3/14    Creatures Clone Selves in Face of Danger - Yahoo! News:
        http://www.csua.org/u/l18
        How is this different from asexual reproduction?

3/14    Bay Area homes: "Spectacularly low sales counts"
        http://www.dqnews.com/News/California/Bay-Area/RRBay080313.aspx
        \_ but but but prices are stable!  only $2K drop from last year!
           and loans formerly known as jumbo are gonna become available any
           time now!!!1
           \_ Which model yacht(s) does your landlord own?  How many times have
              you gone sailing with your landlord?
              \_ LANDLORD WITH A YACHT!!!!!11!!
                 \_ My land didn't come with a yacht. I think we should have a
                    federal law requiring a yacht to be provided with every
                    land sale, to ensure the dream of ownership is properly
                    fulfilled.
                    \_ BITTER RENTER!!!!!1!1 WITH A YACHT!!!11!!!
                    \_ Because you're one of those "I'm going to make a
                       zillion dollars renting out a second home and be a
                       land lord!" types.  Real land lords own multiple units,
                       don't have a day job, and own yachts with money they
                       got from the bitter ALL-CAPS!!!11!! renters.
                       \_ Yeah, they sure do when they're underwater on all
                          their mortages and the bank is about to foreclose.
                          Oh wait, you mean the entire US housing market
                          is confined to Noe Valley?
                       \_ My previous landlord owned the 50-unit building at
                          Dwight and Ellsworth, and his day job was being the
                          manager and the handyman.  He always seemed to be
                          fixing something.
                       \_ All the multi-millionaire landlords I know spend
                          all their time futzing with their properties.
                          \_ But how can they.  They're too busy with their
                             YACHTS!!!!11!

3/14    Fed provides emergency financing to BSC via JPM as other banks refuse
        to lend to BSC at fed funds target
        Fed to take on all credit risk for BSC collateral used to obtain
        financing
        http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120550108028136579.html
        On Monday, BSC said in a statement, "there is absolutely no truth to
        the rumors of liquidity problems"
        http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aa874wpC8wcg
        \_ Someone please translate this to plain English?
           \_ You went to Cal?
           \_ Read the WSJ article.  WSJ = Wall Street Journal.  If you have
              q's, come back.
           \_ The wsj article seems reasonable clear. In any event, here is
              my understanding:
              Bear Stearns Co. (BSC), a large NY investment bank, may not
              have enough money to meet its obligations. J.P. Morgan (JPM)
              has borrowed money from the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) and
              loaned it to BSC to ensure that BSC has enough money to meet
              its obligations. JPM, unlike BSC, is not technically an
              investment bank, and therefore it may borrow money directly
              from the Fed.
              JPM is merely acting as a conduit for the Fed's loan to BSC.
              BSC has pleged its assets to the Fed as security for the
              loan. If BSC's asserts drop in value, then the Fed, and the
              loan. If BSC's assets drop in value, then the Fed, and the
              taxpayers, will take the loss; JPM is not taking on any risk.
              \_ Why would we care? I mean, we're already borrowing a lot
                 of money and our deficit is huge, why can't we just borrow
                 more? I mean, if you owe the bank $1 million dollars,
                 the bank owns you. But if you owe the bank $100 trillion
                 dollars, then you own the bank.
                 \_ Which is why the dollar is doing oh so well on the
                    international market right now.
                    \_ 99 yen to 1 dollar!
                 \_ Personally I am concerned about the level of debt the
                    government takes on. I do not know if bailing out BSC
                    is better than the alternative, which is to let if fail.
                    I guess we have to trust that the Fed knows what it is
                    doing.
                    \_ The Fed is in panic mode:
                       "The Fed's role in the deal suggests federal officials
                       fear a systemic collapse of the U.S. financial system
                       were Bear Stearns to fail. The fear stems from Bear
                       central role in a multitrillion-dollar web of
                       interconnecting derivative contracts."
                       \_ Probably. Something about this situation reminds me
                          of the LTCM fiasco a few years back.
                          \- I dunno how old you were in 1998, but the funny
                             part of this is Bear Stearns is the banks that
                             part of this is Bear Stearns is the bank that
                             refused to play ball ... the scrappy outsider...
                             during the "genteel" bailout of LTCM. It's also
                             amazing to read about the  arrogance of the LTCM
                             insiders dictating terms of the bailout. Just
                             unfucking believable.
                          \- I dunno how old you were when LTCM happened, but
                             the funny part of this is Bear Stearns is the
                             bank that refused to play ball ... the scrappy
                             outsider ... during the "genteel" bailout of
                             LTCM. It's also amazing to read about the
                             arrogance of the LTCM insiders dictating terms
                             of the bailout. Just unfucking believable.
                             \_ I didn't remember that BSC was one of the
                                hold outs during the LTCM bailout. That is
                                so ironic.
                                Re arrogance of LTCM insiders - Being a
                                nobel prize winner and 'furd prof goes to
                                some people heads.
                                \- it's not just merton and scholes.
                                   YMWTR: http://tinyurl.com/rcrv8
                       \_ Deregulating the financial system was a mistake.
                          \_ Libural socialist rant! Why do you hate America?
                             \_ Yeah, me and FDR. Known America haters.
                                \_ FDR hated America, not only did he
                                   sell out this country at Yalta, he
                                   also instigated the New Deal which
                                   was pratically communist.
                                   was practically communist.
                                   \_ Whoa!  When the did the Birchers show up
                                      on the motd?!
                          \_ Time to return to a gold and/or silver standard!
                             -rpaul
                             \_ Time to put Glass-Stiegel back in place.
                                Though it is too late for this recession, at
                                least it will keep the next one from being
                                as bad. I fear we will see a New Deal style
                                nationalization of the banking system before
                                this is all said and done.

3/14    Yay!  Dem-led congress rejects earmark reforms!
        \_ Earmark reform is a strange beast.  It is arguable people mad
           at something but taking it out on the wrong tool.  Earmarks
           by nature are not evil.  Earmark != pork.
           \_ Yes, all earmark = pork.
        \_ Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
           We won't be fooled again!
        \_ "earmark reform" is one of those great conservative
           ideology-laden terms, like "tax reform" and "welfare reform."
           Conservatives don't really have a problem with earmarks; they
           just don't want to provide public services.   -tom
           \_ Case in point, 2000-2006 congresses were the worst ever
              with respect to earmarks, but now that the Democrats got
              control Bush and the republicans in congress have been
              complaining about earmarks long and loud.  The democrats did
              push through a bill that required that the earmarker actually
              be named in an earmark so that you could see what congresscritter
              asked for what earmarks, which was something that could not
              pass when the republicans controlled congress.
              \_ Note: Obama has released his earmarks. Hillary "I've got
                 a secret" Clinton has not as of yet.  McCain hasn't been
                 doing earmarks for a while.

3/14    sub-prime mortgage blues (oldie but goodie)
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13qWw7waSeM

3/14    Someone please repost the link to home affordability charts?
        I need a proof from the UCLA professor that there will be a crash
        to prevent my wife from whining about this new condo that we can
        barely afford even though it's $50K cheaper than last year.
        \_ http://bp2.blogger.com/_8m7jYiLM_DI/Rvf3K2aCzsI/AAAAAAAAAXw/C_Fp_Kop7Hc/s1600-h/resetbigchart.gif
        \_ link:preview.tinyurl.com/ysnbe4 (bp2.blogger.com)
           http://drhousingbubble.blogspot.com

3/14    Perfect motto for the Republican Party: NEVER BACK DOWN. Show
        them you're rough and tough!
        http://www.neverbackdownthemovie.com

3/14    Obama: Anti landmine.
        Clinton:  "uh... well... you know I don't want to be seen as weak
                   on defense...."
        McCain:  I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's pro landmine.
        THE CHOICE IS CLEAR.
        \- you know the landmine issue is more complicated than you and
           "Princess" Di spin it to be. Yes, scattering them around the
           countryside [Afghanistan, SE Asia] is irresponsible, but planted
           along a DMZ, they are defensive, not offensive weapons. I dont
           think a categorical ban makes sense. Of course we know what
           happened to John "nuanced answers" Kerry.
           \_ Yeah fuck nuance.  landmines suck.  they outlast your
              conflict.  they maim future generations.  no one should
              be using them.
           \_ I couldn't agree more. Just think what would have happened
              to the Federation if Sisko had adopted a nancy Euro-Picard
              "Mr. Worf Hail Our Surrender" anti-mine stance and had
              failed to mine the wormhole at the end of Season 5.

3/14    Obama is a Mac Daddy
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khuu-RhOBDU
        \_ Completely unfunny.
        \_ Can I have those 10 minutes of my life back?