Global Economy Bursting?

[Randolph Kinney]

The Week Has Begun, And Markets Are Going Lower

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-week-has-begun-and-markets-are-going-lower-2011-6#ixzz1QQpkPs9b

Even news about China offering to bail out Europe (again) can't give this market even a momentary jolt.



China to continue buying Europe's bonds

http://www.businessspectator.com.au...-report-pd20110626-J74VM?OpenDocument&src=hp8

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Geithner: Taxes on ‘Small Business’ Must Rise So Government Doesn’t ‘Shrink’

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/geithner-taxes-small-business-must-rise


Fed May Buy $300 Billion in Treasuries After QE2

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...nth-in-treasuries-after-qe2-comes-to-end.html

 

[Big ole Boy]

Let my people go .

.... the private sector and the people are like the jews making bricks without straw in Egypt.

... Let my people go ....

.... when will this yoke be lifted off our heads?

... dollar bust, dollar bust, dollar bust ... come what may ....

... the dollar is nothing but slavery ......

...kill it ..

 

[Couch Potato]

Dropouts look to learn from Zuckerberg

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f9849650-9eb0-11e0-a4f1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1QOORqdjx

An increase in the number of students dropping out of US universities to launch start-up companies in Silicon Valley may be the latest sign of an internet bubble



Why many star students are dropping out

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e7c3324c-9eb4-11e0-a4f1-00144feabdc0.html

Some say the emphasis in US society on having a college degree has created “a bubble in education”, in which the professional value doesn’t match the $200,000 price tag

Anyone actually paying $200,000 for college is dumber than dirt. You can get a bill that high at a place like MIT, but the average scholarship is over $120,000 so only those stupid enough to not get the scholarship money would pay that much.

 

[Austin]

A college education in the US is more of a social ladder than an academic curriculum. In England and other European countries social class is determined by breeding. For example if your family had a history of high accomplishment and refinement with wealth to show for it that makes you upper class. If your family has a history of living from hand to mouth you are working class. It used to be rare to marry across social class lines. We don’t have that system in the US so we invented a new one, a college degree. Problem is class is something not learned in school. One can have no class with an advanced academic pedigree, our political class in the US to wit. Look at Bill Clinton- academic all American but a low class scoundrel.

 

[Workbox]

OK folks, here comes the ralley I have been anticipating. Again, it will get close to the 1320 area mark level off for the summer. They may do a form QE3, but it will not be sustained for long. All I know that once we hit that 1320 area on the SPX I will be getting ready to go long on the VXX and short some other stock.

Prayers and blessings folks, because the next major correction will not have a fast corrections that we have been having. It will be a long drown-out low level market...........unless?..............we get a war.

For those of you who understand economic history, you will understand my statement.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

My old boss called. He is Canadian and had to go back to Canada when his work visa ran out in 2002 and the division was shut down. Some of the people we worked with are with a company in Rancho Bernardo (San Diego county).

It is all about who you know that gets you hired. A degree is nice but it isn't really necessary providing you have connections. After 5 years experience in an industry, companies hire people more for their work knowledge in the industry, not a degree.

Looking at our society, we have a segregation of the intelligentsia and the uneducated class. People who make up the intelligentsia believe the uneducated people need to be protected and told what to do because they really are that dumb, too stupid to vote for the right candidate, the right party.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-06-27/leaked-docs-throw-doubt-gas-prospects-jun-27
Seems that the Emperor has no clothes... While Oil is $90 a bbl. Gas is $4...a ratio of 22.5 whereas the BTU content of a bbl of oil is only 6-10 x that of Nat gas. In other words, nat gas is relatively cheap compared to oil..very cheap in fact.

This has hurt the drillers but they have "booked" reserves that are beginning to look like "inflated" numbers. Encana among others is taking a hit as Chinese investors are pulling the rug from beneath them. They are seeing the light that those reserves are badly over-stated especially if you think you should drill for gas only when it is profitable.

Ultimately Arthur Berman, critic of the shale gas plays, whose column was discontinued at World Oil magazine and his editor fired, will be vindicated. But I doubt World Oil would admit that Berman was right as they were under heavy pressure from advertisers to silence the truth.

By optimistic projections, the drillers are their own worst enemies. If they restate the reserves lower to raise prices, they likely face both SEC scrutiny and fleeing investors. If they continue claiming high reserves that are deeply suspect, then the price will remain low in what the investment community believes is a "glut" of nat gas.

I suspect the "glut" is ephemeral and will disappear rapidly if a few players are forced into bankruptcy or have to restate reserves DOWN significantly. It was a mistake for the SEC to allow companies to "book" PUD (proven undeveloped) reserves. If they don't drill those "PUD" wells up within 5 years, they will have to restate reserves which will have serious consequences. Likely either the investors will sue them or the SEC will sue them. It's a choice.

Cash for Clunkers is looking all the worse. Taking "old" cars off the road was reminescent of Roosevelt burning cotton crops and shooting millions of hogs and cattle to improve farm prices. Instead, we could have spent those billions on converting our fleet to nat gas. Today conversion is running up to $10,000. The conversion is $2,000...the fuel tank is $8000...or about $40 in metal and $20 in welding and $7,940 in liabilty insurance in the event a tank fails or explodes in a wreck... Tort lawyers are licking their chops at the prospects. The government could take that lollipop away by setting compensation and standards for tank design and reduce the conversion costs to under $4000.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The $70,000 Hidden Cost Of College

http://www.businessinsider.com/hidd...ge-experience-more-expensive-than-ever-2011-6

Experts say the average cost of tuition, room and board, and general fees is $16,140 for a public four-year university and $36,993 at a private school. Meanwhile, the average student debt graduates with $24,000. Those numbers may sound big, but as any parent with a child (or two) in college can tell you, they represent only a small part of the overall tab.

When we calculated the average costs of 20 common items, including the cost of buying a modest car, we found that a $64,560 four-year public school education can end up costing $133,299. That’s nearly $70,000 above the advertised price. No wonder some students end up over $100,000 in debt.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Actually, It's Stupid To Go To Harvard -- You'll Do Better As A Plumber, Says Prof.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/actu...r-as-a-plumber-says-prof-2011-3#ixzz1QZq2hlwh

A new study from Princeton University shows that expensive college degrees are not necessarily worth the lofty price tags in the long run when you take into account one's natural ability.

Laurence Kotlikoff, professor of economics at Boston University agrees that an expensive education just isn't worth it -- much to his chagrin of course because tuition and fees at Boston University totalled $39,314 for 2010-11.

See the link for the interview:

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/forget-harvard-and-a-4-year-degree-you-can-make-more-as-a-plumber-in-the-long-run-says-prof.-kotlikoff-536046.html?tickers=^DJI,^GSPC,^SPY,COCO,APOL,ESI,DV