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2010
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May
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- Barker's Pre-Vacation Newsbites!
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, May 28, 2010
- I Wish Karl Rove Would Just Go Away
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, May 27, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, May 26, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, May 25, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 24, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., May 22 & 23
- Muehler v. Mena (Thank you, Megyn Kelly!)
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, May 21, 2010
- Yeah, yeah... I know... Nobody's gonna read "Graha...
- Terrance Jamar Graham, Petitioner v. Florida
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, May 20, 2010
- H.R. 4720 - The Where the Hell Are Boehner, McConn...
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, May 19, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, May 18, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 17, 2010
- United States, Petitioner v. Graydon Earl Comstock...
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., May 15 & 16
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, May 14, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, May 13, 2010
- Calling All Charleston, South Carolina Foodies...
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, May 12, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, May 11, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 10, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., May 8 & 9
- SERIOUSLY, GANG... Check Out My Nephews...!!!
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, May 7, 2010
- Barker's Bottom Line on Immigration Policy and "Re...
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, May 6, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, May 5, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, May 4, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 3, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., May 1 & 2
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May
(34)
About Me
- William R. Barker
- Pearl River, NY High School Class of '81; Northeastern University, Boston, MA Class of '87.
5 comments:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/28/calif-college-offers-scholarship-to-illegals/
A public community college in California has set up a scholarship fund for immigrant students - including illegal immigrants.
* THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM, FOLKS... (*SIGH*)
* THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)
* YEAH... THIS POST IS THAT IMPORTANT...!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/opinion/27einhorn.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=all
According to the Bank for International Settlements, the United States’ structural deficit - the amount of our deficit adjusted for the economic cycle - has increased from 3.1% of gross domestic product in 2007 to 9.2% in 2010.
* HMM... WHAT A COINCIDENCE! IF MEMORY SERVES... DIDN'T THE DEMOCRATS TAKE CONTROL OF BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS IN JANUARY OF 2007...??? HAVEN'T THEY RUN BOTH HOUSES SINCE...??? WASN'T BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN JANUARY OF 2009...??? HAS MR. OBAMA NOT BEEN PRESIDENT SINCE THEN...???
* OH... AND BY THE WAY... CONTINUING WITH THE ANALYSIS...
This [structural deficit] does not take into account the very large liabilities the government has taken on by socializing losses in the housing market.
We have not seen the bills for bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and even more so the Federal Housing Administration, which is issuing government-guaranteed loans to non-creditworthy borrowers on terms easier than anything offered during the housing bubble.
* MY, MY... NOW THAT DOESN'T SOUND GOOD - DOES IT...?
Government accounting is done on a cash basis, so promises to pay in the future - whether Social Security benefits or loan guarantees - do not count in the budget until the money goes out the door.
(*SMIRK*)
A good percentage of the structural increase in the deficit is because last year’s “stimulus” was not stimulus in the traditional sense. Rather than a one-time injection of spending to replace a cyclical reduction in private demand, the vast majority of the stimulus has been a permanent increase in the base level of government spending - including spending on federal jobs. (How different is the government today from what General Motors was a decade ago? Government employees are expensive and difficult to fire. Bloomberg News reported that from the last peak businesses have let go 8.5 million people, or 7.4% of the work force, while local governments have cut only 141,000 workers, or less than 1%.)
* To be continued...
* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)
Public sector jobs used to offer greater job security but lower pay. Not anymore. In 2008, according to the Cato Institute, the average federal civilian salary with benefits was $119,982, compared with $59,909 for the average private sector worker; the disparity has grown enormously over the last decade.
* TO REPEAT: INCLUDING "BENEFITS" THE AVERAGE FEDERAL CIVILIAN SALARY WAS $119,982 IN 2008 VS. ROUGHLY HALF THAT - $59,909 - FOR THE AVERAGE JOE/JANE BLOW WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT JOB. SERIOUSLY... THINK ON THAT... (*SIGH*)
[H]ow long will the capital markets continue to finance government borrowings that may be refinanced but never repaid on reasonable terms?
At what level of government debt and future commitments does government default go from being unthinkable to inevitable, and how does our government think about that risk?
[T]o what extent can obligations that are not financed through traditional fiscal means be satisfied through central bank monetization of debts - that is, by the printing of money?
* THE AUTHOR IS TALKING ABOUT DELIBERATELY RAMPING UP INFLATION; MEANING YOU AND I GET SQUEEZED WITH HIGHER PRICES AND A LOWER STANDARD OF LIVING EVEN AS WE CONTINUE TO WORK THE SAME JOBS, THE SAME HOUSES, EVEN FACTORING IN YEARLY RAISES. (*SIGH*) I HOPE YOU FOLKS UNDERSTAND THE REALITY OF WHAT THIS WOULD MEAN...
Government statistics are about the last place one should look to find inflation, as they are designed to not show much. Over the last 35 years the government has changed the way it calculates inflation several times. According to the Web site Shadow Government Statistics, using the pre-1980 method, the Consumer Price Index would be over 9%, compared with about 2% in the official statistics today.
(Why does the government understate rising costs? Low official inflation benefits the government by reducing inflation-indexed payments, including Social Security. Lower official inflation means higher reported real G.D.P., higher reported real income and higher reported productivity.)
Subdued reported inflation also enables the Fed to rationalize easy money. The Fed wants to have low interest rates to fight unemployment, which, in a new version of the trickle-down theory, it believes can be addressed through higher stock prices. The Fed hopes that by denying savers an adequate return in risk-free assets like savings deposits, it will force them to speculate in stocks and other “risky assets.” This speculation drives stock prices higher, which creates a “wealth effect” when the lucky speculators spend some of their gains on goods and services. The purchases increase aggregate demand and lead to job creation.
Easy money also aids the banks, helping them earn back their still unacknowledged losses. This has the perverse effect of discouraging banks from making new loans. If banks can lend to the government, with no capital charge and no perceived risk and earn an adequate spread, then they have little incentive to lend to small businesses or consumers. Easy money also helps the fiscal position of the government. Lower borrowing costs mean lower [present] deficits. In effect, negative real interest rates are indirect debt monetization. Allowing borrowers, including the government, to get addicted to unsustainably low rates creates enormous [future] solvency risks when rates eventually rise.
(*SIGH*)
* AGAIN, FOLKS... THESE BASTARDS ARE DELIBERATELY SETTING UP OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN FOR DISASTER WHILE THEY TRY TO BRIBE US WITH OUR OWN MONEY IN THE PRESENT!
In recent years, we have gone from one bubble and bailout to the next. Each bailout has rewarded those who acted imprudently. This has encouraged additional risky behavior, feeding the creation of new, larger bubbles.
* WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND STATE GOVERNMENTS PLAYING BOTH "BAD GUY" ROLES - PLAYING BOTH BUBBLE ENCOURAGER AND THEN WHEN THE BUBBLE POPS PLAYING BAILER-OUTTER! (WITH OUR GOD-DAMNED MONEY...!!!)
*** OK, FOLKS... I WAS ABLE TO FIT IT ALL WITHIN TWO SEPARATE POSTS... CONSIDER THIS "Part 3 of 3."
http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/27/taxes-finance-economy-congress-opinions-columnists-lee-sheppard.html?boxes=opinionschannellatest
* YOU FOLKS NEED, NEED, NEED TO FOLLOW THE LINK AND READ THIS PIECE IN ITS ENTIRETY!
Congress is about to increase investment managers' taxes on a customary form of profits-based compensation that has administratively been treated as capital gain.
* WE'RE TALKING ABOUT "CARRIED INTEREST," ALSO KNOWN AS "THE HEDGE FUND MANAGER'S LOOPHOLE."
A House vote is expected soon and passage is inevitable, but the lobbyists are still hard at work hoping to prevent the change. The lobbyists are howling that raising taxes on investment managers' profit shares will discourage investment.
* WHICH IS TOTAL BULL$HIT!
Managers should not be conflated with investors or entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs are guys whose wives divorce them for betting the house on the business, not guys who have serial trophy wives as consumption items.
Entrepreneurship isn't messing with other people's money for huge fees.
But aren't real estate and private equity worthwhile long-term investments, the managers of which deserve a tax break?
(*SMIRK*)
* CONTINUE READING...
The outsized returns private equity funds were getting were juiced by excessive leverage made possible by cheap money. Economically they were just taking options on companies they acquired. Over-investment in both residential and commercial real estate contributed mightily to the trouble we are in, and most economists would say there should be less U.S. investment in it.
* YES...! YES, YES, YES...!!! (*MAD APPLAUSE*)
* FOLKS... I'M BEGGING YOU - ESPECIALLY THOSE OF YOU WHO CONSIDER YOURSELVES FISCAL CONSERVATIVES - READ THIS PIECE IN ITS ENTIRETY!
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