It's the guns, stupid.
Motives: CFOs suspect that at least 20% of the quarterly earnings reported by publicly-traded US companies are fudged “in an attempt to influence stock price.”
Slip Sliding Away:The Greenland ice sheet is melting – 97% of it. And it is melting faster than at any other time in recorded history. The data was so startling to climate scientists that at first they thought there had been a mistake. Nope, NASA had the photos to prove it. The rapid melt has deepened scientists' fears about the pace and consequences of climate change.
Best Laid Plans: Under Pennsylvania’s harsh new voter ID law, about 20% of the state's voters do not have the newly required photo ID – but 98% of the state's registered voters think they do. In Philadelphia, 43% - over 400000 – of the voting population may be ineligible. Pretty much what the Republicans wanted.
Spade, Spade: Let's clear up this Bain thing. The whole and only point of private equity firms is to make money by buying a business and wringing every last cent out of it. Generally previous management was unable to return sufficient profits to the shareholders while operating the business, so the private equity firms set about dismantling the business, taking immediate profits where they can, run up as much debt as possible sell off the physical plant and then run off with the money. That's what they do. Do not criticize them; that's what they were designed to do. Their object is not to create jobs, it is to create profits, as large and as fast and as tax free as possible. That's what Romney did at Bain. He was good at it. It does not qualify him to be President of all the people.
Pogo Redux: Alaskans, those rugged outdoorsmen enamored of the pristine wilderness are trying to block rules intended to limit damage to the environment from ships. They say the rules will result in higher freight rates that would raise their costs and pricier cruises that will reduce the haul they make from cruise ship passengers. We can't afford to save ourselves.
The Way We Were:“In 2011, more than one in four private sector jobs were low-wage positions paying less than $10 per hour.”
This Just In! According to three NSA whistle-blowing traitors, the Agency is gathering information on every person in the United States.
Every Little Bit: Oil companies profits come to $375 million a day – including $6.6 million a day they rake in from federal tax breaks.
Onward And Downward: Demand for new U.S. homes unexpectedly dropped in June from a two-year high. Purchases decreased to a 350,000 annual rate, down 8.4% m/m as the median price fell 3.2%. Cheerleader-in-Chief Ben Bernanke says the housing market is showing a “modest” recovery”. Very modest.
The Parting Shot:
Myxomycetes sp. (And here.)
1 comment:
Re: Pogo Redux
I just came back from a two-week trip to Alaska. The first week of that trip was on a cruise ship through the inside passage and stopping at three Southeastern Alaskan ports. The extra $18 per day would affect tourism at the margins, but nothing more (it would not have stopped me from going, for instance). But they need to think of it this way: one of the main draws to this part of the world is the marine wildlife (and fishing, too) that are affected by the dirtier fuels they are wanting to preserve the right to use.
So, in other words, if you want people to keep coming to see your state, you better protect the sea animals they want to see (and catch); and that means using less polluting fuels as much as you can.
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