Snapshot

Greetings good citizen,

There’s nothing better than ending the week with a snapshot of the ‘Funny Farm’!

For your review, straight from the business section of today’s NY Times:

Reticent Rich: Preferred Style in Silicon Valley
By SOMINI SENGUPTA

At Facebook, ground zero for the nouveau tech riche in Silicon Valley, peer pressure dictates that consumption be kept on the down low.

DealBook: Facebook Raises $16 Billion in I.P.O.
Video: Silicon Valley's Lust for High-End Bikes
[Let’s not forget their ‘passion’ for $5,000 footwear!]

DealBook
Long Odds on a Big Facebook Payday
By NATHANIEL POPPER 29 minutes ago

If history offers any lesson, average investors may find they face steep odds if they hope to make big money in a much-hyped stock like Facebook.

Interactive How Will the Stock Fare?

[This is a stunning example of the ‘dearth of investment opportunities’ out there, good citizen. Once again, if this is ‘as good as it gets’, the rest of us are in a heap of trouble!]

Other Business News
News Analysis
A Greek Exit? Euro Zone May Be Ready
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

Years of foot-dragging and brinkmanship have prepared the currency union for life without Greece.
[WTF! Are they now trying to say that this was ‘the plan’ all along? What will become of the rest of the ‘PIIGS’? (Without Greece will the acronym 'pigs' still apply?)]

Euro Watch
Markets on Edge After Downgrades in Europe
By PAUL GEITNER 7:27 AM ET

Fresh credit rating downgrades affected Greece and Spain as the Group of Eight leaders gathered.
[Yet another ‘no shit, Sherlock!’ moment]

New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition seeks provide aid to farmers like these in Ethiopia.

White House Enlists 45 Companies to Invest in Food Production for the World’s Poor
By STEPHANIE STROM

President Obama and four African leaders will introduce the group of companies, the Alliance for Food and Nutrition Security, on Friday at a forum on food security and agriculture.

[Um, tucked quietly between tales of economic mayhem is this deeply troubling item that foretells of the coming famine, likely brought on by ‘Frankenfood’]

Workers at a solar panel factory in Huaibei, in Anhui province. A Chinese official called the American move “really dangerous.”

U.S. Slaps High Tariffs on Chinese Solar Panels
By KEITH BRADSHER and DIANE CARDWELL

The United States Commerce Department concluded that Chinese producers had “dumped” their products on the American market.
[Okay, how does Chong think the denizens of the ‘economic desert’ are going to react to a technology DEVELOPED HERE but being made somewhere else? Are we supposed to be ‘jumping for joy’ that Chinese workers can make them (more profitably) than US workers can? NO! US workers are going to be PISSED because we could (and should) have made them HERE (with native materials) and FUCK the weasel ‘owners’ for sending the technology to China in the fucking first place! Chong has the wrong idea about just how 'dangerous’ a move this is. It is not dangerous to China, it is dangerous for the capitalist!]


‘Princelings’ in China Use Family Ties to Gain Riches
By DAVID BARBOZA and SHARON LaFRANIERE

The authorities are eager to paint the fallen official Bo Xilai, whose family has a substantial fortune, as a rogue operator. But other officials’ relatives have also amassed vast wealth.
[I suspect it is safe to say that China is no longer a ‘communist’ country, considering the ‘new royalty’ that has, er, usurped the revolution.] (See why I don’t like Commies?)
Graphic: Power and Profit in China’s Economic Boom


Hewlett-Packard to Cut 30,000 Jobs
By QUENTIN HARDY

The tech giant will refocus on product development and sales, executives say, and operations in China will most likely be spared.

[Any questions?]

Bribery Case at Wal-Mart May Widen
By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

The scope of an investigation into foreign bribery issues seemed to have widened at the retailer, which reported higher-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

That concludes this week’s ‘snapshot’.

Did I neglect to confirm that the destruction of our civilization is proceeding unabated?

Which, disturbingly, confirms my ‘kill-off via cascading systemic collapse’ theory.

Left to our imaginations is what will replace our failed attempt at a ‘benign republic’.

If history is any indication, the benign republic is usually replaced by crushing feudalism, a ruthless hereditary dictatorship.

The choice regarding what comes next is, of course, yours.

If you refuse to fight are you prepared to accept what will surely come next?

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner