Saturday, February 5, 2011
Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., Feb. 5 & 6, 2011
Weekend Twofer...
Let's start off with this "classic" oldie...
(*GRIN*)
Com'n... you guys remember that one!
One ugly son of a bitch (a cross between Dustin Hoffman and Neil Diamond), but the bastard can sure sing!
1974 lives again...!
(*CHUCKLING*)
And now on to another oldie... a real goodie...!
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http://www.zerohedge.com/article/labor-force-participations-plunges-fresh-26-year-low
At 64.2%, the labor force participation rate (as a percentage of the total civilian noninstitutional population) is now at a fresh 26 year low... [This] is the only reason why the unemployment rate dropped to 9%...
* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)...
[L]abor force declined from 153,690 to 153,186.
Those not in the Labor Force has increased from 83.9 million to 86.2 million, or 2.2 million in one year!
As for the numerator in the fraction, the number of unemployed, it has plunged from 15 million to 13.9 million in two months! The only reason for this is due to the increasing disenchantment of those who completely fall off the BLS rolls and no longer even try to look for a job.
Lastly [,as for] the labor force as a percentage of total population: It is a vertical plunge.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-04/canada-adds-69-200-jobs-in-january-while-jobless-rate-increased-to-7-8-.html
Canada’s job creation in January was more than four times the median forecast, pushing the Canadian dollar to its strongest level since May 2008 and adding to evidence the country’s economic recovery may be accelerating.
* OHHH... CAN...A....DA...!
* SING IT WITH ME, FOLKS!
[Canadian] mployment rose by 69,200 and the labor force increased by 106,400, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa.
* BUT...! (WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT...)
The [Canadian] jobless rate rose to 7.8% from December’s 7.6%, as more people sought work.
* SEE HOW THAT WORKS, FOLKS? BOTTOM LINE, IF THE ECONOMIC ASSUMPTION IS THAT A NATION - WHETHER CANADA OR THE U.S. OR ANY NATION - REQUIRES "X" NUMBER OF NEW JOBS CREATED AND FILLED EACH MONTH JUST TO KEEP UP WITH RISING WORKING AGE POPULATION, ACTUAL EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES BELOW SUCH ASSUMPTIONS ARE *BAD* WHILE ACTUAL EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES ABOVE SUCH ASSUMPTIONS ARE *GOOD* - GET IT?!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704709304576124502622737210.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTSecond
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor drew attention to her racial politics this week during a speech at the University of Chicago Law School...
(*RAISED EYEBROWS*)
Since her confirmation hearings, in which she had to explain her previous assertion that a wise Latina woman "would more often than not reach a better conclusion" than a white man in the same position, Justice Sotomayor has typically been more guarded in her public comments. But at the student forum, she criticized Chief Justice John Roberts...
* OH... THIS SHOULD BE GOOD!
[In] "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1" Justice Roberts [,writing for the Court,] wrote that "the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."
* MAKES SENSE TO ME...! (AND TO ANYONE SANE...!!!)
Justice Sotomayor told U of C students that that formula is "too simple" for her. "I don't borrow Chief Justice Roberts's description of what colorblindness is," she said. "Our society is too complex to use that kind of analysis."
(*SNORT*) (*SPITTING ON THE GROUND*)
[The "Wise Latina Justice"] also told students that, contrary to fellow Justice Antonin Scalia, she was "not sure" whether determining the original intent of the Constitution was the most important consideration in deciding a case.
* SHE SHOULD BE IMPEACHED AND REMOVED FROM THE BENCH. PERIOD.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704709304576124280473684142.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth
The default rate for federal student loans rose to 13.8% from 11.8% for students beginning repayment in fiscal 2008 compared with those starting a year earlier, according to new data released Friday by the Department of Education.
(*FROWN*) (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
* FOLKS... THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WASTEFUL, IRRESPONSIBLE OVER-SPENDING IS ENCOURAGED AND SUBSIDIZED.
The increase reflects a tough job market for recent college graduates, Education Department officials and student-lending experts say.
* "...EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS AND EXPERTS SAY..."
(*GIVING THE COMPUTER SCREEN THE FINGER*)
* BOO-HOO-HOO.. CRY ME A FRIGG'N RIVER! THE REAL PROBLEM ISN'T THE JOB MARKET, IT'S THAT WE'VE CREATED AN ARTIFICIAL "NEED" FOR A COLLEGE DIPLOMA (REGARDLESS OF FIELD... REGARDLESS OF QUALITY...) AND ENABLED INFLATION TO PUSH THE BANG FOR THE BUCK RATIO INTO NEGATIVE TERRITORY FOR MANY - PERHAPS EVEN MOST.
New rules, created under the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, will expand the default window from two to three years and raise the threshold for ineligibility to 30% from 25%.
(*SNORT*)
* FRIGG'N OBAMA...!!!
* FOLKS... CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT HE'S DOING...?!?!
To "help" schools prepare for the impact, the department won't penalize schools for high cohort default rates until 2014.
(*SNORT*)
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://epautos.com/?p=1934
The new Mini Cooper Countryman can get 63 mpg on the highway - just not on our [American] highways.
Like so many other high-mileage, diesel-powered vehicles, it’s not available in the United States. Instead we get gas-electric turkeys like the Toyota Prius hybrid - which maxes out at 48 mpg on the highway. (If you drive it at around 47 mpg in the left lane with your turn signal blinking...)
(*SNORT*)
* AND THIS ONE WE CAN'T BLAME ON OBAMA AND THE DEMS; BUSH AND THE RINOs ALLOWED THIS INSANITY TO EXIST AS WELL!
Our government (well, maybe calling it “our” government is a stretch) has been browbeating the car industry to produce more “fuel efficient” cars for decades, yet at the same time, also for decades, made it very hard to sell high-efficiency diesel-powered passenger cars.
VW, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Land Rover and other European brands have been selling their cars here for a long time - just not their diesel-powered cars.
(*SIGH*)
In Europe, diesel cars constitute about half the new cars sold; over here, less than 5% - chiefly because only a handful of diesel-powered passenger cars are even available.
* WHY IS THAT YOU MAY ASK...
[F]or years, we had not-so-great (for emissions reasons) diesel fuel that was fine for big rigs (which until recently could pollute to their hearts content, legally) but wreaked havoc with the finely tuned pollution control equipment fitted to modern passenger car diesel engines. This, in turn, set up the potential not just for lots of warranty-related expenses and hassles for potential diesel-car buyers but also for even greater hassles and expenses for the car companies that sold them, when the government went after them for selling “dirty” diesels.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
* To be continued...
* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)
Even though our diesel fuel is now “clean” diesel - and the warranty/pollution control issues have been dealt with...we don’t get diesels like the Mini Countryman D. No 63 mpg, either.
The European car companies are still super leery of bringing to market vehicles that could lead to problems for them with the EPA politburo. Their diesel-powered cars may be “cleaner” (in terms of tailpipe emissions) than a nun’s conscience but there’s still the endless pedantry of slightly different American vs. European regulatory codes. And not just federal codes, but also the different state codes, notably “California” codes that are both different and stricter than “49 state” codes. Some Northeastern states have also adopted “California” codes - which makes achieving compliance with all the varying codes - essential to being able to profitably sell a given car, nationwide – very difficult and very expensive.
Rather than spend beaucoups bucks on lawyers and other forms of paper-pushing to make the EPA and the various state-level eco-Nazis happy, the European car companies not surprisingly cut their losses and (mostly) keep their diesels to themselves, selling a few token models here.
(*SIGH*)
You’d think the government (federal and state) would make it a priority to ease the regulatory chokehold a little, to streamline the ukase in order to get as many of these high-mileage diesels into mass circulation as the market will bear.
* HA! HA-HA! HA-HA-HA...!!!
Think what a difference a 10-15 mpg average uptick in the fuel economy of the typical passenger car would mean - not just in terms of reducing the aggregate fuel consumption of the nation but also in terms of placating the great god of global warming. Less fuel burned means less greenhouse gasses emitted - and a 10-15 mpg uptick in fuel efficiency spread out across say 20%-30% of the passenger car fleet would mean a monster reduction in “greenhouse gasses.” And it could be done without elaborate technology (hybrids) or another round of government edicts (CAFE) that just make new cars more and more expensive to achieve minimal, incremental upticks in their average “fleet” economy numbers.
You can only do so much with a gas engine; the way they work is inherently less efficient. Getting even 45 mpg out of one - even in a compact-sized car - is no easy thing. With a diesel, it’s no sweat - and you can get 45 mpg in a mid-sized luxury-sport sedan such as BMW 3 Series or Benz E-Class. (In a small car like the Mini Countryman, 60-plus mpg is right here, right now. 70 mpg is realistic with a little tweaking. No hybrid can touch that. Hell, you’d need a Moped to match that.)
Diesels deliver. They make sense. They work. People would love ‘em if only they had a chance to drive ‘em.
Our government is run by lawyers, not engineers. Talkers, not doers. I doubt one out of 100 of them even knows how a diesel engine differs from a gasoline engine (other than the fuel it uses). So I’m not surprised by the government’s inability to see how much it would help - everything from “the environment” to the economy - to knock down the stupid regulatory roadblocks that are keeping diesel cars on the other side of the Pond.
http://dailyreckoning.com/tracing-the-feds-vital-role-in-the-decline-of-the-us-dollar/
In 2013, we Americans will commemorate a century of wealth destruction in the United States...
(*DRUM ROLL*)
The Federal Reserve will be 100 years old.
(*SNICKER*)
In 1913, the Federal Reserve Act became law - granting sole authority to the Federal Reserve to “issue legal tender.”
Armed with its new power and its good intentions, the Fed embarked on a 98-year process of currency debasement.
That’s not what the Fed set out to do; it’s just what it did do.
In the early days of the Federal Reserve, this monetary authority enjoyed the support of a gold standard. Few Americans doubted that the Fed’s new greenbacks would be as good as gold. As such, gold coinage and paper dollars intermingled effortlessly in the US economy for most of the Fed’s first two decades.
In 1914, the year the Federal Reserve began conjuring dollar bills into existence, 700,000 shimmering new $10 Indian Head Gold Eagles rolled out of the Philadelphia, San Francisco and Denver Mints. Once in the hands of a working stiff, each $10 coin would buy $10 worth of goods and services. Likewise, the Fed’s crisp, new McKinley $10 bill would also buy $10 worth of goods and services.
Based on its metal content, a 1914 $10 Indian Head Gold Eagle is worth $643.45. A 1914 $10 bill is still worth ten dollars.
(*SMIRK*)
Let’s consider the plight of two hypothetical buddies from 1914.
The first buddy, Fran, stashes a $500 “rainy day” fund under the floorboards of her house - a roll of ten $50 Ulysses S. Grant dollar bills.
The second buddy, Mary, also stashes $500 under the floorboards - only she walks into the neighborhood bank with ten $50 Ulysses S. Grant Gold Certificates and exchanges them for... well... actual gold. She then takes her gold and hides it under her floorboards.
Both buddies forget about their hidden stashes.
Eventually...the respective heirs of these two long-deceased buddies happen to conduct simultaneous renovations of their respective residences.
Fran's heirs find the ten ancient $50 bills. “How quaint,” they think to themselves.
Mary's heirs find $32,172 worth of gold!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/post_1687_b_818991.html
* BY ROBERT B. REICH
At a time when corporate profits are through the roof, the Dow is flirting with 12,000, Wall Street paychecks are fat again, and big corporations are sitting on more than $1 trillion in cash, you'd expect jobs be coming back.
But you'd be wrong.
* OBVIOUSLY REGULAR READERS OF MY BLOG POSTINGS KNOW WHAT THE DEAL IS; REICH IS TALKING TO THE IDIOTS...
The U.S. economy added just 36,000 jobs in January, according to today's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Remember, 125,000 are needed just to keep up with the increase in the population of Americans wanting and needing work.
And 300,000 a month are needed - continuously, for five years - if we're to get back to anything like the employment we had before the Great Recession.
* AGAIN... "MY" REGULAR READERS ARE FULLY AWARE OF THESE STATS, BUT AS FOR THE AVERAGE SHEEP... (*SHRUG*)... NOT SO MUCH.
* THESE FIGURES SHOULD HAVE BEEN PROMINENTLY INSERTED IN EACH AND EVERY MEDIA STORY CONCERNING FRIDAY'S JOBS REPORT. THAT THEY WEREN'T PRETTY MUCH TELLS YOU ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW.
* BTW, FOLKS... IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE... THIS IS A HUFFINGTON POST PIECE! (*GOODNATURED CHUCKLE*)
In other words, today's employment report should be sending alarm bells all over official Washington.
(*NOD*)
* AND ALL OVER WALL STREET!
Corporations continue to make money by selling abroad from their foreign operations while cutting costs (especially labor) here at home.
(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
Wall Street is making money by taking the Fed's free money and speculating with it.
* WHICH WE'VE GONE OVER HERE AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN... (*SIGH*)
In coming months most Americans will also be contending with sharply rising prices of food and fuel.
(*NOD*) AND I'M GUESSING IT'S GONNA BE MORE THAN JUST FOOD AND FUEL... (*SIGH*)
Corporate profits cannot continue to rise on the basis of foreign sales (which are slowing as Europe adopts austerity and China raises interest rates), the purchases of the richest 10% of Americans (which are dependent on a rising stock market), and cost-cutting measures at home (which are necessarily limited).
* AS TO THAT LAST REICH COMMENT... (*SMIRK*)... NO - TO THE CONTRARY - COST-CUTTING MEASURES AT HOME HAVEN'T GONE NEARLY FAR ENOUGH. AND THE FEAR IS THAT THEY WON'T!
Without a strong and broadly-based middle-class recovery, America's big money economy will fall in on itself. A major stock market "correction" is a certainty.
* OH, OF COURSE THERE'S GONNA BE ANOTHER MARKET COLLAPSE; HOW CAN THERE NOT BE ONE? HOW LONG CAN THE OLIGARCHS CONTINUE WITH THIS RIGGED GAME?
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