Hey, Sourpuss...

...when are you going to admit you have the worst bunch of legislators in the history of the USA. Why not just find the REAL legislators still in the House and work with Democrats to tax the wealthy the way the wealthy should be taxed?

You can do this, Boner, I know you can.

...The dramatic twist (click here) threw into disarray attempts to head off $600 billion worth of indiscriminate tax hikes and spending cuts that could push the U.S. economy into recession next year.

It also cast doubt over Boehner's future as speaker after failing to control unruly conservatives in his caucus.

With only 11 days left for bickering politicians to prevent automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, U.S. stock futures fell sharply on the news of the rebuke to Boehner.

The Ohio congressman had hoped to demonstrate Republican unity by passing a bill through the House, known as "Plan B," that would limit income-tax increases to the wealthiest sliver of the population - those earning $1 million and more, a far smaller slice of taxpayers than Obama wants to pay higher taxes....

The Unity Party? That is a joke if I ever heard one. Even if the House were filled with Republicans they still could not get anything done.

Ya know, John, I wasn't excited about sending out HOLIDAY cards, but, with that picture on the front I actually can't wait.

Keep local economies growing. The less Wall Street dependency, the better.

Obama. Obama. Obama. 

U.S. GDP Growth Revised to 3.1 Percent in Q3
the Bureau of Economic Analysis
Andre Crujo
andre@tradingeconomics.com

12/20/2012 1:36:20 PM

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (click here) in the United States expanded 3.10 percent in the third quarter of 2012 over the previous quarter. GDP Growth Rate in the United States is reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Historically, from 1947 until 2012, the United States GDP Growth Rate averaged 3.25 Percent reaching an all time high of 17.20 Percent in March of 1950 and a record low of -10.40 Percent in March of 1958. The United States has one of the most diversified and most technologically advanced economies in the world. Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, leasing, health care, social assistance, professional, business and educational services account for more than 40 percent of GDP. Retail and wholesale trade creates another 12 percent of the wealth. The government related services fuel 13 percent of GDP. Utilities, transportation and warehousing and information account for 10 percent of the GDP. Manufacturing, mining, and construction constitute 17 percent of the output. Agriculture accounts for only 1.5 percent of the GDP, yet due to use of advance technologies, the United States is a net exporter of food. This page includes a chart with historical data for the United States GDP Growth Rate.

The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from PCE, private inventory investment, federal government spending, residential fixed investment, and exports that were partly offset by a negative contribution from nonresidential fixed investment.  Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.

Real personal consumption expenditures increased 1.6 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 1.5 percent in the second. Durable goods increased 8.9 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 0.2 percent. Nondurable goods increased 1.2 percent, compared with an increase of 0.6 percent.  Services increased 0.6 percent, compared with an increase of 2.1 percent.

Congratulations. Make sure the SSI benefit achieved by the working people in the USA maintains its integrity until their natural death.

Real nonresidential fixed investment decreased 1.8 percent in the third quarter, in contrast to an increase of 3.6 percent. Nonresidential structures was unchanged in the third quarter; in the second quarter, structures increased 0.6 percent. Equipment and software decreased 2.6 percent in the third quarter, in contrast to an increase of 4.8 percent in the second. Real residential fixed investment increased 13.5 percent, compared with an increase of 8.5 percent.

See, ICE knows the USA is taking off again like a rocket. It was artificially suppressed for political purposes. The more local strength the citizens of the USA have in their economy, the less the losers of Wall Street can do it all over again. We are doing just fine. Keep going. It is a good New Year in the USA.

The Evils of Wall Street Grows

Remember this?

(L-R) Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY), (click here) Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) sit at a photo opportunity in advance of a meeting to discuss the economic recovery package September 30, 2008 in Washington, DC. Yesterday the House of Representatives defeated the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act in a 228-205 vote. Wall Street reacted with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging more than 700 points. Today President Bush called on lawmakers in Congress to quickly approve the proposed $700 billion rescue plan for the financial sector.

Remember the Trans-Atlantic Cable for Billionaires to suck the value out of stocks faster than the speed of light?

Now, reflect on this.

Senator Gregg has been a Director of IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) since March 2011. (click here)

Prior to joining the ICE board, Senator Gregg spent over three decades in public office, most recently serving as the United States Senator from the State of New Hampshire from 1993 to 2011. During his tenure in the Senate, Senator Gregg served on a number of key Senate Committees including Budget; Appropriations; Government Affairs; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Foreign Relations; and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He has served as the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee as well as chairman of various sub-committees. 

Senator Gregg served as Governor of New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993 and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire's 2nd district from 1981 to 1989. Before public service, Senator Gregg was an attorney and businessman. 

Senator Gregg earned an undergraduate degree from Columbia University and a Juris Doctor and a Master of Laws from Boston University School of Law.

Will someone please explain to me where Anti-Trust Law Suits have gone?

ICE in Deal to Buy NYSE (click here)

Updated December 20, 2012, 9:17 a.m. ET

By BEN FOX RUBIN And JACOB BUNGE

NYSE Euronext (NYX +31.93% )agreed to sell itself to rival IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE -1.79%) for about $8.2 billion, in a deal that would end more than two centuries of independence for the New York Stock Exchange, one of Wall Street's most enduring symbols of American capitalism....

Chained CPI (Consumer Price Index) is an assault against Social Security Benefits American EARNED!

Why is it the working people of this country are never, never appreciated until they die a natural death?

What is Chained CPI (Consumer Price Index)? (click here)

...Republicans are proposing moving to a new formula, “chained CPI” that would slow the growth of payments to Social Security recipients. President Obama, in the latest round of negotiations, has signaled that he could agree to a move to the chained CPI.

Understanding the proposed changes to the benefits requires understanding exactly what the CPI is....

It is a way of getting rid of SSI, that is what it is.

Chained CPI ERODES the hard earned retirement benefit called Social Security. It dishonors the work Americans performed within the USA economy for a majority of their lives.

It does not strengthen SSI, it makes it disappear right before your eyes.

Chained CPI is another Plutocratic dreamscape and needs to be considered an attack against the Middle Class and the strong base of the American economy.

It is complete foolishness to even consider it seriously. This is another campaign uptick for Speaker Boner's Speakership.

Now, this is the Putin I know.

Russia is motivated by 'stable states.' It always has been.

The fact of the matter is President Putin is ceasing his influence with Syria because Assad has lost any sincere ability to stabilize the nation.

There is every indication Syria has lost its sovereignty. The borders are still there and legal, but, the ability to discern a sincere authority is completely absent.

The battles in Syria are among local entities with some sort of military authority and joint affiliation. It is taking on the organization character of Libya. 

By Henry Meyer and Dana El Baltaji 

December 20, 2012

...The opposing sides (click here) will fall short of outright military victory, underlining the need for an accord, Putin told hundreds of journalists today at a Moscow news conference.

“We aren’t concerned about Assad’s fate, we understand that the same family has been in power for 40 years and changes are obviously needed,” Putin said.

Russia has supported Assad throughout the 21-month Syrian conflict, maintaining weapons supplies and giving political support by blocking the West’s demands for action through the United Nations Security Council....

...Putin’s predecessor as president, Dmitry Medvedev, last year didn’t block UN approval for the Western military campaign in Libya, which the Russian leader has branded a “crusade.”...

I liked Medvedev. I liked him a lot. I think he gets it mostly right. He is well entrenched in his generation and the progress of global stability. He has an interesting view of the world. His alliances defies borders in many ways. He sees global stability as autonomous nations rather than war and dominated control. He is correct.

I have to wonder if Assad will eventually go the way of Gaddafi at this point.

The current straight line winds (which everyone needs to take seriously) is due to the vortex in the Atlantic.

December 29, 2012 
11:30:01z
UNISYS North and West Hemisphere Water Vapor Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Noted in this satellite view is a vortex in the Atlantic. The piling up of air and increased velocity of winds due to consolidation of the 'calories of energy' in a localizing vortex is due to an enormous movement of hot water vapor form the Equator. 

There is a new vortex formation beginning over the center of North America. The danger of this vortex is the fact it is concentrating the hot water vapor into a smaller region.

December 20, 2012
11:39:01z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of USA (click here for 12 hour loop)

The reason this vortex is forming is because the jet stream is dominated by a lethargic movement of air masses around the globe. The air piles up (yes air has mass), the concentration of heat energy accumulates and the ferocious forces of nature is unleashed. This is human induced global warming. The drag by this lethargic air causes a drag on Earth and slows its rotation. The slower rotation effects the Coriolis Effect and the air mass continues to grow in lethargic movement and the cycle goes on and on and on.

This destructive dynamic is brought to every living being on Earth compliments of the petroleum industry.

WARMER TEMPS AFFECTING SKI RESORTS (click here)

By Christine Corrado

Story Published: Dec 19, 2012 at 10:21 PM MST

Story Updated: Dec 19, 2012 at 10:24 PM MST 

RED LODGE - Above average temperatures and a lack of snow are taking their toll on ski resorts throughout the region....

This is an editorial for the adaptation of ski areas to 'do something' to preserve an economic benefit to local economies. It is a plea for help from the federal government to do something about the dependency of the country on the petroleum industry. NOT Saudi Arabia or the Middle East, but, THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY. Got that part? Drilling in the USA is NOT the answer !!!! That is GOP political fodder. Got that part?

Ski areas must adapt or die (click here)
Monday, December 17, 2012 
(Published in print: Monday, December 17, 2012)
...Two messages should be taken from their report: Everything within reason that can be done to slow the warming should be done. And for ski resorts and their communities, it’s a case of adapt or die.
The average winter temperature in northern New Hampshire is already nearly 2 degrees warmer than it was a generation ago. If winter temperatures increase another 2 to 4 degrees as predicted, the director of the Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change at the University of Waterloo in Ontario says that no Connecticut or Massachusetts ski area will be around 30 years from now....

This is FACT. This is not myth. It is not the Arctic. This is Northern New Hampshire for God Sake! The corruption in the federal authority to do the country's business IS GONE because of a completely dysfunction GOP destroying this country's economy and killing people.

Hey Lindsay ! Lindsay Graham, you got tornadoes in Georgia, Babe! You ought to Pow-Wow with Chambliss and Isakson to resolve the high CO2 content of the USA!

Three Middle Georgia Tornadoes Confirmed (click here)
9:23 AM, Dec 19, 2012  
Meteorologists at the National Weather Service surveyed storm damage across Wilcox, Telfair, and Wheeler Counties on Tuesday, and determined that three tornadoes touched down in Middle Georgia during Monday's storms....

The longer the debate goes on the more profitable to the industry.

...The number of firearms ­licenses issued in Massachusetts (click here) has climbed by more than one-third in the past five years, a marked shift in a state known for its antigun reputation....

This is a faux sense of safety. The more people owning guns the more people will buy guns to protect themselves from people already owning guns. This is exponential growth. It is palpable and hideously stupid.

The reason this is stupid?

Because owning guns doesn't change the opinion of the citizens for gun control.

The citizen is purchasing weapons out of what they perceive as NECESSITY. Like purchasing groceries, now the list of necessary appliances in the home is at least one non-hunting gun.

This dynamic in the country is stupid.

Boston police report seizing more than 500 illegal guns in 2012, including several of type used in Newtown, Conn., massacre (click here)

It is a vicious cycle the federal legislature has an OBLIGATION to end. It is time for governance and not political pandering and plutocratic domination of our country. 

By Martine Powers, Globe Staff
12/19/2012 4:10 PM

...Four Bushmaster assault rifles, eight Glock handguns, and three Sig Sauer handguns — weapons similar to those used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — were seized, officials said.

At a press conference at Boston police headquarters this afternoon, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said there is a need for “common-sense laws’’ to prevent tragedies like Newtown in the future.

“These types of weapons have only one purpose – to kill a large number of people quickly,’’ said Davis. “They have no place in our communities.”

Davis said ownership of firearms must be closely monitored and that there must be thorough background checks before people are given permissions to buy and own firearms....

I recommend a General Strike across the USA of parents and their children to move the federal legislature forward. I am quite sure there are organizers at the ready to make it happen.

ScienceCasts: Why the World Didn't End Yesterday