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Zero Hedge

January 24, 2013 by at 10:50 am

For our disinterested readers, Zero Hedge has been a daily dose during this winter of my discontent, and I’ve been intending to pass it on for a few months. Most of the entries are posted anonymously by “Tyler Durden.” The contributors include more than forty financial insiders who share a collective dismay over the real economic condition of the U.S. and the rest of the world. They seem to have  professional reasons to remain anonymous . Sometimes the terminology is a bit technical, but you’ll get the idea. This post is a good summation of a number of entries and include links to previous posts.

 

For those who want to see how the sausage is made. For those who do not, I don’t blame you a bit. Enjoy the hot dog because we’re probably  powerless to fix things anyway.

27 Comments Filed Under: Hell Tagged With: , ,

Comments

  1. Quin Finnegan says:
    January 24, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    “Financialization” is a new one for me. The word itself pretty well indicates everything that seems wrong with the economy these days.

    Stock up on canned food, go to church when you can, and tell your loved ones you love them.

    Thanks Mr Webb.

    Reply
  2. Jonathan Potter says:
    January 24, 2013 at 5:58 pm

    Thanks for letting me off the hook in the disclaimer. I have to admit that’s where I’m at. I assume shit will either hit the fan or it won’t or it will but in varying degrees.

    Reply
    • Jonathan Webb says:
      January 24, 2013 at 6:06 pm

      That’s about where I’m at too. I sure hope that Obama is right on this one and conservatives are full of shit.

      Reply
    • Jonathan Webb says:
      January 24, 2013 at 7:09 pm

      The one hope is oil and natural gas, believe it or not. As long as Obama doesn’t try to stop it, America could be the largest petroleum producer in the world in about fifteen years.

      OPEC nations are funding anti-fracking movies starring Matt Damon.

      Reply
  3. Ellen says:
    January 25, 2013 at 7:59 am

    I read this stuff and find it very frightful. Few people seem to realize that the economy is a house of cards.

    It brings to mind some words of MLK (I’ve been on an MLK kick this week): “All life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.”

    Thinking about the financial world and the economy reminds me (sometimes starkly) of “the interrelated structure of reality,” does it not?

    It also reminds me of this., which I’ve always found brilliant in its own way for showing the fine line between lust and greed.

    Reply
    • notrelatedtoted says:
      January 25, 2013 at 8:14 am

      What caught me was the opening line about how “financialization” has become far more profitable than actual goods & services. On a very common sense level, you have to wonder how credit & leverage could generate more wealth than the stuff that credit and leverage are supposed to serve. But then I think there’s a number of non-economic parallels in current culture – sex & lust vs. marriage, spirituality vs. religion, on and on. You take the underlying principal and make it the product, much like modern art. “Phantom Assets” indeed.

      Reply
      • Ellen says:
        January 25, 2013 at 8:46 am

        The productization of principle!

        That’s pretty good. You should trademark that.

        I thought the documentary Inside Job about the 2008 financial crisis did a fairly good job of explaining the highly complex financial “products” that, if swapped in a massive shell game, allow people to make boatloads of money while contributing absolutely nothing to society.

        Reply
    • Jonathan Webb says:
      January 25, 2013 at 8:23 am

      Great stuff. I think that MLK has been badly served by his diefication. He was a religious man (with feet of clay) who was effective because he saw the world a hard-headed way. I am much more interested in the real person and bored to death by the icon.

      And notrelated, yeah, creating stuff. What a concept.

      Reply
      • Ellen says:
        January 25, 2013 at 8:51 am

        The man. The myth. The message. Easy to get them all mixed up, I suppose. I’ve been reading his sermons in “Strength to Love,” which are so simple, but so good. Too bad most of my heroes turn out to be womanizers. What is UP with that?

        Reply
        • Angelico Nguyen, Esq., OP says:
          January 26, 2013 at 1:18 am

          I do not avoid women, but I do deny them my essence.

          Reply
          • lickona says:
            January 26, 2013 at 8:14 am

            The Womanizer sounds like some kind of late-night TV infomercial wonder-product that is guaranteed* to make women happier, healthier, and more productive.

            *Not a guarantee.

            Reply
            • Paul S. says:
              January 26, 2013 at 8:28 am

              double lol’s!

              Reply
            • Ellen says:
              January 26, 2013 at 9:47 am

              I’ve just recently started watching Mad Men. There is an episode about this, except I believe they call it The Rejuvenator.

              Reply
              • Angelico Nguyen, Esq., OP says:
                January 26, 2013 at 2:27 pm

                The Relax-a-Cizor!

                (It’s probably unrelated to weight loss.)

                Reply
                • Ellen says:
                  January 27, 2013 at 11:25 am

                  relax-a-cizor, relax-relaxacisor, you’re a relaxacisor
                  Oh, relaxacisor, oh, love me relaxacisor, baby
                  Yes, you-you are, you, you-you are
                  Relaxacizor, Relaxacizor, Relaxacizor
                  (Relaxacizor)

                  (Adapted from Britney Spears’ “Womanizer”)

                  Reply
              • Angelico Nguyen, Esq., OP says:
                January 26, 2013 at 11:59 pm

                How far are you in Mad Men? Any thoughts so far?

                My friends got me hooked on it during the third season. When it’s not heartbreaking, it’s hilarious. Occasionally, it’s both!

                Reply
                • Ellen says:
                  January 27, 2013 at 9:23 am

                  I plowed through the first season, mostly drawn along by the story lines of Peggy and Joan. I just love looking at it, the way they dress, the furniture, etc. and I find the gender stuff to be really interesting. Plus it was funny, the way kids walk around with plastic on their heads and people don’t think twice about drinking and driving. (What a bunch of barbarians! I bet they don’t even wash their vegetables!)

                  But as the second season started, my interest tapered. I found myself feeling depressed after watching an episode. I couldn’t be less interested in Don and Betty, either singularly or as a unit, and it seemed to be becoming more about them. So I’m kind of stalled out at the moment.

                  Does it get better?

                  Reply
                  • Don Draper's Gravelly Pitch for the C-Class Mercedes says:
                    January 27, 2013 at 10:03 am

                    Hm. The show is very much Don’s show. If you don’t care about him, you’ll have trouble. On the other hand, Peggy and Joan are absolutely not neglected. I think it’s fantastic.

                    Reply
                    • Angelico Nguyen, Esq., OP says:
                      January 27, 2013 at 11:26 pm

                      Amen to what DDGPftCCM said. Can’t hardly wait for Season Six to start in April.

                      Don is the only character who is in every single episode, but Peggy and Joan get plenty of time in the spotlight as the series moves through 1962 and beyond.

                      That said, Season One tells a complete story, so choosing not to watch subsequent seasons doesn’t mean you’re missing out on the development of some master plan that’s been building toward a preordained conclusion since the pilot. It’s not a series you’ll have to stick with to the very last episode in the hope of getting a payoff for your investment.

                      You will miss out on some choice quips from Roger Sterling, though.

                    • Ellen says:
                      January 28, 2013 at 6:42 am

                      Well, maybe I’ll try to get back to it. I need a series to pass the time until Breaking Bad comes back!

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