Commentary: Recent data paint a picture of an economy slowing — sharply |
 The fledgling economic recovery appears to be running out of gas… The recent run of economic data is most compelling. Just about all of them paint a picture of an economy slowing — and sharply, at that… |
– both consumer confidence and sentiment have fallen unexpectedly;
– after-tax personal incomes adjusted for inflation have flattened;
– sales of both new and existing homes took a surprising stumble;
– orders for most durable goods are down;
– manufacturing has slowed;
– jobless claims are up;
– fourth-quarter GDP growth came largely from a slower pace of inventory liquidation, not from an increase in consumer spending; |
– and as a matter of fact, consumer spending weakened last quarter.
Understand that the changes in the data above were not insignificant:
– consumer confidence fell to a 27-year low; Read more at directorblue.blogspot.com |
 The White House and Democrats had one mission today: prepare the political class for the President’s announcement, probably Wednesday, that he thinks the Senate ought to proceed with reconciliation to ****pass or modify**** a comprehensive health care bill (passed by the House or Senate first? Not sure.). But Democrats still don’t agree: Kent Conrad, the budget committee chairman, says that the House must pass the extant Senate bill (with all the bad stuff in there) first; the House wants to see if the Senate has the votes for the Obama bill (with all the bad stuff taken out), and Conrad said today that reconciliation can’t be used to pass #HCR.
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On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Robert Menendez claimed that Senate Democrats would be able to muster 51 votes to pass the bill through reconciliation. |
| How’s this for an investment? |
| You pay a total of $124,000 into your pension plan and, upon retiring at age 49, you receive $3.3 million in pension payments and $500,000 in health care benefits. You receive $3.8 million in total on a $124,000 investment. |
| You pay a total of $62,000 towards a pension plan and absolutely nothing for health care (medical, dental and vision coverage) over your working career. Upon retirement, you are paid $1.4 million in pension and $215,000 in health care benefits. You receive $1.6 million on a $62,000 investment. |
| The reality is public unions are public enemy number one. Christie did not go far enough. He should have stated a goal of totally abolishing the unions. |
| Christie’s proposal is just a start. |
In 2004, a Congressional effort to limit the use of MCCs was defeated by a consortium of financial institutions, immigrants’ rights groups, consumer groups, and many others. These organizations had formed a loose coalition to defeat, again, limitations on the use of consular ID cards by banks, credit unions, thrifts and other financial institutions.
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By a vote of 222 to 177, the House passed a bipartisan amendment (HA 754), introduced by Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), Pastor (D-AZ), Hinojosa (D-TX), Oxley (R-OH) and Kolbe (R-AZ). It prohibited the Treasury Dept. from implementing regulations regarding the acceptance of FCCs by financial institutions.
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| But prior to that hearing, the FBI was adamantly opposed to the use of MCCs as valid identification. Assistant Director Steve McCraw’s testimony before Congress in 2003 was blunt: “…consular ID cards are primarily being utilized by illegal aliens in the United States. |
It’s a good thing that we’re working to solve global warming. All this s*** could have even been much worse. And last week in Germany was no treat. |
The UN’s IPCC Global-Warming Bunko Scam |
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest report on global warming with a massive publicity blitz. The New York Times breathlessly announced an impending disaster due to man’s catastrophic treatment of the environment: |
…[a temperature rise] of 3 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century could lead to the inundation of coasts and islands inhabited by hundreds of millions of people…
…While the report said that assessing the causes of regional climate and biological changes was particularly difficult, the authors concluded with “high confidence” — about an 8 in 10 chance — that human-caused warming “over the last three decades has had a discernible influence on many physical and biological systems…” |
Read more at directorblue.blogspot.com |
| It takes a lot of gall to try to defend AGW [anthropogenic global warming] after it’s been exposed as a complete and total fraud thanks to Climategate. The “Hide the Decline” email is but an ice chip in a glacier of examples — so focusing on that exclusively is rather inconsequential. |
| There are other issues like the hockey stick chart (yours, I believe) that have been completely and utterly debunked; the Hadley Center’s cherry-picking of data from Russia’s meteorological stations; the stonewalling of freedom-of-information requests; the omission of accurate Medieval Warming Period (MWP) temperatures that were significantly warmer than the current period; the suppression and intimidation of opposing viewpoints; … but I grow tired, should I continue? The whole thing is beyond shameful.Read more at directorblue.blogspot.com |
| “Those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.” — President Barack Obama, 1/20/09 |
| The federal government — controlled completely by Democrats — is in the process of bequeathing our children crushing debts. Imagine being born into the world owing $200,000 for a house you’ll never get to occupy. That’s what each member of America’s next generation will get to experience. |
In recent weeks, Kevin Jennings has been repeatedly linked to supporters of NAMBLA as well as a wide variety of shockingly explicit educational material aimed at schoolkids. |
As usual, the “ criminal front group known as Media Matters” (in the words of attorney Mark Levin and which I believe is the phrase they prefer), stepped up to the plate to defend Jennings against the well-deserved attacks. |
It’s so cold that the media center, depicted above, requires that reporters bundle themselves up while inside. |
“The Gore Effect” has a long and uniquely entertaining history. In simple terms, it strikes the Warmists whenever and wherever they gather as if Mother Nature herself is mocking the UN’s rapidly disintegrating bunko scam. |
What follows is a sampling of how Mother Nature enjoys ridiculing promoters of the global warming scam. |
| Let me first say that the allegation that I’m about to make may not be news to you and your colleagues in the conservative media, but it appears to me that this point — if made at all — is not getting through to the broader conservative community. Please consider my thoughts because I may have stumbled upon something of significance to you and the cause of liberty. |
 With each new and peculiar news story involving the President, my husband makes the same comment to me: another example of demoralizing and discrediting. When you look at his (or the White House/administration) handling of and comments about certain events, the consequences can be said to be destructive to the trust we have in our institutions, important organizations, and critical government roles. What goes unremarked upon is the potential for the demoralizing effect on individuals within our national security and intelligence communities. |
| CIA: Eric Holder investigates the CIA interrogations of terrorists |
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Economy is Dying, Thanks to Marxist-Democrat Policies
