Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, December 31, 2014


Well, folks... tis the last day of 2014.

 Let me get a few end of year newsbites out...


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10 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tax-dollars-at-work-87-of-new-obamacare-users-given-federal-aid/article/2557993

Some 87% of people who just signed up for ObamaCare are getting financial assistance...

* WELFARE.

...to lower their premiums, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

* "THEIR" PREMIUMS. SO NOW I'M PAYING MORE SO THEY CAN PAY LESS. THE SAME FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WHICH COULDN'T MAKE A BUDGET BALANCE PRIOR TO OBAMACARE IS NOW EXPANDING WELFARE SPENDING.

The department did not say how much it was offering to new ObamaCare enrollees or what the total bill to taxpayers would be.

December 31, 2014 at 12:54 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/12/30/health-law-impact/21067751/

Many businesses in low-wage industries have hired more part-time workers and cut the hours of full-timers recently to soften the impact of new health law requirements that take effect Thursday, some consultants say.

A majority of small businesses say the Affordable Care Act already has hurt their profits, forcing them to reduce or postpone investment, withhold raises or trim other types of benefits, according to a new survey by the top small-business trade group.

Businesses in low-wage sectors, such as restaurants, retail and warehousing, are feeling bigger effects because health insurance represents an outsize share of their total employee costs, says Rob Wilson, head of Employco, a human resources outsourcing firm. Many of those with just fewer than 100 staffers have hired more part-timers in recent months, while those with at least 100 are reducing the hours of existing employees, he says.

Michelle Neblett, senior director of labor and workforce policy for the National Restaurant Association, says many restaurants are being more cautious about boosting the work week of part-timers to 30 hours or more, doling out such increases to reward top performers.

Forty-two percent of the 900 firms surveyed say their health plan costs have risen at least 10% this year. As a result, 37% are delaying or postponing investment, and 26% are freezing or reducing wages.

Mike DeVoge, owner of a 12-employee marina in Conneaut Lake, Pa., says costs for the six workers who are eligible for insurance recently increased 40% and are set to rise another 60% in 2016. That, he says will likely force him to freeze wages and drop health benefits in a year.

December 31, 2014 at 12:54 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://sunshinehours.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/sea-ice-extent-day-363-highest-global-sea-ice-and-highest-antarctic-sea-ice-for-the-day/

* THE HEADLINE:

Global Sea Ice Breaks Record High For The Day – Antarctic Sea Ice Also Breaks Record High For the Day

Earth's sea ice expands to record levels as 2014 comes to a close.

Area of Arctic sea ice is nearly identical to 30 years ago.

Satellite Temperatures Reveal the ‘Global Warming Pause’ Lengthens to 18 years 2 months – (218 Months)

* OOPS...

December 31, 2014 at 12:55 AM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://www.wsj.com/articles/jason-delisle-the-hidden-student-debt-bomb-1419983516

It is time to re-evaluate how we measure the performance of student-loan programs — particularly whether borrowers are or are not meeting their obligations.

The traditional measures of non-repayment — delinquencies and defaults — might be fine for most types of loans, but not for outstanding student loans, nearly all of which are held or backed by the federal government.

* THANKS TO OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS...

Lawmakers have provided students with options that let them punt on repayment without triggering delinquency or default. Lately, students have been availing themselves of those options at rising levels.

* DUH!

The forbearance benefit, for example, lets borrowers postpone payments for up to three years. By law, loan-servicing companies have a lot of discretion to grant forbearances, and getting one usually takes only a phone call on the part of the borrower. Some borrowers might have to complete a simple form and meet a payment-to-income test. But overall it is the easiest and fastest way for a borrower to suspend student-loan payments.

Forbearance can "cure" the delinquency status on a loan - at least on paper. A borrower who misses a few payments, and is likely to miss more, will be informed by his loan-servicing company that he can obtain a forbearance right away. Payments cease and the loan is put in good standing.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

When the loan finally comes due, however, the monthly payment will be higher than the payment the borrower originally found too difficult to pay, thanks to accruing interest.

* DUH...!!!

Forbearances are thus a double-edged sword. They help borrowers keep their loans in "good standing," but they also mean borrowers aren’t making progress on paying down their debts — just the opposite!

(Enrollments in forbearances are really a negative indicator in the federal loan program, much like delinquency and default.)

That is why the latest figures from the Education Department that show steady increases in forbearances are so alarming. Loan balances in forbearance were about 12.5% of those in repayment in 2006. In 2013, they were 13.3%. Today they are 16%, or $125 billion of the $778 billion in repayment.

* GEEZUS...

Forbearance growth goes unmentioned, yet it looks a lot like a default given that the borrower isn’t making payments.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Another option is income-based repayment plans, which allow borrowers to suspend or reduce payments on their loans and will also "cure" a severely delinquent loan. The mechanics of these plans are a little complicated, but for borrowers with incomes below 150% of poverty, payments are zero. Borrowers who earn more than that make payments between 1% and 15% of their incomes. After 10, 20 or 25 years, depending on the program, the government forgives any outstanding balances and taxpayers eat the loss.

* AND TAXPAYERS EAT THE LOSS. TAXPAYERS LIKE THOSE OF US WHO ACTUALLY PAY OUR DEBTS.

For many borrowers, income-based repayment works like long-term forbearance - or better if their debt is forgiven.

* AND THE TAXPAYERS WHO PICK UP THE TAB... WE'RE JUST SUCKERS; WE'RE GIVEN NO CHOICE.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

December 31, 2014 at 12:57 AM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Borrowers might have their payments suspended, or lowered to the point that they will never fully repay the loan before the outstanding balance is forgiven. In some cases the payments may not even cover the interest that accrues each month. The Obama administration estimated in 2012 that the average amount forgiven in income-based repayment plans will be $41,000 per borrower.

* FOLKS... OBAMA AND THE GOVERNMENT ARE STEALING FROM ME... HELL... THEY'RE STEALING FROM KIM... SO AS TO BAIL OUT A BUNCH OF DEADBEATS! (AND THIS WAS THE PLAN ALL ALONG!)

* WHERE'S MY $41,000...? WHERE'S MY WIFE'S? WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER'S? WHY MUST WE PAY AND PAY AND PAY AGAIN TO SUPPORT OTHERS...?!?!

The Obama administration greatly expanded benefits under income-based repayment plans in recent years and has launched efforts to promote them. Enrollments are growing rapidly and now stand at an all-time high. Some 24% of Federal Direct Loan Program balances ($115 billion) that have come due are enrolled in the two most generous plans, Income-Based Repayment and Pay As You Earn. That is up from 14% a little more than a year ago. The number of borrowers using the plans has doubled over that time, to 2.2 million.

* AND APART FROM THE UNFAIRNESS OF IT ALL... WHERE'S THE MONEY COMING FROM? EVEN AFTER ALL THEY TAKE FROM ME AND YOU THEY CAN'T (WON'T) LIVE WITHIN OUR MEANS! ADDING INJURY TO INJURY ALL THIS IS BEING FINANCED VIA DEFICIT SPENDING ON TOP OF CONFISCATORY TAXATION!

Despite more borrowers taking advantage of benefits to suspend and lower their payments, the share of borrowers in default is still trending upward. It now stands at 19.8% of borrowers whose loans have come due — some 7.1 million borrowers with $103 billion in outstanding balances.

* I HAD TO PAY! YOU HAD TO PAY! WHY DO THESE SCUM NOT HAVE TO PAY...?!?!

That’s the highest share since the Education Department began making the statistic available in 2013, and given other trends, it probably is a record high.

These trends are troubling because the U.S. economy has been improving for some time. Yet fewer and fewer borrowers are repaying their federal student loans. For those who do make payments, more of them are paying too little to retire the debt they took on.

This all makes sense, however, when you realize that the student-loan program has been designed to achieve two political goals: Loans should be available to any student, at any school, pursuing any credential; and student debt is bad and burdensome, so it should be easy for borrowers not to repay.

* I FEAR VIOLENCE IS THE ONLY ANSWER... VIOLENCE IN SELF-DEFENSE...

Based on these goals, the program is performing quite well for students and the institutions whose coffers swell under such loose lending standards.

* OH, YES, FOLKS - NEVER FORGET - THE MOVERS AND SHAKERS AT AMERICA'S INSTITUTIONS OF "HIGHER LEARNING" ALSO PROFIT BY ALL THIS PORK... ALL THIS SOCIALISM...

Loan issuance has grown rapidly in recent years while repayment rates have declined steadily. From the perspective of the taxpayers who must ultimately finance these liabilities...

* WE'RE BEING HOSED.

December 31, 2014 at 12:57 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-releases-5-more-gitmo-detainees-ties-al-qaeda

Five men who were held for a dozen years without charge at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been sent to the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan for resettlement, the U.S. government announced.

* YA KNOW WHAT... THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN HELD WITHOUT CHARGE - CERTAINLY NOT FOR A DOZEN YEARS. IF WE WERE CERTAIN THEY WERE TERRORISTS WE SHOULD HAVE WRUNG OUT OF THEM EVERY BIT OF INTELLIGENCE WE COULD GET... THEN WE SHOULD HAVE EXECUTED THEM.

The two men from Tunisia and three from Yemen had been cleared for release from the prison by a government task force but could not be sent to their homelands. The U.S. has sent hundreds of prisoners from Guantanamo to third countries but this is the first time Kazakhstan has accepted any for resettlement.

* WHY CAN'T THEY BE SENT TO THEIR HOMELANDS...???

Their release brings the prison population at Guantanamo to 127, according to a Pentagon statement on Tuesday.

The U.S. identified the Tunisians as 49-year-old Adel Al-Hakeemy, and Abdallah Bin Ali al Lufti, who military records show is about 48.

The Yemenis are Asim Thabit Abdullah Al-Khalaqi, who is about 46; Muhammad Ali Husayn Khanayna, who is about 36; and Sabri Mohammad al Qurashi, about 44.

All five had been captured in Pakistan and turned over to the U.S. for detention as suspected Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaeda. None of the men were ever charged and a government task force determined it was no longer necessary to hold them.

* GEEZUS...

The U.S. does not say why they could not be sent home, but the government has been unwilling to send Yemenis to their country because of unrest and militant activity there while in the past some Tunisians have feared persecution.

Nearly 30 prisoners have been resettled in third countries this year as part of President Barack Obama's renewed push to close the detention center over opposition from Congress.

* FOLKS... DO THE MATH! OBAMA HAS ALLOWED THIS TO CONTINUE SINCE JANUARY OF 2009!

December 31, 2014 at 12:00 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2014/12/29/federal-government-lost-auto-bailout/21019899/

The U.S. government lost $9.26 billion on the auto industry rescue, according to the final accounting released late Monday.

* ACTUALLY... MORE... $16.56 billion... (KEEP READING!)

In its report, the U.S. Treasury Department said it recovered $70.43 billion of the $79.69 billion it gave to General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and auto lending arms Ally Financial Inc. and Chrysler Financial. The government was repaid through a combination of stock sales, partial loan repayments, dividends and interest payments.

* ISN'T IT CUTE THE WAY THEY WORD IT? DIVIDENDS AND INTEREST PAYMENTS...

* DIVIDENDS AND INTEREST IS SUPPOSED TO BE PROFIT ON A LOAN... AND YET RE-READ THE FIRST SENTENCE OF THIS STORY; THE GOVERNMENT LOST MONEY... IT DIDN'T MAKE MONEY.

The books are closed on the program because the Treasury, on Dec. 19, sold its final 11.4% stake in Ally, the Detroit-based auto lender and bank-holding company formerly known as GMAC. The bailouts began in December 2008 under President George W. Bush with $25 billion in aid to GM, Chrysler and their lending arms. President Barack Obama added about $55 billion to the total.

* WHAT DO I ALWAYS SAY...? FOR EVERY STUPID MOVE BUSH MADE - OBAMA DOUBLED DOWN ON IT! (OR WORSE!)

“We’ve now repaid taxpayers every dime and more of what my administration committed, and the American auto industry is on track for its strongest year since 2005,” Obama said at a press conference that day.

* FOLKS. THEN-SENATOR OBAMA SUPPORTED BUSH'S INITIAL BAILOUT.

* FOLKS... BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IS A PIECE OF SHIT.

Under government accounting rules, the U.S. Treasury actually lost $16.56 billion on paper on the auto bailout. As tallied under those rules, taxpayers lost more because interest and dividends paid by borrowers — in this case, the automakers and finance companies — aren’t applied toward the principal owed.

* DUH!

December 31, 2014 at 1:55 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/395477/sweden-opt-suicide-immigration-daniel-pipes

Woe to anyone in Sweden...

* AND HERE, FOLKS; AND HERE...

...who dissents from the orthodox view that welcoming large numbers of indigent peoples from such countries as Iraq, Syria, and Somalia is anything but a fine and noble idea.

(*SIGH*)

Even to argue that permitting about 1% of the existing population to emigrate annually from an alien civilization renders one politically, socially, and even legally beyond the pale. (I know a journalist threatened with arrest for mild dissent on this issue.) Stating that there exists a Swedish culture worth preserving meets with puzzlement.

And yet, the realities of immigration are apparent for all to see: welfare dependency, violent bigotry against Christians and Jews, and a wide range of social pathologies from unemployment to politically motivated rape. (Accordingly, ever-increasing numbers of Swedes find themselves — despite known hazards — opting out of the consensus and worrying about their country’s cultural suicide.)

* SOUND FAMILIAR FOLKS?

The taboo on such attitudes means that political parties, with only one exception, staunchly support continued immigration. Only the Sweden Democrats (SD) offer an alternative: real efforts to integrate existing immigrants and a 90% decrease in future immigration.

* WHERE DO I SIGN UP...?!?!

Despite an unsavory neo-fascist past (not something unique to it, by the way), SD has become increasingly respectable and has been rewarded with electoral success, doubling its parliamentary vote from 3% in 2006, to 6% in 2010, to 13% in 2014. (All the Swedes with whom I spoke on a recent visit expect the SD vote to grow further, something recent polls confirm.)

If a party or bloc of parties held a large majority in Sweden’s unicameral parliament, SD would be virtually irrelevant. But the Riksdag’s two blocs are almost equally balanced. Three left-wing parties control 159 of 349 seats, while the “right wing” (quotation marks to denote that, from an American perspective, it’s hardly conservative) Alliance for Sweden, consisting of four parties, has 141 seats. This means that SD, with 49 seats, holds the balance of power.

But SD is deemed anathema, so no party bargains with it to pass legislation, not even indirectly through the media.

Both Left and “Right” seek to isolate and discredit it.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

December 31, 2014 at 6:03 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Nevertheless, SD has played kingmaker on certain crucial legislation, particularly the annual budget. In keeping with its policy to drive from power every government that refuses to reduce immigration, it brought down an Alliance for Sweden government in early 2014. Recent weeks saw a repeat of this scenario, when SD joined the Alliance in opposing the leftist budget, forcing the government to call for elections in March 2015.

But then something remarkable occurred: The two major blocs compromised not only on the current budget, but also on future budgets and power-sharing all the way to 2022. The Left and “Right” alliances worked out trade-offs so that elections need not take place in March, allowing the Left to rule until 2018, with the “Right” possibly taking over from 2018 until 2022.

* AGAIN... SOUND FAMILIAR...???

Not only does this political cartel deprive SD of its pivotal role but, short of winning a majority of parliamentary seats in 2018, it has no meaningful legislative role for the next eight years, during which time the immigration issue is off the table.

This is nothing short of astonishing: To stifle debate over the country’s most contentious issue, 86% of the parliament joined forces to marginalize the 14% that disagrees. The two major blocs diluted their already tepid differences to exclude the insurgent, populist party. Mattias Karlsson, the acting SD leader, accurately notes that with this deal, his party has become the only real opposition.

In the long term, however, things look good for SD, which will likely gain from this undemocratic sleight of hand. Swedes, long accustomed to democracy, do not appreciate a backroom arrangement that almost surely nullifies their votes in 2018. They don’t like its bullying quality. Nor do they take well to removing a highly controversial issue from consideration. And when the time comes to “throw the bums out,” as always it does, the Sweden Democrats will offer the only alternative to the tired, fractious coalition that will have been in power for eight long years — during which time immigration problems will alarm yet more voters.

In other words, this blatant act of suppression is spurring the very debate it is intended to quash.

Before too long, the supreme issue of national suicide might actually be discussed.

* AS IT SHOULD BE HERE!

December 31, 2014 at 6:03 PM
michellez said...

Hang on, next year will be a hell of a ride, right?

It's time to start shaming all these deadbeat borrowers. "professional student" USED TO be an insult, remember that? We used to call them scammers and lazy bums! Just like we used to call people having kids they can't afford shameful and irresponsible and thoughtless.

I hereby dub 2015 the year of the shunning. The great shunning. The end of coddling kindergarten throwbacks. I think, as a movement, it'll catch on, lol.

December 31, 2014 at 6:22 PM

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