Author Archives: TheLibertyReport

04.18.13
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AP Poll: Trust in government, Obama approval slip

President Barack Obama’s re-election glow is gone. Congress’ reputation remains dismal. And only about one in five Americans say they trust the government to do what’s right most of the time, an Associated Press-GfK poll finds.

Most adults disapprove of Obama’s handling of the federal deficit, a festering national problem. But they also dislike key proposals to reduce deficit spending, including a slower growth in Social Security benefits and changes to Medicare.

Rounding out the portrait of a nation in a funk, the share of people saying the United States is heading in the wrong direction is at its highest since last August: 56 percent.

The government in Washington is “dealing with a lot of stuff that are non-issues,” said Jeremy Hammond, 33, of Queensbury, N.Y.

Hammond, a Web programmer and political independent, said Congress should focus on “the incredible debt and lack of spending control.” He said it’s absurd for Congress to force the Postal Service to continue Saturday mail delivery when the agency says “we can’t afford it.”

Hammond reflects the lukewarm feelings toward Obama found in the poll. Asked his opinion of the president, Hammond paused and said: “I don’t know. I voted for him in 2008, not in 2012.” When it comes to presidents, he said, “it’s one set of lawyers or the other.”

Click below for the full article.

http://news.yahoo.com/poll-trust-government-obama-approval-slip-164950163–politics.html

04.18.13
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Business Insider: Here’s What We Know About The Sad State Of Wall Street Now That Earnings Are All In

In the last week or so every Wall Street bank has reported its earnings, so now  it’s time for the takeaways.

As usual the headlines of the week didn’t tell the whole story.

A quick glance looks like this: JP  Morgan beat estimates with a 33%  jump in profits, Morgan  Stanley‘s profits dipped but the bank still  beat expectations, Goldman  Sachs is taking champagne  showers, Bank  of America is eeking  out some kind of improvement, and Citi  is finally coming into its own after shedding a load of toxic assets.

Now for the news you can read between the lines.

Sales and trading is on life support, especially if you trade fixed income,  currencies or commodities. The traders at Goldman Sachs did better than everyone  else, but as CNBC’s  John Carney pointed out, they were still down 7% for the quarter.

Bank of America’s S&T revenue fell 20% (run by Tom Montag, who still gets  paid more than BofA CEO Brian  Moynihan) and Morgan Stanley got killed, with its revenue falling 42%.

On the other hand, Wealth Management, once one of the most boring sectors on  The Street, is carrying banks. This is especially true at Morgan Stanley (where  the unit is up 48% from this time last year) and Bank of America, where  assets under management grew $67.7  billion year-over-year to $745.3 billion.

Another business where Wall Street is making some cash is in debt  underwriting. Thanks to our current low yield environment, companies that were  unable to issue bonds before can do so now. The demand to buy these bonds is  there from clients searching for yield any way they can get it. Wall Street is here to help.

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Click below for the full article.

http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-banks-q1-2013-earnings-2013-4

04.18.13
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Associated Press: UnitedHealth warns of Medicare profit squeeze

UnitedHealth Group, the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, warned Thursday that funding cuts for the privately-run versions of the federal Medicare program will force it to reconsider its expectations for earnings growth next year.

CEO Stephen Hemsley told analysts that the government-subsidized coverage for elderly and disabled people faces a reimbursement cut of about 4 percent next year. That’s on top of other possible federal funding reductions and an expected 3 percent rise in medical costs.

“We did not expect the fastest-growing, most popular and most effective of the Medicare benefit options serving America’s seniors would be underfunded to this extent in 2014,” Hemsley said.

More than 13 million people were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans last year, or about 27 percent of the Medicare population, according to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

Insurers offer hundreds of different Medicare Advantage plans around the country. The coverage typically provides extras such as dental and vision care, or rates that are lower than standard Medicare.

UnitedHealth, which is the nation’s largest health insurer, has nearly 2.9 million people enrolled, and the plans brought in about 20 percent of the insurer’s revenue last year.

Shares of UnitedHealth and other insurers that provide Medicare Advantage coverage slid in February after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released data that pointed to payment cuts as steep as 8 percent next year. The government then softened the blow to a reduction of about 4 percent.

But UnitedHealth said that cut, combined with the other reductions, will be tough to stomach. UnitedHealth said it may have to trim benefits, change provider networks or leave some markets to preserve Medicare Advantage profitability.

Hemsley, UnitedHealth’s CEO, called the reimbursement cut “a significantly greater rate setback than anyone could have expected.”

The company also said widespread government spending cuts that started earlier this year and hit Medicare will make it hard for the insurer to reach the top end of its forecast for 2013 earnings of $5.25 to $5.50 per share. Analysts expect earnings of $5.51 per share, according to FactSet, a research firm.

Analysts had labeled UnitedHealth’s 2013 earnings forecast conservative after it came out last fall, and the insurer normally raises it several times through the year. But so far, the company has just backed the initial projection.

Thursday’s outlook warning came as UnitedHealth reported that its first-quarter earnings sank 14 percent, largely due to a lower gain the company recorded due to leftover insurance claims.

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Click below for the full article.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/unitedhealth-warns-medicare-profit-squeeze-175814694–finance.html

 

04.18.13
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The Week: Does the gun bill’s failure prove the Senate is broken?

Background checks have overwhelming support from the American public: A Washington Post-ABC News poll last week found that 86 percent of people support a law “requiring background checks on people buying guns at gun shows or online.”

The Senate, ostensibly, represents those same people. Yet the Toomey-Manchin bill regulating that exact issue failed in the Senate on Wednesday by a vote of 54-46. (It needed 60 votes to pass.) What’s wrong with this picture?

The main problem is that small states are vastly overrepresented in the Senate. If you judge the vote by population, the Toomey-Manchin bill actually got a majority of the votes. Alec MacGillis of The New Republic breaks down the numbers and finds that “senators voting for the bill represented about 194 million people, while the senators voting against the bill represented about 118 million people,” which is “getting close to a two-thirds majority in favor of the measure.”

While the Constitution has always protected the interests of small states, the disparity has never been this big. Ezra Klein of The Washington Post points out just how much things have changed:

During the first Congress, Virginia, the largest state, was roughly 12 times the size of Delaware, which was, at the time, the smallest state. Today, California is 66 times the size of Wyoming. That makes the Senate five times less proportionate today than it was at the founding. [Washington Post]

Of course, the effects of the Great Compromise wouldn’t be so, well, great, if it weren’t so easy to filibuster bills. “Everything needs 60 votes today. This is supposed to be a majority body,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein complained after the bill failed, according to The Huffington Post.

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Click below for the full article.

http://theweek.com/article/index/242989/does-the-gun-bills-failure-mean-the-senate-is-broken

04.18.13
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Marketwatch: No decisions made on gun-control bill: Boehner

House committee chairmen are looking at gun violence proposals but no decisions
have been made about legislation, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday.
“When we have a decision to announce, we’ll announce it,” Boehner told
reporters, a day after the Senate defeated an amendment that would have expanded
background checks for gun buyers.

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Do Republicans also need an education on the Second Amendment?  What do you think?  This is an interesting statement from the top GOP in the House.  Click below for the direct link.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-decisions-made-on-gun-control-bill-boehner-2013-04-18?siteid=yhoof2

04.18.13
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Motoramic: Why does the world’s largest automaker need $146.5 million from Kentucky?

On Friday, Toyota Chief Executive Akio Toyoda and Kentucky officials are expected to announce a $530 million expansion of Toyota’s sprawling Georgetown factory in the Bluegrass State so that it can build 50,000 Lexus ES sedans a year. In return for adding 570 permanent jobs, Kentucky will give Toyota a package of tax breaks and other incentives worth $146.5 million. Such deals are so common they rarely draw comment, but it’s worth asking: Why does the world’s largest automaker need a handout?

To get the incentives, Toyota promised to hire up to 570 new full-time workers at the Georgetown plant, along with 180 temporary workers. As the Louisville Courier-Journal reports, those permanent employees will be paid an average of $26 an hour in wages and benefits, a bit more than half of what long-time employees in Georgetown make.

It would be unfair to Toyota to single it out for taking a path trod so often by other automakers and corporations; in fact, it’s unheard of for an automaker from General Motors to Mitsubishi to expand a plant without some kind of government gift. Last December, The New York Times counted up 35 different grants to Ford from Kentucky alone between 2007 and 2010, totaling $307 million — which came even as the company cut jobs.

And those breaks pale to the deals automakers bargain for when they open new plants, with the current record held by Volkswagen, whose Tennessee factory came with incentives that total $577 million over several years. In return for those incentives, VW vowed to hire 2,000 full-time workers, for a cost of about $288,500 per job, a ratio that was the highest ever for a new auto assembly plant in the United States. When Kia opened its plant in Georgia in 2009, it did so only after driving a hard bargain for a $400 million incentive package, including everything from school property tax breaks to a free rail spur to ship cars from the factory.

State and local governments give automakers endless breaks for several reasons. A new auto plant often means additional jobs from parts suppliers on top of the add-on boost to the local economy. In tough times for American workers, automotive manufacturing jobs ofter stability and wages well above what’s available in most service industry careers. And many state officials fear being held to answer why a project was lost if the pot wasn’t sweet enough.

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How do you feel about this government intervention?  Click below for the full article.

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/why-does-world-largest-automaker-146-million-kentucky-164424807.html

04.18.13
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Associated Press on Murder Case: Abortion clinic worker says “I saw 10 babies breathe”

former abortion clinic worker capped the five-week murder trial of her former boss with powerful testimony that she saw more than 10 babies breathe before they were killed.

“I thought they were breathing,” Kareema Cross testified Thursday, explaining that she saw their chests go up and down in the clinic run by Dr. Kermit Gosnell. “He would say they’re not really breathing.”

Cross, 28, is the final prosecution witness in the capital murder case against Gosnell. He is charged in the deaths of a patient and seven babies allegedly born alive.

Cross also described seeing three babies move, one after being born in a toilet, and heard a fourth give a “soft whine.”

Cross, who worked at the clinic from 2005 to 2009, was so disturbed by its operation that she took photos and called authorities, although she gave a relative’s name.

A 2011 grand jury report blasts state and city officials for failing to inspect or shut down Gosnell’s busy clinic in West Philadelphia. A 2010 FBI raid over Gosnell’s separate pain management practice ultimately led to its closure.

The defense has denied that babies were born alive, and Cross is sure to face strenuous questioning Thursday afternoon from Gosnell’s lawyer, Jack McMahon.

Click below for the full article.

http://news.yahoo.com/abortion-clinic-worker-saw-10-babies-breathe-183731159.html

04.18.13
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Business Insider: Pentagon to take over CIA’s drone program?

Drone Operator

Recently divulged plans to shift the drone program away from the CIA and solely  into the hands of the Defense Department (DoD) highlights a huge issue  about targeted killings by CIA drone pilots.

 

Daniel Klaidman of the Daily Beast reports (emphasis  ours):

“CIA and DoD operators would begin to  work more closely together to ensure a smooth hand-off. The CIA would remain  involved in lethal targeting, at least on the intelligence side, but would not actually control the unmanned aerial vehicles.”

“Since the inception of the drone  program, targeting decisions have been made inside the CIA with  little or no input from other agencies, though the White House sometimes  weighs in … [but Obama] does not … sign  off on all CIA strikes.”

The disclosure may explain how U.S. drones kill people whose  identities aren’t confirmed.

Read more:  http://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-taking-over-drone-strikes-2013-3#ixzz2Qs63gKh9

Click below for the full article.

http://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-taking-over-drone-strikes-2013-3

04.18.13
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AP: Al-Qaida’s No. 2 in Yemen slams US drone strikes

The deputy leader of al-Qaida in Yemen is calling on Saudis to revolt against the king, slamming the use of bases in Saudi Arabia to launch lethal U.S. drone strikes.

Saeed al-Shihri’s audio recording appeared to back up al-Qaida denials that he was killed in a drone attack. Al-Shihri calls the Saudi royal family “the greatest agent of America.”

The 14-minute audio recording was made public on Wednesday. It was not known when it was recorded.

Click below for the full article.

http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/world/story/Al-Qaidas-No-2-in-Yemen-slams-US-drone-strikes/8Ss4_J2FF0KzgmNWcVvFfA.cspx

04.18.13
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News Daily: Iran condemns Boston blast, criticizes US policy

Iran condemns Boston but criticizes US policy

Iran’s top leader on Wednesday condemned the twin bombing attacks in Boston, yet chided the U.S. for employing a double standard when it comes to drone attacks that kill innocent civilians.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, which follows the logic of Islam, is opposed to any bombings and killings of innocent people no matter if it is in Boston, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria and condemns it,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iranian military leaders he was addressing in Tehran.

Khamenei criticized the U.S. for killing people with drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan and backing forces that kill others in Iraq and Syria.

“What kind of logic is this that if children and women are killed by Americans in Afghanistan and Pakistan and by U.S.-backed terrorists in Iraq and Syria is not a problem, but if a bombing happens in the U.S. or another Western country, the whole world should pay the cost?” he asked in his comments, which were posted on his website.

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What do you think?  Do you think that United States Foreign Policy conflicts with its goal of spreading peace, prosperty, liberty, freedom, and democracy?

http://www.newsdaily.com/article/5605e8c7ed7059672cf5d0f464e3b85f/iran-condemns-boston-blast-criticizes-us-policy