11/21   Goldman Sachs cancels crude oil forecasts
        Predicts 9% unemployment by Q4 next year, GDP -5% Q4 this year
        \_ An Imperial soldier runs to the control panel board and pulls the
           attack lever as the board behind him lights up.

11/21   Remaining GOP activists want to turn the Party further to The Right:
        http://tinyurl.com/6m4xsv (TPM)
        Note I predicted this a year ago, luckily (?) with the way information
        moves, it shouldn't take them 12 years to discover that extremism is
        a losing strategy, the way it did with the Dems.
        \_ You do know that McCain was about as left as you can go and still be
           in the GOP, right?
           \_ You don't know what left means do you?
           \_ I think that Guliani and Schwartzenner are both more liberal,
              actually. Other than immigration policy and campaign finance
              reform, McCain was pretty solidly conservative, right?
              reform, McCain is pretty solidly conservative, right?
        \_ I don't think McCain held many non very conservative views.  That
           was not his appeal.

11/21   Franken's continuing efforts to steal an election
        http://tinyurl.com/56sept

11/21   Big news- Michaela has finally reached 100kg and 50 inches around! To
        celebrate, we're moving her over to TailorMadeBBW, where she will
        continue to grow bigger and even more beautiful. She's gained over a
        hundred pounds since she started modeling for us, and is hoping to
        gain even more. Her next goal? A whopping 68 inches and 300 lbs.
        Yowza! Let's give this epic gainer a round of applause for her newest
        achievement. A BIG step for a BIG woman.
        \_ Congratulations on getting a BMW.
        \_ Don't mix metric and imperial units.

11/21   who is more annoying, LOLZguy or StarWarsdude
        \_ hey man, I try to pollute only every several days on financial
           threads -jarjar
           \_ I guess we are cheaper than psychotherapy
           \_ SWG is far, far more annoying.
        \_ GOOG at 248.  Time to buy?

11/21   big. hmm. game. ?
        \_ Bigger than usual this year. Stanford's bowl game hopes are
           pinned on it and Cal's hopes for a half-way decent season.
           Both teams are competitive, which hasn't happened too often
           in the last 30 years.
           \_ and apparently not this year, either.  -tom

11/21   U.S. 13-week Treasury rate lowest since 1940:  1/2 basis point
        http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=^IRX&t=my&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

11/21   California now state with 3rd highest unemployment rate at 8.2%
        (behind Michigan and RI at 9.3%)
        \_ Just wait until Ahnold's new taxes kick in.
           \_ I'm looking forward to my new 11.25% sales tax rate.
              \_ Is this for reals or just a joke? URL?
              \_ REPEAL PROP 13!!!

11/21   "The year 2025: Oil, dollar out; Russia, Islam in"
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081121/ap_on_go_ot/intel_trends
        (National Intelligence Council report)

11/21   Voters who would vote Dem flip flopping yet again
        http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/502*359/3recount1121.jpg
        \_ You mean as in they may have invalidated their ballots?

11/21   SLB was good for a 10% pop. I hope you bought it, too.

11/21   E*Trade survival depends on TARP funding.  Larger brokerages reluctant
        to acquire company because of its MBS/CDO liabilities (would rather
        acquire brokerage side only via bankruptcy).
        http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4AK6NM20081121?sp=true
        \_ If my online tradng account is with ETrade, how will this
           affect me?  Should I transfer ASAP?  Any recommendations?
           I make ~10-20 trades a year at most.
           \_ your immediate concern is articles like this leading to a
              stampede for the door and contributing to a chaotic closure.
              What do I think?  I would close my account today and not take
              no for an answer.  The second this appears as a lead story on
              http://CNN.com you may be in for a very long wait on the phone. -op
           \_ You are covered for up to $1/2M by the Federal Govt, so if you
              have less than this, your biggest inconvenience might be having
              to wait a few months while your claim is processed. If you have
              more than this, you should move some to another brokerage.
              \_ My wife was in the Reserve Primary Fund in her 401(k), they've
                 gotten back 75%, but it's a waiting game while they try to
                 extract funds from the govt and figure out how to liquidate.
                 *Your* nightmare is if your stock portfolio is frozen, the
                 markets are crashing around you, and you can't do shit.  All
                 that SIPC covers is return of stock, not value of stock when
                 a brokerage goes boom.  Cash should be safe, though, up to
                 the insured amount. -op

                 \_ Not a nightmare if you are a buy and hold investor. But
                    if you want to be able to trade in and out of the market,
                    this could be problematic.
        \_ Thanks.  Any recommendation where to move to for online trading?
           I only keep $50-$100k for a situation like this.  Most of my
           money I have with my brick and mortar bank and the financial
           services compnay which manager our defined contribution retirement
           plan.  But I do want access to a way to trade online with low fees.
           \_ People seem to like Scottrade, though if you are into daytrading
              you can use http://thinkorswim.com like angry sysadmin.
        \_ fyi, this showed up on drudge just now, not highlighted though

11/21   U.S. Bank acquires Downey Savings & Loan.  No losses on deposits.
        Losses on mortgages, etc. shared with FDIC.