I was wondering when summer is going to arrive because it.... oh, yeah, already has.
"US job market will lag until 2017, IMF predicts" Associated Press June 17, 2014
WASHINGTON — The US economy is poised to accelerate after a dismal start to the year, but the job market won’t return to full employment until 2017.
That was the forecast the International Monetary Fund offered Monday.
Why should we believe anything they say?
The IMF noted that steady job gains and other recent data suggest the economy is rebounding, yet growth in 2014 probably won’t top last year’s lackluster performance, the IMF said....
Meaning it's getting worse, not accelerating -- unless you are in the top 5%.
The IMF blames the lingering aftermath of the brutal winter and a sluggish recovery in home sales. Years of disappointing growth mean the economy might not reach full employment for three more years.
And Christine Lagarde, the IMF’s managing director, suggested that the winter showed a wild card might be holding back the economy, one that could make predictions more difficult: climate change.
The bankers are now going to blame that for being wrong and stealing loot?
Unbelievable!!
‘‘Extreme weather occurrences have repeated much more frequently in the past 20 years than the previous century,’’ she stressed. ‘‘That’s a reason to wonder about climate change and how to deal with it.’’
I don't mean to get all huffy, but.... !!!!
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The IMF’s projections match many recent private forecasts.
The IMF also highlighted the challenge for the Federal Reserve to properly time the unwinding of its policies to spur borrowing, investment, and spending.
Investors appear to be acting with a sense of certainty about Fed policies, even though central banks must respond to uncertainties about the economy, Lagarde said.
Lagarde also suggested that Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen should increase the number of news conferences she holds to six a year. Yellen is scheduled to hold one of her quarterly news conferences on Wednesday.
The Fed has kept short-term interest rates near zero to bolster the economy. It has also bought US Treasury and mortgage bonds to keep longer-term rates low, a program the Fed has been unwinding since the start of the year.
But raising rates too fast could ‘‘constrict the recovery momentum that we have observed,’’ Lagarde said.
That would have spillover effects around the world, she said.
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You know, I never gave a serious thought to aliens among us or shape-shifting reptiles until I saw her.
As for the directions, 'er, advice:
"Inflation data give Fed another topic for debate" by Martin Crutsinger | Associated Press June 18, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve received some further cause for discussion at its policy meeting this week with a report Tuesday of a surprising jump in consumer inflation, yet most economists aren’t altering their views that the Fed might actually welcome the news of slightly higher inflation: It will help ease longstanding concerns that inflation might be too low. For the past two years, inflation by one key measure has remained under the Fed’s 2 percent target.
It wasn't a surprise to those of us that live in the real world and not the exclusive air of the elite.
‘‘I don’t think the Fed is going to express concern about the May price increase,’’ said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.
When the Fed updates its economic forecasts and its chairwoman, Janet Yellen, holds a news conference after its meeting ends Wednesday, investors will be seeking clues about when short-term rates will finally rise. They will also be looking for hints about how and when the Fed will start unloading its vast investment holdings.
She took the advice.
The answers will affect loan rates for individuals and businesses — and perhaps the direction of the economy. Yet few expect to hear anything definitive.
The Fed remains in a wait-and-see stance.
Though the central bank has signaled optimism, officials are unsure how much the economy will strengthen the rest of the year. In its updated forecasts, the Fed may downgrade its estimate of growth for 2014 after the government said last month that the economy shrank in the first quarter, depressed by a harsh winter.
Yep, and it's been a cool spring and summer. I think you can tell I've kinda had it with the mixed me$$ages and general fart mi$t.
Sorry, readers.
The International Monetary Fund this week predicted that the US economy will grow a modest 2 percent this year, below the IMF’s previous estimate of 2.7 percent.
Yellen has suggested that the unemployment rate, now 6.3 percent, overstates the health of the job market and economy. She’s also expressed concern that a high percentage of the unemployed — 35 percent — have been out of work for six months or more and that pay is scarcely rising for people who do have jobs.
Yet the Fed is getting closer to acting. The minutes of its last meeting in late April indicate the Fed has begun discussing the tools it could use to finally pull back the extraordinary stimulus it’s provided the US economy since 2008.
That's why prices are rising: that constant injection of billions-a-month propping up the 1% via the stock market.
This week’s meeting is the third at which Yellen will preside as chairwoman since succeeding Ben Bernanke in February. Analysts expect at least one announcement when the two-day policy meeting ends: That the Fed will make a fifth $10 billion cut in the pace of its monthly bond purchases to $35 billion, a sign of a steadily, if slowly, improving economy. The Fed has been buying Treasury and mortgage bonds to try to keep long-term loan rates low to stimulate the economy.
The Fed will likely end its bond purchases this fall, with its investment portfolio nearing $4.5 trillion. But officials have said that even when they stop buying bonds, they don’t plan to start selling any. They plan to keep the Fed’s holdings steady by re-investing maturing bonds. In doing so, the Fed will still exert downward pressure on long-term rates.
Because no one wants to buy worthless crap; thus the Fed keeps printing money so it can buy the stuff, and will sell some to buy back some, keeping the whole $hell game going for just a little longer.
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I'm sorry, folks, but this stuff really stinkin'!
"Low mortgage rates sticking around" by Deirdre Fernandes | Globe Staff June 06, 2014
Low mortgage rates are back. In fact, they never went away, to the surprise of economists, lenders, and real estate professionals, as the Federal Reserve continued to pare stimulus policies aimed at keeping long-term interest rates at low levels. Those policies focused on buying long-term bonds to the tune of $85 billion a month; since December the Fed has cut those purchases to $45 billion a month and plans to end them all together before the end of the year.
With the Fed buying less, the prices of bonds, including mortgage-backed securities, were expected to fall, which in turn drives up interest rates.
Isn't that how the whole me$$ started?
As the Fed began its withdrawal, bond prices did fall and long-term rates, including mortgages, did rise, but a series of worrisome geopolitical and economic events — from tensions in Ukraine to weak growth in the United States, China, and Brazil — spooked investors, prompting many to seek safer havens in the bond market. The flow of money back into bonds, particularly US Treasuries, pushed up prices and drove down interest rates.
So they were wrong again, huh?
Over the longer-term, mortgage rates are almost certain to rise, but it is still unclear when....
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I really don't know what else to say for the second Tuesday in a row.
Also see:
Homes are Part of a Healthy Economy
The Boston Globe is No Longer Home
Back Home Again
You want to know who is going to help her fix the global warming, 'er, climate change (cha-ching) problem?
"The group, called the Risky Business Project, consists of former treasury secretary Henry Paulson, former treasury secretary Robert Rubin, former secretary of state George Shultz, hedge fund manager turned climate activist Tom Steyer, Cargill executive chairman Gregory Page, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, former Health and Human Services secretary Donna Shalala, former secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, and former dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Al Sommer."
They have done such a great job so far at enriching themselves at others expense. Why not?
Cape Pond Ice not cooling off after 166 years
So much for those warming waters. Must be my rage.
Rainier hiker died of hypothermia
Writer’s friends mourn as body found on Mount Rainier
Remains found in Charles believed to be that of an animal
"Wind-energy eagle rule prompts lawsuit" Associated Press June 20, 2014
WASHINGTON — A conservation group sued the Obama administration Thursday over a new federal rule that allows wind-energy companies to seek approval to kill or injure eagles for 30 years.
The American Bird Conservancy argues that the rule, which extended by 25 years the length of time companies may kill or injure eagles without fear of prosecution, is illegal because the US Fish and Wildlife Service failed to evaluate the consequences and ensure it would not damage eagle populations. The Obama administration classified the rule as an administrative change, excluding it from a full environmental review.
‘‘In the government’s rush to expand wind energy, shortcuts were taken in implementing this rule that should not have been allowed,’’ said Michael Hutchins, the national coordinator of the conservancy’s wind energy program.
Under President Obama, wind has exploded as a pollution-free energy source that can help reduce greenhouse gases. But it is not without environmental costs.
An Associated Press investigation last year documented dozens of eagle deaths at wind farms, findings later confirmed by federal biologists. Each one is a violation of federal law, but the Obama administration to date has prosecuted only one company.
It's our national symbol fer crying out loud!
The industry said the rule helps protect eagles because, in exchange for legal protection for the lifespan of wind farms and other projects, companies obtaining permits would be required to make efforts to avoid killing birds.
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You can fly, fry, or die like a dirty bird. I notice Fukushima radiation never merits a mention.
Also see: Blinded by This Holocaust
Speaking of the sea:
"Obama to create marine preserve in Pacific Ocean" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff June 18, 2014
WASHINGTON — Not the crisis in Iraq. Not tumult in Ukraine or unrest in Syria. Nothing, it seems, would dissuade Secretary of State John F. Kerry from what has been a decades-long cause: trying to save the oceans.
Related: Globe Plumbs the Depths With John Kerry
It's $ewage.
This week, Kerry led a two-day conference on ocean conservation in which he stood side by side with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, answered questions on Twitter with Bill Nye the Science Guy, and repeatedly warned — in speeches, in statements, and in an interview with Katie Couric — that the health of the world’s oceans is in peril.
Then call the U.S. Navy home to port because they are the biggest polluter of oceans, and I sure as hell none of them flew in for it.
As part of the conference, President Obama announced executive actions Tuesday that the administration is taking to try to protect the oceans. The most far-reaching will expand protection of the central Pacific Ocean, making nearly 782,000 square miles off-limits from fishing, energy exploration, and other activities.
That list of impeachables gets longer every day.
Obama is also taking several actions that could affect the extensive fishing economy in New England. The president is directing federal agencies to develop a compressive program aimed at deterring illegal fishing and preventing illegally caught fish from entering the marketplace. Black market fishing comprises up to 20 percent of wild marine fish caught each year globally, according to administration estimates.
But they don't care about the radioactive catch in the Pacific or the still-oily Gulf seafood.
And why would they? Not where their meals are coming from.
The administration this week also announced $102 million in grants to help communities on the East Coast plan for future storms in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Massachusetts will receive a modest allocation: $13.5 million for four projects that will protect Boston Harbor, restore habitats on Martha’s Vineyard, and help protect the coast in Northeastern Massachusetts.
This guy is passing out money for no reason at all while denying us food stamps and unemployment benefits. Great guy.
What, no billion like you throw at coup-installed governments?
All told, Kerry said, more than $1.8 billion had been committed for action on the oceans as part of the conference.
“Increasingly, the ocean is threatened,” Kerry said during a briefing with reporters, at which he recounted dipping his toes into Buzzards Bay as a young boy.
The two-day “Our Ocean” conference, attended by world leaders and others from more than 80 countries, was alternatively star-studded and high-minded.
I'm sorry, but I truly am tired of a media that is of and for the 1% by wannabe pipe-smokers.
“What we need is action, sustained activism, and courageous political leadership,” said DiCaprio, himself an avid diver who on Tuesday pledged $7 million to ocean conservation projects in the next two years. “We cannot afford to be bystanders in this pre-apocalyptic scenario.”
I'm glad you went down with Titanic, moron.
Just after DiCaprio left the stage, there was a more wonky discussion about ocean acidification moderated by Scott Doney, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
See: Woods Hole Deficit
Any more que$tions?
Even critics who want Kerry to go further and provide more concrete steps praised him for elevating the issue of the oceans’ health to a new level.
“We’ve never had anything like this before,” said Phil Kline, a senior oceans campaigner at Greenpeace USA, which protested part of the conference to urge Kerry to support more protections in the high seas. “We’ve never had a secretary of state who has elevated this issue like this.”
I'm kind of wondering why Greenpeace is betting on currency exchanges.
Is that where the donations are going?
Kerry appeared sensitive to the fact that world events were rapidly unfolding during the conference, and he noted that he wouldn’t attend the whole conference because he had “much to do with respect to Iraq and other emergencies that we face.”
“For anyone who questions why are we here when there are so many areas of conflict and so many issues of vital concern as there are . . . no one should mistake that the protection of our oceans is a vital international security issue,” he said.
One of the key issues raised is one that Kerry has long dealt with in Massachusetts: overfishing.
“I learned this first hand in Massachusetts, in our relationship with fishermen,” Kerry said. “There’s this violent sense of injustice done when the regulators regulate because the captains don’t believe the science on which the regulation is based. So you have this disrespect to some degree, and even flaunting in other instances, on the regulations.”
John Pappalardo, executive director of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Alliance, said he generally agreed with Kerry’s comments. There has been deep distrust in the fishing industry around some of the catch limits they are required to abide by — and they feel unfairly blamed for the reduction in fish population that might be also the result of global warming.
Just ignore those harsh winters and cool springs and summers.
“Everybody needs to be willing to give up some of their positions and form new partnerships,” he said. “Otherwise, we’ll end up with what, jellyfish, flooded cities, and everybody blaming each other?”
“As far as the fishing industry in New England goes, it’s changing,” Pappalardo added. “A lot of people think it’s dying or already died. I think it’s reorganizing. It’s like the auto industry in the ’70s, where it needed to reorganize and modernize.”
Among those Kerry asked to attend was Roger Berkowitz, chief executive of Legal Seafoods. Berkowitz has been criticized in the past for flouting government regulations and what constitutes sustainable seafood. In 2011, he hosted a dinner of “blacklisted” fish.
The stance seemed to run counter to the event’s theme.
In an interview, Berkowitz said he was flattered to have been asked to attend. He said he considers himself a conservationist (“otherwise I’m not going to be in business very long”), but he questions whether overfishing is still a problem.
“Certainly, it was an issue going through the ’80s,” Berkowitz said. “Has there been times we’ve overfished? Absolutely. I think the regulations are tight now. Before we even put those in place, we should really know what’s out there.”
Fell asleep on the boat, sorry.
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So what is for lunch?
Also see: UN to test wreckage for Columbus link
What about the cholera the U.N. brought to Haiti?
I'm having a hard time washing that one down.
