US new car sales fall 37% Year on Year

US March auto sales were again markedly lower (BBC).Industrywide sales fell 37% from a year earlier but rose from February's 27-year low. New autos sold at an annual rate of 9.9 million (ish) units, according to sales tracker Autodata Corp. of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. (Excel Spreadsheet)

The results resulted in shares up for some automakers seeing an unexpected rise (in Tokyo, Nissan +13.8%, Honda +10.7%, Toyota +5.5%).

Ford (F): March sales -40.9% from a year ago to 131,465 vehicles. SUV sales -73.2% to 73.2%. Inventories 27% lower than last year.
Mercedes-Benz (DAI): March sales -23% from a year ago to 17,348 vehicles.
Honda (HMC): March sales -33.7% to 88,379 vehicles.
General Motors (GM): March sales -44.7% to 156,380 vehicles. Sales of 7/8 of its brands, however, were higher vs. February. Inventories -12% from a year ago to 765K.
Toyota (TM): March sales -36.6% to 132,802 vehicles, including a 40.6% rise Lexus. Sales rose 16.3% vs. February.
Nissan (NSANY): March sales -37.7% to 106,921 vehicles.
Chrysler sold 101,000 vehicles, the first time it had exceeded 100,000 a month since September.

President O'Bomber has held off helping GM and Chrysler. GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, has to meet a 60-day deadline Obama announced on March 30 (which is no doubt fudgeable) , while No. 3 Chrysler has 30 days to complete a tie-up with Italy’s Fiat SpA. Detroit- based GM and Chrysler have been propped up with US $17.4 Bn of taxpapyers funds over the past three months.

The US auto industry is in a death spiral, no amount of bail out money, no amount of brave words and whistling is gong to help The industry has to lose Chtsler, lose badgs, slim down manufacturing and dealers and make better cars with greater fue efficiency.

Italian new car sales hold up

Italian new car registrations rose 0.24 % to 214,218 units in March, transport ministry figures showed today, the first increase in a year and a sign government incentives are finally bearing fruit.

Car orders in March rose 36 % on the year to 276,000, Italy's foreign car makers' association UNRAE said in a separate statement.

Fiat, the country's biggest car maker, saw its sales rise for cars under its three brands, up 6.1 % to 69,882 units in March, based transport ministry figures. Reuters say that Fiat's market share of sales rose to 33 % (ish) percent in March, against 31 % (ish) a year earlier for the same period.

Fiat has struggled to slash costs, including the suspension of production at its plants in Italy, and is negotiating some sort of a deal with Chrysler (but do not hold your breath).

Baitullah Mehsud threatens actions against US claims responsibility for lahore Polic barracks attack

During interwiews with Pakistani news outlets and international wire services Baitullah Mehsud, who the CIA have been trying to take out with Predator Hlfie missile strikes - without success - threatens to attack the US. He has also claimed credit for hs group behing esonsible for 3 recent Pakistan bombings;
1.Yesterday's deadly military assault on a police training center in Lahore.
2 Suicide attacks against security forces in Islamabad and Bannu

He had previously told the pres he had dispatched 20 foreign militants, mostly Uzbeks, to carry out terror strikes in major cities.

This is not hs first threat of attaks on US Baitullah's threat to attack the US Recently, he and two other senior Pakistani Taliban leaders in North and South Waziristan formed Council of United Mujahideen. Swearing fealty to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the overall Taliban leader Mullah Omar and threatened to strike at the US and other countries.

The three leaders had pamphlets distributed throughout North and South Waziristan to announce the formation of the Council of United Mujahideen. The Taliban leaders have “united according to the wishes of Mujahideen leaders like Mullah Muhammad Omar and Sheikh Osama bin Laden.”

The pamphlets also said the Taliban alliance “supported Mullah Muhammad Omar and Osama bin Laden’s struggle” against the administrations of US President Barack Obama, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The new alliance further stated it was waging war “in an organized manner’” to “stop the infidels from carrying out acts of barbarism against innocent people” just as Omar and bin Laden were waging war against Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the US.

Black man speak with fork tongue

This is a quote that passed us by - President O'Bomber on March 14th said when he met Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ,,,,who has said recently "This crisis was caused by the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes, who thought they knew everything and now show they know nothing"

"I think that not just the Chinese government, but every investor can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States, and that it is not just in U.S.-issued Treasury notes but also in the private sector and the commerce and the industry that has made this the most dynamic economy in the world."

So there you have it ...buy T Bills and ..

1 You can "every confidence "
2 The US has the most dynamic economy in the world...

So slaps a 56 cents a litre on Brazilian ethanol into the US.

PS : Air Force Link News March 29th Bombing by US and allies - "In total, 76 close-air-support missions were flown in support of ISAF and Afghan security forces...Coalition aircraft flew 30 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom."

Home Secretary's husband is a secret wanker ...

Outrageous !The only word for it. Scandalous ! That's another word for it.

What better on a Friday night after being a consituency secretay to kick back, light a spliff , grab the Kleenex and watch a mucky movie (or two).

Killjoys ! That's the only word for the critics of his inoccent pastime ... so we all pay for it .. well we pay fo everything else .. why not Letitia Learns a Lesson.
or Debbie and her Dogs ?

What is Scandalous, outrageous (even) is the news that Jacquie went ballistic on hearing the news.

Don't these people go on Anger Management courses ?

Book her in for one right away ..... happy to pay for it.

Afghan insurgent guide

This is handy guide to the insurgent alphabet soup in Afghanistan which is used to brief incoming senior military staff.

Prepared with a great deal of input from CIA.

Prime Minister due to visit Britain ....

Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall; And universal Darkness buries All.

Mission creep - US bombing consolidates in AFPAK with O'Bomber's new plan - with no end in sight

President Obama gave a speech this morning outlining his new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, (AFPAK) as a taster for a (slightly) more detailed white paper [PDF].

The plan outlined what O'Bomber cals "realistic and achievable objectives."

• Disrupting terrorist networks in Afghanistan and especially Pakistan to degrade any ability they have to plan and launch international terrorist attacks.

• Promoting a more capable, accountable, and effective government in Afghanistan that serves the Afghan people and can eventually function, especially regarding internal security, with limited international support.

• Developing increasingly self-reliant Afghan security forces that can lead the counterinsurgency and counterterrorism fight with reduced U.S. assistance.

• Assisting efforts to enhance civilian control and stable constitutional government in Pakistan and a vibrant economy that provides opportunity for the people of Pakistan.

• Involving the international community to actively assist in addressing these objectives for Afghanistan and Pakistan, with an important leadership role for the UN.

Which begs a lot of questions - questions that remain unanswered - meanwhile bombs coninue to rain down on Iraq (yes they still do - Coalition aircraft flew 24 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom. March 26th) , Afghanistan (In total, 68 close-air-support missions were flown in support of the ISAF and Afghan security forces,) and the Hell fire misiles go popping off in Pakistan territories. See recent posts

US has 12 months stock of new homes for sale.

The median sales price of new houses sold in February 2009 was US $200,900; the average sales price was US$251,000. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of February was 330,000. This represents a supply of 12.2 months in the market at the current sales rate.

More Predator strikes by US in Pakistan - More rewards for Justice bonuses for Taliban / al Quaeda phantom leaders

The US conducted another 2 Predator airstrikes with Helfire misiles in Pakistan's tribal areas in the last 2 days.

Five people were reported killed and four wounded hitting what is said to be a Taliban compound in North Waziristan - a compund run by Malik Gulab Khan in the Sokhel region just outside Mir Ali.

Unusually the CIA did not report any senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders killed.

Mir Ali is a known stronghold of al Qaeda leader Abu Kasha al Iraqi said at one time to have links both with al Qaeda and the Taliban. Kasha is said to be an Iraqi national who operates in the Mir Ali region and serves as the key link between al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council, and the Taliban.

Abu Kasha was thought to have been killed in an attack in North Waziristan in October 2008, but survives yet.

Kasha commands two local Pakistani commanders, Imanullah and Haq Nawaz Dawar. These men administer al Qaeda's network in Mir Ali. Kasha has a working relationship and close communication with the Uzbek terror groups, including the Islamic Jihad Group run by Najimuddin al Uzbeki, who also operates out of North Waziristan.

The last attack that targeted Abu Kasha's network took place on Feb. 23, 2009. Ten Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were killed after Predators targeted a compound run by a local named Khalil.

Second strike in 24 hours signals an end to a brief pause in attacks

A further Predator attack today is the eleventh inside Pakistan this calendar year and follows yesterday's strike against a Taliban convoy in South Waziristan. Eight were killed, including "foreigners,"( CIA speak al Qaeda operatives). The attack took place in Makeen, the hometown (?) of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. On New years day Taliban kidnapped four Pakistani paramilitary soldiers of the South Waziristan Scouts after the Taliban attacked the Ladha Fort near the town of Makeen.

These latest attacks coincided with the US Department of State's placing a bounty on the heads of two senior Pakistan-based Taliban leaders. Up to US$5 Mn dollars has been offered "for information leading to the location and/or capture" of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud (Pakistani authorities believe that the January 2007 suicide attack against the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad was staged by militants loyal to Mehsud. Press reports also have linked Mehsud to the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the deaths of other innocent civilians.) and al Qaeda ally Sirajuddin Haqqani.

Additionally, a US $1 MN. bounty has been offered for information leading to the capture or conviction of al Qaeda propagandist and ideologue Abu Yahya al Libi.

More information about all three is located on the Rewards for Justice website (www.rewardsforjustice.net/abuyahya).

Barclays - it's Double your money time Folks!

Lord Patel invested last Monday in Barclays at 82 p and sold out on Wednesday am @ 118p.

As we speak the shares are trading at 162.9 (and rising) with 107 MN shares changing hands.

That means those who got in at the right time and hung on have doubled their money in 2 weeks. This rise is attributed to the news that Barclays is set to receive bids for iShares, its exchange traded funds business, over this weekend, and will agree a deal by Monday, in a move that could further appease its shareholders, who were today reassured by the financial regulator about the UK bank's capital position.

So no question of any insider trading going on there then as the shares rose strongly ahead of the announcement today about iShares.

Having missed the extra profit on Barclays the shares Lord Patel bought in Lloyds have risen from 57p on Tuesday. They have traded as high as 78 today and setled down at about 73p (up 28%).

Kissinger still giving orders

Obama National Security Advisor says he takes marching orders from Henry Kissinger
March 26, 2009 — Stefan Fobes

Remarks by National Security Adviser Jones at 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy

From CFR.org

U.S. National Security Adviser Jones gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on February 8, 2009.

“Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through Generaal Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here. We have a chain of command in the National Security Council that exists today.

IBM continue outsourcing and "letting" US staff go"

A bird whispers in Lord Patel's transatlantic listening post that report IBM is planning to layff 6,000 U.S. employees. THis will lead to transferring jobs and functions to India. Wat is calld the global business-services unit is the core of the change , and is a major part of IBM's efforts to steadily build up their foreign based workforce.

Figures supplied show that foreign based employes accounted for 71% of IBM's employees at the start of the year, up from 65% in 2006.

It's already started see memo ..

“Starting next week several Hartford delivery teams will be working directly with fellow IBM team members from India to begin the second phase of our Global delivery solution planned for the Hartford account. The teams will be engaged in a multi-week effort to facilitate knowledge transfer to prepare for migration of specific work activities to global delivery counterparts later in 2009. Your continued support and leadership is critical to ensure our overall success and to ensure we continue to deliver high quality cost effective solutions that IBM committed to the Hartford. Please ensure you and your teams actively support this effort.”

Computer World in January had a report , "IBM won't disclose plan, but union fears as many as 16,000 may lose their jobs"

UK Gilts auction fails - ther IS a limit to what the market will buy .....

Storms can be presaged by the blowing of straw in the wind"of . Well the market landed a hefty bale of the stuff on Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling's desk today.

Today, in the normal way of things the Treasury Debt Management Office - auctioned £1.75bn of a 40 year bond ( of interest principally to annuity issuers - insueres pensions etc.,).

The market picked up 93% or only £163 Mn. of the issue.

The Debt Management Office has a Herculean task of borrowing at least £147.9bn of gilts in the next 12 months - there are many who say uncontrolled public expenditure might mean they could be looking for £200Bn.

There must be some sweaty palms in the Treasury this evening.

Repairing the old wallet.

Stock picking is gambling so Lord Patel to salve his financial wounds invested last Monday in Barclays at 82 p and sold out this am @ 118p. (UPDATE Wed opnend at 127 )A modest return relying on the venality of bankers / hedge funds etc., who have been ramping the share to buggary. (Ditto LLoyds)

This is going into ING (now with sensible management in place and clear stated goals) which he confidently expects to run up to 10 Euros from the current 4.74 Euros (closd at 4.89)

Some is also going (counter cyclical and prolly very unwise) into Lloyds Bank at 57p which has run from 40 p in the last 2 weeks.(closed at 61.7) UPDATE Wed opened at 64.5

The proceeds will eventually ne used to swallow up some more Drax and Tesco.

To err is human ...

John Kennedy was a charmer but his halting delivery "The .er...er...President ..err...err.of..er..The...United ...er....States ...err" brought out the above riposte.

He lived in an age without teleprompters and the apparatus of Hollywood technology which helps bolster O'Bomber' s facile delivery and shallow thoughts. eg "It took many years and many failures to lead us here. And it will take many months and many different solutions to lead us out." .well hey, Mr Prez Elect as was , why didn't you tell us when it was all happening ?

"They're assuming a growth rate of 2.2 %; we're assuming a growth rate of 2.6%. Those small differences end up adding up to a lot of money." Doh ! Zat so !

Listening to his limp, slow, awkwards response about his role as the first Black (?) President he came across as a dumb, tongue tied, non reflexive person.Worthy, maybe. Dull yes.

He is after all the glove puppet of the Zionist cabal and the Old Establishment and has, as predicted here been consigend to out of down, and downtown Palookaville.

What with his unscripted performance yesterday (text) and his dodgy jokes about cripples he had better watch it before he is seen as the Bush Redux.

US Unemployment swells claimants as Government payrolls soar.

America's heartlands are hurting, figures for Ohio show how the trend is steadily downwards for employment - but as ever, Government employment increases.

Ohio and U.S. Employment Services in cooperation with the U. S. Department of Labor released numbers today for uneployment at end Februarywhich show rates at 9.4% ( a 25 yesar high - March 1984 ) up from 8.8 %ercent in January. Ohio's nonfarm wage and salary employment decreased 7,600 over the month, from 5,208,000 in January, to 5,200,400 in February.

The U.S. total unemployment rate for February was 8.1 %, up from 7.6 % in January.

The manufacturing, retail, professional services and financial sectors all fell, while government services was the only major sector to climb.

Big Job cuts take their toll in Ohio.

The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly report for Ohio shows 91 companies cut 50 or more workers in February, up from 42 companies in February 2008. The figures are seasonally unadjusted.

Resulting first-time unemployment claims from those cuts more than doubled in turn, hitting 9,065 filings compared with 4,387 a year earlier.

That’s the seventh-highest share of unemployment insurance filings in the nation, with California topping the list with 45,557 filings last month.

Nationally In February, employers took 2,769 mass layoff actions involving 295,477 workers. Mass layoff events increased by 542 (20%) from January, and initial claims increased by 57,575. Layoff events for all industries and for the manufacturing sector rose to their highest levels on record.
(Press release)

Thirteen of the 19 major industry sectors reported program (ie since 1996) highs in terms of average weekly initial claimants for the month of February--mining; construction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; transportation and warehousing; finance and insurance; real estate and rental and leasing; professional and technical services; management of companies and enterprises; educational services; accommodation and food services; and other services, (surpise , surprise) except public administration.

Louisiana and Mississippi were the only states to experience over-the-year decreases in initial claimants.

These figures must give some bankers niht sweats - who the hell are they going to stuff with loans now ?

Southwark, London SE15 3BT Google Street view etc.,

Google Earth Street view

Some 60,000 people, from shopping centre security guards to hotel workers, are being trained to respond to the threat of terrorism, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said.

Her comments came two days ahead of the publication of a counter-terrorism strategy which ministers are billing as the most comprehensive approach to tackling the threat issued by any government in the world.

Google Earth Street view
Nearly EX PM Gorfom Brown Observer today "We know that terrorists will keep on trying to strike and that protecting Britain against this threat remains our most important job."

The Sunday Telegraph "Around 60,000 British workers, from shop staff to hotel employees, are being trained to spot the terror threat and respond to attacks, under Government plans. "

Dead Palestinian babies and bombed mosques - IDF fashion 2009

"Dead babies, mothers weeping on their children's graves, a gun aimed at a child and bombed-out mosques - these are a few examples of the images Israel Defense Forces soldiers design these days to print on shirts they order to mark the end of training, or of field duty. The slogans accompanying the drawings are not exactly anemic either: A T-shirt for infantry snipers bears the inscription "Better use Durex," next to a picture of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him....."

More at Haaretz ...
Dead Palestinian babies and bombed mosques - IDF fashion 2009

Pig Sick - Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health - MRSA ST398 - the new community health problem ?

'Sick as a pig' is a campaigning film produced and filmed in Holland and commissioned by the Soil Association in conjunction with Compassion in World Farming. This exposes the rise of a new strain of MRSA in pigs (called ST398), and links its with the overuse of antibiotics on intensive pig farms throughout Europe. (Press release)

Amongst other claims the producers say 40% of Dutch pigs and up to 50% of Dutch pig farmers are now carrying this new and virulent strain which is spreading into the wider population. First detected in Holland in 2003 it now causes almost one in three cases of MRSA treated in Dutch hospitals, the programme makers said. In Dutch hospitals farmers are no longer permitted in general wards without prior screening.

The widespread use of antibiotics in intensive pig farming is claimed to be the cause for rapid spread of farm-animal MRSA.The Soil association claim some 60-70% of British farmers regularly use large doses of antibiotics in pig production. Organic standards, prohibit the routine use of antibiotics.

A spokesman for British Pig Exporters (BPEX) said: "MRSA has not been detected in farmed livestock in the UK and there is no current evidence that food producing animals form a reservoir in the UK.

Sixty percent of the pork meat the UK consumes is imported. 87% of imported bacon comes from the Netherlands or Denmark. 63% of imported pork and 57% of imported processed pig meat comes from Denmark, the Netherlands or Germany.

"The European Food Safety Authority is undertaking studies, looking at the issue of MRSA in food-producing animals and considering what surveillance and other actions would be most appropriate for monitoring use of antibiotics - which the UK are helping with.

The UK has decided not to publish any British results from the EU survey of pigs for MRSA before November 2009.(Perhaps the problem will disappear if it is ignored - like Blue Tongue in cattle)

The first concete evidence that pigs could infect people with MRSA came in the Netherlands in 2004, when a young woman tested positive for a new strain of MRSA, called ST398. The family lived on a farm, public health authorities moved in in — and found that three family members, three co-workers and 8 of 10 pigs tested all carried MRSA. See Pigs to humans: alert over new MRSA strain Guradian 25th June 2007

A small Dutch study found pig farmers there were 760 times more likely than the general population to carry MRSA (without necessarily showing symptoms), and Scientific American reports that this strain of MRSA has turned up in 12 percent of Dutch retail pork samples.Now this same strain of MRSA has also been found in the United States. A new study by Tara Smith, a University of Iowa epidemiologist, found that 45 % of pig farmers she sampled carried MRSA, as did 49 % of the hogs tested.

Farming UK has a story 2 weeks ago that (MRSA) has been found at several farms in Switzerland by the the Swiss federal veterinary office (BVET).

The bacteria was found in one pig and two cows on farms in the West of Switzerland. In addition, three producers have been contaminated.

The infections were discovered through research by the University of Lausanne and the Institute Galli-Valerio, that investigated over 100 farms on MRSA. They discovered the prevalence of the MRSA strain ST398.

The report says that MRSA in pigs has also recently been established in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Canada and the USA.

To arrive at some understanding of the scale ofthe problem - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 94,000 Americans get serious, invasive MRSA infections each year and nearly 19,000 die. Treatment costs between $3 and $4 billion a year, according to an estimate by Dr. Larry Liu of Pfizer Inc. One study(2006 Morbidity and cost burden of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in early onset ventilator-associated pneumonia) shows Attributable excess costs ) of MRSA amounted to approximately US$8000 per case after controlling for case mix and severity.

Note : 'Sick as a pig' can be viewed online at http://www.theecologist.org/etv/
and http://www.green.tv/ecologist_sick_as_a_pig1 (from 13.30, 20 th March)
It is a new documentary made by the Ecologist Film Unit based on an investigation by Ecostorm for the Soil Association / Compassion in World Farming and the Soil Association report, 'MRSA in farm animals and meat: a new threat to human health'