SAR #13234

Sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society. Bradley Manning

You Say Potato: Obama says "we don't have a domestic spying program." What he meant was that NSA - 'The abyss from which there is no return' - isn't domesticated. Seems the guys from Fort Meade 'scan' at least 75% of American web traffic, emails and all. The other 25% if squirrels away to read another day.

Differences: If you, or I, heaven forbid, make a poorly advised investment through our brokerage account at Goldman Sachs, well, too bad, but that's the way the market works. Some lose, some win. But when Goldman Sachs makes a poorly advised investment through its rapid-fire computer trading, well... It wants its several hundred million buckaroos back. And will probably get them, too. One size, it seems, does not fit all.

An Explanation: The debate over who will be the next Fed chair, Yelen or Summers, comes down to a question of choosing between leadership and salesmanship. 

 

Say Goodnight, Gracie: The military thinks sit can track terrorists by tracking money laundering via Twitter and Facebook. DHS says it is “making progress” with technology to identify everyone in any crowd through facial recognition. According to internal documents, NSA monitors at least ““75% of all U.S. Internet traffic.” And what it doesn't read today it stores for a rainy day. As for the FISA court's oversight, after it found some of NSA's activities to be unconstitutional, NSA did not reform - it simplied lied to the court for three years. Goodnight, Gracie.

Noted: JPMorgan complains that the US spends “pathetically little on infrastructure compared to the rest of the civilized world.” Where did they get the idea that we were civilized?

Why I hate economists: In figuring out how much austerity has hurt us (and the economy), the general rule is to ask how much higher the GDP would have been without the effects of the austerity measurs. But, and here's where I reach for the air sickness bag, many economists say that overstates things unless we take into consideration the value of the extra leisure the unemployed and marginally employed are enjoying.

Après Nous, le Déluge: It may not be long before it will be impossible for journalists to have confidential sources. Most reporting – indeed, most human life in 2013 – leaves too much of a digital fingerprint for the concept of 'confidential' to survive.

 Economics: The art of making exact predictions based on assumptions about unmeasurable things.

Informed Citizens: A poll showed that Louisiana Republicans are more likely to blame Obama than Bush for the poor federal response to Hurricane Katrina, which happened in 2005.

Once More, Without Feeling: Collateralized debt obligations, the complex financial instruments that cratered disastrously in the financial crisis, are back. In the bad old days they were frequently gamed to the tune of subprime mortgages. Today they are being played with chips from assorted squirrelly loans. Instead of being called CDO, they're now called CLO. See, it's different this time.

Kindling: Someone paid for research that determined that US Senators represent their wealthiest constituents at the expense of those lower on the food chain.

Healthcare, The Score: The public doesn’t like what it thinks the Democrats did. But it really doesn’t like what it thinks the Republicans will do. And rightly so, for the Republicans have no idea what they will do after repealing Obamacare.

Porn O'Graph: Equality.

The Parting Shot:

No IRA, no pension, no social safety net...