SAR #8354

Does anyone outside their immediate family still regard

our leaders as leaders?

Facts Not In Evidence: The article asks: Are biofuels still economically feasible? Which begs the real question: Were biofuels ever economically feasible? Or morally?

Quagmire: California is first among equals, as the state needing the largest handout the soonest. But like AIG and Iraq, once will not be enough and there is no exit plan in sight.

Ozymandias: Scientists have discovered both a new type of pterosaur (flying reptile) and a 65 foot long sauropod. A cautionary reminder of the permanence of change.

Sir Lance A Lot: Hank Paulson, who has done such a wonderful job in saving the investment banks and the entire financial/credit system, has rushed off to Detroit to save the ugly sisters. He doesn't actually have to rescue them, just keep them on life support until Obama takes office.

Winter Advisory: Twenty percent of US households were behind on utility bills at the end of last winter, and five percent had service terminated for non-payment.

Huffing & Puffing Keep in mind that Bernanke & Co. are striving mightily to restore the status quo, to let the Larry Kudlow's go on believing that financial capitalism actually works. All that 'success' will bring us is another, even bigger bubble and another, even bigger crash. No point in actually trying to solve the problem.

Vocabulary: "Anonymizing" What Yahoo! will do with all the info it has on you, every 90 days, compared to the 9 months retention Google now holds your identifiable data.

One Stop Shop: Tuesday the Fed said it would use any and all possible tools to help the financial markets and the economy. It will stick its not-so-invisible hand into any market that is not performing to the Fed's satisfaction. It already is the market for corporate paper, mortgages, and mortgage backed securities, and is about to become the market for household and small business loans. Soon after will start the new Americanized Master-Visa Express credit card program.

Glory Days: Morgan Stanley made $3.3 billion betting against itself by buying back its own cheaply valued debt, and made $1.1 billion hedging its own debt. Only a capitalist could be proud of making money selling its own shroud. Even so, it lost $2.4 billion in the quarter.

Unsaddled: As the US economy drops, more and more horses are being abandoned by their wannabe owners who no longer can afford them.

Far, Far Away: As part of its effort to con Washington into a few billion in "loans", GM has stopped construction of the factory that would have made the engine for the Volt plug-in electric car and the fuel efficient engine for the Chevy Cruze.

Quoted w/o Comment: "I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2008

Ouroboros: Watching the rich eat their young is instructive. Seems that a lot greedy of rich folks kept making money with Bernie Madoff right up to the point they didn't have any money. Worse yet, they had pledged their apartments, condos, houses against loans to get more money to give to Madoff, or used their accounts with him as surety for other loans to buy apartments, condos and houses ...and then the walls came tumbling down.

Not Today, Not Tomorrow: Bush's mandated 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 is not going to happen. That's the best news on the corn-based ethanol front in months.