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Why The Long Face?
Um, it should be obvious as to why!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
Photopooped!
My best buddy Morrie got photopooped!!!!
The Mother Of All Fiscal Catastrophes?
In 1998, the U.S. treasury and the federal reserve facilitated a $3.6B bailout of the Long Term Capital Management Fund (LTCM) hedge fund by 16 Wall St. banks. No taxpayer funds were used in the bailout.
Ten years later, in 2008, the U.S. treasury bailed out a slew of Wall St. institutions with 100s of billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money.
Famous doom-and-gloomers James Rickards and Peter Schiff predict that the next financial crisis, which will be the mother of all global fiscal catastrophes, will require that the U.S. government be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund. In this black swan scenario, the U.S. dollar will be replaced by the IMF’s SDR (Special Drawing Rights) as the world’s reserve currency and America’s reign as the world’s greatest superpower will come to an end.
I’m not convinced that Rickards and Schiff are right, but they do make a somewhat compelling case – enough so that it makes me feel “uncomfortable” whenever I see or hear them speak about it. Even if you think they are both batshit crazy, you might want to think of adding a touch of gold, silver, Bitcoin, or some other cryptocurrency to your portfolio…. just in case America fails to become great again.
A Croc O’ Crap
As a software developer, the idea of #noestimates was really appealing to me. I sooo wanted to be convinced of its applicability across the whole landscape. Thus, I originally was on board with, and rooting for, the fledgling movement. However, it’s hard for me to take the #noestimates community seriously when one of its top advocates slams a croc o’ crap like this down on the dinner table.
From what I’ve seen and heard over 2+ years of heated Twitter debates, the case for jettisoning the practice of estimation from the software development life cycle is still so intellectually weak that I consider it a waste of energy whenever I find myself getting sucked into the fray. Now when I scroll through my twitter feed and stumble across yet another vitriolic exchange on the subject, I cross my fingers and pray that I make it past the spew without adding my own crap to the gobbledygook.
The Real Problem
People’s knickers are all bunched up over which operational state the US will transition into in November:
Well, screw that. Here is what people should really be fussing about.
Penalizing The Millions For The Sins Of The Few
This drawing was just so brilliant that I had to foist it on this god-forsaken blog:
Politicians, law enforcement officials, and duped citizens can’t see the forest for the trees on this issue. It strikingly reminds me of the same narrow-sighted, short-term, black-white, thinking exhibited by those who rabidly oppose Bitcoin adoption because of its potential use by terrorists and drug dealers (just like real cash!). Let’s penalize the millions for the sins of the few.
Governments always seize on brief panics/outrages to demand greater restrictions on civil liberties, which they then abuse to harass regular people. It’s a slow and barely noticeable slide into the bleak world described so vividly in George Orwell’s 1984.
All Tucked In
My wookie is all tucked in and fast asleep…
As for me, in a few short hours I’ll be on my way to Nawlins’ for this year’s “trip of a lifetime“. It’s Mardi Gras time and I’m all swagged up!!!!!
All Fluff, No Substance
So, I finally decided to get off my ass. I wrote to my US congressman (John Katko) and both of my US senators (Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand) about an issue that has been of burning concern to me for over seven years. Specifically, I asked them what they were doing about the fact that the banks who triggered the financial calamity of 2008 are much BIGGER now than they were back then.
The first response I received was from my US congressman:
I interpreted Mr. Katko’s response as all fluff and no substance. Thus, I wrote back:
When(?) Mr. Katko’s staff responds to my attempt to pierce through the fluff, I’ll post it here.
Why am I here?
WTF?
Meh!
D'oh!
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