Saturday

You know the economy is looking bad when the president comes out in an election year and says it. It's also safe to say it's not going to get any better soon, or else the president would just deny anything is wrong and wait for things to improve. But no: trillions of dollars in stimulus and spending and bailouts later, and the economy is still tanking. These are extraordinary times.

Got garden? I do. I think I could sustain myself off it. Of course, I have nine to sustain, so I'm kinda screwed, but it looks pretty cool. Here's a view of my compact garden, taken from the pool deck:

There's plenty to worry about, of course, but these folks take it to a whole other level: Zombie Bullets In High Demand Following Flesh-Eating Attacks It would appear from the article that people aren't really buying them for zombies, and the article expressly states that they can't be used on people, including, presumably, food stamp recipients, bail-out funds recipients, and other folks who feed off our economy's flesh. Still, it's a clever marketing ploy.

Bob Welch killed himself. I always dug "Ebony Eyes" and "Sentimental Lady." For your listening pleasure:

Interesting investment advice that I'd never heard before:

Raw land has a place; fine art has a place. This is what I call "the 30 years' war portfolio." You look in Europe and some of these multibillionaire families actually have dynastic wealth that has lasted for not 200 years but 300, or 400, 500 years. When you ask them how they did it, they say, "A third, a third, and a third." What they mean is one-third gold, one-third land, and one-third fine art. Yeah, you need some liquidity, and you might have a little speculative portfolio off to the side, but gold, land, and fine art will serve you very well in the kind of uncertain inflationary times that are coming.

Link.

Two decent late night quips:

Comedian Bill Mahr has purchased a minority share of the New York Mets. He's going to change the team's name to the New York Smirking Atheists. Conan

Mayor Bloomberg has outlawed giant cans of soda. When you outlaw stuff it creates crime. I saw a guy today walking down the street and a cop is arresting him because he's got a huge can of soda, and he said "No, no, this is medicinal Mountain Dew." Letterman