The top news long-term, continues to be the following ISSUES:
* Financial Crisis
* GWOT
* Cultural War (between the left and right)
* Politics
Short-term top news centers on the following EVENTS:
* Election follow-up
Financial Crisis: A potential new direction is emerging in China’s efforts to protect themselves from our destructive financial habits: “China must set up a firewall via currency policy and capital controls to cushion itself from external shocks, Xia Bin said in a commentary piece in the Financial News, a Chinese-language newspaper managed by the central bank” (U.S. dollar printing is huge risk -China c.bank adviser). The comment comes on the heals of the Fed’s new round of quantitative easing, or as Xia Bin describes it “unbridled printing of dollars is the biggest risk to the global economy.” The statement goes a long way in destroying Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s credibility in his statement 'We did it. ... very sorry, won't do it again' (Bernanke: Federal Reserve caused Great Depression), made at a Nov. 8, 2002, conference to honor Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman on his 90th birthday. Bernanke, who at the time was a Federal Reserve governor, gave a speech at Friedman's old home base, the University of Chicago.
The self-fulfilling prophecy of currency and financial collapse continues as finance ministers in emerging economies like China and Brazil criticize the move, saying the added dollars could exagerate asset bubbles in their countries. Stateside stocks and commodities are rising sharply today while the dollar continues to fall (1% so far today) against other currencies (Stocks surge a day after Fed reveals stimulus plan). Oil, in particular, spiked (Oil hits six-month peaks on falling dollar, Fed move).
In the meantime China continues to protect themselves through a continuation of their “broad, strategic push into Europe” (Looking for Investments, China Turns to Europe). “It is snapping up assets depressed by the global financial crisis and becoming a significant partner of other hard-hit European nations.” “‘They are indicating a willingness to stick their nose into Europe’s business,” said Carl B. Weinberg, chief economist of High Frequency Economics. ‘It’s very clever and sends a clear message,’ he added, ‘that China is a force to be contended with.’” That message will be reinforced by a visit this week by China’s president, Hu Jintao, who is scheduled to meet with top officials and business executives of Portugal and France.
German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle basically agrees with China, believing it brings the world closer to a disastrous currency war “I fear that there could be a trend in that direction” (Germany Concerned About US Stimulus Moves). “Bruederle also said there was some truth to the criticism that the United States was influencing the dollar's exchange rate with monetary policy and voiced concern about increased protectionism in different forms around the world.”
New claims for unemployment rose more than expected last week while unit labor costs fell in the third quarter, underlining the continued jobless recovery (Jobless Claims Turn Higher; Productivity Up, Costs Down). “‘The big picture is that firms are trying to squeeze every ounce out of the workers they have and this is one reason they feel no need to hire,’ said Cary Leahey an economist at Decision Economics in New York.”
Another indicator of both business and personal cutbacks comes from Solyndra, a Silicon Valley solar-panel maker “that won half a billion dollars in federal aid to build a state-of-the-art robotic factory” (Solar-Panel Maker to Close a Factory and Delay Expansion). “‘We’re adjusting our plans to be more in line with where the market is and where our business is at the moment,’ said Brian Harrison, Solyndra’s chief executive, in an interview.”
GWOT: Lots of news today on Iran. While thousands chanted ‘Death to America’ today in a mass protest against the ‘Great Satan’ marking the 31st anniversary of the capture of the American embassy by Islamist students (Iranians stage mass protest against 'Great Satan' US), Revolutionary Guards, in an article in their most recent magazine, took the president to task for declaring recently that, after the supreme leader, it is his government and not parliament that is the country's highest authority (Revolutionary Guards speak out against Ahmadinejad). Even more ominous were the comments from former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Reza Kahlili, speaking from an undisclosed location, telling Israel National Radio's Yishai Fleisher Iran would not hesitate to use nuclear bombs against Israel (Former Iranian Revolutionary Guard: Iran Will Bomb Israel). “‘[Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government] will use the nuclear bomb against Israel, they will use it against Persian Gulf countries, and they will use it against Europe to bring about that last hadith (Islamic commentaries on sayings and activities of Mohammed and his companions) that calls for total chaos, lawlessness, and havoc in the world, which creates the circumstance for Imam Mahdi (the Islamic messianic figure) to appear.’”
Cultural War: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Congress “can and should” vote to repeal ObamaCare, “repeatedly if necessary” (Senate GOP Leader Takes Aim at Health Law), threatening to cancel funding for its programs if Obama vetos a repeal. Privacy advocates are also taking action, raising alarms “over plans by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to build a database that would contain information about the healthcare claims of millions of Americans” (Privacy advocates fear massive fed health database). “In a letter to OPM Director John Berry, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) and 15 other organizations asked the agency to release more details on the need for the database and how the data contained in it will be protected and used.”
A school district in New York paid a serious penalty for banning the rosary, classifying it as “gang-connected” (District pays up for slamming student's rosary). The American Center for Law and Justice filed suit after officials at Oneida Middle School in Schenectady implemented the ban, winning a judgment of nearly $25,000. “‘This case sends an important message to other school districts, too—reminding them that the constitutional right of students to express their free speech does, indeed, apply in the school setting,’ the ACLJ said in a related blog report.”
Politics: ‘The greenest president ever’ (President Obama, according to Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, in a January 2010 Huffington Post article), taking the largest trip ever (logistically), is now being hit on two major fronts in his Asia visit: cost (Obama visit criticised for 'over-the-top' spending) and global warming (Obama’s trip to India has a carbon footprint bigger than many US cities). Not only is Obama spending $200 million PER DAY on the trip, he is emitting 8,469 metric tons of CO2 for the Washington-to-Bombay only roundtrip, according to Anthony Watts who operates the most visited blog on climate science in the world, www.wattsupwiththat.com. Ignoring the other legs of the trip (South Korea and Indonesia), the Washington-to-Bombay portion “comes in between Memphis and Raleigh on a per capita basis,” according to The Brookings Institute’s 2008 survey ranking major US cities by their per capita emissions.
But wait, there’s even more carbon: Obama “will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday” (34 warships sent from US for Obama visit). We think Press Trust of India is a little misleading with the headline, as the ships are most likely already in the Indian Ocean in support of operations in Afghanistan. But the U.S. Navy is still expending some of its fuel budget to support the trip.
To look at the president’s trip from another perspective, consider British Prime Minister David Cameron, who took a business-class seat home on board a scheduled British Airways flight, after traveling to New York from Washington on Amtrak’s Acela train (U.K.'s Cameron, Pinching Pennies, Goes Commercial). “‘We have got a lot of money to save,’ the prime minister told ABC News July 20. ‘We’ve got a very big budget deficit, so we can’t go spending money on executive planes, sadly.’”
We would argue calling Obama “elitist” is just a slight understatement! We are thinking more along the lines of gross misconduct and gross negligence, with misconduct in most companies disciplined with immediate termination of employment and negligence in courts with civil fines. And if this isn’t the height of insanity, Obama must not like coconuts, as they’re being removed from trees for the visit (Coconuts removed from trees in preparation for Barack Obama's India trip). This action could only be taken because Obama must have some irrational fear. If one uses the ‘reasonable person’ test lawyers love, it is far cheaper to assign one individual to look up, if Obama is even ever under a coconut tree, than to remove all coconuts from all trees the President could potentially walk under around the Gandhi museum.
2010 election: More indicators for new Congressional directions:
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Why vote a bill already enacted?
Because we’re currently building our Voting Scorecard. This tool is effectively a report card and will list all your votes alongside your representative, senators, VP and President, where applicable. The bottom line number for each public servant will be a percentage indicating how each voted with or against your personal legislative desires. For example, 80% means the public servant, or potential public servant, voted with you 80% of your total votes. This is powerful information every American should have and use when making future election decisions. Though not live on the site yet, the database has been built and is current with all Roll Calls to-date.
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