The soap opera that market messes have spawned

This one's addictive ... Nine Ways States Are Trying to Get Blood From a Stone - The Slideshow, Courtesy of Tal Pinchevsky at Minyanville. If you let it run, then it will go on to play some other funny ones too; except the tragic part of these tragicomedies: these all seem to be true.

Firms issuing record amount of new stock - Commentary: The supply of stock is mushrooming -- a bearish sign by Mark Hulbert (at MarketWatch.com, 6/17/09): "Notwithstanding the carnage the stock market suffered between October 2007 and March of this year -- the worst since the Great Depression -- corporations' share issuance departments are partying like it's 1999. In fact, firms have recently issued far more shares of their stock (either through initial public offerings or secondary offerings) than they did even in the go-go years of the late 1990s and at the top of the Internet bubble in early 2000. ..."

Big government funding a 2-year study of why men don't like to use, ah, protection? Classic example of the fact that government is inherently stupid.

How about this one - even while we're accusing more people of running Ponzi schemes, there's some news about people actually celebrating a utility that's announcing a scheme that sounds very like! Eletrobras Jumps on Report Utility May Pay Dividends - June 19 (Bloomberg) --

Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA, Brazil’s state-controlled electricity holding company, jumped the most in seven months in Sao Paulo trading after Reuters reported it may sell stock to pay overdue dividends.

Common shares of Eletrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro-based company is known, climbed 6.4 percent to 28.99 reais. The shares are eligible to receive more than 9.3 billion reais ($4.7 billion) in back dividends.

Eletrobras may sell stock to raise cash for new investments and make payments on dividends owed to shareholders dating back to the 1970s, Reuters reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Jose Antonio Muniz.

“It’s gaining on the report that they’ll pay dividends,” said Beatriz Fortunato, who helps manage the equivalent of $2.2 billion at BNY Mellon Arx in Rio de Janeiro. “Every once in a while they say that they’ll pay dividends in a few months and the shares go up. One day it could happen.”

Muniz said in March that the utility is seeking ways to pay the back dividends. He told reporters in August that the company is “close” to reaching an agreement on payment of dividends.

Eletrobras officials were unavailable to comment, said a press spokeswoman, who is not allowed to be named under company rules.

I don't think I can come up with anything more tragicomedy funny than that!!

Ah well, maybe we can chalk it up to this: Humans prefer cockiness to expertise, a post 6/17/09 at Crossing Wall Street based on this article, Humans prefer cockiness to expertise, at NewScientist.com. Apparently explains some financial newsletter publishers.

And here's a teaching moment (and if you're reading this, you know who you are, LOL!): The BBC reports that Rats play odds in gambling task (Victoria Gill, Science reporter, BBC News, 6/17/09) - "Rats are able to play the odds in a "gambling task" designed by scientists to test the biology of addiction. In the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, researchers describe how the rodents developed a 'strategy' in a timed task where they make choices to earn treats."
Oh boy, can't wait - I'm sure Dr. Brett will have a good lesson for us from this one!

All right then, g'night and we'll see what insights we can develop this weekend!