SAR #10238

...and the band played on.

The Madness of Crowds:  Customers keep lowering the amount they owe on their credit cards – balances are down 13% from last year.  That's 13% less spending.  Don't these people understand the concept of a consumer society?

Teeter Totter:  The usual prize will be awarded for the best proposal that will permit us to hold global warming to less than 2.4 °C by 2050 while increasing the burning of fossil fuels by 30% over the same time period.

Not All the People:  A poll shows that over 70% of the population does not believe that corporations are people or that money is speech.  Most view corporate election spending as simple bribery. And not just some of the time.

Lemonade Stand:  Only 25,000 new houses were sold in July, even lower than June's record low.  The previous record low for July was 31,000 back in 1982.  The median home price fell 4.8% m/o/m.

Taking a Bite out of Crime:  As more and more cities cut back on police in the face of declining revenue, fewer and fewer 'minor' crimes – burglary, vandalism, grab & run theft, and the like- will be reported.  And crime rates for non-violent crimes will drop, just as the numbers are increasing.  It's what's counted that counts.

Black or White?  Archaeologists have discovered fibers on a 2,000-year-old sandal that suggest at least one Roman wore socks with his sandals.

Fingers in the Dike:  Fannie and Freddie's mission has morphed from helping citizens achieve the American Dream by making housing more affordable into a take-no-prisoners attempt to prop up house prices as much as possible for the benefit of the investor class.

Paving over Paradise:  Tanzania is planning to build a highway through the middle of the Serengeti National Park in order to benefit some corporations.

As the Sun Sets:  If the purpose of not taxing capital gains is to increase the investment in new businesses, why not tax all capital gains as income and let those who can demonstrate that their capital gain resulted from a direct investment in a new business deduct that gain - as long as the investment has at least a 12 month life-span?  Taxing gains from stock trading/gambling  as regular earnings might curb the appetite for risk.

Gander/Goose:  Spain has begun using its social security monies to fund its bond sales.  Wonder where they got that idea?

Dyslexia:  Durable goods orders – not counting cars – fell 3.8% in July. Non-defense goods, excepting aircraft, fell 8%.  Add cars & wars and the overall number was 0.3%, not the 3.0% that was expected.

Dollars of the Doomed:  It is generally thought not to be a 'good thing' when the speculators begin using your currency to fund the carry trade. Soon the dollar will be just like the yen a couple of years ago.

Among the Missing:  Remember those tens of thousands of oil-related jobs that were going to be lost during the ban on deepwater drilling and the billions of dollars in lost revenue the ban would cost?  Never happened.