MY INDIAN RED

oil on canvas 96"x 60"

I painted this in 1985 when I was artist-in residence at a local hospital. I had a huge, mothballed, Victorian ward all to myself. The painting is one of a series addressing the, then unresolved, decision as to how to create a monument to those Americans who died in the Vietnam war.
I had a book at that time -

CAPPS, WALTER H. The Unfinished War: Vietnam and the American Conscience
Boston: Beacon Press, (c.1982). The author, after "tracking the course of Vietnam's influence on American life, institutions, and religious beliefs, probes the splintered mythologies of both left and right. He brilliantly brings together the war's evolution, its devastating effects on our national sense of mission, and the widespread spiritual malaise that followed the truce.". Very Good in Good+ dj .

- which inspired me to create a diptych (two paintings forming one work). In the end I painted 10 large ones and some smaller ones. They never sold and the lack of interest in them has always surprised me. I have always felt that the 'flying cigar label' is a tremendously potent image - as a projection of American power and influence and also as a defining image of war. Remember the Enola Gay? It may be that some extreme religious groups see this symbol as Evil since it includes a pentagram and is seen on war planes.

This though was not in my mind when I created it. The paintings refer to Rothko's emotionally charged abstract landscapes. This becomes clearer as the series develops.

The image incorporates a second symbol that intends to reconcile war with peace and is, in fact, a quatrefoil widow as seen in Gothic architecture. Through the window we see an idealised landscape, simplfied as a child might draw or paint it. War and peace, Heaven and earth, Innocence and experience - reconciliation. Closure

The canvas shown above was the first in the series and luckily when I was flinging paint at the central 'window' it landed to form a bird's eye and the thing is - it looks just like the dove of peace.

Mish...phaser set beyond stun

".....Credit Crunch Reaches Critical Mass

Businesses do not want to lend, consumers do not want to spend, financing approved projects (even large projects in supposedly "recession-proof" Las Vegas) is difficult. Unemployment is soaring, demand for credit ratings is dropping, there is no driver for jobs, the service sector is shot and that is going to put still more pressure on consumer discretionary spending and business borrowing.

The credit crunch is not only pervasive, it has now reached critical mass where it will start feeding on itself. The Fed is powerless to stop it.

Expect to see corporate bond yields soar and treasury yields to drop as the credit crunch picks up steam. Those looking for inflation can find it in their rear view mirror."mish

Disclaimer:The content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be taken as investment advice. All site content, including advertisements, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument, or to participate in any particular trading or investment strategy.

'VESTMENTS... update

Star Date : whatever +1 (07/30) the painter's birthday!

Yo! It ma birthday man! We dahn ere inna cargo hold checkin out the 'vestments. Sucker gotta revoo his vestments ever once'n a while. Birthday be a gooda time as any....

Previously...on Dorktrek : Lost In Space...

The crew from the loft in downtown Palookaville have fallen thru the back of a cornflakes box and onto the bridge of the United Flakes Starship Turnerprize which has been contacted with a strange warning about trillions of dollars being sucked into a deleveraging black hole. On the way to investigate the Turnerprize was caught up in the dreaded 'Flation - a nebula of the most disturbin kind.....read on at yo peril...

(Beulah) : Lootenant Uhura : What we doin dahn ere boss/ it stinky poo man! All ese boxes an stuff wi big letters on em SIV, CDO, ABS... seems like ever kind initial inna alpha bet. Boxes here spread out all over a place...

Picardthepainter : Cool it dude! these ere our future man. Itz 'vestments like these I been makin whilst y'all been in eyeburnation durin the long credit boom....

Uhura : Shoot boss! Summa these boxes be smaller an uvvas...sheeeit! even as we speak summa em is srinkin. Wosapnin man? `how we gon retyre in Palookaville iffn our 'vestments keeps shrinkin?

Picard : It's the freakin nebula man! It workin 'flation on us 'vestments... They shinkin cos the force be DEflation messed abaht by a bitta commodity driven INflation (it only appen inna nebula).

Uhura : Boss how come summa them vestments be smalla an sum bigga?

Picard : All 'vestments is equal but some is more equal than others...Yo see summa em is INvestments and summa em is DEvestments an some is just plain 'vestments....

Uhura : Say wot? Ah don geddit! Yo puts the same amounta money inta each 'vestment? An each does itz own thang? aint that a little bitty riksy dude?

Picard : Sho! It riksy but thats life shugga..Turns out some is good INvestments - thats the ones that go mostly UP and some DEvestments is bad, that is those that go mostly DOWN and some is just plain 'vestments that mostly go nowhere.

Zooney : (he the dog) I'm a outa space muppet atcherly divet! Boss they a silver linin inna plain 'vestments..

Spider : Pay im no notice! He a dog!

Zooney : As I woz sayin... Inna nebula "Flation goin crazy all ova a place...DEvestments inna toilet, srinkin by a minnit... Plain 'vestments can be liquidated fo cash an used to save the ship!

Incommin : Spider out onna web found this on naked capitalism -

"Of course, today’s mess was many years in the making and there is no easy, painless exit strategy. But the need to introduce more banking discipline is yet another reason why the policymakers must refrain from excessively expansionary macroeconomic policy at this juncture and accept the slowdown that must inevitably come at the end of such an incredible boom. For most central banks, this means significantly raising interest rates to combat inflation. For Treasuries, this means maintaining fiscal discipline rather than giving in to the temptation of tax rebates and fuel subsidies. In policymaker’s zealous attempts to avoid a plain vanilla supply shock recession, they are taking excessive risks with inflation and budget discipline that may ultimately lead to a much greater and more protracted downturn."

Course thats just part of it they a link to the rest of it over there on the control panel onna right

Laverne : I don wanna be Spock I wants to be Gilligan! OH! ...suckers watchin... Yo Skip! Is this Rogof arguin against Mish? or is it more complicated than that? This freakin nebula done messed with my head.

Spider : Krug. gotta good piece on the above Rogof article its onna right... or here

Spider(again) : get dis from Ambrose and this from James Clunie at the Telegraph.
This nebula man!!

Lootenant Uhura : Boss? What gonna appen if the 'vestments keep on shrinkin??

Picardthepainter : Don go there shugga. Its a WIPEOUT we gon hafta slit the Turnerprize! Cast off the cargo decks into the vorteks. But all is not lost! Cos we don hedged our bets across a wide range o stuff incudin worx o art (we got stuff in boxes, stuff in formaldehyde, nudes, folks in chains, rubbed out drawins, briks, pork bellies). Man we got us 401k all in cash!!!
Aint no sucker from this yer Dorkverse gon sink the United Flakes Starship Turnerprize !

Spider : mish got this out -

The New York Times is reporting Paterson Warns of Economic Crisis. it's in the side bar right

to be continued...

Disclaimer:The content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be taken as investment advice. All site content, including advertisements, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument, or to participate in any particular trading or investment strategy.

yeah an also... All characters herein is fictional and any similarity to any real sucker is unintentional and just plain sad.

YA CANNA CHANGE THE LAWS OF PHYSICS...

Spider heh. I been onna web lookin at Roub's. he a real smart cookie man - check this out -

".....The reality is that you cannot fight with drugs and tricks the laws of gravity: the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the biggest housing bust since the Great Depression, the coming biggest systemic banking crisis in the last 50 years, the worst U.S. recession since the stagflations of the 1970s, the biggest liquidity and credit crunch in decades. Over time these fundamental factors - a crisis of credit and insolvency for over-leveraged and insolvent households, financial institutions, mortgage lenders, homebuilders, municipalities and even a good fat tail of the corporate sector - cannot be rescued with liquidity actions. A severe recession and financial and banking crisis is unavoidable."

Get more detail and the rest over at Roubs

Disclaimer: The content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be taken as investment advice. All site content, including advertisements, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument, or to participate in any particular trading or investment strategy.

We’re Saying No To Almost Everybody

Captings Log. Stardate : whatever

We are stranded in the 'Flation nebula light years away from Palookaville. The crew are revolting... they fear for they small stash o cash back in the Palookaville National Bank.

Previously on Dorktrek...The United Flakes Starship Turnerprize has been contacted with a strange warning about trillions of dollars being sucked into a deleveraging black hole. On the way to investigate the Turnerprize was caught up in the dreaded 'Flation - a nebula of the most disturbing kind.....read on at your peril...

Spider : Boss I don't wanna be Data no more! I wants to be Gilligan.

Picard : Hush yo mouth now yo crazy arachnid...Mish gotta post y'all orta see...

We’re Saying No To Almost Everybody

"Furthermore, in a credit crunch, junk yields should rise and they are. In a credit crunch lending standards will tighten and they are. In a credit crunch lenders will "Say No To Almost Everyone" and they are.

Finally, it makes perfect sense for money to be parked in money market funds below the alleged rate of "inflation". I have talked about this on many occasions. The reason M3 has been rising is that corporations have been tapping credit lines, not for expansion, but in case those lines are shut off. Those corporations have been parking that money in institutional money market accounts.

This is not "inflationary" in any way shape or form. Deflation is here and upon us, and some cannot even see there is a credit crunch. It's rather amazing."

Spock(Lavern) : Ah don see no credit crunch! Ah don voted fo higher rates..that there deleveraging got be light years away!

Halfcat(zooney) : Yo dozy Vulcan dunce! Yo got them fancy noclers the wrong way round!

Spock : Let me see now thother way roun. Yowwwww! Sheeeit! looka 'at sucker man. Itz a freakin vortex!!! Itz biggern a.....

Picard : That Mish he some clevva dude. What I been tellin yo? In this 'Flation nebula everthing gotta be the wrong way roun. All bets is off! We betta try n find some way outta here PDQ or us asses is toast!

TO BE CONTINUED....

STUCK HERE IN THE NEBULA WITH YOU

earlier on Picardthepainter...

The crew from the loft are lost in space. Instead of Spock and Data it the muppet fro FireballXL5 who recognises the danger.

...Awoken from a deep sleep during the great credit expansion the crew stagger out into the breakfast nook to find themselves in uncharted territory. The USS Turnerprize is being sucked into a DEflationary spiral nebula the like of which hasn't been seen since the first series.

...Spock wants to raise interest rates to ward off INflation...thats because he is a Vulcan and everyone knows they is tough.

The muppet says no way! "yo seein it the wrong way sucker". he says. "We in a eye o a storm, dude. Y'all gonna find yo money all sucked out yo bank, yo house gonna be worth peanuts. And wots lef o yo pension affer Brown robbed it, it aint be gon be worth dick!

Potentially the most exiting nail biter yet from painterproductions the Hollywood- free soap.

read on after this break....

from Bloomberg...
IMF Says End of U.S. Housing Slump `Not Visible'

UAE boom to continue as global economy crashes

Filed under: Dubai Property, Oil Prices, UAE Stocks, US Stocks — peterjcooper @ 11:58 am

To my mind the stage is being set for an October crash on Wall Street despite the proximity of the US presidential election. The ongoing financial crisis with the likelihood of a series of US bank failures, the collapsing US housing market and the knock on effect on consumer spending will result in a climatic capitulation.

It is remarkable, not to say unbelievable how well the Dow Jones and FTSE indices have kept up over the past year. The rumour in London last week was that George Soros is shorting the FTSE. It might be his best trade since pushing the pound out of the ERM in late 1992.

Revisiting Housing Seasonality & the Perennial Bottom Callers

Posted by Barry Ritholtz on Monday, July 28, 2008 | 11:07 AM

in Data Analysis | Real Estate

I've been meaning to go over some of the details in last week's Housing data. I was surprised to hear several commentators discuss the imminent turnaround in Housing.

Mind you, these were the people who missed the entire significance of Housing before the collapse, who insisted it was contained, and would not infect anything else. "Why are you so obsessed with Housing" I was asked repeatedly by this crowd from 2005 thru '07. Perhaps I shouldn't be all that surprised at what the usual crowd of shills and pollyannas states, given their horrific track record.

from The Financial Ninja...
The Final Bubble: Commodities

Disclaimer:The content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be taken as investment advice. All site content, including advertisements, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument, or to participate in any particular trading or investment strategy.


Yo! Spider dude, How come we gotta keep sayin this stuff about this is not advice blah blah?

Painter dude thats so's the suckers out there won't go do nothin stupid and say we told em it was ok. Then they gon come get yo with some smart ass lawyer an sue yo skinny ass off!

No way man! Aint nobody dumb enuff to listen to some freakin artist view on investin they hard earned bucks?

Way man, Sooo way! Them suckers'l listen to any kind o s**t if they think they can get a edge.
Just look at the way they piled inta real estate, CDO's SIV's, CDS's and whatever.

Shoot! What you say Halfcat?
It's cool! What the f**k kind a lawyer gonna sue a dog or a rat?
I'm a mouse! you mutt.
Chill guys, cool it, the suckers watchin an all.

INflation : What The Heck Is It?

Yo! Mish to the rescue!

"It would help to have an idea of what a credit crunch was and for that matter what inflation is.

Let's start with the latter. Those who do not know what inflation is are advised to read INflation: What the heck is it? The short version is inflation is a net expansion of money supply and credit while deflation is the opposite."

Halfcat : We still trekkin boss?

Picard : Sure as sugar little dude!

to be continued.....

'FLATION

Yo! innit!

We trekkin today man I'm gon be Picard, Spider gon be Data, Opkin gon be Deanna Troy, Halfcat, he be gon be Zooney.

Say what? I aint gon be no freakin puppet from Fireball XL5 man! Poxy alien muppet pet. I a pedigree mutt man I got class. What for I gotta be the puppet?

Yeesh! enough already with the backchat 'cat. Yo gon be wotever I says you gon be dude.

Beulah gon be Lootenant Urura, an Laverne gon be Spock.

Up heh, onna bridge o the Starship Turnerprize, we cruzin in outaspace an can see all kinda crazy stuff onna screen.

Incommin! (Spider)(sheeit! man I'm not Spider! I'm Data)(innit! sorry man)(suckers'l think we amaters)

Ahem! Data man! Wot you got for us?

Data : It some fancy big signal man. looks lak a S.O.S...

Uhura : These here maps is all messed up man! I caint make out where Earth is on here! We lost in space man!

Laverne : Sheeit man! Wot kinda mess you landed us in now? Sista can't even sleep inna freeza fo a cupla years for some sucker start S.O.S in an wake us all up. Man I feel like sh*t.

Yo! here! It me, Deanna! - Always let yo feelins hang out man. Am gettin some crazy vibe from all yous guys here onna bridge. Wotz appnin? Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No man it 'Flation (itz Zooney).

Picard : Say wot? Wot a muppet know bout no 'flation? What is flation anyhow?

Zooney : (the muppet)(alien) 'Flation caused by too much or too little money man.

Data : Yo a poxy alien muppet man! Wot a muppet know about stuff? aint even inna right show.

Zooney : Y'all betta button it dudes cos somink out ere onna screen...

Laverne : Sheeit! Wot is that?

Opkin : it big man!

Picard (back in role, just in time) : Is it a Black Swan? ora Nebula? it INflation or DEflation? Mr Data! Onscreen ifn you pleez....

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/07/has-deleveraging-even-begun-not-for.html

Lootenant Uhura : Boss, check this out. It don't look like no S.O.S - it more like a warnin!

A comment on the above article :

ryb said...

Interesting stuff. However, there may be a few more factors at work here:

1.) The flow of fund data uses the carrying costs of the debt, i.e. the price banks companies etc. carry the debt on their balance sheets. I think that the carrying values of these debts is much higher than their “market” prices (without getting into a discussion of what market prices are, level III etc.). In other words, the value of these loans – mortgages, commercial credit whatever – will be written down further to reflect real values. Thus, the numerator is smaller and % of GDP is not as high as in that graph (although still high).

2.) As the economy in general and real estate in particular continue to deteriorate, the process described above should accelerate.

3.) Many corporates that have access to liquidity, like lines of credit, are drawing on them, not because they need the funds per se, but are willing to eat a small spread to make sure the funds will be available in the future. (As far as I understand, total debt here is gross, not net of cash or ST investments.)

4.) The same is true for households, although the numbers are smaller.

5.) The same is true for those banks that have access to liquidity, either from Central Banks or interbank/commercial paper. Much of the liquidity they receive they hoard, fearing demands from their best clients, or expenses associated with bring off-balance sheet back on balance.

In general, I think destruction of credit has already led to deleveraging. It’s just that the data does not reflect it, due to accounting standards and perverse economic incentives. But I agree with the article (& Rosenberg): real deleveraging is coming soon, and it won’t be pretty.

July 28, 2008 4:38 AM

This next comment looks suspiciously familiar :


from the financial ninja...

"Repeat After Me; All Bubbles Are The Same! Always. Forever."

"Risky assets will continue to lose value. Not necessarily because they all deserve to, but because they must. The entire financial system is de-leveraging. Yes, that means that even commodities will face the wrath of the margin clerks... Eventually. They’ve all gone parabolic. That NEVER ends well. EVER… and it ALWAYS signals the beginning of the end."

from me - Yo post today is well right on bro. an ryb above is good too.

I been lookin inta this here flation stuff an this floats my boat man! amen.

LAVERNE

Yo! Innit!

Back from Aldeburgh! now in downtown Palookaville. The heat is peelin the flock 'paper off the breakfast nook.

Opkins is dozing with his tail in a bowl a ice water. Spider has all seven his legs in there too.

This garret is not the best place to be in a heatwave, but it's home, then again where is?

Whilst chillin by the sea, me an Beulah and Beulah's sista Laverne (and Halfcat), was readin some real cool littature. Seems Laverne is a swot and books is wot she does.

I sez - Yo! Laverne, sista! why you don't write me some ree voos fo the blog?

Laverne : What for I wanna do no writin ree voows for some skinny ass painter?

Me : Say wot? You missin a trick sista! suckers out there don't know they asses from tuesday man. Y'all could be nokkin em ded wi yo smart ass liiature nous.

Laverne : Yeah like they all gon take notice of some asshole's sista-in-law without no badges an stuff.

Me : Shoot sister, y'all the coolest reader inna world dude. just looka wot yo bin readin man...
'Day', 'The Little Friend', 'The Englishman's Boy', 'Headlong'....lots o diff'rnt stuff.

Laverne : Supposin I do rite some stuff, you gon trash it jus fo kicks innit.

Me : Sista, I promiss yo I aint gon do no such thing. Why I be jus ovver a moon to get genuine ree voos wrote fo the suckers by sumwon at cares and aint onna make.

Laverne : Huhn i'll think about it asshole but don't let that skinny- ass, seven legged spider a yorn near it or the deal's off!

BUCKET AND SPADE TIME

SPIDER

Woz over @ mish's jus now an brought this back fo ya

Short Squeeze Continues
......This move in financials is going to fail spectacularly once the panic buying ends, but for now the bulls are having a bit of fun.
usual caveats : not advice etc...

get the full @ (link on this page...on the right) or click below.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/07/short-squeeze-in-financials-continues.html

just when you thought it was safe to go out...

IMF lifts its forecast for UK economic growth over next two years

Are they taking the piss?
Spider just came up with this from the telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/07/18/cnimf118.xml
By Edmund Conway, Economics Editor

Last Updated: 1:10am BST 18/07/2008

Gimnopedie No.3 Erik Satie. Piano : Branka Parlic

...is they is or is they aint?

Yo suckers! Look at this. Everone out there is runnin aroun screamin "fed gonna print money roun the clock"... "cause all this inflation an stuff."

"Banks is bust...oil sky high...pay an unemployment risin by the minute...house prices goin thru the roof!"

Scratch that buster! Seems like either we bust or we boomin cain't have both right?

"Way to go painter man" (it's the mouse)
"Go painter" (Halfcat)
"sock it to em" (Spider)
"Is that sonofabich on that freakin computer again?...wher's that freakin rollin pin?"(you got it...it's Beulah!)

Up in the garret, here in Palookaville, we are sadly confused.
Last night that little biddy ole mouse he looked over at me and ast "dude, is we is or is we aint inflatin?'
I swear they was tears in his little eye peeps - he takes his economy muy serious.
"Little mouse dude, I just a dumbass artist from Palookaville but I know some real clevva dudes onna net'.
"Yo Sider! Git on that web o yorn an find me some stuff by Mish (he some clevva dude man) an while yo about it get me some other stuff so the suckers out there can see fo theyselves jus wots appnin."

'Comin up boss"

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Fed Drains Again: 9 Straight POMOs

Every day I hear from someone how the Fed is "printing". My typical reaction is to ask for proof. I never see any. I just looked again. I still don't see any. Oh sure, people point to various Fed sponsored facilities like these as printing.....
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/03/fed-drains-again-9-straight-pomos.html

Onna uvva hand -
Posted to the web on: 07 July 2008
Time to put the brakes on this runaway train
Kenneth Rogoff........

This runaway-train global economy has all the hallmarks of a giant crisis in the making — financial, political, and economic. Will policy makers find a way to achieve the necessary international
co-ordination? Getting the diagnosis right
is the place to start. The world as a whole needs tighter monetary and fiscal policy. It is time to put the brakes on this runaway train before it is too late. Project Syndicate, 2008. www.project-syndicate.org.

Rogoff is professor of economics and public policy at Harvard University, and was formerly chief economist at the IMF..... get the full article @

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/article.aspx?ID=BD4A797286

Thats all for now folks. Spider on a bathroom break an Beulah is wavin that ole rollin pin and lookin meaner an a skunk with a cold.

LATER...

We're back. "Spider sock it to em"-
"OK boss" -

Friday, 18 July 2008

UK money supply continues to grow at double digit rates

Brace yourself for more inflation. The UK money supply is currently growing at 11.5 percent a year. In fact, the growth rate picked up in June, reversing the declining trend of the early months of the year.... http://ukhousebubble.blogspot.com/

Then get this -

Britain's lonely monetarists fear Bank of England may trigger severe crunch

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor

Last Updated: 11:45pm BST 17/06/2008

Britain's lonely band of monetarists fear that the Bank of England will trigger a severe crunch if it overreacts to the inflation spike and keeps interest rates too high as the downturn gathers pace.

Like I said - "is there is or is there aint?"

-http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/money/2008/06/17/bcnmonet117.xml

From the FT

Difficulties in identifying breed of bear markets

By John Authers Published: July 12 2008 03:00 | Last updated: July 12 2008 03:00

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/79a07a46-4fb5-11dd-b050-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Published: July 12 2008 03:00 | Last updated: July 12 2008 03:00

Bears come in many species. Some are vast and vicious hunters, living off raw meat. Some eat fruit. And some, like koalas and pandas, are not bears at all.

World stocks are this weekend in a bear market. But bears come in as many varieties in the markets as they do in the wild.

I have not been able to find the origin of the widely accepted definition that a 20 per cent fall in an index equals a bear market.

But the "20 per cent fall" definition is not useful. By this criterion, world stocks suffered "bear markets" in October 1987, following the Black Monday crash, and in autumn 1998, following the meltdown of Long-Term Capital Management. Both were over within months, but neither has much in common with 2008.

There have been 30 bear markets, so defined, for the S&P 500 since 1900. According to Thomas Lee of JPMorgan, four of them troughed at 20 per cent down. A further 11 dropped only 10 per cent or less after the point at which they finally hit the 20 per cent barrier.

But nine of them still had more than a year to go before hitting rock bottom, and five would see further falls of 30 per cent or more....

..... follow link above to get the rest at FT well worth a read.

This is not advice! Always seek professional advice before investing

Masquerade...trailer, rough cut

HALF CAT

The rain beats down hard on the garret roof here in downtown Palookaville. It runs in rivulets between the slates and on down into the gutters where it mixes amicably with the dust of ages and the pigeon poop.

Halfcat (the pooch) sleeps soundly on the old arm chair from Carrick-on-Suir. His new hair cut has left him feeling slightly insecure and a little cooler. Although how you could get a pooch any cooler than him I do not see.

He didn't bat an eyelid yesterday morning when the market was droppin like a stone nor did he break wind last night as the US went up.

Y'all gotta unnerstan that dogs don't generally own shares directly. He leaves all the financial decisions to me or Beulah. He's just like ole man river, he just keeps lolling along.

Opkins (the rat)(he calls hisself a mouse but thats an awful long tail!) he keeps out the way when 'cats around - on account of him being semi feline and chasin all hell out of him...

Any way this aint gonna get her done so. Spider! - whats on the web today man?

Yo! Welcome suckers! out there today is lots o good stuff -

Wild Times on Wall Street

Posted by Barry Ritholtz on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 | 02:00 PM

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/
did I hear the word long in there? whats that about?


America is lone bright spot as fund managers flee stocks By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 10:51pm BST 16/07
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/07/17/cnfunds117.xml
I likes Ambrose he's about as much fun as you can have with a newspaper! Not sure he's got his timing right though! still as always make up your own mind seek professional advice etc.

Yo! Spider dude, How come we gotta keep sayin this stuff about this is not advice blah blah?

Painter dude thats so's the suckers out there won't go do nothin stupid and say we told em it was ok. Then they gon come get yo with some smart ass lawyer an sue yo skinny ass off!

No way man! Aint nobody dumb enuff to listen to some freakin artist view on investin they hard earned bucks?

Way man, Sooo way! Them suckers'l listen to any kind o s**t if they think they can get a edge.
Just look at the way they piled inta real estate, CDO's SIV's, CDS's and whatever.

Shoot! What you say Halfcat?
It's cool! What the f**k kind a lawyer gonna sue a dog or a rat?
I'm a mouse! you mutt.
Chill guys, cool it, the suckers watchin an all.

Spier man! say some more stuff muy pronto.

Yo! Buenas gang! check this out - From Peter J Cooper

July 9, 2008

Bonds, equities and global real estate all look bad investments

http://arabianmoney.net/2008/07/09/bonds-equities-and-global-real-estate-all-look-bad-investments/#comment-804

As always make up your own mind. Seek professional advice etc.

ROXY MUSIC

"I've been going along for a long time now, hoping help will come from above...."

Well... we are all wet with excitement here in the loft. The unfinished magnum opus is collecting dust on the easel as we sit glued to the screens. The stock market is spiraling down ...
"its a f***ing waterfall". "look out below". "May Day, May Day" SOS.

The Wizard of Oz has been found out and ... BREAKING NEWS ...Financial rocket scientists have diplomas instead of brains... Medals instead of courage... and worst of all No hearts! - just tickers!

"What does it all mean Peter?" asks Opkins (the mouse)
"looks like it's back to the 70's.
- Unions are bringing their members out on strike - their pay is failing to keep up with inflation.
- Oil is rocketing in price.
- House prices are going through the roof.
- There's a banking crisis.
- Pay rises are running into double digits.
- Interest rates reach 15%. "

"Yo! - painter dude, slow down man. House prices aint risin, they fallin man!" - (its Spider) he's been on the web checkin out Nouriel Roubini.

Seems like this time it's different!
Pay aint rising for the workin stiffs, real estate sucks, interest rates is low.
It aint inflation man! - it's deflation, comin to get ya from Japan. seems like they've had it for yonks and yonks.

They had a property boom/bust and then Zombie banks. It was all covered up...swep under the carpet instead of bein busted out and started over. Looks like thats wot they tryin here now.

"Spider yo full o shit man. yo aint nuthin but a poxy spider anyway.
And that web o yorn is just bollocks dude."

Wait a minute guys (it's the mouse!) This swot in America (Rogof) has got a interestin take on this...

THE global economy is a runaway train that is slowing, but not quickly enough. That is what the extraordinary run-up in prices for oil, metals, and food is screaming at us.

The spectacular and historic global economic boom of the past six years is
about to hit a wall. Unfortunately, no one, certainly not in Asia or the US, seems willing to bite the bullet and help engineer the necessary co-ordinated retreat to sustained sub-trend growth, which is necessary so that new commodity supplies and alternatives can catch up.

Instead, governments are clawing to stretch out unsustainable booms, further pushing up commodity prices, and raising the risk of a once-in-a-lifetime economic and financial mess. All this need not end horribly, but policy makers in most regions have to start pressing hard on the brakes, not the accelerator.

Don’t look to the US for leadership in a presidential election year. On the contrary, the US government has been handing out tax-rebate cheques so that Americans will shop until they drop .....

Get the rest @ http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/article.aspx?ID=BD4A797286

Shit man! I don't geddit! is they is or is they aint no deflation comin?

Is they is or is they aint no inflation comin?

Seems like up here in the loft us chickins got to dig a little deeper.

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Up here in the garret we have tv and often especially at yuletide they show this really great old movie with James Stewart and Donna Reed.

Course everyone's seen it dozens of times - old time savings and loan threatened with a run, saved by Stewart and the bell. Bad guy Lionel Barrymore wants to buy it out and close it so ordinary people can't afford to buy their own home but have to rent from him.

Then a 'credit crunch' - 'solvency crisis' or is it fraud - the money has disappeared (lost) (taken away by the bad guy). Stewart is bereft and jumps in the river - he nearly sells out!!

In the end though an angel steps (jumps) in and... well you know the rest - everybody digs deep in their pockets to find the money to bail out the bank!

It's set 60 years ago and nothing like it could happen today. But as we sit here, dreaming up art stuff like paintings and video wheezes, me and Opkins (the mouse) and Spider (the spider) don't feel as secure as we used to . No sirree not quite as secure as we used to.

THE FRUIT MACHINE STOPS

triptych. 1985. oil on canvas 96"x 108"

THE FRUIT MACHINE STOPS

The Fruit Machine Rules

O.K.?

Rules are not laws.
Laws are not facts.
Facts are not guaranteed.

Guarantees are not given.
Gifts are not allowed.
Allowances will not be made.

Making is allowed but not supported.
Support is withheld.

A withholding tax must be paid.
Payment is not deferred.

Deference is required,
Requirements obliged,
Obligations not honoured...

Honour is not part of the equation.
Equations don’t add up.

Up is not down,
Down is not out,
Out is not Free.
Freedom is denied,
Denial is forbidden!

Hats off to the Ninja

Aha! **** hits fan.

http://benbittrolff.blogspot.com/2008/07/indymac-failure-by-friday-fannie.html

What do I spy from my garret as I look out today? The msm are all over these people - you never heard them mention any of it before. Some referred to the bloggers as 'darker places on the web'.

I am only a garret lurking dreamer and I knew what was happening because I found these smart people on the web. mish, big pic. ninja, yves, alice and many more. and you can find them all on the links on their sites. Some are on here.

Why am I here to say this today? because It's fun to read the truth you suspect is out there and not all the managed stuff in the msm.

Disclosure : I am not a trader - yet? So I have no positions in any company. I only have my pension plan which is 70% cash. This is not advice. Do your own homework before investing anywhere.

DARK POOLS

I just read this article over at seeking alpha. by keith fitz-gerald. check it out.

Looks like it's another giant fiddle by the toffs! - trying to rig the markets?





http://seekingalpha.com/article/84459-will-dark-pools-be-the-capital-markets-next-black-holes#comment-202989

Survivors

Poem

Beaten and broken into pieces.
We lay like lovers do.
Ecstatically drained,
Eternally blue.

Repent now at leisure,
Reassembled in haste
Various woods, pieces of waste,

We were found cut, already shaped,
marked and scarred,
Wanting in taste.

Song

Lost in the waste box
Down in the dumps
Lie around broken
Bruises and lumps

Hopeless and helpless
lost in space
one of us a foot
Another was a face

We are survivors
We are the new
You are the many
We are the few

Put us together
Unite us in fun
I am a robot
He is a gun

Refuged and refreshed,
Reformed and reshaped,
Recently enmeshed,
Lately escaped

We are survivors
No longer lost,
Paying the price,
Bearing the cost.

We are survivors,
No longer depraved
Show us forgiveness
We are the saved.

Creed

Our maker
(saviour would be wrong, a little strong)
(don’t you think?)
Creates us,
Not in his image, but in his imagination.
He sees us, not for what we are, but for
What we could be.
He facilitates our rebirth, engineers our resurrection
He makes us, he saves us.
He loves us.

He paints us, identifies us.
We are survivors.
We are light of heart, contemplative, reminiscent
We are not lonely,
We are grateful.


c. charles stuart 2008

GUNMAN

I found his head first,
lurking in the waste box in wood shop,
Mr Cutout Gun,
lying in pieces in the scrap box,
blending in.

Grinning with satisfaction or grimacing with pain,
the pain of separation,
the just a little pain of parting....
from the barrel of a gun.

The body lay adjacent to the head
but on another level entirely,
all a sort of empty,
discharged and dischuffed.

The assassin assassinated,
the killer killed,
the Grim Reaper...
reaped.

Of arms and legs there was no sign.
shuffled off, no doubt,
along with humanity, the grace of God
and all chance of redemption.

You can take the gun out of the man but you can’t take the man out of the gun.

Reassembled,
wheels, for mobility, testify to loss,
Half man, half machine,
the cyborg rolls around in pain and disbelief.

Beware the cyborg, little man,
what rolls around in pain....
comes around again.

c. charles stuart 2008

stay in Venice

We stayed at the Locanda San Barnaba www.locanda-sanbarnaba.com
Excellent and friendly, loved every minute!

It's in Dorsoduro - one of the nicest and quietest parts of Venice.

Lose The Plot

Currently I am working on a short film shot in Venice. It is influenced by 'Summertime' the David Lean film starring Katherine Hepburn. Also of course 'Don't Look Now' (Nicolas Roeg).

As an painter I approach film/video as a way of painting with light. No plot, no dialogue just photography - light, colour, movement.

This time, though, I do have a figure in the piece. Ginny is - tourist? Katherine Hepburn? Lost? Looking for something/someone? and also something dark!

I just shoot em as I see em. Back at the ranch I edit my heart out making something out of it, it's as simple as that.

Direct action with no hanging around, no financial hassles and no overseers!

I publish my stuff on youtube because I can. It's so easy and anyone can see it. It's more fun making movies than marketing them so i make em but I could use someone to market them.

A five minute version is on youtube now and I am working on a ten minute version. I will probably make five or so films with the footage i have.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=peterthepainter