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Jamie Dupree's Washington Insider: Jobless Rate Drops in December

The U.S. Department of Labor reported today that 200,000 jobs were created in December, as the nation's jobless rate dropped to 8.5%, the lowest since early 2009.

Here is the full report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics so you can dig deeper in the numbers:

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THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- DECEMBER 2011 Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 200,000 in December, and the unemployment rate, at 8.5 percent, continued to trend down, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in transportation and warehousing, retail trade, manufacturing, health care, and mining.

Household Survey Data

Both the number of unemployed persons (13.1 million) and the unemployment rate (8.5 percent) continued to trend down in December. The unemployment rate has declined by 0.6 percentage point since August. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men decreased to 8.0 percent in December. The jobless rates for adult women (7.9 percent), teenagers (23.1 percent), whites (7.5 percent), blacks (15.8 percent), and Hispanics (11.0 percent) showed little change. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 5.6 million and accounted for 42.5 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.) The civilian labor force participation rate (64.0 percent) and the employment- population ratio (58.5 percent) were both unchanged over the month. (See table A-1.) The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) declined by 371,000 to 8.1 million in December. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.) About 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in December, little different from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 945,000 discouraged workers in December, a decrease of 373,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.6 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in December had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 200,000 in December. Over the past 12 months, nonfarm payroll employment has risen by 1.6 million. Employment in the private sector rose by 212,000 in December and by 1.9 million over the year. Government employment changed little over the month but fell by 280,000 over the year. (See table B-1.) Employment in transportation and warehousing rose sharply in December (+50,000). Almost all of the gain occurred in the couriers and messengers industry (+42,000); seasonal hiring was particularly strong in December. Retail trade continued to add jobs in December, with a gain of 28,000. Employment in the industry has increased by 240,000 over the past 12 months. Over the month, job gains continued in general merchandise stores (+13,000) and in clothing and clothing accessories stores (+11,000). Employment in sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores fell by 10,000.

In December, manufacturing employment expanded by 23,000, following 4 months of little change. Employment increased in December in transportation equipment (+9,000), fabricated metals (+6,000), and machinery (+5,000).

Mining employment rose by 7,000 over the month. Over the year, mining added 89,000 jobs.

Health care continued to add jobs in December (+23,000); employment in hospitals increased by 10,000. Over the year, health care employment has risen by 315,000.

Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in December (+24,000). Over the year, food services and drinking places has added 230,000 jobs.

Construction employment changed little in December. Within the industry, nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 20,000 jobs over the month, mostly offsetting losses over the prior 2 months.

Employment in professional and business services changed little in December for the second month in a row. The industry added 42,000 jobs per month, on average, during the first 10 months of 2011.

Government employment changed little in December but was down by 280,000 over the year. Job losses in 2011 occurred in local government; state government, excluding education; and the U.S. Postal Service.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours in December. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.1 hour to 40.5 hours. Factory overtime decreased by 0.1 hour to 3.2 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $23.24. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.1 percent. In December, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were unchanged at $19.54. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised from +100,000 to +112,000, and the change for November was revised from +120,000 to +100,000.

Source: http://www.newstalkradiowhio.com/weblogs/jamie-dupree/2012/jan/06/jobless-rate-drops-december/

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Crude oil supplies increase by 2.2 million barrels (AP)

NEW YORK ? The nation's crude oil and gasoline supplies grew last week, the government said Thursday.

Crude supplies rose by 2.2 million barrels, or 0.7 percent, to 329.7 million barrels, which is 1.7 percent below year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts expected a drop of 450,000 barrels for the week ended Dec. 30, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline supplies increased by 2.5 million barrels, or 1.1 percent, to 220.2 million barrels. That was above analysts' expectations and 0.9 percent above year-ago levels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Dec. 30 was 4.9 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging about 8.8 million barrels a day.

U.S. refineries ran at 85 percent of total capacity on average, a rise of 0.8 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to increase to 84.5 percent.

Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 3.2 million barrels to 143.6 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to rise by 500,000 barrels.

The price of benchmark crude fell $1.7 to $102.17 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120105/ap_on_bi_ge/us_crude_inventories

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Trouble followed German mother, son in 3 countries

FILE - In this courtroom sketch, Dorothee Burkhart appears in federal court on fraud charges Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012 in Los Angeles. Burkhart is the mother of suspected Los Angeles arsonist Harry Burkhart. Burkhart is scheduled to again appear in federal court Friday Jan. 6,, 2012 on fraud charges. (AP Photo/Bill Robles, File)

FILE - In this courtroom sketch, Dorothee Burkhart appears in federal court on fraud charges Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012 in Los Angeles. Burkhart is the mother of suspected Los Angeles arsonist Harry Burkhart. Burkhart is scheduled to again appear in federal court Friday Jan. 6,, 2012 on fraud charges. (AP Photo/Bill Robles, File)

En este boceto de la corte, el alem?n Harry Burkhart es sujetado por los guardias, en un momento en que tat? de levantarse durante su audiencia en la corte superior de Los Angeles, el mi?rcoles 4 de enero del 2012. Est? acusado de perpetrar varios ataques incendiarios a finales de diciembre (AP Foto/Mona Shafer Edwards)

Judge Upinder Kalra presides over the arraignment of Harry Burkhart, a German national suspected of starting a rash of arson fires in the Hollywood area, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012 in Los Angeles. Burkhart a German man was charged Wednesday with 37 counts of arson in connection with a rash of fires that terrorized Los Angeles over the New Year's weekend. (AP Photo/Luis Sinco, Pool)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Wherever Dorothee and Harry Burkhart went, trouble followed the mother-and-son duo.

Arsons in Los Angeles, Germany and possibly Canada. A daring escape through a German hospital window. A claim that fascists were trying to kill them. Skipping out on a bill for a breast augmentation surgery.

The 24-year-old Harry Burkhart became an internationally known figure after he was arrested this week in dozens of Hollywood arsons that left a string of torched buildings and cars and caused millions of dollars in damage. Authorities said they believe the motive behind the fires was anger at the U.S. government for arresting his mother on a German warrant.

But it's not his first encounter with an arson investigation. He is suspected of starting an arson fire late last year at a German house that belonged to his family, shortly before the Los Angeles fires. And Vancouver police said this week they are looking to see whether the Burkharts were living in the area when there was a series of suspicious fires.

A phone message left for Vancouver police was not immediately returned Friday, and the Burkharts have not been officially linked to any fires there.

The Burkharts' strange personas and odd behavior were noted at each stop as they hopscotched from their native Germany to British Columbia and finally California, and Los Angeles police believe, ultimately led to Harry Burkhart's arrest.

His anti-American outburst last week during a detention hearing for his mother cemented his likeness in the mind of a deputy U.S. Marshal, who recognized him after police began circulating a video showing the man wanted in the arson spree.

Court documents show Dorothee Burkhart's legal problems date back to at least 2000, when she rented out apartments in Frankfurt but failed to return the security deposits. She engaged in that scam several years later, according to German officials, and also didn't pay about $10,000 for a 2004 breast surgery.

She was arrested in mid-2007 and was taken to a hospital in Frankfurt for cardiac problems. She escaped out a window after prison guards took off her handcuffs and allowed her to use the restroom, said Michael Koch, who was appointed as her public defender. The 53-year-old is being held on a provisional arrest warrant.

She and her son landed in Vancouver shortly after her German escape. The pair applied for refugee status in Canada, contending they would be tortured and killed if they were sent back to Germany, The Vancouver Sun reported.

She told immigration officials that a right-wing fascist group had infiltrated the German government and police were after them because of their Russian origin, the paper said. The refugee claim was denied two years later.

In medical records from March 2010, a doctor said she suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks and her son suffered from autistic spectrum disorder since his childhood.

The younger Burkhart's name surfaced as a suspect in the German arson case after he filed an insurance claim shortly after the fire, Marburg prosecutors' spokeswoman Annemarie Wied said.

A search of his Hollywood apartment following his arrest turned up news articles about the Los Angeles fires along with some car fires in Frankfurt last September. German authorities said there was no active investigation of Burkhart in Frankfurt.

Twelve days after the German house fire, Burkhart was in Los Angeles, according to court documents, visiting the German consulate with his mother to try to renew his passport. His nonimmigrant visa is set to expire Jan. 18, authorities said. His mother last entered the country lawfully in January 2007, and she left four months later.

It's unclear if either Burkhart worked. A website offering appointment-only sensual massage is registered to Dorothee Burkhart, though her name is not mentioned on the site.

Their lives unraveled last week when the younger Burkhart caught the attention of court officials at his mother's hearing, yelling "F--- the United States!" or "F--- all Americans," authorities said.

At each of their subsequent court appearances, both Burkharts made a spectacle. Dorothee Burkhart constantly asked for her son, apparently unaware he had been arrested. She also wondered if the Nazis knew where she and her son lived.

The next day in court, her son was surrounded by sheriff's deputies as he alternated between sitting and standing. He often arched his head and body backward, looking up to the ceiling with his mouth agape.

On Friday, the elder Burkhart was ordered to return to court Tuesday with the hopes she will have hired an attorney. During a hearing, she denied the charges against her and suggested Nazis, not her son, were responsible for the recent rash of fires.

"One little mentally ill child cannot do fire like this," she said in broken English.

She stood up at one point and claimed she had been abused while in custody.

"Ma'am, sit down. This is not a show," said U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Nagle.

Her son has been charged with 37 counts of arson and is expected to return to court Jan. 24. He's being held on $2.85 million and could face additional charges, prosecutors said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-06-Los%20Angeles%20Arson/id-034078d2dca04e78b91bcf5aeabfe12e

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Japan retailer Seven & I Q3 profit rises, Aeon falls (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan's Seven & I Holdings posted a rise in third-quarter profit on Friday as convenience store sales stayed strong, but rival Aeon Co's earnings undershot strong year-earlier results, as retailers worry that profit growth could stall.

Many Japanese retailers are poised to earn record profits in the current financial year after demand for food and consumer goods, especially higher-margin prepared meals and private-label products, rose following the earthquake and tsunami last March.

But with falling wages, high unemployment and concerns about the health of the Japanese and world economies weighing on domestic consumption, market watchers expect retailers to face challenges to profit growth in the near term.

Top Japanese retailer Seven & I's operating profit jumped 17 percent to 66.0 billion yen ($854.7 million) for the September-November quarter in part as visits by older and female customers stayed high after rising in the aftermath of the March 11 disasters in its main convenience store segment.

But Aeon, Japan's second-biggest retailer, posted a year-on-year drop of 19 percent in operating profit over the same period to 25.4 billion yen, despite market watchers expecting it eke out a quarterly gain.

Aeon faced a high hurdle to meet comparisons, having posted a 52 percent surge in operating profit in the third quarter of the 2010/11 business year, when sales jumped due to an unseasonably hot September and ahead of the end of subsidies for green consumer electronics.

"Their earnings seem very steady and strong. Even if Aeon came in a little under analysts' estimates, there is a sense of direction for these companies and investors can be sure of their strength," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Fund.

"Right now, there is so much uncertainty that investors are shifting to stable stocks with strong earnings that are not easily swayed by outside factors like Europe ... In this risk-off environment, stocks of companies like Seven & I and Aeon will remain attractive."

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Graphic: Seven & I results http://link.reuters.com/fym85s

Graphic: Aeon results http://link.reuters.com/qym85s

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ANNUAL FORECASTS UNCHANGED

Both retailers maintained their operating-profit forecasts for the business year to February 2012.

Seven & I, the owner of 7-Eleven, the world's largest convenience store chain, kept its annual outlook at 286 billion yen, in line with the average estimate of 290 billion yen in a poll of 19 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The forecast is the highest since Seven & I posted a 286.8 billion yen profit in its 2006/07 business year.

Aeon, the owner of Aeon Retail supermarkets as well as convenience stores, boutiques and shopping malls, kept its operating profit outlook at 195-205 billion yen, which is in line with the average estimate of 199 billion yen in a poll of 13 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

If Aeon meets its projection it would beat the record 189.7 billion yen profit it earned in its 2006/07 business year, as benefits from the merging of several separate general merchandise store chains and improved operating efficiency across its store formats.

"Operating profit gains have come as cost restructuring, that began in the third quarter of last year continue to lift gross revenues," Aeon Chief Financial Officer Seiichi Chiba said at a briefing on its results.

Earlier on Friday, Japan's No.3 convenience store chain FamilyMart Co reported a 3.5 percent rise in operating profit for the September-November quarter. Second-ranked Lawson Inc will report results next Tuesday.

But with Japanese household spending falling 3.2 percent year-on-year in November and retail sales down 2.3 percent, both much weaker than forecast, retailers may struggle to maintain similar levels of profit growth next business year.

Last month, Japan's government warned of worsening business sentiment as exports slumped and the central bank governor said Europe's sovereign debt crisis and economic stagnation were hurting global growth including Japan.

Shares of Seven & I fell about 1 percent in calendar 2011, while Aeon rose 4 percent, versus a 17 percent slide in the benchmark Nikkei average.

Before the results were released, shares of Seven & I settled 0.4 percent lower while Aeon posted a 1.0 percent loss, against a fall in the Nikkei average of 1.2 percent.

($1 = 77.22 yen)

(Additional reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Matt Driskill and Michael Watson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120106/bs_nm/us_japan_retailers

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Postcard From Islamic London

by Ben Shapiro

I?ve been spending my Christmas vacation with my wife in Rome and London. We arrived in London on Christmas Eve. It?s truly an amazing city ? everywhere you look, there?s history, from the Tower of London to the Churchill Museum. But everywhere you look, there is a more ominous presence: Islam.

Now, no less a personage than Prime Minister David Cameron has already admitted that the integration of Muslims into British society has failed dramatically. In February 2011, Cameron stated:

Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream. We have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong. We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run counter to our values.

That failure of integration is clear from the get-go. There are official signs translated into Arabic for those who do not wish to speak or read English. The chatter of Islamic languages is as prevalent as the mother tongue. The hijab is omnipresent.

Perhaps all this might be a charming byproduct of multiculturalism if it weren?t for the fact that so much of the Islamic population of Great Britain is radicalized. That radicalization is not difficult to spot.

With all the major official sites closed the day after Christmas, my wife and I headed over to Madame Tussaud??s to take in the famed tourist trap. As we strolled the halls filled with famous cultural figures, most from the 20th century, we came across the wax doll for Albert Einstein. And there, crowded around the figure, stood five young Muslims ? two male, three female. While other guests stood next to the model and smiled, or put an arm around it, these Muslim worthies stood next to the wax model ? and put their hands around its throat, simulating strangling it. At first, I couldn?t believe what I was watching ? did Einstein do something to offend these people? ? but then it dawned on me that they were doing this because Einstein was a Jew. In fact, Einstein was the only prominent Jew in Tussaud?s. And who wouldn?t want to strangle a prominent Jew, after all?

That suspicion was confirmed a few minutes later when we reached the wax statue of Adolf Hitler?. Britons and Americans tried to choke the figure, or pointed their fingers at it in imaginary guns, or yelled at it. These young Muslims happily stood next to it, and took smiling photographs with it as though they?d stumbled upon a friendly uncle. Which, in a way, they had.

And, of course, nobody said anything to these delightfully diverse young people. Mustn?t show evidence of that old, imperialist spirit, you know.

But that old imperialist spirit hides beneath the surface nonetheless. While visiting the Tower of London, my wife and I followed a Beefeater on a tour. He was former British military, and acted it. Great Britain, he announced, was the greatest country on earth. It had civilized half the globe. There was a reason, he said, that Great Britain was the only country to preface its name with the word ?Great.? When an Australian audience member asked about the Great Barrier Reef, he answered slyly, ?You only know about it because we bumped into it on the way to founding your country.? These comments were accompanied by a slightly uncomfortable laughter amongst the natives ? but it was good to hear that somewhere, deep down, the British are still British.

But that Britishness is buried rather deep. The day after Christmas in the United Kingdom is Boxing Day, a sort of Black Friday in this country. It?s a nightmare to navigate the crowded streets, and the shops are packed solid.

It was precisely this day that the British Tube employees ? workers of the British subway system ? chose to strike for 24 hours. This meant that everyone was now obliged to use taxis, which were charging double rates, or take a bus ? and the traffic was snarled more horribly than Matthew Pocket?s hair. What were these employees striking for? Triple pay on holidays ? and an offset day to make up for having to work on Boxing Day. They were already slated to make double pay.

In any rational society, the British government would fire these ne?er-do-wells forthwith and hire scabs to replace them. But Britain?s post-WWII bargain with the devil has been the same as the rest of the West?s: go Marxist and remove your imperial aggression by doing so. Capitalism, in the Marxist view, leads to imperialism; breed the capitalism out, and so too will the imperialism fade into history. And so Britain has castrated itself, both economically and socially.

But deep in the British soul, there stirs the echo of heroism: the echo of Churchill and Henry V, the echo of Elizabeth I and Cromwell. As time passes, that echo will grow ever louder. The question is whether the echo will restore Britain?s fortitude before it descends into a self-imposed dark night of final decline.

SOURCE

Source: http://awesternheart.blogspot.com/2012/01/postcard-from-islamic-london.html

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Mitt Romney's Patriot Dream a Recurring Theme (ContributorNetwork)

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Mitt Romney's "Patriot Dream" speech has become part of his rhetorical repertoire, enabling him to appeal to those who revere the spirit of the Founding Fathers while portraying President Barack Obama as anti-American.

I first heard it during Romney's Dec. 20 appearance at the Bedford, N.H., town hall and recently at his Dec. 30 stop in Merrimack. Romney also talks of his "Patriot Dream" in Iowa.

America the Beautiful

Using the song "America the Beautiful" as a touchstone, Romney spoke of how his parents inculcated a love for America in him during a cross-country drive when he was a boy. He told of a verse in the song that inspired him: "Oh beautiful, for patriot dream/That sees beyond the years."

"My parents helped me understand that the vision of the Founders, the patriots, was a vision not just of temporary duration but it would see beyond the years. That the principles that built America in the early days would be principles that would keep us great today.

"I believe in those principles," he said.

"When the Founders crafted the Declaration of Independence, and they said that the Creator had endowed us with our rights, that changed the world. That said that no longer was king or the state the sovereign giving us our rights -- no. Our rights came from the creator. We became the sovereign and the government -- the state became the servant."

An enthusiastic Romney said the inalienable rights enumerated in the U.S. Declaration of Independence -- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- made Americans "free to pursue happiness as we choose." Not only do Americans enjoy political freedom, they have economic freedom, too.

Our founding principles give us the choice to chart our own course in life, he said.

"The circumstances of our birth would not define the dream we might pursue.

"We became a quintessentially merit based society, meaning by virtue of whatever education we could afford and get, and whatever hard work we could invest, and what risks we were willing to take, and dreams we have, we could pursue our own dreams and achieve great things."

Optimist

Romney earlier had contrasted his idea of a God-sanctioned meritocracy with the failed entitlement society of Barack Obama.

Comparing Obama to Marie Antoinette for his comment that the economy could be worse, Romney said, "I'm not a pessimist. I'm an optimist. I want to bring an optimistic president back to the White House who believes in America and who believes in the principles that made America and that will get America working again for all the American people."

Wrapping up his remarks in Merrimack, Romney said that politicians who "live with integrity" can heal America by drawing on patriotism.

America needs those "who understand the principles that make the American economy work, and our nation work. That if these people draw upon the patriotism of the American people, we can overcome any challenge we have."

Declaring, "I'm an optimist about America. I believe in America. I love America, and I hope to be your president," he was met with a standing ovation.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120103/pl_ac/10776431_mitt_romneys_patriot_dream_a_recurring_theme

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