SAR #11311

The global financial system is essentially a perpetual motion machine.

Thought Experiment: Please compute: (1) Nevada passed a law effective October 1 that made it a felony – holding individuals criminally liable – to make a false representation concerning a real estate title. (2) Foreclosure filings in Nevada plunged dramatically in October.

Ah, The Italians! Prime Minister Berlusconi promised to resign via a posting on Facebook. The guy's got style. Obama, meanwhile, was peddling t-shirts and coffee mugs on his Facebook page.

Go Sit In The Corner: Ohio's voters told the Republicans they had overreached with their plan to limit public employees collective bargaining rights, defeating the law before it became effective, and voters in Mississippi rebuffed Republican attempts to criminalize abortion and most forms of birth control.

Created Equal: Over half of Republicans and nearly 85 % of Democrats believe in the inherent worth and dignity of their fellow citizens, be they guys, gals or somewhere in between. Surveys show overwhelming support for a national law banning employment discrimination to protect all of us - even the transgendered.

One More Verse: CoreLogic reports that house prices fell 4.1% y/y in September, while Fitch Ratings sees a further 10% drop in US house prices.

Get Me Rewrite: Homeowners continue to have a hard time paying their mortgages. But the blame has now migrated from the over-reaching homeowners to the damage to consumer confidence done by the debt crises in the US and Europe, and the tanking of the US stock market. Don't blame me, I got this drivel from a report by TransUnion's financial services vp Tim Martin, who also believes that neither house prices nor unemployment “has noticeably deteriorated.” He also discounted the effect of being underwater on delinquencies.  He’s a pro, do not try this at home.

Fire Drill: Over 16,000 Honk Kong-owned factories in China may close, as orders collapse by as much as 30% in response to a slowdown in global demand and a 20% increase in minimum wage on January 1. Going, going, gone.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Buddy and Pedro, a dedicated gay penguin couple residing in the Toronto zoo, are going to be separated and forced to mate with female penguins “for the good of the species.”

Asked & Answered: Is over-regulation driving US companies offshore? No.

The Road to Salvation: While waiting for extreme austerity programs to save the economy, more than 20% of Spanish families now live below the poverty line and unemployment is above 21% - the highest in Europe. Among the young (under 30) the rate is above 45%. Even for those who have jobs, a third are on temporary contracts, with low pay and no benefits.

Take A Memo: “A common currency has a much better chance of working if you actually have a nation.”

Day Late... Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer questioned what a democratic society would look like if people believed the government was tracking them for days at a time. Don't know, but just look around, Steve, and see what it looks like when the government does track the people 24/7.

Point of View: Wannabe Rick Perry thinks the ban on gays serving in the military should be reinstated because “it worked very well”. Does anybody on his staff do reality checks?