Thursday, April 14, 2011
Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 14, 2011
A few "housekeeping" notes...
(Note To Self: Tomorrow is Mary's birthday! Don't forget...!!!)
O.K., now where was I...? Oh... yeah... right...
I hate Bill O'Reilly.
Now of course you guys know this, but to to clarify why I'm noting it here and now, last night "O'Reilly the Doofus" came out in favor of a VAT.
Yep. (Wouldn't lie to you, folks!)
A frigg'n VAT...!
Or as the doofus himself put it, "a small national sales tax on items other than food and clothing," blah, blah, blah.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
What a moron!
Oh... number two...
I hate Lindsey Graham.
Again... not exactly breaking news...
(*SIGH*)
Yesterday on Beck's TV show, "Graham the Idiot" was praising the Ryan Plan by noting... (I shit you not!)... that "in 75 years the Ryan Plan will put Social Security back on a firm footing."
Now I'm working off memory - paraphrasing - but the point is that this fool... this United States Senator... was actually buttressing his approval of the Ryan Plan by pointing to what may (or may not be... probably not be) a "payoff" 75 years down the road!
My friends... as I often say... ya can't make this shit up...!!!
Anyway... on to today's newsbites...
(As always, found on this posting's comments page...)
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http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2011-04-13-more-americans-leave-labor-force.htm?loc=interstitialskip
The share of the population that is working fell to its lowest level last year since women started entering the workforce in large numbers three decades ago, a USA Today analysis finds.
Only 45.4% of Americans had jobs in 2010, the lowest rate since 1983 and down from a peak of 49.3% in 2000.
* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... THE FLIP SIDE OF THE COIN IS THAT 54.6% OF AMERICANS DIDN'T HAVE JOBS IN 2010.
Last year, just 66.8% of men had jobs, the lowest on record.
* AGAIN... FLIP SIDE... 33.2% OF MEN - MEN... NOT KIDS... NOT HOMEMAKERS... - HAD JOBS IN 2010.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
"What's wrong with the economy may be speeding up trends that are already happening," says Marc Goldwein, policy director of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan group favoring smaller deficits. For example, job troubles appear to have slowed a trend of people working later in life, putting more pressure on Social Security, he says.
* TO REMIND EVERYONE... SOCIAL SECURITY IS ALREADY RUNNING AT A DEFICIT (SEPARATE AND APART FROM THE FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICITS) AND HAS BEEN "UPSIDE DOWN" SINCE LAST YEAR. (I REMIND YOU OF THIS BECAUSE THE MEDIA SO RARELY DO AND THE POLITICIANS ALMOST NEVER DO.)
The average retiree gets $25,000 a year in benefits - $13,000 in Social Security and Medicare benefits of $12,000. In all, taxpayers will spend about...$500,000 caring for a senior, in today's dollars at current life expectancies, according to federal...retirement program data.
(*SIGH*)
"No matter how wealthy you are, you have a problem if half the population is not working and depending on those who are," says John Goodman, president of the conservative National Center for Policy Analysis. "Wherever you look, we've over-promised."
* FOLKS... DON'T BELIEVE THE DEMS WHEN THEY TELL YOU ALL WE NEED TO DO IS "TINKER" IN ORDER TO FIX THIS ECONOMY.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42586453
New claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, bouncing back above the key 400,000 level...
* "UNEXPECTEDLY," HUH? FUNNY HOW IT'S ALWAYS... er... "UNEXPECTED."
(*SMIRK*)
...while core producer prices clumbed faster than expected in March, government reports showed on Thursday.
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
* "FASTER THAN EXPECTED," HUH? AGAIN... FUNNY HOW ALL THESE... er... "UNEXPECTED" THINGS KEEP ON HAPPENING.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 27,000...
* JUST AS SPRING IS ROLLING AROUND AND CONSTRUCTION AND RELATED INDUSTRIES SHOULD BE PICKING UP...
(*SHRUG*)
The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell 58,000 to 3.68 million in the week ended April 2, the lowest level since September 2008.
* TRANSLATION: PEOPLE ARE RUNNING OUT OF THEIR BENEFITS YET NOT FINDING JOBS. (THAT EXPLAINS THIS "LOWEST LEVEL" BUSINESS.) FOLKS... 3.68 MILLION PEOPLE ARE ON THEIR SECOND WEEK (OR PAST THAT) ON THEIR "REGULAR" UNEMPLOYMENT; THIS DOESN'T ACCOUNT FOR THE 27,000 NEW RECIPIENTS NEWLY SIGNED UP WHO ARE COLLECTING THEIR FIRST UNEMPLOYMENT CHECKS. AND SINCE THEY SPECIFICALLY REFER TO "REGULAR" BENEFITS I'M ASSUMING THIS 3.68 MILLION RECIPIENT FIGURE ALSO FAILS TO COUNT THOSE RECEIVING "EXTENDED" BENEFITS.
* FOLKS... THIS IS NOT GOOD!
The number of people on emergency unemployment benefits fell 12,245 to 3.55 million in the week ended March 26, the latest week for which data is available. A total of 8.52 million people were claiming unemployment benefits during that period under all programs.
* AHH...!!! THERE WE HAVE IT! THE "REAL" NUMBER IS 8.52 MILLION! FOLKS... 8.52 MILLION OF YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS ARE CLAIMING UNEMPLOYMENT. ADD TO THIS NUMBER THE UNEMPLOYED WHO HAVE MAXED OUT ON UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENSIONS AND GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW MANY UNEMPLOYED AND UNDEREMPLOYED AMERICANS THERE ARE.
U.S. core producer prices rose slightly faster than expected in March...
(*SMIRK*)
* BY "CORE" THEY MEAN ABSENT FUEL AND FOOD. (*CHUCKLE*) AS REGULARLY NOTED, THE GOVERNMENT DELIBERATELY UNDERSTATES TRUE INFLATION.
* FOLKS... KEEP READING NEWSBITES. YOU CAN TRUST ME TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH AND CUT THROUGH THE SPIN.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/155969-pelosi-may-vote-against-budget-deal
House Democratic leaders are prepared to buck President Obama with a "No" vote on the 2011 spending deal he struck with Speaker John Boehner.
* OH...! PLEASE...! PRETTY PLEASE...!!!
Two members of the House Democratic leadership team, Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-CT) and Vice Chairman Xavier Becerra (D-CA), told The Hill they would oppose the legislation...
(*THUMBS UP*)
Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said he might vote "Yes," but has not committed to supporting the bill.
* HE'LL VOTE FOR IT. (THAT'S MY PREDICTION.)
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has kept silent on her position, and senior Democrats said they have not been told how she plans to vote.
(*SNORT*) (*CHUCKLE*) (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
“We’ll see,” is all Pelosi would tell The Hill when asked her position late Thursday.
* NOW THAT'S LEADERSHIP FOR YOU! (*WINK*) (*STILL SHAKING MY HEAD IN BEMUSEMENT*)
[T]he nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued a report late Wednesday that found the legislation shaves only $352 million in non-emergency spending this year.
* AND AS FOR THAT "EMERGENCY" SPENDING... (*SNICKER*)... WE ALL KNOW THAT THESE CLOWNS SIMPLY DECLARE SPENDING "EMERGENCY SPENDING" ALL THE TIME WHEN IT'S CLEARLY NOT JUST SO THAT THEY CAN AVOID ABIDING BY PAYGO.
* REMEMBER, FOLKS... MOST OF THESE PEOPLE... EITHER SCUM... OR AT LEAST SCUMMY.
Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty...said Thursday the [budget] deal should be rejected.
(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*) GOOD FOR PAWLENTY...!!!
“The more we learn about the budget deal, the worse it looks,” the former Minnesota governor said in a statement. “When you consider that the federal deficit in February alone was over $222 billion..."
(*HIGH FIVE*)
http://nationaljournal.com/budget/cbo-says-budget-deal-will-cut-spending-by-only-352-million-this-year-20110413
A CBO analysis of the fiscal 2011 spending deal...concludes that it would cut spending this year by less than one-one hundredth of what [either] Republicans or Democrats have claimed.
* BOTH REPUBLICRATS AND DEMPUBLICANS ARE IN FULL CYA MODE.
A comparison prepared by the CBO shows that the omnibus spending bill, advertised as containing some $38.5 billion in cuts, will only reduce federal outlays by $352 million below 2010 spending rates.
* WAIT...! WAIT...! WAIT...! THE ARTICLE "CLARIFIES" THIS IN THE VERY NEXT SENTENCE WITH NO HELP FROM ME! (*SMILE*)
The nonpartisan budget agency also projects that total outlays are actually some $3.3 billion more than in 2010, if emergency spending is included in the total.
* BINGO...! THAT'S THE REAL FIGURE, FOLKS... TOTAL OUTLAYS ARE EXPECTED TO BE SOME $3.3 BILLION MORE IN 2011 UNDER THIS "DEAL" THAN THEY WERE IN 2010 WHEN DEMOCRATS CONTROLLED BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS PLUS THE WHITE HOUSE!
* BUT WAIT... THERE'S MORE...!!!
* AS I'VE NOTED AGAIN AND AGAIN OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS, OMB ACTUALLY ESTIMATES SPENDING IN 2011 TO TOTAL $3,818,819,000,000 - WHICH IS A SPENDING INCREASE OF OVER $362 BILLION TO OMB's TOTAL FEDERAL SPENDING FIGURE OF $3,465,213,000,000 FOR 2010. (SEE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/assets/hist01z1.xls)
* FOLKS... I HAVE NO CLUE AS TO WHY CBO FORECASTS "ONLY" A SPENDING BUMP OF $3.3 BILLION FROM LAST YEAR TO THIS YEAR vs. OMB's ESTIMATE OF A MORE THAN $362 BILLION SPENDING INCREASE, BUT EITHER WAY... WE'RE TALKING INCREASE - NOT "CUT."
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