Even though we have GPS, we have lost our way.
Just Saying "No!" Greece's austerity measures have led to an “I won't pay” movement where the citizens say enough is too much and 'I won't take it any more.' There seems to be a point where austerity measures do not enrich the state. Maybe someone should tell Gov. Walker.
Nutshell: “Corporate Profits Soaring Thanks to Record Unemployment"
Connect the Dots: Is there any connection between the Fed buying $2.5 trillion in debt assets under QE1 & 2 and the big banks posting “their two best years” ever?
Prime Cuts: We need to cut our spending, but can't cut Social Security or Medicare & Medicaid without upsetting the old folks who vote. Can't cut Defense for fear of... well fear itself. And we certainly can't stop paying interest to China or the bankers. So what's left? Ah, the children, the poor and the unemployed. Mostly they don't vote anyway.
Cookie Jar/Hand: Goldman Sachs says it faces about $3.4 billion in losses because it got caught due to legal claims against its operations.
Resurrection: Newt Gingrich is said to be preparing to run for President in 2012. Of the United States.
Bank Notes: HSBC announced it had tripled its profits in 2010 to $19 billion. It also noted that 253 of its bankers would get bonuses of more than $1.6 million each. Their enthusiasm was muted a bit when they added that they had “suspended foreclosures until such time as we have substantially addressed noted deficiencies in our processes.” Said deficiencies being found in the processing, preparation and signing of affidavits and “other documents supporting foreclosures.”
It's A Home, Not an Investment: US house prices dropped another 4.3% in 4Q 2010; much of house sales are foreclosed properties and short-sales.
Here's the Plan: States want to dump their pension plans (which they had underfunded and then invested unwisely) and force workers to open 401k plans run by the same folks who ran the state funds into the ground. It's not about the unions, it's about Wall Street profits.
Too Big To Fail Prosecute: “The Financial Industry Has Become So Politically Powerful That It Is Able To Inhibit the Normal Process of Justice And Law Enforcement”
Words: “How, exactly, then are Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein different from Mubarak and Ben Ali? Is it because what they do is legal? That would be too easy; they make the laws. What Mubarak did was perfectly legal in Egypt; he too made the laws. Is it because Lloyd and Jamie wear no crowns? Are we that easily fooled?”
Earth Day: In an attempt to show that no bit of environmentalism will be left standing, the Republicans have reintroduced Styrofoam cups to the Congressional coffee shops, eliminated the shops composting and recycling, and are going to go back to incandescent lighting.
4 comments:
RE: Earth Day
Frankly we should go back to incandescent light bulbs. Fazing them out is a feel good measure with more downside than upside. Mercury filled bombs in your house. How smart.
RBM
RBM - Agreed. The bigger threat, though, than then mercury, is the idea that one bulb and we're done. Planet saved! Boy, doesn't that feel good...
Besides, I don't think the Repubs are actually the environment. They're against change of any sort - change is scary.
ckm
I've disassembled several compact fluorescent bulbs that have failed at my house. In each case, there was a catastrophic failure that left the contents of the internal ballast charred. I'll never leave a CF on unattended.
RE Earth Day Styrofoam, compact fluorescents, composting. What's next, get rid of that damned barrista and bring back the good ol' automat? It's called whistling past the graveyard . . . or maybe fiddling while Rome burns. Something we're all doing a lot of these days. It's just that the Republicans are convinced the whistling and fiddling does something besides provide a distraction.
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