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What an ungodly mess. Yup. Scientists warned we’ve hit the tipping point. 22,000 pieces of man-made junk orbit Earth at 17,500 mph. Colliding, exploding, multiplying. That chain reaction destroys satellites, and so on, and so forth. Gonna take generations to clean it up. We’d best get started – heed the quiet warning of Easter Island’s lonely stones. Yeah, we’re such filthy little creatures. The grander our ach

Emcee knocked frantically, “Ben, dammit, Bernanke, open up, you’re on, c’mon.” But there he sat; glued to the Weather Channel. A tear rolled gently down his cheek, you see, his prayer had been answered. Moments later he polished his dome, grabbed the mic, addressed the rudderless Jackson Hole crowd. Kept it brief. Even Princeton Professors know the power of Man’s imagination. And when you’re basically out of ammo, we

Hey bro, keep your head down. Kaboom! Oooh, there goes another one. Kabang! And that’s only the start of things. Just wait for the reprisals. Yup. Bearded Egyptian children snuck into Israel, sprayed some buses. So Israel cleared new parking lots in Gaza. Afghani patriots celebrated a Nat’l holiday (marking liberation from British occupiers in 1919) by igniting themselves at the UK embassy. And unshaven Kurds ambushe

What a freakin’ circus. Spotlights swung wildly. Skinny little Obama, shouldering a $15trln economy, stood frozen high on the wire, looking right, left, but mostly down. Far below, Bernanke frantically inflated his leaky whoopee cushion (not a single trampoline remains). Some Fed clowns threw dung at Ben’s promise of 0% rates though mid-2013 (7-3 vote, most contentious since 1992). A Donkey fled, chased by Michele Ba

We didn’t mean it! Seriously. Lord, when we said we just wanted to get through the debt ceiling, and wouldn’t ask for anything ever again, we were kinda kidding. It was sick mkt humor. We thought you know everything, woulda gotten the joke. Anyhow, if you answer this final prayer, that’ll be it, we’ll never get ourselves into this kinda mess again. We’ll be better people too. We swear. So here goes… Please let the ec

See the news? You musta. Jihadists clashed with centrist Peacekeepers in Somalia. That poor nation simmers, suffering its worst drought in 60yrs, the worst famine in twenty. 2mm souls are starving. Foreigners send billions in food aid. But radical ideology, greed, corruption, posturing – ya know, politics – has gotten in the way. In 3rd world nations, that kinda stuff kills economic growth (children too). Good thing

Damn bro. What a ride, a white knuckler. Things almost changed. We narrowly avoided a paradigm shift. Gang of Six tax/fiscal plan was embraced by everyone but Congressional jihadists – what would we have done with sensible tax reform, lower deficits? And Europe nearly failed to save Greece and contain Italy’s fiscal implosion – what would Europe do when faced with true existential crisis? Someday we’ll find out. But

Week in Review: Mon: EU contagion hits Italy – 2y +70bps (2008 levels), Norwegian Jun CPI -0.4%, S&P -1.8%; Tue: BoJ unch since Dec08, India IP softer, UK Core CPI lowest of the year, Moody’s dngrds Ireland to Junk, Fed Mins as expected, S&P -0.4%; Wed: Mkt interprets Ben as dovish, China IP highest since Jun ‘10, EU IP lowest since Jan ‘10, S&P +0.3%; Thur: Moody’s warns USA dngrd if debt ceiling n

Week-in-Review: Mon: 4th of July, Aussie May retail sales -.6%, Turkey CPI 6.24%, S&P – closed; Tue: Moody’s dngrades Portugal 4 notches to Junk, RBA kept rates unch, C. Anthony acquitted, global serv PMIs soft, EU May Retail Sales -1.1%, S&P +.1%; Wed: PBOC hike rates (5th since oct; 3rd this yr), ISDA’s Gen counsel says Greek rollover won’t trigger CDS, US non-mfg ISM 53.3, solid German factory orders

What a relief. 155 Greek lawmakers approved the E78bln Trojan Horse (a mere 136 voted against, 9 took the day off). Of course not one of Greece’s 300 leaders believes they’ll ever repay debts, but this vote wasn’t about that. It was about giving German politicians what they need so they can pretend the 2nd bailout won’t disappear as fast as the 1st. The few Greeks with jobs left work, took to the streets in celebrati