Atlanta's "Pink Elephant" Dean Gardens sells and will be demolished

And what is the buyer going to do?

 Demolish it!

"Don't miss your chance to view this beautiful estate before it is torn down," reads an announcement for a gala and estate sale posted on Facebook Wednesday. "Over $2 million in items and architecture to be sold."

Wall Street's definition of a disaster??

And someone says this--and this is news?

Someone at the bank tells us:

"The coffee part is annoying as f@#k."


 Disaster? What a p*ssy! What if this was their office???? 

Rosie on the Unemployment numbers

There was palpable relief in some circles that the unemployment rate managed to stabilize at 9.5% in July. The problem here is that the labour force continues to shrink as discouraged workers drop out an alarming rate for an alleged economic recovery — down 181,000 in July and down 1.2 million in the past three months. If the labour force merely stayed the same in the past three months — keeping in mind that in “normal” recoveries the labour force swells as job opportunities expand — the unemployment rate would be sitting at 10½% today. What investors should really be keying on — no doubt the Fed is — is the “employment rate” or the employment-to-population ratio, which fell to 58.4% from 58.5% and is back to where it was at the turn of the year.

Gay judge overturned California's Prop 8

Chief US District Judge Vaugn Walker, who overturned California's same sex marriage ban, is gay, and conservatives are now saying that his homesexuality should of forced his recusal.

Man calls 911 for a ride to liquor store

The "exaggerated" market

Most every move in this market is exaggerated by the swings and whims of the HFT traders. Someone wants to sell and the traders amplify the moves. We are in a boring trending upwards market, where the moves are always done quickly and exaggerated, with an upside bias to the moves.

Every dip that is sharp, brings out those who now think the market will tank, because we really haven't improved the employment situation; but the market can live with 9.5% unemployment much easier than those who are unemployed. The unemployment situation keeps the deflation argument front and center, which keeps the Fed loose, which keeps QE II on the table, which keeps rates down, which keeps asset prices up.

And really, the employment situation is way worse than what this administration whats us to believe. The motto of the BLS should be, "We're all Brett Favre." Anyone unemployed, riding a tractor, and cutting their own lawn, is, according to the BLS someone that has voluntarily left the work force, as this chart shows!!

The job situation still sucks, but that doesn't mean stocks will crash. They just ran up to resistance and needed to pull in a bit, and I really don't think we can have much more selling than this, because that's the story they want you to believe, and that's the story they will stick to.

Jim Paulsen of Wells Capital just doesn't get the job picture

The neighboring K-Mart had an opening for a stockboy and 120 people came in the first day looking for the job.

That didn't include any e-mailed resumes.

But he thinks people want to live on unemployment benefits!!

Becky Quick hyping the pre-jobs report

11 1/2 minutes before the BBE, Becky Quik of CNBC said "Synchronize your watches!"  Oh My!! Such market moving, breaking news! Maybe it's just her clock ticking!

And that was CNBC's early look at the markets. But if you really wanted an early look, here's JPM's take.


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Goldman's latest

 
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Constructive on gaming and Ag

School bus goes 367mph

USA Today Top 25 College preseason coaches poll

Aug. 6 2010 preseason poll
Rank	Team (first-place votes)	2009 record	Points	Final 2009 rank
1.	Alabama (55)	14-0	1,469	1
2.	Ohio State (4)	11-2	1,392	5
3.	Florida	13-1	1,245	3
4.	Texas	13-1	1,240	2
5.	Boise State	14-0	1,215	4
6.	Virginia Tech	10-3	1,052	10
7.	TCU	12-1	1,051	6
8.	Oklahoma	8-5	1,035	NR
9.	Nebraska	10-4	1,001	14
10.	Iowa	11-2	952	7
11.	Oregon	10-3	940	11
12.	Wisconsin	10-3	778	16
13.	Miami (Fla.)	9-4	728	19
14.	Penn State	11-2	508	8
15.	Pittsburgh	10-3	492	15
16.	LSU	9-4	476	17
17.	Georgia Tech	11-3	455	13
18.	North Carolina	8-5	445	NR
19.	Arkansas	8-5	438	NR
20.	Florida State	7-6	374	NR
21.	Georgia	8-5	312	NR
22.	Oregon State	8-5	263	NR
23.	Auburn	8-5	260	NR
24t.	Utah	10-3	169	18
24t.	West Virginia	9-4	169	22

Unemployment "stays" at 9.5% with a loss of 131,000 jobs

143,000 census workers off the polls, and the Government finally figured out that they had double counted some Census workers as they adjusted previous Government hiring lower by 50,000.

71,000 increase in private jobs

Previous months revised lower. Furthermore, the "civilian participation rate" has declined 0.6 percentage to 64.6% over the last four months. In other words, the Government assumes that all these workers who are no longer counted, are just folks like Brett Favre. So every month, the BLS overstates employment by 100,000 workers.

U-6 rate stays at 16.5%

No word if Julie Murphy, the seven year old,  whose lemonade stand was shut down in Portland because she didn't get a $120 temporary restaurant license or face a $500 fine was counted by the BLS in the participation rate:

After 20 minutes, a "lady with a clipboard" came over and asked for their license. When Fife explained they didn't have one, the woman told them they would need to leave or possibly face a $500 fine.

Surprised, Fife started to pack up. The people staffing the booths next to them encouraged the two to stay, telling them the inspectors had no right to kick them out of the neighborhood gathering. They also suggested that they give away the lemonade and accept donations instead and one of them made an announcement to the crowd to support the lemonade stand.

That's when business really picked up -- and two inspectors came back, Fife said. Julie started crying, while her mother packed up and others confronted the inspectors. "It was a very big scene," Fife said.

$1,000 down buys you a house

Since 25% of Americans now have a FICO score under 600---lower the down payment requirement for the masses!

The pilot program is called “Affordable Advantage,” and it has now been adopted by three states — Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Idaho. (Other states, such as Pennsylvania, California and Colorado, have similar state programs.)

In Tom Brady country, you have 168 lenders that are making these $1,000 down loans already.

Coming soon to a lender near you!!

Gisele Bunchden backs off on breast feeding law

She stated in Harper's Bazzar UK that mothers, should be required by law to breastfeed for six months.

Now she has rethought her position on her blog:

My intention in making a comment about the importance of breastfeeding has nothing to do with the law. It comes from my passion and beliefs about children. Becoming a new mom has brought a lot of questions, I feel like I am in a constant search for answers on what might be the best for my child. It’s unfortunate that in an interview sometimes things can seem so black and white. I am sure if I would just be sitting talking about my experiences with other mothers, we would just be sharing opinions. I understand that everyone has their own experience and opinions and I am not here to judge.

Nike's "My butt is big" ad

It's my "Embassador???"

More work from China!

Not Nike's work!

But the folks at Atlantice Wire? Maybe they should get a proofreader. They gushed over the ad:

Nike is trying* to corner the the big butt market. The company's latest ad is a spunky manifesto for women with well-endowed behinds. On her tiptoes, with fists clenched, the Nike model celebrates her form: "My butt is big and round like the letter C... It's a space heater... It's my ambassador to those who walk behind me."

Though Nike's new campaign is similar to its 2005 ads, some think the ascendancy of voluptuous icons like Kim Kardashian and Christina Hendricks have inspired the apparel company's decision. Is its marketing strategy appropriate?

Barclay's on MGM

They have a $19 target

2Q10 CityCenter results were disappointing, creating a drag on MGM's 2Q10 earnings. So, with this backdrop, why are we still bullish on MGM? Because our original thesis has not changed: 1) the company, while still highly levered, no longer faces imminent financial risk; and 2) the metrics in Vegas, while still challenging, are improving. We found it impressive in 2Q10 that despite the weakness at CityCenter, MGM's wholly-owned Strip properties generally reported sequential EBITDA increases adjusting for the impact of hold. Our interpretation of this performance is that MGM has insulated its wholly owned properties from the anticipated cannibalization from CityCenter and should continue to benefit as convention business grows throughout the remainder of this year and next. When Vegas does ultimately improve, MGM should be very well positioned to benefit from the recovery.

2Q10 adjusted EBITDA of $250.8 million and adjusted EPS of $(0.35) missed our $290.0 million and $(0.27) estimates and consensus of $289.3 million and $(0.24) mainly driven by lower than expected results from CityCenter. Backing out the effect of low hold, MGM's EBITDA would have been $282.8 million.

RevPAR on the Strip declined 2% y-o-y, better than our 4.0% decline estimate and an 8.0% decline in 1Q10. Convention room rates in 2H10 are up 5% to 10% from the same period in 2009. In 2011, forward convention booking trends are up 20% ahead of the pace the same time last year with room rates at 15% to 20% above 2010 levels.

Our new 3Q10 EBITDA and EPS estimates are $302.9 million and $(0.28) versus our prior $364.3 million and $(0.13). Our 2010E EBITDA and EPS are $1,110.0 million and $(1.22), down from $1,210.6 million and $(0.93). Our 2011E EBITDA and EPS are $1,497.5 million and $(0.37) versus our prior $1,543.8 million and $(0.27).

And regarding LVS. I was cautious on this number at 28--but I think that the stock price hasn't caught up with its earnings. Estimates on this name continually get bumped up, and I would look for a target of 40 on LVS.

Singapore is materially helping LVS--and they just paid down a half a billion of debt.

Sheldon has some more surprises in store.

And I have to pimp the casinos today. I'm going to the track--I have a horse running!

Latest from the squid

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Initial claims gives the bears something to shoot at

Initial claims jump to 479,000--the highest since April.

Just wait until all the people on the super duper extended unemployment claims get counted.

Meanwhile 40.8 million in May are on food stamps--which has set records for 18 straight months--and according to White House projections, that number is supposed to go to 43.3 million in 2011. At the same time, the administration says we will have an 8% unemployment rate.

Sure baby. And Tim Geithner can write all his recovery op-eds in the New York Times too.

But don't worry--Ben Bernanke said that rising wages will help spur household spending!

Paulson & Co takes down exposure

FT
The $3bn Paulson & Co Recovery fund, which was launched in late 2008 to take advantage of a rebound in the US housing market and economy, has decreased its net exposure from 140 per cent to 107 per cent in recent weeks, according to Mr Paulson’s letter.

Net exposure is a measure used by hedge fund managers as a gauge of their directional bias, and is calculated by subtracting total short positions from total long positions, with leverage taken into account. A net exposure of zero would imply a market-neutral portfolio with equal long and short positions.

John Paulson’s flagship Advantage fund, which manages $9bn of client money and was down 6.6 per cent for the period, has shrunk its net long exposure from 72.4 per cent to 67.3 per cent. The more specialist $4.3bn merger arbitrage funds, which make money by trading corporate names engaged in takeover talks, have scaled back from 58 per cent to 50 per cent.
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Probably puked things up courtesy of the HFT traders--right at the market lows--especially when redemption money came calling!

Eva and Rachel tag team Tiger

Where's the Deadspin article that Tiger had a tag team with both of them? Heck--they even have the same lips. Must be a story here somewhere!

Deadspin takes heat for bogus Favre story

Just a bunch of bullsh*t manufactured by a deadspin writer and a FSU cowgirl with a fertile imagination! She never met him, saw him, or rolled with him, and yet we get the story....

Yesterday, Favre said he never sent the text. Was that to Shiancoe, or to Jenn??

Oh My!! The bears don't even have any water--much less any food!

Now that's a catch!!

EMBED-Spiderman Style Baseball Catch

Iran backtracks on grenade attack on Ahmadinejad.

But first--we have a clarification on the "firecracker!"

Gaurdian
In Iran a homemade grenade often refers to a type of firecracker used to celebrate Chaharshanbe Suri, Iran's festival of fire, on the last Wednesday of the Persian year. The Iranian regime sees the celebration as un-Islamic and banned the sale of firecrackers in the country, resulting in many people making their own devices at home. The homemade grenades are not made to kill, although they are more dangerous than firecrackers and can cause death. Their use during a presidential visit would be highly unusual because of security concerns.

I'm surprised the firecracker wasn't determined to be thrown by  Israelis!

Goldman Envy

Today Goldman announced that they were spinning off their prop trading---wait---didn't we hear that that would never happen? And another person that worked at Goldman is now going to disclose all their secrets.

Sorry, but I like Goldman, and I used to spend way too much time and energy bashing them. Of course, it may also be that I bought this number when it was cheap!! 

They paid their $550 million, they got a slap on the wrist, and that's all the punishment our Government would dare mete out to them.

This bashing of Goldman is just getting old. The idea that Goldman is responsible for everything that is bad in the world, and Wall Street is just way over-rated.

It's time to pick a new villian!

It's Saturday night, and even Steve Jobs, can't get a table!

But wait--first the internet conspiracy--who will say that this is a photoshop job.

When of course it isn't. It's the shadows..blah blah blah--reminiscent of the "moon landing hoax!'

But Flour+Water now says that they will have a table for the billionaire!!

Passmore says Flour + Water has a message for Mr. Jobs: Come back! He said that this time, the restaurant will seriously hook him up with a table, a way of making good on a night that turned as janky for Jobs as the reception on an iPhone 4.

What will the bears spin be on this news? Like everything else they spin?

The economy is so bad, that so many people are just eating flour and water!!!

Disregarding the fact that Flour+Water was the best new restaurant in San Fransico!

A-Rod's 600th home run

Close call

Disney increases prices at its Theme Parks

Prices are being "adjusted."

Discretionary items with prices being raised?

That doesn't fit into the Depression/Deflationary scenario.

New prices here.

But then again, this is Disney's competition in Japan!

FSU cowgirl Jenn Sterger said Brett sent her pics of his willie when he was with the Jets

But she won't release the pictures.....story here

A FSU cowgirl trying to get attention?

Where have we seen that before?