Both Republicans and Democrats seem to think that Obama should have followed through on bombing Assad's center because of the red line drawn if Assad used poison gas. This surprises me. I can understand if people thought Obama didn't get enough for calling off the bombing, that is that Assad's willingness to give up his poison gas store for not bombing was not enough. But I have never heard of this argument being used.
We seem to agree that dying or being injured from poison gas is worse than being blown apart or injured by explosives. So it sounds like the deal reached was pretty good.
I suspect that most people believe that Assad would have been killed or his regime would be fatally injured by the bombing; however, I know of no case where a dictator has been killed by an air attack: not Saddam, not Qaddafi or, for that matter, not Hitler or Mussolini either.
Yes, in bombing we could have destroyed a lot of buildings and killed a lot of people, mostly non-combatants, but almost certainly we would not have killed Assam or stopped the poison gas attacks. In fact, I suspect they would have increased.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Monday, March 21, 2016
RESTAURANTS GOING FULLY AUTOMATIC?
So Andy Puzder, CEO of Carl's Jr and Hardee's, threatens to go fully automatic.* What he forgets is that things like the Automat** have existed in America since 1902. There is no wait staff or people behind a counter. Why haven't they caught on before now? Yes, you find vending machines in various places that may serve some sandwiches and even broths, but in a limited variety. When I was 9 yrs old, we visited New York and I went to an Automat that had several tiers of food along a wall with a great variety of choices. They are huge vending machines.
Well, people like to be waited on, I think, so there will always be a need for full service restaurants. And if some drop out? All the better for those remaining.
Of course there will always be cafeterias also that have a few helpers dishing out food which reduce the number of employees and then there are the fast-food places that have just a few people at the counters taking and passing out orders.
Also although the Automat cut out the waiters and waitresses and servers behind the counter, somebody had to prepare all that food and stuff the containers so they are not totally labor free.
What Puzder and others complaining about an increase in minimum wage don't seem to take into effect is that the other restaurant down the street is in the same boat as are the mom and pop places so it is a level playing field. I guess there is a worry that prices will go up so much because of increased labor charges that people won't be able to afford to eat out. Well, maybe, but wages are not the only expense of restaurants. There is rent and facilities (gas, water, and electric among others). I think the estimate for a $15 minimum wage at McDonald's is 5%.
* http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/17/1502801/-Fast-Food-CEO-threatens-to-go-fully-automated-because-of-Bernie-and-Hillary?detail=email&can_id=af3794f2758d0c72ac0763afb2350d28&source=email-gop-congressman-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-be-neuteredher-response-is-epic-2&email_referrer=gop-congressman-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-be-neuteredher-response-is-epic-2&email_subject=gop-congressman-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-be-neutered-her-response-is-epic&link_id=3
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat
Well, people like to be waited on, I think, so there will always be a need for full service restaurants. And if some drop out? All the better for those remaining.
Of course there will always be cafeterias also that have a few helpers dishing out food which reduce the number of employees and then there are the fast-food places that have just a few people at the counters taking and passing out orders.
Also although the Automat cut out the waiters and waitresses and servers behind the counter, somebody had to prepare all that food and stuff the containers so they are not totally labor free.
What Puzder and others complaining about an increase in minimum wage don't seem to take into effect is that the other restaurant down the street is in the same boat as are the mom and pop places so it is a level playing field. I guess there is a worry that prices will go up so much because of increased labor charges that people won't be able to afford to eat out. Well, maybe, but wages are not the only expense of restaurants. There is rent and facilities (gas, water, and electric among others). I think the estimate for a $15 minimum wage at McDonald's is 5%.
* http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/17/1502801/-Fast-Food-CEO-threatens-to-go-fully-automated-because-of-Bernie-and-Hillary?detail=email&can_id=af3794f2758d0c72ac0763afb2350d28&source=email-gop-congressman-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-be-neuteredher-response-is-epic-2&email_referrer=gop-congressman-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-be-neuteredher-response-is-epic-2&email_subject=gop-congressman-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-be-neutered-her-response-is-epic&link_id=3
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat
Monday, March 14, 2016
WAGES: BEST AND WORST COUNTIES 3RD QUARTER 2015
An article in the WSJ, shows that weekly wages grew 4% or better in 44 of the 342 U.S. counties with at least 75,000 jobs [or 12.5%], according to Labor Department data released Wednesday. Meanwhile, wages fell from a year earlier in 21 counties, including Midland, Texas, and Union, N.J.* The best and the worst counties are given in the tables below. You are encouraged to look at the original article in which you can search for your or other counties with at least 75,000 jobs.
Rockland County, N.Y., had by far the largest wage gain, up 24.9% in the third quarter of 2015 from a year earlier. Those gains were led by a leap in manufacturing pay for the county northwest of New York City. Employment in the county grew 2.6%.
Lake County, Ill., north of Chicago, was second, with wages growing 11.7%. Those were the only two counties with double-digit percentage gains.*
Weekly wages declined 6.7% in the energy hub of Midland, the most of anywhere in the county. That corresponds with a 7.3% fall in employment. Union, N.J., wages fell 5% over the year.
Ector, Texas, had the largest employment decline, down 8.3%. Wages fell 4.9%.
The average for all the counties was a 2.6% increase which the article says is not very good. In my own case, however, a 2.6% wage increase in a year was very good with about once every 10 yrs having an increase of maybe 10%.
Thursday, March 10, 2016
WAGES 2014 - MEDIAN IS $27,000 AND JOB GROWTH 2010- 2016
JOB GROWTH 2010- 2016
We did it! This is the biggest streak of job creation in recorded history. As long as you don’t think about it too hard.*
February’s numbers make it official: This is now the largest sustained period of jobs growth the U.S. has seen since it started keeping track in 1939. Since 2010, the economy has added more than 13 million jobs without suffering a negative month.
By this strict definition of “streak” as “consecutive months without a drop in nonfarm payrolls,” it’s also by far the longest at 65 months.
And I might add the streak is still going.
(Click to enlarge. Not all figures are seasonally adjusted. source: Labor Department)
But if you consider the jog growth as percentage of the labor market, it "only" comes in seventh out of 16 periods including WW-II and the post war.. (First is 1940-1943, the WW-II period, but it well may beat out four of the six periods above it (in increasing order: 1983-86, 1950-51, 1986-90, 1964-67, but probably not 1975-79.) by the time the streak ends.
Playing with the data further, the current period comes out last (16th) if you adjust for both the length of the period and labor force size.
* http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/03/04/this-is-the-largest-job-growth-streak-ever-kind-of/?mod=djemRTE_h
WAGES 2014
It seems to me that the figure below says it all, but, if you look at the whole article, they supply a number of different categories such as White, Black, Female, Asian, Other, etc.
there are many interesting footnotes in the article, one of importance to the figure is:
All figures count only those ages 16 and over who reported personal income greater than $0 in 2014.**
(Click on figure to enlarge.)
If you are a white male of the Silent Generation born before WW-II, only 19% earned less than $27,000, the median income of all groups.
(Click on figure to enlarge. For the scroll down feature, see the original article)
** http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/03/02/what-percent-are-you-2/?mod=djemRTE_h
We did it! This is the biggest streak of job creation in recorded history. As long as you don’t think about it too hard.*
February’s numbers make it official: This is now the largest sustained period of jobs growth the U.S. has seen since it started keeping track in 1939. Since 2010, the economy has added more than 13 million jobs without suffering a negative month.
By this strict definition of “streak” as “consecutive months without a drop in nonfarm payrolls,” it’s also by far the longest at 65 months.
And I might add the streak is still going.
(Click to enlarge. Not all figures are seasonally adjusted. source: Labor Department)
But if you consider the jog growth as percentage of the labor market, it "only" comes in seventh out of 16 periods including WW-II and the post war.. (First is 1940-1943, the WW-II period, but it well may beat out four of the six periods above it (in increasing order: 1983-86, 1950-51, 1986-90, 1964-67, but probably not 1975-79.) by the time the streak ends.
Playing with the data further, the current period comes out last (16th) if you adjust for both the length of the period and labor force size.
* http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/03/04/this-is-the-largest-job-growth-streak-ever-kind-of/?mod=djemRTE_h
WAGES 2014
It seems to me that the figure below says it all, but, if you look at the whole article, they supply a number of different categories such as White, Black, Female, Asian, Other, etc.
there are many interesting footnotes in the article, one of importance to the figure is:
All figures count only those ages 16 and over who reported personal income greater than $0 in 2014.**
If you are a white male of the Silent Generation born before WW-II, only 19% earned less than $27,000, the median income of all groups.
** http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/03/02/what-percent-are-you-2/?mod=djemRTE_h
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
FIRST OIL FROM NATIONAL PETROLEUM RESERVE IN ALASKA
Back in the '20s an area in Alaska was set aside for oil exploitation in
an "emergency." Well, the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska
(originally the Naval Petroleum Reserve #4 in Alaska). It was finally
opened for exploration on some tracts well before I retired more than 20
years ago.* The first oil began to be produced late last year.**
I think it was back about 1980 that the USGS spent several billion dollars exploring for oil (rest assured that this exploration was by contracts) hoping to find another Prudoe Bay (structural trap) with no avail. Then eventually a large stratigraphic trap oil find was made next to the NPR-A. Though stratigraphic traps can be quite large (maybe 500 million barrels), they are nothing like what one can get from a structural trap (like a dome).
* What do you mean I'm over the hill. What hill? Where? I don't remember any hill.
** http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/03/first-oil-flows-from-alaska-reserve-set-aside-in-23.html
I think it was back about 1980 that the USGS spent several billion dollars exploring for oil (rest assured that this exploration was by contracts) hoping to find another Prudoe Bay (structural trap) with no avail. Then eventually a large stratigraphic trap oil find was made next to the NPR-A. Though stratigraphic traps can be quite large (maybe 500 million barrels), they are nothing like what one can get from a structural trap (like a dome).
* What do you mean I'm over the hill. What hill? Where? I don't remember any hill.
** http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/03/first-oil-flows-from-alaska-reserve-set-aside-in-23.html
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
SPEAKER RYAN - PLEASE CUT THE HYPOCRISY
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday delivered a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump,
warning that the GOP presidential front-runner cannot engage in
"evasion" or "games" when it comes to rejecting white supremacy groups.*
Well, wasn't that the goal of the Southern Strategy - to win over the white supremacists to enable Republicans to win elections? Of course you are not supposed to admit it out loud, but a big slug of the Republican Party ARE White Supremacists. There just are not enough wealthy people to win elections, especially the Presidency. Who is Ryan kidding? I'm sorry to say that Trump is with the base of the Republican Party. He is a follower not a leader.
The Republican from Louisiana, Representative Steve Scalise, is the House majority whip, and he finally admitted yesterday that he did appear at an international white supremacist conference in 2002 as an “honored guest and speaker.” The organization is the brainchild of avowed white supremacist David Duke with an innocent-sounding name European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO). Prior to adopting the name EURO, Duke’s white supremacist organization was called the National Organization for European American Rights (NOFEAR), and was proudly touted as a “civil rights” organization fighting the alleged “massive discrimination” faced by whites from the nation’s growing population of minorities.**
I object to Republicans saying they are the party of Lincoln. They used to be but no longer. I was a Republican before Goldwater and was proud to be a Republican because we voted overwhelmingly for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.*** Can you imaging the Republican Party doing anything like that today? Today Republicans spend their time thinking of ways to get around the Voting Rights Act and, instead, find ways to decrease the number of minority voters.
* http://thehill.com/homenews/house/271267-ryan-denounces-trump-over-kkk-controversy-there-can-be-no-evasion-and-no-games
As for 112-24
** http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/30/gop-house-leader-honored-guest-speaker-white-supremacist-conference.html
*** In the House, Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 138 for and only 34 no. The Senate Republicans voted for the Act 27 for and only 6 against: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964
As for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Republicans voted 112 for and 24 against in the House and Senate voted 30 for and only 1 against: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965
Well, wasn't that the goal of the Southern Strategy - to win over the white supremacists to enable Republicans to win elections? Of course you are not supposed to admit it out loud, but a big slug of the Republican Party ARE White Supremacists. There just are not enough wealthy people to win elections, especially the Presidency. Who is Ryan kidding? I'm sorry to say that Trump is with the base of the Republican Party. He is a follower not a leader.
The Republican from Louisiana, Representative Steve Scalise, is the House majority whip, and he finally admitted yesterday that he did appear at an international white supremacist conference in 2002 as an “honored guest and speaker.” The organization is the brainchild of avowed white supremacist David Duke with an innocent-sounding name European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO). Prior to adopting the name EURO, Duke’s white supremacist organization was called the National Organization for European American Rights (NOFEAR), and was proudly touted as a “civil rights” organization fighting the alleged “massive discrimination” faced by whites from the nation’s growing population of minorities.**
I object to Republicans saying they are the party of Lincoln. They used to be but no longer. I was a Republican before Goldwater and was proud to be a Republican because we voted overwhelmingly for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.*** Can you imaging the Republican Party doing anything like that today? Today Republicans spend their time thinking of ways to get around the Voting Rights Act and, instead, find ways to decrease the number of minority voters.
* http://thehill.com/homenews/house/271267-ryan-denounces-trump-over-kkk-controversy-there-can-be-no-evasion-and-no-games
As for 112-24
** http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/30/gop-house-leader-honored-guest-speaker-white-supremacist-conference.html
*** In the House, Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 138 for and only 34 no. The Senate Republicans voted for the Act 27 for and only 6 against: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964
As for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Republicans voted 112 for and 24 against in the House and Senate voted 30 for and only 1 against: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965
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