SAR #11011

Guns don't encourage people to kill people, words do.

Inches, Miles:  In 1995 the big six banks (some under earlier names) total assets equaled 17% of GDP.  Now they command assets worth 64% of US GDP.  This is God's work?

Generic Government:  Faced with chronic and growing budget deficits, _________'s governor is seeking significant cuts in nearly all of the state's programs and services.  The cuts will weigh especially hard on the poor and needy, as welfare eligibility is tightened and the duration of the reduced benefits shortened.  The state's Medicaid program will cut medical benefits and raise co-pays.  Taxes will increase 10% across the board, except for executive bonuses, dividends and interest, which will remain tax exempt.

Wish I'd Said:  “If the Fraud Stops, the Financial System Collapses.”

Valleys and Cliffs:  For about a year buying on the dips, selling on the rise has been a good strategy – risk free, on reflection.  But when does a dip become a drop?  Hedge funds have now reduced their net long exposures by 25%.  The last time they did that, the market sold off.  Watch out for that first step, it can be a long one.

Devil in the Details:  December's retail data reported an 8.1% rise in sales at luxury stores and a 1.2% rise in sales at discount chains.  The devil does, in fact, wear Prada.

Mighty/Fallen:  Former House majority leader Tom Delay (R-TX) was sentenced to three years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering and five years for money laundering.  In lieu of prison on the second charge Delay will serve 10 years probation.

Essay Question:  Why is the Dow booming and corporate profits spiking while 15 million Americans are unemployed and millions of houses face foreclosure?

Hot Air: We've already put enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to eventually raise the ocean temperature around Antarctica by 5C, collapsing the West Antarctic ice sheet and lifting sea levels dramatically.  How fast this happens depends on how much more CO2 we pump into the atmosphere, but it is a now a matter of when, not if.  “The point of no return has already passed” for Greenland's ice cap, too, which will melt sufficiently by 2040 to add a couple of meters to sea levels and melt completely over the next 1000 years. Computer models suggest sooner rather than later.

Shadows:  If you follow the shadowy presence of toxic hate speech in our society back to its source, who or what will you find?  How complicit are the media in giving voice to these deranged utterances?

Porn O'Graph:  Food Fight.