The Crisis of Credit Visualized

The following is a simple and clear explanation of the credit crisis in the shape of a visual guide. Jonathan Jarvis walks you through every step of the problem, from sub-prime mortgages to the economic recession end state.

Says Kalim Kassam:

This attractive video, a thesis project of art student Jonathan Jarvis, provides an impressively clear explanation of the credit crisis, tracing it's origins in low interest rates through interwoven homeowners, mortgage markets, investors, and complex financial instruments.

Though the story it tells is quite accurate, the video doesn't attempt to put forward a full causal explanation linking together all the elements; if you're looking for a hint about the wherefores, keep your eye on the market-distorting effects of easy money and loose credit during the boom period.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Draft Peter Schiff For Senate

Web-savvy Libertarians in California have launched a nationwide movement to draft a New Haven-born celebrity pundit to take on Connecticut U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd. Their first big test comes Saturday.

The pundit is Peter Schiff. He has been a fixture bashing the federal bank bailout and stimulus efforts on national TV news (FOXNews, CNBC, CNN) panels because of his early predictions of the Wall Street meltdown. He published a prescient book in 2007 called Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse. “The man who saw it all before everybody saw it,” as Fox anchor Liz Claman introduced him.

Schiff, who now runs a Darien stock brokerage firm, served as an economic adviser to Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul, whose candidacy was elevated by a then-unprecedented grassroots Internet effort. [...]

The campaign has an online “headquarters” and assorted rallying cries, including: “Stop the Bailouts.” “Stop the stimulus!” It has Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter presences, too — even though Schiff insisted in an interview that he has had nothing to do with the effort and would almost definitely not heed a call to actually run. That’s right. Almost definitely.

“Want Peter to run? Pledge! Show him we’ve got his back,” proclaims the home page for an affiliated site coordinating a “Moneybomb” for this Saturday. A “moneybomb” means supporters are hoping to raise an eye-popping pile of pledges in one day to show serious support for a Schiff candidacy — the way a one-day moneybomb propelled Ron Paul’s candidacy a year ago with a record haul.

In some ways the effort mirrors the early drive to find a candidate to challenge Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in 2006, only this time from the right, not the left. In 2006, activists from across the country who supported challenger Ned Lamont poured money and cultivated volunteers through left-leaning national websites like Daily Kos and MoveOn.org. The campaign was national from the start, born at the netroots.*

I'm currently in the process of reading Schiff's 2007 book "Crash-Proof: How To Profit From The Coming Economic Collapse" which was mentioned in the above blurb. So far it has been excellent. I recommend picking it up to anybody who has money in the stock market and has taken a hit or simply wants to hear Alan Greenspan get taken apart. Although Schiff's book does focus on the American economy, its implications for Canada are clear and his discussion of the global economy is helpful as well.

Here's the main video that has been enlisted towards the end of earning money for Schiff's "moneybomb".

Moment of Zen For Dog-Lovers

(*) Got a busy night of family-related obligations and general relaxation ahead of me so posting will be a bit light.

Everybody enjoy their Friday!

A Word To The Monetary Inflation Skeptics

"Screwed."



Devaluing our money like it's going out of style.

Hey, remember when the value of money was objective? Sweet, sweet memories of a gold standard.

H/t Unambiguously Ambidextrous

Variations On A Theme Of Witchcraft

Thank God we're living in the Age of Reason, no?

Nigeria:



America:



These are the absurd and terrible roads down which faith makes us travel. Billions upon billions of human beings on Earth prefer to place their whims above the evidence of reality. It is under this flag of whim-worship that the worst atrocities of human history have been perpetrated.

In light of the fuss that was made over the Pastor Wright controversy, I thought I would shed a little light onto the religious influences of the "rising star" of the Republican Party.

Wait a minute. A year ago she was the unheard of Governor of Alaska and this year she is the heir apparent to the throne of the GOP?

Maybe Palin's a witch!

H/t Brasscheck TV

Eric Clapton: I'm Tore Down

Here's a little insight into what's been spinning around my head this evening.



Does it get any better than that?

Weekly Round-Up Of Tips & Links

Um. So the "weekly" part of this post's title is a blatant untruth. As it turns out, I'm going to subject you folks to a link dump every damn time that my Firefox browser gets cluttered up with tabs. Mmmkay?

As always, keep those tips coming (canadian.republic@hotmail.com) and my apologies if I don't always respond right away.

This week in the world:

• YouTube: Video of a shrimp running on a treadmill with the Benny Hill theme playing. No, seriously. Worth your time.
• George F. Will: Re: stimulus - "Never have so few spent so much so quickly to do so little."
• Maggie's Farm: "How government legal threats created the sub-prime mortgage market."
• ShopFlick: Wondering what to get Fort for his birthday?
• The List Universe: Ten books that screwed up the world.
• YouTube: Video of Tenacious D's "Tribute". Very funny.

The Big O Visits Iowa - No, Ottawa

Hopey One Kenobi made the long trek from D.C. to Canada's seat of power today but his visit didn't go quite as planned.

President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper just started their joint news conference, the first such dual podium event for the new president.

The newness is showing - the president began his remarks with, "It's a great pleasure to be here in Iowa - Ottawa."

Obama says "it's great to be" pretty much anywhere he goes. Iowa was a key battleground state, but also the Jan. 4, 2008 caucus was his first win during the Democratic primary election. It swung his way in November, and a Downtown Des Moines rally on Halloween was one of his last campaign stops before winning the presidency.

Flubbing the name of a location has happened to many politicians, and has happened to the president before.*

Via Gateway Pundit:

"Maybe he thought he was in one of the northern 57 states?"

Combine this flub with his previous shout out to the "President of Canada" and I'm starting to think he doesn't care about us quite as much as our apparent obsession with him merits.

And, at the end of the day, we'll still adore him. There's something very romantic about unrequited love.

Does that answer your question, Jarrett?

Stephen Harper On Wolf Blitzer's 'The Situation Room'

A very good performance, I think. I was most impressed by his tactfully implicit threat to Obama about the 'Buy American' clause of their porkulus package - a clause that is gone but definitely not forgotten. Also, Harper hit the point about the potential costs of protectionism for the global economy quite well when he said that there is no surer way to turn a recession into a depression than to pursue protectionism given our current state of financial affairs.

All in all, he earned an 'A-' grade. The minus is in there because I'm still a little sore with him over the budget. Only time will heal that wound.



Exit Question: Is it absolutely crucial that he begins every goddamn sentence with "Well, look..."?

H/t Lance

"Do Not Regulate The Internet. At All."

Big Blue Wave:

The CRTC is having hearings today on the possibility of forcing internet service providers to provide Canadian content on-line.

As far as I'm concerned, this is outrageous.

There should be no CRTC regulation of the internet.

Period.

WRITE THE CRTC.

Now is the time to speak up VERY LOUDLY to make it known that you absolutely, positively oppose this measure.

This is a follow-up to my post a few days ago condemning the CRTC's new foray into the regulation of the internet.

To let your opinion be known, contact the CRTC online. Suzanne recommends the following short and sweet comment: "Do not regulate the internet. At all."

Sounds good to me.

It'll take you less than a minute so please let the CRTC know that Canadian citizens will not permit any regulation of the internet.

Canadian Public Education At Its Best: Calgary Board of Education Edition

Aims of public education:



The editor of this webpage was as confused as he was illiterate.

If it doesn't demonstrate the aims of public education, then it certainly demonstrates its results.

H/t Alice The Camel (who has changed to a wordpress blog so update your bookmarks accordingly)

Mathematicians Discover Largest Number Possible: "Stimulus"

An international mathematics research team announced today that they had discovered a new integer that surpasses any previously known value "by a totally mindblowing shitload." Project director Yujin Xiao of Stanford University said the theoretical number, dubbed a "stimulus," could lead to breakthroughs in fields as diverse as astrophysics, quantum mechanics, and Chicago asphalt contracting.

"Unlike previous large numbers like the Googleplex or the Bazillionty, the Stimulus has no static numerical definition," said Xiao. "It keeps growing and growing, compounding factorially, eating up all zeros in its path. It moves freely across Cartesian dimensions and has the power to make any other number irrational."

Jean-Luc Brossard, a researcher with the European consortium CERN, said the number is so staggeringly large that it is difficult for even mathematicians to grasp, let alone lay people.

"The number itself is incomprehensible by human minds, and can only be theoretically understood in a fractional parallel universe which we refer to as the DC dimension," said Brossard. "The best way to understand a stimulus is to imagine a dollar sign followed by a packed string of hexidecimal nanodigits, wound into a triple helix, woven into a dodecahedron, and stacked on top of one another. Now imagine you were a black hole on the far edge of the universe, trying to escape the stimulus at 30 times the speed of light. The stimulus would still catch up to you and ram your black hole with such furious, repeated force that it would cause your entire reality itself to collapse."

President Obama must be proud to have contributed to such an historic discovery.

Via Iowahawk