More from Bill in The Daily Reckoning:

Today, on the 11th day of the 11th month at precisely 11am London fell silent. We were asked to remember our war dead.

[...] As it turned out, the sky fell in 1914… and it kept coming down for the next 31 years. In last week’s recitation of all the calamities that befell the generation of ’14 – war, depression, influenza, bankruptcy, hyper-inflation – we left out one, the Dust Bowl. The poor Okies got it all.

What can we learn from this? That bad things happen – even things you thought were impossible. And that when things do go bad… they can go bad in a big way.

What can go wrong now? A lot… things we can’t even imagine.

[...] We’ve already seen things begin to go wrong. Unless the next 45 days bring a remarkable bounce, this year will be the worst year for the stock market since 1937. Trillions of dollars has been lost… which has already caused a major change in the way people think. In a matter of weeks, the dominant emotion has shifted from greed to fear.

You’ll remember, the Bush administration worked hard to make people fearful. They came up with those preposterous “threat levels,” trying to convince the mob that it was in constant danger.

Now, the mob actually feels in danger – in danger of losing its jobs and houses. Fake fear has given way to real fear. So, the new administration will turn away trying to create an atmosphere of fear to trying to give people confidence.

It’s the “End of the National Nightmare,” says TIME magazine. No more torture. No more ‘threat levels.’ No more suspected terrorists working behind the counter at Burger King (NYSE:BKC). Terrorists? Who cares about them? The danger is now real… and right out in the open. Everyone is running scared.

And so, in the national narrative, one cockamamie bamboozle takes the place of the one that went before. What we had to fear before was a worldwide terrorist assault on our freedom. Now, we gladly give up our freedom, in the hope that it will keep us from losing any more money. Now, when the feds come a knockin’, we all open the door and invite them in. Because we need them to give us money… to bankroll our banks… to bailout our auto industry… to provide financing for our homes… to save our economy… and our jobs…

Imagine that just a few short months ago we were naïve enough to think that people should look out for their own finances… that the free market should decide which businesses survive and which fail… that buyers and sellers should set prices for assets… and that capitalists should finance their own banks and insurance companies with their own money.

Now, we’re so much smarter! Now, we include the government in our prayers: may it be guided by wise and worthy men… may it keep the bread baking and the circuses performing. And why not count on the government? Remember, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Source: Something Always Comes Next

The first Burger King (NYSE:BKC) will open in Prague in the next few months. And it’s not only targeting the Czech Repbulic. It wants to become number one in European markets. To do that, it’s already got operations in Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary, and it planning joints in Slovakia and Slovenia.

But it’s got tough competition from McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), who is top dog right now with 70 restaurants serving 53 million customers. It’s spent more than $172.2 million on restaurants in the Czech Republic.

When I was in Budapest, I grabbed a Whopper for a quick lunch before meeting my guide back at the hotel, Buro Panzio. It cost me 750 Forint, which is about $3.75 or so, and the place was packed. My last night in Budapest, I hit the town with some new friends, and ended up back at BK for a late-night snack. It was still packed, and one young, drunk, teenager was thrown out for misbehaving and bothering the customers.

It’s not your traditional Hungarian restaurant, of course. BK doesn’t have goulash on the menu… But I’d had goulash in nearly every country I’d been to on that trip, including the absolutely stunning Hungarian goulash at a nice little pub on the pedestrian Vaci utca.

Simply, the best.

So what’s my opinion of international fast-food joints in gorgeous old towns?

I don’t have a problem with it, so long as it blends… I mean, seriously, you don’t really want to go to the Astronomical Clock in Prague and see those nuclear-yellow glowing golden arches in the background, do you? It would spoil the picture.

Starbucks (NYSE:SBUX) has a place right off the Old Town Square. You wouldn’t know it but for the sign in the window. Blends right in. (By the way, I slipped in to use their bathroom, and it was really dirty. But it was free…)

So with demand on the rise – the Czech Republic is estimated to have about 13,000 food stalls and restaurants in the country – people will have to make room at the table for fast-food companies.

Source: Foreign Direct Investment: Prague Has It Her Own Way

• General Motors Corp. (GM) announced yesterday (Thursday) it plans to invest $500 million in an Ohio plant that will be retooled to produce the smaller, gas-efficient Chevrolet Cruze. The half-billion dollar project is part of GM’s commitment to focus on smaller models in response to high gas prices. The Lordstown, Ohio plant will begin manufacture of the Cruze in 2010, MarketWatch reported.

• Shares of video-game retailer GameStop Corp. (GME) fell to $41 before recovering to close down just 4 cents yesterday (Thursday) at $43.48. GameStop, the largest global video-game retailer, reported fiscal second quarter net income of $57.2 million, or 34 cents a share, up from $21.8 million, or 13 cents a share, for the same period the year prior. But shares dropped on fears that weakening consumer demand in the United States would hurt future video game sales, The Wall Street Journal reported.

• Schaeffler Group bought a majority stake in Continental AG (OTC ADR: CTTAY) with a $17.9 billion (12.1 billion euros) deal, which will create the world’s largest car-parts manufacturer, Bloomberg News reported. Schaeffler raised its offer 7% to win over the German tiremaker.

• U.K. retail stores had a surprising gain in July of 0.8% after a decline of 4.3% the month prior, the London-based Office for National Statistics announced yesterday (Thursday). Sales were highest at bargain retailers. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said the British economy faces a “difficult and painful adjustment” as the combination of a weak domestic housing market and rising inflation drag on consumer spending, Bloomberg News reported.

• Oil prices shot up more than $5 a barrel yesterday (Thursday), rising to the highest level in over two weeks as tensions in oil-producing regions escalated and the dollar declined. Light, sweet crude for October delivery jumped $5.62 to settle at $121.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier rising as high as $122.04, crude’s highest trading level since Aug. 4.

• Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEH) was raised yesterday (Thursday) to “buy” from “neutral” by Ladenburg Thalmann & Co analyst Richard Bove, who said the Wall Street investment bank could become the target of a hostile takeover bid, Reuters reported. “The market is at a stand-off,” Bove wrote in a note to investors. “Investors are unwilling to accept any positive view of the company; management is unwilling to sell out at a deeply distressed value. The stage is set for a hostile bid to take over the whole company.”

• The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell for the second week in a row last week, the Labor Department said yesterday (Thursday). Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits dipped by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 432,000 in the week ended August 16 after falling a revised 12,000 a week earlier.

• Burger King Holdings Inc (BKC) said yesterday (Thursday) that net income rose to $51 million, or 37 cents per share, in the quarter ended on June 30, up from $36 million, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier. Total revenue rose 9% to $646 million. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 5.3% worldwide.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Friday, August 22nd, 2008

• Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) said yesterday (Thursday) that record crude prices helped its first-quarter profit climb 17% to $10.9 billion – the second-biggest U.S. quarterly corporate profit ever, the Associated Press reported. The company said earnings for the first three months of the year came to $2.03 per share, up from $9.3 billion, or $1.62 per share, a year ago.

• General Motors Corp. (GMC) has taken an undisclosed stake in Mascoma Corp., a renewable energy company that is working to develop ethanol from wood chips, waste paper sludge and switch grass, according to the Associated Press. GM said the new collaboration would further develop non-grain forms of ethanol for more environmentally friendly vehicles.

• The Home Depot Inc. (HD) announced yesterday (Thursday) that it will shut down 15 of its core retail stores in a move that will affect 1,300 employees. The announcement comes 7 1/2 months after its Chief Executive Officer Fred Blake said there were no plans to close any core retail stores. The stores to be closed consist of three in Wisconsin, two in Ohio, two in New Jersey, two in Indiana and one each in Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, New York and Vermont, the Canadian Press reported.

• Ajman, one of the United Arab Emirates, announced that it has partnered with Solidere International to develop a $60 billion new coastal city to be named Al-Zorah, Bloomberg reported. Twelve kilometers of coastline will be set aside for development of officers, shops, schools and hotels.

• Wheat hit a five-month low yesterday, as rising supplies and a resurgent greenback have pushed the soft commodity’s July delivery futures to $7.7835 a bushel, Bloomberg reported. Since hitting a record $13.495 on Feb. 27, wheat prices have fallen 42%.

• Shares of NetManage Inc. (NETM) surged over 67% yesterday (Thursday) after London-based Micro Focus International PLC announced it would buy the California-based software firm for $73.3 million, or $7.20 per share, Reuters reported. NetManage stock gained $2.79 per share to close at $6.94.

• Miami-based Burger King Holdings Inc. (BKC) announced first quarter earnings increased 21%. The fast food burger restaurant said it earned $41 million, or 30 cents per share, an increase from $34 million, or 25 cents per share for the same period last year. Revenue increased to  $594 million from $539 million for the same period in the prior year.

• PharmaNet Development Group Inc. (PDGI) shares plunged yesterday (Thursday) after the company announced a first quarter loss of $10.1 million, or 53 cents per share, due to canceled contracts. The global drug firm also lowered its outlook for full-year 2008. The stock dropped $6.76, a decline of 28%, to close at $17.10.