Monday Morning Links; I Am Unable to Access Some Pages At The NDIC Web Site

Updates

April 10, 2013: at the original post, I reminded readers that the US Postal Service would never end Saturday mail delivery (in my lifetime). Today, it was announced that the USPS proposal to end Saturday mail service has been "delayed" by Congress. 

Later, 9:14 pm EDT: nice update at Financial Times. Cyprus is wearing out its welcome in the EU. 

Original Post 

This is actually quite interesting, the EU-Cyprus story. You know, the one where some are saying the EU is "stealing" money from banks. (Much of the Cyprus money is Russian and probably "laundered" but I digress.) Back to the main point. This is actually quite interesting. Western governments, including the US, are requiring banks to increase cash on hand/deposits as a defense against "the too big to fail" problem. So, now that the banks have increased cash on hand/deposits, the governments go in and "steal" what they need. You have to love it. And, here in the USA, Homeland Security is buying more ammo than it could ever use --- unless they think they might need it if the streets get really nasty during a bank run. Just saying. I have to get back on my meds. [CNBC talking heads said the "Cyprus solution" was a one-off, that no other country would try the same thing. Not so fast, banker breath: New Zealand is considering the same:

The National Government are pushing a Cyprus-style solution to bank failure in New Zealand which will see small depositors lose some of their savings to fund big bank bailouts, the Green Party said today.

Open Bank Resolution (OBR) is Finance Minister Bill English’s favoured option dealing with a major bank failure. If a bank fails under OBR, all depositors will have their savings reduced overnight to fund the bank’s bail out.

“Bill English is proposing a Cyprus-style solution for managing bank failure here in New Zealand – a solution that will see small depositors lose some of their savings to fund big bank bailouts,” said Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman. -- March 19, 2013, The Scoop, Parliament, New Zealand.]

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Active rigs: unable to access.

Wells coming off confidential list today, over the weekend: unable to access.

RBN Energy: Nice analysis of BNSF's plan to try LNG-powered locomotives; a must-read today; not as easy as one might think

Wall Street Journal Links

Plenty of time to read the WSJ since I am unable to access the NDIC website.

Section D (Personal Journal):

• A move to Ireland: how a Texas couple found a new life in the hills and valleys of County Sligo; no link; I'm sure no one is interested; have to ration my links
  

Section C (Money & Investing):

• The Cyprus story and the "too-big-to-fail" story were linked at the very, very top.

Section B (Marketplace):

• Page B7: the brackets. Unlike previous years, my hunch is that the #1 and #2 seeds in every region will advance to the third round: Louisville, Duke, Kansas, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Ohio State, Miami, and Indiana.

Section A:

• Cyprus rescue risks backlash; no link; story everywhere;
• Page 3 and we've talked about page 3 before: For sale, cheap, $500,000 homes in Fargo for $5,000; 
• A science of signs of spring; naturalists study what warming temperatures would mean for plants, animals
• Saturday postal pullback in limbo; MDW opined that we will not see the end of Saturday delivery; ever; and here it starts; Post Office made the announcement months in advance to allow activists to get organized on this issue; 
• Life discovered in the deepest ocean; extremophiles; inside deep-water vents, despite living near chimneys that hear surrounding water to 635 degrees Fahrenheit; one more reason I'm not worried about global temperatures rising 1 degree over the next 100 years;
• Op-ed: how taxes killed the Swing Era; very, very interesting; worth the price of the newspaper today; I always wondered why the "jitterbug" died so quickly, literally overnight