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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (41096)	11/14/2005 2:56:19 PM
From: ild	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

OT: Wackiest web names ever By JONATHAN WEINBERG EVER done something then instantly regretted you didn't check things out a little bit more closely! Well, the people behind these websites must have been kicking themselves after buying this set of wacky domain names. At first glance they might seem innocent enough, but have another read. And if you've spotted an even better one, send it in to yourviews@the-sun.co.uk marked "Wacky website name" We'd love to see it and we'll reprint the best ones! Who Represents?, a database for agencies to the rich and famous: www.whorepresents.com Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views: www.expertsexchange.com Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island: www.penisland.net Need a therapist? www.therapistfinder.com Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales: www.molestationnursery.com New to Milan and you need electric light? Why not sign up on-line with Power-Gen? www.powergenitalia.com thesun.co.uk

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (41096)	11/14/2005 3:02:26 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

From Wendy on the FOOL.... I am not sure whether this post is OT. I am outraged, in a way that I rarely feel, over the attempt of the mining industry to rape the environment, under the guise of reducing the monstrous federal budget deficit. Perhaps the deficit tie-in makes this on-topic for Mish's board. Please forgive me, if not. Please read on. When does unbridled greed segue into pure evil? Rep. Richard Pombo's (R-Calif) proposal to sell National Park and National Forest lands to mining companies, for mineral exploitation and/or development, surely qualifies as evil. Pombo's bill would reverse a Clinton Administration ban on selling the mining claims, under the 1872 Mining Law. In Washington State, these lands would include gorgeous, pristine Shi Shi Beach, plus beautiful, much-hiked areas of the Olympic, Ranier, and Cascade forests. Beloved park areas, throughout the U.S., would fall under this monstrous pander to the mining companies. It only adds insult to injury that Pombo's proposal would sell the land at 1872 valuations, to foreign mining companies. The government would receive no royalties from mineral wealth, only the minuscule sale price for the raw land. Though the proposal is being pushed as a way of balancing the Federal Government's budget deficit, it would only raise 0.002% of the deficit, as it destroys irreplaceable, pristine public land. Only the mining companies would benefit, as America's treasures are raped. All Americans, who own these beautiful and pristine lands in common, should be up in arms, over Pombo's proposal. Whatever your political persuasion, please write to your representatives, at all levels of Federal Government. This bill comes up for a vote, in the House, this week, so please don't delay writing to your Congressional Representative (at www.house.gov). It could still be killed by a Senate committee, during the budget bill reconciliation process, so please write to your senators (at www.senate.gov). The Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Jim Nussle (R-IA), does not accept e-mails from non-Iowans. However, his Washington office's phone number is 202-225-2911. Please take immediate action, to protect your stake in the beauty of America. Any Fool who writes to his/her government representatives, to protest this travesty, will be personally welcomed by me, should you ever visit the North Olympic Peninsula. (cross-posted) Thank you, Wendy

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (41096)	11/14/2005 3:17:23 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

Daily Reckoning [Sometimes they send stuff out email that I can not find on the website. Perhaps I am blind but here is an interesting article with no link - It is on previous land booms in the US - Nevermind - I found it under Mogambo link dailyreckoning.com You may want to read his article too Mish] It is a bright, sunny morning here in London. What a wonderful day to blow something up! But poor Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi must feel terrible. The woman is a failure, an incompetent. She went to a wedding with her husband; both wore explosives. Both had pledged to blow themselves to smithereens to make a point about something-or-other. But then she couldn't get her bombs to go off. So you see, dear reader, things don't always work out as you had hoped. But sometimes incompetence is rewarded and they do work out better than you deserve. We bring that up for no particular reason. It just seemed like a cheery way to start off the week. It also illustrates how explosive situations can be hard to control. Occasionally and accidentally, things go well. Occasionally they go badly. Every once in a while things seem to "blow up" - even when they were thought to be under control. And often the things that were expected to keep them under control are the very things that cause them to explode. We illustrate this point with two episodes, one today...the other tomorrow. The first is from that fair age before the invention of air-conditioning or reality TV...the late 19th century. From Grant's Interest Rate Observer comes the story of the great bubble in real estate prices west of the Mississippi. Kansas farmland went up four to six times between 1881 and 1887, according to scholars who've studied the matter. The price of land rose as high as $200 an acre. The source of the hot air was a combination of things. Nature was rarely kinder to the Great Plains than in the years following the War Between the States. It rained out on the prairies, raising crop yields to levels many thought unsustainable. And then came the railroads. Between 1880 and 1887, Kansas doubled the mileage of rail lines. In that same decade, railroad mileage quadrupled in Nebraska and rose 11 times in the Dakota Territory. Now, farmers not only had bumper crops, but also a way to get them to market. Could there be any doubt that this was not a cyclical boom, but a genuine new era? Investors thought so. Not only did they rush to buy up the flat land in the trans-Missouri region, they also drove out to lend money to the farmers. Mortgages on these western farms were considered safer than their eastern equivalents - partly because of the expectation of good yields, but largely because a bubble mentality had set in. Western farmland looked like such a sure thing, everyone wanted a piece of the action...either a section of land, or a derivative on it, such as a mortgage. Typical of a bubble, what begins as little, ends up as too much; it wasn't long before investors had overbought the western lands and farmers had overproduced the grains that were supposed to support their mortgages. You could sell a bushel of corn for 63 cents in 1881. By the end of the decade, you couldn't get half that much. Then, in 1887, the weather that had been so unusually good came to an end in a stretch that was unusually bad. A 10-year drought began, in which crops failed about every other year. It was not a new era, after all. As the crops withered, so did the mortgage market. In the last three years of the decade, mortgage lending fell to only 10% of the previous three years' activity. Land prices fell. Farmers went bust, handing their land over to the mortgage holders, who by then were no longer happy to get it. The farmers themselves left the plains, either west to California or back to the Mississippi Valley. Farmers and speculators might have learned their lesson. Or they might not. Out of the experience - and falling agricultural prices generally - came a call that political authorities heard with both ears. We should not crucify debtors (farmers who had mortgaged their land) on "a cross of gold," said William Jennings Bryan. We should not, "press down upon the brow of labor," a crown of thorns, he went on in glorious humbug. It bothered William Jennings Bryan and the other populists, that people had to pay back loans in currency just as valuable - or even more valuable - than the stuff they borrowed. They demanded a more "flexible" legal tender. Eventually, the call was turned into action; the Federal Reserve was created to make sure that no borrower ever after, had to make good on his debts. Since the Fed was created, the paper dollar has lost about 95% of its value...with a nearly 50% loss during the time of Alan Greenspan alone. Those who think property prices always go up may want to take note. Today, after huge population growth and nearly 35 years since a debtor was least crucified on a cross with the least trace of gold content, Kansas farmland sells for an average of $800 per acre. Adjusted to 1880 prices, that is only about $20, or barely 10% of the peak prices set 120 years ago. Ed. Note: Americans owe $7 trillion on their homes - twice as much as 10 years ago. But our incomes - our ability to pay - have gone up by a fraction of that amount. It's painfully clear a lot of that $7 trillion will never be paid back. And the biggest lenders on the planet are going down - but you don't have to be taken down with them...