The Rosemary Roundup

It is, dear reader, a big news day, and I have to go to work pretty soon. Here is a new feature for just such a day ~ "The Rosemary Roundup" ~ links to the news stories I have read so far today that seem the most germane to the wild and wooly Brahma bull ride we all are on with the economy,war, weather and energy.

LOL, now y 'all are gonna see how eclectic this blog really is. Fasten your seat belts...it's going to be a bumpy ride, to paraphrase Bette Davis.

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+ Post Hurricane Ike's whamming of the Texas gulf, Gail details the issues involved and how they're related ~ Implications of A Ten Day Refinery Outage (from The Oil Drum).

+ Today, the financial markets are struggling with Lehman Brothers' Chapter 11 bankruptcy, AIG's problems, and the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America. There is also the problem of the unwind of the credit-default swaps tied to hundreds of billions of dollars of Fannie and Freddie debt. Gail covers the Connection Between the Financial Markets and Energy (TOD)

QUOTE As we go forward, I expect that there will be more and more individuals, businesses and governments that will be unable to repay their debt, because of indirect impacts of higher oil prices flowing through the economy. Eventually, the US government will have to make a decision as to what to do about all these defaults. The most obvious options would seem to be:
(1) Prop up as many as possible (2) Let the chips fall where they may UNQUOTE

+ THE USA Faces F16's It Supplied Pakistan in the first place. When are we ever going to just mind our own business? (Times of India)

+ Pakistani troops have fired shots into the air to stop US troops crossing into the South Waziristan region of Pakistan, local officials say. (BBC)

+ Meltdown Monday (BBC) QUOTE There has never been a weekend like it in my 25 years as a financial journalist. For Wall Street, it has probably been the most extraordinary 24 hours since the late 1920s. As I said would happen yesterday evening, Lehman has announced that it is filing for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. To prevent contagion to the next most vulnerable investment bank, mighty Bank of America is buying Merrill Lynch for about $50bn.
That Merrill is steering itself into safe harbour, no longer confident of its future as an independent, is almost as shocking as Lehman's demise. UNQUOTE

+ QUOTE The world has had an unmistakable wake-up call from the global oil alarm clock; merely to press the snooze button would waste what may be our last opportunity to act before necessity makes us react in ways that are less than optimal. UNQUOTE (The Dress Rehearsal Is Over)

“The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences…”
—Winston Churchill, November 1936

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