SAR 9271

Some things you suspect, some you guess at and some you just know.

Winding Down: The government wants to wean the housing industry from the federal teat, but before it can, something will have take its place. So far a Bigger Fool has not been spotted on the horizon.

Full Of It: Full employment, in the 1990's, meant 5% unemployment. In 2000, unemployment stood at 3.8%. Now economists say the “natural unemployment rate” is more like 7%. Or maybe 9%. Or maybe 10% for a couple of years before dropping a little. How's housing going to fare if permanent natural unemployment is close to 10%? They're full of something all right, but it ain't unemployment.

Peaceable Assembly: Tasers are sooo 20th century. Now the government can disband unwanted crowds using the “Long Range Acoustic Device” which is even more painful than sitting in traffic next to a teen blasting out rap. Expect it to pop up at protest rallies everywhere – they say it's nonlethal.

Be Prepared: What if Iran's actually trying to do something to get ready for when the oil runs out...

Them That Has, Keeps: Most of us accept that the science is right, there is a climate disaster just ahead. And most of us also understand that we are not going to do anything to prevent it because it would cost big oil, big coal and their bankers too much money. Monkeys with their fists stuck in a jar.

Good Old Days : Morgan Stanley has a new business plan, which involves paying their employees more to take risks. It's pretty much the old plan, just before Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers...

Numbers Game: The UK's Meteorological Office now sees the average global temperature rising 4ºC by 2060 – long before the 2100 date usually cited. This will bring droughts around the world, a rise in sea level, and the collapse of ecosystems, with the Arctic – which warms much more than the mid-latitutdes, warming as much as 16ºC (28ºF), while sub Saharan Africa and interior North America will 'warm' by 10ºC (18ºF) on average. Someday soon the governments of the world will get together to make plans to convene a session to propose guidelines to be discussed and voted upon at a date to be decided, possibly before 2050.

Excellent Question: “Why Haven't Bernanke And Geitner Been Canned Yet?”

Job Odds: There are six job seekers for every job opening – 14.5 million unemployed and only 2.4 million jobs. And there are about 150,000 more looking for work every month, while the number of jobs keeps getting smaller.

Nanomedicine: University of Toronto scientists have developed a fingertip-sized microchip that can determine the type and severity of a patient's cancer in about half an hour – far faster than the time it will take to fill out the insurance paperwork.

Hydra-Headed Myth: All that cash in MM funds, or bank accounts, or anywhere but under the mattress is really nothing but IOU's there is no idle cash on the sidelines. Not even the money in your checking account is actually in your checking account. Someone's using it. Just hope they can pay you back when you need the cash. There is no “cash on the sidelines” waiting idly for something to do.

The Invisibles : If you are between 16 and 24 and are not a student, thEre is a better than 50/50 chance you are unemployed. But even if you are looking, if you've never had a job you are not “unemployed”. Nor are you likely to be contributing to society.

Porn O'Graph: Can't pump what you don't find.