US economy shrank 1.4% at beginning of 2022, marking worst quarter in 2 years

US economy shrank 1.4% at beginning of 2022, marking worst quarter in 2 years. Brandon’s really going for it, he’s sinking his own ship.

The U.S. economy cooled markedly in the first three months of the year, as snarled supply chains, record-high inflation and labor shortages weighed on growth and slowed the pandemic recovery.

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, shrank by 1.4% on an annualized basis in the three-month period from January through March, the Commerce Department said in its first reading of the data on Thursday. 

The truth about Texas job growth (Liberals, please go look up the definition of “truth” before proceeding)

It seems that Dallas Fed chief Richard Fisher has a different take on things Keynesian and uses Texas as a shining example:

Obama and his loony tune financial advisers seem to think that doing all things Keynesian will get the economy back on track.

rick-perry
We'd love to see a Rick Perry vs. Jerry Brown death match on the next UFC card

It seems that Dallas Fed chief Richard Fisher has a different take on things and uses Texas as a shining example:

On Wednesday, Richard Fisher, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, gave a speech in which he separated “fact from fiction” about the record of job creation in Texas.

We can help but wonder whose fiction he was talking about?

Texas job gains are a result of pro-growth policies on taxes, spending and regulations: “…people and businesses have been picking up stakes and moving to Texas in significant numbers over a prolonged period… And yet Texas, like all states, is subject to the same monetary policy as all the rest… From this, I draw the conclusion that private sector capital and jobs will go to where taxes and spending and regulatory policy are most conducive to growth.”

Want further proof this guy is right? Look at the financial mess the U.S. is in and look at what’s going on in California, a state losing businesses daily to Texas and other states with better business climates.

Don’t believe us? Let’s send Rick Perry to California and send Jerry Brown to Texas and see what happens. We’d wager millions of unemployed workers in California would soon be working again and Texas would be bankrupt.

– Written by CO2Insanity

Source: The Cypress Times

Survey says Washington DC is only place in America where most people think the economy is improving

It’s just a guess on our part, but we suspect that someone is slipping hallucinogens into the waters of the Potomac River. That’s the only reasonable explanation for this story.

It’s just a guess on our part, but we suspect that someone is slipping hallucinogens into the waters of the Potomac River. That’s the only reasonable explanation for this story.

washington-dc
Just close your eyes and cover your ears and repeat after Barack Obama: "Things are getting better! Things are getting better! Things are getting better!"

CNS News has the details:

Only in Washington, D.C.— home of a federal government that has dramatically increased its spending as a share of the U.S. economy over the last three years—did a majority of the people say they believe the economy was getting better not worse in the first half of this year, according to a survey released today by Gallup.

In not one state did more than 41 percent of those surveyed tell Gallup they believed the economy was getting better.

From January through June, Gallup asked 87,634 American adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia this question: “Right now, do you think the economic conditions in the country are getting better or getting worse?”

In D.C., 60 percent said the economy was getting better and 31 percent said it was getting worse.

Nowhere else in the nation did the majority think the economy was getting better. Nowhere.

Even in neighboring Maryland, where lots of excess federal government dollars lap up along the shores of Chesapeake, only 41% think things are getting better while 52% think they’re getting worse.

And in Virginia, the other neighbor that benefits from the flood of federal employment gushing out of Washington DC, 40% said things are improving while 55% laughed their asses off when they heard the question.

Wait. We’ve come up with another reasonable explanation. The regime has banned all radio, television and internet access in the nation’s capital and its residents are now getting all their news from the Washington Post.

Source: CNS News

How bad is the economy? Obama’s no longer wants a daily economic briefing.

This is the Presidential equivalent of a kid blocking out bad news by putting his hands over his ears and saying, “Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.”

This is the Presidential equivalent of a kid blocking out bad news by putting his hands over his ears and saying, “Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.”

President Obama’s been simultaneously abandoned by his crack team of economic advisors (otherwise known as the clowns who got us into this mess) and by his courage.

obama-economic-team
Ahhh, the good ol' days when President Obama had a full team of so-called economic advisors

The Los Angeles Times has the details:

“When you ask about the economic team, it’s kind of like, ‘What economic team?’” said Edward Mills, a financial policy analyst with FBR Capital Markets. “They are very thin at a very critical time.”

The administration needs all the firepower it can muster, experts said. Yet the team is missing a key messenger in selling Obama’s policies. The post of chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors — an influential position — is vacant and is likely to remain so at least into the fall.

Perhaps more telling, there no longer is a formal economic briefing in the Oval Office every morning, a gathering in which Summers, Romer, Geithner and other key advisors assessed the data and batted around ideas with Obama.

We believe there was an error in the transcript. Instead of “batted around ideas” it should have read “discussed batty ideas.”

Source: Los Angeles Times

You know things aren’t going well for Obama when the Huffington Post slams his job record

Here’s a Huffington Post-produced video that attacks President Obama’s so-called laser-like focus on jobs. And a tasty little morsel it is.

You don’t have to go to the highlands of New Guinea to find contemporary cases of cannibalism. No, you simply have to go the pages of the Huffington Post, where liberals are now consuming other liberals.

For example, here’s a Huffington Post-produced video that attacks President Obama’s so-called laser-like focus on jobs.

And a tasty little morsel it is.

Obama and Senate Democrats plan to spin … er … pivot to jobs

The Ballerina-in-Chief is at it again. Now that his debt ceiling melodrama is going on hiatus, Barry and fellow dancers are planning to “pivot to jobs.”

The Ballerina-in-Chief is at it again. Now that his debt ceiling melodrama is going on hiatus, Barry and fellow dancers are planning to “pivot to jobs.”

Seems we’ve heard this song before. Yet the unemployment numbers continue to worsen despite the administration’s frequent announcements that it’s now pivoting to jobs.

rahm-emanuel-ballet
It's times like this that the Obama administration really misses the ballet stylings of Rahm Emanuel

Politico’s “exclusive” reveals new revolutions:

Senate Democrats hope they now have “checked the box” on debt reduction and can move to an agenda focused on job creation and economic growth, through a combination of spending and tax cuts.

Sure, worked so well the last two years. Doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result is the definiton of insanity and liberalism.

Many Democrats fear the budget fights of this year have distracted from the issue that will be central to voters in the fall of 2012 – and officials want to get Paul Krugman off their backs.

Running backwards full speed into a wall will also work, both for distracting voters and getting rid of Krugman.

POTUS has closed meeting with AFL-CIO Executive Committee in East Room at 9:15 a.m.

Sounds like Boeing wants to move another plant.

Vice President Biden told reporters… “…[we] should be talking – right now about job creation initiatives. We should be talking about infrastructure. We should be talking about investment in education. We should be talking … about investing in innovation.

No Joe, you should be talking about taking a bullet train out of town. The only thing you people know about jobs is it’s a 4-letter word. The music employers want to hear is Obama’s swan song.

– Written by Bonfire of the Absurdities

Source: Politico.com

Carney: If it looks like a recession, sounds like a recession and smells like a recession, it ain’t a recession!

White House head double-talker Jay Carney is either an incurable optimist or simply incurable.

Practitioners of the dismal science (some call it “economics”) have poorer prognostication records than the average storefront fortune teller. Still, even they have enough sense to realize a plethora of dark acrid smoke is a strong clue that somethin’ may be a’ burnin’.

Not White House head double-talker Jay Carney, who is either an incurable optimist or simply incurable.

jay-carney
Perhaps Carney thinks it's not a recession because it's a depression

AP presents White House Minister of Propaganda Jay Carney starring in Pollyanna:

President Barack Obama’s spokesman is discounting talk that the economy may be headed back into recession, despite recent concerns of economists.

Spokesman Jay Carney says there is no question that economic growth and job creation have slowed over the past half year.

But, Carney told a White House briefing, “We do not believe that there is a threat of a double-dip recession.”

We’d point out that when one’s caught in a downpour, the “threat” of rain is a foregone conclusion.

The recession that began in December 2007 officially ended in summer 2009 and the economy has seen growth since then. However, that growth has slowed to a trickle in recent months.

Sounds like the “trickle down economics” Keynsians are always denigrating until their policies are the stones in the ureter.

He blamed the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, higher energy prices, default worries in Europe and recently resolved uncertainty over raising America’s borrowing limit. Carney said, “We believe the economy will continue to grow.”

Wow, so Japanese natural disasters and European deadbeats are the ones who passed Obamacare and the un-stimulative Stimulus and are harrassing U.S. businesses with stupid regulations? Damn them! Damn them to hell!

– Written by Bonfire of the Absurdities

Source: Associated Press

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “We’ve really begun to turn the economy around”

Here is, perhaps, the dumbest comment ever made by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), which is quite a difficult competition to judge.

Have you ever seen a photo of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz that doesn’t look like a mugshot from SmokingGun.com?

No, seriously. Think about it. Maybe do a Google image search and then come back and tell us we’re wrong. We swear every photo of the woman looks like she was just arrested for some heinous crime.

With that in mind, feel free to consider what the Democrats have done to the economy as a crime and consider Wasserman Schultz to be an accomplice.

Here is, perhaps, her dumbest comment ever, which is quite a difficult competition to judge.

“Well, we’re going to focus on what we know is the number one priorities on Americans ease minds right now, that is creating jobs and continuing to get this economy turned around. If we have to drag the Republicans with us, then we’ll do that, but, you know, it’s been a whole lot of months, eight months they have controlled the house with no jobs bills coming to the Floor. Hopefully now with this compromise on the debt ceiling behind us, with the opportunity, with the economic to sit down and focus on longer-term deficit reduction that will have some balance and ask some sacrifice for our most fortunate,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told MSNBC. Schultz is also the Chairwoman of the DNC.



“We’re creating jobs each month in the private sector.” 



Are the American people dumb enough to buy this line of crap?

Source: Real Clear Politics

“I’m just quitting,” a tale of going Galt

David McElroy shares the story of one Ronnie Bryant who operates coal mines in Alabama.

Smart folk in Washington are busily staring into their crystal balls (or perhaps Magic 8-Balls) trying to figure out why unemployment is so “unexpectedly” high. Perhaps if they stopped playing with their balls and listened to some real employers, they might get a clue.

David McElroy shares the story of one Ronnie Bryant who operates coal mines in Alabama. Bryant went to a public hearing in an innercity Birmingham neighborhood for various government officials to get public input on local environmental issues. After listening to two hours of business bashing by environmentalists and other activists, he finally had his say:

I got a permit to open up an underground coal mine that would employ probably 125 people. They’d be paid wages from $50,000 to $150,000 a year. We would consume probably $50 million to $60 million in consumables a year, putting more men to work. And my only idea today is to go home. What’s the use? I don’t know. I mean, I see these guys — I see them with tears in their eyes — looking for work. And if there’s so much opposition to these guys making a living, I feel like there’s no need in me putting out the effort to provide work for them. So as I stood against the wall here today, basically what I’ve decided is not to open the mine. I’m just quitting. Thank you.

Memo to President Obama: Words matter and your words matter more than most. Businesses aren’t stupid. Keep bashing them and they’ll take the hint and go away.

Think about that between holes.

– Written by Bonfire of the Absurdities

Source: David McElroy

Unemployment uh-oh: 9.2% may be the low-water mark

Business Insider discusses government policies affecting small business that mean high unemployment may be a long-term problem.

Economists are a notoriously disagreeable bunch, but even they agree small businesses produce most of the country’s new jobs, about 2/3 to be exact. Our engine of job growth is currently stuck in neutral.

Business Insider discusses government policies affecting small business that mean high unemployment may be a long-term problem:

unemployment-obama

The high costs of cartel healthcare, a.k.a. Sickcare in the U.S.

Obamacare’s mandates discourages both formation of new businesses and additional hiring by existing ones.

Politicos and employees don’t understand small business.

Businesses are owners’ livelihoods, not vehicles for “feel good” social policies of meddling politicians. Enterprises hire because demand justifies the extra help, not because some nitwit in DC offers them a tax credit.

Local government views small business as tax donkeys…. a captive source of extra revenue via higher licensing fees, junk fees, permits, surcharges, etc …local politicos and fiefdoms are forgetting every small business owner has an option: it’s called closing down, and opting out of the rat-race of higher taxes and costs.

States like California ostentatiously form “fact finding” panels to figure out why businesses are leaving. The pols should just go home and look in the mirror.

Litigation nation. Employees and others can take a turn at the lawsuit lottery wheel, and if they “win” then you lose.

Lawyers are a big Democrat special-interest group, but where do the parasites eat once the host dies?

We don’t expect any of this to change until Barack “Not My Fault” Obama joins the ranks of overpaid government retirees. Hopefully in January 2013.

– Written by Bonfire of the Absurdities

Source: Business Insider

California, there they go! Businesses abandoning the Golden State

California is experiencing the fastest rate of disinvestment events in the three years since a specialized tracking system was put into place.

Must be something about warm climates and beautiful scenery that alienates businessfolk. How else does one explain the way they seem to shun locales like Greece, Spain and California?

california-leaving
There's a reason no one's doing cover versions of "California Dreamin'" in 2011

Professor Mark Perry explores the phenomenon:

“Today, California is experiencing the fastest rate of disinvestment events based on public domain information, closure notices to the state, and information from affected employees in the three years since a specialized tracking system was put into place.

Our losses are occurring at an accelerated rate. Also, no one knows the real level of activity because smaller companies are not required to file layoff notices with the state. A conservative estimate is that only 1 out of 5 company departures becomes public knowledge, which means California may suffer more than 1,000 disinvestment events this year.

Layoff notices? The Golden State must have a lot of ATMs.

Based on the legislature’s recent rejection of business-friendly legislation and Sacramento’s implementation of additional regulations, signs are that California’s hostility towards business will only worsen. California is such fertile ground that representatives for economic development agencies are visiting companies to dissect our high taxes, extreme regulatory environment and other expenses to show annual savings of between 20 and 40 percent after an out-of-state move.”

California’s problem must be a lack of high-speed rail. Business dissatisfaction couldn’t be the fault of the state’s politicians, the same ones have been in office for eons.

We’re mystified, but luckily California has zillions of bright, highly compensated employees on the state payroll. They’ll surely figure this thing out sooner or later.

– Written by Bonfire of the Absurdities

Source: Professor Mark Perry

$700 billion can’t buy Ben Bernanke a clue

Some startling news: The Pope is Catholic, bears excrete better things than the 2009 Stimulus bill in the woods and Fed Chairman Bernanke has no clue what’s wrong with the economy.

Some startling news: The Pope is Catholic, bears excrete better things than the 2009 Stimulus bill in the woods and Fed Chairman Bernanke has no clue what’s wrong with the economy.

Forbes has the story:

[In his second post-FOMC press conference] Bernanke admitted that he had no clue what was actually causing the current fragility in the U.S. economic recovery. While the FOMC statement assigned blame outside of the U.S., pointing at Japan along with rising food and oil prices, Bernanke […admitted…] only some of the factors were temporary and that he didn’t know exactly what was causing the slowdown, but that it would persist. “Growth,” said Bernanke, “will return into 2012.”

bernanke-praying
Ben Bernanke prays that no one will ask him a really hard question

Ben’s cluelessness is not news. His moves recently have been a central banker’s version of running in circles and screaming. What does surprise is the fact he still doesn’t get it, like someone having Anthony Weiner for a roommate and not understanding why he spends so much time with his smartphone. The problem is as plain as the nose on Barack Obama’s face.

Victor Davis Hanson explains:

…those in business, from the small entrepreneur to the captain of industry, have decided that it is wisest to sit out what is left of this administration, and wait to hire, buy, invest, and expand until someone at the top shows a basic knowledge of finance and economics, and some sympathy concerning what those in the private sector must contend with.

Simply put, growth will return in 2013 or 2017, when Barack Obama doesn’t.

– Written by Bonfire of the Absurdities

Source: Forbes, Victor David Hanson

White House didn’t want you to know that Democrats laugh when Obama claims he’s created two million jobs

When conservative bloggers publicized the fact that Democrat contributors laughed at Obama, the White House rushed out a new, improved transcript.

After the President gives a speech the White House puts out a transcript complete with audience reactions noted.

For example, he spoke to the Democrat National Committee on Monday and said that his administration had created 2.1 million jobs. The transcript duly noted that the audience laughed.

Who can blame them. Surely they thought it was intended as a punch line.

But when conservative bloggers publicized the fact that Democrat contributors laughed at the claim, the White House rushed out a new, improved transcript.

The new one replaced (Laughter) with (Applause).

We have a feeling that someone in the White House isn’t laughing right now.

laugh-obama-job-claim

H/T: Gateway Pundit

The Strange Case of Barack Jekyl and Obama Hyde

Our president is a Jekyl and Hyde character. Barack Jekyl is clueless about the economy and Obama Hyde is hell-bent to cause more destruction.

We’ve learned our president is a Jekyl and Hyde character. Barack Jekyl is completely clueless about how to improve the economy and Obama Hyde is hell-bent to cause more destruction.

schizophrenic cap
Which Barack Obama will we get today?

US News profiles the destructive alter-ego in action:

Two new EPA pollution regulations will slam the coal industry so hard that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost, and electric rates will skyrocket 11 percent to over 23 percent, according to a new study based on government data.

“Many of these severe impacts would hit families living in states already facing serious economic challenges,” said Steve Miller, president of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

Just a hunch, but we figure those are states he didn’t figure to win next year. To continue…

The industry says the costs and potential to lose four jobs for every new clean energy job created isn’t worth the rules, especially in a job-starved economy.

Raising the price of electricity for strapped families while putting more workers out of jobs. Obama’s focusing like a laser on the economy so he can vaporize it. But there is an upside, they claim:

…officials said that just one of the rules to cut sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions will would yield up to $290 billion in annual health and welfare benefits in 2014.

And the stimulus will reduce unemployment below 8%. And Obamacare will reduce the deficit. The next time this bunch’s numbers prove correct will be the first.

Multiple personalities or not, we wish he’d imitate a job and vanish.

– Written by Bonfire of the Absurdities

Source: US News

Obama: You know what this economy needs? More blacksmiths and buggy whip manufacturers.

Those enlightened progressives, they understand and cherish science and the advances it brings us. Right?

Don’t forget. It’s the Republicans who are anti-science. You know, troglodytes who believe in a flat earth and think that Adam and Eve lived with dinosaurs and that the universe was created sometime back in about 1954.

But those enlightened progressives, they understand and cherish science and the advances it brings us.

So how about if you just ignore what President Obama said on Monday.

FOX Nation reports:

President Obama explained to NBC News that the reason companies aren’t hiring is not because of his policies, it’s because the economy is so automated. … “There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers. You see it when you go to a bank and you use an ATM, you don’t go to a bank teller, or you go to the airport and you’re using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate.”

Got that? Unemployment is caused by ATMs and ticket kiosks at airports. If technology is the problem, won’t more technology only make things worse?

Why if we could just go back to the horse and buggy days, everyone would have a job. Unfortunately, most of those jobs would be street cleaners responsible for sweeping up the vast quantities of horse manure in the streets, but what the hell, a job is a job.

This does demonstrate, however, how far we’ve come. Back before the invention of the internal combustion engine, all the horse manure was in the streets. Now it’s in the Washington, DC.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz: The economy is firing on all cylinders, even if I’m not

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz informs America’s unwashed and unlearned that they are also uninformed if they think we’re anywhere near a double dip recession.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, esteemed Florida congressperson and Chair of the DNC, put in a true tour de force Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. Getting two stupid clips from one program is rare, indeed, but DW-S is no typical politician.

In the first clip, she informs America’s unwashed and unlearned that they are also uninformed if they think we’re anywhere near a double dip recession. Hell, no. Barack Obama has turned this economy around, damn it.

In the second clip Meet the Press Host David Gregory asks Wasserman-Schultz why she initially sprang to Anthony Weiner’s defense by saying his dork-a-thon was strictly a “personal matter” even after Weiner’s ludicrous “stolen identity” claims.

Damn, it’s fun watching her squirm. Her tenure at the DNC is going to provide us with damn near infinite fodder.

Obamanomics on trial: Dick Durbin admits that this is now Barack Obama’s economy

Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate, appeared on MSNBC and spoke that which has so far been unspeakable for Democrats.

With friends like this, who needs enemies?

Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate, appeared on MSNBC and spoke that which has so far been unspeakable for Democrats. He admitted that this is now Barack Obama’s economy and the voters will rightfully hold him accountable for it.

Spoken like a man who doesn’t face reelection until 2014 and won’t have to worry about getting swept away in the coming 2012 landslide.

That gives him two years to make a comeback. And with the Republicans propensity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, Durbin’s probably pretty safe.

President Obama: The dog ate my economy

If the Bump-In-Chief wishes to find the real culprit, he should consider Pogo’s line, “We have met the enemy and he is us!”

Someone once said that success has a thousand fathers while failure is an orphan. But when the prodigy in question is today’s rotten economy, President Obama sees more sperm donors than there were unread pages in his health care bill.

guilty-dog
President Obama should look this guilty every time he appears in public

President Obama is pointing to problems in Japan and Europe as challenges for the U.S. economy, placing some blame on events abroad for a domestic recovery that is showing signs of slowing down.

…U.S. unemployment rose to 9.1 percent, up from 9.0 percent in April.

That bump is a political challenge for the president, whose re-election in 2012 may depend on his ability to convince voters that his economic policies have been successful.

We concur. For some reason, convincing folks policies are successful is much harder when those policies are failures. Go figure. Since the “Bush’s fault” meme is getting old, Obama has turned to “Casablanca’s” Captain Renault: “Round up some NEW usual suspects”…

“Lately, it’s high gas prices, the earthquake in Japan, and unease about the European fiscal situation. That will happen from time to time. There will be bumps on the road to recovery.”

The bumps he alluded to are called “Obamacare”, “stimulus” and “excessive regulations” to name a few. And those high gas prices are partially because he feels about the domestic oil industry the way Khruschchev felt about capitalism: “We will bury you.”

If the Bump-In-Chief wishes to find the real culprit, he should consider Pogo’s line, “We have met the enemy and he is us!”

– Written by Bonfire of the Absurdities

Source: CNBC

Check out a new website called EconomicCollapse.net

If you fear for the future, if you want to be prepared for the future, you
should become a regular reader of Economic Collapse. Dot Net.

Some friends of ours (wink, wink) just started a new site called
Economic Collapse. They (wink, wink) would like to have you check it out and give your feedback.

They (wink, wink) are still working out the bugs and working on the design and just putting up a couple stories a day and it probably doesn’t look exactly like it will eventually look, but please do us a favor and check it out.

If you fear for the future, if you want to be prepared for the future, you might even become a regular reader.

They (wink, wink) would appreciate your thoughts.

And if you have a blog, they (wink, wink) would sure appreciate it if you would link to it.

Go to EconomicCollapse.net

Points for originality: Media blames “unexpected” jobless surge on Spring Break

Damn those unpatriotic college kids. Why are they out partying in Fort Lauderdale when they should be back in school stimulating the economy?

In the past the media has blamed the weather, the Japanese tsunami, Republican policies and everything else they can think of, so Reuters economic reporters are now forced to get really creative in an attempt to blame the on-going “unexpected” unemployment numbers on anything but Obamanomics.

spring-break
We don't know if the economy's getting stimulated, but we are

But Reuters’ latest excuse is laughable:

New U.S. claims for unemployment aid unexpectedly rose last week to touch their highest level in eight months, pushed up by factors ranging from spring break layoffs to the introduction of an emergency benefits program, a government report showed on Thursday.

Damn those unpatriotic college kids. Why are they out partying in Fort Lauderdale when they should be back in school stimulating the economy?

Source: Reuters

Bond guru Bill Gross: If you want to save your financial butt, put your money in Canada or Australia

Famed bond-fund manager Bill Gross argued in favor of non-dollar-denominated emerging-market debt, such as in Canada and Australia.

The Editor and the Administrator have an on-going debate about the best way to survive the looming financial Armageddon. The Administrator opts for gold while the Editor opts for Aussie dollars.

Looks like Bill Gross, the Warren Buffet of bonds, sides with the Editor on this one.

bill-gross
Bond guru Bill Gross tells you how to avoid financial Armagedon

NOTE: The Editor is a well-known financial moron and this may well be a case of a blind pig finding an acorn.

The Wall Street Journal has the details:

Famed bond-fund manager Bill Gross argued in favor of non-dollar-denominated emerging-market debt, saying low interest rates such as those in the U.S. coupled with inflation represent “an immediate threat” to investment portfolios.

Gross, in his monthly missive on Pacific Investment Management Co.’s website, continued his argument against a policy of keeping interest rates low, which he has said would end up losing money for investors. Tuesday, he warned developed economies are in a position to use so-called financial repression to reduce debt-to-GDP ratios at the expense of bond investors.

Investors could see increasing negative real yields due to accelerating inflation, he said.

Gross said Pimco advocates alternatives such as developing-market debt at higher yields denominated in non-dollar currencies. He noted that many such issuers offer “pristine” balance sheets and attractive real interest rates.

“If AAA quality is your requirement, then Canadian or Australian bonds may also fit your horizon,” he added.

Pimco has dumped all U.S. government-related holdings from the Total Return Fund, the world’s biggest bond fund.

In interest of full disclosure, it should also be noted that Mrs. Editor once worked at Pimco and had a very close relationship with Gross, as told in the comments of this earlier article.

H/T: Wall Street Journal

Uh-oh. 57% of Americans disapprove of Obama’s handling of economy

What the hell is wrong with the 43% who don’t disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy.

First time unemployment numbers continue to hover over 400,000 per week. We’re this close to a double dip recession. The debt is soaring. The dollar in sinking. Far as we’re concerned, the only question that arises from this new Marist poll is this:

barack-obama-laughing
Mission accomplished: America's economy destroyed

What the hell is wrong with the 43% who don’t disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy.

McClatchyDC.com has the details:

Public disapproval of President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy reached a new high in mid-April, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll, as gasoline prices neared $4 a gallon and Washington lawmakers fought a bitter battle over the federal budget.

Some 57 percent of registered voters said they disapproved of Obama’s economic management, while only 40 percent approved. That’s the lowest score of his presidency.

“These numbers spell political trouble,” said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in New York, which conducted the survey. “To get re-elected with a 57 percent disapproval rating would be a very tall order.”

Meanwhile, public pessimism is growing: Fifty-seven percent of U.S. adults said they thought the worst was yet to come for the U.S economy, up sharply from 39 percent in January. And 71 percent said the nation was still in a recession, even though the slump, which began in December 2007, officially ended in June 2009.

Yes. The worst is yet to come. It’s more than a year and a half until the next election and no Republicans stand out yet.

Source: McClatchyDC.com

Genius Democrat Claire McCaskill: “The good news about the recession is that our emissions are down”

Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill revealed the silver lining to the recession: lack of economic activity has reduced those pesky greenhouse gasses.

California Democrat Barbara Boxer has long held the unofficial title of World’s Dumbest Senator. But now it looks like she may have a little competition from Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill.

McCaskill’s glass was half full, but her brain was half empty when she spoke to the Georgetown University College Democrats on March 28. That’s when she revealed that there’s a silver lining to the recession: The lack of economic activity has reduced those pesky greenhouse gasses.

It does appear, however, that the bullshit and resultant methane emissions were rather heavy that day at Georgetown.

Rasmussen: Obama’s handling of the economy now has just 31% approval

In other news, 31% of the passengers approved of the Captain’s handling of the Titanic.

In other news, 31% of the passengers approved of the Captain’s handling of the Titanic.

Rasmussen has the details of the economic malaise:

The number of voters nationwide who give President Obama good or excellent marks for his handling of economic issues has fallen to a new low.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters show that just 31% rate Obama’s handling of economic issues as good or excellent. Forty-five percent (45%) say the president is doing a poor job handling these issues.

Positive ratings for the president on these issues are down from 34% last week and are the lowest since he took office in early 2009.

Maybe next time around Rasmussen should ask what flavor of Kool-Aid is most popular among the 31%.

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Source: Rasmussen

Say anything: Pelosi claims Obama was a job creator from day one

The devastating losses in the November elections were obviously far harder on Nancy Pelosi than was previously thought. The poor woman has suffered a complete mental breakdown and has completely lost touch with reality.

The devastating losses in the November elections were obviously far harder on Nancy Pelosi than was previously thought. The poor woman has suffered a complete mental breakdown and has completely lost touch with reality.

The soon-to-be former Speaker stood on the floor of the House and said, “Obama was a job creator from day one.”


This, of course, is in complete contrast to reality, which shows that lowest unemployment rate of the Obama administration was on day one. It has done nothing but rise since then.

Bottom line: In the last two years we’ve lost nine million jobs and one mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88lOqVWmI5I

H/T: Gateway Pundit

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