Nutty Romney and Gingrich Support Ethanol Subsidies

Story here.

Pawlenty is against them.

Do Americans not realize that $5 billion of their tax money propped up that industry in 2010?

It's a waste. And 42 percent of corn production now goes to it, when it should be going to food, which is why you are paying so much more at the grocery store, especially for meat.

Machine Rule

"Mr. President, I write to request your confirmation that S. 990, as passed by Congress, was presented to you prior to the autopen signing, as well as a detailed, written explanation of your Constitutional authority to assign a surrogate the responsibility of signing bills passed into law."

-- Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA), quoted here

Holes/Cracks in Fukushima Reactor Pressure Vessels/Containments Estimated at 3-10 Centimeters

So reported NHK World on Wednesday, here:

Tokyo Electric Power Company analyzed the changes in pressure levels inside the pressure and containment vessels to gauge the scope of the damage.

TEPCO said the analyses show that holes in the Number 1 reactor containment vessel amounting to 3 centimeters in total may have formed 18 hours after the quake. ...

The utility said holes and cracks equivalent to 10 centimeters in diameter may have formed in the Number 2 reactor's containment vessel about 21 hours after the quake. ...

TEPCO said these results were obtained through data calculations, and that it has yet to confirm whether such holes actually exist.

Presumably high radiation conditions near the reactors continue to prohibit the actual physical inspections which would confirm such estimates and calculations.

Fukushima Waste Water Treatment Facility is Leaking

So says this report, which indicates that the water in question had been transferred from the Unit 3 reactor's turbine building and tunnels earlier in the week.

The surface radiation of the water was said to be 70 millisieverts per hour.

It seems like these people just can't catch a break.

La Nina's Sudden Exit Three Months Ago Blamed For Brutal Tornado Season

Story here.

Epic May Snowpack in West Deepest in 45 Years

Story here.

Median Amount Saved in Retirement Accounts is $2,000?

Which would imply that half the population has less than that saved, and half the population has more than that saved.

The oft-repeated datum is pretty darn old already. A decade! It is based on a survey of about 3,400 people taken way back in 2001 and reported on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website in an "updated" posting dating to 2005, here:

The median amount held in retirement accounts--$2,000--provides another indication of the wide variation in the amounts held by households.

More recent surveys of somewhat smaller samples of Americans paint an only slightly less apocalyptic picture of the resources Americans may or may not have tucked away:

Just over a third (34 percent) of Americans have no retirement savings, up from 30 percent in 2009, according to a new Harris Poll of 2,151 adults. ... Some 42 percent of individuals age 45 and older have less than $25,000 saved for retirement, EBRI found. Only 11 percent of all current workers say they have $250,000 or more saved for retirement.

At a 4 percent per year drawdown rate in retirement, people with $250K can draw down roughly only $10K per year for 25 years, and then it's pretty much gone.

Pretty hard to live on that without Social Security and Medicare, which themselves are going bust.

Americans are not ready for the future, but the maw of the future sure is ready for them.

Statement of Q1 2011 GDP Unchanged at 1.8 Percent

Story here.

The expectation for the second statement of Q1 growth had been a revision up to 2.1 percent.

House Democrats' Insider Trading Easily Bests Republican Track Record

According to opensecrets.org, as reported here:

Despite the GOP’s reputation as the party of the rich, House Republicans fared worse than their Democratic colleagues when it comes to investing, according to the study. The Democratic subsample of lawmakers beat the market by 73 basis points per month, or 9 percent annually, versus 18 basis points per month, or 2 percent annually, for the Republican sample.

Average Wage Slave Uses 14 of 18 'Vacation' Days

Puritanism lives.

Story here.

Obama Conceded Government Spending is the Problem, not Tax Revenue, Nearly Two Years Ago

"Medicare and Medicaid are the single biggest drivers of the federal deficit and the federal debt by a huge margin."

-- Barack Obama, quoted here, June 24th, 2009, and affirmed as "mostly true" by the source.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) Wants To Deep Six Your Tax Deductions

Republicans should deep six Tom Coburn as soon as possible:

I’ve argued that Republicans should be willing to consider increases in revenue -- not through higher tax rates but through eliminating tax earmarks, such as that for ethanol, and other expenditure that misallocates capital.

"Tax earmarks ... and other expenditure that misallocates capital"?

Read "tax expenditures," better yet, "tax loss expenditures."

Like your mortgage interest deduction, your charitable contributions deduction, your property tax deduction, your state and local income taxes deduction, and so on. All these benefits of the tax code misallocate capital, if you're a politician running the business of government, and you are just its employee.

That's who Tom Coburn is, the boss. He wants more of your hide.

His complete remarks are here.

Nearly 50 Percent of Americans Can't Come Up with $2K for an Emergency

Story here. NBER paper here.

Radiation in Iitate, Japan, at 3.09 Microsieverts Per Hour as of May 25

As reported here, 39 km northwest of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station 1.

Normal for the area would be more like 0.11 microsieverts per hour.

The long term repercussions of a nuclear accident such as this have faded from the news, but they are real, on-going, extremely difficult to mitigate, and costly.

Cheap, safe production of such electricity is cheap and safe until it isn't.

HooooooooooooooooooWee! That's Refreshing!

Radiation Conditions at Fukushima Nuclear Power Station on May 23rd

Radiation level: 389 microSv/h at the south side of the office building, 16 microSv/h at the West gate, as of 09:00, May 23rd, 42 microSv/h at the Main gate, as of 10:30, May 21st.

More here.

Because of water leaking from the containments, the fuel in reactors 1-3 continues to be fully or partially exposed to the air.

Peter Fonda Advocates Shooting Someone Important

Gee, he must be pretty upset about something:

Peter Fonda, the star of Easy Rider, suggested to Mandrake that he was encouraging his grandchildren to shoot President Barack Obama.

“I’m training my grandchildren to use long-range rifles,” said the actor, 71. “For what purpose? Well, I’m not going to say the words 'Barack Obama’, but …”

He added, enigmatically: “It’s more of a thought process than an actuality, but we are heading for a major conflict between the haves and the have nots. I came here many years ago with a biker movie and we stopped a war. Now, it’s about starting the world.

“I prefer to not to use the words, 'let’s stop something’. I prefer to say, 'let’s start something, let’s start the world’.

“There’s no room any more for a cissy and, like I said, don’t forget that I’ve got grandsons who I’ve trained with long-distance rifles. We have to run like mofos to change this world.”

Peter Fonda, right-wing fanatic. Who knew?

(source)

Obama Regime Can't Even Plan Its Way Out of One of Its Own Embassies

Today in Ireland (video here):

Justice Now Means Exposing the Public to Criminals Due to Overcrowding

Your Supremes in action.

Nothing could be more wrong than being treated without "dignity"? How about murder? Rape? Armed Robbery?

Reminds me of Draco. When he couldn't think of a more appropriate punishment, death was ordered.

The Supremes have just committed the analog to zero tolerance in the schools, but in reverse. No crime is too bad to have to suffer claustrophobia!

We are doomed.

Story here.

Banks are Overwhelmed with Real Estate Owned

More than 872,000 properties, almost double the number from before the housing catastrophe began in 2007, are owned by big banks and lenders, according to a story from The New York Times reproduced by CNBC here.

Another million foreclosures are expected this year, and millions more in years to come.

It not being their stock-in-trade, they say, the banks are finding it difficult to process them all in through foreclosure, as we're all too familiar, and processing them out through sales. Something about not having adequate staffing.

Gee, where would you think they could find people ready to work those jobs?

Meanwhile, Obama is enjoying being president. That's the important thing. He's drinking beer in Ireland today, reconnecting with his roots. Isn't that nice?