Thursday, April 5, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 5, 2012


Oh, yeah, folks...

(*SMIRK*)

That Obama foreign policy - "managed" by Madam Clinton... she of the 65% approval rating - is working... er... like a charm.

A Grad rocket has landed in the southern Israeli city of Eilat... District police chief Ron Gertner told Israeli radio the rocket had been fired from Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

The blast took place as thousands congregated in the resort town for the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Israel says militants have become active in the region since former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February 2011. In August 2011, an armed group crossed the border into Israel from the Sinai peninsula and killed eight Israelis.

A [renewed] wave of unrest has hit the restive Sinai peninsula recently.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*) 

Oh, yeah... great... thank God that terrible dictator - and U.S. ally... and the guy holding together the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - Mubarak is gone... gone with the blessing... nay, the enthusiastic approval... of the Obama administration and Madam Clinton.

I'm sure once the Muslim Brotherhood has managed to consolidate power totally we'll a "treated" to even more wondrous blow-back from the Obama-Clinton foreign policy.

4 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/washington-secrets/2012/04/coke-caves-face-democratic-boycott-threat/444346

Democratic officials Wednesday launched a two-pronged attack on states with new laws requiring identification before voting...

* AGAIN, FOLKS... UNDERSTAND... VOTER FRAUD BENEFITS THE DEMOCRATS TO A MUCH GREATER DEGREE THAN IT BENEFITS REPUBLICANS, THEREFORE, DEMOCRATS FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL AGAINST ANY REFORMS THAT WOULD LIMIT VOTER FRAUD.

* YEP... IT'S SICK OUT THERE AND IT'S GETTING SICKER.

...the highlight being a call to boycott Coke, Walmart and others that back a leading organization pushing for voter ID laws.

* I WOULD LAUGH... SMIRK... BUT THERE'S NOTHING "FUNNY" ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO READ NEXT.

Coke was quick to react to the political boycott threat, pulling support from the targeted group just five hours after it was called.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Walmart said that support for a group does not mean it backs every decision by those groups.

* WE'LL SEE IF WALMART STANDS FIRM.

(*SHRUG*)

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303299604577325120154833502.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

Ford Motor Co. unveiled plans Thursday to invest $600 million to turn the inland Chinese city of Chongqing into its major manufacturing center for passenger cars — part of its effort to more than double its China manufacturing capacity and sales to more than 1.3 million vehicles by the end of the decade.

(*SHRUG*)

* DOES THIS SOUND LIKE SOMETHING THAT BENEFITS AMERICA?

* OH... I WANT FORD TO MAKE MONEY! DON'T GET ME WRONG! BUT WOULDN'T IT BE BETTER FOR AMERICA IF FORD WAS TURNING SOME "INLAND AMERICAN CITY" INTO A MAJOR MANUFACTURING CENTER?

* WOULDN'T IT BE BETTER IF U.S. PORTS AND U.S. SAILORS AND U.S. SHIPPING LINES PROFITED BY EXPORTING AMERICAN-MADE VEHICLES OVERSEAS RATHER THAN HAVING FORD EXPORT AMERICAN JOBS OVERSEAS?

* FOLKS... THIS IS THE KIND OF "FREE MARKET ECONOMICS" THAT THE OLIGARCHS FAVOR - BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS. THE AVERAGE WSJ SUBSCRIBER WOULD BE APPALLED BY MY "ILL-INFORMED" REACTION TO THIS NEWS.

* FOLKS... UNDERSTAND... AMERICA'S ELITES... THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT AMERICA. (NO... NOT A BLANKET STATEMENT. JUST A "TONAL" STATEMENT.)

* OH... AND BTW... UNDERSTAND FOLKS - APART FROM THE "ECONOMICS" OF THE DEAL, FORD WILL BE TEACHING THE CHINESE TO MAKE VEHICLES JUST AS GOOD AS AMERICAN-MADE VEHICLES. IT'S CALLED "TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER." IT MAKES CHINA STRONGER.

William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://money.msn.com/investment-advice/article.aspx?post=5e0d8c8c-30da-4d08-bbc2-ae3b6a4499fa

The delicate balance holding the stock market aloft has been broken.

Central bankers, the providers of the cheap money that has sustained the uptrend, could no longer deny rising inflationary pressures.

[S]igns of economic strengthening [are often] based on unsustainable things like unseasonably warm weather and a drop in the savings rate.

By acknowledging the troubles of higher prices, Central Bankers have destroyed Wall Street's hopes of hundreds of billions' worth of new monetary policy easing later this month. The stock market's cheap-money addiction has been laid bare. And it ain't pretty.

Stocks dropped dramatically after the latest meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve threw icy cold water all over the idea of a third round of quantitative easing being unveiled at its April policy meeting. The problem is higher gas and oil prices have pushed inflation above the 2% target. The sell-off continued Wednesday as the European Central Bank joined in, too.

In this environment, with the markets dependent on central bank largess to justify their otherworldly, no-volatility, low-volume uptrend in the context of deteriorating economic fundamentals, having the Fed and the ECB talk about inflation is like someone yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. It sent the meek scattering for the exits, unleashing the wave of selling pressure.

But rest assured, QE3 is coming. And it's coming soon. Most likely at the June meeting.

(*GNASHING MY TEETH*)

Which means officials will start teasing it in about a month.

Between now and then, the market will likely be pulled lower on weaker and weaker economic data, as was seen by pitiful manufacturing activity data earlier this week.

* AND, FOLKS... THOSE OF YOU WHO READ THE BUSINESS PAGES HAVE NO DOUBT READ TIME AND TIME AGAIN HOW MANUFACTURING IS ON THE REBOUND!

(*SNORT*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

The Fed meetings pretty much outlined this scenario. Members of the policymaking committee saw no need to ease further unless economic conditions worsen. Only a "couple of members" discussed the potential need for more stimulus if inflation or growth weakens - a downgrade from the "other members" who discussed this at the January meeting.

They also noted the substantial increase in oil and gas prices.

* WHICH IS OF COURSE ADDING TO ALL OTHER INFLATIONARY PRESSURES!

* HEY... FOLKS... CRACKER BARREL FINALLY DID IT; THEY CHANGED THE SIZE OF THEIR BASIC BAR OF CHEESE - DOWNSIZED IT FROM THE TRADITIONAL 10 oz. TO 8 oz. THAT TRANSLATES TO A 20% PRICE INCREASE IN ONE FELL SWOOP. AND THIS KIND OF THING IS HAPPENING ALL OVER THE PLACE!

I'm not the only one with this outlook. As soon as news of the Fed minutes hit the wires, research note after research note from the big investment banks hit my inbox all saying the same thing: QE3 in June.

Societe Generale economist Aneta Markowska wrote that the minutes were "not as dovish as we expected" and were notable for their lack of discussion of further easing options "whether outright QE or some kind of sterilized version." The latter has been hinted at recently as a more inflation-neutral option for any QE3 initiative. (Essentially, the Fed would target mortgage rates while removing the excess cash it's using to do so out of the system.)

* MORE FAKE, PHONY, FRAUDULENT NUMBERS MANIPULATION. AND THEY'RE TELLING YOU IT'S COMING! THEY'RE NOT EVEN TRYING TO HIDE IT!

Merrill Lynch economists paid attention to the Fed's mention of warmer-than-normal winter weather and the effect it has had on seasonal adjustments to economic data - acting as an artificial boost to the results that has made the economy look stronger than it really is. This is something I've mentioned before.

(*NOD*)

As for the ECB, bank president Mario Draghi noted Wednesday that upside risks to inflation prevail and that the annual inflation rate is likely to remain above the bank's 2% target this year. He added that all tools to address increases in inflation remain on the table.

* FOLKS... WE'VE GONE OVER THIS AD NAUSEUM. THE GOVERNMENT DELIBERATELY COOKS THE INFLATION NUMBERS TO UNDERSTATE THEM. FRANKLY... IF THE GOVERNMENT NUMBER IS 2%... THE REAL INFLATION NUMBER IS AT LEAST 8%.