Monday, May 25, 2009

SAR #9145

"E pluribis Unum" has been replaced with "What's in it for me?"


"We are out of money." Barack Obama, May 23, 2009 . Not that it was a surprise to learn the US is broke; we were simply too polite to mention it and hoped it would go away. Not that the US will default, it won't. It will keep paying in dollars of lesser and lesser worth... until something else replaces the dollar.

A Whiter Shade of Pale: Levels of atmospheric methane are rising in the Arctic. Scientists hope it is from some mysterious, unknown source, and not bubbling up from melting permafrost.

Good News, Bad News: The good news is that $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate may not totally collapse. The bad news is that it may.

Reruns: Nearly 60% of voters are against Washington helping the states with their budget problems. Even more - 66% - are against helping California. But the states will be saved - I've seen this movie before.

Investment Science: To charts, hemlines, tips, hunches, greed and unjustifiable optimism as ways to make a fortune on Wall Street, add this one: Sell on the first day of the month. Nonsense, it's all gambling.

Porn O'Graph: All the tea oil in China.

Age & Beauty: The oldest and largest trees in Yosemite Nation Park are dying, done in by global warming. If this is happening in one of the most protected areas in the USA, what's going on down the street from your house?

Risky Behavior: Of kids who get the flu, those who had flu vaccinations are three times as likely to be hospitalized than those who did not.

Scolding: On top of the S&P downgrade, now the IMF is scolding the UK to repair its public finances by "putting public debt on a more firmly downward path faster than envisaged in the 2009 Budget, or face serious shocks" to its already battered economy.

The Heat of the Sun: Ultimately, global warming can be blamed on the sun. But for the last few years the sun has been pretty quiet, which helped keep the temperature increase down. This weakening of the sun's warmth has been overwhelmed by man's CO2 outputs. The sun will eventually regain it's strength and add to the warming of the planet.

Smoke? Mirrors? The Fed plans to keep interest rates near zero until the economy pulls out of the tailspin and begins to recover. At the same time, the Treasury will borrow $2 trillion, which will drive up the cost of money. Do these folks talk to each other?

Facts Not In Evidence: Discussions about how to feed 9+ billion humans come 2050 assume that 9+ billion humans are going to make it to 2050. Maybe the challenge will be smaller.

Simple Truth: How are we going to pay for universal health care? Taxes.

Coming Or Going? The dollars dropping in value, quick run to safety! What's safe? The US dollar. Sounds like a Kafka play.

Porn o"Graph: Going Loonie, again.

4 comments:

Demetrius said...

Buy Maria Therea Thalers.

fajensen said...

Of kids who get the flu, those who had flu vaccinations are three times as likely to be hospitalized than those who did not. Ahh - But:

@Here, the only people vaccinated are the sick and the weak so Of Course they have a greater chance of ending up in hospital!!

The claim is similar to those Jehova's witnesses propaganda pieces about "people receiving blood transfusions dying six times more often" - sure, because you get a blood transfusion on grave medical emergencies. Such occasions as when they extract you from a car wreck or you have open heart surgery!!

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

fajensen - My immediate suspicion is that those who get the flu after having had the vaccination are those who have compromised immune systems and thus are the weakest of the weak. If you've had the jab and still get the flu, the flu you get may well be particularly virulent.

This data is most certainly not an argument against vaccination.
ckm

Anonymous said...

RE: We're out of Money & Reruns:

Cognitive dissonance comes to mind.

RBM