The Destroyer of Finance

 Those cell phone commercials with the wizard might have to get redone as Verizon is attempting to acquire Alltel for a paltry $27B.  This doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense given that a private equity group paid $27.5B for Alltel a little over a year ago.  Could be just another example of the irrational exuberance that existed in the world of finance as little as a year ago.

 In other acquisition deals that involve “B”s, Smucker’s thinks you need some caffeine with your jam, buys Folgers from Proctor & Gamble for $3B.  In a modestly humorous twist, PG shareholders will end up owning 53% of the new Smuckers.

 Some more better-than-a-shiv-in-your-crotch news on the economy reveals that US worker productivity was up while wage increases remained moderate, yet measurable.  So, things could be better, but at least you don’t have a shiv in your crotch.  Of course, we might be saying that about our economic read outs for a while…

 In the end, the market indexes mostly tanked after Moody’s (the rating agency) announced they were considering cutting the credit ratings for financial insurance giants MBIA and Ambac.  This won’t affect your car coverage, but it might shake your city’s ability to fund new roads and stuff.  Well, not in Texas since we apparently contract EVERYTHING to be toll roads.

 MBIA and Ambac both dropped at least 15% almost immediately, so probably not your best day if you’re still holding that bag this evening.

 In my continuing fascination: part 3: day one of how Finland does do teaching the childrens.

 So now that Hillary is officially unofficially done, we can start the VP guessing game.  Yeah.

 Hmmm… short post today.  Sounds good to me.

 Greatness,

 Angelina Jolie