SAR #12150

“Young people are not always right. But a society is always wrong to beat them up.” (Jacques Parizeau, PQ)

The Pain In Spain: Greece is so yesterday. Spain's next; Bankia on it.

Flat On Its Facebook: If you were lucky enough to be one of Morgan Stanley's customers and were able to get in on the Facebook IPO you have lost only 24% of your money. So far.

Counterpoint: Greece will not leave quietly, Greece will not be the only country to drop the euro and the whole process will be chaotic and painful. Those who say otherwise have their own interests at heart and are being disingenuous at best. In excess of 300 billion euros owed to the IMF and EFSSF and ECB will disappear along with the Greeks. As much as 1.5 trillion will vaporize as the dominoes domino. Angela will not be happy, but happiness will be in short supply all over Europe. Someone best be doing some contingency planning.

Takes One To Know One: Christine Lagarde, she of the “tax dodging Greeks” lecture, gets $550,000 a year from the IMF. Tax free.

Golden Oldie: How long has it been since the US has announced the death of an al-Qaeda “senior lieutenant” somewhere in one of our battlegrounds? Well that's too long, partner. Rest assured that Sakhar al-Taifi, al-Qadea's second most senior figure in Afghanistan has been executed during a “precision airstrike” (sic).

Clip & Save: Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser says “there’s absolutely no reason for people in the United States to get all in a dither,” because the Fed has the tools to handle any fallout from Europe. Can't do much about unemployment or the dead economy, but the collapse of the eurozone? No problem.

If/Then: The International Energy Agency says that by 2035 the use of natural gas could grow by more than 50% “if if local problems with shale extraction can be overcome.” This would cause the global temperature to grow by more than 3.5ºC a few years later.

Essay Question: We now know that austerity economics are bad for weak economies facing large budget deficits. We also know that nearly all western economies are weak and face massive deficits. So why are they all drinking the koolaid?

Buying the Bullet: The fee charged to get a TSA agent to play with your privates will be doubling. You'll have to pay $10 for the service on a round-trip flight.

Reinforcements: The US Special Operations Command wants to establish a worldwide network linking the special operations forces (SOF) of allied and partner nations to establish “regional security coordination centers” under their command to combat terrorism. The need arises because the US is now conducting missions in 75 countries, several of which are aware of these operations. Plans are to expand US special ops to 125 countries by the end of the year and troops are getting thin, thus the need to impress reinforcements from the colonies.

Boosterism: The Case-Shiller March index sowed a 0.09% price decrease from February. That's pronounced “nine hundredths of one percent”. So you can understand why the headlines are screaming “The Housing Bottom Is Here!”

Past/Prologue: Following the mass extinction 250 million years ago, which only about 10% of plant and animal species survived, it took 10 million years for life to recover. At our current rate of extinction, about 70% of all species are expected to be extinct by 2100. Something to think on.

Angels On The Head Of A Pin: The Italian Bishop's Conference, under guidelines issued by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, has informed its bishops that they are “not obliged to report” child abuse to the police. A bunch of moral pinheads.

The Parting Shot:

California dreaming...