Saturday, September 08, 2012

The Terrifying Line in Obama's Speech That Everyone Missed

The Terrifying Line in Obama's Speech That Everyone Missed - Investors.com
Instead of stirring rhetoric filled with hope and promise, Obama pledged that under his leadership, "our path is harder" and "our road is longer."
Seriously?
After four years of the worst economic recovery since the Depression, falling incomes, lower-paying jobs, increased hopelessness and exploding debt, all Obama has to offer is that he'll make this nightmare last even longer?

Molitor Meet & Greet 9 6 2012


Canada cuts ties with Iran, closes embassy, orders Iranian diplomats home

Canada cuts ties with Iran, closes embassy, orders Iranian diplomats home http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Canada+cuts+ties+with+Iran+closes+embassy+orders+Iranian+diplomats+home/7206256/story.html#ixzz25tapdxGi
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has severed Canadian ties with Iran over its sponsorship of terrorism and amid fears about the safety of diplomats in the country.
Baird says the Canadian embassy in Tehran will close immediately and Iranian diplomats in Canada have been given five days to leave.

No talk of auto bailouts' ugly side

No talk of auto bailouts' ugly side | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
In moving to get GM through bankruptcy, the task force and its bosses at Treasury effectively shafted 22,000 salaried retirees of the former Delphi Corp., the long-time GM parts supplier the automaker spun off in 1999.
Despite an 85 percent funding level in its pension fund, Treasury urged the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to seize the Delphi pension plan.

The net effect: Many retirees saw their annual payouts cut by as much as two thirds, even as union members were "topped up" with taxpayer dollars from the Troubled Asset Relief Program; their former colleagues at GM saw comparatively minor cuts to their pensions; and key members of the auto task force still won't tell congressional investigators who made the call to treat Delphi's salaried retirees differently than everyone else.

State canvassers finalize six initiatives for Nov. ballot

State canvassers finalize six initiatives for Nov. ballot
 http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120908/POLITICS01/209080346#ixzz25t0ZrAZp
Proposal 1 will be a referendum on the repeal of Public Act 4 — the emergency manager law — followed by proposals for constitutional amendments to guarantee the right of collective bargaining (Proposal 2), increase use of renewable energy (Proposal 3), allow home health care workers to bargain (Proposal 4), require a two-thirds vote by the Legislature to pass any tax increases (Proposal 5) and mandate a public vote on any new international border crossing (Proposal 6).

Those Jobless Numbers Are Even Worse Than They Look

Mortimer Zuckerman: Those Jobless Numbers Are Even Worse Than They Look - WSJ.com
They are working part-time only because they've been unable to find full-time work.
This involuntary army of what's called "underutilized labor" has been hovering for months at about 15% of the workforce.
Include the eight million who have simply given up looking, and the real unemployment rate is closer to 19%.

Baby Boomers and Strategic Defaults - a Demographic Study

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Baby Boomers and Strategic Defaults - a Demographic Study: Why Did People Walk Away? Did They Struggle With Morality? Would they Recommend Walking Away to Others?
Moreover, a massive debt overhang still remains and the pending foreclosure pool is mammoth.

Friday, September 07, 2012

Frank Marshall Davis and the Subversion of the Democratic Party

Articles: Frank Marshall Davis and the Subversion of the Democratic Party
In other words, the Hawaiian Communist Party went underground, realizing that it lacked political viability.
 Hawaii's communists changed their tactics, concentrating instead on the mainstream Democratic Party, even running their members in local elections to seize delegate positions.
One of those who not only urged this tactic, but was himself elected to a Democratic precinct was Frank Marshall Davis.
With that, the steady subversion of the Democratic Party was on.
This began a long march to transform the Democratic Party from the party of Truman and JFK to the party of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.

Going Ape

Going Ape - By Mark Steyn - The Corner - National Review Online
Oh, dear. Speaking of animals, several bloggers note that Dr. Mann’s lawyer’s last celebrity client was Joe Camel – the tobacco industry’s anthropomorphized dromedary.
By “anthropomorphized dromedary,” I mean they put him in a suit and got rid of the hump — in much the same way that the “hockey stick” graph got rid of the hump of the Medieval Warm Period.

Eastwood says his convention appearance was 'mission accomplished'

The Carmel Pine Cone's first story of the week
But in a wide-ranging interview with The Pine Cone Tuesday from his home in Pebble Beach, he said he had conveyed the messages he wanted to convey, and that the spontaneous nature of his presentation was intentional, too.

Breitbart film bares roots of 'Occupy' movement

Breitbart film bares roots of 'Occupy' movement | Fox News
“The Occupy movement is far from over.
We are approaching a European-type financial crisis. we are coming to a radical austerity and then you are going to see it taken to the streets and it’s not going to be pretty.”

Are Chinese Banks Hiding “The Mother of All Debt Bombs”?

Are Chinese Banks Hiding “The Mother of All Debt Bombs”? | The Diplomat
Chinese LGFVs are known mainly for their unique ability to sink perfectly good money into bottomless holes in the ground.
So taking on such a huge mountain of debt can mean only one thing — a future wave of default when the projects into which LGFVs have piled funds fail to yield viable returns to service the debt.

Arkansas coach John L. Smith files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy

Arkansas coach John L. Smith files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy | Michigan State Spartans | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
“From a personal standpoint, I don’t want the university being embarrassed, but I’m not embarrassed,” Smith said at the time.
“It’s something that’s happened.
 I made some mistakes, and to be honest with you, I’m a football coach, not a businessman.”

Kids begin brown-bag boycott of healthier school menus

Kids begin brown-bag boycott of healthier school menus - Minneapolis News and Weather KMSP FOX 9
Sundby told FOX 9 News they've heard similar complaints from other schools, but there's little they can do unless a change comes from Washington.
Old school lunch rules had minimum calorie requirements, but no maximum.
Now, guidelines have strict limits that the schools and food service providers have no choice but to meet.

Man dies after doc takes lunch during kidney op

Man dies after doc takes lunch during kidney op - The Local
At noon sharp, the head anesthetist left the operating room to go for lunch.
Fifteen minutes later, the head nurse anesthetist also left the patient and went for lunch.
No other anesthetist was called in to take over responsibility for the doctor who was on his lunch break

U.S. August payrolls rise 96,000, jobless rate falls to 8.1%. Still makes 43 mo…

THAT’S CONVENIENT: U.S. August payrolls rise 96,000, jobless rate falls to 8.1%. Still makes 43 mo…
"From a reader:

I am betting you heard from other finance guys already, but these numbers were bad, bad, bad. We were hoping for at least 130k, and you really need 150k just to stay even.
What’s happening here is that people are leaving the jobs market.
Once a worker goes off his 99 weeks of unemployment payments (I refuse to call anything beyond the 27 weeks they paid for “insurance”), he heads straight to Social Security disability.
JP Morgan noted this several months ago, and the trend seems to be accelerating.

Once you’re on SSDI, you’re off the unemployment rolls.
Last month, 368,000 people stopped looking for work.
 I am certain that we will continue to pay for those people, only they now help the unemployment number by ceasing to exist.

Top two claims are for back pain and stress.
Both are difficult to disprove."