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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (51046)	4/28/2012 7:20:20 PM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71588

Jay-Z and Beyonce in the White House Situation Room Obama Trashes the Presidency, the White House and the US Obama’s Open Door Policy Jay-Z and Beyonce in the White House Situation Room BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff - April 27, 2012 freebeacon.com White House opens up Situation Room to NBC for OBL mission interview with Obama President Obama granted NBC access to the White House Situation Room for an interview about the killing of Osama bin Laden that will air on the anniversary of bin Laden’s death, Politico reports: The interview, which will air on Rock Center with Brian Williams on May 2, comes at the one-year anniversary of bin Laden’s killing, an event the Obama campaign is touting in a new ad that goes after Mitt Romney. “One year ago, they brought down Bin Laden. Now, for the first time, the main players are talking — only to Brian Williams,” a 15-second promo of the interview, which aired this morning on the Today show, said. ”Exclusive access inside the situation room. Rock Center, Wednesday, 9/8 Central on NBC.” White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest resisted questions regarding rumors of the interview this morning, as well as the suggestion that Obama was politicizing Bin Laden’s killing by holding an interview in the Situation Room. It is not the first time the Obama White House has opened the Situation Room up to the media, however. Senior White House adviser David Axelrod allowed New York Times reporters to shadow him for a profile piece in 2009, including a trip to the Situation Room. Later that year, Axelrod and then-press secretary Robert Gibbs were seen in photos in the room meeting over Afghanistan policy. According to Politico, the bleed over between politics and policy outraged former Bush White House staff: Throughout the Bush administration, liberal critics warned that the hand of Bush political adviser Karl Rove was spreading politics into all corners of government. Reporters were on alert for any sign that politics was infecting the work of federal agencies. One top appointee got in hot water for allegedly asking agency officials to work to “help our candidates” across the country. So some Bush aides went nearly apoplectic earlier this month when they spotted Gibbs and Obama’s political guru, David Axelrod, in photos of a Situation Room meeting on Afghanistan policy. “Oh, the howling and screaming that would have happened if Karl Rove was sitting in on even a deputies-level meeting where strategy was being hammered out. People would have just gone ballistic,” said Peter Feaver, a former White House aide for both Bush and Bill Clinton. When Jay-Z and Beyonce visited the White House in 2010, the couple was photographed inside the Situation Room–an occasional perk for special visitors, one White House aide told CNN.

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (51046)	4/29/2012 4:10:57 PM
From: greatplains_guy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Obama has presided over the worst recovery since the Great Depression. It is looking more like that is going to be finished soon. Romney is just the kind of man we need now. He is a turnaround specialist. What he has done for businesses he can do for our country.

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (51046)	4/29/2012 6:18:58 PM
From: greatplains_guy	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

GDP Miss Far Bigger Than Announced; Real GDP is 0% Using More Reasonable Deflator Mike Shedlock The Advance Estimate for Q1 GDP came in at 2.2%, down from 3.0% in the previous quarter, and below most mainstream media estimates of 2.5%. However, my friend BC notes .... The GDP deflator is reported to have averaged 1.2% annualized in the past 2 qtrs. Had the trend rate from '11 persisted, the deflator would have subtracted 2.6% annualized from real GDP, resulting in a 2-qtr. growth of real GDP of 0%. ECRI's Achuthan would appear correct that a recession were imminent instead of looking like a dummy. Rick Davis at the Consumer Metric Institutes makes a similar calculation. In their "advanced" estimate of the first quarter 2012 GDP, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) found that the annualized rate of U.S. domestic economic growth was 2.20%, down more than three-quarters of a percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. The vast bulk of the downturn was in commercial activities, with both fixed investments and inventories lowering the headline number substantially. Consumer spending on both goods and services improved slightly, and the ongoing contraction in governmental spending moderated somewhat. The BEA's bottom-line "real final sales" improved about a half-percent to an annualized growth rate of 1.61% -- hardly robust and certainly not the kind of numbers we would expect to see nearly three years into a recovery. Once again the BEA has used "deflaters" that will strain the credibility of the public, especially if they buy gasoline. To correct the "nominal" data into "real" numbers the BEA assumed that the annualized inflation rate during 1Q-2012 was 1.54%. As a reminder, lower "deflaters" cause the reported "real" growth rates to increase -- and once again very low seasonally adjusted BEA inflation "deflaters" have been the headline number's best friend. If the raw "nominal" numbers were instead "deflated" by using the seasonally corrected CPI-U calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the same time period, nearly the entire headline growth rate vanishes -- and the resulting growth rate would have been a minuscule 0.08% with "real final sales" contracting. And real per capita disposable income actually shrank during the quarter shrank at an annualized -0.27% rate (from $32,699 per capita to $32,677 per capita) -- and it remains lower than it was 5 quarters ago. -- even using the BEA's optimistic "deflaters." Real-world households likely felt the pinch even more. Doug Short at Advisor Perspectives has some interesting charts is his post GDP Q1 Advance Estimate Disappointing The Advance Estimate for Q1 GDP came in at 2.2%, down from 3.0% in the previous quarter, and below most mainstream media estimates of 2.5%. However, my friend BC notes .... The GDP deflator is reported to have averaged 1.2% annualized in the past 2 qtrs. Had the trend rate from '11 persisted, the deflator would have subtracted 2.6% annualized from real GDP, resulting in a 2-qtr. growth of real GDP of 0%. ECRI's Achuthan would appear correct that a recession were imminent instead of looking like a dummy. Rick Davis at the Consumer Metric Institutes makes a similar calculation. In their "advanced" estimate of the first quarter 2012 GDP, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) found that the annualized rate of U.S. domestic economic growth was 2.20%, down more than three-quarters of a percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. The vast bulk of the downturn was in commercial activities, with both fixed investments and inventories lowering the headline number substantially. Consumer spending on both goods and services improved slightly, and the ongoing contraction in governmental spending moderated somewhat. The BEA's bottom-line "real final sales" improved about a half-percent to an annualized growth rate of 1.61% -- hardly robust and certainly not the kind of numbers we would expect to see nearly three years into a recovery. Once again the BEA has used "deflaters" that will strain the credibility of the public, especially if they buy gasoline. To correct the "nominal" data into "real" numbers the BEA assumed that the annualized inflation rate during 1Q-2012 was 1.54%. As a reminder, lower "deflaters" cause the reported "real" growth rates to increase -- and once again very low seasonally adjusted BEA inflation "deflaters" have been the headline number's best friend. If the raw "nominal" numbers were instead "deflated" by using the seasonally corrected CPI-U calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the same time period, nearly the entire headline growth rate vanishes -- and the resulting growth rate would have been a minuscule 0.08% with "real final sales" contracting. And real per capita disposable income actually shrank during the quarter shrank at an annualized -0.27% rate (from $32,699 per capita to $32,677 per capita) -- and it remains lower than it was 5 quarters ago. -- even using the BEA's optimistic "deflaters." Real-world households likely felt the pinch even more. Doug Short at Advisor Perspectives has some interesting charts is his post GDP Q1 Advance Estimate Disappoints at 2.2%. This chart shows the disturbing trends. click on chart for sharper image GDP Trends Average growth since 1945 is 3.3% Linear regression says growth is trending lower at 2.1% Over the last 10 years, growth averages a mere 1.7% Take a good look at the last decade. The US only managed 1.7% growth in the biggest housing boom in history followed by the biggest multi-trillion dollar global stimulus effort in world history. Three years into a recovery, growth (if you believe preposterous deflators) is a mere 2.2% but only 0% if you don't. Moreover, with parts of Europe in an outright depression, with even Germany and the UK in recession, and with China slowing significantly, the odds the US economy decouples for too much longer is now approaching zero. I think the ECRI has its recession forecast reasonably correct. However, it may take a well-deserved GDP revision (likely after the next election) to prove it. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com