Politics on the Bench

More on the ACA SCOTUS decision later, but in skimming the Opinion, I came across the below qoute, delivered by Chief Justice Roberts:

"We do not consider whether the Act embodies sound policies. That judgment is entrusted to the Nation’s elected leaders. We ask only whether Congress has the power under the Constitution to enact the challenged provisions."

This passage - especially in light of Scalia's rambling 22 page politically charged Arizona dissent on Monday - strikes me as particularly powerful, and on point.

Syria and Turkey as a Proxies

“If there is anyone who could not understand this up until today, we would and will prove in the most clear and determined way that Turkey cannot be challenged” - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his country's response to any further Syrian agression.

With Russia and China allied with Syria, and the US and EU as part of NATO behind Turkey, the gravity of this situation - and the speed with which this conflict could potentially escalate - should not be underestimated.

(Source)

X's Pension Realities

Underfunded pension plans can be quite terrifying in some circumstances. The above exhibit, extracted from page F-38 of U.S. Steel's 2011 10K filing, reveals that PBO of $10.8b exceed the fair value of plan assets by $2.4b and "other benefits" exceed plan assets by $2.7b, for a total underfunded status of $5.2b. As David Trainer points out in a 6/20 Seeking Alpha post, this massive deficit is just under twice the size of X's current $2.76b market cap.

Great News!

"The Fed isn't going to be buying European sovereign debt."

-Ben Bernanke, 6/20/12 Federal Reserve news conference

Evolution

The New Yorker seeks to explain the results of a recent poll which initially baffled me, stating that 46% of Americans adhere to a strict creationist view -- that humans were created in their present form within the past 10,000 years.  The prevalence of this belief -- one which is categorically and demonstrably false -- can be explained, at least partially, in terms of neurophysiology.

Jonah Lehrer's Why We Don't Believe in Science, features a study showing that comprehending a scientific concept counter to intuition involves two specific brain processes, among others. The first of which involves a triggering of a part of the brain which perceives intuitive inconsistencies, and then a separate area in the more developed part of the brain whose role it is to suppress unwanted thoughts.

In essence, our brains are hardwired in their cores to detect intuitive inconsistencies - even if they are factually correct - and it is the more developed areas of our brains which are able to over-ride our knee-jerk reaction which blurts out  "it doesn't make sense, so it can't be true!"

May Post

Here is our one post for May.