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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (104317)	11/17/2011 7:47:36 AM
From: RetiredNow	Respond to of 149317

WHERE ARE THE PROSECUTIONS, OBAMA? WHY ARE YOU NOT EXECUTING THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT FAITHFULLY AS YOU SWORE TO DO? WHERE ARE THE INQUIRIES, CONGRESS? YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF CRIMINALS! OUTRAGE OF THE DAY: Insider Trading In Congress By Henry Blodget \| Daily Ticker – 19 hours ago Watch Video Segment on Insider Trading: finance.yahoo.com You cannot read the description of the personal stock trading allegedly conducted by Rep. Spencer Bachus and other members of Congress during the financial crisis and conclude anything other than that our government is corrupt. Yes, this behavior may be technically legal, because of an absurd loophole that some argue makes insider-trading rules not apply to Congress. Yes, this behavior may be widespread on Capitol Hill. But there is no universe in which a reasonable person would consider this behavior ethical or okay. That's why there is renewed traction in the Senate on two bills that would FINALLY prohibit members of congress from using nonpublic information for financial gain. Offenders of Crony CapitalismMany members of Congress are said to have made suspiciously timed trades, including John Kerry, Dick Durbin, and Jim Moran. But Rep. Spencer Bachus takes the cake. According to a new book called Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweizer, as relayed by Dave Weigel at Slate, Rep. Bachus made more than 40 trades in his personal account in the summer and fall of 2008, in the early months of the financial crisis. The fact that Bachus personally traded while getting private government briefings is bad enough. The fact that he was the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee at the time is simply outrageous. In one case, the day after getting a private briefing on the collapsing economy and financial system from Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson, Rep. Bachus effectively shorted the market (by buying options that would rise if the market tanked.) A few days later, after the market tanked, Bachus sold his position and nearly doubled his money. If a corporate executive or Wall Street trader did this--cashed in personally after getting private, non-public information from his work--Rep. Bachus and every other member of Congress would be up in arms about corruption and insider trading. And they would be right.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (104317)	11/26/2011 8:06:20 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

Black Friday sales hit record, says report NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Preliminary reports for Black Friday indicate that retailers may have seen their strongest sales ever during the all-important kick-off to the holiday shopping season. Retail sales on Black Friday climbed 6.6% this year to an estimated $11.4 billion, according to ShopperTrak, which tracks foot traffic at malls and stores. Last year, sales climbed just 0.3% to $10.7 billion, which was a record one-day sales amount at the time, according to the company. " This is the largest year-over-year gain in ShopperTrak's National Retail Sales Estimate for Black Friday since the 8.3 percent increase we saw between 2007 and 2006," said ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin. "Still, it's just one day. It remains to be seen whether consumers will sustain this behavior through the holiday shopping season." However, sales have been strong throughout the entire month of November with retailers rolling out holiday deals earlier than ever. In the two weeks leading up to the week of Black Friday, retail sales were up 3.6% and 3.8%, respectively, ShopperTrak reported. "Retailers continue to stretch out Black Friday weekend by enticing shoppers with doorbuster deals weeks in advance," said Martin. Online sales have also proven to be strong, with many big-box retailers and department stores offering deals online earlier this year. Black Friday online sales surge 24% Online sales were up 39.3% on Thanksgiving Day and 24.3% on Black Friday compared to the same days last year, according to IBM's ( IBM, Fortune 500) Coremetrics, which tracks real-time data from 500 retailers in the apparel, department store, health and beauty and home goods categories. "This year marked Thanksgiving's emergence as the first big spending day of the 2011 holiday season with a record number of consumers shifting their focus from turkey to tablets and the search for the best deals," said John Squire, chief strategy officer at IBM's Smarter Commerce division. Consumers also spent slightly more than they did last year, although they spent most of that money on themselves. According to NPD Group consumers spent about 3% more on purchases during Black Friday. However, about 44% were self purchases up from 33% last year, the research group said. money.cnn.com

To: RetiredNow who wrote (104317)	11/26/2011 8:09:14 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

tejek, just because I rail against Obama and the Dems bailing out the banks, does NOT mean I am a big fan of the GOP. The GOP is a joke. They are criminals. They proved that to me during the Bush years. It was a grand shift for me, because I'd always voted straight ticket GOP all the way through 2003. So your post is accurate. That's right.......and Ron Paul is GOP. The SuperCommittee is a joke anyway. Even if the GOP was willing to raise $750B in new taxes alongside the Dems willingness to cut $750B in spending, for a total of $1.5T in deficit reduction over 10 years, it still only address 10% of the problem. We still will have a deficit of $1.35T EVERY YEAR, for a total of $13.5T in new debt at the end of 10 years. It's all one giant farce to pacify the populace. However, educated folks like me aren't fooled. Both parties are a joke. Maybe......but Rs are a much, much bigger joke...........and are much more dangerous because they strongly align with corps and the rich.