A
safe bet: nothing will happen that costs much money.
Preview:
For the next couple of months there will be a blizzard of articles
about global warming, how bad it is and how much worse it will become
and how the nations of the world can work together to put a pony in
every pot. Or something. CO2 concentrations, which were at about
150ppm before we started burning coal and oil, are now at 400ppm and
headed higher, much higher. These greenhouse gases will remain in
the atmosphere for centuries, there is only so much policymakers have
the power to change about our use of fossil fuels. The
laws of physics are non-negotiable, so
don't expect us to stop at 4ºC,
much
less 2ºC,
that's
just not going to happen. So
lots of bad things will.
Cheap
Shot:
Volkswagen is
going to try to buy off US owners of their diesel cars with “a
thousand dollar goodwill gesture.” Well, only $500 of that is
actual money, the rest is vaporware, a lot like their emissions
control.
Keys
To The Kingdom:
Under the TTP, investor-to-state
dispute settlement (ISDS) places investment tribunals above
states, above democracies.” And
“almost any change
in financial regulations affecting future profits could be challenged
in an extra-judicial
ISD tribunal
even
if they were enacted in response to a crisis”. For
example, polluters
could sue the US for setting CO2 emission limits.
Good
News/Bad News:
The good news is that the Hungarian government has decided to abandon
its plan to put spies in all newsrooms. The bad news is that they
thought this was a good idea. The really, really bad news is that if
any government wanted to put spies in the newsrooms they wouldn't
talk about it.
Two
For The Price Of One:
A JPMorgan vice president has pled guilty to stealing $20 million
“to gamble and trade with.” As though they were different
things.
Free
Ponies: Over
70% of Americans want the government to aggressively control
healthcare prices, including drugs, medical devices, hospital costs
and physician payments. They
are in favor
importing cheaper drugs from other countries and allowing Medicare to
negotiate drug prices. They
also want to keep their doctor.
Can't
Beat 'Em, Join 'Em:
According to the Pentagon, the US now sees the Taliban as partners
in the Afghan reconciliation process. When they're not seeing them
in Doctors Without Borders hospitals that is.
Shifty:
It is looking
increasingly likely that inflation, wages and labor markets are
undergoing a fundamental structural shift, with a lower cost goods,
lower wages and part-time self-employment, nonexistent inflation and
globalized capital and labor markets completely changing the way
economies work. The Fed and its friends keep pretending to be in
charge, but the last decade is pretty much proof that they are not.
It is entirely possible that the long expected interest rate increase
is the
stepchild of theories that no longer describe the economy.
Dead
Heat: The
fires in Indonesia are tied with Human Greed for the title of
greatest environmental disaster of the current century. Why don't we
do something about them? Oh,
right. Money.
Clause
And Effect:
Tom Cotton (R-AR) has identified the cause of the meth epidemic –
along with heroin abuse and associated crime - sweeping the Bible
Belt. It's Social Security disability benefits, which are an
“alternative source of income to a good paying full-time job.”
Full-time jobs in AR must pay a lot less in than they do in the rest
of the country.
Claim:
A headline the far-right will jump on claimed “A mere 7 percent of
journalists identify as Republicans.” Implying, to the reality
challenged GOP, that 93% are Democrats. Not so; only 28% identify
as Dems, the rest are either independent or indifferent. The low
number of Republicans is probably due to the habit journalists have
of asking questions, a trait seldom found in Republicans.
Equal
Rights: At 99
to 1 odds, The winner of an all-fillies race was a longshot which
turned out to to be a male, not a female. The
owner claims the horse is trangendered.
Porn
O'Graph: Don't
worry, we just owe it to ourselves.
3 comments:
Porn- So if the gubbmint holds all that consumer paper, that would be a great place to start the debt jubilee! I'll bet it could happen in a dream....TT
Anybody know what these "consumer loans held by the federal government" are? This doesn't include GSE's does it? Is this how they classify all the crap they've taken off the banks' grubby hands via QE?
"Clause and Effect": So . . . One can only conclude that he's suggesting "things" would miraculously be BETTER in Arkansas if SS payments stopped tomorrow. Was HE stoned at the time of the interview or is he really just that brain dead?
Post a Comment