SAR #8353

They just don't know what else to do.

Cry: Now that everything else has failed, Bernanke has opted for "quantitative easing," better known as printing money. This cannot work. The US relies on foreigners to buy our debt; with zero return and steadily increasing inflation robbing their principal, who's going to buy? If you print all the money you want, imports will slow or stop - which is fine for salad spinners, but is not going to work in the oil trade. The bond market may decide the fate of a currency, but those with the oil decide the fate of countries.

Symptoms: Feeling a tad queasy since FMOC endorsed Bernanke's quantitative easing? Are you concerned that this will soon get out of hand and turn into rampant inflation? Read Yves, she'll not make you feel better, just less alone.

1000 Words: News stories have been bragging that over 1,000 species have been discovered in the Greater Mekong during the past decade. Pictures, slideshow and video here.

They're Off! Joining Suzuki, Subaru has withdrawn from the world rally championships, Volvo, #2 truck-maker in the world, has temporarily halted production, Toyota is begging Nippon Steel for a 30% discount, Honda quit Formula 1 racing, GM is shutting down 3 assembly lines in Mexico. Chrysler closes everything for a month. Is that a checkered flag? Is it over yet?

Fun, Fun, Fun? China says that the US should not assume it can borrow its way out of the current financial crisis. Did Daddy just take the T-Bird away?

Rainbows: The two largest drivers of the American Consumer society, cars and houses, got way oversold in the run-up to the crash. The economy will not begin to revive until those cars are on the way to the junk yard and their owners have begun to forget how the housing & banking industry cleaned them out. Bernanke is going to lead the horse to water, but the horse remembers the bad taste from last time.

Q & A: Paul Krugman asks, "Do we need a middle class?" and answers "No." Just as you suspected.

Table Stakes: The Fed's spent the last 9 months trying to solve a crisis caused by too much bad debt by issuing more debt to the same actors. It hasn't worked. Now they are at the OTB window, doubling down to make up their gambling losses with one last long shot.

Maulled: At least two mall owners - General Growth Properties Inc. and Centro Properties Group -- have empty piggy banks. That's 850 malls across America looking for a savior this Christmas.

Contest: Now accepting suggestions for a replacement for 'Dominoes' in headlines and reports about the continuing collapse of the auto industry. 'Cascade' might work, at least for reports of the effect on suppliers of all the month-long shutdowns being announced.

Et Cetera: Madoof, AIG, Blagojevich... Nice to see tradition still means something in the US, as its economic and political escapades return to the warmly remembered norms of the Roaring 90's.

Point of No Return: Scientists report the Arctic is warming much faster than predicted by the IPCC, and think the temperature will soon reach a point beyond which recovery is no longer possible. Temperatures and events forecast to occur 10 or 15 years in the future are happening now.

Unthinkable: Why do we keep bailing out the banks? What do we use banks for? Not savings, not us. Not to get a loan, hardly ever. To process the credit cards, sure, and to hold the checking account. Provide public notary service once in a while, that's about it. Let 'em drown.

Overslight: To get a $120,000 mortgage takes the 5-page Uniform Residential Loan Application. To get $20,000,000,000 from Paulson's TARP takes a two page form, one page listing how much and the other telling where to send it.

Porn O'Graph: Assets in a sling, shot.