Ruminations 6oct12 - 8oct12

George Rebane

[Administrivia – ‘Ruminations’ postings will now be labeled by the interval from which they draw their items instead of sporting an ‘Updated xx’.  The subsequent addenda will include content annotated with the date of their appearance.  Hope this makes it easier to peruse.]

To the astute observer of the political scene, the real news of yesterday’s announcement of the unemployment rate’s drop from 8.1 to 7.8% was the overwhelming surprise that this event caused for the usual gang of national analysts and economists – you know, the gang that can never shoot straight.

The problem here is that the unemployment figure is cobbled together from an ad hoc algorithm that is manipulable to satisfy the vagaries of its manufacturers, and therefore beyond reasonable defense.  Not even the pros who follow these shenanigans 24/7 can make heads or tails of it, so they are constantly ‘surprised’.  But being in the business of economics and public policy, they are totally insulated from the shame of poor performance that is part and parcel of most other professions – law, politics, and journalism being the most obvious exceptions.  It turns out that the published unemployment number is the offspring of political parents, and therefore boasts all the reliability of a political statement.

The more reliable and less publicized fraction of people un(der)employed stayed the same at 14.7%.  But the numerate reader will focus on the fact that the economy needs to create at least 200,000 jobs per month to keep up with workforce growth.  It if doesn’t, the number of unemployed seeking a job increases, and so should the unemployment rate.  The rest is bullcrap.

Another telltale of this sordid reportage is Bernanke’s QE3, his current $40B/month printing frenzy is unfazed by the la-la land unemployment rate.  If the announced reduction had any basis in reality, then QE3 was grossly mistimed and should be stopped immediately.  But ol’ Ben Shalom will do no such thing simply because he’s in a position to look behind the curtain and see the empty chair.   The presses will keep rolling.

The FBI made it to Benghazi almost four weeks late.  The real cause for the delay has already been covered in these pages.  But now we see a State Dept wonk, with nose in notes, mumble the administration’s official reason for letting the evidence at the destroyed consulate get cold.  Hillary’s helpers are keeping a straight face as they tell us that the FBI couldn’t get on site sooner because of (wait for it) red tape – yes, it turned out that there have been problems with things like getting the agents their proper Libyan visas, and permissions to land their aircraft at the local airport.

Here was the new Libyan government telling us for months that they couldn’t secure their country against terrorists and asking for help.  This was backed up by desperate requests from our own embassy, and strengthened by reports of brazen terrorist attacks on the British ambassador back in June.  Now we’re asked by Obama's Foggy Bottom dolts to believe that getting the proper forms filled out delayed our forensic teams for three plus weeks in getting to the attack site.  Only the beyond stupid leftwing constituency would believe such utter nonsense – but they floated it because they do know their voters.

A real President would have had Seal teams and the FBI forensic people at the site – sovereign US territory – within 24 hours, and used any such required paperwork as abrasive field expedients until subsequent shipments of toilet paper could be delivered.

The anti-jihad ad in the New York subways (covered here) is now causing a furor in Washington DC's rapid transit system which is asking a court to let it delay the running of the ad until November (more here).  The reason?  The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority thinks it could be inflammatory, and cause Muslims and others to start rioting, thereby contributing to a safety problem in the subway system.  Our DHA concurs in a secret brief to the court.  I dunno, but if that kind of social instability were problematic in the United States, I would definitely want to run the ad, and see what kind of response it would provoke against the First Amendment.  The intelligence gathered as to the state of our nation would be invaluable.

[8oct12] California's pump prices breached the $5 mark - as I predicted in 2010 during a Prop23 debate seeking to repeal parts of AB32 that is now killing California jobs by the thousands - due to a number of factors.  One of them includes California having made its gasoline specifications so draconian that it is produced in no other state.  So when one of our few and much vilified refineries has a problem with production or distribution, the whole state takes an instant economic shot in the shorts.  To relieve the problem, Gov Moonbeam has allowed refineries to start making the easier to produce winter fuel about a month early (yes, we have different mixes for summer and winter).  But our econuts love that state of affairs - the sooner they can get us all on bikes and subsidized bullet trains, the better.