Author: Serkadis

The Fed is planning to detail its “exit plan” this week, the WSJ says.  This exit plan is the means by which the Fed will gradually reverse the tremendous stimulus it is still pumping into the economy and financial system.

As we’ve noted often over the past year, the Fed is in a bind.  During the financial crisis, it bought hundreds of billions of dollars of real-estate loans and securities from banks to reduce mortgage rates and ease the pressure on bank balance sheets.  This, in turn, pumped hundreds of billions of new dollars into the economy, which has helped the banks–and bankers–to make a killing over the past year.  The question–the bind–is how the Fed can reverse this stimulus without killing the economy. 

And the initial answer seems to be…By giving the banks yet another gift at taxpayer expense.

The idea behind giving the banks cheap money was that the banks would lend it to consumers and businesses.  Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened: Since the start of the crisis, bank lending has fallen off a cliff (see chart at right). 

The banks are, however, lending to the Federal government, which needs to fund record deficits by borrowing more than $1 trillion a year.  Banks are also collecting interest–currently 0.25% a year–on the $1 trillion or so of “excess reserves” (see below) that they aren’t lending to anyone. 

The combination of the Fed’s desire to stimulate lending via cheap money and the government’s desire to stimulate the economy by running a huge deficit has made it a great time to be a bank: Banks can borrow from the government at artificially cheap rates and then lend the money back to the Federal government at higher rates, pocketing the difference.  Or they can just keep the excess reserves at the Fed and get paid to do that.

And now it’s going to get even better to be a bank.

Why?

Because the first part of the Fed’s exit plan will reportedly be to increase the amount of interest the Fed pays on “excess reserves.” 

Banks are required to keep a certain percentage of their assets in cash at the Federal Reserve.  Any cash above this required amount is “excess reserves,” and the Fed is currently paying 0.25% interest on it.  The Fed’s exit plan will call for increasing this interest rate, to encourage the banks to keep more money in excess reserves instead of lending it into the economy and thus expanding the money supply.

The idea here is that, by encouraging banks to increase the amount of money they keep on account at the Fed, the Fed will reduce the amount of money that gets loaned out to businesses and consumers, thus forestalling inflation.  Increasing interest paid on excess reserves will also put off the day that the Fed has to start selling its real-estate assets back to banks, a process that might create taxpayer losses and raise mortgage rates, which the Fed is loathe to do.

Of course, in the process of increasing interest paid on reserves, the Fed will be paying banks even more not to lend.  In the process, it will be giving banks yet another way to take nearly free money from the taxpayer and give it back to the government at a higher rate–and then pocket the difference.

All of this underscores the main message of the government’s bailout policies, which has been so glaringly evident over the past year: It’s a great time to be a banker.

See Also: How To Make The World’s Easiest $1 Billion

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• Here We Go: The Fed’s Tightening Scheme Officially Begins This Week

Last week I told The Man that I might officially subscribe to my first conspiracy theory.

Toyota and Honda both come out with voluntary recalls on strange things with minimal casualties (an accelerator pedal that pulls down by itself and speeds up?) right after the US buys a huge portion of GM? And GM just happens to have commercials offering and extra $1,000 if you trade in a Toyota at the ready?

Everyone I know that has a Honda loves it. Most people I know would take a Honda over a Ford or GM every day of the week. So with all the pressures on Wall Street and conveniently no mention of the auto union bailouts…how can GM make any money before people take their eyes off bank bonuses and start questioning where the auto bailout repayments are?

“Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood sat down with reporters Wednesday to lay out a timeline of how US officials had “pushed Toyota to take corrective actions” on its pedal problems since 2007.

The meeting came a day after he issued a statement accusing the Japanese automaker of dragging its feet on recalling vehicles in danger of sudden, unintended acceleration due to pedals which could get trapped under floor mats or become “sticky.”

He also caused a brief panic when he told a congressional panel that owners of 5.3 million Toyota vehicles affected by the recalls should “stop driving” them.

David Champion, director of automobile testing for Consumer Reports magazine, said the reaction to the recall was overblown.

“When you look at the statistics we are putting an awful lot of effort on a very small risk,” he said.

But he said a congressional investigation was an “overreaction” and noted that the “sticky” pedal problem that caused Toyota to halt production and sales of eight models last month was not linked to any accidents or injuries….” (source)

Now that I’m looking around the web, it seems my questioning is in good company. I’m not saying I think Obama was out there putting Gorilla glue on gas pedals, but I do think advantage is being taken of what would normally be an unnoticed recall in a sea of millions…

You thought California, Illinois, and New Jersey were in bad shape? They’ve got nothing on Nevada. (via Paul Kedrosky)

——-

AP:CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada’s budget is so far out of balance that by one account the state could lay off every worker paid from the general fund and still be $300 million in the red. The economic downturn has hit so hard that prisons may be closed, entire colleges shuttered and thousands left without jobs.

Against the backdrop of an imploding economy and an $881 million shortage, Gov. Jim Gibbons will try in an emergency “State of the State” address Monday to explain the depth of the state’s financial crisis and how fixing the gaping hole in the budget.

It won’t be pretty.

Nevada, with a heavy reliance on discretionary spending through gambling and sales taxes, has been especially hard hit by the recession as tourists and gamblers hold on to their money. The state’s unemployment rate has hit 13 percent, and a once booming housing market that created thousands of high-paying construction jobs has gone bust, with Nevada topping the nation in foreclosures.

In his address, Gibbons plans to call the Legislature into a special session in late February and instruct lawmakers on areas they can focus on. It will be left to the state Assembly and Senate to tackle painful education and social services cuts.

“Nevadans need to get used to the idea of shrinking state government,” said Gibbons’ spokesman Daniel Burns.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, said Nevada faces “very, very ugly” options. Horsford will give the Legislature’s response immediately after Gibbons’ televised 6 p.m. speech.

Details of the governor’s address have not been released. But the first-term Republican who is seeking re-election has released pages of proposals for closing the hole in the $6.9 billion budget passed by the 2009 Legislature.

The governor has said he anticipates 234 state layoffs, and notices already are being sent to employees who must be given a 30-day warning.

Lynn Hettrick, deputy chief of staff, said the governor wants to try to avoid more layoffs because the state must pay the full cost of unemployment benefits for affected workers. Nevada is on track to borrow $1 billion from the federal government to meet jobless claims because its unemployment insurance trust fund has gone broke.

“When we lay somebody off, it doesn’t save us very much money,” Hettrick said. “Between that and taking the money out of the economy, it really doesn’t make sense for Nevada to lay off people.”

Still, budget cuts could result in thousands of layoffs with the shock waves reverberating for years.

While Gibbons has told state agencies to prepare for 10 percent cuts, his proposals so far total only $418 million, less than half the deficit.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said balancing the budget would require 22 percent cuts across the board. She said the state could lay off every worker paid from the state general fund – and still be $300 million short.

Gibbons, a staunch no-tax proponent, has said new taxes are not an option, and legislative leaders seem to agree raising taxes is unpalatable in the sour economy.

Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the governor’s speech will set the tone for Nevada’s immediate future.

“This is a time for Jim Gibbons to either cling to his very limited vision of Nevada, or articulate a vision that is very different than the past. Everybody talks about a diversified economy, getting away from a reliance on gaming. But so far nobody’s done anything about it.”

Nevada’s education system could take the brunt of the blow.

Schools superintendents have pleaded for flexibility from mandates on class sizes and full-day kindergarten, and appealed for an emergency declaration to suspend collective bargaining agreements with teachers. They also proposed reducing the required 180-day school year. Each day eliminated would save about $13 million.

While most state employees beginning last July were required to take one day off per month without pay, teachers were essentially exempt because of their contracts.

Administrators say unless negotiations are reopened and teachers agree to salary cuts, layoffs are unavoidable.

Walt Rulffes, superintendent of the Clark County School District, the nation’s fifth largest, said without concessions, a 10 percent budget cut would require him to lay off more than 2,000 teachers.

But Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, opposed cutting teacher salaries unless it was agreed to through collective bargaining.

“I must tell you that we all are tired of the hand-wringing and the seemingly rehearsed response, ‘There is no appetite for taxes,’” she said during a recent Interim Finance Committee hearing.

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The owner of a South Side roller skating rink was cited for overcrowding following a disturbance that left four teens arrested and two teens who were trampled hospitalized Saturday night.

Nathanial Sampson, 64, is the owner of the Rink Fitness Factory, according to police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.

Sampson was cited with being a keeper of a disorderly house — which translates to a fire code violation for overcrowding, according to a South Chicago District police lieutenant.

Police initially responded at about 8:10 p.m. Saturday night after fights were reported at The Rink Fitness Factory when they found the highly overcrowded rink hosting their monthly dance party, police said.

Officials did not see any fighting, but had to shut down East 87th Street between South Greenwood Avenue and South Kenwood Avenue for about 30 minutes to clear out the premises.

The Rink Fitness Factory, at 1122 E. 87th St., is a roller rink with a 900 person capacity, but officials on scene said there was some 4,000 kids between 11 and 14 years old on the premises –including about 1,000 inside the rink– during the incident, police said.

A spokeswoman with The Rink said there were no fights but that there is always a large crowd for 1st Saturday, a monthly dance party. She declined to comment further.

Four teenage boys were taken into custody –three for municipal violations and one for battery against a security guard, police said.

One victim suffered head injuries after he or she was walked on and was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, Fire Media Affairs Larry Langford said.

Another victim was also walked on but suffered less serious injuries and was transported to South Shore Hospital. Both were taken in an unidentified conditions.

The two teenage boys were trampled but suffered minor abrasions to the head, police said.

One of them was 13 years old.

Read the original article from FOX Chicago News.

The Dow is currently down 55 points, with the NASDAQ and S&P down a few points as well.

Commodities are generally up. Grains are performing well, as well as meats. Softs, stocks, and metals are mixed.

Oil is up $0.36 to $71.55 a barrel.

Gold is back on the rise, up to $1066/ounce after rising $13.40. Silver is up $0..25 to $15.08/ounce.

Don’t Miss: UBS Analyst Andrew Coleman – Top Stock Picks In The Oil Sector For 2010

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• The Stock Rally Peters Out As Equities End A Mixed Bag, Oil Prices Drop Over Increased Supply
• Pre-market Roundup: Equity Futures Now Down, Commodities Weak

Boeing Defence Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], has been awarded a $1.5 million contract for the provision of engineering support services for the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) fleet of F/A-18A/B Hornet aircraft.

The 30-month contract, managed by the Tactical Fighter Systems Program Office (TFSPO) at RAAF Base Williamtown, requires Boeing Defence Australia to deliver repair plans for faults uncovered during F/A-18A/B Hornet maintenance.

“This contract maintains our F/A-18 engineering capability as it increases our overall business on the platform,” said Brad Hume, Boeing Defence Australia F/A-18 program manager.

Boeing Defence Australia has delivered engineering support services to the TFSPO for the past six years.

It also continues to perform Hornet Upgrade Phase 2.3, which involves upgrading the Electronic Warfare Self Protection Suite on 68 aircraft and modifying 76 wing pylons. Phase 2.3 is expected to be completed in 2012.

“The RAAF’s decision to award this contract to us demonstrates their faith in Boeing’s ability to support the F/A-18 platform,” Hume said. “We will continue working closely with our customer to maintain the Hornet’s air combat capability.”

Under the new contract, engineering services will now be delivered under Boeing Defence Australia’s Authorised Engineering Organisation (AEO) certificate.

About Boeing Defence Austraila

Boeing Defence Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company and a business unit of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, is a leading Australian aerospace enterprise.

With a world-class team of nearly 2,000 employees at 13 locations throughout Australia and two international sites, Boeing Defence Australia supports some of the largest and most complex defense projects in Australia.

About Boeing Defense, Space & Security

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Sarah Wills, +61 7 3306 3132
Boeing Defence Australia
[email protected]

Matt points us to an article by Martin Rowe about the difficulty of accessing and sharing information and research published by the IEEE, which he finds to be a bit of a travesty, since the IEEE should be in the business of promoting technical knowledge. He describes how he found an interesting paper that he wanted to share with his readership, but that the IEEE forbids just reposting their content (a restriction he’s fine with). Instead, though, he hoped that the author of the paper would post it publicly (rather than behind the IEEE’s paywall) and let him link to it. The author agreed, but since the author wasn’t a member of the IEEE, he didn’t have a copy of the full paper (this part seems a bit odd — you would think at some point the author would have a copy of his own paper). So Martin agreed to download a copy for the author of his own paper — but the IEEE stamps it with Martin’s name and says that it can’t be used by anyone else.

Of course, you can see what the IEEE is thinking. It wants to hoard the information in order to build up its membership ranks, fearing that if it made that information available, people would be less interested in becoming an IEEE member. I would argue that’s rather short-sighted, and there are plenty of other ways the IEEE could make membership more valuable (member-only gathering, access to other members online, discounts on events/publications/etc.) while still making the papers it publishes free. In fact, by freeing up the content, and highlighting those other benefits, it could even make membership more valuable.

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…while she’s on the news saying that Sarah Palin needs to brush up and not get her facts wrong.

My last two posts have been ragging on Sarah Palin to some extent. Don’t misunderstand me. I like Sarah as a person and as Army Girl and my brother-in-law can tell you…I was fiercely protective of her during the campaign… But T.Paine succinctly summed up my concerns in the comments the other day:

“While my inclination is to like Palin and her conservative instincts, she has to be much better at articulating her answers to issues and policy. She cannot come across as bumbling in her answers. The comparison to George W. Bush would be non-stop otherwise.”

So, Geraldine Ferraro was on some show commenting on Sarah Palin, and while she was indeed voicing some of the same concerns I have, I couldn’t help take issue that she was getting some facts wrong as she accused Palin of being shaky on some facts. Ferraro was saying that she had taken time to study and be grilled endlessly on policy and history. I believe her claim was that Joe Biden made Palin look really bad during their Veep debate (truthfully, I don’t remember it). She said something like, it was important she (Geraldine) get everything right since she was the first woman to run for higher office in the United States.

But she wasn’t. A woman ran for President in 1872. Victoria Woodhull ran on the Equal Rights ticket with African American Fredrick Douglass as her VP (and interestingly, at the “1888 Republican National Convention, Douglass became the first African American to receive a vote for President of the United States in a major party’s roll call vote.” (source)

I know it’s knit-picking, but if Ms. Ferraro is going to call Palin out on knowing her facts…she should get hers straight whilst she does so.

Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Performance, Geneva Motor Show, Porsche

The wunderkinds in Wiessach have wrought a new head of the family in the form of the 2011 911 Turbo S, the first 911 S model in five years and the first for the 997. In Porsche parlance, the S suffix generally means more power and better handling, and this car appears ready to live up to the badge.

As we surmised last August, the twin-turbo flat-six is boosted to 530 horsepower, though it sips fuel at the same rate as the “base” Turbo’s with its 500-horsepower engine. All that power and 516 pound-feet of torque are transferred to all four wheels – now 19 inches in diameter with center locking nuts – through Porsche’s seven-speed PDK dual clutch gearbox, and a torque vectoring system helps point the car directly where the driver wants it. 0-62 miles per hour should arrive in 3.3 seconds and top speed is pegged at 196 mph. For comparison’s sake, the almighty 911 GT2 makes the same amount of horsepower (530), is slower to 62 mph at 3.7 seconds, but beats the new 911 S at the top end with a 204-mph terminal velocity.

Both fixed and folding roof versions of the Turbo S will officially debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month and go on sale in Europe in May. The coupe will cost €173,241 including 19 percent VAT (the actual base price is €145,400), while the Cabriolet goes €184,546, also including the 19 percent VAT (base price €154,900). U.S. market models should follow soon after.

[Source: Porsche]

Continue reading Porsche 911 Turbo S unveiled with 530 HP of goodness

Porsche 911 Turbo S unveiled with 530 HP of goodness originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a nice way to kick off the week – Porsche announced today that it will expanding its 911 lineup with the addition of the new 2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S. Building on the 3.8L 6-cylinder from the 911 Turbo, the Turbo S adds two exhaust gas turbochargers for a total power increase of 30-hp to 530-hp and a torque of 516 lb-ft.

The 2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S comes exclusively with the company’s 7-speed Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK – aka Porsche’s Double-Clutch Gearbox) and Porsche Traction Management (PTM) all-wheel drive. With the addition of PTV, Launch Control and Sport Chrono Package Turbo featured as standard, the new 911 Turbo S can run from 0-62 mph in 3.3 seconds and 0-124 mph in 10.8 seconds. Top speed comes in at 195 mph.

Despite the increase in power and performance, Porsche says that the 911 Turbo S will return an estimated combined fuel-economy of 21 mpg, not more than the 911 Turbo and enough to make it the most efficient sports car in its performance class.

The 2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S will hit dealerships in Coupe and Cabriolet as of May 2010 in European markets. U.S. availability and pricing details have yet to be announced.

Make the jump for the press release and the high-res image gallery.

2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S:

Press Release:

Porsche 911 Turbo S: Even More Dynamic, Top Equipment all Standard

Stuttgart. The engineers at Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, have developed a new top-of-the-range sports car for the customer who will only settle for the very best in terms of power, performance and driving dynamics: the 911 Turbo S. The heart of this most exclusive high-performance athlete is of course a six-cylinder boxer boosted by two exhaust gas turbochargers with variable turbine geometry, with an increase in power over the 911 Turbo by 30 to 530 bhp (390 kW). Maximum torque is a most impressive 700 Newton-metres (516 lb-ft). At the same time this new top model comes as standard with all high-tech components available only as options on the “regular” 911 Turbo.

Despite its significant increase in power and dynamic performance, the new 911 Turbo S, at 11.4 litres/100 kilometres (equal to 24.8 mpg imp), does not consume any more fuel than the Porsche 911 Turbo, making it by far the most efficient sports car in its performance class.

The 911 Turbo S comes exclusively with seven-speed Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) (Porsche’s Double-Clutch Gearbox) conveying drive power to Porsche Traction Management (PTM) all-wheel drive. Driving safety optimised to an even higher standard is ensured by Dynamic Engine Mounts and Porsche Torque Vectoring (PTV) including a mechanical differential lock on the rear axle. In conjunction with Launch Control on the Sport Chrono Package Turbo likewise featured as standard, 911 Turbo S accelerates from a standstill to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and reaches 200 km/h in 10.8 seconds

Top speed is 315 km/h or 195 mph. Extra-light and fading-resistant Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB) provide the same outstanding performance in terms of stopping power and controlled application of the brakes.

The supreme level of standard equipment including Dynamic Bending Lights, 19-inch wheels in RS Spyder design with central locking, a three-spoke sports steering wheel with gearshift paddles, adaptive sports seats, cruise control, a CD/DVD changer and exclusive twin-tone leather upholstery in Black/Crema or Black/Titanium Blue additionally underlines the outstanding class and calibre of this first Turbo S in five years.

The new Porsche 911 Turbo S will be at the dealership as both a Coupé and Cabriolet as of May 2010. The German market price of the Turbo S Coupé is Euro 173,241 including 19 per cent value-added tax and local equipment in the market (the Euro base price is Euro 145,400). The Cabriolet retails in the German market at Euro 184.546, again including 19 per cent VAT and local equipment/specifications (base price Euro 154,900).

– By: Kap Shah

Despite our frequent tendency to feel China is a centrally-directed nation, The Economist highlights how, actually, for many major parts of China’s political and economic system, nobody is really sure who influences final decisions, not even Chinese leaders.

Economist: The government and the Communist Party are intimately entwined with the managers of China’s financial institutions. Working out who is really in charge is almost impossible. Even attempting to do so takes you into sensitive territory. Disclosing information about how the Chinese government works risks violating nebulous secrecy laws or sacrificing business opportunities. Many China-watchers will only speak face to face, concerned about using e-mails or phone calls to discuss what, in the West, would be standard chatter about the status of bankers and their supervisors.

Most importantly for investors, this labyrinth extends into the banking system as well.

Big credit decisions in China are not advanced by any one bank, nor any one banker. Credit is infused and withdrawn by central diktat.

…

Something like four-fifths of the assets in the banking system are controlled by 17 institutions. In many ways, China Development Bank is easiest for an outsider to understand. It is vast, run by a powerful government official, Chen Yuan (son of Chen Yun, one of the “eight immortals” who created modern China), and supports projects that the government favours. Most of the other big banks are not explicitly run by the government, but regulators attend board meetings and senior management often includes a person with the title “head of discipline”, who represents the Communist Party. Executives are rotated between institutions by government decree.

Thus the entire concept of China deliberately trying to slow its economy in a controlled fashion, or most importantly tighten bank lending methodically, could be complete nonsense. Ironically, communist restrictions on transparency could have created a huge mass of decentralized creative destruction whereby nobody is in charge and ultimately nobody fully understands what’s happening, economically.

Read more at The Economist here >

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• Jamie Dimon: China Wants To Get Everything And Give Nothing
• Reminder: You Can’t Like Brazil If You Don’t Like China
• Citi: Foreign Investors Rushing To Buy Collapsed Chinese Stocks

Bit.ly is starting to take advantage of its position of market leader in URL shortening services. The company has been consolidating its position and has been adding new analytics tools and other features, but may finally start earning some real money now that its paid Bit.ly Pro service has been made available to anyone in an open beta… (read more)

Jeffrey Saut, the Raymond James strategist whose calls have been extremely prescient over the past years (on a week-in, weak-out basis) says not to get too excited about Friday’s surprise move up. We’re only halfway through the selling stampede.

The call for this week: Economist, historian, and savvy seer Eliot Janeway stated decades ago, “When the White House is in trouble, the markets are in trouble!” Plainly, we agree and would add that the January Barometer has registered a cautionary signal, as has Lucien Hooper’s December Low indicator. That said, Friday’s turnaround, accompanied by pretty oversold readings, should lead to some sort of one- to three-session rally attempt. To that point, the NASDAQ 100 (NDX/1746.12) was “up” last week (+0.29%), as was Info Tech (+0.72%), Materials (+0.83%), and Natural Gas (+6.7%); so they may lead the “bounce.” Luckily, we have investments in all of these complexes. However, at session 14, in the envisioned 17- to 25-session “selling stampede, we remain cautious.

The line about The White House being in trouble is an interesting one (and we’d love to see a long-term argument for that), but either way it prompts Saut to observe what we recently noted, which is that ever since Scott Brown got elected, the mood has changed, and things have gotten ugly.

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• Jeff Saut: We’re Just Half Way Through A Typical "Selling Stampede"
• Saut: Don’t Get Greedy And Buy This Dip
• Jeff Saut: Stars Aligning For A Market Correction

Filed under: Motorsports

Danica qualified 12th for her first NASCAR race, the ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 held at Daytona Raceway. After a lot of bumping, a few runs through the infield, a skid or two, a race stoppage, a lot of time in the pits and a lot of running on the outside line, she finished the race in sixth.

Ironically her biggest off came courtesy of the also-new-to-NASCAR Nelson Piquet, Jr.. He qualified seventh and climbed up to sixth at one point, but bumped Danica and sent her down to 24th when she rejoined after having her car repaired. Piquet would find more ways to get in trouble before the chequered flag and finish in 27th.

Patrick was lauded by her entire team and a few others as well. It is said that part of the reason she spent so much time on the outside line was being nervous about such close racing, but sixth place is still sixth place. Based on that performance, the only female driver ever to win an IRL race confirmed that she will make her official NASCAR debut next weekend in the Nationwide Series race – that’s the race just before the Daytona 500. There she’ll get much more intense instruction that “rubbing is racing.”

[Source: Fox Sports, Sports Illustrated | Image: Sam Greenwood/Getty]

SPOILER ALERT: Danica Patrick impresses in stock car debut, confirms NASCAR debut in Daytona originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s frequently argued that gold is a great hedge against calamity (though not the likes of which we saw last Thursday, obviously) but not actually a great inflation hedge, which is how its frequently advertised.

Jason Ruspini begs to differ, pointing out that most critics of gold tend to use the elevated (and arbitrary) 1980 peak.

“Not inflation”, the gold critics will shout, in one of their go-to arguments. This is what we hear from CNBC’s Mark Haines at every possible chance: since 1980, gold has not kept up with the CPI and so shouldn’t be used as an inflation hedge. One would point out to Mark that this is analogous to arguing for global cooling based on that one 2005 start date. If you pick basically any other start date but the one corresponding to gold’s 1980 peak, you see something different, even giving CPI a long head start over floating gold prices:

Read the whole story at Midas Oracle >

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• BAD TIMING: John Paulson’s Gold Fund Tumbled 14% In January
• It’s A Good Thing You’re Hedged With Gold
• WHAT JUST HAPPENED WITH GOLD?

drhawass.com (Zahi Hawass)

Recently I went to Dashur to investigate the tomb of the vizier Sa-Iset and lift the huge sarcophagus lid to discover what it contained.

This tomb was found by Jacques de Morgan in 1890, and the tomb was actually lost for many years, until the Egyptian archaeologists at Dashur uncovered it again in 2006 during survey work at the site.

It was very important that we re-excavate this tomb and open the lid of the sarcophagus. De Morgan found four funerary stelae in the 1890’s, which are currently in the Egyptian Museum. From inscriptions on the stelae and in the tomb we learned that Sa-Iset was a vizier in the 12th Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom, during the reign of Amenemhat II.

From his incomplete records, we understand that de Morgan opened the sarcophagus lid, but we wanted to be sure of this, and discover if anything remained inside.

Sa-Iset’s burial chamber has a vaulted ceiling and is inscribed with Pyramid Texts. The style of the burial chamber and the style and color of the hieroglyphs are a copy of the pyramid of Unas, the last king of Dynasty 5. This tomb is unique and provides a very interesting example because it is a Middle Kingdom tomb that has Pyramid Texts inscribed on the walls. The use of Pyramid Texts in a Middle Kingdom tomb is very unusual, as the Coffin Texts were much more popular at that time. Coffin texts were a Middle Kingdom variation of the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts, which were popular among non-elite individuals. In the New Kingdom, these funerary texts were adapted to become the funerary books that were inscribed on tomb walls.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Article Tags: Paul Driessen

We are not weighing in on the climate debate. We are not opining on whether the world’s climate is changing, at what pace or due to what causes, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Shapiro insisted on announcing the SEC’s new “interpretive guidance” on climate change.

The Commission’s two Republican members objected that the Obama Administration was using the Commission to promote its global warming and renewable energy agenda (along with the EPA, NASA, Defense and Interior Departments and others). It’s true, but irrelevant.

Environmentalists and “ethical investing” groups had pressured the Commission for years to require corporate disclosure on climate matters. Now, as the SEC steps in, the Copenhagen treaty negotiations have collapsed in disarray. Cap-and-trade has bogged down over senators’ fears of further damage to the economy and their reelection chances. The Environmental Protection Agency has decreed that plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide is a “dangerous pollutant,” because senators are increasingly reluctant to micromanage the economy, companies and families, but the regs are likely to go nowhere.

Source: townhall.com

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