What happened to all of the doom and gloom economic threads?

[Busybody]

a big FUCK YOU to America

Obama Brings Mother-In-Law, Niece Along With His Family On $100 Million African Getaway…




So he’s criticized for bringing his family on an outrageously expensive trip to Africa and his response is to inflate the cost further by bringing additional family members? He couldn’t be any more arrogant if he tried.

Via White House Dossier:


In a move that can only fuel charges that his week-long trip to Africa is a de facto vacation, President Obama is taking his mother-in-law Marian Robinson and niece Leslie Robinson with him on Air Force One, which departed the United States this morning. Leslie is the daughter of First Lady Michelle Obama’s brother Craig…

Obama is already being accompanied by Mrs. Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia. [...]

The Obamas have been criticized for the massive expense of the trip, which reportedly could reach up to $100 million.

 

[phrodeau]

a big FUCK YOU to America

Obama Brings Mother-In-Law, Niece Along With His Family On $100 Million African Getaway…




So he’s criticized for bringing his family on an outrageously expensive trip to Africa and his response is to inflate the cost further by bringing additional family members? He couldn’t be any more arrogant if he tried.

Via White House Dossier:


In a move that can only fuel charges that his week-long trip to Africa is a de facto vacation, President Obama is taking his mother-in-law Marian Robinson and niece Leslie Robinson with him on Air Force One, which departed the United States this morning. Leslie is the daughter of First Lady Michelle Obama’s brother Craig…

Obama is already being accompanied by Mrs. Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia. [...]

The Obamas have been criticized for the massive expense of the trip, which reportedly could reach up to $100 million.

What if he took a few million people with him, and they stayed there?

I'm sure you could have thought of that.

 

[Busybody]

What if he took a few million people with him, and they stayed there?

I'm sure you could have thought of that.

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=892190

 

[Busybody]

I know

TONED ARMS!




LIZ PEEK: Obama Risks the Economy for the Sake of his EPA Legacy.







UNEXPECTEDLY! GDP Growth Revised Downward. A Wall Street reader emails:



The “unexpected” downward revision to first quarter GDP confirms what everyone expected going into this year: The tax increases would hurt consumers. Funny how that “reality” didn’t show through the government data until as long after the fact as possible.

An undiscussed consequence of this suspicious pattern is that markets will decreasingly trust government data, potentially increasing volatility and decreasing stability. Note I believe these are undiscussed, not necessarily unintended, consequences.

It’s sad to see this degree of irresponsibility.

 

[phrodeau]

I know

TONED ARMS!




LIZ PEEK: Obama Risks the Economy for the Sake of his EPA Legacy.







UNEXPECTEDLY! GDP Growth Revised Downward. A Wall Street reader emails:



The “unexpected” downward revision to first quarter GDP confirms what everyone expected going into this year: The tax increases would hurt consumers. Funny how that “reality” didn’t show through the government data until as long after the fact as possible.

An undiscussed consequence of this suspicious pattern is that markets will decreasingly trust government data, potentially increasing volatility and decreasing stability. Note I believe these are undiscussed, not necessarily unintended, consequences.

It’s sad to see this degree of irresponsibility.

We need tax increases that won't hurt consumers, like increasing taxes on the wealthy.

 

[unregistered]

 

[mercury14]

The truth finally emerges:


US First-Quarter GDP Gets a Haircut, Rises 1.8%

Reuters
Published: Wednesday, 26 Jun 2013 | 8:30 AM ET

U.S. economic growth was more tepid than previously estimated in the first quarter, held back by a moderate pace of consumer spending, weak business investment and declining exports.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 1.8 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said in its final estimate on Wednesday. Output was previously reported to have risen at a 2.4 percent pace after a 0.4 percent stall speed in the fourth quarter.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected first-quarter GDP growth would be left unrevised at 2.4 percent. When measured from the income side, the economy grew at a 2.5 percent rate, slower than the fourth-quarter's brisk 5.5 percent pace.

Rest here:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100845284

So it's the truth whenever the revision is downward and "the Commerce Department is a liar" when the revision is upward.

And it looks like Q4 of 2012 had a very nice 5.5% growth rate, are you saying that's the truth or a lie? Part of the report is the truth and part is a lie at the same time?

 

[Busybody]

Massachusetts Seeks Waiver From Obamacare…




That’s right, the state whose healthcare system (Romneycare) spawned Obamacare now wants out of its offspring.

Via Forbes:


A very interesting ACA development is taking place in Massachusetts today as the state that “inspired” Obamacare tries to reconcile its current law with the new federal law. Push back in the compliance effort is coming from an unexpected source, the senior Democratic budget writer in the State Senate, Senator Stephen Brewer, presumably with support from the Senate President as well. The amendment that was filed would force President Obama’s good friend Governor Deval Patrick (D), and his Administration, to seek a waiver from certain elements of Obamacare. The move could come to a head if the provision lands on the Governor’s desk, resulting in an embarrassing political moment for the Obama Administration since the ACA is forcing significant changes to a state law they claim acted as a model in Washington.

Turns out, the conventional wisdom comparing Romneycare and Obamacare has proven to be overly simplistic, as this is the third ACA-related bill being debated in the Commonwealth. The latest sizable 100-section bill controversially writes into law an abdication of insurance regulation to the federal government and is the basis for the amendment. While state officials have known for some time that the ACA-required changes to rating factors would result in “extreme premium increases” and spike premiums for 60% of small companies(some as high as 50+%) in the state, the best the Patrick Administration could do was spread the increases out over 3 years under an agreement from CMS

 

[Busybody]

SHIT


Here are the quarterly growth rates for the U.S. economy since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009. Growth is measured by the change in gross domestic product, the nation's total output of goods and services. Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, during the Great Recession, which officially ended in June 2009.

A negative number indicates that GDP shrank during that quarter.

Quarters GDP rates
2009: Q1 -5.3 percent
2009: Q2 -0.3 percent
2009: Q3 1.4 percent
2009: Q4 4.0 percent
2010: Q1 2.3 percent
2010: Q2 2.2 percent
2010: Q3 2.6 percent
2010: Q4 2.4 percent
2011: Q1 0.1 percent
2011: Q2 2.5 percent
2011: Q3 1.3 percent
2011: Q4 4.1 percent
2012: Q1 2.0 percent
2012: Q2 1.3 percent
2012: Q3 2.0 percent

 

[unregistered]

 

[unregistered]

 

[richard_daily]

So it's the truth whenever the revision is downward and "the Commerce Department is a liar" when the revision is upward.

And it looks like Q4 of 2012 had a very nice 5.5% growth rate, are you saying that's the truth or a lie? Part of the report is the truth and part is a lie at the same time?

He can't handle the truth.

 

[Busybody]

Obama’s Energy Policy: Kill Jobs And Raise Costs To “Save the Planet”

Only in politics can you win people’s support by telling them that you want to take more of their money and jobs away. Tell them it’s the “fair” thing to do. And the moral thing to do.

Just look at the Obamacare debate. It was never really a question as to whether Obamacare would raise insurance rates and cause healthcare costs to rise. Even Kathleen Sebelius admitted as much. Healthcare is going to get more costly, and the quality is going to suffer. But it’s all so that everybody is “taken care of.” We don’t want people dying in the streets because of a lack of health insurance, do we? So, the government is simply fulfilling its role in “promoting the general welfare” of the people. That way, people won’t be dying in the streets anymore. Instead, they’ll be at the mercy of “death panels” who will decide who is worth keeping and who needs to give up the ghost. So, see? It’s financially conservative, because they’re concerned about keeping unnecessary costs down. It’s compassionate too, because they’ll be putting people out of their misery.

It comes as no surprise that in unveiling his new energy policy, Obama is calling for more and more regulations that will potentially cripple the coal industry. Reuters reported:

“Obama's long-awaited climate plan, detailed in a speech at Georgetown University, drew criticism from the coal industry, which would be hit hard by carbon limits, and Republicans, who accused the Democratic president of advancing policies that harm the economy and kill jobs.”

Back in 2008, Obama didn’t mince words when he pointed out that energy costs will “necessarily skyrocket” because of his policy’s new regulations:

“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them, because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted. Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to, uh, retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”

He acknowledges that prices are going to have to rise substantially, but it’s OK, because it’s for a good cause. Pollution not only kills people and makes them sick, but it also contributes to global warming which will certainly end in a conflagrative cataclysmic event if we don’t “do something” about it now. So, we should be willing to do whatever it takes at whatever cost is necessary to save the planet from destruction. It’s the “moral” thing to do.


Read more: http://godfatherpolitics.com/11478/...raise-costs-to-save-the-planet/#ixzz2XQ5TAYmi

 

[Busybody]

He can't handle the truth.

what TRUTH?

 

[Busybody]

Obamacare Hits Hollywood: Studios Brace for the Affordable Care Act





R. Kikuo Johnson

As payroll companies struggle to predict the impact of new laws on movie and TV shoots, one insider says the act "wasn't written with this industry in mind."


This story first appeared in the July 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.



Three letters have been giving the payroll-services industry fits for several months now: ACA. That's the semi-acronym for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and it's up to the payroll industry -- which cuts checks to production workers and offers related financial services to TV and film studios -- to help educate its clients on the rules before a good portion of the law kicks in Jan. 1.

"It's a morass of regulations and requirements, and everyone's trying to figure out what their exposure is," says Eric Belcher, president and CEO of Cast & Crew Entertainment Services. Adds Mark Goldstein, CEO of Entertainment Partners, which has held 16 seminars to help studios understand ACA: "It's going to be a very big deal."

Determining the exact nature of the new laws has been difficult, given that many ACA terms have yet to be worked out. Hollywood productions, for instance, might find it irksome simply trying to categorize employees as full- or part-time, seasonal or variable, and it's important that they get the classifications right lest they face hefty fines. "ACA is thousands of pages, and it wasn't written with this industry in mind," says Belcher.


One of the unintended consequences, say some industry insiders, is that it could lead to productions running to foreign countries, given that ACA doesn't apply to U.S. citizens working abroad. Some also say the number of production days in the U.S. are likely to be cut due to ACA because there's a 90-day waiting period before productions must either pay a penalty or offer health insurance to full-time workers. That rule provides big incentives for a production to wrap in less than three months. While big-budget movies and season-long TV shows might not have such a luxury, smaller films or TV pilots could easily rush their schedules to make sure they come in at under 90 days.

But like much about ACA, the 90-day rule is subject to interpretation, says Daniel Cox, controller of payroll-services company PES Payroll. "Historically, if an employer had a 90-day wait period," says Cox, "the benefits would kick in on the first day of the fourth full month of employment. Thus, that 90-day wait period was, in reality, as long as 119 days. The ACA is unclear on this. Does 90 days mean 90 days? If so, it really means 60 days."

In order to dial down the frustration level, the major payroll-services companies are hiring outside tax, legal and benefits consultants -- Cast & Crew has engaged Henehan Co., for example -- and are setting meetings with production clients. Payroll firm Entertainment Partners has authored a 39-page report that includes 81 frequently asked questions. FAQ No. 7, for example, contains the seven steps to determine whether or not a production employs 50 full-time workers, which would trigger an "employer mandate" for health coverage. In a nutshell, if you've got about 40 employees who work 130 hours a month and an additional 20 who work 65 hours monthly, you're probably subject to the mandate.

Payroll can represent as much as 45 percent of a production's cost, and payroll-services companies are still crunching the numbers to figure out how much ACA could add to the budget of a typical production. While the administrative costs might rise a bit for the payroll companies, the costs of extra health coverage or penalties fall to the production companies. Nonunion productions might be hit hardest because workers aren't already covered, but even union shoots typically employ many nonunion workers who might need health coverage under ACA.


The mandate dictates that full-time employees be offered insurance that is "affordable," defined as not more than 9.5 percent of an employee's household income. The insurance must also be "adequate," meaning it covers at least 60 percent of health care costs incurred. Also, Cox says, "no more discrimination among employee levels, no more negotiated benefits," so if a production pays $1,000 a month to subsidize insurance for a top production worker, it must pay that much for its lowest employees as well. If a production deems it too costly to meet the guidelines, it can opt instead to pay a penalty tax of $166.67 per month for each full-time employee, with the exception of the first 30 of them. In some cases, "the penalty option may be the cheaper alternative," says the Entertainment Partners report.

"Do I expect the cost of doing business to go up? Yes, I do," says Mike Rose, CEO of Ease Entertainment Services.

Rose, though, doesn't expect studios to follow the route taken by Regal Entertainment Group, which operates the nation's largest chain of movie theaters. In order to rein in the costs of supplying health benefits associated with ACA, Regal said in April it would cut the hours of some employees so that they aren't classified "full-time." Productions on tight schedules and in need of highly skilled workers and artists, though, don't usually have the luxury of micromanaging an employee's hours, says Rose.

"The ACA is on everybody's lips," says Cox. "The only way to gear up for the ACA is to build the tools." That means creating charts to determine whether clients are governed by the ACA and what the economic ramifications of electing not to offer insurance will be.

"Our clients need to know that the days of 100 percent employer-paid benefits at a certain executive level can no longer exist," Cox adds. "Their employees will need tools to navigate the state-sponsored insurance exchanges. In short, we have had to build a toolbox that accommodates our incredibly diverse client base."

 

[Busybody]

Hollywood is responsible for giving us this guy, shut up and take it like the rest of us




You're getting what you voted for so shut the "F" up!

 

[mercury14]

what TRUTH?

Vette just pasted an article that says Q4 of 2012 was 5.5%. You edited it out though. Care to say why you did that? Because it looks like you tampered with the data.

 

[richard_daily]

Vette just pasted an article that says Q4 of 2012 was 5.5%. You edited it out though. Care to say why you did that? Because it looks like you tampered with the data.

He's protecting his lover. Since the repeal of DOMA, if BB and vet get married, he won't be forced to testify against him in court.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Vette just pasted an article that says Q4 of 2012 was 5.5%. You edited it out though. Care to say why you did that? Because it looks like you tampered with the data.

Busybody has always had trouble with truthiness.

That's why we all laugh at him.

 

[Busybody]

Busybody has always had trouble with truthiness.

That's why we all laugh at him.

tee hee, I see your BUTTBOI, COWARDCURRY is bleating about some BS made up number

HAHA!

CumEddie in the AM

 

[koalabear]

Vette just pasted an article that says Q4 of 2012 was 5.5%. You edited it out though. Care to say why you did that? Because it looks like you tampered with the data.

How dare you insinuate that he posts like you, StinkyMORON!

 

[Busybody]

How dare you insinuate that he posts like you, StinkyMORON!

can you believe COWARDCURRY?

posting FAKE numbers

Tee Hee

soon he will tell us he has 3 pvt jets and an 18 inch pee pee

 

[mercury14]

can you believe COWARDCURRY?

posting FAKE numbers

Tee Hee

soon he will tell us he has 3 pvt jets and an 18 inch pee pee

My cock is so big it could be a private jet.

 

[Busybody]

http://photokapi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/lalala.jpg

 

[Busybody]

waste of taxpayer $$$...maybe tehy need ID cause all blacks look alike

Touts US-Funded Voter ID Program In Kenya Despite Calling Voter ID Laws In America Discriminatory…



Funny how that works.

Via Weekly Standard:


As President Obama and his family continue their tour of Africa, the White House put out a Fact Sheet entitled “U.S. Support for Strengthening Democratic Institutions, Rule of Law, and Human Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa.” One of the first items highlighted by the White House is a $53 million program in Kenya that helps young people ”obtain National identification cards, a prerequisite to voter registration.”

Civil society and independent media play a critical role in any vibrant democracy. Across sub-Saharan Africa, the United States supports efforts to ensure civil society organizations and independent media can organize, advocate, and raise awareness with governments and the private sector to improve political processes, transparency, and government performance. Examples include:

• In Kenya, the $53 million Yes Youth Can program empowers nearly one million Kenyan youth to use their voices for advocacy in national and local policy-making, while also creating economic opportunities. In advance of Kenya’s March 2013 general elections, Yes Youth Can’s “My ID My Life” campaign helped 500,000 youth obtain National identification cards, a prerequisite to voter registration, and carried out a successful nationwide campaign with Kenyan civic organizations to elicit peace pledges from all presidential aspirants. [emphasis added]