SAR #8250

US oil independence will most likely be achieved

through poverty.

Self-Service: It is hard to tell if Bill Gross is being serious or sarcastic. Gross - investment manager for PIMCO, the world's largest bond fund - says the US Treasury must step in and support the markets - housing, stock, bond, everything. "The government needs to replace private investors," he says. Ah, capitalism and free markets.

Vacation! The unemployment rate has risen to 6.1 percent. Year-over-year employment is now negative (fewer American were employed in Aug 2008 than in Aug 2007). BLS Commissioner Hall: "Workers age 25 and over accounted for all of the increase in unemployment."

None Dare Speak His Name: Thursday night, when John McCain was nominated, President George W. Bush was not mentioned by name, not once. Vice President Dick Cheney was not mentioned either, and was safely out of the country.

Don't Need No Stinkin' Manufacturing: Even with unemployment over 6%, the US, with less than 2% of the workforce in agriculture and 9% in manufacturing, does not need to get back the jobs globalization has shipped overseas. So says Joseph Stiglitz, who has a job.

For the Defense: Catherine Fitts, former Assistant Secretary at HUD claims"most mortgages issued in this country from 1996 on were fraudulently induced." Lenders "knew they were issuing mortgages that were not affordable to the borrower," and the borrower "may not owe the money back..."

Tease: A private jet that had been used by the CIA for 'rendition' flights to Guantanamo crashed in eastern Mexico last year, while carrying 3.3 tons of Columbian cocaine.

Misleading Headline: Experts offer scaled-back sea level rise forecast! The cited experts predict a rise of 2.6 to 6.6 feet by 2100. How this is "scaled-back" is uncertain, for the IPCCs 4AR predicted a rise of 7 to 23 inches, with the "best estimate" being 11 inches. For the record, 2.6 feet is 30 inches. On the Other Hand, the sea rise during the melting of the last great North American ice sheet suggest current estimates are seriously short.

There Goes the Neighborhood: Professor Robert Shiller's main points: Current house price declines equal those of the Great Depression; there are 10 million homeowners whos debt is more than their house is worth, and the current consensus that house prices will soon bottom is "most likely a dream."

Are We There Yet? Goldman Sachs rates Merrill Lynch as a sell, expecitng it to "compress" and saying that the firm was "not promising enough." I thought all it had were the promises.

Experiment: Go to any mall, shopping center , hospital, airport, library or government office - or stand on a downtown street corner - and see if you can go one full minute without seeing at least three grossly overweight people.

Noah's Ark: Ecuador's proposed constitution grants nature the right to "exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution" and gives legal standing to any person to defend those rights in court. Offer not valid in the US or its possessions.