News you can use … Best Flu Protection – who knew? Walk in the Light said the old hymn.

… from David Wilcock discussing the recent “pandemic” …

“My friend and confidante "Henry Deacon" — a whistleblower who was placed in a variety of extremely classified projects — again reminded me recently that simply taking vitamin D3, either at 2400 or 5000 IU, can almost entirely eliminate the threat of viral infection and disease.

And the best way to ‘take’ vitamin D is to simply get 15-20 minutes of direct sunlight on your skin, without sunscreen, each day.  “

… so back outside kids and please don’t stop to put on that sunscreen which is probably more dangerous than the sunshine.

Nah, they can’t be serious, say it ain’t so, Joe

Evidence of Government Manipulation of the Stock Market … don’t tell us The Plunge Protection teams are back!  I’m actually relieved that someone else can see this stuff … anyone, who, like me, is watching it in real time, goes, “Whaaaaaaat is that?”and how could you possibly trade it?  

… and on a more sombre note, Obituary for Leonard Schlain mentioned far below in an earlier post.

Leonard on BBC … especially for Marilyn

Link to video from a Japanese youTube type site … the first cut, late 80’s version of First We Take Manhattan, has him way more “outside” as the jazzmen would put it … slashing the lyrics across the music, tempting the synchronization to keep up … yeah!

note: you can goto fullscreen with the little box in the lower right of the video applet

Deep Thoughts from Jeremy Grantham

Quarterly Letter to Investors from a veteran ... if you want to get the flavour of how one can think with both sides of ones mind and speak as objectively as is currently possible ...

(this applet lets you see enough to tell whether you want to click on the link. above the applet window which will take you to the full page view of the document. You can toggle full screen with the X or square in the top right corner of the applet or use + or Ctrl + to magnify in the applet window.)

JGLetter_1Q09

You Wanted a Simple Explanation … the global financial crisis in Pictures

Here it is … The Global Financial Crisis in Pictures … did that help?  I didn’t think so … following up on the previous article, there are some things which are beyond comprehension and are best left that way. 

If it could be agreed that we are ALL part of something and that ANY solution must pass the test of best for EVERYONE, not just for me and my gang

….

       ….. things might become more and more comprehensible.

While it is usually best to stick to one topic, this morning the news that a bunch of whales of the insurance industry (life, property and auto) have been made eligible for US govt bailouts has to be a footnote here … what would result if these fear merchants were allowed to collapse and people began to realize that betting your life is maybe not the best way to experience peace and serenity.

Finally someone, and in this case, the US President, says that US Long-term debt is unsustainable.  That being said, exactly how is the withdrawal going to be managed?

Ooops, one more … a discussion of the Mar – May rally with the middle part on the role of Quant funds quite illuminating … if nothing else, the machinations of HUGE funds in the market are being challenged by the, wait for it, self-correcting nature of market itself … who would have guessed.  It’s hard to believe the bets made by the quants, but this has been the story for the last few years … new and more risky attempts by the sharpy numbers guys to get an edge which unravels now almost before the skater gets up on it.  Per our fairness doctrine, here is the contrary view

We’ve Reached a Turning Point

I want to admonish you, gentle reader, that a turning point in our journey has been reached. For those of you who have forgotten the Psychic Apocalypse, please click on the reference link in the header of this blog to refresh your memory … I want to get a bit more serious about this topic and argue, persuasively, I hope, that the challenges of our time are Good News, that it is Just Time for certain experiences and perceptions to occur and for the individual and collective human journeys to change.

{a really useful aside for those who yet to discover that on most browsers Ctrl + enlarges the page, so those of us with senior challenged vision can read almost anything. Ctrl – reduces the size … that’s The Ctrl key held down while pressing the + sign key over at the far right on most keyboards. Mac users probably use that special key you have instead of Ctrl)

Now the following quote from the theologian who coined the phrase: “Ground of Being” as a modern way to talk about god …

suggests, to me, that we have, here described, a test for how we are doing … that if we are NOT taking refuge in clinging to the past (and failed) we just might be facing the present and emerging future in a useful direction. I would suggest that we are seeing around us the surprising behaviour of many people and groups, in many different contexts to be more like deer in the headlights than like Ku Klux Klansmen … and that if this pause to digest the present perception does not collapse into some kind of reactionary spasm, we might have a chance to navigate our times. And this means you, too … if you are you are not looking for that lost scripture to guide you, but are experiencing a gap in understanding … good on ya!

Here is some potential guidance/advice:

This is a summary of the Sedona Method invented by Lester Levinson in 1952 at age 42 when he was told he had 2 weeks to live. In 3 months time, doing the above repeatedly and Releasing everything he could dig out of his unconscious realm, bring it to consciousness and let it go, Lester was healthy, free of dis-ease and lived another 42 years. He would say to himself, “Could you let _____ go?” … “Would you?” … “When?” … one of his disciples has suggested that the answers are Yes, Yes and Now … again and again means to release over and over on that area until it is clear … this is felt experientially.

And finally, lest you think I have gone feeble minded on you, there is some method to my madness … (here you might need to magnify as described above with Ctrl +)

So, perhaps, we can take some heart, dear reader, that the complexities and confusion around us are the inevitable development of a new phase in evolution for humans, our societies and our global culture. Renate asked the wonderful question: Is hyper-inflation possible when everyone is printing money as fast as they can?

_______________ bottom line __________ relative to what?

Current tidbits from the US financial swamp

Refi fever takes hold. The rush of homeowners to refinance mortgages at lower rates is sparking a boom in home lending, prompting banks to hire thousands of new employees. The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates lenders could originate up to $2.78T in new mortgages this year, 80% of that involving refinancing. Economists estimate U.S. homeowners could save $18B on mortgage repayments this year if they refinance.

Take the money, or else. We already knew that then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson twisted bank executives' arms to accept a combined $125B in TARP money, but documents obtained yesterday by watchdog Judicial Watch shed new light on the extent of the coercion. "If a capital infusion is not appealing, you should be aware that your regulator will require it in any circumstance," CEOs read in a set of Talking Points handed out by Paulson. The documents "show our government exercising unrestrained power over the private sector," Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a statement, and alleges the Obama administration continues to cover up present Secretary Geithner's role in "this infamous bankers meeting."

Banks sue MBIA over split. Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan (JPM), HSBC (HBC), Barclays (BCS), and 13 other large financial institutions are suing bond insurer MBIA (MBI), over its decision to split its businesses earlier this year into "good" and "bad" banks. The group claims the split was fraudulent, and left the insurance arma virtual shell company, with no ability to pay the banks' claims.

Dare we question recent rule changes? ... do we overlook unfairness because "our side" is winning

During the financial crisis era (fall - winter), I have been bothered by the way the common man's hatred has been deliberately focused on the banks and the Wall Street establishment. Not that I believe these titans to be without blame or innocent in any way. It's just that there are distortions in our perceptions when we get emotional, and there are larger distortions when we are in anger and hatred.  This post from the ever vigilant “Tyler Durden” reprints a letter from one of the dreaded hedge-fund managers which in a well-argued way points out the attempt by the current US administration to change the rules in favour of their supporters, much like the previous administration made sure the rules were changed (deregulation) to favour their supporters.  For those of you who don’t want to delve into the details, let me simply state the current case:  Bankruptcy (think Chrysler) is a process to evaluate who should get what of the “remains” and usually bond holders are ahead in the line because they were willing to accept less profit in order to ensure that place in line in the event of a failure of the business.  Mr. O has sarcastically suggested that the bondholders or their representatives have been unwilling to sacrifice for the common good, by insisting that they should indeed be first in line, ahead of the unions as the rules have stated.  It gets pretty close to suggesting lack of patriotism, just as Mr. B did when people questioned his rule changing a few years ago.  This is disturbing because it demonstrates where politics has always failed us and may well continue to do so.

Let’s review an emotional scale from the bottom up:  Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger, Pride, Courage, Acceptance and Peace.

Politicians are tempted to roil the lower group as long as we allow that to play.  As we move ourselves up the scale, those strategies fail to move us, but we may be called upon to help calm our neighbours.  (Self) righteousness is ultimately painful as well as mean, so beware the temptation the title points out.

Good Environmental Policy is Good Economic Policy

Non other than the remaining Kennedy lineage holder makes the above point in 2 minutes.  I’m glad someone is making this all too obvious point, because we are going to be tempted to forsake the environment for short term fixes again and again.

Not exactly a counter point, but a broader view of the environment than is usually taken by the “green” folks, is made by Peter Huber.  Would you believe that many of the pet green proposals will end up with more carbon in the environment?  Read this and draw your own conclusions.  It is all too clear that the environmental debate has become as polarized as the political debates and voices from the centre are needed to move forward.