Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (498299)	11/25/2003 11:06:10 AM
From: willcousa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Does your friend have a security clearance and if so is it issued by the United States of America?

To: American Spirit who wrote (498299)	11/25/2003 11:07:41 AM
From: Lazarus_Long	Respond to of 769670

U.S. economic growth revised up GDP grew at a blistering 8.2 percent pace in the third quarter, faster than originally thought. November 25, 2003: 10:47 AM EST NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter at an even faster pace than originally reported, the government said Tuesday. Gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic activity, grew at an 8.2 percent annual rate, the fastest pace since the first quarter of 1984, after growing at a 3.3 percent pace in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported. Originally, GDP growth was reported at a 7.2 percent annual rate. Economists, on average, expected the reported growth rate to be revised to 7.6 percent, according to Briefing.com. The report had little positive impact on Wall Street, which had widely expected the strong report. U.S. stock prices were little changed in early trading, while Treasury bond prices rose. One key reason for the large upward revision in third-quarter GDP was a re-evaluation of the rate of change in business inventories in the quarter. Originally, the government said businesses cut inventories by $35.8 billion in the quarter, but that figure was trimmed to $14.1 billion in the latest report. The lower rate of shelf-clearing in the third quarter could mean the economy will get less of a boost from re-stocking in the fourth quarter than some economists had hoped. "The bottom line is that Wall Street will have to shave off some of its overly exuberant fourth-quarter real GDP estimates," said Anthony Chan, chief economist at Banc One Investment Advisors. Third-quarter growth was also boosted by a 6.4 percent pace of growth in consumer spending, the strongest pace since the third quarter of 1997, after growing at a 3.8 percent rate in the second quarter. Consumer spending growth was originally reported as 6.6 percent. Much of the strength in consumer spending in the third quarter was due to a 26.5 percent rate of growth in the sale of durable goods, items meant to last three years or more, and much of that came in sales of motor vehicles and parts. It was the strongest performance for durable goods sales since the fourth quarter of 2001, when sales jumped at a 33.6 percent pace. Auto sales have slowed down during the fourth quarter, however. Consumers got a boost in the late summer and early fall from child tax credit rebate checks and from the tail end of a boom in mortgage refinancing. Cash-out refinancing cut homeowners' monthly payments and put more cash in their pockets, and parents got an extra cash infusion from rebate checks. Those effects have mostly dissipated in the fourth quarter, however, leading most economists to believe consumer spending will slow. Unsurprisingly, home sales soared in the third quarter, with residential investment up at a 22.7 percent annual pace, the strongest pace since the first quarter of 1992, compared with 6.6 percent in the second quarter. Nonresidential fixed investment rose at a 14 percent rate, the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2000, following the second quarter's 7.3 percent pace, a sign of further strength in business spending. Investment in equipment and software rose 18.4 percent, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 1998 and more than double the prior quarter's pace of 8.3 percent. Many economists have hoped that an upturn in business confidence and spending will fuel a continuing recovery in the labor market, which will make the broader economic recovery more sustainable. Certainly, businesses got more money to spend in the third quarter. Corporate profits after taxes rose at a 10.6 percent annual rate, the strongest gain since the fourth quarter of 1992, compared with a 5 percent contraction in the second quarter. money.cnn.com Consumer confidence jumps Closely watched measure of consumer sentiment surges more than expected in November. November 25, 2003: 10:47 AM EST NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Consumer confidence rose higher than expected in November, a research group said Tuesday, driven by signs of a slow improvement in the labor market. The Conference Board, a business research group based in New York, said its closely watched index of consumer confidence rose to 91.7, the highest level since the fall of 2002, from a revised 81.7 in October. Economists, on average, expected the confidence index, based on a survey of 5,000 households, to rise to 85, according to Briefing.com. The survey's "present situation" index jumped to 80.1 from 67.0, while the "expectations" index, measuring consumers' expectations for the future, rose to 99.4 from 91.5. "The improvement in the present situation Index, especially in the jobs component, suggests that consumers believe a slow but sure labor market turnaround is underway," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "The rise in expectations is a signal that consumers will end this year much more upbeat than when the year began." Confidence is watched closely by policy-makers and analysts since consumer spending fuels more than two-thirds of the nation's economy. Still, the report had little impact on Wall Street. U.S. stock prices were slightly lower in early trading, while Treasury bond prices continued to rise. In a separate report Tuesday morning, the Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of the economy, grew at an upwardly revised 8.2 percent annual rate, seasonally adjusted, in the third quarter, surpassing Wall Street forecasts. And the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously owned homes, the biggest component of the housing market, slowed more than expected in October. In the Conference Board report, the percentage of consumers saying jobs are "hard to get" fell to 29.5 percent from 33.7 percent. The percentage saying jobs are plentiful rose to 13.2 percent from 11.8 percent. But the research group also described the employment outlook as "mixed." The percentage of consumers expecting more jobs to become available in the next six months fell to 18.2 percent from 19.6 percent. The percentage expecting fewer jobs to become available also fell, however, to 17.6 percent from 20.4 percent. The percentage of consumers expecting their incomes to rise climbed to 19.0 percent from 16.9 percent. money.cnn.com

To: American Spirit who wrote (498299)	11/25/2003 11:14:12 AM
From: PROLIFE	Respond to of 769670

Billybubba tried to do Kyoto just like he did everything...smoke and mirrors. Ex-Clinton aides admit Kyoto treaty flawed By Jonathan Weisman, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — As President Bush headed off Monday to face environmental critics in Europe, he fired a parting shot at the global warming treaty he has rejected. He called the Kyoto Protocol unrealistic, costly and "fatally flawed." In that assessment, he has some unexpected supporters: Clinton administration experts. Economists from the Clinton White House now concede that complying with Kyoto's mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases would be difficult — and more expensive to American consumers than they thought when they were in charge. That reassessment helped fuel Bush's decision to reject the Kyoto treaty, said Lawrence Lindsey, the president's economic adviser. Instead of embracing binding limits on greenhouse gases, Bush pledged on Monday a modest package of actions to combat global warming. They include a research initiative to fill gaps in scientists' understanding of climate change and increased use of renewable energy. But he didn't call for new money. "America's unwillingness to embrace a flawed treaty should not be read by our friends and allies as any abdication of responsibility," said Bush, who is expected to hear vociferous complaints about his approach during his five-nation tour of Europe. Bush said the treaty would harm the economy and exclude China, the world's second-biggest producer of greenhouse gases after the USA. The treaty, negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, aimed to combat emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that most scientists believe trap heat in the atmosphere. The treaty required the United States to reduce its emissions by 2012 to 7% below its 1990 levels. At the time, the Clinton White House estimated that the cost of reaching that target was relatively low: about $7 billion to $12 billion a year starting in 2008, when binding reductions would begin phasing in. An average household's energy bills would rise $70-$110 a year, and gasoline prices would inch up no more than 6 cents a gallon, the White House said. Other government cost estimates were far higher. The Department of Energy estimated that gasoline prices would have to rise 66 cents a gallon — or 53% over a projected 2010 price — to meet Kyoto's emissions targets. To keep his cost estimates down, President Clinton envisioned an emissions-trading system in which countries unable to meet the greenhouse-gas reduction targets would get credits for helping other nations exceed the standards. The idea was that when all the treaty's members averaged out their emissions, the world's total output would meet a global target. For example: If the United States wanted to emit more carbon dioxide one year, it could help Russia get below its emissions standard by paying high-polluting Russian industries to adopt technologies to clean up their dirty plants. Clinton administration economists say that, in retrospect, their low cost estimates were unrealistic. They assumed that: China and India would accept binding emission limits and would fully participate in the emissions-trading system, even though they never signed the treaty. European opposition to emissions trading could be overcome. Most industries and consumers would quickly adopt new, energy-efficient technologies, such as advanced air conditioning systems and gas-electric "hybrid" cars, without financial incentives. Since 1997, however, it has become clear that consumers love their gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles and aren't embracing energy-efficient technologies; China has no intention of participating in the treaty; and Europe still wants to limit emissions trading as a partial solution to global warming. Todd Stern, Clinton's global warming coordinator, says that the Europeans would likely go along with an unlimited trading system if the Bush administration would return to the negotiating table to produce a revised treaty it could sign. However, he concedes that China won't participate for now. Leaving China out of a trading scheme would double the Clinton cost estimate, says Joseph Aldy, who helped develop the estimates for Clinton. "We always thought the (emissions) targets were very ambitious," he says. "But the thing that made us really uneasy about our analysis ... was that if our assumptions didn't come true, you could come out with costs that were much, much higher." Another problem is that energy-efficiency breakthroughs have stalled as governments argue over the treaty, says a supporter of the treaty. "As the clock ticks, this becomes a more and more difficult job," says Kathleen McGinty, who chaired Clinton's Council on Environmental Quality. Even so, Clinton economists say, Bush could have tried to revise the treaty to reflect these new realities. By simply walking away from it, he is letting the Europeans portray the United States as the villain, even though they privately admit that they, too, may be unable to comply with the treaty. "George Bush has done all the work for the Europeans," says Robert Lawrence, a Clinton administration economist now at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Lindsey, however, insists that the Kyoto Protocol is beyond repair. "The models are not even close in suggesting Kyoto was the right approach," he says. "It was wrong. I think we did the right thing." usatoday.com