salary – noun

A form of monetary compensation that supplements an employee's bonus.

stress test – noun

An examination of an insolvent bank to determine whether, under worst-case financial conditions, it would turn solvent.

shovel-ready – adjective

Prepared for massive excavation and burial of tax-payer dollars.

If the Treasury were to fill old bottles with banknotes, bury them at suitable depths in disused coalmines which are then filled up to the surface with town rubbish, and leave it to private enterprise on well-tried principles of laissez-faire to dig the notes up again (the right to do so being obtained, of course, by tendering for leases of the note-bearing territory), there need be no more unemployment and, with the help of the repercussions, the real income of the community, and its capital wealth also, would probably become a good deal greater than it actually is. It would, indeed, be more sensible to build houses and the like; but if there are political and practical difficulties in the way of this, the above would be better than nothing. -- John Maynard Keynes

securitize – verb

1. To purchase, facelift, and flip a set of mortgages or loans.

2. To pass the buck, to dodge, to cop out.

subprime – adjective

Below optimal in credit, but above optimal in naivete.

social networking – noun

1. A method for testing one's popularity and status.

2. A means of keeping in contact with friends without having to interact with them.

surgical - adjective

Risky, costly, and ultimately less effective than non-invasive procedures.

USAGE: Now the emphasis is on surgical strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere.

success – noun

Any action viewed under the right aspect.

shrine – noun

A small space for piety cordoned off from the rest of reality.

scholar - noun (reprise)

A stenographer with an advanced degree.

scandal – noun

A distracting glimmer on the visible surface of malfeasance.

scholar - noun

A type of foam used by political interests to insulate ideas from criticism.

skeptic - noun

One who follows the group jumping off the cliff but questions whether the project has been properly managed.

strategy - noun

A Powerpoint presentation of military plans for civilian consumption.

sustainable stability – noun

Political and social cohesion that can be maintained until the next general election.

COMMENT: Sustainable stability is synonymous with "sustainable security."

suspect - noun

Someone whose guilt for a crime awaits certification.

subpoena - noun

(Latin "under penalty") Law A writ summoning a witness to testify under penalty of harsh public criticism.

study group - noun

An assembly convened for the joint review of complex data to be rehashed in a written examination and then forgotten.

safety net - noun

Protective netting removed to make the trapeze show of middle-class life more interesting to watch.

sovereignty - noun

The authority of a state to make its own citizens miserable without outside interference.