As usual, stock markets around the world are bleeding from the eye sockets…until you arrive at the NYSE, which, naturally, is up slightly.
The part that should baffle your ass is how a nation that imports pretty much everything manages to be the only country on the planet with a rising stock market value?
I know, like faith in ‘God’, the answer remains a mystery (which is shorthand for the question of ‘how much bullshit are you willing to swallow?’)
Anyway, our lead story for today is a ‘two-edged sword’ because it can be interpreted two ways.
At ‘face value’ it spells a shrinking economy, underneath it intimates that some rats are deserting the sinking ship…which one is it is for you to decide:
Adding to the pressure on the partnership is the fact Goldman itself is shrinking. Over the last year the firm has laid off more than 1,000 employees as part of the cost-cutting drive and its total head count at the end of September was down 1,200 from the year-ago period.
Goldman has 34,000 staff members, according to regulatory filings. But this number includes several thousand consultants and temporary workers. The firm does not release how many actual employees it has, but the number is closer to 28,000, according to a person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to speak on the record.
The committee that oversees the partnership process tries to keep the percentage of partners to employees at 1.8 percent, according to people with knowledge of the process. So as Goldman shrinks, it is likely to shrink the size of the partnership pool.
Not that I have much faith in the prevailing Mayan Calendar thing, there is a very good chance that our civilization WILL NOT SURVIVE 2012!
From where we are today it seems unlikely that we will make it to 12/21 either.
The End will arrive sooner and perhaps more violently as the guilty have proven they will risk/dare anything to escape prosecution.
Which is to point out that the nuclear strike survivability calculator is making the rounds again.
Sadly, we are ‘more likely’ to be nuked by the criminals in charge of this nation than by a foreign power that will have their hands full with their own ‘dissidents’…
And, as I am fond of doing we have this story where Ilargi agrees that the solution to our problems is as simple as facing the truth.
In fact, the problems won’t end until the truth prevails…
It's high time to come clean, to stop the incessant lying. To stop pretending things are a bit hard right now, but otherwise just fine. They're not. Extend and pretend works only so long. Then it snaps back in your face with a vengeance. That's why the bond markets are so successful in bringing down Italy and Greece. Not because the ECB doesn't step in, since that would only serve to cover up reality for a little bit longer, but because they've both lied for so long about their real predicaments.
No, just stop lying. The consequences and challenges will be formidable, but they’ll be that anyway. You can't cover up the debt and the losses forever. And the chances of growing your economies out of the cesspit are zero, if not below.
One thing no more lying will achieve is this: it will re-establish confidence in the markets -or what'll be left of them-. And isn't that what you guys always say you want to accomplish? Well, I can assure you, it's the only way to do it: cut the fairy tales. Take a breath of fresh air and get to work. Do something real and rewarding for a change, and for a living.
Instead of ‘truth’ from our so-called leaders we are getting a nationwide ‘crackdown’ on the 99% as state governments send cops in body armor after its own citizens…who are protesting ‘government inaction’.
How ‘ironic’ is that?
Confrontations like this force people to choose sides.
The criminals in government are taking a HUGE risk by forcing this situation now.
But stupid is as stupid does and we’ve got no shortage of stupid hanging around.
Still, I suspect there aren’t enough people willing to sacrifice their current level of comfort for an uncertain prospect of justice.
You’d think even a tiny victory would be enough to demonstrate what can be done but no, the current group of protestors aren’t equipped to go toe to toe with the criminal’s protectors…and that’s a shame.
Because the odds are NEVER going to get better, nor will the situation become more even.
We have NUMBERS on our side while they have ‘firepower’.
Using that firepower to protect criminals will NOT bode well for the defenseless relatives of the people responsible.
Which brings us to the same question faced by people confronted with marauding hoards face; do you have enough ammunition to kill them all?
If the answer is ‘no’ then don’t shoot, HIDE!
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
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