The Sunday 'Report;' 12/04/2011

What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Soros: World Financial System on Brink of Collapse
by Forrest Jones
Moneynews.com
December 1, 2011
    The world financial system is on the brink of collapse, with developed markets running full speed ahead toward disintegration, says billionaire financier George Soros.  Although developing countries are battling a slew of problems themselves, such as corruption and tattered infrastructure, they will likely end up faring better than markets in the big, industrialized nations, Soros says.  Developing countries are unscathed by the "deflationary debt trap that the developed world is falling into," Soros told a New York gathering at the International Senior Lawyers Project, a group that provides pro bono legal services, according to The Wall Street Journal.  While the global financial system finds itself [....]
http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/soros-economy-euro-crisis/2011/12/01/id/419719

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen: Pivotal Hispanic Vote Deserting Obama
by Martin Gould, Ashley Martella
Newsmax.com
November 30, 2011
    Hispanic voters will desert Barack Obama at the next election because he has failed to provide the hope and change he promised and Republicans are their natural party anyway, leading Cuban-American Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen tells Newsmax.  Too many people think that immigration is the only thing Latinos are concerned about but that is simply not true, the House Foreign Affairs chairwoman said in the exclusive interview.
“The Republican party is the party of small government, less government intrusion, small businesses, more economic freedom, and that goes to the heart of what the Hispanic community is all about,” the Florida legislator said. “The growth in Hispanic small businesses in the United States is phenomenal and it’s because we’re seeing the opportunities exist,” she added. “The party needs to tailor its message, we don’t have to change our principles, but just be unafraid to appeal to the Hispanic voter.  “We tend to think that the Hispanic voter is all about immigration and if you’re not for amnesty, if you’re not for a comprehensive immigration reform, you won’t get the Hispanic vote. That is not true at all.  “Hispanics are pro-business, they’re very much [....]
http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/obama-hispanic-vote-ros/2011/11/30/id/419590

Real Unemployment 11 Percent; Total Unemployment 15.6 Percent
by Mike Shedlock,
finance.townhall.com 
December 3, 2011
In the last year, the civilian population rose by 1,726,000. Yet the labor force fell by 67,000. Those not in the labor force rose by 1,793,000.   In November, those "Not in Labor Force" rose by a whopping 487,000. If you are not in the labor force, you are not counted as unemployed.  Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force, the unemployment rate would be well over 11%.
Jobs Report at a Glance
Here is an overview of November Jobs Report, today's release.
US Payrolls +120,000
US Unemployment Rate Declined .4 to 8.6%
Civilian labor force fell by 315,000
Those Not in Labor Force rose by 487,000
Participation Rate fell .2 percentage points to 64.0%, nearly matching a low last seen in 1984
Actual number of Employed (by Household Survey) rose by 278,000
Unemployment fell by 594,000
Civilian population rose by 172,000
Average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2011/12/03/real_unemployment_11_percent;_total_unemployment_156_percent/page/full/

Hot Newt vs. Cool Mitt
by Hugh Hewitt
Townhall.com
December 2, 2011
I began Thursday's radio show by playing the clip of Newt Gingrich telling ABC's Jake Tapper that he would be the GOP nominee --not once but five times in various ways in less than 60 seconds.  I then asked for callers --first time callers only-- and their reactions. In an eleven minute segment I fit in 20 callers, 17 of whom applauded the former Speaker's bravado, three of whom dissented. Radio folks know this is more than a little astonishing (hat tip to call screener Nick who worked at a dizzying pace) and is the sort of reaction that only is triggered by something connecting with the audience on a very emotional level. My producer Duane has thought the statement off-putting. My network's content guru, Lee Habeeb, who was with me in the studio at Regent University where we were visiting, thought it was brilliant. The instant, unfiltered reaction of first-time callers --not the practiced, planted callers of Team Obama's negative machine-- favored the confidence of Newt, just as his recent rise in the polls has been largely fueled by his performances in the debates in which he has routinely attacked not Mitt Romney but the president and especially the media, which the center-right has gone from merely disliking to loathing in recent years because of the Manhattan-Beltway media elite's collective swoon for the president in 2008 and since.
    The MSM narrative about these events is as wrong as usual when it comes to deciphering the thinking of conservatives. GOP primary voters aren't looking for an anti-Romney. They are looking for the nominee who will take it to Obama and his allies in the media every single day. Governor Romney's solid base of support has been built on the expectation that he will do so even though he has been careful in his roll out. Romney's debate performances have routinely focused on and blasted the president, and this accounts for his early lead in New Hampshire and strong national showing in head-to-head match-ups with the president.  But it has been a restrained approach, a foreshadowing of the summer and fall game plan, one designed not to exhaust the energy and commitment of the anti-Obama activists.
    Newt's surge is powered by that portion of the conservative electorate that wants more now: more heat, more fire, and a lot more volume directed at the Chicago gang and their enablers in the MSM. This is the same electorate that first powered Bachmann, then Perry and then Cain, and now [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/hughhewitt/2011/12/02/hot_newt_vs_cool_mitt/page/full/

The Five People You’ll Meet In Charlotte

by Ben Chrystal
Personal Liberty Digest
November 30, 2011
    Distinguishing characteristics of the outraged minority include eight-button suits (male), awesome hats (female) and wardrobe colors not found in nature (both).In 2003, Detroit-based sportswriter Mitch Albom published the much-heralded The Five People You Meet In Heaven. The book spent nearly two years on the bestseller list and was made into a TV movie starring Jon Voight. It told the tale of one man’s life, growth and death as seen through the lens of five individuals with whom he is inextricably linked.
    Granted, none of the five folks of whom I speak today offer opportunities for growth beyond the sort achieved by fungus and mold, and their connection to life and death revolves around the former for murderers and the latter for unborn babies. Some might even see my references to Albom’s work as a shameless attempt to hitch my rhetorical wagon to an enormously successful writer. It is. But Albom lives in Detroit, so I’m certain he has suffered greater pain. And Albom has sold about 30 million books, so I’m quite sure he’ll survive the indignity.
    This summer, the Democratic Party will hold its quadrennial Presidential nominating convention in Charlotte, N.C. Among the rogue’s gallery who will descend upon that poor city to re-coronate President Barack Obama (or perhaps not; check out Chip Wood’s column The Plot To Make Hillary President) will be the usual coterie of bottom-feeders who populate every large gathering of liberals. While every single one of them will share the dubious distinction of being members of the Democratic Party, they generally will fit into one of five categories (although given the girth of some of their masters, some pushing and/or WD40® will be involved).  With apologies to Albom, I present: the five people you’ll meet in Charlotte.
The Egghead
Distinguishing characteristics of the egghead include: unwashed hair, a ponytail (regardless of both gender and amount of hair remaining atop the head), speaking with eyes closed and spectacular body odor.  Often nominally employed as either a lawyer or college professor (or worse, both), the egghead suffers from an odd combination of low [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/the-five-people-youll-meet-in-charlotte/?eiid=&rmid=2011_11_30_PLA_[P11559932]&rrid=387432349

General Motors Bailing Out Volt Owners?

by Mike Brownfield
Heritage.org
December 1, 2011
    It’s been a mixed day in the world of the American auto industry. While Ford Motor posted huge sales for November — propelled by a strong demand for SUVs — General Motors has been forced to make the unusual offer of buying back cars from consumers.  Tom Krisher at the Associated Press reports that GM is taking action in response to news that its highly touted electric Chevy Volts have been found to catch fire:  [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/12/01/general-motors-bailing-out-volt-owners/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Lessons of History?
by Dr Thomas Sowell
Townhall.com
Nov 30, 2011
    It used to be common for people to urge us to learn "the lessons of history." But history gets much less attention these days and, if there are any lessons that we are offered, they are more likely to be the lessons from current polls or the lessons of political correctness.  Even among those who still invoke the lessons of history, some read those lessons very differently from others.  Talk show host Michael Medved, for example, apparently thinks the Republicans need a centrist presidential candidate in 2012. He said, "Most political battles are won by seizing the center." Moreover, he added: "Anyone who believes otherwise ignores the electoral experience of the last 50 years."
    But just when did Ronald Reagan, with his two landslide election victories, "seize the center"? For that matter, when did Franklin D. Roosevelt, with a record four consecutive presidential election victories, "seize the center"?  There have been a long string of [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/11/30/lessons_of_history/page/full/

Obama’s Re-Election Plan is an Exercise in Delusion

by Kevin "Coach" Collins
Floydreports.com
December 1, 2011
    Seeing the curtain slowly but steadily descend on their socialist reign has apparently scared a few well-known Democrat analysts into publishing a plan to re-elect Barack Obama. Reading it, one can almost hear the socialist anthem, “The Internationale.”  The “Path to 270” (Pt270) plan denies the realities of the very demographics upon which it is based. Its only honest feature is an acknowledgement that White people are not going to vote for Democrats any time soon.  Pt270 believes Obama can magically cut Democrat loses among college graduates to 15 percent instead of the 30 percent beating they got in 2010, when unemployment among college graduates was 4.2 percent.
    A Gallup poll of recent college graduates finds 11 percent unemployed or underemployed, which is two percent higher than the national average. It would be an amazing feat to keep Democrats’ loses down to last year’s 30 percent level among this group.  Pt270 next delusion has Obama and the Democrats abandon any to appeal to Whites without college degrees – who make up 72 percent of all White voters – and replace them with the 28 percent who have college degrees. Aside from the lopsided numbers comparing, only 49 percent of college grads self-identify as liberals.  The plan next describes that it is necessary for Obama to lose the White vote by “only” 17 points (58-41 percent) as John Kerry did in 2004. Obama’s 12 point loss margin (55-42) among White voters was only good enough to get him a 7.2 percent winning margin overall. But in last year’s midterm elections, Democrats (who served as his unwilling surrogates) took a beating among White voters. Pulling out a victory looks like a tall order, if not an outright impossibility.
    Perhaps the most important piece of data left out by the authors of Pt270 is the yawning voter enthusiasm gap between the two parties. In this crucial [....]
http://floydreports.com/obamas-re-election-plan-is-an-exercise-in-delusion/


A Deadly U.S. Attack on Pakistani Soil
by Nate Hughes,
Stratfor.com
December 1, 2011
    In the early hours of Nov. 26 on the Afghan-Pakistani border, what was almost certainly a flight of U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and an AC-130 gunship killed some two dozen Pakistani servicemen at two border outposts inside Pakistan. Details remain scarce, conflicting and disputed, but the incident was known to have taken place near the border of the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar and the Mohmand agency of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The death toll inflicted by the United States against Pakistani servicemen is unprecedented, and while U.S. commanders and NATO leaders have expressed regret over the incident, the reaction from Pakistan has been severe.
Claims and Interests
    The initial Pakistani narrative of the incident describes an unprovoked and aggressive attack on well-established outposts more than a mile inside Pakistani territory — outposts known to the Americans and ones that representatives of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had visited in the past. The attack supposedly lasted for some two hours despite distressed communications from the outpost to the Pakistani military’s general headquarters in Rawalpindi.
    The United States was quick to acknowledge that Pakistani troops were probably killed by attack aircraft providing close air support to a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol near the Kunar border, and while U.S. Marine Gen. James Mattis, the head of U.S. Central Command, promised a high-level investigation, the United States and NATO seemed to be more interested in smoothing relations with Islamabad than endorsing or correcting initial reports about the specifics of the attack.  What has ensued has been a classic media storm of accusations, counteraccusations, theories and specifics provided by unnamed sources that all serve to obscure the truth as much as they clarify it. Meanwhile, no matter what actually happened, aggressive spin campaigns have been launched to shape perceptions of the incident for myriad interests. Given the longstanding tensions between Washington and Islamabad as well as a record of cross-border incidents, stakeholders will believe exactly what they want to believe about the Nov. 26 incident, and even an official [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20111130-deadly-us-attack-pakistani-soil?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20111201&utm_term=sweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=48cb436d1f454f479ac3310db3595a49

Recipe for Middle-Class Jobs

'Brain Hubs' Like Austin, Texas, Create More Work for Less-Educated Residents
By Conor Dougherty
The Wall Street Journal
November 29, 2011
    As the nation grapples with stubbornly high unemployment, Texas's political and high-tech capital shows one way to create good jobs for people who didn't go to college: Attract highly skilled entrepreneurs, and watch the companies they start hire lower-skilled workers.  Praxis Strategy Group, an economic-development consultancy, estimates Austin added 50,000 "middle-skill" positions in the past decade. These are jobs that require a two-year associate's degree or the equivalent work experience, and pay a median wage of $17.30 an hour, or $38,000 a year. That pace of growth is roughly four times faster than the nation's as a whole, three times that of New York and Portland, Ore., and twice that of Phoenix.
    Austin's success in creating middle-class jobs runs against the grain of national trends. As America's shift from manufacturing to the service sector has accelerated, economists have noted a hollowing out of such jobs.  In recent decades, a select number of brain hubs like Austin have attracted a higher percentage of well-educated workers and a lopsided share of new investment and young companies. In 1970, the top 10 most-educated metropolitan areas among the nation's 100 largest had an average of 23% of workers holding a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 10% in the bottom 10, according to an analysis of Census data by Harvard University economist Edward Glaeser. The 13-percentage-point gap has widened every decade since, and had doubled by 2010.
    Beyond creating new middle-skill jobs, such brain hubs have generally higher incomes and for the most part have performed better through the recession. In Austin, the 7.1% average unemployment rate in 2010 was well below the nation's during the same period.  Of course, Austin also has a fast-growing population, which helps create jobs in any economic environment. And it's not as if other cities can create a more-educated populace overnight.  Still, Austin's success in creating middle-level jobs shows how a well-educated work force can raise the fortunes of lesser-educated workers as well. Raleigh, N.C., has benefited from the same dynamic.
    One consequence of the economy's shift away from production toward brain work is that companies are constantly seeking new ways to break down high-value intellectual tasks into smaller, cheaper bits. Much the same way that assembly lines created millions of new jobs by reducing mass production to a sum of tasks, employers in Austin and elsewhere are constantly breaking down higher-skill jobs to "create new middle-skill, middle-income specialties," according to a recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute.  Take Homeaway Inc., a vacation-rental service founded [....]
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/recipe-for-middle-class-jobs.html

8 Habits of Highly Productive People

by Alexandra Gekas
Woman's Day
November 23, 2011
    While your co-workers start every day enjoying a cup of coffee together in the break room, you're barely able to find time to call your doctor. While they're taking lunches, you're rushing through another meal at your desk. Sound familiar? Here's the good news: This apparent discrepancy may not mean you've got a bigger workload or that you're a harder worker. Instead, it may mean that they've mastered certain time-saving skills and habits that you haven't-until now. From prioritizing your workload to learning which projects don't need to be perfect, read on to discover eight workplace habits that'll boost your productivity and lower your stress levels.
1. They make it a point to take breaks.
Americans seem to think that constantly working is  [....]
http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/8-habits-highly-productive-people-173900168.html
Until Next Sunday....