SAR #13204

In an ideal world there would be clear distinctions between business and extortion, blackmail, banking and governance.

The Great Escape: After a two-day attack on Abu Ghraib, over 500 inmates - mostly senior al Qaeda leaders awaiting execution - have escaped. The well-coordinated operation is just the latest battle by insurgent Sunis against the Shi'ite-led government installed in Iraq following the US invasion a decade ago. 
 
Down Is The New Up: Existing home sales declined 1.2% m/m in June; excuses abound, except the one about the non-recovering economy.

Waste Not, Want: Those who want to terrify us with the specter of death by debt have seized Detroit as their new rallying cry - it was the greedy unionized government workers who brought down the city and, they warn, will bring down cities across this great nation unless their pension rights are destroyed. That's the game plan. That and selling off the art to the usual suspects. Disaster capitalism at it's best. 
 
Fairness Doctrine: All those CEOs making 468 times their average employee's wage write their compensation off their companies' taxes, driving our taxes up by $120 billion a year.
No Interest: Turkey's rebellion is spreading throughout the country. Not just that park in Istanbul, nor just a few major cities - it has spread throughout the southeast, with heavy clashes between the police and government troops and the protesters. No, you didn't see it on the evening news.

Ah, Those Guys Again: The Lemmings have decided not to even pretend to care about the environment, the earth, or the future and announced they plan to cut the EPA budget by 34% and to prohibit any federal rules that would limit carbon emissions from power plants, no matter how high the temperature or the tides rise.

Noted: Chicago schools are laying off 2,100 employees while the city puts $55 million into a college basketball arena. Priorities.

Unchecked and Unbalanced: The Administration maintains that NSA's 24/7 monitoring of everything you say and do - and by inference, think - “cannot be challenged in a court of law”. Nor can federal courts review the legitimacy of the administration's murder-by-drone of American citizens abroad, either "before or after the Americans were killed." Nor can anyone - court, congress or citizen - investigate whether the NSA is blackmailing top government and military officials - including the Supreme Court Justices.

Unredeemable: “All in all, we are continuing to learn a lot from this slump, not just about how the economy works, but about how many economists work. Unfortunately, none of the news is good."

Fail and Fail: The Federal Reserve has a dual mandate to promote price stability and ensure full employment. It has yet to achieve either. It has set an annual inflation target of 2 percent, yet the consumer price index rose only 1.4 percent in the 12 months ending in May and is now floundering. The only decrease in the unemployment figures is due to people leaving the labor force; not exactly a big victory for Gentle Ben there, either. Central banks are limited to monetary policies that can raise or lower short-term interest rates, and buy or sell securities. That’s it. Those actions did bit not create jobs,but fiscal policy (ie. spending) can. Don't blame the Fed, blame your local congrescritter.

Re-Booting: In a pilot project to evaluate 'on-line learning' in math-related courses, the on-line learning mostly didn't happen, with only 20% to 44% of students getting passing grades - even though 83% 'completed' the course, whatever that might mean.

No Deposit No Return: Not news, but notable, is the publicity currently surrounding Goldman Sachs' manipulation of aluminium prices, to the tune of several billion dollars in profits. Multiply by any number of other basic commodities. Is what they're doing illegal? No, just devious. Should it be? What, and impose controls on the big banks? Heaven forbid.

'Twas Always So: "Black criminality is more than myth; it is socially engineered prophecy. If you believe a people to be inhuman, you confine them to inhuman quarters and inhuman labor, and subject them to inhuman policy. When they then behave inhumanely to each other, you take it is as proof of your original thesis. The game is rigged. Because it must be." Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Porn O'Graph: Not climbing Jacob's Ladder.

The Parting Shot: