Unemployment Claims - USA

Well... is it bottoming out?

More China 'gloom and doom' news.

China and South Korea have announced sharp falls in economic growth, in a further sign of the financial crisis sweeping through east Asia.

China said its GDP fell to 6.8% in the final three months of 2008, from 9% in the previous quarter.

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Yes, yes... We all know the propaganda already. China has human right issues, China trained their athletes too hard, China has bad air pollution, China has unfair trade practices, China is going down the drain with this economic slump.

But 6.8% GDP growth?... That's like Germany on a good year.

Sale up to 80%... while 'stocks' last!

Late last year we told friends and families that a next round of crash is going to happen. Some have no clues what we're talking about, some think we're talking air. One said,' Har?! Still got some more to go ah?"

To which I replied with the song..."it's only just begun".

It's round two now at the Dows and.. Apple is out of Jobs :) Banks are still desperate for cash. Not only that, I hear that hedge funds need to liquidate their positions to pay back withdrawals request from last year. It would mean a big sell off of everything in the market which leads to plumetting prices.

We haven't even heard about credit loans, car loans yet.

It's not a beautiful picture really. However for the wise, therein lies great opportunity. Loans are getting cheaper. Good assets are getting more 'affordable'...

And inline with the Golden globe fever... I want to thank USA for this opportunity that they have given us. To be more specific, the Feds who has royally screwed the people of USA, the SEC and of course not forgetting the secretary of treasury.

Your determination to have more debt and to print more money has made all these things possible. Your undeterred support to your banker friends in these great times, giving them free loans to buy up other banks... *smiles* you know who you are... has also given all of us hope that indeed money is 'free'.

I hear you car szar, you're the fastest learner of us all, well done. The threat on massive unemployment did worked! :)

Last but not least, Mr President George W Bush. All this cannot happen without your clueless, aimless and visionless leadership qualities.

Your ability to dodge 2 shoe throws has inspire us all that indeed you can spew out any and every bullshit and dodge all repercussions.

******

You guys should have just elected Ron Paul instead.

Hero of the week - Bernard Madoff

There are con man, and there are CON master. I've always thought that if I were to be a con man, I should do it big time. Like really BIG time.

Why do it small time? Firstly, it's harder to con. Secondly, if your'e caught your losses still far outweights your rewards. Take our hero for the week for example. The con is worth USD 50bn!!!!! Who knows how much more he kept? The penalty apparently is 20 years jail or 5m fine.

I can almost hear it in court, "The defendant pleads guilty. Here's 10m, keep the change."

But the question I have in mind is how did he get past all the 'checks'. Did the governing authority practiced double standards in doing their job:- if you're a who's who they let you off easy, if you're a new player, they scrutinise you?

A friend have another good theory. The scheme he says, is 100% legit. Just highly leverage and exploiting some insider loopholes. When the financial crisis hit, the scheme starts to fall apart. So, Madoff, being the smaller fry is taking the fall. It's impossible for him to pull out such a scheme alone.

Now if the whole scheme falls apart, not only the insider loopholes will be compromised, the big fishes that Madoff works for will also be affected. Now, Madoff is already big, so you can imagine who the other bigger fishes are. Big money are also at stake .

Saying that it's a Ponzi scheme is easy and less 'technical'. Pleads guilty quickly. Investigation stops. Names are protected, loopholes are still intact. More money exchange hands. In about 2 years, the whole thing can start again when the financial crises is over. Afterall, humans do have a very short term memory.

Heads you win, Tail you lose pt 3

Tell me, what was the first word you said (in your head also count!) right after you read this.
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Context... ever since petrol peaked a few months ago, the government has been crying foul about how they can't afford subsidy anymore. They were losing billions!! (So they say... except for that P-company which were making billions suddenly with the increase of oil price)

They had NO choice. See they say it here:

"PUTRAJAYA: The Government announced yesterday an increase in petrol and diesel prices, stating that it can no longer continue to subsidise fuel. "

Some people then say taking away subsidy is also good because we should go to a free market system. The government can also use what's saved to other areas.

"He said the Government would save RM13.7bil through the restructuring.

From the savings, he said RM4bil would go to the National Food Supply Guarantee Policy, RM1.5bil for subsidising cooking oil and RM400mil to subsidise rice imports to make the price uniform in peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

The Government would also spend RM200mil on flour subsidy, RM100mil on bread subsidy and RM7.5bil was meant for contributions to the subsidies for petrol, diesel and gas."

Subsidy or not, inflation quickly sky-rocketed.

And just as it quickly went up it came down. And down. It came down so much that we are now paying TAXES on fuel? TAXES?!!!

CCB! From GETTING subsidy at current prices we end up PAYING taxes!!!!!! and the more petrol price is dropping the more the government can take!

Now, with ALL the BIG savings we get from the cancellation of subsidy we were promised infrastructures.. bla bla blah... now leh? Now do we get more?

Savings + Taxes = more infrastructure? better internet lines? cheaper goods? or just more eurocopter?

When oil prices went up, the people had to take the big blow. We bore the inflation and now that the oil prices has come down we have to pay tax? Is this how a caring government show love?

So what did u say right after you read the news?

FUCK!

Heads you win, Tail you lose pt 2

Well, well, well....

I got news for you. Rm1.92 is the lowest the price of petrol can go. Why you ask?

Because:- (quote)

He said this would bring some stability to the retail price of petrol and minimise losses by petrol station owners.

Setting a minimum price would also enable the Government to reduce its subsidy on petrol if the global price fell further.

(end quote)

Now, how will putting a minimum price create a stable retail price? You mean stable, high prices to further increase inflation. Genius.

And what did you say? It's also to minimmise losses of petrol station owners? WTF?! Did I clean my ears today.... It explains how they may lose money. (quote)

Ahmad Sarpur, a dealer in Johor, said dealers could lose between RM13,000 and RM25,000 each time petrol is reduced by 15 sen per litre.

“This is because there is a minimum order quantity of 21,000 litres that we must pay for immediately. There is no credit,” he said.

“If the petrol is delivered in the morning and the price is reduced at night, we have to sell petrol 15 sen cheaper than what we had paid for it.”

However, Shahrir said the Govern­ment had been fair to the dealers saying: “We have not reduced their margin of 12 sen per litre after it was increased in June and we will try as much as we can to keep upcoming price reductions to 15 sen at a time.”

(end quote)

Look, buddy, the government can just get their act together and announce on price reduction 'earlier'! And why the f#$k would you place an order the morning of an impeding price increase or reduction, unless you know the risk? It's just a normal business risk! Every business owners are aware of the risk involved, let the market play it out!

The prices of crude oil now is at about the level when we were paying rm1.60? maybe rm1.40?

But it gets even better, this setting of a minimum price would also enable the Government to reduce its subsidy!

Wow! Aren't we happy to hear that? What good news!!!! From a few years ago, the government has been able to saved billions in fuel subsidy since our fuel prices went up from rm1.10 all the way to rm2.60. Each increase the government assured us that the billions saved would go into more, better infrastructure for us.

Eh.. I'm still waiting leh? Now with the minimum price, they get to SAVE.. even MORE! wow!

Which means I get a bullet train ride to penang for free? Or another 2 more KLCC? How about some good bus services? So where are all of them? Not yet? Haven't yet? Are we there yet?

You know what... I kinda miss the bi-election days now. Every time there's a bi-election, we get better deals. No, it's not politically motivated of course. Of course not! Sheesh...

Action speaks louder than words. And a chain of events certainly tells a story. The way our government handle the oil prices really tell us how much they care for us.

Heads you win, Tail I lose

... wall street for you.

... and if they manage to brokee the deal to outright spend USD$700bn to buy back all the bad debts, and indirectly passing back all the risk to the taxpayers

....while the bankers, regulators (ie the Feds) get off scott free....

Hahahahaha! Muahahahaha!

All Americans taxpayers just got butt fucked / screwed / whateveryouwannacall it.

RPK to be detained for 2 years and the reason is...

as according thestar here: "his articles ridiculed Islam, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar."

He also added that :" “His articles could arouse anger among Muslims,” Syed Hamid said, adding that he signed the detention order on Monday after he was satisfied with the reasons to detain Raja Petra. "

Firstly, I don't understand this: How did his articles ridiculed Islam? Like really how? What did he say about Islam that was ridiculous? And what did he write specifically that ridiculed Islam? How come these evidences are never mentioned?

Secondly, is one arrested for being a possible cause of anger? If there's a rumuor against you like Teresa Kok you get ISA for 1 week. If you're a possibility to cause anger you get detention for 2 years? What happens when you wave a keris around say let is soak with chinese blood or anyone's blood for that matter.... what do you get for that?

High stake poker.

The situation between Anwar and Abdullah is really like a high stake poker. A VERY high stake poker.

Now who is holding the stronger hand? Who is calling who's bluff?

And all this while the world finance sector is in turmoil!

Very high stake poker!

The bad soap opera - Blocking malaysia-today.net

It's like the bad soap opera on tv - you know what lines will be coming next - just like the banning of Malaysia-today.net. And "No", it's not a politically motivated move... just one day after Anwar's victory. Perfect.

I think our government clearly went against the guideline they have set for themselves when they setup the MSC- not to censor the internet. I believe, this move to block MT has definitely shaken the confidence of investors. It leaves me wondering how strong or resolute will the government follow through their other promises/guidelines/acts? Will they 'bend the rules' to suit?

It just doesn't lend credibility. Not that the current govt has much left, or if there's any to start with.

And what reason did they give to ban the site? At first the reasons given were that the published materials that are libellous, slanderous and defamatory. Really? Says who? Says our home minister here. Has the court proven so? Not yet. I'm no lawyer but can one simply say things like that?

Of course after a few days, the tone has changed. Now it's about religion.

"No" It's not politically motivated afterall.

I got another question running in my head. SKMM is a department under a minister. SKMM ordered the ban. The minister said, "No" they did not order the ban. Okay, I got all this parts so far.

So why not lift the ban now? Unless the minister agrees with the move. So don't say that you didn't give the order to ban because you here, you just gave the approval. Or did you? I'm confused.

And like all soap opera, even the bad ones.. they end their episodes well. They end it with just enough pull for us to wonder what will happen next (but of course we can kinda guess but you never know right?)...

So quoting the star here:

*start quote*

Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum, the Deputy Minister of Energy, Water and Communications, said he was not aware that SKMM had ordered ISPs to block the website.

“I do not read Malaysia Today. Media practitioners must be sensitive to culture and religion,” he said.

Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek declined comment as it was not under his jurisdiction.

SKMM chief operating officer Mohamed Sharil Mohamed Tarmizi, who is overseas, declined to elaborate, saying a press conference would be held to explain why such action was taken.

It is understood that this is not the first time SKMM has ordered a website to be blocked.

Malaysia Today remains accessible through its mirror website.

*end of quote*

How classic is that? No one seems to be able to comment. Happy birthday Msia.

Why we should vote opposition...

Like the new 15cents drop in fuel prices? Like the fact that our PM finally took the train after so many years? Like that our PM actually attends debates in the Parliment? Like that suddenly our government seems to care of us? Like that more land scams are discovered? Like that a more fair and competitive Malaysia is build?

Like it? Love it?

Then vote the opposition. (At least for now.)

All the changes we have seen in the last 5 months has happened because we have voted the opposition in. It is because the ruling party has felt the earth move under them. Their power was rocked. Now, suddenly, they listen.

They treat us like children, luring us with candies for so many years... and when that don't work, they take the 'big projects away' like the second Penang bridge, like the LRT system for Penang.

But it is them now who are like kids, we took their candy away and they're crying and shouting and throwing toys around the house. Just read the newspaper... you'll know what I mean.

Like kids, we need to be firm with them... tell them in no uncertain terms that we don't like what they do. As such...I hope.. really hope that the by-election tomorrow goes to Anwar.

Myth - Plausible

Well... Saiful says it's not political! Sure or not?

When you put pieces together like this piece of news :'Saiful ‘appears’ to garner votes - the star 20th August, 2008'.

It's way too too too obvious isn't it?

No, there's no conspiracy against Anwar. Really one!

Mythbuster meets TVB

You know I've always liked HK TVB series. It's full of drama, lies, love, hate and sometimes conspiracy.

I also like discovery channel a lot. Mythbusters is among my favourite. You know it always ends with a 'bang'... fans will know what I mean.

Hehe.. so what do you get when you them together. The Anwar-Saiful sodomy case :) It's so full of drama and myth-tery, don't you think? Check this out from Aisehman for a very quick context.

I've just got so many questions of my own...

Saiful says, “It has nothing to with politics. It is between Anwar and me,” he said..... , just before the by-election... hmmm suspicious don't you think? See here.

And the whole drama has so many inconsistencies. Some say he's sodomised once, some says multiple times, some says forceful and some says consensual.

Now wait a minute. First of all, if it was consensual, then why isn't Saiful charged. So if it was forced.... how can a small man like Anwar pin down a guy a head taller than he is and 'do it'? Anwar's close to 60 and Saiful is a strapping strong lad in the 20s? Is it posible? Were there signs of struggle too? If so why wasn't it mentioned at all?

And if Saiful was sodomised, multiple times? He went back for more? Or was it just once?

So what do you think? Plausible or busted?

How I nearly puke over my coffee

See here. The topic reads "China chemicals starve Indian pharma". If you read further, it says , "But because China has stopped, there's pressure on materials coming from Taiwan, Korea, Europe. And everyone's taking a little bit advantage and jacking up their prices."

So apparently closing factories in China causes prices to rise why? because everyone else is taking advantage to jack up the prices. So now when China's factories take a break for the olympic is China's fault and not the countries that jacking up their prices?

Why not blame the fund managers for pushing up oil prices? Where are they, the fund managers from? How come those issue are not covered nor their country blamed? How about food prices? How about energy prices?


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On the local front, this news made me 'vomit blood'. The issue of opening up UiTM to non-malays is actually a 10% issue. 10% of the total places in UiTM is hardly opening up to other races isn't it?

And I quote: "If something like this is allowed to happen, then there will be a worrying situation where many Malay institutions will crumble and be 'Malaysianised'.

So the problem here is that a university being Malaysianised? So much for Merdeka day coming.

Media bias against China Olympic? What's your say?

A friend of ours wrote this:


****************
Dear NBC Sports,

We get it. We really do. We're all well aware of China's poor track record when it's come to human rights. We've also become familiar with the Chinese training setup, and how children are trained up for years apart from their families in a relentless pursuit of excellence. We know that it's all alien to the American culture.

But can you please refrain from constantly calling China and everything Chinese into question during your coverage of these Games? Can your commentators actually focus on the athletes and the competition? Would it be possible to find another human interest angle, since you've saturated your coverage so far with all this commentary about China?

And if President Bush comes to the studio for another interview, could you actually talk to him about the Olympics, instead of human rights, other world conflict, Sudan, and steroids in baseball?

Can you please do all that? Or can you at least put a muzzle on Bob Costas?

Please?

This is not to say those issues are not important. They are. But there is a time and a place to discuss them, and the Olympic Games are surely not the place for it. Not when people have poured forth every ounce of effort they have to get to Beijing. They are the ones you need to be talking about. Leave the political commentary to the ones best suited to it.

Signed,

An Olympic fan who'd like to actually listen to Olympics-related commentary.

***********
What do you think?

There is no conspiracy against Anwar.

That's what ABM said today according to the star.

I dunno man.

Let me quote Pat here.

"Yes. He is the same person who has a perfect track record for making things happen. In the opposite direction la.

No. I am not getting married. Boom! He gets married.
No. I will not dissolve Parliament. Boom! He dissolves Parliament the very next day.
No. There will be no fuel price increase (the first time last week). Boom! RM2.70 per litre the next day."

So no conspiracy?...

Addicted to Oil

Before I write more I want to say that I totally don't agree with the way the government increase oil prices? Why can't they warn everyone first, like 3 months before so that everyone is prepared mentally. It seems they like to 'shock' everyone. Maybe they were trying to prevent prices to 'increase so fast' but that's inevitable isn't it?

As Malaysia is pondering about the shocking price increase I can't stop to wonder, why are we still addicted to oil?

And human race as a whole seems to be a forgetful lot. Take Malaysia for example, just more than a few months ago, we were 'shocked' when fuel prices went up to 1.9. The governement said it'll use all the savings for this and that... now they're spinning the same story. Are we expecting the 'savings' to put to good use again...?

So everytime the oil price hit a new high, the human race cries out. When crude oil first hit 50/barrel then 80/barrel then 100/barrel and then 130/barrel as in now. Each time we cry foul! The airline all went crazy. Then the powers that be produces a bit more oil, bring the prices down a bit... and then.... all is merry again!

The car manufacturers, oil producers...etc are playing all of us suckers! Electric cars (google who killed the electric car) were mass produced 10 years ago. Using 'lousy' batteries in today's standards and yet they still say electric cars are 'not ready'. Comparing electric cars and Hybrids, we would conclude that Hybrids are the 'Low-tech' cars isn't it?

So the Low Tech Hybrid cars are made so 'expensive' today because like all new product, they're going to bring the price down slowly. Does that make sense, you decide.

Yet government don't make efforts to shift us from the addiction. Why don't they give tax exemption for such cars? or restructure incentives to promote alternative energies. The technology is not ready is complete bull. It'll never be 'ready' if it isn't given a chance. Actually I think it's more than ready... just google it and you'll see what I mean or if you don't know how to read or spell just watch discovery. But what's stopping it from happening is $$$, money, mulah.

There's just so much unmade profits! from oil, from electricity...etc power supply is big business.

The other half is that, we're not used to energy being free. Humans are habitual creatures and after 100 years of paying for energy we're just not used to it being free... and it can be free. But in a capitalist world that's not gonna happen. And when there's money, there's greed and with that - even the best projects in the world can fail. (but really 100 years ago, energy are mostly free)

Meanwhile, the weather in the world gets worst. We blame it global warming- which is linked! heloo?!

So back to Malaysia and the world, we're addicted to oil and we're not doing anything about it. Like the guy who's addicted to cigarettes, he tells himself... after his it's the last stick. I was there and I tell you, he's bluffing himself. Until the world becomes convicted, we'll continue to be addicted to oil... so start preparing for 200/barrel and then 300/barrel.

These couple of months

feels like years because so many things has happened!

Of course one of the biggest thing that happen since my last post is the outcome of the Malaysian election.... and not erection as somone once pronounce it! hehe.

It still feels sureel that BN has been denied their 2/3 majority - because really I think they haven't really let THAT news sink in yet!

Well that's the thing that makes Malaysia politics interesting.

We just never know! hahaha

Is AAB and Khairy working Anwar?
Is Najib working with TM?
Is Najib working with AAB?
Is AAB and the SIL working with Anwar?

Wah... so many questions unanswered. Feels like I'm watching a sitcom... so until the next exciting episode of Malaysia Hari Ini.

No, really...

He was talking to me....


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