SAR #12200

I've never actually wanted to be a better person.

The Check Bounced: A 22 truck convoy carrying petroleum and other supplies for NATO forces was blown up in Northern Afghanistan. Obviously the US is not paying off the right Taliban bandits, or not paying enough.

Gullibility: Realtors (and a lot of bloggers) keep saying housing supply is tight – only a 5 month supply. They are full of crap mistaken. The real housing supply – including the 'shadow inventory' – is in the 8 to 10 million range, and will be increasing because foreclosures are on the rise again.

Everybody Does It: It’s getting harder to ignore the stench of the financial system

Democracy Inaction: The Brennan Center for Justice reports that upwards of 4 million potential votes will be aborted by the Republican-inspired voter ID laws, which will deprive primarllily the poor and elderly of their (highly theoretical) right to vote because of a lack of transportation and the fact that many of the offices that could issue the required IDs are only open once or twice a week and never on weekends. For example, in Texas, only 2 offices are available to issue IDs for 134,000 eligible voters – more than half of them Hispanic – in a 32 county area.

Back At It: Single family housing starts are up 53% from the housing bottom a few years back and up 6.9% from May and up 23.6% y/y. Homebuilders, at least, think things are picking up.

Rhetorical Questions: Are big banks criminal enterprises? Is financial crime the new normal? Do business schools breed crooks?

How Big Is Big? The IMF says the eurozone faces “a sizable risk of deflation” and suggests the ECB buy enough (?) sovereign bonds to lower the borrowing costs for bankrupt nations. In that Spain and Italy are part of the beggars' brigade and are theoretically the #3 and #4 sources of funds for the ECB, how's this going to work?

You Made Me Do It: The US says it is sorry that the oil embargo is damaging Iran's oil reserves, but had no choice because the Iranians would not give in to US bullying.

Big Government To The Rescue: Farmers in the Midwest are already crying about the high corn prices expected as the drought drags on. You know, government-hating Republicans who will soon be pleading for government money to help them over a hard spot.

Everything Is Local: Coal miners in West Virginia are damned sorry about global warming, but say that destroying mountains, the environment, and our collective future is the only way they know how to make a living.

Inconvenient Data: Arkansas finds that implementing the ACA Medicaid expansion would save the state $372 million over four years. After that the expansion would cost Arkansas $3.5 million of it's $4.7 billion budget, with the federal government chipping in $35 million (90%) of the expansion costs.

Kidnappers, Sort Of: Taliban inspired Pakistani tribal leaders in North Waziristan say they will not give Polio vaccinations to their children until the US stops killing them with drones. The theory seems to be that the US kills far more of their children than polio will.

Savings Plan: Denny Rehberg (Taliban-MT), chair of the House Labor, Health and Human Service and Education Committee, wants to cut $6.2 billion in spending on women's health, and allow employers to impose their moral/religious strictures on the women that work for them.

Point Of Order: Can you, as a parent, sue the US and/or the Defense Department for killing your children with a drone attack? Is there a court somewhere that is civilized enough to at least provide a hearing on the idea?

Porn O'Graph: Look Out Below Above!

The Parting Shot:

 

Warmups.