July 2008 archive

1. The Washington Post is doing its best to spin positive: U.S. economic growth improves over first quarter. “The U.S. economy grew at a healthy pace in the second quarter, the government said today… Gross domestic product rose at a 1.9 percent inflation-adjusted annual rate in the April through June period, far above what forecasters would have expected just a few months ago. It was boosted by strong exports resulting from the lower value of the dollar and rising consumer spending by Americans, who benefited from government stimulus checks.”

   Rah-rah-rah! The problem is that this assessment is more Bush administration “cook the books” ala Enron. The NY Times does a little better with G.D.P. grows at tepid 1.9% pace despite stimulus.

   The economy grew less than expected from April to June despite a huge booster shot of tax rebates, the government reported on Thursday, dimming the outlook for a quick recovery. And more bad news may lie ahead: new claims for unemployment benefits jumped to a five-year high last week…

   A little more realistic assessment from the NY Times. The article went on to point out that “the government’s tax stimulus package, which put billions of dollars into consumers’ pockets, led to only a modest rise in consumer spending, and many businesses were caught off-guard by the slowdown in sales.” No idea why businesses were surprised by this, unless they are all run by Republicans, because I suspect nearly everyone who got a stimulus bribe is using it to buy gasoline or pay bills.

   But the real news comes from The Guardian, which is a little more blunt with their headline: United States economy shrinks for first time since 2001. Bloomberg News also reports on this with U.S. Recession May Have Begun in Last Quarter of 2007.

   The U.S. economy may have slipped into a recession in the last three months of 2007 as consumer spending slowed more than previously estimated and the housing slump worsened, revised government figures indicated.

   The U.S. economy “contracted at a 0.2 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter of last year compared with a previously reported 0.6 percent gain, the Commerce Department said today in Washington… The government also said incomes grew less than previously thought” too. The Bush administration got the numbers wrong? Amazing!

   Of course the Federal Reserve is still claiming there is no inflation because they “prefer” not to include the skyrocketing cost of food and fuel.

Four at Four continues below the fold with Brazil’s booming economy, ‘oil’ from algae, and a lake on Titan.

On his program this morning Thom Hartmann mentioned some off-the-record conversations he had had with Democratic congressional insiders regarding the possibility of impeachment just 100 days or so away from November’s general election.

These insiders told Hartmann that the Democrats would not push for impeachment so close to the election because, as has been said so many times before, “impeachment would suck all of the oxygen out of the room.”  Their belief is that the traditional media, with their deranged sense of “balance,” would apportion all of their coverage of any impeachment hearings to the “Democratic” side of the ledger, and grant the bulk of the remaining, “Republican,” side of the ledger to coverage of John McCain.

In other words, media coverage would consist of two things: John McCain, and impeachment.

I cannot think of a better way to win in a landslide this November than for exactly that to happen.  Let me explain:

I figure with everyone throwing around their picks for Obama’s currently vacant VP slot, I’d toss my name into the ring as well.

Not for Obama, though.

For McCain.

I believe that I and I alone possess the forbearance, proficiency, poise, and other impressive words to create the winning combination with Mr. McCain.

I’m also attracted to vast amounts of power, and I’m not afraid to use it.

Original article by Elizabeth Schulte via socialistworker.org.

I’m at work, so this will be short, but the key paragraph is here:

According to two new reports by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) allowed complaints of bosses not paying wages to millions of workers to go ignored. The WHD is responsible for enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the 1938 law that established the minimum wage and workers’ right to overtime pay.

W’s Labor Department: A contradiction in terms?

Grrrr…

Magic Bus on WhoTube

^{I’m not really here.  It’s Magic! — On The Bus}