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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SGJ who wrote (79569)	2/18/2010 4:38:29 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224750

Brown Tees Up Romney at CPAC By KATE ZERNIKE Another CPAC surprise: Scott Brown. The man conservatives credit with stopping a health care plan they deride as “Obamacare” burst onto the stage in a time slot that had been designated for former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, sending the crowd into a standing and stomping ovation. “My name is Scott Brown,” he said, as the crowd shouted, “Whoo!” “And I’m the newly elected,” pause for emphasis, “Republican senator from Massachusetts!” “Let me just say that one more time. I’m the Republican senator from Massachusetts!” Mr. Brown thanked the crowd for directing money and support toward his victory last month. “They said it couldn’t be done, but collectively we all did it,” he said. “And yes, the question everyone’s been asking me — did I drive here in the truck? And yes, it’s right outside.” Mr. Brown described himself as awestruck as a newcomer to official Washington, saying he was “just a guy from Wrentham” who drives a truck (he left off that he was also a state senator). “We have absolutely changed the course of politics in America,” Mr. Brown said. He then introduced Mr. Romney, calling him “one of the Republican party’s bright lights.”

To: SGJ who wrote (79569)	2/18/2010 6:26:22 PM
From: MrLucky	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224750

One thing the Unions can't do is stop jobs from moving overseas... I agree with your statement. The "but" is that the unions will whine and whine and the MSM will listen and listen and then tell the public how awful the corporations are for sending jobs overseas. And while I prefer that we keep our investments over here, I can see how our big government is not helping the situation thereby causing many of these corporate decisions. The news on further tax hikes is not far away and obama will tell us he is only following the advice of his latest commission of "do nothings' who will bill us at 1G per day while they "study" the issues. We are screwed until 2012.

To: SGJ who wrote (79569)	2/19/2010 8:16:34 AM
From: lorne	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224750

Fed fires gun on US exit strategy as it raises discount rate to 0.75pc The Federal Reserve has officially begun the US "exit strategy" from its emergency economic support measures of the past two years, raising the rate at which American banks can borrow money. By James Quinn, US Business Editor 18 Feb 2010 telegraph.co.uk The US central bank, chaired by Ben Bernanke, raised the so-called discount rate from 0.5pc to 0.75pc at the request of its 12 regional member banks. The move is highly significant, marking the first time one of the "big three" central banks has tightened policy, rather than merely mooting it, since the crisis begun. Although Mr Bernanke had flagged it as a possibility a week ago, saying that he would consider such a move "before long", the decision caught some investors by surprise, with Dow futures falling 65 points to 10,310, coming as it did after normal market hours, and unconnected to a scheduled meeting of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC). The change was the first move in US interest rates since December 2008, when the Fed lowered the discount rate – the price at which banks emergency money from the Fed – to 0.5pc and lowered its main federal funds interest rate to a range of 0-0.25pc. However, since the decision will not directly affect the main Fed funds rate, it is unlikely to feed through directly to consumers. The increase widens the spread between the Federal funds and the discount rate to half a percentage point, the upshot of which will be to encourage banks to borrow from the short-term credit markets rather than using the Fed – until this decision the cheapest source of short-term funding. In its statement, the Fed said the changes "are not expected to lead to tighter financial conditions for households and businesses " and should not be viewed as any change in the economic outlook. However, they will inevitably be seen as a precursor to moves to raise interest rates more broadly in the future The Fed also said that the typical maturity period for lending from the discount window would be overnight, as was traditionally the case, rather than the 30 day window put in place at the start of the crisis. The discount window played a key part in combating the liquidity crisis. US banks borrowed as much as $110.7bn (£71.3bn) at the height of the crisis in October 2008, compared to just $200m before it began in the Autumn of 2007. "The Fed can talk all day about how the discount rate hike is technical and not a policy move, but the market sees it as a shot across the bow," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York. "The Fed is moving back to doing business as normal and business as normal is not targeting an exceptionally low Fed funds rate of zero to 0.25 percent," he continued, implying investors are concerned about an upcoming increase in the federal funds rate. Aaron Kohli, strategist at RBS Securities, said: "This is more a case of normalisation, rather than a precursor to a change in monetary policy."