SAR #8281

Why should the re-run end differently?

Sweets For The Sweet: In 2004 (and it's gotten worse since then) the 2.5% of the US population that made over $250,000 a year owned 44 of all equities. The 57% making less than $50,000 owned but 9% of the stock. Congress gave Paulson $750 billion to hand over to the top 2.5%. But they were not the target; China and Japan were.

Friends in High Places: When large caches of heroin are found in Afghanistan, the first thing the cops do is call the President's palace and see if Karzai's brother owns the stuff.

More To Come : The market suggests a major collapse is nearby. Even bullish guru Jim Cramer is saying "Sell everything!" Sub-prime isn't fully contained after all. What's Plan B?

Scale: Humans emit about 7 billion tons of carbon a year. Permafrost areas hold 500 billion tons of carbon. But the real worry is methane, bubbling up, up, up and away...

Scene of the Crime: In 2004, the CEO of Goldman Sachs lead a group of investment bankers to a meeting with the SEC in which they convinced the SEDC to exempt investment banks from maintaining loss reserves on investments. The line from that meeting to today's credit collapse is as straight and direct as the road to Hell. Henry M. Paulson Junior was then the head of Goldman Sachs. Today he is the Secretary of the Treasury, bailing out his firm and those of his friends. Did anyone ask China if this was okay?

Nostrum: A former Bush administration economist suggests the government mandate a 5.25% interest rate for all outstanding mortgages. Economists become economists for a reason.

The How Many Wrongs Will It Take ? The Fed's increasing the size of the Term Auction Facility to $900 billion is an admission that (1) previous salvations, weren't; and (2) the banking system is not functioning. Gee, do you think that the ability to borrow cheaply from the Fed might explain why banks do not go looking for more expensive loans elsewhere?

Friends in High Places: Shell Oil has set up offices in the US Military's Green Zone.

Imitation / Flattery: Following the US example, Great Britain is building a database of all the telephone conversations, emails, and internet usage of everyone in the country.

Yes Or No: Are we clever enough to sustain a population of 7, 8, 9 billion? Is climate change bringing more floods, more drought? Will an epidemic wipe out a third of the population? Half? How soon? If Bangladesh sinks into the ocean by 2040 as predicted, where are 65 million people going to go?Imagine a half million streaming out of New Orleans needing housing, food, jobs ... four times a year for then next 30 years.

May I ? Germany wants to change its constitution to permit domestic deployment of the Bundeswehr. No reason was given for bothering to change their constitution, the US didn't.

Targets: The Wall Street bailout will not lower the price of gasoline, nor keep house prices from plunging further. Nor will it provide anyone health insurance. Any benefit that trickles down to actual taxpayers will be accidental.

Half Empty: Half of all mammal species are in decline and one in four is probably going to disappear forever. The article in Science goes on to point out that humans are mammals.

Porn O'Graph: Premature extraction...