Friday, August 3, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, August 3, 2012


Happy Friday, folks...!

My advice...???

(*WINK*)

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6 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48468748

While the national unemployment rate paints a grim picture, a look at individual states and their so-called real jobless rates becomes even more troubling.

The government's most widely publicized unemployment rate measures only those who are out of a job and currently looking for work. It does not count discouraged potential employees who have quit looking, nor those who are underemployed — wanting to work full-time but forced to work part-time.

For that count, the government releases a separate number called the "U-6," which provides a more complete tally of how many people really are out of work.

The numbers in some cases are startling.

Consider: Nevada's U-6 rate is 22.1%...

* NEVADA... (*SNORT*)... AND WHAT DID THOSE CLOWNS DO IN 2010 - THEY RE-ELECTED HARRY REID! (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Economically troubled California has a 20.3% real rate, while Rhode Island is at 18.3

* NOTICING A TREND HERE, FOLKS...?! THE BLUE STATES AIN'T DOING SO WELL... (*SHRUG*)

Those numbers compare especially unfavorably to the national rate, high in itself at 14.9%...

* ACTUALLY... 15% AS OF TODAY. (THE JULY NUMBERS JUST CAME OUT!) "REGULAR" (U3) UNEMPLOYMENT HAS ALSO RISEN - TO 8.3%.

Only three states — Nebraska (9.1%), South Dakota (8.6%) and North Dakota (6.1%) — have U-6 rates under 10%, according to research from RBC Capital Markets.

* WOW... THREE STATES WITH REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS... WHO WOULD'VE FIGURED...? (*SNICKER*)

August 3, 2012 at 11:08 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/ice-agents-morale-is-in-the-toilet.html

Morale among Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is at an all-time low more than a month after the Obama administration announced major "changes" to the nation’s immigration enforcement policy, according to the head of a national agency representing thousands of agents.

“Morale is in the toilet right now,” said Chris Crane, president of the National ICE Council. “Most of the guys out in the field are just in an uproar.”

President Obama’s policy allows the federal government to use “prosecutorial discretion” to allow younger illegal immigrants to stay in the country and get work permits. Critics called it backdoor amnesty...

* BECAUSE IT IS A BACKDOOR AMNESTY!

“They call it discretion but it’s not our discretion,” Crane told Fox News. “We have no discretion.”

Crane said a case involving a veteran ICE agent is a perfect illustration. The agent arrested an illegal who was not a “primary target.” The agent’s superior officers ordered the illegal released – even though he did not meet the criteria listed by the Dept. of Homeland Security. The officer refused to follow orders and is now facing a three day suspension. The 35-year-old illegal immigrant with ten traffic violations was released.

* NICE... (*SIGH*)

He pointed to another case in El Paso where an illegal immigrant injured an ICE agent during an attempted escape. Again, Crane said, because the individual was not a priority target, he was released without any charges being filed.

* IMAGINE IF YOU WERE THE PERSON TO HAVE INJURED A FEDERAL IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL - DO YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT NO CHARGES WOULD BE FILED?

“They’ve got their heads down,” Crane said, referring to ICE agents. “We feel like the administration is against us and not the people who are violating our laws.”

* WELL... THAT PRETTY MUCH IS THE REALITY.

An ICE spokesman did not return calls for comment.

* WHAT A SURPRISE... (*SNORT*) (*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

August 3, 2012 at 11:08 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://washingtonexaminer.com/amtrak-lost-800m-on-cheeseburgers-and-soda/article/2503832

Taxpayers lost $833 million over the last decade on the food and beverages supplied by Amtrak, which managed to spend $1.70 for every dollar that received in revenue.

* THIS... IS... GOVERNMENT...!

“Over the last ten years, these losses have amounted to a staggering $833.8 million,” said Rep.John Mica, R-Fla., in a statement previewing a House hearing today. “It costs passengers $9.50 to buy a cheeseburger on Amtrak, but the cost to taxpayers is $16.15. Riders pay $2.00 for a Pepsi, but each of these sodas costs the U.S. Treasury $3.40.”

* AND OBAMA AND THE DEMS WANT MORE GOVERNMENT...! BIGGER GOVERNMENT...! MORE INTRUSIVE GOVERNMENT...!!!

Amtrak President Joe Boardman tried to encourage House investigators by telling them that last year's losses represent an improvement over previous years. "Our ongoing programs have certainly delivered measurable financial efficiencies," Boardman told Congress in his written testimony today. "In 2006, our food and beverage service recovered 49% of their costs. In 2011, these services recovered 59% of their costs," he testified.

* JEEZUS... FRIGGIN'... CHRIST...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

August 3, 2012 at 11:08 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48462508

The IRS is paying out billions of dollars in fraudulent tax refunds to identity thieves; a problem that the tax service’s inspector general told CNBC is a “growing problem” involving numbers that are increasing “exponentially.”

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

The scam is so rampant that thieves are apparently sending in false returns in bulk without even bothering to change the mailing address on the returns. The inspector general said it found one residential address in Lansing, Michigan that was the source of an astonishing 2,137 tax returns, and to which the IRS directed more than $3.3 million in potentially fraudulent refunds.

In another case, a single residential address in Chicago was the source of 765 tax returns, generating more than $900,000 in potentially fraudulent refunds, the report said.

(*SARCASTIC STANDING OVATION*)

“Once the money is out the door, it is almost impossible to get it back,” IRS inspector general J. Russell George told CNBC.

The inspector general concluded that the IRS is simply not doing enough to stop identity theft fraud.

“Unfortunately, the IRS is not using information that it currently has, nor information that could be available to them,” George said.

* GREAT! WONDERFUL! OUTFRIGGIN'STANDING!

In its analysis, the inspector general’s office said it identified approximately 1.5 million tax returns with potentially fraudulent tax refunds that the IRS had missed during tax year 2010. The potential fraud for that one year totaled in excess of $5.2 billion.

* ...THAT THE IRS HAD MISSED...

August 3, 2012 at 11:09 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2012-08-01.html#read_more

* NOW I'M NOT A BIG ANN COULTER FAN... BUT THIS COLUMN IS WORTH READING.

August 3, 2012 at 12:54 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/kudlows-money-politics/313089/jobs-report-bad-news

Stocks loved today’s jobs report, rising well over 200 points at this writing.

* UNLIKE MOST EVERYONE YOU'VE HEARD FROM TODAY, I DON'T AUTOMATICALLY "CREDIT" THE JOBS REPORT WITH THE RISE IN THE MARKET. NOPE. I BELIEVE THAT WHAT'S PUSHING THE MARKET UP IS THE BELIEF THAT BERNANKE IS GONNA TRY AND "STIMULATE" THE ECONOMY VIA ANOTHER INSANE ROUND OF QUALITATIVE EASING! (MEANING PRINTING MORE FIAT DOLLARS...)

[E]quities may be suffering from a certain irrational exuberance.

* YES. THEY ARE. BUT IT'S NOT JUST "IRRATIONAL" EXUBERANCE. IT'S SIMPLY THAT THE MAJOR PLAYERS KNOW THAT THE FIX IS IN!

Yes, nonfarm payrolls rose by 163,000 in July. That’s better than the prior two months and probably signals no double-dip recession — at least for now.

* NONSENSE. FIRST OF ALL, WE'RE IN A RECESSION. NOT TECHNICALLY... BUT FRANKLY THE TECHNICAL DEFINITION IS SIMPLY NON-REFLECTIVE OF PRESENT DAY AMERICAN ECONOMIC REALITY.

[T]here are a lot of negatives in this report.

* DAMN STRAIGHT!

For one, the small-business household survey dropped 195,000. That’s what drove the unemployment rate up to 8.3%.

* IN ENGLISH: THERE WERE 195,000 FEWER PEOPLE EMPLOYED IN THE UNITED STATES IN JULY THAN IN AUGUST! THIS IS A DECLINE IN TOTAL AMERICAN EMPLOYMENT... NOT AN ADDITION TO TOTAL AMERICAN EMPLOYMENT!

The [labor] participation rate slipped to 63.7%.

* SLIPPED! NOT GREW... (*GNASHING MY TEETH*)

And the overall U-6 discouraged-workers unemployment rate increased to 15%.

(*JUST THROWING MY ARMS UP*)

Average hourly earnings registered a slight 0.1% increase. But that only adds up to a 1.7% increase year-on-year, which is below the rising consumer price index.

* AND, FOLKS... AS YOU KNOW... THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DELIBERATELY UNDERSTATES INFLATION BY PERHAPS A FACTOR OF FOUR! AMERICANS AS A GROUP ARE FALLING FURTHER AND FURTHER BEHIND THE CURVE... OUR STANDARD OF LIVING IS GOING DOWN!

So Team Obama will undoubtedly continue to tell us that jobs and the economy are getting better, but this mixed employment report takes the steam out of that argument.

* NOT THAT THE LAMESTREAM MEDIA WON'T TRY TO PUT LIPSTICK ON THIS PIG!

A couple of other economic reports coming out this week raise red flags. The ISM manufacturing index came in below 50 for the second straight month, and the ISM services index is barely above 50. (Below 50 signals contraction.) Meanwhile, factory orders fell 0.5% and are down 2.6% at an annual rate over the past three months. Even worse, core capital-goods orders (non-defense, excluding aircraft) fell 1.7% in June and have dropped 3.9% annually over the past three months.

* LOTS OF NUMBERS, HUH? SHORT TRANSLATION: IF THE ECONOMY ISN'T "OFFICIALLY" CONTRACTING YET... SIGNS ARE THAT IT SOON WILL BE.

In other words, business investment is still weak. So are real consumer incomes. And the unemployment rate continues to edge higher. All this springs from an economy growing no more than 1.5% to 2%.

(*SIGH*)

Tax and regulatory threats are everywhere. From ObamaCare and the EPA and the NLRB on the regulatory side, to the failure to extend all the Bush tax cuts, it’s a wonder businesses are investing and hiring at all — especially small businesses, which may have stopped dead in recent months.

My modest proposal for the worst economic recovery in modern times is threefold: Extend all the Bush tax cuts, slash the corporate tax rate, and approve and begin building the Keystone Pipeline. This is a supply-side proposal. It’s completely unlike all of Obama’s goofy, short-term, spending-and-tax-credit stimuli, which have completely failed.

Come to think of it, it’s sort of Mitt Romney’s economic platform.

* I'M NOT A BIG KUDLOW FAN... NOR A BIG ROMNEY FAN... BUT, FOLKS... ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN WHAT WE'RE GETTING FROM OBAMA!

August 3, 2012 at 7:22 PM

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