I am making this response to a comment on my last post into a post of its own. I am doing this mostly because I think that this comment is what I should have said in the first place. It captures the heart of my reaction to Mr. La Roche’s post in a more condensed Click Here to continue reading.
Tanta posted this quote from Alliance Bancorp over at Calculated Risk along with some commentary. If you are interested in economics, you already read Calculated Risk. But if your interest runs more towards all that is humorous, you might have missed it. So here it is in all its glory….
This year we’ve put up a valiant fight! One with integrity, dignity and never wavering determination, focused solely on how to succeed. We have reached out to everyone we know, and many that we don’t know, to tell our story, of how we have made it this far, of the expertise and skills that we have, of the quality of our organization, and of how we have refused to lose! We have received tremendous support and loyalty from our employees and business partners during this year’s extreme conditions. So many individuals and companies have believed in us and cheered us on as we’ve dodged the obstacles thrown in our path, obstacles that many others were unable to overcome. We have had extraordinary support from our ownership and Board of Directors. They have acted unselfishly, putting the company, its employees and creditors first and foremost. They are honorable people whom I highly respect.
Unfortunately the latest market was more than we were able to overcome. We have exhausted our resources and do not have the means to move forward. Therefore, it is with great sadness that I announce that we have ceased operations as of today, July 13th.
Technically we are breaking the rules today. The clip below is no poem by any conventional measure. But if you conceive of a poem as being something that expresses what you can not say with prose, then it follows that the clip below is poetic. Besides, we feel that it goes well with this week’s essay and rant.
Spring 007 from foopaux and Vimeo.
If this clip meant nothing to you, then maybe you should go watch this one instead.
Tatterdemalion is still going on about a Dressaday post that really got under her skin. So as usual, she is leaving no prisoners. We figured that we would alert the world to this fact as a kind of public service warning.
So take heed and don’t annoy The Tatterdemalion or this will be your fate.
This week’s essay of the week is from The Ape Man and it is called Why moderate Muslims don’t matter. It is a bit of a misleading title since Ape Man’s argument really applies to all religions. Nonetheless, it is a point that we don’t feel is given the proper consideration even in conservative circles.
We highlight so many examples of ridicules regulation over in Europe that it is worth highlighting how they survive. This from a New York Times article called Their House Is Your Trattoria…
Full and happy, we got up to leave and I started to leave a tip. “This isn’t done,” said Emanuele. “These places don’t pay taxes; all the money goes in their pockets.” Do they ever get in trouble with the law? “See those two men in the corner?” he pointed. “They’re police, and they like the food as much as the rest of us.”
The article was all about how the best food in Italy can be found in small places that operate outside the law. Thus ridicules European regulations don’t apply to them.
In a comment left on my rant against the Economist and in a post on Fistful of Euros, Guy La Roche asks….
Has anyone questioned, since Ape Man mentioned the name, the psychology behind a guy like Mark Steyn? It would go a long way in understanding his motives and way of thinking. And it might Click Here to continue reading.
Ok, one verrry last post on Dressaday’s Airplane Rant, and then I’ll stop. Really and truly. Honest.
Unfortunately, something tells me this post of mine is going to be pretty much wind up as a rant itself. Probably because of certain phrases, like this one from the comments from someone by the name of “wampoline”:
I have Click Here to continue reading.
. . .is that, among other things, you get 98% of the way through writing a post, and suddenly discover that you are sick of sitting in front of the monitor, and being still all except for your fingers. Then you have to choices: keep writing, and invariably have a sloppy ending, or stop writing, Click Here to continue reading.
It seems that there is a trend sweeping the world. People want to see how many historical accepted economical principles can be broken before you have a disaster. China and the US are the trend setters in this regards, but Zimbawe is in a class all by itself.
This is how Mugabe is fighting inflation (this from Letters)…..
Dear Family and Friends,
Zimbabwe has been engulfed in a macabre and tragic frenzy this week and frankly, it beggars belief. Across the country what has been called a “Taskforce” has been unleashed by the government to force shop owners and businesses to cut their prices by 50%. The price cut enforcers are army men in camouflage clothes, police in uniform and large numbers of youth militia.They go from shop to shop and simply pick on items they want reduced : SLASH THAT PRICE, is the phrase we are hearing again and again and then products have to be sold for less than they were purchased for. Shop owners who refuse to cut the prices face arrest and having their goods seized. Some have been assaulted, others had their premises trashed and windows smashed.
The result of it all, inevitably, is rapid collapse and many goods and foods have now become completely unavailable including all the staples which were already difficult to find such as flour, oil, sugar, salt and maize meal. Joining the list now are most other normal household products in daily use such as soap, candles, matches, milk, eggs, margarine, rice, bread and the list grows longer by the hour and day. As the prices are ordered down hordes of people with bagfuls of money swarm behind and buy up all the stocks. Shops are displaying signs announcing that only one of each item may be purchased but entire gangs are moving around in dozens and just cleaning everything out.
I feel sorry for the people of Zimbabwe. But I can’t help find Mugabe’s rule to be an interesting experiment in how many stupid things it is possible to do before you lose power.