I have to say some mornings of looking over the news there’s little rhyme or reason to it. But then there are mornings like this one when a general flow or undercurrent to the headlines seems to come into view. Shall we begin with the Cost of Living report?
Overall up 7.4% annualized. but the core rate was only up 0.1 percent for the month which pencils to 1.2% annualized, which works as long as you don’t eat food or use energy. The read ‘em and weep details:
“The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.6 percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.0 percent before seasonal adjustment. For the second month in a row, the substantial increase in the all items index was mostly the result of an increase in the gasoline index, which rose 7.0 percent in September after increasing 9.0 percent in August.
The other major energy indexes increased in September as well. The food index increased 0.1 percent in September; the index for food at home was unchanged as major grocery store food indexes continue to be mixed.
The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.1 percent for the third month in a row. Indexes for shelter, medical care, apparel, and airline fares were among those that increased, while the indexes for used cars and trucks, new vehicles, personal care, and household furnishings and operations all declined.
The 12-month change in the index for all items was 2.0 percent in September, an increase from the August figure of 1.7 percent and the highest since April. The index for all items less food and energy also rose 2.0 percent for the 12 months ending September; the food index has increased 1.6 percent and the energy index has risen 2.3 percent over that span. “
One other economic note: I see the UK Weekly Standard is now grokkjing that for every person who is added to the labor force numbers, 10 are left out of the labor force which makes everything look [statistically] OK. Maybe my whining and bitching about this is helping…
Greecnada?
Oh, look! Canada, which should have been able to keep itself solvent and continuing to grow in economic power, having more resource per capita than most places, has managed to squander that enviable position. Easy money, banksters…all the same everywhere. Which is why the Canuckbucks are near parity.
Pollyticks
With Barack Obama finding women are turning from his campaign as we enter the final weeks, I can’t help but notice the timing of Hillary Clinton saying that the buck stops with here on the questions about Benghazi security. Hours from debate time, she’s taking the heat and trying to keep it out of the debate, apparently.
Apparently Hillary Clinton just can’t get enough of a bad thing: Reports are surfacing how the US is now trying to gin up an elite Libyan combat force... slow learners?
It’s Debatable
We notice that while race has not been a bespoke issue in the campaign, with Obama in trouble we are now seeing an increase in stories about the potential for riots if Barack Obama doesn’t win. Sounds like a threat or strong-arming to me or is it?
Then there’s domestic mullah Louis Farrakhan who is quoted by a McClatchy report as saying that monied interests want “to keep America white.“
Apparently Mr. Farrakhan missed the news about where the monied interests are: While the Mittster coined $170.4 million in September, the Obamanistas strong-armed $181-million from voters - an inconvenient fact to be sure.
Then there are the coal miners who are upset with what they call “absolute lies” about miners and coal.
The $24 Billion Difference of Opinion
Then there’s the matter of how campaigning Obama is still claiming the government has been made whole on bailouts. Of course, most people won’t bother reading the Congressional Budget Office report which says the TARP program nailed the public for $24-billion.
Not like I’m playing politics here by mentioning this (I’m voting for non-corporate candidate Gary Johnson): Other media are noticing the disconnect from reality, too. I assume you’ve read how the GM bailout has turned into global financial aid for bankers?
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The difference between an election and judicial process is that in a courtroom, evidence may be challenged. In the court of public opinion, especially in the closing arguments phase we’re in now, anything goes and half the jury is drunk or on drugs.
The Globalista Dumb-Down
While American voters are suspect, though, to see the real outcome of mob-rule at the polls we need to study a country like France. Besides importing their own social problems, and putting only the free lunch crowd in office, France is now campaigning to end homework in their schools.
It’s all wrapped up in the usual egalitarian spiel…some kids get help from parents and others don’t, says the Washington Post. But between you and me? Payoff to the teachers and gets them out of correcting homework, which gives them more free time.
Bet’cha the French won’t cut teacher salaries to compensate for the lighter workload. Funny how the free lunch crowd works things over time. Nickel bet on the side?
War For the Internet
As I argue in my book Broken Web, we’ll eventually move to a society where licensure and censorship will be part of the normal workings of the Internet. The only real question is how we will get there.
But we have an interesting item to track now as a group of democorps are warning the Federal Trade Commission to keep hands off Google on anti-trust grounds.
The philosophical question here is simple: If someone (like Google) builds a better mousetrap, why shouldn’t they benefit? Unless, of course, people with later mousetraps get envious.
That Google ‘got there first’ with the best answer and is therefore winning big seems to be some kind of crime, at least that’s where the FTC is going.
But there is a different tack they could take, which while controversial is really the right answer: Should there be a government-provided (commercial content free, totally unbiased) site as a benchmark? A public search rules committee to keep total unfettered and unfiltered access to the net real?
These are difficult questions, but anti-trust is colliding with intellectual property and it’s bad mob rule when the better mousetrap builder who sold the first/best trap becomes punished by the society with a rodent problem. If rodents are a public health issue, then government’s got to provide the utility service.
Buying Off a Nuisance
As long as we’re review the flow of strong-arm and hornswoggle this morning, how about Yuba City California which is reportedly paying someone not to file lawsuits against the city on the ADA (American’s with Disabilities Act)?
More after this…
