SAR #12018

Actually, you are the other guy, the one with the short straw.

Clip & Save: Fitch Ratings says that Greece will default on its debts before the March 20th bond payments (€14.5 billion, which it cannot pay) are due. What's 50% of nothing?

Modesty: Mitt Romney - whose income puts him into the top one-tenth of one percent - not the 1%, but the 0.1% - says he pays "about 15%" of his income in taxes. He goes on to explain that his income isn't really income, but rewards he's still earning for putting people out of work in his Bain Capital days. Oh, sure, he has some other income, including a "modest" amount from speaking fees. Only $370,000 last year.

It's A Gas: Natural gas continues its plunge into unprofitably, with a million Btu priced at its lowest point in a decade, going for $2.46, down from a 52-week high of $5.28. The problem with getting rich fracking around is the oversupply that the fracking around only makes worse.

Let Us Count The Ways: I'm glad I live in a free, democratic society governed by laws, and not someplace where the government continually monitors its citizens' telephone conversations and Internet use, conducts warrantless searches, indefinitely detains citizens without trail or judicial review or ships them overseas to be tortured by others, or simply murders them. Sure, in the US  the president can take away your freedom on his own authority, but you have rights. Right?

Plan Ahead: The government say it plans to develop effective treatments for Alzheimer’s by 2025.  Plan accordingly.

Renting Out The Commons: Here's an interesting discussion on how on-street parking should be priced, which is a great introduction to the moral economics of the commons. Pro/con 1,000 word essays are due by the end of the week.

Location, Location, Location: For your daughter's wedding, why not rent the Acropolis for the day? At $2,000 it's a steal. You have to pretend you're making a feature film and clean up afterward, but the neighbors will be jealous and that's the whole point anyway.

Walking the Floor Over You: After a trauma, don't go try to sleep it off. Research shows that sleep preserves the negative emotional response, while staying awake tends to lessen the strength of the emotional connection. Ernest Tubb had the right idea.