7 comments

  1. doc holiday

    Perspective?

    I think Yves suggests that a few up or down days in a volatile market are not indicative of a technical trend. Hence the distorted neck of the giraffe represents evolutionary and probably generational DNA modifications that are the result of long-term systemic failures — which have reulted in long-term solutions. This is about time, as in, be patient and relax and step away from the lotto ticket booth and forget about economics in a micro sense — this is macro time and the day-to-day grinding away of the recession id going to be a long slow event — so get some perspective!

    Taken to the extreme, one could suggest that this giraffe tongue, extending out (further than it should) is symbolic of regional banks attempting to seek out and probe for nourishment from a sick and weakly Fed teat, which is sorely in need of weaning time — time to heal, time to regain stability… time to ponder and come what come may.

    Somehow this might have additionally fit in, but then it didn’t, then it did:

    Neural nets in the visual system of human beings learn how to make a very efficient interpretation of 3D scenes. That is why, when somebody goes away from us, we do not see him getting shorter. And when we stretch one arm and look at the two hands we do not see one hand smaller than the other. We should not forget that, as visual illusions show us quite clearly, what we see is an image created in our brain. Our brain projects the image of the smaller hand to its correct distance in our internal 3D model. This is what is called the size constancy mechanism.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Müller-Lyer_illusion

  2. Anonymous

    This may be a long reach, but maybe The Fed is using too much Botox lately, which is resulting in a bloated and swollen appearance from obvious allergic reactions and side effects which are compounding?

    See: The recent research by the Harley Medical Group has shown that the number of people getting Botox treatment has increased by 31%. Botox treatment is a blessing for those people who suffer from excessive sweating in social environment.

    Dr. Nicky Naylor, The Harley Medical Group’s specialist Botox doctor said that the people suffering from excessive sweating feels uncomfortable in social situation.

    He said, “Caused by an overreaction by the sympathetic nervous system, hands, feet and armpits are the most affected due to the higher concentration of sweat glands – for example there are approximately 500 glands per square centimetre in the palms of the hands.”

    The group added that Botox treatment can help those men and women who suffer from inferiority complex in a social gathering. Such people start sweating when they are surrounded by people.

  3. Anonymous

    No, that is about this: Freddie Mac will probably halt its 25-cents-a-share quarterly payment, and Fannie Mae will probably eliminate dividends after more than $11 billion in combined losses since last year, according to Bloomberg dividend forecasts.

    Fannie Mae has paid shareholders for three decades, while Freddie Mac increased its payout every year since 1990 before lowering it in November.

    “I don’t know how you can justify a taxpayer-led bailout and agree to pay dividends to stockholders,” said Don Wordell, a fund manager at Ceredex Value Advisors, which manages $3 billion in Orlando, Fla.

  4. Anonymous

    Maybe it’s this?

    “Unlike mom-and-pop stores, large retail formats have much higher cost obligations,” said Devangshu Dutta, chief executive of retail consultancy firm Third Eyesight, based in Gurgaon. “Organizations with larger cost heads will be first to get hit in case of a slowdown.”

  5. Anonymous

    Maybe this?

    “A year and a half ago you’d have to stand in line to get a piece of equipment,” he said. “Now, you can get anything you want.”

    On the front lines of Maui’s economic downturn, construction is seeing a marked decline, according to industry leaders. The county issued 2,521 building permits in the fiscal year ending June 30, down 9 percent from 2007, and a 20 percent drop from a high of 3,141 permits issued in 2006. The combined value of building permits was $786.2 million, down 25 percent from a high of $1.04 billion two years ago.

    “It’s a big wet blanket,” said Cook, head of the Maui Contractors Association.

    He said the construction industry has been “very slow,” with projects being completed and few new ones on the horizon.

    While some major projects are still in the works, they won’t add jobs to the industry for some time, he added. A big development like Honua’ula, the just-zoned Wailea 670 project district, could take 18 months to start work even if it were green-lighted tomorrow, he estimated.

    “The crystal ball says it’s going to be slow through the end of 2010, because it takes time to get anything going,” he said.

  6. Anonymous

    Here?

    ILWU Maui Division Director William Kennison is trying to remember all the hotels that have given him notice that they are reducing their work force, either through layoffs or by cutting hours.

    Losing track, he untacks a list of ILWU employers from his wall, returns to his desk and runs down the page with his finger, counting.

    "One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . . six . . . seven . . . eight . . . nine . . . 10 . . . 11, 12, 13 . . . 14," he says, looking up. "Fourteen properties."

    Coming on the heels of layoffs at Maui Land & Pineapple last month, and the closure of Molokai Ranch in April, Kennison estimates the hotel cutbacks will bring the total number of ILWU members who are out of work to more than 400.

    As scary as the situation seems now, he believes worse is likely to come. The hotels are treating the reductions as a "precautionary" measure to stave off deeper cuts, and other unionized industries like sugar and grocery stores haven't yet begun to cut back.

    "It is starting to hit, but they're trying to weather the storm," he said. "If fuel prices continue, we're looking at real serious problems."

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