US private sector adds 91,000 jobs

Anemic to say the least.

The US private sector added 91,000 jobs in August, fewer than expected, according to a report from private payrolls firm ADP released Wednesday.

Net job creation slowed from the revised 109,000 payrolls added in July, the report said.

Confidence Drops to Lowest Level Since April 2009

No surprise here.

U.S. consumer confidence crumbled in August to its lowest level in more than two years as the fallout from political wrangling over a budget deal took its toll, according to a private sector report released Tuesday.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes sank to 44.5 from a downwardly revised 59.2 the month before. The index was well off a poll of economists by Reuters for a reading of 52.0.

The index was at the lowest level since April 2009, the report said. July was originally reported as 59.5.

Lawrence Solomon: Science getting settled

Interesting but not so surprising a story, please read it all.

New, convincing evidence indicates global warming is caused by cosmic rays and the sun — not humans

The science is now all-but-settled on global warming, convincing new evidence demonstrates, but Al Gore, the IPCC and other global warming doomsayers won’t be celebrating. The new findings point to cosmic rays and the sun — not human activities — as the dominant controller of climate on Earth.

The research, published with little fanfare this week in the prestigious journal Nature, comes from über-prestigious CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, one of the world’s largest centres for scientific research involving 60 countries and 8,000 scientists at more than 600 universities and national laboratories. CERN is the organization that invented the World Wide Web, that built the multi-billion dollar Large Hadron Collider, and that has now built a pristinely clean stainless steel chamber that precisely recreated the Earth’s atmosphere.

In this chamber, 63 CERN scientists from 17 European and American institutes have done what global warming doomsayers said could never be done — demonstrate that cosmic rays promote the formation of molecules that in Earth’s atmosphere can grow and seed clouds, the cloudier and thus cooler it will be. Because the sun’s magnetic field controls how many cosmic rays reach Earth’s atmosphere (the stronger the sun’s magnetic field, the more it shields Earth from incoming cosmic rays from space), the sun determines the temperature on Earth.

Poll: Only 17 percent hold positive view of federal government

Go figure.

Americans have a more favorable view of every other industry — including oil and gas — than of the federal government, according to a new poll released Monday.

Only 17 percent of Americans surveyed have a positive view of the federal government.

According to Gallup, this is the first time the federal government has ranked at the bottom of a list of industries, displacing even the oil-and-gas industry, which came in second to last this year.

Vid of the Week

The Weather Channel's hyperbolic BS is exposed again HERE.

Sunday Funny

From RR.

US economy grew just 1.0% in second quarter

Kinda makes the Bush years of 6% growth and 4.5% unemployment look pretty dam% good.

WASHINGTON — The US economy grew at a weaker pace than initially believed in the second quarter, the government said Friday in a report that underscored the tenuous nature of the two-year-old recovery.

The Commerce Department lowered its estimate for second-quarter growth in gross domestic product to an annual rate of 1.0 percent from the first quarter, from a prior reading of 1.3 percent.

"The recovery continues, but is extremely fragile. The economy has expanded just 1.5 percent over the past year, too weak to create the job growth necessary for a self-sustaining expansion," said Augustine Faucher at Moody's Analytics.

Growth in the April-June period was hit primarily by downward revisions to inventory investment and exports, that were only partly offset by upward revisions to business fixed investment and consumer spending.

Pic of the Day

Speaks for itself.

Percentage of Young People Employed in July Is Lowest on Record

Stagnating economy plain and simple.

(CNSNews.com) – Although more young people found jobs between April and July, the percentage of young people employed in July 2011 was the lowest July rate on record since the government started tracking the numbers in 1948.

Data released on Wednesday by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that only 48.8 percent of young people ages 16-24 were employed in July, a slightly lower percentage than last year. Youth employment typically peaks in July, as high school and college students work summer jobs and graduates take permanent jobs.

Raising the minimum wage certainly didn't help.

Jobless claims in U.S. rise to 417,000

This week up, last week revised up, 4 week average up, surprise, surprise.

New applications for U.S. unemployment compensation rose 5,000 to 417,000 , the Labor Department said Thursday. Initial claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 412,000 from an original reading of 408,000...

The average of new claims over the past four weeks, meanwhile, increased by 4,000 to 407,500...In addition, the Labor Department said the number of Americans who continue to receive state unemployment checks fell by 80,000 to 3.64 million in the week ended Aug 13. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.

67% of Political Class Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction, 84% of Mainstream Disagrees

Just proves that the politicians and the journalists that report on them are living in LA La Land.

Recent polling has shown huge gaps between the Political Class and Mainstream Americans on issues ranging from immigration to health care to the virtues of free markets.

The gap is just as big when it comes to the traditional right direction/wrong track polling question.

A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 67% of Political Class voters believe the United States is generally heading in the right direction. However, things look a lot different to Mainstream Americans. Among these voters, 84% say the country has gotten off on the wrong track.

Twenty-four percent (24%) of Mainstream voters consider fiscal policy issues such as taxes and government spending to be the most important issue facing the nation today. Just two percent (2%) of Political Class voters agree.

July new home sales fall for third straight month

So many facets of this economy are dependent on home sales. Untill this shows some serious strength, the economy won't.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. sales of new homes declined in July for the third straight month, a sign of continued woes in the housing market.

Sales fell 0.7% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 298,000, the slowest pace since February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Sales had reached 316,000 in April before slipping.

The drop was a surprise to analysts. The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists was for a 1% gain in home sales to a 315,000 rate.

Another Business Flees Illinois

More than double the tax rate in 1 year and this is unexpected?

Tomorrow (Tuesday), Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is expected to announce that Indiana will welcome a new business that will bring 240 new jobs to Indiana — all thanks to Illinois’ Governor Quinn, the Illinois Democrats, and the major hike in Illinois’ taxes the Democrats put on Illinois businesses.

Modern Drop Forge, of Blue Island, Illinois, is expected to move its operation to Merrillville, Indiana. They are also expected to make a $7 million investment to improve the new property, according to NWI Times news of Indiana.

“The Democrats just don’t get it,” said Scott McCoy, a businessman and candidate for Illinois State Representative of the newly formed 106th House District in Central Illinois. “The Democrats caused this with their huge tax hike on Illinois businesses. Now, Illinois businesses are looking for more business friendly states and I can’t blame them. Illinois is doing this to ourselves. I hope the people in our state figure it out before we look around and see no businesses or jobs left in Illinois.”

Mortgage delinquency rate rises to 8.44%

Continuing positives from Hoover errr... Obamaville.

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Mortgage delinquencies rose in the second quarter, a development that reflects the deterioration of the job market, the Mortgage Bankers Association's chief economist said on Monday. In the second quarter, the delinquency rate for mortgages on one-to-four unit residential properties reached a seasonally adjusted 8.44%, up from 8.32% in the first quarter, yet still down from 9.85% when compared with the second quarter of 2010, according to the MBA's quarterly delinquency report.

Sunday Funny

From RR.

Headline of the Week

Obama Pushes for Action on Jobs While Vacationing on Martha's Vineyard. Also he's taking the ridiculously expensive vacation so we don't have to.

West Point reinstates cadet in LaBelle altercation

About dam# time.

A West Point cadet from Houston will return to class Monday after military academy officials rescinded a suspension that came after he was embroiled in a March altercation with singer Patti LaBelle's entourage at a local airport.

Word from the New York military academy came as dueling lawsuits - one filed by cadet Richard King, the other by LaBelle - await resolution in local courts.

King's attorney, John Raley, said Houston police recently apprised academy officials that the 23-year-old cadet had not been implicated in wrongdoing in the March 11 incident at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Michelle’s Separate Travel Costs Taxpayers Thousands

We need to eat our peas while they dine on caviar.

Michelle Obama Thursday traveled separately from President Obama to Martha’s Vineyard, costing taxpayers thousands in additional expenses to get her a few hours of extra vacation time.

Mrs. Obama and her daughters arrived just before 2 pm Thursday on a U.S. government jet, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Times, which got its information from the local airport. The first lady’s office has been silent on her travel. President Obama arrived in the evening along with the family dog Bo.

The extra costs related to Mrs. Obama’s solo trip mainly include the flight on a specially designed military aircraft she took instead of Air Force One, as well as any extra staff and Secret Service that had to be enlisted to go with her. She would also have had her own motorcade from the airport to her vacation residence.

Mrs. Obama’s separate jet travel sends the wrong message on a host of issues, from global warming to the budget deficit to the economy – in which currently so many people can’t afford to take a vacation at all.

This is not the first time Michelle has gone on vacation ahead of the president on the taxpayers’ tab. Last December, she racked up what was likely more than $100,000 in expenses leaving early for their Hawaii vacation.

Photoshop of the Week

Jobless Claims UP

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, according to a government report on Thursday that suggested hiring in August was steady but not robust.Meanwhile, the Labor Department says the Consumer Price Index rose 0.5 percent in July, following a drop of 0.2 percent in June. Gas prices accounted for much of the swing. Prices increased by a seasonally adjusted 4.7 percent, after falling sharply in June.

The core index, which excludes volatile food and energy, rose 0.2 percent. That's below the 0.3 percent rise in each of the previous two months.

Steady but not robust? Brother that is some serious spin.