| 2007 Wrap-Up
The dollar's share of global foreign-exchange reserves fell to a record low in the third quarter as demand for U.S. assets waned after the subprime-mortgage market collapsed. The U.S. currency accounted for 63.8% of reserves at the end of September, down from 65% at the end of June, the International Monetary Fund said... The share of euros increased to 26.4%, from 25.5%. The figures suggest central banks diversified out of the dollar as it fell to the lowest level in a decade. Investors sold a record amount of U.S. securities in August when defaults on subprime mortgages rippled through financial markets and the Federal Reserve signaled it would cut interest rates." December 27 - Financial Times (Daniel Dombey): "At the end of a year in which the dollar has endured a marked decline against other currencies, an unsettling question is beginning to be voiced: can the troubles of the US currency be confined to the financial world or are they set to undermine Washington's place on the international stage? 'This is the neglected dimension of the dollar's decline,' says Flynt Leverett, a former senior National Security Council official under President George W.
Inhumanity Has a Price
Now, imagine a scraggly meth head trying to open a line of credit in your name at Circuit City to buy an HDTV because he stole your boss' laptop, which had all your personal data in it. When Circuit City calls one of the credit bureaus to check you out, there's a fraud alert on your account. Circuit City is supposed to use the contact information on the credit bureau's account to notify the account holder of the impending purchase. If everything goes according to plan, the meth head goes home empty-handed. The catch: Every 90 days the credit bureau erases fraud alerts on the account. That's because fraud alerts are a headache to lenders like Circuit City commerce would move like molasses if every account was red-flagged. Customers pay LifeLock $10 a month to call a credit bureau every three months and put a fraud alert on an account.
4th poised for rematch
Sixteen months ago, Prince George's County activist Donna Edwards rode the national wave of anti-war sentiment to come within a few thousand votes of unseating incumbent Rep. Albert R. Wynn in the Democratic primary election.
As the two candidates campaign for their rematch next month - when the Democratic primary vote in the liberal district will likely determine the next officeholder - both appear to have strengthened their positions.
This time around, Edwards says, voters know who she is before she introduces herself. Looking to maintain momentum from her narrow defeat, the 49-year-old attorney has raised more money, hired a campaign manager - a luxury she went without last time - and picked up some key labor endorsements.
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Matt Skelton keen to get job done
The Bedford fighter avenged his solitary loss against Danny Williams in July 2006 before outpointing old opponent Michael Sprott in a dreadful Commonwealth title clash at London's O2 Arena on his last outing in July. Skelton may not be pretty to watch, but he is very hard to beat. The same, however, could be said of Chagaev, the man known as "White Tyson" who deposed the 7ft 4in Russian Nikolai Valuev to seize the WBA belt last April. Relatively small for a modern heavyweight, Chagaev has excellent skills and a sturdy chin and will start a clear favourite on Saturday night. Sanders is unconvinced by the champion's credentials, and suggests there are question marks over Chagaev's stamina which Skelton will exploit. "Matt doesn't drink or smoke and is an absolute gem to train," he said.
South Dakota Politics Schaff
Yesterday I noted Robert Samuelson laying out some harsh but needed truths: entitlement programs, especially Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, are growing at an alarming rate and will soon come to push aside other necessary spending. These programs represent an tremendous wealth transfer from young people to senior citizens which in the not to distant future will necessitate massive taxation on young workers to keep benefits at their projected levels. Today the Financial Times reports that due to these enormous long term liabilities and the lack of action about them may cause the credit rating agency Moody's to downgrade the federal government's credit rating: The US is at risk of losing its top-notch triple-A credit rating within a decade unless it takes radical action to curb soaring healthcare and social security spending, Moody’s, the credit rating agency, said on Thursday.
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