08:16 –With the Roku box not working and therefore no Netflix streaming, Barbara and I watched the last disc of Heartland series three last night. Colin watched as well. When Heartland’s Amy is training horses, she frequently tells tells one he’s a “good boy” in the same sing-song voice that Barbara uses to tell Colin that he’s a good boy. Colin loves to be told that he’s a good boy, and he likes hearing it from Amy as much as he does hearing it from Barbara.
We’re getting short on chemistry kits again. We sold four yesterday. We’ll work on making up another batch of 30 this weekend.
Fitch downgraded Spain’s sovereign debt by three levels yesterday, to one level above junk bond status. Although a three-level cut seems dramatic, it actually wasn’t nearly enough. The reality is that Spain is bankrupt, and its credit rating should reflect that fact. Spain is widely expected to request a bailout over the coming weekend, although as usual the amount of the requested bailout will be nothing more than a band-aid. The reality is that Spain needs to be given (not loaned) at least $500 billion over the next year to 18 months. That amount simply isn’t available, nor is there any prospect of it becoming so. Expect further cuts in Spain’s sovereign credit rating after this weekend, and expect the pressure to move next to Italy.