Thursday, June 2, 2011

SAR #11153

‘To govern’  and  ‘to steal’  are not always synonyms.

Short Form: The eurozone is closer to complete disintegration with each passing day, as one or more debt 'restructurings' draws closer. It will be dominoes on an impressive scale as banks, governments, and nations tumble. Either the eurozone will unravel and trade and transit barriers will quickly arise or some as-yet unidentified miracle occurs. One or the other.

Heart's Desire: Sarah Palin claims her 'bus tour' is a private mater. Fine. So why doesn't the media take her at her word and stop reporting on her & her summer vacation?

Go Home! The Arab Spring is producing far more international travelers than neighboring countries are prepared to accept, with estimates as high as 700,000 for fleeing Libyans and 30,000 from Tunisia. An unknown number of Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey – enough so that Turkish generals are considering creation of a “safe zone” in Syria protected by Turkish troops.

Unintended Consequences: Germany's plan to shutter all of its nuclear power plants will result in adding 40 million tons of CO2 a year to the atmosphere as fossil fuels are burned to make up the difference. Nukes are a threat. CO2 is a promise.

From 'The Histories' : “You are a witness to history. …bear in mind that these big changes happen slowly and for the most part quietly with sudden bursts of change and release of energy, often over a period of years, until the pressure breaks into the public arena, and voila, a full blown crisis appears as if out of nowhere.  And most swear that it could not have been foreseen or predicted. I am telling you, again, that it is happening now...”

Ask Not... A group of retired Japanese engineers and other professionals has volunteered to work in the Fukushima power plants – saying they and not the young should face the radiation dangers.

Adding It Up: The American middle class has become irrelevant. If you don’t make $200,000 a year, you don’t matter. Or so the advertising wizards say.

Where's the Beef Recovery? The world is united in reporting bad economic news. China is cooling as the government fights inflation. Europe is a mess and not getting better. In the US the GDP growth at 1.8% is below expectations, the housing market is still falling, unemployment is stuck at 9%, and consumers are not consuming – but paying more for food and fuel.

Question: What would be the US national debt if we did not (a) have the Bush tax cuts? (b) have the economic crash due to the GOP's campaign of deregulation and their adulation of the market economy? Or (c) the Bush wars? TARP and the stimulus are insignificant next to these.

Effective Austerity: The UK's austerity program has been quite effective in lowering nearly all economic measures. So austerity has been very effective, just not as advertised.

Off The Pace: Non-farm private employment increased by only 38,000 jobs in May – 80% fewer than anticipated. Employment in the service sector rose by 48,000,while employment in the goods-producing sector fell 10,000.

S-C Redux: In real terms, US housing prices are back to pre-2000 levels. A decade with no appreciation. Sometimes a house is just a home.

Diet Plan: Republicans say that feeding the hungry costs too much and endangers the tax cuts for the rich, thus the program must be cut.

First National Mattress:Bond manager Jeffrey Gundlach “We’re setting ourselves up for yet another one of these experiences where people wake up and they realize that they thought that they had wealth but it was all in some sort of funny land.” He suggests that cash under the mattress is not that bad an idea.

11 comments:

mistah charley, ph.d. said...

Palin is a colorful character - a combination of clever manipulator, compulsive liar, bizarre beliefs, and incredibly stupid person. She did not give birth to Trig, and the fact that this Big Lie has not been exposed is a meta-scandal. One nickname for her, referring to her resignation from the governorship, is Quitler. The ominous echo in that name is not an accident.

Completely Appalled said...

I wholly agree with the above comment. The fact that some don't realize that she is ridiculous worries me tremendously.

I'm Not POTUS said...

It is worse than you think.

Trig is the progeny of what happens when someone leaves the pass through door unlocked between Palin and Arnold s hotel rooms at a Governors convention.

I'm Not POTUS said...

That makes him half Austrian.

If no one got my joke.

Anonymous said...

You far left lunatics are just as nutty as the far right crazies. Even though both groups are very vocal (and entertaining), thank goodness they both remain fringe players in terms of voters.

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

Potus - I'm not nutty enough, 'cause while I understand it to be a joke, I don't get the joke. Is it an economists sort of thing?

ckm

Anonymous said...

"You far left lunatics are just as nutty...."

Not sure what constitutes "far left" stuff here.

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

Best I can tell, "far left" is anyone who isn't madly in love with the former part time governor of Alaska and Ronnie the Rightest.

ckm

I'm Not POTUS said...

I was freestyling off the Quitler joke.

Sarah and Arnie sitting in a tree...

I was, riffing bad, on a way out there tangent I think I was channeling Dennis Miller or something.

I was gonna go on with a nepotism joke, and say something like Trig, (Quitninator, Jr.) becomes president of the US. As the son of 2 governors and an Austrian, to boot, That can't end badly can it?

That should be funny but I too stopped laughing at how pathetic the political spectacle has become.

Anonymous said...

What I mean by far left and right are folks who buy into "nutty" theories like President Obama wasn't born in the US, Palin isn't Trig's mother, 9/11 was an inside job, Obama's a socialist, Obama wants to destroy the US, and silly ad hominem attacks like Bush/Obama is Hitter. I have no love for Palin.

Unknown said...

Palin is certainly Trigs mother...





....you mean Bristol, right?