Free Republic

JEFF GUNDLACH: These 3 Charts On Government Jobs Should Make You FuriousFebuarary 15,2012 Sam Ro Jeff Gundlach, the brains behind the $30 billion DoubleLine Capital, hosted a webcast with clients on Tuesday. The title of his presentation: "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." He drew parallels between the U.S. and Rome, highlighting excessive government spending. Gundlach noted that one of the major problems with U.S. federal deficits is federal government employee pay. He was appalled to see that these employees made "so much more than the private workers, who pay the taxes, that pay the salaries of the...

Earlier today, Obama formally proposed his 2013 budget (link) which sees a $1.33 trn budget deficit in the 2013 fiscal year - more than the $1.296 trillion 2011 budget deficit, which unfortunately indicates that even with rather rosy assumptions, the deficit hole continues to grow, which also means that the debt plug will be higher in the next year compared to the prior, which in turn lends even more credibility to the US debt clock analysis which assumes a nearly 140% debt/GDP ratio by the end of a potential second Obama term. While that will likely end up being an...

ORIGINAL POST, SEE UPDATE BELOW: Earlier we made the argument that the Obama recovery has been much more impressive than the Reagan recovery since A) The conditions Obama inherited were wildly worse and B) Federal government spending under Obama didn't grow as fast as it did under Reagan. But we were just looking at Federal Government spending. Here's a look at annual government spending growth at all levels: federal, state, and local. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/one-more-must-see-chart-on-government-spending-under-obama-and-reagan-2012-1#ixzz1ksovU8j1

s we pop the corks of our proverbial champagne this weekend with an eye to a better year ahead, perhaps it is worth thinking about these 11 incredible trends that have evolved in a rather disturbing manner over the last 11 years. As John Lohman points out, the 21st century has not been pretty for ongoing centrally planned attempts to defer the 30 year overdue mean reversion.

As we pop the corks of our proverbial champagne this weekend with an eye to a better year ahead, perhaps it is worth thinking about these 11 incredible trends that have evolved in a rather disturbing manner over the last 11 years. As John Lohman points out, the 21st century has not been pretty for ongoing centrally planned attempts to defer the 30 year overdue mean reversion.            

My Magnificent Seven. Some bust myths. Others highlight a reality the media is ignoring. Enjoy!1. The overly optimistic unemployment forecast of the Obama White House. This may be the most infamous economic prediction in U.S. political history (helpfully updated by The Right Sphere). For the original January 2009 chart from White House economic advisers Jared Bernstein and Christina Romer, see here. 2. The real unemployment rate. The official (U-3) unemployment rate is 8.6 percent. But the labor force has been shrinking as discouraged workers have been disappeared by government statisticians rather than counted as unemployed. But what if they weren’t? What...

Today the NY Fed released its quarterly report on consumer credit, and in it is a wealth of charts on the nature of consumer debt. The charts did contain a red flag: For the first time since the recovery began, there were clear signs that in Q3, consumers started falling behind on paying their debts following several quarter of improvement. It's not across all categories, and it's not necessarily even dramatic in some cases, but it is notable for the reversal in the pattern.

Really funny stuff. At the link...

Debt-ceiling and related budget negotiations will continue to make headlines in the coming weeks, no matter how deeply lawmakers and the public begin to feel debt fatigue.Last night, the House voted down a clean debt ceiling increase by a heavily lopsided vote of 318 to 97. This morning, House Speaker John Boehner released a statement — signed by 150 economists — that reiterates Republican demands for massive spending cuts to offset any increase in the debt limit. Later today, House Republicans will meet with President Obama for what The Washington Post describes as a “listening session� about debt grievances.Debt, debt,...

The America Family Association has organized ten powerful economic graphs that put financial facts and figures into visual form. Sometimes you can quote economic statistics to people until you are blue in the face and it won’t do any good, but when those same people see charts and pictures suddenly it all sinks in. As you examine the economic charts below, pay special attention to what has been happening to the U.S. economy over the last 30 or 40 years.

Since Obama is starting up the "tax the rich" dogma again, I thought it was time to discuss exactly how much taxes the "rich" are paying. The Congressional Budget Office publishes a great deal of information about how the federal tax burden is distributed, and compiles all of it at the cited link. It provides data from 1979 to 2007, adjusted to 2007 dollars so that you can compare how it has changed, without worrying about inflation. However, I discovered that someone has taken all this information and created a series of graphs that make it much easier to understand:...

This is a 60-year chart of the S&P 500 index. Note the two tops in 2000 and 2007 around the 1575 mark. As of today the S&P is at about 85% of that level.

Krugman: Here Are 3 Charts For Anyone Who Thinks The Economy Isn't Terrible Gus Lubin Jul. 29, 2010, 8:23 AM Paul Krugman says he's heard a lot of people saying he's exaggerating America's economic plight. He doesn't know who these people are, and neither do we. The NYT columnist posts three charts as proof things are worse than anytime since the Depression. First, rate of decline in employment: Second, unemployment rate -- noting the higher baseline for unemployment leading up to the 1982 spike: Third, duration of unemployment: Now check out 19 Signs The Economy Is Worse Than Ever In...

Ezra Klein calls this “the scariest jobs graph you’ve seen yet,� and for good reason. The center-left Brookings Institute calculated what kind of job growth it would take to reach pre-recession employment levels, and how long it would take. Brookings takes into account population growth and therefore calculates that in this month, the total employment gap has expanded to 11.2 million jobs. According to their analysis, adding jobs at a rate equal to the best average monthly rate for any one year in the past decade will mean we won’t catch up to pre-recession employment until 2022 (via Newsalert): Looking...

After five years of testing, the U.S. Navy is finally entering the digital age for navigation. Five years ago, the first all digital navigation system was installed, in the USS Cape St. George (a cruiser). Called the Voyage Management System (VMS), this version used 29 CDs containing the 12,000 paper nautical charts that were stored in several large filing cabinets on the Cape St. George. The current version of VMS puts all the electronic charts on one high density DVD, or a portable hard drive. The navy has been working on VMS since the 1990s, and the first thing they...

The 2007-2009 recession is widely thought to have ended sometime last summer. How bad was this recession, and how quickly is the economy recovering? How does this recession and recovery compare to previous cycles?

I will start.

Number Of Discouraged Workers: December 2009 The Business Insider| Jan. 11, 2010, 1:02 PM The number of people that did not look for a job because they were discouraged over job prospects increased from 861,000 in November to 929,000 in December.

Economists love nothing more than curling up in front of a fireplace with a financial analysis of government policy, allowing the numbers to wash over them like a John Updike novel — or in this administration, more like a Stephen King horrorfest. For the rest of us, though, the numbers and calculations can prove daunting. Keith Hennessey puts the CBO’s latest killer analysis of the House health-care reform bill into graphic form, where everyone can be horrified equally. For a baseline demonstration of the numbers, Hennessey charts the spending and taxes in the House bill, along with the expected revenue...

I ran across an interesting Web site which lets users access data for local weather stations going back into the 19th century. I wandered about the site for a bit, pulling up charts from various places in my region, and found that some have gotten warmer, some have gotten colder, and many have stayed within the same range for a century plus.

Governor’s Staff Addresses Expenses Issues on News Media Coverage of Per Diem FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-35 Governor’s Staff Addresses Expenses Issues February 23, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Staff for Governor Sarah Palin today responded to persistent news media coverage of the per diem the governor has collected while working away from her official duty station of Juneau, while pointing out significant savings the governor has achieved in regard to the way she has discharged her official duties. “The news media have been focused on the $8,500 the governor has collected in per diem annually while working in Anchorage, almost...

It's not just Eric Holder, James Clyburn and Al Sharpton playing "race card" poker! Introducing Otis Moss Jr: Father, Reverend, Racist, Friend of Communism, Terrorist Sympathizer and BFF of Rev. Wright.

(05-18) 18:59 PDT -- California public school educators suspended students more than 332,000 times for violence or drugs last year - a jump of nearly 16,000 from the prior year. That's 6 out of every 100 students, up from 5 per 100 the year before, a Chronicle analysis of state records shows. << Find suspension rates at your child's school >> It means that beneath the studious demeanor of California campuses runs an undercurrent of trouble: students harming students, intimidating peers, packing weapons and even making terror threats. That reality is often ignored or stuffed away as bad publicity for...

Commodore Simon Williams presents the charts to Commodore Thamir Nasser. British MoD photo. In an Aug. 8 ceremony aboard the HMS Echo, British forces presented the Iraqi Navy with shipping charts of the Northern Arabian Gulf and approaches to the port of Umm Qasr, paving the way for increased trade through the port and enhanced security in surrounding waters.The charts are the outcome of two years work by the Royal Navy survey ships HMS Echo and HMS Enterprise. The region is a vital shipping area for Iraq and the surveys will give the port the opportunity to increase its...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2006 – The Iraqi government and military are making progress politically, economically and in security, according to a DoD report to Congress. Peter Rodman, assistant defense secretary for international security affairs, and Air Force Lt. Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., Rodman's Joint Staff counterpart, spoke to reporters about the report today. Congress mandated the quarterly report, "Measuring Security and Stability in Iraq," as part of the fiscal 2006 National Defense Authorization Act. Rodman said the report pulls no punches. It points out failures -- oil and electricity production -- as well as successes -- political and security...

Welcome to Political Derby's 2008 Power Rankings, the first and only regular tracking service of the next race for White House. The 2008 Power Rankings will be updated on the 1st and 15th of every month. Beginning in January of 2007 the rankings will be updated weekly until the major party conventions in August of 2008. The rankings are compiled by our in-house Jockey using information gathered from wire reports, campaign staffer scuttlebutt, and confidential tips from our legions of loyal readers. The 2008 Power Rankings may not be reprinted or quoted in any form without proper attribution to PoliticalDerby.com...

National Geographic Society retreats The Marze Por Gohar Party is happy to announce that with the hard work of our compatriots for defending the Persian Gulf, the National Geographic Society has been forced to retreat from their earlier stance regarding the Persian Gulf. The National Geographic Society has reportedly removed the illegitimate name from its maps, however there is an asterisk now explaining that some countries use another (unrecognized) name to refer to the Persian Gulf. Though the Islamic Republic would like to have Iranians believe that the matter regarding the National Geographic’s use of an illegitimate name for the...

Sailors on the San Francisco, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, had just finished cleaning the vessel last Saturday as it sped along 500 feet beneath the surface of the South Pacific. Submarines run blind, just listening for sounds of danger. And to the captain and other officers relying on undersea navigation charts, everything seemed clear. Suddenly, there was a horrible screeching. And according to an e-mail message written by a crew member, the inside of the submarine quickly resembled a scene from the movie "The Matrix." He wrote, "Everything slowed down and levitated and then went flying forward faster than the...

NGA Invites Public Comment on Proposal to Remove Aeronautical Information from Public Sale and Distribution Bethesda, Md, Dec 3, 2004 -- The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) announced November 18, 2004, it is considering withdrawing its Flight Information Publications (FLIP), Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File (DAFIF), and Navigation Planning Charts from public sale and distribution. NGA has proposed to implement the changes on October 1, 2005. Today, NGA invites public comment on the proposed action through June 30, 2005. Comments may be returned to: aero.ocr@nga.mil or mailed to: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Mail Stop D-111, Attn: Public Release of Aeronautical Products 4600...

LONDON (Reuters) - The reworked Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" has clinched the coveted Christmas number one spot on the UK pop charts, the Official UK Charts Company said Sunday. As expected, Band Aid 20, a nod to the two decades that have passed since Bob Geldof (news) assembled the leading pop stars for the 1984 smash hit record, clung on to the top spot beating off competition from Ronan Keating (news) and pop queen Kylie Minogue (news). Proceeds from the new Band Aid recording -- featuring vocals from stars such as Jamelia and Coldplay's Chris...

Bush Not Screwing Around On Making "Ownership Society" A Reality President Bush is moving quickly to create a new, tighter and more disciplined domestic policy team to pursue transforming the way Americans save for retirement, pay taxes and seek legal damages.Convinced his leadership style and policy vision were vindicated by the election results, Bush is aggressively targeting these domestic programs for the second term by essentially replicating the formula he used to reshape foreign policy in the first. This includes creating a small, loyal and trustworthy team to press for sweeping changes largely dictated by the White House.To build...

As an investor, what would you trust more: the opinion of a single pundit, or the actual activity of thousands or even millions of investors? It's wise to choose the latter. No pundit makes the right call all the time. On the other hand, a stock's price reflects the daily decision-making of every person interested in that stock. Ultimately, the herd judges whether a stock should go up or down, and for how long. Charts reflect nothing more than the herd's action. If you can do simple math and figure out percentage changes, you can use a chart. If you...

The Races for U.S. Senate Alaska Reporting: 98.4% Lisa Murkowski, Rep (i) 120,897 (49.3%) Tony Knowles, Dem 110,209 (45%) Marc Millican, NP 7,377 (3%) Jerry Sanders, AKI 2,887 (1.2%) Jim Sykes, Grn 2,232 (0.9%) Scott Kohlhaas, Lib 929 (0.4%) Ted Gianoutsos, NP 543 (0.2%) Alabama Reporting: 98.2% Richard Shelby, Rep (i) 1,231,610 (67.6%) Wayne Sowell, Dem 590,360 (32.4%) Arkansas Reporting: 97% Blanche Lincoln, Dem (i) 552,479 (55.9%) Jim Holt, Rep 435,972 (44.1%) Arizona Reporting: 96.7% John McCain, Rep (i) 1,193,508 (76.6%) Stuart Starky, Dem 321,649 (20.7%) Ernest Hancock, Lib 42,273 (2.7%) California Reporting: 99.8% Barbara Boxer, Dem (i) 5,592,294...

http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/crisis/tables.htm

BBC pulls plug on Coca-Cola in charts By Matt Born (Filed: 03/01/2004) The BBC is to drop all references to Coca-Cola from its weekly music charts after widespread criticism that it was being used to promote junk food to children. The corporation had agreed to plug the fizzy drinks giant, which sponsors the chart, during the weekly countdown on Radio 1 and BBC1's Top of the Pops. But news of the proposed tie-in, which emerged on the same day last month that Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, called for tougher regulation of the advertising of children's food, drew fierce criticism...