SAR #9027

Failure is always an option.

Chicken, The Game: California's Controller, John Chiang, says that he will not write $3.7 billion in checks due next week if the legislature and the governor haven't found a solution to their budgetary impasse by then. The check's not in the mail.

How many Inches in a Liter: The DJIA isn't following its own rules - stocks under $10 are not to be in the index.

Cause and Effect: The drop in Shell's 4Q09 profits may cause a reduction in new production projects this year, which will lead to lower profits next year, and so on.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas the 1930's: The 4Q08 GDP race: US -6.4%, Germany -7%, Japan -12%, Singapore 12.5% and Korea -22%. There may be trouble ahead. "It is the second phase of depression that does terrible things. "

Anticipation: Barron's says the market won't turn up until October 2010. That's no bull.

Re-Wind: Seems the conservatives spent Sunday lying about Obama's stimulus plan. One could hope our leaders (those who won the election) see this for waht it is: a desperate attempt to use "bipartisanship" an excuse to resume the discredited policies that voters have already rejected.

Why? Most people do not get cancer. Why not?

No Exit? Larry Summers says the US is entering a 'difficult time' but that Obama's TARP will be 'very different' than the Bush-Paulson edition. Paisley is my guess.

Shorter Showers: Do you really need 850 liters of fresh water every morning? And that's just the OJ. If you have a cup of coffee and a shower you're into next week's allotment of water. The UN says one third of the world's population does not have sufficient supplies of potable water. Shower with a friend.

Today's List: Caterpillar to cut 20,000 jobs, Home Depot 7,000, Starbucks 1,000, Sprint 8,000, Microsoft 5,000, Intel 6,000, Ericsson 5,000, IBM 2,800, Eaton 5,200, Clear Channel 1,800, Bose 1,000, Pfizer 8,000, Deere 700, TI 3,400, Philips 6,000, ING 7,000, GM 2,000. Time's up.

Bataan: Emperor penguins - those of Marching fame - are headed for extinction as the sea ice they depend on is disappearing faster than they can evolve to meet the change.

Employee Benefit: Canon lets its employees leave early twice a week so they can go home and increase production the population.

Good Job: US Treasury guy appears to have told Indymac how to cook their books and then pushed through an exception to make it legal. Who said government employees sit around doing nothing all day?

In the Name of Love: Dick Fuld, Former Lehman Brothers CEO sold his $13 million house on Florida's ritzy Jupiter Island to his wife for $100. Florida's bankruptcy laws are quite generous in protecting homes.

Big Brother Corporation: The Red Cross, Save the Children, Care International, Oxfam, and 10 other British charities wanted to broadcast an appeal to raise funds for humanitarian relief in Gaza, to rebuild the schools, hospitals and homes destroyed by Israel. The BBC told them to go away.

Bio Fuel: Kenya has 10 million people facing famine, while elsewhere in East and Central Africa another 25 million face starvation, due to poor rains during the growing season and rising global food prices.

Emphasis: In December existing houses sold at a 4.74 million per year rate, an increase of 6.5% over November's downwardly adjusted number. The stock market loved it and went up! The average price dropped 15.3% from the prior year, but the market went up! This was the largest price decline on record, but the market went up! Wonder if it will go up some more when the December figure is downwardly adjusted?