48% Disapproval for POTUS = Gallup

Gallup: Reports on its latest daily tracking poll on the job performance of President Obama, in this poll Obama has 48% disapproval rating, while 44% approve of the Obama record. One can argue its down to one issue folks, the Oval wants to raise taxes in a time of recession, only a Walter Mondale Liberal would think that was good idea, this is why Obama is heading for defeat in 2012.

End of Empire = The Monarchy

BBC News: Reports on the burial of the last heir to the Dual Monarchy of Austria and Hungary, Otto von Habsburg is to be buried in Austria. The First World War finished off the Austro - Hungarian Empire, it can be argued that policy makers made a mistake at the Paris Peace talks, the Monarchy could have been used to bring stability to Eastern Europe and prevent World War Two, of course this counter factual history, but an interesting thought, shows how policy ramifications should be thought through, as with Iraq, the war at the end of the day could benefit Iran, while the West is the major loser of the War in the long term. It should be noted that Otto von Habsburg stated he was getting death threats from the Serbian Black Hand decades after World War 1, shows history never goes away folks.

Euro Banks

BBC News: Reports that out of 90 European Banks, eight have failed a recent stress test. This blog has a problem with these bank stress tests, they didn’t take in account the great possibility that Greece will go in to default, and that Greece will be followed by Ireland and Portugal. Thus advice to investors buy gold and diamonds, another shoe is going to drop when it comes to European banks, and the cost to Europe could be the destruction of the Euro.