Thursday, July 7, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, July 7, 2011


Though the sun was shining bright in the eastern sky, twas a dark and dreary day without YouTube here in the lair of the Barker...



5 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576430113059307374.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_careerjournal

Expecting an annual raise next year? Brace yourself. Median pay increases in 2012 are expected to be 3%, according to a survey released Wednesday by human resources consultant Hay Group. That's less than the 3.6% annual rate of inflation and amounts to an effective pay cut for most workers, notes Tom McMullen, a pay consultant with Hay Group.

* WELCOME TO OBAMANOMICS...

Meanwhile, thanks in part to steeper increases in bonuses and other performance-based pay, executive pay has increased much more sharply, says Mr. McMullen. According to a May study by The Wall Street Journal and Hay Group, top direct compensation for CEOs jumped 11% between 2009 and 2010 to $9.3 million, even though base salaries remained flat.

* AND AGAIN... WELCOME TO OBAMANOMICS!

(*SMIRK*)

* HEY... AS LONG AS ENOUGH OF THOSE FAT BONUSES ARE DIRECTED TOWARDS "RE-ELECT OBAMA" AND OTHER DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL CAUSES... LET THE ROBBER BARONS ROB.

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303365804576431723536395198.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_news

The U.S. government said Thursday it will help finance the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant.

* WE'RE BROKE... BUT CRONY CAPITALISM CONTINUES!

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said his department is offering a $105 million loan guarantee to support the construction of the plant by Poet LLC, the largest U.S. ethanol company.

* HIS DEPARTMENT. DOESN'T HE MEAN OUR DEPARTMENT... OUR GOVERNMENT... OUR TAX DOLLARS...?!?!

Poet will also receive government subsidies for the cellulosic ethanol it produces. There is a $1.01-per-gallon government subsidy for the fuel. Gasoline companies would get 45 cents of the subsidy and the remainder would go to Poet.

* UNFUCKINGBELIEVEABLE! THEY'RE SUBSIDIZING POET... AND GASOLINE COMPANIES! AND YOU AND I? SCREW US, RIGHT?

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576431492019063636.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_markets

Oil futures jumped [today even as a smaller than expected draw on U.S. oil inventories was announced...]

Light, sweet crude for August delivery settled up $2.02, or 2.1%, to $98.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest settlement since June 14. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange doubled that gain, settling up $4.97, or 4.4%, to $118.59 a barrel.

* NOTICE, FOLKS, HOW OBAMA AND HIS MEDIA ALLIES NO LONGER CROW ABOUT HIS DECISION TO PISS IN THE WIND AND PISS AWAY THIRTY MILLION BARRELS OF OIL OUT OF OUR NATION'S STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE AS A POLITICAL GESTURE.

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303982504576428080248680032.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth

Circling the Earth every 90 minutes, the International Space Station is the most expensive project ever assembled in space. Within days, it will hang by a single, costly thread. And Russia, the U.S.'s historic rival in space, is holding it.

The last U.S. space shuttle is scheduled to blast off Friday. After that, the U.S. and other nations will rely on vintage Russian spacecraft to ferry their astronauts to the $100 billion station. Russia will hold a monopoly over manned spaceflight...

* NAH... WE'RE NOT A NATION IN TERMINAL DECLINE; YOU JUST KEEP ON TELLING YOURSELF THAT.

The Russians are in the process of nearly tripling the cost of using their Soyuz crew capsules for transport to the orbiting base, and other countries have little choice but to pay up.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576431672117176508.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

A judge sentenced Casey Anthony to four years in prison Thursday for lying to investigators, but a court officer said she will be freed on Wednesday after serving nearly three years.

* GOVERNMENT MATH.

While acquitted of killing and abusing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, Ms. Anthony was convicted of four counts of lying to detectives trying to find her daughter in July 2008. She is receiving credit for the time she has already served as well as good behavior.

* TWO POINTS: 1) SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN GIVEN CREDIT FOR TIME SERVED. 2) SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN GIVEN "CREDIT" FOR "GOOD BEHAVIOR."

* FOLKS, WE HAVE A SICK SYSTEM.