| 2007 Wrap-Up
The dollar's share of global foreign-exchange reserves fell to a record low in the third quarter as demand for U.S. assets waned after the subprime-mortgage market collapsed. The U.S. currency accounted for 63.8% of reserves at the end of September, down from 65% at the end of June, the International Monetary Fund said... The share of euros increased to 26.4%, from 25.5%. The figures suggest central banks diversified out of the dollar as it fell to the lowest level in a decade. Investors sold a record amount of U.S. securities in August when defaults on subprime mortgages rippled through financial markets and the Federal Reserve signaled it would cut interest rates." December 27 - Financial Times (Daniel Dombey): "At the end of a year in which the dollar has endured a marked decline against other currencies, an unsettling question is beginning to be voiced: can the troubles of the US currency be confined to the financial world or are they set to undermine Washington's place on the international stage? 'This is the neglected dimension of the dollar's decline,' says Flynt Leverett, a former senior National Security Council official under President George W.
Chartered to protect the henhouse, has the FTC turned into a fox?
I rarely get e-mail from the USA Today's Byron Acohido (who from time to time interviews me for my opinions on tech). But today, Acohido drew my attention to a story that he has co-authored with Jon Swartz under the headline FTC under fire as credit bureaus sell consumers' data. The story draws attention to a complex Web of potentially conflicting interests involving Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, the law firm she used to work for, her husband who still works for it, how that law firm represents one of the big three credit reporting bureaus, and whether or not the FTC has morphed into an agent of the credit reporting bureaus' success from the consumer guardian that The People have entrusted it to be. While the targets of this follow-the-money like inquest deny any impropriety, I can certainly understand the position of Robert Kuttner, author of The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity who, who in response to the USA Today inquiry, said: Federal agencies that are supposed to be looking out for the consumer are really protecting the companies that do bad things the agencies were set up to prevent.
From the Editor :
I am sad to say goodbye to Shaun Pollock, I feel this retirement was a little too soon as his bowling is far more impressive than Andre Nel and obviously his batting is in another league to Nella as well. At least he retires with a healthy average in both the bowling and batting departments. Funny that a team like Australia have not produced a "Pollock" for many years. On the subject of MOTM, I feel Dale Steyn deserved it. To get 6 wickets on that flat Durban wicket was a World class performance and to give it to Ashwell Prince was an injustice to the hard work put in even by Graeme Smith with his hundred. I fear this was another political choice to boost the image of QUOTA players. Oh well as long as the guys who are picked on colour keep on scoring 100's Im ok with them in the team. I just dont understand what more Prince did in that Durban test to deserve the award? .
Health Insurance Won't Insure Your Life
There is no excuse for the inhumanity CIGNA displayed, and no company should ever be allowed to arbitrarily dictate whether a person lives or dies.
Burn the greedy bastards, and burn them well.
Dan at 8:47PM on Dec 21st 2007 .
|
