India is preparing for a possible `two-front war’ with China and Pakistan, Indian newspaper saying Wednesday.
The newspaper said the Indian Army is now revising its five-year-old doctrine to effectively meet the challenges of war with China and Pakistan, deal with asymmetric and fourth-generation warfare, enhance strategic reach and joint operations with IAF and Navy.
Work on the new war doctrine — to reflect the reconfiguration of threat perceptions and security challenges — is already underway under the aegis of Shimla-based Army Training Command, headed by Lt-General A S Lamba, sources told the Indian newspaper.
It comes in the backdrop of the 1.13-million strong Army having practiced — through several wargames over the last five years — its `pro-active’ war strategy to mobilise fast and strike hard to pulverize the enemy.
This `cold start strategy’, under a NBC (nuclear-chemical-biological) overhang, emerged from the `harsh lessons’
learnt during Operation Parakram, where it took Army’s strike formations almost a month to mobilise at the `border launch pads’ after the December 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament.
This gave ample opportunity to Pakistan to shore up its defences as well as adequate time to the international community, primarily the US, to intervene. The lack of clear directives from the then NDA government only made matters worse.
“A major leap in our approach to conduct of operations (since then) has been the successful firming-up of the cold start strategy (to be able to go to war promptly),” said Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, at a closed-door seminar on Tuesday.
The plan now is to launch self-contained and highly-mobile `battle groups’, with Russian-origin T-90S tanks and upgraded T-72 M1 tanks at their core, adequately backed by air cover and artillery fire assaults, for rapid thrusts into enemy territory within 96 hours.
Gen Kapoor identified five thrust areas that will drive the new doctrine. One, even as the armed forces prepare for their primary task of conventional wars, they must also factor in the eventuality of `a two-front war’ breaking out.
In tune with this, after acquiring a greater offensive punch along the entire western front with Pakistan by the creation of a new South-Western Army Command in 2005, India is now taking steps — albeit belatedly — to strategically counter the stark military asymmetry with China in the eastern sector. There is now “a proportionate focus towards the western and north-eastern fronts”, said Gen Kapoor.
Two, the Army needs to `optimise’ its capability to effectively counter `both military and non-military facets’ of asymmetric and sub-conventional threats like WMD terrorism, cyber warfare, electronic warfare and information warfare.
Three, the armed forces have to substantially enhance their strategic reach and out-of-area capabilities to protect India’s geo-political interests stretching from Persian Gulf to Malacca Strait.
“This would enable us to protect our island territories; as also give assistance to the littoral states in the Indian Ocean Region,” said Gen Kapoor.
Four, interdependence and operational synergy among Army, Navy and IAF must become the essence of strategic planning and execution in future wars. “For this, joint operations, strategic and space-based capability, ballistic missile defence and amphibious, air-borne and air-land operations must be addressed comprehensively,” he said.
And five, India must strive to achieve a technological edge over its adversaries. “Harnessing and exploitation of technology also includes integration of network centricity, decision-support systems, information warfare and electronic warfare into our operational plans,” he added.
Apart from analysing the evolving military strategy and doctrines of China and Pakistan, the Army is also studying the lessons learnt from the US-launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and their relevance to India. PD Agencies
Let’s just be clear right up front. While ANYTHING is possible, I don’t believe what these writers are saying is close to happening.
There are several statements in the stories that can be backed up with facts from other sources. Some of those I have linked to with the stories. Others, especially things attributed to the unnamed military and police officers, are just too fantastic to believe without further evidence to back the stories up.
Are there any of you out there who know anything more about these stories?
(Note: PURPLE highlights indicate things that smell a bit fishy to me. ORANGE highlights indicate things that I think are possible, perhaps even probably based on other tidbits of information.)
http://www.eutimes.net/2009/12/us-forces-plan-direct-action-against-american-citizens/
U.S. Forces Plan Direct Action Against American Citizens
Posted by Europe on Dec 11, 2009
“There is an event coming in the very near-term future that is going to effect the USA to its very soul,” former Kansas State Trooper Greg Everson of The Heartland USA and former host of Republic Broadcasting “Voices from the Heartland” told host Steve Quayle in a special two hour “Survive 2 Thrive” broadcast Thursday.
“What is being planned and what is coming together is a perfect storm brewing right over our heads.” Everson cited verifiable information confirmed by an active duty US Air Force Colonel, three chiefs of Police, a local Sheriff, State Troopers in 3 neighboring Midwest states and a Federal agent he has known for twenty years.
“There is being made an effort to bring together the Armed Forces of this Nation in preparation for responding to and acting against the interests of our Citizens,” Everson said. Such efforts include actions that will be so deep and penetrating that the United States will never be the same. Everson explained that the deteriorating economy combined with Federal Reserve theft of trillions unaccounted for has had a devastating effect on Americans who have had enough and the US Military expects will respond by defending what little they have left. (That much the author is correct about. We are willing to defend what’s left.)
“The American people have reached the point of total saturation due to the failure of Government to protect its borders, corruption and theft.” Everson expects that such a response has been projected by US Government computer models and believes NORTHCOM, DHS and state and local authorities will begin implementation of Operation Garden Plot and Martial Law within 45-60 days. “Civil war is precisely what this administration wants to happen,” said Everson. “And before Americans can organize themselves they will be destroyed by their own military.” (I seriously question whether our military will fire on its own civilians. Most that I know would not. Operation Garden Plot seems to be a real OPLAN. Here’s a link to one site that has documents that appear to be legit without looking too hard.)
The first signs of pacification by our own forces will not only be convoys rolling through city streets and small towns throughout the Country, but direct military action against pre-targeted areas. Data acquired in the past year by “Census workers” has been used to program military targeting computers which our own armed forces will use in the unthinkable task of fighting its own citizenry.
“It is a formula for unmitigated disaster regardless of Copenhagen, Health Care reform or anything coming from Capitol Hill,” Everson said. Steve Quayle noted his own sources who say as many as 50 million Americans are likely to be killed with gun owners, veterans and the more visible dissenters the most likely targets of deadly force. More “liberal” areas that pose minimal resistance would likely be pacified using lesser means.
One of Everson’s’ sources was quoted as having said “We have plans that if it gets bad enough we will simply commence yard farming,” (a military reference for targeted air strikes) on neighborhoods and communities in cities and states where heavy resistance is expected. A tactic designed to destroy both the enemy and the area(s) under and around the enemy. Everson suggests such horrifying events could possibly coincide with an invasion by the Chinese from the west and Mexico from the south. In any case, military, law enforcement and civilian casualties could be enormous. (Me thinks the author has watched “Red Dawn” a few too many times. However, if America were to descend into civil war (which would fit well with the Cloward and Piven strategy being followed by Obama), the Chinese, Russians, and a host of other vultures would not hesitate to pick over our carcass.)
During the two hour broadcast Quayle received an e-mail message from an undisclosed US Military source that a last minute, unscheduled meeting of Saturday December 5 has been called for all unit commanders in the region to present readiness status reports. States in the Region include Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee.
http://www.eutimes.net/2009/11/obama-orders-1-million-us-troops-to-prepare-for-civil-war/print/
Obama Orders 1 Million US Troops to Prepare for Civil War
Posted By Europe On 28/11/2009 @ 11:59 pm In North America, War
Russian Military Analysts are reporting to Prime Minister Putin that US President Barack Obama has issued orders to his Northern Command’s (USNORTHCOM) top leader, US Air Force General Gene Renuart, to “begin immediately” increasing his military forces to 1 million troops by January 30, 2010, in what these reports warn is an expected outbreak of civil war within the United States before the end of winter. (Much of that depends on the passage of health care reform, cap-and-trade, and another “stimulus.” If the voters can keep the predatory government at bay a little longer, there is hope.)
According to these reports, Obama has had over these past weeks “numerous” meetings with his war council about how best to manage the expected implosion of his Nations banking system while at the same time attempting to keep the United States military hegemony over the World in what Russian Military Analysts state is a “last ditch gambit” whose success is “far from certain”.
And to Obama’s “last ditch gambit”, these reports continue, he is to announce in a nationwide address to his people this coming week that he is going to expand the level of US Military Forces in Afghanistan by tens of thousands of troops, while at the same time using the deployment of these soldiers as a “cover” for returning to the United States over 200,000 additional American soldiers from the over 800 bases in over 39 countries they have stationed around the Globe bringing the level of these forces in America to over 1 million, a number the US Military believes will be able to contain the “explosion of violence” expected to roil these peoples when they learn their economy has been bankrupted. (Is there anyone out there who can back any of this stuff up? I’m usually someone who thinks anything is possible, but this seems far fetched even to me.)
These reports further state that at the same time Obama will be attempting to keep his Nation from violent disintegration, the tens of thousands of additional troops he will send to Afghanistan are to be ordered to Kandahar where the Americans and their NATO allies will begin their final attempt to secure their TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) pipeline, which without the Western Nations, due to their grave lack of alternative energy resources, and being cut off from these vast Central Asian supplies (which both Russia and China are seeking to insure), are warned will totally collapse.
Making the American’s (and by extension the West’s) situation even worse are new reports coming from the International Energy Agency stating that “under pressure” from the US government they have been “deliberately underplaying” a looming Global oil shortage for fear of triggering panic buying and raising the Americans fear over the end of oil supremacy because it would threaten their power over access to our World’s last remaining oil resources.
To the scariest “end game” maneuvers being made by Obama, in his attempt to protect Americas Global hegemony, is his record shattering move in plunging the United States $3.5 Trillion further into debt, and which raises the total amount owed by the United States, to its citizens and the World, to the unprecedented height of over $106 Trillion. (That figure is correct. When you add up all the money owed on all the government books, that is a much more accurate number than the $13 Trillion commonly reported.)
So alarming has Obama’s actions become (especially since they are being imitated by all of the Western powers) that the managing-director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warned this past week that the “stimulus actions” of the West (which in essence is nothing more than the printing of money with nothing to back it up) has now become a “threat to democracy” as millions of people are expected to erupt in violence against their governments over the theft of their money and their futures. (OK. This part is verified. Here’s the link to one of several articles where Strauss-Kahn is quoted as saying things similar to what this EUOnline author has attributed to him: http://in.reuters.com/article/economicNews/idINIndia-38656120090323)
Most unfortunately for the American people though is that this IMF warning fell on “deaf ears” in the United States with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President, James Bullard, saying this week that the US would continue its “stimulus actions” because they “would give more flexibility to US policymakers”, a most absurd statement especially when viewed in the light of the unprecedented debt payments currently looming over the American economy they have no ability whatsoever to pay. (Without even looking it up, I do know that the democrats/liberals are talking about another stimulus, which the American people overwhelmingly DO NOT WANT, and which would be disastrous.)
To the ability of the West’s banking giants to save their Nation’s economies, even worse news came this week with the US ratings giant Standards & Poors issuing a warning that “every single bank in Japan, the US, Germany, Spain, and Italy included in S&P’s list of 45 Global lenders remain unsafe”, a warning which then lead to one of Europe’s largest banks, Société Générale, warning its clients to prepare for a “total Global Economic Collapse”. (Believable. There probably will be a depression before this is through, but I don’t think that makes the original assertion of this article any more valid.)
To the fears of Obama over the United States erupting into civil war once the full extent of the rape and pillaging of these peoples by their banks and government becomes known to them, grim evidence now shows the likelihood of this occurring much sooner than later, especially in new poll figures showing that Obama’s approval rating among white Americans has now fallen to 39%. A number made more significant when one realizes that the white population of the United States comprises 74% of their estimated 398 million citizens, or put more ominously in these reports as “over 220 million American people armed to the teeth and ready to explode”.
And so fearful has the white population of the United States become that upon the election of Obama to the Presidency he was named as the “Gun Salesman of the Year” by the Outdoor Wire, the US’s largest daily electronic news service for the outdoor industry, who report “panic buying” of weapons and ammunition by those fearful of the destruction of their country at the hands of man they believe is not even an American citizen and had been foisted upon them by their elite classes seeking to enslave them.
Though the coming civil war in the United States is being virtually ignored by their propaganda media, the same cannot be said of Russia, where leading Russian political analyst, Professor Igor Panarin has long warned that the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the US is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.
Professor Igor Panarin further stated in his warning that “the US Dollar is not secured by anything. The country’s foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse.”
What remains to be seen, and these reports do not speculate upon, is if the citizen-soldiers of the United States will fire upon and kill their fellow countrymen during the coming conflict, but if history is to be our guide clearly shows this will be the case as the once great American Nation continues its headlong plunge into the abyss of history. May God have mercy upon all of them. (AMEN.)
+
+
+
Naturally Labour are desperate to show a class war with the Conservatives helping their rich friends and New Labour helping their poor, lower paid supporters.
The poor, lower paid have of course been the focus of the the last 12 years of New Labour in government?
Actually NO! Labour have failed to look after the lower paid. They have failed to support their union friends.
Living standards for the poor are worse now than 12 years ago.
Child poverty, despite the money spent on it, is as bad as it ever was.
Education standards are lower in state schools!
New Labour like their millionaire friends, to have (several) expensive houses, to be photographed with important people, to jump when the USA tells them to!
New Labour have no right to claim that they care for the poor. The traditional left-wing Labour MPs appear to have been sidelined!
Blair and Brown and many of their ministers would appear to be only interested in living the high life! Now the chickens are steadily coming home to roost and New Labour are beginning to understand that they have isolated themselves from almost all areas of society.
An example of Brown and Labour putting themselves before the country is the refusal of this government to stand down now and have an election.
The UK is in desperate straits. The finances are shot. The debts are huge and will take years to pay back. Public Services are being cut. Decisions are being taken a government whose focus is on surviving the next six months.
How can that be good for the UK? We need decisive action and long term decision making. Whilst New Labour hang on to power looking for ways to survive, they are putting the interests of the UK after the interests of the country!
The economy is so bad… That I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
The economy is so bad…. I ordered a burger at McDonalds and the kid behind the counter asked, “Can you afford fries with that?”
The economy is so bad… If the bank returns your check marked “Insufficient Funds,” you call them and ask if they meant you or them.
The economy is so bad… Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.
The economy is so bad… Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children’s names.
The economy is so bad… A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico ..
The economy is so bad… Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.
The economy is so bad… The Mafia is laying off judges.
The economy is so bad… Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
The economy is so bad.. My GPS is linked to my bank account to make sure I can afford to go to the destination I asked for.
California, nicknamed the golden state for the gold mines found statewide now tarnished. For years California has lost population and 2009 was no different. For the census year ending July 1st California lost 98,798 people equal to the small city like Compton,CA got up and move away. The good news it far less than the peak in 2006 when California lost over 300,000 residents.
The six other states that have lost population: New York came a close second with 98,178; followed by embattled Michigan with 87,339.
Next: Illinois seen 48,249 flee The Land of Lincoln; followed up Ohio with 36,278; New Jersey the Garden State lost 31,690 to other states. Round up the list Florida, the sunshine state looking rather stormy with 31,179.
Uranium KalBar
By Republika Newsroom
Minggu, 27 Desember 2009 pukul 05:26:00
Cadangan Uranium KalBar Cukup untuk 150 Tahun
–>
PONTIANAK–Kepala Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Daerah (Bapedda) Kalimantan Barat, Fathan A Rasyid, menyatakan bahwa cadangan uranium di provinsi itu bisa digunakan untuk Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Nuklir selama 150 tahun.
“Dari data yang ada Kalbar setidaknya memiliki 25 ribu ton uranium yang tersebar di sekitar Kabupaten Melawi,” kata Fathan A. Rasyid di Pontianak, Sabtu.
Ia mengatakan, PLTN merupakan solusi dalam mengatasi kekurangan energi listrik di Kalbar dan Pulau Kaliamantan pada umumnya. “Baru-baru ini Bapedda Sekalimantan telah menyepakati akan mengembangkan PLTN di pulau itu dalam mengatasi kekurangan energi listrik,” kata Fathan.
Kalbar setidaknya memiliki PLTN berkapasitas 1.000 mega watt untuk mengatasi krisis listrik di provinsi itu. “Akibat krisis listrik tidak sedikit niat investor yang ingin menanamkan modalnya harus ditolak karena terbatasnya pasokan listrik,” katanya.
Ia mengatakan ke depan energi listrik dari nuklir memang harus diperhitungkan, kalau tidak diambil langkah tersebut maka krisis listrik di provinsi ini akan terus berkepanjangan.
“Kami menargetkan PLTN bisa terwujud 10 hingga 16 tahun ke depan. Saat ini pengembangan PLTN di Kalbar sudah masuk tahap studi kelayakan atau pase dua,” ujarnya.
Sebelumnya, Gubernur Kalbar Cornelis mengatakan dua kabupaten, yaitu Kabupaten Melawi dan Landak di provinsi itu dapat menjadi lokasi pembangunan PLTN.
Menurut dia, Kalbar memenuhi syarat untuk dibangun PLTN, karena salah satu wilayah yang mempunyai uranium, yakni di Kabupaten Melawi.
Selain itu, lanjut dia, Kalbar relatif aman dari bencana seperti gempa. “Sekarang bagaimana mengemas teknologi supaya tidak bocor, dan limbahnya aman,” katanya.
Gubernur Cornelis telah menyampaikan usulan pembangunan PLTN itu kepada Dewan Energi Nasional. Namun, lanjut dia, rencana dan pengembangan sumber energi di Kalbar sangat tergantung komitmen dari Pemerintah Pusat. “Investor sebenarnya banyak yang mau untuk mengembangkan listrik di Kalbar,” katanya.
Konsumsi terbesar energi listrik di Kalbar untuk Kota Pontianak dan sekitarnya. Beban puncak sekitar 123 MW, daya mampu 148 MW. ant/ahi
We can sing the below story to Nancy Pelosi’s famous tune, “Are you serious? Are you serious?” regarding whether she should give the faintest of consideration to the Constitution while she tries to regulate one-sixth of the US economy and force citizens to purchase insurance.
Sen. Feinstein ‘Assumes’ Commerce Clause Gives Congress Unlimited Authority to Mandate Health Insurance
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) – Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that Congress has the authority to mandate that people buy health insurance and that there is no constitutional limit on Congress’ power to enact such mandates, adding that this unlimited authority stemmed from the Commerce clause of the Constitution.
The health care bills in both the House and Senate require that every American purchase a health insurance policy. At the Capitol on Tuesday, CNSNews.com asked Sen. Feinstein: “Where in the Constitution does Congress get the authority for an individual health insurance mandate?”
Feinstein said: “Well, I would assume it would be in the Commerce clause of the Constitution. That’s how Congress legislates all kinds of various programs.”
CNSNews.com followed up by asking Sen. Feinstein whether this broad power had any limits: “If there’s a health insurance mandate, is there a limit to that authority? Is there something that can’t be mandated?”
Feinstein responded: “My own view is that there is not, within health insurance.”
The Commerce clause is found in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. It states the numerous powers authorized to Congress, including the power “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among several States, and with the Indian tribes.”
The Senate version of health reform imposes an historic mandate on all Americans, requiring them to have government-approved health insurance, either through an employer or individually. The mandate also can penalize people with a surtax ranging from $500 to nearly $1,500 per year if they do not have a health insurance policy.
The bill, which looks certain to pass the Senate sometime on Christmas Eve, is unpopular with the public, garnering the support of barely 40 percent of Americans, according to recent national polls. Those numbers led Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele to accuse Congress of “flipping the bird” to the American people.
“This is a bad bill, it is bad, certainly for individuals and enough is enough,” Steele said in a conference call on Monday. “I am tired of Congress thumbing its nose and flipping a bird to the American people. I’m tired of this Congress thinking it knows better than me and my family how to provide for our health care now and in the future. I’m tired of this Congress not listening to me and to the American people – to all of us.”
In 1994, when the Clinton administration attempted to push a health care reform plan through a Democratic Congress that also mandated every American buy health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office determined that the government had never ordered Americans to buy anything.
“The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States,” the CBO analysis said. “An individual mandate would have two features that, in combination, would make it unique. First, it would impose a duty on individuals as members of society. Second, it would require people to purchase a specific service that would be heavily regulated by the federal government.”
My own view is that California should elect a Senator who actually understands or even cares about the US Constitution.
If Feinstein’s “view” were true, then the congress has no constitutional limits whatsoever. On anything. If they can regulate private citizens’ behavior or purchases as “interstate commerce,” then they can “regulate” anything and anyone on anything they want. And this gives them the precedent to do more and more. The Democrats’ vision of health care “reform” makes the entire idea of constitutional limits null and void.
Let’s call this what it is: a naked power grab.
Fascism, Marxism, take your pick. We’re getting a hybrid of both (they’re both quintessentially leftist and socialist and totalitarian systems, you know) shoved right down our throats.
The Commerce clause regulates commerce between states. It has NEVER been used even ONCE in our history to regulated the behavior of individual citizens.
This is almost as appalling as liberal activist judges reading “penumbras and emanations” into the Constitution so they could pull abortion out of thin air.
Democrats have been telling us quite openly that this bill is a clear pathway and vehicle to a government-controlled single-payer system. It is past time that we took them at their word and started to realize the ramifications of what the Democrats are trying to accomplish.
Democrats aren’t focused in transforming either the quality or the costs of health care coverage. Their bill does nothing to improve either. Rather, it lays the architecture for a future socialistic system which they believe that they will ultimately be able to control and use to their own political advantage. They want power and control. They want to be able to wield the levers of government and “take care” of everyone and everything – or punish everyone and everything that get in their way. And when big government has the power to shape things, it shapes them in a way that always favors big government, and favors more and more accumulation of big government. And Democrats are nothing if not the party of big government.
These people aren’t going to let a little nuisance like the US Constitution get in their way. Even our own president has repeatedly said disparaging things about our Constitution as well as the men who wrote it. The once sacred and sacrosanct Constitution has come to mean whatever liberals want it to mean.
Tragically, a look back at history should tell you that the system the Democrats want will hardly be a success. The fact of the matter is that Democrats are making the same arguments (that health care is a right) and the same promises (that every American will be guaranteed health care) that the Soviets made.
The former Soviet propaganda mouthpiece Pravda is watching America fall into the same catastrophic mistakes Russia did and is laughing hysterically .
The Obama administration and Democrats can swear all they want that rationing won’t be a part of their system, but you sure wouldn’t know it by looking at Obama officials such as Cass Sunstein and Ezekiel Emanuel. They will be all about rationing.
To summarize, this is a flagrantly unconstitutional power grab, packaged on lies, which can’t even in theory fulfill the pantheon of bogus promises it was sold on.
The Brookings Institute, The New York Times, and Bloomberg all covered the news that Texas added more people than any other state between July of 2008 and this past July, 479,000 according to the Census Bureau. The Brookings think tank analysts suggested that a shift of population migration to places like California and Florida has slowed because the advantage of living in warm weather has been trumped by high unemployment. That argument does not apply to many retirees who still want to be in the sunshine, although more of them are going back to work because their savings were eroded in the market down turn. The states with the highest increases, on a percentage basis, of new people were Wyoming and Utah. It is easy to say that the percentages are high because both states are nearly uninhabited, but each also has low unemployment rates.
The census data show that Michigan, Rhode Island, and Maine were the only states to lose people over the year that ended in July. Michigan and Rhode Island lead the list of states with the highest unemployment rates, so people are clearly leaving to find jobs.
Texas has been a land of promise since Sam Houston took it from the Mexicans in 1836 and formed the Republic of Texas. Texas became a state nine years later, though it is not clear that joining the United States was a good idea. Texas had enough natural resources and manufacturing capacity to remain independent. Texans today have to pay federal income taxes and social security. The state has enough oil to support the medical and social safety-net needs of its population without the US government. There is nothing that can be done about that now.
The increase in population in Texas was followed by California with 381,000 new residents, North Carolina with 134,000 and Georgia which added 131,000 people. Fewer people may be going to the Sun Belt but the population is aging fast enough that the temptation to move out of the Snow Belt will never be entirely extinguished.
The census claims that California remained the most populous state with a July 1, 2009 with 37 million residents. The rest of the top five states were Texas (24.8 million), New York (19.5 million), Florida (18.5 million) and Illinois (12.9 million).
Bloomberg may have the best argument about why the population of Texas is growing. It reports that “the state added more jobs than any other in November and October, on a month-over-month basis.” The total for the two months was 70,000.
The jobs argument is compelling but insufficient. It is difficult for people to know where they will find work before they find it. People who move to Texas expecting to find work are guessing in most cases. It is likely most of the individuals who come to the state do not already have firm jobs offers. The state would be flooded with people if word got out that all the job seekers who have gone to Texas had guaranteed employment before they moved.
The reasons for the increased number of people who relocated to Texas are probably simple. The state is large geographically which means that there are a substantial number of pockets of opportunity and industries that might offer employment. AT&T (NYSE:T) is headquartered in Dallas. American Airlines (NYSE:AMR) is based in Fort Worth. Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) is in Austin. Exxon (NYSE:XOM) is in Irving. Fortune claims that more of the 500 largest companies in America are headquartered in Texas than any other state. No one may be guaranteeing jobs, but no state can claim such a diverse base of employers. Texas also has several of the largest cities in the US although most people would not guess that. Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston are large population centers, but San Antonio is bigger than Dallas. Austin and El Paso are among the twenty-five most populous cities in the country.
People are moving to Texas not because they have jobs, but because they think that they can find them. In all of those cities and towns, large corporations, oil field and technology centers, there has to be work for many of America’s unemployed.
<8% teacher pay cut
<4 day school week will affect 171,000 students and all 256 schools
According to Hawaii News Now, children living within 1.5 miles of school will have to find their own transportation. As of January 1, 2010, bus transportation to school will not be provided by the state for 40,000 students.
UK’s Guardian newspaper reported in October the state of Hawaii has a 1 billion dollar deficit.
Schools will be closed for 17 Fridays. Teachers have taken an 8% reduction in pay.. 171,000 students and all 256 schools in the state of Hawaii will be affected.
Budget deficits have forced unpaid teacher leaves in 25 other states.
Hungary’s central bank dropped its base rate 25 bps, somewhat less than had been expected. With forecasts of continuing trouble for the country’s economy, global uncertainty, along with the failure of Hypo Alpe- Adria Bank (which was taken over earlier this month by Austria) and fears over Greece’s solvency, the message seems to be that caution is advisable. At 6.25%, though, it’s a long way from last July when the rate hit 11.5%.
Treasuries were little changed, with 10-year yields near the highest level in four months, on concern the government’s final figure for third-quarter gross domestic product will add to fears inflation is poised to accelerate.
The yield curve, the gap between shorter- and longer-term debt used as a barometer for the economy, yesterday widened to a record as investors bet an accelerating recovery will fuel inflation and hurt demand for unprecedented government debt sales.
Government securities may extend yesterday’s losses, the largest drop since August, before the US tomorrow announces the sizes of two-, five- and seven-year auctions next week.
Source: Bloomberg
The benchmark 10-year note (see the above graph) yielded 3.67 percent as of 9:17 a.m. Tokyo.
The difference between 2- and 10-year Treasury note yields increased to as much as 282 basis points yesterday.
It rose from 145 basis points at the beginning of the year, with the Federal Reserve anchoring its target rate at virtually zero and the US extending the average maturity of its debt.
The yield curve reached its previous record of 281 basis points on June 5, when Treasuries plunged after a government report showed the smallest decline in US payrolls in eight months. Ten-year note yields touched 4 percent the following week, the highest level in 2009.
We are waiting now the Commerce Department report for GDP and also consumer spending, the latter being expected to raise by 0.7%.
If productivity is unchanged, I am sure that US will face inflation pressure.
Mots clés Technorati : American Economy,Inflation,fvtaiwan
If you look at a chart of the S&P 500, you’ll see that it has been moving sideways in an amazingly orderly way since mid-November. You’ll also see that this behavior contrasts, both in monthly movements and in intraday swings, from what the index has been doing during the recovery from the March lows. Yes, there are swings in the prices of individual stocks, but they haven’t been enough to nudge the needle up or down for the S&P as a whole.
Why is this?
One “reason” is actually a description of the market’s behavior–investors don’t see any economic factors, positive or negative, that need to be factored into today’s prices. In particular, I think there’s still considerable uncertainty about how the global economy will play out in the early months of 2010, so investors figure there’s no rush to make a bet in either direction.
Also, I think professional equity investors have decided that they’re satisfied with the year they’ve had and have more or less gone home until January. About the only thing left to look for in 2009, I think, are the inevitable “quirky” (read: deliberate stock manipulation) movements that may occur in small-cap stocks on the last trading day of the year–a date that will differ from market to market.
Apropos of nothing, I think it’s noteworthy that Pimco is reported to be raising huge amounts of cash by selling Treasury bonds. It’s also starting an equity division. On the other hand, Pimco, you may know, has been vigorously pounding the drum for the “New Normal,” the idea that world economic growth will be anemic for a long period of time–and that therefore investors should still be buying bonds despite the fact that interest rates are at historic lows. Hmm? What’s that all about?
Finally, I’d like to thank all my readers for their support this year and wish you a happy holiday season and a prosperous 2010.
I meant the 22nd. Yup, today we got home from shopping about and such, and we were an hour late for doing Mommy’s chore. Apparently her chore started at 3, but she was told to start at 4. I had even tried to call a few minutes before 4 saying we’d be a a little late, but that didn’t stop them from changing our put out date to the 22nd. So now we get to miss the ‘magical Christmas’ they had planned. I’m not going to lie to you, I wasn’t exactly expecting much on Christmas, but I thought at least we’d be here. I guess not. I even tried to pray right quick, hoping maybe if I put it in god’s hands we’d have a chance, but that didn’t stop them from booting us out.
Of course my mom’s attitude toward the whole thing didn’t give them the warm tingles either. It probably didn’t help that she was being extremely rude, but I hate to say it…she can’t help it. Not that it matters here. And let me go into detail how little we matter as people here: I actually began to cry as I attempted to explain away why we’d been late, and what would have happened if we weren’t. But did ‘Miss Jackie’*, as we’ll call her, mind at all…? Did seeing a child cry as she tried her damnedest to hold on to what could possibly be called a ‘home’ being ripped from her hands sway her opinion at all? Nope. Not even a little. In fact, she shooed me away. How nice? I think not.
Not that any of this matters any way. In the end we’re being put out on the 22, whether we like it or not. Though I’m sure “That One Eye’d Bitch” As my mom calls her, sure does. Why does she refer to her in such an awful way? It might have to do with the fact that have her brain is missing, which is why one of her eyes doesn’t work. She’s constantly complaining about one thing or another, and running and telling everything she sees wrong. Like it’ll get her brownie points. Yeah. No. You matter just as little as we do. Of course, that didn’t faze her as she went to tell on my mother that ‘Desiree is talking about me’. Why would my mom talk about you to anyone? The only reason she even went that far as to make up stories is because my mom saw her slap her daughter across the face. Was she going to say anything? No! She could care less! Well, she cares, because the way that little girl’s mother acts is the way my mother’s mother acted, and she can relate, but other than that, she wouldn’t have said anything. My mom says she was just covering her ass, and I may or may not tell her to keep her lies to herself as I’m carting my handful of items from the closet to the car.
I have to say, it is terribly depressing to keep all of your possessions in the back of a Jeep. Not only that, but when you can walk around a store and feel normal being able to toss a pair of socks in your basket, that makes me sad. But I know I’ll never take anything in life for granted again. I know that having our car fixed defiantly broaden our options. Mommy says we’re going to go to LA for the rest of Christmas Break, and come back when I start my new school…maybe I can convince her to get with Ronnie, so at least we’ll have a place to sleep at night. Is that bad? Wanting your mom to get with a man so you can sleep somewhere warm at night? That makes me want to cry having typed that out…made me tear up.
I would give anything to watch my mom sleep comfortably in her own bed again…seeing her toss and turn on a lumpy old mattress makes me want to cry as well. My mom deserves better…she deserves to wake up in her own house…I want to give that to her…she’s given me as much as she can all my life, and recently I’ve had to do a lot of the taking care of…though it was my fault we were down to 50 points anyway.
I guess the worst part is, seeing her suffer.
Yeah. That’s it.
I know the worst day of my life, to date, is the day we were kick out of our house…when I had to sit in the back of the car and she needed to take a shower so bad, but at that time it was simply a luxury. And the police called her saying she needed to come in, right then and there, and she couldn’t even take me to my friend’s house. She just had to drop me off on the side of the road. Seeing her cry, and just…break. She was completely broken then. That was the worst.
My mother is an elegant woman. She a woman of many words, ‘Miss Jackie’ will know that soon. She’s also one of a kind. I love my mother, and I don’t know what I’d do without her. That’s why I want to fix something up for her so bad. She just deserves it.
But I think what’s placing2nd in this race of things to despise in my life, is how these people treat all of us. My friend, Marie*, had a story to tell me about what had happened while I was out and about. During snack time, they gave us, well them, cookies. But when the staff’s family came in, they got cookies and cupcakes, and all kinds of delicious madness. Not only that, but they put my friends in here on display to their families! Like they were some kind of side show, mind you, this isn’t the first time it’s happened. They always put us on display to whoever’s kind enough to grace us with their presence. If we’re lucky, in exchange we get gloves. Or a hat. Thanks.
Do you remember when I told you about them stealing from us? Well, Marie* watched ‘Miss.Grace’* start to rifle through our donations. The donations to us! She even went as far as to put 3 bags, 3 garbage bags full of gifts to us in her car and take them home to her family! How do you do that to the homeless? Take from those who have nothing! But she did, and Marie* is pretty sure she got away with it, too. This place is so ass backwards. I just want to go home! A home. To have one. Now that would be nice.
Somebody wake me from the nightmare.
That’s all I ask…
*Names have been changed, to save me from a lawsuit.
Reflecting on the growing divide between Wall Street and Main Street, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) on Wednesday offered a powerful critique on the state of the economy in an open committee hearing.
“The class warfare is over — we lost,” Kucinich said before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “I want to make that announcement today. Working people lost. The middle class lost.”
The harrowing comments from Kucinich, who is Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, come amidst a national unemployment rate of 10 percent, one year and several months after the economic collapse of 2008 has marred the livelihoods of many.
Washington, Nov 17, 2008 - Kucinich on Gulf War Illnesses and the Health of Gulf War veterans
On the heels of the release of a landmark report about new scientific discoveries regarding Gulf War Veterans Illnesses (GWVI), Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) renewed his call for an increase in research funding and made the following statement:
“One in four veterans of the first Gulf War suffers from Gulf War Veterans Illnesses. We absolutely cannot allow the research to be stopped. We must relentlessly pursue treatments for their condition. When Congress reconvenes in 2009, I will request $60 million for research funding, in accordance with the Research Advisory Committee’s report recommendations.
Congressman Kucinich has consistently led the bipartisan Congressional effort to counter the Bush Administration’s efforts to cut funding for GWVI research. Congressman Kucinich has secured $18 million in research funding for GWVI research since 2006.
The report released today by the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, “Gulf War Illnesses and the Health of Gulf War Veterans,” also found that two of the causes for GWVI are exposure to pesticides and drugs administered by the Army to protect soldiers from nerve gas.
“This report provides further evidence that our scientific understanding of Gulf War Veterans Illnesses has taken extraordinary leaps in the last few years. The time is ripe for us to build on these discoveries to identify treatments for our soldiers whose medical needs are simply not being met.
Whew! Man, that Sarah Palin sure has started a real firestorm now that she has attacked the Holy Church of Global Warming! It’s one thing to knock ObamaCare on it’s backside, there are only billions of dollars in payoffs and corruption riding on that deal. But the global warming hustle truly is the whole enchilada!
Not billions, but trillions of dollars will change hands. Government control like you’ve never even dreamed of will come to pass. Taxes will flow into incompetent government hands like never before. Energy will “necessarily skyrocket.”
Of course, the real story is all of the money that will be made trading “carbon credits.” Al Gore, the Bernie Madoff of the climate change movement, has made hundreds of millions of dollars already off this scam, and stands to make billions.
As I wrote in an earlier piece, Obama and his friends also stand to make out like bandits if cap and trade laws are enacted. The Chicago Climate Exchange is already up and running, and ready to go when all of these insane laws are enacted. Of course, being Chicago, there is absolutely, positively no corruption going on with this deal. Uh huh. There’s this bridge for sale that you just must see if you believe that one!
Just to bring everyone up to speed. If you remember the failed, disgraced Governor from California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, decided to go off on Sarah for her resent stance on the hoax, the greatest lie ever told. Sarah, in what is her usual style, fired right back with this:
Greener Than Thou?
Why is Governor Schwarzenegger pushing for the same sorts of policies in Copenhagen that have helped drive his state into record deficits and unemployment? Perhaps he will recall that I live in our nation’s only Arctic state and that I was among the first governors to create a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with climate change. While I and all Alaskans witness the impacts of changes in weather patterns firsthand, I have repeatedly said that we can’t primarily blame man’s activities for those changes. And while I did look for practical responses to those changes, what I didn’t do was hamstring Alaska’s job creators with burdensome regulations so that I could act “greener than thou” when talking to reporters.
- Sarah Palin
BOOM, taste my nightstick! (What!?! You KNOW we’re gonna go to that one early and often!)
Sarah has what is probably the most reasonable stance there is on the whole notion of climate change. Being someone in a position of power she honestly didn’t have the luxury to just call these liars out and blow them off. And, as someone who spent time as her state’s chief energy and environmental regulator, Sarah knows more than the average politician and humble blogger about the subject.
Climate change may be happening, but the climate on earth has a history of changing. The earth is millions of years old, for goodness sake! We’ve had heat waves and ice ages. All before man even existed! Obviously if the entire earth was covered in ice, and we now have places where it is not, there was some significant warming.
Anyhow, one failed California Governor pwned.
But why did Arnold even bother to speak up? What prompted all of this? Well, as always, follow the money! Our friend and colleague, The Might Serf, went to town on this one and found some fascinating information:
Schwarzenegger vs. Palin: Arnold has no credibility
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, from the COP15 Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Governor Schwarzenegger took a swipe at Governor Palin. He was asked about her editorial published in the Washington Post last week. He replied:
“You have to ask: what was she trying to accomplish? Is she really interested in this subject or is she interested in her career and in winning the nomination? You have to take all these things with a grain of salt.“
Tack on “mind reader” to Arnie’s long list professional talents…
Not only is that conjecture on his part, it’s also a convenient way to avoid the subject matter and deal with what she said. Arnold deflects the debate, as is common with the global warming faithful and turns it into a ‘what’s Palin going to do next’ moment.
Then he goes on to say:
“We in California have proven it over and over that you can protect the economy, and you can protect the environment.” …
“I don’t think you have to choose. I think it is nonsense talk to say let’s talk first about the economy.“
Either Arnold needs advisors that don’t lie to him or he has a serious literacy issue. The last time I checked, the statewide California unemployment rate was at 12.3 percent. With the highest rated area, a town about forty minutes east of where I’m sitting, called El Centro at 22.6 percent.
The report goes on to say:
As a Californian who happens to believe that we are in a current trend of “global cooling” (and yes, lefties that also is a “change” in climate) and also someone forced to live under the green foot of my state government, I got a little more joy from that post than some.
She correctly points out the economic mess California is in and accurately points to one of the main culprits. Arnold keeps talking about these “green jobs” (sounds familiar) but when you look at the numbers I posted above, the small number of positions that open up in the market aren’t enough to even put a small dent into those figures.
When my car can run off of algae, we may see a boost in the green economy. Until then, realize what makes an economy work and what doesn’t. Like new regulations and laws for instance… Those are instant job killers. If you mandate small businesses that are already stretched too thin, they will lay off workers. They don’t have a choice. In business, you do whatever it takes to make it to the next month.
Now, to the “why” in Governor Palin’s statement.
I remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger spent his time trying to convince American’s that they should buy a Hummer. Well those days are long gone and a new Climate Crusader has emerged in place of that carbon spewing truck peddler.
Schwarzenegger is now one of the most outspoken global warming alarmists in public office today. He has dramatically steered this state toward more “green” centered policies, programs, and worst of all, mandates. So did he have an epiphany? Did his wife’s family convince him over turkey dinner during the holidays?
Probably not, but I believe Robert Kennedy, his wife’s cousin, has everything to do with Arnold’s conduct in regards to environmental policies.
Robert Kennedy is not only the governor’s relative but he is also one of Arnold’s closest advisors, even if he does serve in an unofficial capacity. The two of them can be seen at various press announcements and environmental meetings talking about their great plans to reconstruct California into a “green economy.”
There’s just one problem with that… A slight conflict of interest arises when one looks over the contracts and plans Californians will be forking money over for in these deals. Robert Kennedy is a Venture Partner and Senior Advisor for a company called VantagePoint Venture Partners. VantagePoint has a multimillion-dollar stake in a company called BrightSource, who produces solar technology. BrightSource has lobbied to build a massive energy project in the Mojave Desert. The project would provide power to 142,000 homes and cost about $2 billion. BrightsSource hopes to build three solar-powered plants situated on land near the Nevada-California borders. As Schwarzenegger told a joint conference of Mexican and U.S. governors, “They’re going to blanket the world with solar panels.”
Last year Governor Schwarzenegger also announced a plan to build a massive electric vehicle grid that would cover most of California. At the press conference in San Francisco, Robert Kennedy said “Creating an energy-independent economy is our generation’s moon-shot.” Whatever “moon-shot” means, I don’t know but I don’t like it. He also said “For too long we’ve believed that economy and environment stood at odds with each other. By coming together in this time of turmoil to build a clean transportation infrastructure, this generation will fuel the economic and environmental prosperity of generations to come.” Given the fact that Robert attended that conference as a representative of VantagePoint, you better believe they are looking to rake in millions from the deal.
In fact, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there that points to Governor Schwarzenegger’s real motives in pushing a “green” economy. It’s all about money and it has little to do with the environment. As is usually the case when it comes to the big names in the Climate Change “movement.” Just do a quick search into Al Gore’s finances to see how philanthropic that guy really is. I’ll go out on a limb here and call the man a profiteer.
As far as Governor Palin’s motives behind publishing words of warning and giving Obama advice (good advice) on environmental matters… She’s trying to help the country. Nothing else. She has no financial ties or personal ties to an industry that stands to heavily profit from the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit. In fact, I’ve done a lot of research into Governor Palin’s background and connections… I’ve linked her up to the Rotary Club and the NRA. That’s it.
By the way, for any of you that still think Arnold resides on the right, politically speaking. The left-wing Annenberg Foundation, helped cover the bill for his trip to Copenhagen through a California State Protocol Foundation grant. I wonder if Robert made the journey too???
Regular readers of this website will recognize the name Annenberg Foundation straightaway. This is the very same Annenberg Foundation that gave the unrepentant murdering domestic terrorist William Ayers, and his good old buddy Barack Obama $60 million dollars for “education,” which Ayers and Obama then in turn gave to radical groups like ACORN, you know, “for the children.”
You can read more from The Mighty Serf here.
Look, Schwarzenegger is married to a “Kennedy.” That alone makes him suspect on many levels, but it’s not really all that hard to figure out what is going on here.
Whole lot of corruption goin’ on ‘round here!
Now….As we talked about before, Sarah’s two Op-Eds she wrote for the Washington Post were some of the most read of the entire year. The one she wrote in July on the subject of global warming was the third most read. Predictably, the loons have lost their minds over this! In the world of the democrat/communist, dissenting thought, and differences of opinion, simply are not tolerated, and most certainly not written.
The Washington Post has, of course, been savaged for allowing that woman to sully the pages of their fine paper. The reaction by the crazies has been hilarious, well worth the time to observe. These people’s entire lives are based on lies, and they can’t justify themselves. Liberalism is one of those things that simply cannot withstand the light of day, or hockey moms from Wasilla, Alaska.
So, WaPo trots out their resident hack, Eugene Robinson, to satisfy the moonbats. What could go wrong?
Sarah, obviously loving this little exchange, offered this up for the WaPo, as well as all of her Facebook supporters:
My Letter to the Washington Post
Letter to the Editor
Washington Post
Thursday, December 17, 2009
I’d like to thank Eugene Robinson for highlighting Alaska’s achievements on climate change ["Palin’s own ‘Climate- gate,’" op-ed, Dec. 15] and for noting that I’ve “treated the issue as serious, complex, and worthy of urgent attention,” while making “any number of pragmatic, reasonable, smart decisions as governor.” But he’s wrong to suggest that my views have somehow changed or that now I’ll have to “renounce” my past efforts.
Once again: I don’t deny that climate change is real. In creating a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with the issue, I said that “Alaska’s climate change strategy must be built on sound science and the best available facts and must recognize Alaska’s interest in economic growth and the development of its resources.” That goal made sense to me then, and it makes sense to me now.
Mr. Robinson tries to make hay out of the fact that I asked the group to advise me regarding opportunities to participate in “carbon-trading markets.” But considering voluntary participation in carbon-trading programs is much different from endorsing the economically disastrous cap-and-tax proposals put forward by Democrats in Washington. Those proposals will burden our job creators and raise energy prices for all of us, and that’s why I oppose them.
As governor of Alaska, I sought common-sense solutions that took real-world costs and benefits into account. That’s what I’m looking for now. But that’s not what’s on the table in Washington or in Copenhagen.
Sarah Palin, Wasilla, Alaska
BOOM, taste my nightstick!
Obviously, Sarah has hoisted this entire bunch of nimrods by their own petards. It’s glorious to watch a politician who will actually fight back when these liars in the media and RINOs attack. I certainly wish President George Bush, an honorable and decent man, would have had ½ the spunk this gal from Alaska has. The entire world might be different today. (sigh)
Of course, what’s a good story about taking the global warming hoaxers to the woodshed without some real meat and potatoes. As you know the Climategate scandal was uncovered in Russia where, ironically, their media is open, and relatively honest.
From Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government:
ClimateGate Just Got Much, Much Bigger
Over at ICECAP.us Meteorologist Joe D’Aleo has posted an item on a “Russian Bombshell” highly relevant to the ClimateGate scandal. The Russian media first posted the story and now some Brits are loving it.
The long and the short of it is best summarized by the Telegraph’s James Dellingpole: “What the Russians are suggesting here, in other words, is that the entire global temperature record used by the IPCC to inform world government policy is a crock.”
That is, we have yet further evidence that the data is being cooked to make the long-running claim of an increase in global temperatures, and now to diminish the apparent cooling of said temps. As the gang at EU referendum tout, “it is in Soviet Union that the CRU, NOAA, NASA show the greatest warming.”
Around the world temperature stations have been widely decommissioned in rural and higher elevations, and we see an over-emphasis on increasingly urbanized (and therefore warmer) stations in the curious selection process as to what temperatures should count, and how much. The latter point references the fact that the data is then adjusted, and we are also seeing an increase in adjusting urbanized (that is, artificially warm) temperature records not down, but upward.
Excerpted in pertinent part, Joe Writes:
On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) had probably tampered with Russian-climate data.
The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory. …The data of stations located in areas not listed in the Hadley Climate Research Unit Temperature UK (HadCRUT) survey often does not show any substantial warming in the late 20th century and the early 21st century.
The HadCRUT database includes specific stations providing incomplete data and highlighting the global-warming process, rather than stations facilitating uninterrupted observations. …
IEA analysts say climatologists use the data of stations located in large populated centers that are influenced by the urban-warming effect more frequently than the correct data of remote stations.
The reason this cherry-picking is relevant — as is the apparent similar gamesmanship being played with other countries examined in recent days including China and New Zealand — because our NOAA compiles the global dataset and the rest work from it. So when CRU claimed that it “lost” its raw data, what they’re saying is the claim to have lost which stations they chose from NOAA’s compilation, making it impossible for those who wish to check it to discern how they got the answer they did.
If it is what it appears to be, and my dozen years working with these people and the past few weeks peeking further inside thanks to ClimateGate tell me that it is, then this is root-cause corruption.
Meanwhile, they are scrambling madly to stitch up an agreement in Copenhagen politically committing the U.S. to the long-desired wealth-transfer. The question is which moves faster, the collapse of the increasingly likely scientific fraud, or the global governance set.
Look, there are a lot of links there, and in incredible amount of information that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that pretty much all of the information used by the global warming hoaxers is not only faulty, but an absolute lie. You simply must take time to investigate them.
These dishonest scientists have cooked the books, withheld and manipulated data to suit their needs, all in an effort to pull off the greatest scam in history. The greatest lie ever told.
This is the Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, and UFOs on a global scale! Why? Money, of course. All of these scientists make money off of government and private foundation grants. No crisis, no funding. No funding and you have a lot of “climate scientists” working at McDonald’s asking you if you want fries with that, which is probably where they belong.
And of course, there is power. Look at all of the power that would be wielded if this wasn’t a hoax, and we allowed measures to fight this mythical beast to be put in place. It would be enormous.
The bottom line is this: The climate exists, that’s indisputable. The climate changes, well…duh! Live in Texas and you may see all 4 seasons in one day! That’s real climate change.
But seriously, the climate indeed changes, that’s why the marketing managers over at Big Global Warming, and Big Government, changed the name to “climate change” once it got out that the earth had actually been in a cooling mode since the mid 1990’s. Thus Big Climate was born.
There is no credible data though, that man can cause the climate to change. Now, can man screw up his local environment? You bet’cha! For example, the environmental whack jobs have turned America’s breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley of California into a desert because of a minnow. Millions of acres of land that used to feed the world, literally, is now a dust bowl, all because man has screwed with nature.
The answer to this sort of thing is to allow the states, not the federal government, to regulate the activities of the insane. This also goes for those who pollute, and well, even litter. We all want a clean world, a healthy world. But we also want a world that places a premium on liberty and freedom. A world were we, the individual, are what matters, not Big Government, Big Climate, Or Big Al Gore.
As the wheels start to come off of the global warming hoax wagon, men like Al Gore, who has bored us to death with his inane braying, need to be rounded up and jailed. The same goes for politicians and officials who have pushed these lies on the world.
There is simply no way to measure the amount of blood and treasure that has been lost in pursuit of this hoax. Industries destroyed, jobs lost, and lives destroyed. We could be talking about trillions of dollars, but how can one even measure the destruction these liars have caused?
Well, for now, we have a few brave souls, like Sarah Palin, who has the power of her position as the true American leader, to take these people and their lies on. Thank God for that.
L’accord de partenariat stratégique dans le domaine de l’énergie entre l’Algérie et l’Union européenne conditionné à la libre circulation des personnes. De l’énergie pour assouplir les murailles européennes, le gaz contre l’esprit «Frontex» ? La partie risque d’être laborieuse…
Le ministre algérien de l’Energie, Chakib Khelil, a annoncé hier que l’Algérie a mis sur la table la question de la libre circulation des personnes dans la négociation d’un accord stratégique énergétique avec l’Union européenne.
Intervenant à la radio nationale, Chakib Khelil a déclaré que l’Algérie avait posé d’autres conditions. «Ce qui est important pour nous, ce n’est pas tellement de vendre du gaz mais d’obtenir par exemple le libre passage des personnes entre l’Algérie et l’UE». L’Algérie, estime-t-il, doit obtenir une contrepartie de la signature d’un tel accord qui l’engagerait à assurer l’approvisionnement et la sécurité énergétique de l’Europe. Selon lui, le gaz peut se vendre ailleurs qu’en Europe, mais que l’engagement de l’Algérie dans un accord contraignant devrait recevoir une contrepartie. Il a également souligné que la conclusion d’un accord stratégique qui n’engagerait pas l’ensemble des pays membres de l’Union européenne poserait problème. «Pourquoi nous signerions un accord avec l’UE si cet accord ne s’applique pas à chacun des pays membres ? Pour le moment, les discussions sont en cours».
Si cette exigence d’un engagement de tous les pays membres de l’UE par un éventuel accord ne surprend pas, la mise sur la table de la question de la libre circulation des personnes heurte de plein fouet une politique européenne de plus en plus restrictive.
Du gaz et des hommes
La question de la libre circulation des personnes est constamment soulevée par l’Algérie, l’accord d’association signé en 2005 n’engageant pas les Européens dans ce domaine. Beaucoup, en Algérie, estiment qu’il a été également mal négocié sur cet aspect. En tout cas, cette nouvelle exigence intervient alors que le bilan de l’accord d’association avec l’Union européenne fait l’objet d’appréciations contrastées… La diplomatie algérienne est plutôt encline à le trouver «globalement positif», alors que les acteurs de l’économie sont plutôt mitigés ou critiques.
Cette question de libre circulation des personnes est, a priori, difficile à faire passer auprès d’une Europe très largement travaillée par l’extrême droite. A moins que les négociateurs algériens ne considèrent que l’engagement de l’Algérie en direction de l’Europe est tellement important, voire vital, qu’il amènerait les Européens à reconsidérer leur approche.
Il faut noter cependant que la conclusion d’un partenariat stratégique dans le domaine de l’énergie (PSE) est depuis 2006 sur la table des négociations avec l’UE. Un processus lent qui montre que si un intérêt existe, les difficultés à surmonter restent importantes. Vu d’Alger, un tel accord ne devrait pas se contenter d’institutionnaliser des relations déjà denses, stables, et somme toute sans aucune interférence politique. Le gaz ou le pétrole ne sont pas utilisés comme des instruments politiques par l’Algérie. A l’évidence, les autorités estiment que sauter le pas vers un accord contraignant qui garantit sur le long terme les approvisionnements de l’Europe change la donne.
« Il faudrait obtenir quelque chose de très important et cette chose importante est la libre circulation des personnes», a déclaré Chakib Khelil. Le gaz parviendra-t-il à assouplir l’esprit «Frontex» ? La partie ne sera pas facile car la politique européenne de ces dernières années a consisté justement à multiplier les entraves à la circulation des personnes. Mais les discussions avec les Européens ne se limitent pas à cet aspect.
Echange inégal
Face au mégaprojet Desertec – «Desertec Industrial Initiative» – , un investissement de 400 milliards de dollars prévoyant la mise en place d’un système de centrales solaires au Sahara, avec pour objectif de couvrir 15% des besoins européens en électricité, Chakib Khelil a renouvelé des réserves déjà exprimées. Le ministre algérien n’est pas loin d’y voir l’exemple type d’une approche qui ne pense qu’aux intérêts de l’Europe et qui ne se soucie pas de ceux des partenaires.
«Il y a une marche forcée pour convaincre des pays tels que l’Algérie, le Maroc et la Tunisie à développer rapidement des infrastructures pour la production d’électricité solaire destinée au marché européen», a relevé M. Khelil. Il observe cependant que ces infrastructures ne vont pas créer de l’industrie dans les pays concernés, mais en Europe. Ce qui signifie que les gains seront peu significatifs pour les pays «solaires». Sans compter, selon lui, que les parties qui vont supporter le financement de ce genre de projets ne sont pas encore déterminées.
Chakib Khelil a également évoqué les entraves à l’exportation de l’électricité produite dans ces centrales solaires. Il a rappelé à cet effet les difficultés que rencontre Sonatrach pour commercialiser son gaz en Europe et celle de Sonelgaz pour exporter son électricité en Espagne. Le projet Desertec fait débat en Algérie.
Issad Rebrab, le patron de Cevital, qui est engagée dans le projet Desertec – avec notamment les allemands E.ON, RWE et Siemens -, défend un engagement algérien dans le projet. Il fait valoir que le pays dispose du plus grand désert du monde et d’une industrie du verre et du béton qui serviront dans la réalisation des centrales.
Par ailleurs, Chakib Khelil a renouvelé le rejet par l’Opep de la taxe carbone proposée par les pays développés pour réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre. «Il y a un consensus très clair au sein de l’OPEP pour rejeter cette taxe discriminatoire» qui entraînerait 3.000 milliards de dollars de manque à gagner d’ici à 2050 pour les pays exportateurs. «La taxe carbone s’applique au pétrole et au gaz et pas au charbon, alors que le charbon est plus polluant. Donc, la taxe carbone est discriminatoire. Elle va à l’encontre des intérêts des pays producteurs du pétrole. Elle profite aux pays développés qui, eux, sont des producteurs de charbon, en Europe en particulier». [Source: Monde Actu 24/24 - M. Saadoune - 17 décembre 2009]
To improve our economy, President Obama wants us to spend tens of billions of dollars on… Caulk.
That’s right. The President believes that both our energy situation and the unemployment issues that far out-strip any projections made by his economic team can be solved by “weatherizing” our homes. All we need to do is hire hundreds of thousands of union laborers to add weatherstripping and caulk to lower our energy costs. This will have a ripple-effect that will resonate throughout our economy and kick-start the jobs machine. To do this, the Stimulus Package already signed into law provided billions of dollars for training workers to install caulk and other weatherizing improvements into people’s homes.
This is all part of President Obama’s “Green Jobs” initiative, which he extensively campaigned on and continues to hold up as the future of our domestic economy. He even went so far as to call insulation “sexy.”
I have a “sexy” idea for President Obama: Instead of focusing on “green jobs,” how about focusing on “jobs?” We can worry about the “green” part when we get back to that 8% unemployment level that he said his magical stimulus would prevent us from ever topping.
Just who is going to pay for all this caulk, weatherstripping, the energy-efficient windows, and more? Why, property owners, of course! They’ll get tax breaks for putting a few thousand dollars worth of improvements into their homes (which will amount to a few hundred dollars), and these improvements will save them maybe $300 in energy costs each year (if they are lucky). In the end, it will take them many years to earn-back through savings what they spend today on an house that, for most home owners, is still losing value.
The only people who really can afford to pay for all of this are those darn-awful rich people (pardon my French). Y’know: The ones Obama and the Congressional Democrats want to saddle with more taxes by adding a 5% “War Tax,” allowing the Bush Tax Cuts to expire, taxes for houses over a certain size (more of that “green” initiative), taxes on “Cadillac” health insurance plans, and myriad additional items to “increase revenue.”
One wonders if the Democrats would be happy with anything short of a 99% tax bracket for people earning, well, anything more than a Congressional Leadership position?
At some point people have to realize that the cost of government is the real problem. The dollar is weakening in part because of our Public Debt, which the Democrats seem eager to increase (they are extending the “Debt Limit” by $2 trillion). The cost of regulatory compliance with the tax code, labor relation regulations, environmental regulations, and scores more regulatory agencies add more costs. In total, those government agencies employ millions of people for whom salaries, benefits and retirement must be paid, requiring even more dollars taxed or borrowed from the areas of our economy that actually produce something.
And let us not forget the hundreds of billions of dollars the government will be taxing from those high-income Americans each year to pay for its grand takeover of our health care system.
While we’re at it, let’s look at that “Green Jobs” sector that the President is so eager to help grow. Think about it: Who do you know that works at a “Green Job?” The chances are, you don’t know anybody. That’s because these jobs make up such a small part of our economy that The Bureau of Labor Statistics will not start tracking “green” jobs until next year. Green Jobs are simply not important enough to make a dent in our economy. The Obama Stimulus promised $167 billion in incentives for “GreenTech,” as investors like to call it, yet there have been only a few major deals for investment in the industry over the past decade.
“Green” is, realistically, a goal for an affluent, prosperous and economically expanding society. With 10-plus percent unemployment and minimal GDP growth, how can the President possibly expect enough Americans to spend their hard-earned dollars on affluence and delicacies? For most Americans, this “weatherizing” scheme is something akin to asking the hamburger flipper at a fast food restaurant spend his money on slick new aluminum mag wheels for his Yugo: He doesn’t have the money in the first place, it won’t improve the value of the car and even if it did, the mag wheel industry is just too darn small to kick-start the economy on its own.
We have a systemic problem in the United States, and that systemic problem is our continuous election of politicians who tout solutions powered by government. If we want economic growth we need to unleash our economy, not shackle it further; or worse, send it in unproductive directions. Individuals have a remarkable way of spending their own money on what is important to the whole of society. Government just gets in the way. If “Green Jobs” are really that important to us, the free market will create them on its own.
Obama’s Monday meeting with top finance CEOs, presented as a means of promoting lending to small business, in fact aimed to placate popular anger over the Wall Street bailout.
The stated aim of the gathering of Wall Street bankers at a private White House meeting with President Barack Obama on Monday was to cajole the nation’s largest financial institutions into offering loans to cash-starved businesses and consumers.
In reality, the event was a media exercise designed to placate growing popular anger toward the Obama administration. The true nature of the event was not lost on its attendees. “It’s a PR [public relations] stunt,” an unnamed CEO flatly told Time magazine prior to the meeting.
Attending were Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Ken Lewis of Bank of America, Richard Fairbank of Capital One, Bob Kelly of Bank of New York Mellon, Ken Chenault of American Express, and Ron Logue of State Street Bank. Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, John Mack of Morgan Stanley, and Dick Parsons of Citigroup joined the meeting via video conference.
The nation’s biggest banks will soon hand out year-end executive bonuses totalling in the tens of billions. This conspicuous display of bank prosperity comes just over one year after the US Treasury and Federal Reserve began to funnel trillions of dollars to the finance industry. This ensured that the banks would profit from the economic crisis that they precipitated through rampant financial speculation.
The vast majority of the population continues to suffer through the nation’s worst social crisis since the Great Depression. One in six workers is without a job or underemployed. For those who have work, speed-up and pay and benefit cuts are the rule. The foreclosure crisis continues. Hunger is at a record high. The destruction of the social safety system by cash-strapped states is accelerating, and the Obama administration is readying years of budget austerity to right the US fiscal crisis at the expense of the working class.
Appearing on the CBS news program “60 Minutes” on Sunday evening, Obama acknowledged the anger. Referring to the Wall Street financiers as “fat cat bankers,” Obama noted, “They’re still puzzled why is it that people are mad at the banks.”
“Well, let’s see,” Obama continued, “you guys are drawing down 10, 20 million dollar bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it’s gone through in decades, and you guys caused the problem. And we’ve got 10 percent unemployment.”
Obama did not mention that this is an outcome of the policies of his own administration, which has overseen the Wall Street baillout and has explicitely campaigned to oppose any measure that would curb executive pay. Meanwhile, it has spearheaded the attack on workers’ pay, including through the forced bankrupcy of General Motors and Chrysler.
Monday’s meeting comes nine months after a similar meeting at the White House in March. Then, Obama pledged not to take any measures that would impinge on the interests of the financial oligarchy. Bank of America’s Lewis said at the time that he was confident that no “punitive” actions would be taken after the “pleasant” meeting. (See “Obama holds ‘very pleasant’ meeting with top US bankers”) (1)
While the media had predicted that Obama’s criticisms on “60 Minutes” meant he would shame the executives or give them a “dressing down” on Monday, by all accounts the meeting was likewise as pleasant as it was unsubstantial. No transcripts of the discussion have been released.
Richard Davis, CEO of US Bancorp, told the media “there wasn’t a lot of disagreement.” “He didn’t call us any names,” Davis said, referring to Obama’s “fat cat” reference on “60 Minutes.”
I got this email today. Tell me what you think about it!
I encourage you all to read this, as well as the Google linked articles and see if it is something that effects you. It is amazing, and for me upsetting. I’ve had enough.
If you own your home you may want to check this out – at the end of this email is the Google link to verify…..If the country thinks the housing market is depressed now, wait until everyone sees this – no one will be buying or selling their homes in the future.
We encourage you to read the provisions of the Cap and Trade Bill that has passed the House of Representatives and being considered by the Senate. We are ready to join the next march on Washington ! This Congress and whoever on their staffs that write this junk are truly out to destroy the middle class of the USA …
A License required for your house…no longer just for cars and mobile homes….
Thinking about selling your house – A look at H.R. 2454 (Cap and trade bill) This is unbelievable!
Only the beginning from this administration! Home owners take note & tell your friends and relatives who are home owners!
Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Cap and Trade Act, you won’t be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act. H.R. 2454, the “Cap & Trade” bill passed by the House of Representatives, if also passed by the Senate, will be the largest tax increase any of us has ever experienced. The Congressional Budget Office (supposedly non-partisan) estimates that in just a few years the average cost to every family of four will be $6,800 per year. No one is excluded. However, once the lower classes feel the pinch in their wallets, you can be sure these voters get a tax refund (even if they pay no taxes at all) to offset this new cost.. Thus, you Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class America will have to pay even more since additional tax dollars will be needed to bail out everyone else.
But wait. This awful bill (that no one in Congress has actually read) has many more surprises in it. Probably the worst one is this: A year from now you won’t be able to sell your house. Yes, you read that right. The caveat is (there always is a caveat) that if you have enough money to make required major upgrades to your home, then you can sell it. But, if not, then forget it. Even pre-fabricated homes (“mobile homes”) are included. In effect, this bill prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA administrator. To get this permission, you will have to have the energy efficiency of your home measured. Then the government will tell you what your new energy efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make modifications to your home under the retrofit provisions of this Act to comply with the new energy and water efficiency requirements. Then you will have to get your home measured again and get a license (called a “label” in the Act) that must be posted on your property to show what your efficiency rating is; sort of like the Energy Star efficiency rating label on your refrigerator or air conditioner. If you don’t get a high enough rating, you can’t sell. And, the EPA administrator is authorized to raise the standards every year, even above the automatic energy efficiency increases built into the Act. The EPA administrator, appointed by the President, will run the Cap & Trade program (AKA the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009″) and is authorized to make any future changes to the regulations and standards he alone determines to be in the government’s best interest. Requirements are set low initially so the bill will pass Congress; then the Administrator can set much tougher new standards every year.
The Act itself contains annual required increases in energy efficiency for private and commercial residences and buildings. However, the EPA administrator can set higher standards at any time. Sect. 202 Building Retrofit Program mandates a national retrofit program to increase the energy efficiency of all existing homes across America . Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won’t be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act. You had better sell soon, because the standards will be raised each year and will be really hard (i.e., ex$pen$ive) to meet in a few years. Oh, goody! The Act allows the government to give you a grant of several thousand dollars to comply with the retrofit program requirements IF you meet certain energy efficiency levels. But, wait, the State can set additional requirements on who qualifies to receive the grants. You should expect requirements such as “can’t have an income of more than $50K per year”, “home selling price can’t be more than $125K”, or anything else to target the upper middle class (and that’s YOU) and prevent them from qualifying for the grants. Most of us won’t get a dime and will have to pay the entire cost of the retrofit out of our own pockets. More transfer of wealth, more “change you can believe in.” Sect. 204 Building Energy Performance Labeling Program establishes a labeling program that for each individual residence will identify the achieved energy efficiency performance for “at least 90 percent of the residential market within 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.”
This means that within 5 years 90% of all residential homes in the U.S. must be measured and labeled. The EPA administrator will get $50M each year to enforce the labeling program. The Secretary of the Department of Energy will get an additional $20M each year to help enforce the labeling program. Some of this money will, of course, be spent on coming up with tougher standards each year..
Oh, the label will be like a license for your car. You will be required to post the label in a conspicuous location in your home and will not be allowed to sell your home without having this label. And, just like your car license, you will probably be required to get a new label every so often – maybe every year. But, the government estimates the cost of measuring the energy efficiency of your home should only cost about $200 each time. Remember what they said about the auto smog inspections when they first started: that in California it would only cost $15. That was when the program started. Now the cost is about $50 for the inspection and certificate; a 333% increase. Expect the same from the home labeling program. Sect. 304 Greater Energy Efficiency in Building Codes establishes new energy efficiency guidelines for the National Building Code and mandates at 304(d) that 1 year after enactment of this Act, all state and local jurisdictions must adopt the National Building Code energy efficiency provisions or must obtain a certification from the federal government that their state and/or local codes have been brought into full compliance with the National Building Code energy efficiency standards.
Two forces that until recently turbo-charged US consumer spending—growing household debt and a falling savings rate—have gone into reverse. In late 2008, as households started reducing their indebtedness and saving more, consumption tumbled.
New research from the McKinsey Global Institute shows that the economic impact of further US consumer de-leveraging will depend on income growth. Without it, each percentage point increase in the savings rate would reduce spending by more than $100 billion—a serious drag on any recovery. Relatively healthy income growth, on the other hand, would help households reduce their debt burden without trimming consumption as much.
The significance of any fall in consumption could be profound. US consumers have accounted for more than three-quarters of US GDP growth since 2000 and for more than one-third of global growth in private consumption since 1990. These trends were fueled by a surge in household debt,1 particularly after 2000 , and a decline in the personal savings rate—to a low of –0.7 percent, in 2005. From 2000 to 2007, US household debt grew as much, relative to income, as it had during the previous 25 years.
Appreciating household assets—the “wealth effect”—enabled consumers to spend and borrow more even as they saved less. The value of US household assets rose by some $27 trillion from 2000 through 2007. Rising home values, as well as stocks and other financial assets, accounted for more than two-thirds of this gain.
This dynamic sputtered to a halt when the housing bubble burst and the financial and economic crisis ensued. Falling values for homes, stocks, and other assets have battered US households: from mid-2007 through the end of 2008, their net worth fell by roughly $13 trillion. These recent losses erased all the gains in net worth, relative to disposable income, since the early 1990s. It’s not surprising that US consumer spending fell at a 4.3 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2008—a major reason for the broader economic contraction.
The flip side of falling consumption is a rising personal savings rate, which reached 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008. Net new borrowing by households also has fallen sharply from its 2006 peak. In the fourth quarter of 2008, it turned negative for the first time since World War II.
Several forces underlie these shifts. Some households are responding to worries about possible unemployment or underwater mortgages by paying down debt or avoiding new debt. Others have found their credit lines shut down or can’t get new credit, because banks have tightened their lending standards.
How far these trends will go is a critical economic uncertainty in the months ahead. The economic impact of today’s de-leveraging will depend on how it unfolds—through income growth, higher savings, or some combination of the two.
If incomes stagnated, for example, households could deliberate only by saving more. Every percentage point reduction in the debt-to-income ratio would require nearly a one percentage point increase in the savings rate. The US personal savings rate reached 5 percent in January, 2009. If this level prevailed and incomes didn’t grow, this would reduce the household debt-to-income ratio by five percentage points—which still wouldn’t be enough to restore the levels of indebtedness prevailing in 2000, before borrowing started to accelerate.
But if incomes rose, households could both reduce their debt burden significantly over time and continue to consume. If US incomes grew by 2 percent a year, for instance, households could reduce their debt-to-income ratio by as much as they would in the scenario above—but with a personal savings rate of only 2.3 percent.
These different scenarios have serious implications for the US and global economies because, holding incomes constant, each percentage point increase in the savings rate translates into roughly $100 billion less in consumer spending¬. A 5 percent savings rate would mean $530 billion less in spending each year if US incomes fail to rise; if they rose by 2 percent a year, a 2.3 percent savings rate would mean $250 billion less spending, all else being equal.
In short, the importance of income growth is difficult to overstate. With it, households can simultaneously reduce their debt burden, rebuild savings, and boost consumption. But without significant income gains, de-leveraging could undermine consumption and the global economy for years to come. One implication: policy choices that favor productivity and employment growth—critical determinants of income growth—will make de-leveraging less painful. Efficiency breakthroughs in sectors, such as health care and government, that employ large numbers of people—but that have not enjoyed productivity revolutions similar to those experienced in industries like retailing and wholesaling—would make a dramatic difference.
Actually, for economists and traders who are trying to read the economic tea leaves, once a year is almost too much. The November numbers (released in December), and the December numbers (released in January) are subject to huge error bars. In statistical terms, that means that it is extremely difficult to reject any given null hypothesis about the economy’s actual trajectory: put more simply, because of the huge uncertainty caused by seasonal adjustment of a very important season, it is difficult to look at a piece of data and say “well, my original idea clearly is wrong.” There’s just not much signal among the noise.
So, at present my operating assumption is that the economy is improving from deeply depressed Lehman-trauma-induced levels. That’s not saying a whole lot, and I don’t expect that improvement to lead to what we would normally consider a healthy recovery – growth sufficient to bring the Unemployment Rate down significantly over the next year. Moreover, a lot of that growth seems to me to be artificial. For example, it isn’t clear to me that the major auto companies need to be producing cars like mad given the state of durable demand, but I do suspect the czar isn’t going to let them slow production very much…inventory build is, after all, included in GDP, and a higher number does make his boss look good. And who knows, it might even be the right thing.
Friday’s Retail Sales figures were stronger than expected across the board, whether looking at the headline figure, ex-auto, or ex-auto-and-gasoline, and even including negative revisions to prior numbers. This is well, and good, and we should be of good cheer and all that. But I wonder how much demand moved forward to November as shoppers try and spread their purchases over a longer period this year. I know it is happening in my household – we’re done shopping. I suspect it isn’t a big effect, but my point is that it has been a very long time since we have had a Christmas shopping season in the middle of, or coming out of, a depression and we don’t know a lot about how the numbers are supposed to look.
In any event, a significant plurality of all the retail purchases for the year happen in the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas period, so Friday’s numbers are much less important than what is happening right now. And, anecdotal evidence aside, we won’t know about that until next month.
This may help explain why the stock market over the last week and a half has responded strikingly tepidly to great Employment and strong Retail Sales figures. Investors know that the real game begins now, and are ignoring the good news from last month. Maybe.
It may also be that stocks are expensive once again. On Thursday the Federal Reserve released the Z.1 report, which (geek alert) is one of my favorite. The Z.1 is the “Flow of Funds” report, and is released quarterly. This one is for Q3, so the data is always out-of-date. But it has nuggets like the count of non-Federal, non-financial debt outstanding, which fell in Q3 by $129.9bln, the most ever in a quarter, and is down $254bln over the last year. Lest you think that is quite a lot, I should observe that these precipitous declines bring the level of non-Federal debt outstanding to the still-pretty-steamy level of $27 trillion. A 1% decline over a year was not, exactly, the extent of what the doctor ordered for this economy. It needs to contract much, much more to reduce the risk in the economy. The flip side of that coin, of course, is that if it did, then the economy would be growing that much more slowly, or contracting still.
Our policymakers have taken severe steps to make sure that doesn’t happen. And this is the most disturbing sign, I think, that whether the current semi-expansion blossoms into something more or instead sputters, there could still be something ugly in our future. This is an imbalance. It needs to be, and will be corrected – either by a default debacle, or (on the more sunny side) by stagnant credit growth in the context of organic economic growth. The latter method is better, but slower, and there’s really no way to choose it. We just have to hope.
The Brookings Institute, The New York Times, and Bloomberg all covered the news that Texas added more people than any other state between July of 2008 and this past July, 479,000 according to the Census Bureau. The Brookings think tank analysts suggested that a shift of population migration to places like California and Florida has slowed because the advantage of living in warm weather has been trumped by high unemployment. That argument does not apply to many retirees who still want to be in the sunshine, although more of them are going back to work because their savings were eroded in the market down turn. The states with the highest increases, on a percentage basis, of new people were Wyoming and Utah. It is easy to say that the percentages are high because both states are nearly uninhabited, but each also has low unemployment rates.
Source: Bloomberg
Le ministre algérien de l’Energie, Chakib Khelil, a annoncé hier que l’Algérie a mis sur la table la question de la libre circulation des personnes dans la négociation d’un accord stratégique énergétique avec l’Union européenne.