Good News About America

Last week, initial unemployment claims fell by the largest number in two months, about 19,000. The number of new jobless claims was a seasonally adjusted 457k, slightly below expectations of 460k. New claims peaked at 651k in March of last year, but many economists believe they need to fall to 425k to signal sustained job growth.

Yesterday, the Commerce Department released official figures on Q1 2010; the GDP grew at an annual rate of 2.7%, normally considered a healthy rate but much slower than the 5.6% growth experienced in Q4 2009.

Overcoming near-unanimous Republican opposition, the House yesterday passed the Disclose Act, which requires corporations and unions to disclose contributions, bans political donations from corporations with government contracts exceeding $10 million, and prohibits foreign corporations from contributing to political campaigns.

The bill unfortunately contains an exception, included under pressure from the NRA, for organizations that have over 1 million members, have been in existence for at least a decade, and receive less than 15 percent of their funding from corporations. However, it’s still a blow for transparency in government, helping to undo some of the damage caused by the supreme court’s faulty ruling in Citizens United.

I’ll be fist in line to defend anybody’s right to free speech, regardless of whether or not I agree with it; indeed, I would argue that one of the things that makes this country great is its tolerance for unpopular speech. But I was very glad to hear that President Obama accepted General McChrystal’s resignation, because it’s important for the effectiveness of our military.

Our government is specifically set up so that the military is always subservient to civilian authorities; the president being commander in chief of the armed forces is one of the ways we avoid the possibility of a military coup. Military leaders SHOULD be encouraged to voice their disagreements concerning military policy IN PRIVATE, and if they feel they can’t in good conscience carry out their orders, then resigning is an honorable response. For an active duty officer to be attacking his commander-in-chief, though, is completely unacceptable, and to allow McChrystal to remain in his position after undermining the chain of command would pose an unacceptable risk to the country.

This isn’t the first time the general has undermined the president’s authority. It’s time for him to go.

I happen to be the proud owner of a first generation Kindle. I find that I can read for hours without my eyes getting tired, longer than with a real book and much longer than reading off a screen. With the advent of the iPad, many people have been wondering if e-readers are dead; the iPad, with its backlit screen, is infinitely inferior to a dedicated e-reader for reading, but better at everything else.

Now, e-readers are firing back: Borders just introduced their Kobo, which prodded Barnes & Noble to drop the price of the Nook and Amazon to drop the price of the Kindle 2.

Why is this good news? The Kindle’s new $189 price point puts it less than $40 above the estimated $150 sweet spot where e-readers should really take off. And I see more people reading more books as a good thing.

One issue with e-reader usability is that so far the screens are black and white only, which makes using certain books difficult; color screens are under development but are not expected to be released in the near future.

I’ve been avoiding writing much on the oil spill lately; while there’s been news, it mostly boils down to “wait and see if the latest thing works”. So what’s been happening?

Long story short, BP is now collecting over 20,000 barrels of oil per day from the well, which is leaking at a rate of between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day. By late June or early July, another ship is expected to be hooked up to the well, giving BP the capacity to collect over 50,000 barrels per day. The first relief well is expected to be completed the second week of August; the relief wells will be used to pump cement into the leaking well, hopefully ending the leak.

BP is expected to try to raise $50 billion to cover the full costs of the oil spill: $10 billion from a bond sale, $20 billion from a loan, and $20 billion from asset sales over the next two years. The company has been moving quickly over fears that their ratings could be downgraded further, making it more expensive to borrow money; BP partner Anadarko Petroleum Corp has already had its long-term debt rating cut to junk status, and BP’s rating was downgraded on Thursday for the second time this month.

In Florida, Gov. Christ visited Osprey Biotechnics, which makes an oil-eating bacteria, and is expected to to mention the product to President Obama in their weekly conference call. Osprey calculates that a 55-gallon drum of their bacteria, called Munox, could treat 36.5 square miles of water in the Gulf. Munox, which was developed in 1985 and has been used to clean up contaminated soil and groundwater, leaves behind carbon dioxide and water. One concern is how the compound would affect sea life.

To sum it up: the oil is still leaking, but more of it is being captured, the percentage of oil being captured is expected to continue to increase, the well will hopefully be sealed in the next couple of months, and there is a possibility of being able to clean up a lot of the oil that’s already leaked. Here’s hoping it all works out..

You probably know about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which works to improve health and education around the globe, and how Warren Buffett has pledged the majority of his fortune to the foundation.

Now, Gates and Buffett are challenging other American billionaires to give at least half of their wealth to charity, either during their lifetimes or at the time of their death. They’re asking each individual or couple who makes the pledge to do so publicly, with a letter explaining their decision.

So far four wealthy couples have announced their pledges. More details are available at the Giving Pledge website; in particular, I recommend Warren Buffett’s letter.

The big news from today’s match will be how the last-second goal was disallowed, costing the US a win in the World Cup.

On the other hand, we started out  down two points, so it was a nice comeback, and we still have a shot at winning the tournament (or at least making it to the second round).

The simulated odds at fivethirtyeight.com, last updated just a few hours ago, currently have the US with a 59.1% chance of advancing to round two.

Over the last few weeks in the Washington DC area, 14 people got new kidneys in the largest donor swap so far.

In these swaps, one person has a willing donor but the blood types and compatibility factors don’t match, so they  coordinate with another pair in the same position; in this case you have a group of 14 patients who each got a kidney from whichever donor is the best match.

CBS News has the details.

As I’ve probably mentioned before, I intend to keep this blog nonpartisan; however, an incident today just happens to provide a perfect example of something I wanted to discuss.

During Tony Hayward’s testimony before Congress today,  Rep Joe Barton (R-Texas)^[1] apologized to the BP CEO, calling the $20 bailout fund set up to pay for BP’s mistake a shakedown^[2] and a tragedy.

Now, why would he make a statement like that? Could it possibly have something to do with the fact that his largest campaign contributor is Anadarko Petroleum, which owns 25% of the Deepwater Horizon well and has been asked by BP to pay their share of the damages?

Why does this qualify as good news? On its own, it doesn’t; on the contrary, it’s just another corrupt politician. Where I see something positive lies in the fact that  today’s databases and reporting requirements allow journalists to quickly uncover things like this; a more informed electorate should eventually lead to better, cleaner government.

Ever gone over your limit or missed a payment on your credit card? If so, you’re probably still paying for it; you likely got hit with a $39 fee and a higher interest rate…pretty expansive for miscalculating by a day or a dollar! This week, the Federal Research released new rules aimed at protecting credit card customers.  Under the new rules:

• The maximum penalty for a first offense is $25
• Fees cannot exceed the dollar amount associated with the violation – being late on a $20 payment, for example, cannot result in a fee over $20
• The same activity cannot trigger multiple fees
• Customers cannot be charged for not using their cards

Card issuers who have raised rates since January of last year, ahead of the new regulations that Congress passed going into effect, are also required to evaluate whether the reasons for the increase changed and reduce APRs if appropriate.

With millions of Americans attempting to pay down their credit cards but getting clobbered by fees and dirty tricks, it’s nice to see sensible regulations that protect the customer.