Category Archives: Front Page

How the feds shut a bank down

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Wall Street Journal has a story from a reporter who accompanied officials from the FDIC when they went to shut down a bank. The article is short on information, but the subject is so important that I recommend reading it anyway. A bank near you is going to fail soon, and it is worth knowing how the system operates. Sometimes you can learn things even from fluff articles. Take this qoute from the article for example….

It isn’t easy for 75 federal officials and contractors to slip into a small town undetected and liquidate an 89-year-old bank without anyone knowing. But that’s what just happened in this old railroad town, population 3,200. It’s a scene that’s likely to repeat itself across the country as banks struggle through a painful credit cycle, overwhelmed by troubled mortgages and soured construction loans.

First Integrity, which had two branches and $55 million in assets, was the fourth FDIC-insured bank to fail this year.

Now think about this. If it takes 75 people to handle the shut down of one teeny bank, how is the FDIC going to handle the all bank failures coming down the pike?

To be fair, the FDIC is aware of this problem and they are trying to gear up. Still, you have to wonder if they will have enough people.

h/t Calculated Risk

Tuna price increases coming

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From Survival Blog….

I have been selling tuna for about 20 years and over the last two years, have seen the raw material prices double. Normally, prices go up and then back down, as the catch decreases and then increases. However, since there are really no controls on the amount of tuna that are caught, I have been concerned about over fishing, especially with skipjack as it is the every day item that supermarkets sell as chunk light tuna. Given that the frozen fish price has increased from about $1,000 per metric ton to just under $2,000 per metric ton, I think that we may
have hit the point where demand will outpace a diminishing supply. I expect retail prices to continue increasing.

Read the whole post

The Mystery Man from Syracuse NY

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From the Smithsonian Magazine….

The stories and the record scores accumulated in a fast pile. Not only did this John Montague play great and goofy golf, he seemed able to outdrink, out-eat, out-arm wrestle the world. His appetites and abilities seemed almost superhuman. He routinely showed off his strength. Need to change a tire? No jack was necessary. Montague could simply hold the proper end of the car aloft while someone else attached the spare.

In a town of interesting characters, he moved rapidly toward the top of the list. He became someone to know.

As it turned out, John Montague turned out to be a thief from upstate NY. Follow the link to find out more.

A great invention

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Dean L. Kamen is one of the few people alive today who really impresses me with his brilliance. Any fool can be smart. But few can be as smart an creative as Dean L. Kamen. His Wikipedia profile does not do him justice.

To be sure, some of his stuff is over hyped. I never did think that much of the Segway. But a lot of his other feats were truly amazing. This clip shows off his most recent product.

Edit: This profile of Kamen from Wired is better, even if it is dated

I like my tastes buds the way they are

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From the New York Times comes a story of people using synsepalum dulcificum to alter their tastes buds. Apparently it makes everything tastes sweet. Personally, I don’t see the appeal of making limes taste candied. From the New York Times….

Mr. Mozie listed his favorite miracle fruit pairings, which included green mangoes and raw aloe. “I like oysters with some lemon juice,” he said. “Usually you just swallow them, but I just chew like it was chewing gum.”

A large group of guests reached its own consensus: limes were candied, vinegar resembled apple juice, goat cheese tasted like cheesecake on the tongue and goat cheese on the throat. Bananas were just bananas.

For all the excitement it inspires, the miracle fruit does not make much of an impression on its own. It has a mildly sweet tang, with firm pulp surrounding an edible, but bitter, seed. Mr. Aliquo said it reminded him of a less flavorful cranberry. “It’s not something I’d just want to eat,” he said.