Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Mon 03.08.2010
Regulators close banks in four states (Reuters) - U.S. bank regulators closed four banks in as many states on Friday, bringing the number of failures so far this year to 26 as deteriorating loans continued taking a toll on financial institutions. The largest of the four was Sun American Bank of Boca Raton, Florida, which had approximately $535.7 million in total assets and $443.5 million in total deposits, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) said. Regulators also closed Centennial Bank of Odgen, Utah, Waterfield Bank of Germantown, Maryland, and Bank of Illinois of Normal, Illinois. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair has said she expects bank failures to remain high through 2010, even as the economy improves, because the bank industry is continuing to recognize loan losses and clean up their balance sheets
Greece and the United Kingdom are suffering a dire funding problem that is headed for US shores. By Bill Fleckenstein - MSN Money -- Regrettably, these days it seems that ferreting out the right investment decisions is sort of all macro, all the time. The top-down economic overview is far more important, I think, than the bottom-up fundamental view of any company or stock. Important pieces to that macro jigsaw puzzle are Greece and the United Kingdom, as the U.S. is headed for a variation of the funding crisis, though how severe ours will be remains to be seen. Without a money-printing press -- because it uses the euro, not a currency of its own -- Greece is forced to consider austerity measures to deal with its debt woes. The U.K., on the other hand, is not as bad off as Greece, and it does have a press.
At the U.N., Preparing for the Next World Disaster By BRUCE KENNEDY - DailyFinance.com In the two months since a massive earthquake shattered Haiti, the U.N.'s World Food Program is still responding to the event and so far has fed over four-million people there. The WFP has dealt with catastrophes for decades, bringing food and other assistance to communities devastated by natural and man-made disaster. But Haiti, reports the WFP, is different. Of the 200 people the WFP already had stationed in Haiti at the time of the earthquake, one was killed outright and most others were left homeless.
The Swaps That Swallowed Your Town By GRETCHEN MORGENSON - NYTimes AS more details surface about how derivatives helped Greece and perhaps other countries mask their debt loads, let’s not forget that the wonders of these complex products aren’t on display only overseas. Across our very own country, municipalities, school districts, sewer systems and other tax-exempt debt issuers are ensnared in the derivatives mess.
Enron's Jeffrey Skilling Says We Shouldn't Expect Honest Execs By TRACY COENEN - DailyFinance.com -- Last week, the poster boy for executives committing fraud, Jeffrey Skilling, had his appeal of his criminal conviction heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. Skilling was convicted in 2006 on 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud, false statements and insider trading related to his work as the CEO of failed energy concern Enron. But even at sentencing, Skilling claimed he was innocent of all charges and Enron collapsed because of outside forces. (That still gives me a chuckle each time I read it.)
Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors By ELLEN E. SCHULTZ - WSJ A little-noticed law could soon result in smaller Social Security checks for hundreds of thousands of the elderly and disabled who owe the U.S. money from defaulted loans and other debts more than a decade old. Social Security benefits are off-limits to creditors, such as credit-card companies and banks. But the U.S. can collect debts to federal agencies by "offsetting," or withholding Social Security and disability payments. The Treasury currently withholds benefits of 3.1 million Social Security recipients to recover defaulted student-, farm- and small-business loans, unpaid income taxes, amounts veterans owe for health care, and other debts to the government.
Interview by G. Edward Griffin, in 1985 (YouTube video posted October 05, 2008) . . . . "Economy, Foreign Relations & Defense systems - it only takes 2-5 year to destabilize a country and the time bomb is ticking. . . "
Bezmenov on Demoralization Former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov explains how a Big Brother tyranny can be put into place in Washington, how most Americans don't even realize that they are under attack.
Bezmenov continues on demoralization in America
Bezmenov on Marxists
Gold Rises on Demand for Currency Alternative; Palladium Jumps By Pham-Duy Nguyen -- March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Gold futures rose, capping a weekly gain, on investment demand for the metal as an alternative to holding currency. Palladium jumped to a 20-month high. The dollar fluctuated between gains and losses against a six-currency index. The euro rebounded after falling as much as 0.4 percent against the greenback as Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou began meetings with European Union leaders about the nation’s fiscal plight. Gold priced in euros reached a record.
Why is the Gold price rising now? by Julian D.W. Phillip - FinancialSense.com The piece we wrote on gold de-coupling from the $:€ exchange rate proved absolutely correct. The action of the last week has shown that as gold rose strongly in the € in the pound and is moving up in the $ alongside most currencies. More than that, market commentators are now mentioning this too. But this action involves far more than these two main currencies. To make the point, we ask you, “Which is better, a glass cracked in the higher part of the glass or cracked in the lower part of the glass. Now replace the glasses with the $ and the €. Both are now under question.
Gold is the standard! . . . . from a macroeconomic scheme on a global basis, first and foremost, is that gold is the standard by which all currency and all things of value are measured ultimately. Gold is the only thing on earth that has for 5,000 years maintained some kind of value whereby it can be traded in exchange for materials and for services, labor and real estate. And so, there's really not been one currency in the form of paper or coin that hasn't actually been made of gold or represented a deposit of gold that has lasted more than 100 years as a global standard.
Bullish on Bullion by Tom Sullivan - LewRockwell.com Gold appreciated by 10% or more against the world's major currencies in the past decade. More bad news for the buck and pound? THE DOLLAR IS NOT AS GOOD AS GOLD. Neither are 22 other currencies. A recent study by GoldMoney.com, which enables online cross-border transactions using gold as a currency, found that from 2000 through 2009, gold rose an average 10.1% a year versus the Swiss franc (which turned in the best of the bad showings by the currencies studied) to 14.9% against the U.S. dollar (a middling performer) to 20.0% for the Sri Lankan rupee (the worst in show).
Gold price caught between huge deficits and debts By Jon Nadler - Commodity Online Gold’s overnight range tightened a bit further, as risk aversion ahead of the US payroll data kept speculators largely sidelined. While the short squeeze in the euro appears to have run out of most of its steam, the dollar remained firm near 80.50 on the trade-weighted index as its traders were also reluctant to dismiss Thursday’s impressive turnaround and cash in on their gains before learning what the jobs picture might look like this morning.
What’s More Important: Price Per Ounce or Ounces Owned? by Jeff Clark - FinancialSense.com In a recent conversation with a fellow gold analyst, he was emphatic that the price one pays for physical gold should be ignored. “What’s far more important,” he insisted, “is how many ounces I own in relation to the total value of my assets.” Building a core position in gold bullion is a smart goal, to be sure, and a strategy Casey Research has been advising for years. However, ignoring the price you pay for gold could be seen as foolhardy; sure, it’s insurance, but isn’t price part of the consideration when you shop for insurance? So, who’s right?
Precious Metals Will Be This Decades Best Investment Too By: Warren Bevan - GoldSeek.com The UK’s big newspaper, which has generally been gold friendly this past decade, says new research shows gold to have been the decade’s best performing asset. Didn’t take too much research to figure that one out. That fact has been bandied about for a while now by most gold analysts. It’s still nice to see gold’s value, and performance being recognized. Hopefully it will attract more investors to the sector. I can tell you that retail investors are NOT investing in gold yet. It just baffles me how little interest there is in precious metals at the moment. And gold is about to break out to another all-time high again to boot. I’ve long though the retail investor influx would begin, this latest time at $1,000 gold being broken. But is hasn’t happened yet.
Marc Faber asks Greek to buy gold LONDON (Commodity Online): The debt crisis plaguing Greece has turned out to be another opportunity for global investment advisors to bat for gold, the hottest commodity traded in the world. And when it comes to gold, what the Swiss investing advisor and analyst Marc Faber says on the economic crisis that has hit Greece is making waves these days. Faber says Greek crisis is just the beginning and the entire Europe will be caught in debt problems. And the commodity that can save people is gold.
Penny Mining Shares, U.S. Dollar and Gold by Dudley Baker - FainancialSense.com Penny mining shares are poised for incredible gains in the next 12 – 18 months. But before we discuss the details we believe it is necessary to lay a foundation with a brief discussion of the U.S. Dollar and gold. Seems the world is fixated on the U.S. Dollar and many see it going substantially higher. In our opinion, the charts do not support that conclusion and we see the dollar having topped out and now heading lower.
Relationship over? Dollar, stocks break up By STEPHEN BERNARD - WashingtonPost.com NEW YORK -- The relationship between the dollar and stocks that helped define last year's stock market rally is over. Last summer and fall, stocks generally rose on days when the dollar fell, and vice versa. The dollar had been pushed lower by record-low interest rates and other measures from the Federal Reserve to boost the economy. The weak dollar was a boon for the stock market as investors were eager to get money out of low-yielding U.S. dollars and put them to work just about anywhere else, such as stocks.
New $100 bill: Ben Franklin getting a facelift WASHINGTON (AP) — Aiming to stay a step ahead of counterfeiters, the government is planning a new design for the $100 bill that will be unveiled next month, the Treasury Department said Friday. Wraps will come off the facelift for Benjamin Franklin at an April 21 ceremony in the ornate Cash Room at the department, the site of Ulysses Grant's first inaugural ball in 1869. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will do the honors.
Greece buys time as bluffing game begins again By William L. Watts, MarketWatch If nothing else, the Greek government appears to have bought itself some time as it attempts to convince credit markets it can meet its debt obligations and get its budget back under control in the face of strikes and protests, economists said Friday. After Thursday's well-received sale of a 5 billion euro, 10-year bond issue, which followed the announcement of a further round of painful and unpopular austerity measures, Greece -- and its European partners -- appear focused on convincing investors of two points. First, Athens has righted the ship and won't need outside help. Second, in the unlikely event it does need help, Europe will be there.
The Inflationist View of History Mises Daily: by Ludwig von Mises A very popular doctrine maintains that progressive lowering of the monetary unit's purchasing power played a decisive role in historical evolution. It is asserted that mankind would not have reached its present state of well-being if the supply of money had not increased to a greater extent than the demand for money. The resulting fall in purchasing power, it is said, was a necessary condition of economic progress. The intensification of the division of labor and the continuous growth of capital accumulation, which have centupled the productivity of labor, could ensue only in a world of progressive price rises. Inflation creates prosperity and wealth; deflation distress and economic decay.
China’s Bank Chief Says Currency Is Unlikely to Rise By MICHAEL WINES - NY Times BEIJING — China’s central bank governor indicated Saturday that the government was unlikely to detach the value of China’s currency from that of the dollar anytime soon, echoing Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s statement on Friday that exchange rates would remain “basically stable” for now. Many Western economists and leaders, including President Obama, have called for China to let its currency, the renminbi, appreciate against the dollar, arguing that an artificially cheap renminbi increases Chinese exports at the expense of the rest of the world’s economies.
China central bank chief: Yuan policy to change, but not yet By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch Chinese central bank Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan said China will in due course move away from its current currency-exchange policy, indicating Beijing doesn't plan to keep the yuan's de-facto peg to the U.S. dollar indefinitely, according to reports. The central banker described China's foreign-exchange policy as a special response designed to weather the aftermath of the global financial crisis. But Chinese officials also suggested that the yuan's appreciation may not begin anytime soon, particularly with China's trade surplus rapidly shrinking, as its imports rise while its exports remain sluggish.
China sitting on biggest of all economic bubbles? By Sol Sanders - WashingtonTimes.com When Prime Minister Wen Jiabao trotted out his litany of promised reforms to the annual rubber-stamp parliament this month, they reconfirmed growing suspicions of the Chinese economy's fragility. Now more veteran observers are joining that little band (including this writer) that has predicted an implosion of the jerry-built system. Granted that some of us have been saying it for several years. But, like most human and economic events, neither the timing nor the precipitating event of such a crash is usually predictable (as was the case for the U.S. credit markets implosion).
Arrest Warrant Issued To JP Morgan-Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Adam Murphy, CBS Atlanta Consumer Investigator Atlanta City Solicitor Raines Carter told CBS Atlanta News that the city has issued an arrest warrant for the person they believe is responsible for an illegal tire dump located at 1462 Memorial Drive. “We have filed a citation against this entity and it is our intention to prosecute this entity in court for that violation,” said Carter. The city solicitor said a bank executive in New York is the person responsible for cleaning up the hundreds of tires that are piled up on the property. The arrest citation names James Dimon as the responsible person. He’s the CEO of JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Ron Paul Wants Transparency At The Fed
Battle Inside Fed Rages Over Bank Regulation By JON HILSENRATH - WSJ The worst of the banking crisis may be long over, but the political contest over the Federal Reserve is entering a crucial phase in which its personality and role will almost certainly be redefined. The Fed has tried to fend off very public efforts in Congress to strip it of responsibility for regulating America's banks, but a less-visible battle has been playing out inside the central bank. The Fed has undertaken a wrenching reorganization of its army of 3,000 bank supervisors, which has centralized more power in Washington and sometimes pitted officials at the 12 regional Fed banks against those in the capital.
Fed's Evans sees monetary tightening "a ways away" (Reuters) - With the economy's recovery likely to be slow and hampered by tight credit and a cautious consumer, the Federal Reserve is still far from needing to tighten its extraordinarily loose monetary policy, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said Thursday. "If inflation actually started to rise, we'd be very concerned, and we would be altering the trajectory and calibration of our policy," he said. But so far inflation is relatively stable, he said. "We'll be looking for the economy - is it beginning to recover in a truly vibrant fashion, or is it simply gaining momentum and it's going to take some time," he said.
Repurchased Loans Putting Banks in Hole By APARAJITA SAHA-BUBNA - WSJ Lenders such as Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. will brave stiff headwinds this year as they face demands to buy back defectively underwritten mortgages. Annual reports filed by major mortgage lenders show big surges in the volume of loans being repurchased in 2009. Wells Fargo said it bought back mortgages with balances of $1.3 billion, triple the 2008 total of $426 million. Losses on bought-back loans doubled to $514 million from $251 million in 2008, according to the San Francisco company.
Banks may eat billions in bad loans Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal Lenders including Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. may be forced to buy back $21 billion in faulty loans from two government-backed mortgage agencies, Bloomberg reported. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which purchase an estimated 70 percent of new mortgages issued by banks, may require the banks to buy back the loans if they determine the lenders didn’t follow prudent standards in writing or selling the mortgages. The agencies, which have suffered $200 billion in losses since 2007, have been cracking down on boom-era loans issues that may have been issued based on falsely stated incomes or inflated appraisals.
Volcker Says Too Soon to Cut U.S. Monetary, Fiscal Stimulus By Rainer Buergin and Philipp Encz March 7 (Bloomberg) -- White House adviser Paul Volcker said it’s too soon for U.S. policy makers to withdraw the stimulus measures and interest-rate cuts used to fight the worst slump since the Great Depression. “This is not the time to take aggressive tightening action, either fiscally or monetary-wise,” said Volcker in an interview in Berlin yesterday, pointing to “high” unemployment. “So I think we have to, as best as we can, maintain the expectation that it will be taken care of in a timely way.”
Volcker Says Euro to Survive as Greek Budget Crisis Manageable By Rainer Buergin and Philipp Encz -- March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said European officials are lucky that the euro region’s first major crisis was sparked by one of its smaller members and he’s confident the currency will survive. “I’m still a believer in the euro,” Volcker said in an interview in Berlin yesterday. The lack of a unified government to back up the European Central Bank is a “structural crack” and “maybe fortunately it’s tested with a country as small as Greece, which doesn’t present an insuperable financing problem.”
Sarkozy Says EU Must Back Greece or Put Monetary Union at Risk By John Fraher and Lorenzo Totaro -- March 7 (Bloomberg) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the European Union must support Greece or risk destroying the euro as Prime Minister George Papandreou heads for Paris to lobby support for the debt-laden country. “If we created the euro, we cannot let a country fall that is in the eurozone,” said Sarkozy yesterday before a meeting with Papandreou in Paris today. “Otherwise there was no point in creating the euro. We must support Greece because they are making an effort.”
Angry Icelanders Set to Reject Icesave Debt Deal Icelanders are set to reject the terms for repaying Anglo-Dutch debts in a referendum on Saturday, forcing new negotiations with creditors and delaying financial aid the country needs to fix its shattered economy. Despite the negative consequences of rejecting the deal, Icelanders are furious about what they see as overly harsh terms from Britain and the Netherlands and they are now certain they can get a much better deal.
Congress waffles on Wall Street crackdown Posted by George Mannes - CNNMoney.com Will Congress back down on stricter rules for Wall Street? Will Congress blow a once-in-a-generation chance to help Americans get better financial advice? It looks increasingly likely. One of the biggest problems people have when they receive financial advice is that they don't always know where a financial professional's motivation and self-interest really lie. When you show up at a new-car dealership, it's pretty obvious what a salesman wants: If it's a Ford lot, he wants to sell you a Ford. But you know that going in, so you can filter what he says with proper skepticism.
CBO Says Obama Bank Fee Plan Would Affect Customers, Investors By Ryan Donmoyer and Catherine Dodge -- March 5 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s proposal to impose a $90 billion fee on financial firms that benefited from the government’s bail-out funding program would have a “small” effect on the companies and would be shouldered by customers, investors and employees, the Congressional Budget Office said. “The cost of the proposed fee would ultimately be borne to varying degrees by an institution’s customers, employees, and investors, but the precise incidence among those groups is uncertain,” CBO said in a letter yesterday to Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican. Customers would face higher borrowing rates and other charges, employees might receive less pay, and investors will face lower stock prices, the CBO said.
Monthly deficit hits record $223B in Feb. By Stephen Dinan - WashingtonTimes.com The federal government recorded its biggest monthly deficit ever in February, topping $200 billion for the first time in history and marking a record 17th straight month the government has ended in the hole. But there was some good news -- receipts were up $16 billion over February 2009, the first monthly year-over-year increase since April 2008, which could be a sign that revenue coming into the government is on the rebound after the recession.
National debt to be higher than White House forecast, CBO says By Lori Montgomery - Washington Post -- President Obama's proposed budget would add more than $9.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, congressional budget analysts said Friday. Proposed tax cuts for the middle class account for nearly a third of that shortfall. The 10-year outlook released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is somewhat gloomier than White House projections, which found that Obama's budget request would produce deficits that would add about $8.5 trillion to the national debt by 2020.
FICO Wants Banks to Tell You Your Credit Score By LITA EPSTEIN -DailyFinance.com Would you trust your bank more if you knew your own credit score? The Fair Isaac Corporation, creator of the FICO score, thinks you would, and it's pushing banks to share that information with their customers, according to a report in the Financial Times. The theory is that by sharing FICO information with customers, banks can regain some of the consumer trust they lost during the financial crisis, when the predatory practices used by lenders came to the attention of the general public. Shon Dellinger, who runs the FICO division that sells credit scores, estimates that just 5% of consumers have unencumbered access to their FICO score; he thinks that number could increase to 75% if the top 10 financial institutions made scores available.
Fannie, Freddie Ask Banks to Eat Soured Mortgages By Bradley Keoun March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may force lenders including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. to buy back $21 billion of home loans this year as part of a crackdown on faulty mortgages. That’s the estimate of Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Chris Kotowski, who says U.S. banks could suffer losses of $7 billion this year when those loans are returned and get marked down to their true value. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both controlled by the U.S. government, stuck the four biggest U.S. banks with losses of about $5 billion on buybacks in 2009, according to company filings made in the past two weeks.
Why this housing bubble was different by Jon Lansner - Orange County Register We can compare the boom and bust cycle in housing in the late 1990s and 2000s to that in the 1980s. The increases and decreases were much sharper this time than the 1980s. This time around, I think it was more clear that there was a bubble. Where I disagree with some people is that it wasn’t the coastal areas like Orange County that made it clear — at least, after the fact — that there was a bubble. In the 1980s, the big price gains were in areas like the coasts where it’s hard to add new supply (there was an earlier oil boom and bust in some energy industry areas like Houston. Those “oil patch” markets are elastically supplied and I would guess the bust in prices was predictable).
House Passes Jobs Bill Despite Doubts MoneyNews.com Despite doubts among many lawmakers that it will create many jobs, the House on Thursday passed legislation giving companies that hire the jobless a temporary payroll tax break. The measure passed 217-201 on a mostly party-line vote. The bill also extends federal highway programs through the end of the year.
Nostalgia for New Deal Job Plan By LOUISE RADNOFSKY The specter of a long period of high unemployment is reviving interest in an old idea: The Works Progress Administration, which put millions to work during the Great Depression. The United States Conference of Mayors is citing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs as its members push for more infrastructure money to go directly to local governments. They are pointing to the legacy of programs like the WPA to bolster their case that such direct public-sector job efforts can work when mayors run them.
That Other Government Takeover What else may go into 'reconciliation.' Everyone knows Democrats are planning to use the budget reconciliation process to get ObamaCare through the Senate. Less well known is that Democrats are plotting add-ons to that bill to get other liberal priorities enacted—programs that could never attract 60 votes. One of these controversial measures rewrites the Higher Education Act to ban private companies from offering federally guaranteed student loans as of this July. Congress has already passed laws in recent years discouraging private lenders from making loans without a federal guarantee. But most college financial-aid departments still want private companies to originate and service the guaranteed loans. That's because the alternative—a public option run by the Department of Education—has been distinguished by its Soviet-style customer service.
3 Dems unsure about changing health votes By Douglass K. Daniel AP via WashingtonTimes.com A top House Democrat said Sunday he believes Congress will pass a health care bill, but three fellow Democrats who opposed overhaul legislation last fall aren't committing themselves to backing President Obama's late push. The House and the Senate approved different versions of the legislation by narrow margins. Merging the bills became more complicated when Senate Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority in January after the election of Sen. Scott Brown, Massachusetts Republican. House members are reluctant to approve the Senate plan on the promise that senators will tinker with provisions House members find objectionable.
Democrats Voice Health-Bill Doubts By JOHN D. MCKINNON and JARED FAVOLE - WSJ WASHINGTON — Some House Democrats wavering over whether to back a health-care overhaul questioned whether it would effectively curb the country's health costs, highlighting a difficult issue that the White House and congressional leaders must address in the final negotiations on the measure. The issue is one of several that have been raised by Democrats over the bill, which President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders are pushing to pass by the end of March. Conservative Democrats have raised questions over the bill's language on abortion and tax increases, while liberals are unhappy with its failure to include a government plan that would compete with private insurers.
The Core Rate of Unemployment is Horse Crap by Paul Mladjenovic - FinanacialSense.com Today the federal government released its unemployment report for February 2010. The official unemployment rate held steady at 9.7%. Some economists welcomed this as a sign of a stabilizing economy. Perhaps someone should tell these economists that the official unemployment rate is misleading. It is a sign of horse crap. Why? The official unemployment rate LEAVES OUT those folks that are discouraged and have ceased looking for work. It also leaves out those that are “under-employed”; those that no longer have full-time jobs but have settled for part-time work. In other words, the official unemployment rate… leaves out…A LOT OF UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE!
Jobs, consumer credit, Fannie & Freddie
California's January jobless rate rose to 12.5% Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal California’s unemployment rate rose to 12.5 percent in January despite an increase in jobs, according to data released Friday by the state’s Employment Development Department compiled from two surveys. The state’s jobless rate was a 12.3 percent in December and 9.7 percent a year ago in January 2009. The U.S. unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent in January. California’s unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,500 California households.
Jobs: Short-term hope, long-term despair By David Goldman - CNNMoney.com Friday's jobs report showed some glimmers of a recovery but if you're among the 8.8 million Americans still unemployed after nearly four months, you may have been left scratching your head. You're not alone. "Whether you say the jobs market is improving or getting worse, there are people who will say you're crazy," said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of Economic Cycle Research Institute. "That's because there are two Americas, and they're both right."
Second Life's virtual money can become real-life cash By Michael S. Rosenwald - Washington Post Dana Moore sells rain. He sells a lot of it, for about a buck per reusable storm. "I don't know why people love buying rainstorms," he said, watching his product drizzle last week, "but they do seem to like them a lot." The attraction isn't rain, per se, but Moore's rain, which can deluge swaths of land on command. The rain falls not in Bowie, where he lives with his wife of 37 years, but in the virtual world of Second Life, the Web portal where he also markets snow, clocks, University of Maryland basketball T-shirts, Duke basketball T-shirts (grudgingly), two-story Tudor-style homes, pinup posters from the 1930s and the sounds of barking dogs.
GM to bring back 600 dealerships Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal General Motors said Friday afternoon that it will send letters of intent to more than 600 dealers, saying they can continue to sell GM vehicles. GM, in a statement on its Web site, didn’t name the dealerships, but said it had reviewed claims for reinstatement from 1,100 dealerships, and made its choices from there. “We are eager to restore relationships with our dealers and get back to doing what we do best – selling cars and taking care of customers,” said Mark Ruess, president of GM North America, in the statement.
President To Defend NASA Aim By ANDY PASZTOR The White House is launching a political counterattack to fend off escalating congressional criticism of its proposals to outsource U.S. manned space missions to private industry. Facing bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill and lacking prominent champions of such unprecedented space ventures among most large aerospace contractors, the administration hopes to regain momentum on the issue with a personal appeal from President Barack Obama.
U.S. reportedly gives billions to firms doing business with Iran WashingtonPost.com The U.S. government, while pushing for tougher sanctions against Tehran, has given $107 billion in the past 10 years to U.S. and foreign companies doing business in Iran, much of it in the energy sector, the New York Times reported in its Sunday editions. Despite the threat of punishment for companies that seek U.S. federal contracts while dealing with Iran, the Times said successive administrations have struggled to exert authority over foreign companies and overseas units of U.S. firms. Of the 74 companies the newspaper said it had identified as doing business with both the U.S. government and Iran, 49 still work with Iran and have no announced plans to leave.
Iran begins cruise-missile production By Nasser Karimi AP via WashingtonTimes.com TEHRAN -- Iran announced Sunday it has started a new production line of highly accurate short-range cruise missiles, which would add a new element to the country's already imposing arsenal. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, Iran's defense minister, told Iranian state TV that the cruise missile, called Nasr 1, would be capable of destroying targets up to 3,000 tons in size. The minister said the missile can be fired from ground-based launchers as well as ships but eventually would be modified to be fired from helicopters and submarines.
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We've done a little homework on the issue of unemployment and jobs created or saved through government Recovery Act programs [grants, contracts, and loans issued].
Go HERE to find out where the money is going where you live [click the FUNDING tab].
Don't believe everything you read or hear in the media or on the Internet about unemployment, recovery funding, jobs created/saved. Examine the facts with regard to recovery in the US yourself. Don't be uninformed about government spending, job creation, unemployment. . . or governmental incompetence.
Whose fault is it anyway? The government gives the money away, but it is the recipients of that money who are in a position to create or save the jobs. Big banks are not the only ones getting all the money. . .
A fine example of bureaucratic spending [grant - free money]: City of Scottsdale, AZ: Amt: $ 4,718,470 TOTAL JOBS CREATED / SAVED: 0.8 Award Name: Recovery Act: Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant Program. Award Description: Municipal Buildings Energy Audit: The citywide municipal energy audit program will provide baseline data to allow the city to target specific energy efficiency projects. Testing will include a blower door test, which measures the extent of leaks in the building envelope; infrared cameras, which reveal hard to detect areas of air infiltration and missing insulation; and duct leakage tests. The audit also includes an evaluation of past utility bills and projected energy savings. A final evaluation report provides a summary of problem areas and recommended energy improvements with expected savings. The Arizona Energy Office will help facilitate energy audit protocol on municipal buildings. Community Energy Audit Rebate Program: The energy audit rebate program will be made available for residential and small commercial buildings less than 5,000 square feet. Testing will include a blower door test, which measures the extent of leaks in the building envelope; infrared camera, with reveal hard to detect areas of air infiltration and missing insulation; duct leakage tests. Funds will be made available to the homeowner or small business owners for an energy audit of their home or business completed by certified energy auditors trained through the Southwest Building Science Training Center and Arizona Home Performance with Energy Star program. the energy audit criteria will follow the protocol established by the Arizona Energy Office. The final audit report will include and evaluation of past utility bill, project energy saving projects and estimate payback periods for the suggested modifications.
Reclamation Facilities Blower Replacements: The purpose of the project is to replace existing blower at the Water Campus Water Reclamation Facility and existing blowers at the Gainey Ranch Water Reclamation Facility with the more efficient blower technology.
Here's another example in Scottsdale, AZ: Fountain Hills Unified School District 98 - Amt: $294,734 TOTAL JOBS CREATED / SAVED: 0 Award Description: To support and restore funding for elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
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UNEMPLOYMENT: Data Map by entire country, by state, by zip code http://www.recovery.gov [official gov web site stats] This interactive map is a wealth of information, showing detailed stats on Government Contracts, Grants and Loans (not started, in progress, completed) by state or zip. It gives the recipient and amount and how many jobs have been created by the recipient of the funds.
Looks like a lot of American business have been recipients of government funds but are they hiring? That is the REAL QUESTION. Check the business recipients in your area and call them to find out why they are not adding any new jobs with the government money they either have already received or will receive.
Q: How are recipients calculating the number of jobs created and saved?
A: Recipients calculate the number of jobs created or saved by taking the total number of Recovery Act funded hours worked in a quarter, and dividing it by the number of hours of a full-time schedule in a quarter as defined by the Recipient.
If a full-time schedule is 40 hours a week, multiply 40 hours x 52 weeks = 2,080 Total Hours per year
Divide 2,080 Total Hours by 4 to equal 520 quarterly hours.
Example: If two full-time employees each worked 520 hours (1,040 hours) for the quarter and another half-time employee worked 260 hours, the Total Hours for the three employees is 1300 (520 + 520 + 260 = 1300) . Divide 1300 by 520 to equal 2.5 jobs created or saved.
WANT A JOB? FIND A JOB:
Find Recovery Jobs: The Recovery Act requires Recovery.gov to provide information "to the extent practical" about job opportunities. To meet that requirement, Recovery.gov has developed a jobs search function linked to website addresses of recipients of Recovery awards. The websites do not contain an exhaustive list of Recovery job opportunities, and some sites include non-Recovery job information. Recovery.gov will link more recipient website addresses to the search function after recipients report each quarter.
https://www.fbo.gov/ Contracts that have already been awarded and those that are up for bid may help you find a job or business opportunities. Search more than 27,800 active federal opportunities.
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