Free Republic

Here's something he said earlier: The topic (in advance of today's phony unemployment numbers) was how to get companies to hire workers. Lots of back & forth. But here is the kicker: Zell mentions that while Obamacare was about to come up for the final, miserable vote he went to Capitol Hill to "lobby" a couple of lawmakers. Reminding them that this kind of bill with so much uncertainty built into it, was guaranteed to put a chill on employment. Here is the exchange he relayed to the host. Zell to lawmaker: This bill gives only 6 years of services,...

Asia-U.S. Shipper Readies Huge Fleet Expansion After Reporting 37% Higher Volumes Vincent Fernando, CFA Mar. 29, 2010, 10:28 AM Neptune Orient Lines, owner of the formerly U.S.-owned APL container shipping company, just reported a sharp 37% jump in container trade volume for February, crediting strength in both Intra-Asia and U.S. - Asia (Transpacific) demand. (Note that higher volume can come from APL taking share, total trade growth will be lower.) The charts below are from NOL's release.[snip]

Target Corp. retooled a training video to warn workers against a bill that would make union organizing easier. Michaels Stores Inc. told investors “our businesses could be impacted” by the measure. Enrollment in Jackson Lewis LLP’s “How to Stay Union-Free” seminars tripled. Companies are rallying to fend off a so-called card-check law sought by labor leaders and backed by President Barack Obama. While the bill stalled in Congress this year as health- care legislation dominated debate, anti-union groups say they expect the president and Democrats to deliver next year on a compromise version of the legislation. “As we approach the...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - American consumers shopped more for bargains at the start of the U.S. holiday season and spent significantly less than a year ago, according to early data released on Sunday. Consumers said they will have spent nearly 8 percent less on average, or about $343 per person, over the weekend that includes Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and runs through Sunday, according to the National Retail Federation. While traffic to stores and retail websites rose to 195 million people from 172 million in 2008, the early data this weekend represents a worrisome sign for retailers, who had braced...

Late last night, during yet another closed-door meeting in the House of Representatives, the liberal Majority maneuvered to bring the highly unpopular 946-page energy-rationing bill, better known as the Waxman-Markey cap-and-tax bill, to the House floor for a vote by the end of this week! Sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, H.R. 2454 imposes a system of "cap-and-tax" in order to combat so-called "global warming." This massive, across-the-board household energy tax is being disguised by congressional liberals and is being sold under the slogan "cap-and-trade," which...

This is your reminder to LIGHT UP your home, car, deck light anything that will let you love shine in protest to...This year’s Earth Hour, which happens on March 28, Saturday, 8:30 p.m., aims to gather 1 billion “votes” for Earth, which will be presented to the world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The meeting will determine policies on global warming that will replace the Kyoto Protocol.

Diogenes, Put Down That Lamp. We May Have Found An Honest Man – On Friday, the Kansas City Fed’s Hoenig gave a speech in Omaha, Nebraska. In the speech (which was mostly about the "too big to fail" debate), President Hoenig appeared to join into a perception that permeates the trading floors. That thesis is that, despite the presumed best of intentions, government rescue efforts have been far too “ad hoc” and neither comprehensive nor cohesive. That is the perception that relates to the actions of both the prior and current Administration. After outlining the series of actions both by...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its lowest level in 12 years, slipping below 7,000, and then 6,900, as investors grew increasingly skittish over the state of the stock market amid the wave of government bailouts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 200 points, or nearly 3 percent. The S&P 500 continued its descent toward 700, while the Nasdaq dropped below 1,350. The Nasdaq suffered the least of the three major indexes as Intel and Dish Network provided a few glimmers of hope amid the wreckage. Major U.S. Indexes.DJIA6827.57-235.36-3.33%946,324,000.NCOMP1336.68-41.16-2.99%318,253,300.SPX707.24-27.85-3.79%2,318,764,800 And, while some investors thought the selling was coming...

The collapse came so fast it seemed unreal, impossible. One woman here compared it to being hit by a train. Another said she felt as if she were watching it through a window. Another said, “It feels like you’ve been put in a prison, and you don’t know what you did wrong.”

The Fed is bailing out banks that irresponsibly loaned money to home buyers (that the home buyers could not afford to pay back). Meanwhile, many Americans are blithely waiting for their IRS “rebate” checks – a feel-good, election year tactic to “stimulate the economy.” Yet the United States is facing a different – and serious – economic crisis. If this crisis is left unchecked, it could leave grocery stores with empty shelves and the local mall with fewer gadgets and gizmos. In 1987, I purchased my first truck for $50,000 and my first trailer for $9,000. Fuel was 67 cents...

Ministers have been accused of "bullying" councils into ending weekly refuse collections after figures showed that 18 million people across England have their rubbish picked up only once a fortnight. The Daily Telegraph has established that at least 155 councils - almost half of all English authorities - have abandoned weekly collections despite public opposition. Waste collection will be a major issue in the local elections in May Households in areas losing the weekly service - including cities as well as rural areas - complain of increased risk to health caused by rotting food waste. This is also associated with...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy may be in recession, based on Midwest manufacturing data, a report said on Thursday. According to Kingsbury International, a partner of NAPM Chicago which puts out The National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago business barometer, "the U.S. economy could be in a recession at this time." "In four of the last five recessions, the slowing of the Chicago business barometer signaled a recession either one or two years later," the report said. Copyright 2006 Reuters

If things are so bad, then why are they so good? Consumer confidence, as judged by the Conference Board, is now at a two-year high, boosted by an improving jobs market. The percentage of Americans who consider jobs hard to find is the lowest since October 2002. However, according to the speakers at the Democratic National Convention -- including former Presidents Clinton and Carter, and former Veep Al Gore -- the jobs picture is terrible and confidence is low. Things, they say, couldn't be worse.

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/blog-cb.php Byrd-Brain: John Kerry will soon be put on the spot over coal, which he has long opposed, hurting his election prospects in several coal-producing states. Senators John McCain (R-Ariz) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) are threatening to resurrect their anti-coal global warming bill in the next few weeks. Despite being soundly defeated last year, McCain, as he did with campaign finance reform, has vowed to take repeated votes on the bill until he wins. Most stunning for energy observers is that Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.), who voted against McCain-Lieberman last year, is now contemplating supporting it. The reason? Byrd...

<p>It is a good bet that no one running for president -- not even President Bush -- will make a speech applauding the strong corporate profits that have been reported lately. The phrase "fatter profits" conjures up an image of a greedy chief executive stuffing his pockets, perhaps illegally. But the truth is the earnings numbers are good news and important news -- not just for chief executives and investors, but for the rest of us. Profits always matter. Given the events of the past three years they matter more than ever. The economic slump that began in 2000 was first and foremost a profits recession. During the boom of the late 1990s corporate America overspent and overinvested. When the slowdown hit, companies were stuck with expenses that were far out of line with sales. The result: a profits meltdown. Allen Sinai, the chief economist with Decision Economics, says the profit decline of the past few years was the steepest since World War II. In 2001 profit margins -- profits divided by sales -- reached their lowest level on record.</p>

Reuters Shares of Space Shuttle Contractors Fall Monday February 3, 10:43 am ET CHICAGO (Reuters) - Shares of space shuttle contractors Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - News), Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT - News) and Alliant Techsystems Inc. (NYSE:ATK - News) fell on Monday, the first trading day after the Columbia shuttle disaster. ADVERTISEMENTAlliant, which builds the solid rocket boosters for the shuttle, tumbled nearly 12 percent, its biggest one-day point loss since its October 1990 debut on the New York Stock Exchange and its biggest percentage loss since January 1993. Credit Suisse First Boston downgraded Alliant stock to "neutral" from "outperform."...

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary July 31, 2002 Remarks by the President in Photo Opportunity with the Cabinet The Cabinet Room 11:34 A.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. First, I want to condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack that took place in Israel. There are clearly killers who hate the thought of peace, and, therefore, are willing to take their hatred to all kinds of places, including a university. And this country condemns that kind of killing, and we send our deepest sympathy to the students and their families. I also...