Economy is OK if the news is NOT AS BAD AS EXPECTED

Recent news which is said to be good since it is not as bad as predicted.

Fed’s Bank Results ‘Reassuring,’ Show No Insolvency

…….
Federal Reserve stress tests on the 19 biggest lenders show Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. together require about $54 billion, said people familiar with the conclusions.
…….
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday suggested that the Obama
administration may seek management changes at some banks. Officials will want to “ensure that going forward they felt that the management was in place to remedy the situation and ensure long-term viability without continued government assistance,” he said.

Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis, 62, was ousted as chairman on April 29 ……….

Jobs Report Giving Investors Mixed Picture On US Economy

The pace of layoffs slowed in April when employers cut 539,000 jobs, the fewest in six months. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9 percent,………………..

Job losses in February and March turned out to be deeper, according to revised figures. Employers cut 681,000 positions in February, 30,000 more than previously reported.
They cut 699,000 jobs in March, more than the 663,000 first reported. The deepest job cuts of the recession —741,000 came in January.

Jobs: A little less bleak

……………
Wachovia senior economist Mark Vitner and Gilliam both say they’re worried about the impact on jobs in coming reports from the bankruptcy at Chrysler, which will result in a 30-to-60 day shutdown at all of its plants, and the possible bankruptcy at General Motors (GM, Fortune 500). The loss of jobs — not just at those companies but at their dealers and suppliers — will be substantial.

And Vitner said that while Wachovia is projecting that there will be economic growth by the fourth quarter of this year, it’s projecting that unemployment will continue to rise into 2010, topping out at 10.8% in April of that year.

“We are moving in the right direction, but the recession is not over, and even when it’s over that’s not an end of the tough times,” said Vitner.

Wow a bank stress test with an 8.4% unemployment shows the banks will be OK, current unemployment is 8.9% and expected to exceed 10% in the next year.

I wonder if a new stress test will be needed so that the federal government can take over the banks.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Another entertaining column by Mark Steyn.

April 22nd – Lenin’s birthday – is also Earth Day, a day to ponder what we hard-hearted right-wingers regard as the ultimate Milf. It was, oddly enough, thinking about eco-alarmism that got me started on the road to America Alone. This National Post column is from 2002:

In 1968, in his best-selling book The Population Bomb, scientist Paul Ehrlich declared: “In the 1970s the world will undergo famines – hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death.”

In 1972, in their influential landmark study The Limits to Growth, the Club of Rome announced that the world would run out of gold by 1981, of mercury by 1985, tin by 1987, zinc by 1990, petroleum by 1992, and copper, lead, and gas by 1993.

In 1977, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States incredible as it may seem, confidently predicted that “we could use up all of the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade.”

Now, in 2002, with enough oil for a century and a half, the planet awash in cut-price minerals, and less global famine, starvation and malnutrition than ever before, the end of the world has had to be rescheduled. The latest estimated time of arrival for the apocalypse is 2032. Last week, the United Nations Global Environmental Outlook predicted “the destruction of 70% of the natural world in 30 years, mass extinction of species, and the collapse of human society in many countries … More than half the world will be afflicted by water shortages, with 95% of people in the Middle East with severe problems … 25% of all species of mammals and 10% of birds will be extinct …” Etc., etc., for 450 pages. But let’s cut to the chase: As The Guardian’s headline writer put it, “Unless We Change Our Ways, The World Faces Disaster.”

Ah, yes. The end of the world’s nighness is endlessly deferred but the blame rests where it always has. With us – with what the UN calls “the current ‘markets first’ approach.” Klaus Toepfer, the UN Environment Program executive director, believes that “under the ‘markets first’ scenario the environment and humans did not fare well.”
………..
I’d like to be an “environmentalist,” really I would. I spend quite a bit of my time in the environment and I’m rather fond of it. But these days “environmentalism” is mostly unrelated to the environment: It’s a cult, and, like most cults, heavy on ostentatious displays of self-denial, perfectly encapsulated by the time-consuming rituals of “recycling,” an activity of no discernible benefit other than as a communal profession of faith.
……..

The higher a countries GDP, the healthier the population and the longer people live. This is a fact which can’t be denied by any open minded un-biased reasonable person. There deniers that free-markets improve peoples lives are dooming the Human race to a much worse way of life than necessary. It is a shame that some people only feel good when destroying others.

I have a previous entry about this Global Warming – Science Consensus Fraud?

It is an easy comparison, from Wikipedia
World GDP

Life expectancy

Why Bank’s should Not have taken Gov’t Money

US to put conditions on Tarp repayment

Strong banks will be allowed to repay bail-out funds they received from the US government but only if such a move passes a test to determine whether it is in the national economic interest, a senior administration official has told the Financial Times.
…………
The official said former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was right to treat all the banks the same way in late 2008 at the peak of the crisis but it was now necessary to differentiate more between institutions.
…………

I hope the banks will learn from this, never trust government, they took the government’s money when some did not want it, now that they want to give it back since they never really did much with it to begin with, the government will not take it back until certain tests are passed.

All Businesses, if you want to be independent, do not take government “loans”. The strings will never be gone and if they want the government will take over your business from you. ( New GM CEO ring a bell.)

Now since the public has gotten more vocal about stopping the insane spending, Congress wants to back out. The government solution is not to let the banks figure it out for themselves. The government will just buy the banks by taking over the bank’s stocks and destroy an individuals common stock value.

U.S. may convert banks’ bailouts to equity share

President Obama’s top economic advisers have determined that they can shore up the nation’s banking system without having to ask Congress for more money any time soon, according to administration officials.

In a significant shift, White House and Treasury Department officials now say they can stretch what is left of the $700 billion financial bailout fund further than they had expected a few months ago, simply by converting the government’s existing loans to the nation’s 19 biggest banks into common stock.

Remember, the government will change the rules whenever it wants to keep control.

Stopping this type of government behavior is the real root of the tea parties last weak. The government needs to get out of the way and stop trying to prevent some failures and preventing all from succeeding.

US Government spending will bankrupt the world

The US federal government is in the process of bankrupting the world as accounting practices that the federal government does not allow private companies to use are used to hide the real government debt. This cuts across party lines and the end of liberty and personnel freedom in the world.

The total economic of the world based on the ponzi scheme known as government spending is close (if not already beyond) the tipping point. Paper currency will be virtually worthless since the governments that print them have no possible way to back their value.

Government spending is the problem and drastic government spending cuts (real cuts not decreasing the rate of increase) of 50 to 90+% in some cases are required.

Federal obligations exceed world GDP, Does $65.5 trillion terrify anyone yet?

As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.

The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account.

The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion, not the $455 billion previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the “2008 Financial Report of the United States Government” as released by the U.S. Department of Treasury
…………

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“The federal government is bankrupt,” Williams told WND. “In a post-Enron world, if the federal government were a corporation such as General Motors, the president and senior Treasury officers would be in federal penitentiary.”

Assuming 330 million Americans, 65.6 trillion debt is equal to $198,484 per American. This is on top of any state, local or personnel debt.

If you want to really understand the what the future holds and the consequences read the A Citizen’s Guide published by the treasury department.
It would be nice if government would live by this motto in the report.

Using the government accounting methods that if any private business used, the CEO, CFO and board of directors would be in jail, here are some tables from the report on future predictions.

These projects do not take into account the money spent since Oct 1, 2008. TARP and the new stimulus plan are on top of this staggering debt.

Americans need to hold our employees the elected government officials responsible. New blood is needed.

America at a crossroad, freedom vs socialism

The historical American way of life is at a crossroad. For the last 80 years there has been a slowly chipping away of Americans freedom by the federal government. The pretense is that the American government will make your life easier by limiting the lows of life with “safety nets”. With each safety net that has been installed by the federal government more regulations have been imposed using the sentiment that it is for the betterment of all. This has resulted in an America where success and the successful has been demonized, failure must be backstopped by the federal government and group think politics.

Group politics treats nobody is an individual, each person is part of a group classified by some characteristic (race, religion, sexuality, age, rich,poor, middle class). Based on this it generates conflict between the groups and each group wants to curry favors from the elected officials in exchange for support.

This group classification is a form of prejudice. Because someone is in a certain group they must have these beliefs. The individual has been lost to the collective.

This has culminated in an America where demonizing America and individual liberties while pretending to be defend America and individuals liberty is how politicians do their job. Trading one groups freedoms for a different groups liberty based on group think.

I am saddened by how much “hatred and fear” exists in America today. Both the republican and democrat parties claim the others use scare tactics to convince people that what the party currently in power is doing is just scare tactics and they are lying to you and nothing changes.

For the last 8 years all that has been said is how Evil Bush is and he is using the fear of terrorism to get elected and how is domestic policies are terrible for America. The federal government is not spending enough on some project and how some many people are hurt by the governments inaction. If Bush was a democrat, his growing of the federal government would have been lauded as being enlightened, the federal government grew by 50% under Bush in dollars being spent and taxes collected grew by 25%. The republican party and some conservatives supported him out of blind party loyalty.

During the 90s, Bill Clinton did some horrendous things to embarrass America and he was support by the democratic party loyalists and he could do no wrong.

Now the same people have flip flopped again everything Obama does is terrible by republicans and everything he does is great by democrats. This politics just disgusts me and is just tearing the fabric of America apart. The republicans are saying that Obama and the democrats are using fear about the economy to get what they want in the stimulus plan and there is not very much value it the plan. These are the same politicians who voted for the TARP plan 4 months ago.

Bush did play to fear some and Obama is playing to the fear now with the rhetoric about how bad the economy is and will be if the government does not do something.

Historically Americans have always joined together in times of crisis, Americans still do this but the political leaders start tearing the “opposition” down very shortly after the crisis starts which results in people arguing with each of over very silly topics based on nothing other than what some politician or talking head on TV says is important. I find myself getting caught up in this at times.

Americans historically have been knocked down but previous generations have picked themselves up off the ground, bushed themselves off and looked around and said to themselves, what can I do to make my life, my families life and my neighbors life better.

I see to many Americans today get knocked down and complain someone trampled on my rights and wait for some government help they stand back up. We are in hard economic times but there are still opportunities for one to be a success. The key is to look into one’s heart, think what can I do to help myself and my fellow man, not what can I expect government to do for me.

Fundamentally America has done more for the advancements of mankind in our short 230 year history than at any other society. This is due to individuals ideas, freedom to try new things and for lots of inventions that have succeeded and lots of attempted inventions which have failed miserably.

Just look at this map of the world and life expectancy from Wikipedia. The areas with the most democratic forms of government for the longest time have the longest life expectancy. This alone should prove to people that freedom from government oppression is better for mankind.

The free exchange of ideas and respecting other opinions that are different than one’s own is a corner stone of America. Just because someone has a differing opinion on some topic does not make that person evil.

In order for the human experiment called the American Representative Republic to continue to succeed and result in the prospering of mankind on the planet earth people must be allowed to fail. I know this initially sounds totally contradictory. How can America succeed if people fail. The reasoning is sound and true if it is allowed to be expressed and not criticized before explanation is interrupted.

GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling on TARP last year.
“In my heart and in my mind, I believe that this plan is fraught with unintended consequences, would force generations of taxpayers to pick up the tab for Wall Street losses, and could permanently and fundamentally change the role of government in the American free enterprise system. Once the government socializes losses, it will soon socialize profits. If we lose our ability to fail, we will soon lose our ability to succeed. If we bail out risky behavior, we will soon see even riskier behavior. “

Think hard about the phrase If we lose our ability to fail, we will soon lose our ability to succeed. Failure breeds success, America promises opportunity and the pursuit of happiness not a guarantee of happiness. America will not survive and all of mankind will suffer if America continues on the current path of protecting failures and limiting success.

Man Made Global Warming=decided science? Why Fund Research

I have always posed this questions to those who believe human made global warming exists and is the highest priority for America to conquer.

If it is decided science, why is further money needed to study man made global warming instead of spending 100% of available resources on solutions?

Until this questions is answered and all money is diverted to a solution call me a doubter of man made global warming.

I have never gotten a good answer, I get lots of mumbling, never thought of that, or other gibberish. This observation and the amount of money begin spent on global warming studies leads me to think it is all a big money grab. It might be that there is no man made solution. Since there is not a problem.

The reason I bring this up, is that in the 825 billion dollar (1.3 trillion after 10 years of interest on the loans for the funding is added) I have heard there is about 6 to 8 billion dollars to further study of man made climate change since global warming is no longer politically correct.

I did a quick search of HR1 on the PDF posted at the House web site and I have found the following just by searching on Climate.

Page 52:

9 PROCUREMENT, ACQUISITION AND CONSTRUCTION
10 For an additional amount for ‘‘Procurement, Acquisi
11 tion and Construction’’, $600,000,000, for accelerating
12 satellite development and acquisition, acquiring climate
13 sensors and climate modeling capacity, and establishing
14 climate data records: Provided further, That not less than
15 $140,000,000 shall be available for climate data modeling.

Page 53
For an additional amount for ‘‘Science’’,
21 $400,000,000, of which not less than $250,000,000 shall
22 be solely for accelerating the development of the tier 1 set
23 of Earth science climate research missions recommended
24 by the National Academies Decadal Survey.

This is at least $390,000,000 for study that I can find. There is lots more about funding building improvements to allow for the study of science as well.

Government Sugar Tariffs result in Mercury poisoning

Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury

More info on Corn sweeteners

Sugar imports into the US are limited by source country and if a country imports more than what the US agriculture department allows a tariff is imposed
Here is the Agriculture department site.

A history of US sugar tariffs

If sugar imports were not limited, corn syrup would not be as necessary since sugar would be cheaper and products could be made with sugar.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Vs. Pure Sugar – Is One Worse Than The Other?

If you do not believe that site, how about CBS News.

“I think the honest tag line should be ‘It’s just as bad as regular sugar,’” said Margot G. Wootan, director of Nutritional Policy at Center for Science in the Public Interest. Wootan says that people shouldn’t be afraid of trace amounts of HFCS in their food but that they should be concerned about limiting huge amounts of sugar in their diet.

The average American consumed 56 pounds of HFCS in 2007. Soda is the single biggest source of HFCS in the American diet – 17 teaspoons for a 20-ounce bottle, according to a four-year study on soft drink consumption by CSPI.

That same study published findings that soft drinks directly contribute to obesity because of its high amount of non-nutritious calories. No other single product has been shown to promote weight gain in the same way, according to its researchers.

HFCS is derived from milling corn, processing that starch into syrup and adding enzymes to convert it into fructose. To make the most common form of HFCS, glucose syrup is added to fructose making the composition, 45-percent glucose and 55-percent fructose.

Similar studies have also found that appetite, which normally decreases after eating, decreased less after drinking fructose-sweetened beverages. And that it caused triglycerides to increase, an indicator of risk for cardiovascular disease.

If government really cares about the health of American’s they would eliminate the sugar tarries and import limits as well as any subsidies for corn syrup production.

America consumes a lot less sugar than other countries but have a much higher obesity rate.

Read more here and here as well as in the San Francisco Gate, We’re drowning in high fructose corn syrup. Do the risks go beyond our waistline?

As usually, Government tries to fix one thing and makes the situation much worse in the long run.

Everyone thank the government officials for their mercury positioning.

Obama and the EPA

Obama’s Order Is Likely to Tighten Auto Standards

President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday.
The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and signifies a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy. Granting California and the other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions would be one of the most emphatic actions Mr. Obama could take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy.
Mr. Obama’s presidential memorandum will order the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration’s past rejection of the California application. While it stops short of flatly ordering the Bush decision reversed, the agency’s regulators are now widely expected to do so after completing a formal review process.
Once they act, automobile manufacturers will quickly have to retool to begin producing and selling cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, and on a faster phase-in schedule. The auto companies have lobbied hard against the regulations and challenged them in court.
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As a limited federal government conservative this part of the article which says that states can set their own rules for emissions is fine with me.

If I was running a business and a state made rules like this and I could not make enough profit by selling in that state, stop selling in that state. I know this is a big contradiction to the concept of expanding your marketplace but from what I have see sometimes the best deal you make is to walk away from the deal.

If I was in the automobile business I would say, here is my product, if you want to regulate my product out of business, fine. Since I can’t sell all of my businesses will be closed in your jurisdiction.

I can’t run my business at a loss and I do not want a government subside so your regulation is causing all these jobs to be moved to another state. A smaller profitable business is better than a large unprofitable business.

If companies would do this, then either the government would change or everyone ends up unemployed. This type of excess government regulation is the hidden tax and a big reason why so many companies are leaving America to places with much laxer regulation.

It is an easy concept, businesses will follow the path of least resistance.

Global Warming Cartoons

From Townhall.com

Charities in NY State

I am always suspicious of tele-marketing charity calls. This article confirms my suspicious. As much as I think Andrew Cuomo is a crook, someone in the attorney general’s office is going a good job exposing fraud.

Fundraisers getting paid well

An average of only 39 cents on the dollar raised by for-profit telemarketers in New York actually made it to charities last year,

Full Report is here

Based on this chart only a few more charities got >60% (57 charities) of the money collected as charities that lost money (51).

Some of the most money loosing charitable campaigns

The biggest one’s are mainly wildlife, nature conservation and an Animal League. The wildlife and nature conservations has lots of uncollected pledges and the Animal league looks like it was just ripped off.

My conclusions:
1) Tele-marketing charities make the collectors rich and do not help the charities much.
2) People pledge to help the environment but do not follow through with the cash
3) If you like a charity, bypass the middle man.