IMF Doom and Gloom, Real Estate in Sri Lanka Now Real Cheap

Dana Millbank
Henry Kissinger
Robert Kaplan


“It is high time that the world wakes up to the fact that the Sri Lankan government is conducting an ethnic cleansing within its shores,” - Anand.



This is depressing news, the International Monetary Fund is forecasting more doom and gloom for the world's economy this year, and next year not much better with a global deficit of $3 to $4 trillion dollars. The NY Times reports: "The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday the world economy has fallen into a severe recession, cutting its forecast for global growth and calling for forceful action to spur a recovery.

In its latest World Economic Outlook, the monetary fund said the global economy would likely contract 1.3 percent this year in the deepest post-World War II recession by far. Growth is set to re-emerge to around 1.9 percent next year, a pace more sluggish than average recoveries because of lingering strains in the financial sector, it added.

The monetary fund warned that the turnaround depends on efforts by governments to nurse the global financial sector back to health by cleaning banks’ balance sheets, and on additional fiscal and monetary policies in advanced economies.

“A key concern is that policies may be insufficient to arrest the negative feedback between deteriorating financial conditions and weakening economies in the face of limited public support for policy actions,” the monetary fund said."

And the pressure is too much to bear for some folks. Politico reports that: "Tragedy struck Freddie Mac Wednesday morning as Fairfax County, Va., police found the company's interim chief financial officer David Kellermann dead at his home, the victim of an apparent suicide.

Freddie Mac, the struggling mortgage giant, was taken over by the federal government in September. The news of Kellermann's suicide was first reported by WTOP radio in Washington.

Kellermann, 41, was the acting chief financial officer and senior vice president of Freddie Mac, and he had reported directly to CEO David Moffett, who resigned in March. Moffett, in turn, had only been in his position since September, receiving the job after the federal government took over the ailing company and ousted its leadership. "

Banks are still crying that the government restrictions are too tough to let them pay back the TARP funds without telling the government how they spent the money. President Obama is calling for the heads of the credit card companies to come to the White House, he plans to read them the riot act because they are raising their rates and enacting predatory lending practices again. Congress will only too happy to write sweeping new laws to regulate them if they don't want to get their act together. These bankers and Wall Street financiers are whining worse than our 12 year old granddaughter when I try to get her ready for school in the morning, and that's bad... Yet JP Morgan had a profitable quarter, and Colorado-based Wells Fargo had a record profit. Telcomm and technology stocks are leading in sales and stability, but Wall Street as a whole is still shaky. Where would you invest right now? For myself, it would not be with any company who's CEO made more in salary than the President of the USA...

While the world has been distracted by socialistic handshakes and fighting those pesky Somalians and their derring deeds, there has been much turmoil and social upheaval in Asia. The NY Times reports: "The Sri Lankan military said Wednesday its soldiers were fighting their way through a lethal and dwindling “no-fire zone” on the country’s northeastern coast — the last bit of territory held by separatist Tamil rebels — as thousands of civilians continued to stream out of the area.

The military said on its Web site Wednesday that 58,000 civilians had escaped overland from the former safe zone in the past two days, and 4,000 more had been ferried away in boats. Another 10,000 were gathering Wednesday to leave, the military said.

“It is 60,000-plus and counting, and we have heard various reports of up to 110,000 coming out,” said Gordon Weiss, a United Nations spokesman quoted by Reuters in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. Mr. Weiss emphasized that the U.N. reports could not be confirmed.

The exodus created a situation that the International Committee of the Red Cross said was “nothing short of catastrophic,” as tens of thousands more civilians remained in the zone, apparently trapped.
There is no reliable estimate of how many civilians remain in the area. Aid agencies guess there are 50,000 to 100,000." They have been trying for many years to get rid of the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the past couple months have decided to wipe them off of the face of the earth, pity for those who get in the way.

Also, my favorite country Thailand has been in the grip of violent protests, as the Asia Times reports: "Earlier this month, red-shirted demonstrators supporting former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra caused the cancelation of an Asian summit in Pattaya and disrupted daily life in parts of Bangkok in hopes of forcing the resignation of current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. This comes after the events of last November, when yellow-shirted demonstrators opposing the then-government of Thaksin's brother-in-law occupied government buildings and closed Bangkok's two international airports.

Thaksin lost the latest round of violence. Military forces contained the protests, forced the leaders to surrender or flee, and supplied buses to take rural demonstrators back home. But "victory" is surely only a respite, since the larger issues that are dividing Thai society and fueling the unrest remain unresolved. Power has already shifted back and forth three times since the September 2006 military coup, with enormous disruptions to Thailand's society, economy, and international standing.

Thaksin and Abhisit represent opposing forces, both claiming to promote democracy. Now living abroad to escape jail time for a conflict of interest conviction, Thaksin is the central, polarizing figure on the Thai political stage. A former policeman and telecom tycoon, he is the first Thai politician to fashion a power base independent of the traditional elite, Bangkok-centered institutions. He accomplished this by becoming a hero to many underprivileged Thais during the time he was prime minister through the lavish disbursal of money for rural health, education, and grants or loans to villages."

Late night jokes:

"There's been a lot of talk lately about lifting the trade embargo in Cuba. President Obama says he understands that a relationship that has been frozen for this long won't thaw out overnight, to which Hillary said, 'Tell me about it!'" --Jay Leno

"Well, as you know, President Obama's been reaching out to Iran, reaching out to Cuba, reaching out to Latin America. The only place he can't seem to be able to reach out to, Texas." --Jay Leno

"Despite Governor Rick Perry talking about how Texas could secede from the Union if it wanted to, 75 per cent of the people who live there want to stay in the United States. Of course they want to stay. I mean, after spending all that time and effort sneaking across the border to get here, why would they want to leave?" --Jay Leno

"And amid much criticism, President Obama has released top-secret terror memos from the Bush Administration. According to the memos, President Bush authorized various forms of torture, including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and of course, the fourth hour of the 'Today' show." --Jay Leno

"And American hero, Captain Richard Phillips, who was recently captured by Somali pirates, flew home to Vermont over the weekend. Ironically, the movie on the plane, 'Pirates of the Caribbean.'" --Jay Leno

"Congratulations to 'The New York Times,' which won five Pulitzer Prizes today, including one for breaking the call girl scandal that ended Eliot Spitzer's career. And Spitzer won a prize for fiction, for the story he told his wife about the affair." --Jay Leno

"President Obama met with his entire Cabinet today. Well, sure, now that April 15th has passed, they've all come out of hiding." --Jay Leno

"Very exciting news. We have a Miss USA Her name is Kristen Dalton, and she is from North Carolina. She says she's now looking forward to one day being the Republican vice presidential candidate." --Jay Leno

"And a lot of people thought that Miss California lost the contest when she said she was opposed to gay marriage. So, apparently, she forgot who the audience is who watches beauty pageants." --Jay Leno

"It's hot here today in L.A. In fact, it was so hot, I called up the CIA and begged to be waterboarded." --Craig Ferguson

"It's 'Green Is Universal' week here at NBC and we're part doing our part here at 'Late Night.' In fact, the whole monologue tonight is recycled from Friday's show." --Jimmy Fallon

David Letterman's Top Ten Things Overheard in the Meeting Between Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez

10. Donde esta 'el Presidente dumb-ass'?
9. Sorry, Mr. President, they don't sell Marlboros here.
8. Let's get a picture of you shaking hands with Hugo Chavez to really piss off Rush Limbaugh.
7. Mr. Chavez, I have a book for you, too -- Artie Lange's "Too Fat To Fish."
6. Does this breakup mean Lindsay Lohan is back to dating guys?
5. Remember, you can't spell Hugo without "hug."
4. I can't believe they killed Edie on "Desperate Housewives."
3. Does Biden really think he's fooling anybody with those plugs?
2. I think there's one thing we can both agree on -- there's a new star in the
Hollywood galaxy by the name of Zac Efron.
1. Is it too late for me to buy your Senate seat?