SAR #10217

It's what the other guy believes that matters most.

Unintended Consequences:  One of the things the government overlooked when it took over all those bad MBS was that when they go belly up, you have to foreclose.  You have to go up to the door and tell the tax-paying voter “Hello, we're from the government and we're here to help toss you, your furniture, the kids and the dog onto the street.”

Cirque de So Lying:  The Republicans have introduced their Economic Freedom Act of 2010, touted as the absolute best way to put America back to work.  It consists of huge tax breaks for the rich resulting in a tripling of the deficit by 2015.  Put your boots on, they claim it's going to trickle down...

Emendation:  The question “Will investors lose confidence in US debt?” should have had the word 'When' inserted at the beginning of the question. Carry on.

Skim Milk:  It's beginning to look like there wasn't any recovery, simply firms rebuilding their inventories - not actually selling stuff.

Back To The Future:  National Association of Homebuilders index and the Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index combine to predict another recession (or a very strong second leg down to this one) by early 2011 .  Add in rising oil prices, the ECRI index pointing to a -2.5% GDP while the Consumer metrics index suggest a -3.8% GDP for all of 2011.  Seen this movie before?

Glad You Asked:  Banks are not lending because you are not credit-worthy. You owe too much, earn too little and are likely to end up unemployed.

Exactly:  A concentrated effort is underway to convince the American public that 74% of all the oil that came gushing out of BP's broken well has been cleaned up, evaporated, “dispersed” (harmlessly is implied) and the damage will be “nowhere near as severe as feared”.  Too bad the same PR folks didn't work on the Exxon Valdez spill – there wouldn't still be oil damage on Prince William Sound.

Explicate:  The US imprisons a higher percentage of its population than any other nation.  Why and to what end?

Building Blocks: Personal income and expenditures were both essentially flat in the last couple of months.  Pending home sales fell in June and sales of existing houses crashed in July.  Hard to build a pyramid without some straw for the bricks.

Spot Quiz:  Capitalism is not the root cause of the current economic mess, capitalists claim, because our economic problems derive from government intervention in the economy (for which read 'regulation').  True or False? Okay, there, you've had your chance, Capitalists, and we simply don't buy it.  We might, but we got laid off and don't have any money.

Schedule:  By 2015, with atmospheric CO2 at 400 ppm, coral reefs will suffer repeated 'bleaching events.'  At 450 ppm – about 2040 – bleaching will be an annual event for most coral reefs around the world.  By 2060/600 ppm “everything we know about marine life” will change, marine biologists will become historians.

One Night Stand:  The right will waste no time getting Roberts & Friends to reverse Judge Walker's silly affirmation of gays’ right to love someone.