SAR #14208

“Goodwill” is an accounting measure of how much lipstick the pig is wearing.

Simply Complex: Economic growth results from a large number of interacting factors – not just the level of minimum wage or corporate taxation. The idea that problems from eduction to unemployment, growing inequity, healthcare costs and availability, immigration, climate change abortion and so on can be cured or even significantly ameliorated by changing any one variable is simply wishful thinking. And there is an awful lot of that around. Too bad there's not a simple solution.

Doomsday Machine: Australia has moved another step closer to inflicting irreparable damage to the Great Barrier Reef as it rushes to profit from driving the last few nails into its coffin, making way for a humongous coal mine.

Manners: The question should not be “Did she say no?” It should be “Did she say yes?”

The Devil To Pay: Following the Hobby Lobby template, satanists from The Satanic Temple, who have a deep and abiding reverence for human health based on the scientific and medical evidence, say their believers should be exempt from anti-abortion laws because all such laws are based on factors other than objective evidence.

The Times They Are A-changin': In planning your children's path through life remember a few basics: The essential natural resources required in the economy are being rapidly depleted, especially energy. The economy now depends on ever expanding credit (which is debt) to fund essential consumption; this has obvious built-in limits. Computers and automation are reducing the need for human labor. What jobs are left are filled by low wage workers overseas, creating a surplus of workers competing for low paying service jobs. So tell 'em to get that degree and go out there and compete.