Friday, March 10, 2006

Gitmo: The Worst of the Worst?
On February 16, a British high court judge, Sir Andrew Collins, emphasized: "America's idea of what is torture is not the same as ours and does not appear to coincide with that of most civilized nations."

Thursday, March 09, 2006

FREE SPEECH ON THE RUN IN THE WEST
Much of Europe has painted itself into a corner on the censorship issue. What can Norway say to pro-censorship Muslims when it already has a hate speech law forbidding, among other things, "publicly stirring up one part of the population against another," or any utterance that "threatens, insults or subjects to hatred, persecution or contempt any person or group of persons because of their creed, race, color or national or ethnic origin ... or homosexual bent"? No insulting utterances at all? Since most strong opinions can be construed as insulting (hurting someone's feelings), no insults means no free speech.

Quick Overview

  • The International Monetary Fund is set to raise its forecast for global economic growth this year to 4.8 percent, Germany's Handelsblatt said.

  • U.S. Jobless claims were up 8,000 last week to 303,000, more than expected.

  • U.S. Exports rose from $111.6 to $114.4 billion while imports rose from $176.6 to $182.9 billion.

  • The Bank of Japan voted to end five years of loose monetary policy and eventually move to raise its interest rate from zero.

  • The unemployment rate in Australia improved from 5.3% to 5.2%.

  • Mexican consumer prices rose 0.15 percent in February, less than expected.

  • The U.S. DoE said that underground supplies of natural gas were down 85 billion cubic feet to 1.887 trillion cubic feet. YoY supplies are up 26%.

  • The Renewable Fuels Association reported the U.S. produced 3.904 billion gallons of ethanol in 2005, an average of 255,000 barrels a day. However demand is running at an even faster pace. December production was short of demand by 310,000 barrels a day. The 95 ethanol plants currently in operation have a 4.3 billion gallons-per-year capacity. There are 34 plants under construction that will add another 2.1 billion gallons a year incapacity

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Quick Overview

  • For 2005, U.S. business productivity was up 2.9%.


  • The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise official interest rates again for the 15th consecutive time at its next meeting on March 27-28, which will be the first policy meeting chaired by Ben Bernanke.

  • Switzerland's Feb. Jobless rate falls to 3.8%. This is better than expected by markets and a further sign of the gradually improving state of the Swiss labor market.

  • The Bank of Canada raised its overnight rate by one quarter of a percentage point to 3.75 percent as expected on Tuesday, but signaled that its current tightening cycle may be drawing to a close.


  • The USDA sees declining crop condition ratings in the hard red winter belt. A full 87% of the Texas crop, for example, is rated poor to very poor while Oklahoma's wheat is 70% poor to very poor.




Monday, March 06, 2006



Harry Browne, RIP


The words of Harry Browne

Kind words from some of Harry's friends:

Quick Overview

  • U.S. Factory orders were down 4.5% in January, the biggest monthly drop in over five years. Excluding transport, factory orders were up 1.6% in January.

  • Retail sales volumes in the Euro zone were up 0.9% YoY.

  • YoY Japan's Finance Ministry said that capital spending was up 9.5% in the fourth quarter.

  • Chile's economy expanded 5.5 percent in January.

  • Brazilian exports of ethanol rose to 145.1 million liters in February, up 20.7% from 120.2 million liters a year ago. U.S. demand dominated sales.

  • Gold production in South Africa totaled 296.3 tons in 2005, down 13% YoY and the lowest production since 1923.

  • London inventories of copper are at 121,175 tons.

  • The Florida Citrus Processors said there were 92.3 million gallons of frozen orange juice concentrate in inventory on February 25th, down 35% YoY.
Patriot Act E-Mail Searches Apply to Non-Terrorists, Judges Say

Fidelity Estimates $200,000 Now Needed to Cover Retiree Health Care Costs; Five Percent Increase over 2005 Estimate of $190,000

Friday, March 03, 2006

Mother Of All Tax Shelters
Both supporters and opponents of the proposal said that the enhanced HSAs offer unprecedented tax advantages and may become more attractive than 401(k)s or individual retirement accounts as a way for the richest and healthiest Americans to build savings.

Quick Overview

  • Future moves in official U.S. interest rates will be closely tied to incoming data, but for now the Federal Reserve does not need to push rates beyond neutral, a top central bank official said on Friday.

  • The ISM index of services increased from 56.8 to 60.1

  • The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped from 91.2 to 86.7

  • YoY consumer prices in Japan were up 0.5% in January.

  • An index of services in the Euro zone increased from 57.0 to 58.2

  • Informa Economics said expects the U.S. to produce 22.45 million bales of cotton in 2006-2007, down from 23.7 million bales the previous year. They forecast 119.7 million bales of world production in 2006-2007.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Willis Is Mad As Hell...
"I'm sick of answering this [expletive] question," he says. "I'm a Republican only as far as I want a smaller government, I want less government intrusion. I want them to stop [expletive] on my money and your money and tax dollars that we give 50 percent of... every year. I want them to be fiscally responsible and I want these [expletive] lobbyists out of Washington. Do that and I'll say I'm a Republican... I hate the government, OK? I'm a-political. Write that down. I'm not a Republican."
Bush Privatize Tax Collection
Members of the National Treasury Employees Union, visiting Washington from around the country for an organizing meeting, paraded in front of the IRS on Constitution Avenue during the lunch-hour rally, hoisting signs and chanting slogans such as "Hey hey, ho ho, bounty hunters gotta go" and "Don't be fooled by White House lies, it's not wise to privatize."
Bush Plan to Sell Public Lands To Fund Schools
Forest Service officials and Western lawmakers battled Tuesday over an administration proposal that would sell national forest lands to help pay for a rural schools program, as the vital 30-day public comment period began.
Armed forces are put on standby to tackle threat of wars over water
Across the world, they are coming: the water wars. From Israel to India, from Turkey to Botswana, arguments are going on over disputed water supplies that may soon burst into open conflict.

Quick Overview

  • U.S. Jobless claims were up 15,000 last week to 294,000, more than expected.

  • Top executives of U.S. companies expect to see continued strength in the nation's economy over the next six months, especially in new hiring, according to a survey released by the Business Roundtable on Thursday

  • The European Central Bank raised its interest rate from 2.25% to 2.50%.

  • Retail sales in Germany were up 2.7% in January more than expected.

  • Retail sales in Australia were up 0.8% in January.

  • The DoE said that underground supplies of natural gas were down 171 billion cubic feet to 1.972 trillion cubic feet. Supplies are up 21% YoY.

  • Silver futures closed above $10 an ounce Thursday, at the highest level in more than two decades, with traders upbeat about the prospects for a silver exchange-traded fund.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

FOX Ratings In Free Fall - O'Reilly Leads The Way Down
As we all know, the media is rampant with sycophantic, corporate shills and can't be trusted to deliver a pizza. But an intersting trend is developing that ought to shake their confidence in the suck-up school of journalism.
Gonzales Seeks to Clarify Testimony on Spying
"It seems to me he is conceding that there are other NSA surveillance programs ongoing that the president hasn't told anyone about,"

Quick Overview

  • U.S. Commerce Department said that Personal income increased 0.7 percent, consumer spending rose 0.9%.


  • The average U.S. home increased 12.95% in value in 2005, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said Wednesday.

  • The ISM index rose to 56.7% in February from 54.8% in January -- more than expected.

  • U.S. Construction spending was up 0.2% from December's pace.

  • Australia's GDP was up 0.5% in the fourth quarter, weaker than expected. For 2005 the GDP was up 2.5%, the slowest in four years.

  • The unemployment rate in the Euro zone remained at 8.3% in January. For the EU-25, the unemployment rate was 8.5%.

  • Brazilian traders returned to work on Wednesday and lifted stocks to a record high on news that Standard & Poor's upgraded the country's credit rating -- the Real ended near a five-year high.

  • YoY consumer prices in the Euro zone have increased 2.3% in February.

  • Canada's industrial product price index rose 0.5% in January.

  • The Chinese economy grew 9.9% in 2005, up from 9.5% in 2004.

  • South Africa's GDP increased 4.9% in 2005, up from 4.5% in 2004.

  • The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
    Supplies of crude oil were up 1.6 million barrels to 328.3 million barrels.
    Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 300,000 barrels
    Supplies of heating oil were down 2.1 million barrels.

  • The International Sugar Organization estimates world sugar production in 2005-2006 at 149 million tons and total use at 151.2 million tons. Resulting in a production shortfall of 2.22 million tons -- larger than previous estimates.

  • London copper inventories are at 115,275 tons.
Prodded to spend, China's consumers prefer to save
Fed Official Warns of Changes A top Federal Reserve official warned yesterday that the U.S. financial system is evolving faster than the ability of investors, lenders and regulators to evaluate and manage the risks involved