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there are only 10 kinds of people in this world..

It's the dollar, stupid.

Posted by Keith Thu, 22 May 2008 15:52:00 GMT

The Washington Post today proclaim that “Skyrocketing Oil Prices Stump Experts.”. Now I’m not an expert, so maybe I’m just being stupid, but this doesn’t seem that complicated.

First 3 graphs

What you see to the left is the dollar tracked over the last 12 months against The Euro, Oil and Gold and the British Pound. Focusing on the first three.. do ya see any similarities? The same amount of gold will buy the same amount of oil. The same amount of Euros will buy the same amount of oil.. so gas price hikes outside of the UK are a pretty disgusting gouging by someone.

Graph 4

This is the UK currency, the Pound against the dollar. This doesn’t match the other graphs at all, and that brings me to what prompted me to write this in the first place - an article by the BBC about the rising price of fuel in the UK.

The VALUE of crude oil is not rising

So. Either I’m stupid, or the media is stupid. It’s very very easy to see, that the amount of value you have to exchange for a barrel of crude oil has been static for a year, but that’s going to mean more in terms of Dollars, because the VALUE of the dollar is plumetting. How long is it going to take for this country as a whole to start dealing with that reality?

Crude oil as a currency is very stable

Why McCain will be our next President and why that makes me mad.

Posted by Keith Tue, 13 May 2008 12:58:00 GMT

I don’t post much in the way of politics on this blog, but I’m infuriated at the idiocy of “the system” here in the US.

I’m taking a break from reading the new Ron Paul book to post this, and it’s just incredible the difference between his positions and those of the current nominees.

I have to say now what I said back in 2004.. What are the democratic party thinking???

Put it this way. We have a country thoroughly dissatisfied with the Republican party, and what are the Dems putting up in response?

Either someone who a lot of people won’t vote for because she’s a woman, or someone that a lot of people won’t vote for because he’s black.

Go figure.

This is a NUMBERS game. The re-election of Bush in 2004 showed that. The majority of US voters don’t make educated voting decisions, and the media make no attempt to educate them about meaningful issues.

The person who wins a US election is the person that attracts the most sheep. The person who on face value ( because it doesn’t go deeper than that ) that the majority of the voting pool sees as somewhat like them. The person whose BS and rhetoric gels with the BS and rhetoric of the average uninformed citizen.

Sorry - that’s not a black guy, or a woman. It’s a old white guy whose sound bites carry sufficient charm to gloss over the fact that he hasn’t the slightest idea about global economics, and thinks that war is really cool.

It’s the old white guy who ticks all the boxes:

  • Goes to church ( even though he’s endorsed by an Evangelical nutter )
  • Is a war hero who suffered torture (even though he thinks that torturous sanctions against foreign nations is a pretty cool thing )
  • Is white
  • Seems like he knows what he is talking about ( which is ludicrous )
  • Has an ‘I’m just like you’ air ( and he is if your wife is worth $100,000,000 and your friends are all Washington lobbyists )

Bottom line, I said it in 2004, and I’ll probably say it again, this country that I’ve chosen to live in is great - but I’m tired of dumbass people voting for dumb ass presidents who make dumbass decisions that are not reigned in by a bunch of dumbass congressmen that are more concerned about scoring points that looking after the interests the the people they are supposed to be protecting.

So, Mr and Mrs Average American. This is what you want?

Well if you find yourself unable to put gas in your car, to go buy a $6 loaf of bread because there’s no food in the house you are now renting from your bank, here’s the good news.. Voting for the black guy, or the white woman really wouldn’t have made that much difference anyway.

Although I’ve chosen to live here, and will continue to do so for the next few years, it’s a great relief that I have the choice to leave. I can take my family, get on a plane and live anywhere I want in Europe on either of my European passports.

It’s just a great concern to me the number of people who at that point will be sitting around in the US wondering what went wrong, and trying to work out who they can blame for it.


RadioShack don't know my mom.

Posted by Keith Fri, 09 May 2008 16:26:00 GMT

Is this for real? I’ve seen some dumb advertising in my time, but man, if RadioShack marketing department think that every mothers desire is a 1gig Flash Memory card RadioShack have some firing to do.

This follows Twitter sending out an email suggesting that people tweet their moms for Mothers Day? WHAT??? My mom would fly to the US and beat me over the head with something if that was my idea of a Mothers Day salute ( although having said that, it’s not mothers day in Ireland, and I always miss it when it is, so maybe a tweet would be better than nothing ).

Seriously though advertisers. If you think my mom wants a text string or a flash card as a sign of my eternal thanks to her then we you’re dumb as a post.

Here are some other suggestions for mothers day:

  • A six pack
  • A DIY oil change kit
  • Beavis and Butthead DVD set
  • A buy one get one free card for the Bunny Ranch




Government CAN move fast.. when it wants to.

Posted by Keith Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:51:00 GMT

I’ve just read about the $200Bn Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac are being allowed to play with and have realized something that surprises me greatly.

“We the people” often think that things are the way they are because government is this monolithic supertanker of an entity that lacks agility, changes slowly, and almost requires an act of congress to get something done.. no wait - bad analogy - or should I say “touche” as we are talking about the Bush administration.

But here we are, on Wednesday and already:

  • The FED have made billions available to Investment Houses like they would to banks
  • Interest rates have been cut.. again
  • The FED managed to overnight make an agreement to secure $30Bn of Bear Stearn’s assets to massage the buyout by JP Morgan

Look at the MAGNITUDE of the decisions made here.. in FOUR DAYS! Why can’t the government move this quick around situations when they aren’t getting their asses handed to them?


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