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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pink Minion who wrote (863)	9/19/2003 1:20:31 PM
From: Silver Super Bull	Respond to of 110194

SemiBear, RE: "Credit-card late-payment fees—up by 11% over the past year, on average—could reach an astonishing $11 billion this year." I guess this is why the financial stocks are doing so well, lol. These late fees are usually pretty high and all margin. DB

To: Pink Minion who wrote (863)	9/19/2003 2:18:23 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 110194

Steel Tariffs Appear to Have Backfired on Bush --Move to Aid Mills and Gain Votes in 2 States Is Called Political and Economic Mistake By Mike Allen and Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, September 19, 2003; Page A01 In a decision largely driven by his political advisers, President Bush set aside his free-trade principles last year and imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel to help out struggling mills in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, two states crucial for his reelection. Eighteen months later, key administration officials have concluded that Bush's order has turned into a debacle. Some economists say the tariffs may have cost more jobs than they saved, by driving up costs for automakers and other steel users. Politically, the strategy failed to produce union endorsements and appears to have hurt Bush with workers in Michigan and Tennessee -- also states at the heart of his 2004 strategy. "They tried to play politics, and it looked like it was working for a while," said Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist with ties to the administration. "But now it's fallen apart." [...] - washingtonpost.com ----- Is ANYBODY in the world surprised by this??? Here's an article by George Will (of all people) predicting the currently unfolding scenario 18 months ago: --------- boards.fool.com Ever the pragmatist, well known left-wing commie George Will savagely ravages Bush on the incredibly stupid steel tariff political ploy. BENDING FOR STEEL By George F. Will Thursday, March 7, 2002; Page A21 Proving himself less principled than Bill Clinton regarding the free-trade principles that are indispensable to world prosperity and comity, President Bush has done what Clinton refused to do. In the name of providing "breathing space" for the U.S. steel industry, which has been on the respirator of protection for decades, Bush has cooked up an unpalatable confection of tariffs and import quotas that mock his free-trade rhetoric. Do not read his lips, read his actions, which will incite protectionist clamors from other industries (timber and textiles, for starters) and invite retaliation from penalized nations. Bush's measures probably will neither force nor facilitate the restructuring the industry needs. Economically indefensible, these measures will destroy perhaps 10 jobs in the steel-consuming sector of American manufacturing for every steel-making job they save. Some manufacturers will move out of the country to avoid the tariffs. Bush's measures are new taxes on American consumers -- approaching $1 billion annually just on purchasers of cars and trucks -- and are purely political measures. Think of them as an $8 billion contribution coerced from manufacturers and consumers of steel products, for the benefit of about six Republican congressional candidates in steel-producing districts, and for Bush's reelection campaign. [...] - washingtonpost.com More from the same thread: boards.fool.com ----- It was almost as easy to predict what the result of Bush's tariff's would be as it was to predict that Iraq would create 1000 new Osamas.