Sheep are ruled by wolves.
Dancing In The Dark: The Republicans do not have a 'position' on the sequester, what they have is a deep and abiding commitment to no new taxes nor any increase in taxes on the rich. Ever. Everything else is just window dressing. There is no basis for discussions, no room for compromise; this is the received truth. Holy writ. They view it like a law of nature, like gravity. You want to increase taxes on the poor, fine with them. On the middle class? Who needs a middle class. But they will not negotiate on taxing the rich and will happily watch and see what happens next. And they think what happens next is going to be good for them.
The Biggest Loser: Was not Mario Monti, it was Angela Merkel.
Re-branding: JCPenny lost $2.51 a share in the 4th quarter, verses the 25 cent loss expected. Their 4Q same-store sales were down 32%, while their accounts payable rose by 14% - suggesting that they are stiffing vendors 'changing vendor payment terms.' Since their 'fair and square' slogan doesn't really seem appropriate, maybe they'll go back to 'every day matters.' Kohl's dropped 17% in Q4 and even Wal-Mart is having trouble keeping the shelves stocked. Recovery!
Triage: Pharmaceutical firms have pretty much stopped shipping drugs to Greece because they're not getting paid. About 300 drugs are now "in very short supply" and when a pharmacy gets some drugs, lines form early and "get very aggressive." Cue the Republicans' austerity theme music...
Vindication: Research shows that pessimists live longer than optimists. And the cranky ones live even longer. Ha!
This Just In Deleted: The Congressional Research Service reported that it “found no correlation between top tax rates and economic growth”, and that “reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth.” Mitch McConnell didn't want it bandied about, so he had the report un-reported.
Reminder: Many of the folks who are telling you that housing is (once again) the best way for most of us to build wealth are the same folks who told us that back in 2005 and 2006.
Civil Rights: Unlike the US, which has no qualms about killing its citizens, the British first strips them of their citizenship and then has the US drop a drone on them. It wouldn't do to kill actual citizens, old boy.
Why Worry? Two major dairy organizations want to be able to put aspartame in milk (to make it sweeter and more appealing to kids), but do not want to put anything about the aspartame on the label, because it might cause customers to chose the real thing confuse customers.
Happy Days: US GDP increased (sic) 0.1% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Logical Conclusion: According to Jerry Moran (R-KY) the reason the US lets owners of private and corporate jets write them off their taxes is so that the hourly workers who sweep the floors at the factories that build them will have jobs. If that's true, then why don't we let them write off their houses all over the... oh, wait.
Birds of a Feather: A leader of the Southern Baptists worries that society will soon treat hating gays just like hating black people.
Assume The Position: Are you sure you want that smartphone? When the cops arrest you and search the phone – no warrant required as of now - they will get: all the names and numbers in your cell (later to be termed 'co-conspirators'), any stored text messages, those naughty photos, and your passwords. You knew that, right. They'll also get a list of the places you've been recently – for as many GPS points as your phone recalls - plus the identifying the Wi-Fi nets you use. And passwords. Then they go to your network provider and get even more. No warrant. But you've nothing to worry about, as long as whatever you're doing doesn't retroactively become a crime.
The Parting Shot:
Help wanted.
