08 Sep 2010
by in Paintings Tags: barack obama, navy lieutenant, time magazine
Brought to book … prisoners at the Camp Delta detention centre in Guantánamo Bay have shown a fondness for Harry Potter. Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP
He has sold millions of copies of his books around the world, but it turns out that President Barack Obama’s memoirs are near the bottom of prisoners’ reading lists at Guantánamo Bay.
The 176 prisoners at the US facility have access to 18,000 books, magazines, DVDs and newspapers across 18 languages from their prison library, according to an investigation by Time magazine. The most popular titles among inmates are the Harry Potter books, novels by John Grisham and Agatha Christie, and Islamic texts. Prisoners are also keen to get their hands on photo-packed travel books, particularly ones featuring the ocean.
“I tell ya, Dan Brown’s been beating me up lately,” navy lieutenant Robert Collett told Time. “All his books are very popular, but we don’t have all of them in Arabic.” The International Committee of the Red Cross will sometimes help out when a particular translation can’t be found, sending its staff to local stores to pick up copies because it believes that “access to books and news from the outside is very important to the prisoners’ mental state”.
Civil rights lawyer H Candace Gorman sent the library an Arabic edition of a Harry Potter book herself because it did not have all of the published titles and her client, the Libyan national Abdul al-Ghizzawi, was keen to keep up with the boy wizard’s adventures. “The guards were telling him things that had happened in the book, but he didn’t know if it was true or not,” she told Time. Ghizzawi saw similarities between his own situation and that of the prisoners of Azkaban, and between George W Bush and Voldemort, she said.
The Guantánamo library contains no books by political or religious extremists and nothing with excessive violence or a military focus. it also prohibits sexual content. Other books on offer include JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series and the Arabic self-help title Don’t be Sad. But Time reported that, while the library also offers Obama’s books and they are read periodically, “the detainees aren’t exactly fighting one another to read them”.
Collett said the library had “eased the environment a bit” at Guantánamo. “It’s not fancy. This is not the New York public library – there are no big lions out front,” he told Time. “[But] when you live in the kind of environment they live in, change is what you look forward to every day. when the library comes on the block it’s exciting, especially if you’ve got a book they requested – then you are the hero of the day.”
Guantánamo Bay library’s most wanted books? Anything but Barack Obama
18 Aug 2010
by in Bryan Lee O'Malley Tags: barack obama, bush birds, fundraiser, gov rod blagojevich, money management firms, rod blagojevich
Jury: Rezko guilty of 16 counts in corruption case
By MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer 26 minutes ago
CHICAGO – A prominent fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted Wednesday of fraud and money laundering after a high-profile federal trial provided an unusually detailed glimpse of the pay-to-play politics that has made Illinois infamous.
Antoin "Tony" Rezko, 52, showed no emotion as the jury delivered a mixed verdict that found him guilty of scheming with the government's star witness to get kickbacks out of money management firms wanting state business, but acquitted him of charges that included attempted extortion.
full article at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080604/ap_o…
Obama will pardon him immediately if he gets elected.
My friend went to jail once does that make me a criminal?
It doesn't affect him anymore than Enron going down effected Bush.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Wright, Uncle Jerry, and now Rezko.
No effect since there was no hard evidence linking Obama to Rezko.
That does not mean that Obama was innocent, it only means they found no proof he was ever dirty.
Just like everything else throughout this campaign has hurt him… not at all he is the golden boy.
Let's see:
Last 5 months, anti-obama haters have been harping about the Wright thing forever now, and not a *lick* about Rezko.
My guess?
NADA.
Zip.
El-finito.
Absolutely bumpkiss.
In a word? not even on the radar.
It won't affect him.
All of the candidates have ties to unsavory people who contributed to them. As long as Obama wasn't involved he can't really be held responsible.
Remember Bush and his connections to Enron? He was still elected and that was a much, much bigger scandal than this. How about the Clintons and the contributions they received from China?
It doesn't because he was not found guilty with any dealings with Obama. Unlike certain Republican lobbyists… People with money and power always attract some unsavory people trying to play off that power and money.
The effect may be greater than many believe.
Rezko has ties to Gov. Rod (D) in Illinois and Rod could get indicted from this scandal. Rod was elected based on the previous governor being involved in corruption. this was also the reason Obama was elected without any real competition from Republicans.
If Rod is indicted, there will be another huge backlash in Illinois politics and Obama could find that he can't even carry Illinois in the general election.
Great Obama's fundraiser. I knew that campaign was dirty, dirty money!
yahoo 'news' always makes me laugh…is that the standard of journalism in America?
How does this affect Obama?
16 Aug 2010
by in Photography Tags: automakers, barack obama, financial markets, government debt, nasa, savings and loan
“This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works.” Barack Obama, November 26, 2008
As our 44th President prepares to enter the Oval Office, bank lending has seized up, some of the nation’s largest banks are on life support, and the big three automakers are bankrupt. Housing continues to crash, and so does the economy.
Little wonder that Obama is being compared to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who entered the White House in similar financial straits in 1932. Even before taking office, Obama has started his version of the “fireside chats” (updated from radio to online video) given by Roosevelt nearly weekly to reassure the public. He said on November 22 that he plans to create 2.5 million new jobs by 2011 and kick-start the economy by building roads and bridges, modernizing schools, and creating technology and infrastructure for renewable energy. These are excellent ideas, but what will they be funded with-more government debt?
Obama has pledged to honor the commitments of the outgoing administration to rescue financial markets, on the theory that if we don’t, our credit system could freeze up completely. But as noted by Barry Ritholtz in a December 2 article, the bailout has already cost more than the New Deal, the Marshall plan, the Louisiana purchase, the moonshot, the savings and loan bailout, the Korean War, the Iraq war, the Vietnam war, and NASA’s lifetime budget combined. [1] Increasing the debt burden could break the back of the taxpayers and plunge the nation itself into bankruptcy.
How can the new President resolve these enormous funding challenges? Thomas Jefferson realized two centuries ago that there is a way to finance government without taxes or debt. unfortunately, he came to that realization only after he had left the White House, and he was unable to put it into action. with any luck, Obama will discover this funding solution early in his upcoming term, before the country is declared bankrupt and abandoned by its creditors.
THE KEY TO A SOLUTION: UNDERSTANDING MONEY AND CREDIT
Jefferson realized too late that the Founding Fathers had been misled. He wrote to Treasury Secretary Gallatin in 1815:
“The treasury, lacking confidence in the country, delivered itself bound hand and foot to bold and bankrupt adventurers and bankers pretending to have money, whom it could have crushed at any moment.”
He wrote to John Eppes in 1813:
“Although we have so foolishly allowed the field of circulating medium to be filched from us by private individuals, I think we may recover it … The states should be asked to transfer the right of issuing paper money to Congress, in perpetuity.”
It had long been held to be the sovereign right of governments to create the national money supply, something the colonies had done successfully for a hundred years before the Revolution. so why did the new government hand over the money-creating power to private bankers merely “pretending to have money”? why are we still, 200 years later, groveling before private banks that are admittedly bankrupt themselves? The answer may simply be that, then as now, legislators along with most other people have not understood how money creation works. Only about 3% of the U.S. money supply now consists of “hard” currency-coins (issued by the government) and dollar bills (issued by the private Federal Reserve and lent to the government). all of the rest exists merely on computer screens or in paper accounts, and this money is all created by banks when they make loans. Contrary to popular belief, banks do not lend their own money or their depositors’ money. they merely “monetize” the borrower’s promise to repay. Many creditable authorities have attested to this fact. Here are a few:
“[W]hen a bank makes a loan, it simply adds to the borrower’s deposit account in the bank by the amount of the loan. The money is not taken from anyone else’s deposit; it was not previously paid in to the bank by anyone. It’s new money, created by the bank for the use of the borrower.”
- Robert B. Anderson, Secretary of the Treasury under President Eisenhower
“Banks create money. that is what they are for… The manufacturing process to make money consists of making an entry in a book. that is all… each and every time a Bank makes a loan… new Bank credit is created-brand new money.”
- Graham Towers, Governor of the Bank of Canada from 1935 to 1955
“Of course, [banks] do not really pay out loans from the money they receive as deposits. If they did this, no additional money would be created. What they do when they make loans is to accept promissory notes in exchange for credits to the borrowers’ transaction accounts. Loans (assets) and deposits (liabilities) both rise [by the same amount].”
- The Chicago Federal Reserve, Modern Money Mechanics (last updated 1992)
Not only are banks merely pretending to have the money they lend to us, but today they are shamelessly demanding that we bail them out of their own imprudent gambling debts so they can continue to lend us money they don’t have. according to the Comptroller of the Currency, the books of U.S. banks now carry over $180 trillion in a form of speculative wager known as derivatives. Particularly at issue today are betting arrangements called credit default swaps (CDS), which have been sold by banks as insurance against loan defaults. The problem is that CDS are just private bets, and there is no insurance commissioner insuring that the “protection sellers” have the money to pay the “protection buyers” if they lose. As loans have gone into default, the elaborate gambling scheme built on them has teetered near collapse, threatening to take the banking system down with it. now the players are demanding that the government underwrite their bets with taxpayer funds, on the theory that if the banking system collapses the public will have no credit and no money. that is the theory, but it misconstrues the nature of money and credit. If a private bank can create money simply by writing credit into a deposit account, so can the federal government. The Constitution says “Congress shall have the power to coin money,” and that is all it says about who has the power to create money. It does not say Congress can delegate to private banks the right to create 97% of the national money supply in the form of loans. nothing backs our money except “the full faith and credit of the United States.” The government could and should have its own system of public banks with the authority to issue the credit of the nation directly.
BUYOUTS, NOT BAILOUTS
Accumulating a network of publicly-owned banks would be a simple matter today. As banks became insolvent, instead of trying to bail them out, the government could just put them into bankruptcy and take them over. Insolvent banks are dealt with by the FDIC, which is authorized to proceed in one of three ways. It can order a payout, in which the bank is liquidated and ceases to exist. It can arrange for a purchase and assumption, in which another bank buys the failed bank and assumes its liabilities. Or it can take the bridge bank option, in which the FDIC replaces the board of directors and provides the capital to get it running again in exchange for an equity stake in the bank. an “equity stake” means an ownership interest: the bank’s stock becomes the property of the government.[2] Nationalization is an option routinely pursued in Europe for bankrupt banks. As William Engdahl observed in a September 30 article, citing economist Nouriel Roubini for authority:
“[I]n almost every case of recent banking crises in which emergency action was needed to save the financial system, the most economical (to taxpayers) method was to have the Government, as in Sweden or Finland in the early 1990’s, nationalize the troubled banks [and] take over their management and assets … In the Swedish case, the Government held the assets, mostly real estate, for several years until the economy again improved at which point they could sell them onto the market … In the Swedish case the end cost to taxpayers was estimated to have been almost nil. The state never did as Paulson proposed, to buy the toxic waste of the banks, leaving them to get off free from their follies of securitization and speculation abuses.” [3]
As in any corporate acquisition, business in the banks nationalized by the government could carry on as before. Not much would need to change beyond the names on the stock certificates. The banks would just be under new management. they could advance loans as accounting entries, just as they do now. The difference would be that interest on advances of credit, rather than going into private vaults for private profit, would go into the coffers of the government. The “full faith and credit of the United States” would become an asset of the United States. Instead of paying half a trillion dollars annually in interest, the U.S. could be receiving interest on its credit, replacing or eliminating the need to tax its citizens.
THREE WAYS TO FUND THE “NEW” NEW DEAL
There are three ways government could fund itself without either going into debt to private lenders or taxing the people: (1) the federal government could set up its own federally-owned lending facility; (2) the states could set up state-owned lending facilities; or (3) the federal government could issue currency directly, to be spent into the economy on public projects. Viable precedent exists for each of these alternatives:
1. The Federal Bank Option
The federal government could issue credit through its own lending facility, leveraging “reserves” into many times their face value in loans just as banks do now. Franklin Roosevelt funded his New Deal through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), a government-owned lending institution. however, the RFC borrowed the money before lending it. A debt-free alternative would be for a government-owned bank to issue the money simply as “credit,” without having to borrow it first. This was done by the state-owned central banks of Australia and New Zealand in the 1930s, allowing them to avoid the worldwide depression of that era. In the informative booklet “Modern Money Mechanics,” the Chicago Federal Reserve confirms that under the fractional reserve system in use today, one dollar in reserves is routinely fanned by private banks into ten dollars in new loans. Following that accepted protocol, the government could fan the $700 billion already earmarked to unfreeze credit markets into $7 trillion in low-interest loans.
Apparently, that is how Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are planning to generate the $7 trillion they say they are now prepared to advance to rescue the financial system: they will just leverage the $700 billion bailout money through the banking system into $7 trillion in new loans. [4] But the Federal Reserve is a privately-owned banking corporation, and the recipients of its largesse have not been revealed. [5] The $700 billion in seed money belongs to the taxpayers. The taxpayers should be getting the benefit of it, not a propped-up private banking system that uses taxpayer money for the “reserves” to create ten times that sum in “credit” that is then lent back to the taxpayers at interest.
Seven trillion dollars in government-issued credit could furnish all the money needed to fund Obama’s New Deal with a few trillion to spare. Among other worthy recipients of this low-interest credit would be state and local governments. Many state and municipal governments are going bankrupt through no fault of their own, just because interest rates shot up when the monoline insurers lost their triple-A ratings gambling in the derivatives market.
2. The State Bank Option
While states are waiting for the federal government to step in, they could charter their own state-owned banks that issue low-interest credit on the fractional reserve model. Article I, Section 10, of the Constitution says that states shall not “emit bills of credit,” which has been interpreted to mean they cannot issue their own paper currency. But there is no rule against a state owning or chartering a bank that issues ten times its deposit base in loans, using standard fractional reserve principles.
Precedent for this approach is found in the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the nation’s only state-owned bank. BND was formed in 1919 to encourage and promote agriculture, commerce and industry in North Dakota. its primary deposit base is the State of North Dakota, and state law requires that all state funds and funds of state institutions be deposited with the bank. The bank’s earnings belong to the state, and their use is at the discretion of the state legislature. As an agent of the state, BND can make subsidized loans to spur economic and agricultural development, and it is more lenient than other banks in pressing foreclosures. under a program called Ag PACE (Agriculture Partnership in Assisting Community Expansion), the interest on loans made by BND and local lenders may be reduced to as low as 1 percent. [6] North Dakota remains fiscally sound at a time when other state governments swim in red ink, and its educational system is particularly strong. while disruptions in capital markets have hampered student loan operations elsewhere, BND continues to operate a robust student loan business and is one of the nation’s leading banks in the number of student loans issued. [7] North Dakota’s fiscal track record is particularly impressive considering that its economy consists largely of isolated farms in an inhospitable climate. Ready low-interest credit from its own state-owned bank may help explain this unusual success.
3. Government-issued Currency
A third option for creating a self-sustaining government would be for Congress to simply create the money it needs on a printing press or with accounting entries, then spend this money directly into the economy. The usual objection to that alternative is that it would be highly inflationary, but if the money were spent on productive endeavors that increased the supply of goods and services-public transportation, low-cost housing, alternative energy development and the like-supply and demand would rise together and price inflation would not result. The American colonial governments issued their own money all through the eighteenth century. according to Benjamin Franklin, it was this original funding scheme that was responsible for the remarkable abundance in the colonies at a time when England was suffering the depression conditions of the Industrial Revolution. after the American Revolution, private bankers got control of the money supply, but Abraham Lincoln followed the colonial model and authorized government-issued Greenbacks during the Civil War. Not only did this allow the North to win the war without plunging it into debt to the bankers, but it funded a period of unprecedented expansion and productivity for the country.
Obama would do well to consider these funding solutions for his “smarter” government. He has been quick to assemble his advisers and form policy, but a fast start down the wrong road could do more harm than good. The bailout scheme of the current administration is serving merely to keep a failed banking system alive by draining assets away from the productive economy. The conventional wisdom is that we must continue down the path we are on, because the alternative means frightening, radical change. Financing a new New Deal without putting the country further into insolvency, however, would not be a radical departure from tradition but would represent a return to our roots, to the uniquely American monetary policy advocated by our venerable forebears Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.
1. Barry Ritholtz, “Bailout Costs more than Marshall plan, Louisiana purchase, Moonshot, S & L Bailout, Korean War, New Deal, Iraq War, Vietnam War,” Global Research (December 2, 2008).
2. G. Edward Griffin, The Creature from Jekyll Island (Westlake Village, California: American Media, 1998), pages 63, 65.
3. “William Engdahl, “Financial Tsunami: The End of the World as We Knew It,” Global Research (September 30, 2008).
4. Mark Pittman, Bob Ivry, “U.S. Pledges $7.7 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit,” Bloomberg (November 25, 2008).
5. Mark Pittman, et al., “Fed Denies Transparency Aim in Refusal to disclose,” Bloomberg (November 10, 2008).
6. “The Bank of North Dakota,” New Rules Project (2007).
7. Richard Sisson, et al., The American Midwest: an Interpretive Encyclopedia (2007), page 41; Liz Wheeler, “Bank of North Dakota keeps Student Loan Funds Flowing,” Northwestern Financial Review (September 15, 2008).
Sustainable Government – Banking For a “New” New Deal
25 Jul 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: barack obama, democrats, elect, liberals
President Barack Obama made an election-season appeal Saturday to disgruntled liberal activists and bloggers, assuring them his administration is committed to their causes and urging them to help elect Democrats in November.
“Change hasn’t come fast enough for too many Americans. I know that,” Obama said in a surprise video appearance at the annual Netroots Nation convention. “I know it hasn’t come fast for many of you who fought so hard during the election.”
In a year when Democrats are expected to lose seats in Congress, party leaders have grown concerned with malaise in the left wing. Liberals who helped elect Obama in 2008 have grown disenchanted on issues from the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the failure to create a government-run insurance option in the health care overhaul, and many believe the White House has been too accommodating with Republicans.
In his remarks, the president said the combat mission in Iraq would soon end, and that the administration is working to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays and close the U.S. prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay.
“In ways large and small we’ve begun to deliver on the change you fought so hard for,” Obama said.
“We cant afford to slide backward. and that’s the choice America faces this November,” he added. “Keep up the fight.”
Hundreds of activists and bloggers applauded warmly after the video ended, but some were not appeased.
The video “doesn’t really change my views. I’m still waiting for action,” said Matthew Filipowicz, 33, a cartoonist and comedian from Chicago. “Words only do so much.”
Obama’s video was introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who received a standing ovation from most of the people in the cavernous, partly filled auditorium at a Las Vegas casino.
In her remarks, Pelosi referred to “differences of opinions,” and like Obama ticked off legislative victories like the health care overhaul and broad reform of the U.S. banking and financial sector.
Obama Urges Liberals to ‘Keep up the Fight’
05 Jul 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: barack obama, cnn, coney island hot dog, declaration of independence, hot dog eating contest, independence day
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Obama hosts holiday barbecue for troops
- Concert at National Mall features Reba McEntire
- Ex-champ arrested at Coney Island hot dog contest
- 55,000 runners hit Atlanta streets
(CNN) — from sea to shining sea, as the song goes, Americans celebrated Independence Day in a variety of ways Sunday, from the traditional barbecue to a decades-old hot dog eating contest at New York’s Coney Island.
At the White House, President Barack Obama marked the holiday with a barbecue for 1,200 members of the armed forces and their families, an out-of-uniform event for the the troops.
"the backyard’s a little bigger here, but it’s the same spirit," Obama said.
Sunday marked the 234th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the 13 British colonies that later formed the United States. Obama said the "timeless" principles of that document "are just as bold and revolutionary as when they were first pronounced."
"on this day that is uniquely American, we’re reminded that our declaration, our example made us a beacon around the world," Obama said from a balcony draped with red-white-and-blue bunting.
In addition to the barbecue and an opportunity to watch the fireworks over the National Mall, Obama and first lady Michelle Obama hosted a USO concert on the South Lawn. Outside the presidential mansion, tens of thousands gathered on the Mall to watch Sunday night’s fireworks and hear a concert that featured performances by David Archuleta, Lang Lang, Gladys Knight, Darius Rucker and Reba McEntire.
"It’s a huge honor for me to be here in Washington, D.C., to be performing on the Capitol lawn on the Fourth of July," McEntire told CNN.
The performances and the fireworks were televised on PBS.
"this is a wonderful event. It’s really great to see people who come from all parts of the world and don’t know what it is all about, but they’re excited, because we as Americans are excited about the event," said Judy Ayars of Marshall, Virginia.
At the National Mall, visitors reflected on what the Fourth means to them.
"It is the day America got our independence from the British. We’re a free country. We’re not under tyranny, it feels good to be our own leaders," Kia Dawkins of Upper Marlboro, Maryland said.
Karl Simpson, also from Upper Marlboro said, "It means family time because this is when all my family gets together."
In New York, another annual crowd-pleasing took place Sunday afternoon: the hot dog eating contest.
There was some intrigue behind this year’s Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. Takeru Kobayashi, who took home six consecutive titles from 2001 to 2006, did not be participate in the challenge this year because of a contract dispute with Major League Eating. he watched from the stands.
Joey Chestnut won the contest Sunday, held in Coney Island, New York. he consumed 54 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. the win, Chestnut’s fourth straight, was short of his 68-hot dog record set last year. meanwhile, police said Kobayashi was arrested after the event on charges of resisting arrest, interfering with a police officer and disorderly conduct after he tried to make his way on stage after the event.
For the more health conscious, the 41st annual Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road race 10K in Atlanta, Georgia — which attracts avid runners from across the world — served as Fourth of July alternative. About 55,000 runners hit the pavement Sunday morning over the course that took them through the city streets of Atlanta.
Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia won this year’s race in a photo-finish, beating Kenya’s Peter Kirui with a time of 27 minutes, 56 seconds, the AJC reported.
Not all Independence Day celebrations were on U.S. soil.
Vice President Joe Biden, on a visit to Iraq, gave a speech at a nationalization ceremony for troops at Camp Victory. U.S. service members at the ceremony represented about 60 countries where they were born before becoming U.S. citizens Sunday.
"I can’t think of a more stirring example of patriotism than men and women volunteering … to fight for their country, to put their lives on the line, and some of your brethren, having lost their lives and limbs, to fight on foreign soil for their adopted country. You’re remarkable," Biden said.
Biden continued, "on this Fourth of July weekend, I’m reminded that you have carried the torch of our Founding Fathers, the one that they lit 234 years ago, you carried it around the world, in this case into a nation that’s not your own, in a uniform representing a nation that, until now, was not your own."
CNN’s Jamie Crawford, Ross Levitt and KD Fabian contributed to this report.
Fourth of July celebrations abound across country
Tags: blue bunting, celebrated independence, hot dog eating contest
Fourth of July celebrations abound across country
03 Jul 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: barack obama, government jobs, initial jobless claims
U.S. President Barack Obama said the U.S. economy is strengthening even as the European debt crisis has weakened financial markets. Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
July 1 (Bloomberg) — David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities, talks with Bloomberg’s mark Crumpton about the outlook for the U.S. economy and labor market. Initial jobless claims increased by 13,000 to 472,000 in the week ended June 26, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. (Source: Bloomberg)
July 2 (Bloomberg) — Robert Carnell, chief international economist at ING Financial Markets, talks about the outlook for the labor market and economic growth in the U.S. Payrolls in June declined by 130,000, according to the median estimate of 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Private employment, which excludes government jobs, rose for a sixth consecutive month, the survey showed. Carnell speaks with Andrea Catherwood on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse.” (Source: Bloomberg)
July 2 (Bloomberg) — John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC, discusses the outlook for the U.S. labor market and economy. Silvia talks with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Employment fell in June for the firsttime this year, reflecting a drop in federal census workers asthe decennial population count began to wind down, economistssaid before a report today.
Payrolls declined by 130,000 last month, according to themedian estimate of 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.Private employment, which excludes government jobs, rose for asixth consecutive month, the survey showed.
The pace of hiring signals it will take years for theworld’s largest economy to recover the more than 8 million jobslost during the recession that began in December 2007. Theturmoil in financial markets brought on by the European debtcrisis raises the risk that employment will slow, deprivingAmerican households of the income needed to maintain spending.
“The recovery downshifted a gear in recent months,” saidDavid Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities InternationalInc. in New York. Payroll gains will probably be “consistentwith moderate growth in income and spending.”
Figures from the Labor Department show the number ofworkers helping conduct the census dropped by about 230,000 frommid may to mid June, the period corresponding to thegovernment’s jobs survey. the decrease still left 344,000 peopleon the census payroll, indicating more cuts to come that willkeep distorting the employment figures for months.
For that reason, economists say private payrolls, whichexclude government jobs, will be a better gauge of the state ofthe labor market for much of 2010. Employment at companies roseby 110,000 after a 41,000 gain in may, according to the medianforecast of 50 economists surveyed.
The report will also show the unemployment rate rose to 9.8percent last month from 9.7 percent in may, according to thesurvey. Joblessness, which reached a 26-year high of 10.1percent in October, will take time to recede as the number ofpreviously discouraged jobseekers returning to the labor forceexceeds the number of available jobs.
Factory payrolls increased in June for the sixth straightmonth, according to the survey.
Those gains may slacken as the industry leading the U.S.economic expansion cools. A report yesterday from the Tempe,Arizona-based Institute for Supply Management showedmanufacturing expanded in June at the slowest pace of the yearas orders and exports decelerated.
Sales and inventories “are very much in sync,” Samuel Allen, chief executive officer of Deere & Co., said in aninterview June 23, in a reference to the manufacturer’sagricultural business. the Moline, Illinois-based company alsohas started adding stockpiles on the construction side in recentmonths, he said.
“We do believe the recovery is under way,” Allen said.“We do believe it is moving slowly. We do believe it is onstable ground at this time.”
Manufacturers have avoided the worst of the market turmoil.the Standard & Poor’s Supercomposite Industrial Machinery Indexof 52 companies, including Caterpillar inc. and Deere, hasdecreased 0.1 percent so far this year compared with a 7.9percent decline in the broader S&P 500.
President Barack Obama, after meeting with Federal ReserveChairman Ben S. Bernanke June 29, said the U.S. economy isstrengthening even as the European debt crisis has weakenedfinancial markets.
“We have seen some very positive trends in a number ofsectors,” Obama said at the White House after meeting with hiseconomic advisers. “Unfortunately, because of the troubleswe’ve seen in Europe, we’re now seeing some headwinds andskittishness and nervousness on the part of the markets.”
The economy, jobs and the budget deficit are likely to betop issues in November elections that will decide control ofCongress. Heading into the campaign season, the administrationis facing public pessimism about the direction of the economy.
The Fed last month said slowing inflation and the falloutfrom Europe’s debt crisis where among reasons it will maintaininterest rates low for “an extended period.”
Delta Air Lines inc., the world’s biggest carrier, isstarting to add staff. Atlanta-based Delta will hire 700 airportticket and gate agents to help handle increased summer trafficand operations disrupted by weather, Chris Kelly, a Deltaspokeswoman, said June 18 in an interview. the new positions arein addition to the 300 pilot and 300 reservation agent jobsrecently filled by the Atlanta-based airline.
Bloomberg Survey============================================================== Nonfarm Private Manu Unemploy Payrolls Payrolls Payrolls Rate ,000’s ,000’s ,000’s %============================================================== Date of Release 07/02 07/02 07/02 07/02Observation Period June June June June————————————————————–Median -130 110 25 9.8%Average -121 111 24 9.8%High Forecast 0 200 40 9.9%Low Forecast -250 12 10 9.5%Number of Participants 82 50 21 81Previous 431 41 29 9.7%————————————————————–4CAST Ltd. -140 — — 9.6%Action Economics -160 80 10 9.8%Aletti Gestielle SGR -100 137 30 9.8%Ameriprise Financial inc -150 100 20 9.9%Banesto -45 — — —Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi -115 113 30 9.7%Bantleon Bank AG -100 — — 9.8%Barclays Capital -100 — — 9.6%Bayerische Landesbank -85 — — 9.8%BBVA -60 111 40 9.8%BMO Capital Markets -200 50 — 9.8%BNP Paribas -150 50 — 9.8%BofA Merrill Lynch Research -125 125 — 9.8%Briefing.com -145 — — 9.8%C I T I C Securities 0 110 — 9.7%Capital Economics -100 150 — 9.8%CIBC World Markets -50 — — 9.8%Citi -130 110 — 9.7%ClearView Economics -100 200 25 9.8%Commerzbank AG -100 150 — 9.7%Credit Agricole CIB -200 50 — 9.8%Credit Suisse -170 75 — 9.7%Daiwa Securities America -150 — — 9.8%Danske Bank -100 150 — —DekaBank -130 100 — 9.7%Desjardins Group -75 — — 9.9%Deutsche Bank Securities -150 100 — 9.6%Deutsche Postbank AG -50 — — 9.7%DZ Bank -140 — — 9.8%Exane -100 — — 9.7%First Trust Advisors -50 — 25 9.7%Fortis -160 100 — 9.8%FTN Financial -165 — — 9.8%Goldman, Sachs & Co. -100 — — 9.8%Helaba -30 — — 9.7%High Frequency Economics -200 50 — 9.8%HSBC Markets -155 105 — 9.8%Hugh Johnson Advisors -120 — 20 9.7%IDEAglobal -80 150 25 9.7%IHS Global Insight -140 120 — 9.8%Informa Global Markets -160 — 30 9.8%ING Financial Markets -250 15 30 9.9%Insight Economics -125 125 — 9.9%Intesa-SanPaulo -70 — — 9.7%J.P. Morgan Chase -90 170 10 9.8%Janney Montgomery Scott -40 135 — 9.9%Jefferies & Co. -125 110 25 9.7%Landesbank Berlin — — — 9.7%Landesbank BW -40 180 — 9.7%Maria Fiorini Ramirez -190 50 — 9.8%MF Global -170 90 10 9.8%MFC Global Investment -115 125 20 9.7%Mizuho Securities — 50 — 9.8%Moody’s Economy.com -155 100 25 9.8%Morgan Keegan & Co. -178 — — —Morgan Stanley & Co. -90 — — 9.8%National Bank Financial -150 — — 9.8%Natixis -150 — — 9.8%Nomura Securities Intl. -155 100 30 9.7%Paragon Research -160 — — 9.9%Pierpont Securities LLC -80 170 — 9.6%PineBridge Investments -152 — — 9.7%PNC Bank -25 100 20 9.7%Prestige Economics -125 — — 9.8%Raiffeisen Zentralbank -60 200 — 9.7%Raymond James -155 95 — 9.7%RBC Capital Markets -135 — — 9.8%RBS Securities inc. -90 160 — 9.6%Ried, Thunberg & Co. -130 125 — 9.5%Societe Generale -60 150 — 9.6%Standard Chartered -188 12 — 9.8%State Street Global Markets -158 88 19 9.8%Stone & McCarthy Research -50 — 30 9.8%Thomson Reuters/IFR -150 110 — 9.8%Tullett Prebon -160 — — 9.8%UBS -150 100 — 9.7%UniCredit Research -130 — — 9.8%Union Investment -75 — — 9.8%University of Maryland -150 100 20 9.8%Wells Fargo & Co. -130 95 — 9.7%WestLB AG -130 — — 9.8%Westpac Banking Co. 0 180 — 9.9%Woodley Park Research -182 — — 9.7%Wrightson Associates -130 125 — 9.5%==============================================================
To contact the reporter on this story:Bob Willis in Washington at bwillis@bloomberg.net
Employment in U.S. Probably Dropped on Census Cutbacks
28 Jun 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: barack obama, dutch apple dinner theatre, girl courtney, schoolteacher, solo album, spalding
Bass aceJust about anyone with an ear for jazz — from Barack Obama to guitar great Pat Metheny — seems to be high on Esperanza Spalding. the bassist/vocalist who raised herself up from modest means to an international recording career will perform tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the amphitheater in Long's Park. for more information about the free concert, visit longspark.org.
Worth a driveSince disbanding her signature band, Hole, nearly a decade ago, rock-'n'- roll bad girl Courtney love has put out a solo album and spent more time in rehab. now she's reassembled Hole with a new lineup and a new album, "Nobody's Daughter." the band will play an 8:30 p.m. show Tuesday, June 22, at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. for tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.
'King and I'Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre this week opens its production of the classic Rogers and Hammerstein musical "the King and I," about a Western schoolteacher in 19th-century Siam who tutors the children of the country's self-righteous king and in the process softens his heart. the show opens Thursday, June 24. for ticket information, call 898-1900.
Cake BossBuddy Valastro, the talented, no-nonsense owner of Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, N.J., and star of TLC's hit series "the Cake Boss," will demonstrate his skills and his humor at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 24, at York's Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center. for tickets, call 846-1111 or visit www.strandcapitol.org.
LancasterOnline.com:Entertainment:Here and There
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