US employers resumed a solid pace of hiring last month and the jobless rate fell, priming the economy to snap back from a brutal winter…the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent.”

WSJ, Friday 5/8/15

5/4/15 Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders March 2015:

  • New Orders for manufactured durable goods in March increased 4.0 percent. This increase, up two of the last three months, followed a 1.4 percent February decrease.
  • Shipments of manufactured durable goods in March increased 1.1 percent after two consecutive monthly decreases.
  • Inventories of manufactured durable goods in March, up twenty three of the last twenty four months, increased 0.1 percent.

U.S. Raw Steel Production

US raw steel output inched up 0.3 percent last week from the previous week as mills operated at an ACUR of 72.4 percent. In the corresponding week last year mills operated at an ACUR of 76.6 percent. Thus far this year mills have operated at an ACUR of 72.4 percent compared to an ACUR of 77 percent in the same period last year. ~AISI for AMM 5/6/15

Wall Street Journal Reports 5/6/15

A stronger dollar and an influx of delayed imports into West Coast ports are pointing the US economy toward its third quarterly contraction in its six year- long expansion, reflecting choppy conditions that appear set to restrain growth throughout the year.

The nation’s trade deficit expanded by 43.1% in March from February, the largest monthly widening since 1996…. A record level of non-petroleum imports flowed into the US after a labor dispute at West Coast ports ended. That was significantly larger than economists had forecast even with pressure from a strong dollar and weak global growth. As a result, revisions could push the official reading for first quarter GDP into negative territory from the paltry 0.2 percent annualized gain initially reported last week.”

Clinton’s Ratings Rising?

According to reports in the Wall Street Journal “Hillary Clinton’s negative ratings rose in the past month but she remains highly regarded among Democrats, a poll found.” What is going on with the American people? The Clintons are duo of thieves and liars. The information is blatantly out in the public and yet she remains highly regarded?? How is that even possible? Talk about having blinders on…

Race

Unfortunately, a police officer, who happened to be white, was shot in the head while on duty in New York. The shooter happened to be a black man. No one is rioting or looting, no one is marching in his memory, no charges of racism, no news coverage…. The officer, Brian Moore, 25, is the fifth New York police officer to be shot while on duty since December 2014. So, who is targeting whom?

Baltimore is Not About Race

Last week I wrote that the problems in Baltimore, Ferguson etc., were not about race. I found it interesting that one William McGurn, writing for the Wall Street Journal, opined the following (excerpts) in his editorial on Tuesday 5/5, titled “Baltimore is Not About Race”.

For those who see the rioting in Baltimore as primarily about race, two broad reactions dominate. One group sees rampaging young men fouling their own neighborhoods and concludes nothing can be done because the pathologies are so overwhelming…. The other group tut-tuts about root causes. Take your pick: inequality, poverty or injustice.”

There is another view. In this view, the disaster of inner cities isn’t about race at all. It’s about the consequences of 50 years of progressive misrule-which on race has proved an equal opportunity failure.”

….by substituting federal transfers for fathers and families. They do it by favoring community organizing and government projects over private investment. And they do it by propping up failing public school systems that operate as jobs programs for the teachers unions instead of centers for learning.”

If our inner-city African American communities suffer disproportionately from crippling social pathologies that make upward mobility difficult-and they do-it is in large part because they have disproportionately been on the receiving end of this five decade long progressive experiment in government beneficence.”

And how do we know? Because when we look at a slice of white America that was showered with the same Great Society good intentions-Appalachia-we find the same dysfunctions: greater dependency, more single parent families and the absence of the good, private sector jobs that only a growing economy can create.”

Remember, in the mid 1960’s when President Johnson put a face on America’s “war on poverty,” he didn’t do it from an urban ghetto. He did it from the front porch of a shack in eastern Kentucky’s Martin County where a white family of 10 eked out a subsistence living on an income of $400 a year.”

…In a remarkable dispatch two years ago, the Lexington Herald-Leader’s John Cheves noted that the war on poverty sent $2.1 billion to Martin County alone (pop. 12,537) through programs including “welfare, food stamps, jobless benefits, disability compensation, school subsidies, affordable housing, worker training, economic development incentives, Head Start for poor children and expanded Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.”

The result? The problem facing Appalachia today isn’t Third World poverty,” writes Mr. Cheves.”It’s dependence on government assistance.” Just one example: When Congress imposed work requirements and lifetime caps for welfare during the Clinton administration, disability claims jumped.”

He concludes…

Because to look at urban black Baltimore and rural white Martin County and conclude that the answer is more cradle-to-grave, “Life of Julia” federal love isn’t soul searching. It’s denial.”

I do NOT understand…all of a sudden the police in this country are the bad guys! Why? Without law and the people to enforce the laws, we WILL have LAWLESSNESS. Hell, we have lawlessness in many places now and the liberals want to “reform” the police departments. Has everyone gone crazy?

 

70th Anniversary of VE Day today, 5/8/15. Do NOT forget the sacrifices of our brave men and women. We could all be speaking German if not for their supreme effort and sacrifice!

Have a great weekend…. God bless America!

Buy American made products whenever you can, it’s good for you, good for your friends and neighbors and good for our country.
If you are hiring…try to hire a veteran…. they are loyal, disciplined, hardworking…and they deserve our support.

Remember these tidbits as the election cycle grinds on:

  • Fast & Furious-Americans killed by guns supplied to the drug cartels…by the Department of Justice-Eric Holder presiding. The president was clueless. No one held accountable
  • Benghazi: Four Americans killed in an assault described as the result of a viral video. This was proved to be a false narrative. This was in fact, a planned act of terror. The president was clueless. No one even knows where he was as this went down. No one held accountable
  • “At this point, what difference does it make?” Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State
  • The IRS targeting of conservative groups and individuals. No one held accountable, Lois Lerner is on paid vacation and has refused to testify. The president was clueless. No one held accountable
  • Hillary using a private server for correspondence during her term as Secretary of State against the orders of the president. She thought “it would be more convenient…” Though the records were due when she left office, they were not submitted, subpoenas were issued, which she ignored for two years. Finally, she released 30,000 of some 60,000 alleged emails then she deleted the rest of the emails and will NOT turn over the server for investigation.