SAR #8358

How often do "best case" scenarios pan out?

The Question: If the former chairman of the NASDAQ is a long-time crook, who could you possibly trust? Do you have any reason the think that Madoff was the exception? Didn't you just read the one about the bonuses?

Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin: "It is possible during the financial crisis to support domestic producers by raising customs duties." So said Russian Premier Vladimir Putin. But it could have been the leadership of India, Vietnam, Indonesia, China. In economic terms it's known as 'beggar thy neighbor' and gets a great deal of credit for making the Great Depression great. Of course none of the TARP money nor the Fed's trillions in guarantees is protectionist, we're free marketeers - funny ears and all.

Pathfinder: Analysts predict Britain's GDP will fall by 3% in 2009 and another 1% in 2010. Go deep and I'll throw it to you. Meanwhile, Japan's exports fell 27% YoY, with a decline of 25% in trade with China.

Obama's jobs program.... President Next promises 3 million new jobs within 2 years . The US is now losing over half a million a month. New math.

Things Better Left Unsaid: Economist Paul Krugman: "I'm fairly optimistic about 2010 ..."

Load Shedding: Nepal is likely to collapse both politically and economically if a way is not found to prevent electrical supplies from shrinking to a 6-hours-a-day level. Remember the term for shutting off the electricity, 'load shedding'. You'll see it again. Soon.

Coda: Lately the common theme in nearly every report on global warming has been: "These changes are occurring much faster than previously predicted."

Breaking the Dollar: As scared folks park their remaining cash in a Money Market, keeping the fund's net at a dollar and still making enough income to pay the light bill becomes harder and harder. Either they'll have to close, or start charging you to hold your cash, just like the Treasury

Cart, Horse, Cart: Today supply leads demand in the oil field, so prices and development investment are falling. Tomorrow demand will outstrip supply, prices will rise and it will be too late for investment. Takes these two to contango.

All Purpose Answer: Darth Cheney, after conferring with himself, has ruled that he doesn't have to leave any record of what he's done as VP for the last eight years. Or what he's done in any other capacity, for that matter. Just as well, we probably really don't want to know.

Operating Loss Projected: Who knew that General Motor's first name was Toyota?

Revival: Israel/Palestine. Chechnya. 9/11. Iraq. Somalia. Afghanistan. Nigeria. Congo. George Bush and the End of Days. Religion has reclaimed its rightful place as the leading cause of violence, torture, war and death. If my god is right, and he is, then yours must be wrong, and it is.

Increasing Decrease: Swiss glaciers are vanishing at an ever increasing rate, much like the US GDP.

Progress? The Army blows things up and hurts people, that's their job. But they wouldn't want to hurt people when they only meant to blow something up, so they've developed a 'wallpaper' that will cut down on the flying debris from explosions.

A Word: A lot of you folks read SAR regularly. I'm glad you do. Your appreciation is my reward. But if you'd like to "do something" in return for the non-stop entertainment, drag out your checkbook and write a healthy one to the local food bank. If you need help finding it, go to Second Harvest. If SAR's worth 10¢ a day to you, make it for $30 to cover the year. Thank you. Now back to our program...