Sing-along-a-global-financial-meltdown

Houses Now Cheaper Than a Pabst Blue Ribbon

House values in the Detroit area have fallen to the point that the median price in December was $7,500. Some are even selling for $1 or less. At least they still have the Detroit Lions.

The 2008 TNPP Hoomin of the Year Nominations

As the end of the year nears, it is important for us to reflect on the past 12 months. So in the tradition of publications scrambling to fill late December issues with pre-written content before the whole staff goes on vacation, here are some of my nominees for the prestigious 2008 Thursday Night Party People Hoomin of the Year designation.

Dustin Pedroia
Went from .200 hitter picked on by Jerry Remy, of all people, for being unable to hit in April of 2007 to being Rookie of the Year and starring on a World Series Championship that year. Then this year he was an All-Star, won a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger and AL MVP. Moreover, he remained a self-confident asshole throughout.

Axl Rose
Waited 17 years to release Chinese Democracy to lukewarm reviews and a decaying music distribution market during the worst economic condition since the Great Depression. What he lacks in swiftness he makes up in timing. And he still owes me a Dr Pepper, no matter what he says.

Sarah Palin
Went from anonymous to appealing to amusing to appalling in record time. After the election went back to Alaska with the faith of the Republican base, the unending hatred of the left and a crapload of new fancy clothing. And I still don't understand what the hell she was talking about.

Don Draper/Dick Whitman (tie)
It seems pretty safe to state that Mad Men was the best dramatic show on TV this year and that Don Draper (or is it Dick Whitman) was its most complex and riveting character. Most importantly he was damn smooth.

John Maynard Keynes
This year saw a breakthrough in the long-running economic grudge match between monetarists and keynesianists. As our faltering economy nears a state that can best be described as a liquidity trap, the Federal Reserve is impotent to improve the economy with interest rate cuts. So it is that we are not only all subprime now, but we are also all Keynesians.

Lolpolitics perfection

Someone needs to vet their mailing list more carefully

Dear Colleague:

As a valued member of the Iraq Oil & Gas reconstruction
community, you are invited to attend the Iraq Oil &
Gas Summit, November 5-6, 2008, in Houston, Texas.

We invite you to join more than 100 Iraqi business and
government leaders, as well as 300 senior executives from
the US and around the world, currently registered to
attend this particularly timely 2-day event.

Your continued interest and involvement has helped make the
ReBuilding Iraq Conference series the longest-running and
most productive business-to-business initiative in the
history of this striving nation.

In addition to attending Iraq Oil and Gas Reconstruction
sessions, you will be able to meet with decision makers
and successful companies who can help structure benefits
for your own organization as you help build the New Iraq.

Discuss short-term and long-term opportunities in the
New Iraq with important industry and government speakers
who can give you an accurate security report.

* Learn about new multi-billion dollar opportunities in
petrochemicals, pipelines and refineries plants

* Meet and build relationships with executives from leading
energy and international business development firms.

* Find out what you need to know to successfully compete for
the billions of dollars still available in contracts and
sub-contracts to help rebuild Iraqi oil and gas industries.

* Participate in forums with high-level industry
participants and make your voice heard in an interactive
and dynamic environment.

To review the conference detailed agenda and speakers bios,
please visit www.new-fields.com/iogs2008/index.html

British economy explained with colored water

"A sensation when it was unveiled at the London School of Economics in 1949, the Phillips machine used hydraulics to model the workings of the British economy but now looks, at first glance, like the brainchild of a nutty professor [...]

"The prototype was an odd assortment of tanks, pipes, sluices and valves, with water pumped around the machine by a motor cannibalised from the windscreen wiper of a Lancaster bomber. Bits of filed-down Perspex and fishing line were used to channel the coloured dyes that mimicked the flow of income round the economy into consumer spending, taxes, investment and exports."