Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sorry for the lack of newsbites, but I'm a bit distracted - what with my buddy in the hospital and me still trying to tie loose ends before we head out for vacation on Friday.
Oh... and then there's the need for the following mini-rant "against" today's "Facebook Culture."
What the F#%K is wrong with people...?!?!
Seriously...!?!?
Do I not make it clear on my Facebook page that I have no f#%king interest in "friending" people or "liking" things...?!?!
My upcoming high school reunion is being organized around a Facebook page and so I have to deal with that. Fine! This is my one exception to the Barker Rule against Facebooking!
So... I go on the damn Reunion Facebook page... I "chat" with a few folks I haven't had contact with since 1981 or so...
So far... so good...
I note right there in my comments that I'd love to hear from folks and I list my email address and my home phone number as well as noting that if they visit my Facebook page they'll find the link to my blog and not much more.
So... what do I end up with...?!?! Every frigg'n day I'm getting "invitations" to "friend" people via Facebook...!!!
I can't frigg'n take it...!!!
Do people think I'm joking about not wanting to involve myself in this Facebook nonsense?
Is it really so hard to believe that some of us still rely upon email and personal phone calls as opposed to the modern day "party line" that is Facebook?
(Do you guys remember party lines? I do! My aunt and uncle up in Saugerties, NY had one!)
Anyway... (*SIGH*)... rant off.
Oh...! Wait...! I almost forgot...
Newsbite theme song #1... Newsbite them song #2...
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http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/30/morning-bell-the-unemployment-empty-promise/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Under the Obama economy, the average length of unemployment hit a new record last month, surpassing 40 weeks for the first time ever.
Sometime next week - we don’t quite know when - President Barack Obama is due to announce his latest "jobs plan" designed to lift America out of its unemployment doldrums.
* WHAT? HE'S GONNA ANNOUNCE HIS RESIGNATION?!
(*CHUCKLE*)
[T]hough we also don’t know the exact details of the plan, there’s a pretty good chance it will include several key components we’ve heard before, one of which is the extension of unemployment benefits.
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
[A]ccording to a report by Heritage’s James Sherk and Karen A. Campbell, unemployment insurance actually leads to longer periods of unemployment and does not provide the promised stimulative effect.
In their paper, they address a [controversial] 2004 study which [somehow] concluded that each dollar in additional unemployment insurance increased gross domestic product by $1.73.
* WHAT A JOKE. (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
But, Sherk and Campbell say, that just isn’t so.
* OF COURSE IT'S NOT SO!
Research shows that unemployment spending does not result in workers consuming more, and workers with extended unemployment insurance benefits remain unemployed longer. “A 13-week extension of unemployment benefits results in the average worker remaining unemployed for an additional two weeks,” they report.
* YEP!
Funnily enough, President Obama’s new top economist agrees.
(*GRIN*) (READ ON...)
Yesterday, the President announced that Princeton University economist Alan Krueger will replace Austan Goolsbee as the White House’s chief economic adviser.
* READ ON...
Heritage’s Lachlan Markay reports that Krueger’s past research doesn’t mesh with the White House’s stance on the supposed stimulative benefits of extending unemployment insurance: "Krueger co-authored a paper for the Handbook of Public Economics in 2002 that seems to undercut the economic argument for extending unemployment benefits. The paper found that those benefits tend to increase the length of unemployment by discouraging the search for a new job, and may actually encourage layoffs. Conversely, the paper also found that unemployed persons who are ineligible for benefits search harder for a job and are therefore unemployed for less time."
(*CHUCKLE*)
It’s anyone’s guess whether Krueger will change his tune now that he’s on the President’s team, but no matter. When the President launches his new jobs plan, and should he call for an extension of unemployment benefits, as expected, the reality remains the same, regardless of how Krueger addresses his earlier body of work: Unemployment benefits don’t stimulate the economy.
TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/31/morning-bell-the-fast-and-furious-scandal-continues/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
A U.S. government gun-trafficking investigation gone horribly wrong has resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol officer, some 2,000 firearms in the hands of criminals, and the dismissal of a 24-year veteran law enforcement official. This is the story of Fast and Furious, and yesterday the latest chapter unfolded when two top officials associated with the operation were removed from their positions, while a third individual resigned.
The story begins in the fall of 2009, when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) office in Phoenix, Arizona, began selling weapons to small-time gun buyers in the hopes of tracing them to major weapons traffickers along the southwestern border and into Mexico. Their efforts failed, the number of arms unaccounted for numbers around 1,500 as of late July, and about two-thirds of those guns ended up in Mexico, according to congressional testimony.
* ER-IC HOL-DER! ER-IC HOL-DER! ER-IC HOL-DER! ER-IC HOL-DER! ER-IC HOL-DER! ER-IC HOL-DER!
Tragically, the botched operation has had serious consequences. On the night of December 15, 2010, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot and killed during an effort to catch several bandits targeting illegal immigrants in Arizona near the border. When law enforcement rushed to the scene, they discovered two of the killers’ assault rifles that were among those sold as part of Operation Fast and Furious. Additionally, 57 Fast and Furious weapons have been connected to at least an additional 11 violent crimes in the U.S.
* ER-IC HOL-DER! ER-IC HOL-DER! ER-IC HOL-DER! ER-IC HOL-DER! ER-IC HOL-DER! ER-IC HOL-DER!
In December 2010, ATF agent Vince Cefalu spoke out about the operation before the first reports on the story appeared in February. FoxNews.com reports that Cefalu said at the time, “Simply put, we knowingly let hundreds of guns and dozens of identified bad guys go across the border.”
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
* To be continued...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Other agents later came forward, congressional hearings have been held, and President Barack Obama called the operation “a serious mistake.” Cefalu, though, was forced to resign.
Yesterday, more Fast and Furious–related personnel changes came about when the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Kenneth Melson, the acting head of the ATF who presided over the operation, is being replaced and transferred to the Office of Legal Policy where he will serve as a senior advisor on forensic science. Heritage’s Lachlan Markay reports that “Melson bucked his superiors at DOJ in July by revealing details about the operation to congressional investigators in a closed door meeting with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), who have been investigating the operation in their respective roles.”
* IN OTHER WORDS, FOLKS, MELSON IS BEING PUNISHED BY OBAMA FOR TELLING CONGRESS THE TRUTH!
Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke, announced his resignation. The Hill reports that “Burke oversaw the legal aspects of the Fast and Furious operation, providing advice to agents involved.” And The Arizona Republic reports that the lead prosecutor for Operation Fast and Furious cases in Burke’s office was also reassigned Tuesday.
* AND YET ERIC HOLDER - THE MAN ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE - RETAINS HIS POSITION AS BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S ATTORNEY GENERAL. IF THAT DOESN'T TELL YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OBAMA... (*SHRUG*)
Jay Carney previously said that the President “did not know about or authorize this operation.” But as Heritage’s Rory Cooper wrote, “If that’s the case, how could neither he nor Attorney General Eric Holder not know about an operation that everyone else at the Department of Justice seemed to be actively involved in, including the Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Attorney and head of the ATF?”
* FOLKS... THIS WAS AN INTERNATIONAL "OPERATION" WITH VERY REAL FOREIGN POLICY IMPLICATIONS. THERE'S SIMPLY NO WAY IN HELL HILLARY CLINTON WAS OUT OF THE LOOP.
The ATF sold guns to criminals in Mexico, a life has been taken, and crimes have been committed with the weapons that were trafficked by the federal government.
TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904140604576498542439217056.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
* FILE THIS ONE UNDER: "SCARY SHIT!"
Here's a novel idea: Have Congress create a "bank" that could borrow huge sums with only a small federal outlay and would be independent of any political interference.
(*SNORT*)
(If you believe in this miracle, you probably thought Fannie Mae was a private company that wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime.)
We're referring to Washington's latest marketing tool to sell spending to a skeptical public, a new federal "infrastructure bank."
(*PUTTING THE GUN BARREL INTO MY MOUTH*)
For the low, low price of $30 billion or so, President Obama says Congress can conjure hundreds of billions in new "grants and loans" to rebuild "roads, bridges, and ports and broadband lines and smart grids."
(*PULLING THE TRIGGER*)
* OH... THANK GOD! IT WASN'T LOADED!
[President Obama] says the bank would put "all those construction workers" back to work and "be good for the economy not just for next year or the year after that, but for the next 20 or 30 years."
* UH-HUH... (*SMIRK*)
In a cats and dogs living together moment, the Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO are both in favor. (Since both unions and construction companies would be beneficiaries, this alone ought to give taxpayers pause.)
(*CHECKING IN DRAWS FOR BULLETS*)
This is the Fannie Mae model applied to public works.
(*NOD*)
The new bank would be a government-sponsored enterprise, or GSE, whether or not anyone admits it. The bank would have an implicit subsidy for its debt because it is backed by the government. And the debt it issued would be "off-budget," which means it wouldn't show up in annual outlays.
* JEEZUS... I HOPE TODAY IS ONE OF THOSE DAYS WHERE I GET A FAIR AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC HERE AT NEWSBITES! FOLKS... YOU SHOULD CUT, PASTE, AND PASS THIS ONE ALONG!
(When she first proposed the concept in 2008, Connecticut Democrat Rosa DeLauro explicitly described the bank as a "public private partnership like Fannie Mae.")
* OH... GREAT... WONDERFUL... (*MASSIVE MIGRAINE HEADACHE BUILDING*)
Such an outfit will inevitably be politicized, as similar examples have been all over the world. Japan's postal bank has been used for decades to finance public works. Japan's roads and bridges are grand but its economy has grown little in 20 years. Agribanks, regional development banks, Brazil's BNDES national bank have all become vehicles for the political allocation of credit.
(*CLOSING MY EYES*) (*LAYING MY FACE IN MY HANDS*) (*SHAKING MY HEAD*)
Ms. DeLauro's bill admits as much, stating that the bank must take into account the "economic, environmental, social benefits and costs" of the projects seeking financial assistance.
* UH-HUH... (*SICK FEELING IN THE PIT OF MY STOMACH*)
* To be continued...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Among the considerations: [supposedly] "responsible" employment practices, use of "renewable" energy, reduction in carbon emissions, poverty and "inequality" reduction, training for low-income workers and public health benefits.
(*BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALL*)
* FOLKS... KEEP READING...
[B]etween 2001 and 2011 federal "public physical capital investment outlays" more than doubled to $330 billion from $142 billion. Every major area of infrastructure - transportation, Army Corps of Engineers, energy - is up by at least 75% in a decade.
The scandal is that we buy so little brick and mortar with all this money.
Earmarking has wasted billions and is an inevitable byproduct of a system that collects federal taxes and allows Congressmen to send it back to their districts. The bank is supposed to eliminate earmarking, but the Members will surely find a way to influence the bank's lending too.
* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... YOU CAN'T LEGISLATE HUMAN NATURE AWAY - PARTICULARLY WHEN THE HUMAN NATURE ON DISPLAY IS THAT OFFERED UP BY THE LEGISLATORS THEMSELVES...!!!
Taxpayers also get less for their money because federal projects must follow Davis-Bacon Act rules that require "prevailing wages." This law has come to mean de facto union wages on all public projects, inflating costs by 10% to 30%, depending on the project and location. The bank would also divert dollars to the mass transit lobby, which favors rail projects that serve a tiny fraction of commuters.
(Democrats and Republicans both refuse to relax Davis-Bacon rules, and the infrastructure bank would require them.)
Instead of a Washington-centric bank that picks winners and losers, Congress would be wise to move in the opposite direction: devolving most public-works decisions to the state and local levels so users decide whether they want to finance a new school, bridge or water system. The feds can focus on maintaining the interstate highway system and then let states and localities choose what to fund.
(Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake and others have bills that would let states opt out of the federal highway program in return for getting back the federal gas tax money that its residents send to Washington.)
* SOUNDS REASONABLE!
With a $1.28 trillion deficit, Uncle Sam can't afford to keep serving as paymaster to states and localities. The infrastructure bank is merely a new gimmick to maintain the old system.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904199404576538283776006582.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
Welcome to the next housing mess.
Talk about not learning from past mistakes: A government department is again intimidating banks into lending to minority borrowers at below-market rates, all in the name of combating "discrimination."
(*SIGH*)
The 1990s may have brought us supercharged politicized lending, but Eric Holder's Department of Justice is taking the game to an entirely new level...
* HOLDER AGAIN... (*GRITTING MY TEETH*)
The weapon is a "fair lending" unit created in early 2010, led by special counsel Eric Halperin and overseen by Civil Rights Division head Thomas Perez. A sampling of Mr. Perez's thinking, from April 2010 congressional testimony:
"The foreclosure crisis has touched virtually every community in this country, but it disproportionately touches communities of color, in particular African-Americans and Latinos." And: "[C]ross burnings are the most overt form of discrimination and bigotry. Lending discrimination is some of the most subtle. It's what I call discrimination with a smile."
(*BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE DESK TOP*)
Even for the Obama administration's antidiscrimination cops, this is a shocker: A political appointee who's supposed to neutrally enforce the law loosely equates bankers with Klu Klux Klan thugs.
(*JUST SHAKING MY - NOW BLOODY - HEAD*)
Lenders who discriminate on the basis of race and those who make decisions on the basis of credit scores are two entirely different animals. The former our society doesn't permit, for moral reasons; the latter we encourage because it's fundamental to capitalism. A lender will go bust if he can't distinguish between a risky loan and a good loan. Poor people aren't well-served by getting loans they can't afford.
* AS CHARLIE SHEEN WOULD SAY... "DUH!"
Historically, fair-lending cases have fallen into roughly two categories: "price discrimination" cases, in which lenders are accused of charging minorities higher prices than other clients, and "red-lining" suits, in which they are accused of intentionally failing to serve minority communities. Sounds straightforward for those who seek to obey the law.
* AND IT IS! RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IS ALREADY ILLEGAL...!!! (AS IS GENDER DISCRIMINATION AND AGE DISCRIMINATION AND... WELL... YOU GET THE IDEA.)
But [logic and the Rule of Law fly out the window] when Justice revives "disparate impact" theory: the idea that even if lenders don't actively discriminate, they can still be sued if the cumulative effect of their actions implies discrimination. The latter is usually "proved" through statistical analysis (and the old standard - discriminatory intent - is thrown out the window).
(*SIGH*)
Many companies are simply rolling over and paying once they realize the extent of the possible PR horror show. "Banker" is a bad word in today's political environment. Small and midsize banks depend heavily on their reputation and community ties, and they can't afford to be labelled racist. Many can't afford prolonged legal cases either, and the mere prospect of fighting the feds is intimidating. Mr. Perez knows all this.
Justice is employing some unusual tactics, too, including asking banks to sign confidentiality agreements in certain circumstances. Independent Community Bankers of America chief lobbyist Camden Fine complained in a letter to Mr. Holder Monday about this practice and its "troubling lack of transparency," adding that it's hard for banks to "assess and refine" their practices if they don't know Justice's legal arguments.
* WELCOME TO THE AGE OF OBAMA, MY FRIENDS!
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3b46315a-9201-11e0-b8c1-00144feab49a,s01=1.html#axzz1We1v74ba
The decade-long U.S. effort to build a new Afghanistan has dramatically distorted the local economy and its few successes are unlikely to survive the military withdrawal due to begin next month, according to a gloomy congressional report - the result of two years’ work by staff from the Senate’s Democratic-majority foreign relations committee...
* NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!
Many Americans have grown weary of the long and inconclusive war, with the military operation costing more than $100 billion a year. The U.S. has also spent almost $19 billion on foreign aid [to Afghanistan] over the past decade, more than in any other country, including Iraq.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
The committee’s report notes that the administration has been using aid to win “hearts and minds” - about 80% of it spent in the restive south and east, and on short-term stabilization projects. Evidence that these projects promoted stability was “limited” and they could even be counter-productive, the report said.
(*STILL JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
[The report] also noted that foreign aid - which accounts for 975 of Afghanistan’s economy - could “fuel corruption, distort labor and goods markets” and undermine Kabul’s control over resources. “Afghanistan could suffer a severe economic depression when foreign troops leave in 2014 unless the proper planning begins now,” it said.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
The single most important thing the U.S. could do, the report said, was to stop paying inflated salaries to Afghans working for foreign governments or international organizations, which were up to 10 times the market rate. "This had drawn otherwise qualified civil servants away from the Afghan government and created a culture of aid dependency," according to the report.
[The report] comes as President Obama prepares to act on his pledge to start withdrawing some of the 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan from next month. Military leaders want a limited draw-down, with combat troops remaining, while the president’s Democratic base and a growing chorus of lawmakers is pushing for larger reductions.
* AND, FOLKS... WILLIAM R. BARKER HERE IS WITH THE GOD-DAMNED DEMOCRATIC BASE ON THIS ONE! WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE ATTEMPTED NATION-BUILDING IN AFGHANISTAN IN THE FIRST PLACE!
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/585dadcc-d3f1-11e0-b7eb-00144feab49a.html#axzz1We1v74ba
Defense contractors have wasted or lost to fraud as much as $60 billion over the past 10 years, according to a report by the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(*HEADACHE*)
The report found that at least $31 billion had been wasted through poor planning and management - the equivalent of $12m a day since the invasion of Afghanistan.
(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
“Despite some progress, the government remains unable to provide effective large-scale contract management and oversight,” said Christopher Shays, a former Republican congressman from Connecticut who co-chaired the independent commission. This fact was “troubling,” given that contractors had been considered part of the deployment force for more than 20 years.
* YEAH... I'D FRIGG'N WELL SAY SO...!!!
The top contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan during the decade surveyed was Kellogg, Brown & Root, an engineering and construction services company.
* SO MUCH FOR HALLIBURTON...
It earned $40.8 billion during the decade, while Agility and DynCorp earned $9 billion and $7.4 billion, respectively.
* AGAIN... SO MUCH FOR HALLIBURTON
The commission found inadequate competition for contracts, such as a $36.3 billion army logistics contract awarded to KBR in 2001 as the sole provider.
* NOTICE... NOT HALLIBURTON...!!!
As an example of waste, the report cites $38.6 billion that Congress allocated between 2006 and 2011 for training the Afghan national security force, saying that such a project was “unsustainable” and far exceed what the Kabul government could absorb. “We believe as much or more waste may develop as US-funded programs and projects turn out to be unsustainable by the Iraqi and Afghanistan governments,” said Michael Thibault, former deputy director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the other co-chair of the commission. “Both government and contractors have contributed to this waste.”
The report also noted that U.S. funds had been "diverted" to warlords and insurgents in both Iraq and Afghanistan as "a cost of doing business" in the countries, adding that while there was no official estimate of how much was diverted, it was a “significant percentage” of a project’s cost. During a trip to Afghanistan in March this year, the commission found that extortion of funds from US construction and transportation projects was the second-biggest funding source for insurgent groups.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
* FOLKS... THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT YOUR TAX DOLLARS GOING FOR...? REALLY...???
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/883003ec-d3f6-11e0-b7eb-00144feab49a.html#axzz1We1v74ba
A Chinese warship confronted an Indian navy vessel shortly after it left Vietnamese waters in late July in the first such reported encounter between the two countries’ navies in the South China Sea.
The unidentified Chinese warship demanded that India’s INS Airavat, an amphibious assault vessel, identify itself and explain its presence in international waters shortly after it completed a scheduled port call in Vietnam, five people familiar with the incident told the Financial Times.
This latest example of China’s naval "assertiveness" has irked defence officials in India and Vietnam.
* "IRKED," HUH? (*SNORT*)
China claims the South China Sea in its entirety, rejecting partial claims by Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan over the resource-rich region.
* RIDICULOUS!
China’s projection of maritime power, especially into the Indian Ocean, has raised national security concerns in New Delhi, which has raised the incident with Beijing.
Hanoi is also upset by what it believes to be a deliberate provocation by Beijing, according to foreign diplomats, who said the implication of the naval challenge was that China believes it is entitled to police the South China Sea.
* FOLKS... THIS IS A SECURITY CONCERN FOR US - NOT JUST FOR INDIA AND VIETNAM!
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