AP Graphics
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday signed into law a stricter, four-year lifetime limit on cash welfare benefits, prompting advocates for the poor to warn that tens of thousands of residents will find themselves without cash assistance on Oct. 1.
For the first time - Latinos make up more than half of all federal felony offenders sentenced so far this year, a major demographic shift swollen by immigration offenses, according to a new government report.
Switzerland
Swizerland retains its crown at the top of the WEF global competitive list. Although the country only contributes 0.44pc to the world's gross domestic product (GDP), Swiss WEF measures of efficiency and innovation rank it above all other countries
Singapore
Singapore moves up a place into second spot this year. The country produces 0.39pc of global GDP, and cited inflation (29.1pc) as its greatest barrier to doing business. Singapore's inflation rate jumped from 4.5pc in June to 5.2pc in July, rising again to 5.4pc in August.
Sweden
Sweden slips into third place this year (down from second in 2010-2011).
Finland
Finland jumped three places into fourth spot this year. The country produces 0.25pc of global GDP, with businesses citing tax rates as their greatest problematic factor.
United States
The world's biggest economy slipped from fourth to fifth place this year. The powerhouse produces one fifth of global GDP. Tax rates (14.8pc) were cited as the greatest problem for business prosperity.
RICHARD COHEN: “Barack Obama has lost the Hamptons.”
“Over the Labor Day weekend, I went to a number of events in the Hamptons. At all of them, Obama was discussed. At none of them — that’s none — was he defended. That was remarkable. After all, sitting around various lunch and dinner tables were mostly Democrats. Not only that, some of them had been vociferous Obama supporters, giving time and money to his election effort. They were all disillusioned. Let me call the roll. I am talking about are writers and editors, lawyers and shrinks, Wall Street tycoons and freelance photographers, hedge funders and academics, run-of-the-mill Democrats and Democratic activists. They were all politically sophisticated, and just a year ago some of them were still vociferous Obama supporters. No more.”
ONE REASON WHY THOSE KEYNESIAN STIMULI AREN’T WORKING:
They’re Not Keynesian. “Whalen isn’t simply dumping on Keynesianism, he’s bent on pointing out that even its latter-day adherents are straying far from their master’s theory. And in this, he’s surely correct. As Allen Meltzer has argued, Keynes was against the very sort of large structural deficits that characterize contemporary federal budgets and policy, believing instead that deficits should be ‘temporary and self-liquidating.’ And Keynes believed that any sort of counter-cyclical spending by government should be directed toward increasing private investment, not simply spending current and future tax dollars on public works projects. Or, to put it another way: If the federal government had a strong track record of responsible spending, it would mean one thing if it went into hock for a short period of time to goose the economy (again, whether this would work is open to question). It means something totally different when a government that spent all of the 21st century piling on debt and new, long-term entitlement programs responds to an economic downturn first by creating yet another gargantuan entitlement (Obamacare) and taking on even more debt in the here-and-now.”
And how to fix it:
RICHARD EPSTEIN: Why are Democrats serving up a smorgasbord of job-killing policies? “Who cares if jobs are gained the public sector when so many will be lost in the private sector?” Er, public-sector unions?
Plus this: “It is a testimony to the resourcefulness of the American economy that the unemployment figures are not more dismal than they are. That said, this nation will not be able to get off the road to economic perdition unless it junks both parts of the Obama administration’s economic policy—its futile macroeconomic programs and its mindless labor market restrictions. Let us hope that President Obama takes these harsh realities into account when he makes his own job proposals later this week. But after reviewing his uninspired Labor Day remarks, we shouldn’t count on it.”
LA considers 'nightmare' ban on both plastic and paper grocery bags...
ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2011) — Can wounds be helped to heal faster? Yes, says a Norwegian company whose product's active ingredient, beta-glucans, comes from common baker's yeast.
Beta-glucans have been called nature's super-medicine. Norwegian researchers have been pioneers in producing these substances from the cell walls of everyday baker's yeast. Beta-glucans are now widely used in the aquaculture industry and veterinary medicine, as well as in dietary supplements and cosmetics.
The true potential of beta-glucans has barely been touched upon, asserts Rolf Einar Engstad, Chief Scientific Officer at the Tromsø-based company Biotec Pharmacon. He headed a project which over the past several years has enhanced the understanding of how beta-glucans work and how they can be applied.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110907085356.htm
It appears to be open season on Conservatives. First, Maxine Waters wants them to all "go to hell". Hoffa wants to take the "son of bitches out". Obama told a latino radio audience that the GOP are "our enemies". And Joe Biden called the Tea Party "barbarians". And now a video game allows virtual slaughter of any of a number of Conservatives.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2011) — For the first time, new research shows that patterns of alcohol consumption -- a drink or two every night, or several cocktails on Friday and Saturday nights only -- may be more important in determining alcohol's influence on heart health than the total amount consumed.
In the journal Atherosclerosis, scientists found that daily moderate drinking -- the equivalent of two drinks per day, seven days a week -- decreased atherosclerosis in mice, while binge drinking -- the equivalent of seven drinks a day, two days a week -- increased development of the disease. Atherosclerosis, or the hardening and narrowing of arteries, is a serious condition that can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
“We said working folks deserved a break, so within one month of me taking office, we signed into law the biggest middle-class tax cut in history, putting more money into your pockets.”
President Obama, Sept. 5, 2011
The U.S. has tumbled further down a global ranking of the world's most competitive economies, landing at fifth place because of its huge deficits and declining public faith in government, a global economic group said Wednesday.
Texas fires destroy one collector’s 175 classic cars
The good news for one Texas man near the massive wildfires is that his home was merely singed, and his family escaped uninjured. The bad news was what the fire took instead — some 175 classic cars, including a Shelby Cobra and about a dozen Corvettes.
John Chapman, 70, was shuffling through the ash-covered remains of his collection spread through a garage and several pole barns shorty after the fire moved through, pushing burning embers off what had been left behind. Other vehicles lost included several mid-'50s Chevys, a 1947 Studebaker pickup and a 1966 Pontiac GTO.
A weekend of religious-themed observances at Washington National Cathedral marking the tenth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks will include a Buddhist nun and an Imam, but not an evangelical Christian, leading the head of the Southern Baptist Convention to ask President Obama to reconsider attending the event.
Two people have died in a monstrous wildfire raging southeast of Austin, bringing the death toll of Labor Day weekends fires across the state to four. Officials declined to provide details on the deaths, other than to say they were not public safety responders.
LONDON — They may be witnessing their global superpower influence decline in the face of challenges from other emerging players on the world stage, but Americans have been voted the world's "coolest nationality" in an international poll.
Social networking site Badoo.com asked 30,000 people across 15 countries to name the coolest nationality and also found that the Spanish were considered the coolest Europeans, Brazilians the coolest Latin Americans and Belgians the globe's least cool nationality.
"We hear a lot in the media about anti-Americanism," says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing. "But we sometimes forget how many people across the world consider Americans seriously cool."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44413922/ns/us_news-life/#.TmbgQY56KuJ
By Alexander Bolton, The Hill
President Obama’s new effort to revive the ailing economy may be too little, too late, according to Democrats and liberal policy experts.
They contend that Obama missed his chance to turn the economy around by November 2012, but still want him to call on Congress to move an aggressive new jobs plan — even if it has little chance of passing.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/179815-dems-fear-its-too-late#ixzz1XHkXR0gz
