Saturday, January 1, 2011

Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., January 1 & 2, 2011


What else...?

4 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Oils-surge-in-2010-paves-the-apf-1258480888.html?x=0

The price of oil is poised for another run at $100 a barrel after a global economic rebound sent it surging 34% since May. That could push gasoline prices to $4 a gallon by summer in some parts of the country, experts say.

* FOLKS. (*SIGH*) THERE'S BEEN NO "GLOBAL ECONOMIC REBOUND." YOU KNOW IT, I KNOW IT. THE OLIGARCHS AND VARIOUS GOVERNMENT AND MEDIA MINIONS ARE SIMPLY RUNNING THE LARGEST AND MOST ELABORATE CON THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*) THE ONLY THING "REAL" HERE IS THE PRICES YOU'RE PAYING AT THE PUMP AND THE PREDICTION THAT THEY'RE GONNA GO UP, UP, UP!

China's oil consumption is expected to rise 5% next year...

* WHAT DOES CHINA CARE? THEY HAVE ALL OUR DOLLARS TO PAY FOR THEIR IMPORTS!

Benchmark oil for February delivery rose $1.54 on Friday to end the year at $91.38 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It reached $92.06 earlier in the day, the highest since Oct. 6, 2008. Nationwide gasoline pump prices now average $3.072 per gallon. Benchmark oil for February delivery rose $1.54 on Friday to end the year at $91.38 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It reached $92.06 earlier in the day, the highest since Oct. 6, 2008. Nationwide gasoline pump prices now average $3.072 per gallon.

* FOLKS. OIL SHOULD BE MAYBE $50/$55 A BARREL. WE'RE GETTING HOSED. AND GUESS WHO'S GETTING RICH...?!?!

Gasoline expert Fred Rozell predicts that 15 states -- including Alaska, Hawaii, Connecticut and Rhode Island -- will see gasoline prices top $4 a gallon by Memorial Day. "A dollar more per gallon isn't that much..."

* YOU BELIEVE THESE CLOWNS...?!?! I HAVE A 19 GAL. TANK! THAT MEANS $19 BUCKS EXTRA EACH FILL UP! EVEN IF YOU ONLY HAVE A 10 OR 13 GAL. TANK THAT MEANS $10/$13 MORE RESPECTIVELY EACH TIME YOU FILL UP! THIS AIN'T CHUMP CHANGE...!!!

The price of energy and other commodities shifted into high gear in late August when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled that the central bank was prepared to "stimulate" the economy by buying government bonds.

* AS I TOLD YOU IT WOULD! FOLKS... UNDERSTAND... BERNANKE IS A BAD, BAD GUY... AS IS OBAMA. THESE BASTARDS WANT TO STOKE THE FIRES OF INFLATION. THEY WANT YOU TO GET SCREWED! THIS IS ALL DELIBERATE POLICY.

William R. Barker said...

http://blog.thenewstribune.com/military/2010/12/30/his-name-was-sean-and-he-died-for-his-country/comment-page-2/#comment-12400

The parents of a Yelm [Washington state] soldier killed in Afghanistan earlier this month have received cards from friends and strangers expressing condolences, and they’re grateful for the support.

“As a father of someone killed, it is overwhelming,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Collins (Ret.). His son, Sgt. Sean Collins, was buried Wednesday at the Tahoma National Cemetery.

* MY HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES, COL. COLLINS.One slight came in a letter of condolences the family received from the office of Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

Among that outpouring of empathy, two politicians inadvertently stung the family.

* TWO SCUMBAGS. LET'S SAY IT LIKE IT IS.

At first, the Collins family appreciated that Cantwell had taken the time to send a letter acknowledging their son’s sacrifice. But the letter misidentified the slain soldier in its last paragraph...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

The error conveyed to the family that Cantwell had sent a form letter.

* FILTHY, ROTTEN, POLITICAL SON OF A _____!

“They couldn’t even proofread it,” [Collins' grief-stricken mother] said.

The other slight came when Patrick Collins called the White House and asked to have President Obama call his ex-wife, Linda, to talk about their son.

He was told that Obama did not regularly make phone calls to the families of fallen soldiers.

Later, Patrick Collins read a story about Obama’s phone call to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie. Obama reportedly praised Lurie for giving quarterback Michael Vick a second chance to play football after serving time in prison for running a dog fighting ring.

“That burns,” Patrick Collins said Thursday.

“Any soldier that gets killed in action, you’d think the president would be calling someone in the family. There’s no politics in it. His predecessor did it,” Collins said.

William R. Barker said...

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.99e856a0fb5a9fea7bf35be7ef15b71d.e61&show_article=1

Despite a simmering diplomatic row, President Hugo Chavez and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were seen having a brief, friendly chat Saturday at the inauguration of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff.

"They talked and smiled, at least for five minutes. It looked like a social conversation, both were smiling," a Brazilian official who witnessed the encounter told AFP on condition of anonymity.

(See: http://www.breitbart.com/image.php?id=iafpCNG.99e856a0fb5a9fea7bf35be7ef15b71d.e61p0&show_article=1&article_id=CNG.99e856a0fb5a9fea7bf35be7ef15b71d.e61)

At one point, Chavez extended his hand to Clinton, who shook it, smiling.

* THIS WOMAN IS A TOTAL INCOMPETENT AND EMBARRASSMENT TO AMERICA. (BUT, HECK... LOOK WHO SHE WORKS FOR...) (*SMIRK*)

William R. Barker said...

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=40909

gleaning the news from Europe and Asia as U.S. cities, states and the federal government sink into debt, it is difficult to believe a worldwide financial crisis that hammers governments, banks and bondholders alike can be long averted.

* EXACTLY! THIS TALK OF "RECOVERY" IS ABSOLUTE NONSENSE!

Fitch and Moody's have just downgraded the debt of Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Hungary.

In Budapest, the politicians talk of default.

Spain has been warned its debt and banks could be downgraded.

The European Central Bank is buying up this paper to prevent panic selling by investors. There is talk of forcing bondholders to take a haircut. They would trade their suspect bonds for new euro bonds whose face value would be appreciably less.

In the Latin American debt crisis, the United States bailed out its banks holding the bad paper by giving them U.S.-backed bonds, while forcing them to take a loss on their Latin bonds. Courtesy of Uncle Sam, Latin America walked away from a huge slice of its debt.

(*GRITTING MY TEETH*)

The Japanese national debt is slated to pass 200% of gross domestic product this year, highest of any major economy on earth. Half of Japan's spending is now financed by bonds. Tax revenues do not even cover 50%.

* FOLKS... PAT BUCHANAN - THE AUTHOR OF THIS PIECE - ISN'T MAKING THESE NUMBERS UP. THIS IS THE REALITY WE FACE.

Financial analyst Meredith Whitney told "60 minutes" we can expect 50 to 100 cities and counties to default on their municipal bonds. (Whitney was among the few who warned that U.S. banks were in treacherous waters before 2008.)

In an editorial the day after Christmas, "The Looming Crisis in the States," the Times [declared], "Illinois, California and several other states are at increasing risk of being the first states to default since the 1930s." (California and Illinois are to America what Germany and Spain are to the European Union - the first and fifth largest states.)

Illinois, writes the Times, "is faced with $4 billion in overdue payments." The state "has lacked the money to pay its bills. Some of its employees have been evicted from their offices for nonpayment of rent, social service groups have laid off hundreds of workers while waiting for checks, pharmacies have closed for lack of Medicaid payments." Illinois is also still borrowing to finance half of its budget.

* HEY... (*SCRATCHING MY HEAD*)... ISN'T PRESIDENT OBAMA FROM...

(*SMIRK*)

By Sept. 30, the U.S. government will have run three straight deficits of close to 10% of GDP. And Barack Obama and the GOP just passed $858 billion in new and extended tax cuts and fresh spending.

This June, the stimulus money runs out, and as housing prices continue to fall across America, property tax revenue will fall.

(*NOD*)

We may be closer to the falls than we imagine.