Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- April 29, 2012

Does Believing in the Recovery make it Real - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - Charles Hugh Smith - April 28, 2012 - Basing a "virtuous cycle" on lies and propaganda is self-defeating.           Does believing in the "recovery" make it real? The propaganda policies of the Federal Reserve and the Federal government are based on the hope that you'll answer "yes." The entire "recovery" is founded on the idea that if the Fed and Federal agencies can persuade the citizenry that down is up then people will hurry into their friendly "too big to fail" bank and borrow scads of money to bid up housing, buy new vehicles, and generally spend money they don't have in the delusional belief that inflation is low, wages are rising and the economy is growing.                  In other words, the "virtuous cycle" of new debt feeding economic growth is based on conning (or brow-beating) the American public into believing that the "recovery" is real. Our "leaders" hope this baseless belief will spark a buying frenzy that then fuels a real recovery.                    Perception may seem like everything to our Delusionol(tm)-soaked "leaders," but reality still trumps the con. Real wages are declining and debt loads are still crushing, so the new cycle of borrowing and consumption the Fed and Central State want to create requires trillions of dollars of free money, either guarantees or subsidies from Federal agencies or trillions in monetary printing via "quantitative easing."             Everybody loves free money, but once again reality trumps fantasy, for guaranteeing lenders from loss leads to moral hazard, and distributing free money leads people to gamble it on speculation or other forms of unproductive mal-investment.                       So all the free money is squandered or gambled away, but the Federal government is left with the debt it took on to fund the trillions in give-aways. That means the cost of servicing all that new debt rises, which means either government spending on other programs has to be cut or taxes have to rise, reducing disposable income, savings and consumption.
Free money and guarantees incentivize speculation and mal-investment, so the money is squandered, leaving the immense debts behind to be serviced from now until Doomsday (December 21, 2021--the Mayan astronomer/sage was dyslexic.)

Chart Of The Day: Change In Q1 American Debt And GDP - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - April 27, 2012 - Presented without much commentary, because little is necessary: the only ratio that matters for the US economy, the change in US public debt ($359.1 billion) and US GDP ($142.4) in the first quarter, hit 2.52x and rising. It takes $2.52 in new debt to "buy" $1 of economic "growth"

Epic Fail Part 1 - The Burning Platform - Jim Quinn - April 23, 2012 - The first fact that can’t be ignored is how many Americans are actually unemployed today. Here is some truth you won’t get from a politician or media talking head:

• There are 243 million working age Americans.
• There are 142 million employed Americans.
• Only 101 million of the employed Americans are working more than 35 hours per week. This means that only 41.6% of all working age Americans have a full-time job.
• According to the government drones at the BLS, 88 million Americans have “chosen” to not be in the labor force – the highest level in U.S. history.
• The percentage of Americans in the workforce at 63.8% is the lowest since 1980 and down from a peak of 67.1% in 2000. The difference between these two percentages is 8 million Americans.
• The BLS reports there are only 12.7 million unemployed Americans in the country, down from 15.3 million in 2009.
• The BLS reports the unemployment rate has dropped from 10% in late 2009 to 8.3% today. Over this time frame the working age population grew by 5.7 million, while the number of employed Americans grew by 3.6 million. Only a government drone could interpret this data and report a dramatic decline in the unemployment rate.

Cooling Job Market Takes Toll on U.S. Confidence: Economy - Bloomberg - Timothy R. Homan and Shobhana Chandra - April 26, 2012 - More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week and consumer confidence declined by the most in a year, signaling that a cooling labor market may restrain household spending.             Jobless claims fell to 388,000 from a revised 389,000 the prior week that was the highest since early January, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index declined to minus 35.8 from minus 31.4 the previous week.              “There has been some slowdown in the labor market,” said Yelena Shulyatyeva, a U.S. economist at BNP Paribas in New York, who correctly projected the level of jobless claims. “That makes consumers feel less confident, and makes them more cautious about their spending. We could see some weakness in April payrolls.”



US Economy Grows at Tepid 2.2% Pace; Misses Estimates - Reuters through CNBC - April 27, 2012 - U.S. economic growth cooled in the first quarter as businesses cut back on investment and restocked shelves at a moderate pace, but stronger demand for automobiles softened the blow....               Gross domestic product [cnbc explains] expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its advance estimate, moderating from the fourth quarter's 3 percent rate.             While that was below economists' expectations for a 2.5 percent pace, a surge in consumer spending took some of the sting from the report. However, growth was still stronger than analysts' predictions early in the quarter for an expansion below 1.5 percent.


Insight: Falling home prices drag new buyers under water - Reuters - Tim Reid - April 26, 2012 - More than 1 million Americans who have taken out mortgages in the past two years now owe more on their loans than their homes are worth, and Federal Housing Administration loans that require only a tiny down payment are partly to blame.                      That figure, provided to Reuters by tracking firm CoreLogic, represents about one out of 10 home loans made during that period.                     It is a sobering indication the U.S. housing market remains deeply troubled, with home values still falling in many parts of the country, and raises the question of whether low-down payment loans backed by the FHA are putting another generation of buyers at risk.                 As of December 2011, the latest figures available, 31 percent of the U.S. home loans that were in negative equity - in which the outstanding loan balance exceeds the value of the home - were FHA-insured mortgages, according to CoreLogic.                    Many borrowers, particularly since late 2010, thought they were buying at the bottom of a housing market that had already suffered steep declines, but have been caught out by a continued fall in prices in wide swaths of America.                 Even for loans taken out in December - less than four months ago and the last month for which data is available - nearly 44,000 borrowers, or about 7.5 percent of the total, now find themselves under water.                          "The overwhelming majority of the U.S. is still seeing home prices decline," said CoreLogic senior economist Sam Khater. "Many borrowers continue to be quickly wiped out."....


U.S. Firms Add Jobs, but Mostly Overseas - Wall Street Journal - Scott Thurm - April 27, 2012 - Thirty-five big U.S.-based multinational companies added jobs much faster than other U.S. employers in the past two years, but nearly three-fourths of those jobs were overseas, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.             Those companies, which include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., International Paper Co., Honeywell International Inc. and United Parcel Service Inc., boosted their employment at home by 3.1%, or 113,000 jobs, between 2009 and 2011, the same rate of increase as the nation's other employers. But they also added more than 333,000 jobs in their far-flung—and faster-growing— foreign operations. (Subscriber Article)


The Family Farm Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America - The Economic Collapse Blog - An entire way of life is rapidly dying right in front of our eyes.  The family farm is being systematically wiped out of existence in America, and big agribusiness and the federal government both have blood all over their hands.  According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of farms in the United States has fallen from about 6.8 million in 1935 to only about 2 million today.  That doesn't mean that there is less farming going on.  U.S. farms are producing more than ever.  But what it does mean is that farming is increasingly becoming dominated by the big boys.  The rules of the game have been tilted in favor of big agribusiness so dramatically that most small farmers find that they simply cannot compete anymore.  Back in 1900, about 39 percent of the U.S. population worked on farms.  At this point, only about 2 percent of all Americans now live on farms.  Big agribusiness, the food processing conglomerates, and big seed companies such as Monsanto completely dominate the industry.  Unless something dramatic is done, the family farm is going to continue to be wiped out of existence.  Unfortunately, it does not look like things are going to turn around any time soon.                 The way that the farming industry is structured today, it is simply not economically feasible to operate a small family farm.  According to Farm Aid, every week approximately 330 farmers leave their land for good.                 Many old timers are trying to hang on for as long as they can.  A very large percentage of family farmers are in their fifties, sixties or seventies at this point.  Today, only about 6 percent of all farmers are under the age of 35.
Most young people these days are not too eager to choose farming as a career.  A lot of young adults that grew up on family farms have decided that investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a business that requires you to work 12 hours or more per day most of the year for very meager wages is simply not worth it.             In recent years, many family farmers have been forced to find second jobs in order to support their families.  Many farm families are constantly on the verge of financial ruin.  It is a really tough life for many of them.             Sadly, less than 25 percent of all farms in America bring in gross revenues in excess of $50,000.  The following comes from the EPA website....




‘Prison complex one of the fastest growing industries in US’ - PressTV - April 26, 2012 - “The prison industrial complex is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States,” according to Randy Short, a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Baltimore, who spoke to Press TV on Thursday.                   Describing the exploitation of inmates in the U.S., Short said, “American prisons now have industries that run from high tech to furniture, so there’s a large amount of products being made for even fortune 500 companies in particular, I would mention Microsoft and Mr. Bill Gates who everyone thinks is such a wonderful humanitarian.”                  “If you look at who’s being arrested and who’s being put in prison for the longest terms, this has always been the way the United States has made it,” Short said.                     The Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest private prison company, has offered to buy nearly all the nation’s state prisons. “To ensure their profitability, the corporation insists that it be guaranteed that the prisons be kept at least 90 percent full.”

TEDx Hickory April 21, 2012 - Part 3 - Crumpler & Inks and Hartman

Jonathon Crumpler and Zach Inks teach Computer Science courses in Morganton at Western Piedmont Community College.

Carol Anne Hartman is a photographer, art instructor, and initiator of Hickory Arts -- a ccenter of multi-faceted artistic endeavors.

TEDx Hickory April 21, 2012 - Part 2 - Edwards and Simmons

Barry Edwards - Catawba County EcoComplex

NORTH CAROLINA'S CATAWBA COUNTY SELECTS NEXTERRA/GE BIOMASS CHP SYSTEM
Nexterra debuts biomass CHP system
Future Economy Council Meeting #17 - (August 20, 2010)


Rob Simmons - Local Entrepreneur - Frontiers

The New Frontier - The Hickory Hound - Tuesday, September 27, 2011

TEDx Hickory April 21, 2012 - Part 1 - Horan and Brzorad

TedX Program and Notes - April 21,2012 - Hickory Hound

TedX Program Guide - This is a guide to all of the people who made presentations and TedX and what the TedX Hickory Event is about.





The Hound's TedX Notes - (PDF File) - These are the notes that were taken in relation to each presenter at the TedX Hickory Event.



One at a time over the next few days I will be putting out the audio of each of the presenters. I know that Alan Jackson and the Media Guild will soon be putting out Video from the event. It was a very exciting event with 150 people in attendance. The attendees were limited because this was the first year of the event. This event was awesome and I would highly suggest that you attend next year's presentations.

Often  the Hound is criticized for putting out negative information. The information is what it is. This information is very positive. It relates how entrepreneurs-innovators-artists are making a go of it in our area. These people aren't making a killing, but they are in charge of their long term destiny and they are pursuing their passions.

So I hope as these presentations are released to the public that you will afford yourself the opportunity to find out about the leaders in this community -- The Doers and Makers.

Union Square Canopy Cost Figures

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- April 22, 2012

Competing Narratives In Our Economic Outlook - The International Forecaster - Bob Chapman - April 18 2012: The deception continues, silver manipulation, a criminal enterprise in the gold and silver markets, pension needs underestimated for an aging population, J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo grilled by analysts, competing narratives in the market.               Deception continues, as we are told unemployment (U-3) is 8.3%; without a mention that (U-6) is 14.9%. That means if you eliminate the birth/death ratio you come up with an overall unemployment number of 22.4%.              As we mentioned earlier we expect the administration to try to attempt to push U-3 down to 7.5% before the election. Whether they will be successful in that endeavor remains to be seen. In reality almost 1/5th of working Americans are either unemployed or underemployed.             In a recent issue we included a link of an interview with the head of commodities for JPM, Blythe Masters. What she had to say concerning the silver market was very interesting. At least over the past five years even speaking about manipulation on CNBC has been forbidden. This latest encounter was staged in order for Morgan to officially cover its tracks in what the CFTC has allowed to become a rigged, manipulated market. JPM for the first time in Ms. Masters, answer has admitting silver manipulation.



FoodStamp Nation - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - April 20, 2012 - The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service released a new report on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly known as Food Stamps) earlier this week with some fresh data on the program. Given our earlier note on Mr.EBT, we thought the following brief clip from Bloomberg TV on the $82bn-per-year program would provide some rather shockingly sad insights and then Nic Colas' recent focus on the SNAP report provides some much more in depth color.  First and foremost, there are 46.5 million Americans in the program as of the most recent information available (January 2012), comprising 22.2 million households.  That’s 15% of the entire population, and just over 20% of all households.  Moreover, despite the end of the official “Great Recession” in June 2009, over 10 million more Americans have been accepted into the program since that month, and the year-over-year growth rate for the program is still +5%.  The USDA’s report is, not surprisingly, very upbeat on the utility of the program.  Fair enough.  But what does it mean when 20% of all households cannot afford to buy the food they need for their families?  To our thinking, it highlights an underappreciated new facet of American economic life – one that will be felt everywhere from the ballot box to the upcoming Federal Deficit debates.

Russia Stunned After Japanese Plan to Evacuate 40 Million Revealed - The European Union Times - April 18, 2012 - A new report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared by the Foreign Ministry on the planned re-opening of talks with Japan over the disputed Kuril Islands during the next fortnight states that Russian diplomats were “stunned” after being told by their Japanese counterparts that upwards of 40 million of their peoples were in “extreme danger” of life threatening radiation poisoning and could very well likely be faced with forced evacuations away from their countries eastern most located cities… including the world’s largest one, Tokyo.

The Kuril Islands are located in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast region and stretch approximately 1,300 km (810 miles) northeast from Hokkaido-, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many more minor rocks. It consists of Greater Kuril Ridge and Lesser Kuril Ridge, all of which were captured by Soviet Forces in the closing days of World War II from the Japanese.

The “extreme danger” facing tens of millions of the Japanese peoples is the result of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster that was a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the To-hoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011.

According to this report, Japanese diplomats have signaled to their Russian counterparts that the returning of the Kuril Islands to Japan is “critical” as they have no other place to resettle so many people that would, in essence, become the largest migration of human beings since the 1930’s when Soviet leader Stalin forced tens of millions to resettle Russia’s far eastern regions.

Important to note, this report continues, are that Japanese diplomats told their Russian counterparts that they were, also, “seriously considering” an offer by China to relocate tens of millions of their citizens to the Chinese mainland to inhabit what are called the “ghost cities,” built for reasons still unknown and described, in part, by London’s Daily Mail News Service in their 18 December 2010 article titled: “The Ghost Towns Of China: Amazing Satellite Images Show Cities Meant To Be Home To Millions Lying Deserted” that says:

There Is Not Going To Be A Solution To Our Economic Problems On The National Level - The Economic Collapse Blog - For those waiting for our economic problems to be solved, you can quit holding your breath. There is simply not going to be a solution to our economic problems on the national level. So why is that the case? Well, it is because the economic policies of both major political parties are very, very similar when you take a close look at them. Yes, that statement may sound downright bizarre to many Americans, but it is true. Both major political parties supported the Wall Street bailouts, both of them fully support the job-killing "free trade" globalization agenda, both of them have dramatically increased the national debt when in power, both of them fully support the currency-killing policies of the Federal Reserve, and neither major political party would get rid of the income tax and the IRS. And that is just for starters. Yes, there are some minor differences when it comes to taxing and spending between the two parties, but the truth is that they are a lot more similar on economic issues than they are different. What we desperately need on the national level is a fundamental change in direction when it comes to economic policy, but we simply are not going to get that from either the Democrats or the Republicans. That means that there is no hope that the economic storm that is coming will be averted.               So why are the Democrats and the Republicans so similar on these issues? Well, a big reason is because of who they are trying to please.                 The reality of the matter is that most politicians do not really care about what you or I have to say. Instead, what they are really concerned about is getting as much money for their campaigns as possible so that they can keep getting elected.             When you take a close look at the results of federal elections over the past several decades, it quickly becomes apparent that the candidate that raises the most money almost always wins.                    So most politicians have learned to please those that fund their campaigns so that the money will keep rolling in.                Yes, there are a few candidates that are willing to rebel against "the system", but they are few and far between and the major parties tend to marginalize them.               Once again in 2012, political races will overwhelmingly be won by those that raise the most cash...

Fewer U.S. states report job gains in March - Associated Press via USA Today - Christopher S. Rugaber - April 20, 2012 - The Labor Department says that 29 states reported job gains in March, while 20 states lost jobs. That's worse than February, when 42 states added jobs.          Still, the unemployment rate fell in most states: 30 states reported lower rates in March while 8 reported increases. Rates were unchanged in 12 states.         Nationwide, the unemployment rate fell to 8.2% in March from 8.3%. But employers added only 120,000 jobs, half the pace of the previous three months.               That dip in hiring, along with recent increases in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits, has raised some concerns that job gains could slow in coming months.



U.S. Previously Owned Home Sales Unexpectedly Fell in March - Bloomberg - By Lorraine Woellert - Apr 19, 2012 - Sales of previously owned U.S. homes in March unexpectedly fell for the third time in the last four months, showing an uneven recovery in the housing market.                      Purchases dropped 2.6 percent to a 4.48 million annual rate from 4.6 million in February, the National Association of Realtors reported today in Washington. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey called for an increase to 4.61 million. In January, sales at a 4.63 million rate were the strongest since May 2010.             Residential real estate remains the economy’s soft spot, challenged by stricter lending standards, lower home values and the threat of more foreclosures. An improved labor market and mortgage rates near historic lows have yet to stoke bigger gains in demand.


Future Economy Council - America ’s Aging Workforce Crisis - Hickory Hound - April 20, 2012 - The Future Economy Council yesterday - Thursday, April 19th at 8:00 am - at the Chamber of Commerce discussed the issue of  “America’s Aging Workforce Crisis.”  This is not a weak signal but a future trend that will change the way American business recruits and retains their employees. Starting in January 2011, we began the largest human capital demographic change in American history. Boomers are retiring at record levels and the XYZ Gen’s that follow are not enough to fill the vacant jobs. This is a very important issue that needs to be discussed and prepared for. This is a present day issue already affecting our area and it will either lead to opportunities or once again find us vulnerable to the laws of nature.