Thursday, September 4, 2014

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, September 4, 2014


I just received an email from my bank demanding an "income update."

Uh-huh...

The thing is... apparently this demand isn't my bank's idea. Here's the tag on the demand:

To consider you for a future credit line increase, federal regulations require us to have your current income.

WTF...?!?!

Why are my contractual dealings with my bank the subject of federal informational demands? If the feds want such information (which is none of their friggin' business... but which they have via my yearly income tax returns) shouldn't any such "demand" be accompanied by a subpoena?

The federal government is out of control, people. Simply out of control...


7 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101971276

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, lifting the Dow and S&P 500 to records, after the European Central Bank unexpectedly reduced its key rate and announced plans to purchase asset-backed securities to spur economic growth.

"The broad tone is bullish following the surprise move out of the ECB," emailed Andrew Wilkinson, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers.

The ECB lowered its benchmark interest rate to 0.05%, and cut its deposit facility to minus 0.2%.

The central bank's "non-conventional methods of easing credit will hopefully boost inflation and reverse the deflationary scenario," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital.

* FOLKS... IT'S INSANITY. MASSIVE SHORT TERM GAINS FOR TRADERS AND BANKERS THAT THEY RETAIN... IMAGINARY GAINS FOR THE REST OF US... THAT PLUS INFLATION.

* BTW... SPEAKING OF INTEREST RATES... TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE CREDIT CARD REVOLVING DEBT... WHAT INTEREST RATE ARE *YOU* PAYING...?

William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101971276

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, lifting the Dow and S&P 500 to records, after the European Central Bank unexpectedly reduced its key rate and announced plans to purchase asset-backed securities to spur economic growth.

"The broad tone is bullish following the surprise move out of the ECB," emailed Andrew Wilkinson, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers.

The ECB lowered its benchmark interest rate to 0.05%, and cut its deposit facility to minus 0.2%.

The central bank's "non-conventional methods of easing credit will hopefully boost inflation and reverse the deflationary scenario," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital.

* FOLKS... IT'S INSANITY. MASSIVE SHORT TERM GAINS FOR TRADERS AND BANKERS THAT THEY RETAIN... IMAGINARY GAINS FOR THE REST OF US... THAT PLUS INFLATION.

* BTW... SPEAKING OF INTEREST RATES... TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE CREDIT CARD REVOLVING DEBT... WHAT INTEREST RATE ARE *YOU* PAYING...?

William R. Barker said...

http://politicalnews.me/?id=29971&keys=BERGDAHL-OBAMA-ILLEGAL-CONSTITUTION

Senator Lisa Murkowski shared the findings of a U.S. Government Accountability Office legal opinion into the administration's controversial negotiations with the Taliban for the release of Bowe Bergdahl.

The GAO inquiry – done at her and a number of her U.S. Senate colleagues’ request – found that the Obama Administration broke federal law when the Pentagon swapped five high-risk Taliban members from Guantanamo Bay for the release of Bergdahl without providing advance notification to Congress as is required by law.

The GAO legal opinion can be viewed at http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/665390.pdf

In response to the GAO legal opinion, Senator Murkowski said:

When the President signed the 2014 defense authorization and appropriations bills into law, he understood it was illegal to transfer or release Guantanamo inmates without 30 days advance Congressional notification - and within months he clearly defied this very law.

We have all seen the President decide to override the concept of checks and balances in many questionable executive actions, but the GAO opinion confirms that by doing so in connection with the release of Bowe Bergdahl, he engaged in a clear violation of the law.

I hope this opinion by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office sends a clear signal to the President that his recent shift towards unilateral action is not consistent with this nation's principles and our carefully designed separation of powers.

* FOLKS... ISSUING A STATEMENT AND HOPING THE PRESS PICKS IT UP DOES NOTHING TO UPHOLD MURKOWSKI'S OATH TO THE CONSTITUTION OR THAT OF HER COLLEAGUES. THE SAD REALITY IS THAT DEMOCRAT IN CONGRESS HAVE CONSPIRED - RIGHT OUT IN THE OPEN - TO ALLOW OBAMA TO VIOLATE THE LAW TIME AND TIME AGAIN. WE HAVE NOT BEEN A NATION UNDER THE RULE OF LAW FOR QUITE A WHILE, MY FRIENDS. THIS ISN'T ME RANTING... IT'S THE HONEST TO GOD REALITY.

William R. Barker said...

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-new-immigrants-california-economy-20140903-story.html

A report released Wednesday by researchers at USC found that immigrants who are in California illegally make up nearly 10% of the state's workforce and contribute $130 billion annually to its gross domestic product.

* "CONTRIBUTE" AT WHAT COST?

* FOLKS... YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THIS ALSO MEANS CALIFORNIA GETS A 10% BOOST IN CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATION AND THUS NATIONAL POWER... RIGHT? (OH, YEAH... THE NUMBER DEPENDS UPON POPULATION, NOT CITIZEN POPULATION.)

The study, which was conducted in conjunction with the California Immigrant Policy Center, was based on census data and other statistics, including data from the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security. It looked at a variety of ways the estimated 2.6 million immigrants living in California without permission participate in state life.

Immigrants who are in California illegally make up 38% of the agriculture industry and 14% of the construction industry statewide.

Half of the immigrants in the state illegally have been here for at least 10 years.

Roughly 58% do not have health insurance.

* NO... THAT CAN'T BE TRUE... (*SMIRK*)... OBAMACARE MEANS EVERYONE NOW HAS HEALTH INSURANCE!

* FOLKS... OBVIOUSLY I'M BEING SARCASTIC... BUT IMAGINE HOW MANY IDIOTS OUT THERE BELIEVE THIS?

Nearly three in four live in households that include U.S. citizens.

USC sociology professor Manuel Pastor, who worked on the report, said it shows how integrated immigrants are into daily life in California.

* AND LOOK AT WHAT A FUCKED UP STATE CALIFORNIA IS...!

"It's a population deeply embedded in the labor market, neighborhoods and social fabric of the state," said Pastor, who is a co-director of USC's Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration.

The USC study also looked at the impact of immigration on the Los Angeles economy.

It found that of the 4.4 million immigrants living in the greater Los Angeles region, 1.1 million are here without permission. Immigrants here illegally contributed $57 billion of the region's GDP, the study found.

William R. Barker said...

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/09/02/Study-Net-Job-Growth-in-NC-Since-2000-Went-to-Immigrants

The net increase in the number of employed working-age adults in North Carolina has gone entirely to legal and illegal immigrants since 2000, according to an analysis of government data conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies.

* FUCK YOU, UNDEREMPLOYED AND UNEMPLOYED BLACK AMERICANS (SAYS OBAMA)!

* FUCK YOU, UNDEREMPLOYED AND UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS (SAYS OBAMA)!

While the native working age (16-65 years old) North Carolina population has increased by 61% since 2000, the share of natives in that state’s work force has declined. “The total number of working-age (16 to 65) immigrants (legal and illegal) holding a job in North Carolina increased by 313,000 from the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2014, while the number of working-age natives with a job declined by 32,000 over the same time,” the report reads, explaining that in the past 14 years has seen the labor-force participation of natives in North Carolina in decline.

“A huge number of working-age people in North Carolina are not working, and labor force participation remains at record lows...” Steven Camarota, CIS’s head of research and the report’s lead author said in a statement.

The long-term decline in employment for natives in North Carolina and the enormous number of working-age natives not working clearly indicate that there is no general labor shortage in the state. Second, North Carolina’s working-age immigrant population grew 146% from 2000 to 2014, one of the highest rates of any state in the nation. Yet the number of natives working in 2014 was actually lower than in 2000.

This undermines the argument that immigration increases job opportunities for natives.

* FUCK NATIVE AMERICANS (SAY MOST POLITICIANS OF BOTH PARTIES...)

William R. Barker said...

http://news.yahoo.com/trial-dealt-hit-ex-governors-reputation-171905027.html

Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife were convicted Thursday of using his office to promote a dietary supplement in exchange for gifts in a public corruption case that derailed the career of a onetime rising Republican star.

* ANOTHER PIECE OF SHIT POLITICIAN... A REPUBLICAN POLITICIAN IN THIS CASE.

A federal jury in Richmond convicted Bob McDonnell of 11 of the 13 counts he faced; Maureen McDonnell was convicted of nine of the 13 counts she had faced. Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 6.

* WHY JAN. 6? WHY NOT NEXT WEEK? FOLKS... OUR "JUSTICE" SYSTEM IS BROKEN.

The couple was charged with doing favors for a wealthy vitamin executive in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts and loans.

* SCUMBAGS. (I WOULD LIKE TO SEE JAIL TIME!)

They also were charged with submitting fraudulent bank loan applications, and Maureen McDonnell was charged with one count of obstruction.

Williams testified under immunity that he spent freely on the McDonnells in order to secure their help promoting his supposed cure-all, the tobacco-derived anti-inflammatory Anatabloc. Among the gifts were nearly $20,000 in designer clothing and accessories for Maureen McDonnell, a $6,500 Rolex watch for her husband, $15,000 in catering for one of their daughter's wedding, free vacations and golf outings. Williams also provided three loans totaling $120,000.

* IMMUNITY. GREAT. AGAIN, FOLKS... OUR "JUSTICE" SYSTEM IS BROKEN.

Prosecutors claimed that the McDonnells turned to Williams because they were grappling with credit card debt that once topped $90,000 and annual operating shortfalls of $40,000 to $60,000 on family-owned vacation rental properties. Two of the loans totaling $70,000 were intended for the two Virginia Beach rent houses. Williams said he wrote the first $50,000 check to Maureen McDonnell after she complained about their money troubles and said she could help his company because of her background selling nutritional supplements.

* AGAIN... SCUMBAGS...

William R. Barker said...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-03/hillary-clinton-follows-christie-to-mexico-for-carlos-slim-event.html

Billionaire Carlos Slim’s contribution to the Clinton Foundation is paying off.

* I BET IT IS!

Hillary Clinton will be on hand Sept. 5 for Slim’s annual event to honor his own charity’s scholarship students. Clinton, the former U.S. Secretary of State and First Lady, will become the second potential 2016 presidential candidate to visit Mexico this week, following New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who arrived today.

* WHAT'S CHRISTIE'S VISIT HAVE TO DO WITH HILLARY'S? IS CHRISTIE GOING TO GENUFLECT BEFORE CARLOS SLIM?

A press official for Slim’s foundation confirmed Clinton will be a speaker at the event, which also features Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, soccer star Ronaldinho and actor Antonio Banderas.

A Slim-backed charity contributed at least $1 million to the Clinton Foundation’s drive to raise $250 million for its endowment. U.S. law bans foreigners such as Slim, who was born in Mexico and continues to live there, from giving to political campaigns, so a possible Clinton presidential run wouldn’t be competing for his dollars.

Potential Republican and Democratic candidates are lining up to court Hispanic voters who proved pivotal in President Barack Obama’s 2012 election victory. Christie arrived in Mexico today for a three-day trade mission...

* AH... SO BLOOMBERG JUST THREW CHRISTIE IN SO AS TO PROVIDE WHATEVER COVER IT COULD TO OBAMA...

* NICE...

...and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, an eye surgeon, went to Guatemala last month as part of a pro bono medical team that performed operations to restore the sight of poor patients.

* SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT... AN EYE SURGEON (WHO HAPPENS TO BE A U.S. SENATOR) WHO TRAVELS TO GUATEMALA TO PROVIDE FREE MEDICAL CARE TO THE POOR IS THE EQUIVILANT OF HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON'S TRADING INFLUENCE FOR DONATIONS TO "HER" CHARITY. (HELL... EVEN CHRISTIE LOOKS GOOD IN COMPARISON TO HILLARY!)

Slim, the world’s second-richest man, funds health, education and public-welfare initiatives through his telecommunications company’s Telmex Foundation and through the separate Slim Foundation. Slim trails only Bill Gates among the world’s richest people, with a fortune of $82.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Slim was honored in 2012 with a Global Citizen Award by the Clinton Global Initiative, one of the Clinton Foundation’s arms.

* WHAT... A... COINCIDENCE...

* FOLKS... YOU MIGHT WANNA LOOK INTO OL' CARLOS... (HINT: HE'S EXACTLY THE TYPE OF CRONY-CAPITALIST WHOM YOU'D EXPECT THE CLINTONS TO RUN WITH!)