What Could Possibly Go Wrong

Families hoard cash 5 yrs after crisis

"An Associated Press analysis of households in the 10 biggest economies shows that families continue to spend cautiously and have pulled hundreds of billions of dollars out of stocks, cut borrowing for the first time in decades and poured money into savings and bonds that offer puny interest payments, often too low to keep up with inflation. A flight to safety on such a global scale is unprecedented since the end of World War II. The growth of cash is remarkable because millions more were unemployed, wages grew slowly and people diverted billions to pay down their debts. They also poured money into bank accounts knowing they would earn little interest on their deposits." Continue reading →

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Have We Reached Peak Government?

"How can government expand 300+% while the underlying economy that supports it expanded by 75%? Answer: borrowing money, i.e. debt--lots of it. Federal debt has skyrocketed by 600% since 1990. This is simply part of a vast, unprecedented expansion of debt in both public and private sectors since 1990. So the question of Peak Government is ultimately a question of Peak Debt: how much money can the government borrow to sustain its current spending? Can public and private debt expand at rates four or five times that of the underlying economy? If so, for how long? If we are not yet at Peak Debt, we are getting close, and that means we are also getting close to Peak Government." Continue reading →

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Family of bystander killed during high-speed police chase sues police

"Mr. Collins, 64, was killed when a Toledo police cruiser smashed head-on into his vehicle as he was driving north on I-75. The cruiser, driven by Officer David O’Brien, was chasing Brian Everett Lipp, 48, of Lambertville when Lipp drove the wrong way onto I-75 and Officer O’Brien followed him. Lipp, who was ultimately shot and killed by police later that day, had been pursued for two days by police as a suspect in a home invasion and two robberies. The suit contends that the city and the police department treated Mr. Collins’ death as a mere traffic accident, did not investigate it or present it to a grand jury, and did not contact the family to express regrets or offer assistance of any kind." Continue reading →

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Don’t Pull in Front of a Fatherland “Security” Bureaucrat on a Highway…

"...or he may follow you to a parking lot and fire a 40 caliber pistol into the side of your car, like this moron did in Boca Raton, Florida a few weeks ago. Fortunately, the round did not hit the two-year-old boy who was in his car seat at the time with his dad at the Boca Raton mall. If the victim of this shooting by the madman Department of Fatherland Security bureaucrat had defended himself and his child by shooting back, he would have been arrested for murder. And, forty years ago, he would have responded either by beating the living daylights out of the Department of Fatherland Security bureaucrat who fired a 40 caliber round at his family, or organizing enough friends to get the job done." Continue reading →

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Cashless trend is redefining money, and a central bank’s role as printer

"Throughout the world, central banks have woken up to the fact that their wholesale interbank clearing and settlement systems can be bypassed by mobile-to-mobile payments. Indeed, who will get the seigniorage, or the right to interest on the monetary creation, which traditionally has belonged to the state and been delegated to the central bank? Of course, we used to believe that central banks could only print money when it is backed by gold or promises to pay by the government. Today, advanced central banks are printing money faster than ever." Continue reading →

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Home Depot Sending 20,000 Part-Timers to Health Exchanges

"Home Depot Inc. (HD), the world’s largest home improvement retailer, plans to end medical coverage for about 20,000 part-time employees and direct them to government-sponsored exchanges scheduled to open next month as companies revamp benefits to fit the U.S. Affordable Care Act. Employees with fewer than 30 hours a week will no longer be offered limited liability medical coverage, Stephen Holmes, a spokesman, said today by telephone. About 5 percent of Atlanta-based Home Depot’s 340,000 employees are enrolled in that plan. United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), Trader Joe’s Co. and other employers have been cutting benefits ahead of next month’s roll-out." Continue reading →

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NHS watchdog: Nurses in tears as ‘horrendous’ understaffing hits patients

"Nurses were reduced to tears by their workload at a Nottinghamshire hospital where understaffing contributed to patients being left hungry and dehydrated, the NHS watchdog has reported. Their report came as new figures revealed that 5,500 nursing posts have now been cut since the Coalition came into office, increasing pressure on the health secretary Jeremy Hunt to act on repeated warnings over under-staffing. Frontline staff at Kings Mill Hospital, part of the Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, told CQC inspectors that they were concerned low numbers of nurses and poor senior doctor cover were harming patient safety." Continue reading →

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Sophisticated U.S. Arms Flowing to Jihadists

"Fox News is reporting a stunning theft of U.S. arms by jihadist salafists in Libya. This news item will be made much of by critics of Obama on the right. However, military and government blunders, cost overruns, unneeded weapons systems, and general mis-management are par for the course. Of more relevance is the light this sheds on the U.S. arms being shipped into Syria. There are no significant controls that prevent these arms from reaching the most terror-prone and jihadist elements among the Syrian rebels, whose numbers are large in proportion to all the rebels. This decision to ship arms was foolhardy from the get-go, and now it looks even more ill-conceived." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSophisticated U.S. Arms Flowing to Jihadists

Sophisticated U.S. Arms Flowing to Jihadists

"Fox News is reporting a stunning theft of U.S. arms by jihadist salafists in Libya. This news item will be made much of by critics of Obama on the right. However, military and government blunders, cost overruns, unneeded weapons systems, and general mis-management are par for the course. Of more relevance is the light this sheds on the U.S. arms being shipped into Syria. There are no significant controls that prevent these arms from reaching the most terror-prone and jihadist elements among the Syrian rebels, whose numbers are large in proportion to all the rebels. This decision to ship arms was foolhardy from the get-go, and now it looks even more ill-conceived." Continue reading →

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ObamaCare’s Bad Surprises Begin on October 1.

"You must have a plan by January 1, or else pay a tax to the government: 1% of your 2013 income, or $95, whichever is more. This tax will rise every year. There is a calculator to show what coverage will cost you. It shows if you are eligible for tax credits. People with low incomes will not qualify for tax credits. But they will have to pay the extra premiums. This is called 'helping the poor.' I'm on Medicare. You pay my premiums ($12,000 a year). My wife has Christian Health Care Ministries. She pays $1,000 a year. What about you? What about your children? They lose your coverage at age 26. Young people lose the subsidies at lower income than had been originally promoted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamaCare’s Bad Surprises Begin on October 1.