SAR #7364

The 'laws 'of economics do not seem to have the same force
as the laws of nature.

Peak Oil, certified: US DOE confirms that Mexico's Nov07 oil production was down 8.2% from Nov06 and that Cantrell, the world's second largest field, declined 23% from Nov06. What happens to US imports when a couple of years from now Mexico has no oil to export? What happens to Mexico a couple of years after that when it has no oil? Period.

Friends : Fiscal advisers 321Energy Advisers recommends "put your money into companies developing pollution-intense resources like the oil sands. Let the global environment absorb the cost while you pocket the profits." Obviously, enemies need not apply.

Full Moon: After midnight, 4 armed men broke into the Pelindaba nuclear facility west of Pretoria, SA, where hundreds of kilograms of weapons-grade uranium are stored. They deactivated several layers of security and their images were filmed on CCTV, but no one was monitoring the monitors. A couple necking in the parking lot saw them, called the cops.

Basics: Burning the furniture to get heat should not be considered a good idea. If the destruction of assets (scarce resources, public space, our air, the environment) is not counted as a cost, burning coal will look to be "cheap" and we'll continue to do it, even as it kills us.

Louder? While being interviewed by David Frost on Nov 02, 2007, Benazir Bhutto referred to "the man who killed Osama bin Laden." Huh?

One Owner, Low Miles: Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan are offering discounts up to 10 cents on the dollar to clear a $231 billion backlog of high-yield bonds and loans. High yield is bankspeak for 'dogs'. That means voluntarily taking a $23 billion hit. A used car pitch - "I'll knock $23 billion off to put you in this baby today."

Phase Out: Detroit is "park repositioning," which they explain as "aligning park space with demographic shifts." You and I might think of it as selling off the green spaces, because that's what they are doing. Poor people don't need parks.

By Example: George has been busy re-writing the Constitution again. He "pocket vetoed" the Defense authorization bill, citing "an adjournment of the Congress." But the Congress has been in session every day, albeit for only a minute or so. He tried to end-run this by sending Congress a memo "to avoid unnecessary litigation..." Like impeachment.

In the Beginning: Former First Republic Bank shareholders filed suit alleging Merrill Lynch hid billions of dollars of losses mortgage derivatives. "It's a sign of the times and the economy we are now living in," Merrill explains. Lawyers, start your engines.

First Crusade: The Pope has ordered exorcism squads be set up to tackle the rise of Satanism. Each diocese is to have a team of priests tried to fight demonic possession. "You have to hunt high and low for the possessed," the Vatican says. Helps to get some informants, pay them part of the spoils. Worked before.