Monday, October 11, 2010

Mortgagteocalypse.

An obscure mom and pop forecasting outfit by the name of Half Past Human has marked the period between November 8th and the 12th as coinciding with a tipping point whose effects will exceed, by several orders of magnitude, those associated with 9/11/01. And while I hate to tempt fate, HPH, at least by my runes, is a decidedly more miss than hit outfit from the standpoint that not only do they forecast more events that don't occur then do, but the ill effects from some of their more dire calls have been, as yet, with very few exceptions, far less heinous than prognosticated. Having said that, they have made two spectacularly correct calls which are 9/11 and the recent- well, ongoing- Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.

Presently, were I of a mind to nominate a prime catalyst for the putative tipping point, I'd vote for, or bet on, the epic mortgage fraud debacle that's presently unfolding, because, a cursory review of relevant blogs-don't waste your time looking to the MSM to get the skinny on this one- makes it readily apparent that we aren't looking at the emergence of the next black swan, but, rather, the arrival of an enormous flock or three of- desperate to copiously and messily crap anywhere and everywhere- black swans.

In the meantime, as we anticipate how this all shakes out, I feel supremely confident in asserting that attempts by the boundlessly vile Obama Administration to cover up and/or forestall the fall out from this festering cancer meets septicemia meets gangrene of a legal, financial, economic, political, and social (have I left anything out?) calamity
will only compound our nation's grave predicament.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's what I think, too. We've identified the proximate cause of the next crash, which will probably sink the "recovery" and the Bailout (but not the entire kleptocracy for the time being) once and for all.

Then the temporarily delayed Depression will really visibly commence in earnest.

Debra said...

Temporarily delayed Depression ??
By whose standards ?
I have been preaching in favor of reading "The Merchant of Venice" for years on the blogs now.
"The Merchant" has the advantage of showing how the multiplier effect works in the economy.
Exponential multiplication, I mean...
Of what is "positive". But... of what is "negative" too.

Debra said...

Hey, you never said you put meat and potatoes on the table with MUSIC..Which instrument, if I may be so indiscreet ?
Pretty cool, but a tough life, no ?
Personally, I offer you my sincere ADMIRATION for putting your meat and potatoes on the table that way.
The idiot who laughed at you ?
He must have a crew cut and a 200 word vocabulary, with all economic words...

Debra said...

Have you noticed that there seem to be some high fortress walls around wordpress as of today ?
I can't get into wordpress places...

Edwardo said...

I'm a composer by trade, but I don't make my crust that way. I don't know of anyone who really does unless they are working commercially. Piano's my primary instrument, but my chops are quite poor these days, as I do not have time to play.

I haven't noticed that about word press, but that's simply because I don't seem to be commenting on sites that feature it.

Debra said...

Attempter's site is on wordpress. And I am having a really hard time getting in.
What's up ? Will YOU ask him, if YOU get in ?
Thanks. (I can get into blogspot just fine...)

Anonymous said...

Just before I went offline for the day there was a glitch the final time I tried to look at Volatility. (But no problem earlier.) When I checked a few other Wordpress blogs they too weren't working. But this morning it's OK.

What kind of music do you write, Edwardo?

Edwardo said...

I write mostly "modern classical", an oxymoron if ever there was one, but, hopefully, since I've used that descriptor for years, the term conveys some of what I do, which is write music intended for the same acoustic instruments and ensembles-string quartets and such- that have been employed by composers for hundreds of years.

Debra said...

I STILL can't get into wordpress places, which is kind of frustrating, because I like playing in your sandbox, attempter.. And it's wordpress, cause there's another wordpress blog I can't get into.
I'm not paranoid enough yet to think that I've been blacklisted..
I'm REALLY IMPRESSED, Edwardo.
How about sticking up a link to some of your stuff played ? I love.. string quartet. My family plays string quartet, and this Christmas I have asked for..
a family rendition of the first two movements of Mozart's second piano quartet (with me as the soloist, he he) and the Andante Cantabile movement of Schuman's op 87 ? piano quartet movement with.. ME TOO, (and the family, the family).
Attempter... you can open your ears again after this little.. elitist interlude.. (but if YOU love string quartet too, please forgive me..)
Funny how those affinities show up even without pheromenes, or sight, or whatever.
Crystal balls, anyone ??
(It's the LANGUAGE, dammit, she says...)

Edwardo said...

I have no music online, and my second string quartet hasn't been performed yet. Some of my chamber pieces- small ensemble works comprise most of what I've written-have only been recorded in performance. I have an orchestra piece or three that were recorded some years ago that I could send you.

Debra said...

Have you written anything for piano ?
I'm afraid that I would be really USELESS with an orchestra score..
(By the way, have you taken a little peak at "Nodame Cantabile", that adorable Japanese TV series that has me drooling ? I think you would LOVE IT. Right up your alley. You must be able to download all this stuff.
Can YOU get into wordpress ok, and Russ's site ?
What do you suggest so that i can get in again ?
I have no idea where to start.
Except that you can tell Russ that I STILL can't read him, or others on wordpress. That is no good for wordpress...

Anonymous said...

Debra, I don't know why you're still not getting in. It's working OK for me and others.

(And ohhhhh boy, are you missing good stuff! Nietzsche! Anarchism! More elitist-bashing! And the answer to who's our conformist mystery man!)

I have no idea why you think I'd dislike music. On the contrary, a big part of the decadence of the modern world is how slugs sit there watching TV and listening to the stereo (or by now the i-pod or whatever the heck it is) instead of making music themselves the way families did in the old days. (I can strum a few chords on a guitar, but not much more.)

A string quartet is an excellent example of a resilient, decentralized form of creativity and entertainment.

My (eclectically preferred) favorites include those of Bartok and the Beethoven late quartets, as well as those of Schubert, Borodin, and Smetana.

Although it sounds like some of those are beyond the capabilities of amateurs, judging by Beethoven's sneer at Rasumovsky's "puling little fiddler".

Edwardo said...

I have quite a few pieces for piano solo and piano in combination with other instruments. I must warn you though that they are not Mozartean either sonically or in terms of what they require technically. That is not meant to minimize the difficulty of executing Mozart successfully, but, rather, to say that they my pieces are challenging difficult in different ways.

I'm not having any trouble getting on to Russ' site and commenting..

Debra said...

Well, it looks like the glitch that affected wordpress the other night is STILL affecting me.
I don't see why it would be my computer, though.
It must/could be a HIGHER UP THING.
Nobody's advising me on how to FIX this annoying little problem that is making me miss lots of juicy stuff (and opportunities to comment...) in my now favorite saloons.
Edward... I have a small hand, and I don't like tons of fast octaves. Since I am a decidedly SLOW person, I play SLOW MUSIC well, and with lots of feeling.
(Besides, there must be a GREAT MARKET writing stuff for amateurs who play well, slow, and with feeling.)
Russ.. you are starting to GROW on me.
When you're not elite bashing, that is.
People who listen to, and like Beethoven's late string quartets are part of the "elite" (ha, MY DEFINTION OF THE ELITE, that is...).
Personally.. I'm not all THAT crazy about Beethoven's LATE quartets. At least one of them sounds as though the record got stuck in the groove, for five minutes or so.
No, it's Razumovsky for me.
What about you, Edwardo ?
Too bad we can't pour out a cup of tea, and cuddle together around the fire.
I wanna go to.. BODIES.

Edwardo said...

Well my music tends toward the episodic so there are slow sections of one kind or another. But whereas I do not ask for one hand octaves, as near as I can recall, there is a fair amount of rapid fire playing required. When it comes to listening, I tend to favor more recent offerings over da classics. If I were going to listen to late Beet hoven I'd probably opt for Missa Solemnis. There's more great stuff out there than one shake several sticks at. From Gesualdo to Gubaidulina.

Anonymous said...

If I were more of a tech guy I'd try to suggest something, but I don't know what the problem is.

Debra said...

Well, well, first off my apologies to Edwardo for bringing this little problem into HIS saloon, but since I don't have access to your place right now, Russ, it will have to be done here...
It appears that you called my writing "illiterate garbage" over in your saloon...
That doesn't bother me inordinately, because by now I have got used to the violent reactions that my pieces produce sometimes (even though they DO HURT, believe me...).
What DOES bother me is the CONSEQUENCES of this disparaging remark on my writing privileges over at Toby's, cause Toby is rightly upset about HIS BLOG getting a bad reputation.
SINCE I WILL NO LONGER BE WRITING OVER AT TOBY'S I COUNT ON YOU TO MEND THE ILL EFFECTS OF THAT STATEMENT AMONG YOUR READERS.
(And THAT, by the way is called.. TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK...)
It looks like I won't be hanging out at your place anymore, unless I figure out how to fix this glitch.
BASED ON... Toby's reaction, I could ALMOST believe that my puny insignificant person IRRITATED A POWER THAT BE in higher spheres and made me persona non grata.. WHO KNOWS, at this point ??
That won't stop me from.. LIKING YOU RUSS, (and Edwardo too, of course.. and hoping to catch occasional cups of tea in the nice cosy place that Edwardo has here, right, Edwardo ??)
Cheers.

Edwardo said...

I've never kicked anyone off my site though there was some latter day neo-Nazi who decided that an attack on Paul Krugman's brand of economics ( by me) was a license to go off on anti-semitic rant. He/she/or it were subsequently advised to go elsewhere.

Debra said...

No, Edwardo, I can't see you kicking anyone off your blog.
I am not an antisemitic person, but I have very complicated positions on Israel, Judaïsm, and Adolf Hitler that get me into trouble.
Many people don't understand them...
Ironically, I was thinking to myself just last night that despite our continual mouthing off about antisemitism, bla bla bla, we seem to be moving inexorably closer to that very unpleasant world that Adolf dreamed of.
Like.. the camps were the ultimate INDUSTRIAL EXPERIMENT. Both words count there... BOTH.
And Adolf was devoted to stamping out every last vestige of our Biblical heritage too. That's ONE OF THE REASONS, and the major one, at this time, that i feel that our world looks more and more like the camps all the time.
From MY perspective, of course...

Anonymous said...

You only just saw that now? Wasn't that over a month ago? That was my rightful response to your writing that I'm just like Hitler.

(The comedy of it, Edwardo, is that she advertised this ridiculous post on a comment thread at Volatility but forgot to give the link, so when some of my readers said, "Debra, where's the link", mean ol' Hitler himself had to go get it! I remarked that I must not be a very adequate Hitler if I'm willing to do that, but I really did regard it as comedy.)

Debra, I have no idea what the issue is between you and Toby, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with me. I'm hardly "a power that be."

Edwardo said...

I do recall that Russ, and I have to admit I was a tad perplexed when Deb referred to your comment because it didn't seem au courant.

Debra said...

Russ, I never said that you were just like Hitler, (HOW DID YOU READ THAT ?? if you read Nietzsche the way you read me, well then I'm not sure I can TRUST your critical analysis...) and the post that I wrote in response was called "Extremism".
And that post was NOT illiterate garbage at all.
It was a VERY TIMELY POST talking about how a certain number of things are in place for another episode of collective insanity, due to OUR COLLECTIVE REFUSAL to learn the lessons of the second world war, and REALLY OPEN UP THAT BOOK to TAKE A LONG HARD LOOK AT OURSELVES, so that we do not tell ourselves convenient little lies, or rather continue to keep the wool pulled over our eyes with the "us/them" scenario.
I never said that YOU, Russ were ANY MORE LIKE ADOLF HITLER than hundreds of other people ranting on the blogs in the Anglo Saxon community (and not just...) or... any more like Adolf Hitler than... i, for example.
Adolf Hitler could never have done all that he did without LOTS AND LOTS OF HELP from people who SOMEWHERE believed IN HIM (maybe believed in HIM more than what he was doing, that's possible, indeed...). And what is really DANGEROUS is that WE CAN'T BELIEVE THAT. And we can't believe that the German people are not some... undermensch capable of anything, next to us.. UBERMENSCH, of course, who are SAINTLY in our own eyes, and could never trot down THAT primrose path.
Time to let go of Nietzsche and start reading Freud a little bit. The American culture tends to... pooh pooh Freud, with its INCREDIBLE ARROGANCE.
How the MIGHTY CAN FALL, I say, when hubris gets the better of them.
In the flicker of an instant.
And... I see in the FACT that I have now gotten kicked off of TWO BLOGS for saying EXACTLY THIS, the PROOF that I am hitting the nail RIGHT ON THE HEAD, and when you hit the nail on the head, IT HURTS, believe me. (I've been there...)
Wake up. Before it's too late. (But then you are.. you are writing.. POSITIVE POSTS over there, and I think that that is EXCELLENT. The best defense against extremism is.. an INVESTMENT (and I'm not talking about filthy lucre on Wall Street either)).
NOTHING stands between the U.S. and a "little" episode of collective insanity, (in Europe, the PHYSICAL REMINDERS of that insanity are a little more visible, you know it's not for nothing that they say "outta sight, outta mind").
Certainly not... the American constitution, or... "reason", or any other high ideal you feel like sticking in there. YOU should be able to see that by now, at the very least...
As far as getting kicked off of Toby's blog YES, THIS IS (ONE OF THE) reason(s) that is given.
i never saw the part where you called my stuff illiterate garbage. i don't think that I have EVER called anybody's stuff illiterate garbage. I may be arrogant and feisty, BUT I DON'T CALL PEOPLE'S STUFF ILLITERATE GARBAGE.
Did you.. MAYBE get carried away there, a little bit ??
Sorry, Edwardo, I can get into Volatility now, and I don't intend to drag this one out indefinitely, be assured...

Edwardo said...

"...I don't intend to drag this one out indefinitely, be assured..."

That's good, because time's up on this one.