Consumers Cut Back Credit Card Borrowing

Associated Press report dated October 8, 2010

Consumer borrowing fell again in August as consumers cut back on credit card use for the 24th consecutive month, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

Borrowing by consumers declined by $3.3 billion that month. It was the 18th drop for overall consumer borrowing in the past 19 months.

Americans are borrowing and spend­ing less as they face widespread unem­ployment and uncertainty about their financial futures. The reduced use of credit by consumers is a drag on the recovery, which has yet to show a sus­tained rebound.

Another cause of the decline in credit is banks’ slow recognition that many debts will not be repaid. Banks gave up on $42.5 billion in credit card debt in the first half of 2010, according an analy­sis by the website CardHub.com. The annual rate is more than twice what it was in 2007.

Households are expected to continue cutting back on borrowing as long as incomes stay flat and jobs remain scarce.

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My prediction: No matter what the politicians, economic gurus, and other so-called experts say or do, America is in for a period of slow growth.  Unemployment has been stuck in the 9% plus range since May 2009.  There is nothing on the horizon that indicates a change.  We will just have to learn to live with this reality for the next few years.

The Congressman Remained Quiet

A Congressman was seated next to a little girl on an airplane so he turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.” 

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, What would you want to talk about?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said the congressman. “How about global warming, universal health care, or stimulus packages?” as he smiled smugly. 

“OK,” she said. “but let me ask you a question first.   A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer poops little pellets, a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps. Why is that?” 

The legislator, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”

To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss global warming, universal health care, or the economy, when you don’t know shit?” 

The congressman remained quiet for the rest of the flight.

The Rich Get Richer … And You Know the Rest

The gap between rich and poor in the U.S. is the widest on record, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.  Median (mid- point) household income fell 2.9 percent nationwide, from $51,726 to $50,221.  Corporations are reported to be sitting on at least $1.6 Trillion cash. Obama wants to extend tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush for households earning less than $250,000 and allow them to expire for those above but Republicans want to extend the cuts for all income groups and are pushing for corporate tax relief.

 

A strike at a Mott’s apple-juice plant in Williamson, N.Y.is nearly four months old.  The parent company of Mott’s is Dr Pepper and is pushing for $1.50 per hour pay cut.  Mott’s is reported to be highly profitable but the company wants align factory costs with “local and industry standards.” Or, in other words wants to pay workers the same low pay that others are earning in depressed upstate New York.

 

Still the G.O.P. is expected to gain control of the House of Representatives.  Are Americans asleep?

Denial of Citizenship – Could it happen Here?

 

 I certainly hope not!
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The laws signed by Adolf Hitler taking away the citizenship of German Jews before the Holocaust were placed on rare public display Wednesday at the National Archives.The Nuremberg Laws were turned over to the archives in August by The Huntington, a museum complex near Los Angeles where they were quietly deposited by Gen. George Patton at the end of World War II. The papers will be on display in a separate gallery from the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence through Oct. 18.

Still, Nazi actions against the Jews began before the laws were signed in 1935 with earlier policies barring Jews from certain jobs and occupations.

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Many German Jewish families saw the handwriting on the wall and left Germany just as fast as they could. The new CEO of Hewlett-Packard Company is the child of a family that raced to the Russian Chinese frontier to escape.  As a child in Philadelphia I remember neighbors who had left Germany before the Holocaust.  I know a Jewish man who was born in China because his family saw the writing on the wall.

 

If Jews or any other group is denied their citizenship in the United States we should recall that horror.  We all must be vigilant.

New Jobs in America – No Time Soon

My life work was in manufacturing businesses.  As a consequence I still receive newsletters and magazines from manufacturing websites.  This item says it all.  Headline is Foxconn’s New China Plant to Produce 200k Phones/Day, Mostly iPhones.  That company will employ 200,000 people at the new facility.  The problem is we love iPhones but we don’t manufacture them in the United States.  The reason is those workers in China will be earning 1/5 or less the pay we want in the USA.   (The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports assembler average annual pay in the United States is $26,820.00 per year.)   Technicolor moved its three manufacturing facilities to Mexico.  Those facilities each employed at least 1,000 people. Care to guess why they would do that?

Today I received another on-line newsletter from asiaone business.  The headline reads Foxconn to raise wages again at China plant. The item says that employees at their facility at its Shenzhen factory will be increased by two-thirds.  That will bring the pay up to $392.00 per month.  Businessweek (September 13, 2010 edition) reports that there are 470,000 employees at that facility.  

Back in the United States: Where are the ideas from either the GOP or the Democrats for bringing jobs back to America?  There are no sensible ideas.  The GOP want to give more tax breaks to the corporations that are sitting on almost $2 Trillion in earnings that are being held for some future projects. The Democrats just want to enlarge government to take up the slack but have no idea how to create private sector jobs.

The political parties just hope that the public won’t notice that neither of them has even one worthwhile idea.

Terrorism Succeeds

The U.S. State Department has issued a “travel alert” for Europe that advises Americans to stay vigilant on the continent because of threat information.  They probably wanted to issue a warning not to travel in Europe but the consequence of that warning would be devastating to the travel industry.

Wisegeek.com offers this definition of Terrorism. “The commonly accepted meaning of the word terrorism is any use of terror in the form of violence or threats meant to coerce an individual, group, or entity to act in a manner in which any person or group could not otherwise lawfully force them to act.” In other words, intimidation.

This means that Osama bin Laden and his Al-Queda group have successfully accomplished their goal.

Rick Sanchez Fired from CNN

This situation reminds me of radio talk show host Don Imus.  He is most remembered for making remarks about black women on a basketball team. (“That’s some nappy-headed hos.”)

Recall that all this started by Sanchez being upset as the butt of Stewarts’ comedy line.  I listened to the Pete Domenick interview.  At the end of the day Rick Sanchez suffers with problems of his own feelings inadequacy.  He really doesn’t have any inadequacies.  He will likely say he was fired because he is Cuban or non-white or not Jewish.  Many people of minority groups play the “victim card” for their failings.  He won’t conclude that he was fired for voicing his bigotry.

“Sanchez is among the many cable-news guys and gals Jon Stewart regularly pokes fun at on “The Daily Show,” but Sanchez couldn’t laugh off the treatment; instead, he was humiliated by the teasing in a way that clearly tapped into earlier slights and ongoing self-doubt.”

Melinda Henneberger at aol.com discusses the whole ugly episode.

Follow-up on October 8, 2010: Ex-CNN host Rick Sanchez says he ‘screwed up’

Michael Bolton Can’t Dance

Chelsie Hightower and Michael Bolton in "Dancing with the Stars."

Chelsie Hightower and Michael Bolton on “Dancing with the Stars.”

“Dancing with the Stars” on ABC Television is my favorite show.  The program offers really wonderful dance and music.  The professional dancers are magnificent (especially those beautiful female dancers).  The stars are all fun to watch and the cameras pan an audience filled with celebrities.

The judges have been known to be harsh.  It’s all part of the game.  Many really good dancers have been voted off the show well before the end.

Michael Bolton’s dancing was plain bad.  Judge Bruno Tonioli was rather harsh when he said “it was the worst jive I have seen in 11 seasons.”  Bolton’s response and behavior wasn’t appropriate.  First he demands an apology for the judge’s critique and then when he was voted off the show he was visibly upset on stage and abruptly left the theater.

Bolton was a poor sport.  The whole dancing thing is all just for fun.

Quit Whining, Buck Up!

A testy U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry [Friday] blamed clueless voters with short attention spans for the uphill battle beleaguered Democrats are facing against Republicans across the nation.

“We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what’s happening,” Kerry told reporters after touring the Boston Medical Center this past Friday.

No doubt about it.  Americans do not want to be called whiners.  However, that is precisely the word used by Vice President Joe Biden in his commentary about voters.  He said that in a campaign speech yesterday and followed up today by saying that voters “needed to buck up.”

The Democratic administration has failed to deliver what Americans want most.  That would be help for the average man on the street.  Most working people feel neglected and believe the wealthy were rescued while they were left to fend for themselves.  I am including those who still have their jobs.

Most of us are watching CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC.   Those networks are all telling the same story.  The CEOs and other corporate managers are earning 200 to 300 times our pay and we are barely getting along.  The banks won’t help us re-finance our home loans and health care costs are going up this year (an average of 20% in California).  The country is in serious debt with no end in sight and wars that appear to be never ending.

You want us to support your political party?  No way!