Average Age Of Exxon Valdez Worker: 51 Years

Considering there is no end in site to the oil volcano, parts of the gulf coast have a strong probability of becoming uninhabitable. Seeing as the majority of oil refineries in the U.S. are found in the area this situation is getting worse every day.

Pensacola Beach Boiling

Prepare for likely mass diaspora from the gulf (according to Matt Simmons)

Starting To Lose Faith In General Public

This doesn't even justify a response

Currency Collapse May Stimulate Economic Expansion, BIS Says

June 14 (Bloomberg) -- Currency collapses tend to spur a resumption of economic growth rather than fueling a decline in gross domestic product, according to the Bank for International Settlements.

Currency collapses are associated with permanent output losses of about 6 percent of GDP, on average, though the drop tends to appear beforehand, the Basel, Switzerland-based BIS said in its quarterly review yesterday.

“This suggests that it may not be the currency collapse that reduces output, but rather the factors that led to the depreciation,” Camilo E. Tovar wrote in the study. “To gain a full understanding of the implications of currency collapses on economic activity it is important to carefully examine the full circle of events surrounding the episode.”

The positive effects of a weaker currency on GDP, including making local products cheaper than imported goods, may outweigh the negative ones, such as rising inflation. Currency collapses occur when the annual exchange rate drops by about 22 percent, according to the BIS, which identified 79 such episodes, “more commonly in Africa than in Asia or Latin America,” since 1960, Tovar said.

“They also occurred under all types of currency regimes, except possible floating-exchange-rate regimes, where there are simply too few observations to obtain meaningful estimates,” the BIS said.

Economic Contraction

The euro tumbled about 20 percent against the dollar between Nov. 25, 2009, and last week as investor concern over record budget deficits in countries including Greece spurred speculation the 16-nation currency union may split. The European Union in May crafted a 750 billion-euro ($908 billion) rescue package to stem the crisis.

Greece’s economy will contract 3.9 percent this year and 1.2 percent in 2011, after shrinking 2 percent in 2009, according to the median of eight economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The euro-region will expand by 1.1 percent this year and 1.5 percent in 2011, after falling 4.1 percent last year, median forecasts show.

Hans-Werner Sinn, president of Germany’s Ifo economic institute, said on June 3 that it would be best for Greece to leave the euro instead of implementing an austerity program to reduce its deficit. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou pledged budget cuts worth almost 14 percent of GDP to bring the deficit within the EU limit of 3 percent by the end of 2014.

“The real solution for Greece would be to leave the euro followed by a depreciation” of the new currency, Sinn said in an interview at a conference in Interlaken, Switzerland.

Growth May ‘Dominate’

European Central Bank Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said on May 28 that there are “no alternatives” for Greece beyond following the austerity program.

“Before drawing policy conclusions we should emphasise that these results are subject to a number of caveats,” the BIS said in the report. “Most importantly, the analysis does not address the reasons why currency collapses occur in the first place. Our analysis also has little to say about the mechanisms involved after the currency collapse takes place. While we cannot disentangle the various factors, our results do suggest that expansionary mechanisms tend to dominate.”

EPA: Amish Farming Bad For Environment

Only in Barry Soetoro's America

Amish Farming Draws Rare Government Scrutiny

LANCASTER, Pa. — With simplicity as their credo, Amish farmers consume so little that some might consider them model environmental citizens.

“We are supposed to be stewards of the land,” said Matthew Stoltzfus, a 34-year-old dairy farmer and father of seven whose family, like many other Amish, shuns cars in favor of horse and buggy and lives without electricity. “It is our Christian duty.”

But farmers like Mr. Stoltzfus are facing growing scrutiny for agricultural practices that the federal government sees as environmentally destructive. Their cows generate heaps of manure that easily washes into streams and flows onward into the Chesapeake Bay.

And the Environmental Protection Agency, charged by President Obama with restoring the bay to health, is determined to crack down. The farmers have a choice: change the way they farm or face stiff penalties.

“There’s much, much work that needs to be done, and I don’t think the full community understands,” said David McGuigan, the E.P.A. official leading an effort by the agency to change farming practices here in Lancaster County.

Runoff from manure and synthetic fertilizers has polluted the Chesapeake Bay for years, reducing oxygen rates, killing fish and creating a dead zone that has persisted since the 1970s despite off-and-on cleanup efforts. But of the dozens of counties that contribute to the deadly runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus, Lancaster ranks at the top. According to E.P.A. data from 2007, the most recent available, the county generates more than 61 million pounds of manure a year. That is 20 million pounds more than the next highest county on the list of bay polluters, and more than six times that of most other counties.

The challenge for the environmental agency is to steer the farmers toward new practices without stirring resentment that might cause a backlash. The so-called plain-sect families — Amish and Old Order Mennonites, descended from persecuted Anabaptists who fled Germany and Switzerland in the 1700s — are notoriously wary of outsiders and of the government in particular.

Best Buy Sized Bars - ESPN Zone - To Close

The good old days are gone folks - and they are not coming back. Palatial, mahagony & marble bars are going to be replaced with corner dives that serve dollar Pabst Blue Ribbons.

Disney Said to Be Closing Most of Its ESPN Zone Restaurants

The sports-themed restaurants operate in seven cities, including L.A. and Las Vegas. The Anaheim outlet is expected to remain open.

Walt Disney Co. is shutting down most of its ESPN Zone stores, a chain of sports-themed restaurants in seven cities, according to a person familiar with the matter. The only outlets to remain open are those tied to a Disney property, such as the Downtown Disney shopping district in Anaheim.

ESPN Zone opened in 1998 to capitalize on ESPN's brand, while bringing Disney's family-friendly atmosphere to the sports bar concept. The upscale eateries serve burgers and brews as walls of big-screen TVs beam baseball and other sporting events into the dining area. Separate gaming rooms, dubbed "Sports Arenas," provide access to interactive games, such as virtual golf and boxing.

It's unclear what has prompted Disney to close the establishments, although the bars may well be a casualty of the recession. A poll released in March by AlixPartners found that 30% of consumers planned to eat out less frequently, and spend less per meal than they did the year before.

In addition, some of the ESPN Zone restaurants are in high-priced real estate areas, such as Times Square in New York.

"Since their inception, the Zones have served sports fans very well," said an ESPN spokesman, who declined to comment further. "But from a pure business perspective, the economics have been challenging."

Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst for research firm NPD Group, said the restaurant business was undergoing its biggest decline in three decades.

"This year was horrible," Balzer said. "A restaurant meal is a very discretionary behavior. You could always eat at home and save money doing it. And going out for dinner is the most expensive food you could buy."

Balzer said casual-dining restaurants like ESPN Zone have been among the hardest hit, as consumers gravitate to less expensive chains such as Chipotle Mexican Grill or Panera Bread, which offer sit-down dining at fast-food prices. ESPN may also have suffered from the problem that afflicted Planet Hollywood, which closed several restaurants — the novelty simply wore off, he said.

In addition to Anaheim, Disney operates ESPN Zone restaurants in Baltimore, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and Washington. The company also licenses the ESPN Zone brand to a restaurant at the L.A. Live shopping and entertainment complex in downtown Los Angeles. It's unclear whether that location will remain open. Disney closed the Atlanta and Denver locations last year.

Celente: Fascism Has Come To America

Buy Guns, Barbed Wire: Advisor

I'll throw in freeze dried food as well. Considering the magnitude (and ineptitude)
of the oil spill - there will certainly be an impact on crops grown in the southeast. Throw in the already blistering inflation rate of food items with the certainty of future inflationary pressures and you have a volatile situation.

Costco offers a well rounded bucket for $74.99: Emergency Food Supply

Markets About To Turn Nasty: Buy Barbed Wire, Advisor

Bond markets could get very nasty over the coming months, while stock investors could take a few months off and stop attempting to trade volatile swings in the markets, Anthony Fry, senior managing director at Evercore Partners, told CNBC Monday.

“The current problems will be with us for 5 years or more and uncertainty is very high," Fry said.

"Sentiment is extremely volatile as shown by the collapse of the Prudential’s attempt to buy AIA. When the deal was thought up just a few months ago it was a very different world,” Fry told CNBC on Monday.

Fry says the best we can hope for in the current environment is a soft landing, but sees little chance of this happening.

“Look at the current situation. You have Greece, now you have Hungary and huge issues surrounding Spain and Portugal,” he said.

Fry believes many European banks have yet to fess up on losses and says governments across the world are between a rock and a hard place.

“Governments need to cut spending and raise money and if they do not do so credibly will be killed by the bond market demanding higher rates,” he said.

No Exit Strategy

Fry sees three outcomes for the global economy and none of them makes very good reading.

“You can have lower rates and deflation, higher rates and higher inflation or the nightmare scenario of higher rates and deflating asset prices,” he said.

“If the nightmare scenario plays out as I suspect it may then the debt situation gets worse. There is currently no exit strategy and the reaction to the crisis of policy makers remains a big worry.”

As a result, Fry is telling investors to play it safe and buy physical assets like land.

“I don’t want to scare anyone but I am considering investing in barbed wire and guns, things are not looking good and rates are heading higher,” he said.

The comments mirror those of bearish Bob Janjuah from RBS, who told CNBC on Friday that we are facing big stock market losses and told investors to get into gold before G20 governments attempt to throw another $15 trillion in quantitative easing in a bid to jump start the economy.

“The policymakers' response to the crisis has been new debt and this is an old game” said Janjuah.

“Over the next 6 months we will see private sector deflation pushing 10-year yields down to 2 percent," he predicted.

"This will see the policy makers mistakenly attempt to kick start the economy and market with a global quantitative easing program worth between $10 and $15 trillion dollars.”

Oil Spill Not Going Away

North Korea, Iran, Israel Vs. Turkey - the real pressing issue for the US is the evolving mega disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. With a best case scenario of the oil volcano being plugged in the fourth quarter of 2010, the air in and around the gulf will become multiple times more toxic and potentially force mass evacuations should the methane gas make landfall. According to the Cleveland Leader, some beach goers are already falling ill simply by going near the water.

Workers Hired To Help Cleanup Oil Spill Are Falling Ill

Fisherman and others hired by BP to help save the Gulf have been hospitalized in increasing number with nausea, high blood pressure and pounding headaches. They blame the oil giant and the chemical they have been pouring in the Gulf of Mexico to help disperse the growing oil slick.

Some of those sick workers are now suing BP and Transocean, the owners of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in late April.

Entire crews have gotten ill after coming into contact with the dispersant, Corexit, which is supposed to break up the oil into small droplets that are biodegradable. According to the company that makes the chemical, it's safe. The federal government, however, has asked that BP limit its use.

But it's not just the workers who are getting sick. Some beach-goers are even reporting illness after being just near the water.