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Intolerance and arrogance cost Democrats Virginia and New Jersey - - Morici
Professor Peter Morici of the University of Maryland commented Wednesday:"Last August, I wrote that on marquee issues—health care reform, cap and trade and the recession—the Democrats are unwilling to listen to the legitimate concerns of center-leaning voters and business leaders who made possible their victories in 2008, and arrogance will destroy their grip on power.
Now it has happened in Virginia and New Jersey.
Americans have grown weary of Nancy Pelosi’s left leaning colleagues forcing on the majority of Americans a minority solution on health care—the Public Option as a Trojan Horse for a single payer system. President Obama promising not to raise taxes on the middle class but forcing health care reforms that will raise the cost of health insurance by one or two thousand dollars a year for the typical middle class family.
Polemical math to justify a $759 billion stimulus package that is not delivering private sector jobs as promised, abuse of the TARP to nationalize General Motors and subsidize big bonuses at Goldman Sachs instead of fixing the banks, and Cap and Trade that will send what good paying jobs are left in America, outside of Wall Street, Hollywood and the Washington, to China.
Virginia was no surprise—the Democrats have not done much there but raise taxes, increase red tape at the Motor Vehicle Bureau and fail to solve the transportation problems they were sent to Richmond to fix. It is a conservative state by nature.
But New Jersey!
Barack and Nancy, Wake Up!
Democrats are not supposed to lose in New Jersey if things are going well for Democrats
Times are not good for Democratic candidates, because Obama and Pelosi's policies work against the interests and deny the sensibilities of most Americans.
Mr. Obama and Ms Pelosi may believe 1970s French socialism is good for America but Americans simply do not."
Republicans won the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia. CNBC's John Harwood has the details:
Fears of a new bubble rise
The Wall Street Journal reports today that concerns are mounting that efforts by governments and central banks to stoke a recovery will create a nasty side effect: asset bubbles in real-estate, stock and currency markets, especially in Asia.
The World Bank warned Tuesday that the sudden reappearance of billions of dollars in investment capital in East Asia is "raising concerns about asset price bubbles" in equity markets across Asia and in real estate in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam. Also Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund cited "a risk" that surging Hong Kong asset prices are being driven by a flood of capital "divorced from fundamental forces of supply and demand."
Behind the trend are measures such as cutting interest rates and pumping money into the financial system, which have left parts of the world awash in cash and at risk of bubbles, or run-ups in asset prices beyond what economic fundamentals suggest are reasonable.
“We said going into 2009 that it would be a challenging year from a consumer point of view, and we believe the same will be the case for 2010,” Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen, CEO of Carlsberg told CNBC Wednesday. Carlsberg is “prepared for challenging conditions,” he said, adding that "if the world turns out to be nicer, I’m sure we can handle that too.”
US markets
In New York Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 17.53 points, or 0.2%, to 9771.91
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.4% and the S&P 500 gained 0.2%.
Asia
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.9% Wednesday and is up 63% from a more than five-year low on March 9th.
The Nikkei 225 rose 0.42% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.19%.
Davy's Scott Rankin comments: Large correction in banks' equity not linked to any change in view on sovereign - "The huge correction we have seen in the equity values of Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland recently has seen the two stocks move back to levels last seen in July. In the process, the stocks have been the worst performers among our basket of "higher beta" banks in Europe. On a year-to-date basis, if one looks at the chart the move has also taken the two stocks back into the pack.
Unlike earlier in the year, this weakness has not been associated with heightened fears about the Irish sovereign. If one looks at the ten-year spread against Germany, it has remained stable in recent days at around the 140bps mark. The CDS has edged slightly higher since late October, but these muted movements would suggest that the equity correction in the past couple of weeks is not linked to Irish economic or budgetary concerns.
Rather, it is principally due to the interplay between delayed recaps (which heighten execution risk in this market) and a poor technical situation. Concerns about EC restructuring requirements is also in the background, although we find it hard to see how any possible measures to level the competitive playing field in Ireland could be put into effect."
Goodbody economist Deirdre Ryan comments: Economic View; €2bn tax shortfall still likely but labour market backdrop continues to stabilise - - "With Budget 2010 fast approaching, yesterday’s release of October Exchequer Returns further underlined the significant challenges facing the public finances. The weakening trend in tax revenues continued last month with the overall tax take now running behind government expectations by €1.1bn (or 4%) for the first ten months of the year. However, with November to be the critical month in determining the overall full year outturn, there are some takeaways from yesterday’s numbers that will have a large bearing on next month’s tax take. Firstly, the trends in relation to income tax have continued to worsen, with revenues down 10% in the year to October.
Income tax receipts were €146m (or 10%) behind profile in October, and accounted for the entire monthly shortfall. This does not auger well for November’s income tax returns given that a quarter of the full year income tax take is collected in the months of October and November combined. Secondly, the continued weakening trend in this revenue stream would indicate that wage cuts are certainly featuring across the economy. The decline in employment has been in line with Dept of Finance expectations, while income tax revenues are behind profile to the tune of €600m (-6%) for the first 10 months. This suggests the variance in income tax returns is pay-related.
Furthermore, the Finance Minister yesterday indicated that 50% of earners now fall outside the tax net, while the proportion of earners paying tax at the higher rate has dropped to just 10%, relative to a 21% expectation last October. Nevertheless, the labour market has stabilised of late and the release of the Live Register this morning is set to show a slight fall in unemployment was recorded in October according to press reports this morning. November is a critical month also for corporation tax receipts. However, the alteration of payment dates (in the April Budget) has resulted in a frontloading of corporation tax payments to earlier months. For the first 10 months corporation tax receipts are up 10% yoy and are €255m ahead of profile. A normalisation of this trend in the final two months is likely. A weak set of returns for August prompted the Dept of Finance to downwardly revise its full year revenue estimate to €32bn (€34.4 previously) and following yesterday’s release the Finance Minister reaffirmed this revised target. This is in line with our own estimates, and would put the budget deficit at 12% of GDP for the year."
