When the going gets tough, the tough eat the weak.
New Clothes: Frau Merkel has banned wandering around her house naked. Most naked short sales have been banned in Germany. Not a big deal – until you realize that many CDS are naked short sales. The big banks and hedgies aren't Emperors everywhere.
Says Who? The IMF wants Greek private sector wages to be cut 20% to 30%, “so that the country can get more competitive.” No one will be the first to volunteer and it's hard to imagine successful enforcement of such a government decree. Look at Latvia, where draconian austerity cuts have increased unemployment from 6% to 22% while labor costs only fell 5.4%. The IMF claims these countries need “more flexible labor markets.” Define 'flexible.'
How far we've come: Did you notice that reports of GOP Rep. Mark Souder's affair with a staffer are careful to insert 'female' into the report? Just clarifying.
Progress: BP reports it is siphoning up to 1000 barrels of oil a day... er... 20% no, 40% of the oil leaking from Moby Derrick. Anyway, it's just temporary, as they get ready to stuff the hole with old tires and other scrap crap. Which is a temporary fix to a partial temporary fix of a failed attempt to fix what should never have happened in the first place.
Clip 'n Save: BP chief says the leaking oil will have a 'very modest' impact on the environment.
The Man Who Came To Dinner: After more than 30 years in the US Senate and even having run for president, Orin Hatch says he has never been part of Washington and that he never thought that being a Senator was a job. He's just been wandering around for 30 years, looking for the exit.
An Apple A Day: A ctually that's not true. You can only buy two iPods and only with a credit card. No cash. Why? Because Steve Jobs has never thought free markets were a good idea. Are they tracking buyers? Certainly. Are they implying you cant sell your iPod? Most assuredly. Quite how the rationing or the rejection of the US dollar is legal is a good question. But Appelites don't question Galt.
Self-Hoisting Petard: “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” said Democrat Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General for Connecticut . Mr. Lumenthal is was a US Senate wannabe who hadn't learned about fact checkers.
Experimental Economics: Theory says that as oil gets more expensive, less petroleum will be used, which in turn will lead to a slowing of the economy – for modern economies are dependent on cheap oil. Europe, with the fall of the euro relative to the dollar, is going to be paying a lot more for petroleum. Let's watch and see what happens!
Upscale: What little bounce there's been in retail sales is simply the rich buying luxury items and deadbeat homeowners spending the money they didn't pay towards their mortgage. Neither seems a solid base for a recovery.
The Three R's: The Texas Bored with Education continues to lead Texas children back to the Middle Ages. Now it wants high schoolers to "discuss alternatives regarding long term entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare...” and to "evaluate efforts by global organizations to undermine U. S. sovereignty." They also will learn of the "significant contributions" of pro-slavery Confederate leaders during the civil war.
Veiled References: If you sell your opinion, it ain't free speech. Those who buy ratings from S&P and Moody's &tc. can testify to that. Publicly rating the raters might help.
Probabilities: It has been obvious for a decade or more that the ever increasing incidences of ADHD and autism are self-inflicted and that some crap we've dumped into the environment is probably responsible. A new report implicates trace amounts of a pesticide used on commercially grown fruits and vegetables as a likely contributor to the ADHD epidemic, while vinyl floors appear complicit in autism's increase.
3 comments:
I wasn't familiar with Congressman Sauder. Having seen the videos (interview videos, I hasten to add), I think he showed good taste in his choice of mistress, although it's less easy to imagine what SHE sees in HIM. He's also showing good judgment in resigning now. And I point, with approval, to this passage in the news story:
"The eight-term Congressman fought back tears as he read the statement. His wife, a usual fixture when politicans face the media amid affair scandals, was not with him.
"My family were more than willing to stand here with me," he said. But, "quite frankly, I'm sick of politicians who drag their spouses up in front of the cameras, rather than confronting the problem that they have caused."
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Jesus might have advised the Congressman caught in adultery to "go, and sin no more" - there's a chance Souder might be able to take that advice.
Autistic people are a natural part of human variation. The modern world just has a gift for triggering our sensory issues and making us act "autistic." Then everyone talks about what "causes autism," but the focus -- as always -- is on how to keep people like us from existing, not on how to integrate us into society without things like fluorescent lighting and chemical pesticides eating our nervous systems.
We're tragedies, don't you know. Just like gays.
(and for the record, I was at one time convinced that synthetic chemicals caused gay. intolerance does that to you.)
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