Friday, February 14, 2014

SAR #14045



If you want to know what we believe, look at our prisons, not our churches.

Only In America: During the current snow emergency, NYC schools are staying open to make sure children are able to get something to eat.

Short Form: In them US, initial jobless claims were up 2.5% m/m and 3.6 million Americans workers are counted as the long-term unemployed (and Bloomberg thinks that cutting the minimum wage to $4 an hour will solve the problems...) US retail sales fell 0.4% m/m after December's 0.2% gain was revised to a 0.1% drop. The big banks have cut their prediction for US GDP 4Q growth from 3.0 to 2.2% in less than a month. The Italian government collapsed, Greek unemployment has reached 28% (and the under 25 rate is nearly 62%) and the French private sector is mired in an economic slump worse than the 2009 debacle. Naturally, stocks finished higher. Can't anybody here play this game?

Trading Secrets: Afraid it would lose face, and lawsuits, TEPCO delayed informing the government and the public of dangerously high radioactivity at Fukushima for five months.

The Enforcer: Bob Corker (Blackmailer, TN) told workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga that if they reject the UAW, Volkswagen will build another plant in TN. If they join the union, the new jobs will go to a plant in Mexico. That such threats are illegal does not bother the Senator, because he was trying to educate the workers, not intimidate them.

Don't Hold Your Breath: The IMF says that a revival of manufacturing in the US is not going to happen any time soon, or ever, saying that while domestic output will rise and the dollar will weaken, increasing US exports, “we find it unlikely for manufacturing to become a main engine of growth in the U.S.”

The Parting Shot:
 Brown Clustered Tube Sponge. Agelas wiedenmyeri.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Short Form: There should be no minimum wage, unemployment insurance, disability income or social security payments (etc...). Rather, we should have a basic income for all, equal to a living wage (poverty line) while providing free healthcare and education. Earned income from work would be tax free while passive income and corporate profits would be fully taxed in addition to incorporating a sales tax on all discretionary spending. We could then get on with the work of restructuring our economy and bring it in line with human values and earth friendly sustainable policies. This restructuring could/should include a massive shrinking of Government, infrastructure spending, a ground breaking commitment to renewable resources and an end to the financialization of our economy by the Federal Reserve and Wall Street. How's that for a sweetheart of a deal!

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

Not so fast, notsofastfriend, Whle I agree ingeneral with your 'deal', there are a number of caveats I'd insist on and a few points where serious negotiation may be necessar.

Maybe I'll run it on th efront page in a day or two...

ckm

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

Okay, so my fingers are cold [there's been a lot of that going around] and there's a certain degree of originality in my spelling, but more or less the ideas are there. --ckmk

Unknown said...

"there are a number of caveats I'd insist on and a few points where serious negotiation may be necessary"

How could WE ever hope to move forward without dialogue! I'm glad you find value in my comment...