ZEDRAY

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The rumour is that the Chinese government destroyed one of its own obsolete satellites, identified as FY-1C, in a test of an ASAT—anti-satellite weapon. Click

The U.S. Air Force has filed a futuristic flight plan, one that spells out need for an armada of space weaponry and technology for the near-term and in years to come. Called the Transformation Flight Plan, the 176-page document offers a sweeping look at how best to expand Americas military space tool kit.
Click

Time to speed up the printing of those dollars again.

Some of the story of how General Moters crushed its EV1 project.
Best quote “the best typewriter companys did not become the best computer companys”. click

Alex Jones comes to London. click

Books to buy and read…

“PC DAVID COPPERFIELD is an ordinary bobby quietly waging war on crime…when he’s not drowning in a sea of paperwork, government initiatives and bogus targets. ‘WASTING POLICE TIME’ is his hilarious but shocking picture of life in a modern British town, where teenage yobs terrorise the elderly, drunken couples brawl in front of their children and drug-addicted burglars and muggers roam free. PC Copperfield reveals how crime is spiralling while millions of pounds in tax is frittered away, and reveals a force which, crushed under mad bureaucracy, is left desperately fiddling the figures. His award-winning internet diary, Coppersblog, attracted rave reviews for its dry wit from The Sunday Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph; The Mail on Sunday featured it across three full pages. It’s also banned by most police forces - just accessing the blog is a disciplinary offence. Copperfield brings the same incisive, acid humour to bear in ‘Wasting Police Time’. The Home Secretary won’t like it, and nor will Copperfield’s Chief Constable, but a million serving and retired police officers and millions of ordinary Britons will be left nodding in agreement. If you’re fed up with Tony Blair’s bogus war on crime, and you want the truth - with added laughs - this book is for you.” click

The Policeman’s Blog
http://coppersblog.blogspot.com
The Teacher’s Blog
http://frankchalk.blogspot.com
The Doctors’s Blog
http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/

English Al Jazeera - A different perspective click

Sing along with the albinoblacksheep flash.

Instead the guy’s a political god and a part time presidential candidate. Just lookie here:

• Ralph Nader - Democracy and Big Business (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) “I didn’t accuse Gore of costing me the election.”
• His website and Wikipedia entry.
• His campaign adds (Priceless, When I grow up)

A website selling a slightly brighter view on Peek Oil and some practical predictions. click

Be sure to checkout the videos, including Crude Awakening: Peak Oil & The End of Cheap Energy

…the relentless rise in house prices in the past few years has had an appalling effect on our national character. click

Lets say I am a fund manager I have borrowed $6 billion in Yen from Japan at cost of 1.2% I use this money to buy sterling on the FX markets.

I then use this sterling to buy a $6 Billion mortgage backed security. It contains 13,000 mortgages. It yields 5.84% or $350 million. Lets say I bought it from HBOS in 2003 for example.

Every year I take the $350 million in sterling from the security and convert it to Yen on the FX markets to repay my Yen denominated debt servicing of $72 million. Pocketing an annual difference of $278 million.

Now if the interest rates in Japan rise this will eat into my profits. If people begin to default this will eat into my profits. If the pound gets weaker this will eat into my profits. If Yen gets stronger this will eat into my profits.

Lets say I constantly run complex models to try and evaluate the risk of each of these events.

I may be able to sell my security for more or less than the $6 Billion I paid for it. Depending on world markets and how they affect my profit margin.

Bearing in mind that mortgages are sold in high street banks almost purely so they can be formalised into securities and sold on to the likes of fund managers.

I can sell it whenever I like, for whatever I want, to whoever I can. It is just a contract to hold a liability in exchange for a yield.

If I decide I don’t want to hold mortgage back securities and other fund managers agree, the market value of such securities would fall, demand would wane and high street banks would have less incentive to grant such large numbers of mortgages. Because the sale of mortgage backed securities would be less lucrative.

Who has more power over the property market?

A fund manager or a BBC journalist with 3 BTL’s?

Now Citigroup has assets worth about $1.2 trillion they probably have 50 - 150 similar sized funds. Does Gordon Brown have more power than their CEO?

That’s just 1 bank.

Why do people insist the government can save the market from a crash? It’s because they don’t know s**t.

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