The global financial system is essentially a perpetual motion machine. (from "Some Assembly Required")

Some INTERESTING posts from "Some Assembly Required". Please follow link to original
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thought Experiment: Please compute: (1) Nevada passed a law effective October 1 that made it a felony – holding individuals criminally liable – to make a false representation concerning a real estate title. (2) Foreclosure filings in Nevada plunged dramatically in October.

Ah, The Italians! Prime Minister Berlusconi promised to resign via a posting on Facebook. The guy's got style. Obama, meanwhile, was peddling t-shirts and coffee mugs on his Facebook page.

Take A Memo: “A common currency has a much better chance of working if you actually have a nation.”

The Road to Salvation: While waiting for extreme austerity programs to save the economy, more than 20% of Spanish families now live below the poverty line and unemployment is above 21% - the highest in Europe. Among the young (under 30) the rate is above 45%. Even for those who have jobs, a third are on temporary contracts, with low pay and no benefits.

Fire Drill: Over 16,000 Honk Kong-owned factories in China may close, as orders collapse by as much as 30% in response to a slowdown in global demand and a 20% increase in minimum wage on January 1. Going, going, gone.

Get Me Rewrite: Homeowners continue to have a hard time paying their mortgages. But the blame has now migrated from the over-reaching homeowners to the damage to consumer confidence done by the debt crises in the US and Europe, and the tanking of the US stock market. Don't blame me, I got this drivel from a report by TransUnion's financial services vp Tim Martin, who also believes that neither house prices nor unemployment “has noticeably deteriorated.” He also discounted the effect of being underwater on delinquencies. He’s a pro, do not try this at home.