Full article – Business Insider
Comments »Afghan Mob Kills 10 U.N. Workers To Protest Florida Pastor Koran Burning
Ford Auto Sales Jump 19%
A Few More Bids For Blockbuster Before a Bankruptcy Filing Next Week
6.2 M Earthquake Strikes Greece
“A strong earthquake struck the southern Greek island of Crete on Friday, rattling buildings as far away as Cairo, Egypt, across the Mediterranean. Local police said they had no immediate reports of damage or injuries.”
Comments »Libyan Rebels Set Cease Fire Parameters
“BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya’s rebels will agree to a cease-fire if Muammar al-Qaddafi pulls his military forces out of cities and allows peaceful protests against his regime, an opposition leader said Friday.”
Comments »Rail Traffic Expands
“Rail traffic continued its steady expansion this week as carloads moved higher by 1.9% and intermodal volume jumped 5.9% versus the same week last year. The AAR elaborates on the data:”
Full article – Pragmatic Capitalism
Comments »GM Auto Sales Up 17% for March
Japan’s Auto Sales Fall 37%
History Repeats Itself
“With all the rhetoric about the “self sustaining” recovery, some may forget that back in early 2010 we went through exactly the same song and dance. As we pointed out recently, comparing speeches by James Bullard showed absolutely no difference from the end of March 2011 and 2010…”
Comments »Cops and Fireman Seen Abandoning GOP
Apple & Intel For Social Good: Today A Mineral Embargo Goes Into Effect
American Apparel May File for Bankruptcy on Cash Shortfalls
FLASH: Ivory Coast Rebels Seize Palace & State TV
Republican Budget Cuts; Hurting Small Business?
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Michael Conner, an executive with Cincinnati-based Frisch’s Restaurants Inc. (FRS), says he’s all for the Republican push to shrink government spending — except when it comes to job-training programs that help businesses.
In their quest for deep government spending cuts, U.S. House Republicans passed a budget bill that would slash funding for a nationwide program that trains unemployed workers and helps them find jobs with companies looking for qualified employees. Conner and other critics say that provision is at odds with Republicans’ pledge to bring down the jobless rate.”
Comments »EU Files Appeal For WTO Ruling on Boeing
Lacker: Fed Is Likely To Raise Rates by Year End
“Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker told CNBC Friday that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the central bank raised interest rates before the end of the year.”
Comments »Shock: More Americans Work for the Government than in Manufacturing, Farming, Fishing, Forestry, Mining and Utilities Combined.
We’ve Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers
If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.
It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. Is it any wonder that so many states and cities cannot pay their bills?
Read the rest here.
Comments »LOL…Marc Faber: “U.S. Has Effectively Become an Emerging Economy”
Foreign Banks (including Libya) Tapped Fed’s Secret Lifeline Most at Crisis Peak
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s two-year fight to shield crisis-squeezed banks from the stigma of revealing their public loans protected a lender to local governments in Belgium, a Japanese fishing-cooperative financier and a company part-owned by the Central Bank of Libya.
Read the rest here.
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