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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (36631)	9/6/2005 10:48:17 AM
From: Chispas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

The Big Easy way out .. . They don't call New Orleans the Big Easy for nothing. Corruption has been corroding the state's politics — and politicians — for much, if not most, of its history. When Robert Penn Warren wrote "Of Mice and Men" nearly 60 years ago, he based his main character, Willie Stark, on Huey Long, perhaps the most notoriously corrupt national figure in Louisiana — and American — politics in the past 100 years. Long, a populist demagogue who aspired to national office — he was planning to run against FDR for president in 1936 — was assassinated in 1935 by a young physician whose father was being attacked politically by Long. Not much has really changed in Louisiana politics since then, and the way the Katrina catastrophe has been mishandled by New Orleans politicians, before, during and after the hurricane swept ashore and drowned the city, is reflective of that corruption. Where else but New Orleans would a city's leaders off-load their responsibilities, lack of preparedness and inability to act on any other political figure or bureaucrat in sight? The city's mayor blamed George W. Bush and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Guard, the head of the Army Corps of Engineers ... everyone, of course, except himself and the other officials — including the state's governor — who failed to do their jobs in the face of the danger. We keep hearing about the 500 school buses that sat idle in the city when the mandatory evacuation was announced and 150,000 poor people had no way to obey the order to leave. Why? No one is saying, but no doubt we'll hear shortly that if the President had been doing his job, he'd have known about those buses and ordered them deployed as emergency transportation for the poor. The Times-Picayune, New Orleans' — and Louisiana's — largest circulation daily paper, published an open letter to the President (online on the Internet because its presses are underwater) calling for the firing of FEMA personnel. "Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially," the letter said. "No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced" about federal response to the hurricane. But FEMA isn't where the fault lies; the fault lies within a corrupt bureaucracy and political machine that's dominated Louisiana and New Orleans government for 100 years, so used to taking the Big Easy way out that it was incapable of reacting responsibly and coherently to Katrina. Those who should be fired are the elected officials who run the state, by the voters at the ballot box, and their replacements should then start sending pink slips to the city and state bureaucracy who failed in the crisis. Will that happen? Probably not. Louisiana and New Orleans voters will instead re-elect them in exchange for promises of jobs, largesse and political influence. The entrenched bureaucracy will remain so, and once the dikes are repaired, the water's pumped out, and the city begins rebuilding (imagine, if you will, what's going to happen to all that federal money when it begins flowing into the city to fund the reconstruction), the city's "culture" will return to its pre-hurricane state. That's not exactly cause for celebration, no matter who's blowing the trumpet. Steve Williams """"""""""""""""" vvdailypress.com

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (36631)	9/6/2005 10:56:27 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

U.S. Aug. ISM services index shows robust growth - Tuesday, September 6, 2005 2:41:19 PM afxpress.com WASHINGTON (AFX) -- The non-manufacturing sectors of the U.S. economy continued to expand at a robust rate in August, the Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday. The ISM services index rose to 65.0% from 60.5% in July. It was the 29th consecutive month of growth and the highest reading since April 2004 Economists were expecting a small decline to 60.3%, according to a survey by MarketWatch. Readings over 50% in the diffusion index indicate expansion. Firms are asked if business is better, worse or the same, producing an index that shows the breadth of growth across the economy Many firms expressed concern about the price of energy, ISM said. New orders, employment and inventories increased at a faster rate in August. Prices increased at a slower rate Thirteen of 17 industries reported growth in August, while four reported flat business conditions. The industries with the fastest growth included mining, transportation, utilities and real estate. The industries with no growth included agriculture, wholesale trade, banking and entertainment The new orders index rose to a two-year high of 65.8% in August from 61.9%, the employment index rose to 59.6% from 56.2% and the inventories index rose to 53.5% from 52.5%. The prices paid index fell to 67.1% from 70.3%

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (36631)	9/6/2005 11:52:39 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

...A spokesman for the U.S. lumber lobby, meanwhile, said Canadian producers should be exempted from those punitive softwood duties - but only on free lumber donated to the rebuilding effort in Louisiana and Mississippi. "If Canada wants to do the humanitarian aid and donate their lumber, there would be no duty on free lumber," Scott Shotwell, a spokesman for the protectionist Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, said in an interview from Washington.... Yes, the "free trader" superpatriots are willing to drop the heavy illegal duties on donated Canadian lumber! :) canada.com