Brian Gongol
Show notes from the WHO Radio Wise Guys - January 26, 2008
"I'm the one who's laughing, because I don't even have a lawn"
Will those who have more stuff be more disappointed than others in an apocalypse -- like a collision with an asteroid?
Iowa's recent preposterous cold snap really isn't that unusual
Biting wind chills and really low temperatures aren't out of the ordinary -- the only unusual thing is how mild the last half-decade has been by comparison
The banker who's trying to keep Huckabee's campaign alive
What's odd is that he keeps copies of the Bible and Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" side-by-side on his desk. Huckabee is an economic populist, by all appearances, which is not good: It means he's inclined to interfere with the market whenever it appears politically advantageous.
Big fire at Monte Carlo casino in Las Vegas
The Monte Carlo is across from the MGM Grand, a previous version of which was the location of one of the worst hotel fire in US history. Related: An investment group is building a $3 billion hotel and condo complex on the Las Vegas Strip
How do you lose $7.2 billion?
A "low-level trader" working for Societe Generale in Paris apparently used lousy options calls and a bit of computer hacking skill to create and hide a $7.2 billion market loss. In the grand scale of things, that's almost as much as Chrysler sold for last year. Derivatives are like Hell: Easy to enter, hard to escape.
Bill Gates hopes for quasi-market answers to the world's problems
Two ways in which he could go a long way towards improving life, particularly for the very poor, would be to fund inducement prizes for big needs, like energy. The second would be to help with the initial capitalization of mutual companies -- like insurance providers and banks -- that would allow the beneficiaries to also be the owners. The mutual company has practically vanished in the United States, and that's unfortunate. It needs a domestic revival, and it could certainly go a long way towards improving life in poor countries, too.
Firefighting with foam
Sediment rules get tougher for Nebraska contractors
20 killed in Poland's worst military air crash in years
DC government employee fired for abusing the Internet
The individual managed to surf 48,002 pages of pornography in 2007. That's one page every 2.5 minutes. On work time. Eight other employees got canned for the same Internet abuse -- so much of it that offender #5 visited 26,912 pages of porn over the course of the same year.
Energy bill means 80% of Nebraska corn will be used for ethanol
Graphic of the day: Internet Abuse
Economic need drives people to do extraordinary things
A long, coordinated effort within the Gaza Strip culminated in the destruction of huge portions of the wall separating it from Egypt today. Anyone analyzing current events in the Middle East who overlooks the effects of poverty (for instance, by dismissing it as a "generations-long conflict with no end in sight") is missing the big story.
It's a good time to run a newspaper
...in Asia
Why the Federal Reserve's surprise rate cut was a big mistake
It was too large (the largest since 1982) and it was instigated in a surprise session (which was last done following 9/11). And now the bond markets are trying to force the Fed to cut rates by another 50 basis points next week. The Federal Reserve has one job, and really one job alone: To keep the money supply steady and uninflated. Yesterday's decision really throws a monkey wrench in both of those. Sure, the Fed should act in times of extreme crisis (banking panics, for instance) -- but it shouldn't really be in the business of trying to tweak the business cycle. Speaking of bank panics, there's apparently a huge banking snafu going on in SecondLife, the preposterously overblown virtual world that uses a quasi-currency bought with real dollars.
Russian bombers try to spook UK
Two Russian bombers were intercepted and escorted away by British and Norwegian fighters. Relations between Russia and the UK have gotten icy lately, especially after Russia shut down the British Council office in St. Petersburg, and announced that it would use nuclear weapons pre-emptively if it felt threatened. Russia is also planning to test-fire missiles off the coasts of France and Spain.
"Crown jewels" of agriculture to be stored in Global Seed Vault
The seeds of 200,000 crops are going to be stored in the side of a Norwegian mountain in case of environmental catastrophe
Heart Association study: 30 minutes of daily exercise cuts premature death rate in half
Colorado legislators want to sacrifice a lake to keep up on water obligations to Nebraska
What's with the panic?
The Federal Reserve drops interest rates by the biggest margin since 1982 in a surprise move meant to cut off panic about a possible recession. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has dropped 13% in the last three months. Meanwhile, the President is proposing to drop more tax money into an "economic stimulus" package ($145 billion) than the entire state of Iowa makes in a year ($124 billion -- that's including all goods and services). Is it just that people in certain markets (like, say, New York and Washington) are so panicked about home prices that they think record-breaking action must be taken immediately? Something about this just doesn't make any sense.
And now Fred Thompson's out of the race
That means there are still ten major-party candidates still in the race. Sadly, Sen. Thompson was the only one who pushed entitlement reform as a major campaign issue. Among the ten remaining, six have unacceptable plans for Medicare -- that is, they have no plans at all for real reform. Medicare is about to break the bank, and any candidate who isn't serious about bringing spending under control is recklessly endangering the American economy. We need Presidential candidates with serious economic platforms, not the intentionally ignorant.
Air quality and water quality on tap for 2008
Baghdad gets its first snow in 100 years
The next (or next-next) generation of contact lenses
Researchers at the University of Washington are playing around with new ways of adding things to contact lenses, like displays and health monitors
The Chicago Tribune's new flag
Sadly, they've given up on the old deep-blue stripe right across the top of the paper and replaced it with a blue set of letters on a transparent background
LA Times editor gets the boot for resisting budget cuts
The bigger ripples caused by the writers' strike
The TV and movie writers may be the ones who have a beef with the producers, but since they've pretty much put a halt to anything new happening in Hollywood, the dispute is putting a lot of beginning actors and actresses out of work. Not that anyone deserves any particular sympathy, but there are repercussions for other workers in any economy when any group of workers goes on a long-term strike. 27% of the public is already watching less network TV as a result of the strike.
Speaker tells Indiana group about threats to Great Lakes
Show notes from the "Brian Gongol Show" on WHO Radio - January 20, 2008