SAR #10321

The Bill of Rights apparently protects ignorance and stupidity.

Irish Ayes: The Irish Troubles drag on.  The country so far refuses an IMF-EU bailout - it has seen what IMF bailouts do to countries and wants no part of it.  Nonetheless, hit squads from the IMF, the ECB and the EU are en route to twist arms.  What the Irish bankers want is for the EU to guarantee a public bailout of the private banking sector, as Washington did for Wall Street, with few strings attached. In the end Ireland may be held down and forced to swallow the cure, lest the euro world convulse.

Down In The Valley:  S&P sees house prices dropping another 7 to 10% during 2011.

Ministry of Truth:  CBS claims to have a poll that says that 81% of Americans think that using x-ray machines to screen airline passengers is a good idea.  The report did not indicate how many of these people had ever flown.  Nurse Napolitano, from atop the Homeland Security pyramid, asked for “cooperation, patience and a commitment to vigilance in the face of a determined enemy.”  She did not specify precisely who the enemy was, but Capitan Sully is on the list.

Word/Bond:  The word is that California will have a $25 billion gap in its budget through 2016.  That caused people holding California bonds to get antsy and start heading for the doors.  Curiously, the state – by law – must close each of these budget gaps through either cuts or tax increases.  Any idea why Jerry Brown wanted to be governor?

Fairgounds:  President Obama awarded the medal of honor to Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta at a White House ceremony on Tuesday.  In Arizona he'll still have to show them his passport.

By the Numbers:  The core Producer Price Index for Finished Goods for October was up 0.4%, about half the gain that was expected.  Take away the food and energy sectors and the PPI was down 0.6%.  Both industrial production and capacity utilization rates were flat m/m from September. At 74.8%, capacity utilization is far below normal.

Just This:  State AGs are ready to take some pocket change from the banks, accept a few token principal reductions (not to mention the principle reductions) and proclaim the great mortgage foreclosure fraud over.

Moment Of Silence:  There he was, on TV, smugly admitting that he had ordered water-boarding and other tortures, was proud of doing so, and would do so again – to protect the American way of life.  And we sat and watched and drank our beer.  Then the news came on and we learned that no criminal charges will be filed against those who destroyed the evidence of CIA abuse of prisoners.  Of course not, it was done in the name of the people. And Obama says that he and Bush and the men in the shadows are beyond the reach of the courts.  In the name of the people.

A Rose Is A Rose:  Obama’s promised change is nearly complete.  Just one or two more concessions and he'll be a Republican.

Usual Suspects:  By 2030 the demand for water in India will exceed possible supply by more than 40%.   A public/private group recommends that the distribution of free water cease and that India's water supplies be privatized and allocated based on the ability to pay. Farmers who cannot afford water will quit growing crops.  Customers that can't afford water or the more expensive crops grown with expensive water will die.  Those who control the water will get richer.  Win-win.

... and the Deep Blue Sea:  It is possible to cut enough government activities to eliminate the deficit.  It would be possible to raise taxes and cut spending sufficiently to – over a few years – pay off the national debt.  But these steps would require severe cutbacks and another, deeper recession.  And America would become some other, more Dickensian, place.

Quoted:  “The problem isn't that TSA has bad practices, the problem is that the TSA exists.”