SAR #10230

Your job may be next.

Always Sometimes Low Prices:  Walmart's low prices just got higher – 6% on average over the last 6 weeks, but some items climbed 50 to 65%. The Daughter claims Macy's was selling 'fashion' tee shirts for $4.50 last week.  Just say'n.

Run Away! Run Away:  In a move that will be wildly mis-reported, the FDA is considering withdrawing its endorsement of Avastin for use in treating breast cancer because studies have shown that the $8,000 a month drug may not extend life by even one month.  In simple terms, it just doesn't work.

Ben Tre Redux:  Given a chance to say that Democrats would save Social Security and resist attempts to extend the retirement age and cut benefits , the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee suggested they might support destroying Social Security as part of a deficit reduction charade under the guise of saving it. Stock up on the cat food, Martha.

Easy One:  Who benefits most from refinancing mortgages? (1) Banks, (2) Banks, or (3) Banks.

Trade Schools:  The Department of Education wants to save students from what it sees as a fate worse than death – making a wrong choice of major.  After all, if your major doesn't lead to a career as a round peg in a round hole, you're a failure.  We want students to end up with "gainful employment" (conform, conform) not something silly like an education.

Tough Talk:  Even an effete panty-waist liberal like Paul Krugman thinks it is time the US stopped trying to politely reason with China and take some tangible steps to draw their attention to our complaints.

Mostly Insects:  Every day about 200 species become extinct.  That is a thousand times the “normal” rate, greater than anything in the last 65 million years.

All Together Now:  PIMCO Managing Director Paul McCulley says the Fed and the government (Treasury & Congress) must “start working together in order to combat the threat of deflation.”  PIMCO's co-chief El-Erian fears the Fed cannot solve the current problems alone.  And PIMCO’s  Bill Gross says the private sector cannot replace the government in the housing markets and that PIMCO will not invest in non-GSE MBS unless borrowers make 30% down payments.  Geithner agrees with them, so look for new and improved ways for the government to subsidizes crappy mortgage loans made by private companies and held by PIMCO & friends.

Data, Data, Who's Got the Data?   The government & BP said that 74% of the leaked oil was “largely gone or rapidly disappearing.   Now a group of scientists – using the government's data – say that 79% of the oil is still out there, lurking beneath the waves. Which view benefits whom?

Caveat Emptor:  Turns out that at least 5 tons of gold shipped to the UAE wasn't gold.

Whiter Whites:  Surface temperatures hovering at 93ºF in May 2010 forced corals across the Indonesian Andaman Sea (and beyond) into the largest 'bleaching' event ever.  Over 60% of corals have bleached and 80% of some coral species have already died.  Similar bleachings have occurred in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and many other parts of Indonesia so far this year.

Old-time Religion:  More than 30 'traditional' coal plants have been built in the US since 2008, or are now under construction.  You know, the kind that is going to eventually drown us all. But that's small change compared to the Chinese assault on the atmosphere.

Porn O'Graph:  Pin the tail on the Cash for Clunkers.