First up we have the Challenger Job Cut report for February. After having a train wreck in January, this one is just downright peachy:
CHICAGO, March 3, 2016 – After surging to a six-month high to begin the new year, downsizing slowed in February, as US-based employers announced 61,599 job cuts during the month, 18 percent fewer than the 75,114 in January, according to a report released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
The February total was up 22 percent from a year ago, when employers announced 50,579 job cuts during the month.
Planned job cuts total 136,713 through the first two months of the year, up 32 percent from the same period in 2015, when employers announced layoffs totaling 103,620 in January and February.
Just as in 2015, the energy sector has seen the heaviest job cutting in the opening months of the year. These firms announced another 25,051 job cuts in February, bringing the year-to-date total to 45,154. Most of the cuts in the sector have been attributed to low oil prices.
The 45,154 energy cuts through February represents a 24 percent increase from 2015, when employers in the sector announced 36,532 planned layoffs in the opening two months of the year.
“Low oil prices continue to take a toll on workers in the energy and industrial goods sectors. Since January of 2015, these two sectors alone have seen workforce reductions in excess of 200,000, the majority of which were attributed to oil prices. The major concern is that the job losses in cities and towns that rely heavily on oil production will begin to drag down other parts of the local economy,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
“Shockingly, we have not seen a precipitous rise in unemployment in the many cities that were benefitting from the recent oil boom, suggesting that the job losses are contained to the energy sector, for the moment,” said Challenger.
Well, let me help: Waiting periods, dude. Severance packages. Give it time. It’ll be along.
Combine this with the numbers from the ADP report out yesterday and it’s almost a slam-dunk that the jobs report tomorrow from the Labor Department will show 4.8 – 4.9% unemployment.
And if we only count the people who haven’t run out of U.I. benefits, or who can’t find work and have had to take Social Security early to survive off the streets, I’m sure we can work that number down even further.
Futures are about flat. And while oil blipped up to $34.88 on the WTI contract, that isn’t enough to save Houston.
Political Hype and B.S.
Sometimes, I think it’s a sign from above that Thursday is Garbage Day here at the ranch. Because it seems to match closely with the news flow.
Most of the real news of course, goes unreported. The lib-media gang bang on Donald Trump was almost too-well orchestrated by the corrupt corporate system that fears real pro-human change more than anything in the world. Yet still, a surprisingly small number of people “get it.”
Instead, we read about how tonight’s nonsensical stand-up comedy act, with the Rude-bio and such is being pandered as a “Megan-Donald Rematch.” Like anyone in their right mind would care?
But the Donald bashing is only just picking up steam. Read “Republican donors’ anti-Trump efforts ramp up, with an eye toward Florida” and then flip over here to see how even Mitt Romney has been sucked into the fracas with “Mitt Romney: Donald Trump is a ‘phony, a fraud’” The orchestration of the none-base GOP is clear.
What I have referred to as the “Paul Ryan Wing” of the Obamacrats is doing just fine; pretending to hold to traditional republican ideals, yet throwing in with the O Machine on open borders, flood us with Syrians, and don’t protect us from Free Traders who profit on the wage spread between have and have-not countries.
One of our typically “brighter-then average by a long-shot” readers (he’s a lawyer, but try not to hold it against him) offers this sad assessment of what spews from the bread and circus box tonight:
Once again, the audience for the Detroit GOP presidential debate is going to be filled with GOP establishment minions who will cheer for Rubio and boo Trump (and perhaps Cruz). Only 50 tickets will go to rank and file Republicans. The panicked fixers are doing all that they can do put their thumb on the scale.
Yes sir, Trash Day it is.
As usual, one of the refreshingly honest people continues to be Dr. Ben Carson who now “…Says ‘No Path Forward’ in His Bid for White House.”
There isn’t for Rubio, Cruz, Kasich, or Ben, either. But only Ben has that terribly missing element that president candidates ought to have: Integrity and honesty.
Would the republican sitcom be a little more bearable if a few more people other than Ure’s truly had taken the time to read Carson’s A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties. 4.6 stars on Amazon Reviews versus 4.2 for Rubio’s American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone which scored a 4.2. Due to workload, I don’t read below 4.0.
Come to think of it, my novel DreamOver has a 4.1 stars ranking…so maybe I should run for the presidency instead of county commission here in the Outback.
Back to the point: Is honesty and integrity important? Come on, is that such a tough question?
No, I didn’t send Carson a contribution, but I did buy his books. While some of our more reactionary readers disagree with many of Carson’s personal views on religion and history, he’s still a genius and whether I agree with ‘em of not, I go out of my way to read as many books by legit geniuses (especially those who have made it from the ghetto to the Halls of Power which keeps my reading list short) because there is much to be learned about heart, mind, will, perception management, personal goal setting…you name it.
Similarly, by the way, there’ is a good deal to be learned from many of histories less popular people. A prime example is Hitler’s Second Book: German Foreign Policy. Whether you thought after Mein Kampf (My Struggle) that Hitler was out with the nutters on racial purity and such (yep, sure was), he succeeded as a populist and ultra-nationalist. And most of his logic when comes to foreign affairs is in this second book. Turns out, there’s a fair bit of echoing of that going on.
So spend time on another debate with the wannabes? Hell no.
The REAL NEWS across the whole political spectrum this morning is not the lead on the Corporate-orchestrated Trump-bashing channels. It’s that “Report: Former Clinton staffer granted immunity in email flap.”
The New York Times hints in “As Presidential Campaign Unfolds, So Do Inquiries Into Clinton’s Emails” that Hil herself may be questioned by the FBI.
Between us-uns, it ain’t never gonna happen: Either this will be swept or Hil will go amnesia, or she will fall down again, or….well, you know where to bracket your expectation bubble. I could be wrong (but I seldom am) but I would love to be on this one.
I want you to think about something really hard for a moment: What does it say about the average I.Q. of a country when the lead story in the MSM is about bad stand up comedy on the republican side takes precedence over critical developments disclosing the potential-to-likely corruption of a yet-to-be-indicted former First Lady who wants another bite of the apple? Is that the kind of Foundation this country should be built on?
It’s OK. It’s Just Fascism
Fascism, you know, is what we have today in America. Oh, sure, you can go read the Wikipedia entry over here and it will say that fascism is a right-wing thing, but that’s not the truth. It’s a whoever is in the crime family kind of thing.
In fact, the best definition comes from the remarkably useful Urban Dictionary that we have cited many times for its honesty and candor:
“The only official definition of Fascism comes from Benito Mussolini, the founder of fascism, in which he outlines three principles of a fascist philosophy.
1.”Everything in the state“. The Government is supreme and the country is all-encompasing, and all within it must conform to the ruling body, often a dictator.
2.”Nothing outside the state”. The country must grow and the implied goal of any fascist nation is to rule the world, and have every human submit to the government.
3.”Nothing against the state”. Any type of questioning the government is not to be tolerated. If you do not see things our way, you are wrong. If you do not agree with the government, you cannot be allowed to live and taint the minds of the rest of the good citizens.The use of militarism was implied only as a means to accomplish one of the three above principles, mainly to keep the people and rest of the world in line. Fascist countries are known for their harmony and lack of internal strife. There are no conflicting parties or elections in fascist countries.
Well, let’s see here: Again Benito’s litmus, and since we have corporations and “terrorism” (which admittedly we helped manufacture), how would you score it?
This all happens when? Well, when corporations and governments (the crooked and untrustworthy of the public trust) build an alliance. Which you can see pretty clearly at work as the corporate-fascist forces look to engage in syncopated Trump-Bashing instead of asking the harder questions we ask around here.
Like “How come the FBI and DOJ haven’t gotten to the bottom of the Hillary crap yet?”
If you mumbled something like political influence peddling, give yourself a green star. Who should be in jail shouldn’t be this hard to find out.
And why haven’t the me-too media demanded re-filing of Freedom of Information Act requests for the past eight years, now that former Attorney General Eric Holder copped to regularly using a phony email addy?
No, those would out the ugly and crooked side of Ameriticks. And we need to labor on under the joke of corporate oppression as good little wage slaves who suck up the daily slop and turn our heads, the same way the protestants turned their backs on the jews in pre-war Germany.
Ah, don’t been bad. Being a corporate sub (or wage bitch) isn’t such a bad thing, now, is it? You get to keep almost 3/4th’s of what you make and there’s always unlimited sitcoms and distractions on the boob-tube, right?
(We pause before continuing while I stop crying and wait for my blood pressure to drop back into the only slightly elevated zone.)
Immigration Idiots
Say, not to keep repeating the same old refrain, about how the Obamanation and the Paul Ryan wing of the socialist party is trying to flood America with people who are only here for the dole, but did you happen to notice the report that we will soon be living with “Fewer Agents Projected to Patrol Border?”
Want to here me do my imitation of a politically proper high-tech ICE agent?
“Halt! You’re under a drone!”
This would be followed by insane laughter at the coyotes and their posses bring in another load, some of which must end up in political coffers for the people at the top to act so stupidly. Know what I mena?
House Flipping is Back
Think we are in a sustainable real estate market?
Uh…don’t you have a pee test coming up, or something?
Oh, it isn’t that bad. Why, in Seattle you only need to work one full-time and two part-time jobs to have a rent-a-hovel these days. My kids are doing it.
And they are going to save money for as down-stroke on home ownership how, exactly?
Human Relations Notes
“Man accused of waterboarding girlfriend to determine whether she was being unfaithful.”
The Clintonistas are going to bring gender front and center in the political campaign. Which is right in line with our view that intelligence, honesty, integrity, and wisdom have nothing to do with the Office anymore.
And last, but not least we see how “Drive-Thru Sex Lands a Couple Behind Bars.”
As a public service, we really should kick a few bucks into the defense fund for this couple. After all, maybe he said something like “Hold the pickle…”
Surprised you haven’t picked up on two facts in your study of immigration (legal and illegal). Did you know that Cubans have exactly zero vetting when they arrive in the US, and that they jump to the front of the line on a straight shot to citizenship? Cubans know it. 50,000 of them coming this year alone under the free pass system, or roughly 100 times the number of Syrians over the last five years. The other thing I haven’t seen is reference to the fact that there are 1 million fewer illegals in America now than there were seven years ago.
Great, that means there are 49 million here instead of 50!
Can’t vouch for the accuracy but I read where Romney’s niece is responsible for handing out the tickets to the debate……..Same as it ever was…….
Stand for Something: The Battle for America’s Soul John Kasich 4.5 rating on Amazon
I grew up in miami. The cubans ROCK, they WORK HARD, they build BUSINESSES, they try to live the american DREAM. They do not blow up innocents, behead folks in their host country and rape their daughters and wives. Not to sound too partisan, but the Cubans DESERVE good treatment, they are AWESOME people. Have you ever tasted Cuban food??? I LOVE CUBANS ( it probably helps that they let my mother and grandparents in from germany during world war II, when NO PORT in SUCK Amerika would allow them in. I owe the Cubans my life… ellen
“Couple busted for sex near a drive-thru.” But the people in the drive thru were watching.. so I’m left wondering why the couple didn’t complain about the voyeurism. LOL! No, they really shouldn’t have done that and mid-twenties is way old enough to know better. Dumb, dumb, dumb…
Proffesor Flobracan who was later committed to the local insane asylum Stated the more people who loose their income the stronger the economy becomes.
Maybe I am missing something here. Who the heck cares who used what emails? Emails? Seriously? Did using a personal e-mail really put our country in harms way? If she did it, I am sure very president, VP, Secretary of State etc during the e-mail era also did the same. And, I could give a flying F. It doesn’t affect me or the country one bit and I am sure new protocols are in place to stop this from happening again. Done..Story over. This is why the media isn’t covering it. It is NOT NEWS!!!
In the meantime, we have a tabloid darling and reality show clown who is directing the biggest con in world history. Donald Trump is not a billionaire, is not the world biggest Real estate mogul..(Not even in the top 10 of New York City) is in debt up to his ears, lies about his lies and then lies about those. World Leaders think he is a joke, People with brains think he is a joke…His own home town thinks he is a clown…He will not win his own home state of New York by the way. Read these articles from the The Financial Times and The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/24/nyregion/donald-trump-nyc.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=1
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/743d91b8-df8d-11e5-b67f-a61732c1d025.html?siteedition=intl#axzz41mFkboWw
With all due respect isn’t the real reason the GOP is up in arms is because they are about to lose their collective gravy trains if Trump were elected as well as probably seeing some perp walks that are long overdue. Having watched Romney (God forbid) this morning If anyone cares to do any kind of limited research he who started Bane Capital which was a private equity Firm had as it’s major mission strip mining every company they ever purchased causing major job losses before re-selling them….. but that’s just good business right? Most of this sounds like – well desperation.
Anyway that and $2.00 will get you a cup of coffee.
The main issue is UNSECURED email servers. Not the emails themselves or even non-gov email addresses. She specifically instructed aides to send her classified materials on that insecure network.
Although it did obstruct FOIA requests, that’s minor compared to the fact that the unsecured servers were surely hacked by a number of foreign agencies.
This allowed the hackers access to state secrets: undercover agents, operatives in other countries, real time comings and goings of heads of state.
“Some of the classified materials originated in intelligence agencies outside the State Department and came into the department on a secure, classified network. They were marked as such. They could only be transferred to Clinton’s unsecured network by hand. Each occurrence was a felony.”
And then, there’s your expected corruption:
“The Clinton Foundation and some private businesses were deeply involved in the State Department’s business. The lines were blurred between Hillary Clinton’s official role as secretary of state and her unofficial role at a major foundation, headed by her husband, that was showered with money from people and companies working with the State Department. At best, the arrangements were sleazy. At worst, they were criminal “pay to play.”
Sad that you ‘think’ this way. What she did was BREAK THE LAW. She has a top secret clearance, she is a liar. She kept her emails, for YEARS, out of the state department/government back up system where when a US citizen through a FOIA asked for information was NOT able to obtain it due to the fact it did not exist on the government server. As a leader, she fails miserable with her denials, lies, and excuses. I KNOW people who have top secret clearances and there is NO way they would have kept their jobs if they did what she did. THAT alone causes her to not be eligible for the office of President. I wish MORE Americans would realize the EGREGIOUSNESS of this ONE ACT on her part, ALONE, the determined illegal setting up of her own private server in her OWN residence. Even Obama was caught lying about it. When will her supporters BEGIN to question her lies? SHE has risked the security of the USA with her selfish, law breaking behavior. It is time SHE is held accountable.
First of all, you call her a liar as if she was already convicted. She hasn’t been. I maintain that this whole “scandal” goes much deeper than Hillary…which is why it has taken so long to take this issue to the next level. The fact is…. if this is true…and she is guilty…She herself can’t set up her own private server in her private residence to begin with…She had help…and by whom…and how many other political figures over the years had the same arrangement? This doesn’t make it right of course. But like the argument that baseball players during the steroid era justified their use because everyone was doing it…she was just given the same home access as everyone else…
My main point of my post was that the bigger liar is Trump. He is being investigated for fraud in the Trump University case. Great interview this morning on CNN with NY AG. He has puffed his self worth, is embroiled in many lawsuits…and by the sound of his “rhetoric”…if you call it that…More like stream of consciousness babble…is driving America to be a isolationist country and WILL drive us into the worst depression the nation has ever seen.
It’s idiots like this that will take this country down to becoming the worst place on earth to live. No brains at all in a comment like this!
Mark- I couldn’t agree more. Nice to see some rational political commentary on here!
With respect,
If you don’t understand the insecurity of a private email server, and the legal and national security implications of violating security laws, perhaps the solution would be to read up on how easy it is for state and corporate level actors to hack into such devices, or how many people are doing hard time for less than 1% of what Hillary and staff appear to have done.
Your inability to see a rattlesnake is not a justification for Hillary being a rattlesnake, nor is it likely to improve outcomes. One litmus test for dangerous thinking is a tendency to think that not seeing anything wrong with a situation ends the need for inquiry into the situation. It really ends the need for employing a myopic individual as a security consultant, imo.
So when they try to get me to sign that form that basically says I’ll go to federal prison if I ever leak any classified documents, I’ll just tell the gov “Hey, that guy Mark says “I could give a flying F – It doesn’t affect me or the country – It is NOT NEWS!!!””… and I’m sure everything will be OK. This is a double standard. Anybody else would be in jail. HC is a liar and a criminal.
Putting all those classified emails on a personal server with no security, so other countries could/did grab them all at once. That is the crime.
Looks like someone missed their meds today. First, what Clinton has done is called espionage. If you or I did the same we wouldn’t see freedom for the rest of our lives. There are untold numbers of lives put at risk because of her actions, but if that really isn’t important to you, well I hope you find your meds soon and have a better day tomorrow.
Notice the how the fact that laws and “protocols” as Mark called them, were already on the books and clearly reported by the media, but completely ignored by Mark? Then, did notice the word “con” used by Mark in his comment readers? A word heard in every politcal ad over the past 4 or 5 days by everyone speaking about Trump in the media of any flavor. Either this is evidence that the brainwashing is working or “Mark” is an anti Trump propagandist himself.
All I can say is that every week and now every day there are more ups and downs than an out of control roller coaster. I do not know whether to laugh or cry! I do admit it is entertaining, but I am starting to shake my head saying “These people are crazy and one of them will become our President…”
I sorta like Trump….but..when he first announced he was running and after a month or so I mentioned to a friend of mine—“you remember that call that Bill Clinton made to him??”
I went on and said..what if he sucks the air out of the GOP then self destructs on purpose or for one reason or the another…then Hillary becomes President..just saying…
To cover both sides here:
I admit I had a good belly laugh on this British version of Jon Stewart
http://www.brasschecktv.com/videos/in-humor-truth-1/a-close-look-at-trump.html
As for Hillary, let’s face it what country willingly loses face on a First Lady going to prison?
ok Emelda Marcos aside, Hillary behind bars ain’t gonna cut it. She will most likely buy a ticket on Sir Branson’s Galactic Spaceship with a seat beside Stephen Hawkings for a rental on Mars. She can afford it.
Now: I agree wholeheartedly with George.
Ben Carson, as a neurosurgeon most likely has more IQ and character than the entire line up in both parties, well lets throw in Congress too, yeah and the pentagon.
I’ve been in surgery alongside those surgeons when drilling into the skull. Its a sight to behold, all gore aside, when saving a life. One has to have immense control, sense of plan, direction, and poise to accomplish
the task. He gets my vote regardless of whether he is on the ticket. It would be a statement to the PTW.
Hillary and Donald ‘Crumpf'(gotta watch the video) only wish they had Carson’s acumen, as they could never achieve it in this lifetime.
Sounds like the kettle is calling the pot black in the Republican Dogfight
Donald Trump. Seriously???
Hilary Clinton. Seriously???
The really troubling thing is that either of these two people are even being considered as viable candidates for the Presidency of these United States.