Business / Economic / Financial

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Typical jersey – I recall back when, essex county sheriff d'allessio got indicted for innumerable bribes mob-infested jersey style … Christie says Essex County executive is wrong to collect pension, full salary TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie said today that Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. is wrong to collect a pension and a salary for the same position simultaneously. Christie, in his strongest words yet on the issue, said he called DiVincenzo to express his displeasure. "I made this really … California's got their Bell's rizzo, etc., et als

Libyan rebels gain backing (Washington Post) [ Well there you go … it's all over but the shoutin'! … Riiiiight!Libya is a Continuation of Neocon War to Remake Middle East [ Come on! They're muddling along, debt ridden, incompetent, declining, failing, almost to a nation, individually and collectively. Trying to still appear relevant, more important are the nations absent from their war crimes folly (excepting israel for which these treasury depleting fiascos in the name of zionism continue down this path of self-defeat / self-destruction) ] Secret Illegal War Of Aggression Has Been Raging In Libya For Weeks Watson | US and British spies have been coordinating war for oil for some time. Rebels in ‘tactical’ retreat as leaders meet (WP) [ Tactical … riiiiight! Well, that sounds like a plan … right out of the manuals on trench warfare from WWI … works every time … you know, those manual tactics … meanwhile, back at the other american induced wartime disasters ... ] Italy became the third country to recognize the opposition as the legitimate government...

City withers in shadow of reactors (Washington Post) Japan dumps radioactive water into ocean [ Japan will never be viewed nor be quite the same again; somewhat hapless, if not hopeless, they have indeed become. Drudgereport: JAPAN TRIES 'SHREDDED NEWSPAPER' TO STOP NUKE LEAK (Well, there you go … a nostalgic throwback to yesteryear … paper maché … who woulda' thunk it … or remembered it … riiiiight … sounds like a plan!) 4 of 6 Daiichi reactors can’t be fixed (Washington Post) [ I continue to believe this to be a far more serious catastrophe with further reaching consequences, economically, financially, and otherwise than are being sloughed off by markets, pols, and media. It truly is sad to even think about what seem likely to be 'suicide jobs' but I must say I was incredulous regarding the $5,000 / day offer of recruitment for such workers (short-term? … for as long as they live?... Wow! … I immediately thought of skid row, the bowery, and admit to being somewhat ashamed for having done so.) Fukushima Nuke Plant Now in Full Meltdown Kurt Nimmo | Smoke was reported at a second nuclear power plant in Japan today. Japan’s Nuclear Rescuers: ‘Inevitable Some of Them May Die Within Weeks’ Workers at the disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan say they expect to die from radiation sickness as a result of their efforts to bring the reactors under control, the mother of one of the men tells Fox News.Smoke Rises from DIFFERENT Nuclear Complex … 7 Miles from the Leaking Reactors The same nuclear power plant operator that runs the Daiichi complex – Tepco – runs a separate nuclear complex 7 miles away, called Fukushima Daini. There are 4 reactors located at the Daini complex.Japan Considers Entombing Nuclear Plant as Workers Fight to Stop Radiation Bloomberg | Japan will consider entombing its crippled atomic plant in concrete. Reactors now leaking plutonium into soil New York Post | “The situation is very grave,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said today. ]Workers continue to endure soaring radiation levels as they work to stave off a full-scale meltdown. ] In area that survived quake and tsunami largely intact, nuclear fears have created a ghost town.

Wages not keeping pace with prices (Washington Post) [ Yes , there is a substantial cost to 'no-recession, helicopter ben' b. s. bernanke's attempt at new age alchemy in trying to spin worthless currency / paper securities / toxic assets into gold for the sake of fraudulent wall street only; which of course, not only does not work, but invariably ends quite badly. The more recent your trip to the grocery store, gas station, etc., the more pronounced the evidence. There is no modern day alchemy that 'spins more paper into gold'. That value has to come from some place; viz., you! M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you / ' ...The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis... Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law … ’ 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans don't understand what the Fed Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems...most of them still blame either the Democrats or Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. ] ] Inflation is back, with higher prices for food and fuel, and what hurts is paychecks are falling behind.

With deadline near, spending accord is elusive (Washington Post) [ If only their spending was as elusive as accords. Oh, there's no question but that they really know how to spend your money at the further expense of children … yet, elusive in this context is a good thing as hope still remains … House GOP leaders turn to Dems for deal (Washington Post) [ Of Dees, Dems, Does, and Gops … Sounds like a plan … Not! … The people are still hoping, praying … will their dream come true? … Government shutdown looms-Paul Kane (Washington Post) [ Shutdown? ... One can only hope, and pray ... after all, they can't muck up what they're not in session to f*** up ... Government shutdown looms Paul Kane (Washington Post) ]

Paul B. Farrell: Super-Rich CEOs are killing your retirement SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — 'Headlines race across the web: “Jamie Dimon Worries That Financial Regulation Will Doom Banks, Forever.” Doom? Forever? Settle down Dimon, this sounds like an over-the-top B-movie promo for “Vampire Chronicles.” ...

Mark Whitehouse explains how while low interest rates have meant big profits for banks, they are hurting small investors, including seniors who are seeing their cash earn minimal interest... 1-10 … 11. Nations ignore obvious till too late, then collapse rapidly

Yes, the end will be swift. Why? Few can take the warnings of geniuses like evolutionary anthropologist Jared Diamond. In “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” Diamond warns that societies fail because they’re unprepared, in denial till it’s too late: “Civilizations share a sharp curve of decline. Indeed, a society’s demise may begin only a decade or two after it reaches its peak population, wealth and power.” Just two decades. America hit its peak in 2000, with Bush’s election. Our two-decade reprieve will soon be up.

...

And again, the warnings are everywhere. Again ignored. Tragic figures like Dimon, Bernanke, Geithner as well as Bachus, Bachman, Palin, Trump, Koch Brothers and even Obama have that blind spot. They simply cannot hear any warnings … won’t till it’s too late. '

] After weeks of negotiating over money, time is now the biggest concern. There is general agreement the sides must work out a deal by Tuesday night.

Milbank: Robots in Congress? Yes, we replicant! (Washington Post) [ Wow! Mr. Milbank was apparently in quite an artsy mood when writing this article, so replete with latent meaning. Yet, when I think of replicants, I tend to think of the greater brilliance and beauty, viz., ie., Rutger Hauer and Sean Young / Darryl Hannah respectively in the spectacular classic, 'Blade Runner' by Ridley Scott; and hence, Mr. Milbank slights their memory unfairly. Moreover, when I think of henry waxman, I can't help but picture some hapless creature of the woodlands, ie., hedgehog, groundhog, etc., who gets plenty of face-time (big mistake ... doesn't he look like such a creature, personified?) but few results ($360 tons of hundreds flown into Iraq, etc.). He could have said biden's short-circuited (that previous lobotomy), harry's (milk-)toast, boxer a california disaster, schumer a mob-friendly zionist (that FBI Agent Taub Affidavit), and pelosi correctly obsolete, disfunctional, incompetent, but beloved? … I don't think so, and I'm constrained to take issue with that. McConnel? I really seldom watch/listen to them but I guess he's good for Barney Fife or one of the original Hatfields / McCoys. Yes, they are all that … bad, and worse. It's good to see Mr. Milbank giving them a well-deserved shot across their bow … but he should keep in mind that robots with human flesh would be considered cyborgs … please don't insult the robots, they would say. The robots indeed take umbrage! ]

Paul B. Farrell: Super-Rich CEOs are killing your retirement Farrell, MarketWatch SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — 'Headlines race across the web: “Jamie Dimon Worries That Financial Regulation Will Doom Banks, Forever.” Doom? Forever? Settle down Dimon, this sounds like an over-the-top B-movie promo for “Vampire Chronicles.”

Suddenly the boss of $2 trillion J. P. Morgan Chase is our newest “Dr. Doom.” Last week he was preaching his mantra to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce choir, warning that financial reforms would be a “nail in the coffin for big American banks.” Small investors hurt by low rates

Mark Whitehouse explains how while low interest rates have meant big profits for banks, they are hurting small investors, including seniors who are seeing their cash earn minimal interest.

Nail in the coffin? Yes, and that’s exactly what the American public wants. Stuff Wall Street’s Vampire Squids back in their coffins, nail the lids shut, bury them forever.

Seriously, nationalize our incompetent Super-Rich Banks. We made a historic mistake not doing it in 2008. Should have let the vampires go bankrupt, reinstated Glass-Steagall. Instead we sat passively letting our double-dealing Treasury Secretary, former Goldman boss Hank Paulson, protect his Wall Street cronies as he conned Congress and taxpayers into making the worst economic blunder in American history, bailing out Wall Street’s “too-greedy-to-fail” banks.

Warning: Soon our Super-Rich Vampires will sink the economy deeper than 2008. Worse, they even believe we’ll bail them out again. We blinked in 2008, so they’ll try sucking out more bail-out blood next time.

The scene’s pathetic: Here’s one of America’s Super-Rich CEOs, a guy worth $260 million, coming across like a crybaby, whining because a tough-as-nails gal like Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren and her Consumer Financial Agency just might take away his toys for being a bad boy … might try to limit his ability to rip off cardholders … might limit his high-risk gambling with depositors’ cash, limit him playing in the $700 trillion global derivatives casino … might force his bank to put up more reserves to prevent the next meltdown … might even awaken his lost moral consciousness and get him to think about the public welfare instead of the tens of millions he makes squeezing the public.

Wall Street’s Super-Rich CEOs killing financial reforms

But will Wall Street have an epiphany? Change? Never. No, won’t happen. Why? America’s Super-Rich Vampire CEOs are already doomed, forever. Our too-greedy-to-fail banks are back to their old pre-2008 tricks, bankrolling a billion dollar “kill reform” drive. J. P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley have invested megabucks in lobbyists and politicians to water down, defund and effectively kill Warren’s CFA, the SEC, Dodd-Frank and every other attempt to protect the public.

These guys love running the Fed and Treasury as their own little piggy banks. As Spencer Bachus, the GOP chairman of the House Financial Services committee put it, government regulators “exist to serve banks.”

So, unfortunately, for a while you will have to listen to Dimon’s incessant whining as he keeps replaying his overly dramatic Dr. Doom story. Until Wall Street pounds all their nails in the coffin of financial reform, while resurrecting their self-destructive Reaganomics vampire that sank its fangs and triggered the 2008 meltdown.

But watch out Wall Street: Next time, American taxpayers won’t support bailouts and trillions more debt. We will sink into the Great Depression 2 and a new American Revolution next time. No bailout, we’ll just nationalize all banks.

Then, poor little Jamie and his Super-Rich buddies will lose their jobs, having destroyed American capitalism. Unfortunately, the great irony is that these insatiable greedy, incompetent CEOs will personally survive well after the collapse, living off the millions they’ve stashed away while sabotaging America with their bankrupt Reaganomics ideas.

Dimon becomes our newest Dr. Doom

Dimon really loves his new role as a Dr. Doom. Plays a tragic drama queen very well. That “nail in the coffin” speech fits perfectly with the Chamber’s kill-reform strategies.

Some may say Wall Street’s short-term thinking CEOs are too myopic to be on the same stage as our long-term thinking Dr. Dooms. But you decide: Here’s a criteria from Barron’s, offered by legendary money manager Jeremy Grantham, referring to the 2008 crash: “Why is it that several dozen people saw this crisis coming for years.” Several dozen Over four years. But “the bosses of Merrill Lynch and Citi and even Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke, none of them seemed to see it coming.”

Why? Grantham’s answer is simple: Wall Street and Washington’s leaders are “management types who focus on what they are doing this quarter or this annual budget.” Their myopia “guarantees that every time we get an outlying, obscure event that has never happened before in history, they are always going to miss it.”

Yes, and they’ll miss the next crash. Guaranteed. Here’s what other long-term thinking Dr. Dooms predict:

1. This time is never, never different with insatiable greed

In “This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly” economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff warn that as economies “improve there will always be a temptation to stretch the limits. … A financial system can collapse under the pressure of greed, politics and profits ... Technology has changed ... but the ability of governments and investors to delude themselves … seems to have remained a constant.”

2. Fed’s new easy money is fueling new bubble, new meltdown

In the 400-year history of the stock market “there has been a long succession of financial bubbles,” says financial historian Niall Ferguson. The culprit? The Fed: “Without easy credit creation a true bubble cannot occur. That is why so many bubbles have their origins in the sins of omission and commission of central banks.” And with the rate near zero, Bernanke is becoming the biggest bubble-blower in American history.

3. American ‘Empire’ has peaked, is on a rapid downward spiral

Savvy Hong Kong economist Marc Faber says “the average life span of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years … Once a society becomes successful it becomes arrogant, righteous, overconfident, corrupt, and decadent ... overspends ... costly wars ... wealth inequity and social tensions increase; and society enters a secular decline.”

4. Wall Street has created a very ‘short respite’ before new crash

Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz warned that unless Wall Street’s incentive system is drastically reformed, “the financial sector will only try to circumvent whatever new regulations we put in place. We will simply have a short respite before the next crisis.”

5. First dot-coms, then subprimes; ‘third episode’ dead ahead

Remember a decade ago in “Irrational Exuberance” Yale’s Robert Shiller predicted the dot-com crash. More recently he warned: “Bubbles are primarily a social phenomena. Until we understand and address the psychology that fuels them, they’re going to keep forming. We recently lived through two epidemics of excessive financial optimism, we are close to a third episode.” And everything since 2008 guaranteed the “third episode.”

6. America’s ‘running out of time’ before the Great Depression 2

Former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson waned: “We’re running out of time … to prevent a true depression … the financial industry has effectively captured our government” and is “blocking essential reform,” and unless we break Wall Street’s “stranglehold” we will be unable prevent another Great Depression. Failure to reform Wall Street guarantees a depression. Unfortunately, Dimon just doesn’t get it.

7. Fed’s haunted by ghost of Greenspan’s failed Reaganomics

When Obama reappointed Bernanke, “Black Swan’s” Nicholas Taleb warned that Bernanke was an economist who “doesn’t even know he doesn’t understand how things work.” Now the Fed’s Greenspan clone is feeding the GOP’s self-destructive Reaganomics ideology, blindly focused on saving a dying banking system by flooding the world with inflated dollars guaranteed to trigger another meltdown.

8. Hedgers made billions shorting dumb politicians, dumber bankers

Hedge funds make fortunes betting on the utter stupidity of Washington politicians and Wall Street CEOs gambling with the Fed’s self-destructive cheap-money policies. In fact, AR Magazine just reported that the top hedge fund manager made $4.9 billion shorting our clueless leaders, after making $3.4 billion in 2008, the year of the crash.

9. Dollar’s dead as reserve currency, killing our retirement system

In George Soros’s “New Paradigm:” America’s 25-year “superboom … led to massive deregulation ... blindly chasing free markets ... unleashed excessive greed ... created the dot-com and credit meltdowns” and a “shadow banking system” of derivatives. “The system is broken … the end of an era of credit expansion based on the dollar as the international reserve currency.” Warns Soros: “We’re now in a period of wealth destruction.”

10. Sell everything, hide in the hills with seed, fertilizer, drugs, guns

Barton Biggs 2008 bestseller, “Wealth, War and Wisdom” warns us to prepare for a “breakdown of civilization … Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food ... well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. … a few rounds over the approaching brigands’ heads would probably be a compelling persuader that there are easier farms to pillage.” Biggs is no anarchist militiaman; he’s a former Morgan Stanley research guru, now a top hedge fund manager.

11. Nations ignore obvious till too late, then collapse rapidly

Obvious warnings were everywhere long before the 2008 meltdown. But a tragic Reaganomics dogma created a blind spot in Greenspan, Bernanke and Paulson. Today that blind spot is even stronger with a new crop of Reaganomics ideologues.

A Stark Peak Profits Warning from Capital & Crisis's Chris Mayer Cooper 'Rising star of the US financial newsletter world, Chris Mayer, has a stark warning for readers in his latest issue of Capital & Crisis (click here). Profit margins in the US have reached unprecedented levels and can now only fall as commodity price inflation hits home.

One of the vulnerabilities in today’s market is that profit margins are near peaks’, he says. ‘Investors tend to like companies with fat profit margins, but high profit margins are like honey pots that attract competitors. They are rarely sustainable for long.

Top ten crisis

If you take a list of the top 10 technology stocks in the US Nasdaq market, the average net profit margin is around 25 per cent, and similar high profit margins are also seen across the S&P 500 stocks. The boost to profit margins has come from cost cutting in the downturn, mainly in the form of job cuts that do nothing to boost domestic consumer demand.

Today, though, I doubt many of these firms have much more to cut,’ suggests Mayer. ‘Instead, the focus is now growing sales and taking business from competitors or defending an existing business. The focus, too, is how to deal with rising raw material costs. All of these put enormous pressure on margins. We should expect to see them fall.

That of course is the contrarian view. It is not what the bulls of Wall Street are saying. They see a recovery in the US economy that is raising all boats.

If the Wall Street consensus is again wrong, then the reverse will be true and all boats will sink. Mr Meyer is stock picking to locate the boats that will stay afloat, so at least he is thinking in the right direction. But the tendency always is for the good to get cast down with the bad, particularly if the numbers are overwhelming.

Naturally, this situation is most dangerous when company profits have recovered sharply and the domestic economy is still in the dumps. And what do US auto and house sales figures quite clearly show us? (click here). The domestic US economy is still in a depression with activity well down on the boom years.

Domestic depression

Now if domestic demand is not rising, and indeed consumer personal disposable income is falling (click here), then what prospects are there for pushing up company revenues to keep profits surging ahead? You have to look to exports and repatriation of multinational income.

Yes but does the world not have a few worries of its own right now? To briefly summize: Japan just had its worst earthquake in history and nuclear reactors are leaking plutonium; the UK is facing three years of austerity; the eurozone has a massive debt crisis and the Middle East and North Africa are in a state of revolution, civil war and protest that have pushed oil prices to a two-year high.

Will Asian sales hold up under these circumstances? Or will stocks sell off and the dollar rally, making US exports uncompetitive again? This peak profits warning is very well timed.'

Irwin Kellner: Don’t believe everything you hear Kellner, MarketWatch PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. (MarketWatch) — 'Don’t believe everything you hear — especially when politics is involved.

These days, it amazes me how many canards pass for the truth. I can only assume that the purveyors of these misleading bits of information must figure that if something is repeated often enough, people will take it as correct. ..

While there no doubt are many examples, I give you five that are particularly egregious. I will list them below in no particular order, and then tell you why each of these is incorrect:

— the longer the government pays jobless benefits, the higher unemployment will be;

— rising prices are no problem because “core” inflation is low;

— cutting government spending creates jobs;

— entitlements are fair game for budget cutters;

— Social Security is a key reason for Washington’s budget deficit.

A close look will reveal just how absurd these statements really are. And by the way, neither political party has a lock on this craziness; this kind of convoluted thinking can be found among Democrats as well as Republicans.

The first item assumes that people are lazy; they would rather be on the dole than work. This is ridiculous for two reasons. First, these days there are more than five applicants for every job. Second, the median weekly jobless benefit is $300 — barely above the poverty level for one person and far below the median weekly pay of $740, which, itself, won’t buy much in most parts of the country.

Next is the belief that excluding food and energy is the best way to measure inflation. This is misleading since (a) we all consume food and energy every day; (b) because of this, these items have a major influence on our attitudes towards inflation and (c) in the case of energy, many firms are tacking on surcharges to the goods they make and/or deliver, so higher energy prices are showing up elsewhere as well.

Meet the Most Tax Efficient Man in America

Doug Stives earns less than 75 percent of his former salary but takes home almost 90 percent as much. How? He claims every tax deduction he can. Kelsey Hubbard talks with the CPA turned professor about using the tax code to get more with less.

The third item could literally be ripped from today’s headlines. It is Herbert Hoover economics reincarnated — the notion that fiscal probity is the key to economic happiness. By tightening its belt and reducing its deficit, the story goes, the government will help the economy grow and create jobs by boosting business confidence. No mention is made of the decline in buying power and rise in joblessness that will occur first, which makes me wonder why this would prompt a rise in hiring by the private sector.

Those who subscribe to the fourth item forget the definition of the word “entitlement.” Webster’s Dictionary says that an entitlement is “a right granted by law or contract, especially to financial benefits from the government.” To some people, however, an entitlement is a derisive term, a promise to be broken. But breaking this particular promise would also break the law. The FICA Act of 1935 states specifically that revenues raised under that act can be used only to pay Social Security benefits. Over the years the provisions of this act have been reinforced a number of times.

Why all the interest in Social Security? Because it is a cash cow, with assets totaling well over $2 trillion — more than three times the amount needed to cover this year’s payments to beneficiaries. In plain English, the System has a surfeit of funds and is in no way responsible for today’s budget deficits. To put it another way, Social Security has been around for over 75 years, whereas today’s slug of red ink is only a few years old. Washington’s humongous deficits are clearly the result of too much spending (two wars, massive bailouts and the huge stimulus package) combined with insufficient revenues (tax cuts and the Great Recession).

So the next time you hear a politician tell you something that does not sound quite right — chances are it isn’t.

Irwin Kellner is MarketWatch's chief economist. '

Putting a Damper on the Big March Job Report Celebration Baker 'Okay, this celebration around the jobs report is really getting out of hand. Both the Post and Times had front page pieces touting the good news. The Post gets the award for being the more breathless of the two:

The jobs numbers come amid other promising signs that the recovery is building momentum. The stock market wrapped up the first quarter this week with a 6.4 percent gain in the Dow Jones industrial average and continued to tack upward Friday, adding another 0.5 percent. Investors were pleased that the job growth was continuing — but not so fast that the Federal Reserve might want to apply the brakes by raising interest rates anytime soon.

Also contributing to the buoyant markets were reports from automakers Friday showing that auto sales rose in March. Sales of new vehicles were up 11 percent over a year before at General Motors, 16 percent at Ford and 23 percent at Honda.

A separate report Friday also showed continued strong growth in the manufacturing sector, with the Institute for Supply Management’s index of activity at the nation’s factories edging down to 61.2 from 61.4. Numbers above 50 indicate expansion.

First off, no one should include the stock market as indicator of the economy's well-being. Rich people are happy -- that's nice -- it has little to do with the economy. The car buying is positive, but with so many of the cars now imported or largely comprised of imported parts the impact of this surge in sales is much less than would have been the case 30 years ago. The drop in the Institute for Supply Management's index suggests that manufacturing is likely to make a marginally smaller contribution to growth in the months ahead, not good news. (The Bureau of Labor Statistics employment diffusion index for manufacturing, a measure of the percent of sectors that expect to add workers, fell from 66.0 in February to 63.0 in January, it had been 73.5 in January.)

As noted above, 216,000 jobs is not especially impressive, especially given the depth of the hole that our economic policymakers put us in. In only 15 of the 52 months from February 1996 to May of 2000 did the economy create fewer than 216,000 jobs. In most cases the weakness was caused by bad weather. And this was at a time when the working age population was more than 10 percent less than today.

It is also striking that neither paper seems to have mentioned the Commerce Department's report on construction in February, which showed a 1.4 percent decline in February, following even larger declines in December and January. (The big news in this report was the 2.6 percent downward revision to the data originally reported for January.) Much of the story here is in non-residential construction as the building boom that resulted from the bubble in that sector is leading to a bust. The largest declines are in manufacturing construction where bio-fuel subsidies had led to a boom in ethanol plants in 2009-2010.

Anyhow, construction is certain to be a big drag on growth in the first quarter. It should knock at least a percentage point off GDP growth for the quarter. I am forecasting many surprised economists and reporters.

I have one more point skunk to toss over at the celebrators. Here is the path of the employment to population ratio (EPOP) over the downturn. Note that we have only risen slightly from the low hit in December of 2009 and the EPOP is actually a hair lower today than it was a year ago. The drop in the unemployment rate over this period was entirely due to people leaving the labor force. Now is that good news or what?(chart)...'

Markets Treading Water: Dave's Daily 'Bulls had a barely perceptible pulse Monday. Volume was incredibly light as traders were unmoved to do much of anything other than keep things stable. Tech underperformed weighed down by Apple(AAPL _) and Semis most of the day. But, as this is written, breaking news indicates Texas Instruments(TXN _) will buy National Semiconductor(NSM _) for $6.5 billion so corporations armed with liquidity can keep markets alive with M&A activity. Away from the late headline regarding TXN/NSM, little changed in markets overall. Again, volume was light and breadth overall per the WSJ was moderately positive adding to short-term overbought conditions...'

Weekly Indicators: Economy Slowing Due to Choke Collar of High Oil Prices Stewart 'Last week's headline numbers were the 216,000 jobs added in March and the continued decline in the unemployment rate to 8.8%. As usual, I'll have more to say in the coming week, including at least one finding that contradicts the conventional wisdom. For now, we can just note that it was a good number - just not good enough for all the ground we have to make up.

Other monthly numbers continued to show an economy that is slowing due to the choke collar of high Oil prices. The manufacturing workweek declined (-.1), as did new factory orders. There are two more of the 10 leading indicators that have turned down. Residential and non-residential spending also declined. New cars sold in March also declined slightly from February, although at 13.1 million vehicles, this is still the second best showing in over two years. On the plus side, manufacturing as measured by the Chicago PMI and the ISM continued on a tear. BUT the leading components of that index - new orders and vendor deliveries - declined. Vendor deliveries declined sharply - the third of the 10 leading indicators to show a decline this week.

Did I mention that Oil was like a choke collar constricting economic growth?

Turning now to the high-frequency weekly indicators:

The BLS reported that Initial jobless claims last week were 388,000. The 4 week average is 394,250. This is the sixth week in a row that this number has been initially reported below 400,000. On the other hand, this series has not made a new low in the last month. Will the downward momentum continue or has it stalled?

On the other hand, Oil was trading at about $107.94 a barrel Friday, the fourth full week it has been above $100. It remains at a level above 4% of GDP. I believe we have started to see the economic damage from that shock. Gas at the pump increased to $3.60 a gallon. Gasoline usage at 8866 M gallons was 2% lower than last year. As I expected, this YoY comparison is deteriorating and has now turned negative.

Railfax was up 3.5% YoY. Baseline traffic for the second week is no higher than last year's levels, and both cyclical and intermodal traffic are only slightly higher. Waste materials continued below last year's levels (this may be fallout from municipal funding cuts for recycling). Shipments of motor vehicles remained the bright spot, continuing to improve YoY. With the exception of motor vehicles, rail freight is now also signalling a significant slowdown (but not an outright reversal).

The Mortgage Bankers' Association reported a decrease of 1.7% in seasonally adjusted mortgage applications last week. This series has meandered generally in a flat range since last June. Refinancing decreased 10.1%, and remains near its lows since last July. The silver lining is that neither series has hit a new low in almost 9 months.

The American Staffing Association Index remained at 91 for yet another week. This series has stalled at the 90-91 level for 7 weeks. It is signalling stagnation, not growth, and is stalled relative to its pre-recession peak.

The ICSC reported that same store sales for the week of March 26 rose 2.6% YoY, and increased 0.2% week over week. Shoppertrak reported a 4.3% YoY gain for the week ending March 19, and a WoW gain of 0.5%. Unlike almost every other series, these two series' YoY comparisons have been remaining steady or improving over the last month.

Weekly BAA commercial bond rates increased.02% to 6.00%. This compares with a 09% increase in the yields of 10 year Treasuries to 3.38%. Both series are down from recent highs.

Adjusting +1.07% due to the recent tax compromise, the Daily Treasury Statement showed that for all of March 2011, $163.8 B was collected vs. $164.9 B a year ago, for a loss of -1.1 B YoY. This is the first month with an outright YoY decline compared with last year. For the last 20 days, $136.6 B was collected vs. $128,4 B a year ago, for a gain of $8.2B, or +6.4%. I suggest using this series with extra caution, because the adjustment for the withholding tax compromise is only a best guess, and may be significantly incorrect.

M1 was up 1.3% w/w, down -0.4% M/M, and up a strong 9.9% YoY, so Real M1 is up 7.7%. M2 was unchanged w/w, up 0.2% M/M and up 4.3% YoY, so Real M2 is up 2.1%. Although Real M1 is still strongly in the "green zone" where it has been since before the end of the "great recession," Real M2 has been fading back into the "yellow zone" below 2.5%. Additionally, the weak +0.2% M/M reading means that, depending on inflation, it could become yet another of the 10 components of the LEI to go negative in March.

Last week I noted that the LEI may have a negative month in March. Consumer confidence, durable goods, and (Feb.) housing permits were all down strongly. This week ISM vendor supplies, the manufacturing workweek, and new factory orders also turned down. As noted just above, M2 could also be a negative. Only the bond spread yield, the stock market, and initial unemployment claims look like positives. In sum, that's 6 components down, 1 neutral (possibly negative), and only 3 positive. (OTOH, ECRI's growth indicator continues to be positive).

Did I mention that OIl was like a choke collar constricting economic growth?'

Barack Obama: Losing $84 billion big success Washington Times | Barack Obama has some ‘splaining to do about taxpayers’ profitable “investment” in General Motors.

Bill Gross: Congress Is Like That Bastard In Your Life Always Promising He’ll Change Even Though He NEVER DOES

Fed’s Rules Let Brokers Turn Junk Into Cash at Height of Financial Crisis At the height of the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve allowed the world’s largest banks to turn more than $118 billion in junk bonds, defaulted debt, securities of unknown ratings and stocks into cash.

Ron Paul: People Need Currency Choices – Kitco News Congressman Ron Paul talks w/ Kitco News about a bill that aims at establishing competing currency in the U.S. Also discussed is his previous Federal Reserve audit bill, as well as the possibility of running as a Presidential candidate.

Good Economic Numbers? Don’t Be Fooled By The Financial Sugar High The U.S. financial system is like a junkie that needs continually increasing amounts of “junk” to get the same “buzz”. So what is the U.S. financial system addicted to? It is addicted to money and debt.

Americans Just Took a Pay Cut As Inflation Outpaces Wages You may not have noticed it when you opened up your paycheck last month, but you just took a pay cut

Bob Chapman: The Road of Inflation Will Only End in Tears Cycles and booms and busts just don’t happen. They are planned that way. In the late 1990s Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan commented on irrational exuberance and said he hoped the market would cool down.

IMF Says US Must Raise All Taxes, Cut All Entitlements By 35% To Contain Future Budget In what is either a delayed April Fool’s report, or its latest exercise in rhetoric the IMF asks the humorous question: “An Analysis of U.S. Fiscal and Generational Imbalances: Who Will Pay and How?”

Rep. Paul Plans Hearings on Fed Loans The chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the Federal Reserve said he plans to hold hearings in May on disclosures that the Fed made billions — perhaps trillions — in secret emergency loans to almost every major bank in the U.S. and overseas during the financial crisis.

The Fed Is on ‘Different Monetary Planet’: Economist The Federal Reserve is on a different monetary planet from the rest of the world, according to Credit Suisse UK Economist Robert Barrie.

How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico’s murderous drug gangs As the violence spread, billions of dollars of cartel cash began to seep into the global financial system. But a special investigation by the Observer reveals how the increasingly frantic warnings of one London whistleblower were ignored.

(4-4-11) Dow 12,400 +23 Nasdaq 2,789 -0- S&P 500 1,332 -0- [CLOSE- OIL $108.47 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.65 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $4.05 REG./ $4.10 MID-GRADE/ $4.20 PREM./ $4.27 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,437 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $38.71 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,787 (+56% for year 2009) Metal News for the Day / DOLLAR= .70 EURO, 83 YEN, .62 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ Interest Rates: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=yield 10 YR NOTE YIELD 3.45% …..… AP Business Highlights ...Yahoo Market Update... T. Rowe Price Weekly Recap – Stocks / Bonds / Currencies - Domestic / International This Is a Secular Bear Market and The End of Buy and Hold … and Hope MARKET MANIPULATION AND HOW THE LATEST BUBBLE-FRAUD PRE-COMING CRASH IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED 3-11-10 The bull market that never was/were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold Property Values Projected to Fall 12% in 2010 Jan 31, 2010 THE COMING MARKET CRASH / CORRECTION 1-28-10 Maierhofer (01-15-10) 11 Clear Signs Economy Sinking Economic Black Hole 1-22-10: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover 1-7-10 Crash is coming! ‘WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE EVER’ Must Read Economic / Financial Data This Depression is just beginning The coming depression… thecomingdepression.net The Next Wave of Collapse is Coming Sooner than you think Sliding Back Into the Great Depression ABSOLUTELY, ABSURDLY, RIDICULOUS! SELL / TAKE PROFITS WHILE YOU CAN SINCE MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME!

National / World

Al Qaeda: Pawns of CIA Insurrection from Libya to Yemen Webster Tarpley | In the current phase, al Qaeda has resumed its original status as CIA guerrillas.

Jesse Ventura: Big Sis Discriminates Against Common Americans Kurt Nimmo | Members of Congress and other officials avoid pat-downs and naked body scanners.

Jesse Ventura Challenges Ron Paul to Leave Republican Party Steve Watson | Paul/Ventura 2012? Former Governor offers himself up as vice president nominee.

Pentagon sock puppet trolls attack alt media RT | Max talks to Alex Jones about food stamps and financial terror.

Fukushima Workers Try to Plug Radiation Leaks With Old Newspapers Steve Watson | Mayor, Governor slam government as tons of radioactive water is poured into Pacific.

Ventura Urges Ron Paul To Run For President As Independent Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has an important message for Libertarian Congressman Ron Paul – ditch the Republican Party and run for President as an independent.

Jesse Ventura: Big Sis Discriminates Against Common Americans Appearing today on the Alex Jones Show today, the former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, told Alex Jones the TSA discriminates against common Americans by allowing the elite and select politicians to avoid naked body scanners and sexual molestation gropes at the nation’s airports.

UNBELIEVABLE: Fukushima Workers Trying To Plug Radiation Leaks With Bits Of Newspaper, Garbage Bags, Diaper Like Material The impact of the radioactive material on sea life could be catastrophic as over 11, 500 tons of contaminated water is now being intentionally released into the Pacific ocean by workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in a last ditch desperate effort to clean out the area.

Oil Rises On Market Speculation Over Globalist War in Libya Oil has spiked to a 30-month high on market speculation related to demand and the globalist war against the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

No Fly Zone Succeeds: Libyan Rebels To Sell First Oil Cargo And so the real goal of the Libyan “No Fly Zone” succeeds: Reuters reports that the Libyan rebel alliance, which already has its own central bank and supposedly fiat printing machines, is about to sell its first oil cargo in the coming week.”

Al Qaeda: Pawns of CIA Insurrection from Libya to Yemen US, British, French, and Dutch commandos have taken leadership of the rebel forces, and are arming them with modern weapons in flagrant violation of the arms embargo specified in UN Security Council resolution 1973.

Former CIA officer blows lid off libya fraud live on CNN Every once in a while, establishment control of the mainstream media cracks for a moment. In an effort to achieve higher ratings, mainstream news programs will invite guests on that promise to be “interesting”, but then they will say something that is not part of the script and the entire system will go into a state of chaos for a moment.

US agrees to continue Libya airstrikes The United States has agreed to a NATO’s request for a 48-hour extension of American participation in the Western coalition’s airstrikes on Libya.

Lindsey Graham Advocates Killing First Amendment Kurt Nimmo | Freedom of speech should not be tolerated during an undeclared forever war.

How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico’s murderous drug gangs London Observer | A special investigation reveals how the increasingly frantic warnings of one London whistleblower were ignored.

NY Times contributor confirms California rainwater 181 times above drinking water standards for radioactive iodine-131 ENE News | Federal officials have still not published any official data on nuclear fallout from Japan disaster.

‘War for Libyan oil planned long ago, no one cares about people’ RT | Susan Lindauer, journalist and author, has never believed the allied forces intervened in Libya out of humanitarian reasons.

UN-backed Ivory Coast Leader Accused in Massacres BBC | Ban Ki-moon insists Alassane Ouattara and his followers are not involved.

Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud.

“Protecting” Civilians And Aiding Rebels By Killing Them: 13 Dead From NATO Airstrike NATO voiced concern on Saturday about reports of civilian deaths in a coalition air strike near Brega as rebels claimed victory in the battle for the key Libyan oil town.

Here Come “The Boots On The Ground”: EU Approves “Possible” Military Operation For Libya While it has been made very clear that no US “boots” would be on the ground in Libya, except for those beloning to CIA operatives of course, no such stigma applies to Europe.

Gaddafi rejects rebel truce offer Moamar Gaddafi’s regime has rejected a conditional ceasefire offer made by Libyan rebels, saying government forces would not withdraw from towns they control.

Regulator Says Radioactive Water Leaking Into Ocean From Japanese Nuclear Plant Highly radioactive water is leaking directly into the sea from a damaged pit near a crippled reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, safety officials said Saturday.

GREENPEACE Measures EXTREME RADIATION 40KM From Fukushima – Why No Evacuation? Regardless of what anyone thinks about GreenPeace and their stance on fraudulent man made warning, this video clearly shows that levels at least 40km from the plant are EXTREMELY high!

Flashing Blue Light Seen Above Exploded Nuclear Reactor The characteristic blue glow of nuclear reactors is due to Cherenkov radiation.

Reactor Core Was Severely Damaged, U.S. Official Says Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday that roughly 70 percent of the core of one reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan had suffered severe damage.

Radiation Found In San Francisco, CA Tap Water – 18,100% Above Drinking Water Limit Alexander Higgins | The federal drinking water limit for Iodine-131 is 3 Picocuries per liter.

Drudgereport: LIBYA: GADDAFI MUST STAY BUT COUNTRY READY TO DISCUSS 'REFORM'...
READY TO HOLD ELECTIONS... MORE...
DEFIANT: Gaddafi salutes supporters at compound...
US pulls out warplanes...
GOP BUDGET: CUT $5.8 TRILLION
FEDS SPEND 8X REVENUE...
White House moving forward with govt shutdown plans...
858 SOLDIERS KILLED IN AFGHAN WAR UNDER OBAMA...
NATO FORCES ACCIDENTALLY KILL 13 REBELS
CRACK FOUND IN NUKE REACTOR PIT...
Leaking directly into Pacific Ocean...
Struggle is on to seal it...
Japanese nuke crew faces '100-year battle'...
Petraeus Warns Quran Burning Endangers War Effort...
Protests Rage In Afghanistan...
JAPAN TRIES 'SHREDDED NEWSPAPER' TO STOP NUKE LEAK (Well, there you go … a nostalgic throwback to yesteryear … paper maché … who woulda' thunk it … or remembered it … riiiiight … sounds like a plan!)
HORROR: Remains From 3 More Victims In NY Serial Killer Case...
Duke lacrosse accuser arrested in boyfriend's stabbing...
Ahmadinejad Predicts Embarrassing End for Obama...

Radioactive water in Japan plant leaks into sea (Washington Post) [ I gotta say, and I’m not happy to say it; but the way they’re puttin’ out the info is starting to sound like a page out of pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america’s propaganda playbook. I’m not much of a fisheater, but even if I was, I would be taking no chances with this. Too much money changin’ hands both ways to trust what they say, based upon the kind / quality of reporting / updating thus far. Fukushima Plant Operators Again Ordered To “Review” Radiation Readings Steve Watson | Findings have raised fears that underground waterways and drinking water supplies could become contaminated.

‘US orders media silence over Bahrain’ Press TV | President of Bahrain’s Center for Human Rights Nabeel Rajab says the US media have been ordered not to cover news on the government’s brutal crackdown on Bahraini people.

Cover Up: Fukushima Plant Operators Again Ordered To “Review” “Suspiciously High” Radiation Readings The operators of the crippled nuclear power plant at Fukushima have once again been ordered to “review” and retract their radiation findings where appropriate because Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says they are too high.] Authorities discover radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant flowing into the sea from a crack in the No. 2 reactor, adding to mounting problems facing emergency repair workers.

Stalemate foreseen for Libya (Washington Post) [ Well, there we go … Now that sounds like the unplan plan we've come to know and love in defacto bankrupt america. After all, at this point, what's a little more bankrupt if you're already defacto bankrupt … too redundant to even think about ... Al Qaeda’s Dark Secret Exposed TheAlexJonesChannel | Evidence proves al Qaeda is Western manufactured.

Canadian officials ‘secretive’ on North American perimeter security agreement Aaron Dykes | Unifying the once sovereign nations of North America under treaty law moves forward in stealth.

Coalition Air Strikes: Body Bags Begin Piling Up Patrick Henningsen | The use of DU has been a major feature in US-led Coalition and Israeli war efforts since 2001.

Government Bureaucrats Steal Basketball Hoops Kurt Nimmo | As the founders knew, without property rights we are slaves.

Neocons and Democrats Work in Congress to Support Obama’s Libyan War As the mad bombers at NATO engage in a public relations stunt in response to the fallout from the slaughter of innocent Libyan civilians, here in the United States a few dignified members of Congress are attempting to put a halt to the illegal war.

The New Colonialism: Washington’s Pursuit of World Hegemony [Oh come on! They only wish! The nation's defacto bankrupt … understand all that that entails! ]What we are observing in Libya is the rebirth of colonialism. Only this time it is not individual European governments competing for empires and resources.

Target China Far from the Founding Father’s ideal representative republic, China has garnered a reputation as one of the most repressive regimes on earth. While some of this is well earned, much of it is due to the unsavory legacy left by Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” which to this day is still being carefully and systematically dismantled.

Gaddafi regime admits attempts to talk to west The regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has initiated a concerted effort to open lines of communication with western governments in an attempt to bring the conflict in the country to an end.

Libyan opposition offers ceasefire A Libyan opposition leader has said the rebels will accept a UN-demanded ceasefire if Muammar Gaddafi pulls his forces from all cities and allows peaceful protests.

Rand Paul: Fox can’t decide ‘what they love more, bombing the Middle East or bashing the president’ Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) joked Wednesday night that the Fox News Channel can’t seem to reconcile their dislike for President Barack Obama with their support for his military intervention in Libya.

Libya is a Continuation of Neocon War to Remake Middle East [ Come on! They're muddling along, debt ridden, incompetent, declining, failing, almost to a nation, individually and collectively. Trying to still appear relevant, more important are the nations absent from their war crimes folly (excepting israel for which these treasury depleting fiascos in the name of zionism continue down this path of self-defeat / self-destruction) ]Statement on Libya – Defining U.S. National Security Interests, Before the Foreign Affairs Committee, US House of Representatives, 31 March 2011 ] While it could keep civilians safe, deadlock could also extend commitments by the United States.

Facing shutdown, Boehner keeps cool (Washington Post) [ Cool as in 1) cool as a cucumber 2) moderately cold 3) not friendly 4) impudent 5) overly protected from the heat 6) very good 7) unflappable 8) composed 9) collected … ? All of the above? … none of the above? Meanwhile, back at the capital hill rancho, Federal workers anxious about unknown , as indeed they should be. After all, the ranks of the government-employed have swollen to beyond the dreams of the failed communist regimes of yesteryear … More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). Defacto bankrupt america the new marxian dream … eh, comrade ?... House GOP leaders turn to Dems for deal(Washington Post) [ Of Dees, Dems, Does, and Gops … Sounds like a plan … Not! … The people are still hoping, praying … will their dream come true? … Government shutdown looms-Paul Kane (Washington Post) [ Shutdown? ... One can only hope, and pray ... after all, they can't muck up what they're not in session to f*** up ... Government shutdown looms Paul Kane (Washington Post) ]Unable to find consensus within their own ranks, House Republican leaders have begun courting moderate Democrats on a budget deal to avoid a government shutdown next week.

Employers continue adding jobs in March(Washington Post) [ Jobs report better than expected … April fools … you got to be to believe anything they say, desperate as they are [ Drudgereport: GALLUP: Unemployment at 10.0%; underemployment 19.3%... Who do you believe? ] … particularly that huge fudge factor; viz., that ubiquitous 'stopped looking' category … granted there are some 'window-dressing' jobs created at huge uneconomic cost with the reality going something like this: government give contract to company that will cover the costs of the domestic jobs created using funds they don't really have (borrowed, one way or another, and piled on to the already insurmountable debt of a nation that is already defacto bankrupt), to produce goods which could be produced better and cheaper elsewhere (there isn't anything that can't be produced outside this country better, more efficiently, and cheaper). This is doubly inflationary since, first, the goods are uneconomically more costly, and second, whether borrowed or printed, the increased paper and lesser real value thereof is also inflationary. That said, I don't even believe their headline number and the unemployment rate they give is irrelevant and wholly inaccurate (that 'stopped looking fudge factor', etc.). Then there is the b* s* concerning treasury turning a profit on the (ongoing fed / pomo / wall street) bailouts that taxpayers have and will continue to pay for in higher prices from oil to grains to other commodities to fewer jobs, now and in the future. There is no modern day alchemy that 'spins more paper into gold'. That value has to come from some place; viz., you! Light Volume Rally Continues: Dave's Daily ' ...The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis... Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law … ADP data has misled before but Wall Street is awash with cash from on high and finds little other place to invest beyond stocks...' M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you’ … 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans don't understand what the Fed Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems.

More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million).

What’s your take on U.S.’s employment situation? (Washington Post) [ I don't believe a word they say; nor does Denninger ... More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined

Employment Report: Clear Trend Change Absence Denninger 'From the Bureau Of Lies And Scams (BLS): '...

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1415

(Chart)

How about the workweek and salaries?

No help here. No increase in hours worked and no hourly earnings improvement either. For production and non-supervisory workers (those where price increases really hurt) they saw a bit of a decline. This is quite-bad news; note that the average annual wage for these workers is $38,600 pre-tax. That's materially under the average worker's income used in the BLS CPI tables, and it is those who have incomes under the median that experience the worst of income allocation shifts into non-discretionary purchases such as food, energy and medical..(bad).. given the price inflation that is clearly-evident in the PPI since August. These price increases are now going to start showing up on the store shelf over the next couple of months. We should also see the impact of these PPI changes being emitted from the rear end of the economy (that is, the business end that hurts you, the consumer) in the 1st quarter earnings reports beginning in earnest on the 11th.

Let's go look at our numbers and see if there's a "there" there.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1417

(Chart)

That's small improvement. I guess you can say it's not another turn-down.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1416

(Chart)

The number of employed ticked up a bit. That's positive. But it did last year too, only to flag off as we got into the summer.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1419

(Chart)

"Not in labor force", annualized, isn't any good. Yes, the monthly number looks good, but there are seasonal effects. .. - we're losing participation. Permanently.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1418

(Chart)

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1420

(Chart)

..Positive change? Where? This is the root of the problem - participation, as a percentage of the workforce, continues to decline. This in turn means that the budgetary pressures will not come off. ..

What this all boils down to is that job growth is insufficient to support the economy on its own. Yet the ability to keep writing hot checks to the tune of $1.7 trillion a year or more to support a fake "recovery" is not infinite...

Jobs report better than expected … April fools … you got to be to believe anything they say, desperate as they are [ Drudgereport: GALLUP: Unemployment at 10.0%; underemployment 19.3%... Who do you believe? ] … particularly that huge fudge factor; viz., that ubiquitous 'stopped looking' category … granted there are some 'window-dressing' jobs created at huge uneconomic cost with the reality going something like this: government give contract to company that will cover the costs of the domestic jobs created using funds they don't really have (borrowed, one way or another, and piled on to the already insurmountable debt of a nation that is already defacto bankrupt), to produce goods which could be produced better and cheaper elsewhere (there isn't anything that can't be produced outside this country better, more efficiently, and cheaper). This is doubly inflationary since, first, the goods are uneconomically more costly, and second, whether borrowed or printed, the increased paper and lesser real value thereof is also inflationary. That said, I don't even believe their headline number and the unemployment rate they give is irrelevant and wholly inaccurate (that 'stopped looking fudge factor', etc.). Then there is the b*** s*** concerning treasury turning a profit on the (ongoing fed / pomo / wall street) bailouts that taxpayers have and will continue to pay for in higher prices from oil to grains to other commodities to fewer jobs, now and in the future. There is no modern day alchemy that 'spins more paper into gold'. That value has to come from some place; viz., you! Light Volume Rally Continues: Dave's Daily ' ...The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis... Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law … ADP data has misled before but Wall Street is awash with cash from on high and finds little other place to invest beyond stocks...' M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you’ … 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans don't understand what the Fed Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems. When Americans get into discussions about the economy, most of them still blame either the Democrats or Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. The Economic Collapse]

More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million).

Employment Report: Clear Trend Change Absence Denninger 'From the Bureau Of Lies And Scams (BLS):

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 216,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, leisure and hospitality, and mining. Employment in manufacturing continued to trend up.

Yeah, ok.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1415

(Click to enlarge)

How about the workweek and salaries?

In March, average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.3 hours in March. The manufacturing workweek for all employees edged down by 0.1 hour to 40.5 hours, while factory overtime was unchanged at 3.3 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 33.6 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.) The average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls were unchanged at $22.87. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.7 percent. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees edged down by 2 cents over the month to $19.30. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

This just plain sucks given the price inflation that is clearly-evident in the PPI since August. These price increases are now going to start showing up on the store shelf over the next couple of months. We should also see the impact of these PPI changes being emitted from the rear end of the economy (that is, the business end that hurts you, the consumer) in the 1st quarter earnings reports beginning in earnest on the 11th.

Let's go look at our numbers and see if there's a "there" there.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1417

(Click to enlarge)

That's small improvement. I guess you can say it's not another turn-down.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1416

(Click to enlarge)

The number of employed ticked up a bit. That's positive. But it did last year too, only to flag off as we got into the summer.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1419

(Click to enlarge)

"Not in labor force", annualized, isn't any good. Yes, the monthly number looks good, but there are seasonal effects. On an annualized basis we're still above the zero line - then again, we have been like ... well ... forever. This is a problem and to a material degree reflects the underlying problem we have with labor in this country - we're losing participation. Permanently.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1418

(Click to enlarge)

Here's the grand-daddy number. It's following the seasonal pattern; let's see if it peaks in May. More-importantly, let's see if it puts in a lower high to go with the lower low.

That would be bad, and until the pattern changes, it's what you have to expect.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=1420

(Click to enlarge)

Nowhere is this more-evident than in this chart. Positive change? Where? This is the root of the problem - participation, as a percentage of the workforce, continues to decline. This in turn means that the budgetary pressures will not come off. And that, in turn, is very bad from an intermediate and longer-term stability perspective.

The wall is clearly visible through the fog at this point. Why do we still have our monetary and fiscal foot mashed on the accelerator?'

Higher Oil Slows Stock Rally: Dave's Daily 'No matter the market data, how can I let April Fool's Day pass without some humorous image? But, more somberly, today marks the second anniversary of ETF Digest pal Greg Newton's (Naked Shorts Blog) sudden death. So, I'm not going to complain about the 10" of snow. Markets were sharply higher after a mildly better than expected employment report. Many feel the economy has definitely turned the corner and that bodes well for stocks. The dollar rallied sharply early but then fell hard later in the day perhaps coinciding with Fed Governor's Dudley's remarks that QE will remain on track. (The Fed just can't find the "off" switch and behave like they're addicted to crack.) But, as Friday wore on, it became clear that oil prices would not be contained. Two reasons dominated: first, DUD-ley's comments and second, events in Libya aren't moving the coalition's way. As to the latter, what does this mean? Failure? Or, an enhanced presence? It sure presented an inconvenient speed bump for bulls Friday despite gains. How will consumers react to higher gas and energy prices? Not well one would think, but that's just too logical. Short-term equity markets have become rapidly overbought. DUD-ley's comments allow bulls to believe more, not less, liquidity is coming their way. As markets hit previous highs, along with oil, sellers entered markets to take profits. Volume is still ultra-light but breadth per the WSJ remains positive. '

Short-Term, High-Probability Mean-Reversion: Several ETFs Hit Short-Term Extremes Crowder 'Several of the ETFs I follow in the High-Probability, Mean Reversion strategy have hit a short-term “very overbought” extreme. Typically, when this type of event occurs a short-term reprieve (1-3 days) is right around the corner.Unemployment numbers are out before the bell today so I expect to see a pop at the open. If the market opens higher today I expect to make a trade in the strategy, so subscribers stay tuned.I currently have a trade on, so of course, a move lower at the open would not upset me either. I expect today will be a very interesting day. Short-Term High-Probability, Mean-Reversion Indicator – as of close 3/31/11

[overbought chart http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/4/1/saupload_3_31_11_hpmr.png ]

Disclosure: I am short SPY.'

For Soda Aficionados Minyanville http://www.albertpeia.com/regionalsodas.htm

The Treasury Auction Shell Game Peter Schiff | Very few people have the patience to sift through Treasury Department bond auctions data.

GE to Try to Avoid Liability in Japan Nuke Crisis Reuters | The Japan’s nuke crisis has created a PR headache for General Electric, but the company so far has escaped any legal fallout.

Foreign Banks Tapped Fed’s Lifeline Most as Bernanke Kept Borrowers Secret Bloomberg | The biggest borrowers from the 97-year-old discount window as the program reached its crisis-era peak were foreign banks.

ECONOMIC CRISIS ARCHIVE

Japan Rebuilds While The Fed Tears Down In Japan’s quest to reconstruct the region affected demand for commodities will increase putting added upward pressure on commodity markets.

Ron Paul On The Fed’s Secret Bailout Documents Congressman Paul discusses the documents the Fed released by court order.

Foreign Banks Tapped Fed’s Secret Lifeline Most at Crisis Peak U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s two-year fight to shield crisis-squeezed banks from the stigma of revealing their public loans protected a lender to local governments in Belgium, a Japanese fishing-cooperative financier and a company part-owned by the Central Bank of Libya.

The Fed Bailed Out A Libya-Owned Bank No matter how many Nobel peace prizes are trampled in the process, it may come as a surprise to some that a bank majority owned by the Libya Central Bank, was the direct recipient of US taxpayer largesse in the form of discount window borrowing.

(4-1-11) Dow 12,376 +56 Nasdaq 2,789 +8 S&P 500 1,332 +6 [CLOSE- OIL $107.94 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.65 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $4.05 REG./ $4.10 MID-GRADE/ $4.20 PREM./ $4.27 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,428 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $37.76 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,758 (+56% for year 2009) Metal News for the Day / DOLLAR= .70 EURO, 83 YEN, .62 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ Interest Rates: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=yield 10 YR NOTE YIELD 3.45% …..… AP Business Highlights ...Yahoo Market Update... T. Rowe Price Weekly Recap – Stocks / Bonds / Currencies - Domestic / International This Is a Secular Bear Market and The End of Buy and Hold … and Hope MARKET MANIPULATION AND HOW THE LATEST BUBBLE-FRAUD PRE-COMING CRASH IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED 3-11-10 The bull market that never was/were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold Property Values Projected to Fall 12% in 2010 Jan 31, 2010 THE COMING MARKET CRASH / CORRECTION 1-28-10 Maierhofer (01-15-10) 11 Clear Signs Economy Sinking Economic Black Hole 1-22-10: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover 1-7-10 Crash is coming! ‘WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE EVER’ Must Read Economic / Financial Data This Depression is just beginning The coming depression… thecomingdepression.net The Next Wave of Collapse is Coming Sooner than you think Sliding Back Into the Great Depression ABSOLUTELY, ABSURDLY, RIDICULOUS! SELL / TAKE PROFITS WHILE YOU CAN SINCE MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME!

National / World

Al Qaeda’s Dark Secret Exposed TheAlexJonesChannel | Evidence proves al Qaeda is Western manufactured.

Canadian officials ‘secretive’ on North American perimeter security agreement Aaron Dykes | Unifying the once sovereign nations of North America under treaty law moves forward in stealth.

Coalition Air Strikes: Body Bags Begin Piling Up Patrick Henningsen | The use of DU has been a major feature in US-led Coalition and Israeli war efforts since 2001.

Government Bureaucrats Steal Basketball Hoops Kurt Nimmo | As the founders knew, without property rights we are slaves.

Fukushima Plant Operators Again Ordered To “Review” Radiation Readings Steve Watson | Findings have raised fears that underground waterways and drinking water supplies could become contaminated.

Cover Up: Fukushima Plant Operators Again Ordered To “Review” “Suspiciously High” Radiation Readings The operators of the crippled nuclear power plant at Fukushima have once again been ordered to “review” and retract their radiation findings where appropriate because Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says they are too high.

Neocons and Democrats Work in Congress to Support Obama’s Libyan War As the mad bombers at NATO engage in a public relations stunt in response to the fallout from the slaughter of innocent Libyan civilians, here in the United States a few dignified members of Congress are attempting to put a halt to the illegal war.

The New Colonialism: Washington’s Pursuit of World Hegemony [Oh come on! They only wish! The nation's defacto bankrupt … understand all that that entails! ]What we are observing in Libya is the rebirth of colonialism. Only this time it is not individual European governments competing for empires and resources.

Target China Far from the Founding Father’s ideal representative republic, China has garnered a reputation as one of the most repressive regimes on earth. While some of this is well earned, much of it is due to the unsavory legacy left by Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” which to this day is still being carefully and systematically dismantled.

Gaddafi regime admits attempts to talk to west The regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has initiated a concerted effort to open lines of communication with western governments in an attempt to bring the conflict in the country to an end.

Libyan opposition offers ceasefire A Libyan opposition leader has said the rebels will accept a UN-demanded ceasefire if Muammar Gaddafi pulls his forces from all cities and allows peaceful protests.

Rand Paul: Fox can’t decide ‘what they love more, bombing the Middle East or bashing the president’ Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) joked Wednesday night that the Fox News Channel can’t seem to reconcile their dislike for President Barack Obama with their support for his military intervention in Libya.

Libya is a Continuation of Neocon War to Remake Middle East [ Come on! They're muddling along, debt ridden, incompetent, declining, failing, almost to a nation, individually and collectively. Trying to still appear relevant, more important are the nations absent from their war crimes folly (excepting israel for which these treasury depleting fiascos in the name of zionism continue down this path of self-defeat / self-destruction) ]Statement on Libya – Defining U.S. National Security Interests, Before the Foreign Affairs Committee, US House of Representatives, 31 March 2011

Drudgereport: GALLUP: Unemployment at 10.0%; underemployment 19.3%...
WSJ: More Americans work for gov't than manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining, utilities -- combined...
OIL SOARS...
Highest March price on record...
OBAMA'S LIMO EXEMPT FROM NEW 'GREEN' POLICY
Government losses in GM far higher than claimed...
Bosses at bailed-out FANNIE, FREDDIE were paid millions...
Probes Find 'Unprecedented' Political Review of FOIA Requests by Big Sis...
Issa: 'Nixonian'...
Federal Agents Told to Reduce Border Arrests, AZ Sheriff Says...
1st Grade Teacher Suspended for Facebook Rant About Students...
...Felt Like 'Warden' Supervising Future Criminals [ That's because that's what they are … and inherently so … just because they look like wobama, holder, michelle/wobama's belle, etc., doesn't change reality she has a right to discuss in First Amendment Terms, particularly. Paterson Teacher Suspended After Allegedly Calling Students 'Future Criminals ... Some comments:

I went to public school. Fortunately we had no blacks at all. They're just disgusting animals. People are tired of making up excuses for them. Look at sub-saharan africa, or any inner city. Always the same story with them. In evolutionary terms, 'they're the ones that got left behind'. (see, ie., http://albertpeia.com/anthroindex1.htm ).

Al Peia

Babba Booey

It’s a pretty funny story until you realize that the teacher is not only being honest but sadly correct as well.
The New generation of savages to come

April 1, 2011 at 10:48 pm | Reply | Report comment

cochino

After all, three generations of imbeciles are enough!

April 1, 2011 at 10:04 pm | Reply | Report comment

ANSWER

Teachers in that environment have classrooms consisting of 25 to 30 children. These children come to school with little to no sleep, poor nutrition, poor hygiene and zero guidance at home. In addition they don’t act like 6 and 7 year olds. They demonstrate very poor focus and attention to take direction. It is almost impossible to teach with these issues. Day after day teachers in most of these inner city school districts try. But in most cases the teacher can’t break this viscous cycle of ignorance. Mandatory birth control is the only answer. Parents need to be held accountable. Teachers in these environments all deserve to be paid at the highest scale! They deserve it.

April 1, 2011 at 9:47 pm | Reply | Report comment

Word of Wisdom

There is no such thing as a bad student….only bad teachers.

April 1, 2011 at 9:41 pm | Reply | Report comment

Wisdom (lol)

How about bad parents????

April 1, 2011 at 9:49 pm | Reply | Report comment

princeton1991

You’re an idiot and a likley dropout. Go back to school! — and I hate teachers more than you know so don’t blame me on you’re idiocy.

April 1, 2011 at 10:00 pm | Reply | Report comment

Mike

Leave the children of slackers in the public school system. Listen to this. My niece was doing her student teaching in Beachwood Ohio Public schools with 9th graders. After lunch the princes and princesses came back to class yelling and “fing” everyone and everything in sight. So she made them go back to the hall and come back quietly and ready to learn.
Her reward for this was 1 hour of counseling, not for the class but for her!
This junior high has 4 full time shrinks on site to help manage the teachers and kids. All that public school administrators want to to be sure no one makes any waves. What a joke.
Not wanting any part of the public school system, she got her Phd and has been teaching at a private college in Savana

April 1, 2011 at 9:36 pm | Reply | Report comment

Dewey

My niece teaches HS in Queens NY and says mainly the students
show up to meet each other ,not to study ,
Many of these kids will never be in the standard work ethics we
older folks grew up with ,they won’t work as they expect to start
at the top. Sad but this teacher’s comments are not far from what
my niece feels.

April 1, 2011 at 9:34 pm | Reply | Report comment

1608

She did her job.

Now the students know to judge a book by it’s cover.

April 1, 2011 at 9:28 pm | Reply | Report comment

Sick of whining

It’s her business what she posts on Facebook – maybe she should have marked it private and kept the comments amongst a select few. I can understand what she is saying – go to the mall and watch how kids act around their parents – heck, watch how the parents act. Instead of the parents crying about it they need to step up and parent instead of having the state/county raise their children. And yeah, some of those kids will grow up and be criminals. We have no EXPECTATIONS of proper behavior – we ACCEPT antisocial behavior everyday from children. Then when we can’t control the kids we dope ‘em up on ritalin and other drugs then sit ‘em in front of MTV, and Jerry Springer for their role models. Then we sit wondering what went wrong.

April 1, 2011 at 8:43 pm | Reply | Report comment

Sick of whining

Did anyone bother to ask why she felt that way?

April 1, 2011 at 8:48 pm | Reply | Report comment

loombergisafascist

people in this country despise the truth. i will bet dollars to donuts that everything she has said about her so called students are true. if she is seeeing this behaviour now in 1st grade can you imagine what these kids will be like in 10 years. its like the kid in staten island who was harrassing the muslim kid. he was a terror and nobody does anything. he was already running around with scissors and cut some other poor girls hair. these teachers spend 6 hours a day with these kids and i believe everything she says. to bad the parents dont take heed instead of just critizing her and acting all insulted.

April 1, 2011 at 8:09 pm | Reply | Report comment

mell

She and all academic teachers in America should walk out and set up their own small private schools. Capitalism and Freedom !!!!!!!! No more social promotion and grade fixing for lazy Americans!

April 1, 2011 at 8:03 pm | Reply | Report comment

Richard Allen

What is wrong with everyone….she knows what the truth is…she was warning everyone before it got bad

We need to praise this teacher and give her a PAY RAISE…..

April 1, 2011 at 8:00 pm | Reply | Report comment

Joe

The teacher called it as she saw it!!!

April 1, 2011 at 6:54 pm | Reply | Report comment

joey gallows

boohoo someones feelings were hurt
next thing is a lawsuit
the kids say worse things to each other every day

April 1, 2011 at 6:14 pm | Reply | Report comment

UJU

A school teacher can only do so much! Parents should rise up to their duties

April 1, 2011 at 5:45 pm | Reply | Report comment

Robert

Seek the truth, but don’t speak the truth ! The teacher can tell by the character of her students how they will be in later life! Paterson is a ghetto city and thats all one needs to know.

April 1, 2011 at 5:40 pm | Reply | Report comment

kds

When I was growing up I had nothing but respect for any and all adults specially teachers. Nowadays, my 9 year old neighbor is so disrespectful I wonder what she’ll become as a young adult. The worse part is her parents excuse her behavior with “she’s only nine”. I bet she behaves the same way in school by what I hear from other adults in the complex where we live.

April 1, 2011 at 5:18 pm | Reply | Report comment

2luv

why is it that people NEED to POST EVERYTHING IN FACEBOOK!!!

April 1, 2011 at 5:33 pm | Reply | Report comment

noodlesnoodlemann

Not too bright.

April 1, 2011 at 5:02 pm | Reply | Report comment

Michael Allen Powers

Mr. Johnson wonders why people are offended by the “truth”. (Fox’s definition of the word, obviously). I think he’s cranky because the kids won’t stay off his lawn.

I have teaching credentials, but I don’t teach. Why? Because I suck at it. (I have nothing but respect for those who can.) I learned this early on, and, to keep from doing a disservice to any prospective students, chose another path, just as this teacher should have done.

April 1, 2011 at 5:01 pm | Reply | Report comment

mike felter

i was thinking at first she can speak her mind she’s free but after some more thinking i agree rise the bar ,, i grow up in newark. was going the wrong way and some good people helped me,, and my great wife,,she stayed by me.. send the teacher back to school

April 1, 2011 at 5:00 pm | Reply | Report comment

story

There are expectations of educators to educate and not only academics but also morals and ethics. Her statement takes away from these children the chance they deserve to excel they are only 6 and 7 years old and will gravitate towards attitudes taught to them. This teacher is not prepared and should not be allowed to enter the class room again it is not the place for her she does not have the love or tolerance to deal with children of that age. Children of that age are curious and yes some of them are coming from homes where seeing is believing the thing that happen there and if that is the case let school be the heaven where they learn to be better people, gain knowledge and in the process get a little love.

April 1, 2011 at 4:57 pm | Reply | Report comment

Paterson

April 1, 2011 at 9:29 pm | Reply | Report comment

Kar

Everyone is entitled to thier opinions, truth be told or not. As an educator, you should know better then to ever post work related stuff. And never ever be facebook friends with parents & students! Lesson be learned!

April 1, 2011 at 4:53 pm | Reply | Report comment

Daniel Barbier

Please! And then if the kid does become a criminal then the educational system gets “blamed” for not intervening while again the parents receieve no responsibility in the outcome of their child’s behavior

April 1, 2011 at 4:39 pm | Reply | Report comment

Shelli Lipton

Teachers who think they are there as police need to be in a different profession. It’s good that this teacher was fired.

April 1, 2011 at 4:33 pm | Reply | Report comment

James W Johnson

So why are people so offended by the truth and facts?

April 1, 2011 at 4:33 pm | Reply | Report comment

James W Johnson

Why does the truth offend so many people?

April 1, 2011 at 4:32 pm | Reply | Report comment

Mari

i would say the teacher should be suspended more for her stupidity in posting to facebook than anything else. And she obviously was ill-prepared for the reality of the challenging job of teaching. I have no doubt she found her students unruly and undisciplined – they do live in an area where parenting skills seem to me at a minimium, but is also a challenge for those who DO try to be attentive to their children. She is to blame for thoughtlessness less than for her thoughts, but the education system, including hers at teacher’s college, are also partly responsible.

April 1, 2011 at 4:23 pm | Reply | Report comment

Paterson

April 1, 2011 at 9:33 pm | Reply | Report comment

Bulls_it! Obviously there’s a reason why she said it. Paterson NJ, is a gang infested slum with low function parents who are too busy smoking weed to help their children with their homework. Some, are future criminals. Look at their parents. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

April 1, 2011 at 4:01 pm | Reply | Report comment

You ignorant bigot, I grew up in Paterson NJ…. I graduated with honors from Penn State, I am getting my M.A at an international program…. after working as a political adviser.. and well be surely making a lot more money then you will ever be…..

April 1, 2011 at 4:31 pm | Reply | Report comment

James W Johnson

Democratis advisor no doubt.He made your point and you can’t even see that!

April 1, 2011 at 4:35 pm

Cisco

“.. and well be surely making a lot more money then you will ever be…”

Return to Penn State and ask for a refund. English composition isn’t your best game.

April 1, 2011 at 4:43 pm

Penn State Genius read this...

Teachers in that environment have classrooms consisting of 25 to 30 children. These children come to school with little to no sleep, poor nutrition, poor hygiene and zero guidance at home. In addition they don’t act like 6 and 7 year olds. They demonstrate very poor focus and attention to take direction. It is almost impossible to teach with these issues. Day after day teachers in most of these inner city school districts try. But in most cases the teacher can’t break this viscous cycle of ignorance. Mandatory birth control is the only answer. I hope this educates the Penn State ignoramus ignoramus..

April 1, 2011 at 9:38 pm

teacher

i know as an educator the children will rise to your expectations. I set the bar very high and they do very well and i see other teachers with this teachers mentality of how they are no good and thats what they get. When will society realize that we need to raise the bar and make them responsible and they will rise to the occasion. Try it! It works!

April 1, 2011 at 3:54 pm | Reply | Report comment

joe k

And I thought the truth would make you free.

April 1, 2011 at 3:43 pm | Reply | Report comment

anna

i thought its Arbeit macht frei (work would make you free)

April 1, 2011 at 4:39 pm | Reply | Report comment

War blurs humanitarian focus in Libya (Washington Post) [ Wow! Call me naïve, but it's getting difficult … blurs? … as in fact from fiction … truth versus falsity … propaganda as opposed to reality … and then there's the no small task of keeping up with gates' positions.

Obama Sends Murder Incorporated to Libya Nimmo | The CIA specializes in overthrowing governments and orchestrating mass murder.

Secret Illegal War Of Aggression Has Been Raging In Libya For Weeks Watson | UN Resolution or no UN resolution, US and British spies have been coordinating war for oil for some time.

Al-Qaeda 100% Pentagon Run Infowars.com | [UPDATED].

Tarpley on Libya Rebels: A CIA Secret Army of al-Qaeda Terrorists RT | Libyan Rebels in Full, Chaotic Retreat New Yorker |

US set to give arms to Libyans SMH |

Are US Soldiers Using Rape, Murder, And Bombing Of Children As War Strategy? Mary Lynn Cramer Countercurrents.org 3-30-11 ...

With the reports of rape of women by US troops in Iraq (not to mention the alarmingly high rate of rape of women soldiers within the US military); the bombing of civilian wedding parties, children at play, and innocent villagers in their homes in Pakistan and Afghanistan, why is it that Amy has not headlined that “Murder And Rape Are Being Used By Obama And US Soldiers As Weapons of War”? (And who arrested those accused Libyan soldiers in Tripoli so quickly? It takes forever to get charges brought against American troops and contractors accused of rape, torture and murder in US occupied countries; and even then they most often go free.) ..

This is a video of several testimonies repeating the same lie about Iraqi soldiers killing babies in incubators as they fled Kuwait in 1990.

” A key event in generating momentum for the first U.S. War on Iraq, “Operation Desert Storm” was a fraudulent report of the murder of Kuwaiti babies by Iraqi soldiers...The girl relayed a shocking story while sobbing:

'… I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where . . . babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die.

The massacre never occurred. The girl was actually the daughter of a Kuwaiti emir, and had been coached by the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton to give persuasive false testimony.” ( How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf , by Stauber and Rampton) http://911review.com/precedent/decade/incubators.html ...'

At least 40 civilians dead in Tripoli strikes: Vatican official Reuters

Obama in Libya for long haul

Rangel: Obama Did Not Have Constitutional Authority to Act Unilaterally in Libya Without Congress’ Approval

Obama On Energy Sec Chu: “He Actually Deserved His Nobel Prize” Obama jokes about the fact that deep down he is a warmonger

The false choice (Washington Post) [ This truly is well said and needed sayin'. That Ms. Marcus said it in so kindly a way is forgivable if only because of the expected cordiality of the forum. The truth is, I believe it's no longer just the false choices. I further believe the american electorate is snookered virtually all of the time, and has been so for quite some time with pronounced recognition of same with the last two failed presidents particularly. Thus, I conclude that the american political system has become so fatally flawed that it must be deemed broken and unfixable. After all, america is ever more widely known to be pervasively corrupt and as well, defacto bankrupt. This sad state of affairs precludes that somewhat amorphous conclusion attendant to an unknowing shrug of the shoulders and nonsequitur; viz., they must be doing something right … No they are not! / Then there is the b* s* concerning treasury turning a profit on the (ongoing fed / pomo / wall street) bailouts that taxpayers have and will continue to pay for in higher prices from oil to grains to other commodities to fewer jobs, now and in the future. There is no modern day alchemy that 'spins more paper into gold'. That value has to come from some place; viz., you! M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you / ' ...The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis... Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law … ’ 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans don't understand what the Fed Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems...most of them still blame either the Democrats or Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. ]

Europe financial problems deepen (Washington Post) [ Yet you'd think, and that they expected you to think, with all the 'bread and circuses', schemin', and perpetual war as here in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america that everything was just 'hunky-dory'. That the eu's financial problems were solved was touted to the tune of about a 1,000 points on the DOW over the course of just days. We Are Looking at Trillion-Dollar Plus Annual Interest Payments on U.S. Debt Owens Krugman: We’re Going To Have To Default On Our Debt One Way Or Another Some dour commentary from Paul Krugman this morning on the implications of our monster debt. Harry Dent Warns Major Crash Is Coming! Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
The worst of this next depression is likely to hit between mid-2010 and mid-2013, especially around early 2011...
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
Inflation will Increase until mid- 2010 and then turn to Deflation
Interest Rates will Increase
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012).

J. P. Morgan Wants $5 ATM Charge CNBC.com |

Poll: Obama’s approval hits new low Politico | Half of the registered voters surveyed for the poll think that the president does not deserve a second term in office.

Why your local Hospital could soon shut down (Ad)

European Central Bank Set to Raise Interest Rates Before Fed Reuters |

OPEC Could Reap $1 Trillion This Year National Journal |

Fragile Budget Talks Resume as Parties Trade ‘Extreme’ Label Fox |

The Fed Releases Thousands Of Secret Bailout Docs In The Least Transparent Way Possible The Federal Reserve on Thursday released the names of banks that borrowed from its main emergency lending facility during the financial crisis after having run out of legal appeals to block publication.

A List Of 28 Things That Will Make You Realise That There Is Something Seriously Wrong With This Country

China economist blasts dollar dominance on eve of G20 Dollar dominance is sowing the seeds of financial turmoil, and the solution is to promote new reserve currencies, a Chinese government economist said in a paper published on the eve of a G20 meeting about how to reform the global monetary system. ]

Portugal discloses new and larger budget deficits for last year, and Ireland says its banks need tens of billions of dollars in additional capital. The fresh round of bad news is likely to further shake confidence in Europe’s ability to resolve its lingering financial problems anytime soon.

Jeff Immelt faces major PR crises (Washington Post) [ Well, here's my experience in this suburb to new york, GE's home-state of connecticut which they dominate: RICO VERIFIED COMPLAINT (see infra). Such includes and as set forth in the case, inter alia,

· A judgment had been entered in my favor in the case, United States District Court Case #3:93cv02065(AWT)(USDCJ Alvin Thompson), worth approximately now in excess of $300,000 remains unaccounted for and which could be used for payment to creditors, Los Angeles, etc..

· Counsel Robert Sullivan on my behalf documented by way of certification upon investigation that Alan Shiff, USBCJ, had falsely stated a dismissal upon which false statement he predicated a retaliatory and spurious contempt proceeding against me causing substantial damage, and for which he sought Judicial Notice of those and related proceedings as did I in some of my filings.

· The Order of Dismissal With Prejudice by Alan Shiff, USBCJ, owing to Defendant Coan’s failure to file anything whatsoever by the court’s deadline causing creditors and me substantial damages: [ Shiff Order of Dismissal With Prejudice on Coan’s Failure to File Page 1 Page 2 ]

Defendant Coan had filed an action against me to prevent me from suing him which necessitated me to fly to Connecticut for a hearing before The Honorable Robert N. Chatigny, Chief Judge, USDC, District of Connecticut, who denied Coan’s requested relief as to Coan but precluded my action against Shiff (although there is no immunity, judicial or otherwise, for criminal acts, ie., fraud connected with a case under Title 11, USC, etc.) . [ transcript in pertinent part - crossexamofcoanbypeia.pdf ] … GE chief executive is under heat as he addresses tax issue, nuclear technology.

Liars (sic-lawyers). In Productive Societies as China, Japan List of Files Regarding Filed Attorney Grievance Against Fraud coan et als

Or Here For A Clearer View Of Filed Grievance Complaint, Response, Exhibits, and Related RICO Filings

Note the Committee of Frauds/Liars (sic-lawyers). Included are DOJ Rep., State Court Rep., State Atty. General Office Rep., and even a Vegetable Garden yale law prof who probably never practiced law in his life. How Pathetic!

On NBC, the missing story about GE (Washington Post) [ Ya think! … Seriously though, this is as important a story as can be since these scenarios have been a significant problem for the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt u.s. for quite some time. After all, there are no Washington Posts in the Northeast to cover their denizens quite like the Washington Post fearlessly covers theirs (ie., that not too long ago story of the ubiquity of top level clearances, 'cia ops / covers' (real estate / businesses), in the Washington metropolitan area, literally putting their lives on the line so to speak. In the northeast, sinkholes new york (they even did a book 'The Wall Street Gang' and movies, ie., 'Gangs of New York', fact-based 'Goodfellas', etc.) / mob infested jersey (I've not been to chicago, but count them in here) particularly, it's what is not said that invariably stands out to the substantial detriment of the rest of the nation. The day in, day out continued churn and earn wall street fraud at a total cost yet to be fully realized by the rest of the nation to support those lavish / overly high-cost lifestyles will not make for front-page reading in the wall street journal, new york times, etc., nor the lead story if at all on the 6 / 11 o'clock news. Therein lies the rub, and the need for alternate media sources so castigated and belittled by the main-stream news media, particularly in those regions which have a lot to hide (and not talk about). Sadly, the internet is increasingly targeted toward the end of silencing those who brave to tell the truth. One might hope that The Washington Post might enter the televised news sphere with waivers based on national need.] “NBC Nightly News” didn’t report on the fact that its parent company paid no federal taxes last year.

Documents shed light on Fed lending (Washington Post) [ Au contraire … far from shedding light, the fed remains a significant part of pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america's problems and should be abolished, including their ability to print fiat currency facilitating their fraudulent, destructive machinations in favor of the frauds on wall street and to the detriment of the nation. Light Volume Rally Continues: Dave's Daily ' ...The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis... Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law … ADP data has misled before but Wall Street is awash with cash from on high and finds little other place to invest beyond stocks...' M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you’ … 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans don't understand what the Fed Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems. When Americans get into discussions about the economy, most of them still blame either the Democrats or Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. The Economic Collapse ] The Fed lent vast sums of money to banks during the financial crisis, documents show.

Harry Dent Warns Major Crash Is Coming!

We Are Looking at Trillion-Dollar Plus Annual Interest Payments on U.S. Debt Owens Krugman: We’re Going To Have To Default On Our Debt One Way Or Another Some dour commentary from Paul Krugman this morning on the implications of our monster debt. Economists Herald New Great Depression The world is currently experiencing the modern day equivalent of the Great Depression, according to a prominent economist who has added his voice to scores of others now forecasting ongoing economic doom on a scale not seen since the 1930s.) , and my position and that of demographer Dent ( Prechter and many others are also in this camp although I believe he does not factor in sufficiently the debasement of the u.s. currency / dollar in arriving at his numbers which do however, at 1,000 on the DOW reflect real, as opposed to inflated values of 3-4,000 owing to the ever more worthless Weimar dollars which provides ‘spin material’ for the wall street frauds but is really quite ominous going forward, and very detrimental in real economic terms.) [This is a global depression. This is a secular bear market in a global depression. The past up move was a manipulated bull (s*) cycle in a secular bear market. This has been a typically manipulated bubble as has preceded the prior crashes with great regularity that the wall street frauds and insiders commission and sell into. This is a typical wall street churn and earn pass the hot potato scam / fraud as in prior crashes’. This national decline, economic and otherwise, will not end until justice is served and the wall street frauds et als are criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed.] [ The reason for the necessity of prosecution is founded in the circumstances surrounding and the mindset of what one would deem ‘antisocial personalities’ (disorders) ( I prefer the prior descriptor of such as psychopathic; the euphemistic ‘sociopathic’ was ‘far too understanding’ in my view of the social / environmental factors allegedly giving rise to such negative / destructive behaviors. I don’t buy it.) Specifically, accepted studies / findings have concluded that the essential defect in those with antisocial (psychopathic) personality disorders is an inability to respond normally to fear-inducing stimuli, leading in turn to an inability to inhibit responses that should, but, as with wall street, have not resulted in punishment. Thus, while I think most on wall street have proven themselves criminally insane (for the money, ie., Stewart, ‘Den of Thieves’ / ‘Liar’s Poker’, the most recent financial debacle / crisis, which continues to this day); at the least, owing to a lack of fear of prosecution / punishment, they have become defacto sociopathic / psychopathic. ] Krugman: It's All Downhill From Here Cullen Roche Love him or hate him Paul Krugman has been awfully right with regards to the macro picture in the last few years. He’s one of the rare economists who had the foresight to see the housing bubble and the likelihood of economic downturn that would result from it. Krugman recently caused a stir when he said the US economy was headed for the third depression. Here Are 13 Signs That We’re Actually In A Depression Right Now Gregory White** | David Rosenberg has outlined, in his latest letter, the 13 reasons with this so-called recovery is actually a depression… David Rosenberg has outlined, in his latest letter, the 13 reasons with this so-called recovery is actually a depression.Rosenberg sums it up like this:

This is what a depression is all about — an economy that 33 months after a recession begins, with zero policy rates, a stuffed central bank sheet, and a 10% deficit-to-GDP ratio, is still in need of government help for its sustenance.

Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
The worst of this next depression is likely to hit between mid-2010 and mid-2013, especially around early 2011, but if the banking system continues to implode a deep downturn or depression could begin sometime in 2009 instead of 2010.
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
Inflation will Increase until mid- 2010 and then turn to Deflation
Interest Rates will Increase
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012). ]

Are US Soldiers Using Rape, Murder, And Bombing Of Children As War Strategy? Mary Lynn Cramer | She was also seen pulling a battered and empty incubator behind her, yelling that Gaddafi forces had broken into the hospital maternity ward. Mary Lynn Cramer Countercurrents.org March 30, 2011 Amy Goodman’s Take on One Reported Rape Case in Tripoli, Libya: “Pro-Gaddafi Forces Accused of Using Rape as War Strategy”

“Some doctors in Libya have accused pro-Gaddafi fighters of using rape as a weapon of war. On Sunday, five men were arrested for raping and torturing a Libyan woman. The international press learned of the incident when the woman, Eman al-Obeidi, burst into a hotel full of foreign journalists in Tripoli. She was quickly detained by Libyan security officers. (http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/28/headlines )

She was also seen pulling a battered and empty incubator behind her, yelling that Gaddafi forces had broken into the hospital maternity ward, pulled babies out of the incubators and thrown them on the ground, and stamped them to death…oh, sorry, that was another dramatized lie told to the US Congress to justify another grossly destructive invasion and slaughter of thousands by US air power in the Middle East.*

The doctors commenting on this single incident in Tripoli were no doubt the same romantic, pure and idealistic, pro-democracy “rebels” adored by DemocracyNow in their overtly sympathetic interviews with these courageous, US armed, financed, and supported fighters with radical Islamist, Al Qaeda, and CIA operative backgrounds….but why should we care who they are or where they come from or how they are armed? And Democracy Now will the the very last to do any serious questioning of this issue.)

If you find my commentary more offensive than Democracy Now’s lack of responsible, investigative journalism and Amy’s blatantly biased propaganda regarding Libya, that may be indicative of just of how little integrity is left in the so-called American Left.

This is a video of several testimonies repeating the same lie about Iraqi soldiers killing babies in incubators as they fled Kuwait in 1990.

” A key event in generating momentum for the first U.S. War on Iraq, “Operation Desert Storm” was a fraudulent report of the murder of Kuwaiti babies by Iraqi soldiers. On October 10, 1990, the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus held a hearing on the subject of Iraqi human rights violations. The centerpiece of the event was the emotional testimony of a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, known only by her first name, Nayirah. Her full name was supposedly being kept secret to protect her from Iraqi reprisals. The girl relayed a shocking story while sobbing:

I volunteered at the al-Addan hospital. While I was there, I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where . . . babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die.

The massacre never occurred. The girl was actually the daughter of a Kuwaiti emir, and had been coached by the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton to give persuasive false testimony.” ( How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf , by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton) http://911review.com/precedent/decade/incubators.html ...'

In Washington, what’s not said can be a powerful (Washington Post) [ One can only hope that what's not said is not what's not smart ...

AT&T’s lobbyists well positioned (Washington Post) [ The ultimate regression. You'd think that with all the negative fallout / consequences from unbridled k street lobbying, that such a scenario as this could not be … yet in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, 'it is!' … AT&T, T-Mobile USA merger deal questioned (Washington Post) [ Questioned? Is that all? att / sbc is a horribly managed company that can't even do the simplest things well; ie., land lines and dsl thereby, my direct experience. We've seen this all before. When they can't do, they go monopoly bigger with disasterous results. This is an old story with a familiar ending.] A day after AT&T announced it would buy T-Mobile USA to create the biggest wireless carrier in the country, consumer advocates and some members of Congress blast the deal.

Merger a disconnect for consumers (Washington Post) [ Yeah! True enough! I had to drop my land line (att/sbc – jersey/bushland) which I kept for the public listing and which became disfunctional / unusable to the point where it was impacting my DSL line; both of which I dropped in favor of MagicJack (I recommend it) and Time Warner Cable / Internet (also better). Deal to combine AT&T, T-Mobile raises questions (AP) [Questions? Is that all? att / sbc is a horribly managed company that can't even do the simplest things well; ie., land lines and dsl thereby, my direct experience. We've seen this all before. When they can't do, they go monopoly bigger with disasterous results. This is an old story with a familiar ending. AP - AT&T's surprise announcement that it plans to acquire T-Mobile USA will force federal regulators to confront a difficult antitrust question: Can American consumers get good wireless service at a ... ] OPINION | Your choice for wireless service would get smaller should AT&T carry out its plan to buy T-Mobile USA. ] Firm confident it will win over regulators to its bid to buy T-Mobile USA, even as critics continue to bash the deal. Here's that other story of what's 'unsaid' being very costly to the nation : On NBC, the missing story about GE (Washington Post) [ Ya think! … Seriously though, this is as important a story as can be since these scenarios have been a significant problem for the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt u.s. for quite some time... (0 taxes paid)'

] A call by lawmakers for a careful review of AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile is really more code language for something else, analysts say.

CIA operatives in Libya to gather intel on rebels (Washington Post) [ Well, that's a plan … albeit after the fact … but, as that old saying goes … 'better late than never' … but it's still the 'what' that obscurely remains somewhat of a mystery ... Al-Qaeda 100% Pentagon Run Infowars.com | There is plenty of evidence al-Qaeda works for the Pentagon and the CIA. Former Libyan Al Qaeda Leader Says There Are 1000 jihadists Amongst Rebels Steve Watson | US, UK still want to supply them with weapons. Constitutional Problems with the Libyan War Ron Paul | The costs of this terrible mistake cannot be ignored. Obama Raises American Hypocrisy To A Higher Level Paul Craig Roberts | Gadhafi is being demonized while Bush/Cheney/Obama are sitting on their high horse draped in cloaks of morality. Reuters: Obama Signs Secret Order Authorizing Covert CIA Support For Libyan Rebels Obama has signed secret order authorizing covert US govt support for rebel forces in Libya, officials tell Reuters. Poll: Obama’s approval hits new low President Barack Obama’s approval rating and prospects for reelection have plunged to all-time lows in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. Americans worried about Libya conflict: poll A new poll published on Wednesday found nearly half of Americans were opposed to US military involvement in Libya, reflecting tricky political ground being navigated by President Barack Obama. ] The Obama administration has sent teams to gather intelligence on the identity, goals and progress of rebel forces, according to U.S. officials.

Twice a victim of retail violence (Washington Post) [ True americana … highest crime rates in the world by far, even not counting major crimes as on wall street with impunity sounding in corrupt immunity. Though having but 5% of the world’s population, america can boast 76% of the world’s serial killers, http://www.albertpeia.com/realifeamericaserialkillers.mpg . Defacto bankrupt, fraudulent america also spends more on military spending than all the nations of the world combined... federal employees / contractors, cia, all 3 branches of the u.s. government, etc., are included in this evolved american trait of inherent criminality ( http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/PeiavCoanetals.htm ]:

CRIME STATISTICS > TOTAL CRIMES (MOST RECENT) BY COUNTRY (america’s No. 1).

Rank	Countries	Amount
# 1	United States:	11,877,218
# 2	United Kingdom:	6,523,706
# 3	Germany:	6,507,394

Financialization and Our Increasingly Unstable Economy Roche ‘.. I highly recommend it to anyone... It will certainly infuriate you...excellent job of showing how Wall Street and government have become overrun by deregulation and sheer greed. A combination of flawed economic theory and greed have combined to create the beast that we now call a “functioning” economy. The worst part of it all is that President Obama, who vowed change, has done almost nothing to fix any of it and in fact continues most of the policies that helped get us here in the first place’ ‘INSIDE JOB’ Ferguson wins Oscar for Documentary on the unprosecuted massive extant fraud in the (many) TRILLIONS by the frauds on wall street ( and declares with oscar in hand that not one high level wall street exec has been prosecuted … despite ‘earning’ billiions from the fraud ), the commentator / experts recommend getting rid of the corrupt eric holder ( what do holder and wobama have in common … wall street money? … a proclivity for jive-talking / b*** s*** ?...all/some of the above … or is it something else ... a hint - UPDATE: MORE CLAIMS OF RACE BIAS AT JUSTICE... ‘In emotional and personal testimony, an ex-Justice official who quit over the handling of a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party accused his former employer of instructing attorneys in the civil rights division to ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims ' Cases against Wall Street lag despite Holder’s vows to target financial fraud Washington Post | Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown.

’Inside Job’ New Documentary Exposes Wall Street Fraud And How Banksters Continue To Steal Our Money

http://www.albertpeia.com/insidejob.flv

China’s criticism of Fed may get little traction at G-20 meeting (Washington Post) [ Yeah … China's a bit too rational to be given much of an ear by the corrupt, warring, defacto bankrupt euro-american luNATOns who are also too busy manufacturing 'paper' (fiat currency / 'securities') … Yet, others have taken notice … This Fed Governor ADMITS the Federal Reserve is Anti-Capitalistic [ No surprise here … the fed has literally destroyed the american free enterpise, capitalist system in favor of the frauds on wall street to the detriment of this and many other nations. ] WSCS 3-30-11

'There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen… the bad economist pursues a small present good that will be followed by a great evil to come, while the good economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil.

–Frederic Bastiat Light Volume Rally Continues: Dave's Daily ' ...The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis... Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law … ADP data has misled before but Wall Street is awash with cash from on high and finds little other place to invest beyond stocks...' M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you’ … 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans don't understand what the Fed Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems. When Americans get into discussions about the economy, most of them still blame either the Democrats or Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. The Economic Collapse]

Light Volume Rally Continues: Dave's Daily ' It may be it's the stupid person that fights this trend reversal. The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis. So, give it up to the beard! Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law but show me someone who's been caught. ADP data indicated job growth for Thursday's Jobless Claims data and Friday's all important Unemployment report. ADP data has misled before but Wall Street is awash with cash from on high and finds little other place to invest beyond stocks. Bull's are betting on a good report to close out the week, and if not, they're just April Fools. Only a hardy few are pumping this market higher as volume remains ultra-light. Of course, volume data isn't on your monthly brokerage statement since that would only confuse you, right? No, TPTB just wants you to see higher prices to boost your confidence...' Chemist charged with insider trading (Washington Post) [ This remains incredulous to me. Everyone but the big boys / frauds! Not just corruption, but bad time /resource management. The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed (this would also help significantly the hapless, hopeless budget scenario). Drop in home prices raises fear of double dip (Washington Post) [ Fear of double dip? We're in a continuing dip that never really ended with obfuscations of reality including more insurmountable debt and fed-based manipulations (Dave explains infra) Case-Shiller Chairman: Here’s Why the Housing Market Recession is Not Over Wall St Cheat Sheet 'Welcome to 2003! The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index 10-City Composite was down 2% and the 20-City Composite fell 3.1% in January on a year-over-year basis. On a monthly basis, the 10-City Composite was down 0.9% and the 20-City Composite fell 1.0% in January versus December 2010.San Diego and Washington D.C. were the only two markets to record positive year-over-year changes. However, San Diego was up a scant 0.1%, while Washington DC posted a healthier +3.6% annual growth rate. The same 11 cities that had posted recent index level lows in December 2010, posted new lows in January.

David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s commented:

“Keeping with the trends set in late 2010, January brings us weakening home prices with no real hope in sight for the near future. With this month’s data, we find the same 11 MSAs posting new recent index lows. The 10-City and 20-City Composites continue to decline month-over-month and have posted monthly declines for six consecutive months now.These data confirm what we have seen with recent housing starts and sales reports. The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery . At most, we have seen all statistics bounce along their troughs; at worst, the feared double-dip recession may be materializing. ..., but both series have moved closer to a confirmed double-dip for six consecutive months. At this point we are not too far off, and that is what many analysts are seeing with sales, starts and inventory data too...' M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you… (see infra)’ ] False / fake data / reports galore … High oil price rally! Come on! What total b*** s***! Previous rally sparked by upward revision of GDP by the scandal-scarred commerce department? You can’t believe anything these desperate self-servers say! This manipulated bubble in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and today’s suckers’ rally on more bad/worse than expected news (consumer confidence down) provides an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! Fed to hold regular news conferences (Washington Post) [ Wow! Just what everyone needed … more spoon-fed b*** s*** / jawboning by the flawed, flatulent, faultful fed … for the sake of fraudulent wall street … you do remember those 'no-recession' jawbone sessions that sent the prior bubble expanding faster than 'the big bang' itself … until every got and continues to get banged from the last bubble-fraud crash. Chairman Bernanke’s move is part of efforts by the central bank to make the institution appear less secretive. States target jobless benefits (Washington Post) Durable goods (leading indicator) 200% worse than expected, stocks rally. ‘ February Durable Goods Orders Disappoint NEW YORK (TheStreet) Bharatwaj …’ This is the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm ]. Looking Like A Good Time To Sell Into Strength - Harding BOB PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows ] The government charged a chemist at the Food and Drug Administration Tuesday with insider trading.

Go to following pages for above links:
http://www.albertpeia.com/currentopics2ndqtr10108.htm
http://www.albertpeia.com
http://www.albertpeia.com/alresume.htm

http://www.albertpeia.com/wallstreetlunacy2ndqtr10108.htm

http://www.scribd.com/alpeia

You may post a comment on my blog on any topic: http://alpeiablog.blogspot.com

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

April 4, 2011 posts

Business / Economic / Financial

Mark Whitehouse explains how while low interest rates have meant big profits for banks, they are hurting small investors, including seniors who are seeing their cash earn minimal interest... 1-10 … 11. Nations ignore obvious till too late, then collapse rapidly

] After weeks of negotiating over money, time is now the biggest concern. There is general agreement the sides must work out a deal by Tuesday night.

Wall Street’s Super-Rich CEOs killing financial reforms

Dimon becomes our newest Dr. Doom

1. This time is never, never different with insatiable greed

2. Fed’s new easy money is fueling new bubble, new meltdown

3. American ‘Empire’ has peaked, is on a rapid downward spiral

4. Wall Street has created a very ‘short respite’ before new crash

5. First dot-coms, then subprimes; ‘third episode’ dead ahead

6. America’s ‘running out of time’ before the Great Depression 2

7. Fed’s haunted by ghost of Greenspan’s failed Reaganomics

8. Hedgers made billions shorting dumb politicians, dumber bankers

9. Dollar’s dead as reserve currency, killing our retirement system

10. Sell everything, hide in the hills with seed, fertilizer, drugs, guns

11. Nations ignore obvious till too late, then collapse rapidly

Fed’s Rules Let Brokers Turn Junk Into Cash at Height of Financial Crisis At the height of the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve allowed the world’s largest banks to turn more than $118 billion in junk bonds, defaulted debt, securities of unknown ratings and stocks into cash.

Ron Paul: People Need Currency Choices – Kitco News Congressman Ron Paul talks w/ Kitco News about a bill that aims at establishing competing currency in the U.S. Also discussed is his previous Federal Reserve audit bill, as well as the possibility of running as a Presidential candidate.

Good Economic Numbers? Don’t Be Fooled By The Financial Sugar High The U.S. financial system is like a junkie that needs continually increasing amounts of “junk” to get the same “buzz”. So what is the U.S. financial system addicted to? It is addicted to money and debt.

Americans Just Took a Pay Cut As Inflation Outpaces Wages You may not have noticed it when you opened up your paycheck last month, but you just took a pay cut

Bob Chapman: The Road of Inflation Will Only End in Tears Cycles and booms and busts just don’t happen. They are planned that way. In the late 1990s Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan commented on irrational exuberance and said he hoped the market would cool down.

IMF Says US Must Raise All Taxes, Cut All Entitlements By 35% To Contain Future Budget In what is either a delayed April Fool’s report, or its latest exercise in rhetoric the IMF asks the humorous question: “An Analysis of U.S. Fiscal and Generational Imbalances: Who Will Pay and How?”

The Fed Is on ‘Different Monetary Planet’: Economist The Federal Reserve is on a different monetary planet from the rest of the world, according to Credit Suisse UK Economist Robert Barrie.

Al Qaeda: Pawns of CIA Insurrection from Libya to Yemen Webster Tarpley | In the current phase, al Qaeda has resumed its original status as CIA guerrillas.

Jesse Ventura: Big Sis Discriminates Against Common Americans Kurt Nimmo | Members of Congress and other officials avoid pat-downs and naked body scanners.

Jesse Ventura Challenges Ron Paul to Leave Republican Party Steve Watson | Paul/Ventura 2012? Former Governor offers himself up as vice president nominee.

Pentagon sock puppet trolls attack alt media RT | Max talks to Alex Jones about food stamps and financial terror.

Fukushima Workers Try to Plug Radiation Leaks With Old Newspapers Steve Watson | Mayor, Governor slam government as tons of radioactive water is poured into Pacific.

Ventura Urges Ron Paul To Run For President As Independent Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has an important message for Libertarian Congressman Ron Paul – ditch the Republican Party and run for President as an independent.

Oil Rises On Market Speculation Over Globalist War in Libya Oil has spiked to a 30-month high on market speculation related to demand and the globalist war against the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Al Qaeda: Pawns of CIA Insurrection from Libya to Yemen US, British, French, and Dutch commandos have taken leadership of the rebel forces, and are arming them with modern weapons in flagrant violation of the arms embargo specified in UN Security Council resolution 1973.

US agrees to continue Libya airstrikes The United States has agreed to a NATO’s request for a 48-hour extension of American participation in the Western coalition’s airstrikes on Libya.

Lindsey Graham Advocates Killing First Amendment Kurt Nimmo | Freedom of speech should not be tolerated during an undeclared forever war.

How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico’s murderous drug gangs London Observer | A special investigation reveals how the increasingly frantic warnings of one London whistleblower were ignored.

NY Times contributor confirms California rainwater 181 times above drinking water standards for radioactive iodine-131 ENE News | Federal officials have still not published any official data on nuclear fallout from Japan disaster.

‘War for Libyan oil planned long ago, no one cares about people’ RT | Susan Lindauer, journalist and author, has never believed the allied forces intervened in Libya out of humanitarian reasons.

UN-backed Ivory Coast Leader Accused in Massacres BBC | Ban Ki-moon insists Alassane Ouattara and his followers are not involved.

Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud.

“Protecting” Civilians And Aiding Rebels By Killing Them: 13 Dead From NATO Airstrike NATO voiced concern on Saturday about reports of civilian deaths in a coalition air strike near Brega as rebels claimed victory in the battle for the key Libyan oil town.

Here Come “The Boots On The Ground”: EU Approves “Possible” Military Operation For Libya While it has been made very clear that no US “boots” would be on the ground in Libya, except for those beloning to CIA operatives of course, no such stigma applies to Europe.

Gaddafi rejects rebel truce offer Moamar Gaddafi’s regime has rejected a conditional ceasefire offer made by Libyan rebels, saying government forces would not withdraw from towns they control.

Regulator Says Radioactive Water Leaking Into Ocean From Japanese Nuclear Plant Highly radioactive water is leaking directly into the sea from a damaged pit near a crippled reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, safety officials said Saturday.

GREENPEACE Measures EXTREME RADIATION 40KM From Fukushima – Why No Evacuation? Regardless of what anyone thinks about GreenPeace and their stance on fraudulent man made warning, this video clearly shows that levels at least 40km from the plant are EXTREMELY high!

Flashing Blue Light Seen Above Exploded Nuclear Reactor The characteristic blue glow of nuclear reactors is due to Cherenkov radiation.

Reactor Core Was Severely Damaged, U.S. Official Says Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday that roughly 70 percent of the core of one reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan had suffered severe damage.

Canadian officials ‘secretive’ on North American perimeter security agreement Aaron Dykes | Unifying the once sovereign nations of North America under treaty law moves forward in stealth.

Coalition Air Strikes: Body Bags Begin Piling Up Patrick Henningsen | The use of DU has been a major feature in US-led Coalition and Israeli war efforts since 2001.

Government Bureaucrats Steal Basketball Hoops Kurt Nimmo | As the founders knew, without property rights we are slaves.

Gaddafi regime admits attempts to talk to west The regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has initiated a concerted effort to open lines of communication with western governments in an attempt to bring the conflict in the country to an end.

Libyan opposition offers ceasefire A Libyan opposition leader has said the rebels will accept a UN-demanded ceasefire if Muammar Gaddafi pulls his forces from all cities and allows peaceful protests.

More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million).

More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million).

Japan Rebuilds While The Fed Tears Down In Japan’s quest to reconstruct the region affected demand for commodities will increase putting added upward pressure on commodity markets.

Ron Paul On The Fed’s Secret Bailout Documents Congressman Paul discusses the documents the Fed released by court order.

The Fed Bailed Out A Libya-Owned Bank No matter how many Nobel peace prizes are trampled in the process, it may come as a surprise to some that a bank majority owned by the Libya Central Bank, was the direct recipient of US taxpayer largesse in the form of discount window borrowing.

Al Qaeda’s Dark Secret Exposed TheAlexJonesChannel | Evidence proves al Qaeda is Western manufactured.

Canadian officials ‘secretive’ on North American perimeter security agreement Aaron Dykes | Unifying the once sovereign nations of North America under treaty law moves forward in stealth.

Coalition Air Strikes: Body Bags Begin Piling Up Patrick Henningsen | The use of DU has been a major feature in US-led Coalition and Israeli war efforts since 2001.

Government Bureaucrats Steal Basketball Hoops Kurt Nimmo | As the founders knew, without property rights we are slaves.

Fukushima Plant Operators Again Ordered To “Review” Radiation Readings Steve Watson | Findings have raised fears that underground waterways and drinking water supplies could become contaminated.

Gaddafi regime admits attempts to talk to west The regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has initiated a concerted effort to open lines of communication with western governments in an attempt to bring the conflict in the country to an end.

Libyan opposition offers ceasefire A Libyan opposition leader has said the rebels will accept a UN-demanded ceasefire if Muammar Gaddafi pulls his forces from all cities and allows peaceful protests.

War blurs humanitarian focus in Libya (Washington Post) [ Wow! Call me naïve, but it's getting difficult … blurs? … as in fact from fiction … truth versus falsity … propaganda as opposed to reality … and then there's the no small task of keeping up with gates' positions.

Obama Sends Murder Incorporated to Libya Nimmo | The CIA specializes in overthrowing governments and orchestrating mass murder.

Secret Illegal War Of Aggression Has Been Raging In Libya For Weeks Watson | UN Resolution or no UN resolution, US and British spies have been coordinating war for oil for some time.

Al-Qaeda 100% Pentagon Run Infowars.com | [UPDATED].

Tarpley on Libya Rebels: A CIA Secret Army of al-Qaeda Terrorists RT | Libyan Rebels in Full, Chaotic Retreat New Yorker |

Obama in Libya for long haul

Rangel: Obama Did Not Have Constitutional Authority to Act Unilaterally in Libya Without Congress’ Approval

Obama On Energy Sec Chu: “He Actually Deserved His Nobel Prize” Obama jokes about the fact that deep down he is a warmonger

The Fed Releases Thousands Of Secret Bailout Docs In The Least Transparent Way Possible The Federal Reserve on Thursday released the names of banks that borrowed from its main emergency lending facility during the financial crisis after having run out of legal appeals to block publication.

A List Of 28 Things That Will Make You Realise That There Is Something Seriously Wrong With This Country

Portugal discloses new and larger budget deficits for last year, and Ireland says its banks need tens of billions of dollars in additional capital. The fresh round of bad news is likely to further shake confidence in Europe’s ability to resolve its lingering financial problems anytime soon.

Jeff Immelt faces major PR crises (Washington Post) [ Well, here's my experience in this suburb to new york, GE's home-state of connecticut which they dominate: RICO VERIFIED COMPLAINT (see infra). Such includes and as set forth in the case, inter alia,

Frauds/Liars (sic-lawyers)Covering Up for Other Frauds/Liars (sic-lawyers). In Productive Societies as China, Japan List of Files Regarding Filed Attorney Grievance Against Fraud coan et als

Or Here For A Clearer View Of Filed Grievance Complaint, Response, Exhibits, and Related RICO Filings

Note the Committee of Frauds/Liars (sic-lawyers). Included are DOJ Rep., State Court Rep., State Atty. General Office Rep., and even a Vegetable Garden yale law prof who probably never practiced law in his life. How Pathetic!

This is what a depression is all about — an economy that 33 months after a recession begins, with zero policy rates, a stuffed central bank sheet, and a 10% deficit-to-GDP ratio, is still in need of government help for its sustenance.