Good Thursday, All.  Supposed to be in the high 50s today.  A few more days like this and all my containers may finally be ice free.  I still have two that needs to thaw and drain.  Can't tell too much about what has survived and what hasn't out there.  The blueberries are survivors and they show a lot of new leaf buds.  Yeah!!!  One of the pyrethrum looks probably and can't tell about the others.  The tansy looks probably, also.  Can't tell about the oregano, sage and lavender yet.  Maybe by this time next week I can get in for a closer look.

I think this is a very hopeful sign.  It is absolutely ridiculous that corporation or other business, is somehow 'bad' enough to justify prosecution, executives had some responsibility for creating and/or encouraging a corporate environment of corruption.  Under our current legal system a company could get off with paying a fine that amounted to a financial pin prick (compared to the profits it made from its  corrupt behavior) and the executives who encouraged it get off without penalty.  Can anyone wonder why our financial system is such an amoral mess?

Another black eye for Walmart!  I have watched this story grow over the last week when one of the economic bloggers linked to the Bloomberg story (I think).  I saw the follow up yesterday and this morning our local morning news mentioned it in its economics segment.  Some five or so years ago we started drifting away from Walmart.  It started when we became increasingly unhappy with the low quality and excessive packaging in the meat department.   We found (at that time) better quality and comparable prices without the wasted packaging at our local supermarket.  (Note: we have since shifted over to a small local meat market which has much better meat at only marginally higher prices and much less in the packaging.  The change has been made much easier because we don't eat as much of anything as we once did.)  About that time we also noticed gaps (sometimes large ones) on the shelves and the disappearance of many products we customarily bought.  I don't think we have visited our local Walmart over the last good while without commenting on how empty the shelves are.  We don't go there often and, as often as not, we don't find what we want or the quality isn't worth the price however low.

Once upon a time I (and I think most of us) thought that our money remained our money when we entrusted it to a bank or brokerage firm or other such entity.  Evidently, we were just a bit deluded.  It becomes an unsecured loan to the bank.  And the Cyprus expropriation is not likely to be the one-off all of the politicos and their tame pundits promised and limited to Cyprus.  Check out this post.  From news stories I have read over the last couple of weeks some governments are explicitly enacting the same policy, New Zealand and Canada most recently.  I wonder how long before insurance companies will offer those wealthy enough to have deposits over the government insured levels insurance for the rest and how much it will cost.  A couple of times I have made quips about shifting to the Bank of Sealy and Mom remarked how easily that money could be stolen or destroyed in a fire or some such catastrophe. But I wonder what the real chances (not any low balled estimate) of having our bank legally steal our funds.

Another good reason to buy food grown locally and process it yourself.  Absolute safety is never achievable but I don't feel altogether comfortable trusting companies whose only loyalty is to their bottom line and consider any costs to marketing unsafe or contaminated foods a business expense.  As for the customers who die, are incapacitated, or require expensive treatment for food borne illness--they are collateral damage.