Government unemployment numbers for December showed that while the general unemployment rate remained flat at 7.8 percent, unemployment for women and African-Americans rose despite an economy that created 155,000 jobs.
Unemployment for women rose to 7.3 percent in December from 7.0 percent while the rate for African-Americans rose sharply to 14.0 percent from 13.2 percent in November.
Employees at Hatteras Yachts work to assemble a boat on the assembly line at the New Bern plant. Hatteras, which is one of Craven County’s largest employers, is for sale.
Hatteras Yachts is laying off 105 workers at its plant in New Bern while its parent company, Brunswick Corp. of Lake Forest, Ill., has announced plans to sell it and CABO Yachts.
In emails to the Sun Journal, Dan Kubera, a spokesperson for Brunswick, said the layoffs announced Thursday were necessary to better adjust to the market conditions.
He also said the layoffs were “unrelated and separate” to the decision by Brunswick Corp.’s Board of Directors to seek a buyer for Hatteras and CABO.
In a statement about the decision to sell, Brunswick Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dustan E. McCoy said: “This action reflects our decision to exit the sportfishing convertible category and to concentrate our resources in the yacht segment on our remaining brands, Sea Ray and Meridian Yachts. When completed, this action will also contribute to our goal of a break-even or better Boat Segment in 2013, even if the larger sterndrive/inboard fiberglass markets do not improve.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ptFVq22PY
h/t John
In one of the most ridiculous knee-jerk political reactions to recent shootings which have drawn national attention, Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell led an attempt this week to use an Asheville city ordinance that bans guns from city-owned property to block gun shows in the city. Bothwell seems to think that distorting this ordinance should be just the ticket to capitalize on national grief over the Newtown shootings in order to change gun laws, but there are a couple of major issues he failed to recognize before stepping into the limelight with his scheme.
One such issue Councilman Bothwell failed to take into consideration is that North Carolina General Statute §14409.40, “Statewide uniformity of local regulation,” states, in part:
“(d) No county or municipality, by zoning or other ordinance, shall regulate in any manner firearms shows with regulations more stringent than those applying to shows of other types of items.”
With Spanish 10Y yields hovering at a ‘relatively’ healthy 5%, having been driven inexorably lower on the promise of ECB assistance at some time in the future, the market has become increasingly unsure of just who it is that keeps bidding for this stuff. Well, wonder no longer. As the WSJ notes, Spain has been quietly tapping the country’s richest piggy bank, the Social Security Reserve Fund, as a buyer of last resort for Spanish government bonds – with at least 90% of the €65 billion ($85.7 billion) fund has been invested in increasingly risky Spanish debt. Of course, this is nothing new, the US (and the Irish) have been using quasi-government entities to fund themselves in a mutually-destructive circle-jerk for years – the only difference being there are other buyers in the Treasury market, whereas in Spain the marginal buyer is critical to support the sinking ship. The Spanish defend the use of pension funds to buy bonds as sustainable as long as it can issue bonds – and yet the only way it can actually get the bonds off in the public markets is through using the pension fund assets. The pensioners sum it up perfectly “We are very worried about this, we just don’t know who’s going to pay for the pensions of those who are younger now,” or those who are older we would add.
Via Wall Street Journal: Spain Drains Pension Fund In Borrowing Spree
Spain has been quietly tapping the country’s richest piggy bank, the Social Security Reserve Fund, as a buyer of last resort for Spanish government bonds, raising questions about the fund’s role as guarantor of future pension payouts.
Now the scarcely noticed borrowing spree, carried out amid a prolonged economic crisis, is about to end, because there is little left to take. At least 90% of the €65 billion ($85.7 billion) fund has been invested in increasingly risky Spanish debt, according to official figures, and the government has begun withdrawing cash for emergency payments.
Although the trend has drawn little public attention or controversy, it has become a matter of concern for the relatively few independent financial analysts who study the fund, which is used to guarantee future payments of pensions.
We face a grave federal danger of the type not seen since 1994. Not only is absolutely everything about the Feinstein/Obama/Biden scheme unacceptable, if even a portion of it passes they will be back for more almost immediately.
That was precisely their M.O. in 1993-94 when they ran the Brady Act, the “Violent Crime Control Act (semi-auto ban) and would have followed with the truly draconian Brady II had the 1994 Republican Revolution not intervened.
We are starting to see Republicans cave, and there is an excellent chance the ban will pass the Senate, meaning it will have to be stopped in the House. I hope you agree that absolutely no “compromise” is possible because, as is so often the case, “compromise” as defined by our opposition is a process in which we lose just slightly less than in the original proposal.
More than most, Howard Coble is showing all the signs of becoming particularly squishy on this subject. He recently said:
“At the same time, I also believe that the right to bear arms must be exercised responsibly. Congress can do its part by carefully monitoring crime and updating our criminal laws where change is deemed appropriate. Although these changes should be reflected in our firearm laws, they should not be used as a guise to diminish the Second Amendment.“
So far, the NRA is making all the right noises, but will they do the right thing when the ban begins to move? Or will they do as they did on armor-piercing handgun ammunition in the 1980s, on the Brady Act, on the first rendition of the Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act, on the NICS Improvement Act and most recently on the Disclose Act? Namely, will the NRA “compromise?”
That is why GRNC, in conjunction with other groups, has formed a national coalition to defeat the Obama/Biden/Feinstein proposal. Continue reading
Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security
Iran’s intelligence service includes 30,000 people who are engaged in covert and clandestine activities that range from spying to stealing technology to terrorist bombings and assassination, according to a Pentagon report.
The report concluded that Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, known as MOIS, is “one of the largest and most dynamic intelligence agencies in the Middle East.”
The ministry actively supports Iran’s radical Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that has been involved in terrorist bombings from Argentina to Lebanon, according to the report produced by the Pentagon’s Irregular Warfare Support Program and published last month by the Library of Congress Federal Research Division.
The Department of Homeland Security warned Internet Explorer users this week about a new software flaw used in remote cyber attacks as Microsoft issued an advisory on the embattled browser’s software hole.
The response followed reports in the Free Beacon revealing that hackers linked to China attacked the Council on Foreign Relations website and used it as a watering hole for a sophisticated cyberespionage attack.
Meanwhile, a company that builds microturbine electrical generators was attacked by the same hackers, according to two online security specialists.
The software traced to the CFR web attack also was present in the website of Capstone Turbine Co., a California manufacturer of high-tech turbine engine generators.
The Second Amendment serves no purpose other than the right of the people to rebel against a tyrannical and oppressive government. During the gun-control debate I have heard every argument under the sun both pro (gun control) and con. The most disturbing statements made during the debate is over hunting. The Second Amendment does not protect hunting. It does not even protect self-defense. It protects the people’s right to bear arms against a government operating against the rights of the people. That we might use these weapons in our spare time to provide food for our tables, or defend ourselves against criminals, well, that’s just the “well-regulated” part of the right to keep and bare arms.
Here we are at the mercy of a tyrannical government which has militarized our local police departments into standing armies amongst us. They are no longer our protectors, but the stick wielded by the tyrants in office. To what degree these forces refuse to follow orders and side with the people will be welcomed with a great sigh of relief, but being charged with protecting us against the abuses of government is no longer in their charter.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs5e_iaS5VE
From YouTube:
President Obama, the Republican controlled congress and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) hammered out a compromise on fiscal cliff: Higher taxes, increased debt and more spending. Is America so apathetic that voters do not care about the future of the American balance sheet? Will voters kick both incumbent Democrats and Republicans out of office? Scott Ott, Steve Green and Bill Whittle discuss the fiscal cliff deal on this episode of Trifecta.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZPS7AdgNgE
From YouTube:
Ben Swann Full Disclosure looks at eyewitness accounts from the scenes of the Colorado theater shooting, the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting and the Connecticut elementary school shooting that indicate more than one shooter may have been involved in all three shootings.
Gold and derivatives expert Jim Sinclair has sent subscribers an alert this morning warning on the severity of the global derivatives market, which Sinclair has dubbed the Global Derivative Graveyard Problem.
The IMF, which currently estimates the global derivatives market to be approximately $600 trillion (rather than the true $1.26 QUADRILLION notional), has come out and stated that the entire derivatives market is a WMD time bomb.
Here is the recent IMF conclusion on page #47 & #48 on the potential still remaining in the OTC derivative graveyard. This is not from me, but rather from the establishment itself.
The number the IMF is using is way below the huge number of the global problem, and still they conclude that the derivative market is a world class WMD time bomb.
The following is courtesy of CIGA DC browsing on our behalf. This should be a huge concern to any analyst with their eyes open.
Respectfully,
Jim
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFF7jmeZ-uM
From YouTube:
My thoughts on upcoming gun control.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPy-QKXofQs
From YouTube:
If you want to do good for the world, Prof. Michael Munger has a piece of advice: Listen to the price system. He compares prices to a genie that knows everything in the world and tell you exactly what goods and services humanity needs most.
He tells a story of two hypothetical farmers. One ignores the price system and tries to plant what the world needs most. Overwhelmed by the quantity and complexity of the data needed to figure out what crop is most needed, he eventually fails. The other farmer is selfish and profit-driven. He doesn’t understand that the high soybean price reflects increased demand for a new soy-based product in Asia — he just wants to make money. But by listening to the price system, he produces exactly what the world needs most.
Grass Roots North Carolina, P.O. Box 10665, Raleigh, NC 27605
877-282-0939, www.grnc.org, Fax: 919-573-0354
We face a grave federal danger of the type not seen since 1994. Not only is absolutely everything about the Feinstein/Obama/Biden scheme unacceptable, if even a portion of it passes they will be back for more almost immediately.
That was precisely their M.O. in 1993-94 when they ran the Brady Act, the “Violent Crime Control Act (semi-auto ban) and would have followed with the truly draconian Brady II had the 1994 Republican Revolution not intervened.
We are starting to see Republicans cave, and there is an excellent chance the ban will pass the Senate, meaning it will have to be stopped in the House. I hope you agree that absolutely no “compromise” is possible because, as is so often the case, “compromise” as defined by our opposition is a process in which we lose just slightly less than in the original proposal.
More than most, Howard Coble is showing all the signs of becoming particularly squishy on this subject. He recently said:
“At the same time, I also believe that the right to bear arms must be exercised responsibly. Congress can do its part by carefully monitoring crime and updating our criminal laws where change is deemed appropriate. Although these changes should be reflected in our firearm laws, they should not be used as a guise to diminish the Second Amendment.”
So far, the NRA is making all the right noises, but will they do the right thing when the ban begins to move? Or will they do as they did on armor-piercing handgun ammunition in the 1980s, on the Brady Act, on the first rendition of the Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act, on the NICS Improvement Act and most recently on the Disclose Act? Namely, will the NRA “compromise?”
