Top Picks ~ Week of February 11, 2008


Money & Markets

Rail Road

New Era Dawns for Rail Building
By Daniel Machalaba – Wall Street Journal (13 Feb 2008)

AIG Falls on Concern Losses My Have Been Understated
By Hugh Son & Jessee Westbrook – Bloomberg.com (15 Feb 2008)

Ben Bernanke Signals Further US Rate Cuts
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – London Telegraph (15 Feb 2008)

Banks Advised to Walk Away form Big Deals
By Henny Sender – Financial Times.com (14 Feb 2008)

Bond Insurer FGIC Seeks Go-Ahead for Split
By Aline Van Duyn & Michael Mackenzie – Financial Times.com (14 Feb 2008)

Police Say Fire Engulfs Iraqi Central Bank
Reported by Aseel Kami & Waleed Ibrahim – International Herald Tribune (28 Jan 2008)

Debt Crisis Spreads to US Municipalities
By Aline van Duyn & Michael Mackenzie – Financial Times, London (13 Feb 2008)

Rescue Plan to Save Deutsch Industrie Bank
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – London Telegraph (14 Feb 2008)

Let the Sunshine on Governments Contracts
By Ralph Nader – Dandelion Salad (11 Feb 2008)

Georgetown University Confirms Auction of Floaters Fails
By Anastasija Johnson, et al – Reuters (30 Jan 2008)

Iran to Launch Oil Bourse Next Week
Press TV (13 Feb 2008)

Governments Said Ready to Intervene if Markets Become ‘Irrational’
Report from the G7 Meeting in Brussels – Reuters (11 Feb 2008)

20 States Face Total Budget Shortfall of at Least $34Bn in 2009
By Elizabeth C. McNichol & Iris Lav – Center of Budget & Policy Priorities (11 Feb 2008)

AIG Discloses ‘Weakness’ in Derivative Accounting
By Hugh Son – Bloomberg.com (11 Feb 2008)

Saudi Official Says Riyal’s Peg to Dollar Will Continue
By Michael Peltier – Reuters (11 Feb 2008)

G7 ‘Will Not Seek Coordinated Action on Fears of Global Economic Slowdown’
By Justin McCurry – Guardian.co.uk (8 Feb 2008)

German Bank Gets $7.2Bn Bailout
By Carter Doughtery – New York Times (9 Feb 2008)

Yahoo Board to Spurn $44B Microsoft Bid
By Michael Liedtke – Associated Press (10 Feb 2008)

Creators of Credit Crisis Revel in Las Vegas
By John Devaney – New York Times (8 Feb 2008)

Ten Traits That Make You Filthy-Rich
By Jeffrey Strain – TheStreet.com (1 Feb 2008)

Recession Road Trip
By David Whitford – CNNMoney.com (8 Feb 2008)

OPEC Chief Muses About Gradually Switching Oil Pricing to Euros
By Perry Williams – Middle East Economic Digest (8 Feb 2008)

Philanthropy From Closely Held Businesses: Refining Oil From Shale
By Phil Cubeta – Gift Hub (8 Feb 2008)

D Bank Warns of Monoline ‘Tsunami’
By Chris Hughes – Financial Times, London (8 Feb 2008)

"Euros Accepted" Signs Pop Up in New York City
From Reuters (6 Feb 2008)

Why the US Has Really Gone Broke
By Chalmers Johnson – Le Monde Deplomatique (Feb 2008)

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Precious Metals

Gold and Deflation: A dissenting Dissection
By Bob Landis – Golden Sextant.com

Mobilization of IMF Gold Just a Sign of Central Bank Desperation
By Chris Powell – GATA (9 Feb 2008)

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Mortgage Market

US Credit Crisis Escalates as Defaults Spread
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – London Telegraph (13 Feb 2008)

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UBS Confirms Fourth-Quarter Loss On Subprime-Related Write-Downs
By Katharina Bart – Wall Street Journal (14 Feb 2008)

Toll Relative Walks Away From New Condo – Filing
By Martha Graybow – Reuters (11 Feb 2008)

Japan is the Next Sub-Prime Flashpoint
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – London Telegraph (10 Feb 2008)

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Food & Health

Symptoms of Fluoride Poisioning
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Life

9-11 Rescue Workers Need Our Help
By David Swanson – AfterDowningStreet.org (15 Feb 2008)

Restoring Health & Beauty to Forestlands in Montana’s Wildland-Urban Interface
From Comprehensive Forestry

Beyonce & Tina Turner Grammy 2008

Learning to Lie
By Po Bronson – New York Magazine (10 Feb 2008)

RIM Reports "Critical" BlackBerry Outage
By Wojtek Dabrowski – Reuters (11 Feb 2008)

Union University Tribute

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Geopolitical

Senate Votes to Expand Spy Powers
By Eric Lichtblau – New York Times (13 Feb 2008)

Anchor Baby ~ From Wikipedia

Berkeley to Decide on Revoking Marines Letter
By Carolyn Jones – SFGate.coom (12 Feb 2008)

Real ID Act a Real Intrusion of Rights, Privacy
By Bob Barr – Dandelion Salad (13 Feb 2008)

‘Popsicle Index’ Can Gauge Vote
By Mike Linton – Murfreesboro Daily News (31 Jan 2008)
MTSU School of Music, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

US Charges 6 for Roles in 9/11 Attacks
By Pauline Jelinek – Associated Press (11 Feb 2008)

FAQ: Sussing Out Superdelegates
By Matt Phillips – Wall Street Journal (7 Feb 2008)

Rule by Fear or Rule by Law?
By Lewis Seiler & Dan Hamburg – San Francisco Chronicle (4 Feb 2008)

EFF and Chums Sue Feds Over Border Laptop Inspections
By Kelly Fiveash – The Register (8 Feb 2008)

Survival in Times of Uncertainty: Growing Up in Russia in the 1990s
By Legal Alien – Sott.net (24 Jan 2008)

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