Pension Benefit Guaranty Needs Bailout

msnbc.com:
"The government-chartered company that insures the pensions of one in seven Americans said Friday that its deficit this year nearly doubled to $22 billion.

That’s an improvement over the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s midyear record deficit of $33.5 billion, which spiked as auto makers and other companies faltered and caused the insurance fund’s liabilities to spike.

Yet experts and officials say the long-term picture is grim. They say that without major changes, such as higher insurance premiums and less risky investments, the fund eventually will require a taxpayer bailout."

My comment: Why is the government guaranteeing peoples pensions? This is the problem, if people…

Whistleblower Says IEA Inflated Oil Reserves

Guardian UK: The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying.

My comment: I am shocked, shocked I say that a government sponsored entity would lie about oil reserves and future production.

The senior official claims the US has played an influential role in encouraging the watchdog to underplay the rate of decline from existing oil fields while overplaying the chances of finding new reserves.

My comment: The US politicians cant allow the sheeple to call…

Ben Bernanke a Bit Confused on Economics

Forbes.com: "The great economist Henry Hazlitt once observed that ‘Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man.’ Were Hazlitt alive today, he surely would have a field day addressing the numerous economic fallacies offered up by our very own Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke.

From his frequent assertions that economic growth is the cause of inflation, to his support of spending ’stimulus’ as though wealth redistribution actually drives economic activity, to his belief that simple money creation enhances the economy, it’s fair to say that the world’s most powerful central banker buys into a quite…

How a Middle Class Disappears

Whiskey & Gunpowder: Many people write of the imminent destruction of the U.S. middle class (of which I consider myself a member) but few have explained specifically how this occurs. Understanding the mechanism seems important if I hope to avoid the fate of most of my peers.

An insight on this question came from an unexpected quarter.

A gentleman by the name of Fernando Aguirre, who posts on Internet forums and his blog as FerFAL, has written voluminously about his experiences as an Argentine citizen during and after the economic cataclysm that wracked his country in 2001. I first found a long…

Iraq Sweetens Terms for Oilfield Development

Rigzone: Iraq is sweetening the terms for companies bidding for its prized oil fields as it attempts to avoid the failure of the first bidding round — and it appears Monday to be working.

After only one project out of a possible eight was awarded in the first auction in June, the Iraqi oil ministry is now showing foreign companies, including the world’s majors, more flexibility. It has also improved terms for international oil companies that submitted offers at the country’s first licensing auction, but didn’t win contracts.

As a result, a line of bidders is forming for the remaining assets. The new…