SAR #10219

If you didn't do it, someone else would, right?

Beneath the Hood:  All things considered, we lost 131,000 jobs – even though the private sector created 71,000 new jobs.  Math problem:  There are 14.6 million unemployed, 5.6 million under-employed, and 2.6 million 'marginally attached' - plus all those who have statistically disappeared.  Not counting all the people coming of age looking for jobs, at 71,000 new jobs a month, how long will it take to put these 22,800,000 folks back to work?  How old will you be in 2035?

Another Thing:  A common species of bat in the northeastern US will be extinct within 20 years – victim of a fungal infection.  Won't miss 'em?  Each one eats about 2,000 insects a night.  Are you ready to pick up the slack?

Not Gonna Happen:   We know that burning gasoline in our cars and coal in our power stations will warm the earth beyond all recognition, but we love our cars and really, really want all the cheap power Big Oil and Big Coal can give us.  So climate legislation is a hollow joke and our presence at international climate meetings a charade.  Global climate change is inevitable, so why do we keep pretending we might do something about it?

Snowballs in Hell:   To help pass the time, on Thursday Senate Democrats proposed repeal of some of the tax breaks given to Big Oil.  It'll make good, if misleading, advertising come election season.

Deeply Moving:  Researchers have found a river flowing from the Mediterranean, through the Bosporus, into the Black Sea – along the sea bottom – retracing the cataract that gave rise to the Flood stories.  The river is still scouring out its riverbed, at the bottom of the sea, much like a river on land, with a flow 10 times that of the Rhine.

Too Obvious:  The Recovery Act is providing money to states to help them build low-income housing.  One thing the economy doesn't need right now is more flimsy housing.  Why not use some of the millions of units Fanny, Freddie, and the FHA already have?  Could cut those McMansions up into two or three flats...

Not Possible:  Genetically engineered canola resistant to two common herbicides has been found growing widely along roadsides in North Dakota, one of the first instances of a biotech crop establishing itself in the wild.  They said it couldn't happen.  Now Monsanto says it happened, but it's no big deal, just rapeseed.  The rape part is right.

Decency Deficit:  The Republican's “Roadmap for America’s Future,” consists of steep cuts in spending and benefits for the middle class (dismantling Medicare and repealing health care reform) coupled with steep cuts in taxation for the rich. It will give tax cuts to the rich while raising taxes on the other 95% of us to make up the difference.

Leadership:  Over the last 15 years, durable goods orders have a had high correlation to job growth.  Last week’s data on durable goods showed the second consecutive downtick.  Just thought you'd like to know.

The (Housing) Problem:  Up here's supply – way too much.  Down there's demand.  None, zero, zip, a dead budgie.  In between there are a few million more houses headed to the supply heap and broke, unemployed, deadbeat potential customers being thrown on the discard pile.  And prices.  In order to clear this mess prices will have to come down another 20 – 30 -40%.  Or more.  And someone's got to put the potential customers back to work.

Things You Already Knew: Home Prices To Decline Into Next Year. Republicans Are Just Obstructing for Sport Now. The CIA Hid Gitmo Detainees from the Courts. Many GOP Candidates would force women to bear rapists' babies.

Don't Look Now:  Prices are falling.  Wages are falling.  The public believes that both will fall more.  That's a self-fulfilling prophecy . Deflation is already here.

Porn O'Graph:  Recovery in auto sales, newspeak version.