Obama's Degrade led to the Credit Downgrade

Undermining our Legacy of Liberty

"No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable. ... Cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible: avoiding occasions of expence [and] avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt ... not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen which we ourselves ought to bear." --George Washington, December 3, 1793

Despite all the political rhetoric about the historic downgrade of our nation's credit rating last week, that devaluation was a mere shadow of the colossal degradation Barack Hussein Obama and his socialist cadres have inflicted upon our country since 20 January 2009. Of much greater significance than our nation's credit, our nation's credibility as a constitutional republic has suffered relentless and ruthless offense.

Obama is succeeding in his endeavor to break the back of free enterprise, a keystone of Essential Liberty, by implementing failed "New Deal" policies and rejecting sound free market principles. His endeavor to lay the groundwork for the transformation to "Democratic Socialism" has been so successful that the debate about the future of American Liberty now includes the once-radical question of whether it will be restored by way of the "ballot or bullet box."
To understand Obama's degradation of our national credibility in an economic context, consider that the U.S. credit rating is, in effect, a barometer of the world's confidence in our national leadership and the direction of the U.S. economy. Thus, its downgrade is a dire indication of worldview regarding the systemic economic risk of the debt bomb Obama has dropped on our nation.

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Severe Solar Storms Could Disrupt Earth This Decade: NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a federal agency that focuses on the condition of the oceans and atmosphere, said a severe solar storm could cause global disruptions in GPS systems, power grids, satellite communications, and airline communications.


With solar activity expected to peak around 2013, the Sun is entering a particularly active time and big flares like the recent one will likely be common during the next few years.


Most solar flares will only cause minor problems with satellites and power grids, but a major flare in the mid-19th century blocked the nascent telegraph system, and some scientists believe that another such event is now overdue.


In a huge solar storm back in 1859, telegraph offices worldwide were hit, some telegraph operators reported electric shocks, the telegraph systems malfunctioned and even paper caught fire. It is the strongest solar storm on record and is called the "Carrington Event," which is named after Richard Carrington, who viewed and reported on the solar flare of Sept. 1, 1859. In 1989, six million people in Quebec, Canada were left without power for several hours when a solar storm took down a power grid. (more)

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/08/severe-solar-storms-could-disrupt-earth.html

Seven Billion Or Bust: Is the Human Population out of control? Or is the way we live what's holding

It's a great time to be alive. We can say without fear of contradiction that Homo sapiens has been an unqualified success. Make no mistake about it, the future looks bright. 2011 promises to be another bumper year for humanity, for this is the year our astonishingly fertile species will reach 7 billion individuals (Science Daily, July 28).


Global population is expected to hit 7 billion later this year, up from 6 billion in 1999. Between now and 2050, an estimated 2.3 billion more people will be added — nearly as many as inhabited the planet as recently as 1950. New estimates from the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations also project that the population will reach 10.1 billion in 2100.


These sizable increases represent an unprecedented global demographic upheaval, according to David Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography at the Harvard School of Public Health, in a review article published July 29, 2011 in Science.


Over the next forty years, nearly all (97%) of the 2.3 billion projected increase will be in the less developed regions, with nearly half (49%) in Africa. By contrast, the populations of more developed countries will remain flat, but will age, with fewer working-age adults to support retirees living on social pensions...


The world's population has grown slowly for most of human history. It took until 1800 for the population to hit 1 billion. However, in the past half-century, population jumped from 3 to 7 billion. In 2011, approximately 135 million people will be born and 57 million will die, a net increase of 78 million people [graph above, source].


Considerable uncertainty about these projections remains, Bloom writes. Depending on whether the number of births per woman continues to decline, the ranges for 2050 vary from 8.1 to 10.6 billion, and the 2100 projections vary from 6.2 to 15.8 billion. (more)

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/08/seven-billion-or-bust-is-human.html

Dow plunges 400 points at opening bell today as Europe fears return

U.S. stocks fell sharply Wednesday, wiping out the previous session's huge rally, as fears about Europe's ongoing debt crisis resurfaced.


The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) dropped 430 points, or 3.8%. The index fell as much as 467 points, which exceeded the gain in Tuesday's massive advance.


The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 43 points, or 3.7%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 84 points, or 3.4%.


Ever since Standard and Poor's stripped the United States of its AAA credit rating Friday, fears have been building that rating agencies may also downgrade AAA-rated nations in Europe, since they are also struggling with severe debt problems.


On Wednesday, shares of French bank Societe Generale, or SocGen, tumbled almost 20% on the Paris stock exchange amid speculation that France, Europe's second largest economy after Germany, may be first to face a rating cut.


Even though the major rating agencies have reiterated France's AAA rating, "there's growing concern that France could get downgraded," said Tom Schrader, managing director at Stifel Nicolaus. "There's fear that S&P might do something stupid."


Financial stocks led the sell-off in U.S markets, as investors worried that problems in the European banking sector could spillover into the U.S. banks. (more)

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/08/dow-plunges-400-points-at-opening-bell.html

Wednesday Chronicle: Steep Downgrade Plus Rising Debt

The Foundation

"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection." --Thomas Paine

Editorial Exegesis

The Obama road

"Whatever one thinks of the credit-rating agencies -- and we aren't admirers -- it serves no good purpose to shoot the fiscal messengers. Friday's downgrade by Standard & Poor's of U.S. long-term debt to AA+ from AAA will be the first of many such humiliations if Washington doesn't change its economic and fiscal policies. Investors and markets -- not any single company's rating -- are the ultimate judge of a nation's creditworthiness. And after their performance in fanning the credit and mortgage-security mania of the last decade, S&P, Moody's and Fitch should hardly be seen as peerless oracles. Their views are best understood as financial opinions, like newspaper editorials, and they're only considered more important because U.S. government agencies have required purchasers of securities to use their ratings. ... Yet is there anything that S&P said on Friday that everyone else doesn't already know? S&P essentially declared that on present trend the U.S. debt burden is unsustainable, and that the American political system seems unable to reverse that trend. This is not news. ... Despite S&P's opinion, there is no chance that America will default on its debts. The real importance of the downgrade will depend on the political reaction it inspires. If the response is denial and blaming the credit raters, then the U.S. will continue on its current road to more downgrades and eventually to Greece. What has already become a half-decade of lost growth will turn into a lost decade or more. If the response is to escape the debt trap by the stealth route of inflation -- a path now advocated by many of the same economists who promoted the failed spending stimulus of 2009 -- then the U.S. could spur a dollar crisis and jeopardize its reserve currency status. The better answer -- the only road back to fiscal sanity and AAA status -- is to reverse the economic policies of the late Bush and Obama years. The financial crisis followed by the Keynesian and statist revival of the last four years have brought the U.S. to this downgrade and will lead to inevitable decline. The only solution is to return to the classical, pro-growth economic ideas that have revived America at other moments of crisis." --The Wall Street Journal

Essential Liberty

"While tea party critics are re-reading the Constitution, they should also consult the Declaration of Independence. That philosophical foundation of the Constitution reserves the right of the people to change their government when it no longer serves the interests of its citizens. The Declaration outlined the proper relationship between government and citizens, noting that government derives its 'just powers from the consent of the governed' (and) 'whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.' The British no doubt considered those who wrote and believed such things 'terrorists.' We call them patriots." --columnist Cal Thomas

Upright

"The decision by credit agency Standard and Poor's to downgrade America's AAA credit rating for the first time in 70 years is a massive blow to the credibility of the Obama administration, and a damning indictment of its handling of the economy. ... These are increasingly dangerous times, with American leadership being challenged across the globe. Only an historic reduction in government spending combined with pro-growth measures including lower business tax rates to stimulate job creation and attract investment can turn the US economy around. Unfortunately, as Standard and Poor's decision has shown, this is a presidency in extreme denial over America's towering debts, leading a nation on a precipice while blindfolded to reality." --columnist Nile Gardiner
"Had the Republicans gone along with President Obama's original request for a 'clean' bill ... would that have spared the country the embarrassment of having its government bonds downgraded by Standard & Poor's credit-rating agency? To believe that would be to believe that it was the debt ceiling, rather than the runaway spending, that made Standard & Poor's think that we were no longer as good a credit risk for buyers of U.S. government bonds. In other words, to believe that is to believe that a Congressional blank check for continued record spending would have made Standard & Poor's think that we were a better credit risk." --columnist Thomas Sowell
"The White House and much of the chattering class cooed on Friday when unemployment dropped to 9.1 percent and 117,000 jobs were reportedly created in July. But these numbers, upon closer inspection, show no progress on the jobs front. Buried in the job stats was a number -- 193,000 -- that dwarfed all the rest. That is the number of workers who left the job market. If 193,000 left and only 117,000 jobs were added, we lost 76,000 jobs." --Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin

The Demo-gogues

Yes, we have been: "I know we're going through a tough time right now. We've been going through a tough time for the last two-and-a-half years." --Barack Obama (Punchline hat tip to the WSJ's James Taranto)
Pot and kettle: "[I]t's not a lack of plans or policies that is a problem here, it's a lack of political will in Washington, it is the insistence of drawing lines in the sand, a refusal to put what's best for the country ahead of self-interest or party or ideology. And that's what we need to change." --Barack Obama, who didn't address the credit downgrade until nearly 72 hours later
Reassuring? "Markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America. No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be AAA country." --Barack Obama
Time for more spending: "[T]he good news here is that by coming together to deal with the long-term debt challenge, we would have more room to implement key proposals that can get the economy to grow faster." --Barack Obama
Wait ... what? "[I]f Congress fails to extend the payroll tax cut and the unemployment insurance benefits that I've called for, it could mean one million fewer jobs and half-a-percent less growth." --Barack Obama, who has no idea how to create or save a job
Broken record: "I've said it before, I will say it again: We can't balance the budget on the backs of the very people who have borne the brunt of this recession. Everyone's gonna have to chip in. That's only fair. That's the principle I'll be fighting for in the next phase of this process." --Barack Obama once again calling for higher taxes on job-creating Americans
This just in: "This is not rocket science in terms of how we can create more jobs in this country." --Barack Obama
Talking points: "I believe this is, without question, the Tea Party downgrade." --Sen. John Kerry
Unfair and unbalanced: "The media has got to begin to not give equal time or equal balance to an absolutely absurd notion just because somebody asserts it or simply because somebody says something which everybody knows is not factual." --John Kerry, demanding that the Tea Party not be given the time of day

Dezinformatsia

It's the Constitution, stupid: "This group of people in New York [Standard and Poor's] is actually talking about more government rather than less government.... In fact, the reason they like France and Great Britain is because they're parliamentary systems where the majority gets what it wants no matter what. And the problem that we have here is the Constitution of the United States of America, which actually does require people to come together from different perspectives whether it's divided government or not." --ABC's Cokie Roberts
Wrong solutions: "The fact is we didn't spend enough money on the stimulus. So what's the Tea Party solution? Pull more money out of the economy, obviously that's gonna bring more recession, possibly depression." --Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, equating government spending cuts with pulling "more money out of the economy"
Wrong lessons: "S&P says, 'The downgrade was motivated by all the debate about raising of the debt ceiling. It involved a level of brinksmanship greater than what we had expected.' That's why they say they downgraded us. Not because there's too much debt, but rather that Washington is not working." --MSNBC's Rachel Maddow
Can't we all just get along? "[The tea partiers] were like cannibals, eating their own party and leaders alive. They were like vampires, draining the country's reputation, credit rating and compassion. They were like zombies, relentlessly and mindlessly coming back again and again to assault their unnerved victims, Boehner and President Obama. They were like the metallic beasts in 'Alien' flashing mouths of teeth inside other mouths of teeth, bursting out of Boehner's stomach every time he came to a bouquet of microphones." --New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd
There are stupid questions: "Is Obama more conservative than most people think?" --CNN's Don Lemon

Newspulper Headlines:

Out on a Limb: "Obama Bid to Boost Confidence Falls Short" --The Wall Street Journal
Answers to Questions Nobody Is Asking: "Why Obama Should Be Re-Elected" --PajamasMedia.com
Breaking News From 2013: "Carney: Obama Was the Leader" --Politico.com
In This Economy, Wouldn't You?: "Geithner Says He Will Stay at Treasury" --Associated Press
Investment Tip: Buy Wheelbarrows: "No Chance of Default, US Can Print Money: Greenspan" --CNBC.com
Longest Books Ever Written: "The Dumbest Thing Said in Washington Today" --PowerLineBlog.com
We Blame Global Warming: "Why Do Russians Hate Ice?" --New York Times website
We Blame George W. Bush: "Who's to Blame for Anorexic Kindergartners?" --San Francisco Chronicle website
Bottom Story of the Day: "Obama Partisans Ignore Facts When Blaming Bush" --Washington Examiner
(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)

Village Idiots

Tea Party blame: "[Republicans] played brinksmanship with the full faith and credit of the United States. This was the result in that. The fact of the matter is that this is essentially a Tea Party downgrade that clearly is on the backs of those who were willing to see the country default." --White House adviser David Axelrod
"I think this is a Tea Party problem. I think they are totally unreasonable and doctrinaire and not founded in reality. I think they've been smoking some of that tea, not just drinking it." --former DNC Chairman Howard Dean
"This 'tea party downgrade' is a shameful blow to our nation's honor and risks throwing us right back into recession. Worst of all? It was completely avoidable. But when given the choice between extremist posturing and responsible leadership, tea party Republicans chose wrong." --MoveOn.org fundraising email
Doggone it: "We do not control all levers of government, sometimes that is quite unfortunate." --White House Press Secretary Jay Carney
That'll teach 'em: "Pres Obama, show some guts & arrest the CEO of Standard & Poors." --leftist fictional filmmaker Michael Moore on Twitter
Can you say "inflation"? "The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default." --former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan

Short Cuts

"S&P downgraded the United States from AAA to AA+, and it gets worse. Today, Italy, England and Greece un-friended us on Facebook." --comedian Jay Leno
"Blame the Tea Party? Geez, no wonder [John] Kerry did so well in an election. If it wasn't for the Tea Party, they would have passed the debt ceiling thumbs up, we would have been rated BBB." --CNBC's Rick Santelli
"Obama sympathy cards are at the printer's: 'You'll always be AAA-rated to me, America.'" --commentator S.E. Cupp
"On Thursday, in honor of Barack Obama's 50th birthday, the Dow dropped 10 points for every year he has walked among us. It was the ninth-largest drop in history. We should be relieved he wasn't turning 80." --columnist Mark Steyn
"The expression 'garbage in, garbage out' refers to the data supplied to computers. It meant that if the programmer provided it with misinformation, there was no way the machinery could correct it. That happens to be the way I view Congress and the White House: Garbage in, garbage out. Too bad we have to wait until November, 2012, for the trash collector." --columnist Burt Prelutsky

http://patriotpost.us/edition/2011/08/10/chronicle/

Big Food Companies Giving You Wood

 

Humans are unable to digest cellulose (wood pulp), yet the FDA deems it safe for consumption. Wood filler? I use it to repair furniture and trim. Eating it is just nuts. Lots of fat-free foods have wood (cellulose) in them, but you're better off eating the fatty foods, since you can actually digest those completely. Just eat smaller quantities.

The recent class-action lawsuit brought against Taco Bell raised questions about the quality of food many Americans eat each day.

Chief among those concerns is the use of cellulose (wood pulp), an extender whose use in a roster of food products, from crackers and ice creams to puddings and baked goods, is now being exposed. What you’re actually paying for – and consuming – may be surprising.

Cellulose is virgin wood pulp that has been processed and manufactured to different lengths for functionality, though use of it and its variant forms (cellulose gum, powdered cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, etc.) is deemed safe for human consumption, according to the FDA, which regulates most food industry products.  The government agency sets no limit on the amount of cellulose that can be used in food products meant for human consumption.

[Note: Humans are unable to digest cellulose since we lack the appropriate enzymes to break it down. This is a food adulterant and another example of the wholly corrupt nature of the federal agency responsible for food safety but continues to prove itself more concerned with corporate profit. ~Ed]

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Iowa straw poll reshapes GOP race

Please, don't support Perry. And I'm a proud Texan. Don't let him do to the country what he has done to my state.

 

The weekend’s straw poll in Ames lived up to its historic role as presidential bouncer, validating Rep. Michelle Bachmann’s front-runner status in Iowa and kicking former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to the curb — reshuffling the Republican race for the White House along the way.
The Pawlenty exit and Bachmann victory sharpened the GOP focus on national front-runner Mitt Romney and the two candidates considered most likely to challenge the former Massachusetts governor for the nomination: Mrs. Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who officially jumped into the race on Saturday.
Although he wasn’t on the ballot as an official candidate, the Texas governor finished with 4 percent as a write-in — good enough for sixth place, and ahead of Mr. Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.
Mr. Pawlenty, who finished a distant third with 14 percent, pulled the plug on his campaign Sunday.
“We needed to get some lift to continue on and have a pathway forward,” Mr. Pawlenty said on ABCs’ “This Week.” “That didn’t happen, so I’m announcing this morning on your show that I’m going to be ending my campaign for president.”
Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain said he is staying in the race, despite a fifth-place showing.
“I truly believe,” Mr. Cain told CNN’s Candy Crowley, “that I can win the nomination and the presidency.”
Sunday’s fast-moving developments underscored the fluid nature of the GOP race and overshadowed Rep. Ron Paul’s strong second-place showing in the straw poll. The congressman from Texas pulled in 4,671 votes, or 28 percent, just shy of knocking off Mrs. Bachmann’s total of 4,823, or 29 percent, in her own backyard.
Still, it is anybody’s guess as to whether the nearly 17,000 activists who voted in the straw poll speak for the 120,000 or so Iowans who will make the trek to the Republican caucuses in February.
History suggests that the poll may be a good harbinger for the eventual winner of the Iowa caucuses, but not for its ability to predict the next president.
George W. Bush is the only contested candidate to have gone on to win the Republican nomination and the presidency after a victory in the straw poll since its debut in 1979. It’s also hard to tell whether the straw poll, or the caucuses, will have much influence over the outcome in crucial battleground states such as New Hampshire.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/14/iowa-straw-poll-reshapes-gop-race/

Humor: Downgraded

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Fed vows low rates for two more years

For a new recession to start, doesn't that mean that there would have To have been some sort of recovery first? The idea that the government is admitting that a second recession is a possibility only points to the fact that another Great Depression is much more likely. 

The Federal Reserve pledged Tuesday to hold interest rates near zero for two more years and said it was mulling the tools it has to boost a slowing economy. Meeting as worries grew of a new recession, the Fed's policy board said growth so far this year had been "considerably slower" than expected....

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/nsmFIkvsk_o/

Gold is rising because the world’s monetary system is being debased – and there is no sign of this s

Gold is not a commodity it is a currency – and the devaluation of paper money by money printing is making it more and more attractive.


The metal was desirable long before the concept of money was ever invented - and it has been used as a medium of exchange for thousands of years. (The first gold coins were minted in Lydia, in modern-day Turkey, in 610 BC).


The money in your pocket is effectively worthless. The government declares it as legal tender and will accept taxation payments with this bill of exchange but the £5 note is no longer backed by anything. When push comes to shove, a £5 note is just a piece of paper and ink with no intrinsic value at all. It certainly isn't worth £5.


Fiat currencies are not backed by gold. When most currencies were on the gold standard, a unit of currency could be exchanged by central banks for a fixed weight of gold. That way, paper money could be used instead of using gold or silver coins.

The world's monetary system used to be backed by gold – until Richard Nixon scrapped the dollar's convertibility into gold 40 years ago. This made the dollar the defacto reserve currency, but successive administrations have mismanaged government policy and the US economy is now drowning in a sea of debt. (more)

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/08/gold-is-rising-because-worlds-monetary.html

NATO planes bomb Tripoli, rebels sabotage key pipeline

(Late, but interesting due to the fact that the "rebels" are deliberately damaging their country's energy export infrastructure. Does this sound like a group with their nation's best interests in mind?)


NATO warplanes bombed the Libyan capital early Friday, state television said, as Moamer Kadhafi's regime accused rebels of sabotaging a key pipeline feeding the country's sole functioning refinery.


About 10 loud explosions rocked the city around 1:30 am (2330 GMT), an AFP journalist said.


Shortly afterwards, Libyan television said "civilian and military sites" at the southeastern suburb of Khellat al-Ferjan had been targeted by "the colonialist aggressor."


Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim meanwhile said late Thursday that rebel forces had sabotaged a pipeline in the Jebel Nefussa region, a mountainous area southeast of Tripoli.


"The rebels turned off a valve and poured cement over it," he said, adding that this would lead to a shortage of electricity in the capital as oil and gas were used at the Zawiyah refinery to generate power.


Kaaim said food and medicine supplies were spoiling in the capital due to long power cuts. Tripoli residents complained Thursday of extensive blackouts and an acute shortage of gas canisters. (more)

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/08/nato-planes-bomb-tripoli-rebels.html

Back to Big Government-Spending as Usual

When our country is on a downhill slide toward financial collapse, rather than freeze spending and focus on our country's real needs, our false representatives in big .gov are pushing ahead and looking for ways to increase their control and spend us into oblivion. They are no more concerned with job growth than they are with our debt crisis. Another downgrade may come, but not before our situation gets much worse. The only solution is to insulate yourself from the government, because it's going to hit hard when the bottom comes up to meet it.

The American Age of Austerity lasted approximately three minutes, give or take a nanosecond. Immediately after the Senate approved the bipartisan "Budget Control Act of 2011" on Tuesday afternoon, President Obama hustled over to the Rose Garden -- to crow about the renewed opportunity to make "key investments."

Yes, the pitched battle to force government to live within its means has preserved the failed stimulator-in-chief's ability to keep spending like there's no tomorrow. As the curtains closed on D.C.'s debt-ceiling theater, Obama wasted no time putting his new "investment" priorities on the table: higher taxes, more funding for endless unemployment benefits and a "national infrastructure bank."

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/michelle-malkin/2011/08/03/back-to-big-government-spending-as-usual/

Balancing the Budget, Holding Us Hostage

 

The political class predicted "disaster" if Congress didn't raise its debt limit.

I think that was a scam to get more money. See, the poor politicians don't have enough, and they need to borrow more. We taxpayers are cheap. This year we'll give them only $2.2 trillion. They want to spend $3.8 trillion.

The president said if he didn't get more money, Social Security checks wouldn't go out. Why not?

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/john-stossel/2011/08/03/balancing-the-budget/

Where Are These Government-Slashing Republicans I Keep Hearing About?

Two heads of the same monster that continues to devour the People and growing ever greater in size and power. Someone needs to slay that monster, but a champion is hard to find these days. 

Two weeks ago, The New York Times reported that Republicans "want a vastly smaller government." Last week, the Times called the dispute about raising the federal debt ceiling "an epic clash over the parties' divergent views on the size and role of the federal government." This week, it said President Obama faces "a conservative movement seeking a wholesale redefinition of the proper role of government."

The recent debt deal, widely portrayed as a victory for Republicans, suggests their goals are decidedly less ambitious. As always in Washington, the "epic clash" perceived by the Times is in fact a squabble between two parties that both favor big government.

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/jacob-sullum/2011/08/03/where-are-these-government-slashing-republicans-i-keep-hearing-about/

Misleading Words: Part II - "Poverty"

If there were a contest for the most misleading words used in politics, "poverty" should be one of the leading contenders for that title.

Each of us may have his own idea of what poverty means -- especially those of us who grew up in poverty. But what poverty means politically and in the media is whatever the people who collect statistics choose to define as poverty.

This is not just a question of semantics. The whole future of the welfare state depends on how poverty is defined. "The poor" are the human shields behind whom advocates of ever bigger spending for ever bigger government advance toward their goal.

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/thomas-sowell/2011/08/03/misleading-words-part-ii/

Obama Is Out of Options

Hope and change? Doesn't sound like much of a New Deal to me.

After Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency changed. As he put it in 1943, "Dr. New Deal" had to be replaced by "Dr. Win the War." It was a colossal policy switch, but it wasn't an extreme makeover politically. He was still the same FDR, and the public understood the need for change.

And it saved his presidency. As President Obama's former economic advisor, Larry Summers, said recently, "Never forget ... that if Hitler had not come along, Franklin Roosevelt would have left office in 1941 with an unemployment rate in excess of 15 percent and an economic recovery strategy that had basically failed."

The collapse of states around the world might actually be the best thing that could ever happen to individual freedoms. Populations would likely dive though...

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/jonah-goldberg/2011/08/03/obama-is-out-of-options/

What, Me Worry?

I am known as a expert horse racing handicapper and it is something I do because I love horse racing and because I am very good at it. For the last year I have been handicapping America’s economy. My predictions that America will suffer the biggest economic collapse in history are starting to come true. Today the stock market plunged 513 points the biggest fall since 2008.

This is but a speed bump on what is getting ready to happen to America and our stock market and our money and our economy. I beg of you to start stocking up on survival gear and food for the sake of your family before it is to late. The strong will survive when the walls come crumbling down in America. The weak will perish. Obama has drove the American economy off of a cliff. China and Russia have spoken out against our debt problems this week. The whole world is betting that our economy will collapse. The new world order has set us up for a big Roman Empire fall and it is in motion right now and Obama is the driver.

http://www.newworldorderwar.com/stocks-plunge-as-the-world-loses-all-faith-in-obama-and-america/

Time for US to take responsibility: China

CHINA's official news agency has launched harsh criticism at the US, calling for an end to political debate and demanding solutions.

Democrats and Republicans in Washington need to stop blaming each other over the unprecedented US credit rating downgrade and find solutions, China's official Xinhua news agency said early on Monday.

The demand came in a lengthy and harshly worded commentary, the latest in a series in China's state media.

"Disappointingly, instead of reflecting on themselves and sitting down to fix problems in a cooperated way, the Democrats and Republicans ... are questioning the creditability of the downgrade ruling and blaming each other for the ever-first shame of slipping out top-credit rating club," it said.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/breaking-news/time-for-us-to-take-responsibility-china/story-e6frea7c-1226110656617

FTSE Unsteady On Global Economic Worries - 8th Aug 2011

I expect those predictions of a continued recession to eventually become visible as the second Great Depression. 

The FTSE is on unsteady ground as the world's economic confidence falters after the downgrade of the US credit rating and renewed eurozone fears.
The FTSE 100 opened 1.2% down but bounced back to around 0.02% down in morning trading.
Germany's DAX fell 0.5% on opening, while the CAC40 dipped 0.13%.
Far East markets were also affected - Japan's Nikkei has closed down 2.2%, while South Korea's Kospi fell 5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 4%, and Mumbai's Sensex slipped 3%.
Investors are worried about the outlook for global growth and debt issues in the US and Europe.
Analysts warned that markets would remain unpredictable in the next few weeks.
The wobbles came despite the G7 group of developed countries and the European Central Bank vowing to support a plan for financial stability.
Standard & Poor's cut the US's top-notch AAA rating for the first time ever late on Friday, cover concerns about the country's budget deficits.
It has graded the US AA+, sparking fears the US economy will fall into a double-dip recession. Read More

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/08/ftse-unsteady-on-global-economic.html

The Radical Cop Looks At OATH KEEPERS

If what they profess they stand for looks familiar, it should because it reflects the philosophical underpinnings of our Founding Fathers when they constructed the Articles of Confederation (1787) and the United States Constitution (1789). These beliefs also form the construct of what every police officer and armed forces members swears to (your Oath of Office modified) when entering the public service. Basically, the members are reaffirming their commitment to the ideologies established by John Adams, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, et al. - Keith R. Lavery, for Officer dot com

http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2011/08/08/the-radical-cop-looks-at-oath-keepers/

Ann Browning Jailed for a MINIMUM of 25 YEARS for beating 'infatuated' widower, 82, to death for his

The world is slowly going mad. 

How does the brutal murder of an elderly man only deserve 25 years in prison? 25 years minimum is not life. Why will this person be returned to the general population?

A cleaner who beat an 82-year-old widower to death before burying him in the garden so she could get his money was jailed for life today.

Ann Browning, 54, was ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years for the 'wicked murder' of retired postman William Williamson after a judge at Guildford Crown Court ruled she planned the killing for financial gain.

Browning, of Ockford Ridge, Surrey, had pleaded guilty to murder but denied the crime was financially motivated.

She claimed she beat Mr Williamson with a plastic rounders bat in a temper and then buried his body in her garden to cover up her crime.

At a hearing last week to determine whether she had planned the murder for financial gain or not, Guildford Crown Court heard Browning beat Mr Williamson repeatedly round the head and body.

She then stripped him naked, bound his legs with a belt, wrapped him in a shower curtain and put him head-first into a grave she had dug in the back garden of the home they shared.

Within days of his death in September 2010 she had transferred £140,000 from their joint account into her personal account.

The court heard when challenged, she told 'a number of elaborate lies' about Mr Williamson's whereabouts, including telling police he was in Ireland for a funeral. She also forged documents using his signature to close a Royal Mail account in his name, saying he was moving to a care home on the south coast. Read More

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/08/ann-browning-jailed-for-minimum-of-25.html

The first post-downgrade business day

The yield on the 10-year note has dropped to 2.44%, down from 2.57% at Friday's close. I'm thinking this is telling us the economy's on the way into the toilet, as the standard reaction for a credit downgrade is rising interest rates, to cover the extra risk. The Dow's long slide, which began on 22 July–and continues with a 250 point loss so far today–is probably telling us the same thing, as earning expectations slide. Since the downgrade was one agency only, and the downgrade only to AA+, economic factors are clearly weighing more on the bonds than the downgrade.  On the other hand, if you're a gold investor, you're probably a little happier today, as Gold hit $1,715/oz.
The key takeaway so far today is the continuing decline in yields, which isn't good news. Thank goodness there's no economic releases today. I'd hate to see what more bad news would bring.

So, back into recession, it looks like.

One of the more interesting things I'm wondering about, in a horrified kind of way, is what effect the downgrade has on corporate paper.  A number of institutions have investment rules that require they concentrate their investments in AAA-rated securities.  But, one of the general rating rules is that subsidiary corporate and government instruments cannot have a higher rating than their sovereign instruments. So if the US Government doesn't have a AAA rating, no subsidiary US corporate or government paper should have a AAA rating either.

So, what does this mean for the handful of corporate and government instruments that were rated AAA prior to the downgrade? Do they get downgraded, too?  If so, where do the institutions with a AAA rating requirement go with their money?

I'm not at all sure how this works. As we've been saying a lot in the last week or so, we're in uncharted territory.

http://www.qando.net/?p=11279

The Death of the Communist Democratic Welfare State

Communism: Mankind’s biggest mistake

Margret Thatcher boiled it down to its essence years ago – "the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people's money".

The silver lining of an economic collapse in the United States is the inability for a socialist agenda to continue to harm the rights of the individual citizens. I only hope that socialism collapses here before any more damage is done.

Janet Daley, writing the the UK's Telegraph, hits a proverbial homerun with her macro look at the "situation" in which both the US and Europe find them selves.  It's not a pretty picture, but quite accurate.   Per Daley, what we're going through right now, at least on the European side of the pond, isn't some esoteric debate about a crisis that will eventually be solved, it is the predictable endgame of the premise that a capitalist system can support an ever expanding social welfare state.  Per Daley, the  answer seems to be a pretty obvious "no". 
Her reasoning for her conclusion is painful for those who want to believe that such a premise is actually attainable.  Let's take a look:

The truly fundamental question that is at the heart of the disaster toward which we are racing is being debated only in America: is it possible for a free market economy to support a democratic socialist society? On this side of the Atlantic, the model of a national welfare system with comprehensive entitlements, which is paid for by the wealth created through capitalist endeavour, has been accepted (even by parties of the centre-Right) as the essence of post-war political enlightenment.

The left in this country can deny this all they wish, but Daley succinctly lays out the Democrat's "ideal" in plain English.  Any attempt to deny that is simply counter-factual.  European-style social democracy has been the ideal of Democrats for years.   And the fight over entitlements makes the point.   The difference between the US and Europe is two-fold.   We thankfully began pursuing that ideal much later than did Europe and the basic difference in make up between Europe and the US is the primary reason:

But the US has a very different historical experience from European countries, with their accretions of national remorse and class guilt: it has a far stronger and more resilient belief in the moral value of liberty and the dangers of state power. This is a political as much as an economic crisis, but not for the reasons that Mr Obama believes. The ruckus that nearly paralysed the US economy last week, and led to the loss of its AAA rating from Standard & Poor's, arose from a confrontation over the most basic principles of American life.
Contrary to what the Obama Democrats claimed, the face-off in Congress did not mean that the nation's politics were "dysfunctional". The politics of the US were functioning precisely as the Founding Fathers intended: the legislature was acting as a check on the power of the executive.

Precisely.  None other than Cokie Roberts noted the "problem" we have here that Europe doesn't on one of the Sunday shows.  

That "problem" and a different but eroding view of the role of government.  And all though we're on the precipice, that "problem" is  all that have kept us from sliding into the pit Europe has dug for itself over the decades. 
What is going on now is not the fault of the Tea Party, no matter how hard the spinners like David Axlerod and John Kerry attempt to make it so.  In fact, the Tea Party contingent actually represents that fundamental but eroding view of the role of government and the "problem" Cokie Roberts refers too.

The Tea Party faction within the Republican party was demanding that, before any further steps were taken, there must be a debate about where all this was going. They had seen the future toward which they were being pushed, and it didn't work. They were convinced that the entitlement culture and benefits programmes which the Democrats were determined to preserve and extend with tax rises could only lead to the diminution of that robust economic freedom that had created the American historical miracle.
And, again contrary to prevailing wisdom, their view is not naive and parochial: it is corroborated by the European experience. By rights, it should be Europe that is immersed in this debate, but its leaders are so steeped in the sacred texts of social democracy that they cannot admit the force of the contradictions which they are now hopelessly trying to evade.

Facts are a stubborn thing.  They have a tendency to destroy beliefs and perceptions.  The belief and perception of the "premise" that a capitalist system could forever support an expanding social welfare state is in the throes of being dashed upon the rocks of economic reality.  That's a harsh thing to see if it is your belief.  And we all know the various stages of grief.   Right now, the true believers are in the "denial" stage.  The only one's dealing in reality are the Tea Partiers.  Like the canary in the coal mine, they've alerted us to a mortal danger that has been acted out in Europe and is now collapsing from within.  They've accurately pointed to our problem and how it will lead to the very same conclusion.  They're demanding we stop pursuing that reckless and doomed "ideal" and return to our fundamental governing ideals – limited government, less costly government, less intrusive government.

And, of course, the true believers in the social welfare state, those who've gotten us into this mess and want to deny the problem and continue the pursuit of their destructive ideal are resisting with every fiber of their being and ironically, calling the Tea Partiers the radicals.

Also collapsing before our eyes is the lodestone of the Christian Socialist doctrine that has underpinned the EU's political philosophy: the idea that a capitalist economy can support an ever-expanding socialist welfare state.
Phenomenally, while the problem becomes more and more undeniable, the solutions being considered are precisely the opposite of what is needed.

As the EU leadership is (almost) admitting now, the next step to ensure the survival of the world as we know it will involve moving toward a command economy, in which individual countries and their electorates will lose significant degrees of freedom and self-determination.

That's right – those who, through the years, have managed to put us in this situation now think they need more control, intrusion and command, not less.  Those who've managed, through their policies and ideology, to wreck the best economies on earth, want more power.  They won't let go of the belief, despite the reality.  Take for example the Democrats almost single focus on higher taxes.   They still believe they can have their cake (or your cake actually) and eat it too.

We have arrived at the endgame of what was an untenable doctrine: to pay for the kind of entitlements that populations have been led to expect by their politicians, the wealth-creating sector has to be taxed to a degree that makes it almost impossible for it to create the wealth that is needed to pay for the entitlements that populations have been led to expect, etc, etc.

The only way that state benefit programmes could be extended in the ways that are forecast for Europe's ageing population would be by government seizing all the levers of the economy and producing as much (externally) worthless currency as was needed – in the manner of the old Soviet Union.

That is the problem. So profound is its challenge to the received wisdom of postwar Western democratic life that it is unutterable in the EU circles in which the crucial decisions are being made – or rather, not being made.

Daley speaks of the EU, but listen carefully to the left and the Democrats in this country.   They're offering exactly the same "solutions" and this administration is attempting that solution by executive fiat through regulation.   Look at the health care grab as well.  We're headed down exactly the same road Europe has traveled and the left in this country is telling everyone to ignore the road signs telling us so.

The Tea Party has figured that out as have many on the right.  But the left wants to go right on pretending it isn't so:

We have been pretending – with ever more manic protestations – that this could go on for ever. Even when it became clear that European state pensions (and the US social security system) were gigantic Ponzi schemes in which the present beneficiaries were spending the money of the current generation of contributors, and that health provision was creating impossible demands on tax revenue, and that benefit dependency was becoming a substitute for wealth-creating employment, the lesson would not be learnt. We have been living on tick and wishful thinking.

Couldn't agree more.  We 'radicals' who've been saying this for years have been proven to be factually correct.  It is an inconvenient truth the left doesn't want to either accept or admit.   So the still hold on to the belief that if they could only make the 'rich' pay their fair share, they'd find utopia still achievable.  Reality, however, in the guise of the European experiment now imploding, already provides proof their theory has no basis in truth.

So what is the solution?  Well in the short term Daley prescribes some bitter but necessary medicine:

So what are the most important truths we should be addressing if we are to avert – or survive – the looming catastrophe? Raising retirement ages across Europe (not just in Greece) is imperative, as is raising thresholds for out-of-work benefit entitlements.
Lowering the tax burden for both wealth-creators and consumers is essential. In Britain, finding private sources of revenue for health care is a matter of urgency.

More importantly though:

The hardest obstacle to overcome will be the idea that anyone who challenges the prevailing consensus of the past 50 years is irrational and irresponsible. That is what is being said about the Tea Partiers. In fact, what is irrational and irresponsible is the assumption that we can go on as we are.

Dead on. Fundamental change.  Backing government out of our lives.  And we're dead meat if we don't heed and act on the fact that the social welfare state is a zombie (but doesn't yet know it) and we need to finally and irrevocably kill it, never let it rise again, and return to the ways which made us great and are enshrined in our founding documents.

I couldn't have said it better myself...

http://www.qando.net/?p=11280

2011-2020: Decade of U.S. Economic Hell, By Paul Farrell

Warning, in short, that we're headed into a perfect storm rivaling the disastrous political insanity of the 1930s that prolonged the depression, driving the economy into far reaching global problems that added fuel to an irrational zeitgeist and world war.

2011-2020: Decade of U.S. Economic Hell, By Paul Farrell

http://carolynbaker.net/2011/08/08/2011-2020-decade-of-u-s-economic-hell-by-paul-farrell/

More violence in British capital after riots

LONDON (Reuters) - Groups of youths attacked shops and damaged a police car in north London on Sunday as police sent in reinforcements to prevent more rioting on the scale that laid waste to another area of the British capital 24 hours earlier.

http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/topNews/~3/UHhAQ6ZSvUE/us-britain-riot-idUSTRE7760G820110808

Debt issuers brace for impact from downgrade

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A downgrade of United States' top-tier credit rating has Wall Street scrambling to figure out the knock-on effects for the financial system, from mortgages to banks to markets that rely on U.S. Treasuries for collateral.

http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/topNews/~3/adioFnsIjKI/us-usa-ratings-financialsystem-idUSTRE7762W720110808

Increased Debt Ceiling Fails to Abate Continued Decline, Eventual Collapse

The latest Patriot Post Digest reports:

Congress passed and the president signed the increase in the debt ceiling Tuesday, and that, as Leftmedia outlets rejoiced, ended the "crisis" just hours before the default deadline. On the other hand, the Left is grousing that the Tea Party got everything it wanted. But did the deal really end the crisis? Hardly. World markets plummeted in its wake -- the Dow fell 512 points Thursday, erasing all gains from 2011, evoking this response from the White House: "Markets go up and down." Furthermore, credit rating agencies continued to warn of a looming downgrade of the nation's AAA rating. And did the Tea Party come out with everything it wanted? Not a chance. On the contrary, the ship is still sinking. The Tea Party and the markets know that, despite all the back-patting in Washington.

Those responsible for our continued (and hastened) financial decline are still slinging muck at each other instead of working on practical solutions. Our debt, rather than our economy, has been given a significant increase, having a massive negative result on the Dow. Has anyone else's 401k taken another dive yet?

The $2.4 trillion debt ceiling increase is the biggest ever. In fact, total U.S. debt didn't reach $2.4 trillion until 1987. Immediately on Tuesday, the Treasury borrowed another $239 billion -- the largest one-day debt binge in history -- bringing total federal debt to $14.532 trillion, or just over 100 percent of our gross domestic product. Debt has not exceeded GDP since 1947 -- immediately after World War II -- and 30 years ago it was just 32.5 percent of GDP. Could there be a connection between the market collapse and this debt "milestone"?

Democrats foisted upon the nation the biggest Keynesian spending bonanza in history, and the result has been almost no GDP growth, headline unemployment exceeding 9 percent (despite 117,000 new jobs in July), decreased consumer spending, inflation, debt as far as our great-grandchildren can see and a possible national credit rating downgrade.

On Aug. 3, 2010, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner penned an op-ed for The New York Times titled "Welcome to the Recovery." That rings awfully hollow now. In fact, many think that we're headed for a double-dip recession.

Welcome to the beginning of the end is more appropriate.

As for debt "deal" specifics, the House passed the increase 269-161, despite opposition from many Democrats and Tea Party Republicans. The Senate followed suit 74-26. Congress then quickly left for August recess. Barack Obama also signed the increase Tuesday saying the deal was "an important first step for ensuring that, as a nation, we live within our means." He even said it with a straight face.

On the contrary, "living within our means" doesn't actually seem to be part of the plan. The debt ceiling was immediately increased by $400 billion. By the end of September, another $500 billion increase is subject to a congressional vote of "disapproval," and Obama can veto that measure. After that, a "blue ribbon" joint committee of Congress (six members from each chamber, divided equally between Democrats and Republicans) will meet to recommend another $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by Nov. 23, which Congress must take up by Dec. 23, in exchange for that much more in debt. If the committee or Congress fails, which is possible, if not probable, the debt ceiling will increase by $1.2 trillion anyway, with across-the-board cuts -- including to ObamaCare -- equal to that amount kicking in automatically.

Adding insult to injury, every spending cut is over 10 years, while every debt increase is immediate. So even with the deal, the forecast for the next decade is still trillions more in debt. As Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who voted against the bill, put it, "It eliminates no program, consolidates no duplicative programs, cuts no tax earmarks and reforms no entitlement program. The specter of default or a credit downgrade will still hang over our economy after this deal becomes law." Is that what the Tea Party wanted?

"The White House doesn't create jobs." --White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

This Keen-Sense-of-the-Obvious moment is quite a change from all the administration's claims of millions of jobs "saved or created" via the "stimulus."

Obama takes credit when the administration helps to spur the economy, but fails to accept responsibility when it's actions do more damage than good when we can't afford to have any more massive mistakes in government action.

In perhaps the only heart-warming aspect of the debt-ceiling debacle, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) returned to Congress to cast her vote for the first time since being shot in the head in Tucson in January. Her recovery has been incredible, and we wish her well.

Her return, however, provided a striking picture of the hypocrisy of the Left. When she was shot, leftists couldn't say enough to blame so called "right-wing hate speech" for the shooting. Now, it's leftists who are employing "destroy," "hostage," "terrorist" and even "gun-to-the-head" metaphors to describe the Republican approach to the debt ceiling.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that, for Republicans, "It isn't about reducing the deficit, it is about destroying the public space. It is about destroying ... federal involvement in education. It's about clean air, clean water, food safety, public safety. You name it, they're there to diminish it. Destroy it." (New Democrat bumper sticker: "Republicans Hate Clean Water -- Vote Democrat".)

Giffords, we should mention, voted "yes" on the debt increase.

I guess being shot in the head didn't give her a new found sense of perspective.

More

AE Newsflash: ERCOT declares Emergency Level 2 - High Risk of Rotating Outages

This email is being circulated around many companies in Texas today regarding the potential of rolling power outages to reduce stress on the electrical grid. When my office insists on keeping the AC running in what feels like the high 60's, I don't have much sympathy for those surprised by these outages. Everyone needs to decrease their load on the grid by increasing their home thermostat settings a bit. If not, we all end up getting hot under the collar.

Level 2 - High Risk of Rotating Outages

  

All Austin Energy Customers,
3:00pm on August 4th Austin Energy Notification to Customers from ERCOT
Power Warning - Conservation Critical
High risk of rotating outages; Consumers asked to conserve electricity from 3-7 pm today.
ERCOT has initiated Level 2 Emergency.  Austin Energy is asking all customers to please reduce your electricity use today during peak hours of 3:00p to 7:00pm.  Please make sure your employees also receive this message. We are asking everyone to conserve as much energy as they can from now until 7pm tonight.

We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as we receive them from ERCOT.

Thanks in advance for your help.

-----------------------------------------
  NEWS RELEASE: Electric Reliability Council of Texas
Power Warning - Conservation Critical
High risk of rotating outages; Consumers asked to conserve electricity from 3-7 pm
Austin, Aug.4, 2011 -- Consumers and businesses are asked to reduce their electricity use during peak electricity hours from 3 to 7 p.m. today to avert the need for rotating outages.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT), system operator for the state’s bulk transmission grid, initiated Energy Emergency Alert Level 2 at 2:26 p.m. today due to responsive reserves below 1,750 megawatts (MW).

“Interruptible loads – large customers paid to be dropped in a level 2 emergency have been deployed,” said Kent Saathoff, vice president of system planning and operations.

“Capacity is expected to be very tight over the peak today – particularly between 4 and 5 p.m.  We are asking consumers and businesses to reduce their electricity use as much as they are able during peak electricity hours from 3 to 7 p.m.,” Saathoff said.

Consumers can help by shutting off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances, minimizing the use of air conditioning and delaying laundry and other activities requiring electricity-consuming appliances until later in the evening.

Power Warnings are issued by the electric grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), when there is a high risk that rotating outages will be needed to reduce load.

The emergency procedures are a progressive series of steps that allow ERCOT to bring on uncommitted generation and power from other grids.  If the situation does not improve, ERCOT will first drop load resources (a market-based demand response program) and other resources under contract to be interrupted during an emergency.  Only as a last resort (Power Emergency) to avoid the risk of a complete blackout does ERCOT ask utilities to reduce demand by dropping load through rotating outages.

Rotating outages <http://www.ercot.com/content/news/presentations/2011/Rotating%20Outages%20--%20FAQs.pdf>  are controlled, temporary interruptions of electrical service initiated by each utility when supplies of reserve power are exhausted. Without this safety valve, generators would overload and begin shutting down to avoid damage, risking a domino effect of a region-wide outage.

The outages are typically limited to 15-45 minutes before being rotated to a different neighborhood.  Some customers may experience longer outages if power surges cause equipment failure during the restoration process.  Customers can minimize power surges by turning off appliances, lights and other equipment, except for one task light to determine when power has been restored.

Consumers should contact the utility company/ transmission provider listed on their electric bill for information about power outages at their homes or business, or about rotating outage procedures for their area.
Energy Emergency Alert Communications  <http://www.ercot.com/content/news/presentations/2011/Energy%20Emergency%20Alert%20Communications%20Matrix.pdf>
Conservation Tips
Consumers can help by shutting off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances between 3 and 7 p.m., and delaying laundry and other activities requiring electricity-consuming appliances until later in the evening. Other conservation tips from the Public Utility Commission’s “Powerful Advice” <http://www.puc.state.tx.us/agency/conserve/Conserve.aspx>   include:

• Turn off all unnecessary lights, appliances, and electronic equipment.
  
• When at home, close blinds and drapes that get direct sun, set air conditioning thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, and use fans in occupied rooms to feel cooler.
  
• When away from home, set air conditioning thermostats to 85 degrees and turn all fans off before you leave. Block the sun by closing blinds or drapes on windows that will get direct sun.
  
• Do not use your dishwasher, laundry equipment, hair dryers, coffee makers, or other home appliances during the peak hours of 3 to 7 p.m.
  
• Avoid opening refrigerators or freezers more than necessary.
  
• Use microwaves for cooking instead of an electric range or oven.
  
• Set your pool pump to run in the early morning or evening instead of the afternoon.
  

Businesses should minimize the use of electric lighting and electricity-consuming equipment as much as possible.  Large consumers of electricity should consider shutting down or reducing non-essential production processes. How to Track Electricity Demand

• View daily peak demand forecast and current load at  http://www.ercot.com/
  
• View daily peak demands by the hour at this link <http://www.ercot.com/content/cdr/html/actual_loads_of_weather_zones>
  
• Get real-time notices of energy emergency alerts by following ERCOT on Twitter <http://twitter.com/#!/ercot_iso>