Thursday, November 4, 2010

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010


Why this version...???

Simple. The "old" Tokens of 2008 deserve - if anything - more respect than the "young" Tokens of 1961.

Real talent in both cases... but jeez... think about what it takes at their age now to even come close to hitting those notes!
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10 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40004480

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week...

(*SNORT*)

* FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU HAVE TO READ STORIES ABOUT ECONOMICS IN THE AGE OF OBAMA THAT CONTAIN THE PHRAST "MORE THAN EXPECTED" BEFORE YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE FIX IS IN...

* NO... NO... OBVIOUSLY YOU FOLKS - MY REGULAR READERS - UNDERSTAND THIS. I'M JUST CRYING OUT INTO THE WILDERNESS...

A Labor Department official said there was nothing unusual in the claims data and described the report as fairly clean.

(*SNORT*)

* YEAH... "NOTHING UNUSUAL" ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT CONSTANTLY "REVISING" THEIR PREVIOUS... er... MISSTATEMENTS OF FACT.

(*SMIRK*)

November 4, 2010 at 11:44 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.8ae3f888847f9e99244653ecde440932.3f1&show_article=1

World oil prices hit fresh six-month peaks on Thursday as the dollar slumped on the back of the US Federal Reserve's new huge stimulus package...

* SO, MY FELLOW AMERICANS... IS THIS GOOD NEWS...??? IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT - TO PAY MORE FOR LESS...??? WELL... THAT'S WHAT OBAMA AND BERNANKE WANT FOR YOU!

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December delivery rallied as high as 87.59 dollars...

(*SIGH*)

[T]he European single currency soared to 1.4264 dollars...

(*GRITTING MY TEETH*)

* FOLKS... UNDERSTAND... OBAMA AND BERNANKE WANT TO STOKE THE FIRES OF INFLATION AND THEY'RE DOING JUST THAT.

November 4, 2010 at 11:45 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Election-2010/Governors/2010/1104/Recount-may-loom-amid-confusion-in-Connecticut-governor-race

[Connecticutt's] secretary of state declared Democrat Dan Malloy the winner Wednesday in the Connecticut governor race, before the release of official numbers.

On Thursday morning, the Associated Press, which had [also originally] declared Mr. Malloy the winner [before the votes were actually counted], withdrew its announcement and said Foley was ahead by 8,424 votes.

(*SNORT*)

* SERIOUSLY, THOUGH, FOLKS... THIS SHIT AIN'T FUNNY. THERE'S A CLEAR PATTERN HERE. NATIONWIDE, DEMOCRATS SURE SEEM RATHER "EAGER" TO SHORT-CIRCUIT THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS WHEN "NEED" BE.

Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, [a democrat,] on the basis of unofficial results, declared Democrat Dan Malloy the victor over Republican Tom Foley. But [even as she was making her "declaration" she [would only claim] the margin of victory was a meager 3,103 votes out of more than 1 million cast.

* NOW...

[Tom] Foley is calling for Ms. Bysiewicz to publish her numbers. “We assume she has the data to back that up,” he says. “We’ve asked her to put it on her website; she hasn’t done it. I don’t know, if it’s a close race, why an officer of the state would be calling a race, particularly in favor of someone from her own party.”

* SOUNDS MIGHTY FRIGG'N REASONABLE, NO...???

The Connecticut race is far from unique. In Minnesota, the governor’s race between Democrat Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer is so close that it may trigger an automatic recount. So far, Mr. Dayton is ahead but not by enough to be declared the winner.

Back in Connecticut, Foley says his priority is to feel assured that he knows what the vote was on Tuesday night. “If I believe that I won, and I have to go to court for others to believe it, I will. But if I believe Dan Malloy won, we will not be going to court.”

* AGAIN... SOUNDS REASONABLE!

If there is a recount, one area that might be looked at is Bridgeport. According to press reports on Tuesday, there were not enough ballots in the city for all the voters. As a result, officials had to get permission to use photocopied ballots. A judge then extended voting by two hours.

* A DEMOCRAT JUDGE...??? (JUST ASKING...)

* IN ANY CASE, HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THIS WHOLE "NOT ENOUGH BALLOTS" BUSINESS WASN'T PURPOSEFUL... A DELIBERATE TACTIC TO FORCE THE USE OF PHOTOCOPIED BALLOTS WHILE ALLOWING "NEW" VOTERS TO USE THESE BALLOTS AFTER BY LAW THE POLLS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE CLOSED...???

Foley says the vote count also shows the turnouts were quite high in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. Foley lost all three cities. “It could just be the people were motivated, or it might suggest there were problems,” he says.

(*SNORT*)

* WHAT'S IT SOUND LIKE TO YOU, FOLKS...?

November 4, 2010 at 1:45 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704506404575592313664715360.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_business

An inflationary tide is beginning to ripple through America's supermarkets and restaurants, threatening to end the tamest year of food pricing in nearly two decades.

* LOOKS LIKE MY PREVIOUS INFLATION PREDICTIONS - WHICH DIDN'T COME TO PASS THIS PAST SUMMER - ARE IN THE PIPELINE TO ARRIVE... er... "WORSE LATE THAN NEVER."

(O.K, OK, A RATHER LAME PLAY ON A PLAY ON WORDS...) (*CHUCKLE*)

* SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... OBAMA AND BERNANKE ARE OUT TO F--K US AND F--K US ROYALLY VIA INFLATION...

(*NOD*) (*SIGH*)

Prices of staples including milk, beef, coffee, cocoa and sugar have risen sharply in recent months.

"The big challenge will be, how much can we swallow and how much can we pass along?" said Jack Brown, chief executive of Stater Bros. Markets, a 167-store grocery chain in southern California. Stater Bros. has seen the prices it pays for cereal rise 5% in recent months. The chain has passed about half the increase on to consumers while making up for the rest by trimming other expenses, such as what it spends on cell phones and delivery truck tires.

* THUS HURTING THE PROFITS OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS BUSINESSES AS WELL AS THE PRODUCT TRANSPORTATION SECTOR.

(*SIGH*)

Kraft Foods Inc., Sara Lee Corp. and General Mills Inc. already have said they'll raise prices on certain items. Starbucks Corp. backtracked on an August announcement that it would hold coffee prices steady, saying in September it would boost prices of larger and hard-to-make drinks. This week, cereal maker Kellogg hinted that it will be raising prices, without disclosing specifics.

* NOW F--K STARBUCKS, FOLKS... BUT KRAFT FOOD... SARA LEE... GENERAL MILLS... KELLOGG... HOW ARE YA GOTTA AVOID SHOULDERING THEIR PRODUCT PRICE INCREASES...??? HMM...???

Grocery chains Safeway Inc. and Kroger have said they'll pass supplier increases along to consumers.

Early this year, Ben Tabatchnick, founder of Tabatchnick Fine Foods Inc., a maker of high-end frozen soups, decided to release a new line designed with a suggested retail price lower than his other products. The 11.5-ounce soups, which started appearing in stores nationwide in October, are smaller than his typical 15-ounce Tabatchnick-brand products and carry a price tag of $1.99.

* BTW, FOLKS... I'VE TALKED ABOUT THIS BEFORE... INFLATION ISN'T SIMPLY A STRAIGHT PRICE RISE. NO! INFLATION CAN BE THE PRICE REMAINING THE SAME BUT THE PORTION SIZE THIS PRICE NOW BUYS IS LESS. THOSE OF YOU WHO PAY ATTENTION HAVE NO DOUBT SEEN THIS TACTIC WITH EVERYTHING FROM CANNED GOODS TO BOXED AND BOTTLED GOODS.

But in the last two months, Mr. Tabatchnick says his costs for vegetable oils, sugar, dried beans and other ingredients jumped 20% to 30%. "It's going to reduce the [profit] margin dramatically on the product," he says. "We're stuck."

Until spring, that is, when his promotional programs with retailers expire and he says he plans to try to push through price increases.

November 4, 2010 at 2:46 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594300330039336.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

The total cost to rescue and then overhaul mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could reach $685 billion, according to estimates published Thursday by Standard & Poor's.

* DO YOU HAVE ANY F--KING IDEA HOW MUCH MONEY $685 BILLION IS...?!?!

Fannie and Freddie have already cost taxpayers nearly $134 billion...

(*SIGH*)

Any entities that might replace Fannie and Freddie would need new start-up funding that would go beyond the money already committed.

* WHY IN GOD'S NAME WOULD YOU WANT TO "REPLACE" FANNIE AND FREDDIE?! IT WOULD BE LIKE THROWING A NEW COAT OF PAINT ON AN OLD CLUNKER...!!!

A consensus of academics, industry officials and investors has coalesced around the idea of using the government to provide explicit guarantees for securities backed by mortgages that meet certain standards.

* OH, THEY HAVE, HAVE THEY...?!?! OF COURSE THEY HAVE...!!! THEY ALL STAND TO PERSONALLY BENEFIT...!!! THIS IS THE OLIGARCHY I OFTEN REFER TO, PEOPLE, THE BI-PARTISAN OLIGARCHY OF THE RICH AND POWERFUL AND THEIR HANGERS-ONERS. THEY PLAN TO CONTINUE RAIDING THE U.S. TREASURY TILL THE COUNTRY COLLAPSES. BEFORE IT DOES THOUGH, YOU CAN BET THAT THEY'LL CREATE GOLDEN PARACHUTES OF SORTS FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR CRONIES WHILE LEAVING THE REST OF US HOLDING THE BAG.

Analysts estimate that it would cost an additional $400 billion to sufficiently capitalize any entities that would take the place of Fannie and Freddie.

(*SIGH*)

The S&P loss estimates are higher than those made last month by the firms' federal regulator.

(*SMIRK*) (*ROLLING MY EYES*)

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said that the taxpayer tab for the companies is on pace to reach $154 billion under the current home-price forecast. If the economy enters a double-dip recession and home prices fall more than 20%, the cost to taxpayers could reach $259 billion.

* IN ANY EVENT...

The [Obama] Treasury has promised to inject unlimited sums through 2012 and nearly $300 billion after that in order to maintain a positive net worth and to avoid triggering liquidation.

* HEY, FOLKS... REMEMBER HOW JUST A FEW SHORT MONTHS AGO THE DEMOCRATS WERE PROMISING "NO MORE BAILOUTS?"

(*SNORT*)

November 4, 2010 at 2:47 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://nation.foxnews.com/gm/2010/11/04/obama-lets-gm-execs-fly-private-jets-again

General Motors executives have been cleared for takeoff again.

The automaker has been given the go-ahead by the federal government to use chartered aircraft as early as Thursday to ferry managers on a "road show" promoting G.M.'s public stock offering, according to government and company officials who declined to be identified.

* BY "FEDERAL GOVERNMENT" WE'RE TALKING "OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS."

(*SMIRK*)

It is believed to be the first time that G.M. will use private jets for business-related purposes since the government demanded that it sell its fleet of corporate aircraft in 2008. As a condition for accepting emergency federal assistance, G.M. has required its executives to travel on commercial airlines.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

November 4, 2010 at 2:47 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/252430/opportunity-not-endorsement-tim-phillips

The American people are still angry about the reckless fiscal policies of the Bush-Hastert years: pork-barrel earmarks such as the Bridge to Nowhere, vast new entitlement programs such as the Medicare Part D prescription-drug benefit, and the galloping growth of government spending across the board.

* ONE CAVEAT: IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE REPUBLICANS ATTEMPTED TO REPEAL MEDICARE PART D. (ANYONE IN FAVOR...???)

The first test for the new Republican House majority will come the week of November 15, when they vote, in conference, on extending their existing earmark moratorium. If they allow earmarking as usual to return, it will tell the American people that their talk of fiscal responsibility was just an empty election promise. Conversely, extending the moratorium will show immediate determination to chart a different course.

* THEY WOULDN'T DARE ALLOW EARMARKING... (*ON MY KNEES PRAYING*)

If defeated congressional Democrats try to pass a pork-barrel appropriations bill or other major big-government legislation in the lame-duck session, against the wishes of the American people, Republicans must use every procedural tactic at their disposal to stop them.

(*DETERMINED NOD*)

Congress should simply extend all of the current tax rates and pass a clean, short-term continuing resolution to fund the government until the new Congress is sworn in. Anything else would blatantly disregard the election’s results.

* AGREED.

Congressional Republicans should take seriously the possibility of bipartisan action to address voters’ top concerns and offer to work with the president to cut spending and balance the budget... If the president rejects the opportunity to work in a bipartisan way toward fiscal responsibility and instead continues to pursue a far-Left agenda, Congress must step up and stop him. More than ever, Congress must exercise a robust oversight power and assert itself against regulatory overreach.

* FAT CHANCE! I'LL BE THRILLED IF THEY CAN CUT DEFICITS SUBSTANTIALLY OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS. (BUT, HEY... IF THEY CAN ACTUALLY RUN GOVERNMENT ON A SURPLUS BY THE END OF TWO BUDGET CYCLES... GOD BLESS 'EM!)

[Republicans must] seriously pursue defunding/repealing ObamaCare while moving toward real health reform that empowers patients and gives them control of their own healthcare dollars.

Ronald Reagan was fond of saying, “Trust but verify.” When it comes to Congress - and, yes, that includes the new Republican majority - our free-market movement says, “Forget trust, let’s just verify.” Republicans must keep that in mind and use the opportunity created by this election to prove themselves worthy of the support they received.

November 4, 2010 at 7:53 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/252420/flake-appropriations-stephen-spruiellhttp://www.nationalreview.com/articles/252420/flake-appropriations-stephen-spruiell

[I]f the GOP wants to stop the spending train that Obama, Reid, and Pelosi allowed to run out of control.

Spending growth under the aforementioned triumvirate is on pace to exceed 11% per year - a modern record.

We need to cut that number back, not to the 6.5% of the Bush years, but at least to the 4% of the Clinton-Gingrich era.

For that kind of work, [Speaker-To-Be John] Boehner is going to need a few fearless stalwarts to clean up the House Appropriations Committee, which notorious influence-peddler Jack Abramoff once astutely dubbed “the Favor Factory.”

There is no one better suited to this task than five-term Arizona Republican Jeff Flake.

(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*

The "Approps Committee" (as House insiders call it) has become a grazing ground for congressional wildebeests of both parties; they’re happy to go along to get along as long as everyone is getting a nice fat cut for his or her district.

If the GOP is going to make good on its promise to trim $100 billion plus from the discretionary side of the ledger, this committee needs to go from grazing ground to killing field. Flake is the kind of predator who could get the job done.

Over the course of his ten years in the House, Flake has taken on the thankless task of educating himself on arcane procedural ways to challenge egregious spending, and used his knowledge to fight the free-spending ways of the DeLay-era Republican majority.

(*NOD*) (F--KING D-----BAG DELAY...)

[Boehner will need to] give Flake some excellent allies on the committee. Names such as Jeb Hensarling, Scott Garrett, and John Campbell spring readily to mind. Those men all have seats and seniority on the House Financial Services Committee, from which it will be hard to lure them away. But there is a strong case to be made that at least one of them would be doing the party more good on Approps.

* I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT THEY CONSIDER THEIR SELF-INTEREST TO BE... PUT THEM WHERE THEY'RE NEEDED!

An alternative to picking an established cutter would be combing the large crop of freshmen lawmakers for committed conservatives and stacking the committee with them. Either way, Flake will need some help.

* I NOMINATE MY CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT, NAN HAYWORTH!

If Republicans really want to get spending under control, they are going to have to go way beyond earmarks.

[A]s a member of the Approps Committee, [Jeff] Flake can do more than just enforce the Republican ban on earmarks. He can provide real oversight on spending bills that are just as often packed with non-earmarked pork, such as Homeland Security allocations that use warped regional formulas to grant rural areas as much per capita protection from terrorist attacks as heavily populated cities.

Real spending reform goes way beyond the Approps Committee - but it starts there.

Flake for Appropriations is a great way for Boehner to begin the difficult work that lies ahead.

* INDEED... DO IGNORE SENIORITY AND APPOINT FLAKE CHAIRMAN! THAT'S WHAT I'D DO!

November 4, 2010 at 7:53 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/carl-mortished/fed-prints-the-money-consumers-pay-the-price/article1785227/

More cheap money means dearer food, dearer clothes and more expensive energy. Minutes after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday loaded its blunderbuss with $600-billion of freshly minted cash and began to aim it at Treasury bills, the hedge funds began to buy oil futures.

The Fed wants inflation and, lo and behold, it's getting it with the price of West Texas Intermediate and North Sea Brent up almost dollar on Wednesday and WTI up another dollar Thursday, just shy of $86 per barrel.

We are not yet at levels where the price is destroying demand but where is that level?

The Fed wants to get America motoring but what we need to know is how many dollars per gallon keeps Joe Plumber off the road. In the summer of 2008, the average price of gas in the U.S. hit $4 per gallon and it has been gently hovering just shy of $3 in recent months. We know that $4 per gallon was a hammer blow to energy demand.

* FORGET "HAMMER BLOW TO ENERGY DEMAND," IT WAS A HAMMER BLOW AGAINST MIDDLE CLASS STANDARDS OF LIVING! IT LITERALLY TOOK HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS A MONTH OUT OF OUR WALLETS WITH NO BENEFIT ACCRUING TO US!

The Fed's behaviour is also giving a financial fillip to other commodities, such as copper, cotton and corn where the fundamentals are good.

* GOOD FOR WHOM...??? GOOD FOR THE SPECULATORS AND THE COTTON FARMERS; BAD FOR EVERYONE ELSE WHO ACTUALLY REQUIRES GOODS MADE OF... er... COTTON.... COPPER... AND CORN PRODUCTS.

Cotton has doubled in price since February and it gained almost 2% on Wednesday in response to the Fed's money shower. (There are real fundamental reasons for cotton's price boom: weak harvests and Chinese demand, but the weakness of the dollar provides the platform on which investors can turn the fundamentals to price advantage.)

The Fed strategy will raise living standards in commodity producing nations and stoke inflation in consuming nations.

* IN PLAIN ENGLISH: THE BERNANKE/OBAMA POLICY IS WEALTH TRANSFER FROM THE U.S. TO THE "DEVELOPING" WORLD - INCLUDING CHINA. (DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A POLICY DESIGNED TO REPRESENT YOUR INTERESTS OR THAT OF YOUR CHILDREN...???)

November 4, 2010 at 11:50 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/GOPs-K-Street-wing-ready-for-insurgent-challenge-1436766-106633968.html

The insurgent conservative Republicans and Tea Party candidates elected Tuesday are obviously a pugnacious and determined bunch, but they're not the only ones fixing for a battle over the direction of the party. The Republican Beltway establishment and the K Street wing of the GOP are ready to fight any effort to end pork-barrel spending and kill corporate welfare.

* YEP! ABSOFRIGG'NLUTELY...!!!

The first fight will come mid-November, when the newly elected senators join returning senators to set party rules for the next two years. Sen. Jim DeMint will propose to ban earmarks by GOP senators. The appropriators will fight him, probably backed by the party leadership.

* AND IF SO IT'LL BE UP TO JOHN BOEHNER AND MICHAEL STEELE TO EITHER COME TO DEMINT'S AID - ALONG WITH SARAH PALIN AND OTHER INDIVIDUAL "TRUE" REPUBLICANS - OR ELSE THE "BOEHNER REVOLUTION" WILL BE STILLBORN.

Senior Republicans will also oppose other reforms DeMint might push -- such as term limits for all members of the appropriations committee.

* NOW IS THE TIME TO SMASH RINO POWER ONCE AND FOR ALL!

After the 2008 election, the GOP Senate caucus killed all of DeMint's proposed reforms. This was an early spark in the conservative insurgency of 2009 and 2010. DeMint fired up his Senate Conservatives Fund, and immediately took sides against the party leadership - supporting Pat Toomey against incumbent Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania and Marco Rubio over GOP-anointed Charlie Crist in Florida. It was open warfare, with DeMint, the Club for Growth, and Tea Party groups on one side, against the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the GOP's K Street kingpins, such as former Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Trent Lott.

* AND NOW IS THE TIME TO SMASH THE RINOs OF '08 WHO REMAIN MEMBERS OF THIS NEW CONGRESS...

Conservative, anti-establishment Sen.-elect Rand Paul, R-Ky., knows what he's up against. During his primary race against McConnell's hand-picked candidate Trey Grayson, Paul received a check from only one sitting senator - the retiring and widely disliked Jim Bunning. Meanwhile, 19 GOP senators - and plenty of former senators now on K Street - funded Grayson in the primary.

* THE TEA PARTY CAN'T DO IT ALONE; BOEHNER AND THE HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP MUST THROW THEIR WEIGHT FULLY BEHIND DEMINT AND STEELE AND THE REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS MUST ENTER THE FRAY UPON DEMINT'S SIDE AS WELL. IT'S NOW OR NEVER FOLKS...

November 4, 2010 at 11:50 PM

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