The dozen countries that signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership have committed to refrain from competitive currency devaluations and be transparent about their exchange-rate policies, the U.S. said.
11/05/2015
Details of controversial trans-Pacific trade deal released
WASHINGTON – Details of a sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal released Thursday set the stage for a raucous debate in the U.S. Congress but also may provide reassurances to those who worried the agreement could gut protections for the environment, public health and labor.
The text of the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement between the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries runs to 30 chapters and hundreds of pages. It lays out plans for handling of trade in everything from zinc dust to railway sleepers and live eels. Read more
This index signaled the 2000 and 2007 crashes—and it's falling again
Stocks with big buyback programs are struggling this year, and according to one technician, a similar lag has previously preceded two market crashes.
Out of the nine S&P 500 companies with the biggest buyback programs, four are down in stock price over the last year. Exxon Mobil,IBM, 21st Century Fox and Merck are all negative for the year, andOracle and Intel are fighting to hold onto incremental gains. Read more
Juvenile Delinquents Are Now 'Justice-Involved Youth'
They used to be called juvenile delinquents. But not any more.
The new term is "justice-involved youth," a non-disparaging, government-speak phrase that fits with the Obama administration's recent push to give people with criminal convictions a second chance to become productive citizens. Read more
School suspends first grader over imaginary bow and arrow
CINCINNATI, Ohio – Cincinnati parents Matthew and Martha Miele are considering removing their son from private school after the first-grader was suspended for three days for pretending to be a Power Ranger.
Martha Miele told WLWT Our Lady of Lourdes Principal Joe Crachiolo called her at work Thursday afternoon after a teacher witnessed her son pretend to shoot another student with an imaginary bow and arrow on recess and brought it to his attention.
Miele said her son was pretending to be a character from the popular Power Rangers children’s program, and didn’t understand why the school wanted to suspend him over his imagination. Read more
Iran's Revolutionary Guard reportedly behind cyberattacks against White House personnel
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is behind a recent wave of cyberattacks on email and social media accounts of White House personnel that are believed to be connected to the arrest of an Iranian-American businessman last month, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.
Siamak Namazi, 40, a Dubai-based businessman who has spent most of his life advocating improved ties between the U.S. and Iran, was arrested in October as he was visiting relatives in Tehran. His detention came after an Internet freedom group said a Washington-based Lebanese citizen, Nizar Zakka, disappeared while on a trip to Tehran in September. Read more
Obama administration pulls references to Islam from terror training materials, official says
Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole confirmed on Wednesday that the Obama administration was pulling back all training materials used for the law enforcement and national security communities, in order to eliminate all references to Islam that some Muslim groups have claimed are offensive.
“I recently directed all components of the Department of Justice to re-evaluate their training efforts in a range of areas, from community outreach to national security,” Cole told a panel at the George Washington University law school. Read more
Five Things You Need to Know About George Soros
Leftist puppet-master George Soros does not like being the topic of news. He prefers ventriloquizing Democratic candidates and funding his liberal agenda from behind the curtain. This week, Soros was drawn out from the shadows by Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, who accused the billionaire investor "of being a prominent member of a circle of 'activists' trying to undermine European nations by supporting refugees heading to the continent from the Middle East and beyond," according to Bloomberg Business. Read more
In blow to Obama, Cameron reportedly drops plans to join US in Syria airstrikes
British Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly has dropped plans for a parliamentary vote on extending anti-ISIS airstrikes to Syria, in the latest blow to President Obama’s attempts to form a stronger coalition against the Islamic terror group.
Though the U.K. has joined the U.S. in conducting airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq since 2014, multiple U.K. media outlets including The Guardian and The Times of London reported Cameron was hoping to put a vote forward in the House of Commons on joining the U.S. as the Obama administration seeks to regain its foothold amid a surging Russian presence. Those outlets report Cameron has since shelved the move. Read more
11/04/2015
Republicans make history in Kentucky election
Republicans made history on two fronts in Kentucky Tuesday night – not only did Matt Bevin become the state’s second GOP governor in four decades, but running mate Jenean Hampton became the first African-American ever elected to Kentucky statewide office.
Hampton’s historic accomplishment winning the lieutenant governor post was initially overshadowed by Bevin’s hard-fought gubernatorial race win over Democratic state Attorney General Jack Conway, an off-year election battle that drew national interest.
Graphic on federal programs for low-income people tells all
Five reasons to want a rate hike
The reason this is important is that December is obviously the last month of the year, but specifically, this year it is the last month prior to the start of an election year. Despite the fact that the Fed is meant to be apolitical, they have historically tried to avoid policy changes in election years. Part “B” to this is that the Fed desperately wants to raise the overnight rate from zero to something nominal like 0.25%. Their thinking is that, should the economy slow, they need some ammunition (lower rates back to zero) to help stimulate the economy and stave off a recession. Read more
Peter Schiff: 'Creeping Communism' Arises From World's Central Banks Read more: Peter Schiff: 'Creeping Communism' Arises From World's Central Banks Important: Can you afford to Retire?
A government takeover of capitalist economies may result from the expanded role of central banks in controlling the direction of free markets.
That’s the prediction of Peter Schiff, the president and CEO of Euro Pacific Capital Inc. who has criticized the Federal Reserve for distorting markets and pushing investors into high-risk investments. The central bank has held interest rates near zero percent since 2008, when the U.S. economy declined the most since the Great Depression. Read more
Druckenmiller: Fed Bubble Will Not End Nicely
Hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller warns that the Federal Reserve has inflated an economic bubble that is poised to burst.
The chief executive of Duquesne Capital said "the central bank has created a bubble of short-term investing through its near-zero interest rates and quantitative easing," Read more
11 Reasons Conservatives Dominated Election Day 2015
Voters delivered major defeats to liberal ballot initiatives and liberal office-seekers across the country on Tuesday, making Election Day 2015 a clear win for conservatives.
Gathered below are 11 reasons why voters across the U.S. rejected liberal causes and supported Republican candidates. Read more
Conservatives Score Big Victories From Coast to Coast
Republicans and conservatives notched stunning wins in elections across the country in victories amid voter sentiment fueled by a "year of the outsider."
Voters in Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio, Mississippi, and in cities like Houston and San Francisco soundly rejected Democratic candidates or Democrat-backed measures. Read more
Voters in Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio, Mississippi, and in cities like Houston and San Francisco soundly rejected Democratic candidates or Democrat-backed measures. Read more
Fed insider says most long-term unemployed won’t get hired again
Job market tightest in 15 years if long-term unemployed cast aside
The labor market is tighter now than anytime in the past 15 years and the jobless rate could really be as low as 4.6%, using different ways to look at U.S. employment.
Says who? A senior official at the St. Louis Federal Reserve. But if that’s true, it probably means tough luck for at least 1 million Americans who have been out of work for a long time. Read more
Short-term Treasury yields hit 4-year high after Yellen points to December rate hike
Short-term Treasury yields jumped Wednesday to their highest level in four years, after Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen said a December interest-rate hike could be appropriate.
The comments, provided during Wednesday testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee, reiterated a similar statement by the Fed after its October policy meeting. Read more
Weak Wage Growth Tied to Weak Productivity
The basic laws of supply and demand haven’t applied to American employers.
A healthy number of new jobs created each month combined with a rapidly falling headline unemployment rate would seemingly suggest a tightening labor market that in turn would force American employers to pay higher wages.
But that hasn’t happened. Read more
ExxonMobil CEO: U.S. Jobs Story Could Get Worse
If you’re looking to the energy sector for a positive economic indicator, you might be hard-pressed to find any good news. During an interview with the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, ExxonMobil (XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson painted a very bleak picture on the economy and jobs.
“If you look at energy for kind of a proxy for how the economy is going, it’s pretty sluggish and there’s not a lot that we can see on the horizon through next year that’s going to change that,” he said.
Tillerson said the U.S. economy has been “sluggish” since the downturn of 2009. Read more
FEDS RULE TO FORCE HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS TO UNDRESS NEXT TO NAKED BOYS WHO THINK THEY’RE GIRLS
On Monday, the federal government declared itself fit for the madhouse by mandating that a Chicago high school allow a full biological male into the girls’ locker room for all purposes, including nudity. This biological male, the feds determined, was different because he thinks he is a female. Read more
HILLARY SPARS WITH TEXAS GOVERNOR OVER HOUSTON’S REFUSAL TO ALLOW MEN IN LADIES’ ROOMS
Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sparred on twitter on election day with Texas Governor Greg Abbott over Houston’s transgender “bathroom ordinance.” Hillary Clinton injected herself into Houston’s bathroom ordinance vote again and responded to the Texas Governor’s election day tweet urging Houstonians to vote against the ordinance. Read more
'Wal-Mart Moms' Hold Warnings for Clinton, Trump
Key voters dubbed “Wal-Mart moms” have economic concerns that may transcend partisan lines in the 2016 election, and they're highlighting potential problems for top Democrat Hillary Clintonand Republican Donald Trump ahead of the first presidential nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire in February. Read more
No Country For Middle-Aged White Men
One demographic has seen an unprecedented rise in mortality that has left experts bewildered and searching for answers: middle-aged white people.
Particularly working-class, middle-aged white people. Read more
ADP Employment Slows Further; Services Job Growth Weakens As Manufacturing Jobs Drop By 2,000
Having relatively disappointed all year, compared to 2014's high levels, ADP for October printed 182k (practically in with expectations of 180k and below September's revised lower 190k) - the lowest since July. Following September's biggest manufacturing job losses since Jan 2010, October saw further losses (-2k) and Services job growth slowed as small business gains dominated large business (which ADP reports facing strong dollar challenges). December rate hike odds were 52.0% before ADP with no significant change yet. Read more
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