Football, LPGA, and Scares

I'm so glad it's football season again.  Quite a bit has changed, but Tony Romo blowing games, remains.  The LPGA event at Pinnacle was a big success.  Yani Tseng won, again, but she had to do it in a playoff.  I like the event and it's great for NWA, but I'm ready to have my golf course back.  I know there were a lot of people on edge yesterday.  Afraid something bad was going to happen.  I wasn't one of those people.  However, I wasn't trying to travel.  What a nightmare that must have been yesterday.  Check out these headlines.

Airline: 3 detained in Detroit after flight

Unruly Passengers Create Tense Moments Aboard AA Flight From LAX To JFK

Security Scare Closed DFW's Terminal B Temporarily

Ex-NYPD officer detained at KC airport 

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Speaking of scares, can we end this nonsense with Greece?  They're broke and everyone knows it.  All this is doing now is holding the market hostage.

'Only a Matter of Time' Before Greek Default: Bove

Greece is unable to repay its debts, according to Richard Bove, banking analyst at Rochdale Securities, and given that the euro zone banking system has yet to mark sovereign debt holdings to market, many banks will be forced to raise new capital.

“Even though it is clear that Greece is unable to repay its debts and its banks are probably insolvent, no European or American bank has, to my knowledge, marked the sovereign debt to market,” Bove said in a research note on Sunday.

“No country, nor the Eurozone itself, wants to take on the burdens created by profligate nations. The banking system is unwilling to dilute its earnings by selling large amounts of capital to replace the losses that will develop if the troubled countries default.”

This has allowed a number of banks to take defensive action in a bid to lessen the pain when it comes, according to Bove.

“However, there can be no doubt that the debt of the troubled countries and, who knows how many others, will be restructured. Many of these countries will never be able to repay their debt. Simply increasing their debt burdens by continuing to lend them more money is no solution," he said.

Without debt relief, Bove said, Greece and potentially a number of other countries will default.

“It is only a matter of time. The default timetable could be accelerated, however," he said. “At some point, a 2008-style run on the debt of these institutions could cause a collapse."

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I have read about these ghost cities in China before.  However, you would think after a while they would stop building.  Some of you will remember a rant by Sam Kinison, edited for language ;)

THIS IS SAND. KNOW WHAT IT’S GONNA BE A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW? IT’S GONNA BE SAND! YOU LIVE IN A F–KING DESERT! GET YOUR STUFF, GET YOUR SHIT, WE’LL MAKE ONE TRIP, WE’LL TAKE YOU TO WHERE THE FOOD IS! WE HAVE DESERTS IN AMERICA — WE JUST DON’T LIVE IN THEM! 

The Chinese must be more Kevin Costner fans.  "If you build it, they will come." 

The Two Year Anniversary Of "China's Ghost Cities" Epic Keynesian Fail  

Two years ago we first covered the flip side of the Chinese real estate "boom" story by presenting the ghost city of Ordos. Today, on the two year anniversary of China's Keynesian miracle being exposed for the whole world to see, Al Jazeera goes back to Ordos to see if anything has changed. And while Paul Krugman may be shocked, shocked, that the Keynesian approach of building for the sake of building does not work not only in the US but pretty much everywhere, it will be no surprise to anyone, that as Al Jazeera concludes, "it's still pretty quiet, but here's the remarkable thing - the building has't stopped, somehow people are convinced that if you keep building, people will come. If not in a few years, then... eventually." And somehow we keep bashing the Fed as the only source of Einsteinian insanity, when it is the same cretins from the Princeton economics department in both the monetary and fiscal arena, who know one thing and one thing only - do whatever ultimately fails, just keep on doing it.

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I'm not sure I would pay $50-$100 a year to watch Glenn Beck, but I admire his entrepreneurial spirit.  Here is the link to Glenn Beck TV, if you are interested.