SAR #9058

'Food fight' will soon have a more serious meaning.

Bamboozled: Citigroup has a $12 billion capitalization. It is going to let Uncle Sam buy 40% of that for $25 billion. You do the math.

Infaltion? What Inflation? Obama's 2009 FY budget is planned to be $1.75 trillion - over 12% of GDP, assuming GDP doesn't crash as expected. But fear not, fiscal discipline is just around the corner, where it has been hiding for 25 years.

Succinct Answer: Is this the bottom?

That Time of the Month: The Census Bureau reports that January's new house sales fell 48% YoY and have now fallen 78% from the peak. The price of a new house fell 13% from January 2008, and the inventory increased to a 13.3 month supply.

Bridal Shower: I wish we could meet to discuss this, / and perhaps you would help me / murder this woman on her cell phone.

Here's the Plan: The administration intends to give unlimited amounts of taxpayer dollars to the 19 largest banks. Treasury folks will go door to door asking the banks how much stress they feel, the banks will lie, and then the Feds will back up the truck and shovel dollars into the banks until they feel better. Or something like that.

Quoted: "Given the incompetence in Washington and on Wall Street, our best hope is that the rest of the world is even less competent and even in deeper trouble."

Crass Warfare: The rich claim that Obama's plan to tax the top 2% of Americans - those making over $250,000 - is the beginning of class warfare. The other 98% of Americans certainly hope so. The GOP claims this will pit the have-nots against the haves, instead of their plans, which have always pitted the haves against the have-nots.

Red Wagon: GM lost $9 billion in 4Q08, $31 billion for the whole year. They would have lost more, but sales were slow.

Congratulations: AIG, like Citi, BofA and the auto makers, is playing chicken with the public purse. They've figured out exactly how much is left in Fort Knox and they are going to ask for every penny of it, leaving the government insolvent. Which is what the neocons set out to accomplish. Game, set & match.

They Say, We Say: S&P Case-Shiller's National Home Price Index fell 18.2% in 4Q08. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said that prices fell only 8.2% in 4Q08. Buyers and sellers have their differences of opinion, too.

Getting High: There were 667,000 new unemployment claims last week, and 5.1 million workers are now on the continuing unemployment rolls - the highest number since 1982. Apologists point out that there are far more 2-worker families today than in 1982, suggesting that many of the unemployed are dilettants whose income is not needed by their families.

Double Entry: Energy Department auditors report that the department could not account for the quantities and locations of nuclear material at 37% of the facilities reviewed. Being accountants, they accounted for this material under the heading "unaccounted," which balanced the books nicely.

Misery: Kazakhstan is pulling out of the Central Asian power grid, claiming that Tajikistan was hogging power. The move caused blackouts and electricity rationing in Kyrgyzstan. Gazprom is promising to cut of gas supplies to Ukraine in early March if it doesn't come up with $400 million. Zambia has cut electricity to its copper mines by 15%. And in Pakistan, high oil prices are making the country's business uncompetitive in world markets and causing record inflation.

Silver Lining: The current 1900 mile long line for unemployment is a Good Thing, because the sooner people get through sponging off unemployment benefits, the sooner they'll accept whatever job they can find at whatever pittance they can get and the economy can recover. Gotta love those capitalists.

Porn O'Graph: Single Family Housing Ski Run.