At the End of the Day - February 20, 2008

Inflation Watch: The 2007 numbers are in and inflation hit 4.3 percent last year. And, if it’s going anywhere, right now, that number is up. Numbers for this January show a rise of 0.4 percent. Multiply by 12 and you get 4.8 percent, just a tad bigger than 4.3.

It’s clear that Big Ben Bernanke the Clueless, Big Ben the Bubble Builder, has not an idea about just how much a problem inflation could be. Five bucks says that, in spite of the inflation news, he’ll try to ram through another rate cut before the end of May at the latest.

The only good news, or perhaps stupid news, is that new home groundbreakings edged up in January. Good in the sense of economic activity. Stupid in the sense of a slowing economy and a huge backlog of unsold homes.

Just for the record - a theory isn't merely something we come up with after we've been up all night drinking Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters. Florida has updated their science standards and will now teach, explicitly, the "theory of evolution."

A note to Cindy McCain - Honey, didn't your Mama ever tell you that when you steal a man; all it really proves is that he can be stolen. And you really gotta beware the ones that are eager to give away the keys.

South Korean President Elect Lee Myung-bak has been cleared of fraud charges. "We found the president-elect was not involved in stock manipulation," Special Prosecutor Chung Ho-young said in a statement. The announcement was made four days before the president elect is to be sworn into office.

Eighty million a month, and no receipts??? That is what the Washington Post is reporting the United States pays the government of Pakistan for the posting of troops along the Afghan border. The US pays from spreadsheets, no receipts attached.

A little good news - The Navy has apparently been successful in hitting the cripled spy satellite that was falling from orbit. Don't buy the BS about hydrazine and public health danger - that bird never powered up, so it is chock-full of brand new MASINT equipment, and our intel agencies aren't too eager to have the thing fall out of orbit, not burn up on reentry, and a less-than-friendly government get hold of those pristine spook tools. I mean, we're all grownups here, lets get real...

And Wednesdays a wrap...