Holidays Are Enjoyable

So don't fret, you'll get out of debt.

Hedging Along

December 21 – Financial Times (Saskia Scholtes):

“Hedge funds are scrutinising their levels of exposure to bank defaults, in a telling reversal of conventional risk management concerns. While bank exposure to the hedge funds they trade with has been in sharp focus since the 1998 collapse of Long Term Capital Management, a run of record-breaking losses and bailouts in banking has hedge funds re-examining how much they can be hurt by a bank collapse… In this environment, some hedge funds have found they are more exposed to the risk of bank failure because they agreed to trading terms that did not require banks to post collateral against certain derivatives trades, said Lauren Tiegland-Hunt, managing partner at law firm Tiegland-Hunt. ‘When the credit crunch took hold, many firms were surprised to discover they had entered ‘one-way’ collateral agreements that not only left money on the table, but also left them exposed to increased counter-party credit risk,’ she said. ‘In the current era of falling credit ratings and banks announcing huge...writedowns, this kind of risk is a real and pressing concern.’”

Recession and China

Our economic system is going towards the perfect storm. The sub-prime mortgage disaster, the maxing out of credit cards, a dismal forecast in consumer spending, and the Fed fighting the credit crunch, recession cannot be far behind.

We might be lucky if it's only a recession.

On the contrary, we could get the kind of economic collapse that will make the last depression look like a tea party.

With friends like China, who needs enemies? China, a prime creditor, could call in some of this debt if they wanted to be mean.

Dial-a-Flight

Finding cheap flights to USA and especially New York can be impossible during the holidays. Flights to Washington this holiday season are not better. Don’t spend your time looking for special holiday offers! Dial-a-flight can help meet all your international travel needs. The holiday of your dreams might be just around the corner. A one site stop for flights and more. You’ll be glad you chose to refer to dial-a-flight when you’re relaxing in the hotel spa thinking about how you’ll use dial-a-flight next. Tailor made holidays are just a click away.

Virtual Money Numbers

Money today is just a "virtual number" in the bank computer.

Created by bankers in order to get the real tangible asset (Gold, Platinum, Palladiun and other metals in their vault, Oil in their bunker, LNG in their tank farm etc), and those produced the tangible got just number which depend whether or not they recognized/accepted that "number" to be transfer from bank computer to other bank computer or not if they said no then those of the "accumulated virtual number" mean nothing.

An example is China Petroleum Co bidding for US Union Oil Co that has offered to buy the shares is higher up against Chevron. The US government decided not to give the company to China Petroleum by mentioning Union Oil is strategic assets. Even this bidding was through a market process.

Litening Your Journey

The los angeles weight loss program offered by Journey Lite is a specialized Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding unique to the company. It is known as LAGB or the LAP BAND System procedure.

This program is right for you if the excess body weight you carry needs to be lost. If this is your goal, then you’ll be pleased with this cutting edge technology.

Restricting the amount of food you consume using surgical laparoscopic techniques which will reduce your stomach’s capacity for food will effectively let you achieve your goal.

After the LAPBAND Adjustable Gastric Band procedure, you will notice that your weight is lower and quality of life enhanced with nearly minimal effort. Feeling full faster, and thereby eating less, will not have to be a pill based experience.

Cheap American Labor

American workers working for European companies should insist they be paid in euros. Imagine American workers as now a cheap source of labor. I guess Chinese-style wage rates can't be too far behind in America. So China might be using the US as a cheap source of labor soon.


Another strategy for European companies is for them to sell their products in Euro.

If Airbus, for example, sells in dollars, all delivery contracts will suffer from the dwindling dollar.

Sweeney Todd

Tim Burton's latest film, Sweeney Todd is a classic tale of a mad barber with an appetite for vengeance. The movie is coming out very soon. With a tagline reading “Never Forger, Never Forgive,” it appeals to the emotion of revenge that everyone feels. As such, it is a much anticipated movie. You should visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site to learn more in addition to my remarks.

The desire of revenge is something that we can all appeal to when we have been wronged by ones. However, Sweeny Todd , takes this primitve emotion and turns it into a high-art form. In a strategic and cunning manner, he is able to correct wrongs with might. This does not make it right, but he fulfills his powerful need for revenge.

Originally a classic Broadway show, Sweeney Todd is driven by the desire to avenge his wife and false imprisonment based on the charge that he killed his wife. With a life destroyed, he sets out to find and punish those who wronged him and drove his life into the miserable condition that it became.

The final scene is perhaps the SPOILER WARNING: Sweeney Todd discovers that this wife, Lucy, has been alive all this time, but has been hidden from him. With clam precision, Barber Sweeney traps the lying Mrs. Lovett in an oven…turning her flesh to ash. This is such a powerfully emotional moment because the one person who he thought he could trust betrayed him and his insane wife.

You should
visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace but beware that he doesn't think you've harmed him.