Nude man running through Paris with his pole in his hands.

Just for the record – I’ve hosted a party on that bridge!

But enough of South America – we have a new thread.
An Angel On My Shoulder

As for your numbers Flaneur, can I get back to you on those? I’ll need to research the facts a bit, …

Well if you are going to use facts, then I’m taking my bat and going home!

See you all on the morrow!

You’ve really opened the whole can of worms there!

Which only reinforces the point: we will have to be clever in many ways to keep food output ahead of population.

As for your numbers Flaneur, can I get back to you on those? I’ll need to research the facts a bit, but right now it’s sleep which is pressing.

Geez, jen, you mean you didn’t catch Captain Cosmic and The Crystals live at Stone Henge during the summer solstice?
Neil saw ‘em and he reckoned they were far out. Man.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39031000/jpg/_39031969_neil_270.jpg
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http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/20090330_not_limbaughs_crowd/

Unlike the Middle Ages, the human population has exploded, and will put enormous pressure on agriculture as it increases to about 9 billion before it stabilises. That’s 50% more people than now.

Okay, back of the envelope calculations: the total cultivated land usage (excluding pasture!) is about 1.951 billion acres in China (I chose China ’cause it is densely populated and it was the best result in Google )
Given that western utilisation, excluding GM crops, can achieve yields of at least 30 bushels per acre for wheat (higher for other grain crops, and much higher for irrigated crops) results in China (given Western yields sans GM) could provide for approximately 7 billion people; and a yield of 50 bushels (a high end expectation) would support 12 billion people, I don’t think the situation is as grim as the (and I really, really mean the smilely) Frankenstein-Food pushers would have us believe.

Now, all we need do is appoint Enemy Combatant as the People’s Dictator and all will be well. Oops, there goes my candidacy.

Now I really am going to retire to a quiet corner for the night.

But can you give us a rundown on the practicalities of doing this in the USA system? what are the risks? what are the worst scenarios? what are the better scenarios?

Is this a magic wand program?

If it goes wrong and the oligarchs blow the shit up completely will wider America look like post Katrina New Orleans?

Will this scenario happen if they don’t nationalise anyway?

There are so many questions…so few easy answers.

My gut feel is that after the bank stress tests are done, by about mid year or earlier, some/most bankinstitutions will be nationalized or some kind of equivalent…i don’t think it could have politically been done any earlier even if Krugman is spot on.

PS good article in the Salon link. Getting Congress back from Wall Street and the oligarchs is no simple task…probably impossible.

Goddamn commies!

Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros says it is “conceivable” that Britain will have to resort to a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

“It’s conceivable,” Soros said in an interview with the Times published on Saturday.

“You have a problem that the banking system is bigger than the economy … so for Britain to absorb it alone would really pile up the debt.”

Soros said that “if the banking system continued to collapse, it’s (an IMF bailout) a possibility but it’s not a likelihood.”

(SMH)