Twisty Ben

Chairman Benjamin Bernanke and all his chubby little Fed elves say they love the twist so much they're going to keep on doing it all year long.

Judging from the hundreds of explanations on the internet, if you don't quite understand Operation Twist you have  lot of company. Let me give a shot at explaining, if you please.

The Fed says it will boost the economy by buying back its shorter-term bonds. It will pay for them with "money" it will get for selling longer term bonds.  That way it will owe less money soon and more later. It all works out to make its balance sheet look just the same even though it can immediately float more greenbacks (still backed by nothing).

It will help to think of the Fed as just another bank. It lends money and borrows* money. It can be flush or damned near broke, or even secretly bankrupt, a banking-sector Enron.

It might also help to personalize the process. Think of the Fed as yourself, a naughty little brat who ...

--wrote a bunch of post-dated checks which were worthless when you signed them and will be worthless on the imminent due date

--decided to solve your problem by redeeming the soon-to-be bouncing paper with fresh rubber checks, dated further out.

It works just fine if the guys holding your trash are dumb enough to go along with the gag.

Except that if the government catches you, you will go to jail, not because you hung ugly paper but because you are not an official government ugly paper hanger.

Clear now?

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*The Fed borrowing function is enhanced by its mastery of the printing press, and if that makes you question our historic reverence for Herr Gutenberg, I understand.

The Druid within

The hex continues. An overcast sky again thwarts the plan to lay out a  summer solstice sunrise vector on the grounds of Camp J. It would cross the winter line scribed and marked with stones several years ago.

Yeah, I know I could just look it up in the astronomical almanac and plot it with a compass, but that violates the spirit of the thing. The ancient Celtic priests would be displeased.

Oh well, maybe next year.

Which reminds me of a confusing point in the Druidic liturgy. Everything I read directs me to get woaded up and dance naked around an oak tree or stele (something phallic, anyway)  on the first day of winter.

But I can't find a similar ritual ordained for the summer solstice when a devout pagan would stand a lesser chance of his  personal stele freezing, turning black, and falling off.

Maybe that's why there aren't many Druids anymore.

Merchanting Death in Bucolia

... and here, from W-T-M-R,   your weekend market report! (Sound of 66 wpm Model 15 teleprinter up and out)

--The 8 3/8-inc SW K22, as near-new, in box  --$740

--.38 H&R breaktop in ..38SW, very good -- $165

--Marlin Glenfield Model 60 with cheap scope -- $100

-- Hardware store branded .410 single, pretty good -- $105

--Early Marlin 12 gauge pump (Win. 97ish) very rough -- $125

--Winchester 97,  worse than the Marlin --$265

--Remington 572 (.22 pump), pretty good -- $355

--Tarted up Ruger 10-22, checkered walnut, near mint, 3 mags -- $265

--Remington 870 3", rib, very good -- $280

--Remington 700 in .270 Win, about unfired, Leupold 3x9 -- $600 

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And that's what some lethal stuff is worth at a country auction in the northern plains.

Your reporter was in the K22 action through the 600s but, in the end, left with all but an even $50 of his wad still apocket while still acquiring enough to keep him busy the rest of the weekend -- sorting, cleaning, planning, gloating.

The swag:

A dandy pair of almost unused ancient Dreml tools -- one of the early rotaries and a  1/3 sheet sander, a tank weighing about three times as much as a modern counterpart.

A nice junk box holding bits, wrenches, and even a brass and rosewood try square.

A draw    tow bar to be converted into a combination dethatcher and driveway gravel stirrer-upper.

A hefty scissors jack, unneeded except in the sense that no man can ever have too many jacks.

And, Ta-Da, a mint -- never-sharpened -- CaseXX four-inch hunter from about the '70s or 80s. Did I mention that no man can ever own too many knives? 

Stupid Chinese Person

The AP reports, "In a China awash with fake iPhones, pirated DVDs and knockoff Louis Vuitton bags, rice trader Lin Chunping took fakery to a whole new level: He invented a U.S. bank and claimed he bought it."


Understanding the term "bank" to mean a place where actual wealth is kept and prudently managed, I wonder why Lin went to all the bother of dreaming up a new phony bank.

Why didn't he just buy the Bank of America? Or the United States Federal Reserve  System?