Saturday, February 7, 2009

So what if I'm ugly?

The designers of these toys, David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, want to prove that Ugly also means celebrating who you are inside and showing everyone what you’ve got. Check out Uglydolls.

Stimulus and Recession


So this article details the new plan to have banks try to sell their troubled assets. This is something that should have happened back in the fall. These assets are the source of the problem and usually when you want to fix something, you go to the source. When Japan faced a similar crisis in the 1990's and then had a stagnated and deflated economy for a decade, they did not attempt to take the assets off of the company's books and it was later determined to be one of the causes for the prolonging of the problem.

If the assets are not taken off of the books (I would say that most, if not all, of the mortgages should be refinanced. I know it is a significant and broad step but then again so is $900 Billion) then it will just prolong the recession and perpetuate the downward cycle as more people lose jobs, more people will be foreclosed upon, and the cycle will continue.

If you get the assets off of the books, the companies will be more liquid (and in theory) should begin to lend again. Since the lending didn't occur the last time it was proposed in theory, this banks should be federally mandated to begin lending again. It does not have to be an outrageous sum but enough to spur on some growth and so that the only tool fighting the recession is not just the government's fiscal spending.

That is problem with this proposal. As pointed out in the article, there are no mandatory regulations that will be put in place requiring institutions to lend. An error in my opinion. Hopefully, Geithner isn't taking advice from Paulson.

On another note, all of you Michiganders out there might recognize former Governor John Engler in the article's accompanying picture.

Plan to Help Banks Sell Bad Assets.


This article is from Naomi Klein and it discusses how other countries' citizens have reacted to the credit crisis.

All of Them Must Go.

Life's Greatest Treats Often Come From Germany




I don't think I need to say anything. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Passion Pit - Cuddle Fuddle

Haiku Friday

This is my prayer
And I consider it done
By measure of faith.

Meridian



Meridian- Listen to Your Breaking Heart

I am surprised it took me this long to post these guys. Check out the video and if you like it, they have more on YouTube. Just follow this link:

Meridian


Or go to their MySpace.

Meridian

Thursday, February 5, 2009

"Being out in the world is a really, really important part of the whole process."



New book, Pygmy, due out May 5, 2009.

“Begins here first account of operative me, agent number 67 on arrival Midwestern American airport greater _____ area. Flight _____. Date _____. Priority mission top success to complete. Code name: Operation Havoc.”

Thus speaks Pygmy, one of a handful of young adults from a totalitarian state sent to the United States, disguised as exchange students, to live with typical American families and blend in, all the while planning an unspecified act of massive terrorism. Palahniuk depicts Midwestern life through the eyes of this thoroughly indoctrinated little killer, who hates us with a passion, in this cunning double-edged satire of an American xenophobia that might, in fact, be completely justified. For Pygmy and his fellow operatives are cooking up something big, something truly awful, that will bring this big dumb country and its fat dumb inhabitants to their knees.

It’s a comedy. And a romance.
From chuckpalahniuk.net