SAR #8112

Once its tax resources are exhausted,
the state's only recourse is force.

Count the Votes: Over 30% of American households rent. Less than 2% of the nation's households are in foreclosure. Explain again why Congress wants to bail out the greedy and the speculators? Ah, right; renters don't owe Wall Street a bunch of money.

Good to the Last Drop: Exports from oil producing nations have dropped 1.7 million barrels per day from the December 2006 peak - mostly because their internal use is up. That goes a long way towards explaining $117 a barrel oil. Why are those people using so much of our oil?

Waves of Destruction: Villages are being lost to the rising sea. The choice is to waste millions on a losing battle with the ocean, or to abandon whole villages now. No, not Bangladesh. Britain.

Hauling Ash: Canada ships a lot of pure sulfur - a major ingredient in fertilizers. Last year the price was $50 a ton, today it's $650 a ton. Food shortages are making sulfur, potassium and phosphorus - fertilizers - very expensive. Let's speculate and make money!

Bomb, Bomb, Iran: US Energy Secretary Bodman says the US will continue to buy oil for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and intends to fill it with enough oil for 90 days by October. Why's that, y'think?

He Said/They Said: According to a new Pentagon report, the Iraq war is "a major debacle” and the outcome “is in doubt”. Unfortunately, the report was not released before General Petraeus mislead Congress once again.

Inquiring Mind: Why did JPMorgan choose to pay 7.9% interest to raise $6 billion when they can get billions from the Fed on the cheap?

Proportion: The increase in the price of grains means those who live on $2 a day will cut meat out of their diet. Those with but $1 a day will eat only cereals - no meats, no vegetables. Those living on 50¢ a day this means total disaster. Over a billion people live on $1 a day, the next poorest 1.5 billion live on less than $2 a day. Nearly half the world. The other half.

Climate: It was the warmest March on record over the land surface of the world, at an average of 40.8º F, which is 3.2º F above average. The pot's coming to a boil.

Diplomacy: We keep borrowing ever greater sums from the Chinese to spend on weapons to fight a war with the Chinese that they have no intention of fighting or even arming themselves for. They'll just threaten to dump the dollar and we'll surrender.

Felony Theft: Washington is providing Wall Street a new group of suckers investors for their worthless paper. Taxpayers. Trillions in losses are being put on your tab. Now Congress wants give the greedy and deadbeats a free ride. Of course the money they're waving around is your money, your kids' money. Grandkids', too.

Worth Remembering: 2008 marks the 152nd anniversary of the Eight Hour Day. Action by stonemasons on April 21, 1856 led to the Eight Hour Day. The Eight Hour Day became a symbol of workers rights not only as workers, but as citizens in a democratic society.

Wish I'd Said: We are witnessing madness, whether we look at $62 trillion in credit derivatives or at letting millions of people starve. It's the same thing. Ilargi