SAR #14087

"Just about everything you learned in Econ 101 is wrong." James Kwak. 

 
New Revised Version: Obama says it is unfair to compare Putin's invasion of Crimea with America's war in Iraq. To whom?

Yes We Scan: The administration plans to stop gathering all that data about your phone usage and make the phone companies keep it until Uncle wants it to harass you. But don't worry, they'll pretend to get a warrant and fully intend to pay the phone companies for ratting you out.

Mirror, Mirror: After a thorough investigation, Governor Christie has announced that he was unable to find any wrong doing on the part of Governor Christie in the Case of the Magical Lane Closings.

Secular Speculations: What if we need negative interest rates to get the economy moving and no one wants to accept negative rates and the government fails to get inflation going? The economy will not get moving for a long, long time. And we need negative interest rates to encourage investment. But who is sitting on all those dollars? Not the poor. Not the bottom 90%. If we can't get the rich to invest, maybe we should take the money away from them and put it to work.

It's Only Business: The Italian mafia makes more in a year than McDonald's and Deutsche Bank combined. But not as much as Walmart.

Social Serviced: Walmart's annual report warns that “changes in the amount of payments made under the Supplement[al] Nutrition Assistance Plan and other public assistance plans, changes in the eligibility requirements of public assistance plans...” will cut into their future profits. They did not suggest they would pay their employees more just because they are getting less from federal support programs. 
 
Size Matters: The EPA is strengthening the sanctions to be assessed on companies that dump pollutants into streams the flow into major waterways. Polluting streams that flow into minor waterways remains an acceptable business practice.

And The Band Began To Play: The IMF is rushing to Ukraine's assistance, offering them $18 billion if they accept the same austerity measures that – just last month – the IMF said didn't work and were likely to cause social upheaval. Let the looting begin.

Once Upon A Tine: I'm old enough to remember segregation being defended on religious, biblical grounds – exactly the way slavery had earlier been justified. It's not “The devil made me do it”, but that God said it was okay. There's a reason we have to separate church and state.

Fact-O-Rama: There are nearly as many payday loansharks in the US as there are McDonald's and Starbucks, loaning money out at 400% a year – legally.

Jesus Wept: Tennessee pased a law letting students discriminate against others and blame it on God. The bill also permits students to answer test questions using Biblical Authority, which is going to tickle the biology teachers no end. It's not as if Tennessee needed any additional legislation to illustrate the futility of evolution.

Porn O'Graph: What went around...

The Parting Shot: