Tuesday, June 21, 2016

SAR #16173


Consensus is generally reached by disagreeing.
Mystery Solved: Some seem puzzled that 10 years after the housing bubble burst so many Americans are struggling to pay their rent and not taking part in the real estate recovery. It is very simple: Vast numbers of one-time homeowners were financially gutted in Wall Street's housing trap and have not recovered. And will not, because rapacious investors swooped in, bought up the crushed housing on the cheap and have now raised rents so the former owners cannot afford to rent their old homes. And wages remain stagnant, so there is little hope for a flourishing middle class housing renaissance any time soon.
Sauce/Goose/Gander: The US commander in Europe, who has just overseen a joint NATO exercise involving the rapid deployment of troops to the Russian border in the Balkans, says we should fear Russia's ability to rapidly deploy large numbers of troops on their side of the same border.
Trending: Worldwide, May temperatures set another heat record. This make it 13 months in a row.
Blessing The Little Children: Bill Donohue, a Roman Catholic member of the New York state legislature, explains he led the effort to kill a bill that would have made it easier for victims of sexual abuse to bring suit against their abusers because it was an attempt to “rape” the Catholic church.
Gasping At Straws: Phytoplankton in the seas are responsible for producing about half of the oxygen in the atmosphere. Scientists predict that when the world's oceans warm by 6°C (10.8°F) plankton will stop producing oxygen. They also predict that this may happen by 2100. Take a deep breath and relax; most likely you'll die of something else before then.
The Spared Rod:There is a whole economics literature on the importance of being able to fire workers as a way of ensuring work discipline. Unfortunately this never seems to apply to the people at the top. And this is seen most clearly in the cases of those responsible for economic policy in the European Union.”
Populism: Surveys consistently show that Americans overwhelmingly want a single payer healthcare program – like that proposed by Mr. Sanders. So the Democrats have selected Mrs. Clinton, who adamantly refuses to consider any program that would hurt the profits of the medical, insurance, or pharmaceutical industries.
Repetitive Giving Disorder: The US, which has frittered away about $685 billion in Afghanistan so far, plans to send another $15 billion there to be stolen like most of the previous billions were. No new safeguards will be implemented to oversee the funds use.
A Parting Shot:

5 comments:

Gegner said...

The Spared rod: Indeed, the glass ceiling/good ol' boy network protects many the incompetent from being removed from positions of authority spectrum wide, not just the administration of the EU.

Akin to the self appointed 'protector' of the church, the guilty are given a pass so as not to 'disgrace' a venerable institution.

Unsurprisingly, Dignity of the office has trumped Justice repeatedly, especially among those of the so called 'greatest generation'.

Sadly this is just one more factor the public wants an end to...so we continue to wait, probably a little too patiently.

Anonymous said...

"Trending: Worldwide, May temperatures set another heat record."

i truly lay awake at night with worry about what human beings are doing to destroy the planet.

my brother has conducted climate research.
i have walked the halls of our legislature in an effort to convince elected representatives that anthropogenic climate change is the greatest threat to national security, and the planet.

sometimes, in the evening when my wife and i are sitting together in the back yard watching the sun set...
and we ponder what could possibly be going on in the minds of the rich and powerful, the leadership, the oligarchy.
they must certainly know that we are headed for climate catastrophe.

we have 3 theories.

1. they know we are crashing the climate but like an addict, they promise themselves,
just one more hit,…. just one more shot, then i'll quit…. i promise, (addicted to the fossil fuel driven profits)

or

2. they are religious zealots who want to bring about great tribulations, end times, and the second coming of Christ …

or

3. they welcome the death and destruction of billions of people believing they can survive in places they think are safe zones like New Zealand or Vancouver Island, and plan on using robotic war machines to keep the starving, infested and raving rabble at bay and rid the earth of its massive population which can not be sustained.

-----

but then again, maybe there is no theory…no "reason" no thinking, nor belief system involved at all ! ! !

it is just that the elite, the rulers are total bat-shit crazy. they are not all that bright
and being a member of a billionaire class or close associate doesn't bestow all that much insight….
and therefore we are relatively rudderless and will plunge off of the cliff for no good reason at all.

what is going on is quite insane.

michael
olympia

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

My money - and our future - is on number 4.

We will go thoughtless and selfishly into the long night ahead.

Gegner said...

[Grin] (nods like a bobble-head)

Classof65 said...

I truly don't worry about myself -- although we see signs of disaster daily -- I'm old enough that I doubt I'll see the actual end. It's my children and grandchildren who will see the end and I worry about their pain and suffering and terror.

I read somewhere recently of a woman who believes that this will not be the first time the earth has been through this, no basis in fact, she just feels that this has happened before, and that man starts over again and doesn't seem to have learned from history and keeps bringing Earth back to the brink of destruction time and again. She hopes that they'll finally get things right... but there is no confidence that they ever will. I feel something similar myself. That the Earth will survive, it's the people who won't... Of course neither she nor I believe in a God.