Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The President’s Budget – Broken Promises On Jobs

The President’s Budget – Broken Promises On Jobs

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President Obama Promised That Government Spending Was The Answer To Creating Jobs

In 2009, The Obama Administration Told The Public That If The “Stimulus” Were Passed, The Unemployment Rate Would Not Pass 8.0%. (Christina Romer And Jared Bernstein, “The Job Impact Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Plan,” 1/9/09)

Here’s The Chart The White House Provided in 2009:
 unemployment-chart-1

Here’s The Truth:
unemployment-chart-2

  • Despite The Enactment Of A Stimulus Bill That Cost More Than $1 Trillion, The Unemployment Rate Peaked At 10.0% In October 2009. (“Current Population Survey,” BLS, Accessed 3/7/14)

  • Real Cost Of The Stimulus $1.177 Trillion: According to CBO, the stimulus bill cost $830 billion. Adding in $347 billion in long-term interest payments, the bill will total nearly $1.2 trillion.

  • Unemployment Stayed Above 8.0% For 43 Consecutive Months. (“Current Population Survey,” BLS, Accessed 3/7/14)

Even After An $1.177 Trillion Stimulus Package And Four Straight Trillion-Dollar Deficits, Too Many Americans Are Still Looking For Work

  • There are still 10.5 million Americans who are unemployed.

  • The unemployment rate at 6.7% is still far above the 5.0% the president’s advisors had predicted for 2014 with the stimulus.

  • There are currently 7.2 million Americans working part-time but wanting full-time work.

  • There are still 651,000 fewer jobs today than at the start of the recession.

Sources: “Current Population Survey,” BLS, Accessed 3/7/14; “Current Employment Statistics,” BLS, Accessed 3/7/14; Christina Romer And Jared Bernstein, “The Job Impact Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Plan,” 1/9/09

The President’s Budget Calls For The Same Failed Plans Of “Stimulus” And Increased Federal Spending

The President’s Budget Proposal Would Increase Spending From $3.4 Trillion In 2013 To $3.9 Trillion In 2015. (“Budget Of The United States Government, Fiscal Year 2015,” OMB, 3/4/14)

  • President Obama Is Proposing $56 Billion For A So-Called “Opportunity, Growth, And Security Initiative.” “

  • The President’s Budget Also Proposes A $302 Billion Transportation Spending Increase To Support Infrastructure And Create Jobs.

  • President Obama Also Doubles Down On “Stimulus” With A Proposed National Infrastructure Bank.

While The President Calls For Bigger Government, His Administration Blocks Private Job Creation

Exhibit A Of Government Holding Back Job Creation: Keystone XL

In His Latest Budget, President Obama Outlined How His Administration Would “Continue To Act On [Its] Own To Cut Red Tape And Streamline The Permitting Process For Key Infrastructure Projects” In Order To Spur Job Creation. “At the same time, this Budget lays out how my Administration will continue to act on our own to cut red tape and streamline the permitting process for key infrastructure projects, so we can get more construction workers on the job as fast as possible.” (“Budget Of The United States Government, Fiscal Year 2015,” OMB, 3/4/14)

But The Administration Has Stalled For More Than Five Years On The Keystone XL Project Despite Its Potential For Creating Private-Sector Jobs. “During construction, proposed Project spending would support approximately 42,100 jobs (direct, indirect, and induced), and approximately $2 billion in earnings throughout the United States. Of these jobs, approximately 3,900 would be direct construction jobs in the proposed Project area in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas (3,900 over 1 year of construction, or 1,950 per year if construction took 2 years). Construction of the proposed Project would contribute approximately $3.4 billion (or 0.02 percent) to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). The proposed Project would generate approximately 50 jobs during operations.” (“Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement For The Keystone XL Project,” State Department, 1/31/14)

New CBO Report Crushes Obama’s Economic Policies

New CBO Report Crushes Obama’s Economic Policies

ObamaAngry

The number-crunchers at the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) are raining more bad news on the Obama economic agenda and the Obama regime as a whole, stating that the nation’s economic recovery is worse that the recovery after the nation’s last four recessions.

The new CBO report, perhaps more damaging to the regime, states that whatever decline there has been in the unemployment number, has been largely fueled by the decline in the labor participation rate.

The report also says that the number of people out of work for more than six consecutive months, remains extraordinarily high (emphasis added):
The deep recession that began in December 2007, when the economy began to contract, and ended in June 2009, when the economy began to expand again, has had a lasting effect on the labor market. More than four and a half years after the end of the recession, employment has risen sluggishly—much more slowly than it grew, on average, during the four previous recoveries that lasted more than one year. At the same time, the unemployment rate has fallen only partway back to its prerecession level (as shown in yesterday’s blog post), and a significant part of that improvement is attributable to a decline in labor force participation that has occurred as an unusually large number of people have stopped looking for work (see the figure below). Moreover, the rate of long-term unemployment—the percentage of the labor force that has been out of work for more than 26 consecutive weeks—remains extraordinarily high.
The new CBO report on the economy falls on the heels of other recent reports by the agency that have been damaging to the Obama regime this month, including a report claiming that Obama’s minimum wage hike would cost as least 500,000 jobs, and that Obamacare would cost the equivalent of 2.3 million jobsAdditionally, just week, an ex-CBO Chief said that Obamacare subsidies caused a disincentive for people to work.
Democrats immediately circled the wagons, making the outrageous and embarrassing claim that the job losses created by Obama’s policies would give people more freedom from a new term they invented called “job lock.”

Ousted PM left Libya on way to 'another European country'

Ousted PM left Libya on way to 'another European country'

By Jomana Karadsheh and Steve Almasy, CNN
updated 7:35 PM EDT, Wed March 12, 2014
Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan speaks during a news conference on March 8, 2014 in the capital, Tripoli.
Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan speaks during a news conference on March 8, 2014 in the capital, Tripoli.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: Acting PM says predecessor free to leave, return for legal proceedings
  • NEW: Abdullah al-Thinni says Libyan navy tracked oil tanker after it got through blockade
  • NEW: The tanker took fire but escaped, he said
  • NEW: Cairo says it will board the tanker if it enters Egyptian waters
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The whereabouts of ousted Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan were a mystery Wednesday after he flew out of the country the night before, despite a prosecutor's order he not leave following his removal from office.
Zeidan was in Malta late Tuesday on a refueling stop for about two hours while en route to "another European country," Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in televised remarks.
As of Wednesday, it was unclear which country that was or if he had arrived there.
Libya's acting Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Abdullah al-Thinni told reporters Wednesday that -- despite the prosecutor's order -- there was no ban and Zeidan was free to leave.
"If there is a warrant ... if he is wanted by the judiciary, he can return and be held accountable according to the law and international norms. And this is not considered fleeing," al-Thinni said, contradicting an earlier statement from the Ministry of Justice.
Hours earlier, the North African country's parliament dismissed the prime minister after rebels in eastern Libya said a tanker loaded with oil from a port under their control escaped a naval blockade and moved into international waters.
Libya's prosecutor general said in Tripoli he had banned Zeidan from traveling abroad because of an investigation relating to a payment the government allegedly made last year to an armed group blocking oil ports in the east.
A copy of the travel ban, dated March 11, was posted on his press office's Facebook page marked "urgent and important."
"We order placing the aforementioned in the monitoring database and banning him from travel until he appears for the investigation," said the order, addressed to the head of Libya's immigration department.
Oil chaos
The vote of no-confidence came after Zeidan's failure to stop rebels from exporting oil independently, the latest challenge in the vast desert nation's bumpy transition.
The Libyan government said late Monday it had taken control of the North Korean-flagged tanker, Morning Glory, as it tried to leave the Al-Sidra port in eastern Libya, and after having briefly exchanged fire with rebels. However, in a sign of the chaos and conflicting information typical for Libya, the rebels rejected the assertion.
On Wednesday, al-Thinni said the tanker was at sea where Libyan military forces fired on it until they were called off by the U.S. Navy for fear of an environmental disaster. The oil tanker managed to sail away despite a fire on board, he said.
A spokesman for Egypt's military, Col. Ahmed Ali, told CNN on Wednesday that its navy will monitor Egyptian waters for the oil tanker.
If the Egyptian navy finds the Morning Glory in Egyptian waters, authorities will demand to board and inspect the vessel to verify that the ship's cargo is legal and properly authorized, Ali said.
Egyptian authorities will detain the ship if they find it to be violating of any laws or regulations.
Oil production, Libya's economic lifeline, has slowed to a trickle since the summer as armed protesters have seized oil ports and oil fields to press political and financial demands. Oil revenue in the first two months of the year was only 16% of what was expected in the budget, Deputy Oil Minister Omar Shukmak said.
They are seeking a greater share of the country's oil revenue, as well as autonomy for eastern Libya.
Al-Thinni said the military would not fight the protesters in the ports.
"There will be no use of force against Libyan citizens," he said.
The conflict over oil wealth is stoking fears Libya may slide deeper into chaos as the fragile government fails to rein in the armed brigades that helped oust Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 but now do as they please.
The removal of Zeidan, a liberal weakened for months by infighting with Islamists, deepens the turmoil in the country of 6 million people.
CNN's Sarah Sirgany, Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Saad Abedine contributed to this report

Ukrainian gold reserves loaded on an unidentified transport aircraft in Kiev’s Borispol airport and flown to Uncle Sam’s vault

Ukrainian gold reserves loaded on an unidentified transport aircraft in Kiev’s Borispol airport and flown to Uncle Sam’s vault

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One of my Russian mates sent me a link to a Russian news website and according to the  iskra-news.info  last night ,Ukrainian gold reserves (40 sealed boxes) were loaded on an unidentified transport aircraft in Kiev’s Borispol airport. The board took off immediately.
A source in the Ukrainian government confirmed that the transfer of the gold reserves of Ukraine to the United States was ordered by the acting PM Arseny Yatsenyuk.
So my guess is, that is if indeed this report is true it either means the new ruling elite have stolen the gold bullion or perhaps their is a legitimate fear of the Russians taking possession of this bullion, whatever the facts, it still looks very shady indeed.
Conclusion
Official narrative: gold bullion is going to USA (maybe to reassure the Germans their gold is in safe hands, after all the despite numerous requests from the German Govt The Feds have not given access for them to even view their Gold Bullion) . Real narrative: probably to Switzerland where it is divided between Yulia Tymoshenko and her cronies.
Anyway watch this very interesting video from Glenn Beck, and than decide if something is very fishy about the state of our current banking system.
In the name of the Silver and the Gold

Wall Street little changed as Ukraine, China concerns brushed off

Wall Street little changed as Ukraine, China concerns brushed off

Reuters


.
Markets in reverse; Tesla stalls in NJ
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks finished little changed on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq up for the first session in five, as investors grappled with the evolving situation in Ukraine but shrugged off concern over weakness in China's economy.
The EU agreed a framework for its first sanctions on Russia since the Cold War, a stronger response to the Ukraine crisis than many had expected and a mark of solidarity with Washington in the effort to make Moscow pay for seizing Crimea.
London copper prices, a proxy for economic health due to the metal's broad industrial use, hit their lowest since July 2010 on concerns about credit problems in China, but later rebounded. Copper has fallen 7.7 percent over four sessions. Spot gold hit a six-month high on its safe-haven appeal.
"The situation in Ukraine and a slowing China are going to matter, but they haven't mattered yet. Commodity prices are falling and that is tied to demand," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
However, money is on the sidelines. Investors, worried about missing another leg up in the five-year U.S. equity bull market, are keeping indexes near recent highs.
"People think they missed out and the market is going to do the same it did last year," she said. "There's more retail money flowing into the system, supporting stocks."
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 11.17 points or 0.07 percent, to 16,340.08, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 0.57 points or 0.03 percent, to 1,868.2 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 16.144 points or 0.37 percent, to 4,323.332.
Geopolitical developments have moved to the forefront this week on a lack of major corporate results and market-moving economic data. The S&P 500 rose 30 percent last year and, after a recent decline, hit a record high last Friday.
"We've climbed so far, to continue to climb is definitely going to be a see-saw move," said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Herbalife fell 7.4 percent to $60.57 after the company said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had opened an inquiry into its operations. Shares briefly fell as much as 16 percent.
Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fell sharply, a day after leaders of the Senate Banking Committee announced an agreement on legislation to wind down the government-owned mortgage financiers. Fannie lost 12.2 percent to $3.54 and Freddie fell 16.8 percent to $3.36.
EPL Oil & Gas Inc jumped 28.8 percent to $37.50 after the company agreed to be acquired by larger rival Energy XXI Ltd for $2.3 billion including debt. Energy XXI shares lost 7.8 percent to $21.54.
Express Inc dropped 12 percent to $16.05 after the apparel retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings and forecast a profit for the current quarter that fell far short of analyst expectations.
Oxigene Inc surged 77.3 percent to $4.29. The company said its experimental drug Zybrestat, combined with Roche's cancer drug Avastin, significantly slowed progression of recurrent ovarian cancer better than Avastin alone in a mid-stage clinical trial.
Geron Corp plunged 61.6 percent to $1.69. The company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered a halt to trials of a cancer drug over concerns about potential liver damage.
About 6.4 billion shares traded in U.S. exchanges, according to the latest available data from BATS Global Markets, below the 6.9 billion daily average so far this month.
Advancers outnumbered decliners by about 7 to 5 on the NYSE and on the Nasdaq 9 issues rose for every 7 that fell.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

ObamaCare Band-Aid? Millions potentially exempted from individual mandate through 2016

ObamaCare Band-Aid? Millions potentially exempted from individual mandate through 2016

The Obama administration is throwing another Band-Aid at the millions of people wounded by the Affordable Care Act when they were booted from their existing health coverage.
The latest change, quietly announced last week, allows many of them to skirt the law's "individual mandate" through 2016.
The change was included in last week's announcement that the government would let people keep otherwise out-of-compliance health plans for another two years. Buried in the official memo was a line giving people whose policies were canceled a "hardship exemption" through October 2016.
What that means is many of those who were dropped from their plans last year will not be required to pay a fine for failing to buy new insurance.
For many, though, the damage of being kicked off their health insurance is already done.
Some states and insurers are still refusing to re-offer canceled plans. Critics of the law cited the latest extension as yet another sign of the problems and confusion surrounding the law.
"With less than three weeks remaining before the end of the health care law's first open enrollment period, the Obama administration continues to quietly abandon many of the law's core elements," Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said in a post on the panel's website, accusing the administration of trying to "bury its failures when nobody is watching."
People have been told for months that March 31 is the deadline to buy insurance or face a penalty, but an untold number will now have three years to comply.
The administration, late last year, had already delayed the mandate for that group through 2014. The latest change extends that for two more years.
An official with the Department of Health and Human Services told FoxNews.com that "we want consumers to have as many options as possible" and that the "transitional policy" will let them keep the coverage they have "if they would like to do so."
An agency later issue this statement: “This is a common sense clarification of the law that we made clear last December. For the limited number of consumers whose plans have been cancelled and are seeking coverage, this is one more option."

The situation is murkier than the administration makes it sound. It is up to state insurance commissioners and insurance companies whether to re-offer canceled plans, and not all are going along with the administration's reprieve. This continues to leave those who lost coverage seeking new policies that in some cases offer an inferior network of doctors or come with higher premiums.
As for those being allowed to avoid the mandate fine, the official guidance says it will apply to those who lost their coverage and "believe other Marketplace plans are unaffordable." It will also let them apply for bare-bones "catastrophic coverage" if they submit documentation showing their health plan was canceled.
The extension is another tweak to a law that's already been tweaked dozens of times since its passage.
Delaying the mandate rule for some poses a challenge to the IRS, an already embattled agency that will be tasked with enforcing the penalty. Many lawmakers have pushed for the administration to delay the mandate for everyone, but so far the administration has not agreed.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Wednesday defended the implementation of the law so far, and the administration's progress in getting people to sign up.
The latest estimates show 4.2 million people have signed up via the ObamaCare exchanges -- a number lagging behind earlier projections, but nevertheless a big increase from the meager sign-ups in October and November. The numbers include some of those who lost their health plans last year.  
"There's no question, we got off to a really bad start, and that was on us," Carney said. "And a lot of effort was put into making sure that the website and the problems with it were fixed. Once that happened, we've seen the American people's interest in the product not waiver at all, despite all of the obstacles to obtaining it that were put in front of them, and, you know, we've seen a consistent growth in enrollments.

Ukraine Gold Reserves Flown To US Fed For 'Safe-Keeping'... What really happened to the German gold housed in the United States?

by Marcus Borrks, Newswire 24) -- According to the  iskra-news.info  last night ,Ukrainian gold reserves (40 sealed boxes) were loaded on an unidentified transport aircraft in Kiev’s Borispol airport. The board took off immediately.
A source in the Ukrainian government confirmed that the transfer of the gold reserves of Ukraine to the United States was ordered by the acting PM Arseny Yatsenyuk.
So my guess is, that is if indeed this report is true it either means the new ruling elite have stolen the gold bullion or perhaps their is a legitimate fear of the Russians taking possession of this bullion, whatever the facts, it still looks very shady indeed.

Did Ukraine Just Airlift Its Entire Gold Hoard To The U.S. Fed?

Related Video:


Ukrainian gold reserves loaded on an unidentified transport aircraft in Kiev’s Borispol airport and flown to Uncle Sam’s vault

mb
One of my Russian mates sent me a link to a Russian news website and according to the  iskra-news.info  last night ,Ukrainian gold reserves (40 sealed boxes) were loaded on an unidentified transport aircraft in Kiev’s Borispol airport. The board took off immediately.
A source in the Ukrainian government confirmed that the transfer of the gold reserves of Ukraine to the United States was ordered by the acting PM Arseny Yatsenyuk.
So my guess is, that is if indeed this report is true it either means the new ruling elite have stolen the gold bullion or perhaps their is a legitimate fear of the Russians taking possession of this bullion, whatever the facts, it still looks very shady indeed.
Conclusion
Official narrative: gold bullion is going to USA (maybe to reassure the Germans their gold is in safe hands, after all the despite numerous requests from the German Govt The Feds have not given access for them to even view their Gold Bullion) . Real narrative: probably to Switzerland where it is divided between Yulia Tymoshenko and her cronies.
Anyway watch this very interesting video from Glenn Beck, and than decide if something is very fishy about the state of our current banking system.
In the name of the Silver and the Gold