[News] Stagflation Newsletter - April 5, 2008
Carlos Mock
ctmock at gmail.com
Sat Apr 5 06:28:05 CST 2008
Stagflation By Carlos T. Mock, MD. Updated April 5, 2008
A choice can be implemented that tends to improve growth, but does it ignite
systemic inflation? A choice can be implemented that tends to fight
inflation, but how badly does it impinge growth? I predict that we’ll see
stagflation in 2008. In modern times, it will be only after the central bank
has used all possible tools to meet both goals, using the best quantitative
measures it has at its disposal, for stagflation to occur. Major economic
conditions of unusual proportion have already created near-crises on both
fronts. Stagflation will occur because the central bank has rendered itself
powerless to fix either inflation or stagnation.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/stagflation.html
Your Lack of Money
Ben Bernanke: Bear rescue not a bailout - Senators are told possible
collapse was a threat to global financial system. Copyright © 2008, Chicago
Tribunes. April 4, 2008. WASHINGTON — The collapse of a big Wall Street
firm was imminent and global markets were in no condition to accept the news
calmly when Treasury Department and Federal Reserve officials met by
conference call at 5 a.m. March 14. Their crisis-mode consultations, which
led quickly to a rescue deal of Bear Stearns with $30 billion of government
backing, was no bailout of wealthy investors; it was a desperation move to
protect the broader economy, a top Treasury official told Congress on
Thursday in a gripping session of testimony. "We judged that a sudden,
disorderly failure of Bear would have brought with it unpredictable but
severe consequences for the functioning of the broader financial system and
the broader economy," said New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy
Geithner.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/ben-bernanke-bear-takeov
er-not-bailout.html
80,000 jobs lost in March as unemployment hits 5.1% By James P. Miller.
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune. 2:10 PM CDT, April 4, 2008. U.S.
employers slashed 80,000 workers from their payrolls last month -- the third
consecutive monthly decline and the biggest one-month drop in five years --
as the nation's increasingly troubled economy continued to slump, the Labor
Department said Friday. Unemployment rose from February's 4.8 percent to
5.1 percent, above the 5.0 percent level experts had been forecasting -- and
also the highest jobless rate since September 2005.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/80000-jobs-lost-in-march
-as.html
Indian Firm may make offer for Motorola;s cell-phone division -
Appliance-maker Videocon may bid By Wailin Wong. Copyright © 2008, Chicago
Tribune. April 3, 2008. An interested buyer has emerged for Motorola
Inc.'s beleaguered cell phone unit, but it's not one of the company's
handset competitors or a marquee consumer electronics manufacturer. Meet
Videocon Industries Ltd., a maker of home appliances that is little-known
outside its native India but has global ambitions. The company's chairman,
Venugopal Dhoot, told Bloomberg News he is in the early stages of evaluating
a bid for Motorola's handset division. Dhoot did not specify the financial
terms or other details of his offer. Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson
said the company does not "comment on rumor."
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/indian-firm-may-make-off
er-for.html
ATA grounds flights and files for protection By Justin Baer in New York.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 3 2008 19:13 |
Last updated: April 3 2008 19:13. ATA Airlines on Thursday cancelled all
its flights, fired most of its 2,230 employees and filed for bankruptcy
protection, becoming the latest casualty in a US commercial-aviation
industry buffeted by record fuel costs, competition and ebbing demand. ATA
also blamed its demise on FedEx, which pulled the carrier from an agreement
to transport US military personnel and their families internationally. The
airlift contract comprised most of ATA’s charter business. The shutdown
dealt a blow to Southwest Airlines, which had reached a 2005 code-sharing
agreement with ATA that allowed each carrier to book passengers on the
other’s flights. Southwest had viewed the carrier as a springboard to its
first international offerings.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/ata-grounds-flights-and-
files-for.html
Dell to shut down manufacturing plant By Richard Waters in San Francisco.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 1 2008 02:30 |
Last updated: April 1 2008 02:30. Dell is to shut a manufacturing plant for
what is believed to be the first time in its 24-year history as it struggles
to slash costs and rebuilt its profit margins. The closure of the plant -
which assembles PCs - is located in Austin, Texas, Dell’s headquarters, will
result in the loss of some 900 jobs. The move is part of what Dell
characterised as an attempt to wipe $3bn from its annual operating costs,
which last year topped $50bn/Dell extends job cuts to aid turnround By Kevin
Allison in Round Rock. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.
Published: April 3 2008 18:43 | Last updated: April 3 2008 18:43. Michael
Dell, Dell chief executive, said on Thursday that the company planned to cut
more than the 8,800 jobs announced previously as part of a plan to restore
sales and profits at the struggling computer-maker. News of the additional
cuts came as Mr Dell and other top executives updated Wall Street analysts
about the progress of Dell’s turnround.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/dell-to-shut-down-manufa
cturing-plant.html
Channel 2 cuts from the top - Burns, Childers axed in dramatic newsroom
purge By Phil Rosenthal. Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:56 PM CDT,
March 31, 2008. After years of telling viewers about job cuts in the steel
industry, among automakers, in the airline business and elsewhere, it's now
WBBM-Ch. 2 anchor Diann Burns' industry—the media—shrinking. It's now her
job lost. Burns, reputed to be the city's highest-paid anchor, at $2
million per year, was part of the most dramatic single-day newsroom purge in
Chicago TV history. Beyond its lead anchor, the CBS-owned station on Monday
cast off lead sportscaster Mark Malone, longtime anchor-turned-health
correspondent Mary Ann Childers, reporter Katie McCall, as well as several
behind-the-scenes personnel.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/channel-2-cuts-from-top-
burns-childers.html
Gold and Commodities
Oil $103.83
Silver Bullion $17.76
Gold Bullion $913
Platinum Bullion $ $2015
Dollar rallies on banking write-downs By Peter Garnham. Copyright The
Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 1 2008 11:03 | Last updated:
April 1 2008 11:03. The dollar rallied against European currencies on
Tuesday as news of subprime related losses at two European banks fuelled the
notion that the problems emanating from the current credit crisis would not
be restricted to the US. Both UBS, the Swiss bank, and Germany’s Deutsche
Bank announced substantial writedowns. “Announcements of losses and
mark-downs at Deutsche and UBS have soured the tone for European currencies
after their strength on Monday,” said Adrian Schmidt at RBS. The dollar,
which came close to hitting its record low of $1.5904 against the euro on
Monday, rose 0.6 per cent to $1.5676 against the single currency, gained 1
per cent to SFr1.0034 against the Swiss franc and climbed 0.3 per cent to
$1.9778 against the pound.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/dollar-rallies-on-bankin
g-write-downs.html
Corn prices surge to record levels as worries of shortfall grow By Stevenson
Jacobs. Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune. April 4, 2008. NEW YORK — Corn
prices jumped to a record $6 a bushel Thursday, driven up by an expected
supply shortfall that will only add to Americans' growing grocery bill and
further squeeze struggling ethanol producers. Corn prices have shot up
nearly 30 percent this year amid dwindling stockpiles and surging demand for
the grain used to feed livestock and make alternative fuels including
ethanol. Prices are poised to go even higher after the U.S. government this
week predicted that American farmers, the world's biggest corn producers,
will plant sharply less of the crop in 2008 compared with last year. "It's
a demand-driven market and we may not be planting enough acres to supply
demand, so that adds to the bullishness of corn," said Elaine Kub, a grains
analyst with DTN in Omaha.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/corn-prices-surge-to-rec
ord-levels-as.html
Housing
Fannie and Freddie drive home loans By Saskia Scholtes in New York.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 2 2008 19:23 |
Last updated: April 2 2008 19:23. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other
government-sponsored mortgage companies have become the backbone of the
troubled US mortgage market as purely private sources of finance have all
but dried up. Fannie, Freddie and the Federal Home Loan Banks , a network
of bank co-operatives founded during the Great Depression, provided 90 per
cent of the financing for new mortgages at the end of 2007, according to the
Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which regulates Fannie and
Freddie. The increasing role of the government-sponsored enterprises, or
GSEs as they are known, reverses years of declining market share. Fannie and
Freddie provide financing by buying mortgages and packaging them into
securities. The FHLBs lend money to their member banks against mortgage
collateral.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/fannie-and-freddie-drive
-home-loans.html
Surge in US bank borrowing from Fed By Krishna Guha in Washington.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 4 2008 00:48 |
Last updated: April 4 2008 00:48. Bank borrowing from the Federal Reserve’s
discount window surged in recent days, as primary dealers continued to draw
still larger amounts of cash from their new emergency finance facility,
figures released by the US central bank showed on Thursday. The Fed said
bank borrowing from the discount window averaged $7bn in the week to April 2
– a $6.5bn jump from the previous week. The total amount outstanding on
April 2 was $10.3bn. Meanwhile borrowing from the new emergency finance
facility for primary dealers - including investment banks that do not have
access to the discount window - rose $5.2bn to average $38.1bn over the
week, though the amount outstanding dipped to $34.4bn on April 2.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/surge-in-us-bank-borrowi
ng-from-fed.html
Financial Times Editorial Comment: Catching a US cold Copyright The
Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 2 2008 18:53 | Last updated:
April 2 2008 18:53. After the credit squeeze are we heading for an
affordability crunch? The UK housing market, resilient in the face of the
global financial turmoil of the past six months, may have finally caught a
dose of America’s economic flu. The question now is whether the property
slowdown turns into a slump. Official data show a near 40 per cent
year-on-year fall in mortgage approvals. The decision by First Direct, part
of HSBC, to suspend new mortgage lending marks a serious reappraisal by one
of the UK’s biggest lenders. Despite falls in the Bank of England’s base
interest rate, and probable further easing to come, average interest rates
on new fixed-rate mortgage deals have been rising. Tighter credit conditions
have forced banks to withdraw products, reducing the number of mortgages
available. Homeowners are finding it expensive to refinance debt.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/financial-times-editoria
l-comment.html
International
Financial Times Editorial Comment: Nato closes ranks. Copyright The
Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 4 2008 19:15 | Last updated:
April 4 2008 19:15. President George W. Bush did not get everything he
wanted from Nato’s summit that ended on Friday in Bucharest, but he got
quite a bit. Washington secured alliance support for US missile defence
plans in Europe – implying agreement there is a threat from Iran that
warrants the scheme. He did not win an immediate offer for Ukraine and
Georgia of membership action plans – the final stage before alliance
membership – but got a pledge the two countries’ destinies lie with Nato and
a promise to look again at the question before the year is out.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/financial-times-editoria
l-comment-nato.html
Mugabe opts for run-off election By Alec Russell, Southern Africa
Correspondent. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published:
April 4 2008 19:23 | Last updated: April 4 2008 19:23. Zimbabwe was braced
on Friday night for weeks of political turmoil after President Robert Mugabe
backed hardliners in his Zanu-PF party and opted to fight a run-off
presidential race against the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. In a
further sign of a hardening of the party’s stance, it also said it would
demand a recount in 16 parliamentary constituencies. On Wednesday the
electoral authorities conceded Zanu-PF had lost control of parliament to the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/mugabe-opts-for-run-off-
election.html
Mugabe loses control of parliament By Alec Russell, Southern Africa
Correspondent. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published:
April 1 2008 19:44 | Last updated: April 2 2008 19:27. President Robert
Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party lost control of Zimbabwe’s parliament on Wednesday
for the first time since independence 28 years ago in a humiliating setback
for the veteran autocrat even as the opposition declared it had also
unseated him from the presidency. Four days after unofficial figures from
Saturday’s elections indicated the Movement for Democratic Change was
sweeping to victory, the authorities finally conceded defeat in the
parliamentary race and issued official results giving the MDC a slender
majority in the lower house. This marks the most significant turning point
in Zimbabwe since it won independence from Britain in 1980 and ceased to be
Rhodesia, as it was known in the colonial era. But the MDC was not
celebrating on Wednesday night as it waited for Mr Mugabe to react to its
claims that it had won an outright victory in the presidential poll.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/mugabe-loses-control-of-
parliament.html
China
On Asia: China in too deep to gloat over subprime By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 4 2008 16:20 |
Last updated: April 4 2008 16:20. Given all the financial troubles that the
US is facing, you might expect the Chinese authorities to indulge in a spot
of schadenfreude. Having sat through all those lectures about the need to
liberalise financial markets and the importance of letting foreign
investment banks do their stuff on Chinese turf, a certain amount of quiet
satisfaction might be in order. Indeed, as one Chinese official put it the
other day: “The subprime market is very complicated. Chinese banks are not
nearly sophisticated enough to make those sorts of mistakes.”
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/on-asia-china-in-too-dee
p-to-gloat-over.html
Mess-o-potamia
Al-Maliki halts raids on militia By Liz Sly. Copyright © 2008, Chicago
Tribune. 3:35 AM CDT, April 5, 2008. BAGHDAD — As the dust settles on the
inconclusive battle of Basra, only one thing has become clear: The problems
of Iraq are still a long way from being solved. Instead, the country appears
headed for a new phase in the 5-year-old war, one in which the country's
dominant Shiite factions battle it out for power and influence. Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Friday declared a "freeze" on raids against the
Mahdi Army. This effectively concluded the humiliating climbdown he was
forced to make after sending the Iraqi army into Basra to take on what he
called "criminal gangs," only to see much of southern Iraq and Baghdad
engulfed by a violent backlash from the powerful Mahdi Army loyal to Shiite
cleric Moqtada Sadr.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/al-maliki-halts-raids-on
-militia.html
National
New financial rules won't stop bad choices BY STEVE HUNTLEY. Copyright by
The Chicago Sun-Times. April 1, 2008. Various experts on the economy have
expressed the view that if only the Federal Reserve had had more power and
oversight authority, it could have detected the looming housing/credit
crisis and prevented or at least eased the troubled times we find ourselves
in. That notion is incorporated to some degree in the Bush administration's
proposed overhaul of the nation's financial regulatory apparatus announced
Monday. Yet how realistic is that? No one needed a Ph.D. in economics or
an arsenal of government regulations to see more than a year ago that a
dangerous bubble and a get-rich-quick mentality were inundating the housing
market. Newspapers carried stories of speculators buying and reselling homes
at big profits in a matter of days, and in some spectacular cases, within
hours. Home prices skyrocketed and everyone bet on the come. Sound mortgage
practices went out the window as buyers and lenders -- and the speculators
who gobbled up these mortgages as investments in the arcane derivative
markets -- gambled that next year's higher price could cover this year's
suspect financing. Here's a startling statistic: There was no down payment
on 29 percent of the mortgages originated in 2007. Is it any wonder we're
hearing that millions lost this wild bet and are now stuck with mortgages
worth more than the value of their homes?
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/new-financial-rules-wont
-stop-bad.html
Bush Whacking
Financial Times Editorial Comment: Paulson’s gamble. Copyright The
Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 31 2008 19:10 | Last
updated: March 31 2008 19:10. It must have been tempting to aim for a
quick, crowd-pleasing goal, such as the introduction of hanging for those
who sell or repackage subprime mortgages. But Hank Paulson, the US Treasury
secretary, certainly does not plan to fight the last war. His long-awaited
blueprint for streamlining the US financial regulatory system is not a
knee-jerk response to the credit crisis. That is a relief, given the current
clamour for Something To Be Done. It may even be a step in the right
direction. Mr Paulson’s proposal is to widen the regulatory net and give
greater powers to a smaller number of regulators. The Securities and
Exchange Commission, for example, is to merge with the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission. Insurers could opt for federal regulation rather than
state regulation. The Federal Reserve would acquire more power to curb
risk-taking by investment banks, although this power is intended only to be
used when the overall stability of the financial markets is under threat.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/paulson-says-shake-up-ma
y-take-many.html
Bush appears out of touch on U.S. economic woes By Sheryl Gay Stolberg.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: April 3, 2008.
WASHINGTON: The first hint that President George W. Bush might be detached
from the nation's economic woes was in February, when he conceded that he
had not heard about predictions of $4-a-gallon gasoline. Then Bush went to
Wall Street to warn against "massive government intervention in the housing
markets," two days before his administration helped broker the takeover of
the investment bank Bear Stearns. Now Bush is in Eastern Europe, one of
eight foreign trips he is taking this year. As he delivered his farewell
address to NATO on Wednesday, Senate Democrats and Republicans were
scrambling to produce a bill to help struggling homeowners, the kind of
government intervention Bush had cautioned against.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/bush-appears-out-of-touc
h-on-us.html
International Herald Tribune Editorial - Bush's fear of regulating.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: April 3, 2008. To
understand the White House's blueprint for regulating the financial markets,
start with what the Bush administration did not do. It did not offer America
a plan to respond to the ongoing credit crisis or to the Federal Reserve's
dramatic intervention to prevent the collapse of Bear Stearns. It certainly
did not provide a roadmap for avoiding this sort of meltdown in the future.
The Fed's role in the Bear debacle has put taxpayers at risk of having to
shoulder big losses, but the administration's so-called regulatory reform
does not address what the Bear mess made obvious: if something goes badly
wrong in under-regulated or unregulated corners of the financial markets, it
could topple the whole system. In fact, the blueprint was mostly developed
before the current financial crisis and accordingly comes across as
outdated. The message of the administration's proposals is that the markets
will - and should - return to where they were before the near-collapse of
Bear Stearns. It's doubtful whether many of its suggested policies would
have been apt even in that earlier context. It's indisputable that they are
inapt now.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_04.html
International Herald Tribune Editorial - Wasting and wanting at the
Pentagon. Copyright byh The International Herald Tribune. Published: April
2, 2008. If ever there was an indictment of the wanton ways that the
Pentagon wastes money, a new report by U.S. government auditors is it.
Dozens of the Pentagon's most costly weapons programs are billions of
dollars over budget and years behind schedule. President George W. Bush and
a far-too-compliant Congress have already wasted more than $600 billion on
the disastrous Iraq war. Since Bush took office, the Pentagon's weapons
acquisition budget has doubled from $790 billion in 2000 to $1.6 trillion
last year. Now, in stark terms, we see that an unseemly percentage of that
money has gone to wasteful cost overruns and delays. Even when weapons
systems are finally delivered, investigators say, far too many fail to
deliver the capabilities promised. One example: the Joint Air-to-Surface
Standoff Missile recorded four failures in four flight tests in 2007.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_03.html
International Herald Tribune Editorial - More flimflam on warming.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: March 30, 2008.
On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Air Act empowered
the Environmental Protection Agency to address greenhouse gas emissions from
cars and trucks. The ruling instructed the agency to determine whether
global warming pollution endangers health and welfare - an "endangerment
finding" - and, if so, to devise emissions standards for motor vehicles.
One year has passed, and despite repeated promises from President George W.
Bush and the EPA administrator, Stephen Johnson, nothing has happened. Last
week, Johnson notified Congress that he had discovered new regulatory
complexities and decided against immediate action. Instead, he planned to
offer an "advanced notice of proposed rule-making," which requires a
laborious bureaucratic process that would almost certainly stretch beyond
the end of Bush's term. Johnson appears to have tried to do the right
thing. He ordered his staff to write an endangerment finding and craft
regulations limiting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from
vehicles. In December, according to congressional testimony from senior EPA
officials, he sent the whole package to the White House.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_31.html
Bush housing official resigns By Daniel Pimlott in Washington. Copyright
The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 31 2008 17:12 | Last
updated: March 31 2008 17:12. The top housing official in the Bush
administration resigned on Monday at a crucial point in government efforts
to deal with rising foreclosures. Alphonso Jackson, who has run the
Department of Housing and Urban Development since 2004, said he was stepping
down for personal and family reasons. His resignation comes after the
housing authority in the city of Philadelphia recently filed a suit against
him alleging that he tried to punish the agency for blocking a deal
involving a friend of his. The FBI has also been investigating his
relations with a friend who was paid by the department as a construction
manager in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/bush-housing-official-re
signs.html
Indecision 2008
The Top Ten Craziest Things John McCain Has Said While You Weren't Watching
By Cliff Schecter. Copyright by Alternet,org. Much of McCain's madness has
been lost in the fog of the ongoing battle for the Democratic nomination --
so here's a recap of what you've missed. John McCain has been saying a lot
of downright nutty things lately. You've probably come across some of them,
such as his admitted lack of knowledge about economics or his excitement at
the prospect of remaining in Greater Mesopotamia for the next ten decades.
Yet, alas, much of his craziness has been lost in the fog of the ongoing
battle between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic
presidential nomination. So here's a recap of some nuggets of wisdom you may
have missed -- from McCain's mouth to Bellevue's Ears.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/top-ten-craziest-things-
john-mccain-has.html
Obama’s fundraising puts heat on Clinton By Edward Luce in Washington.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 3 2008 18:45 |
Last updated: April 3 2008 18:45. Barack Obama’s record-breaking online
fund-raising continued in March, netting $40m (£20m, €25m) from almost half
a million donors in spite of his defeats to Hillary Clinton in Texas and
Ohio at the start of the month. Mrs Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic
presidential nomination, which is estimated to have raised only half of Mr
Obama’s total in March, on Thursday said that her opponent had been
outspending her by four-to-one in Pennsylvania, which holds the next primary
election on April 22. The Clinton campaign, which is projected to win
Pennsylvania although some polls show her lead narrowing, estimated that Mr
Obama would continue to outspend her by two-to-one in TV advertising in the
less than three weeks remaining.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/obamas-fundraising-puts-
heat-on-clinton_04.html
Obama says Clinton should stay in race 'as long as she wants' - Says nominee
should be settled come June By Mike Dorning. Copyright © 2008, Chicago
Tribune. 9:21 AM CDT, March 30, 2008. JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Barack Obama
rejected suggestions from his allies that rival Hillary Clinton should end
her presidential campaign, saying Saturday that she should "stay in as long
as she wants." The Illinois senator told reporters that fears that the
prolonged primary battle is dividing the Democratic Party are "somewhat
overstated." Even so, Obama argued that the Democratic Party must quickly
settle on a nominee after the final primary votes are cast on June 3 so
Democrats can quickly shift to the general election campaign that
presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona already has
begun.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/obama-says-clinton-shoul
d-stay-in-race.html
Hillary Clinton cannot let go of her dream By Sally Bedell Smith. Copyright
The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 2 2008 18:26 | Last
updated: April 2 2008 18:26. Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the
Democratic presidential nomination are now anywhere from 5 per cent to 20
per cent. By rights she should be flat on her back, declared the loser by
technical knockout. But not only is she standing; she is plunging ahead with
a dogged ferocity. In spite of Barack Obama’s clear advantage in the
popular vote and committed delegate tallies – a mathematical dominance
unlikely to be reversed even if he loses most of the remaining primary
contests – Mrs Clinton says she is being bullied by the “big boys” and vows
to stay in the race until the Democratic convention. Her relentless
campaign has inspired reporters variously to compare her, with a mixture of
admiration and horror, to the Terminator, a zombie, a cyborg and Anton
Chigurh, the malevolent killer in No Country for Old Men. Even the coughing
spasms that have seized her with alarming frequency these past few months
have become an emblem of her fortitude. After she muscled her way through a
foreign policy address, The New Yorker praised her ability to “suppress the
coughing through sheer will”.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/hillary-clinton-cannot-l
et-go-of-her.html
In Clinton's worldview, lying is OK if it gets her votes By Leonard Pitts.
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune. April 1, 2008. "It was just my
imagination, once again, running away with me." —The Temptations, 1971. In
a way, it's unfair to single out Hillary Clinton for lying. They all do it,
after all. Eight years ago, John McCain, conductor on the Straight Talk
Express, swore he saw nothing wrong with South Carolina flying the
Confederate battle flag atop its statehouse. He later acknowledged this was
a lie. Last week, St. Barack Obama called for passage of legislation "I put
forward with my colleague Chris Dodd" to help homeowners threatened by
foreclosure. The Washington Post says Obama's co-authorship of the bill came
as news to Sen. Dodd.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-clintons-worldview-ly
ing-is-ok-if-it.html
Clintons’ tax details made public By Edward Luce in Washington. Copyright
The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 4 2008 22:52 | Last
updated: April 4 2008 23:28. Hillary and Bill Clinton have earned $109m
since they left the White House in 2000, according to tax returns released
by the Clinton presidential campaign on Friday. The records, which Barack
Obama had been pressing Mrs Clinton to release since the start of the
campaign, reveal that the former First Lady is by far the wealthiest of the
remaining candidates and the second-richest after Mitt Romney, who dropped
out in February. Between 2000 and 2006, the couple paid $33.7m in taxes and
gave away $10.25m to charity. “The Clintons have now made public 30 years of
tax returns, a record matched by few people in public service,” said a
Clinton spokesman, on Friday. “None of her presidential opponents have
revealed anything close to this amount of personal financial information.”
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/clintons-tax-details-mad
e-public.html
Chicagoland
Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - 10 tips for Stroger on hiring watchdog.
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. April 2, 2008. As part of his election
campaign, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger promised to hire an
independent inspector general, someone to investigate corruption in county
government without fear or favor. While he's a bit late in keeping his
promise, he's made some promising steps. An independent panel, filled with
solid names, has been set up to recommend a new inspector general, to
replace the current one, who has deep ties to the Stroger family. The panel
was allowed this week to hire its own executive search firm, after some
resistance from a Stroger ally on the County Board. The annual salary for
the new inspector general has been increased more than 50 percent to
$150,000, a move designed to attract talent to the job.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/chicago-sun-times-editor
ial-10-tips-for.html
Chicago Tribune Editorial - The new taxspeak. Copyright © 2008, Chicago
Tribune. April 2, 2008. Hearing Donna Dunnings—she of the loathsome 1
percent sales tax increase, she of the breathtaking 12 percent pay
raise—explain Cook County's need for still more new tax revenues touched our
hearts. We realized how much we've been missing the late John Stroger. He
was better at this. When John Stroger was president of the County Board, he
was candid about his desire for more tax revenues to sustain his vast
patronage army. Example: On Jan. 6, 2005, Stroger explained why he wanted
new taxes from people who owned cell phones, pagers and other
telecommunications devices. Why them? Stroger's candid rationale in its
entirety: "We would like to get their money from a tax." Asked what mergers
of redundant offices, consolidations of duties or other spending reforms he
would execute to lower the burden on taxpayers, Stroger just smiled and said
nothing. John Stroger, sadly, is no longer with us. His son Todd has his
father's old job. Donna Dunnings—John's niece, Todd's cousin—is Cook
County's chief financial officer. Really, though, she's much more than that.
Todd isn't always dialed in; some county wags refer to Donna as "President
Dunnings."
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/chicago-tribune-editoria
l-new-taxspeak.html
Chicago Tribune Editorial - Emil Jones and a recall Vote. Copyright © 2008,
Chicago Tribune. April 4, 2008. A constitutional amendment to let voters
fire inept state officeholders is almost halfway to the Nov. 4 general
election ballot. There appears to be strong support in the Illinois House.
Whether such an amendment is approved for a ballot slot by the May 4
deadline rests primarily with Senate President Emil Jones and his fellow
Senate Democrats. For too long those Democratic senators have been
inexplicably willing to let Jones, their leader, enable the frantic antics
of Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/chicago-tribune-editoria
l-emil-jones.html
Gov replies -- but he never answers BY CAROL MARIN Sun-Times Columnist.
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. March 30, 2008. Talk about “must-see
TV.” Thursday on NBC5’s 5 p.m. newscast, veteran reporter Phil Rogers did a
story on Gov. Blagojevich that ought to be required viewing for every
student of crisis management and every student of journalism. If you are an
aspiring crisis manager, then what follows is a textbook case of how not to
handle questions about a difficult subject. And if you are an aspiring
journalist, it is a superb study in how even the most relentless reporter
can’t, short of waterboarding, make an unwilling public official give a
straight answer to a direct question.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/gov-replies-but-he-never
-answers.html
Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Keep kids' museum out of Grant Park.
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. April 4, 2008. Building a children's
museum in Grant Park is still a bad idea. And the folks who say it's a bad
idea are still not racists, whatever Mayor Daley may say. On Thursday,
Daley signaled that he's ready to walk right over the objections of
children's museum critics. His Chicago Park District and the museum forged
ahead by applying for a zoning change to build the $100 million museum.
Daley has the votes to push the plan through the City Council, despite
complaints from Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) and residents of the
nearby high-rises. And Daley knows that if they continue to yap, he can do
again what he's now done twice -- tar them as a bunch of bigots afraid of
little black children.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/chicago-sun-times-editor
ial-keep-kids.html
Technology
Apple's iTunes the No. 1 music seller, besting Wal-Mart by Eric Benderoff at
12:45 p.m. and updated at 2:15 p.m.. Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune.
April 3, 2008. Apple just released an announcement confirming it is the
nation's top seller of music, passing Wal-Mart. The source is NPD Group's
Music Watch Survey, which said Apple surpassed Wal-Mart in overall music
sales in both January and February. In 2007, Apple passed Best Buy to
become the nation's second largest music seller. “We launched iTunes less
than five years ago, and it has now become the number one music retailer in
the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes, in the press
release. “We are thrilled, and would like to thank all of our customers for
helping us reach this incredible milestone.”
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/apples-itunes-no-1-music
-seller-besting.html
Financial Times Editorial Comment: Software wars. Copyright The Financial
Times Limited 2008. Published: April 3 2008 19:10 | Last updated: April 3
2008 19:10. Allegations of committee-stuffing, the outcome of votes
overridden by political appointees, a final decision that many involved
consider tainted: this may sound like a discredited election in some third
world country. But it is actually a description of an ugly fight over
international technical standards that wrapped up this week. Microsoft came
out on top, but at the cost of tarnishing its reputation and the credibility
of an important back-room process that oils the wheels of many global
industries. The setting of technical standards is not meant to make for
such good spectator sport. But it is inevitable that commercial and
political interests will encroach on territory best left to the technical
experts. That has been the case with Microsoft’s pursuit of standards
recognition for the document formats contained in the latest version of its
Office software. Microsoft’s PC software is already a de facto standard, but
without formal recognition from the International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO) there was a risk governments and other big customers
would have started to turn to an alternative that already had international
support, the ODF standard backed by IBM. Microsoft got what it wanted –
though only after pulling every lever it could to swing early opposition in
its favour.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/financial-times-editoria
l-comment_04.html
Immigration
Rules to Be Waived for Border Fence By EILEEN SULLIVAN. Copyright 2008
Associated Press. 10:58 AM CDT, April 1, 2008. WASHINGTON - The Bush
administration plans to use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and
regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the
southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said
Tuesday. Invoking the two legal waivers -- which Congress authorized --
would cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that
currently stand in the way of the Homeland Security Department building 267
miles of fencing in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to
officials familiar with the plan. The officials spoke on condition of
anonymity because the waivers had not yet been announced. The move would be
the biggest use of legal waivers since the administration started building
the fence, and it would cover a total of 470 miles along the Southwest
border. Previously, the department has used its waiver authority for two
portions of fence in Arizona and one portion in San Diego.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.bloodspot.com/2008/04/rules-to-be-waived-for-
border-fence.html
GLBT
Chicago Free Press Editorial: Act like an Owner. Copyright by The Chicago
Free Press. April 2, 2008. On April 9 hundreds of Illinoisans are
journeying to the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield to participate in
Equality Illinois’ Lobby Day. The main topic of the day, of course, is
support for Rep. Greg Harris’ civil unions bill. If passed, the bill would
give gay and lesbian couples all of the rights and responsibilities the
State of Illinois gives straight married couples. It’s not marriage—not in
name and not in the eyes of the federal government—but until we win that,
and we will, it gives gay and lesbian couples and their families some sorely
needed benefits and legal clarity. If the bill passes and is signed by the
governor, Illinois would become the first state in the country’s
heartland—the first state not on the East Coast or the West Coast—to pass
such a measure. It would be an historic occurrence.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/civil-union-lobby-day-ne
ars.html
A simple request from Illinois State Representative Greg Harris. He is an
openly gay state rep and a personal friend of mine and mentor. Please help
him in his efforts to pass a Civil Unions Bill. This would help bring the
LBGTQ community closer towards the equal rights we deserve. Another way
you can help is to forward this to all your freinds and family. Heck send it
to people you don't know :) and ask them all to do the same. Subject: Help
me pass civil unions, take action now on www.CivilUnionsIllinois.org. I am
writing to ask for your help with my efforts to pass a Civil Unions bill in
Illinois. I have worked on this since the day I took office, and now that we
are getting close to success, I am pulling out all the stops asking friends
to help get us to the finish line. I know you are busy, but if you could
take a few seconds to help me, I would really appreciate it. Please click
on www.CivilUnionsIllinois.org and send a free, instant message to the
legislature in support of the civil unions bill I have authored. You can
read more about the legislation and the pressing need for civil unions on
www.CivilUnionsIllinois.org. I have worked hand in hand with groups across
the State such as Equality Illinois, Lambda Legal, PFLAG, ACLU and others to
reach out to their members. We have a Facebook.com group where 8,000
Illinois students have joined the effort. Now I need your help to send a
message to my colleagues asking them to support Civil Unions. Please take 3
simple steps to help pass civil unions!
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/simple-request-from-illi
nois-state.html
GLBT seniors’ needs grow as Baby Boomers age By Matt Simonette. Copyright
by The Chicago Free Press. April 3, 2008.
http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/1562 “Throughout our community,
something is happening,” said Phil Hannema, of the Chicago chapter of the
Prime Timers, an organization for gay and bisexual seniors. He said the
Prime Timers’ membership numbers have been climbing recently. As of the
beginning of March, they had just over 200 members, according to Hannema,
who’s been with the group for four or five years. There is some concern, in
fact, that the group might outgrow Ann Sather Restaurant, the location of
its monthly dinner. “We’re growing up a great deal,” said Hannema, who
thinks the membership increase is because “the Baby Boomers are coming along
(now). Even on our board, we’re starting to see some younger members.
There’s a lot of new energy coming in.”
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/glbt-seniors-needs-grow-
as-baby-boomers.html
Appointment of Agent to Control Disposition of Remains By Roger
McCaffrey-Boss. Copyright by Gay Chicago Magazine and Roger McCaffrey-Boss.
April 1, 2008. A peripodic review of changes in the estate planning laws,
tax laws and updating your powers of attorney are essential if you want your
estate plan to continue to meet your needs. The following are three points
that I think relevant for 2008. Appointment of Agent To Control Disposition
of Remains. Pursuant to the new Disposition of Remains Act, effective Jan.
1, 2006, unless a decedent has left directions in writing for the
disposition of the decedent’s remains as provided in the Crematory
Regulation Act, only certain persons, in the priority listed, have the right
to control the disposition, including cremation, of the decedent’s remains.
None of them listed include your LGBT partner.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/appointment-of-agent-to-
control.html
Health Care
Genetic Link Tied to Smoking Addiction By SETH BORENSTEIN. Copyright 2008
Associated Press. 6:11 AM CDT, April 3, 2008. WASHINGTON - Scientists have
pinpointed genetic variations that make people more likely to get hooked on
cigarettes and more prone to develop lung cancer -- a finding that could
someday lead to screening tests and customized treatments for smokers trying
to kick the habit. The discovery by three separate teams of scientists
makes the strongest case so far for the biological underpinnings of nicotine
addiction and sheds more light on how genetics and lifestyle habits join
forces to cause cancer. "This is kind of a double whammy gene," said
Christopher Amos, a professor of epidemiology at the M.D. Anderson Cancer
Center in Houston and author of one of the studies. "It also makes you more
likely to be dependent on smoking and less likely to quit smoking."
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/genetic-link-tied-to-smo
king-addiction.html
Paternity tests for sale over counter - DNA kits cost $30 at store, plus
$120 for lab results in 3-5 days By Ylan Q. Mui. Copyright by The
Washington Post. 11:07 AM CDT, March 30, 2008. For years, women have been
able to go to the drugstore to answer a question: pregnant or not? Now
science has taken testing a step further, and those same drugstore shelves
are stocking kits to answer another, equally pressing question: father or
not? The Identigene DNA paternity test was rolled out at Rite Aid stores
nationwide this month and sells for $29.99 — plus $119.99 for laboratory
processing. Identigene promises results that are at least 99 percent
accurate in three to five days.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/paternity-tests-for-sale
-over-counter.html
Experts Now Recommend Hands-Only CPR By STEPHANIE NANO . Copyright 2008
Associated Press. 9:09 PM CDT, March 31, 2008. NEW YORK - You can skip the
mouth-to-mouth breathing and just press on the chest to save a life. In a
major change, the American Heart Association said Monday that hands-only CPR
-- rapid, deep presses on the victim's chest until help arrives -- works
just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults. Experts
hope bystanders will now be more willing to jump in and help if they see
someone suddenly collapse. Hands-only CPR is simpler and easier to remember
and removes a big barrier for people skittish about the mouth-to-mouth
breathing. "You only have to do two things. Call 911 and push hard and fast
on the middle of the person's chest," said Dr. Michael Sayre, an emergency
medicine professor at Ohio State University who headed the committee that
made the recommendation.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/experts-now-recommend-ha
nds-only-cpr.html
International Herald Tribune Editorial - Pushing for an AIDS vaccine.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: March 30, 2008.
Back in 1984, U.S. health officials, flush with excitement over discovery of
the virus that causes AIDS, predicted that they would have a vaccine ready
for market within three years. Now, after almost a quarter century of
struggle, the effort has crashed. No one knows whether a vaccine to prevent
the disease will ever be possible. At a conference at the National
Institutes of Health last Tuesday, AIDS experts assessed how to proceed
after the failure of the most promising vaccine candidate in two large
clinical trials last year.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_300.html
Other
Lunch with the FT: Isabel Allende By Richard Waters. Copyright The
Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 4 2008 23:12 | Last updated:
April 4 2008 23:12. A former brothel on an eerily still backstreet of
Sausalito seems an appropriate place to meet one of Latin America’s foremost
magical realists. Outside, the azaleas and camellias are starting to flower,
and the absolute clarity of the northern Californian light gives an extra
sharpness to the building’s renovated cedar shingles. It feels like you’ve
stepped into an Edward Hopper painting. The ethereal calm is matched
perfectly by the poised stillness of the receptionist at Isabel Allende’s
office. I know who she is. In fact, I’ve just read about her. She is
Juliette, the one who married for love and ran away to Greece, bringing up
her two sons while running an idyllic cliff-top restaurant. Then she was
widowed, returned to California and offered up her womb as a surrogate
mother – not once but twice, though the second attempt ended in failure and
a childless Lori had to accept that the three stepchildren already in her
life were enough. But that’s another story.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/lunch-with-ft-isabel-all
end_05.html
Humor
New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos
and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/
In Pride (orgullo),
Carlos T. Mock, MD
Www.carlostmock.com
Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003.
Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT
Round Table.
Author: The Mosaic Virus – Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall
Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie
from The Lambda Literary Foundation
Author: Author: Papi Chulo – Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a
Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a
Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation
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