SAR #11325

Problems are distorted by the lens used to examine them.

Dead On Arrival: Never mind the details of the IMF's new 'Precautionary Credit Line' proposal, the IMF does not have the money to fund it adequately (estimated at $3 to $4 trillion) and it will require the support of the GOP to get the 'contribution' it would require from the US.

Balance Beam: Attempting to position itself as a support of democracy and human rights in the Middle East without upsetting the dictatorships it has and continues to support, the US has called for “restraint on all sides” in the ongoing confrontation between armed police and unarmed demonstrators in Egypt. For example, the demonstrators shot by the police should ideally die quietly and off camera.

Papieren, Bitte: A German executive assigned to the Mercedes Benz factory in Vance, AL was arrested for not having his passport on his person at all times.

Collateral Damage: The failure of the “supercommittee” ensures that the GOP will prevent the extension of last year's payroll tax cuts or the renewal of extended unemployment benefits. They will also insist on the continuation of the Bush tax cuts for those rich enough to be burdened with neither unemployment nor payroll taxes.

Fair Question: In that Keynesian policies led to economic growth in the New Deal Era, why wouldn't they work today?

Our Game: More than a dozen agents spying for the CIA in Iran and Lebanon have been caught and are currently being interviewed by their governments. The US confirmed the loss of number of assets over the last six months, explaining that “Espionage is a risky business” that can “result in occasional setbacks.”

Imitation/Flattery: Egypt’s state security thuggery has been renamed “Homeland Security.”

Moral Choices: Eventually the confrontations between our heavy-handed, highly militarized police and the disgruntled citizenry will reach the point where federal troops will be called in to put down the insurrection. Think now about what you will do then.

When You're Right... US Airlines are finally getting around to realizing that the indignities, inconveniences and frustrations imposed by TSA might be contributing to the decline in air travel. Did they think it was just the fear of having a fat person spilling over the armrest? Certainly the barriers erected by TSA, Homeland Security and the State Department can easily account for the loss of half a million jobs and half a trillion dollars due to a serious decline in foreign visitors.

Easy As Pie: The US deficit/debt problem can be easily solved. It is a mater of reducing spending and increasing taxation to a point where they together equal to about 5% of GDP. All the rest is details.

China Syndrome: Nuclear experts say that it is merely a matter of time before at least one of the Fukushima reactor cores melts through the containment vessel (if it hasn't already) and into the earth below. If (when?) it encounters underground water there will be “a huge steam explosion”.

Inquiring Mind: How long will it be before some hyped up paramilitary police hero produces the Kent Sate moment for the #Occupy movement?

Drug Lords: The US Justice Department has fined Merck nearly a billion dollars to settle criminal charges relating to Merck's illegal marketing of Vioxx, even after it was told to stop doing so. Vioxx was bringing in $2.5 billion a year when it was finally pulled from the market, so Merck's investors did okay, even though a lot of patients died from heart attacks.

A Long, Long Time: The current 'pipeline' of houses in danger of foreclosure in Maryland would take 21 years to sell at the current sales rate. Make an offer.