Several Things - December 6 2019

Joe Biden   I keep saying that Joe Biden is IMO a nasty bully masquerading as a benevolent, highly experienced and wise curmudgeon with deep roots in the Labor Unions.  He is none of those things.  In evidence of that he yesterday advanced menacingly toward a man who had the audacity to challenge the "Joe Biden" show and narrative.  This was in Iowa.  The man told him he (Biden)  was too old to be president (He is). The man questioned the probity of Joe's narcotics addled son''s appointment to the board of directors of  a corrupt enterprise in Ukraine.  Joe was visibly enraged and it seemed for a minute that he would attack this citizen.  Really, Democrats?  Really?  Him?  Bloomberg? Hilly?  Booker?  Castro? Warren?

Jobs.  The Labor Department employment report released today states that the US economy added 266,000 new jobs in November rather then the expected 186,000.  The unemployment rate fell to 3.5 %.  This is full employment because there is a certain amount of structural unemployment inherent in any economy.  "Impeachment?" What's that?

St. Nancy the hypocrite a reporter asked Pelosi yesterday if she acts from hatred of Trump.  She responded that having been raised as a Catholic she does not hate anyone because we are taught to hate the sin and love the sinner. Well, pilgrims, Catholics are expected to practice their religion through both faith and deeds and to accept the teaching of the Church.  In spite of the hopes of some, this is not a cafeteria operation.  One does not pick and choose among the Church's teachings. If you can't accept them, you leave.  Pelosi is in spiritual rebellion against the Church's teaching on abortion.  Catholic teaching is that abortion is murder plain and simple.  There are some Catholic politicians who claim to compartment their personal beliefs and actions from their responsibility to their non-Catholic constituents.  I do not challenge that having done much the same as a government servant but that is not the case with St. Nancy who is an ardent advocate for abortion.  BTW if the US government had sought to require me to do something immoral I would have refused and taken the consequences.

Riots in Paris  I like France, the French language, their wine, their cheese, their women and their style of life, but I am not blind to the faults of the French.  One of these is a tendency to take to the streets over grievances or perceived grievances  in society.  France has a highly regulated economy that does not particularly favor growth of the kind now being experienced in the US.  "Bureaucracy" as a word is French in origin.  At the same time the welfare state is massive and all pervasive.  In fact the welfare state with its early retirements and cradle to grave benefits is just too big to be sustained by the economy of the country.  This conflict of means and ends is strangling the country's ability to function.  Macron knows this and has been trying over the last year or so to "whittle down" the outputs enough to have them align with the inputs in the economy.  The result has been the "Yellow Sweaters" street riots and now a new wave of riots resisting attempts to change retirement laws.  This street activity will burn itself out but the  riots are likely to be prolonged. 

 The Shooting In Pensacola  A Saudi military trainee went shahiid (berserk)today and killed three people.  The naval aviation center there routinely trains foreign aviators.  There was nothing unusual in the man's presence on base.  He had been in training for a year.  King Salman sent his condolences supposedly saying to Trump that he and the Saudi people love the US and the American people.  Well, pilgrims, I lived in The Kingdom for several years and have visited many times and I do not remember indications of their love for us.  It will be interesting to learn if the student just ran amok crying Allahu Akbar! or couldn't make it in class or both.  pl

 

Comments

[D White]

I find it interesting that before he was elected, Trump complained that the employment figures were fudged. Not so much now.

[J]

Probably a course washout who couldn't face that reality and what was in store for him when he got back home.

[turcopolier]

D White

Do you think the employment statistics are fake, and, if so, who faked them?

[oldman22]

There has been a steady "revision" of the basis for unemployment statistics, for many years. The main factor which is manipulated is the determination that those who have quit actively seeking jobs are no longer counted as unemployed. In fact there are many who have become discouraged and "given up" for sensible reasons.
Dean Baker and some other economists suggest that the more meaningful figure is ration of employed to population "EPOP".
Dean Baker's latest review of the employment statistics is very favorable:
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy added 266,000 jobs in November. While this figure is inflated by the return of roughly 50,000 striking GM autoworkers, upward revisions to the prior two months’ data brought the three-month average to a solid 205,000. The unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent, returning to a 50-year low.
. . .
The data in the household survey was generally positive. The overall employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) remained at a recovery high of 61.0 percent for the third straight month. The EPOP for prime-age workers (ages 25 to 54) also remained at its recovery high of 80.3 percent. The EPOP for prime-age men edged up 0.2 percent to 86.7 percent, a high reached in March, while the EPOP for women slipped 0.1 percentage point to 74.1 percent, which is still a full percentage point above its year-ago level."
http://cepr.net/data-bytes/jobs-bytes/jobs-2019-12

[SAC Brat]

How does a foreign national obtain a handgun in the US? What kind of visa was Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani in the US with?

[J]

Interesting....the connections between the Epstein case and the Weinstein case......Israeli Intelligence. Epstein and Maxwell's daughter Ghislaine ran an Israeli Intelligence Honey Trap blackmail operation, designed to blackmail U.S. Politicians. And Weinstein activity was scrubbed by Mossad connected Black Cube, using pressure and intimidation against witnesses and investigative journalists.

Every Israeli Intelligence Asset operating on U.S. soil needs to be neutralized one way or another.

[JamesT]

Ari Ben-Menashe, who wrote an unauthorized book detailing his time in the Mossad (which Mossad officials claim isn't true), is saying that he helped recruit Jeffrey Epstein, that Epstein was a Mossad agent, and that Epstein was running a blackmail operation for Mossad:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/epstein-was-mossad-agent-used-blackmail-american-politicians-says-former-israeli-spy

[Norbert M Salamon]

Sir:
It is in the interest of OECD governments to claim low unemployment rates, this includes the US. Result, lower payments to those not working, rosier picture of national economy, etc.

The way to achieve such low rates is to regularly redefine what is the meaning of the term "UNEMPLOYED PERSON" - by the respective government.

Here in Canada this term is defined as a person who was looking for a job in the previous 4 weeks. My son in law is not unemployed since he did not apply for a low playing service job - his trade for the last 20+ years involved oil/gas drilling - that area of employment is rather limited now days. I know of electricians who were without job for many months, they were not unemployed.

Without doubt, I can explain the low inflation rate claimed by both US and Canada - which rate is completely divergent from that experienced by the average family [courtesy of hedonic adjustments, forced substitutions to lower quality, etc.]

Cheers

[srw]

I take issue with your statement, "St. Nancy who is an ardent advocate for abortion". From what I can read she does not advocate for abortions, but believes it is between the woman, her conscience, and doctor on whether or not to get an abortion; but that abortion should be legal under certain criteria. In this regard she is in company with the majority of Americans including Catholics.
In an Aug. 12, 2019 phone interview with Catholic News Service: "Catholics "mirror the rest of the country pretty closely, particularly white Catholics," she (Natalie Jackson, director of research for the Public Religion Research Institute), added. Fifty-three percent of white Catholics believe most or all abortions should be legal compared to 40% who say most or all should be illegal, Jackson noted, "so they're right in line" with the majority of Americans." Those Catholics who attend church every week show a higher percentage who view abortions should be illegal.

[upstater]

re. French early retirements... Does working 30 years at the SNCF (railroad) or Post Office (rain or snow or sleet or hail) teaching incorrigibles in the banlieues not entitle those workers for retirement? None of those jobs are easy.

The US military and most public safety workers in the US can retire after 20 years -- age 38! What is the carrying cost of THAT? We have plenty of welfare of the corporate sort and a health care "system" that costs double of France's with worse outcomes. I suggest the US has major problems that make France's look trivial.

[Upstate NY'er]

Pensacola shooting:
According to TV news, the shooter was brought down by a SWAT team from the local Sheriff's Office.
Does the Navy treat security with the same "priority" as ship handling?
Marine security guards?

[Eric Newhill]

Congress, at least the Democrat side of it, appears to not be as controlled by Israel and Wall St as some think it is. More like the Democrats are imitating the French street rioters.

[d74]

I am French. And I love this site, always well informed.

The French situation resists any comfortable simplification.

Personally, I think our social and economic system was one of the best. It was evolving and sustainable. The State had an important redistributive role and it was moral. It remains an enviable goal. This is not socialism. I repeat: nothing to do with socialism. Fifteen years ago, the Navy Chief of Staff was able to write that there was an air of freedom in every village in France that was unknown elsewhere. I don't think he could write it again. The total level of taxation (unduly complex) was high, but so was the redistribution. Over the past 15 years, taxes have increased and redistribution has fallen sharply.

French capitalism has always been deficient. Its followers are not entrepreneurs or directors. This is why the role of the State in the industrial sector was so important. This role, which was carried out without any problems, was rather beneficial. In all this, there is an original French way of doing things that escapes comfortable "isms". We continue to live on his legacy, squandered more or less quickly. Capitalism dilapidation, of course. Our industrial base has almost been destroyed .

We have a cancer in France: the French-American Young Leader organization (created in 1972). For the past 15 years, all rulers have gone through this institution of intellectual rectification. Even a captain commanding a SNLE (a nuclear submarine firing nuclear missiles-13000t 16 missiles-6 stealth warheads-120 Megatonnes per head) Hello, defence all azimuths. This may not be true (that he betrays) but there is suspicion.
My main criticism of this institution is that it denationalizes its students and does not give them moral courage. They already had so few. The lack of political courage is our main weakness, as is well known.
In total, it is a brainwashing that keeps the Young Leaders away from French issues. Their concern is to please their US masters and imitate them. It's a disaster because they are emulating. This is not different from what the Colonel says in "Bureaucrats Versus Artists".

The Yellow Vests reflect this dissatisfaction. In my opinion, they are here to stay.

One detail: I have heart disease. All consultations and medicines related to this "long-term illness" are free of charge to me. But I pay 220 Euro per month for supplementary insurance. In fact, I don't make the gesture of paying, this amount is withdrawn from my retirement without my being able to do anything about it. I accept it without any problem. The cost of this illness is less than 220 Euro per month. It is a collective insurance, a flow not a stock, with a social vocation of solidarity, something modern time cannot accept.

[Seamus Padraig]

The official figures on employment, inflation and much else are a total joke and have been for decades now. Follow Paul Craig Roberts or John Williams (ShadowStats) for more details.

[turcopolier]

seamus padraig

If you say so, boss.

[turcopolier]

d74

Oui, on sait que vous etes Francais. Bienvenue.

[turcopolier]

srw

Those Catholics who favor abortion are also in rebellion against Church teaching.

[turcopolier]

upstater

A service member retiring at 38 is usually an NCO, frequently from the ground combat arms with a lot of ohysical problems from skeletal damage, prolonged exposure, etc. His retired pay is 55% of base pay. In metro areas you cannot live on that at enlisted grades. Would you prefer to do away with 20 years retirements and have 60 year old infantrymen?

[turcopolier]

All

The general opinion is that the employment.economic data is a fraud? That sounds like anti-Trump bias to me.

[Vegetius]

What do you think of Guillaume Faye?

[Vegetius]

I cannot understand how any Democrat who is interested in winning in 2020 can think that Biden is their best candidate. Similarly, I do not understand how any neoliberal can think that backing Biden will save their positions in the party apparatus. If Biden is nominated and is badly beaten, the dinosaurs now running the party will not be able to simultaneously hold off the prog left while also holding the party together. But they seem bent on repeating the same mistake the GOP made in 2012 with Romney.

If Biden had a better answer - or any answer - regarding Hunter, that would be one thing. Like Kamala Harris's inability to respond to attacks on her Weed-For-Me-But-Not-For-Thee stance, the media shield surrounding Borg-ists does not help them when they are unable to avoid questions about actually existing reality.

Questions about his crackhead son is an obvious trigger, and all Biden is doing is telegraphing this opening to Trump. The President, who never got the memo that the job of conservatives is to lose gracefully and repeatedly so long as the tax cuts flowed, will not shrink from using this the way a loser like Romney would.

[Norbert M Salamon]

With respect Colonel:

for another view on CURRENT unemployment RATE in any country compare the job participation rate over reasonable length of time. In the case of USA from the peak to present the decline is approximately 5% at the same time that the unemployment rate also declined. So obviously there is some manipulation - this also applies to Canada and probably to other OECD countries, thus negating any reference to pro vs. anti Trump bias.

[Dwight]

I understand the general opinion to be that the President Trump is citing the "U3" rate of unemployment, and that the U6 rate or the labor participation rate would better reflect unemployment and economic distress in our citizenry. This criticism applies to prior administrations as well, and was likely the argument made by Trump during the Obama administration. It's fair for Trump to cite improvement in the U3 rate, and biased to argue he shouldn't make that comparison with U3 under Obama. It would be nice if he could also say that he wants to improve the U6 or labor participation rate, which would be consistent with his criticism prior to be elected.

[Eric Newhill]

Sir,
It's not a fraud.

Naysayers, Rather than repeating what some commie operative with severe TDS says and thinking you know it all, it is instructive to go right to the Bureau of Labor site - https://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm

The site clearly explains how the figures and calculated, how terms are defined, etc

BTW..The Obama and Bush Jr admins were subject to the same definitions and calculations. So it apples to apples and their economy stunk compared to Trumps.

[Outrage Beyond]

Yes, the employment data is fake, due to ongoing redefinition of the terms.

This has been both true and well-known since long before Trump.

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+are+unemployment+statistics+fake