Rag Hand

This is from the NYT

Florida Freezes Its Fund as Governments Pull Out
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH and MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Published: November 30, 2007
Seeking to stem a multibillion-dollar run on an investment pool for local governments, top Florida officials voted to suspend withdrawals from the fund.

It seems that the Florida government’s investment pool had a small percentage of it’s overall fund invested in subprime mortgages.
The local governments saw this, panicked, and started withdrawing money. The fund dropped from $27 billion to $15 billion in the last few months.

The name of the fund is known as the Local Government Investment Pool, and the folks who control all this money are the State Board of Administration.
The names sound grand, but the board is made up of a total of three people. The Governor, the state AG, and the state CFO.
That combination is sure to inspire faith in the system. Billions of dollars controlled by one politician and two political buddies…. Excuse me, I mean appointees. —You trust them. I know better.

One fix under consideration was tapping into the $137 billion state pension fund for public employees in Florida, which is also controlled by the State Board of Administration.

Does anyone else remember when social security was a separate entity? And most importantly, since it became just another part of the budget, does anyone under forty think that there’s going to be anything left by the time they retire?

There’s nothing that can be done about a run on the bank as it were. But surely state governments could afford to hire someone with some investment expertise.

Hostility is a new blog written by a sysadmin.
Read it and laugh ’til you weep.

Or perhaps it’s only funny to those of us who know something about him.

On the Las Vegas Vegas blog there’s yet another article bemoaning the current state of Nevada politics and Las Vegas politics in particular.

It begins with the headline: Las Vegas as “Debauchery Capital.”
Well good. It’s nice to know that we haven’t fallen behind such erstwhile competitors as The Caribbean, Cape Town, Dubai, Buenos Aires and Macau.
This city was built for grownups the only thing that bugs me is that what happens in Vegas no longer stays in Vegas.
There’s almost no discretion, much less style left.

As for the politicians.
Crooked politician is redundant. Until someone can explain to me why a politician would spend millions for a job that pays thousands, I will continue to believe that there is some unmentioned return on investment.
And don’t try to tell me it’s altruism, I’ve watched them and their friends profit for far too long.

As to the strip joints:
Any place that deals in tits, beer and dollar bills is going to be mobbed up. Whether it be the Boys or just local talent, there is simply too much unaccounted for cash, not to draw that sort of a crowd.

As for the mayor:
I like Oscar, but he was a mob lawyer, plain, simple, straight up, and now he’s a politician. –Not much of a change.
He still associates with the same people, judges, lawyers, local politicians and other crooks. If you expect a complete personality change from someone just because of a career change…. Well, bad news kid. –There ain’t no Santa, a cute fluffy bunny doesn’t lay foil covered chocolate eggs, and the folks with suitcases full of hundred dollar bills still make the rules.

Here is what President Chavez is saying:
“The king of Spain, he has to offer some type of apology because he attacked me,” Hugo Chavez said in an interview on state television Friday.
“The king was lucky,” Chavez said. “If I had heard him, I might have answered him … shot an arrow at him like an Indian.”

Here is what the King said and why:
“Why don’t you shut up?” the king shouted at Chavez on Saturday when he tried to interrupt a speech by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister.
Zapatero was in the middle of a speech at the close of the summit of mostly leftist leaders from Latin America, Portugal, Spain and Andorra, and criticized Chavez for calling Jose Maria Aznar, Spain’s former prime minister, a fascist.

On the whole I thoroughly dislike politicians of any ilk.
However, President Chavez stands out from the crowd. He seems to be of the opinion that he is the only one in the world with anything important to say. (You will notice that everyone else attending the summit listened to him without interruption.)
He insists on attacking and insulting whoever disagrees with him, all the while beating his chest and making nonsense threats.

While I understand and agree with the reasons for the election of President Chavez and the other socialists in Latin America.
I do think that a country with the potential of Venezuela would be better served with a President who is more statesman and less class clown.

As a side note. Water is the new oil.
Which explains why the Bush family reportedly bought or is buying 45,000 hectares in Paraguay. This land sits atop one of the worlds largest aquifers.

Well the Mirage Hotel and Casino here in Las Vegas has decided to close the white tiger exhibit and open a fancy burger joint.
BLT Burgers is moving into that spot and the tigers are going to Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden.

The burger joint serves everything from Kobe beef to Ahi Tuna burgers.

This was done very quietly and hotel reps say that the move was done to encourage visitors to visit the secret garden. Of course it doesn’t hurt that the Secret Garden charges $15 for adults and $10 for children ages 4-12. –Much more profitable than letting the kids see the tigers for free.

Besides which, judging by the number of Macdonald’s and Burger King signs on the strip, there’s money in them thar burgers.

But I’ll bet BLT can’t match the $5000 burger at the Wynn. (It’s only about $75 without the wine. And no, you don’t get fries with that.)