The establishment of a false religion may be part of the natural process of a society destroying itself.  Looks like, anyway. Last year IHOP jerked Shrove Tuesday back a week, this time they’ve yanked it forward seven days.  What’s next, a Thursday? in August?  Meanwhile Google News Search’s completion algorithm has embargoed Ash Wednesday and Lent, although the terms both complete in general Google Search.  Traditional Christian congregations are dying like flies and although Christmas is bigger than ever CHANGE has driven us into a strange and novel situation.  Religion is at the heart of the 2012 US presidential election…
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Advances in tease-ware succeeded in sucking a lot of the fun out of online browsing over the weekend.  Google News brings up a promising candidate for a link to Doom’s sidebar and I click-through and start on the article.  Eleven seconds in (that eleven courtesy of $millions of research by a psychology profession industry that surely has better things to do) I get something a bit unexpected: PAYWALL PUBS HOPES YOU HAVE ENJOYED READING YOUR LAST FEW FREE PREMIUM CONTENT ARTICLES — BUT NOW IT IS TIME TO CASS NUDGE THAT CREDIT CARD NUMBER OUT OF YOUR RIGHT PANTS POCKET…
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Bloomberg (2/17 ’12): “Record $6 Trillion of Fake U.S. Bonds Seized” Italian anti-mafia prosecutors said they seized a record $6 trillion of allegedly fake U.S. Treasury bonds, an amount that’s almost half of the U.S.’s public debt. OK, enough fun, as Doom returns to the real fake bonds The “Fred” wolfed down $11.776 billion of new MBS holdings and foreign central banks in the aggregate consumed lots of new US obligations. Weird. This week’s Reuters report1 is, as usual, based on the weekly update from the NY Fed’s H.4.1 table site.2 Here is Doom’s updated CSV version3 of the agencies…
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Doom North is having a hard time getting its head around this one (cute picture, but we hope that’s a clip-on tie!): CBC (2/13 ’12): “Community reaction to Harper’s China visit and panda pact” Prime Minister Stephen Harper has completed his relationship-building trip to China, during which he brokered agreements worth an estimated $3 billion dollars and secured the loan of two giant pandas. Here’s the other shoe: CBC “The Current” (2/13 ’12): “Where to Sell Alberta Oil” (with link to 25m audio) Prime Minister Harper has returned from China where he was greasing the path for more Canadian trade….
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Reuters’ weather report is finally back for the first time since December, although the anonymous reporter has again lost the link to the NY Fed tables. Fed’s own MBS holdings grew a tiny $0.013 billion and foreign central banks’ holdings of agencies were flat. On the other hand, the treasuries number surged, leading Igor to wonder idly how much of the buy might have come out of Iranian official assets This week’s Reuters report1 is, as semi-usual, based on the weekly update from the NY Fed’s H.4.1 table site.2 Here is Doom’s updated CSV version3 of the agencies and treasuries…
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CBC TV’s Sunday 10PM news package The National featured problems with libraries transitioning to e-readers, a dark contrast to the breathless promotion of this technology in today’s local fibre-based paper: Halifax Chronicle-Herald (2/5 ’12): “Of books and e-readers” The compelling question right now is which e-reader to buy — the Kindle or the Kobo? It’s not whether to make the leap, but choosing which to make the leap with … Well, there are lots of other questions that come to mind, not the least of which is in whose hands that e-book’s page history ends up.  Will I have to…
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Oh dear, somebody tell Oda’s people to break out the crank-o-sign machine. Looks like we’re going to need a few more back-dated permissions, and it’s not just Kenney running amok this time. Wowsers, hadn’t been following the antics of the Thirteenth District / FRBO (you can say that again ) for a while, but yesterday the amero gap closed to just -4 bips. And you thought Keystone was dead, Igor: bwahaha! Fed’s own MBS holdings grew a meaningless $0.388 billion while the foreign cenbanks meekly swallowed nearly $1B / day of assorted US obligations. A real snoozer. December 29th Reuters…
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Anonymous blogger Lexington wants tomorrow to be the last shot.  Somewhere, Parker is starting to wonder why he even bothered.

Sometimes the camera doesn’t lie (Onion-ready pic from the article, I’m so tempted to make it my desktop background): NYT (1/27 ’12): “New Fraud Investigation Group Issues Subpoenas to Financial Companies” Mr. Donovan said that a separate settlement being worked out between state attorneys general and mortgage servicing companies would not thwart the new group’s investigations, even if the settlement released companies from further law enforcement efforts related to mortgage servicing. // “We would not be standing here today if we were not absolutely confident,” Mr. Donovan said, adding that any releases being contemplated “are narrow enough to allow us…
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News reader Peter Armstrong’s efforts this morning on CBC Radio 1 were most instructive. Someone important needs the GOP nomination process to come to a conclusion. Now. Well, the Fed’s own MBS holdings swung to a strong $11.810 billion reduction, but that might have simply been a few re-po’d chickens going back to roost at some banks that didn’t want to admit to owning the stuff during year-end reporting season Except for that it was a pretty dull week, with small increases all around in foreign cenbank holdings of risk-free paper. December 29th Reuters report1 was, as usual, based on…
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Here at Housing Doom blog we’re always on the lookout for really worst case scenarios, especially the ones where grownups, the MSM and recognized authorities all get together and say: “Why are we even bothering to debunk something that dumb?” Which is why we’ve got a soft spot in our heart (hearts for pet dragon Igor, head for yours truly) concerning the idea that a tidal wave is supposed to engulf Mt Everest at the next Winter solstice  But on the other hand … 12/21 ’12 just happens to be smack in the middle of a US congressional / presidential…
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Following up on yesterday’s episode of the new reality TV show “Who Wants To Lead The World Through Years 5, 6, 7 and 8 Of The Present Long Depression” here is tomorrow’s skill testing question … Please Choose The Best Candidate: A) Pompous B) Wooden C) Fluffy D) Gone Igor thinks there’s a good chance “D” finishes better than fifth (sic), at least that’s how he’s voting At “the Fred”, America’s most solvent housing GSE, holdings of MBS surged up $7.160 billion. Meanwhile foreign cenbanks’ holdings of agencies were flat, but they bought enough treasuries to reverse most of the…
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Sometimes these guys are way too smart for their own good … Economist (1/19 ’12): “Perry exits” … You have to wonder why a man of such towering ignorance ever thought he had the right to aspire to the White House.   Meanwhile, Igor credits WaPo with the most dangerous 51 seconds of MSM coverage yet in the present primary cycle. Plus 10 for [candidate's name redacted] if SC ever sees that one

I’m not a US person, or at least not anymore, so Housing Doom’s pet dragon Igor had to clue me in about this plant that’s been in the news so much recently. It grows in South Carolina, and Igor also tells me that it’s there, over the next six days, that most of the juice of this year’s presidential election will be squeezed.  Pollsters predict primary election or caucus outcomes by measuring the intentions of likely participants / voters, but this week’s Republican party aspirants are depending so heavily on un-likely supporters that the statisticians are severely off-balance.  So some…
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So Thursday the radio is carrying a promo for the new David Cronenberg film and today the library’s e-mail notification comes for Timothy Findey’s Pilgrim and I spend the afternoon reading the first few chapters. Oops! Just reviewed the comments under twist’s old post “Pheonix Realtors: Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Weird, especially considering the date. I’ve learned to appreciate that these co-incidence clusters (aka synchronicity, which given the context is likely the preferred term) often come just before interesting events. Time will tell … The Fed’s own holdings of MBS eased back $2.535 billion and the foreign cenbanks’ holdings of…
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