SAR #14196

Economic data are best viewed as a peculiarly boring genre of science fiction. Paul Krugman. 

 
MA He's Making Eyes At Me: The volume of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is back to 2007 levels, largely as a result of global near-zero interest rates. These deals are based on the promise and assumption that 'value' will be created through 'synergies' and 'efficiencies' – which are code words for cutting labor costs. Can you say layoffs? Tens of thousands of layoffs?

The Emperor's Clothes: As Robert Reich notes, the children fleeing to the US are “refugees of the drug war we created.” 
 
Getting A Grip: The US population increases a tad over 2.2 million a year, and in 2010 (last year available) saw just over 4 million births. The expected 'flood' of refugee children crossing the southern border represents about 0.1% of our births and a whopping 0.02% increase in our population. Disaster, disaster, the children are coming!

Halt! Who Goes There: An Arizona GOP legislator and congressional candidate rallied a bunch of supporters to block a busload of children... headed for a YMCA summer camp outing in a school bus. Oh, well, his heart was in the right place.

Win Some... Police in the UK have arrested 660 suspected pedophiles. Not a one of them was a member of parliament or the government or a former friend of Margaret Thatcher.

Selective Hearing: The NSA says it cannot release the emails Snowden sent his superiors about his concerns because it “would violate his privacy.” 
 
Question Time: Louie Gohmert warns that Obama won’t ‘defend women from hundreds of thousands’ of immigrant rapists. Tell me, how many immigrants are there each year? What proportion are males? What percentage of those males are rapists? How many years will it take for 'hundreds of thousands of immigrant rapists' to get to your neighborhood?

Scoreboard: To date, investors have sued the too big to fail banks for $250 billion for various crimes, frauds and financial chicanery leading to the housing bubble and subsequent collapse. Go team!