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sâmbătă, 15 octombrie 2011

Weekly Address: Made in America

Your Daily Snapshot for
Saturday, October 15, 2011

Weekly Address: Made in America

From a GM plant in Detroit, President Obama highlights the landmark trade agreements passed this week which will support tens of thousands of American jobs, level the playing field for American workers, and help us meet our goal of doubling our exports.

Watch the video.

Weekly Wrap Up

Here's what happened this week on Whitehouse.gov:

A Strong Bond The President and Mrs. Obama hosted President Lee Myung-Bak of South Korea for an official White House State visit. On a rainy Thursday President Lee and his wife arrived at the White House to a crowd of people on the South Lawn. Later that day President Obama and President Lee held a joint press conference to discuss the global economy and how to capitalize on the strong U.S.-Korean relationship to create jobs. That evening, the Obamas hosted a State Dinner in honor of President Lee, featuring produce from the White House kitchen garden fall harvest. On Friday, both leaders travelled to Detroit where they toured General Motors Orion Assembly and gave remarks on the recent Landmark Trade Agreement between the two countries.

Breaking Records On Thursday the First Lady led 400 local students in a bid to help break the Guinness World Records title for the most people doing jumping jacks in a 24-hour period. National Geographic Kids Magazine “jumped” in on the fun on the South Lawn in support of the First Lady’s Lets Move! Initiative. Figure skater Michelle Kwan and Today show host Al Roker were also on hand.

Fighting for Jobs The morning after the Senate’s failure to pass the American Jobs Act, the president addressed student, business, and cultural leaders at the Forum on Latino Heritage where he talked about his unwavering focus on creating jobs and putting people back to work. “The media will look at last night’s vote and say, well that’s it—let’s move on to the next bill. But I’ve got news for them... not this time. Not with so many American outs of work…we will not take no for an answer.”

Jobs for Law Enforcement Vice President Biden visited Flint, Michigan, a town that has been forced to cut its police force in half due to budget cuts. The Vice President talked with local law enforcement and firefighters about the American Jobs Act and how it would both create jobs and protect the nation's "most basic obligation" to keep our citizens safe by putting cops and firefighters back to work. "This is a fight for the soul of this country. It's a fight for the middle class. ... It's about making sure America's fire departments, police departments continue to be a large part of the American fabric and be able to do their job.”

West Wing Week: Check out your video guide to everything that happened at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

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Seth's Blog : Gala economics

Gala economics

The email feels like a welcome one. "I'd like to invite you to…"

And then you find out it's a charity gala. 500 people at an expensive hotel, eating a not very good meal and paying a great deal for the privilege. Sure, some of the money goes to charity (but too much goes for the chicken in white sauce). Sure, it's entirely possible you will have ten interesting minutes of conversation, and yes, it may be that you'll hear a speech that will move you.

But I think we can agree that this is a ridiculous way to efficiently raise money for a good cause.

Galas and charity auctions and other events designed to raise money from the inner circle of a community suffer because they're conflating several benefits at once.

First, being invited to a gala feels like a gift. It's nice to be asked, to be noticed, to be included. The socially appropriate response is to accept the gift and say yes.

Notice that the invitation isn't being accepted because it's a good cause, it's being accepted because it's a social obligation.

Second, there's a set of benefits to both the invited and the inviter. The gala is held in a reasonably enjoyable venue, with lots of money spent on wine and food and such, all to benefit the attendees, not the charity. The inviter gets the social gratification of hosting, plus the added benefit of feeling charitable. The guest gets the social benefit of being included in this stratum of society, of having an excuse for a night out, and possibly the commercial benefit (lawyers, brokers, etc.) of being part of a trusted circle.

Again, none of this benefits the charity. [And having a big donor pay for the whole thing changes nothing.]

For this reason, the gala is actually corrupting. Attendees are usually driven by social and selfish motivations to attend, and thus the philanthropic element of giving--just to give--is removed.

Attending an event that's dramatically overpriced for what's delivered to the recipient is a signaling mechanism as well. It says to the other attendees, "I can afford to overpay and so can you, we must be similar, and our hearts are in the right place as well."

Do elements of our community need gala-like events to lubricate their social interactions? Quite probably. It's a tradition, particularly in certain cities and tribes. But is it a scalable alternative to selling generosity for its own sake?

• Email to a friend •

vineri, 14 octombrie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Two Sides (Republican and Democrat), of the Same Bloated War-Mongering Military Over-Spending Debate; Eject Neanderthals from Congress
French Government Bond Yields Widen to Record vs. Germany; Portugal Faces National Emergency; Trichet Says "ECB Will Not Be Lender of Last Resort"
More Alarming Shipping News and Charts: Railfax Railroad, Ceridian Trucking, Harper-Petersen Shipping; Reader Anecdotes
Chinese Banks Deteriorate; Loan Sharks Come Knocking; Copper Ponzi Financing Revisited; 5 Reasons to Expect Lower Commodity Prices

Two Sides (Republican and Democrat), of the Same Bloated War-Mongering Military Over-Spending Debate; Eject Neanderthals from Congress

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 01:45 PM PDT

There is not much difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to military spending. Most likely your representative is for maintaining bloated military expenditures no matter what their party affiliation.

Moreover, key Republicans are even willing to raise your taxes to support this bloat.

Please consider GOP, Dems Differ on How to Save Defense Budget

U.S. Representative Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, the California Republican who leads the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, and Adam Smith of Washington, the panel's top Democrat, are urging Congress's supercommittee to avoid further cuts to the Pentagon's budget.

Their Senate counterparts are likely to do the same. Where McKeon and Smith disagree is on how that might be done.

In the Senate, Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the armed services panel, and John McCain of Arizona, the panel's top Republican, repeatedly said this month and last that they wouldn't recommend further cuts beyond the roughly $450 billion in reductions already projected over the next 10 years.

Hawaii Democrat Daniel Inouye, who leads the Senate Appropriations panel, said last week that cutting the defense budget more than already planned would be "detrimental" to national security.

McCain today called for no further defense cuts. In a letter to the supercommittee, he supported a proposal made by President Barack Obama to establish an annual enrollment fee for the military's Tricare for Life health insurance program.

"While this fee increase would hit those age 65 and over, a group on mostly fixed incomes who are vulnerable to unanticipated changes in expenses, I believe this fee increase is a reasonable step," McCain wrote.

The Defense Department faces cuts of about $450 billion from its 10-year spending plans, even before the supercommittee makes its recommendations. If Congress fails to act on the recommendations by Dec. 23, the August budget bill signed by President Barack Obama calls for automatic cuts, including an additional $500 billion from defense spending over a decade, not including interest.

McKeon told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute on Sept. 12 that his "suspicion" was "the White House and congressional Democrats insisted on that defense number for one purpose: to force Republicans to choose between raising taxes or gutting defense."

During a question and answer period after his speech, McKeon said that, if he were faced with the choice between raising taxes or protecting the defense budget, he would "go to strengthen defense."

Radical Plan for Cutting Defense Budget

There you have it, Howard P. "Buck" McKeon would rather raise your taxes than cut the defense budget.

Here is the alternative from retired Col. Douglas Macgregor (hardly a pacifist): A Radical Plan for Cutting the Defense Budget and Reconfiguring the U.S. Military by retired Col. Douglas Macgregor.

In the spirit of spending wisely, here is my plan to reconfigure the military for the demands and threats of the 21st-century world and, in doing so, dramatically cut the Pentagon budget:

Today, there are more than 317,000 active-duty U.S. military personnel stationed or deployed overseas. In the Central Command theater of operations, encompassing Iraq and Afghanistan, there are approximately 180,000 active-component personnel as well as over 45,000 reservists. Approximately 150,000 active-component U.S. military personnel are officially assigned to Europe and Asia. And some estimates note that there are two civilians and supporting contractors for each service member in certain locations.

The United States long stayed secure without this kind of sprawling imperial apparatus. But as the Cold War drew to a close, instead of adjusting force structure and spending to a strategic environment newly friendly to U.S. and allied interests, the U.S. military began a dramatic expansion of its overseas presence into areas where, historically, it had been episodic at best. America's Cold War commitments, meanwhile, continued without interruption. After expelling the Iraqi Army from Kuwait in 1991, the U.S. military was directed to stay in the Persian Gulf and build massive facilities. And following the 9/11 attacks, the global war on terror resulted in major new Army and Air Force installations from Europe to Central Asia.

Why does America need all these facilities? The original Cold War goal of protecting European and Asian societies from communist threats and internal subversion has long ago been met, and many overseas U.S. bases are now redundant. What better time than now, when the United States faces fiscal calamity but few real military threats, to judiciously sort those that are truly needed from those the Pentagon can live without? It's time to declare victory and go home.

U.S. troops remained ashore in Europe and Asia long past the point when it was clear that a military presence was a needless drain on American resources. Today, new technology and a different mix of forces enables a lighter, less intrusive footprint. For instance, area control is no longer a mission that demands a large surface fleet on the World War II model. The U.S. nuclear submarine fleet augmented with fewer surface combatants employing long-range sensors, manned and unmanned aircraft, communications, and missiles can dominate the world's oceans, ensuring the United States and its allies control access to the maritime domain that supports 91 percent of the world's commerce.

In the Islamic world, the U.S.-led interventions were and remain speculative investments with questionable returns on taxpayers' investments. For the moment, operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and more recently over Libya, have resulted in less and less funding available to reorganize and replace obsolescent, unsustainable, or worn-out Cold War-era forces designed for aerospace, maritime superiority, and ground combat -- one more reason to end or drastically reduce U.S. involvement in those conflicts as soon as possible.

Other Worthy Ideas

In a four page article Mcgregor goes on to highlight a number of areas where the US can and should save money. Here are his ideas.

Estimated annualized savings resulting from withdrawals from overseas garrisons and restructuring the United States' forward military presence: $239 billion
Estimated annualized savings from reorganizing the Army and Marine Corps: $18 billion
Estimated annualized savings from reductions in naval surface forces and Marine fixed-wing aviation: $10 billion
Estimated annualized savings from eliminating the F-35B: $2.5 billion
Estimated annualized savings from reducing the number of unified commands and single service headquarters: $1 billion
Estimated annualized savings from eliminating the Department of Homeland Security and restructuring national intelligence and the Army National Guard: $7 billion

Total Savings: $279 Billion

I agree with all of Macgregor's points. His total savings: $279.5 billion a year.

Eject Neanderthals like McCain from Congress

In contrast war-mongers McCain, "Buck" McKeon, and Democrat Adam Smith cannot find a single penny to cut. Quite frankly it's disgraceful.

It's high time we eject the Neanderthals from Congress (from both parties), and that includes McCain.

Note that the savings from Macgregor's modest proposals would be $2.79 trillion over 10 years! That may not practical all at once but it should be possible to make those changes over a 5 or six year period.

Footnote: Col. Douglas Macgregor (ret.), a decorated combat veteran, writes for the Committee for the Republic in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is Warrior's Rage

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

French Government Bond Yields Widen to Record vs. Germany; Portugal Faces National Emergency; Trichet Says "ECB Will Not Be Lender of Last Resort"

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 09:42 AM PDT

Credit stress has now hit France sovereign debt. The spread between 10-year French bonds and German government bonds is at a Euro-era record 97 basis point differential.

France 10-Year Government Bonds

Germany 10-Year Government Bonds

Italy 10-Year Government Bonds

Portugal 10-Year Government Bonds

Spain 10-Year Government Bonds

Greece 1-Year Government Bonds

French Bond Yields Jump Most Since 2008

Bloomberg reports French Bond Yields Jump Most Since 2008 on Bank Concern

Ten-year French yields climbed 38 basis points this week, the most since the euro was introduced in 1999. The extra yield investors demand to hold 10-year French bonds instead of German bunds also expanded to the most since the euro started. Spain's 10-year bonds fell for a fifth day after Standard & Poor's cut the nation's credit rating. Yields climbed across the euro area after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the ECB will not act as a "lender of last resort."

The eight largest U.S. money-market funds reduced their lending to French banks by 44 percent last month, according to filings compiled by Bloomberg and published in today's Bloomberg Risk newsletter.

Spanish 10-year yields climbed four basis points to 5.24 percent, even after the ECB was said by people with knowledge of the deals to have bought the nation's securities. S&P cut Spain's ranking by one level to AA-, with the outlook remaining negative, the company said yesterday.

Portugal Faces National Emergency

Portugal 10-year yield increased five basis points to 11.64 percent. The nation is planning to deepen budget cuts next year as it faces a moment of "national emergency," and has to do more to meet its budget goals, Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said.

Trichet a Proven Liar

Does this look like anything has been contained or does it look like the problem is spreading to France (as a result of foolish containment efforts)?

By the way, Trichet is a proven liar. The ECB is already acting as a lender of last resort by supporting Italian bonds and foolishly buying Greek bonds previously.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

More Alarming Shipping News and Charts: Railfax Railroad, Ceridian Trucking, Harper-Petersen Shipping; Reader Anecdotes

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 08:20 AM PDT

Weak shipping reports have now spread to rail traffic, truck traffic, and ocean shipping. We will look at each of those in turn, but first a brief recap on the Unprecedented Drop in Port Traffic: A Sobering Omen for Holiday Sales.

The five busiest container ports in the United States said that imports in August 2011 were lower than or even with 2010 volumes. In Long Beach, the second-busiest container port by volume, August imports fell by 14.2 percent from August 2010.

Many analysts remain optimistic about a strong Christmas season anyway, prompting me to write ....

So what are analysts thinking? Or are they thinking at all?

Shippers don't see it, the labor market does not see it, and consumer sentiment does not reflect more willingness to spend. Are analysts giddy over this 1-week rally in the stock market or are they simply cheerleading "rah rah sis-boom bah" as they do 99% of the time?

Railfax Rail Traffic Year-over-Year Percent Change 13 Week Rolling Averages

Chart courtesy of Railfax

The steady deterioration in the rail indices is obvious. The next set of charts is even worse.

Harper Petersen Shipping

Chart courtesy of Harper Petersen

Ceridian PCI Truck Fuel Usage

Please consider the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index®, September data.

Pulse of Commerce Index Falls For the Third Month In a Row

This is alarming news for the third quarter and beyond.

In the last three months, the PCI has declined at an annualized rate of 10 percent per year as illustrated in the figure above. This rate of decline has been exceeded only in the deep recession of 2008/09, and equaled only once outside of a recession in March 2000. In other words, since June, trucking activity has been receding at a pace that would be expected to show up in other economic measures soon. Two or three more months like this would confirm an official recession.

With the past three negative months, the PCI declined at the annualized rate of 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2011 compared with the second quarter. Outside of the recessions, we have never experienced such a large quarterly decline in the PCI. Our near-recession situation is made only slightly less concerning by two facts: the declines in the recessions have been much larger than 4.3 percent, and the PCI decline in 2011Q3 is almost as much in 2003Q2.

October 12, 2011 3 With hopes that the September data would be positive, last month we wrote, "Based on the July and August data, the PCI will likely decline in the third quarter and this suggests GDP growth of zero to 1.0 percent." Due to the disappointing September number and the consequent third quarter 4.3 percent decline of the PCI, it will be difficult to get a positive GDP number in 2011Q3 — but trucking activity tends to lead the economy, and the effect of the positive growth in the PCI from 2011Q2 lingers on. As such, this makes the PCI-based forecast for third quarter GDP growth equal to zero, meaning just as likely to be negative as positive.

More ominously, the last weeks of September were the weakest, promising more of the same in October.

The positive point of view on this extremely disappointing news is that businesses, in the face of the considerable concerns about growth, appear to be unwilling to restock for a potentially vibrant holiday season at the same time as normal, and they are planning to ramp up inventories late this year, if and when the sales start to materialize. In other words, what we are observing this month is only a weak forecast of future sales, a forecast that doesn't have to be self-fulfilling. With lean inventories, increases in sales mean increases in production and in jobs.

Retail Sales and the PCI: Inventories in Motion

Viewing the PCI as a measure of inventories in motion, it appears that inventory restocking in 2010 got ahead of real retail sales, and the decline in the PCI in the second half of 2010 was an indication of inventory reductions realigning with sales. This year we have experienced an ominous cessation of growth of both the PCI and real retail sales, and now in September 2011, a sharp decline in the three-month moving average. In the coming months, we are going to see either an improvement in the PCI or a deterioration of real retail sales.

Reader Anecdotes

Big Ship writes ....

Hi Mish,

Your story about the unprecedented drop in port traffic reminded me of something I recently noticed about shipments that the company I work for gets from Asia. I work for a major publisher in New York City that prints many of its titles in Asia due to lower costs. What we've noticed in the past several months is that shipments of our books get delayed due to a lack of ship traffic from Asia to N. America. Basically what happens is our stuff gets printed and then it waits for weeks at the docks until the ship is full and ready to transport the cargo.

To give you a perspective, it takes us twice as long now to receive stock from Asia than it did two years ago. For all intents and purposes we're a relatively 'poor' industry so we're likely at the back of the line in terms of preference but it cannot be denied that there is excess capacity and that no one is interested in increasing it because there clearly is nothing to ship. Without question this is yet another sign of the various deflationary pressures that the economy is under.

Warmest regards,
Big Ship

Nancy Drew comments ...

Hello Mish

From what I see at Walmart and Target, those two stores have visibly reduced their inventory. Even grocery stores seem to have reduced inventories. Also look at how many stores are advertising "layaway" for the holidays and all the online stores offering free shipping.

It sounds like a lot of retailers are expecting a bleak holiday season.

I remember a year ago Gerald Celente said Christmas was going to evolve into a holiday that centers around religious festivities and traditional food, with gifts being greatly diminished or eliminated except for small children.

In response to Nancy Drew, Cross Country Runner replies ...

We only buy gifts for children. The adults don't need anything and we have almost everything we want. We'd prefer to just keep our money and our sanity. I'm tired of crowded stores and trying to find a gift for those who don't need anything.

Credit Crumbs writes ...

Actually, the best thing to give to kids these days are silver coins. They will grow up with a fond memory of the reward that comes from saving.

Collectively the various shipping reports tell a story of very weak Christmas demand. Consumer demand can change on a dime, but there is no reason whatsoever to expect it to do so.

The jobs market has been exceptionally weak, real wages are down, sentiment is down, and small yet unprecedented protests have spread to Wall Street. Globally things look worse.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Chinese Banks Deteriorate; Loan Sharks Come Knocking; Copper Ponzi Financing Revisited; 5 Reasons to Expect Lower Commodity Prices

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 01:06 AM PDT

On September 29, with thanks Google Translate and some links in Chinese sent by a reader, I reported China Loan Shark Market Crashes; Scores of Chinese Business Owners Unable to Pay Black Market Loans Commit Suicide or Disappear

That story has now gone mainstream. the New York Times reports As China's Economy Cools, Loan Sharks Come Knocking

The 300 employees of Aomi Fluid Equipment here were delighted recently when the owner offered an all-expenses-paid, two-day trip to a mountain resort three hours away.

The owner, Sun Fucai — or Boss Sun, as he's known — was so insistent that his workers attend that he imposed a $30 fine on any employee who refused the getaway. Nearly everyone went.

Except Boss Sun.

When the employees returned from their holiday, they found that the factory had been stripped of its equipment and that Boss Sun had fled town. "It was entirely empty," Li Heying, a former Aomi worker, said of the factory. "It was like what happens in war time."

The boss, as it turned out, was millions of dollars in debt to loan sharks — underground lenders of the sort that many private businesses in China routinely use because the government-run banks typically lend only to big state-run corporations.

In recent months, at least 90 business executives from this coastal city, a one-hour flight south of Shanghai, have disappeared because of mounting debts and impending bankruptcies, according to a local government report.

Whether out of fear of mafia-style loan enforcers — kidnappings and broken kneecaps are common tactics — or the family dishonor that is its own harsh penalty in China, some of the Wenzhou missing have gone into hiding. Others have fled overseas.

And in the last few weeks, at least three have attempted suicide by jumping off high-rises in the city, according to the state-run news agency, Xinhua, which reported that two of them died and the other survived with a broken leg.

"This is not just happening in Wenzhou," said Chang Chun, who teaches at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance. "Some companies borrow from the state banks and then lend into the underground market. Many are doing this type of arbitrage."

"This informal lending was aggravated by the credit tightening that made borrowing from the official banking system more difficult," said Wang Tao, a UBS economist based in Hong Kong.

Tight Credit Silliness

The idea espoused by UBS economist Wang Tao that "credit is tight" in China is absurd.

Credit is not tight. Credit has expanded so rapidly that China is overheating and inflation is high. This has been going on for so long, that no capital intensive and commodity intensive projects make any economic sense whatsoever.

I touched on that theme on May 5 in Ponzi Financing Involving Copper Trade Gone Wild.

As I have repeated numerous times, those looking for massive inflation can find it in China, not the United States. Demand for credit is so insane in China, that businesses will go to any length to get it.

Courtesy of Michael Pettis at China Financial Markets, please check out the insane way some companies in China obtain credit. Via Email, Pettis writes ...
China had been importing for many months far more copper than was needed for real use – and this in spite of a huge surge in domestic infrastructure and real estate development which has boosted the demand for copper.　 Imports continued even when London prices exceeded Shanghai prices by more than the equivalent of China's value-added tax.

Instead of being shipped to end users, it seems that copper was being stockpiled in warehouses.　 Why?　 One possibility of course was pure speculation.　 If you think domestic Chinese copper use is going to soar, and with it prices too, then it might make sense to buy copper and hoard it. But there seemed to be a lot more hoarding than normal, and anyway with London prices often above the tax-adjusted Shanghai prices, why would anyone want to speculate on foreign copper when it could be bought more cheaply domestically?

It turns out, that the copper purchases were not entirely, or even mainly, speculative.　 They were part of a financing scheme for companies that, in spite of the avalanche of new lending occurring both within and outside normal RMB lending, were having trouble accessing bank credit.　
Interestingly, Pettis insists that credit cannot really be considered tight in China, rather demand for credit has gone through the roof.

In my model, rapidly expanding credit is a sign of a huge inflation problem. For comparison purposes, many forms of credit are still stagnant or declining in the US.

This is supposed to end well? For who?

Clearly this did not end well for "Boss Sun" or those who leaped from buildings, were kidnapped, or simply vanished as noted in the first link above.

Copper Weekly Chart

Anyone plowing into the copper Ponzi finance scheme since the beginning of 2010 is now underwater. Because of storage costs, loan fees, etc, that even includes those lucky enough to catch the price dips in early 2010.

Worse yet, those who bought copper above $4 (anyone who bought since mid-November 2010 until 4 weeks ago), are in deep trouble.

The loan sharks are about to come knocking, if they haven't already.

China Banks Deteriorating

Jim Chanos Says China Banks Deteriorating

Jim Chanos, the hedge-fund manager who's been betting that Chinese bank stocks will tumble, said a rally spurred by government purchases of the shares hasn't changed his bearish outlook.

"The fact that people are even talking about the government stepping in to shore up the banks, when two months ago people thought there was nothing wrong with the Chinese banks, should tell you just how seriously this situation is deteriorating," Chanos, founder of New York-based hedge fund Kynikos Associates, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television's Michael McKee today.

Chanos, who told Bloomberg News last month he was selling short shares in "virtually all of the large banks in China," said today that the country's property market is in the "first parts of a very serious pullback" and that he's also betting against Brazil's Vale SA (VALE), the world's largest iron-ore producer, on expectations demand from China will slow.

Chanos Video on China

Rio Tinto CEO says China to Overcome 'Wall of Worry'

I side with Chanos and Pettis. This is not even close. There is a real risk of a Chinese implosion as well as a commodities implosion led by five factors.

Recession in Europe
Recession in US
Slowdown in China
Regime change in China in 2012 with more focus on Chinese consumption and far reduced focus on commodity-sensitive infrastructure projects
Chinese housing market crash

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Damn Cool Pics

Aimee Mullins: The Opportunity of Adversity
The Evolution of the Rifle [Infographic]
Kitten vs Hair Dryer

Aimee Mullins: The Opportunity of Adversity

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:02 PM PDT

Aimee Mullins was born in 1975 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At the age of 1 she was diagnosed with fibular hemimelia, meaning that she was born without the fibula bone as a result, had both of her legs amputated below the knee. But the girl never gave up. Aimee Mullins became one of the college's best runners and ran against able bodied runners. She also participated in the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. The girl acted in a couple of movies, done modeling and even worked at the Pentagon. She has 12 prosthetic legs for any occasion.

The Evolution of the Rifle [Infographic]

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:17 PM PDT

Evolution of rifle dates back to 16th century's Musket with firing capacity of 3 rounds per minute to today's FN Scar with capacity of 625 rounds per minute. For more such interesting statistics and to know what guns were in between this evolution, check out this graphic!

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Source: cannonsafe

Kitten vs Hair Dryer

Posted: 13 Oct 2011 07:47 PM PDT

Oskar the kitten may have been born without fully-formed eyes, but he doesn't let his blindness get in the way. According to owner, "he can do pretty much everything that a normal cat can do.

Just look at him take on the breeze from this hairdryer like a pro. He might not know exactly what it is he's battling, but do our pets ever really know what's going on in this hilarious videos.

sâmbătă, 15 octombrie 2011

Weekly Address: Made in America

Seth's Blog : Gala economics

Gala economics

More Recent Articles

vineri, 14 octombrie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

sâmbătă, 15 octombrie 2011

Weekly Address: Made in America

Seth's Blog : Gala economics

Gala economics

More Recent Articles

vineri, 14 octombrie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

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