10/29/2015
Cooling Off the South China Sea
Conflicting claims over the sea don’t have to degenerate into open hostility.
On Oct. 27 the simmering waters of the South China Sea came to a slow boil. A U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS Lassen, conducted a freedom-of-navigation cruise within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese-built artificial island in the Spratly archipelago. The Chinese government vowed to “firmly react to this deliberate provocation.”
There’s a scenario in which gunboat diplomacy degenerates into outright hostilities. Ships bump, planes collide, shots are fired. Sailors and airmen die. Carefully cultivated diplomatic relations unravel, and commerce and investment between the world’s two biggest economies break down. Read more
Why the FDA Is Worried About Chinese Drugs in Your Medicine Cabinet
- Inspections find deleted data, altered quality test records
- Chinese companies supply ingredients to top brand drugmakers
- When FDA inspectors showed up at a Chinese company that supplies key ingredients to two of the U.S.’s biggest drug companies, a curious thing happened.After lunch, they walked into a quality control lab on the second floor, where they saw a worker pull what looked like a memory stick from a computer and put it in the pocket of his lab coat. The inspectors asked to see what he’d taken.And then the man turned and ran.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors at Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co. never found out what the worker took from the computer, but they found plenty of other things, according to agency documents describing problems at the company, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Bloomberg. There was evidence that quality control staff deleted records of tests that might show a drug was impure. Audit trails disappeared. A paper shredder was kept close by machines that recorded quality data. Read more
The Trouble With Saving 21 Trillion Yuan
Economist Liang Hong argues that Chinese authorities are missing a trick in their efforts to fix what ails the nation’s economy. The central bank is cutting interest rates to ease China’s heavy debt burden, but the fiscal authorities are working in the opposite direction. They’re sucking more money out of the economy through taxes, fees, and other measures than the government is giving back, Liang says. Public institutions have so much money that they’re socking away huge sums in bank deposits, “a peculiar phenomenon existing only in China,” she wrote in an August report.
“The government is oversaving,” Liang said in a September interview in her office at the Beijing headquarters of China International Capital (CICC), an investment bank where she serves as chief economist. As a result, she says, “the economy is not running efficiently.” Read more
FBI WARNING NATION’S POLICE OF ‘ANARCHIST HALLOWEEN REVOLT’ PLOT
The FBI has issued an alert to police departments across the country warning that anarchist groups are planning a “Halloween revolt” plot aimed at attacking local police during Halloween week.
The New York Post learned the FBI said that a group called the “National Liberation Militia” is planning to don costumes and then to causes disturbances that will draw police to the scene. Then, the FBI warns, the groups intend to ambush the responding officers.
The FBI has refused to comment further on the threat, only saying that the alert sent to police agencies across the country was part of a “continuous dialogue” with police departments.
Los Angeles police have determined that the warning is not based on a “credible threat” in their city. New York police also reported that there is no known threat to the Big Apple. Read more
Seriously? Energy Department smashes pumpkins for causing climate change
Richard's comments: The Climate Extremists just can't leave anything alone anymore. That's because they believe everyone else is STUPID!
How scary are your jack-o’-lanterns? Scarier than you think, according to the Energy Department, which claims the holiday squash is responsible for unleashing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Most of the 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins produced in the U.S. end up in the trash, says the Energy Department’s website, becoming part of the “more than 254 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) produced in the United States every year.” Read more
Next Year’s UN Human Rights Council Will Have the Smallest Proportion of ‘Free’ Members, Ever
The U.N. Human Rights Council in 2016 will have just 18 countries rated as “free” out of a total of 47 – the lowest number in the body’s decade-old history.
For the first time since the HRC was created in 2006, the proportion of members designated “free” by the Washington-based democracy watchdog, Freedom House, will drop next year to below 40 percent.
The United States will not be a member next year, having served the maximum two consecutive terms following the Obama administration’s decision to re-engage with the Geneva-based HRC in 2009.
American taxpayers account for 22 percent of the HRC's operating budget. Read more
Paris Protocol Amounts to Massive Transfer of the Wealth of Nations
Delegates from around the world willmeet in Paris in December to negotiate an international climate treaty with the goal of reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.
Some countries will push a “green” agenda to increase use of energy resources such as wind and solar, and decrease the use of more affordable, reliable, and efficient energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. Read more
The Fatal Blindness of Unrealistic Expectations
We are damned to fail when we avoid hard truths.
My old employer, Yahoo!, has been in the news again of late.
Its latest CEO (and former Googler), Marissa Meyer, is currently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where she has just given her first televised interview detailing her strategy for the beleaguered web giant.
I wish her and the current team at Yahoo! well with their plans, I really do. The saga of Yahoo!'s descent over the past decade was heartbreaking to watch and experience from the inside. I'd love to see the company find a way to become a leader again.
But I don't have faith.
In my opinion, the company can't be "fixed." At least not the way the tech pundits and the past parade of Yahoo! CEOs have touted it can.
Why? Because of a congenital failure to define its identity, paired with a chronic refusal to be honest with itself.
I get asked a lot for my opinion regarding Yahoo!'s fall from grace. I believe the seeds of its failure were sown from the beginning, and I've come up with the following analogy to make it as intuitive as possible. It all starts at the very formation of the company. Read more
SCALIA: ‘LIBERAL’ SUPREME COURT DESTROYING OUR DEMOCRACY
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told an audience at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley that the Supreme Court is “liberal,” not conservative–and that its views herald “the destruction of our democratic system.”
The San Francisco Chronicle noted that Scalia also blasted the notion of a “living Constitution,” one whose meaning changes over time for different circumstances–as interpreted by judges with their own personal biases.
“For Pete’s sake, [the Constitution] is a legal document…It means what it says and it doesn’t mean what it doesn’t say….People don’t say anymore, ‘It’s unconstitutional.” Instead, anything you hate should be prohibited and anything you love should be supported by the Constitution. I don’t know where this comes from,” he said, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Read more
Demand for Gold Surges in Third Quarter; Chinese On Pace for Record
Investors and central banks around the world are buying gold.
Overall worldwide demand for the yellow metal surged during the third quarter. According to a Reuters report, demand for gold coins and gold bars, along with buying by central banks, drove a 7% Q3 increase.
"Demand for gold coins and bars jumped by 26% year-on-year in the last quarter, GFMS analysts at Thomson Reuters reported in the Q3 update of their Gold Survey 2015. Retail investment surged in top consumers India, China and Germany, with buying rising 30%, 26% and 19% respectively. Those three markets alone accounted for an additional 26 tons of retail buying.” Read more
Pending Sales of Previously Owned U.S. Homes Unexpectedly Fall
- NAR's monthly index declines by most since December 2013
- Purchase contracts decrease in all four U.S. regions
Contract signings to purchase previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly fell in September by the most since the end of 2013, indicating the residential real estate market is cooling from its recent brisk pace.
An index of pending home sales dropped 2.3 percent in September after a 1.4 percent decline a month earlier, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The decrease exceeded the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
A limited selection of properties may be dissuading some from trading up, while stricter credit standards are making it difficult for others to qualify for loans. At the same time, housing demand will probably be underpinned by cheap borrowing costs and employment opportunities. Read more
Economic Growth Cools as U.S. Companies Rein in Inventories
The economy in the U.S. expanded at a slower pace in the third quarter as companies took advantage of gains in consumer and business spending to reduce bloated stockpiles.
Gross domestic product grew at a 1.5 percent annual rate, in line with the 1.6 percent median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, Commerce Department data showed Thursday in Washington. Excluding the biggest swing in inventories in four years, the pace of growth was 3 percent compared with 3.9 percent in the previous three months.
Household purchases, buoyed by job and income gains, will probably continue to underpin the world’s largest economy even as weaker demand from overseas customers holds back exports and manufacturing. The quick re-balancing of stockpiles to be more in line with domestic demand heading into the holiday season indicates factory production will soon stabilize, eliminating a source of weakness. Read more details
China Ends One-Child Cap After Three Decades to Lift Growth
Richard's comment: Apparently, China needs more citizens to boost economic growth. Great reason to have kids. Will this cut in half the 13 million abortions they perform every year?
- Policy change part of Xi Jinping's new five-year plan
- Shares of baby-formula maker Danone jump on news of change
China abandoned the one-child policy that has shaped society since the late-1970s as the ruling Communist Party tries to boost a shrinking workforce and manage the country’s transition to an era of slower economic growth.
The party’s Central Committee approved plans to allow all couples to have two children, the official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday, citing a communique released at the end of a four-day party policy meeting in Beijing. The move, which had beenexpected, comes after a previous effort to relax the policy fell well short of the goal of boosting births by 2 million a year. Read more
China abandons one-child policy, allows two children for all: Xinhua
China says it will abandon its more than 30-year-old one-child policy and allow couples to have two children, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday. The news come at the end of a four-day Communist Party gathering in Beijing, where party leaders discussed measures to ensure growth. China eased its one-child policy in 2014 in a bid to tackle serious gender imbalances and rapid aging of the population. Under the revised policy from 2014, couples were allowed to have a second child if either was an only child, but the expected baby boom failed to appear.
More to come...
More to come...
10/28/2015
World Congress of Families kicks off with message of action
SALT LAKE CITY — Action was the word of the day at the World Congress of Families, which kicked off its first conference on U.S. soil Tuesday.
Over a day of forums and panels, speakers repeatedly declared the battle over abortion, marriage and families is reaching a critical point.
Gov. Gary Herbert and Utah's first lady Jeanette Herbert gave a brief welcoming speech Tuesday evening. The Herberts, avoiding mention of any specific hot-button political issues, touted Utah as a family oriented state and talked about the importance of raising children with strong morals, rooted in strong families. Read more
WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS: THE SECRET TO THEIR SUCCESS
A new survey highlights the traits that female business owners share—and where they could stand to improve.
Men launch businesses at about twice the rate that women do, according to the Kauffman Foundation. That being said, the number of women-owned firms from 2007 to 2014 increased by 17 percent, compared to an overall increase of 13 percent, American Express Open research found.
What traits are shared by women who start a business? KPMG’s recent survey Women Entrepreneurs: Passion, Purpose and Perseverance notes these trends: Read more
Scientists say this 191-year-old symphony could help your heart health.
I'm going to play you a song.
You probably know it. In fact, you probably know it extremely well.
When it comes to Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, the fourth movement pretty much gets all the love, glory, and fame (not to mention all the sweeeeet electric guitar covers). Which is a shame.
Because the third movement might have magical healingpowers.
Seriously.Read more
According to a group of fancy Oxford University scientists, listening to the third movement of Beethoven's No. 9 might actually lower your blood pressure and help fight heart disease. In real life
Cops Fired For Telling the Truth about Black Violence
If you know a cop, you know a hero.
And today, heroes are getting fired for a new kind of bravery: telling the truth about black crime and black on white racial hostility.
They already have enough to do: George Orwell famously said “We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”
In Salt Lake City, it is going to take a crowbar to remove the police department t-shirts from the backs of two grateful 20-something sisters who were recently attacked and stabbed by a black intruder. A cop rushed in and killed the predator as he tensed to thrust his knife into one of the sisters. Again. Probably for the final time. Read more
Tuberculosis now rivals AIDS as leading cause of death: WHO
For the first time, tuberculosis infections rivaled HIV/AIDS as a leading cause of death from infectious diseases, the World Health Organization said in a report released on Wednesday.
It found that during 2014, 1.1 million people died of TB in 2014. During the same period, HIV/AIDS killed 1.2 million people globally, including 400,000 who were infected with both HIV and TB.
Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO TB program, said the report reflects the dramatic gains in access to HIV/AIDS treatment in the past decade, which has helped many people survive their infections. But it also reflects disparities in funding for the two global killers. Read more
AP-GFK POLL: AMERICANS STILL FEELING ECONOMIC GLOOM
Americans are more likely than they were a year ago to have positive views of the nation's economy, but they're still feeling more pessimism than optimism, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll conducted ahead of CNBC's GOP primary debate on Wednesday.
The candidates will attempt to impress Republicans in particular, who the poll finds feel much gloomier about the economy than Democrats.
Here are some things to know about opinions on the economy from the latest AP-GfK poll: Read more
Rep. Gosar Introduces Bill to Repeal ‘Wet Foot, Dry Foot’ Cuban Amnesty
U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has introduced legislation to repeal “outdated policies” he says "provide amnesty to Cuban aliens" - including the Clinton-era “wet foot, dry foot” policy.
The Ending Special National Origin-Based Immigration Programs for Cubans Act of 2015 would repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which originally allowed any Cubans who had been living in the U.S. for two years to become legal permanent residents.
UN Official Warns of 'Amputation' of Christianity's DNA in the Middle East
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres expressed concern Tuesday over the exodus of Christians in the Middle East because of the conflict in Syria and Iraq.
Guterres said that speaking “as a Christian,” he was “worried about what’s happening in the Middle East.” Guterres referenced the Middle Eastern origins of Christianity and said a religious cleansing of Christians from that part of the world would be “an amputation in the DNA of Christianity and in the DNA of the Middle East.” Read more
Guterres said that speaking “as a Christian,” he was “worried about what’s happening in the Middle East.” Guterres referenced the Middle Eastern origins of Christianity and said a religious cleansing of Christians from that part of the world would be “an amputation in the DNA of Christianity and in the DNA of the Middle East.” Read more
EPA’S CLEAN POWER PLAN IS A DIRTY TRICK, SAYS SMALL BIZ
Small business won a victory against overregulation with the temporary blocking of the WOTUS rule. But it sure didn’t take the EPA long to come up with another business-busting plan.
That’s why, on Oct. 23, the NFIB Small Business Legal Center announced that it would lead a coalition of business groups in a lawsuit to invalidate the EPA’s new power plant rule, which forces states to shutter many of their coal-power electric energy generators, which supply most of America’s electricity, in favor of costly alternatives that might not be as reliable.
Even the administration expects its Clean Power Plan to drive up the cost of electricity, the impact of which will fall hard on small businesses that depend heavily on affordable energy. A recent NFIB survey shows that the cost of electricity is already a top concern among small business owners across the country. Read more
Fed circles December for possible rate hike
Central bank holds interest rates steady at nearly zero.
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates close to zero for yet another meeting but said it would focus on its “next meeting” in mid-December on whether to raise interest rates.
In new language in the statement, the Fed said it would determine “whether it will be appropriate to raise the target range at its next meeting.” Previous statements have not had any time element to this statement, saying only that policymakers “would determine how long to maintain” rates close to zero.Read more
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