Catching Up -- Nothing To Do With The Bakken; ObamaCliff; Interest Rates At Zero Forever; Omaha Steaks

I was gone most of the evening. So much to catch up on. I might just hit the high points; go back and fill it out later. Or not. So lots of disjointed thoughts -- not the Bakken. Those will be in stand-alone posts.

First, the ObamaCliff: It's actually getting to be quite fun to see all these folks making money on the ObamaCliff: a) the accelerated dividends (whoo-hoo); b) Warren Buffett buying $1.2 billion worth of his stock back from a shareholder before that shareholder goes over the cliff next year; and, c) nothing to do with the ObamaCliff directly, but Google stashing $10 billion in tax-free accounts off-shore is just simply priceless.  By the way, I can't even keep up with all the corporations accelerating their dividends. And, of course, that's just a "stunt." Will amount to a hill of beans in the end. The bigger story that no one is talking about: DOD sequestration alone is enough to throw the economy into a recession.

Second, more and more "trial balloons" and articles preparing us for going over the fiscal cliff, including this one.  Again, the Damocles sword known as DOD sequestration will fall on January 1, 2013. This should be great political theater. Then comes the debt ceiling.

Third, now that it's official -- interest rates will remain at zero until unemployment is below 6.5%, there's no hurry to buy that house. Rates will still be low a year from now. And two years from now. Banks borrowing money at 0.001 percent and charging 19% on credit cards are going to do very, very well.

Fourth, at the current "burn" or "run" rate, Don tells me that US debt will be $25 trillion in 49 months. 49 months --> a new president. In my mind, once the debt hit $8 trillion, I no longer paid attention. It's all become one big joke that no one takes seriously any more. If you can defend $25 trillion debt regardless who you voted for, you are in a different universe than I am.

Fifth, I'm beginning to think Israel is a paper tiger, or as George Bush would say, "all hat, no cattle." After all that sabre (saber?) rattling earlier this year over Iran, things in the Mideast keep smoldering along. And you have to love the White House characterizing the North Korean launch of that .... that .. that .. whatever it was .... as provocative.  I was initially upset with that characterization but it's exactly right. Whatever it is, the thing is tumbling out of control. With any luck it will land where we most want it to land.

Sixth, Florida with almost a million permits for concealed weapons, and a Federal appeals court strikes down an Illinois law that barred folks from carrying loaded guns in public. No comment.

And finally, and then all of this and the above will be out of my system: this is the first year in a long time I won't be celebrating Kwanzaa. It was a mandatory event when I was stationed overseas.

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Personal notes:

First, gift recommendation (after you donate to the Salvation Army): Omaha Steaks. This is incredible. They have a $49 special. I believe regular price is about $150:

Holiday Favorites Combo 47427GZ   2 (5 oz.) Filet Mignons
  2 (5 oz.) Top Sirloins
  4 (4 oz.) Gourmet Burgers
  8 Potatoes au Gratin
  1 (16 oz. pkg.) Omaha Steakhouse® Fries Reg. $142.00 | Save $92.01 | Now Only $49.99 

The "GZ" must stand for "gift zone.

Okay, that's incredible. Free shipping and $50 for a very nice gift for almost anyone, but especially for seniors who no longer need anything to take up space in their homes as they are downsizing.

But if that's all there was, I wouldn't post. When you put that single item in your cart and begin to checkout, Omaha Steaks, gives you an opportunity to buy one or two more items for an even bigger savings. If you take one of those choices, which I did, when you checkout, you are given another option but this time you are given 5 minutes to make a choice (I believe it was lobster tails for less than what I pay in Rockport, Massachusetts; I did not take that choice). And then, at checkout, one last opportunity for another great item at a huge discount.

My daughter got me started on Omaha Steaks about three years ago, and I am very, very impressed.

What a great country. I assume shipping dates are such that there's not much more time if you want your gift to reach its destination by the end of the year. I was surprised at the US Post Office to hear that regular shipping TODAY will not get the package to its stateside destination by December 24th. That's almost two weeks from now and the US Post Office regular shipping can't get it anywhere in the states in that amount of time, now.

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Global Warming

Irrefutable facts that global warming advocates never address:

• "man-made" CO2 represents but 3% of all greenhouse gases, even less if you include water vapor. Water vapor is the number #1 "greenhouse gas" by a huge margin; again, CO2 represents but 3% of all greenhouse gases; eliminate all man-made CO2 and one still has 97% of the other gases to deal with, including water vapor
• the increase in atmospheric CO2, from 2010 to 2011, is measured at "nearly two parts per million"; the annual variability of atmospheric CO2 is 3 - 9 parts per million