The Week in Review

Some how we made it to the end of the week.

D.C. strikes a debt deal at last. At the buzzer at the 11th hour, two ticks before the cash machine ran out... Mr. Obama and congressional "leaders" finally agreed on a deal to raise the debt limit, letting the U.S. avoid defaulting on its debt. But they didn't. They instead created a third House of Congress full of Super Congressmen to come up with "the tough" choices. Mr. Mouth, VP Joe Biden called Tea Partiers "terrorists" for strong-arming Obama during negotiations. He's just hurt because he sees the deal as a big loser for Obama. It didn't help Uncle Sam's image abroad, either, with other nations openly questioning America's leadership. And then, after all the doom and gloom about getting downgraded if there WASN'T a deal - happened anyway.

And the reason for the downgrade? As everyone is looking around wondering "why" -- they didn't solve anything. They're still spending Trillions on interest, and there are still 5 shooting wars, The Greatest Generation are still getting health care and drugs from the government, and the Baby Boomers keep coming to the Social Security Office to get theirs. Not one bit of this was solved, but they'll take 2 billion off the base line spending... over 10 years. Yeah, you're getting downgraded.

Predictably, the market finally kind of figured this all out too, and "corrected" itself. Meaning it nosedived. It's also possible that some folks are just getting out because of the higher interest rates that the Fed will probably have to push because of the rate downgrade? All I know is that I'm glad I'm not shopping for a house this minute.

Meanwhile, you thought America had some cool show trials? Check Egypt. Mubarak stands trial. 83 year old Hosni Mubarack was wheeled in a hospital bed to a Cairo courtroom to face trial for corruption, giving the order to kill protesters. Mubarak's lawyer reportedly wants to call 1,631 witnesses in the despot's defense. Pick your top two. Wife and children don't count.

And the "New" Planet of the Apes movie seems to be the Sleeper Blockbuster movie of the summer. It has some nice reviews, and folks kind of seem surprised there was another ape movie out. Well, folks like monkeys. And the golem is the head monkey, so there's geek street cred in that.

Let's try to make it back here next week gang.