SAR #10093/Weekender

The oil will last as long as the money does.

Drip, Drip, Drip:  If you exclude the 48,000 census temps, last month's 112,000 job increase doesn't even cover the monthly increase in the nation's workforce much less do anything for the 11 million unemployed. Unemployment remained at 9.7% - and nearly half (44%) of the unemployed have been idle for more than 26 weeks and the number increased by 400,000 (7%) to 6.5 million.  Take a number.

April Fool?   Geithner said Thursday that it was "deeply unfair" that some financial institutions that got taxpayer-paid bailouts are emerging in better shape from the recession than millions of ordinary Americans.  Apparently not unfair enough to tax their bonuses.

No News Is Good News:  Israel has decided that if journalists cannot find good things to say about bombing and strafing Palestinians in their homes, they'd best not write anything at all.

Once More, With Feeling:  What is driving up the price of oil this time? a) Wall Street speculators.  b) OPEC  c) Wall Street speculators and the oil producing nations.  d) Demand exceeding supply.

What Do You See When You Turn Out The Light?  (a) an end to mountaintop removal coal mining.  (b) a job at Goldman Sachs.  (c) world peace.  (d) anything my heart desires.

Gold? Blah:  Brazil's giant iron mining firm Vale has reached agreement with Asian steel companies that will boost the price of iron ore by 90%. Someone's expecting an increase in demand.  Follow the bouncing ball to car prices and structural steel...

Dhuh?   The headline asked:  Was quality compromised during the housing bubble?   Yes, but it started long before.

It's.. Supertanker!   The cost of supertankers on the world's busiest run, from the Middle East to Asia, jumped nearly 10% this week.   The US may not be showing an increased thirst for oil, but some folks in East Asia didn't get the memo that blames the increase in the price of oil on speculators.

Quick, Run and Hide:  There are signs that Wall Street hiring is increasing.  Now if only the real economy could catch up to the fantasy economy.

Don't Adjust Your Set:  Mexico's Pemex has revised its 4Q2009 loss from 16 billion pesos to 65 billion pesos, due to an accounting error.  While they're at it maybe they'll revise their oil reserves data.

Rent-to Own:  Pharmaceutical companies own patents on about 30% of your genes and are planning to allow you to continue using them for 30 days, after which you'll have to sign a lifetime contract payable in monthly installments.  If you violate the terms of the contract, you will be repossessed.

Terms of Engagement:  Have you noticed that the violence in Afghanistan is more and more referred to as a civil war?

Quoted: “ I can categorically state I’ve never seen such a hostile environment towards free thought and debate - the hallmarks of Reaganism - prevail in our movement as it does today.”  Danielle Critttenden, wife of David Frum, who was fired from the American Enterprise Institute for speaking well of health care reform.  It seems the only thing uniting the GOP is a shared hatred of independent thought... of thought in general.

Strategy & Tactis:  Petraeus' pacification of Iraq has gone so well that Muqtada al-Sadr, the rabidly anti-American Shia cleric, now holds the key to power in the country.

Good Questions: Retired IAEA chief El Baradei observes that the evidence suggests the invasion of Iraq was not about weapons of mass destruction but was simply the US making a regime change.  He wondered where in international law to  find the articles about regime change.  And if it is not a matter of international law,  then it must have been illegal,  in which case someone should be held accountable, no?

Porn O'Graph: An illustrated guide to “It's pretty clear the recession is over.”