Analyst: US credit may get downgraded again in November

Will President Obama get US credit downgraded for a second time?

Via Business Insider:

In an analyst note, BofA/ML Ethan S. Harris drops a bit of a bombshell prediction:

We expect a moderate slowdown in the beginning of next year, as two small policy shocks — anotherdebt downgrade and fiscal tightening — hit the economy. The “not-so-super” Deficit Commission is very unlikely to come up with a credible deficit-reduction plan. The committee is more divided than the overall Congress. Since the fall-back plan is sharp cuts in discretionary spending, the whole point of the Committee is to put taxes and entitlements on the table. However, all the Republican members have signed the Norquist “no taxes” pledge and with taxes off the table it is hard to imagine the liberal Democrats on the Committee agreeing to significant entitlement cuts. The credit rating agencies have strongly suggested that further rating cuts are likely if Congress does not come up with a credible long-run plan. Hence, we expect at least one credit downgrade in late November or early December when the super Committee crashes.

Hmm...4-year-old son of gay couple wants to trick-or-treat as a princess

 
Is anybody shocked the boy suffers from gender confusion?

(LA Times)- A good day is when Luc wakes up and wants to be a tractor for Halloween. Or a helicopter. Or Hercules. Or anything other than a princess, bounding door-to-door in tiara and tulle.

A few weeks ago, the 4-year-old boy's desire to trick-or-treat as a princess sparked a dilemma for his two moms, Anna and Louisa Villeneuve: Which do you honor and protect, your child's independent spirit or tender feelings?

"My first reaction was 'He wants to be a princess? We're there!' " said mama Anna. But almost everybody she talked with about Luc's intention told her, "Whoa; that's a bad, bad, bad idea."

For a girl who grew up wanting to dress like a boy, Luc's choice felt like a blow against stereotyping. "But I'm trying to leave my inner activist at home," she said, "and just do what's best for my son.

"It's one thing to say 'Son, you can be anything you want. Our society needs to be less uptight.' "

Outrage: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, "If ever there is a war between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan”

With friends like this, who needs enemies?

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Afghanistan would support Pakistan in case of military conflict between Pakistan and the United States, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview to a private Pakistani TV channel broadcast on Saturday.

The remarks were in sharp contrast to recent tension between the two neighbors over cross-border raids, and Afghan accusations that Pakistan was involved in killing the chief Afghan peace envoy, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, by a suicide bomber on September 20.

“God forbid, If ever there is a war between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan,” he said in the interview to Geo television.

“If Pakistan is attacked and if the people of Pakistan needs Afghanistan’s help, Afghanistan will be there with you.”

Two days ago, Hillary Clinton was chuckling with Afghan President Hamid Karzai about Herman Cain.

Moonbat mom abandons Banker husband and kids for OWS: “Military people leave their families all the time, so why should I feel bad?”

They are better off without her. It is especially telling she has a young waiter to keep her warm at night.

(NY Post) — A married mother of four from Florida ditched her family to become part of the raggedy mob in Zuccotti Park — keeping the park clean by day and keeping herself warm at night with the help of a young waiter from Brooklyn.

“I’m not planning on going home,” an unapologetic Stacey Hessler, 38, told The Post yesterday.

“I have no idea what the future holds, but I’m here indefinitely. Forever,” said Hessler, whose home in DeLand sits 911 miles from the tarp she’s been sleeping under.

Hessler — who ironically is married to a banker — arrived 12 days ago and planned to stay for a week, but changed her plans after cozying up to some like-minded radicals, including Rami Shamir, 30, a waiter at a French bistro in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

She swears she’s not romantically involved with her new friend.

Yesterday was a typical day for the pair, who woke up at 8 a.m. on their little patch of paving stone near the communal kitchen and dashed off to Trinity Church to wash up.

Hessler emerged an hour later, her brown hair in dreadlocks, wearing a T-shirt depicting Han Solo and Princess Leia kissing, and bearing the slogan “Make Love Not War.”

She got coffee and a granola bar from the protest kitchen before sorting laundry for two hours.

The unemployed Long Island native compared her decision to abandon her family to Americans serving in the armed forces.

“Military people leave their families all the time, so why should I feel bad?” a defiant Hessler said. “I’m fighting for a better world.”

Hopefully, there is a divorce in her future.

Florida Mom Leaves 4 Kids & Banker Husband to Live at #OWS Dump

Chart of the Day: US Data on 2010 Jobs

The official data on 2010 paychecks was released on the Internet this week by the Social Security Administration. It is awful. Both the number of people receiving a paycheck and the median amount those working received went down in 2010.

From Reuters:

WH Video: Michelle Obama Learns to Tweet

 Is there anything Michelle can't do? /snark



Seriously, making this video and posting it was a waste of our tax dollars.

Is President Obama Following in Jimmy Carter's Footsteps?

President Obama's polling is strongly following that of former President Jimmy Carter.

(ABC News) — President Obama’s job approval for the last quarter fell to the lowest of his administration, according to a new Gallup poll. Down four points from his previous all-time low of 45 percent, the president’s average job approval slid to just 41 percent in the 11th quarter.

Only one other elected president since Dwight D. Eisenhower had a lower 11th quarter average: President Carter, who averaged 31 percent during the same quarter, according to Gallup.

MSNBC's Martin Bashir: “Do You Think Herman Cain Can Spell The Word ‘Iraq’?” (video)

Do you think MSNBC's Martin Bashir can spell the word "racist'?