What will it possibly take for an economic leader, a national leader, to finally stand up and tell us the truth that's been staring us in the face for years now..
This world has changed, and the changing back, if at all ever fully possible.. will take decades..
The number of issues involving a plethora of Alpha personalities.. each looking for the advantage..
We play with Monopoly Money, rather than in firm stocks and commodities..
We speculate.. gamble.. use gilts for bargaining chips, and junk bonds to pull us down..
There's to be yet another meeting early this week between the Eurozone Economics Ministers.. in the hopes whatever this latest flimsy accord they may forge, and that hardly seems an appropriate word in this case.. can delay the inevitable..
There was such a gathering yesterday, and another slated for later this morning.... Angela Merkel told a news conference that there would not be anything as "spectacular" as a restructuring of Greek debt.. She has made it plain, that if any more German money goes into 'restructuring' Greece, it had better be worth the effort .. not only in the short run, but should reflect significant moves leading towards a 'positive' future..

The meeting will attempt to agree a second bail-out of Greece that battered country in a hope of calming financial markets and stop the cancer spreading..
What's the old adage.. 'getting the horses out before the barn burns..?
At the weekend Angela indicated that she may not attend the meeting unless there was a likelihood of a concrete deal on a second Greek rescue..
Germany has been at odds with the European Central Bank over its insistence that private investors in Greek Bonds share the pain of another rescue deal..
The ECB believes that forcing private investors to take losses on their loans is effectively a default by Greece on its debts.. which is a pretty accurate assessment.. Nearly everything that Eurozone leaders have done in response to the Euro Crisis has been done in the name of preventing contagion of epidemic proportions..
The main problem is, we have seen the enemy, and it is us..
Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are in the forefront of calls for private investors to share the burden rather than just leave it to the taxpayer..
Germany has been at odds with the European Central Bank over its insistence that private investors again, dig deep into pockets which are getting shallower and shallower..
And inevitably.. whether Eire, Portugal. Spain, Italy, Greece and all the others on the periphery stand or fall, it will be at the dissatisfaction of German, and French, voters.. all of whom will righteously claim "We did all we could"..
Now.. imagine Domenique Le Pen, in charge of a new French majority government..

The heat continues to be a problem in the States.. Remember, if they're not burning gigantic petrol engines, they're running industrialised air condition units..
From Texas to the Dakotas, and east to Illinois and Indiana, temperatures and humidity levels soared on Monday and were expected to remain high through at least the end of the week, by which time forecasters say the East Coast will get to share the misery..
Ahhh... NYC in 115 degree temperatures.. And it being one of the friendliest cities in the world, to boot... So very polite.. it's remarked upon..
Seventeen states issued heat watches, warnings or advisories on Monday, when the heat index easily surpassed 100 degrees in many places, including 126 in Newton, Iowa, and 119 in Madison, Minnesota..
Just to give an idea of what that could mean waiting a car.. caught in a rush hour tailback in a queue.. in that heat.. for say 30 minutes.. breathing a solid intake of exhaust fumes.. only to have your tires melt to the road..
Things were heating up on the East Coast on yesterday, and the National Weather Service said temperatures in New Jersey that were expected be in the lower 90s and What will it possibly take for an economic leader, a national leader, to finally stand up and tell us the truth that's been staring us in the face for years now..
This world has changed, and the changing back, it at all ever possible will take decades..
We play with Monopoly Money, rather than in firm stocks and commodities..
We speculate.. gamble.. use gilts for bargaining chips, and junk bonds to pull us down..
There's to be yet another meeting early this week between the Eurozone Economics Ministers.. in the hopes whatever this latest flimsy accord they may forge, and that hardly seems an appropriate word in this case.. can delay the inevitable..
There was such a gathering today.. This meeting today She told a news conference that there would not be anything as "spectacular" as a restructuring of Greek debt..
The meeting will attempt to agree a second bail-out of Greece in a hope of calming financial markets and stop contagion spreading..
What's the old adage.. 'getting the horses out before the barn burns..?
At the weekend Angela indicated that she may not attend the meeting unless there was a likelihood of a concrete deal on a second Greek rescue..
Germany has been at odds with the European Central Bank over its insistence that private investors in Greek Bonds share the pain of another rescue deal..
The ECB believes that forcing private investors to take losses on their loans is effectively a default by Greece on its debts.. which is a pretty accurate assessment.. Nearly everything that Eurozone leaders have done in response to the Euro Crisis has been done in the name of preventing contagion.. The main problem is, we have seen the enemy, and it is us..
Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are in the forefront of calls for private investors to share the burden rather than just leave it to the taxpayer..
Germany has been at odds with the European Central Bank over its insistence that private investors again, dig deep into pockets which are getting shallower and shallower..
And inevitably.. whether Eire, Portugal. Spain, Italy, Greece and all the others on the periphery stand or fall, it will be at the dissatisfaction of German, and French, voters..
Imagine Domenique Le Pen, in charge of a new French majority government..

The heat continues to be a problem in the States.. Remember, if they're not burning gigantic petrol engines, they're running industrialised air condition units..
From Texas to the Dakotas, and east to Illinois and Indiana, temperatures and humidity levels soared on Monday and were expected to remain high through at least the end of the week, by which time forecasters say the East Coast will get to share the misery.
Ahhh... NYC in 115 degree temperatures.. And it being one of the friendliest cities in the world, to boot...
Seventeen states issued heat watches, warnings or advisories on Monday, when the heat index easily surpassed 100 degrees in many places, including 126 in Newton, Iowa, and 119 in Madison, Minnesota..
Things were heating up on the East Coast on Tuesday, and the National Weather Service said temperatures in New Jersey that were expected be in the lower 90s and could reach 100 degrees by the end of the week...
Take note gentle reader, this is not normal.. and the Camper Countdown continues..

Still pushing for a last minute face saving economic miracle.. Obama today renewed his push for an ambitious deficit-reduction deal..
Hailing a bipartisan package.. put forward hours earlier by a group of six senators as a sign of progress.. and summoning Congressional leaders for a new round of negotiations..
Reciting the now familiar litany that 'time is running out..'' that now was the goal to get a deal approved by the government before the its debt ceiling on the 2d next month, Barack underlined a proposal worked on for months and put on the table by the so-called Gang of Six.. the group of senators who offered a plan for roughly $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade.. suggested there was still hope for a bipartisan deal..
In other words.. there are more issues both sides want to be left holding the upper hand on, in the next cut of the deck.. There' s still time for some petty squabbling..
There are times the machinations of government can seem so utterly mundane.. but never is it more obvious than when a big issue rears it's head..
Always watch the man with the smallest bag.. it gives the impression he wants the least.. but very valuable concessions can be rolled into a picture tube..
Take the Midwest.. it may be holding back for trade concessions with the Far East and China, to reduce it's massive wheat and soy surplus.. Because of bumper crops, American wheat and soy dropped a third ten days ago..
Gods know China, and all that area, hard hit by natural disasters of their own could profit through bond exchanges for wheat imports..
The grain gets sold.. the Chinese eat.. and the US has back in the hands of it's own treasury, those Bonds China could have called in at anytime..
Also keeps rolling stock on the rails.. and their produce on it's way to market..
Even in the worst of our analysts hair-tearing and scattering of ashes, business will continue..
But it's the problem areas the likes of Greece, which keep hoi polloi occupied..
Take note gentle reader, this is not normal..
And the Camper Countdown continues..

An apt aphorism comes to mind.. 'I grieved when I lost my shoes, until I saw a man with no feet..'
The UN is about to declare a catastrophic state of famine in Somalia..
In spite of concerted efforts of many Humanitarian Groups, the Somalians.. an estimated 10m of them.. have been affected in east Africa by the worst drought in more than half a century..
Tens of thousands of desperate Somalis have been trying to flee their country to neighbouring Kenya or Ethiopia.. but the overflow is overwhelming the resources of countries already deep in their own particular economic and political upheavals..
Those conditions include more than 3 of ten of children being acutely malnourished.. and at least four children out of every 10 thousand.. dying daily..

More throughout the day..