March 27, 2012

Signs of demand destruction: the US consumer is saying NO to high gasoline prices

The NYMEX gasoline futures price hit another recent high last week and is sure to push up gasoline prices at the pump. This development will add to the lingering concerns about the nascent US consumer recovery.



http://soberlook.com/2012/03/us-consumer-is-saying-no-to-high.html

March 25, 2012

Officials: Pakistani Taliban training Frenchmen

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Dozens of French Muslims are training with the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan, raising fears of future attacks following the shooting deaths of seven people in southern France allegedly by a man who spent time in the region, Pakistani intelligence officials said Saturday.

Authorities are investigating whether Mohamed Merah, the Frenchman of Algerian descent who is suspected of killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three French paratroopers in Toulouse this month, was among the training group, the officials said.

http://news.yahoo.com/officials-pakistani-taliban-training-frenchmen-184417061.html

March 24, 2012

The Myth of the Knowledge Economy

Go to college, learn a lot of stuff, qualify for a good job when you graduate. Right? Maybe not.

Josipa Roksa and Richard Arum's recently published Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses.. Their study turned up some rather disturbing facts.

Only 25 percent of all Americans go to college, and only 16 percent of those actually try to learn anything. Welcome a nation of helots

Among the authors' findings: 32 percent of the students who they followed in an average semester did not take any courses that assigned more than 40 pages of reading per week. Half did not take any courses in which more than 20 pages of writing were assigned throughout the entire term. Furthermore, 35 percent of the students sampled spent five hours or less a week studying alone. Typical students spent about 16 percent of their time on academic pursuits, and were "academically engaged," write the authors, less than 30 hours a week. After two years in college, 45 percent of students showed no significant gains in learning; after four years, 36 percent showed little change. And the students who did show improvement only logged very modest gains. Students spent 50 percent less time studying compared with students a few decades ago.

http://www.nationofchange.org/myth-knowledge-economy-1332512349

March 20, 2012

Iran presses ahead with dollar attack

Last week, the Tehran Times noted that the Iranian oil bourse will start trading oil in currencies other than the dollar from March 20. This long-planned move is part of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vision of economic war with the west.

“The dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme is nothing more than a convenient excuse for the US to use threats to protect the 'reserve currency’ status of the dollar,” the newspaper, which calls itself the voice of the Islamic Revolution, said.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/commodities/9077600/Iran-presses-ahead-with-dollar-attack.html

March 20, 2012

Poll Shows Little U.S. Support for Syria Intervention

There is strong public sentiment against the United States intervening in the fighting in Syria between government forces and anti-government groups. Nearly two-thirds (64%) say the United States does not have a responsibility to do something about the conflict in Syria. Similar percentages oppose the U.S. and its allies bombing Syrian military forces to protect anti-government groups, as they did in Libya, and sending arms and military supplies to those fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad.



http://www.people-press.org/2012/03/15/little-support-for-u-s-intervention-in-syrian-conflict/

March 19, 2012

'Missiles from the sea' kill 16 AQAP fighters in Zinjibar (Yemen)

"Missiles fired from the sea have slammed into al-Qaeda positions in the southern Yemeni city of Zinjibar, killing at least 16 suspected militants, a local official says.

He said the heavy shelling began overnight, targeting the northeastern suburbs of Zinjibar, which jihadists have controlled since May following fierce fighting with government troops.

'Many bases of al-Qaeda were destroyed,' and 16 jihadists were killed, the official said on condition of anonymity.

<snip>

If missiles were indeed fired from the sea (and we have no confirmation of this, only the word of an anonymous Yemeni official), then they were most likely fired by US Navy warships. The Yemeni Navy does not possess the capacity to conduct such strikes; its missile boats and corvettes fire only anti-ship missiles."


Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/03/missiles_from_the_sea_kill_16.php#ixzz1pYu5tQkO

March 16, 2012

More Muppets!

http://www.ifamagazine.com/coffee-lounge/the-cowell-rhetoric-5/5520/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IFAMagazine+%28IFA+Magazine%29

March 16, 2012

CPI Up 0.4 Per cent in February

"The Consumer Price Index rose 0.4 percent in February—the largest such gain since last April.  Over the last three months, the CPI has averaged an annualized rate of inflation of 2.5 percent.  Last month’s bump in the inflation rate was largely driven by energy prices, which rose 3.2 percent from January to February.  Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core CPI rose 0.1 percent in the month and has grown at a 1.9 percent annualized rate since November."

"Excluding volatile food and energy prices" has to be one of the least meaningful statements occurring in any government report. In other words, if I didn't drive or eat in February, the CPI increase for me was negligible. I wish I'd know that at the beginning of the month I could've adjusted my lifestyle accordingly. Too late for March, now: guess I'll start walking and fasting on April 1.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/data-bytes/prices-bytes/energy-prices-bump-up-inflation-as-cpi-rises-04-percent-in-february

March 15, 2012

The Big Fat Greek Lie Is Now Obvious to Spain... So Who's Next to Default?

"Anyone who thinks that Greece is better off, let alone "saved" is out of their(sic) minds. The Euro may have been saved for a few more weeks/ months. But Greece is in worse shape than ever.

Indeed, if anything, the Greek situation has made it clear that the whole "give up fiscal sovereignty and implement austerity measures in exchange for bailouts" formula is a waste of time and money. Let's take a look at the progression here.

1)   Greece claims it doesn't need a bailout at all (January 2010-March 2010)
2)   Greece begins to ask for a bailout (April-May 2010)
3)   Greece gets a bailout equal to 57% of its GDP (May 2010)
4)   Greece posts a GDP of -4% in 2010
5)   Greece announces it won't be able to meet budget requirements/ payback the first bailout on time and asks for an extension (January-February 2011)
6)   Greece asks for another extension (May 2011)
7)   Talk of Second Greek Bailout begins (July -October 2011)
8)   Greece posts a GDP of -6.5% in 2011
9)   Second Greek bailout announced/ finalized (February/March 2012)
10) Talk of third Greek bailout begins (March 2012)
No other EU country could look at this progression and think "this looks like a good approach." Indeed, Spain and Italy must be watching what's happening in Greece and asking themselves whether they want to go through this whole process of negotiating for bailouts via austerity measures."

http://gainspainscapital.com/

March 14, 2012

Money from Nothing: A Primer on Fake Wealth Creation and its Implications (Part 2)

Today we present Part 2 of "Money From Nothing" by Zeus Y.


"Only in a debt-based money system could debt be curiously cast as an asset.We’ve made “extend and pretend” a quaint phrase for a burgeoning market for financial lying and profiteering aimed toward preventing the collapse of a debt- (or lack-) based system that was already doomed by its initial design to collapse. This primer will detail the major components and basic evolution of fake wealth creation, accelerating debt expansion, hollowing out of the economy, and inevitable financial implosion."

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2012/03/money-from-nothing-primer-on-fake_14.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+google%2FRzFQ+%28oftwominds%29