US Consumer Spending Unexpectedly Dips; Zero for 79

Mike Shedlock  / Townhall Finance

Mainstream media headlines in the last two days offer an amusing look at GDP forecasts.

GDP Stronger Than Expected

Yesterday, the Financial Times reported US Rebound Stronger than First Thought.

The US economy’s second quarter bounce was stronger than previously thought, with the official annualised growth estimate increased from 4 per cent to 4.2 per cent.

The revision is more evidence of robust underlying growth in the world’s biggest economy as it swung back from a weather affected 2.1 per cent fall in the first quarter.

"Economic Pilot in Reverse"

Today, the Wall Street Journal reported U.S. Consumer Spending Declines 0.1% in July.

Consumer spending fell in July and income growth was weak, signs that cautious consumers could restrain economic growth in the second half of the year.

Personal spending, which measures what Americans pay for everything from sneakers to doctor visits, declined a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in July from a month earlier, the Commerce Department said Friday. It was the first time spending fell in a month since January.

Personal income, reflecting income from wages, investment, and government aid, rose 0.2% in July—the smallest monthly increase of the year.

"Looks like the pilot threw the economy's engines into reverse at the start of the third quarter," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. Forecasts that the economy would grow at a strong 3% clip in the third quarter "look increasingly unrealistic if consumers don't return to the shops and malls."

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted personal spending would increase 0.1% and incomes would rise 0.3% in July.

Barclays lowered its forecast for third-quarter growth by a half-percentage point to a 2.2% pace. Goldman Sachs economists lowered their estimate to a 3.1% annual rate from a 3.3% pace.

Obama’s 5 Worst Foreign Policy Decisions

John Hawkins / Townhall Columnist

 

Since Barack Obama has been the Hindenburg of Presidents on the domestic front, there hasn't been as much commentary as you'd expect about the fact that he has been the Titanic of Presidents on foreign policy. 

 

George W. Bush certainly made his mistakes as President, primarily in Iraq, but you did at least get the sense that his administration was full of capable, serious adults sincerely grappling with a new strategic problem for the country. On the other hand, when it comes to foreign policy, Obama comes across like a bored kid playing war because his mother won't let him come inside and play with his Xbox.

He doesn't care very much, he's not prepared, and he doesn't spend a lot of time thinking things through. It's like Obama just ponders the issues in-between shots on the golf course, formulates his policy by shooting from the hip, then gives a speech about it and thinks his work is done.

We may have laughed at the incompetence of the Obama Administration when it gave a "reset" button to the Russians that actually said "overcharge" or when the POTUS bowed to a foreign leader like he was his butler instead of the President of the United States, but there are real consequences to Obama's buffoonery on the world stage.

5) Benghazi: Congress is still investigating Benghazi, but best case scenario, the Obama Administration got Americans killed in Libya by ignoring their repeated requests for more security in a dangerous part of the world. Worst case scenario, the Obama Administration got them killed, deliberately misled the public about what happened for political purposes, and did nothing when it could have conceivably acted and saved their lives. When all the investigations are completed, we'll have a clearer picture of what happened, but at a minimum, good people are dead because the Obama Administration didn't take basic precautions to save their lives.

4) Libya: Gaddafi was an evil dictator with American blood on his hands, but he had also been scared straight by Bush’s invasion of Iraq and was cooperating with the United States. So naturally, Obama signaled the world that it was dumb to work with us by helping radical Islamists defeat Gaddafi. Today, Libya has implemented Sharia law, is a hotbed of terrorism and is descending into civil war. Meanwhile, many of Obama’s supporters still consider that country to be a “success story.” Maybe it is compared to say, Obamacare -- but like most of Obama’s presidency, we’d have all been better off if he’d just done nothing and let Gaddafi crush the radical Islamists.

3) Obama's Iranian Nuclear Deal: After a lot of grumbling that Obama wasn't doing anything to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons, Obama swung into action and made the situation even worse. He signed a deal with Iran that will allow it to rake in somewhere between 7 and 20 billion dollars in sanctions relief and frozen assets even as it CONTINUES to work on enriching uranium. In other words, the Iranians get billions of dollars, give up nothing of consequence and when anyone complains, Obama claims the problem is solved because we have a "deal" in place stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Given how bad a negotiator Obama is, I guess we should feel lucky that he didn't just give Iran a nuclear bomb in return for promises that it will never use it.

2) The Bowe Bergdahl swap: There's a reason that it is our nation's policy not to negotiate with terrorists. If you reward terrorists for their terrorism, it encourages more of the same. So, when Barack Obama broke the law to release five Taliban generals in return for deserter Bowe Bergdahl, he served notice to every terrorist on the planet that kidnapping Americans could pay big dividends. So it’s not exactly shocking that ISIS is promising to murder a captured relief worker if the U.S. doesn’t pay it millions and release Aafia Siddiqui AKA “Lady al-Qaeda.” After the Bergdahl deal, why wouldn’t ISIS expect that to work? Why wouldn’t Al-Qaeda start trying to capture our troops to trade for terrorists in Gitmo? How many of our soldiers will end up being kidnapped and held because of this swap? How many Americans will die when those Taliban generals inevitably go back to the fight? The Bergdahl swap was illegal, short-sighted, and stupid. In other words, it was VERY OBAMA.

1) Iraq/Isis: Despite being told over and over again that it was a terrible idea to set up a timeline in Iraq and pull out of the country for political reasons without getting a Status of Forces Agreement, Obama did it anyway. Then he bragged that "We’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq."
 
Not so much.

That’s because ISIS sprang up in Syria as one of the groups fighting anti-American dictator Bashar al-Assad. After Assad rather famously crossed Obama’s imaginary “red line” by using chemical weapons against the rebels trying to overthrow him, Obama wanted to aid them, even though there was every indication that radicals were taking over the movement. Had the public outcry not stopped him, it’s entirely possible Obama would have accidentally ended up helping ISIS take over Syria.

After ISIS gathered strength, it moved into Iraq where it outfought an Iraqi army that outnumbered it 15-to-1. If only those troops had more American training and a minimal amount of American air support, they would have crushed ISIS like a steamroller running over a watermelon with no U.S. casualties. Instead, there’s now an Islamic State stretching from Syria to Iraq run by maniacs who are committing genocide against Christians, taking sex slaves, and promising terrorist attacks against the United States.

What’s Obama’s plan to handle this disaster his policies created? Earlier this week, he said, “We don’t have a strategy yet. We need to make sure that we’ve got clear plans. As our strategy develops, we will consult with Congress.”

Wow. Just wow.

Newsmax

Obama at Fundraiser: 'The World's Always Been Messy'

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President Barack Obama told a group of Democratic donors today that despite turmoil in Ukraine and Iraq the U.S. faces less of a threat than it did during the Cold War.

In remarks to about 250 supporters who paid as much as $15,000 per couple to attend a backyard barbecue in Purchase, New York, Obama today said the brutality of Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and Russia’s incursion into Ukraine, has made Americans anxious about turmoil overseas.

The U.S. has confronted greater dangers and overcame them, including the stand-off with the former Soviet Union following World War II, he said.

“This is not something that’s comparable to the challenges we faced in the Cold War,” Obama said. “This is something we can handle.”

Obama has moved cautiously in confronting Russia’s support for separatists in Ukraine and the Islamic State extremists who have captured swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. On Aug. 8, Obama authorized airstrikes against the militants in Iraq while ordering surveillance flights over Syria.

Yesterday he again ruled out military action in Ukraine, saying a military solution won’t sort out the conflict there with Russia.

“The world has always been messy,” Obama said. “We will get through these challenging times just like we have in the past.”

Three Fundraisers

The event in Purchase was one of three fundraisers Obama was attending today. It was held at the estate of former UBS Americas chief executive officer and longtime supporter Robert Wolf and his wife, Carol Wolf, coordinator for special projects at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Earlier, in New Rochelle, New York, the president met with 25 supporters donating up to $32,400 at a fundraiser hosted by George Logothetis, chief executive officer of New York-based Libra Group, and his wife, Nitzia Logothetis.

Both events were to benefit the Democratic National Committee. The third event, in Newport, Rhode Island, is a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Obama, who was originally scheduled to spend the night in New York, plans to return to Washington tonight. He is still set to return to Westchester, New York, tomorrow to attend the wedding of the first family’s personal chef, Sam Kass, who is marrying MSNBC host Alex Wagner.

Imminent Terrorist Attack Warning By Feds on US Border

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

The FBI’s 2013 National Threat Assessment for Domestic Extremism, first flagged by the Washington Free Beacon, is already facing criticism following its August 13, 2014, release. Critics are pointing to the Boston Marathon bombing and the 2009 Fort Hood shooting as recent examples of acts of domestic terrorism carried out by Muslims.

“Imminent Terrorist Attack Warning By Feds on US Border,” Judicial Watch
Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle born improvised explosive devices (VBIED). High-level federal law enforcement, intelligence and other sources have confirmed to Judicial Watch that a warning bulletin for an imminent terrorist attack on the border has been issued. Agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies have all been placed on alert and instructed to aggressively work all possible leads and sources concerning this imminent terrorist threat.

     

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FBI National Domestic Threat Assessment omits Islamic terrorism

Robert Spencer / Jihad Watch

 

According to the FBI, there are “eight types of domestic extremist movements—none motivated by radical Islam. They include anti-government militia groups and white supremacy extremists, along with ‘sovereign citizen’ nationalists, and anarchists. Other domestic threat groups outlined by the FBI assessment include violent animal rights and environmentalist extremists, black separatists, anti- and pro-abortion activists, and Puerto Rican nationalists.” Jihad? What’s that? Oh, the interior spiritual struggle for self-improvement? What does that have to do with terrorism?

This is the willful ignorance that, as I show in my book Arab Winter Comes to America, led directly to the Fort Hood and Boston Marathon jihad massacres.

“FBI National Domestic Threat Assessment Omits Islamist Terrorism,” by Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon, August 29, 2014:

The FBI’s most recent national threat assessment for domestic terrorism makes no reference to Islamist terror threats, despite last year’s Boston Marathon bombing and the 2009 Fort Hood shooting—both carried out by radical Muslim Americans.

Instead, the internal FBI intelligence report concluded in its 2013 assessment published this month that the threat to U.S. internal security from extremists is limited to attacks and activities by eight types of domestic extremist movements—none motivated by radical Islam.

They include anti-government militia groups and white supremacy extremists, along with “sovereign citizen” nationalists, and anarchists. Other domestic threat groups outlined by the FBI assessment include violent animal rights and environmentalist extremists, black separatists, anti- and pro-abortion activists, and Puerto Rican nationalists.

“Domestic extremist violence continues to be unpredictable and, at times, severe,” the report states.

A copy of the unclassified, 60-page National Threat Assessment for Domestic Extremism, dated Aug. 14, was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. It warns that the threat of domestic-origin extremism was moderate in 2013 and will remain so for this year.

“Domestic extremists collectively presented a medium-level threat to the United States in 2013; the FBI assesses the 2014 threat will remain close to this level,” the report said….

FBI spokesman Paul Bresson had no immediate comment on the report.

One indirect explanation for the omission of Islamist extremism in the report is provided in a footnote to a graphic describing an “other” category of domestic extremism not included in the report. “The ‘Other’ category includes domestic extremist [sic] whose actions were motivated by beliefs which fall outside the eight designated [domestic terrorism] subprograms,” the footnote stated.

The footnote indicates the FBI has separated Islamist terrorism from other domestic extremism.

The Obama administration in 2009 adopted a new policy that substituted the vague term “violent extremism” as a replacement for terrorism.

The graphic showed that domestic extremists killed 43 people from 2003 to 2013 carried out by five categories of terrorists—abortion extremists, black separatists, sovereign citizens, white supremacists, and “others.”

The report left out all references to the April 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon, which killed three people and injured some 264 others. Two brothers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who were motivated by Islamist extremist beliefs, carried out the bombing. They learned the techniques for the homemade pressure cooker bombers from an al Qaeda linked magazine.

The FBI had been warned in advance of the attack by Russian security services that the brothers may have links to Chechen terrorists but failed to act.

The FBI report also made no direct reference to the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, by radicalized Army Maj. Nidal Hasan. The mass shooting left 13 dead and more than 30 injured.

Is President Obama An Agent For Islamists The Way King Edward VIII Was For The Nazis?

by John Myers / Personal Liberty Digest

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA

“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.” — Barack Obama

“The two people who have caused me the most trouble in my life are Wallis Simpson and Hitler.” — Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

Islam is becoming more extreme with each passing year and with only token impediment from President Barack Obama. I believe the president is either naïve or he is purposely helping Islamic aspirations for global domination.

That there is something wrong at the White House is becoming apparent in the wake of the cancer that can be seen in the growing violence in the Middle East by the Islamic State. The terrorist group also known as ISIS or ISIL is a cancer that is a long-term threat to all of us. It is a cancer whose virility can be diagnosed by the gruesome beheading of American photojournalist James Foley, reportedly by a born and bred Englishman who joined ISIS and is now a wanted traitor.

Still, apologists say this and every other terror attack and broadcast execution have nothing to do with Islam. Rather, such acts are the work of terrorists or — as former President George W. Bush called the 9/11 terrorists — “evildoers.”

News flash: Islam at its marrow is the evildoer. It isn’t because the majority of Muslims are involved in a global jihad. In truth, they are a very small minority. Instead, it’s because more than 90 percent of Muslims refuse to speak out against the barbaric goals of the terrorists in their ranks.

In many ways radical Islam is no different than Nazism of the 1930s. But rather than a single race following the evil edict of Adolf Hitler, evil and radical Islam is driven by millions of Muslims following the teachings of the Quran.

Liberalism brings with it an army of appeasers. In the late 1930s, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and America’s ambassador to Britain, Joseph Kennedy, thought Hitler was a leader they could work with. Certainly, most of the 40 million Germans didn’t want war. When the Nazi leadership pressed it upon them, a small minority protested and many were exterminated.

World War III may have commenced, and the apologists are doing their utmost to deny the fact that radical Islam has its sights set not only on the domination of the Middle East but also on — within the next half century — the world.

In an interview with Mike Huckabee, author Joel Richardson said the number of radical Muslims is as high as 250 million. They are soulless when it comes to murder and mayhem against Western democratic nations. That is a quarter of a billion people spread around the world — some likely living not far from you, some hoping for the death and destruction of “nonbelievers” as is proclaimed in the Quran. This idea that Islam is a peace-loving religion — as expressed by Bush and emphasized by a man I consider to be a Muslim, Obama — puts America in grave jeopardy.

I believe that Islam is as evil and an even greater world threat to free thought than Nazism. Radical Muslims are fighting a guerrilla war in which thousands, and sometimes millions, of Islamic zealots become more radical each year and more willing to take up arms against the very peoples who provide them freedom and comfort.

Two hundred and fifty million Muslims are devoted not to a man and twisted hate and political dogma but to their god, their prophet and even their imam. To go against them and the Quran does not risk jail or even execution but the eternal damnation of hellfire.

Op-ed:
Calculatingly clueless
By: Diane Sori

"ISIS is a JV team."
Barack HUSSEIN Obama's 'expert opinion' of ISIS this past January

On Obama's agenda for today...more fundraisers. Heads are rolling...literally...all over the Middle East and off Obama goes to raise more money for the caliphate... ooops...I mean for the Democratic party. So while David Cameron...the Prime Minister of England...raises his country's terror alert to the highest level...Barack HUSSEIN Obama is hob-nobbing with big money donors, Hollywood liberals with a capital 'L', and muslim sympathizers, all while ISIS continues its march across Iraq...all while ISIS continues its incursion into Jordan.

"I don’t want to put the cart before the horse...We don't have a strategy yet," Obama bloviated during his recent press conference when asked what he plans to do about ISIS. Stumbling for a answer...as he had NO teleprompted script to read from...Obama finally spit those words out, but the truth is that Obama does indeed have a strategy and it's called 'screw America, screw Iraq, and screw Israel'...because for him it's all about the caliphate and always has been.

“We cannot appease this ideology. We have to confront it at home and abroad... We are in the middle of a generational struggle against a poisonous and extremist ideology that I believe we will be fighting for years and probably decades,” David Cameron said when addressing the British people. Words spoken by a man now truly looking like a leader instead of looking like a man who's obviously bored with the job, the people, and the Constitution he swore to uphold and protect.

And David Cameron did NOT just spew words... he took action. First, he's denying muslims who leave Britain the ability to get their visa's back making it so they cannot re-enter the country, and he's also allowing the British people to have their say in any future strategy Britain takes in the...it seems...never ending fight against these barbarians. Meanwhile, our president (I still gag calling him that) informs 'We the People' that he and his administration have NO strategy against ISIS at all.

Well, let me give Obama a strategy that would end the situation with ISIS once and for all..a strategy that's really quite simple...a strategy called 'shock and awe'...as in carpet bomb these barbarians back to the 7th century where they belong...period. NO need for American boots on the ground...NO need for one American life to be lost...just bomb and keep bombing them until they are gone...it really is like I said quite simple. And screw the 'collateral damage' for in this battle we're now in its either them or us...and I sure as hell want the victor to be us NOT them.

But instead of doing the obviously simple, Obama has now given Secretary of Defense Chuck 'muslim supporting' Hagel and the Joint Chiefs of Staff the task of coming up with military options. “We’re gonna cobble together the kind of coalition that we need for a long-term strategy as soon as we are able to fit together the military, political and economic components of that strategy,” Obama said. “There will be a military aspect to that,” he quickly added.

So...let's get this straight...this most miserable excuse of a president now wants... YES wants...more Americans to die instead of bombing the hell out of the enemy. And so the truth once again becomes apparent that we have a president who does NOT side with America...a president who does NOT side with or care about 'We the People' or about those brave men and women who risk their lives to keep us safe and free at home. And we have a president who most assuredly does NOT support or care about men struggling to be free...men who need action now NOT a task force to decide what will be done if anything will be done at all.

Sadly, we have a president...the 'supposed' leader of the free world...who sides with the enemy time and time again for we have a president who is more concerned about muslim lives lost than he is about American lives lost...about allies lost...for the simple truth is that if he cared about anyone or anything besides his muslim brethren Barack HUSSEIN Obama would NOT even be thinking about placing American boots on the ground...he would be bombing ISIS back to bowels of hell from which they came. And he most definitely would NOT be going to fundraisers...nor would he continuously be on the golf course detached from reality...as he purposely does these things while the world moves closer to what the lyrics of an old 60's song called the 'Eve of Destruction.'

And words spoken do indeed matter for they speak of what's in one's heart...of what's in one's soul...and Barack HUSSEIN Obama's heart and his soul are cold. So while David Cameron's words call ISIS a "poisonous extremism" that poses "a clear danger to Europe and to our security," Obama speaks of ISIS as a "JV team" who poses NO imminent danger to America...making them a second string player if you will. And while Obama continues to refer to ISIS as ISIL...knowing full well that he has now willingly aligned himself...and thus America...with ISIS...as he knows and understands that the word ISIL is a direct insult to Israel...that the word ISIL is an acronym that does NOT recognize the existence of the Jewish State of Israel...and he is more than happy with that.

And sometimes words spoken do come back to haunt for Obama also defended during this press conference his (unconstitutional) decision NOT to seek authorization from Congress before beginning air strikes on ISIS just three short weeks ago. Claiming the urgency of the threat to the U.S. consulate in Erbil required immediate action he said, “I can’t afford to wait in order to make sure that those folks are protected,” forgetting that those words were NEVER spoken nor were any actions taken almost two years ago when Ambassador Christopher Stevens begged for protection...begged for help...in a place known as Benghazi.

But does any of this matter...do any actions taken or words said mean ISIS will be stopped...NOT with Barack HUSSEIN Obama as president for he knows that ISIS wants to march down Pennsylvania Avenue and raise its flag over the White House and NOTHING of true lasting substance is being done to stop them. So while Obama's on the golf course hitting more golf balls with that infamous stupid 'gotcha' smirk on his face, ISIS will march in through our unsealed southern border and make themselves at home...make themselves at home at the 'American People's House'...that is unless Congress does what they know needs to be done...and starts doing it NOW for pretty soon it will sadly be too late to do anything at all.
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