Street, while the man pinned to the wall represents jailed financier Bernard Madoff.

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Latest From Ron Paul: The Real Reasons Behind Fed Secrecy

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Financial Comedy Break: Elephant In The Room

Watch what happens to Sir Alan Greenspan and British PM Gordon Brown in this spoof of the BBC program 'Question Time.'  Bloody freaking brilliant.

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Financial Comedy Collection

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Julian Robertson Wonders: "Who Will Lend Us The Money?" (Video)

• "It's almost Armageddon if the Japanese and Chinese don't buy our debt.”

• “It's not a question of the economy. It's a question of who will lend us the money if they don't. Imagine us getting ourselves in a situation where we're totally dependent on those two countries. It's crazy.”

• “If the Chinese and Japanese stop buying our bonds, we could easily see [inflation] go to 15 to 20 percent."

• “The other thing is, they're buying almost exclusively short-term debt. And that's what we are offering, because we can't sell the long-term debt. And you know, the history has been that people who borrow short term really get burned.”

• "The U.S. has to quit spending, cut back, start saving, and scale backward.  Until that happens, I don't think we're anywhere near out of the woods.”

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