16 July 2008
News and Comments - 07/16/08
Posted by Roy Bischoff under: What's News .
Just because we are heading into the dog days of summer doesn’t mean we should let our jowls drop to the floor. Smile…it could be worse.
10 Comments so far...
Roy Bischoff Says:
16 July 2008 at 12:13 am.
This dog was the winner of the ugliest dog contest three years in a row until this year. Ouch that’s ugly.
Cameron Says:
16 July 2008 at 5:43 am.
South Korean court convicts ex-Samsung chairman
By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago
SEOUL, South Korea - A South Korean court handed a suspended sentence to former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee on Wednesday, leaving the country’s iconic business figure free from prison while convicting him for evading taxes.
The Seoul Central District Court found Lee guilty of not paying about 47 billion won ($46 million) in taxes and fined him 110 billion won ($109 million).
But the court did not send Lee to prison, saying he just kept the assets in question after inheriting them under borrowed names from his late father — Samsung’s founder — and that he did not actively seek to evade the taxes.
Prosecutors had demanded a seven-year sentence and 350 billion won ($347 million) in fines against Lee.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080716/ap_on_bi_ge/skorea_samsung_trial;_ylt=Amfm5p2Da93V46PsFgYG9f2s0NUE
Cameron Says:
16 July 2008 at 8:36 am.
We’ve been saying that the reason retail sales were up was because of the rise in gas and food prices and not because the economy was doing well. The experts are finally waking up. Now maybe they will do something about the problem instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.
Price jump worst since ‘91
Record gas, higher food prices spark inflation, leading to a 5% annual jump in Consumer Price Index.
By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Record gas and higher food prices took the government’s key inflation measure to the biggest annual jump since 1991, fanning fears that inflation pressures were much worse than expected.
The Consumer Price Index, the measure of prices paid at the retail level, was up 1.1% in June, after a 0.6% rise in May. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had been looking for only a 0.7% rise. Energy prices were up 6.6% in the month, while food prices jumped 0.8%
Those jumps left overall prices up 5% from 12 months earlier, which is the biggest 12-month change since May 1991.
The typical American is seeing their paycheck not keep up with price increases. A separate Labor Department report showed the average hourly wage up only 3.4% over the same 12-month period.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/16/news/economy/cpi/index.htm?cnn=yes
Cameron Says:
16 July 2008 at 8:43 am.
Hey look, they are actually listening to the screams of the American people! Amazing.
On Capitol Hill, Democrats push back on offshore drilling
With Bush urging new oil exploration in coastal waters, top lawmakers respond with calls to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor / July 15, 2008 edition
Washington
President Bush and Congress traded accusations Tuesday over who’s more to blame for America’s latest oil crisis and offered different assessments of the need to lift a long-standing moratorium on new offshore oil drilling.
Despite the apparent rancor over the issue – some of it no doubt attributable to partisan branding efforts ahead of the fall elections – there are signs that some lawmakers are trying to reach across party lines to find common ground on what to do about soaring prices.
For the second time in as many days, the president Tuesday called on Congress to “clear the way for offshore exploration on the outer continental shelf,” which has been restricted since Mr. Bush’s father sat in the Oval Office. On Monday, the White House lifted an executive prohibition on offshore exploration, but leasing of offshore tracts cannot go forward unless Congress decides to lift its drilling ban, too.
“This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the US Congress,” Bush said during a news conference.
In response, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate renewed calls for the president to start releasing oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve and to back pending legislation to curb speculation in the oil futures market.
“For eight years, he’s done nothing,” said Senate majority leader Harry Reid after a caucus luncheon on Tuesday. “We had to pass a law to stop him from pumping more oil into the SPR, which is 98 percent full.” Rather than open offshore areas for drilling, Bush should “tell oil companies to drill in the 6.8 million acres they already have [leased],” he said.
“For eight years, he’s done nothing,” said Senate majority leader Harry Reid after a caucus luncheon on Tuesday. “We had to pass a law to stop him from pumping more oil into the SPR, which is 98 percent full.” Rather than open offshore areas for drilling, Bush should “tell oil companies to drill in the 6.8 million acres they already have [leased],” he said.
Moreover, any oil produced offshore should be reserved for Americans, he added. “It becomes American oil.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Bush to immediately release “a small amount of oil” from the SPR to reduce prices for American consumers. “Whether the president knows it or not, there is an emergency in our country,” she said at a news conference with energy experts Tuesday.
The real need isn’t for more drilling, which won’t produce relief at the pump for years, Speaker Pelosi said. Instead, she announced that House Democrats will propose a second stimulus package to help offset rising prices in gasoline, food, fuel, healthcare, and education.
But congressional Democrats probably have an uphill battle in their bid to reshape the debate, if opinion polls are any indication. Almost three-quarters of American adults strongly or mildly favored increased drilling for oil and natural gas in offshore water, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted June 26-29.
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/07/15/on-capitol-hill-democrats-push-back-on-offshore-drilling/
Angela Rogin Says:
16 July 2008 at 8:46 am.
Wouldn’t that be something if the politicians actually did listen to the people the way they use to? It would give me a little more hope for the future. Of course it is a presidential election year.
I’m glad I finished breakfast before I got on here. That dog would have made me lose my appetite.
Carrie Says:
16 July 2008 at 11:40 am.
That dog is way to scary. It looks like a bad character from a bar scene in star wars.
E.E. Says:
16 July 2008 at 5:10 pm.
I just watched a clip of Wolf Blitzer interviewing Romney saying he was being seen as the front runner. Mitt gave a very humble answer and fielded it well. When asked if he was being vetted by McCain’s campaign, he answered in a way to let you know he was but that he wouldn’t come right out with it. That is good news. Fingers crossed.
Ghost Says:
16 July 2008 at 5:23 pm.
OK that picture is just wrong. UGH!
E.E. Says:
16 July 2008 at 5:25 pm.
I figured we should put the good news up and not just the bad. Let’s hope this keeps up.
U.S. Stocks Gain; Wells Fargo Leads Financials to Record Rally
By Lynn Thomasson
July 16 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rallied after higher- than-estimated profit at Wells Fargo & Co. sparked the biggest- ever gain in financial shares and a two-day tumble in oil prices brightened the outlook for transportation companies.
Wells Fargo, which avoided the worst of the fallout from the subprime mortgage market’s collapse, jumped the most since at least 1980, leading Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. higher. United Parcel Service Inc. and Dillard’s Inc. climbed as the two-day retreat in crude overshadowed a government report showing the fastest increase in consumer prices since 2005. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Financials Index surged 12 percent as every bank rose at least 10 percent. The Amex Airline Index advanced a record 18 percent.
The S&P 500 added 30.45 points, or 2.5 percent, to 1,245.36, rebounding from its lowest level since 2005 with its steepest gain since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 276.74, or 2.5 percent, to 11,239.28, while the Nasdaq Composite Index increased 69.14, or 3.1 percent, to 2,284.85. Four stocks rose for each that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aiZ4C0cWe7.g&refer=home
T. Fan Says:
16 July 2008 at 6:32 pm.
Thanks for being positive, E.E. We can all hope things will get better but I bought a book on gardening and loaded up on seeds just in case.
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