July 16, 2010
Greets and Huggers. Posted the evening of July 16, 2010. An alarming bit of news from the Federal Reserve this week: NEW YORK — Fed expects weaker recovery. “The Federal Reserve has become more pessimistic about the economy. The Fed’s latest forecast, included in the minutes of the central bank’s June 23 meeting released Wednesday, is the latest sign of growing concern that the recovery is losing steam … the Fed now predicts the unemployment rate would be between 9.2% to 9.5% this year, slightly worse than the 9.1% to 9.5% range it forecast in April. Unemployment was 9.5% in June, but has averaged 9.7% over the first half of the year. The Fed also lowered its outlook for the job market in the coming years. It now forecasts unemployment will stay between 8.3% to 8.7% next year, up from its earlier estimate of a range of 8.1% to 8.5%. The central bank indicated it expects unemployment in 2012 to still be at a relatively high rate of between 7.1% and 7.5%. The Fed had previously said the unemployment rate could drop as low as 6.6% in 2012.” … while at the same time: Kansas City – Jobs and consumer confidence slump while corporate profits grow. “With jobs and raises still hard to get, you might think that corporate profits have also been hard to come by. But look at these numbers. Since bottoming out in the fourth quarter of 2008, corporate profits jumped 41 percent, according to first quarter 2010 earnings reports analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute. Over that period, the nation lost 4.6 million jobs, more than half of the 8.2 million jobs lost since the recession began.” Who do you think will benefit from that 41% increase in profits? As of 2005 … businessweek.com: “half of all U.S. households own stocks, either directly or in a mutual fund or retirement plan.” One would think that includes you and I. Show me the money, cause I sure don’t see it!! I don’t think the 8.2 million folks who lost their jobs do either. So where are the 3.2 trillion dollars the Federal Government has spent during the last 18 months?
Perhaps time for all of us to review our overhead expenses and look at ways to serve our client’s needs in a way they can better afford. May need to barter – there are unemployed tradespeople with valuable skills you may have a need/use for … and your skills, they may have a need for. There already is a vibrant “Barter” community up and running on-line … and “Craig’s List” is full of listings offering to barter services and tangible goods. Course, the IRS is very aware of this: “Barter transactions can provide your company with important financial, sales, and marketing benefits. Like other transactions, however, barter sales are taxable, and your company must report them to the IRS. This is also true of credits you receive or spend through a barter exchange; regardless of how you use barter credits, they’re taxable as if they were cash.” Like during the “Great Depression“, life hasn’t stopped … for now, for too many of us, it has just gone into “barter” mode.
Point being, I suppose, isn’t is time for a “change”: not the political b*llshit put out in sound bites, all part of pandering to the least common denominator for votes … but perhaps, a fundamental “change” in the way we view ourselves, our obligations/commitment to our core values, family, friends, community … and our America. Perhaps, time to put “political party” affiliations aside, and realize we all share common goals: provide for our families and be secure from predators, foreign, domestic, physical and economic. Sure seems to me, the folks from both political parties striving to get access, gain control, of the governmental trough all have the same goal: get elected by whatever means they can. And once there? Do what? We are involved in two shooting wars and, now, as of today, we have a 13.2 trillion dollar national debt. Share with me … do you really believe any of them will have the political courage, guts, to look you in the face and say: “We can not afford to fund two wars, provide the services we do, without raising taxes … or … cut bait overseas and use the money to secure our boarders AND cut entitlements. We can no longer afford to police the world nor can we provide a “safety net” so tightly woven, it catches all.”
Perhaps, if there were Red and Blue Pigs, (reference “Animal Farm“), at the helm, willing to do what needs to be done, we would not be reading statistics like this: Washington (CNN) — June was worst month for Army suicides, statistics show. “More U.S. soldiers killed themselves last month than in recent Army history, according to Army statistics released Thursday, confounding officials trying to reverse the grim trend. The statistics show that 32 soldiers killed themselves in June, the highest number in a single month since the Vietnam era. Twenty-one of them were on active duty, while 11 were in the National Guard or Army Reserve in an inactive status … He said he could offer only what he has said before: “Continued stress on the force and the opportunities we have been facing in terms of the challenges in the Army continue to cause these events to take place.” … or news like this: ABC NEWS – Afghanistan War: U.S. Wounded Toll in 2010 Nearly Matches All of 2009. “Already on track to be the deadliest year ever for American and NATO forces in Afghanistan since the Taliban was overthrown in late 2001, 2010 also will be the worst year ever for numbers of Americans wounded in the war. In fact, the number of American service members wounded this year already has approached the number wounded for all of 2009.” Time for a change, isn’t it? Nuff said.
And our tuition and tax dollars at work funding scholarly work: (CNN) — Study: Body shape affects memory in older women. “A woman’s body shape may play a role in how good her memory is, according to a new study. The more an older woman weighs, the worse her memory, according to research released this week from Northwestern Medicine at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The effect is more pronounced in women who carry excess weight around their hips, known as pear shapes, than women who carry it around their waists, called apple shapes.” Who thinks up these studies? “Pear Shapes” and “Apple Shapes“? Let me guess … older women with “Watermelon Shapes” were not included in the study because their memory was so bad, they couldn’t remember to show up?
And in other reported research: (BBC NEWS) – Link between inactivity and obesity queried. “Researchers have challenged the assumption that a lack of exercise causes children to put on weight. An 11-year study of more than 200 children in Plymouth suggests the effect is the other way around - that getting fatter makes them inactive. The paper, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, concludes that programs to tackle obesity may need to focus more on food than exercise.” I guess that means, if you stop feeding your kid junk food, while they are parked on the couch watching cartoons or playing with their “Play Station” … as a result of which, they lose weight, so you can buy their clothes off the shelf at Walmart, instead of at the “Emil the Tent Maker boutique” … they might want to go outside and play? Never happen … cause you would have to get off the couch too … to supervise them.
(BBC NEWS) – Chatting chimps in Uganda, Africa are ’socially aware’. “Chimpanzees are aware of the social impact of their communications, primatologists have discovered. Chimps communicate using a variety of calls and gestures, including making vocalizations known as pant grunts, which signal subordination. But researchers have found that chimps will change what they “say” depending on who is listening. That reveals a previously unrecognized social awareness that has implications for the origin of human language.” Human language? Nah! More likely the origins of “Rock and Roll”.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Patent troll sues Apple, Google, and most of the tech universe. “NTP Inc., a patent holding company that shook up the tech world several years ago by extracting a pricey legal settlement from BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, announced Friday it had launched a fresh barrage of patent infringement lawsuits against the tech world’s leading lights … The lawsuits highlight a problem often cited by critics of current U.S. patent policy: Companies are allowed to collect patents for inventions they never plan to manufacture. Those companies, often referred to as “patent trolls,” can then opportunistically sue alleged infringers … The United States is the only major country that gives patents to those who can prove they invented an item before someone else’s patent was filed.” Interesting indictment of our sense of values and notions of what is fair, isn’t it?
And in the news that will make your stomach turn: (CNN) – Author sentenced to six years in prison for possessing child porn. “A federal judge sentenced children’s author K.P. Bath to six years in prison Thursday for possessing child pornography. Investigators found a large collection of pornographic photographs and video clips in the Portland, Oregon, home of the author of “The Secret of Castle Cant” and “Escape from Castle Cant,” according to a statement federal prosecutors released Thursday. “Many of the videos graphically depicted the sexual abuse of very young children,” the statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon said … Bath volunteered at the Beverly Cleary Children’s Library in Portland and worked at The Asian Reporter newspaper, according to a 2004 University of Alabama news release describing an alumni reading series. Bath had a master’s degree from the university and had worked as a field hand, factory laborer, musician, editor and teacher, the news release said.” The good news? He wasn’t a priest, a boy scout leader, a daycare provider … or a world famous, award winning film maker. Just a run of the mill waste of perfectly good skin.
Sitting here editing these Ramblings, the Editorial Staff hunkered down because we are under another thunderstorm warning. My large format printer, the Epson 7500 is back on-line after having it serviced, (the print head was clogged because of lack of use.) You can NOT let inkjet printers sit for any length of time because the ink will dry, plugging the ink nozzles). I plan on printing several 2′ x 3′ canvas images, stretching, UV coating and texturing them, (those of you who have one of 11″ x 14″ prints know what I am talking about!) … and entering them in the State Fair. Last time I entered an image, (2001), it won an honorable mention for fine art. Time to post these Ramblings and watch some “canvas stretching” videos on YouTube. Can’t be that hard to learn!! Later, as I say my “Thank You’s”, I will thank God, that Apple has a fix for the new 4G iPhones, (in case the owners forget to do so), and most important, a “Thank You” for having Susan to share this life with … and of course, a prayer for the safe and soon return of our men and women in uniform, (care to join me?) Be and sleep well knowing that no matter how bad the economy gets, as long as our best remains on watch, and as long as there is love and alcohol in this world … you will have job security, (although you may have to take your fee in Chicken lips or pork bellies). As always …
A Warm Brotherly Hug
KarlT (the dumb old country lawyer from Holden, Missouri … and the “Editorial Staff”, Dinker, Karlie, Willie, my L’l Buddy … and Floydious Irritatus … the copy boy.)