SAR #10224

These days, starting over sounds pretty good.

The Hail Mary:  Obama Administration says that it will waste at least $3 billion giving no-interest 'loans' to people who are at least three months behind on their mortgages “and have a reasonable likelihood of being able to resume mortgage payment within two years.”  Go long, I'll throw it as far as I can...

Throwing in the Towel:  Stephen Hawking says that “our population and our use of fine resources” mean that our species can survive the next century only if we go forth and infect the universe.  Say 'Goodnight' Gracie.

Key Concept:  “Structural unemployment” is being tossed around more and more by the talking heads and financial blogeratti.  For the uninitiated, 'structural unemployment' is an economist's way of throwing up his hands and saying there is no way to fix the problem, because it is built into the structure of the system.  Politicians will grasp the concept with both hands and hide behind it.

Jurisprudence:  In some, places interrogators threaten wounded prisoners – even teenagers- with gang-rape in order to obtain confessions, which their courts then permit to be used at trial. 

Sample Season:  This summer's deadly heat, torrential downpours and raging wildfires will soon be looked back at as the good old days.

Slippery Stuff:  The Justice Department has agreed to let BP Exploration & Production, Inc., establish a voluntary trust agreement committing up to $20 billion to a compensation fund for victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.  Of course if BPE&P isn't allowed to continue to drill and extract oil from the Gulf of Mexico, it will have no income and thus no money to pay into the fund.  And it is BPE&P, not BP,  that is on the hook for the $20 billion.

Nutshell:  “No one wants to borrow, and that's the biggest problem in getting the economy moving again.  The economy needs money to grow, and money is created by borrowing.  No borrowing, no money growth.  No money growth, no economic growth.  No economic growth, no jobs.”

Paper or Plastic?  Americans owe more ($829 billion) on their student loans than they do on their credit cards ($826 billion).  And a lot fewer went to college than got credit cards – but neither group has learned much math.

The Ins and Outs of Trade:  Imports are increasing much faster than exports, leading to a $7.9 billion increase in the US trade deficit in June.  So much for exporting our way out of this mess.

Putting the Shhhh in Science:  Scientists are not being allowed to study the effects of the BP oil spill unless they work for BP or the government and sign confidentiality agreements that will prevent their findings from being published.  Ah, the impartial search for truth.

Good Question:   Why can you patent a gene – human or otherwise?   You may discover what the sequence is, you may discover what it does, but you did not invent anything, did not create anything.   It all started back in 1906 when adrenalin was patented....

Porn O'Graph:  Here we go again.