11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4f59f409a03c41331295241
Results for 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Safety Recall F25 - Electric Radiator FanDaimlerchrysler Corporation Has Decided That A Defect, Which Relates To Motor Vehicle Safety, Exists In Some 2000 And 2002 Model Year Jeep Grand Cherokee Vehicles.
http://www.wjjeeps.com/tsb/recall_f25.pdf 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited The Popular Grand Cherokee Was Completely Transformed Last Year, With Only The Wheelbase And 127 Parts Carried Over From The Former
http://www.caaquebec.com/DocumentLibrary/UploadedContents/RoadTestAttachment/JeeGrandCherokeeLimited2000_1.pdf 2000 Feature Highlights2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee P Roduct I Nformation Continued J Eep G Rand C Herokee P Roduct I Nformation 4 2000 Feature Highlights Interior New Royale Softer
http://www.denker.cz/pdf/2000/2000_Jeep_Grand_Cherokee_prehled.pdf Safety Recall To Install A Debris Shield On Your VehiclesIn Some 1999 Through 2002 Model Year Jeep Grand Cherokee, 2000 Through 2001 Model Year Cherokee And 2000 Through 2002 Model Year Wrangler Vehicles That Are Equipped With
http://www.jeep.com/universal/webselfservice/pdf/B06.pdf Toughen Up Your Jeep Grand Cherokee Wk With An Arb Bull BarAugust 2006 Toughen Up Your Jeep Grand Cherokee Wk With An Arb Bull Bar Seattle, Wa - Arb 4x4 Accessories, Australian Based Four-wheel Parts Manufacturer, Eager To
http://www.arbusa.com/uploads/PDF/pressReleases/10-26-06GrandCherokeeWKBullBar.pdf Grand Cherokee Srt8Overall Width (width At Mirrors) 84.9 (2,156) + Jeep Grand Cherokee Srt8 Specifications Load Equalizing Hitch Recommended For Trailers Over 2,000 Pounds. + + +
http://www.jeep.com/shared/2011/srt8/pdfs/2012_JP_GrandCherokeeSRT8_Specs.pdf Jeep Grand Cherokee 1996-2000 Multiplexed LocksDoor Lock Switch 85 86 87 30 87a 85 86 87 30 87a Lock Motor 12 Volts 12 Volts Cut Note: Audiovox Makes No Representation Or Warranty With Respect To The Above
http://documents.audiovox.com/700660.pdf 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Owner's Manual2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Owner's Manual Introduction Congratulations On Selecting Your New Chrysler Group Llc Vehicle.
http://www.autodealertools.com/quickQuote/manuals/2011/Grand%20Cherokee.pdf 533013 - Grand Cherokee - 93-97 - Radio InstallJeep Grand Cherokee 1993 Thru 1995 Click On A Link Tab To Jump To That Page I Radio Replacement 1997,1998,1999,2000. Www.installdr.com Tm Cover Page Wire New Radio Remove & Install
http://www.installdr.com/InstallDocs/Jeep/PDF/533017.pdf Kj09113 2000-2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Wj 2" Coil Spring Spacers LiftKj09113 2000-2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Wj 2" Coil Spring Spacers Lift Front 1. Read Complete Instructions Before Beginning Installation, The Following Special Tools
http://www.alljeep.com/tech/install/daystar/KJ09113-WJ.pdf 2001 Jeep Grandcherokee Laredo Sport Utility 4d$10,565 Estimated Geta Pre 6.09%apr Your Creditscore For Free Geta Freeinsurance Quote $192/mo@ Page 2of4 Kelley Bluebook-private Party Pricing Report-jeep, Grand Cherokee
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http://www.pocketlogger.com/instructions/jpw_install/jpw_install.pdf 1997-2000 Jeep Cherokee Power Window Repair Kit1997-2001 Jeep Cherokee Power Window Repair Kit 1997-2000 Jeep Cherokee Power Window Repair Kit
http://www.steigerperformance.com/docs/sp12001_InstructionsC.pdf Jeep Grand Cherokee 2" Suspension Lift Kit Installation Instructions2265 Crosswind Drive Prescott, Az 86301 (928) 636-3175 Www.p-a-g.net Jeep Grand Cherokee 2" Suspension Lift Kit Installation Instructions 1999-2003 Kit# Jwj22
http://www.trailmastersuspension.com/instructions/JWJ22.pdf Jeep Grand CherokeeJeep Product Information Jeep Grand Cherokee Product Information 21 Continued 2002 Jeep Standard_____2000 Lbs.
http://www.rockcrawler.com/features/newsshorts/01september/2002Jeep/grandcherokee_specs.pdf Vin Pla Te Decoding Informa TionT=jeep-2wd J=jeep-4wd U=jeep-4wd(rhd) 74=sportutility4-dr Erh=engine-4.0lpower 82401197 1 J,t 74 1-7/8inchball,2000# 82401218 1 J,t 74 1-5/16inchball,2000#
http://www.jeep4x4center.com/jeep-parts-catalogs/grand-cherokee-zj/2000-Jeep-Grand-Cherokee-WJ-Parts-Catalog.pdfSeattle, Pittsburgh, and Denver Real Estate Markets Sizzle in June, Double-Digits Gains in Sales, Prices
Several more metro areas are now reporting strong double-digit gains in both June home sales and home prices:
1. "Seattle-area house prices saw a double-digit increase in June — the first time that's happened in nearly five years. The median price of single-family homes sold last month was $380,000, up 10.1 percent from June 2011. It was the third straight month of year-over-year price increases, and by far the largest change. The last time the median rose by more than 10 percent was in July 2007, when it hit an all-time high of $481,000. Sales volumes were strong in June. Buyers closed on 2,117 houses in King County, the listing service said — 3 percent more than in May, which had been the best month since August 2007. When compared with June 2011, house sales were up 12 percent, condo sales up 16 percent."
2. In the 13-county Pittsburgh-region, the number of residential homes placed under agreement increased 18.6% in June 2012 versus June 2011, while average home sale price increased 13% ($194,500 versus $172,177).
Update: Add Denver to the list of hot real estate markets, with a 20% increase in June home sales and a 12% increase in price.
ND Economy So Good, It's Like Another Country
MANDAN, N.D. — "The economy is so good in North Dakota, it’s almost like being in another country.
Although Friday’s lackluster national jobs report may have intensified the already deep anxiety among voters about the sluggish state of the economy, here in the nation’s northern reaches, the concerns are exactly the opposite: how to build roads and schools and houses fast enough to keep up with an astounding population boom that has sprung up alongside the country’s most roaring state-level economy. Good years for North Dakota farming, a new technology sector and — most significant — a dramatic oil rush in the state’s west and north have combined to produce an economic explosion that is the envy of the rest of the country — a 3 percent unemployment rate and rising household incomes and state revenue."
North Dakota Bakken Oil Facts
What Does Every New Bakken Oil Well Mean to North Dakota?
A typical 2011 Bakken well will cost $7,925,000 to drill and complete, and will produce oil for 29 years (27 years longer than the average stimulus-funded "green" company, as Che comments).
In those 29 years the average 2011 Bakken well will: 1. Produce approximately 540,000 barrels of oil
2. Pay approximately $4,585,000 in taxes a) $2,200,000 gross production taxes at 5%b) $2,000,000 extraction tax at 6.5%c) $385,000 sales tax
3. Pay royalties of $7,500,000 to mineral owners
4. Pay salaries and wages of $2,100,000
5. Pay operating expenses of $2,300,000
6. Generate over $20 million in net profit
Source: North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources
MP: There are currently almost 7,000 wells producing oil in North Dakota.
Same Federal Government That Bans Compensation for Organs, Shuts Down Man Donating Free Sperm
The federal government outlawed the sale of human organs in 1984, and until a recent legal challenge that even included a ban against receiving compensation for bone marrow. For organs like kidneys, an altruistic donation, sometimes from a complete stranger, is the only legal method of kidney exchange, and any form of compensation is illegal.
Given the federal ban on compensation for human organs, you would think the federal government would have no problem with Trent Arsenault, who donates sperm for free. But you would be very, very wrong, see this New York Daily News article:
"The Food and Drug Administration wants to shut down a do-it-yourself sperm bank of one. Trent Arsenault, 36, says he donates semen to low-income and same-sex couples who face hurdles acquiring it at licensed sperm banks.
"It is helping people in need," the Fremont, California, resident told CBS San Francisco. "I don't make any money, I don't charge people anything. And it's just helping childless couples have children."
The FDA disagrees. In a Cease Manufacturing letter delivered on Nov. 1 of last year, the FDA classified Arsenault's setup as a "firm" that "recovers and distributes semen and therefore is a manufacturer of human cells, tissues and cellular and tissue-based products.
Arsenault certainly seems to be meeting a demand. He told CBS he has received some 20,000 email inquiries and he has fathered 14 children since his first sperm donation to a teacher in 2004. The FDA estimated that Arsenault dealt out 328 semen donations to 46 recipients between 2006 and 2010.
To market the free sperm donations, Arsenault started the Web site TrentDonor.org, where he displays a wealth of personal information ranging from his ethnic background and personal identification documents to medical reports displaying his sperm count and test results for sexually transmitted diseases. On a page titled "Hospital photos sent by recipients," Arsenault displays 15 images of babies presumably fathered with his assistance."
MP: As far as I can tell, the FDA's case against Trent Arsenault is still pending.
HT: Morgan Frank
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
Can I call Mitt Romney's pal Edward Conard an @sshole?
(Below)Edward Conard, Mitt Romney's pal from Bain Capital, thinks that "greed isgood".
After reading the New York Times article called ThePurpose of Spectacular Wealth, According to a Spectacularly Wealthy Guy byAdam Davidson, my head was about to explode. It's about Edward Conard, who wasthe managing director at Mitt Romney's Bain Capital from 1993 until 2007.
Go ahead, read it now...then remember, the article was published on May 1st-- International Workers' Day (also known as May Day).
Edward Conard was born in 1956 and grew up in a middle-class suburb ofDetroit, just as Mitt Romney also grew up in a Detroit suburb. Romney'sneighborhood was called Bloomfield Hills, and consistently ranks as one of thetop five wealthiest cities in the United States.
But Edward Conard was the son of a kindergarten teacher and a Ford engineer,yet he managed to end up going to Harvard Business School, just like MittRomney. And just like Mitt Romney, Edward Conard retired from Bain Capital withhundreds of millions of dollars at the early age of 51; but his buddy MittRomney wants the rest of us to work until we're 70 before we can collect ourmeager Social Security checks, even though it's common knowledge that it's theRICH that's lives longer that everybody else.
If Edward Conard were born today, he might not be going to Harvard businessschool, even though both his parents had good union jobs. Corporate America hasbeen busting labor unions since the height of their membership in the 1950s. TheUnited Auto workers cut a deal to pay new employees half of what they onceearned, and teachers are being laid off left and right -- their unions arealways under attack by Romney's Republican thugs.
Everybody blames the unions for job losses, but those people (if they'relucky) are only making middle-class wages, just like firefighters, the police,and union steel workers do today. Just like autoworkers in Detroit did. Justlike Edward Conard's daddy once did.
All the jobs today are in the service industry, and they pay under $10 an hour,probably good wages back in the 1960s and 70s, but not so today in 2012.Corporations are still outsourcing the good-paying domestic jobs for cheaperlabor in places like China, India, and Mexico, enabling foreign workers to bethe new consumers of their products. Wages have been stagnant for the past 30years as the cost of living for low-paid workers has skyrocketed.
Even two incomes aren't enough anymore, and especially with a lack of jobsecurity these days, who knows when their job is next to go to Korea, Panama,Columbia, or Vietnam. The Republicans want to ease VISA restrictions so Americancorporations can import cheap engineers here, while millions of college gradsremain unemployed. Edward Conard's daddy would have to worry about losing hisjob at Ford -- and his mom might also be laid off due to budget cuts by theRepublicans to pay for tax breaks for the rich...for people like Mitt Romney andEdward Conard.
How much money does someone like Edward Conard, Mitt Romney, Bill Gates orthe Walton's need? They never have enough. It's like an obsession or mentalillness for them. They're insatiable. They hoard.
"Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier webecome; and the same is true of fame." - Schopenhauer
Instead of the top 1% giving money to charities for a tax deduction, whydon't all these rich people just pay their employees a fair, honest, and livingwage instead? Maybe a lot less people will need to rely on charities. Do theWaltons need more money when they pay their employees at Wal-Mart $8 a hour withno benefits? How many BILLIONS will be enough?
...and that's why we have to print money....low taxes on the rich, a growingpopulation, and hoarding at the top...money isn't being circulated throughoutthe economy....pay us well and we'll buy things, pay us too little and we'llhave to ask for food stamps.
When Edward Conard grew up his daddy was making a good living at that Fordplant, and with a wife bringing home a second income as a teacher was nice,because back then the divorce rates were much lower. I would guess that EdwardConard doesn't think that the cost of living has went up much since the 1950s,or that college tuition at Ivy league schools are for everybody, and don'trequire 20 years of student debt just because they earn the minimum wage of$7.25 an hour.
It must have been a very long time since Edward Conard had to worry aboutbeing fired from a job (and paying rent)...like Mitt Romney said he once did. (Thatwas funny.)
Edward Conard mentioned nothing at all about paying workers a living wage inthat New York Times piece, or that our tax rates are already historicallylow (capital gains taxes were taxed at 12.5% in 1921, when the rich got thathuge tax break); and the top 1% has been making record profits these last fewyears while everybody else was being laid off and losing their homes.
People like Edward Conard don't live in the same economy (or country itseems) than the rest of us do. Trickle down economics doesn't work in the"real" economy...it was an utter failure, and today's economy is proofof that.
There was no run on the banks, what they hell was he talking about? EdwardConard is either delusional, ignorant, greedy, or insane...like most of his ilkin his income bracket.
He said, "The wealth concentrated at the top should be twice aslarge." Oh really? He would eliminate all capital gains taxes just so heand his ilk can be richer, then they would cut all government services to payfor this, and pay all working Americans $1 an hour to empty their garbage canand shine their shoes -- and then tell us all that this economy is"good" for us. He must be insane!
There's also piece about Edward Conard at Forbes that came out twodays later after the Times article called WhyCapitalism Works: Or, Edward Conard is Too Pessimistic, but I didn't readit....I've had enough of people like Mitt Romney and Edward Conard.
There's also an article at MSNBC called FormerBain honcho says economic inequality is OK
If Edward Conard publishes his new book, I fear he might get death threatsand hate mail, although not from me, I've already said my piece.
Oh, I almost forgot... Edward Conard, you're an @asshole!
I am the 'Beast' the Republicans want to 'Starve'
"Starve theBeast" is the well-documented and radical 34-year-old plan that Mitt Romneyand the Tea Party endorses for deliberately bankrupting America.
ForbesMagazine:"On July 14, 1978 the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the Kemp-Roth tax bill, which would have cut all federal income tax rates by about one-third. A key witness wasAlan Greenspan who was the first Republican to articulate what came to becalled the 'starve the beast" theory'."
Alan Greenspan was also themost blamed for the financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession.
The GOP's plan is basically this:
- Cut taxes on the rich,
- which in turn would reduce government tax revenues,
- and ultimately force cuts to programs for the poor and middle-class...programs the rich don't need (we are the "beasts" that the Republicans want to starve.)
Starving thebeast is a fiscal-political strategy of American conservatives to cut taxes in order to deprive the government of revenuein a deliberate effort to create a fiscal budget "crisis" that is intended to force the federal government to reduce spending (rather thanrestore tax levels). The short and medium term effect of the strategy has increased United States public debt rather than reducedspending.
We saw this vividly played out last year when the Tea Party Republicansalmost shut down the government, which resulted in having the United States'credit rating reduced.
The term "beast" refers to the government (the people) and the programs it funds, particularly social programs such asTANF, Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, Pell grants and public schools; and does not usually refer to spending on military, law enforcement or prisons.
You heard all the Republicans presidential candidates rant and rave about thesocial programs during the debates.
"Starving the beast" was the premise behind the conservative fiscal strategy, but the growth of spending and deficits (even in the face of large taxcuts) has worn down some of its former supporters, according to syndicated columnist and former U.S. Treasury official BruceBartlett, in an article analyzing the origins and development of the Republican fiscal strategy.“Starve the Beast” - Origins and Development of a Budgetary Metaphor (PDF)
The first rule of Starving the Beast? Don't mentionit. This is not something you can speak of in polite conversation, as an AndrewSullivan reader pointed out:
"This is the culmination of about a thirty year Republican strategy called “starve the beast,” by which Republicans have worked to reduce taxes and increase the national deficit as large as possible – all to create the supposed “deficit crisis” that we now face and to use that crisis to eliminate programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and a slew of other programs (EPA, SEC, Planned Parenthood, collective bargaining, etc.) that the Republican class has never been able to eliminate through the democratic process. This “starve the beast” Republican strategy has been openly acknowledged for years and I know you are well aware of it. And the Ryan “budget plan” is transparently an attempt to cash in on this long-standing political agenda."
RollingStone has a good article: How the GOP became the Party of the Rich - "Ronald Reagan put his tax planto work on behalf of the rich in a move that GOP Majority Leader Howard Baker called a "riverboatgamble". Reagan sold the country on an "across-the-board" tax cut that brought the toptax rate on the rich down to 50 percent. According to supply-side economists, the wealthy would usetheir tax break to spur investment, and the economy would boom.
Bruce Bartlett recalls, "We started talking about just cutting taxes and saying, 'Screw thedeficit.' We had this idea that if you lowered revenues, the concern about the deficit would bechanneled into spending cuts."
It was the birth of what is now known as "Starve the Beast" – a conscious strategy by conservatives to force cuts in federal spendingby deliberately bankrupting the country. As conceived by the right-wing intellectual Irving Kristol in 1980, the plan called for Republicans to createa "fiscal problem" by slashing taxes – and then foist the pain of re-imposing fiscal discipline onto future Democratic administrationswho, in Kristol's words, would be forced to "tidy up afterward."
Americans for Tax Reform, headed by Grover Norquist, used an instrument for enforcement – an anti-tax pledge signed by GOPlawmakers – which quickly evolved into a powerful weapon designed to shift the tax burden away from the rich.
Newt Gingrich and the anti-tax revolutionaries who seized control of Congress in 1994 moved to eliminate taxes on investment incomeand to abolish the inheritance tax. Under the final plan they enacted, capital gains taxes were sliced to 20 percent(now 15 percent with the Bush tax cuts) -- a tax cut that went directly to the top one percent of income earners.
"The capital gains tax cut alone gave the top 400 taxpayers* a bigger tax cut thanall the Bush tax cuts combined," says David Cay Johnston, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author ofPerfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich – and Cheat Everybody Else.
* See the Forbes400 List
From Occupy America in an article: "Where the Right WentWrong"- "Bill Moyers talked with conservative economist Bruce Bartlett, whowrote the bible for the Reagan Revolution, and worked on domestic policy for the Reagan White House, andwho also served as a top treasury official under the first President Bush. Now he's a heretic in the conservative circles where he once was a star. Bartlett argues that right-wing taxpolicies -- pushed in part by Grover Norquist and Tea Party activists -- are destroying the country's economic foundation."
"Starve the Beast," is now being championed by Irving Kristol's son, Bill Kristol(a regular on Fox News) and Grover Norquist...cutting taxesand placing funds into positions where they will have little stimulative effect,which will in fact grow the deficit or remove the dollars from positions in which they could be used for social programs or other methods of helping the poor, thereby forcing the shrinkage of government byaiding the oligarchs." - An Open Letter to Bill O’Brien – Is That Round Table Still Open?, January 18,2012
From a doctoral dissertation entitled "Starving the Beast: Using tax policy and governmental budgeting to drive social policy," by AmyM. Hageman, Univ. Central Florida 2007:
"Strauss viewed liberalism as the crisis of modernity and felt strongly that the natural right of the gentlemen (e.g. the elite) must be protected to allow the gentlemen to rule as an aristocracy within a democratic society. Strauss also saw strong national unity as the key to a successful state. Neo-conservative theory also disdains welfarism and holds that governmental involvement in social problems should be limited, but that strong national security and defense are essential for a unified country. These tenets are fundamental to understanding why contemporary tax policy makers are focused on tax cuts that realign the equity of the tax system to favor the protection of the elite’s wealth and realign federal budgets to shift spending away from social programs that might benefit society’s vulgar."
Grover Norquist has always said of government, "I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."
Everyone, regardless of income level, can help starve the beast by drastically cutting consumption. This hits both Federal and State tax collection. By cutting consumption – or consuming ’smartly’, we actually do three things –save money, avoid paying both direct and indirect taxes, and create a downstream loss in revenue, which results in lower collection of corporate income taxes (and a loss of jobs, which is also a loss in government revenue and an increase in government social program spending--- and one step closer to ‘breaking’ the system).
The top 1 percent of American earners receive almost a fifth of the country’s income, according to Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, two economists who study inequality.According to an analysis of Federal Reserve data by the Economic Policy Institute the top 1 percent of Americans, by net worth, hold about a third ofAmerican wealth.
Compensation for chief executives at American companies grew 15 percent in 2011 after a 28 percent rise in 2010, part of a larger trend that has seen CEO pay skyrocket over the last three decades. Workers, on the other hand, have been leftbehind (especially those in the bottom 50% of the workforce.)
Despite previous claims that the Bush tax cuts would raise revenue, we now know the 2001tax cuts was an attempt to starve the beast at a cost of approximately of $1.35 trillion over 10 years while the 2003 tax cuts cost another $350 billion over 10 years. We also know that the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars was pegged at $1.26 trillion through 2011 and theun-funded Medicare Part D prescription drug program stands at $272 billion so far.
In 2010 142.8million Americans filed tax returns. The year before about 59 million tax returns were filed with either positive or negative AGI that used exemptions, deductions and tax credits to completely wipe out their federal income tax liability.Read: Who Pays Taxes and Who Receives Government Spending?(PDF)
Last year 50% of all U.S. workersearned less than $26,364 a year. This is the bottom 50% that the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundations says only pays 3% ofall the [federal income] taxes. These are the people the Republicans say"should put more skin in the game".
But because half of our population makes such low wages, the bulk (if not all) of their earnings are spent on basicnecessities in consumption, which is also taxed in other ways. The Republicans want to impose a VAT tax that woulddisproportionately tax low income people more, who are already suffering financial hardship.
Those are the people -- those that need food stamps to eat -- the "beasts" that the Republicans want to"starve".
Reuters: “Starving the beast” is a favorite conservative strategy for forcing cuts in federal spending. The idea is to deprive the government of revenue in order to force spending cuts – and resistance to new taxes was a central feature of theSuper Committee deliberations in Washington.
In fiscal 2011, Congress provided the Social Security Administration with about $1 billion less than requested by President Obama. Those cuts forced the agency to make cuts that beneficiaries have noticed. It suspended mailing of the annual statement of benefits, and it shelved plans to opennew hearing offices to handle the backlog of disability claims, which has soared during the recession.
Europe is now in a recession. There was no debt crisis in Britain but it's now experiencing its first double-dip recession since the 1970s. Robert Reich says they can blame it on their austerity economics --"the bizarre view that economic slowdowns are the products of excessive debt, so government should cut spending. Germany's insistence on cutting public budgets has led Europe into a recession swamp. The danger here for the United States is clear. The Republicans have been demanding and getting spending cuts at the worst possible time -- and ignoring the economic and social consequences."
More people (with natural population growth) makes for "bigger government", and that's why taxation is necessary for domestic spending - which is needed to maintain programs like Social Security and Medicare, while maintaining what's necessary for the defense of thecountry and our infrastructure. The Republican's policies are putting thiscountry into a state of decay while just enriching a few at the very top.
No one is immune from catastrophe. Most of us get old. Anyone can lose theirjob and health insurance. Not everyone has the physical ability to work untilthe day they drop dead, especially if they have a labor intensive job. Anybodycan get seriously ill or become disabled. Many won't be considered for employmentafter they reach a certain age. Most American voters, even Republican ones,might need assistance at some time in their life. Only 1% of the population neednot worry about social safety nets, most of us are just trying to get by. It's ashame that so many people vote against their own best interests, and believethe Republican propaganda, when it's common knowledge the GOP is the party ofthe rich.
Mitt Romney "loves" Paul Ryan's budget plan, the Social Darwinismconcept of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest to justify social policies which make no distinction between those able to support themselves and those unable to support themselves.
They squeezed all they could out of us for food, gas, housing andelectricity. Then they outsourced the jobs overseas. The jobs that are nowavailable don't pay a "living wage". And now they want to cut our verylast lifeline for existence.
The American people (and maybe you) -- are the "beasts" the Republicans want to"starve".
Editor's Note: After working for almost four decades, 56-year-old BudMeyers was laid off in 2008 and has now been unemployed for the past 3½ years.He is currentlysurviving on food stamps while pursuing a Social Security disability claim... a"beast" the Republicans want to "starve".
Mitt Romney's Mormonism & Gay Marriage
"You might be able to askMitt anything, but it doesn't mean you'll ever get a 'straight' answer fromhim." - Bud Meyers, 2012
Purpose of Marriage / Mormonism/ Romney Family History / Today'sArgument
Mitt Romney recently said:
"Marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. I believe that marriage has been definedthe same way for literally thousands of years by virtually every civilization in history."(Editor's Note: If Romney was being truthful, shouldn't he have said"Between one man and three women"?)
Most marriages in earlier Western societies were often arranged. Moreover, the wife usually had much fewer rights than her husband and was expected to be subservient to him. To a considerable extent, marriage was also an economic arrangement. There was little room for romantic love, and even simple affection was not considered essential. Procreation and cooperation were thewife's main marital duties.
On the other hand, Sparta, while encouraging sexual relationships between men, nevertheless insisted on their marrying and producingchildren to populate their military.
Marriage was usually treated as a practical matter. A father arranged the most advantageous marriage for his son. As a rule, the bridegroom was in his thirties and the bride was a teenager.
In addition to this disparity in ages, there also existed an inequality in education and political rights. Women were considered inferior to men and remained confined to the home. Their main function as wives was to produce children and to manage the household while their husbandswere away tending to public affairs and prostitutes (like many do today).
For their erotic needs, men often turned to prostitutes and concubines. As Demosthenes, the orator, explained it: "We have prostitutes for our pleasure, concubines for our health, and wives to bear us lawful offspring."
Many men also cultivated intense emotional and sexual relationships with male adolescents (paiderastia). The legal inequality of the sexes was further reflected in the divorce regulations. It was always easier for a husband to divorce his wife than vice versa. However, since a divorced woman could take her dowry back with her, men normally asked for a divorce only in cases of female adultery and infertility.(ReadMore...)
To better understand Mitt Romney (and maybe his own "arranged" marriage), let's explore his core beliefs and whatguides him through life (excluding his assault on that young gay man while hewas a senior in high school.)
The religion of Mormonism was invented by a (Vermont-born) New Yorker named Joseph Smith Jr.in 1830. That was only 182 years ago, almost two millennia after Christ, and 40years before my great-grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Germany.
According to Joe Smith, beginning in the early 1820s he had visions. In one suchvision an angel directed him to a buried book of goldenplates, inscribed with a Christian history of ancient American civilizations.(I'm just guessing but, this may be where the History Channel got their idea forthe series Ancient Aliens).
17-year-old Joseph Smith said he had found these "golden plates" on September 22, 1823 at a hill near his home inManchester, New York after an angel directed him to a buried stone box.
These plates were described as weighing from 30 to 60 pounds, being golden or brassy in color, and being composed of thin metallicpages, engraved on both sides and bound with one or more rings. Smith named these golden plates the "Plates of Nephi".
(Pictured below, top left) A full-scale model of Joe Smith's golden plates based onhis own description (along with some other inventions of the day).
Smith said at first, the angel had prevented him from taking the plates, but instructed him to return to the same location the following year.
Four years later in September 1827, on his fourth annual attempt to retrieve the plates, Joseph Smith returned home with a heavyobject wrapped in a frock, which he then put in a box. Though he allowed others to heft the box, he said that the angel had forbiddenhim to show the plates to anyone until they had been translated from their original "reformed Egyptian" language.(He said the angel had directed him to translate them into English, but didn't say AmericanEnglish, Old English, Middle English, or British English.)
| Joe Smith dictated a translation using a seer stone in the bottom of a hat, which he placed over his face to view the words written within the stone. It was translated at an average rate of eight or more of its printed pages a day. | Smith published the translation in 1830 as the Book of Mormon.
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Scholarly reference works on languages do not, however, acknowledge the existence of either a "reformed Egyptian" language or"reformed Egyptian" script as it has been described in Mormon belief. No archaeological, linguistic, or other evidence of the use ofEgyptian writing in ancient America has every been discovered.
According to Joe Smith's Book ofMormon, a Nephite (e.g. the "Plates of Nephi") is a member of one of the four main groupsof ancient settlers to America in 600 B.C. The other early settlers described in the Book of Mormon include the Lamanites, Jareditesand Mulekites.
| * A Choclodite is a slang term that is often offensive and refers to an African American. A Hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes. The suffix "ite" is derived from the Greek word lithos (from its adjectival form -ites), meaning rock or stone. The first Greek-speaking tribes, known later as Mycenaeans, are generally thought to have arrived in the Greek mainland between 1900 B.C. and 1600 B.C. |
Some Mormon scholars believe that the forebears of the Nephites settled somewhere in present-day Central Americaafter departing Jerusalem. (Notto be confused with the Neolithic societies who lived along the Nile River from 3600 BC to about 3100 BC.)
The Book of Mormon is the sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movementwho believes contains the writings of ancient prophets who lived in the Americasfrom approximately 2200 BC to AD 421.
Radiocarbon tests of carbonized plant remains where artifacts were unearthed along the Savannah River in South Carolina indicate that the sediments containing these artifacts are at least 50,000 years old, meaning that humans inhabited North American long before the last iceage.
The story about the ancient prophets begins with a family that leaves Jerusalem, just before the Babyloniancaptivity. They constructed a ship* and sailed to a "promised land" in the Western Hemisphere, where this civilization was supposed to have existedfrom around 600 BC and ending in 421 A.D.
During this time in history, in 525 B.C. the Persians conquered Egypt and Hieroglyphs (hieroglyphics) continued to be used under Persian rule. No"reformed Egyptian language" is ever referred to by historians.
| * The first known vessels date back to the Neolithic Period, about 10,000 years ago, but could not be described as ships. By about 2000 BC, the Minoan civilization in Crete had evolved into a naval power exercising effective control of the sea in the eastern Mediterranean. According to Plato, Atlantis was a naval power lying "in front of the Pillars of Hercules" that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa 9,000 years before the time of Solon, or approximately 9600 BC. The Phoenicians were the Mediterranean maritime trading culture from 1550 BC to 300 BC. and then the Greeks gradually mastered navigation at sea, and were also exploring the Mediterranean. The ancient Romans rarely ventured out to sea. The traditional birth date of the Roman navy is set at311 B.C. In recent years massive wooden planks, ropes, and cargo boxes were discovered in a series of caverns near the Red Sea and have been identified as parts of the oldest seafaring ships ever discovered. The find supports evidence that ancient Egyptian mariners set sail on ocean waters as much as 4,000 years ago on voyages that spanned about 1,000 miles each way. Previously, the world's oldest known seafaring ship dated from 1300 B.C., and only small fragments of it are left. |
According to Joe Smith's Mormons, we can assume these ancient early Americanswere notAfrican-American either, nor related to American Indians -- and that theItalian, ChristopherColumbus, didn't really discover America -- and that a "reformed Egyptian" language" had existed ata time in human history in 671 B.C. when the Assyrians had attacked Egypt.
Both the Smithsonian Institution and the National Geographic Society have issued statements that they have seen noevidence to support these claims in the Book of Mormon, and furthermore, no secular archeologist or historian has supported theirexistence.
The Fremont culture, a pre-Columbian archaeological culture, lived in what is now north and western Utah fromapproximately 600 to 1300 AD. - - Mormons first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.
After Joe Smith's translation of this mystery language was completed, Smith said he returned the golden plates to their angelic guardian.Therefore, if the plates ever existed, they cannot now be examined. Critics assert that Smith manufactured the plates himself.
Polygamy was taught and practiced by Joseph Smith and his Mormons openly practiced polygamy. After Joseph Smith died in 1844,Mormonism and polygamy was carried on and led by Brigham Young.
Brigham Young is credited with having been responsible for revoking the priesthood and temple blessings from black members of hischurch. He said, "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixeshis blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so."
Does this somehow imply that Brigham Young though that Adam and Eve's first born son Cain was a black man? It'sbeen said that the cradle of mankind was isAfrica, and that President Obama himself, proved through DNA sampling, hasgenetic ties to this part of Africa. This might help explain Mitt Romney's resentmentof Obama (envy).
Soon after Brigham Young died in 1877, Mormon colonies in Mexico wereestablished near the Sierra Madre mountains in northern Mexico by members of The Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beginning in 1885.
Many of the original colonists came to Mexico due to federal attempts to curb and prosecute polygamy in the United States. Thetowns making up the colonies were originally situated in the states of Chihuahua and Sonora, and were all within roughly 200 miles ofthe U.S. border.
Members of the Pratt-Romney family have roots in these colonies, including both Marion G. Romney and George W. Romney,both havingbeen born there.
Mitt Romney's grandfather, GaskellRomney, was one of those in the Mormon colony in Mexico, and was mentionedin the book "The Real Romney". He had been a successful carpenter, house builderand farmer (Mitt called him a "contractor"). Gaskell headed the most prosperousfamily in the colony. Mitt's father, George W.Romney, was born there in 1907 to one of Gaskell Romney's three wives.
By the early 20th century, many of these Mormons were very prosperous. However, in the summer of 1912, the colonies wereevacuated due to anti-American sentiment during the Mexican Revolution and many of their citizens left for the United Statesto never return.
Just like today with the top 1%, more than 95% of Mexico's land had beenowned by less than 5% of the population, and helped spark the uprising becauseof wealth inequality. This vastly unequal distribution of land—and, therefore, wealth—had plagued Mexico for many years, to the anger and dismay of the working classes, as this corrupt system allowed the rich to get richer while ensuring that the poor remained poor, or got even poorer.
Mitt's father, George Romney, was about five years old at the time. The Romney family fled and returned to the United States in July 1912, leaving their home andall oftheir Mexican property behind.
The Romney family lost most of its money and moved from State to State, muchlike unemployed hobos. GaskellRomney eventually found success again as a builder in Utah, but lost much of his money again in the Great Depression.
"He never took out bankruptcy, which he could have done several times," George Romney wrote of his father, according tothe book "The RealRomney."
Fast forward to exactly 100 years later in 2012. Mitt Romney explains, "My dad, as you might know, was born in Mexico and, ah, of American parents who'd been living there for sometime. There was revolution in Mexico, around the early part of the 20th century, 1910 or so, and so his familycame back to the United States and his dad went from place to place. His dad was a contractor, and as you may know contractorshave financial difficulty from time to time." (Yes they do Mitt, yes they do.)
But when Mitt Romney says that "marriage has been defined the same way for literally thousands of years by virtually everycivilization in history", he's excluding his own faith, his grandfather,and his family history to make the argument against gay marriage...especially when Joseph Smith had only invented the religion Mormonism a mere 182 years ago in 1830...when marriage forthem was defined as between a man and a wife and a wife and wife and anotherwife (usually very young and perky wives, teenagers usually. Others call this pedophilia.)
Marriageshould only be defined by his or her own religious beliefs and/or their Church-- the government is obligated respect that. It's called freedom of religion. Justlike Glenn Beck is free to practice his Mormonism, Mitt is also free to practicehis Mormonism...and his cronyism; but at least allow other people to practice their ownbeliefs too, so long as nobody is getting hurt.
(Pictured below, left to right) In 1965 when Mitt Romney was 18 years old, he leda group people in an assaultagain a gay boy, held him down, and cut his hair. One year later after graduating from high school in 1966, Mittdashed off to Europe for 2½ years to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War. In 1969 hecame crawling back to the U.S. to marry his sweetheart Ann, to keep from losingher to another man after receiving a "Dear John" letter from her. In 1977 Mittbecame a ruthless (but proud) corporate raider at Bain and Company,laying off people, cutting their wages, stealing their pensions, and generallyruining other people's lives for personal gain. The Republicans call this "success".
(Pictured below) A young Mitt gives his dad a little sage advice.
(Pictured below, left to right) Mitt's grandfather, Gaskell Romney, Salt Lake City, 1917- Mitt's father, Governor George Romney - Governor Mitt Romney (still competingwith his father, just like the younger George Bush did with his father.)
Today Mitt Romney claims:
- he doesn't remember the attack on that gay boy,
- but he does remember that back then, he didn't think of gay people in that way.
When Mitt Romney was asked about the assault, he shrugged it off and chuckled as though recalling a fond memory. But only a sadistic sociopath would answer," If anybody was hurt by that, or offended by it, obviously I apologize."
Maybe it was his good Mormon upbringing that taught him to be polite when he wascaught in bad behavior.
But just like poor people, God must love gay people too, because He created somany of them -- and they've been aroundmuch longer that Joe Smith and Mitt Romney's family.
I'm always amused when I hear the pompous "believers" use the Biblical argumentthat "God didn't create Adam and Steve, He created Adam and Eve." Soby their own words, because God is always referred to as "He",therefore there must be a Mrs. God solely for the reason of pro-creation (ornecessary for creation), andthat it's not possible to procreate with only one sex, such as hermaphrodites.
Full Disclosure: I'm not gay, never have been, never will be; but just like MittRomney's family, I do have family members who are gay.
The GOP's War on Americans
Today I re-posted two articles that I think are significant to the unemployedif they rely on any type of government assistance. One article debates what theRepublicans define as "welfare" and the other article refers to theRepublican's proposed cuts in spending next year.
Also read "The Human Disaster of Unemployment", posted inthe NewYork Times by Dean Baker and Kevin Hassett on May 12, 2012:
"Older workers have seen the largest proportionate increase in unemployment. The number of unemployed people between ages 50 and 65 has more than doubled. A worker between ages 50 and 61 who has been unemployed for 17 months has only about a 9 percent chance of finding a new job. Economists estimates a 50 to 100 percent increase in death rates for older male workers in the years immediately following a job loss. There are various reasons for this rise in mortality. One is suicide."
I am the 'Beast' the Republicans want to 'Starve': Starve theBeast is the well-documented and radical 34-year-old plan that Mitt Romney,the Republicans, and the Tea Party endorses for deliberately bankrupting thegovernment."
Define ‘Welfare State,’ Please
Even those who denounce our “unsustainable welfare state” don’t agree on what it is or how its spending should be measured.Brandishing the phrase in his recent call for a structural revolution, David Brooks of The New York Times didn’t get specific.
The Heritage Foundation sometimes offersa narrow definition of the “unsustainable welfare state,” based onmeans-tested programs – benefits directed to those with income below a povertythreshold, like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, food stamps andMedicaid.
Like many conservative Republicans, however, the Heritage Foundation oftenincludes bigger entitlement programs that are not means-tested, like SocialSecurity and Medicare, within its unsustainable category.
The ball seems to get bigger as it rolls downhill. Some criticsconsider the entire government payroll part of the unsustainable welfare state.Others use governmentspending as a share of gross domestic product as a warning sign. By thesemeasures, military expenditures also count.
Academic researchers also disagree about specifics. The economists IrwinGarfinkel and Timothy Smeeding, for instance, assertthat spending on education should be considered part of the welfare state,emphasizing its productive contributions to the development of human capital.
Like many other researchers, including Christopher Howard, author of “TheHidden Welfare State,” they insist that analysis of government spendingalone provides an incomplete picture, because tax expenditures, such as thecosts of tax breaks for employer-provided health insurance, or for children,should also be counted.
It seems odd to give the same “welfare state” label to all thesedifferent categories of spending. Their distributional impact varies enormously.Means-tested government spending on low-income families is small relative toother transfers. Social Security and government employment tend to benefit themiddle class. Tax expenditures, in particular, tend tobenefit the rich.
Spending trends also vary enormously. Spending on means-tested programs otherthan Medicaid has not increased much over the long run. According to the Budgetof the United States Government for fiscal 2011, it represented about thesame percentage of G.D.P. in 2007 as in 1976 – about 1.3 percent. It increasedto 1.7 percent in 2009 as a result of the great recession.
When unemployment goes up and stays up, spending on programs like food stampsand the earned income tax credit goes up, helping people who can’t find a joband buffering the economy from the effects of income loss.
Spending on Social Security, often treated as the greatest bugaboo of ouraging society, has remained at 4.5 to 5 percent of G.D.P. since 1985. Thealready carried out transition to a higher retirement age is contributing tocost containment.
The scary increases in government spending have come in Medicaid andMedicare. These two programs, which consumed 1.2 percent of G.D.P. in 1975,reached 4.1 percent of G.D.P. in 2008.
These increases have less to do with government spending than with theincreased costs of health care, regardless of who is paying the bill.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research offers anonline calculator showing how much lower our projected deficits would be ifwe could reduce health care spending per person to levels comparable to those ofother affluent countries. The center also graphs the improvement that wouldresult from successful fulfillment of the AffordableCare Act.
If you distrust these calculations, consider that government spending onretirement and health security is largely a substitute for private spending. Tryprojecting your personal expenditures on retirement and health care if SocialSecurity and Medicare are downsized. Your taxes might go down, but you mightneed to spend more out of your own pocket to buy the services you need.
All government programs deserve critical scrutiny, and there is plenty ofroom for meaningful debate over the relative efficiency of public versus privateprovision. But there is no evidence that social spending in the United States isapproaching some upper limit of feasibility.
What is unsustainable (or should be) is the current level of confusion,misinformation and paranoia about the future of the so-called welfare state.
My Post: Obama's 'Welfare State'
- "Define Welfare State Please" posted in the New York Times by Nancy Folbre on May 14, 2012
Customized small business websites and awesome online resumes for free!
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Just fill out a simple form at The People Post, upload any images or logos you'd like to use, and provide an email address for the contact form. There are over 100 demo websites and resumes for you to choose from. I will add your text and images and host your own website for free.
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Easy peazy and free!
NOTE: This website is meant to help struggling small businesses and the unemployed. I work for free and expenses are out of pocket; but I'm hoping I might get a few donations to help cover my costs - -- but they are NOT mandatory.
Bud Meyers
www.ThePeoplePost.ORG
Las Vegas, Nevada
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
Coal, Gas Shares of Electricity Equal for 1st Time
From the EIA website today -- "Recently published electric power data show that, for the first time since EIA began collecting the data, generation from natural gas-fired plants is virtually equal to generation from coal-fired plants, with each fuel providing 32% of total generation (see chart above). In April 2012, preliminary data show net electric generation from natural gas was 95.9 million megawatthours, only slightly below generation from coal, at 96.0 million megawatthours."
See related CD post here.
Louis C.K. Battles Ticket Scalpers Using Basic Economics: He's Increasing Supply by Adding Shows
Comedian Louis C.K. is battling ticket scalpers (see recent related CD post here) for his upcoming national tour using some basic principles of economics: he's increasing the supply of tickets by adding shows to meet fan demand. The market conditions that allow ticket
When enough tickets are supplied to satisfy fan demand, the secondary market for tickets above face value is limited. Louis C.K. apparently understands that he can combat the ticket scalpers by increasing the supply of tickets in markets where his originally scheduled shows sold out, and that's what he's doing. So far Louis C.K. has added shows in New York City (two shows added), Tampa (one show added), Fort Lauderdale (one show added), Seattle (one show added), St. Louis (one show added), Dallas (one show added) and Austin (one show added). In most cities, if his first show at 7:30 or 8 p.m. sold out, he's added a second show at 10 p.m.
Musicians, artists and other performers should take an economics lesson from Louis C.K. and realize they have been largely responsible for creating a secondary market for tickets to their performances and they have been supporting ticket scalpers by under-supplying tickets relative to fan demand. Increase the number of tickets to satisfy fan demand, and the secondary market for tickets above face value evaporates.
June U.S. Rail Traffic: Ongoing Economic Growth
Some highlights from yesterday's monthly report from the American Association of Railroads (AAR):
Intermodal: U.S. railroads originated 996,022 intermodal containers and trailers in June 2012, up 5.2% (49,168 units) over June 2011 and an average of 249,006 units per week. That’s the highest average for any June in history and the third highest average for any month in history (behind August 2006 and October 2006, see top chart above).
In the second quarter of 2012, intermodal loadings were up 4.0% (121,369 units) over the second quarter of 2011. For the first six months of 2012, intermodal originations were up 3.3% (193,541 containers and trailers) over the first six months of 2011.
Through June, year-to-date 2012 U.S. intermodal originations were slightly ahead of 2006, setting up the very real possibility that 2012 will be the highest-volume intermodal year ever for U.S. railroads. The recovery since 2009 has been remarkable. In the first six months of 2009, average weekly intermodal loadings were 185,075 containers and trailers. In the first six months of 2012, the average was up to 232,682 containers and trailers, a 25.7% increase. Assuming 240 intermodal units per train, the improvement in 2012 over 2009 is equal to nearly 200 additional full-size intermodal trains per week.
Carloads: U.S. rail carload traffic in June 2012 wasn’t as encouraging as intermodal traffic, but it was better than it’s been lately. U.S. freight railroads originated 1,140,271 carloads in June, an average of 285,068 carloads per month and down 1.3% from June 2011.
That’s the lowest percentage decline in five months, mainly because coal carloads weren’t as lousy as they have been. Coal carloads in June 2012 averaged 114,485 per week, the highest weekly average in four months and down just 6.2% from June 2011.
Excluding coal, U.S. rail carloads were up 2.2% (14,979 carloads) in June 2012 over June 2011. That’s their lowest year-over-year monthly increase in six months, though the weekly average in June 2012 (170,583) was the second highest (just behind April 2012) since October 2008 (see bottom chart above).
Excluding coal and grain, U.S. carloads in June 2012 averaged 151,363 per week in June 2012, up 4.2% (24,138 carloads) over June 2011 and their highest weekly average since August 2008.
U.S. carloads of petroleum and petroleum products continued their startling growth in June 2012, rising 51.0 percent (14,177 carloads) over June 2011.
Carloads of motor vehicles and parts continued to grow rapidly in June 2012 as well, with U.S. carloads up 24.5% (12,957 carloads) and U.S. plus Canadian carloads up 22.5% (16,545 carloads) compared with June 2011.
Seasonally adjusted total U.S. rail carloads were up 2.9% in June 2012 over May 2012. Seasonally adjusted U.S. rail intermodal traffic was up 3.8% in June 2012 over May
2012."
Bottom Line: The AAR points out that rail freight is a "derived demand" industry, meaning that the demand for rail delivery occurs as a result of demand elsewhere in the economy for the products that railroads haul (inputs, raw materials, parts, lumber, chemicals, autos, etc.). Therefore, weekly and monthly rail traffic activity is a useful gauge of broader economic activity, especially of the "tangible" economy.
Except for a decline in coal and grain deliveries this year, most other products delivered by rail have been increasing, and overall intermodal rail traffic was the highest ever for the month of June, and on track to set a new annual record in 2012. Rail car traffic excluding coal was the highest for the month of June since 2008, and rail car loadings have been at 4-years highs in each month this year. Overall, the June report from the AAR on U.S. rail activity suggests that the economy is continuing to make gradual improvements, and there is nothing in the report that would suggest that the economy is heading towards a recessionary cliff.
The Coming Golden Era and Next U.S. Boom, If We Can Unleash the Animal Spirits of the Market
From yesterday's WSJ editorial by tech journalist Michael Malone:
"Three years after the recession was declared officially over, unemployment remains high and there's worry that a new recession is down the road. And yet waiting in the wings for when we get our economic policies in order are a mounting number of stunning discoveries, inventions and technological breakthroughs that could set off a burst of growth and wealth creation as big as any in living memory."
MP: Those discoveries and technological breakthroughs outlined in the article by Malone include hydraulic fracking, nanoculture, cloud crowd, 3-D printing, Internet-based education and training, and self-health technologies. Here's his conclusion:
"It's all on the way. Together, these trends offer the potential for a golden era. Getting there won't be easy, as we are currently governed by leaders who want to manage our complex and dynamic economy from the top down, to tame entrepreneurs with regulation, to tax the productive and, ultimately, to pick the next generation of winners. That's never worked well and isn't working today. But a better world awaits us if we elect leaders who can imagine a better future and fight to unleash the animal spirits of the market that will get us there."
U.S. and Bakken Oil Updates
1. A million people in North Dakota by 2030 and a million barrels of oil per day by 2015 are possible, according to one major oil executive. (ht/BakkenBlog News)
2. You've never seen anything like this North Dakota Oil Boomtown (in photos), from Business Insider.
3. More from Business Insider: The 15 Hottest American Cities of the Future, including North Dakota oil boomtown Williston, where unprecedented wealth will be created in the years ahead. (ht/BakkenBlog News)
4. Net oil imports for the U.S. are down to 42.1% this year through May, bringing oil imports as a share of total products supplied down to the lowest level since 1992.
5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe
Michelle Obama Calls On States to Reduce Regulatory Burdens for Occupational Licensing
Well, that headline is actually a little bit exaggerated, the First Lady is really only asking states to selectively educe the regulatory burden of occupational licensing for military spouses in this Baltimore Sun editorial. Mrs. Obama raises some excellent points about how the process of transferring or renewing professional licenses in many states is burdensome and time-consuming. Because millions of Americans, not just military spouses, face those government-imposed occupational barriers to earning an honest living, I've done some editing below to expand Mrs. Obama's initiative to cover all Americans:
"For so many military spouses and other Americans, each move to a new state also means a return to a familiar government-induced headache: renewing a professional license. More than 100,000 military spouses and millions of others throughout America serve in a profession that requires a government license or certification to work; that's more than one-third of military spouses in the labor force, about the same share of the general population that need a license from the government to earn a living. So for teachers, nurses, real estate agents, eyebrow threaders, hair braiders, makeup artists offering classes, limo drivers, teeth whitening services, animal masseuses, flower arrangers, horse dentists, home decorators, accountants, physical therapists and many, manydozens of other kinds of professionals, a move can mean gathering old transcripts, paying new fees, filling out a pile of government paperwork, and sometimes even taking entry-level classes — no matter how many years of experience they have (we all know how inflexible some government bureaucrats can be).
It's a burdensome regulatory process that can take months, and should be reformed. And during that time, these military spouses and other Americans who move frequently can't practice their profession without permission from the government, even though there are jobs open in their new communities and companies desperate to hire them. That means their skills go unused while their families try to get by without the income they need due to over-regulation of professions in America. It means they are unable to advance in the careers they trained for — often for years, thanks to government licensing. And sometimes, the regulatory hassle is simply too much, and these
Luckily, this is an eminently solvable problem. Each state has the power to act on behalf of our nation's military families and other Americans who need a government license to earn a living. We simply need the will to do it. That's why, in February, Jill Biden and I issued a nationwide call through our Joining Forces initiative, asking all 50 states to pass legislation by 2014 to help make it easier for all Americans, including military spouses to obtain new professional licenses when they move. Since then, the number of states that have enacted measures to solve this problem of oppressive, onerous regulation has grown from 11 to 23.
Governors and legislators in these states have worked together across the aisle, because supporting American who unfortunately need a government license to work, including our military families, is something we can all agree on. They're coming up with solutions that work for their states. They're helping military spouses and other Americans who move get to work while they complete any remaining state-specific requirements. And they're doing it all without lowering their professional standards one bit — they're simply finding ways to account for the realities of military life and the lives of Americans who frequently move and need a government license to work.
So we've come a long way towards reducing the time-consuming occupational licensing transfer process. But we're not finished yet streamlining the licensing transfer process nationwide. There are still 27 states that have not yet enacted measures to address this issue of the unnecessary time it takes local and state governments to process licensing paperwork. So I want to ask for your help. Talk to leaders in your community about the need to reform occupational licensing. Make your voice heard. Do your part to make this issue a priority to help the millions of Americans who need a government license to earn an honest living and support their families."
Milton Friedman's Response to Obamacare? The "Economics of Medical Care" from 1978 at Mayo
The genius of Milton Friedman is that his economic insights are as powerful as they are timeless. Despite the fact that these comments were made more than thirty years ago in 1978 at the Mayo Clinic, they ring as true today as they did then. Milton Friedman's six-part video series below on the economics of medical care is especially timely, in light of the fact that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Obamacare this week and Milton Friedman predicted in this lecture that increased government involvement in health care would lead inevitably to completely socialized medicine. This Mayo Clinic lecture is also a testament to Milton Friedman's effectiveness at delivering the message of individual liberty and limited government in a convincing and non-threatening way, as Milton explains diplomatically to an audience of physicians how the "power of organized medicine" led to significant restrictions on entry to their profession through the American Medical Association's control over occupational licensing for physicians, which has contributed to the rising costs of medical care.
Milton Friedman: "I’m going to talk today about the economics of medical care. This in an area, in which we all know there has been a trend toward ever-greater government involvement. One step in this area inevitably leads to another. We have had an expansion of government involvement in the spending of money – Medicare, Medicaid funds, expenditures by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare for other medical purposes have been growing by leaps and bounds. They have gone from a very tiny portion of the total national expenditures on medical care to a substantial portion. If this trend continues, it inevitably leads to completely socialized medicine. I believe that this trend is very much against the interest of patients, physicians, and other health care personnel. And in the brief time I have to today, I want to explain why I believe the trend is so much against their interest, why it has occurred, and what, if anything can be done about it."
Cars.Com: Japan-Based Honda and Toyota Now Make 4 of Top 5 "American-Made Cars" in U.S.
2012 Cars.com American-Made Index
| Rank 2012 | Make/Model | U.S. Assembly Location | Rank 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toyota Camry | Georgetown, Ky.; Lafayette, Ind. | 1 |
| 2 | Ford F-150 | Dearborn, Mich.; Claycomo, Mo. | - |
| 3 | Honda Accord | Marysville, Ohio | 2 |
| 4 | Toyota Sienna | Princeton, Ind. | 6 |
| 5 | Honda Pilot | Lincoln, Ala. | - |
| 6 | Chevrolet Traverse | Lansing, Mich. | 8 |
| 7 | Toyota Tundra | San Antonio | 9 |
| 8 | Jeep Liberty | Toledo, Ohio | - |
| 9 | GMC Acadia | Lansing, Mich. | 10 |
| 10 | Buick Enclave | Lansing, Mich. | - |
Cars.Com -- "In today's global economy, there's no easy way to determine just how American a car is. Many cars built in the U.S., for example, are assembled using parts that come from elsewhere. Some cars assembled in the U.S. from largely American-made parts don't sell well, meaning fewer Americans are employed to build them. Cars.com's American-Made Index recognizes cars that are built here, have a high percentage of domestic parts and are bought in large numbers by American consumers.
The Toyota Camry topped this year's American-Made Index, extending its No. 1 status to four years running. Ford's F-150 landed by a photo-finish at No. 2, falling behind the Camry by fewer than two days of sales. The F-150 was once a common AMI leader, topping the index from 2006 to 2008, but lower domestic parts content had dropped the best-selling pickup off the list. With its domestic parts content back to 75 percent — up from 60 percent last year — the F-150 returns to the AMI for 2012."
Here's something really interesting:
"A globalized industry may mean fewer cars that hail mostly from the U.S., but it works for many companies' bottom lines. Ford's global One Ford strategy coincides with falling domestic parts content in its vehicles. Five years ago, Ford had 20 models with 75 percent or higher domestic parts content. For the 2012 model year, that figure fell to three. Yet the same strategy has helped to bring Ford into the black with 11 straight quarterly profits.
Ford isn't alone. Cars.com surveyed domestic parts content for the top 113 models on the market, which make up 89 percent of all the cars sold through May. More than 80 percent of those cars — the vast majority of what shoppers are buying — have domestic parts content below 75 percent or are assembled in Canada, Mexico or abroad."
MP: Interesting that four of the top five, and five out of the top ten "American-made" cars are Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda, and also interesting that pursuing an "American-made" strategy might actually lower profitability. Perhaps Japan-based Toyota and Honda are intentionally sourcing parts in America at a higher cost than using Japanese parts for the positive publicity value in rankings like this one, even if profits are adversely affected? Whereas Ford, as a domestic Big 3 automaker doesn't have to be concerned about the adverse effect of increasing the use of foreign parts, because U.S. consumers will still perceive Fords as being "Made in the U.S.A."
Although the "American-Made Index" is interesting, it also helps highlight how meaningless the whole concept of "American-made" has become in a highly globalized industry like motor vehicles with global sales, global production, and global supply chains. Does it really matter any more that a Ford Focus has lower domestic content than a Toyota Camry? Most consumers shop on price and value and don't consider domestic content, although 23% of consumers surveyed by Cars.com last month still say that "they would only consider buying a car from the Detroit Three." Well, at least that means that 77% of American consumers are thinking clearly about this issue, and shopping sensibly on price, value, quality and service, regardless of the national origin of the automaker or the domestic content.
But the old traditions of driving only "American cars" and demonizing "foreign cars" die hard in places like Flint, Michigan, where you still find signs like these at UAW offices.
