Anagram: Faster Than A Speeding…/ Spartan Teenaged Fish
And no, this post has nothing to do with speeding bullets, locomotives, or Spartan Fish. A viddy from last nights Daily Show, talking about Jim Cramer and Bear Stearns.
Jon Stewart nails Cramer here, but I do feel the need to come to Jim’s defense here, even if only for a minute. While I’m not the biggest fan of Cramer on earth, you have to understand that the man makes a living picking stocks. Picking stocks is not a sure thing, never has been, never will be. No one gets it right every time.
That’s it for the defense of Cramer. Not much of a defense, but then again, I’m not much of a fan.
Next. Madoff goes to hell.
For those of you who have read this space with any frequency, you have probably caught that I have followed the Bernie Madoff case fairly 
closely. I was watching Bloomberg news today as the market closed (more on the market in the next paragraph) and heard what i think of as great news. Bernie’s going away. Forever. No Plea, Just guilty. Nice. There IS justice, of a sort. If there was real justice, every cent would be paid back to everyone who had been shortchanged. It looks like he will be sentenced to 150 years in prison. That’s good news! Now we just have to hope that the judge sentences him to that amount of time in general population at Rikers. I don’t want to see this bum, this F****** bastard do time in a country club prison, with tennis courts and the like. He has to not just do time, but hard time.
Next up, Markets explode upwards!
More Good News! The Market, on news that Citigroup is having it’s best quarter since 2007, gained almost 6% after two+ solid weeks of losses. Up 379.44 points on the day, and unlike any day in a long time, there was no weak spot today, no time at all where the market dropped in any significant way. And it’s strength today was a weak spot for most of the last few weeks. Financials went up big today. The top three movers in the DJIA were Citi, up over 38% (40¢) to $1.45, Bank of America went up over 27 ½%, $1.04 to $4.79, and JP Morgan-Chase was up over 22%, $3.60, to $19.50
THAT is news that the financial markets needed to hear. Maybe now we can see a little more positive news on the financial side. I have been ever so slightly sick of reporting bad economic news day in and day out. But we aren’t out of the woods yet.
Tomorrow afternoon the Treasury budget comes out and that is expected to be a full on disaster, and the retail sales, jobless claims and business inventories numbers are due out Thursday, and Thursdays the last few weeks have been the worst days of the week, due to those early numbers. Let’s hope that the markets can see past any bad numbers here and build everyone’s confidence with a good old fashioned stock shopping spree. It’s what America needs. Get out and BUY Dammit.
Next up, Birthdays.
Unhappy Birthday to Osama Bin Laden, who turns 52 today. Let’s all hope someone shoots this little prick bastard, so we don’t have to hear about this useless f*** come this time next year. Except maybe to celebrate his being dead. Die you asshole.
But on a more positive birthday note, there are some most excellent people who aren’t complete shitheads who have a birthday on March 10th. Record Producer Rick Rubin and Jeff Ament from Pearl Jam both turn 46 today, Nascar Driver Matt Kenseth turns 37 , Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Morgan Tsvangirai turns 57, and of course, a happy 557th birthday to incredibly dead but nevertheless noteworthy King Ferdinand II of Aragon. He was king of Spain when Spain sent out a voyager by the name of Christopher Columbus to sail the Ocean blue to find a trade route to the spice islands. Which ended in spectacular failure. There was this really REALLY large continent in the way. He missed, and as a consequence he is about a million times more well known than King Ferdinand. Happy wish you were still around to enjoy the birthday anyway, Ferdinand !
A short video before I go, from Bloomberg on Jobless claims.
That’s it from me. Later!
Today’s Nuggets, from Bertrand Russell : What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires — desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.
The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment.
Machines are worshipped because they are beautiful and valued because they confer power; they are hated because they are hideous and loathed because they impose slavery.
