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Looking for Some Good News
Location: Blogs Russ Henke |
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| Posted by: Russ Henke |
4/14/2007 8:55 AM |
One week ago, this space was devoted to just-released
reports on relatively weak job creation in the US.
Further, what new jobs there are, are arguably in
service sectors that do not create real US wealth
and productivity. On the other hand, the US
Manufacturing Sector has been losing jobs for nine
consecutive months. The April 7 blog entry ended
with some economists suggesting that a US recession
was nearly 50% likely soon.
So in the interest of staying “fair and balanced”,
this week was devoted to trying to find some good
economic or political news to convey. Alas, here’s
just a sampling of the many new reports from the
last 7 days:
The US dollar traded near a record low against the
Euro on April 13, 2007. The Euro bought $1.3547 --
its highest level since January 2005, and only a
cent short of its all-time high from December 2004
of $1.3667. (Kiss that new 2008 C-Class Mercedes
goodbye!).
On April 13, the Labor Department's Producer Price
Index came in flat for March 2007, an encouraging
result if one does not eat food or buy gasoline or
use electricity. However, including the real world
impacts of energy and food, wholesale prices rose
another full percent in March, following an even
larger 1.3% rise in February.
Nearly half the revenue from the 30 Dow companies
comes from foreign countries — growth in many of
those foreign countries is faster than it is in
the United States.
Consumer sentiment in the US has fallen to its
lowest level in eight months so far in April, on
rising gasoline prices and troubles in the housing
market, while inflation expectations also rose
sharply, a survey showed on April 13. The Reuters --
University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said
the April reading of its consumer sentiment index
slid to 85.3 from a level of 88.4 in March. The
April result was the lowest since August 2006 and
marked the third straight fall in the index.
The Senate easily approved a bill during the week
ending April 13 that would free embryonic stem cell
research from the worst shackles imposed by the
Bush administration. The House passed its version
earlier. A substantial majority of Americans tell
pollsters they support embryonic stem cell research.
Yet one man, George W. Bush, and a minority of his
party (the religious and social conservatives) are
once again trying to impose their moral code on the
rest of the nation and stand in the way of scientific
progress. Bush is threatening a veto, and neither
house currently has enough votes for the bills to
override him.
The percentage of drug-resistant gonorrhea cases among
heterosexual men in the US jumped, to 6.7% in 2006
compared with 0.6% in 2001, officials from the US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The centers do not plan a letter to doctors on the
recommendations; they are relying on news reports
and state and local health departments to spread
the information.
Saying that the housing bubble has truly burst, the
National Association of Realtors predicted April 11,
2007 that the median price of existing US homes will
fall 0.7% this year, the first time that has happened
since records started in the late 1960s.
Fraud, abusive lending crushes dreams for millions
of homeowners (news headline this week).
Citigroup Inc., the nation’s largest financial
institution, said April 11 that it will eliminate
about 17,000 jobs as part of a company-wide
restructuring to reduce costs and improve profit.
Income inequality grew significantly in 2005, with
the top 1% of receiving the largest share of national
income since 1928, analysis of newly released tax
data on April 10, 2007 shows. (So if you’re in the
top 1%, maybe a new 2008 Mercedes C-Class is indeed
in your future).
Four years ago this week, as American troops made
their first entrance into Baghdad, joyous Iraqis
pulled down a giant statue of Saddam Hussein. It
was powerful symbolism — a murderous dictator
toppled, Baghdadis taking to the streets without
fear, American soldiers hailed as liberators. But
after four years of occupation, untold numbers
killed by death squads and suicide bombers, and
searing experiences like Abu Ghraib, few Iraqis
still look on American soldiers as liberators.
Instead, thousands marked this week’s anniversary
by burning American flags and marching through
the streets of Najaf chanting, “Death to America.”
And once again, tens of thousands of American
troops are now pouring into Baghdad as part of
the US “surge.”
In the two months since the February 14 start of
the “surge” in Baghdad, deaths among American
soldiers have climbed 21% compared with the
previous two months. Furthermore, the number
of civilians killed by suicide bombers has risen.
On April 12 alone, extremists managed to penetrate
the most secure part of Baghdad — the US protected
Green Zone — and launch a deadly suicide attack
in the very building where the Iraqi parliament
has to meet. Earlier on the same day, a suicide
truck bomber heavily damaged a major bridge across
the Tigris River, collapsing the span into the
muddy waters. On April 14 (today), a car bomb
blasted through a busy bus station near one of
Iraq’s holiest shrines, killing at over 60 people.
Separately, a suicide car bomb killed 10 people
on another major bridge in downtown Baghdad — the
second attack on a span over the Tigris River
this week. Contrary to promises made by the
administration at the start of the “surge” two
months ago, that the “surge” would last six
months at most, former Pentagon analyst Anthony
Cordesman said, “It is not going to be possible
to see just how well the resulting mix of
capabilities will counter the insurgency until
the late spring of 2008 at the earliest.”
On April 11, the Pentagon announced that virtually
all battle-weary Army units in Iraq would have to
stay on for an additional three months past their
scheduled return dates.
After four years, there is still no definition of
“victory” in Iraq, no “exit strategy” and no
“time-table” of any kind offered by the
administration. It’s as if the November 7, 2006
US congressional elections didn’t even occur.
On April 11, an independent panel assessing
dilapidated facilities and red tape for wounded
Iraq war veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center issued a sweeping indictment of leadership
failures, inadequate training and staffing
shortages.
Well, OK, that’s enough “news of this week.”
Believe me, this discouraging list could go on
and on.
Oh, and one more thing…a possibly severe storm
system is headed toward the East Coast this
weekend. Forecasters say the entire eastern
half of the country will feel the brunt of the
kind of storm that happens “once every 20 years.”
Winds up to 25 mph are forecast for the Carolinas
on April 14 before the storm hits the Northeast
with heavy snow or rain by April 15. Good luck,
folks! And yes, it’s also raining here in "Sunny
California" today.
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