The Future of UI

[via Gizmodo]

Stock Market: Reality (Finally) Sets In

I've been saying the stock market is grossly overpriced for quite some time now, but the market stayed bullish after government bailouts, stimulus, and plain irrational exuberence, despite our economy being in the toilet. But finally, reality has set in, and the Great Correction has begun.

In one month, the Dow has lost 1,190 points, or 10.6% of its value. That is a boatload of money evaporating, and I doubt we have seen the worst of it.

So there's your sunny optimism for the day.

[graph from Marketwatch]

Fiat Currency FAIL

The fate of every fiat currency is the same. The government in charge prints to much, usually to cover its own debts, and the money becomes worthless.

Fiat currency, like the US dollar, is not pegged to the value of any hard commodity like gold. Instead, the value comes from faith that the money is worth something. Eventually, governments abuse their ability to print money, and people lose faith, and no one will take your funny money anymore.

[via nick]

Bernanke Admits Fed Caused Great Depression

In case anyone still had any doubts that the Federal Reserve helped create the Great Depression:

Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.
-Ben Bernanke, November 8, 2002

It only took the Fed 70-odd years to admit to devastating the American economy. I wonder how long we'll have to wait to hear them admit it they did it again.

[via Glas]

Fannie and Freddie Still Bleeding

The financial disaster isn't over yet.

The government-sponsored enterprises [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac], now in conservatorship, have already cost the government about $145 billion.

And there's no limit to how much more they can ask for for the next two years!

Fannie Mae lost $11.5 billion in the first quarter while Freddie Mac lost more than $6.7 billion. After posting those massive losses, they asked for a combined additional sum of nearly $20 billion in government assistance.

"Are they losing money as a matter of policy or are they losing it as bad judgment?" asks Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, who calls the Fannie and Freddie the elephant in the bailout room.

Baker and Fusion IQ's Barry Ritholtz are convinced the government is effectively sponsoring a backdoor bailout of the banks via the GSEs. "This is a conscious, willful decision," says Ritholtz, author of The Big Picture blog and Bailout Nation. "Fannie And Freddie act as a conduit for taking all this junk off the banks' balance sheets."

Banks made billions by creating, selling, and risk swapping trillions in bad mortgages, and now American taxpayers are on the hook for the worst of the losses, in addition to saving the bad banks with bailouts.

This is the greatest scam ever perpetrated.

Lars Vilks: Certified Badass

We all remember Lars Vilks, the infamous "Swedish cartoonist" who drew the Muhammad cartoon that outraged Muslims everywhere.

Well, he's back, with a movie this time. As you can see from the video, the local Muslims came to the show for no other reason than to shut it down, which they succeeded in doing.

But they didn't stop there. Over the weekend, someone set fire to his house. Police have arrested two brothers, age 19 and 21, suspected of the fire.

The Public Option Lives

Remember when Obama and House Democrats said they were dropping the Public Option? Well, they lied.

The truth is the public option is alive and well, residing in Section 1334, pages 97-100, of the new health care law. That section gives the U.S. Office of Personnel Management — which presently manages the federal civil service — new responsibilities: establishing and running two entirely new government health insurance programs to compete directly with private insurance companies in every state with coverage for people outside of government.

Quoting the new law, former OPM director Donald Devine notes that it makes the OPM boss a health care czar, with power to set “‘profit margin premiums and other such terms and conditions of coverage as are in the interest of enrollees in such plans.’ That’s open-ended. You can do anything.” Dan Blair, another former OPM director, calls the new program “nothing but a placeholder for the public option.” Indeed, the OPM head is also given the authority to “appoint as many employees” as needed to run the program, and to spend “such sums as may be necessary” to establish and administer it.

One has to wonder if this bill would have passed if they had been honest about what was in it.

I wonder what we'll find out next.

Space Tourism Not Far Off

The private space race adds a new entrant, the bargain basement Space Adventures. For a mere $102,000, half the price of a trip on SpaceShipTwo, you can blast off 62 miles into the sky in a real rocket.

The project is a partnership between Space Adventures and reusable rocket powered vehicle manufacturer Armadillo Aerospace.

[via Gizmodo]

Knock Knock You're Dead

CATO has put together a Google Map featuring botched SWAT raids across the country. Check it!

[via Glas]

Facebook Asserts its Power

Facebook has limitless potential, and it began asserting its power recently on national television.

Last Saturday, Betty White appeared on Saturday Night Live, to the great pleasure of her fans. And why were they so pleased? Because they were the reason she was picked to host.

Months ago, fans of Betty White started a "Betty White to Host SNL" page on Facebook. The page quickly grew to half a million supporters, and SNL's executive produce Lorne Michaels took notice.

A few weeks later, Betty White hosts SNL and garnered the highest Nielson ratings in years.

Facebook power is only beginning to grow. As people realize the power of a collective voice, and as corporations and institutions realize the wisdom and profitability of listening to that voice, the power of the masses, channeled through Facebook, will only increase.