Here's what we're following this morning:

(via SlashFilm)

Controlling perception is the Banker weapon du jour - SmartKnowledgeU | By pretending to solve a problem, bankers can create a short-term rise in assets that should be collapsing.  Wash, rinse, repeat.

The national debate is a disgrace - Truthdig | The only thing that's different is the color of their ties.

Spillover effects in a fiscal union - VoxEU | Does this, then, imply that Eurobonds are the answer?  I'm sure Germany has something to say about that.  Speaking of Germany....

Bundesbank urges ECB to check itself before it wrecks itself - Financial Times | Don't piss-off the money man, guys.  And guess what?  You're pissing-off the money man.

The Fed should stop paying banks not to lend - The New York Times | Why does it worry me to hear the phrase, "The Fed needs to think outside the box"?

Congress won't rescue postal service as it defaults on health care benefits - Yahoo News | Rest easy: the defaults would have "no material effect on the operations of the Postal Service."  That's right: the defaults only have material effects on the PEOPLE working for the Postal Service.

Food-borne illness rates aren't decreasing - Mother Jones | The report doesn't really touch the problem of antibiotic resistance, and there are loads of antibiotic-resistant pathogens that aren't officially counted as food-borne but they still infect people through food.  Hungry, yet?

The political obstacles to achieving full employment - Naked Capitalism | Hint: it's only possible via government spending.  What happens when the governments have spent all they could spend?  Second hint: the governments could subsidize mass consumption: that's right -- effectively a bailout to the citizen, not the bank.

Obama authorizes secret US support for Syrian rebels - Reuters | Uh...about that whole "secret" thing.  Someone get that man a dictionary.  Oh, and a copy of the US Constitution.

Missile defense staff warned to stop surfing porn sites - Bloomberg | Really gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Fingers on the trigger," doesn't it?