She is four years late and a massive £900million over-budget.
But when the Royal Navy's super-sub HMS Astute finally arrived, she made for an awesome sight.
More complex than the space shuttle, and able to circumnavigate the globe without surfacing, the 7,400-ton monster is the largest and deadliest hunter-killer submarine ever built.
The Duchess of Cornwall cracked a bottle of beer – brewed by the sub's crew – on her prow to officially name the "boat", in Navy jargon, before she was gingerly wheeled out of her shed at the stately speed of one metre per minute.
The specifications for Britain's biggest submarine make for mind- boggling reading, but it was the sheer size of the black behemoth which made its mark on the 10,000 dockyard workers, schoolchildren, VIPs and Navy personnel invited to the ceremony in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
As long as a football pitch, at 318ft, and as wide as four double- decker buses, HMS Astute is a third longer than any sub which has gone before.
Her nuclear-powered engine will propel her through the water at more than 20 knots, yet the UK's first stealth sub makes less noise than a baby dolphin, making her as good as undetectable by enemy ships.
Astute's sonar is so advanced that if she was lying in the English Channel she would be able to detect ships leaving New York harbour 3,000 nautical miles away (although the details of how she can do this are classified).
The nuclear reactor will never need refuelling, and with an ability to make oxygen and drinking water out of sea water, the sub could stay underwater for its entire 25-year lifespan were it not for the needs of the crew.
Once she goes into operation in 2009, Astute will carry a 98-man crew and stay at sea for 12 weeks on a routine patrol.
She will carry 38 Tomahawk cruise missiles, with a range of 1,240 miles, meaning Astute could attack targets in North Africa with pinpoint accuracy while sitting off the coast of Plymouth.
Spearfish torpedoes will also be on board for attacking ships and other subs.
But Astute will not carry nuclear weapons – the UK's Trident missiles are launched from the Vanguard class of submarines.
The Navy's submarine chief Captain Mike Davis-Marks said: "The Astute class of submarines will quite simply be unbeatable worldwide for many years to come.
"Astute will have a capability that will keep us right at the top of the premiership of the world's navies – the Manchester United of submarine nations. With our proud heritage, Britain deserves nothing less."
Astute is the first of four vessels to be built by BAE Systems at a total cost of £3.85billion, or £960million each.
She will be joined by HMS Ambush, HMS Artful and HMS Audacious, with an option for a further three subs to come.
Defence procurement minister Lord Drayson called Astute "a truly remarkable vessel" whose importance "cannot be over-estimated".
As the Duchess of Cornwall named the sub – the first such ceremony she has carried out – she said: "As an admiral's wife myself, I am delighted to be in Barrow-in-Furness today for the naming and launching of Astute. I shall follow her progress with particular interest and hope to see her in the near future."
She was presented with a retriever puppy, similar to one which appears on the Astute's crest, which will be donated to Guide Dogs for the Blind.
The boat, which will replace the Swiftsure and Trafalgar classes, will be gently lowered into the water. It will eventually be based in Faslane on the Clyde in Scotland.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Buffett Covers Dinner Tab for Fund Manager Who Shared Research
By Tom Cahill
Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- It’s usually the investor who pays to share a meal with Warren Buffett. Not so for hedge-fund manager Cara Goldenberg.
The 29-year-old New Yorker sent her stock research to the 79-year-old chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in November with a note saying she’d heard he likes to spend the Thanksgiving weekend scouring for investment ideas. Buffett was intrigued enough to invite her and her business partner, Alex Duran, to his headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, for a chat and dinner, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting.
Sharing research got Goldenberg an audience for which some have gladly paid hard cash. A steakhouse lunch with Buffett, the second-richest American after Microsoft Corp.’s Bill Gates, raised $1.68 million in a June auction for a San Francisco charity. The winning bid in 2008 was $2.1 million, the highest since Buffett began the annual lunches in 2000.
“She hit the jackpot,” said Frank Betz, partner at Warren, New Jersey-based Carret Zane Capital Management LLC, who has invested with Berkshire Hathaway for more than two decades. “It’s praise from Caesar, of course.”
Goldenberg, co-founder of 18-month-old New York-based Permian Investment Partners LP, and Buffett declined to comment. The fund manager’s profile on social-networking site FaceBook features a picture of her holding a grinning Buffett’s wallet.
Goldenberg got her undergraduate degree in chemistry in 2002 from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Her first job out of college was working as a private-equity analyst at New York-based investment bank Morgan Stanley.
Highbridge, Brahman
She jumped to Highbridge Capital Management LLC, the hedge- fund firm owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co., in 2003, and to Brahman Capital Corp., also in New York, a year later. She became that firm’s youngest partner, and oversaw a $2 billion European equity portfolio. She and two former Brahman colleagues started Permian with about $65 million in assets in August 2008 and it now manages about $100 million.
Permian, which is named for the geologic period that ran from about 290 million to 250 million years ago, focuses on what it deems undervalued companies, mostly in Western Europe. The research she sent to Buffett included the rationale behind the top 10 stocks in her portfolio, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they were told the information in confidence.
Goldenberg declined to discuss her investment returns or the stock ideas she shared with Buffett.
Buffett’s Investing Roots
Buffett favors stocks of companies that he believes have long-term advantages over competitors, and he has become the largest investor in Coca-Cola Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and American Express Co.
He has turned Berkshire from a maker of suit-linings into a conglomerate with a market value of more than $170 billion and businesses ranging from insurance to ice cream. His home-spun wisdom and financial success has turned the company’s annual meeting into a multiday pilgrimage, with a record 35,000 attending last May.
Buffett’s first solo investing venture was a hedge fund.
In May 1956, at 25, he started Buffett Associates Ltd. with friends and family as investors, according to “The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life,” by Alice Schroeder. That fund was rolled into a separate hedge fund called Buffett Partnership Ltd., which was dissolved in 1970, according to a Fortune article from January of that year by Carol Loomis titled “Hard Times Come to the Hedge Funds.” He’s led Berkshire since 1970.
Buffett has said he invests based on the principle of being fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. He says his ideal investment horizon is “forever.”
‘Good Guys’
One manager who received accolades from Buffett was Walter Schloss, now 93, who like Buffett once worked for the late Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, before starting his own firm in 1955. Buffett, in Berkshire’s 2006 letter to shareholders, called Schloss “one of the good guys on Wall Street,” adding that he and his son Edwin produced returns that “dramatically surpassed” those of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
“We definitely got calls after that,” Edwin Schloss said in an interview. “Over the years, because Warren was enthusiastic about Walter and the approach we used, we did pick up a number of clients.”
The father and son team had closed their investment partnership in 2002 -- several years before Buffett’s letter -- having decided that stock valuations had gotten too high. The partnership, Walter and Edwin Schloss Associates LLP, generated average annual returns exceeding 18 percent during its 47 years of existence, Edwin said in the interview.
Piles of Mail
Some who have worked with Buffett have also started their own investing ventures. Ian Jacobs, who worked at Berkshire from 2003 to 2009 on investment research and other projects, last March started 402 Fund LP, an Omaha-based fund that focuses on U.S. equity investments. Jacobs declined to provide returns.
Betz of Carret Zane, who has corresponded with Buffett over the years, said he’d been told the CEO gets more than 100 letters a day, and reads them all.
“I don’t know how many times a note to Warren Buffett results in an invitation to come to Omaha,” said Betz.
As for Goldenberg’s: “Boy, it must’ve been one heck of a letter.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Cahill in London at tcahill@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: February 12, 2010 00:01 EST
Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- It’s usually the investor who pays to share a meal with Warren Buffett. Not so for hedge-fund manager Cara Goldenberg.
The 29-year-old New Yorker sent her stock research to the 79-year-old chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in November with a note saying she’d heard he likes to spend the Thanksgiving weekend scouring for investment ideas. Buffett was intrigued enough to invite her and her business partner, Alex Duran, to his headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, for a chat and dinner, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting.
Sharing research got Goldenberg an audience for which some have gladly paid hard cash. A steakhouse lunch with Buffett, the second-richest American after Microsoft Corp.’s Bill Gates, raised $1.68 million in a June auction for a San Francisco charity. The winning bid in 2008 was $2.1 million, the highest since Buffett began the annual lunches in 2000.
“She hit the jackpot,” said Frank Betz, partner at Warren, New Jersey-based Carret Zane Capital Management LLC, who has invested with Berkshire Hathaway for more than two decades. “It’s praise from Caesar, of course.”
Goldenberg, co-founder of 18-month-old New York-based Permian Investment Partners LP, and Buffett declined to comment. The fund manager’s profile on social-networking site FaceBook features a picture of her holding a grinning Buffett’s wallet.
Goldenberg got her undergraduate degree in chemistry in 2002 from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Her first job out of college was working as a private-equity analyst at New York-based investment bank Morgan Stanley.
Highbridge, Brahman
She jumped to Highbridge Capital Management LLC, the hedge- fund firm owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co., in 2003, and to Brahman Capital Corp., also in New York, a year later. She became that firm’s youngest partner, and oversaw a $2 billion European equity portfolio. She and two former Brahman colleagues started Permian with about $65 million in assets in August 2008 and it now manages about $100 million.
Permian, which is named for the geologic period that ran from about 290 million to 250 million years ago, focuses on what it deems undervalued companies, mostly in Western Europe. The research she sent to Buffett included the rationale behind the top 10 stocks in her portfolio, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they were told the information in confidence.
Goldenberg declined to discuss her investment returns or the stock ideas she shared with Buffett.
Buffett’s Investing Roots
Buffett favors stocks of companies that he believes have long-term advantages over competitors, and he has become the largest investor in Coca-Cola Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and American Express Co.
He has turned Berkshire from a maker of suit-linings into a conglomerate with a market value of more than $170 billion and businesses ranging from insurance to ice cream. His home-spun wisdom and financial success has turned the company’s annual meeting into a multiday pilgrimage, with a record 35,000 attending last May.
Buffett’s first solo investing venture was a hedge fund.
In May 1956, at 25, he started Buffett Associates Ltd. with friends and family as investors, according to “The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life,” by Alice Schroeder. That fund was rolled into a separate hedge fund called Buffett Partnership Ltd., which was dissolved in 1970, according to a Fortune article from January of that year by Carol Loomis titled “Hard Times Come to the Hedge Funds.” He’s led Berkshire since 1970.
Buffett has said he invests based on the principle of being fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. He says his ideal investment horizon is “forever.”
‘Good Guys’
One manager who received accolades from Buffett was Walter Schloss, now 93, who like Buffett once worked for the late Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, before starting his own firm in 1955. Buffett, in Berkshire’s 2006 letter to shareholders, called Schloss “one of the good guys on Wall Street,” adding that he and his son Edwin produced returns that “dramatically surpassed” those of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
“We definitely got calls after that,” Edwin Schloss said in an interview. “Over the years, because Warren was enthusiastic about Walter and the approach we used, we did pick up a number of clients.”
The father and son team had closed their investment partnership in 2002 -- several years before Buffett’s letter -- having decided that stock valuations had gotten too high. The partnership, Walter and Edwin Schloss Associates LLP, generated average annual returns exceeding 18 percent during its 47 years of existence, Edwin said in the interview.
Piles of Mail
Some who have worked with Buffett have also started their own investing ventures. Ian Jacobs, who worked at Berkshire from 2003 to 2009 on investment research and other projects, last March started 402 Fund LP, an Omaha-based fund that focuses on U.S. equity investments. Jacobs declined to provide returns.
Betz of Carret Zane, who has corresponded with Buffett over the years, said he’d been told the CEO gets more than 100 letters a day, and reads them all.
“I don’t know how many times a note to Warren Buffett results in an invitation to come to Omaha,” said Betz.
As for Goldenberg’s: “Boy, it must’ve been one heck of a letter.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Cahill in London at tcahill@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: February 12, 2010 00:01 EST
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Who is Meteorologist Jeff Masters, the Man Behind the Snowpocalypse, Global Warming "connection?"
This is what I think is happening and may explain just what an El Nino is. A normal El Nino does not mean net Global Warming occurred. It can only indicate that if undersea volcanic activity or a massive solar flare had occurred. Everything with regards to the atmosphere is pressure related. Pressure determines the wind direction and speed. Strong cold winds cool ocean waters. Reference Western Floridian coastal water early January 2010. Strong warm air winds can warm the water. Reference waters near South Eastern South America right now. In normal times the trade winds move at a velocity which cools and evaporates sunlight warmed shallow water in the equatorial regions at what can be considered to be its normal rate. That energy generally stays within the tropics. When the trade winds are weak however, we get a warmer then normal body of water around the equator. Sunlight energy is not being cooled or evaporated as quickly due to slow winds. Some of that vapor energy however can be peeled off into the mid latitude temperate zones because winds are relatively stronger in those regions. Now when the trade winds are very strong the wind can cool the water at a rate greater then normal. The resulting water currents can be so strong that cold water deep upwelling can also occur along the upwind coastal regions. Again, is it the speed of the trade winds that determine everything in this relationship. No net warming or cooling occurs globally, but some minor long term flux differences are bound to occur between ocean and atmosphere heat contents.
Malaysia says first submarine unable to dive
2010-02-11 17:31
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 (AFP) - Malaysia's first submarine, a European-made Scorpene delivered last September, has developed problems that make it unfit for diving, the defence minister said Thursday.
The KD Tunku Abdul Rahman sailed into a grand reception last year as the first of two commissioned from French contractor DCNS and Spain's Navantia for a total of 3.4 billion ringgit (961 million dollars).
Named after the country's first prime minister, it was hailed as an important acquisition despite opposition allegations of corruption in the deal.
"The submarine can still dive but when we detected the defects, we were advised that it should not dive," Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters.
"The (parts found with) defects are still under warranty so the supplier and contractor are repairing them," he added.
Navy chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar said a problem first emerged in the submarine's cooling system last December. After being fixed, another defect was identified in a different system last month.
"We hope it can dive again after February 18 so we can carry out the tropical water trials," Abdul Aziz told reporters.
The navy chief said the second submarine, the KD Tun Razak which is named after the nation's second premier, is expected to arrive from France on May 31. It was originally scheduled for delivery in late 2009.
The two submarines have attracted controversy since the deal was signed in 2002.
Malaysia's opposition claims that a 540-million-ringgit commission was paid to a close associate of Prime Minister Najib Razak in brokering the contract.
Najib has denied there was any corruption in the deal, which was made when he was defence minister.
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 (AFP) - Malaysia's first submarine, a European-made Scorpene delivered last September, has developed problems that make it unfit for diving, the defence minister said Thursday.
The KD Tunku Abdul Rahman sailed into a grand reception last year as the first of two commissioned from French contractor DCNS and Spain's Navantia for a total of 3.4 billion ringgit (961 million dollars).
Named after the country's first prime minister, it was hailed as an important acquisition despite opposition allegations of corruption in the deal.
"The submarine can still dive but when we detected the defects, we were advised that it should not dive," Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters.
"The (parts found with) defects are still under warranty so the supplier and contractor are repairing them," he added.
Navy chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar said a problem first emerged in the submarine's cooling system last December. After being fixed, another defect was identified in a different system last month.
"We hope it can dive again after February 18 so we can carry out the tropical water trials," Abdul Aziz told reporters.
The navy chief said the second submarine, the KD Tun Razak which is named after the nation's second premier, is expected to arrive from France on May 31. It was originally scheduled for delivery in late 2009.
The two submarines have attracted controversy since the deal was signed in 2002.
Malaysia's opposition claims that a 540-million-ringgit commission was paid to a close associate of Prime Minister Najib Razak in brokering the contract.
Najib has denied there was any corruption in the deal, which was made when he was defence minister.
Miss, are you wearing panties?
2010-02-09 13:30
As the western Valentine's Day is fast approaching, domestic religious and moral organisations are very cautious as if they are facing a formidable enemy.
Their latest task is to ensure that women wear their panties.
I would like to solemnly declare that it is not a joke.
Persatuan Ulama Malaysia Penang Branch (Pumpp), together with two other organisations have set up the "Anti-social Corruption Secretariat of Penang" with two missions: to advice Muslim couples not to celebrate Valentine's Day and to ensure that women wear their panties on that day.
It is said that SMSs have been spread recently to promote the "Bare your love, no panties during Valentine's" campaign.
It is an illusion in the virtual world and not many people will take it seriously in reality.
However, religious and moral organisations are really shocked. They believe that the society is ill and morality is corrupted. And the last chance would be whether they are going to put on their panties.
As a result, they have formed a picket team with 500 members to stop women from giving up their "Maginot Lines".
However, I wonder how are they going to carry out the task.
Can we imagine that a group of men who are holding signs shout along the road: "No Valentine's Day! No "no panties campaign"! No...."
It will certainly become the world's most funniest protest that feels like a post-modern black comedy.
Perhaps, they will persuade Muslim couples on the streets.
"Ladies, as a woman, you must wear your panties...."
Isn't it weird? As a man, I have been wearing underpants everyday since I was five without anyone teaching me to do so, not to mention women.
Let's also assume that the picket team stops a woman at Penang Queen Bay Mall.
"Miss, are you wearing panties?"
"Why do I have to tell you whether I'm wearing panties?"
"We are from a picket team of the Anti-social Corruption Secretariat of Penang. Whether you are wearing panties is related to whether the society is corrupted."
"It's my own business whether I'm wearing panties or not. How can it be related to the society?"
"We are giving you one last chance, are you wearing panties or not?"
"Fine, I'm wearing panties."
"Then you will have to prove it."
"How am I suppose to prove it?"
"You have to lift your skirt and show us."
"Are you crazy? You want me to let you see my panties? No way!"
"We are not seeing but checking instead. If you refuse to do so, we can bring you back to the bureau."
"Well, okay. I'll let you see a little bit...."
"Hey! I can't see clearly. Lift a little higher, a little higher...."
"…"
"Okay, I can see it. You do wear panties, but you still fail. You need to be counselled, so come with us."
"Why?"
"We accept only black, flesh-coloured and white but you are wearing pink. Who are you trying to seduce? It will easily lead to social corruption."
"I'm corrupting the society? Your minds have been filled with the thought whether women are wearing their panties and what colour they are wearing. I think you are the ones who are corrupting the society." (By TAY TIAN YAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily)
As the western Valentine's Day is fast approaching, domestic religious and moral organisations are very cautious as if they are facing a formidable enemy.
Their latest task is to ensure that women wear their panties.
I would like to solemnly declare that it is not a joke.
Persatuan Ulama Malaysia Penang Branch (Pumpp), together with two other organisations have set up the "Anti-social Corruption Secretariat of Penang" with two missions: to advice Muslim couples not to celebrate Valentine's Day and to ensure that women wear their panties on that day.
It is said that SMSs have been spread recently to promote the "Bare your love, no panties during Valentine's" campaign.
It is an illusion in the virtual world and not many people will take it seriously in reality.
However, religious and moral organisations are really shocked. They believe that the society is ill and morality is corrupted. And the last chance would be whether they are going to put on their panties.
As a result, they have formed a picket team with 500 members to stop women from giving up their "Maginot Lines".
However, I wonder how are they going to carry out the task.
Can we imagine that a group of men who are holding signs shout along the road: "No Valentine's Day! No "no panties campaign"! No...."
It will certainly become the world's most funniest protest that feels like a post-modern black comedy.
Perhaps, they will persuade Muslim couples on the streets.
"Ladies, as a woman, you must wear your panties...."
Isn't it weird? As a man, I have been wearing underpants everyday since I was five without anyone teaching me to do so, not to mention women.
Let's also assume that the picket team stops a woman at Penang Queen Bay Mall.
"Miss, are you wearing panties?"
"Why do I have to tell you whether I'm wearing panties?"
"We are from a picket team of the Anti-social Corruption Secretariat of Penang. Whether you are wearing panties is related to whether the society is corrupted."
"It's my own business whether I'm wearing panties or not. How can it be related to the society?"
"We are giving you one last chance, are you wearing panties or not?"
"Fine, I'm wearing panties."
"Then you will have to prove it."
"How am I suppose to prove it?"
"You have to lift your skirt and show us."
"Are you crazy? You want me to let you see my panties? No way!"
"We are not seeing but checking instead. If you refuse to do so, we can bring you back to the bureau."
"Well, okay. I'll let you see a little bit...."
"Hey! I can't see clearly. Lift a little higher, a little higher...."
"…"
"Okay, I can see it. You do wear panties, but you still fail. You need to be counselled, so come with us."
"Why?"
"We accept only black, flesh-coloured and white but you are wearing pink. Who are you trying to seduce? It will easily lead to social corruption."
"I'm corrupting the society? Your minds have been filled with the thought whether women are wearing their panties and what colour they are wearing. I think you are the ones who are corrupting the society." (By TAY TIAN YAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily)
US may give Israel Iraq ammo
Equipment could also be left in Iraq to assist local security forces.
Ahead of the United States’s planned withdrawal from Iraq, American military teams have visited Israel to consider the possibility of storing some of the equipment and ammunition that is pulled out in special storage centers at various locations here, according to senior defense officials.
According to the officials, the Americans plan to leave a significant amount of equipment in Iraq to assist local security forces. Additional equipment, though, would be transferred to Afghanistan as well as possibly to Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
A security agreement between the United States and Iraq calls for withdrawal of all US forces by the end of 2011. The equipment that Israel might receive, one official said, is ammunition, vehicles, and a specially designed rapid cannon – called C-RAM – that can intercept small projectiles such as mortars.
“There is talk that some of the equipment will be stored in Israel,” the official said. “If that is the case, in the event of an emergency we may be able to use it.”
Last month, Defense News reported that the Pentagon had decided to double the value of emergency military stockpiles it stores in Israel to the value of $800 million. Defense officials said that this was a separate move, not connected to the withdrawal from Iraq.
The US already maintains several stockpiles in Israel that include missiles, armored vehicles, aerial munitions and artillery ordnance. The US began stockpiling equipment in Israel in the early 1990s.
The new deal, according to Defense News, was signed by Brig.-Gen. Ofer Wolf, head of the IDF’s Logistics and Technology Branch and Rear-Adm. Andy Brown, logistics director for the US Military’s European Command (EUCOM).
“Officially, all of this equipment belongs to the US military,” the official said. “If however, there is a conflict, the IDF can ask for permission to use some of the equipment.”
The last time this happened was during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 when the IDF received access to US stockpiles and also received shipments of weaponry, particularly smart bombs from the United States.
In related news, the IDF and the Pentagon are close to reaching an understanding regarding the establishment of a Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) maintenance center in Israel. The JSF is a fifth-generation fighter jet, also known as the F-35, manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The IDF is currently in the midst of advanced negotiations regarding the potential sale of a squadron of the aircraft to Israel.
In the negotiations with the Pentagon, Israeli demands have focused on three issues – the integration of Israeli-made electronic warfare systems into the planes, the integration of Israeli communication systems and the ability to independently maintain the planes in the event of a technical or structural problem.
The Pentagon had initially said that it would establish a maintenance center in Italy but Israel rejected the proposal and said that due to its operational requirements, it needed to have the ability to fix damaged planes immediately.
But the US is insisting on running its own maintenance centers, because the internal computers on the planes are classified and access to them is not given to foreign customers.
As a result, a compromise appears to be in the offing, under which the US will set up a maintenance center on an Israel Air Force base. The center will be manned by Americans who will fix damaged planes.
Ahead of the United States’s planned withdrawal from Iraq, American military teams have visited Israel to consider the possibility of storing some of the equipment and ammunition that is pulled out in special storage centers at various locations here, according to senior defense officials.
According to the officials, the Americans plan to leave a significant amount of equipment in Iraq to assist local security forces. Additional equipment, though, would be transferred to Afghanistan as well as possibly to Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
A security agreement between the United States and Iraq calls for withdrawal of all US forces by the end of 2011. The equipment that Israel might receive, one official said, is ammunition, vehicles, and a specially designed rapid cannon – called C-RAM – that can intercept small projectiles such as mortars.
“There is talk that some of the equipment will be stored in Israel,” the official said. “If that is the case, in the event of an emergency we may be able to use it.”
Last month, Defense News reported that the Pentagon had decided to double the value of emergency military stockpiles it stores in Israel to the value of $800 million. Defense officials said that this was a separate move, not connected to the withdrawal from Iraq.
The US already maintains several stockpiles in Israel that include missiles, armored vehicles, aerial munitions and artillery ordnance. The US began stockpiling equipment in Israel in the early 1990s.
The new deal, according to Defense News, was signed by Brig.-Gen. Ofer Wolf, head of the IDF’s Logistics and Technology Branch and Rear-Adm. Andy Brown, logistics director for the US Military’s European Command (EUCOM).
“Officially, all of this equipment belongs to the US military,” the official said. “If however, there is a conflict, the IDF can ask for permission to use some of the equipment.”
The last time this happened was during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 when the IDF received access to US stockpiles and also received shipments of weaponry, particularly smart bombs from the United States.
In related news, the IDF and the Pentagon are close to reaching an understanding regarding the establishment of a Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) maintenance center in Israel. The JSF is a fifth-generation fighter jet, also known as the F-35, manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The IDF is currently in the midst of advanced negotiations regarding the potential sale of a squadron of the aircraft to Israel.
In the negotiations with the Pentagon, Israeli demands have focused on three issues – the integration of Israeli-made electronic warfare systems into the planes, the integration of Israeli communication systems and the ability to independently maintain the planes in the event of a technical or structural problem.
The Pentagon had initially said that it would establish a maintenance center in Italy but Israel rejected the proposal and said that due to its operational requirements, it needed to have the ability to fix damaged planes immediately.
But the US is insisting on running its own maintenance centers, because the internal computers on the planes are classified and access to them is not given to foreign customers.
As a result, a compromise appears to be in the offing, under which the US will set up a maintenance center on an Israel Air Force base. The center will be manned by Americans who will fix damaged planes.
Bernanke Says Discount Rate May Rise ‘Before Long’
By Scott Lanman and Craig Torres
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve may raise the discount rate “before long” as part of the “normalization” of Fed lending, a move that won’t signal any change in the outlook for monetary policy, Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said.
Bernanke repeated the Federal Open Market Committee statement that low rates are warranted “for an extended period” in testimony prepared for the House Financial Services Committee. The Fed may also temporarily replace the federal funds rate as a policy guide with interest it pays on banks’ deposits should fed funds become a “less reliable indicator than usual,” Bernanke said.
Bernanke, who this month started his second four-year term as Fed chief, previewed what would be the first interest-rate move in more than a year while giving more details on several tools that may be used to tighten credit “at some point.” Bernanke, 56, and his fellow policy makers are preparing to remove unprecedented monetary stimulus as the U.S. economy is forecast to grow at the fastest pace since 2006.
“Before long, we expect to consider a modest increase in the spread between the discount rate and the target federal funds rate,” Bernanke said in the testimony for a hearing originally scheduled for today and postponed because of a snowstorm. A new date hasn’t been announced.
Two-year Treasury securities fell, pushing the yield to 0.84 percent at 10:07 a.m. in New York from 0.83 percent yesterday. U.S. stocks extended declines, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index falling 0.5 percent to 1,064.77. The dollar extended gains against the euro.
Outlook for Policy
The changes “are not expected to lead to tighter financial conditions for households and businesses and should not be interpreted as signaling any change in the outlook for monetary policy, which remains about as it was at the time of the January meeting of the FOMC,” Bernanke said.
In December 2008, the Fed cut the discount rate, charged on direct loans to commercial banks, to 0.5 percent as it lowered the separate federal funds rate, which banks use for overnight loans to each other, to a range of zero to 0.25 percent. Both rates have been unchanged since then.
“Although at present the U.S. economy continues to require the support of highly accommodative monetary policies, at some point the Federal Reserve will need to tighten financial conditions by raising short-term interest rates and reducing the quantity of bank reserves outstanding,” Bernanke said.
Lending Freeze
Before August 2007, the discount rate was set at one percentage point above the federal funds rate. As bank lending began to freeze that month, the Fed reduced the difference to a half-point and narrowed it again, to a quarter-point, in March 2008 in conjunction with its rescue of Bear Stearns Cos.
The central bank has already reduced the maximum term of discount-window loans to banks to 28 days from 90 days, “and we will consider whether further reductions in the maximum loan maturity are warranted,” Bernanke said.
The Fed incurred no losses on its $1.5 trillion of emergency lending programs, and the Board of Governors “continues to anticipate” it will not lose money on the bailouts of Bear Stearns and New-York based insurer American International Group Inc. The Fed’s portion of those rescues totals about $116 billion, Bernanke said.
The Fed’s unprecedented actions under Bernanke have helped thaw credit markets.
The Libor-OIS spread, a gauge of banks’ willingness to lend, has narrowed to 0.10 percentage point from a record 3.64 points in October 2008. The TED spread, the difference between what the Treasury and banks pay to borrow dollars for three months, has narrowed to 0.15 percentage point from as high as 4.64 percentage points in October 2008.
Deposits at Fed
Separately, Bernanke said raising the interest rate paid on funds deposited by banks at the Fed, as well as so-called reverse repurchase agreements that temporarily drain cash from the banking system, will probably be the first tools for tightening credit.
Bernanke said he doesn’t expect the Fed “in the near term” to sell the $1.43 trillion of housing debt being purchased through next month, “at least until after policy tightening has gotten under way and the economy is clearly in a sustainable recovery.” Fed officials may decide “in the future” to sell securities, he said.
“Any such sales would be at a gradual pace, would be clearly communicated to market participants and would entail appropriate consideration of economic conditions,” Bernanke said.
The purchases have helped push total assets on the Fed’s balance sheet to $2.25 trillion from $925 billion at the start of 2008. Excess reserves in the banking system total more than $1 trillion.
Removing Reserves
The central bank can use several tools to temporarily remove those reserves from the financial system and thereby raise the federal funds rate. Bernanke said the Fed is expanding the set of counterparties for reverse repurchase agreements, under which it provides securities as collateral in exchange for a short-term cash loan.
Bernanke said “one possible sequence” of the exit strategy involves first testing tools for draining reserves “on a limited basis.” Then, “as the time for the removal of policy accommodation draws near, those operations could be scaled up to drain more significant volumes of reserve balances to provide tighter control over short-term interest rates,” he said.
‘Firming’ of Policy
The Fed would then execute the “actual firming of policy” by raising the interest rate on bank reserves, Bernanke said. Congress granted the Fed the power in October 2008 as part of the law creating the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
While Fed officials have previously said the deposit rate will play a major role in the exit strategy, Bernanke said the rate may replace the federal funds rate, the policy benchmark for the past two decades, until reserves are “much lower.”
“It is possible that the Federal Reserve could for a time use the interest rate paid on reserves, in combination with targets for reserve quantities, as a guide to its policy stance, while simultaneously monitoring a range of market rates,” Bernanke said.
The Fed may be months away from tightening credit. U.S. central bankers will begin raising rates in November and increase the benchmark lending rate to 0.75 percent by the end of the year, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News in January.
The U.S. economy will expand 2.7 percent this year, according to the median estimate. The timing and speed of rate increases may also depend on how quickly the economy can begin to generate job growth.
“It is great that he is laying out a blueprint. It will reduce market uncertainty,” said Karl Haeling, head of strategic debt distribution at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany’s third-largest bank, before the release of the testimony.
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve may raise the discount rate “before long” as part of the “normalization” of Fed lending, a move that won’t signal any change in the outlook for monetary policy, Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said.
Bernanke repeated the Federal Open Market Committee statement that low rates are warranted “for an extended period” in testimony prepared for the House Financial Services Committee. The Fed may also temporarily replace the federal funds rate as a policy guide with interest it pays on banks’ deposits should fed funds become a “less reliable indicator than usual,” Bernanke said.
Bernanke, who this month started his second four-year term as Fed chief, previewed what would be the first interest-rate move in more than a year while giving more details on several tools that may be used to tighten credit “at some point.” Bernanke, 56, and his fellow policy makers are preparing to remove unprecedented monetary stimulus as the U.S. economy is forecast to grow at the fastest pace since 2006.
“Before long, we expect to consider a modest increase in the spread between the discount rate and the target federal funds rate,” Bernanke said in the testimony for a hearing originally scheduled for today and postponed because of a snowstorm. A new date hasn’t been announced.
Two-year Treasury securities fell, pushing the yield to 0.84 percent at 10:07 a.m. in New York from 0.83 percent yesterday. U.S. stocks extended declines, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index falling 0.5 percent to 1,064.77. The dollar extended gains against the euro.
Outlook for Policy
The changes “are not expected to lead to tighter financial conditions for households and businesses and should not be interpreted as signaling any change in the outlook for monetary policy, which remains about as it was at the time of the January meeting of the FOMC,” Bernanke said.
In December 2008, the Fed cut the discount rate, charged on direct loans to commercial banks, to 0.5 percent as it lowered the separate federal funds rate, which banks use for overnight loans to each other, to a range of zero to 0.25 percent. Both rates have been unchanged since then.
“Although at present the U.S. economy continues to require the support of highly accommodative monetary policies, at some point the Federal Reserve will need to tighten financial conditions by raising short-term interest rates and reducing the quantity of bank reserves outstanding,” Bernanke said.
Lending Freeze
Before August 2007, the discount rate was set at one percentage point above the federal funds rate. As bank lending began to freeze that month, the Fed reduced the difference to a half-point and narrowed it again, to a quarter-point, in March 2008 in conjunction with its rescue of Bear Stearns Cos.
The central bank has already reduced the maximum term of discount-window loans to banks to 28 days from 90 days, “and we will consider whether further reductions in the maximum loan maturity are warranted,” Bernanke said.
The Fed incurred no losses on its $1.5 trillion of emergency lending programs, and the Board of Governors “continues to anticipate” it will not lose money on the bailouts of Bear Stearns and New-York based insurer American International Group Inc. The Fed’s portion of those rescues totals about $116 billion, Bernanke said.
The Fed’s unprecedented actions under Bernanke have helped thaw credit markets.
The Libor-OIS spread, a gauge of banks’ willingness to lend, has narrowed to 0.10 percentage point from a record 3.64 points in October 2008. The TED spread, the difference between what the Treasury and banks pay to borrow dollars for three months, has narrowed to 0.15 percentage point from as high as 4.64 percentage points in October 2008.
Deposits at Fed
Separately, Bernanke said raising the interest rate paid on funds deposited by banks at the Fed, as well as so-called reverse repurchase agreements that temporarily drain cash from the banking system, will probably be the first tools for tightening credit.
Bernanke said he doesn’t expect the Fed “in the near term” to sell the $1.43 trillion of housing debt being purchased through next month, “at least until after policy tightening has gotten under way and the economy is clearly in a sustainable recovery.” Fed officials may decide “in the future” to sell securities, he said.
“Any such sales would be at a gradual pace, would be clearly communicated to market participants and would entail appropriate consideration of economic conditions,” Bernanke said.
The purchases have helped push total assets on the Fed’s balance sheet to $2.25 trillion from $925 billion at the start of 2008. Excess reserves in the banking system total more than $1 trillion.
Removing Reserves
The central bank can use several tools to temporarily remove those reserves from the financial system and thereby raise the federal funds rate. Bernanke said the Fed is expanding the set of counterparties for reverse repurchase agreements, under which it provides securities as collateral in exchange for a short-term cash loan.
Bernanke said “one possible sequence” of the exit strategy involves first testing tools for draining reserves “on a limited basis.” Then, “as the time for the removal of policy accommodation draws near, those operations could be scaled up to drain more significant volumes of reserve balances to provide tighter control over short-term interest rates,” he said.
‘Firming’ of Policy
The Fed would then execute the “actual firming of policy” by raising the interest rate on bank reserves, Bernanke said. Congress granted the Fed the power in October 2008 as part of the law creating the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
While Fed officials have previously said the deposit rate will play a major role in the exit strategy, Bernanke said the rate may replace the federal funds rate, the policy benchmark for the past two decades, until reserves are “much lower.”
“It is possible that the Federal Reserve could for a time use the interest rate paid on reserves, in combination with targets for reserve quantities, as a guide to its policy stance, while simultaneously monitoring a range of market rates,” Bernanke said.
The Fed may be months away from tightening credit. U.S. central bankers will begin raising rates in November and increase the benchmark lending rate to 0.75 percent by the end of the year, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News in January.
The U.S. economy will expand 2.7 percent this year, according to the median estimate. The timing and speed of rate increases may also depend on how quickly the economy can begin to generate job growth.
“It is great that he is laying out a blueprint. It will reduce market uncertainty,” said Karl Haeling, head of strategic debt distribution at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany’s third-largest bank, before the release of the testimony.
Philanthropist Vilar, who gave away more than US$225mil, jailed
NEW YORK: The dramatic rise and fall of opera-loving philanthropist Alberto Vilar culminated Friday in a nine-year prison sentence from a judge who credited his giving spirit but said money managers must learn fraud leads to prison and damages confidence in the economy.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Sullivan also fined Vilar US$25,000 and ordered him to pay US$21.9 million in restitution and to forfeit more than US$22 million.
The Cuban-born Vilar, 69, has been imprisoned since soon after a jury convicted him in November 2008 of conspiracy fraud for cheating investors of US$40 million through his San Francisco-based company, Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc.
He now walks with a cane.
Sullivan called Vilar a complicated man of "tremendous generosity" who had donated millions of dollars to charities, the arts and individuals.
He said Vilar needed to be punished to send a stern message to money managers that they must act honestly to protect customers' assets.
"If they don't believe that, the entire economy can suffer," Sullivan said.
"Most people want security - to know their life won't be abruptly turned upside down," Sullivan said. With Vilar, "that trust was abused," he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt said Vilar sometimes operated his business like a pyramid scheme by paying early investors with money later invested by others, especially after Vilar's two-decade run of financial success hit a wall when his beloved technology stocks fell suddenly in value in 2000.
Vilar earned hundreds of millions of dollars on investments in the 1990s as the stock market rose in double digits almost annually.
He spent some of the money making donations of as much as $225 million to opera houses.
After his arrest, he found himself largely abandoned by the affluent and powerful, confined to his apartment under house arrest for more than three years before trial.
Vilar - said by Forbes magazine to be worth $950 million during good times - abandoned some pledges when the markets plunged, charities said.
The Metropolitan Opera took his name off its grand tier, the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London removed his surname from its Floral Hall and the Salzburg Festival in Austria stripped his picture from its programs.
Witnesses against him at trial included Lily Cates, the mother of actress Phoebe Cates, who said Vilar improperly spent $5 million of her money.
Vilar's attorney, Jonathan Marks, said his client had suffered "a huge fall from a very high position."
Vilar, in a rambling statement, said he objected to the prosecutor's claim that he was not sorry for his crimes.
"I don't know where the government gets the idea I am not responsible or remorseful," he said.
"I deeply regret any inconvenience that our 14,000 clients might have suffered."
He said he believed there were only five victims in the fraud and that there was a 95 percent likelihood that all would recover their losses.
Vilar's co-defendant at trial - Gary Alan Tanaka, 66, - was sentenced later Friday to five years in prison for his lesser role.
He had been convicted of conspiracy along with securities and investment adviser fraud, but was acquitted on nine other counts. - AP
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Sullivan also fined Vilar US$25,000 and ordered him to pay US$21.9 million in restitution and to forfeit more than US$22 million.
The Cuban-born Vilar, 69, has been imprisoned since soon after a jury convicted him in November 2008 of conspiracy fraud for cheating investors of US$40 million through his San Francisco-based company, Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc.
He now walks with a cane.
Sullivan called Vilar a complicated man of "tremendous generosity" who had donated millions of dollars to charities, the arts and individuals.
He said Vilar needed to be punished to send a stern message to money managers that they must act honestly to protect customers' assets.
"If they don't believe that, the entire economy can suffer," Sullivan said.
"Most people want security - to know their life won't be abruptly turned upside down," Sullivan said. With Vilar, "that trust was abused," he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt said Vilar sometimes operated his business like a pyramid scheme by paying early investors with money later invested by others, especially after Vilar's two-decade run of financial success hit a wall when his beloved technology stocks fell suddenly in value in 2000.
Vilar earned hundreds of millions of dollars on investments in the 1990s as the stock market rose in double digits almost annually.
He spent some of the money making donations of as much as $225 million to opera houses.
After his arrest, he found himself largely abandoned by the affluent and powerful, confined to his apartment under house arrest for more than three years before trial.
Vilar - said by Forbes magazine to be worth $950 million during good times - abandoned some pledges when the markets plunged, charities said.
The Metropolitan Opera took his name off its grand tier, the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London removed his surname from its Floral Hall and the Salzburg Festival in Austria stripped his picture from its programs.
Witnesses against him at trial included Lily Cates, the mother of actress Phoebe Cates, who said Vilar improperly spent $5 million of her money.
Vilar's attorney, Jonathan Marks, said his client had suffered "a huge fall from a very high position."
Vilar, in a rambling statement, said he objected to the prosecutor's claim that he was not sorry for his crimes.
"I don't know where the government gets the idea I am not responsible or remorseful," he said.
"I deeply regret any inconvenience that our 14,000 clients might have suffered."
He said he believed there were only five victims in the fraud and that there was a 95 percent likelihood that all would recover their losses.
Vilar's co-defendant at trial - Gary Alan Tanaka, 66, - was sentenced later Friday to five years in prison for his lesser role.
He had been convicted of conspiracy along with securities and investment adviser fraud, but was acquitted on nine other counts. - AP
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Billionaire Buffett says bailout money will be paid back
OMAHA, Nebraska: Billionaire Warren Buffett and Henry Paulson, the former Treasury chief, said U.S. taxpayers will recover every cent paid out to banks during the economic meltdown and may even turn a profit.
The staunch Democrat investor and the Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush spoke onstage Tuesday before 2,400 at the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting.
Paulson in his recently released book defended the government which scrambled to prevent failing U.S. banks from dragging down the global economy with them.
"As bad as this is, when we look back it's not as bad as it could have been," Paulson said.
And he said the United States is better off today than most countries.
"Every other major economy has many more significant challenges than we do," Paulson said. But he said several significant challenges remain.
Paulson said he thinks compensation is normally out of whack on Wall Street, but now in the wake of all the government bailouts, many executive pay packages are excessive.
"I think today restraint is very much in order for the top people," Paulson said.
Paulson's 500-page book, "On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System," offers a chronological account of the rush to prevent an economic disaster as Lehman Brothers and American International Group spun toward collapse in September 2008.
Paulson served as treasury secretary from June 2006 to January 2009.
Buffett led the talk by asking Paulson about the book but didn't make many comments himself.
Buffett said Paulson's book gave him an appreciation of how well former President George W. Bush understood the economy and events during the crisis.
"Through the book, I gained more appreciation for what he did in this situation," Buffett said.
But Buffett, the longtime Democrat, also pointed out Paulson's positive statements about President Barack Obama.
Buffett praised the actions of Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Paulson's successor, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Paulson also thanked Buffett, an icon to thousands of investors, who advised the former Treasury chief during the worst days of the economic downturn.
"He was a real source of strength during the financial crisis," Paulson said.
Buffett, is chairman and CEO of Omaha's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a holding company with a roughly $173 billion market capitalization.
He plowed $5 billion one in Paulson's former firm, Goldman Sachs, as the company struggled. - AP
On the Net:
Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce:
http://omahachamber.org
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.:
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com
Latest business news from AP-Wire
Related Stories:
S&P strips Berkshire Hathaway of AAA rating
Small investors can buy into billionaire Buffett's empire at lower cost
The staunch Democrat investor and the Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush spoke onstage Tuesday before 2,400 at the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting.
Paulson in his recently released book defended the government which scrambled to prevent failing U.S. banks from dragging down the global economy with them.
"As bad as this is, when we look back it's not as bad as it could have been," Paulson said.
And he said the United States is better off today than most countries.
"Every other major economy has many more significant challenges than we do," Paulson said. But he said several significant challenges remain.
Paulson said he thinks compensation is normally out of whack on Wall Street, but now in the wake of all the government bailouts, many executive pay packages are excessive.
"I think today restraint is very much in order for the top people," Paulson said.
Paulson's 500-page book, "On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System," offers a chronological account of the rush to prevent an economic disaster as Lehman Brothers and American International Group spun toward collapse in September 2008.
Paulson served as treasury secretary from June 2006 to January 2009.
Buffett led the talk by asking Paulson about the book but didn't make many comments himself.
Buffett said Paulson's book gave him an appreciation of how well former President George W. Bush understood the economy and events during the crisis.
"Through the book, I gained more appreciation for what he did in this situation," Buffett said.
But Buffett, the longtime Democrat, also pointed out Paulson's positive statements about President Barack Obama.
Buffett praised the actions of Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Paulson's successor, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Paulson also thanked Buffett, an icon to thousands of investors, who advised the former Treasury chief during the worst days of the economic downturn.
"He was a real source of strength during the financial crisis," Paulson said.
Buffett, is chairman and CEO of Omaha's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a holding company with a roughly $173 billion market capitalization.
He plowed $5 billion one in Paulson's former firm, Goldman Sachs, as the company struggled. - AP
On the Net:
Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce:
http://omahachamber.org
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.:
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com
Latest business news from AP-Wire
Related Stories:
S&P strips Berkshire Hathaway of AAA rating
Small investors can buy into billionaire Buffett's empire at lower cost
Monday, February 8, 2010
But He Was the Harvard Law Review Editor!
Jennifer Rubin - 02.07.2010 - 8:15 AM
The chattering class was entranced with candidate Barack Obama. So literate. So polished. So cool. We were assured that his lack of executive experience was irrelevant. After all, he ran a campaign. And then there were his years as a community organizer and Harvard Law Review editor, which showed… well… it showed something about his magnificent intellectual skills. But it turns out he lacks some key abilities — executive leadership, decisiveness, deal-making prowess, flexibility, and basic people skills — that are essential to a successful presidency.
This is not simply the conclusion of conservatives. The entire country witnessed his agonizing decision-making process on the Afghanistan war strategy. Now on health-care reform, his own party is frustrated and dismayed with the non-governing president. As this report notes:
President Barack Obama has left Democrats as confused as ever over how the White House plans to deliver a health care reform bill this year, following two weeks of inconsistent statements, negligible hands-on involvement and a sudden shift to a jobs-first message. Democrats on Capitol Hill and beyond say they have no clear understanding of the White House strategy – or even whether there is one – and are growing impatient with Obama’s reluctance to guide them toward a legislative solution.
…And some Democrats feel that every time they look to White House for clarity, they hear something different, as though the strategy is whatever the president or his top advisers said that day.
His floundering is not surprising, considering that Obama never ran a state, a city, or a business, and during his brief time in the U.S. Senate, he was never front-and-center in any significant legislative undertaking. Yes, he’s touted as an author, and he won the presidency (beating two flawed candidates who ran awful campaigns). But it turns out that all this was insufficient preparation to be chief executive and commander in chief.
In 2012, Republicans will look for a standard-bearer to retake the White House. And while a grounding in conservative principles will be essential to winning the nomination, Republican voters might do well to consider what experience and what talents are essential for a successful presidency. They might look for candidates who have done something – other than graduating from Ivy League schools, writing memoirs, and giving frothy speeches. By 2012, the country might be ready for someone who knows how to get something done.
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
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TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: incompetence; inexperience; intellect; obama; pseudointellectual
1 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:46:51 PM by Scanian
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To: Scanian
Moogly, the man-cub, strikes out...
2 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:51:28 PM by The Wizard (I support Madam President, the only President in America today)
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To: Scanian
Not that it really matters at this point...but I think the appointment at Harvard Law Review was just an arranged resume-builder and nothing else. They actually have hired people (paid staff) who do the real management of the Review, and there are apparently some professors in the background to ensure things don’t get screwed up.
You can go back and ask anyone before the Law Review appointment....about any experience with any school newspaper (even in high school), and you get the impression that he never was involved with any paper forum.
From the prospective of management or executive or team-leader experience...from the past dozen presidents...I’d say the President is likely at the bottom of the list. I’d even give Jimmy Carter several plus points because of his Navy background and governor period. Bill Clinton has his period as governor of Arkansas as a plus point. I’d have to go back to Woodrow Wilson to find another guy with similar background to President Obama.
3 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:56:00 PM by pepsionice
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To: null and void; metmom; Impy; MeekOneGOP; molybdenum; TigersEye
Corpse-men in all fifty seven states think he’s the greatest. They inflate their tires in honor of BO.
4 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:56:05 PM by Arthur Wildfire! March (2010 HOUSE RACES! Help everyone get the goods on their House Rats. See my profile.)
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To: Scanian
The keywords you selected for this post say it all :)
5 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:56:20 PM by ComputerGuy (HM2/USN M/3/3 Marines 66-67 (That's Corpsman, not Corpseman))
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To: The Wizard
MAO-bama was literally an empty suit without any professional accomplishments or executive leadership experience. Add his relationships with terrorists, marxists & racists, the lapdog media worked overtime to hide his flaws and intellectual shallowness.
6 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:56:39 PM by newfreep (Palin/DeMint 2012 - Bolton: Secy of State)
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To: Scanian
The chattering class was entranced with candidate Barack Obama.
7 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:57:56 PM by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: pepsionice
A stinking rat is a stinking rat. I rate them all at the sewer level.
Jimmy Carter? Anti-semite and economic disaster. Of course, yes — even the peanut farmer can look down on BO now. I’ll give you that.
Bill Clinton:
Another Pardon, Another Controversy
http://speakout.com/activism/news/5653-1.html
Hugh Rodham [Hillary’s brother] received a contingency fee in connection with a pardon ... a scheme to distribute 800 pounds of crack cocaine
8 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:59:54 PM by Arthur Wildfire! March (2010 HOUSE RACES! Help everyone get the goods on their House Rats. See my profile.)
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To: Scanian
from the article:
They might look for candidates who have done something – other than graduating from Ivy League schools, writing memoirs, and giving frothy speeches.
Sarah Palin has actually DONE SOMETHING but she is still being trashed as an idiot.
The dumb-assed American people voted for an Affirmative Action, communist con man with no experience.
They deserve him and I hope he keeps shafting those fools until the next presidential election.
Give the American people what they asked for and GIVE IT TO THEM HARD!
I have no sympathy for a stupid people who thought the last presidential election was a political version of American Idol.
Elections matter. Hitler was elected.
9 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:05:50 PM by NoControllingLegalAuthority (As Wichita falls so falls Wichita Falls)
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March
Corpse-men in all fifty seven states think he’s the greatest.
but he did know about 'the bomb' they dropped on Pearl Harbor!
10 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:16:29 PM by Maurice Tift (You can't stop the signal, Mal. You can never stop the signal.)
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To: ComputerGuy
I always try to make them pertinent ;-)
11 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:17:22 PM by Scanian
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To: Scanian
mugabe II.
LLS
12 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:23:23 PM by LibLieSlayer (hussama will never be my president... NEVER!)
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To: pepsionice
I’d have to go back to Woodrow Wilson to find another guy with similar background to President Obama.
_________________________________________________________
Woodrow Wilson was the President (chief executive) of Princeton University for many years before being President of the US, and then was Governor of New Jersey.
13 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:28:18 PM by Woebama (Never, never, never quit)
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To: paulycy
Great quote by Churchill.
14 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:29:50 PM by Woebama (Never, never, never quit)
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To: NoControllingLegalAuthority
The dumb-assed American people voted for an Affirmative Action, communist con man with no experience.
They deserve him and I hope he keeps shafting those fools until the next presidential election.
_________________________________________________________
You live in Tennessee, so aren’t you one of “those” that are being shafted? Not to nitpick, I get your anger, but when you are in a lifeboat and a lunatic starts to put holes in the bottom of the lifeboat . . . isn’t it your problem as well as the lunatics?
15 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:33:06 PM by Woebama (Never, never, never quit)
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To: Scanian
How Much did the Saudi Prince pay for the education for the Haaarvard training - wheeled Preschooler of the United States? So this same Prince has invested in Fox News. Has anybody else noticed how some of the people on Fox now are criticizing Palin, but praising of the POTUS for being more bipartisan(BS). Is Fox changing to be part of the LSM formerly (MSM)?
16 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:39:49 PM by hondact200 (hondact200 No to Socialism - Michigan destroyed by Progressive Liberal Populism)
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To: Scanian
But He Was the Harvard Law Review Editor!
No he wasn't.
He was "president" of the Law Review.
I'm surprised that Rubin and the Commentary editors would get this wrong.
17 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:48:07 PM by ml/nj
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To: Scanian
I think the problem these folks have with running the Executive Branch is that doing so is really boring. You have to take one or two ideas and just flog the heck out of them, for years and years and years, just to get a few things done. It is a long, grinding, repetitive process. It is not about brilliance or intelligence or style. It is about persistence and determination.
These Obama fellas want to flit from flower to flower. They want to touch things with the magic wands of their dazzling intellect and instantly transform them. They are dumbfounded when the things they want to change stubbornly stay the same. They don't want to admit to themselves that the path to a successful Presidency is to find a rock small enough to move, and to push on that one rock for eight long, tiring years.
These guys thought they would get Health Care, Card Check, Cap & Trade and Porkulus all within the First Hundred Days. One wonders what they left themselves for the next two thousand eight hundred and twenty two.
18 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:49:41 PM by Haiku Guy (If you have a right / To the service I provide / I must be your slave.)
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To: pepsionice
Part of the problem is that some people who couldn’t get into Ivy League schools - libs, anyway - tend to glorify those institutions in their minds.
I realize things are different today and security is tighter but back in the early ‘70’s, a buddy and I spent a couple days in Boston sneaking into classes at Harvard by day to see what was so great about the place and drinking in Irish bars by night.
I was more impressed by the bar conversations, personally.
19 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:52:23 PM by Scanian
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To: Haiku Guy
They had been itching to enact that liberal agenda for years and when they had the chance to take power with huge congressional majorities, they couldn’t resist the impulse to try to ram it through for all they were worth.
The Obamanoids knew the people would hate their legislation so they acted with breakneck speed to get it done before the folks woke up. Too bad for them that both communication and the attention level of the voting public had improved considerably by 2009.
20 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:57:32 PM by Scanian
The chattering class was entranced with candidate Barack Obama. So literate. So polished. So cool. We were assured that his lack of executive experience was irrelevant. After all, he ran a campaign. And then there were his years as a community organizer and Harvard Law Review editor, which showed… well… it showed something about his magnificent intellectual skills. But it turns out he lacks some key abilities — executive leadership, decisiveness, deal-making prowess, flexibility, and basic people skills — that are essential to a successful presidency.
This is not simply the conclusion of conservatives. The entire country witnessed his agonizing decision-making process on the Afghanistan war strategy. Now on health-care reform, his own party is frustrated and dismayed with the non-governing president. As this report notes:
President Barack Obama has left Democrats as confused as ever over how the White House plans to deliver a health care reform bill this year, following two weeks of inconsistent statements, negligible hands-on involvement and a sudden shift to a jobs-first message. Democrats on Capitol Hill and beyond say they have no clear understanding of the White House strategy – or even whether there is one – and are growing impatient with Obama’s reluctance to guide them toward a legislative solution.
…And some Democrats feel that every time they look to White House for clarity, they hear something different, as though the strategy is whatever the president or his top advisers said that day.
His floundering is not surprising, considering that Obama never ran a state, a city, or a business, and during his brief time in the U.S. Senate, he was never front-and-center in any significant legislative undertaking. Yes, he’s touted as an author, and he won the presidency (beating two flawed candidates who ran awful campaigns). But it turns out that all this was insufficient preparation to be chief executive and commander in chief.
In 2012, Republicans will look for a standard-bearer to retake the White House. And while a grounding in conservative principles will be essential to winning the nomination, Republican voters might do well to consider what experience and what talents are essential for a successful presidency. They might look for candidates who have done something – other than graduating from Ivy League schools, writing memoirs, and giving frothy speeches. By 2012, the country might be ready for someone who knows how to get something done.
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
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TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: incompetence; inexperience; intellect; obama; pseudointellectual
1 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:46:51 PM by Scanian
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To: Scanian
Moogly, the man-cub, strikes out...
2 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:51:28 PM by The Wizard (I support Madam President, the only President in America today)
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To: Scanian
Not that it really matters at this point...but I think the appointment at Harvard Law Review was just an arranged resume-builder and nothing else. They actually have hired people (paid staff) who do the real management of the Review, and there are apparently some professors in the background to ensure things don’t get screwed up.
You can go back and ask anyone before the Law Review appointment....about any experience with any school newspaper (even in high school), and you get the impression that he never was involved with any paper forum.
From the prospective of management or executive or team-leader experience...from the past dozen presidents...I’d say the President is likely at the bottom of the list. I’d even give Jimmy Carter several plus points because of his Navy background and governor period. Bill Clinton has his period as governor of Arkansas as a plus point. I’d have to go back to Woodrow Wilson to find another guy with similar background to President Obama.
3 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:56:00 PM by pepsionice
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To: null and void; metmom; Impy; MeekOneGOP; molybdenum; TigersEye
Corpse-men in all fifty seven states think he’s the greatest. They inflate their tires in honor of BO.
4 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:56:05 PM by Arthur Wildfire! March (2010 HOUSE RACES! Help everyone get the goods on their House Rats. See my profile.)
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To: Scanian
The keywords you selected for this post say it all :)
5 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:56:20 PM by ComputerGuy (HM2/USN M/3/3 Marines 66-67 (That's Corpsman, not Corpseman))
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To: The Wizard
MAO-bama was literally an empty suit without any professional accomplishments or executive leadership experience. Add his relationships with terrorists, marxists & racists, the lapdog media worked overtime to hide his flaws and intellectual shallowness.
6 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:56:39 PM by newfreep (Palin/DeMint 2012 - Bolton: Secy of State)
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To: Scanian
The chattering class was entranced with candidate Barack Obama.
7 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:57:56 PM by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: pepsionice
A stinking rat is a stinking rat. I rate them all at the sewer level.
Jimmy Carter? Anti-semite and economic disaster. Of course, yes — even the peanut farmer can look down on BO now. I’ll give you that.
Bill Clinton:
Another Pardon, Another Controversy
http://speakout.com/activism/news/5653-1.html
Hugh Rodham [Hillary’s brother] received a contingency fee in connection with a pardon ... a scheme to distribute 800 pounds of crack cocaine
8 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:59:54 PM by Arthur Wildfire! March (2010 HOUSE RACES! Help everyone get the goods on their House Rats. See my profile.)
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To: Scanian
from the article:
They might look for candidates who have done something – other than graduating from Ivy League schools, writing memoirs, and giving frothy speeches.
Sarah Palin has actually DONE SOMETHING but she is still being trashed as an idiot.
The dumb-assed American people voted for an Affirmative Action, communist con man with no experience.
They deserve him and I hope he keeps shafting those fools until the next presidential election.
Give the American people what they asked for and GIVE IT TO THEM HARD!
I have no sympathy for a stupid people who thought the last presidential election was a political version of American Idol.
Elections matter. Hitler was elected.
9 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:05:50 PM by NoControllingLegalAuthority (As Wichita falls so falls Wichita Falls)
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March
Corpse-men in all fifty seven states think he’s the greatest.
but he did know about 'the bomb' they dropped on Pearl Harbor!
10 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:16:29 PM by Maurice Tift (You can't stop the signal, Mal. You can never stop the signal.)
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To: ComputerGuy
I always try to make them pertinent ;-)
11 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:17:22 PM by Scanian
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To: Scanian
mugabe II.
LLS
12 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:23:23 PM by LibLieSlayer (hussama will never be my president... NEVER!)
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To: pepsionice
I’d have to go back to Woodrow Wilson to find another guy with similar background to President Obama.
_________________________________________________________
Woodrow Wilson was the President (chief executive) of Princeton University for many years before being President of the US, and then was Governor of New Jersey.
13 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:28:18 PM by Woebama (Never, never, never quit)
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To: paulycy
Great quote by Churchill.
14 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:29:50 PM by Woebama (Never, never, never quit)
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To: NoControllingLegalAuthority
The dumb-assed American people voted for an Affirmative Action, communist con man with no experience.
They deserve him and I hope he keeps shafting those fools until the next presidential election.
_________________________________________________________
You live in Tennessee, so aren’t you one of “those” that are being shafted? Not to nitpick, I get your anger, but when you are in a lifeboat and a lunatic starts to put holes in the bottom of the lifeboat . . . isn’t it your problem as well as the lunatics?
15 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:33:06 PM by Woebama (Never, never, never quit)
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To: Scanian
How Much did the Saudi Prince pay for the education for the Haaarvard training - wheeled Preschooler of the United States? So this same Prince has invested in Fox News. Has anybody else noticed how some of the people on Fox now are criticizing Palin, but praising of the POTUS for being more bipartisan(BS). Is Fox changing to be part of the LSM formerly (MSM)?
16 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:39:49 PM by hondact200 (hondact200 No to Socialism - Michigan destroyed by Progressive Liberal Populism)
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To: Scanian
But He Was the Harvard Law Review Editor!
No he wasn't.
He was "president" of the Law Review.
I'm surprised that Rubin and the Commentary editors would get this wrong.
17 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:48:07 PM by ml/nj
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To: Scanian
I think the problem these folks have with running the Executive Branch is that doing so is really boring. You have to take one or two ideas and just flog the heck out of them, for years and years and years, just to get a few things done. It is a long, grinding, repetitive process. It is not about brilliance or intelligence or style. It is about persistence and determination.
These Obama fellas want to flit from flower to flower. They want to touch things with the magic wands of their dazzling intellect and instantly transform them. They are dumbfounded when the things they want to change stubbornly stay the same. They don't want to admit to themselves that the path to a successful Presidency is to find a rock small enough to move, and to push on that one rock for eight long, tiring years.
These guys thought they would get Health Care, Card Check, Cap & Trade and Porkulus all within the First Hundred Days. One wonders what they left themselves for the next two thousand eight hundred and twenty two.
18 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:49:41 PM by Haiku Guy (If you have a right / To the service I provide / I must be your slave.)
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To: pepsionice
Part of the problem is that some people who couldn’t get into Ivy League schools - libs, anyway - tend to glorify those institutions in their minds.
I realize things are different today and security is tighter but back in the early ‘70’s, a buddy and I spent a couple days in Boston sneaking into classes at Harvard by day to see what was so great about the place and drinking in Irish bars by night.
I was more impressed by the bar conversations, personally.
19 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:52:23 PM by Scanian
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To: Haiku Guy
They had been itching to enact that liberal agenda for years and when they had the chance to take power with huge congressional majorities, they couldn’t resist the impulse to try to ram it through for all they were worth.
The Obamanoids knew the people would hate their legislation so they acted with breakneck speed to get it done before the folks woke up. Too bad for them that both communication and the attention level of the voting public had improved considerably by 2009.
20 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:57:32 PM by Scanian
Cooling The Kennedy Mystique
American Thinker ^ | February 8, 2010 | Phil Boehmke
Posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:40:34 PM by Zakeet
The Kennedy clan has to be wondering lately, what the ____ (fill in blank) happened? The past year has not been kind to America's Royal Family. With yet another brutal winter storm having virtually shut down America's capital, our liberal friends in those snowy climbs will have ample time to pause and reflect on the demise of the Kennedys during the past year.
First Caroline met with unexpected criticism in her quest to fill Hillary Clinton's term in the Senate, whereupon she withdrew from consideration. What the ____ (fill in blank) happened? She's JFK's daughter! She's Teddy's niece! Her uncle RFK was a senator from New York! Qualifications? For a Kennedy?
Then came that dark day when Teddy passed away. The last Kennedy brother (with the exception of Barack Obama) was gone, and with him his political and family influence. As the Liberal Lion prepared to face divine justice for Mary Jo Kopechne and other lesser crimes, the family was preparing to lay claim to "the Kennedy seat."
Joe Kennedy, Jr.'s name was floated as his uncle Teddy's rightful successor. Joe Jr. had served in Congress and looked like the logical choice to maintain the Kennedy legacy in the Senate. Then out of nowhere came stories of Joe Jr.'s connection to Hugo Chávez. Mark Tapscott in The Washington Examiner wrote:
There are at least three reasons why Joe Kennedy should not be a U.S. senator from any state. First, he's not only a defender of a declared enemy of the U.S., but is also guilty of shamelessly using that enemy's resources in an unsuccessful attempt to polish his own image here in America. I refer, of course to Kennedy's deal with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez under which the latter gives the former heating oil which is then sold to "the poor" in America.
What the ____ (fill in blank) happened? For the second time in a matter of mere months, a member of America's Royal Family withdrew from consideration for a legacy seat in the Senate.
After Massachusetts Democrats had found a successor to "the Kennedy seat," the clan came out to lend their family clout to the campaign. Patrick Kennedy, the only member of the clan still in Congress, joined his stepmother in support of "Marsha" Coakley, but to no avail. Republican Scott Brown won the special election for the Senate seat belonging to the people of Massachusetts.
Patrick Kennedy has recently referred to the election of Scott Brown as "a joke," and like his fellow Democrats (former President Clinton and future former President Obama), he has placed the blame squarely on "Marsha" (really it's Martha) Coakley's shoulders. Meanwhile, Patrick has had his own "what the ____ (fill in blank)" moment as his polling numbers inexplicably point to a defeat in this year's elections.
Perhaps RFK Jr. will be the one who can restore the luster to the Kennedy name. RFK Jr. has been flying around in private jets, working to save the planet from pending disaster. David Freddoso writing for The Washington Examiner provides us with this heartfelt recollection of winter in the capitol from RFK Jr.
I recall my uncle, President Kennedy, standing erect as he rode a toboggan in his top coat, never faltering until he slid into the boxwood at the bottom of the hill. Once my father, Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, brought a delegation of visiting Eskimos home from the Justice Department for lunch at our house. They spend the afternoon building a great igloo in the deep snow in our backyard. My brothers and sisters played in the structure for several weeks before it began to melt. On weekend afternoons, we commonly joined hundreds of Georgetown residents for ice skating on Washington's C&O Canal, which these days rarely freezes enough to safely skate.
Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil and its carbon cronies continue to pour money into think-thanks whose purpose is to deceive the American public into believing that global warming is a fantasy.
As Washington, D.C. is grappling with yet another colossal snowstorm this winter, we can only hope that somewhere in the skies over the capitol, there isn't a delegation of Eskimos looking for a safe place to land.
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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: camelot; kennedy
For some unknown reason, the public's fascination with Camelot is diminishing despite the best efforts of the liberal media
1 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:40:34 PM by Zakeet
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To: Zakeet
The entire Kennedy family milked the assassination of JFK to the hilt. Had that event not happened most of the country would not have given a hoot about the Kennedy name.
I hope the remaining places which chose to curse us with these drunks will wise up and remove them from office at the earliest possible opportunity.
2 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:50:03 PM by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: Zakeet
3 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:51:08 PM by JohnLongIsland ( schmuckie schucks)
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To: Zakeet
"snowy climbs"?
4 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:52:31 PM by Does so (ObamaCare...I pay for medical-marijuana claims by millions of Americans?)
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To: Zakeet
The Kennedy Fraud was 100% bought and paid for by Joe Kennedy in one of the first manifestations of the Liberal Media.
Even money and a biased media can’t help the current Kennedy crop of losers, heroin addicts, paychopaths, criminals, alcoholics, and mental defectives.
5 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:53:36 PM by FormerACLUmember (The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. - H. L. Menken.)
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To: Zakeet
Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil and its carbon cronies continue to pour money into think-thanks whose purpose is to deceive the American public into believing that global warming is a fantasy.
Either this is extremely labored satire or the writer has never heard of the word 'Anthropogenic'
6 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:56:53 PM by agere_contra
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To: agere_contra
That would depend on your time horizon, wouldn’t it?
7 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 6:06:38 PM by JLS (Democrats: People who wont even let you enjoy an unseasonably warm winter day)
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To: Zakeet
THE kennedys ARE YESTERDAYS NEWS.
They are gone forever . . . . .
GOOD RIDDENCE SCUM. . . . .
8 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 6:56:10 PM by Voter#537 (Eeverything Is Broken (RL Burnside) & Zero still blames Bush-So pour me another Tequila Shiela)
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To: Zakeet
The entire essay from 24 Sep2008 is fairly amusing.
http://www.robertfkennedyjr.com/articles/2008_sep_Los_angeles_times.html
When self-righteous Warmists preach their doctrine of Ruin Is Near, they really don't know when to stop before lapsing into self-parody.
9 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 6:58:29 PM by Nepeta
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To: FormerACLUmember
Even money and a biased media can’t help the current Kennedy crop of
losers, heroin addicts, paychopaths, criminals, alcoholics, and mental
defectives.
“Patrick, have you ever noticed that you don’t really look like the Kennedys?”
"My DNA test just came back. Watta surprise. If I only had a brain."
10 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:11:25 PM by Liz (A person who smiles in the face of adversity probably has a scapegoat nearby.)
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To: Liz
“She’s JFK’s daughter! She’s Teddy’s niece! Her uncle RFK was a senator from New York! Qualifications? For a Kennedy?”
She is an idiot.
“Joe Kennedy, Jr.’s name was floated as his uncle Teddy’s rightful successor.”
He is an idiot AND a traitor.
“Patrick Kennedy has recently referred to the election of Scott Brown as “a joke,”
He is an idiot and a doper.
The whole family hasnt spent one day in a real job, they all live off trusts.They believe the media hype put out about them. They love to be philanthropists with government money and not their own.
11 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:19:34 PM by Venturer
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To: Zakeet
Can’t put enough “Patches” on the Kennedy flat tire.
12 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:20:10 PM by dancusa (Political Correctness is a firewall to the truth.)
Posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:40:34 PM by Zakeet
The Kennedy clan has to be wondering lately, what the ____ (fill in blank) happened? The past year has not been kind to America's Royal Family. With yet another brutal winter storm having virtually shut down America's capital, our liberal friends in those snowy climbs will have ample time to pause and reflect on the demise of the Kennedys during the past year.
First Caroline met with unexpected criticism in her quest to fill Hillary Clinton's term in the Senate, whereupon she withdrew from consideration. What the ____ (fill in blank) happened? She's JFK's daughter! She's Teddy's niece! Her uncle RFK was a senator from New York! Qualifications? For a Kennedy?
Then came that dark day when Teddy passed away. The last Kennedy brother (with the exception of Barack Obama) was gone, and with him his political and family influence. As the Liberal Lion prepared to face divine justice for Mary Jo Kopechne and other lesser crimes, the family was preparing to lay claim to "the Kennedy seat."
Joe Kennedy, Jr.'s name was floated as his uncle Teddy's rightful successor. Joe Jr. had served in Congress and looked like the logical choice to maintain the Kennedy legacy in the Senate. Then out of nowhere came stories of Joe Jr.'s connection to Hugo Chávez. Mark Tapscott in The Washington Examiner wrote:
There are at least three reasons why Joe Kennedy should not be a U.S. senator from any state. First, he's not only a defender of a declared enemy of the U.S., but is also guilty of shamelessly using that enemy's resources in an unsuccessful attempt to polish his own image here in America. I refer, of course to Kennedy's deal with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez under which the latter gives the former heating oil which is then sold to "the poor" in America.
What the ____ (fill in blank) happened? For the second time in a matter of mere months, a member of America's Royal Family withdrew from consideration for a legacy seat in the Senate.
After Massachusetts Democrats had found a successor to "the Kennedy seat," the clan came out to lend their family clout to the campaign. Patrick Kennedy, the only member of the clan still in Congress, joined his stepmother in support of "Marsha" Coakley, but to no avail. Republican Scott Brown won the special election for the Senate seat belonging to the people of Massachusetts.
Patrick Kennedy has recently referred to the election of Scott Brown as "a joke," and like his fellow Democrats (former President Clinton and future former President Obama), he has placed the blame squarely on "Marsha" (really it's Martha) Coakley's shoulders. Meanwhile, Patrick has had his own "what the ____ (fill in blank)" moment as his polling numbers inexplicably point to a defeat in this year's elections.
Perhaps RFK Jr. will be the one who can restore the luster to the Kennedy name. RFK Jr. has been flying around in private jets, working to save the planet from pending disaster. David Freddoso writing for The Washington Examiner provides us with this heartfelt recollection of winter in the capitol from RFK Jr.
I recall my uncle, President Kennedy, standing erect as he rode a toboggan in his top coat, never faltering until he slid into the boxwood at the bottom of the hill. Once my father, Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, brought a delegation of visiting Eskimos home from the Justice Department for lunch at our house. They spend the afternoon building a great igloo in the deep snow in our backyard. My brothers and sisters played in the structure for several weeks before it began to melt. On weekend afternoons, we commonly joined hundreds of Georgetown residents for ice skating on Washington's C&O Canal, which these days rarely freezes enough to safely skate.
Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil and its carbon cronies continue to pour money into think-thanks whose purpose is to deceive the American public into believing that global warming is a fantasy.
As Washington, D.C. is grappling with yet another colossal snowstorm this winter, we can only hope that somewhere in the skies over the capitol, there isn't a delegation of Eskimos looking for a safe place to land.
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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: camelot; kennedy
For some unknown reason, the public's fascination with Camelot is diminishing despite the best efforts of the liberal media
1 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:40:34 PM by Zakeet
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To: Zakeet
The entire Kennedy family milked the assassination of JFK to the hilt. Had that event not happened most of the country would not have given a hoot about the Kennedy name.
I hope the remaining places which chose to curse us with these drunks will wise up and remove them from office at the earliest possible opportunity.
2 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:50:03 PM by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: Zakeet
3 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:51:08 PM by JohnLongIsland ( schmuckie schucks)
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To: Zakeet
"snowy climbs"?
4 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:52:31 PM by Does so (ObamaCare...I pay for medical-marijuana claims by millions of Americans?)
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To: Zakeet
The Kennedy Fraud was 100% bought and paid for by Joe Kennedy in one of the first manifestations of the Liberal Media.
Even money and a biased media can’t help the current Kennedy crop of losers, heroin addicts, paychopaths, criminals, alcoholics, and mental defectives.
5 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:53:36 PM by FormerACLUmember (The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. - H. L. Menken.)
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To: Zakeet
Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil and its carbon cronies continue to pour money into think-thanks whose purpose is to deceive the American public into believing that global warming is a fantasy.
Either this is extremely labored satire or the writer has never heard of the word 'Anthropogenic'
6 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 5:56:53 PM by agere_contra
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To: agere_contra
That would depend on your time horizon, wouldn’t it?
7 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 6:06:38 PM by JLS (Democrats: People who wont even let you enjoy an unseasonably warm winter day)
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To: Zakeet
THE kennedys ARE YESTERDAYS NEWS.
They are gone forever . . . . .
GOOD RIDDENCE SCUM. . . . .
8 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 6:56:10 PM by Voter#537 (Eeverything Is Broken (RL Burnside) & Zero still blames Bush-So pour me another Tequila Shiela)
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To: Zakeet
The entire essay from 24 Sep2008 is fairly amusing.
http://www.robertfkennedyjr.com/articles/2008_sep_Los_angeles_times.html
When self-righteous Warmists preach their doctrine of Ruin Is Near, they really don't know when to stop before lapsing into self-parody.
9 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 6:58:29 PM by Nepeta
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To: FormerACLUmember
Even money and a biased media can’t help the current Kennedy crop of
losers, heroin addicts, paychopaths, criminals, alcoholics, and mental
defectives.
“Patrick, have you ever noticed that you don’t really look like the Kennedys?”
"My DNA test just came back. Watta surprise. If I only had a brain."
10 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:11:25 PM by Liz (A person who smiles in the face of adversity probably has a scapegoat nearby.)
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To: Liz
“She’s JFK’s daughter! She’s Teddy’s niece! Her uncle RFK was a senator from New York! Qualifications? For a Kennedy?”
She is an idiot.
“Joe Kennedy, Jr.’s name was floated as his uncle Teddy’s rightful successor.”
He is an idiot AND a traitor.
“Patrick Kennedy has recently referred to the election of Scott Brown as “a joke,”
He is an idiot and a doper.
The whole family hasnt spent one day in a real job, they all live off trusts.They believe the media hype put out about them. They love to be philanthropists with government money and not their own.
11 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:19:34 PM by Venturer
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To: Zakeet
Can’t put enough “Patches” on the Kennedy flat tire.
12 posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 7:20:10 PM by dancusa (Political Correctness is a firewall to the truth.)
Saturday, February 6, 2010
How to Follow Up on a Follow-Through Day
Posted 02/04/2010 09:35 AM ET
IBD Executive Editor Chris Gessel discusses why the current correction is normal and healthy — and why you need to pay close attention to any heavy selling in the first few days of any new rally.
IBD: Over the last couple of weeks, we've seen many companies come out with great earnings reports only to see their stocks go down. How should an investor interpret that kind of action?
Chris Gessel: When you see stocks acting this way, it's generally reflecting a larger negative in the market. In fact, before the market was officially in a correction, it was bouncing around a bit. Companies we're coming out with good numbers, and the market would react poorly. We're seeing even more of this right now that the market has truly started to correct.
Ultimately, it's a reflection that we're in a bad market. And when the market is going down, it doesn't really matter what the fundamentals are or what the story behind the stock is. Most stocks are going to follow the trend of the market, and that's why you need to reduce your exposure and raise cash.
IBD: Of course, even in a correction when you're not looking to buy stocks, you do want to keep an eye on companies that are reporting stellar earnings...
CG: Absolutely. It's during this time when the bases that will propel these stocks higher, once the market turns around, are being formed. So this is a great time to be trolling the market and looking for those companies with great earnings...and maybe there's something changing in their industry or their product or their management. And maybe they're not falling as much as the overall market.
When the market does rebound, these stocks are typically the ones that will shoot out and become the next batch of leaders.
IBD: On January 29, The Big Picture said "the mood of this market is stubbornly negative." What are some of the signs of that negativity?
CG: I think the most basic sign is the daily price and volume changes of the market.
Just take a look at the daily chart of, say, the Nasdaq. You see a lot of big red spikes in the volume on down days, but when the market does bounce back, as it did on Monday (Feb. 1), the volume is much lower.
Generally, over the last 2 to 3 weeks, you've seen the market sell off in heavier volume, and rise in lower volume.
IBD: With the market in a correction, we're waiting now for what we call a follow-through day, a sign that the market direction may have shifted upward. What should investors do when the follow-through day occurs?
CG: There's one important thing to remember about a follow-through day: It's not a green light to go in and buy like crazy. What it says to you is, "OK, it's time to consider buying."
Hopefully, your watch list is up to date. The market follows through, and maybe one or two of the stocks that you've been following break out. You go ahead and start buying positions in those.
But let's say nothing on your watch list — which you've screened for solid fundamentals and other CAN SLIM traits — is breaking out. At the same time, however, you're seeing other stocks take off — stocks that really don't have the great earnings, liquidity, and other traits that are typical of big winners. That's got to give you pause.
We've seen that in some rallies, where there's not a lot of good leadership. And usually what happens is, without good leadership, the rally peters out.
How can you tell if a Follow-Through Day is Likely to Succeed — or Fail?
IBD: IBD research shows that a certain percentage of follow- through days aren't going to work. What other signs might indicate if a new rally is likely to succeed or fail?
CG: We've done a lot of study on that over the years, and the factor that has the biggest influence on whether a follow-through succeeds or fails is distribution (heavy selling) within the first 5 days after the follow-through.
Let's say we have a follow-through day on a Monday. If you get a distribution day on Tuesday or Wednesday, it's extremely negative for that rally. Almost all such rallies will fail.
If you get to Day 3 with no distribution days, it starts getting better, but it's still pretty negative to have a distribution day.
If you don't have a distribution day until Days 4 or 5 of the new rally, the failure rate is only around 30%.
Once you get past those initial 5 days after the follow-through, the longer you go without a distribution day, the odds of that rally working increase.
IBD: So if we see a distribution day within the first 1 or 2 days after a follow-through day, it's a big red flag.
CG: Absolutely. But that's not to say the rally can't work.
A couple have — most notably, rallies that came right at the end of major bear markets, such as in 1982 and last year. In March 2009, there was a distribution day soon after the follow-through day.
But in most other rallies, if not all, over the last few decades, distribution in the first day or two is a very, very negative sign.
IBD: Let's say you have a distribution day within the first couple days of a new rally, but then a little later, a quality stock you're watching takes off. Should you go ahead and buy it, but just be very aware of that red flag and be ready to sell, perhaps a little earlier than normal, if your stocks starts showing signs of trouble?
CG: Yes, absolutely. Whatever kind of market you're in, it's important to follow sound sell rules.
As with any new rally, you want to stick your toe in to test the waters. You don't want to dive in head first, but you also don't want to sit there and say "because of that distribution day, there's absolutely no way this rally can work, so I'm not going to buy any stocks."
Whenever you argue with the market, you get into trouble, either on the downside or the upside.
When stocks are breaking out and moving higher, you need to respect that and go after them — but carefully.
IBD: Anything else our readers should be paying particular attention to right now?
CG: I would just point out that IBD research shows the correction we're having right now is very normal and healthy.
We've looked at a lot of market bottoms, and how they rally, especially after big bear markets like the one we had in 2008.
What we've seen since the new uptrend started in March of last year is on the outer edges of how long and how far the market goes up before having its first intermediate correction. So we're definitely due for a correction. It will give stocks a chance to catch their breath and make new bases.
The challenge for investors is to remain positive and keep searching the market for those stocks that are setting up. When the markets turn, it's usually the stocks that break out on the first day, or the first few days, of a new rally that really become your big leaders.
If you get discouraged, or start losing interest in the market, and then the market turns around, the biggest opportunities may be passing you by.
You just have to stick with it, and follow the rules. IBD's rules are based on over 120 years of market facts, and if you follow them closely they'll serve you well.
So build your watch list, and keep reading The Big Picture and watching the IBD Market Wrap video to make sure you're ready to act when a new uptrend begins. The time you put in now will definitely pay off later.
IBD Executive Editor Chris Gessel discusses why the current correction is normal and healthy — and why you need to pay close attention to any heavy selling in the first few days of any new rally.
IBD: Over the last couple of weeks, we've seen many companies come out with great earnings reports only to see their stocks go down. How should an investor interpret that kind of action?
Chris Gessel: When you see stocks acting this way, it's generally reflecting a larger negative in the market. In fact, before the market was officially in a correction, it was bouncing around a bit. Companies we're coming out with good numbers, and the market would react poorly. We're seeing even more of this right now that the market has truly started to correct.
Ultimately, it's a reflection that we're in a bad market. And when the market is going down, it doesn't really matter what the fundamentals are or what the story behind the stock is. Most stocks are going to follow the trend of the market, and that's why you need to reduce your exposure and raise cash.
IBD: Of course, even in a correction when you're not looking to buy stocks, you do want to keep an eye on companies that are reporting stellar earnings...
CG: Absolutely. It's during this time when the bases that will propel these stocks higher, once the market turns around, are being formed. So this is a great time to be trolling the market and looking for those companies with great earnings...and maybe there's something changing in their industry or their product or their management. And maybe they're not falling as much as the overall market.
When the market does rebound, these stocks are typically the ones that will shoot out and become the next batch of leaders.
IBD: On January 29, The Big Picture said "the mood of this market is stubbornly negative." What are some of the signs of that negativity?
CG: I think the most basic sign is the daily price and volume changes of the market.
Just take a look at the daily chart of, say, the Nasdaq. You see a lot of big red spikes in the volume on down days, but when the market does bounce back, as it did on Monday (Feb. 1), the volume is much lower.
Generally, over the last 2 to 3 weeks, you've seen the market sell off in heavier volume, and rise in lower volume.
IBD: With the market in a correction, we're waiting now for what we call a follow-through day, a sign that the market direction may have shifted upward. What should investors do when the follow-through day occurs?
CG: There's one important thing to remember about a follow-through day: It's not a green light to go in and buy like crazy. What it says to you is, "OK, it's time to consider buying."
Hopefully, your watch list is up to date. The market follows through, and maybe one or two of the stocks that you've been following break out. You go ahead and start buying positions in those.
But let's say nothing on your watch list — which you've screened for solid fundamentals and other CAN SLIM traits — is breaking out. At the same time, however, you're seeing other stocks take off — stocks that really don't have the great earnings, liquidity, and other traits that are typical of big winners. That's got to give you pause.
We've seen that in some rallies, where there's not a lot of good leadership. And usually what happens is, without good leadership, the rally peters out.
How can you tell if a Follow-Through Day is Likely to Succeed — or Fail?
IBD: IBD research shows that a certain percentage of follow- through days aren't going to work. What other signs might indicate if a new rally is likely to succeed or fail?
CG: We've done a lot of study on that over the years, and the factor that has the biggest influence on whether a follow-through succeeds or fails is distribution (heavy selling) within the first 5 days after the follow-through.
Let's say we have a follow-through day on a Monday. If you get a distribution day on Tuesday or Wednesday, it's extremely negative for that rally. Almost all such rallies will fail.
If you get to Day 3 with no distribution days, it starts getting better, but it's still pretty negative to have a distribution day.
If you don't have a distribution day until Days 4 or 5 of the new rally, the failure rate is only around 30%.
Once you get past those initial 5 days after the follow-through, the longer you go without a distribution day, the odds of that rally working increase.
IBD: So if we see a distribution day within the first 1 or 2 days after a follow-through day, it's a big red flag.
CG: Absolutely. But that's not to say the rally can't work.
A couple have — most notably, rallies that came right at the end of major bear markets, such as in 1982 and last year. In March 2009, there was a distribution day soon after the follow-through day.
But in most other rallies, if not all, over the last few decades, distribution in the first day or two is a very, very negative sign.
IBD: Let's say you have a distribution day within the first couple days of a new rally, but then a little later, a quality stock you're watching takes off. Should you go ahead and buy it, but just be very aware of that red flag and be ready to sell, perhaps a little earlier than normal, if your stocks starts showing signs of trouble?
CG: Yes, absolutely. Whatever kind of market you're in, it's important to follow sound sell rules.
As with any new rally, you want to stick your toe in to test the waters. You don't want to dive in head first, but you also don't want to sit there and say "because of that distribution day, there's absolutely no way this rally can work, so I'm not going to buy any stocks."
Whenever you argue with the market, you get into trouble, either on the downside or the upside.
When stocks are breaking out and moving higher, you need to respect that and go after them — but carefully.
IBD: Anything else our readers should be paying particular attention to right now?
CG: I would just point out that IBD research shows the correction we're having right now is very normal and healthy.
We've looked at a lot of market bottoms, and how they rally, especially after big bear markets like the one we had in 2008.
What we've seen since the new uptrend started in March of last year is on the outer edges of how long and how far the market goes up before having its first intermediate correction. So we're definitely due for a correction. It will give stocks a chance to catch their breath and make new bases.
The challenge for investors is to remain positive and keep searching the market for those stocks that are setting up. When the markets turn, it's usually the stocks that break out on the first day, or the first few days, of a new rally that really become your big leaders.
If you get discouraged, or start losing interest in the market, and then the market turns around, the biggest opportunities may be passing you by.
You just have to stick with it, and follow the rules. IBD's rules are based on over 120 years of market facts, and if you follow them closely they'll serve you well.
So build your watch list, and keep reading The Big Picture and watching the IBD Market Wrap video to make sure you're ready to act when a new uptrend begins. The time you put in now will definitely pay off later.
More Government Equals Fewer Jobs (Schiff:...a nation of government employees)
Safe haven /Europacific Capital ^ | February 05, 2010 | Peter Schiff
Posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:10:48 AM by sickoflibs
With today's unexpected decline in December payrolls, the cry for more job-related stimulus will grow even louder. But the sad truth is that any new stimulus or jobs bills will ultimately swell the ranks of the unemployed, thereby raising calls for an even bigger federal effort. If we are not careful, government regulations, subsidies, and spending, all designed to fight unemployment, could push the labor market into a death spiral.
Regulation acts like a tax on job creation. By subjecting employers to all sorts of extra expenses when they hire people, regulations increase the cost of employment far beyond the wages employers actually pay their workers. In fact, some regulations are specifically tied to the number of workers employed. This provides some employers with a strong incentive to stay small and not hire.
The minimum wage law, which is really just a very visible workplace regulation, actually makes it illegal for employers to hire certain individuals and destroys entire categories of jobs. For instance, faced with high labor costs, some restaurants will avoid hiring dishwashers by switching to plastic utensils and paper plates. On a larger scale, factories may decide to switch to robotic assembly lines if human labor gets too expensive.
Other types of regulations, such as those that prohibit discrimination, create incentives for employers not to hire individuals that fall within the protected class. This is the result of potential litigation costs that may result from wrongful termination lawsuits. In other words, the more expensive government makes it to fire workers, the less likely they are to hire them in the first place.
Subsidies produce the opposite effect of regulation, but sometimes the results can be just as harmful. Government subsidies divert resources towards politically favored activities, resulting in more jobs in areas such as health care and education, but fewer jobs in other sectors such as manufacturing. The net effect of this transfer is to diminish the productive capacity and efficiency of the economy, which lowers real economic growth and diminishes employment opportunities.
Although not as visible as regulations and subsidies, government spending also plays a large role in job destruction. The more money government spends, the more resources it drains from the private sector. The fiscal 2011 budget proposed by President Obama contains $3.8 trillion in federal spending. Think of government as a cancer feeding off the private sector. The larger it grows, the more jobs it kills. Unfortunately, most politicians follow the misguided advice of economist John Maynard Keynes, who advocated government spending as a means of job creation. In reality, government spending merely results in government jobs replacing more efficient private sector jobs.
Some economists point to taxes as the primary job killer, and argue that lower taxes will boost employment. While I have sympathy for this view, it misses the larger issue that the burden of government is not what it taxes but what it spends. The proposed fiscal 2011 federal budget contains "only" 2.4 trillion of taxes. The remaining 1.4 trillion of spending is borrowed (incredibly, for every dollar the government collects in taxes, it now spends almost $1.60). I would argue that a dollar borrowed kills more jobs than a dollar taxed. Therefore, cutting taxes and borrowing the shortfall kills more jobs then it creates. This is true because jobs require capital and government borrowing more directly crowds out private capital investment than taxes do.
In the end, I fully expect the government to directly provide make-work jobs to the armies of the unemployed. This will accelerate the pace of private sector job destruction and make our economy even less productive than it is today. This means that while the government may be able to provide people with jobs, the wages they pay will provide little in the way of purchasing power. In the end, we will become a nation of government employees, with plenty of work but little to show for it.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: economy; government; schifflist
The Peter Schiff/Redistribution Watch Ping. (Washington Bankrupting our Nation by Spending your past, present and future money!)
If you realize both parties in Washington think our money is theirs and you trust them to do the wrong thing, this list is for you.
If you think there is a Santa Claus who is going to get elected in Washington and cut a few taxes and spend a few trillion and jump start the economy, and get our lost money back, this list is not for you.
You can read past posts by clicking on : schifflist , I try to tag all relevant threads with the keyword : schifflist.
Ping list pinged by sickoflibs.
To join the ping list: FReepmail sickoflibs with the subject line add Schifflist.
(Stop getting pings by sending the subject line drop Schifflist.)
1 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:10:48 AM by sickoflibs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]
To: Harrius Magnus; mojitojoe; Pelham; mom2twinsn2; LongLiveTheRepublic; ConservativeOrBust; ...
The Peter Schiff/Redistribution Watch Ping. (Washington Bankrupting our Nation by Spending your past, present and future money!)
2 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:12:22 AM by sickoflibs ( "It's not the taxes, the redistribution is spending you demand stupid")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: sickoflibs
I have a question for our FReeper financial experts.
We know that Medicare is Socialized Medicine and that there is a tiny death/burial benefit. As of January 2008, that amount was $255.
We know that most Employer benefit plans include Health coverage and GROUP LIFE INSURANCE in amounts much greater than $255.
QUESTION:
If the Federal Government inserts itself into the private sector’s benefit programs. What happens to all those group life insurance reserves.
Incidentally, how many billions of dollars are currently held as Life Insurance reserves and who has control over them? The State Insurance Commissioners or the National Banks?
just curious
3 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:33:25 AM by sodpoodle (Despair - Man's surrender. Laughter - God's redemption.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: sickoflibs
Why can’t we just ALL work for the federal govt? After all, it worked so well in the USSR....
4 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:34:46 AM by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: sickoflibs
More Government Equals Fewer Jobs (Schiff:...a nation of government employees)
"Same as it ever was." (Talking Heads, Once in a Liftime.) I wish it was only once in a lifetime. But people are not learning from history or even the world around them right now.
Socialism has always been that way and it's that way now in EVERY SOCIALIST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. Socialism and its accompanying Marxist/Keynesian/Marxist political/economic systems are theoretical and real live historical disasters that have been utterly refuted. Yet people still run to government for answers.
There has been and always will be a direct relationship between the larger the size of government and two things: 1) Politically: the greater danger it is to its own people and 2) Economically: the more poverty it creates.
1) Politically, millions more have died at the hands of their own government than from any foreign nation. To the degree it continues to grow, our own government is a greater threat to us than our foreign enemies, beginning with the government SANCTIONED (watch out for mandated) slaughter of 50-60 million unborn babies. More American lives are at peril the larger our government grows. History bears this out.
2) Economically, government has never and cannot ever create wealth. All it can do is create poverty. The best anti-poverty program: limited government, laissez-faire free-market economy, and abolish the IRS in favor of a 10% sales tax. The Reagan boon would pale compared to the wealth that would be created.
5 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:46:21 AM by Jim 0216
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: sickoflibs
Think of government as a cancer feeding off the private sector. The larger it grows, the more jobs it kills.
Indeed. Schiff 2010!
6 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:46:35 AM by kara2008
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: sodpoodle
You are the only one curious about where the insurance reserves end up. They could be 1) grabbed by government, 2) allocated back to the policy holders, 3) left to the shareholders or 4) stolen by management. The odds are on 1 or 4, with 2 coming in last.
7 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 10:02:32 AM by slowhandluke (It's hard to be cynical enough in this age.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]
To: sickoflibs
The party is coming to an end for the big spending government we have today. It can't be sustained by the shrinking number of taxpayers. The only thing that can save it is domestic oil and natural gas production. We could keep all those petrol dollars in America and create tens of thousands of high paying jobs. We need something beside debt to drive our economy.
8 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 10:09:08 AM by peeps36 (Democrats Don't Need No Stinking Input From You Little People)
Posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:10:48 AM by sickoflibs
With today's unexpected decline in December payrolls, the cry for more job-related stimulus will grow even louder. But the sad truth is that any new stimulus or jobs bills will ultimately swell the ranks of the unemployed, thereby raising calls for an even bigger federal effort. If we are not careful, government regulations, subsidies, and spending, all designed to fight unemployment, could push the labor market into a death spiral.
Regulation acts like a tax on job creation. By subjecting employers to all sorts of extra expenses when they hire people, regulations increase the cost of employment far beyond the wages employers actually pay their workers. In fact, some regulations are specifically tied to the number of workers employed. This provides some employers with a strong incentive to stay small and not hire.
The minimum wage law, which is really just a very visible workplace regulation, actually makes it illegal for employers to hire certain individuals and destroys entire categories of jobs. For instance, faced with high labor costs, some restaurants will avoid hiring dishwashers by switching to plastic utensils and paper plates. On a larger scale, factories may decide to switch to robotic assembly lines if human labor gets too expensive.
Other types of regulations, such as those that prohibit discrimination, create incentives for employers not to hire individuals that fall within the protected class. This is the result of potential litigation costs that may result from wrongful termination lawsuits. In other words, the more expensive government makes it to fire workers, the less likely they are to hire them in the first place.
Subsidies produce the opposite effect of regulation, but sometimes the results can be just as harmful. Government subsidies divert resources towards politically favored activities, resulting in more jobs in areas such as health care and education, but fewer jobs in other sectors such as manufacturing. The net effect of this transfer is to diminish the productive capacity and efficiency of the economy, which lowers real economic growth and diminishes employment opportunities.
Although not as visible as regulations and subsidies, government spending also plays a large role in job destruction. The more money government spends, the more resources it drains from the private sector. The fiscal 2011 budget proposed by President Obama contains $3.8 trillion in federal spending. Think of government as a cancer feeding off the private sector. The larger it grows, the more jobs it kills. Unfortunately, most politicians follow the misguided advice of economist John Maynard Keynes, who advocated government spending as a means of job creation. In reality, government spending merely results in government jobs replacing more efficient private sector jobs.
Some economists point to taxes as the primary job killer, and argue that lower taxes will boost employment. While I have sympathy for this view, it misses the larger issue that the burden of government is not what it taxes but what it spends. The proposed fiscal 2011 federal budget contains "only" 2.4 trillion of taxes. The remaining 1.4 trillion of spending is borrowed (incredibly, for every dollar the government collects in taxes, it now spends almost $1.60). I would argue that a dollar borrowed kills more jobs than a dollar taxed. Therefore, cutting taxes and borrowing the shortfall kills more jobs then it creates. This is true because jobs require capital and government borrowing more directly crowds out private capital investment than taxes do.
In the end, I fully expect the government to directly provide make-work jobs to the armies of the unemployed. This will accelerate the pace of private sector job destruction and make our economy even less productive than it is today. This means that while the government may be able to provide people with jobs, the wages they pay will provide little in the way of purchasing power. In the end, we will become a nation of government employees, with plenty of work but little to show for it.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: economy; government; schifflist
The Peter Schiff/Redistribution Watch Ping. (Washington Bankrupting our Nation by Spending your past, present and future money!)
If you realize both parties in Washington think our money is theirs and you trust them to do the wrong thing, this list is for you.
If you think there is a Santa Claus who is going to get elected in Washington and cut a few taxes and spend a few trillion and jump start the economy, and get our lost money back, this list is not for you.
You can read past posts by clicking on : schifflist , I try to tag all relevant threads with the keyword : schifflist.
Ping list pinged by sickoflibs.
To join the ping list: FReepmail sickoflibs with the subject line add Schifflist.
(Stop getting pings by sending the subject line drop Schifflist.)
1 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:10:48 AM by sickoflibs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]
To: Harrius Magnus; mojitojoe; Pelham; mom2twinsn2; LongLiveTheRepublic; ConservativeOrBust; ...
The Peter Schiff/Redistribution Watch Ping. (Washington Bankrupting our Nation by Spending your past, present and future money!)
2 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:12:22 AM by sickoflibs ( "It's not the taxes, the redistribution is spending you demand stupid")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: sickoflibs
I have a question for our FReeper financial experts.
We know that Medicare is Socialized Medicine and that there is a tiny death/burial benefit. As of January 2008, that amount was $255.
We know that most Employer benefit plans include Health coverage and GROUP LIFE INSURANCE in amounts much greater than $255.
QUESTION:
If the Federal Government inserts itself into the private sector’s benefit programs. What happens to all those group life insurance reserves.
Incidentally, how many billions of dollars are currently held as Life Insurance reserves and who has control over them? The State Insurance Commissioners or the National Banks?
just curious
3 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:33:25 AM by sodpoodle (Despair - Man's surrender. Laughter - God's redemption.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: sickoflibs
Why can’t we just ALL work for the federal govt? After all, it worked so well in the USSR....
4 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:34:46 AM by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: sickoflibs
More Government Equals Fewer Jobs (Schiff:...a nation of government employees)
"Same as it ever was." (Talking Heads, Once in a Liftime.) I wish it was only once in a lifetime. But people are not learning from history or even the world around them right now.
Socialism has always been that way and it's that way now in EVERY SOCIALIST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. Socialism and its accompanying Marxist/Keynesian/Marxist political/economic systems are theoretical and real live historical disasters that have been utterly refuted. Yet people still run to government for answers.
There has been and always will be a direct relationship between the larger the size of government and two things: 1) Politically: the greater danger it is to its own people and 2) Economically: the more poverty it creates.
1) Politically, millions more have died at the hands of their own government than from any foreign nation. To the degree it continues to grow, our own government is a greater threat to us than our foreign enemies, beginning with the government SANCTIONED (watch out for mandated) slaughter of 50-60 million unborn babies. More American lives are at peril the larger our government grows. History bears this out.
2) Economically, government has never and cannot ever create wealth. All it can do is create poverty. The best anti-poverty program: limited government, laissez-faire free-market economy, and abolish the IRS in favor of a 10% sales tax. The Reagan boon would pale compared to the wealth that would be created.
5 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:46:21 AM by Jim 0216
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: sickoflibs
Think of government as a cancer feeding off the private sector. The larger it grows, the more jobs it kills.
Indeed. Schiff 2010!
6 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:46:35 AM by kara2008
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: sodpoodle
You are the only one curious about where the insurance reserves end up. They could be 1) grabbed by government, 2) allocated back to the policy holders, 3) left to the shareholders or 4) stolen by management. The odds are on 1 or 4, with 2 coming in last.
7 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 10:02:32 AM by slowhandluke (It's hard to be cynical enough in this age.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]
To: sickoflibs
The party is coming to an end for the big spending government we have today. It can't be sustained by the shrinking number of taxpayers. The only thing that can save it is domestic oil and natural gas production. We could keep all those petrol dollars in America and create tens of thousands of high paying jobs. We need something beside debt to drive our economy.
8 posted on Saturday, February 06, 2010 10:09:08 AM by peeps36 (Democrats Don't Need No Stinking Input From You Little People)
Monday, February 1, 2010
defunct learn 2 earn 8 program, RIP 16 aug09
Hi There Dear Readers
Thanks for taking the time to look at this site.
Well for starters, this is more about skill, luck and patience.
Skill to analyse and select, luck to give that final push and patience to wait, that its the right decision.
I'm not a certified financial advisor and i'm just doing this to share what i know.
This is about investing in US stock market, now if you really feel like stopping immediately...
Hang on awhile... open your mind to new ideas and give it a try for few months, before deciding it is not for you. Take it one step at a time and decide after that.
Have you learnt the basics of investing either by reading or attending seminars on Bursa, US options or forex before? But found that it is difficult to recoup your cost and wanting to give up? Would you consider to stop a moment and go back to the basics and invest in shares instead.
I can help by shortlisting the number of US shares (since there's about 10,000 to choose from) and email you a list of shares per week.
Even if you are a beginner and have no idea how this works. I can assist you on the basics and guide you for 3 months via virtual trading and earn some virtual pocket money. Once you feel comfortable, you can head into the real world with some of your own capital. Always remember to read up more, as there is always something new to learn everyday. Frankly speaking, your own success would very much depend on your own hard work.
By now, you should be wondering about the package price for this:
A) After 3 months of starting the course, if you still have not earn virtual money or if you are not comfortable yet. The basic training course will be extended on a monthly basis till you are ready with no extra charges at all. (well, the moment you can show profit for 3 trading session in a row, you'll be consider 'quite ready' for the real world and best don't hang around in training forever)
B) After 3 months of starting the course and you feel comfortable earning virtual money but prefer some extension on time for the tutorial. You can go ahead and open an ebroking account with any of the big internet trading firms such as Etrade, TDAmeritrade & etc to trade on your own. However, there'll be a RM10.00 charge per month for the weekly US share listing with feedback and guidance provided.
C) After 3 months of starting the course and you feel comfortable earning virtual money. You can go ahead and open an ebroking account with any of the big internet trading firms such as Etrade, TDAmeritrade & etc to trade on your own. If you do not require any feedback or guidance. But you just want the weekly US share listing. The charge is RM100.00 for one year.
D) After 3 months of starting the course and you feel comfortable earning virtual money. You can go ahead and open an ebroking account with any of the big internet trading firms such as Etrade, TDAmeritrade & etc to trade on your own. If you want feedback, guidance and weekly US share listing. The price will be RM150.00 for one year.
E) After 3 months of starting the course and you feel comfortable earning virtual money. You can go ahead and open an ebroking account with any of the big internet trading firms such as Etrade, TDAmeritrade & etc to trade on your own. For feedback, guidance, weekly US share listing and weekly Top 10 US Industry Sectors (choose any 5 sectors from the Top 10, then get to know the Top 5 shares inside). The price will be RM200.00 for one year.
Do note the price you are paying for this service. I am not a licensed investment advisor and i am only doing this to help out anyone who is interested in this field. Well, if you are wondering why I want to do this. When i first started out, i found that free advise cost me a bomb in tiution fees from the share market. Professional advise also cost me a bomb, but the lesson they taught was invaluable as a stepping stone, showing me the way on which books to read up and guiding me to carve a path on my own. I would just like to fill the gap in between this two and help those individual traders who wish to take their first step onto this journey or those who have stumbled a bit during this journey. After this, they will have to take their lessons to a higher level and learn to soar on their own.
Since you have responded to the first email and feel reading this seems repetitive. (hmm, I got an F in english). Anyway, our journey begins and i will email to you the tutorial course every weekend for 3 months. Please feel free to ask anything you like on the share or maybe you have your own listing and would like some feedback. Just ask till you are satisfied.
Best Wishes and Have a Profitable Trading Day
-learn2earn8 team
Thanks for taking the time to look at this site.
Well for starters, this is more about skill, luck and patience.
Skill to analyse and select, luck to give that final push and patience to wait, that its the right decision.
I'm not a certified financial advisor and i'm just doing this to share what i know.
This is about investing in US stock market, now if you really feel like stopping immediately...
Hang on awhile... open your mind to new ideas and give it a try for few months, before deciding it is not for you. Take it one step at a time and decide after that.
Have you learnt the basics of investing either by reading or attending seminars on Bursa, US options or forex before? But found that it is difficult to recoup your cost and wanting to give up? Would you consider to stop a moment and go back to the basics and invest in shares instead.
I can help by shortlisting the number of US shares (since there's about 10,000 to choose from) and email you a list of shares per week.
Even if you are a beginner and have no idea how this works. I can assist you on the basics and guide you for 3 months via virtual trading and earn some virtual pocket money. Once you feel comfortable, you can head into the real world with some of your own capital. Always remember to read up more, as there is always something new to learn everyday. Frankly speaking, your own success would very much depend on your own hard work.
By now, you should be wondering about the package price for this:
A) After 3 months of starting the course, if you still have not earn virtual money or if you are not comfortable yet. The basic training course will be extended on a monthly basis till you are ready with no extra charges at all. (well, the moment you can show profit for 3 trading session in a row, you'll be consider 'quite ready' for the real world and best don't hang around in training forever)
B) After 3 months of starting the course and you feel comfortable earning virtual money but prefer some extension on time for the tutorial. You can go ahead and open an ebroking account with any of the big internet trading firms such as Etrade, TDAmeritrade & etc to trade on your own. However, there'll be a RM10.00 charge per month for the weekly US share listing with feedback and guidance provided.
C) After 3 months of starting the course and you feel comfortable earning virtual money. You can go ahead and open an ebroking account with any of the big internet trading firms such as Etrade, TDAmeritrade & etc to trade on your own. If you do not require any feedback or guidance. But you just want the weekly US share listing. The charge is RM100.00 for one year.
D) After 3 months of starting the course and you feel comfortable earning virtual money. You can go ahead and open an ebroking account with any of the big internet trading firms such as Etrade, TDAmeritrade & etc to trade on your own. If you want feedback, guidance and weekly US share listing. The price will be RM150.00 for one year.
E) After 3 months of starting the course and you feel comfortable earning virtual money. You can go ahead and open an ebroking account with any of the big internet trading firms such as Etrade, TDAmeritrade & etc to trade on your own. For feedback, guidance, weekly US share listing and weekly Top 10 US Industry Sectors (choose any 5 sectors from the Top 10, then get to know the Top 5 shares inside). The price will be RM200.00 for one year.
Do note the price you are paying for this service. I am not a licensed investment advisor and i am only doing this to help out anyone who is interested in this field. Well, if you are wondering why I want to do this. When i first started out, i found that free advise cost me a bomb in tiution fees from the share market. Professional advise also cost me a bomb, but the lesson they taught was invaluable as a stepping stone, showing me the way on which books to read up and guiding me to carve a path on my own. I would just like to fill the gap in between this two and help those individual traders who wish to take their first step onto this journey or those who have stumbled a bit during this journey. After this, they will have to take their lessons to a higher level and learn to soar on their own.
Since you have responded to the first email and feel reading this seems repetitive. (hmm, I got an F in english). Anyway, our journey begins and i will email to you the tutorial course every weekend for 3 months. Please feel free to ask anything you like on the share or maybe you have your own listing and would like some feedback. Just ask till you are satisfied.
Best Wishes and Have a Profitable Trading Day
-learn2earn8 team
Bear Hug (Great Pictures)
In these series of photos, you will see a polar bear come upon some sled dogs tethered to a steak. Normally you would think that a dog tethered to a steak would be lunch for a polar bear, but these pictures tell a completely different story. From what I can see, the polar bear just wanted to play and get a little brotherly love. The professional photographer who took these photos said, the bear came back every night that week to play with the dogs. Excellent photos, taken by Norbert Rosing when he was in the wilds around Canada’s Hudson Bay.
CNNS Press Release: U.S. Navy announced release of senior Al Quaida terrorist
The U.S. Navy today announced that it has released a senior Al Quaida terrorist after questioning him extensively for 27 days while he was held prisoner aboard a US aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. In a humanitarian gesture, the terrorist was given $50 US and a white Ford Fairlane automobile upon being released from custody. The attached photo shows the terrorist on his way home just after being released by the Navy.
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