He may have ED, but his memory is fine

Dole Joins Those Recalling Cantaloupes

Pop culture exposes lies about inflation

Sixteen Candles was on TV today, and I noticed this line when they find Long Duk Dong sprawled on the lawn:

Howard: Aw, shit. I pay seven grand for a wedding, I'll never see it!

$7,000 in 1984 dollars is $14,300 in today's dollars using the official CPI rate of 3% over that period. Do you know anyone who's having a large, traditional wedding and reception in a wealthy suburb this year for $14,300? In fact, costofwedding.com puts the average cost in the film's location of Evanston, Illinois at $44,350.

Slacker to Fed: message received!

Over at the Slacker Revolution, a rational response to the Greenspan/Bernanke dollar destruction:

Me, I’m going to protect my cash by getting it all spent. I stopped working a year ago…why bother? Why feed the beast? Inflation doesn’t hurt if you are broke already.

Karma

Canadian seal killers have a bad day:

The annual Canadian seal hunt was marred Saturday by a boat accident in the ice-covered Gulf of St. Lawrence that killed members of the boat's crew, officials said.

"There have been fatalities," fisheries department spokesman Michel Plamondon said, but a precise casualty figure was not available.

Rescue teams recovered three bodies and another person was still missing in the waters north of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canadian media reported.

Somebody might shed a tear, but not me. Watch these sick bastards in action:

Greenspan's Body Count

In today's episode of Greenspan's Body Count, wealthy real estate fraudster Andrew Kissel was found bound and stabbed to death in his home, shortly before he was to plead guilty to fraud. Police suspect suicide-for-hire in order to let his children cash in on a $15 million life insurance policy:

A chauffeur to a multi-millionaire has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in a case where police believe he may have been hired by his employer to kill him.

Driver Carlos Trujillo, 47, was arrested last week along with his cousin and charged over the death of Andrew Kissel, a wealthy property developer found tied up and stabbed to death in his mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, in April 2006.

At the time of his death, Kissel was had been charged with real estate fraud and grand larceny for allegedly stealing nearly $4 million from a Manhattan apartment company.

Among the murder theories investigated, Greenwich Police chief David Ridberg said, was that Kissel’s death was a “suicide-for-hire”, in which the 46-year-old arranged for his own death so that relatives could benefit from his life insurance.

It looks like another kill for Alan Greenspan: another overleveraged speculator in Greenspan's property bubble for whom death was the easiest way out. Congratulations, Alan Greenspan.

Greenspan's known body count now stands at seven:

Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

We are probably drastically understating the body count as many suicides do not hit the mainstream press -- and what media reports there are may not mention the mortgage troubles that were at the root of the suicides. If you are aware of other Greenspan kills, please let us know so that we can add them to the Body Count.

Merkel to boycott opening ceremony

Angela Merkel is more of a man than George Bush ever will be.

Merkel says she will not attend opening of Beijing Olympics.

I'm sure that, like most German people, Angela Merkel has starred in scheisse porn videos in her youth, and that Chinese agents will try to blackmail her with the tapes. But she won't buckle. That's what kind of man she is.

A question for "homeowners" looking for a bailout

So you're a poor victim of circumstance, or of unscrupulous mortgage brokers or Realtwhores. You just want to live the American Dream and own a house. Fair enough.

Take a look at your loan application. How much money did you tell the bank you were making? Now take a look at your tax return for that year. How much money did you tell the IRS you were making? Were you lying to the bank or were you lying to the IRS?

Now please tell me why you deserve a taxpayer-funded bailout instead of prison time.