SAR #11157

Forgetting takes work.

Essentials: There are 13.9 million unemployed Americans, another 8.5 million working part time for economic reasons, and about 4 million more who have just given up. That's over 25 million Americans who need a job. Half of the 13.9 million officially unemployed have been out of a job for more than 6 months and 4 million or more have been idle for over a year. The only deficit these folks are concerned about is the jobs deficit.

Raise Your Hand: Greece's creditors are being told they will have to take a €30'voluntarily haircut'. The EU does not want the Greek default to be a default in legal terms. That would be a “trigger event” that would cause the whole house of cards to come tumbling down. So we're going to play “pretend”.

Pot/Kettle: US has told nations vying to exploit natural resources in the South China See that they should play nice – only the US is permitted to secure resources by force of arms.

What’s In A Name? The Republicans want to keep people from saying the GOP wants to end Medicare just because it wants to end Medicare. They claim they will recycle the name and apply it to a non-Medicare Medicare that will be the same only different. They’re also trying to stop anyone from calling it a voucher plan — even though they plan to issue vouchers. Their plan will guarantee that insurance companies will offer you a policy. They do not claim these plans will be affordable. If you chose to pay your rent and buy some food instead of giving all your money to the insurance companies – that's freedom of choice.

Gates Keeping: Our boy Bob says – the budget be damned – the US is going to “widen its presence across the Pacific Rim.” Gates insists that the public's disenchantment with the two or three wars the US now has will not stop the Pentagon from blundering ahead into a confrontation with China.

Business As Usual: After 20 years of concerned inaction, the world's greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Climate negotiators have gathered to wring their hands and mutter. Anyone, scientist or politician, who says we have a chance to keep global warming to 2ºC is lying. Any rise above 3ºC – which is now inevitable - will lead to very interesting times.

On Neoliberalism: Suddenly there are all sorts of articles reporting the shocking news that Neoliberalism has lead to labor becoming “dispensable, disposable and replaceable,” and that it has become the dominate political/economic theory, grounded in greed and aimed at tipping the world's economies ever more in favor of a few dominant individuals in a few dominant nations. Naomi Klein beat them to it with The Shock Doctrine:  The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2008).

Just So Story: About half of self-identified Republicans are complete idiots. A quarter of them believe ACORN is going to steal the 2012 election and another 30% think they might try – despite the fact that ACORN no longer exists. Over half do not believe Obama was born in the US. Many of them think Sarah Palin is capable of being president. Almost as many were briefly in favor of Donald Trump. While you're up, let the dog out.

Basic Rule: PG&E has taken out a series of newspaper ads to “apologize” for last year's deadly pipe explosion. The ads and death benefits were much cheaper than preventing the explosion would have been.

Pop Goes the Weasel: Europe continues to fight the problem of too much debt by issuing more debt. How do you think this one ends? 1) A fast, synchronized collapse, or 2) collapse, or 3) collapse, or – at last - 4) Mighty mouse saves the day. Europe unites into one country.

Porn O'Graph: Memorial day.