In Zimbabwe, thanks to government corruption, oppression, theft, and power struggles. But, of course, Mugabe blames the “entrepreneurs.”

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Richard Perle is part of a consortium, funded by a Turkish company, seeking drilling rights in Iraq and Kazakhstan. The WSJ, putting it mildly, describes Perle as being one of the “most influential proponents of U.S. military action to oust Iraq’s President Hussein.” Here’s a version for non-subscribers.

A friend of mine called me to tip me off to the Merrill news today. I was too busy at work to attack the early headlines (my first day back at work after vacation), but after looking it up, this is a remarkable bit of news concerning the Merrill Lynch CDO sale.

Here in Southeastern Michigan, we got a head start on y’all in terms of the Depression. Things look especially bleak here. There are empty strip malls everywhere, especially in the medium-to-nicer ‘burbs. There are unfinished strip malls all around where I live. There are half-finished condo and townhouse projects, with the finished phases being 50% [...]

Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale are bankrupt, and will liquidate (except for the franchisee-owned restaurants).
After filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the parent company of national chains Bennigan’s and Steak and Ale on Tuesday shut hundreds of restaurants, putting thousands of employees out of work.
Hundreds of Bennigan’s restaurants have been shut. The move by privately [...]

By now, you’ve probably heard about the private equity firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), going public. Eric Englund writes to me:
More hilarity from Wall Street. What is missing from this article? Via this back-door method of listing on the NYSE, KKR is not raising new capital and has no intention of issuing new stock. So [...]

My new article is up at LewRockwell.com. I finished a blog post and it became a longer article. Much better than the original blog post, which was done on a whim.

Don’t ever mention Wii and “workout” in the same sentence again.
I have discovered, via people I know, that they use the notion of Wii as a “workout” activity as an excuse to buy and play stupid video games. Play these idiot boxes all you want, but don’t dare consider this a workout or a “fitness” [...]

He is teaming up with the fascist Bloomberg to stop people from smoking “around the globe.” This is no private initiative. Bloomberg, as mayor of New York, is well-positioned to use government to make this happen.
The mayor’s initiative supports efforts to increase the tobacco tax, transform the glamorized image of tobacco, help people quit and [...]

I can respect Dr. Mercola’s criticisms of coffee, Starbucks, and coffee addiction. When he writes about how Starbucks went wrong, I have to believe he had been reading my posts on the topic. (Wink, wink.)
The fact that Americans are dumping their habit of buying overpriced coffee comes as no surprise at this point in time. [...]