Last night and early this morning, before the actual December jobs report was released, almost every political and media pundit was proclaiming “good news ahead”….

However, against the backdrop of Congress debating yet another unemployment extension; and knowing strong gains would undermine the liberal position to extend; and knowing the statistics are heavily manipulated in favor of political optics – it really was a no brainer to expect poor results.

USA TODAY –  Bad weather helped the labor market close out 2013 in disappointing fashion as employers added just 74,000 jobs after several months of solid gains.

That’s the smallest number of new jobs since January 2011. The unemployment rate fell from 7% to 6.7%, lowest since October 2008, the Labor Department said Friday. (more…)

Note the question “if I am unemployed, why would I become a Republican“?

So Ms. Crowley’s prism believes the unemployed are Democrats. But the transparent word in her question is actually the word “become”.

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WASHINGTON DC – While members of Congress ended 2013 congratulating themselves for passing a budget, the media missed the fact that the agreement doesn’t actually avoid a government shutdown. The deal reached by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) provides simply a blueprint for government spending. Congress must still pass legislation detailing specific spending before January 15, when government’s spending authority expires. Government still faces a potential shutdown in a little over a week.
The budget agreement passed by Congress in the closing days of last year provides what is called the “top-Line” number, setting the overall level of discretionary spending. Congress still has to pass appropriations bills authorizing specific spending for thousands of government agencies, departments and programs. While there is agreement on the total amount of discretionary spending, there is far less agreement on how this spending is allocated. These agreements will have to be reached by the 15th, of the government would shut down again. (read more)
I am reminded of a previous conversation point we discussed in 2011.

Obama and the Magic Monkey Routine

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Readers will know by now how often we have spotlighted a historical similarity between the former polish Solidarity Movement, and the ruse behind the current U.S. body politic as narrated by the media.    So it’s a little ironic to see Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa speak openly about how diminished the U.S. influence is.
(via WeaselZippers) The Nobel Peace Prize-winning former president of Poland, Lech Walesa, says President Obama has failed to reclaim America’s role as a world leader.

“When he was elected… there was great hope,” Walesa said. “…. we were hoping Obama would reclaim moral leadership for America,” adding: “That failed.”
“…. in terms of politics and morality, America no longer leads the world,” he said. “…America did not regain its leadership status. We were just lucky there were no big conflicts in the world,” saying the world has relied on a strong America to maintain the balance of power around the globe.
“… It’s a dangerous situation so we are awaiting a president who will understand that,” he said. (link)

The last time a Democrat Politician held the office of New York Mayor was more than 20 years ago.   Mayor Ed Koch (1978-1989 ) was a lifelong Democrat who described himself as a “liberal with sanity“.  Koch later endorsed Rudi Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, and George W. Bush – so you can tell he was not what modern politico’s would define as liberal, and by most current definitions he would not be considered a Democrat.  Koch was socially liberal, but fiscally conservative – heck he ran as an independent in 85′.
Removing the one term David Dinkins (89′-93′)  who was the city’s first black mayor, elected solely on the basis of his race,  it is intellectually honest to say the last time a left-wing liberal held the New York office was, before Ed Koch, almost 40 years ago.
The last time left-wing liberalism was used in New York policy and governance was also almost 40 years ago.   There’s a reason for that:
New York City was a nightmare under liberal policies.  It was a petri dish of crime and decay brought upon by decades of Democrat/Liberal governance.   You could not even think about walking through Central Park unless you were trying to get mugged, raped or killed.

Crime, drugs and criminal life had driven the city almost into total ruin.   No-one was safe on the subway;  hence a subway rider named Bernard Goetz famously said “enough”, and began to shoot the criminals in the subway cars. (more…)

(Via BizPac) A retired veteran, already up in arms over a budget deal cutting veterans’ retirement benefits, couldn’t believe what he got in his email inbox — a fundraising appeal from one of the deal’s architects.
Chuck Wooten, a retired chief master sergeant of the U.S. Air Force, exploded on U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.,in a scathing letter posted on his Facebook page. […]

Congressman Ryan,

Please note that this request by you for a cash donation from me is extremely unfortunate and very ill-timed. You see sir, I am one of the military retirees your “bipartisan” budget just impacted. You and every Republican (both in the House and Senate that voted to pass this travesty betrayed and broke trust with me and everyone like me. You may not know us by name, but we’re the people, Congressman, who answered our Nation’s call, some of us at a very early age to willingly serve YOU and others LIKE YOU so you could safely attend college and pursue your personal ambitions without fear of harm. (more…)

Because the economics behind this holiday season reflect the reality of fundamental change you probably will not see them discussed too much within the mainstream news; it just doesn’t fit the recovery narrative.
However, you don’t have to be an economist to understand Christmas expenditures.  It’s generally accurate that if your family spent less, the entire nation probably spent less for the exact same reason.
The worse news yet to reflect in the macro roll-up centers around Gift Card use.   Gift cards are not accounted for as economic sales on the shopping ledger until they are redeemed.  That statistic is yet to be determined.
(Via CBS)  […]  Deep discounts and extended hours could not get Americans to spend as much as stores expected this holiday season, so now retailers are cutting prices even more.
“Retailers overshot the mark, in terms of apparel supply,” said retail analyst Craig Johnson. “So there’s an imbalance of supply and demand in apparel, leading to all the dramatic promotions you’re seeing today.” (more…)

NEW YORK –  Hundreds of teenagers stormed and trashed a Brooklyn mall in a wild flash mob that forced the shopping center to close its doors during day-after Christmas sales, sources said on Friday.

More than 400 crazed teens grabbed and smashed jars of candy, stole cheap items such as baby balloons and beat up security guards at Kings Plaza Shopping Center in Mill Basin between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., merchants said.
A violent game of “Knockout” also broke out on the upper level of the mall — and one teen may have been carrying a gun, sources said.
The teens used social media to plan the mass looting, vowing to put the mall “on tilt” – or to raid it, according to posts on Facebook and Twitter.
Clerks, who scrambled to close up their shops, said they were terrified. (more…)

The progressive mantra of modern liberalism is flailing miserably everywhere you look and the media protestations of a “Do Nothing Congress” are flares shooting up from their encampments identifying exactly where they reside.

All around us are signs the various liberalist causes are visibly in the minority.   The odd thing is how willing the progressives are to out their failing positions.    Against the liberal yard-stick of emotional legislative advancement, which is diametrically antithetical to freedom, the media are proclaiming congress as failed.
However, when you consider that stopping intrusion by government into your life is a central tenant of freedom this congress is the most successful in a decade.
Coast to coast people are showing their pushback against the nanny state.    People are rising up, or using their TV remotes, or tuning their car radios, or expressing their voice, to reflect an ideology of freedom in opposition to the current federal administration and the beliefs they visibly represent. (more…)

Venezuela, in a squeeze for hard currency, devalued its currency for foreigners another 44%, following an initial devaluation of 32% by Chavez in February.  The move is seen as a necessity to keep Venezuela from defaulting on sovereign debt when reliance on excessively high levels of public spending has been the tool of Chavez and his successor, Maduro, to maintain their grip on power.  It is the 6th such major devaluation in a decade.
The move is essentially a bookkeeping sleight-of-hand – it allows the Venezuelan central bank to balance its books by “earning” more Bolivars for its oil export sales, at a time when overall sales volume has decreased dramatically.

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