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Face value of derivatives floating around the world is $1.14 quadrillion
I don't know what is the big deal about a quadrillion dollars. They were writing checks like that in Zimbabwe every day. http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/09/ca… Dinner and a couple of beers? A billion and change. No problem! http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/06/in… If we could just lop off 3 zeroes from the value of the outstanding derivatives, we would be in decent shape. Mugabe may be our man. He was able to shave off 10 zeroes, so three should be a piece of cake.— September 18, 2008 1:35 p.m.
More Wall Street Socialism; Insurer AIG Bailed Out by Feds for $85 Billion. Markets Like It. Will Taxpayers?
Response to #11: I would love to see the current update of that graph as opposed to last Friday. A couple of things have happened since then...— September 18, 2008 10:05 a.m.
Face value of derivatives floating around the world is $1.14 quadrillion
Response to #14: How quickly we forget president #42! I would wager he could hold his own intellectually with Obama. Unfortunately his personal baggage and peccadilloes rendered him largely ineffective. Obama is a little lighter in charisma but seems more solid personally. Random observation: Going back to lucky number 13, prime numbers are a surprisingly good indicator of crappy presidents. Of the following list, only Hayes and Harrison are not commonly listed among the worst presidents of all time. 43. George W. Bush 41. George H. W. Bush 37. Richard Nixon 31. Herbert Hoover 29. Warren G. Harding 23. Benjamin Harrison 19. Rutherford B. Hayes 17. Andrew Johnson 13. Millard Fillmore— September 18, 2008 9:49 a.m.
Reporters Say Braun Leaving U-T. Several Companies Reported To Be Taking Interest in Buying It, but All Have Financial Woes
Jileen said: "(Have we omitted any appropriate mixed metaphors? Maybe something about tilting at windmills..?)" When I heard Braun went to the dark side you could have knocked me over with a fender. Of course it’s easy for Braun to criticize Aguirre, because he is not the one with his ass in a noose. I think Sanders Hired Braun because a loose tongue spoils the broth, but it could backfire if Braun turns out to be a wolf in cheap clothing. If not, Sanders may have shot the wind out of Aguirre's saddle. Either way, from now on, I’m watching everything Braun does with a fine-tuned comb. It's time for Aguirre to grab the bull by the tail and look him in the eye, and step up to the plate to lay his cards on the table. I hope he gets his curve ball straightened out, but You can’t change the spots on an old dog. If he could just get all of his ducks on the same page, winning this election would be as easy as falling off a piece of cake. If Aguirre loses, the fan is gonna hit the roof. Without Aguirre, finding an honest pol downtown will be like looking for a needle in a hayride. Luckily for us he is the type who will burn the midnight oil from both ends because he knows that you can’t go in there cold turkey with egg on your face.. Well, we could stand here and talk until the cows turn blue, but I'm sweating like a bullet that my boss will find out I am not working. He’s a little green behind the ears so he probably won't notice, but I have a lot of black sheep in my closet and I wouldn’t be caught dead there with a ten-foot pole. Now I think we are done with mixed metaphors... ;)— September 17, 2008 4:14 p.m.
Reporters Say Braun Leaving U-T. Several Companies Reported To Be Taking Interest in Buying It, but All Have Financial Woes
Don, Speaking of the U-T vendetta against Aguirre, I was looking at Chris Reeds blog (which I don't usually do) and noticed he was taking potshots at you yesterday over the WSJ article on Aguirre. (http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/afb/) "Mike's lone defender? A guy who in his letter was correctly identified as a resident of Salida, Colorado, but who writes and blogs for a San Diego alternative weekly. (If you go to his blog site, you'd never know he hasn't lived here for years. Maybe I should start a blog about Hilo, Hawaii. I lived there for eight years and still know something about it.)" I imagine that Reed would be every bit as insightful writing about Hilo as he is San Diego (which is to say, not very). I wonder where Reed and Kittle will pop up after the new U-T owners clean house?— September 17, 2008 11:09 a.m.
Reporters Say Braun Leaving U-T. Several Companies Reported To Be Taking Interest in Buying It, but All Have Financial Woes
Jileen (post #17), I totally agree that Aguirre faced an almost impossible task due to the media and establishment forces working to eviscerate him at every turn. I am half amazed that he has been as successful as he has at rooting out corruption in San Diego, but the other half of me is incredibly frustrated at the failed opportunity, as I see that little has changed in the end. The old guard is still in firm control and they seem to be successfully closing ranks to maintain their control in San Diego. I think some of the same personality traits that allowed Aguirre to weather the attacks and keep fighting, are the same traits that failed him in building consensus for his reforms. He epitomized (especially early on) the old saying that to a hammer every problem is a nail. To use Braun's analogy, he chose to always use chemo, even in cases where a surgeons scalpel would have caused far less damage to the patient. I'm voting for him and I'm telling anyone else who will listen to vote for him, but I am afraid it won't be enough. CCDC and SEDC should help if he plays it right, because both of those should directly reflect Sanders leadership which Goldsmith is being brought in to quietly support, but I don't know if Aguirre will play it right and I don't know if it is too little too late.— September 17, 2008 9:23 a.m.
Reporters Say Braun Leaving U-T. Several Companies Reported To Be Taking Interest in Buying It, but All Have Financial Woes
I know some city employees performing vital services that are seriously overworked because vacant positions haven't been filled for years due to the hiring freeze and the city won't repair their equipment or even buy the necessary supplies to do their jobs. It in no way amuses these folks the way Sanders can create high paying jobs in his administration at will, while they are being squeezed. I am still irritated that Aguirre declared war on the rank and file city workers early on. I think he now makes the distinction between corrupt union leadership and rank and file, but he absolutely did not in the beginning, and he really poisoned the well. Whether correct or just good spin from the establishment, most city employees felt that Aguirre's attacks against Murphy, Ewell and Italiano were personal attacks against them, and will never forgive him. I am still stunned and amazed that city workers have come to detest the two most pro-union pols at city hall (Aguirre and Frye). That is completely nonsensical, and should never have been allowed to happen. The way I read Braun's last article, I thought he was saying that Aguirre wouldn't be re-elected, not that he shouldn't be. In that respect I am afraid that Braun is right. Aguirre has needlessly alienated so many groups that he may not have the demographics to win in November.— September 16, 2008 11:23 p.m.
Reporters Say Braun Leaving U-T. Several Companies Reported To Be Taking Interest in Buying It, but All Have Financial Woes
Maybe the city will throw in some redevelopment rights to some prime city property to any buyer of the UT. That seems like something this mayor and council would consider.... :(— September 16, 2008 8:33 a.m.
CCDC Kills 7th and Market Project; Chairman Maas Says Related Group May Be Victim, Attacks Local Developer
Macias and Gini audited the SEDC books for several years before they were then hired to do this audit to uncover the fraud. The mayors office had to know preliminary results of the audit at least as much as a year before Smith was fired, yet he granted her three months to clean up. The SEDC itself has known about the fraud investigation for 16 months and has been stonewalling the investigation (and presumably "cleaning up") at least since then. What we currently see is only the public tip of this iceberg, but the rest will probably never see the light of day because of actions Sanders office has taken. Sanders has only taken this current course of action in response to the long string of reports based on easily obtainable public data by Mel Shapiro, Flannery, the Reader, The VofSD and the UT. Dumanis is for show. She will do nothing and let it quietly go away, just like she has done nothing about Mike Madigan colluding with the City College to steal taxpayer money in a land swindle, and nothing about Jim Waring and Chip Owen in the SEDC land swindle.— September 11, 2008 9:34 a.m.
No cigar
Fred, More like Sempra tried to play with the big boys and got thumped, so they went home and kicked the dog. We're the dog.— September 10, 2008 4:46 p.m.