Freddie's Dead? (Trees And Things)

joshv: Re: They have the "good' Mortgages.

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:53:19 EST

"The amount of energy used in food transportation is actually pretty negligible, so I don't really see that as being a special problem."

I don't know about that. See here. &nb

thefadd: Re: genetic freaks

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:16:19 EST

Here, here. I'm certainly not an advocate of banning research, just honest food labeling. But when a company genetically alters its seeds so that they and only they can withstanding massive increases in toxicity from a pesticide product offered only by the

JimmyHavok: Re: genetic freaks

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:10:48 EST

I agree that some GMO-produced characteristics are not good ideas, e.g. the low-slung hips of German Shepherds. However, that shouldn't lead to a blanket condemnation of GMO, just better regulation.

port1080: Re: They have the "good' Mortgages.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:46:01 EST

A corollary of this is that at normal speeds, a train will have only about a 2:1 advantage in fuel efficiency over a truck traveling at the same speed. But since the rolling resistance of trains is very, very low, they get the full benefit of a 4

Shy Elf: Re: They have the "good' Mortgages.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:31:32 EST
You neglected to mention barges which carry a large fraction of transported food, but are not all that much more efficient than railroads.
The amount of energy used in food transportation is actually pretty negligible, so I don't really see that as bein

thefadd: Re: genetic freaks

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:10:48 EST
Except the thing under your first link hasn't been gmo'ed for the express purpose of withstanding significantly increased amounts of pesticid

joshv: Re: They have the "good' Mortgages.

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:05:14 EST
I too fear depression like conditions in the US. I think we face an almost perfect economic storm - a combination of peak oil, inexcusably poor energy planning/policy, the disappearance of manufacturing in the US, and massive indebtedness. The

JimmyHavok: genetic freaks

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:54:58 EST
GMO corn
non-GMO corn

Shy Elf: They have the "good' Mortgages.

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:23:25 EST
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae own only the good or "conforming" mortgages. This means that they escaped the worst of the excesses of the mortgage meltdown.
Of course, even in the high quality sector, the effects are bad enough that their (poorly capi

JimmyHavok: Re: How bad can it get?

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:01:53 EST
Bank failures are more positive feedback than indicators. When banks fail, they reduce confidence and lead to more failures in a self-reinforcing circle. That's why "too big to be allowed to fail," no matter how little we like the concept, is t

thefadd: Re: How bad can it get?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:45:57 EST
As has been bandied about in the press, bank failures like this are lagging indicators, not leading indicators and even the worst projections (150 failures out of 7500 US banks) aren't as bad as the early 90's bank failures that were fallout from the late

port1080: How bad can it get?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:15:25 EST
I've had a lot of people ask me that recently and I'm not sure how to answer at this point. I still doubt that we're in for any sort of Great Depression level scenario - there are too many mechanisms in place (both international and domestic) for tha

MayorBob: Short answer here.

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:27:27 EST
With Freddie and Fanny underwriting half the mortgages in the US and with $5 to $6 trillion in assets at stake, you'd better bet your bippie that failure is not an option. In the same way the federal government can't let the social security system to coll