Diversified metal miner Rio Tinto (RTP) warned the slump in commodities will continue to have a material adverse impact on business and financial results. This seemed to shake the miners something fierce this morning; we’ll see if they bounce in the afternoon. News from Nucor that steel sales have “dropped off a cliff” isn’t helping.
Other than that, the markets seem to lack conviction this morning, up or down. That should change by this afternoon; let’s see where the current takes us.
More thoughts on AIG: Larry Summers says that we can’t break the contracts with AIG executives because “we are a country of law.” That must be news to the United Auto Workers who were forced to renegotiate their contracts and make big concessions to keep their jobs.
Apparently, the supreme sanctity of employment contracts applies only to some types of employees but not to others.
And the fact that we are a nation of laws must also be news to the people in Gitmo who were held and tortured for years in violation of both US and international law. If we are “nation of laws,” as Larry Summer says, and those laws are sacrosant, then I expect we’ll be pursuing the people who broke US and international laws at Gitmo. After all, we know who they are.
Don’t hold your breath.
The problem is — as I’ve said before — both Summers and Geithner are too close to Goldman Sachs, and they seem to be putting the desires of Goldman Sachs (which is raking in $billions as the counterparty to all these bad trades that AIG made) above the interests of the nation. If President Obama is serious about change and honest government, then he has to make a change in his staff. Period.
IN OTHER NEWS
Is this the birth of Skynet? A world-wide computer network that thinks and computes answers to questions? Sarah Connor, look out! Just kidding. According to the article, it may be a real challenger for Google (finally!), but we’ll have to see about that.
Poll: More Americans Fear a Return of the Great Depression Forty-five percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey said another depression is likely. The poll described the 1930s’ Great Depression as a time in which roughly one out of four workers was unemployed, banks failed across the country and millions of ordinary Americans were temporarily homeless or unable to feed their families.
Related Posts
- Update on Two Secret Bull Markets (10/15/09)
- Two Secret Bull Markets Rough Transcript (10/13/09)
- Gold Miners Are Outperforming Broad Markets AND Gold (11/10/09)
- What I’m Reading Today (04/07/09)
- Friday Roundup — Gold, The GLD, and More (07/24/09)
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
SUBJECT : “ALTERNATIVE ENERGY”
Approaching The Ripe-Young-Age Of 83 In Sept , May I Highly Recommend That This Country, {SUGGESTED By ECOM., BOB BRINKER}, IMMEDIATELY Concentrate On “NATURAL GAS” , & FOR The U. S. AUTO INDUSTRIES To RE-TOOL, And IMMEDIATELY BEGIN BUILDING AUTOMOBILES THAT WILL RUN On NATURAL GAS, ON A ** *TEMPORARY BASIS, AND N O LONGER NECESSITATING ‘DIRTY’ - O I L’ !!!!!!_______________
IF OUR NEW PRESIDENT, BARRY OBAMA, IF POSSIBLE, PROCLAIM A PRESIDENTIAL - ‘ORDER’ - ?MANDATE? , AND GET THE ‘SHOW - ON - THE - ROAD, A S A P !
_______________
FINALLY, THEREAFTER = THE ‘NATURAL GAS ***TEMPORARY WAY- TO- GO, TO THINK ‘VERY’ CAREFULLY ABOUT GOING WITH NUCLEAR-POWER, THE CLEANEST & SAFEST ENERGY… ‘REF’ : DR BILL WATTENBURG, WITH http://WWW. KGO RADIO, COM {TALK-RADIO 810AM}, WHO HAS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THE BOOK, WRITTEN IN 2000, BY ROBERT C. MORRIS, “THE ENVIRONMENTAL CASE FOR NUCLEAR POWER” {Economic, Medical, And Political Considerations} .. IT IS EXTREMELY COMPREHENSIVE, A BOOK I FIRST CHECKED OUT @ OUR LOCAL CITY OF FORTUNA, CA.. PUBLIC LIBRARY.. READ IT, & THEN BOUGHT 2 FROM ‘BORDERS’.. ONE FOR MY YOUNGEST GRANDSON, JASON, WHO IS @ BERKELEY NOW, A N D ONE FOR MYSELF !
THANK YOU VERY MUCH .. MY REGARDS TO YOU & TO YOURS , ~me~