Thursday, December 13, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, December 13, 2012


If you've never heard Clint Walker's "Chain of Love" then... you're welcome.

 While not technically a "Christmas Song," I consider it such.

 Country music is America, my friends...

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7 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/13/us-eurozone-greece-idUSBRE8BC0UR20121213

The euro zone agreed on Thursday to provide nearly 50 billion euros ($64 billion) in long-delayed aid to Athens...

* AND THIS IS SEEN AS "GOOD" - THROWING GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD IS "GOOD!"

(*CHUCKLE*)

The deal averts a catastrophic default...

* GREECE CAN'T PAY THE DEBTS IT OWES... SO... LOAN THEM MORE!

(*GUFFAW*)

...and secures Greece's survival in the euro zone after months of doubt and political turmoil.

* HAS ANYONE BEEN FOLLOWING CURRENCY TRENDS? HINT: THE DOLLAR HAS BEEN IN DECLINE... AGAIN...

Athens had repeatedly missed fiscal targets agreed with the EU and the International Monetary Fund, and stalled structural economic reforms.

* AND SO THE RESPONSE IS... MORE BAILOUTS!

(*FALLING OFF MY CHAIR...LAUGHING SO HARD...TRYING NOT TO PEE MYSELF*)

"We are convinced that the program is back on a sound track," Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the 17-nation euro area's finance ministers told a news conference after they met in Brussels ahead of an EU summit later in the day.

"Money will be flowing to Greece as early next week."

* FOLKS... THIS IS HOW THE OLIGARCHY RUNS THE WORLD.

Separately, Juncker said the Eurogroup expected to receive a report on Cyprus' banks' needs by mid-January in order to take a decision on a potential 17.5 billion euro bailout for the east Mediterranean island, which has been badly hit by fallout from Greece's debt crisis.

(*SNORT*)

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said Thursday's decision showed that European solidarity was working and his country would stay in the single currency.

(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)

* LUCKY GERMANY!

(*GUFFAW*)

Agreement to release the funds hinged on the success of a debt buyback launched by Greece last week, which will enable Athens to retire nearly 20 billion euros in bonds repurchased at a third of their face value from private investors.

* HEY, FOLKS... HOW'D YA LIKE TO FUCK EVERYONE YOU OWE... PAY YOUR DEBTS AT 30-CENTS ON THE DOLLAR AND IN RETURN... GET MORE LOANS!

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD AT THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL*)

Chairman Juncker said he was "not sure" additional measures would be needed to reach an agreed goal to bring Greece's debt down to 124% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020...

(*JUST THROWING MY HANDS UP IN THE AIR*)

...but the bloc stood ready to take new steps if necessary.

(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)

The ministers' promised to consider additional debt relief if needed provided Greece achieves a primary budget balance in 2013 before debt service payments.

* ...BEFORE... DEBT.. SERVICE... PAYMENTS...

(*LAUGHTER BECOMING SLIGHTLY UNHINGED...HYSTERICAL*)

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, who took part in the euro zone meeting by conference call from Latin America, said she would recommend to the Fund's board in January that it continue to support the Greek program.

* THAT MEANS U.S. TAXPAYER MONEY, FOLKS...

* JUST ANOTHER DAY, FOLKS... JUST ANOTHER DAY...

December 13, 2012 at 1:50 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/jim-moran-son-patrick-moran_n_2287645.html

The Washington City Paper reports that the son of Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), Patrick Moran, pled guilty Wednesday to simple assault stemming from an incident in which he was outside a bar in Washington, DC's Columbia Heights neighborhood just, you know ...bashing "his girlfriend's head into the bar's metal trash can cage" - no big deal.

Now that the justice system has rendered a verdict, there's nothing more for this product of Beltway privilege to do besides the whole spokesperson-enabled "putting the matter behind me" thing.

Those speaking for Patrick Moran, at this point, aren't even trying to be decent about the matter. His father, the congressman, told the City Paper, "I hope their privacy will be respected ... They look forward to putting this embarrassing situation behind them."

Call it a grammatical hang-up, but I'm really baffled by the whole use of the third person plural, there, considering the fact that the woman who was beaten up outside a bar didn't actually do anything "embarrassing."

I also have found that a great way to ensure that your personal privacy gets respected is to not beat your girlfriend up outside a bar.

(It seems pretty easy to surmise that the moment you start giving your girlfriend "a skull fracture under her right eye" in public is the precise moment the public starts taking a great interest in your personal life.)

Rep. Moran's spokeswoman, Anne Hughes, also got involved in the whole post-trial statement-making thing, and managed to suck at it even more. Per the City Paper, in a second item on the matter: Hughes claims that only Patrick Moran and his girlfriend were around to see the alleged attack. "They were the only two people who witnessed the scene," writes Hughes. "In that sense, their statements are the only ones that matter."

(That would contradict the police report, which describes both a Metropolitan Police Department sergeant and an Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration investigator seeing Moran slam his girlfriend's head into a trash can cage outside the Getaway, a 14th Street NW bar.)

Hughes added: "They are both very embarrassed by the situation, which involved drinking."

Hey, there's that third person plural pronoun again! And this time, the statement sort of implies that both parties - the victim of the crime, too! - are equally to blame, and that it's quite obvious that when you have had a few drinks at a bar you should understand that having your face bashed against a trash can cage is just a natural consequence of that.

Anyway, it seems like the takeaway here is that you should probably cross to the other side of the street when you see members of the Moran family and their spokespersons ambling up the sidewalk, lest you end up in a rather "embarrassing" scrape, involving multiple fractures to your own face.

* YA KNOW WHAT, FOLKS... MORAN BEING A DEMOCRAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. THE FACT THAT FOR EITHER THE SON OF A DEMOCRATIC OR REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN THE FIX WOULD PROBABLY BE IN IS THE POINT. (BTW... GOOGLE MORAN - BOTH FATHER AND SON. WE'RE TALKING REAL SCUMBAGS.)

December 13, 2012 at 1:51 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.ironicsurrealism.com/2012/12/12/union-thugs-demolish-clint-tarvers-iconic-lansingmichigan-hot-dog-cart-photo-donation-link/

* DISTURBING? I THINK SO.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... IMAGINE A TEA PARTY RALLY WHERE THIS HAPPENS...

(*SHRUG*)

* TO "HE WHOSE NAME DARE NOT BE MENTIONED" I ASK... HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THIS SPECIFIC "INCIDENT" ELSEWHERE? ASIDE FROM READING ABOUT THE LARGER VIOLENCE HERE VIA NEWSBITES, HAD YOU BEEN MADE AWARE OF IT PRIOR VIA YOUR OTHER NEWS SOURCES? (I TRULY AM CURIOUS...)

December 13, 2012 at 1:51 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-12/aetna-ceo-sees-obama-health-law-doubling-some-premiums.html

Health insurance premiums may as much as double for some small businesses and individual buyers in the U.S. when the Affordable Care Act’s major provisions start in 2014, Aetna Inc. chief executive officer Mark Bertolini says.

While subsidies in the law will shield some people, other consumers who make too much for assistance are in for “premium rate shock,” Mark Bertolini, who runs the third-biggest U.S. health-insurance company, told analysts yesterday at a conference in New York.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

The prospect has spurred discussion of having Congress delay or phase in parts of the law, he said.

(*SMIRK*)

“We’ve shared it all with the people in Washington and I think it’s a big concern,” the CEO said. “We’re going to see some markets go up as much as as 100%.”

Bertolini’s prediction is at odds with Congressional Budget Office estimates that the law will have little effect on small and large-employer plans and the Obama administration’s projections that middle-class families will actually save money.

* WE'LL SEE, WON'T WE!

The Obama administration said last year that “middle-class families” buying insurance through the law’s new online exchanges may save as much as $2,300 a year starting in 2014.

* THE ONLY WAY I CAN SEE THIS HAPPENING IS IF THE GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZES THESE FAMILIES TO THE TUNE OF... (*DRUM ROLL*)... AND ADDITIONAL... (*TRUMPETS*)... $2,300 SURPLUS TAXPAYER GIVAWAY ABOVE AND BEYOND EXISTING SUBSIDIES... ALL PAID FOR BY A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THAT CURRENTLY NEEDS TO BORROW 46-CENTS OF EVER DOLLAR IT NOW SQUANDERS ON EXISTING FEDERAL SPENDING ON EXISTING GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS.

* DO... YOU... UNDERSTAND... THIS...???

* OH... AND BACK TO THE CBO... (KEEP READING!)

The CBO estimated in 2009 that the law will increase premiums 10% to 13% for individuals and have little effect on small and large-employer plans. After the subsidies are factored in, individual bills will go down by about 60%, the agency predicted.

* AFTER... THE... SUBSIDIES... ARE... FACTORED... IN...

* FOLKS... I DON'T NEED TO THROW CONSPIRACY THEORIES AT YOU! ALL I HAVE TO DO IS EXCERPT THE NEWS!

December 13, 2012 at 2:33 PM
William R. Barker said...

* THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323981504578175693687046384.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

In the words of the immortal Saturday Night Live skit: "We need more cow bell!"

Four years ago this month the Federal Reserve began its epic program of monetary easing to rescue an economy in recession.

* YEP... (*SIGH*)

On Wednesday, Chairman Ben Bernanke declared that this has worked so well...

(*LOOKING UNDER THE BED FOR LOOSE AMMO*)

... that the Fed must keep easing money for as long as anyone can predict in order to save a still-sputtering recovery.

* MORE COWB ELL!

That's the contradiction at the heart of the Fed's latest foray into "unconventional policy," which is a euphemism for finding new ways to print money: The economy needs more monetary stimulus because it is still too weak despite four years of previous and historic amounts of monetary stimulus.

* YEP... THAT'S THE STORY... AND THEY'RE STICKING TO IT! (DOUBLING DOWN IN FACT! TRIPLING DOWN! QUADRUPLING DOWN!)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

December 13, 2012 at 3:21 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)

In his press conference Wednesday, Mr. Bernanke was at pains to say this week's decisions were nothing new...

(*GRITTING MY TEETH*)

...merely an implementation of the policy direction that the Fed's Open Market Committee had set in September.

(This is technically true, but the timing and extent of the implementation are more than details.)

The Fed committed Wednesday to purchase an additional $45 billion in long-term Treasury securities each month well into 2013...

* ADDITIONAL... ADDITIONAL... A*D*D*I*T*I*O*N*A*L...!!!

...in addition to the $40 billion in mortgage assets it is already buying each month.

(*ESTIMATED BLOOD PRESSURE: 230/130*)

At $85 billion a month, the Fed's balance sheet will thus keep growing from its current $2.9 trillion, heading toward $4 trillion by the end of the year.

(Four years ago it was less than $1 trillion.)

* FOLKS... UNDERSTAND... THERE'S BEEN A COUP. FORGET THE CONSTITUTION. FORGET CONGRESS. CONGRESS NO LONGER HOLDS THE PURSE STRINGS IN ANY MEANINGFUL SENSE. THE OLIGARCHY IS IN COMPLETE CONTROL.

The Fed's goal is to push down long-term interest rates even lower than they are, to the extent that's possible when the 10-year Treasury note is trading at 1.7%. The theory goes that this will in turn reduce already very low mortgage rates, which will help spur a housing recovery, which will lead the economy out of its despond. This has also been the theory for the last four years.

* SO IN THEORY... REINFLATE THE BUBBLE THAT CAUSED THE CRASH IN THE FIRST PLACE.

In case there was any doubt about its resolve, the Fed statement also issued a new implicit annual inflation target: 2.5%. The official target is still 2%. But the Open Market Committee stated that it will keep interest rates near zero, and by implication keep buying bonds, as long as the jobless rate stays above 6.5% and inflation stays "no more than a half-percentage point above the Committee's 2% longer-run goal."

* OK, FOLKS... SO... FORGET FOR A MOMENT THAT THE EXISTING INFLATION RATE IS A DELIBERATE FRAUD... IT DELIBERATELY UNDERREPORTS INFLATION...

* WHAT THE FED IS CALLING FOR IS INCREASING EXISTING INFLATION (WHATEVER THE TRUE NUMBER!) BY 25%! (YES, FOLKS... 2% TO 2.5% EQUALS A 25% INCREASE...)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

December 13, 2012 at 3:22 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

[I]t's striking to see a central bank in the post-Paul Volcker era say overtly that it wants more inflation.

* NOT REALLY. IT'S BEEN THE UNSTATED POLICY FOR THE PAST 12 YEARS. NOW IT'S JUST BEING FRANKLY ACKNOWLEDGED.

This is a victory for the Fed's dovish William Dudley-Janet Yellen faction that echoes economists who think we have to inflate our way out of the debt crisis.

Inflation remains quiescent, but central banks that ask for more inflation invariably get it.

* NO... INFLATION DOESN'T REMAIN QUIESCENT. ANYONE WHO SHOPS... WHO BUYS FOOD... WHO BUYS GAS... WHO PAYS TOLLS... WHO PAYS TAXES... WHO ONLY HAS "X" AMOUNT OF MONEY COMING IN MONTH BY MONTH TO PAY "Y" AMOUNT OF MONTH BY MONTH SPENDING KNEWS THERE'S INFLATION.

* IN THE REAL WORLD... THE WORLD OF MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS... INFLATION HASN'T BEEN QUIESCENT SINCE THE EARLY 2000's.

These new overt economic targets are part of Mr. Bernanke's campaign for more "transparency" in monetary policy, but they also have the effect of exposing how much the Fed has misjudged the economy. In January 2012, the Board of Governors and regional bank presidents predicted growth this year in the range of 2.2%-2.7%.

On Wednesday, they predicted growth of 1.7%-1.8%...

* AND YET... NO ONE RESIGNS. NO ONE IS ASKED TO RESIGN. ACTUAL PERFORMANCE HAS ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING ON WHO GETS TO MAKE THE DECISIONS!

Meantime, the Fed's near-zero interest rate policy will continue to disguise the real cost of government borrowing.

* NOT TO ME. NOT TO MY READERS. BUT TO THE AVERAGE AMERICAN...? YEP.

One reason the Obama Administration can keep running trillion-dollar deficits is because it can borrow the money at bargain rates.

* WITH... NO... WAY... OF... REPAYING... WHAT'S... BEING... BORROWED...!

Stanford economist and Journal contributor John Taylor says the Fed has bought more than 70% of new Treasury debt issuance this year.

* BETTER THAN CHINA BUYING THE DEBT... IN A SENSE. BUT NOT BY MUCH. FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... THIS IS INSANITY. AND AGAIN... IT'S AN EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL SCAM BEING PERPETRATED BY THE OLIGARCHY WITH EVEN MOST REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DELIBERATELY AVERTING THEIR EYES AND PLAYING BALL!

* I KNOW IT SOUNDS "EXTREME"... BUT ASK YOURSELVES... SHORT OF VIOLENCE - ACTUALLY KILLING THE OLIGARCHS - HOW DO WE STOP THEM?

All of this will create a fiscal cliff of its own when interest rates start to rise. The CBO says that every 100 basis-point increase in interest rates adds about $100 billion a year to government borrowing costs. Pity the President and Congress who have to refinance $15 trillion in debt at 6%.

(*SIGH*)

The overarching illusion is that ever-easier monetary policy can return the U.S. economy to a durable expansion and broad-based prosperity. The bill for unbridled government spending stimulus is already coming due. Sooner or later the bill for open-ended monetary stimulus will arrive too.

* IF MY FRIEND "HE WHOSE NAME DARE NOT BE MENTIONED" HAD TO PAY DOUBLE WHAT HE PAYS TODAY FOR HIS FOOD BILLS... HE COULD AFFORD IT. HOW'BOUT THE REST OF YOU?

December 13, 2012 at 3:23 PM

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