Month: April 2009

Where Will It All End?

Americans have grown more optimistic about the economy and the direction of the country since President Obama took office in January, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll on Monday.

Two-thirds of respondents said they approved of Obama’s overall job performance.

That is the people on the street, but the CEOs are not showing the same confidence.

The survey, conducted quarterly since the fourth quarter of 2002, reveals economic assumptions and outlooks of Business Roundtable member CEOs for the next six months.

When asked how they expect their company’s sales to fluctuate, 24 percent predicted an increase, 9 percent said no change and 67 percent said sales will decrease.

In terms of how they expect their company’s U.S. capital spending to change, 9 percent said it will go up; 25 percent reported no change; and 66 percent said it will drop.

In terms of changes to U.S. staffing levels at the company, 7 percent predicted a boost in hiring; 21 percent said levels will stay the same; and 71 said their workforce would decrease.

The CEO confidence index fell to minus-5 in the first quarter from 16.8 in the fourth quarter, the business trade group said. The index, which ranges from minus-50 to 150, was at 79.5 a year ago.
The chief executives expect the economy to contract 1.9% in 2009; three months ago, they thought the economy would be flat.
You see there is always a disconnect between Main Street and Wall Street.  The people, according to a recent poll are optimistic and Wall Street is pessimistic.
The disconnect is this….the people are not that knowledgeable on economic issues and they voted for change and like the new president and are willing to give him some time to see if his policies and programs will bring them any relief before they issue their final judgment.  Then there is Wall Street and the economists that are the cheerleaders of the system as it is….they look at the numbers, trends and cycles…they are armed with the facts and the facts are pessimistic.
Who will win the battle of the “istics” in the end?  Only the fortune telling 8 ball has the “real” answers.

Random Thoughts

Earthquakes to the right……Volcanoes to the left…….colo-rectal cancer…….whackos with guns……pretty much a typical week in the media…….

1–Casey Anthony has already been convicted in the court of public opinion…please just fry the bitch and shut the f*ck up!

2–Blago has been indicted of 16 different felonies……..and he was a talk show……Disney World is aghast.

3–Palin’s sister in law is arrested for house invasion…twice….and the same house……

4–The Congress is on Easter break so cooler weather has returned to Washington…all the hot air has gone the way of the do-do, at least for awhile.

5–OK dipsticks…there is now a dog in the White House can we please move on to something more important….like…oh I do not know…..saving the middle class?

If there were more but it was lost in the dark recesses of my mind.

US Navy 3–Pirates 0

Bravo!  Bravo!

An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday and three of his captors were killed in a daring rescue by U.S. Navy Seals that ended a five-day standoff between the world’s most powerful Navy and Somali pirates in a lifeboat far off the Horn of Africa.

Capt. Richard Phillips was in “imminent danger” of being killed before U.S. Special Operations forces shot the pirates in an operation personally approved by President Barack Obama, U.S. officials said.

But it should not have lasted this long.  The captain is alive and free…pirates are dead and floating….a new manual needs to be written and understood on this situation.  The situation should have never lasted 5 days.

The captain should be making his rounds very soon on the airwaves and we will hear the rest of the story……(thank you Paul Harvey for the line).

White Washing Tonsils

I have already posted on the pirates and there is a fire ….somewhere…and no doubt there is a car chase happening as I writing….Congress is on break…..sooooo….it is Sexy Sunday!

The incidence of tonsil cancer has tripled in the city of Stockholm since the 1970s and doctors at the world-famous Karolinska Institute there think they know why.

Oral sex. Or perhaps French kissing. And changes in sexual behavior that took place 20 or 30 years ago, says Tina Dalianis, a professor of tumor virology at Karolinska.

The study found that patients with HPV in their mouths are much more likely to get tonsil cancer than patients who don’t have it. In fact for patients who are HPV-positive, the rate of tonsil cancer has gone up seven times since the ’70s, Dalianis says. It takes between 20 and 30 years for an HPV infection to result in cancer, so the people getting sick now were infected in the ’70s and ’80s.

“It’s an epidemic,” she says.

Prior to this, the greatest risk factor for tonsil cancer was drinking and smoking. As smoking rates have dropped, the number of tobacco-linked tonsil cancers has declined.

Geez, these people can just suck (no pun intended) all the fun out of the party!  What a damn buzz kill!

Pirates Of The Aden: Curse Of The Small Boat

WARNING:  THIS POST MAY CONTAIN POINTS THAT MAY OFFEND SOME READERS

By now most Americans have seen or heard the continuing sage of the pirates operating just south of the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean just off the coast of Somalia.  Their most recent acquisition was an American flagged ship.  THe captain gave himsel fup to insure the safety of his crew and is being held in a small life boat about 300 miles off the coast.  The US Navy has responded, the ship has continued on his way to deliver aid supplies to Kenya sans captain with armed Americans on board the Navy destroyer has stayed behind to try and get the captain to be released.  A Mexican stand-off.  Over 60 hours with an FBI negotiator and not much success and more naval vessels to join the destroyer.

My problem is that the hand full of pirates is controlling the situation…they are holding the US Navy at bay.  What happened to the false bravado that we do not negotiate with terrorist….and make NO mistake pirates are terrorists!  The US has let this situation get out of hand.  These pirates have now become some what of a group of local heroes…they have stood up to the US Navy and are winning.

Sorry to say, but there is only one way to handle this….the French are doing it…..attack them……make them pay for their brazenness.  The captain accepted his fate when he offered himself up as a hostage for the safety of his crew….a brave man and he should receive the highest award for that bravery…but do not sullen his bravery by wimping out in the face of a hand full of pirates with brass cajones.

By doing nothing, the US has almost guaranteed that this will occur again and again, if decisive action is taken and taken now then the chance that future stand offs could be eliminated.  The cost will be high but the return will be less cost in the future.

Once again if you were offended by this post then I apologize but you were warned!

Another Industry Joins The TARP

Shares of large U.S. life insurance companies surged Wednesday following news they may receive aid from the government’s $700 billion financial industry rescue program. But the Treasury Department said only life insurers that own banks or saving and loans qualify for assistance, and that no new programs for the industry were being considered.

The bailout fund approved by Congress last year, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, was intended to help banks weather the credit crunch, though it has also been used to make loans to auto companies and insurance giant American International Group Inc.

Life insurers have $5.1 trillion in assets and are major players in the credit markets, said Frank Keating, president of the American Council of Life Insurers. The companies own 18 percent of all corporate bonds so aiding them is consistent with the bailout program’s goal of unclogging credit markets, he said.

Insurers have been under pressure to maintain solid capital positions to avoid damaging downgrades by ratings agencies. Keeping high ratings is key for insurers because lower ratings can mean higher costs or a loss of business.  (sound of squealing tires……is that not the way it is suppose to work in a “free market”?)

Where does all this end?  Where does the taxpayer money stop?  What will it take for the money to be diverted to the people on Main Street?  Does this mean that any company that has a holding of a corporate bank bond can get TARP funds to keep it from failing?  Where does this madness end?  At least the investors are jerking off at the prospect of the infusion of taxpayer money…the taxpayer, ah, yes, the new Wall Street cash cow…..

Many Americans Prefer Socialism

In an article written by Michael Saul for the Daily News:

With the U.S. government taking a majority stake in banks, bossing around the auto industry, and floating the possibility of nationalized healthcare, there have been rumblings in the media that the U.S. is leaning toward socialism.

A new poll suggests that if there’s merit to those arguments, many Americans wouldn’t mind.

Only a slight majority of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

The poll of 1,000 adults nationwide, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, has a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

According to the poll, adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, while adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided.

Republicans – by an 11-to-1 margin – believe capitalism is superior to socialism, the poll found. Democrats are much more closely divided, with 39% preferring capitalism and 30% backing socialism.

Investors by a 5-to-1 margin said capitalism is better than socialism.  This is the one group that would be the staunchest supporters of capitalism….this is where the greed is the highest.

Cyber Attacks!

Chinese and Russian hackers are attempting to seed viruses in the US power grid that could one day plunge major cities into chaos, a report warned Wednesday.

The report in the Wall Street Journal quotes intelligence officials saying that cyber-spies last year repeatedly gained access to the system powering everything from financial institutions to sewage systems.

Barack Obama, the most Internet-savvy president in US history, has pledged to expand the use of the Internet across the country. Among the projects is a major overhaul, with increasing reliance on computer networks, of the electric grid.

That adds to pressure to defend against the growing army of cyber assailants.

A GM Bankruptcy?

General Motors Corp is in “intense” and “earnest” preparations for a possible bankruptcy filing, a source familiar with the company’s plans told Reuters on Tuesday.

A plan to split the company into a new company made up of the most successful units, and an ‘old company’ of its less-profitable units is gaining momentum and is seen as the company’s best configuration for the future, said another source familiar with the talks.

GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson has said the company prefers to restructure out of court but could go to court if needed.

To begin with, was this not what the Southern senators were yelling for the company to do just a few months ago instead of getting the infusion of cash?  I cannot believe that I am defending the likes of Sen. Shelby, but these are unusual times.    So, after pissing away taxpayer money, they will still possibly go into bankruptcy destroying jobs and workers benefits, right?

Why was this not brought out in the beginning?  Instead the workers were used to get a massive injection of cash to keep the company going until they could get more concessions from the unions and workers before pulling the plug.  Is that about it?

This is just another indication of the games that the corporations are playing with the lives of the workers and the very survival of the middle class.  And the UAW is silent…..there is NO statement coming out of the Union.

2009 Anal-Ocity

It had been a bit slow for awhile and then she came back with a vengeance….I am talking about Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, first it was Dems in Congress were un-American, then it was they were nefarious and then the people should be armed and dangerous and now she strikes again…this bitch will NOT shut up…she is one of the greatest things to happen for us bloggers….God I love her….

Recently on a talk show Rep Bachmann said about the new volunteer bill that was just passed and signed by Obama:

“It’s under the guise of — quote — volunteerism. But it’s not volunteers at all. It’s paying people to do work on behalf of government,” said the Minnesota Republican. “I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums.”

A re-education camp?  Please!  Can this woman be any more stupid?  God, I hope not…she makes it way too easy for me…..I love this broad!