SAR #12256

Good ideas do not need lies to explain them.

Report Card: Inspectors from the EU/IMF/ECB report that austerity has accomplished the following in Portugal: “GDP growth remains in line with projections”, but unemployment is higher, disposable income is lower, and tax revenues are falling “significantly behind projections”. More “structural adjustment”, short of massive riots, is needed. By the way, that projected GDP growth for 2012 is a minus 3%. In Spain, 1,500,000 of the beneficiaries of Triolka austerity turned out to protest, demanding Catalonian independence, while Spain's PM declines to submit to further austerity. Well, we'll see how that goes; it certainly should dampen enthusiasm on the continent.

Pick One: (1) Cutting Government spending will create jobs – 130,000 in Iowa alone. Or (2) Continued government spending will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. That's the gospel according to Romney.

Sadtistics: The number of Americans working full time increased last year, but their wages fell and household income did not change. Over the last 44 years, inflation adjusted household income rose... $8,000. (from $42,000 to $50,000 a year).. having fallen 1.7% in the last year and over 9% from the median household income peak in 1999. You feel worse off because you are worse off. Yet GDP rose from $8.7 trillion to $14.4 trillion. Who got the extra $6 trillion?

Medical Silence: Routine screening for ovarian cancer is another modern medical procedure that is ineffective and at times can do more harm than good.

The Grand Tour: Wholesale inventories were up 0.7% in July (after a 0.2% fall in June), as the Inventory/Sales ratio rose for a third consecutive month, suggesting that inventories may be reaching unacceptable levels. Again.

Water, Water... In the next 10 years the world will need to find 20 new Nile rivers to grow enough food to feed the world's growing population and avoid conflicts over water. Another study shows that large parts of Asia will suffer more severe droughts in the coming decade, endangering regional food supplies. Uzbekistan is not waiting that long, warning Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that their plans to build dams on rivers upstream of Uzbekistan could lead to war.

Advanced Degree: Religion is a compelling reason not to educate children – not only in Afghanistan, but also in Virginia, where nearly 7,000 offspring of religious nuts are being lawfully prevented from getting an education.

Extractly: Following the spread of strikes by miners throughout South Africa, the nation's defense forces have been placed on full alert for the first time since the old regime fell in 1994. Equality is all fine and good, but interfering with profits will not be tolerated.

The Tab: The housing debacle – from foreclosures, to plummeting house prices, to MBS to bailouts and on and on – cost the nation about $13 trillion. So far.

Not Just Fox: Raw Story, “America's #1 completely independent news...” headlined “US poverty rate drops.” And it did. From 15.1% of the population to 15.0%. Your results may vary, because median household income dropped 1.5% and incomes were 8.1% lower than in 2007. Lies, damned lies, and headline writers.

Quoted: “I am at my best when I believe what I say.” Barack Obama, our leader.

The Parting Shot: