SAR #12244

Modern technology is neat, but doesn't beat indoor plumbing.

Still Crazy After All These Years: Of late, people have taken to insisting that housing has bottomed and is turning up, up, up! Great, but... There are still over 11 million underwater houses. The shadow housing inventory is worth over $245 billion. Prices have risen for two whole consecutive months, but remain 31% below their heights. Banks continue to delay (or even refuse) foreclosures, creating a false impression of tight supply, Speculators are bidding against each other for properties to bundle and palm off as investments, driving up prices. The actual number of new houses sold in July was 34,000, out of 142,000 on the market (but only 38,000 of these were actually completed, ready to occupy). The housing is in tight supply about the same way diamonds are. Oh, and the unemployment rate is still well over 8%.

What Could Go Wrong? The US is deploying 200 Marines to Guatemala to fight in the drug war.

The Medicare Killers: Ryan claims that “a Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare.” That is a lie. It would actually kill the program, converting it to Vouchercare, which means higher costs and lower benefits for seniors, leading to the end of universal access to essential care. Seniors who cannot afford to be sick will be left to die.

Smoke/Mirrors: Spain claims it is considering re-capitalizing its banks without aid from the EU. Considering.

Why No Prosecutions? We've been taught that financial stability and economic recovery are more important than rule of law. There is an argument to be made that law has to give way to basic economic needs, but I'm not convinced.

Lab Rats Wanted: Homeland Security is going to spray Bacillus subtilis into the Boston subway system and see if biologic sensors designed to detect biologic actually work. The bacterium is considered nontoxic. Practicing. For our benefit.

New & Improved: South African police, having killed 34 striking miners, are charging the miners they didn't kill with murder.

Priorities: The interests of private equity firms (like Bain) do not coincide with the best interests of the companies they take over and certainly not with their employees. Being a takeover specialist (like The Mitten) makes one an expert in using other people's money to make money, adding debt to captive companies for personal enrichment, and firing people to drive up stock prices. None of that creates jobs.

Ryan Review: Analysts found Paul Ryan's convention speech dazzling, distracting, and deceptive. And that was from his friends at FOX. Paul Ryan has inherited George W.'s mantle, giving the most dishonest convention speech ever. He is just another mean-spirited ideologue. This is not an attack on his character, just a description of it.

Porn O'Graph: We don't need no socialized medicine.

The Parting Shot:

Rest Area.