time*treat's Blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKFKGrmsBDk

No. It is also not an accident.

Brazil and Argentina are ready to stop using U.S. dollars to trade goods between them.

Brazil's president tells the Buenos Aires-based Clarin newspaperthat exports and imports between the two nations will be bought andsold in local currency — reals and pesos.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva did not say when the measure would take effect.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/07/business/LA-Brazil-Argentina.php

It was first proposed two years ago.

This involves more than these two nations. A bit of background info from 2007:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/22/business/bank.php

US Gov't takes over mortgage giants.

The Bush administration seized control Sunday of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, aiming to stabilize the housing market turmoil that is threatening financial markets and the overall economy.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is betting (with your money) that providing fresh capital to the two firms will eventually lead to lower mortgage rates, spur homebuying demand and slow the plunge in home prices that has ravaged many areas of the country.

The huge potential liabilities facing each company, as a result of soaring mortgage defaults, could cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, but Paulson stressed that the financial impacts if the two companies had been allowed to fail would be far more serious.

*They are "too big to fail", but you'll be happy to know that you're still small enough to be allowed to.*

I thought someone would have caught this.

Don LaFontaine, the voice of thousands of movie trailers (and a few car insurance commercials)

August 26, 1940 – September 1, 2008

Something stinks in the Texas ballot rules.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/08/30/200331.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi3erdgVVTw

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Ban lib-tards. The rest of us will be better off.

http://www.ktka.com/news/2008/aug/22/us_regulators_shut_columbian_bank_kansas/

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday was appointed receiverof Columbian Bank of Topeka, which had $752 million in assets and $622million in deposits as of June 30.

The FDIC said the bank's deposits will be assumed by Citizens Bankand Trust of Chillicothe, Mo. Its nine offices will reopen Monday asbranches of Citizens Bank. Depositors of Columbian Bank will continueto have full access to their deposits, the agency said.

It was the ninth failure this year of an FDIC-insured bank.

There are four Columbian branches in Topeka.

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Is your bank on the "secret list"?

As one bank "assumes" the deposits of each failed bank, eventually there is a point where only a single bank is left. Hmm... reminds me of the tale of how to catch wild pigs.

Making the rounds on the web...

http://apmexdealer.blogspot.com/2008/08/news-alert-us-mint-suspends-sales-of.html

http://mintnewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/gold-eagle-bullion-sales-suspended-by.html

This happened a few months back in SAEs:

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB121149011951015323-lMyQjAxMDI4MTIxMzQyOTMwWj.html

If you're in one of those "allocation" programs, consider taking delivery. If all you have is a receipt, then ... all you have is a receipt! Don't be like the schlubs who are catching all manner of headache (delays, fees, excuses) trying to get out of those Perth Mint silver certs and into the real thing.

Give 'most favored nation status' to China, but criticize Russia?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6M7NzTrrzs

Gives Kelo vs New London a new perspective.

D as in "Democrat", you know, those people always yammering about how much they care about the "little" guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQEc3ejHIaM

Talk about irony.

Address the ball ~ "Hellooo, ball!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYS3Cu9mebE

October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008

He was 50.

...as I like to do a less serious post on Fridays....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckqDX2XpdyY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2v5xFpnv4w

ONE OF Osama bin Laden's many half-brothers, Tarek bin Laden, this week signed a deal with tiny Djibouti which may or may not mark the start of one of the world's boldest engineering projects. Djibouti's president, Ismael Omar Guelleh, promised Mr bin Laden 500 sq km (193 sq miles) of land to start building Noor City, the first of a hundred "Cities of Light" the vast Saudi Binladen Group plans around the world. "A hope for all humanity, the first environmental city of the 21st century," gushed the promotional video at the signing. The audience, mostly American military contractors near retirement age, clapped enthusiastically. Engineers elsewhere say the scheme is a fantasy.

Mr bin Laden, his sons, and their front man, Muhammad Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Saudi former shipping executive, say they have already invested "hundreds of millions of dollars" in a plan to build cities on either side of the Bab al-Mandib (Gate of Tears) strait at the foot of the Red Sea. Construction is supposed to begin next year, after the terms of sovereignty for the tax-free metropolises have been agreed. By 2025, says Mr Ahmed, Djibouti's Noor City will have 2.5m people and its Yemeni twin 4.5m. Several million jobs will be created. An airport serving both cities will, he says, attract 100m passengers a year. A 29km bridge across the strait will connect Arabia and Africa by road, rail and pipelines, its towers among the tallest on earth. The cost? A mere $200 billion or so.

full article: http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20080803084020

(no possible conflicts of interest here, right?)
(maybe I'll just title these entries "y'all not gon' believe this $#!^".)
*cough* carlyle group *cough*