Saturday, August 23, 2008

SAR #8236

Hybrid SUVs are like ordering a diet soda
with a double cheeseburger.

His Master's Voice: A former adviser to China's central bank,Yu Yongding, said, "If the U.S. government allows Fannie and Freddie to fail and international investors are not compensated adequately, the consequences will be catastrophic. If it is not the end of the world, it is the end of the current international financial system."

Without Comment: U.S.-led coalition forces killed 76 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan on Friday, most of them women and children

Qualifications: At a high level economics gathering in Wyoming, FED Chair Bernanke observed that the credit crisis is taking a toll on the economy. That's why we pay him the big bucks, the man's got insight.

Phenomena: The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued the government's official theory on the collapse of building 7 seven hours after the twin towers came down. A brand new, never before encountered phenomenon, 'thermal expansion', was identified as the culprit. Critics suggest that this is actually a much older phenomenon, known as 'cover up'.

Public Square: What if we suddenly decided that people were responsible for themselves? Would that translate into being responsible for others, too?

Globally Local : Like politics and real estate, global warming takes place locally. Things might not have changed much at your house, but Alaska is 5ºF warmer since the 1960s - and 8ºF warmer during the winter. The permafrost melts, releasing methane. The bark beetles munch away all year and have eaten up over 3 million acres of spruce in the last 15 years. How are things at your end of the bathtub?

Because: A Justice Department plans to let the FBI investigate anyone at any time without any particular reason, and to keep the information until a prosecutable charge is discovered. How this differs from current practice was not immediately clear.

I have seen the future ... Another verse of The Export Land Model, this one citing the difference between the drop in Russian oil production ( 0.8% ) and the drop (5.2%) in Russian oil exports. To paraphrase Fulford, the future doesn't work - not if it's oil based.

Good News / Bad News: The good news is that inflation has peaked. The bad news is that deflation will follow.

All I Need... Carbon plus two oxygens both warms the world and uses up the two oxygens. A 21% concentration seemed to suit Goldilocks, but as we have fewer trees, less grass and deader oceans, the plants that made the O2 in the first place are being overwhelmed. As we will be, without "the air that I breathe"

Rucksack Religion: So General Pushup Petraeus endorsed a religious tome a year ago. Interesting. Far more interesting is why, as McCain is searching for a running mate, did this suddenly make the news? Oh.

Psst! Pass It On: TVA is raising rates 20% in September, and Duke Energy is upping the bill by 8% for NC customers with an even larger increase in store for SC customers in October. "Increasing fuel costs.... "

Better Late: Premier Election Solutions, a major voting machine maker, now acknowledges that its voting machines dropped votes. Whether it preferred to drop Democratic or GOP votes was not disclosed. Ohio will use Premier machines in the Nov. 4 election of John McCain.

Innocent Bystanders: Central bankers, having stood by and let the train wreck occur, now admit there is not much they can do to kiss it and make it better. As Galbraith pointed out, there is a long and adequate record of recessions, unemployment, inflation and collapse to suggest that central bankers are "manifestly ineffective."

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