The $600 billion Housing Fraud

Today an analyst, Geraud Charpin, who is the head of European credit strategy at UBS in London, predicted the losses from the sub prime mortgage collapse will reach at least $600 billion. This, after AIG, the world's largest insurer announced they lost $5.3 billion in the last quarter, in no small part due to the $11 billion in write downs they took last year on mortgage backed (read:sub-prime) assets they held.

And the write-downs are just starting, as more and more companies come out of the closet and fess up to owning sub-prime junk. $600 billion....just vanished somewhere in the market. How will the world's economy cope with this one?

I fear that somewhere out there, right now, a major retirement fund manager is wringing his hands wondering when would be the 'right' time to announce the huge write down. The DJIA lost 315 points today. Soon that will seem minor.

Virginia Supreme Court Says 'No' To Regional Taxes

The Supreme Court of Virginia, which is known (by me at least) for or it's no-nonsense rationality, struck down the power of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) and the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority (HRTA) to tax without representation by 'the people'. The opinion can be found here (PDF)

The Virginia Legislature should take notes from the VASC on how to read....and start with the Virginia Constitution.

See: A few Lucky Virginians Have Another Nasty Surprise In Store -- Compliments Of The Legislature

New Meta-Analyses Shows Anti-Depressants Are Not Much Better Than Placebo

In spite of the known negative side effects (pdf) of modifying the reuptake of serotonin in people's bodies, a new meta analysis of multiple SSRI drug trials shows the drugs are not really any better than placebo for most people. The conclusion of this meta analysis is telling:

Drug–placebo differences in antidepressant efficacy increase as a function of baseline severity, but are relatively small even for severely depressed patients. The relationship between initial severity and antidepressant efficacy is attributable to decreased responsiveness to placebo among very severely depressed patients, rather than to increased responsiveness to medication.

So the differences in effectiveness of the drugs between severely and moderately depressed people was not due to the drugs effectiveness, but due to the ineffectiveness of placebo in severely depressed people.

With all this bad news, it's no wonder the drug companies are now trying to sell these drugs to your dog and cat.

Economy In Peril - Starbucks Goes For The Hard-Sell

You Know the economy is in trouble when Starbucks resorts to the hard-sell. I was at a Starbucks a week ago and as I was getting ready to pay for my latte, the 'barrista' told me that I could get the coffee "for free" if I bought a pound of coffee. I said no thanks, and then he proceeded to try to hard-sell me the coffee by asking me over and over if I was interested. At one point he even offered to "send the coffee to the troops" if I wasn't interested in using it myself. This is the sort of BS that really annoys me. If Starbucks thinks it would be a good idea to send some free coffee to the troops, then they should do it. They're in a much better position to do so than me. But, oh yeah...this was about increasing their profit, not doing something 'for the troops'. Using 'the troops' to make a sale is just distasteful.

Annoying your customers who want to buy something from you is a really bad idea. Just ask Radio Shack.

Mass Murders Linked To Antidepressant Use

The drug dealers have already started their offensive, so to balance their propaganda, I present this list.

This will (tragically) be a running archive of mass murders who have been linked to antidepressant use. Does this seem like quite a coincidence or what? Even though this Chicago Tribune article quotes psychiatrists as saying that antidepressants are "rarely linked to violence toward others", the FDA's Black Box warning (the most serious type of warning in prescription drug labeling) says that aggression and violence are side effects. Read the whole FDA warning below the list.

Dr. Michael Stone, a clinical psychiatry professor at Columbia and best known for his 'most evil' scale, allegedly maintains a 'database' of violent crimes and says that he only can find “...a handful of cases where the person was on an antidepressant.” Well to help you out with your database Dr. Stone, check out the site in the NY Times article. It has more than just a handful.

1. Kip Kinkel (Thurston High School Shootings 5/20/1998) [Was taking Prozac]
   
2. Eric Harris (Columbine High School Shootings 4/20/1999) [Was taking Luvox]. The medical records of Dylan Klebold (co-conspirator) have been sealed.
3. Mamoru Takuma (Osaka school massacre 6/8/2001) [Was taking an unnamed antidepressant]
   
4. Andrea Yates (Murdered her 5 children in a bathtub 6/20/2001) [Was taking Effexor]
   
5. Cho Seung-hui (Virginia Tech Shootings 4/16/2007 ) [Was taking an unnammed antidrepressant]
6. Robert Hawkins (Westroads Mall shootings Omaha 12/5/2007) [Was taking an unnammed antidrepressant, Most likely Prozac].
7. Steven Kazmierczak (Northern Illinois University Shootings 2/14/2008) [Was taking Xanax, Ambien, & Prozac] Apparently stopped taking Prozac days before after complaining of feeling like a 'zombie'.

Here is the FDA Black Box warning on antidepressants:

Suicidality in Children and Adolescents (pdf)

Antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in short-term studies in children and adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of [Insert established name] or any other antidepressant in a child or adolescent must balance this risk with the clinical need. Patients who are started on therapy should be observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior. Families and caregivers should be advised of the need for close observation and communication with the prescriber.

You Should Watch for Certain Signs If Your Child is Taking an Antidepressant
• Thoughts about suicide or dying
• Attempts to commit suicide
• New or worse depression
• New or worse anxiety
• Feeling very agitated or restless
• Panic attacks
• Difficulty sleeping (insomnia)
• New or worse irritability
• Acting aggressive, being angry, or violent
• Acting on dangerous impulses
• An extreme increase in activity and talking
• Other unusual changes in behavior or mood

US Civil War Claims Another Victim

A US Civil War relics dealer was killed Monday when what appears to be Civil War era ordinance exploded while he was cleaning it. The man, Sam White of Chesterfield County Virginia was killed when the (suspected) cannon ball detonated in his garage. Sam apparently had a decent business doing this sort of thing and must have been very skilled.

It's quite a bizarre tragedy to think of that shell, possibly being fired sometime around 1864, not detonating and instead disappearing into a muddy field. Then nearly 150 years later being found and sent to Sam for cleaning where it would finally detonate and exact its toll. I suppose it was that strange connection to the past that drove Sam to collect Civil War relics in the first place. RIP.

NIU Shooter's Girlfriend Confirms He Was On Antidepressants

And that he had recently stopped taking them. Big surprise.

She (Jessica Baty) confirmed that he had stopped taking an antidepressant about three weeks ago because "it made him feel like a zombie," but she denied that his recent behavior was unusual.

Another Mass Shooting Linked To "Medication"

It should come as no surprise by now that the recent Illinois shooter was taking some (as of yet) unnamed medication and became erratic when he stopped taking them. This is a pattern we have seen time and time again, and unfortunately, are doomed to see it continue to happen. Why? Because there's still too much money to be made. I can only guess what kinds of medication this killer was on....