Category Archives: U.S.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? The U.S. was lagging behind Europe even before the Credit Crisis

Before the 2007-08 Credit Crunch Crisis the United States was far behind the European Union, when it came to new job creation.

According to a Fortune article, from 1999 to 2008 the EU created 14 million new jobs, while the U.S. created 8 million.

On top of that, once the economy started down the drain the United States lost more jobs than were lost in the EU.  Percentage wise the EU and U.S. are around 9% unemployment (officially, unofficially the percentages are higher), but when you look at actual numbers the U.S. is leading the way down.  As of December 2010, the difference in job losses, between the EU and U.S., are about 7 million.

 

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Obama spouts the neccesity of higher education, but Middle Class is now officially unable to pay for it

“We’re seeing further differentiation in incomes, with the rich get richer and the poor getting poorer. Meanwhile, the middle class often claims they’re too wealthy to get student aid, yet too poor to afford college.”-Mark Kantrowitz,  FinAid.org and FastWeb.com

President Barack Obama is constantly stumping for higher education as a way to recover the U.S. economy, the problem is most people in the United States can’t afford to go.

According to a CNN/Money report (based on the findings of the College Board), tuition and fees have skyrocketed 130% in the past 20 years, while incomes for the majority of U.S. workers have stayed relatively the same.  By the way a recent IRS report says the same thing about U.S. incomes.

In 2008 median income was $33,000, when adjusted for inflation that means the average person was making $400.00 less than in 1988 (I knew I wasn’t crazy).

In 2008 tuition and fees averaged $6,500 per year, which is 130% more than what they were in 1988.

What happened to financial aid?  Obama ran for president partly on a promise to make more federal aid available.  Didn’t happen.  According to the College Group, the maximum federal aid (which includes loans, which should not be considered “aid” ’cause you have to pay it back) has remained stuck at 1992 levels; only $23,000  (by the way that “aid” is limited, so if you don’t get a ‘four year degree’ in ‘four’ years, which is actually the reality for many, you don’t get anymore federal “aid”).

Two trends have developed as a result: Families hell bent on their kids getting worthless degrees (I have one, from Idaho State University) are getting deeper into debt (isn’t that part of our country’s economic problems?).  The other bigger trend is that people are delaying entry into college, or just saying “forget it, it ain’t worth it”.

Here’s a sobering thought: According to Mark Kantrowitz, the cost of higher education is such that many of today’s college students will still be paying their student loans when their children are college age!  That is a sure sign that college is no longer “worth it”!

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Arby’s Sold

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group sold off its Arby’s restaurant, for $430 million.  The new owner is Atlanta based Roark Capital Group.

Earlier in the year it was announced that if Arby’s sales didn’t improve, the fast food restaurant would be sold.  The former Wendy’s/Arby’s Group still holds 15% of Arby’s stock.  The CEO, Roland Smith, says they can now focus solely on the better performing Wendy’s fast food chain.

Smith says that any closing of Arby’s stores will involve those already slated to be closed, which will happen as leases expire.  The deal with Roark Capital Group will result in changes for Arby’s, including a name change.

I can tell you that here in Chubbuck, Idaho, the Arby’s store has the lowest customer traffic of any of the national chain fast food restaurants.

 

Idaho, U.S.

Idaho State University hit with sanctions, major donor says ISU President “inflexible”

“There’s something very sick at that school, and Art Vailas I think is at the core of it. I was shocked when I heard about the potential for a vote of no confidence. I talked to Art several times about it. Art is not a very good listener. He’s very stubborn. He’s inflexible. It is his way or no way because he thinks he’s right. I told him never to call me anymore.”-Jim Rodgers, major Idaho State University donor, and former chancellor of higher education in Nevada

Jim Rodgers is a major donor to ISU, and he’s not happy with what’s been happening there.  The Idaho State Board of Education ended the faculty’s bargaining ability by suspended the Faculty Senate, at the request of President Arthur Vailas.
Vailas, and his administrators, have been busy trashing ISU ever since they arrived a few years ago.  It’s looks like it’s part of a plan by the state to reduce ISU’s ability to provide higher education.
For one thing student tuition and fees have skyrocketed, and classes have been cut.  The reason given is always lack of money, but just a few weeks ago ISU announced they were buying an old factory building that was used to make medical products (aka Ballard Medical building).
The suspension of the Faculty Senate prompted a vote by the American Association of University Professors.  They voted to sanction ISU, the largest university ever to be sanctioned by the AAUP.  The vote was unanimous.
Former ISU Faculty Senate Chair, Phil Cole, says AAUP sanctions should be taken seriously, because they act as a warning to potential employers, and graduate schools, that the education program at ISU is ‘suspect’, and that “there is a fundamental flaw in a university and it could collapse.”

This might be part of the State Board of Education’s plans to end ISU as a four year university (which many of the state employees at ISU believe is the intention).

U.S.

The U.S. IS a Police State: Schools becoming temporary prisons

What’s really scarey about the following list, is that there are a lot of parents who actually agree with increased “security” measures in schools.

1: Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has announced that school officials can search the cell phones and laptops of public school students if there are “reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school.”

2: It came out in court that one school district in Pennsylvania secretly recorded more than 66,000 images of students using webcams that were embedded in school-issued laptops that the students were using at home.

3: If you can believe it, a “certified TSA official” was recently brought in to oversee student searches at the Santa Fe High School prom.

4: A few years ago a class of 3rd grade students at one Kentucky elementary school were searched by a group of teachers after $5.00 went missing.  During the search the students were actually required to remove their shoes and their socks.

5: At one public school in the Chicago area, children have been banned from bringing their lunches from home.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Students at that particular school are absolutely prohibited from bringing lunches from home.  Instead, it is mandatory that they eat the food that the school cafeteria serves.

6: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is spending huge amounts of money to install surveillance cameras in the cafeterias of public schools so that government control freaks can closely monitor what our children are eating.

7: A teenager in suburban Dallas was recently forced to take a part time job after being ticketed for using bad language in one high school classroom.  The original ticket was for $340, but additional fees have raised the total bill to $637.

8: It is not just high school kids that are being ticketed by police.  In Texas the crackdown extends all the way down to elementary school students.  In fact, it has been reported that Texas police gave “1,000 tickets” to elementary school kids over a recent six year period.

9: A few months ago, a 17 year-old honor student in North Carolina named Ashley Smithwick accidentally took her father’s lunch with her to school.  It contained a small paring knife which he would use to slice up apples.  So what happened to this standout student when the school discovered this?  The school suspended her for the rest of the year and the police charged her with a misdemeanor.

10: A little over a year ago, a 6 year old girl in Florida was handcuffed and sent to a mental facility after throwing temper tantrums at her elementary school.

11: In early 2010, a 12 year old girl in New York was arrested by police and marched out of her school in handcuffs just because she doodled on her desk. “I love my friends Abby and Faith” was what she reportedly wrote on her desk.

12: There are actually some public schools in the United States that are so paranoid that they have actually installed cameras in student bathrooms.

13: Down in Florida, students have actually been arrested by police for bringing a plastic picnic knife to school, for throwing an eraser, and for drawing a picture of a gun.

14: The Florida State Department of Juvenile Justice has announced that it will begin using computer software to predict crime by students and will place “potential offenders” in specific prevention and education programs.

15: A group of high school students made national headlines a while back when they revealed that they were ordered by a security guard to stop singing the national anthem during a visit to the Lincoln Memorial.

16: In some U.S. schools, armed cops accompanied by police dogs actually conduct surprise raids with their guns drawn. YouTube video shows police officers aiming their guns at school children on the floor.

17: Back in 2009, one 8 year old boy in Massachusetts was sent home from school and underwent psychological evaluation because he drew a picture of Jesus on the cross.

18: This year, 13 parents in Duncan, South Carolina were actually ticketed for cheering during a high school graduation.

Source: The American Dream

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Proof that it’s gotten worse since Obama became President

The following list is not necessarily blaming Obama for the economic problems, it’s just showing how things have gotten worse since he became President.

1: In January 2009, the official U.S. unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. Today it is 9.1 percent.

2: When Barack Obama took office, the number of “long-term unemployed” in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is up to 6.2 million.

3: When Barack Obama first became president, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States was $1.83. Today it is $3.79. This also affects the price of almost everything else that we buy.

4: In April 2009, the average U.S. household spent approximately $201 on gasoline. In April 2011, the average U.S. household spent approximately $369 on gasoline.

5: According to an article in the Daily Mail, the cost of a Memorial Day cookout was 29 percent higher this year than it was last year.

6: When Barack Obama was sworn in, there were nearly 32 million Americans on food stamps. Today, there are more than 44 million on food stamps.

7: According to the U.S. Census, the number of children living in poverty has gone up by about 2 million in just the past 2 years.

8: When Barack Obama took office, the U.S. national debt was 10.6 trillion dollars.  Today it is 14.3 trillion dollars.

9: The federal government has borrowed 29,660 more dollars per household since Barack Obama signed the economic stimulus law two years ago.

10: During Barack Obama’s first two years in office, the U.S. government added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.

11: The combined debt of the major GSEs (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Sallie Mae) has increased from 3.2 trillion in 2008 to 6.4 trillion in 2011.  Thanks to George W. Bush, Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress, U.S. taxpayers are standing behind that debt.

12: Under Obama, the U.S. trade deficit continues to grow. The trade deficit was about 33 percent larger in 2010 than it was in 2009, and the 2011 trade deficit is expected to be even bigger.

13: Only 66.8% of American men had a job last year. That was the lowest level that has ever been recorded in all of U.S. history.

14: Just since August, 2 million more Americans have left the labor force.

15: In 2010, more than a million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure for the first time ever, and that number is expected to go even higher in 2011.

16: The U.S. real estate crisis just continues to get worse. During the first three months of this year, less new homes were sold in the U.S. than in any three month period ever recorded.

17: The U.S. dollar has fallen by 17 percent compared to other major national currencies since 2009.

18: Faith in the U.S. dollar and in U.S. Treasuries is rapidly declining.  The mainstream news is not reporting on it much, but right now the Chinese are rapidly dumping U.S. government debt. That is not a good sign.

19: When Barack Obama first took office, an ounce of gold was going for about $850. Today an ounce of gold costs about $1500.

20: Americans seem to be more pessimistic about the economy than ever.  According to a brand new poll, 61 percent of Americans believe that they will not return to their “pre-recession” lifestyles until at least 2014.

Source: The American Dream

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. Investor Markets about to crash

1: According to The New York Post, nearly all of the major Wall Street banks are planning huge layoffs….

“Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley currently are among those financial institutions either weighing staff cuts or actually paring payroll.”

2: A new CNBC article claims that a “negative feedback loop” has “taken control” on Wall Street.  Essentially what is happening is that bad economic news is creating an “environment of pessimism” which creates even more bad economic news, etc. etc.

3: OPEC has announced that oil production levels will not be raised. This is likely to spook the financial markets and cause the price of oil to go up even higher in the coming weeks. The last time U.S. energy expenditures were over 9 percent of GDP was back in 2008 and at that point the economy rapidly plunged into a very deep recession. For the first time since 2008 we have reached the 9 percent figure again, and many on Wall Street fear that this could lead to bad things.

4: QE2 will be wrapping up at the end of June, and many on Wall Street had been counting on yet another round of quantitative easing. Over the past couple of days, however, it has started to become clear that is just not going to happen – at least for now. In fact, Pimco’s co-chief investment officer, Bill Gross, is telling investors that for the Fed it will “be difficult to initiate a QE3.” But without artificial stimulation the U.S. economy may start really struggling again, and Wall Street knows this.

5: Moody’s recently warned that it may downgrade the debt ratings of Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Bank stocks were on the cutting edge of the financial collapse of 2008, and it looks like that may happen again this time.

6: Faith in the U.S. dollar continues to decline. Back on April 18th, Standard & Poor’s changed its outlook on U.S. government debt from “stable” to “negative” and warned that the U.S. could soon lose its AAA rating. China has been very busy dumping short-term U.S. government debt and there does not seem to be a lot of people (other than the Federal Reserve) that are eager to buy U.S. Treasuries right now.

7: U.S. consumer confidence is already lower than it was back in September 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed. Consumer spending makes up approximately 70 percent of the U.S. economy and Wall Street is watching this number closely.

8: A whole slew of bad economic news has been pouring in lately. Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London, recently pointed out to CNBC some of the data points that have been particularly alarming….

“US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn’t revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durables goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing.”

9: A whole lot of folks in the financial industry have been warning about the next financial collapse lately. For example, economist Nouriel Roubini recently made the following statement….

“I think right now we’re on the tipping point of a market correction. Data from the U.S., from Europe, from Japan, from China are suggesting an economic slowdown.”

10: According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 48% of Americans believe that it is either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that the United States will experience a “depression” within the next 12 months. Needless to say, Wall Street is highly influenced by the overall mood of the nation.

Source: The American Dream

 

International, Opinion, U.S.

Iraq tells U.S. Congressmen to get the F out!

“They are unwelcome in Iraq from now on. Their demand to conduct an investigation into the raid is categorically unacceptable and has upset Iraq.“-Ali Al-Dabbagh, Iraqi government spokesman

The U.S. Congressional delegation in Iraq has really put their feet in the their mouths, by showing just how arrogant U.S. officials are when it comes to Iraq.

First, the stupid Kalifornian (sic) Congressman Dana Rohrabacher demanded that Iraq pay for being invaded and occupied by the United States.  He said it was to pay back the U.S. for the service of taking out Saddam Hussein, something the Iraqis never really asked for (most of the testimonies before Congress have proven to be faked).

The Kalifornian described the U.S. invasion of Iraq as a sign that we care about Iraqis: “We were hoping that there would be a consideration of a payback because the United States right now is in close to a very serious economic crisis and we could certainly use some people to care about our situation as we have cared about theirs.”-Dana Rohrabacher

Moron Rohrabacher!  The only justified “payback” is that Iraq invades the United States and takes out our government!

Second, idiot Congressmen have arrogantly demanded that the United States conduct an investigation into the Iraqi attack on the Iranian refugee Ashraf camp.  The Iranian’s were long time refugees in Iraq, but they were also pro-U.S./anti-Iranian rebels who had been using Iraqi territory for training, supply and a safe haven for decades.

The U.S. demand to investigate the Iraqi raid makes it sound like the United States was really using Ashraf camp to stage terrorist raids into Iran, despite denials of such action by our leaders.

The U.S. Embassy in Iraq, has been notified that the Congressional delegation needs to leave NOW.

 

U.S.

Obama has worst Veto record since Garfield

According to Smart Politics at the University of Minnesota, President Barack Obama has the worst veto record since President James Garfield in 1881.

Obama has vetoed only two bills since becoming President; a stopgap appropriations bill on December 30, 2009, and a housing foreclosure bill on October 7, 2010.

So it looks like Obama is the most Congress/Corporate America friendly President in the past 130 years!

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Beige Book shows New York, Philly, Atlanta and Chicago Slow Down

The big bank known as Federal Reserve released its “Beige Book” of economic conditions (aka Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions).  Four districts of the United States show a slow down in economic activity.

Activity in the New York (district 2), Philadelphia (district 3), Atlanta (district 6) and Chicago (district 7) regions are slowing down.  The Federal Reserve blames the down turn on everything from the March 11 disasters in Japan, to a weak housing market, to increasing food and energy prices.

Their are 12 Federal Reserve districts in the United States.  The Beige Book will be presented at a Federal Reserve meeting on June 21.