Here's what we're following this morning:

(via io9 and Madame Tussaud)

The ever-shrinking US dollar - Wholesale Gold Group | Oooh...shiny pictures!  They make everything more funner and easier-betterer to understand.  Wait...you mean to tell me that it's THAT bad?

You won't have her to kick around any longer - Sense on Cents | Why have non-US regulators taken such harder-lined stances than we?

Government Motors: the ugly math of low sales and high costs - Reuters | It loses $49k on each Volt it sells.  SUCCESS AND VICTORY ARE OURS!

Higher education comes at an even higher cost - AntiCap | The amount of defaulted loans ($76 billion) is greater than the yearly tuition bill for all students at public two- and four-year colleges and universities.

Regulator vows new rules to repair mortgage markets - Wall Street Journal | "Please.  Somebody.  Buy a home.  We'll do anything to make it easier for you guys!"

Inequality matters: why nations fail - Jesse's Cafe Americain | The rulers of most countries don't know what is needed to make their countries prosperous.

Explaining the teachers' strike in Chicago - Mother Jones | Thankfully, Rahm doesn't send his own kids to the public schools.  Get ready for some air time from the Candidate-in-Chief to "resolve" this mess.

Is US economic growth over? - VoxEU | Think "...since the Civil War."

Behold: the Great Recoupling - UBS via Zero Hedge | When the Asian economies meet us in the middle, one of two things will happen.  One way or another, though, China is going to rebalance.

Why is Georgia secretly giving student test scores to military recruiters? - Counterpunch | Good thing that the report won't be reviewed until January, 2013.  Think of all the additional ASVAB scores they'll get until then!

Phil Hartman's SNL audition reel - Boing Boing | It even has a guest-appearance from Jon Lovitz.