Since we were already on the subject.

The Wall Street Journal posted a nice interactive which allows you to implement your own deficit reduction plan.

We played and are running a $5 billion surplus.

Click on the form below to link up.

We've been collecting maps for the past month or so.

Many will link you up to the story from which they were taken should you wish to pursue it.

We'll start with the Heritage Foundation's 2012 Index of Economic Freedom.  

Since 1995, The Heritage Foundation has published this index, the criteria for which is based on the theories of Adam Smith concerning the relationship between freedom, personal liberty and prosperity exressed most notably in his famed book The Wealth of Nations first published in 1776. To quote The Heritage Foundation, "The Index has brought Smith's theories about liberty, prosperity and economic freedom to life by creating 10 benchmarks that gauge the economic success of 184 countries around the world."

The index dropped across the board in 2012 as the U.S. dropped out of the top five and ranks #10 for 2012. This is probably not a suprise to anyone paying any real attention to the world around us.

The US does however maintain it's status as the world leader in incarcerated ciizens.  

Again, you can click on the map for somebody's very nicely done infographic built from information taken from public prison administration records of 184 (I think) nations around the globe.  The original compiler is unclear.

It seems likely that Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and probably some others are fudging their numbers down some.

This may shock you, but governments sometimes lie about stuff. 

Inflation and unemployment being two items that quickly occur to us around here.

But I digress.

Here's a slightly different approach as this "map" from Unicef links to an outstanding interactive that demonstrates the rate of gtowth of "Urban" Population" in the nations of the world.  You really should click on the image as we found this one to be way interesting.

Getting back to that "Economic Freedom" thing, world per capita gross domestic product for the most part trends with economic freedom.

As does "happiness" or and thus "happiness" ..... take your pick.

Along with suicides.

They have their thinking on this issue at Suicide.org who created the map, we're blaming it on that "Urbanization" thing referenced above.

On a more cheerful note, people all over the world are getting fatter.

Saudi Arabia wasn't a suprise, but Jordan, Iraq, Iran and South Africa were ..... at least to us.

World literacy continues to improve.

Except for in the City of Detroit, although Forbes crunched some numbers and is no longer concerned.

That's it for today.

To quote Tony Kornheiser,

Terry D. and I knew about the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas mostly because we were living in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Ann Arbor's own (mostly) Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen had recorded Live, Deep in the Heart of Texas there, so we viewed it as special although we really didn't know why.

So, one night in between sets of the Silvertones in the basement of The Blind Pig (that's a pure, wild ass guess ... but likely) Terry informed me that he had heard that the Armadillo World Headquarters was in some kind of trouble and might not be around much longer. Futhermore it was his strongly held opinion that we should go down to Austin, Texas and see a show there while we still could.  Finally and as an aside, he had heard that the girls in Austin were awesome.

So we did.

The place was big, rundown, and about half or more empty. The bill featured a bunch of local bands that were all pretty good.

We walked out back to the "Beer Garden" outside and met some people who told us that we needed to make sure to come back tomorrow night for Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

So we did.

I was stunned.

He played about every kind of American roots music you can think to name, Blues, Western Swing, Cajun, Swamp, that New Orleans Rhumba thing, Gospel, Funk.

The band was way hot with some outstanding backup vocals that seemed to just walk on up out of the crowd.

He was a helluva guitar player and just when you thought it couldn't possibly get any better, he picked up a fiddle and then later, the harmonica.

Ahhhhh, the memories ............

So anyway, this is Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown appearing on Austin City Limits many years later with another real nice band none of whom I know except that I'm sure I do know the guy up front playing the sax, I just can't pull his name out of RAM.

Born in Louisiana.

As for the girls in Austin, Texas ....... as advertized.

We've been looking for a very long time for some video that does justice to the jaw dropping magnificence that was/is Kid Creole and the Coconuts.

I still haven't found it but these two do offer up a taste.

The Kid and his band never sold well in States despite making a half dozen way sollid records that included a no kidding dozen tunes that should have been ... IMHO ... radio staples for the next 50 years, but they owned Europe in the 80's and continue to fill big rooms there to this day.

This is Band Leader, Record Producer, Songwriter and Frontman extraordinaire Thomas August Darnell Browder aka August Darnell aka Kid Creole on vocals and rhythm guitar, along with the bands Musical Director the lovely and talented Sugar Coated Andy Hernandez aka Coati Mundi on the vibraphone, timbales, boxing gloves, real ugly faces and all around hijinx.

The Coconuts, who don't happen to be appearing in this first vid are Choreographer Adreiana Kaegi aka Mama Coconut, probably Janique Svedberg but maybe Taryn Haegy and Cheryl Pointer, along with Peter Schott on keyboards, Carol Colman on the Bass, Mark Mazur playing guitar, Al Mackon on the drums, Bongo Eddie Folk on percussion, Charles Lagond on saxophone, Ken Fradley on trumpet, and Lee Robertson getting his star turn on trombone.

Easily among the very greatest showbands of all time, this is Kid Creole and the Cocounts in London, England, 1982.

Don't Take My Coconuts

Here's your Coconuts

Lifeboat Party.

Speaking of parasitic banks, does anyone think this clusterf#@& came from some private trader?

From SvD Naringsliv ..... I dunno ..... via google translate.

As always, click on the photo below for the entire translated ..... ish ..... piece.

Monster Orders Upholstered Exchange

Isn't that just the single greatest headline you've ever read?

Stockholm Stock Exchange was paralyzed on Wednesday morning of a purchase order of over 4.2 billion index futures. The value of words corresponding to 131 times Sweden's gross domestic product, and the stock market witnessed technical problems. 

The giant warrant december semester in OMXS30, a security equivalent to a basket consisting of the Stockholm Stock Exchange's 30 largest companies, and where trade is very important for the overall pricing of the stock market.

The order was on buy side of the order book and covered more than 4.2 billion futures, to a unit price of almost 107,000 dollars. It gives a theoretical value of 459 561 500 030 000, ie nearly 460 trillion dollars. Sweden's gross domestic product, by comparison, amounted in 2011 to more than 3500 billion.

This one has been going around pretty good the past couple of days ..... as well it should.

Throw in all those good people who have moved through that "Revolving Door" between Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and the Treasury Department, The Federal Reserve Bank and the President's Council of Economic Advisors over the past 30 years, not to mention the CIA, and the hint of a question begins to develope.

Could it be that the problems in the United States and Europe have less to do with differences between Democrats/Republicans or Conservatives/Liberal/Progressives, but rather are a result of the policies forced on the people by parasitic bankers?

Click on the map for the original 2011 piece from from the Independent from which this map was originally taken detailing some history about the Goldman alumnae already in power throughout Europe.

Click on this little gear right here for the Zero Hedge piece regarding latest Goldman alumnus Mark Carney's ascension to Chairman of the Bank of England.