cantinista

An eery Green Light permeates k98knights' hopium den this evening.

Yeah, I think I had that same fortune two years ago.

Horrendo Revolver finally frees his Titlist from the Windmill of Doom !!

I'm not that familiar with him, but since I'm a mailman myself I have to allow him more cred than I would your typical guru. Though I'm still skeptical that it can happen so soon under current conditions in Iraq.

Yep. Illiterately disgusseding.

Hey, Clown. Does that include balloon possums?

Hey Granny, Are you implying that you gave Luigi a break? On what grounds? Just because he was spotted riding around with TNT Tony?

You've got a lot of gumption to suppose that the rumor section is the proper place to post a rumor. I've been inclined to think it's only supposed to be used to post "Luigis".

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oZmt3nAgyeI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Oh no! Is Luigi actually the Kool-Aid guy?

Ah, Luigi. The only DV member with a perpetual Koolaid smile.

It's actually quite typical - certainly anything but HISTORIC - for these guys to be behind closed doors and gagged by currency dealers!

No problem. Anyway, hasn't Mnt Goat been asking for it with every post?

Here he is. Mama's not gonna be happy!

Who says you can't make this shiite up?

Some banks simply no longer trust other banks. Hmmm, maybe there's a moral in that. http://www.gold-eagle.com/article/bundesbank-announces-repatriation-120-tonnes-gold-paris-and-new-york-federal-reserve The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind. -- H.L. Mencken

What? Katy Lied!?

As Lucy would say, "I'll hold the ball and you kick it, Charlie Brown."

At this point I'll be happy to plead, "Abadi, can you spare dime?" - cantinista

I presume that's the liquor cabinet. I can hear 'em now. Steve y Ray belting out "Cold Shot" - cantinista

Darn funny, but not even close to the funniest. Not even the best one featuring toilet humor. Dodge Durango takes the cake! - cantinista

Maliki finally resigned,eh? I say that Obama will now call off his ISIS dogs so they can return to their primary mission of overthrowing Assad's government in Syria. The big question is how Iraqi Ba'athists, who've probably done the heavy lifting in Iraq, will react to Obama's mercenaries bailing on them - and probably absconding with the lion's share of their weaponry as well. The other question of interest is whether Maliki will be allowed to fade away gracefully, or not, after committing the cardinal sin of receiving aid (gently-used fighter jets) from Russia in his effort to hold on to power. Hmmm, Maliki out and Obama appearing to save Iraq from the evil forces of ISIS - right before the mid-term elections. It will be quite a win-win provided ISIS follows the script. Of course, next year Obama and the lap dog mainstream media will be cheering ISIS's efforts to overthrow Assad in Syria. Sadly, Americans' memories are too short for them to even feel insulted by the switch. This year: "ISIS is our enemy. ISIS has always been our enemy." Next year: "ISIS is our friend. ISIS has always been our friend." Yup, yup! Unfortunately, I don't see this affecting our investment beyond possibly setting the stage for something waaaayyyyy down the road. Everything else is just more pumper hopium. IMHO. - cantinista

I hate to be a party pooper by returning to the topic of this thread, but OfCamelot's scenario may have merit - assuming the current insurgency doesn't result in the demise of the IQD. All that's required for the dollar to have a dramatic drop in value is for the petrodollar regime to collapse. That process has already begun. Some commentators have even predicted that it's only a matter of time before the Saudis start to sell their oil priced in currencies other than the dollar. If that were to happen then other countries would find themselves in possession of US Treasuries in their foreign reserve accounts that they don't need and which are losing value quickly. This could lead to a collapse in the price of US Treasuries (and MUCH higher interest rates) as well as the value of the US Dollar. Indeed, it appears that the bond dumping has already begun - led by Russia as it de-dollarizes in response to actual and threatened sanctions by the US and EU. So far the PTB have managed to contain the damage by laundering the dumping through Belgium. My theory is that Belgium is being used as an intermediary in a large, unacknowledged QE scheme. The Fed prints the dollars and gives them to Belgium to buy the dumped bonds and over time these will be laundered from Belgium onto the Fed's balance sheet. It's hard to say just how far the Fed has kicked the can in the process, but the net effect is that they're now bailing out whoever is dumping their Treasuries in addition to the US banking cartel. That's $100 billion new dollars monetized into the world dollar supply. Just where they go from there, in the short term, is hard to say. The bottom line is this. It's the petrodollar regime that maintains worldwide demand for the US dollar. If oil producers de-dollarize by selling their product priced in other currencies, the US is the final destination for the excess dollars floating around the world. Something like 80% of the dollars in existence are held outside the US and when they come home it can only mean hyperinflation. That's when you would see the dollar dive while other currencies, including the IQD, rise dramatically relative to the dollar. Then you could certainly exchange your IQD for a lot more dollars, but each of those dollars will buy a lot less stuff than they do now. I think that scenario is at least as likely as the CBI waving a wand and magically increasing the value of the IQD. - cantinista

SnowGlobe and ASUmama, I thought Snowglobe's T-town would either be the home of either the Sun Devils or the Mildcats. I was surprised to hear someone from Tulsa pining for Rocky Point I'm a Phoenix native (Maryvale High graduate - about 6 miles or so from Tolleson High) but I only started visiting there, other than couple visits in '69 and '73, ten years ago. I haven't been down for almost two years now. It can be interesting at times, and maybe too interesting at others. The only personal experience I've had worth mentioning was in 2009, I think. About 5 or 10 miles north or Rocky Point the Mexican Army was searching all the incoming vehicles for smuggled weapons. So there we were, a sizable crowd of vehicles on Friday afternoon waiting by the side of the road, knocking down a cold one, while soldiers did a cursory search of our vehicles. As if fans flocking to Rocky Point for the Roger Clyne and the PEACEMAKERS show would be smuggling weapons for the drug cartels. Even Eric Holder probably had to blush at the idea. On a more serious note, last fall they had a shootout between the Federales and some drug gangers. The news reported that six of the "bad" guys were killed, and this was at one of the beach resorts. Apparently the Federales lit into them with grenades and such right into wherever they were holed-up at the resort (I haven't yet heard which one) I've also heard, but there's no way to verify it, that there were actually many more than six killed in the confrontation. I'm sure the net effect is that the drug gangers won't ever neglect to pay the requisite bribes again. I'm planning on going down in six weeks for this year's show and I expect I'll learn more details then - accurate or not. I'm looking forward to the show, as well as some quality time on the beach.and in the Cantina! - cantinista

I like Rocky Point, but I love Circus Mexicus which I consider to be one of the best parties in the Western Hemisphere. I'm not sure which restaurant you're referring to; perhaps the Friendly Dolphin that overlooks the harbor. I think they're all tiled in some color or another. Is your T-Town the one across I-10 from me? - cantinista

I would say that CBI printing new notes is interesting, but I wouldn't attribute any great significance to it with respect to any RV. The denominations mentioned can only be termed "small change": That is, equivalent to the coins we use as small change. Since Iraq uses bills that have a MUCH shorter useful lifespan than coins, it wouldn't surprise me if they have to do this sort of thing fairly often to replace the worn out bills. My guess is that these bills are used as small change in transactions that are otherwise carried out in U.S. dollars. You tender $X for a purchase from a merchant and receive small denomination IQD in change. These would tend to circulate with a great deal of frequency and therefore wear out quite quickly compared to coinage of the same denomination. In my admittedly limited experience I can relate a similar phenomenon. I have visited Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco), Mexico on many occasions. While there I've naturally visited numerous businesses for the purpose of purchasing various items. I might visit a Circle K store there for the purpose of purchasing cerveza; just as a hypothetical example . In such case I would tender, say, a $20 bill to the clerk (who gladly accepts it) and receive perhaps 90 pesos in change. If those pesos were paper currency they would wear out quite quickly compared to the coins they actually use for small change there. My experience is that most merchants will give change in pesos rather than U.S. currency. Although, certain respectable cantinas conduct all their business in U.S. currency. No snivelling! - cantinista