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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (50092)	6/30/2004 7:23:41 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 89467

home owners and credit card junkies...also......

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (50092)	6/30/2004 8:36:43 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Midwest biz slams on brakes ________________________________ Mortgage applications slide on higher rates June 30, 2004 (Reuters) — Business in the Midwest expanded at a slower pace in June, hit by an auto sales slowdown, a report showed Wednesday, lending support to views the Federal Reserve need raise interest rates only gradually to curtail inflation. A separate report said mortgage applications also declined in the latest week, reflecting already-higher interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's long-expected quarter-point hike in benchmark rates Wednesday afternoon. The unexpectedly severe drop in the Chicago purchasing managers' index to an eight-month low echoed monthly declines in durable goods orders in April and May. Economists said the day's reports backed up the Fed's decision to change rates gradually. ``If we're beginning to see some moderation in activity, then it's more likely that the Fed will move rates up at a modest, or measured, pace,'' said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis. Ten-year Treasury yields slipped to 4.60 percent from 4.68 percent on Tuesday and hit a one-month low. The National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago business barometer slid to 56.4 from May's 16-year high of 68.0, and was at its lowest since October. Economists had forecast the index at 65.0. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. The Chicago survey is often seen as a litmus test for factory production, although both manufacturing and service industries are surveyed. The Midwest region builds about 40 percent of U.S. motor vehicles and is a major producer of steel and farm equipment. Of the 10 largest U.S. counties, Cook County, which includes Chicago and nearby suburbs, ranks second in terms of manufacturing jobs. ``Motor vehicle sales are slowing and I think that this probably contributed to the sharp drop in production that we saw in June,'' said Mark Vitner, economist at Wachovia Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina. General Motors Corp. said this week that light vehicle sales will total a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16.3 million in June, down from 16.5 million a year ago. Outside of the auto sector, major retail chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. have warned recently of weaker-than-expected June sales. In the Chicago report, the production and new orders components fell heavily, although the employment measure showed a third straight month of growth. The prices paid component jumped to its highest since August 1988, a sign of inflationary pressures starting to dog the economy. ``What bothers me most is the drop-off in production and new orders. Durable orders have been dropping. The purchasing managers may be finally figuring out what's going on,'' said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's Rating Services in New York. The housing industry, an economic bulwark through both decline and recovery, is on what some see as its final fling before higher interest rates force a slowdown. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted market index, a measure of mortgage applications, fell 4.4 percent in the week ended June 25 after rising for two straight weeks. The purchase index, a gauge of new loan requests for home purchases, fell 4.2 percent but was still at an historically high level. Widespread publicity about pending interest rate increases has encouraged would-be buyers to jump into the market. If the Fed continues to raise rates, even at a measured pace, the sizzling housing sector should weaken. ``We will probably look for another quarter percentage point increase in August unless price increases accelerate or economic growth slows,'' said Lynn Reaser, chief economist, Banc of America Capital Management, in St. Louis. chicagobusiness.com

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (50092)	6/30/2004 11:03:04 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

'Boston Phoenix' IDs 'Anonymous' CIA Officer ________________ By E&P Staff Published: June 30, 2004 editorandpublisher.com NEW YORK The active U.S. intelligence officer known only as "Anonymous," who has gained world renown this month as author of an upcoming book called "Imperial Hubris," is actually named Michael Scheuer, according to an article in the Boston Phoenix today by Jason Vest. Speculation about his identity has run rampant since a June 23 article in The New York Times discussed the book and the background of the author. The book, "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror," asserts, among other things, that Osama bin Laden is not on the run and that the invasion of Iraq has not made the United States safer. In that June 23 piece, the Times identified Anonymous as a 22-year CIA veteran who ran the Counterterrorist Center's bin Laden station from 1996 to 1999, adding that a "senior intelligence official" held that revealing the man's full name "could make him a target of Al Qaeda." Anonymous has appeared in brief television interviews always in silhouette. According to Vest, "Nearly a dozen intelligence-community sources, however, say Anonymous is Michael Scheuer -- and that his forced anonymity is both unprecedented and telling in the context of CIA history and modern politics." Vest in his article notes that "at issue here is not just the book's content, but why Anonymous is anonymous. After all, as the Times and others have reported, his situation is nothing like that of Valerie Plame, a covert operative whose ability to work active overseas cases was undermined when someone in the White House blew her cover to journalist Robert Novak in an apparent payback for an inconvenient weapons-of-mass-destruction intelligence report by her husband, Joseph Wilson. Anonymous, on the other hand, is, by the CIA's own admission, a Langley, Va.-bound analyst whose identity has never required secrecy. "A Phoenix investigation has discovered that Anonymous does not, in fact, want to be anonymous at all -- and that his anonymity is neither enforced nor voluntarily assumed out of fear for his safety, but rather compelled by an arcane set of classified regulations that are arguably being abused in an attempt to spare the CIA possible political inconvenience. In the Phoenix's view, continued deference by the press to a bogus and unwanted standard of secrecy essentially amounts to colluding with the CIA in muzzling a civil servant -- a standard made more ridiculous by the ubiquity of Anonymous's name in both intelligence and journalistic circles." When asked to confirm or deny his identity in an interview with the Phoenix, Anonymous declined to do either, explaining, "I've given my word I'm not going to tell anyone who I am, as the organization that employs me has bound me by my word." Jonathan Turley, a national-security-law expert at George Washington University Law School, told Vest, "The requirement that someone publish anonymously is rare, almost unheard-of, particularly if the person is not in a covert position. It seems pretty obvious that the requirement he remain anonymous is motivated solely by political concerns, and ones that have more to do with the CIA." The CIA did not respond to a call from the Phoenix, and declined to comment on the book or the author to the Associated Press last Friday. Vest says that the man he identifies as Scheuer told him, "I suppose there might be a knucklehead out there somewhere who might take offense and do something, but anonymity isn't something I asked for, and not for that reason; it makes me sound like I'm hiding behind something, and I personally dislike thinking that anyone thinks I'm a coward."