Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/CjrUYTAjo7A/this-is-not-a-brain
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Saturday, September 29, 2012
This Is Not a Brain [Image Cache]
Netanyahu brings fears about Iran to UN
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-brings-fears-iran-un-041640374.html
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Thursday, September 27, 2012
Cardiome says Merck pulls out of heart drug deal
(Reuters) - Cardiome Pharma Corp said its partner Merck & Co returned the global marketing and development rights for both versions of their heart drug, six months after dropping development of the oral version.
"The market has been waiting for some clarity as to where this franchise is going and we thank Merck for providing that clarity," William Hunter, interim CEO of Cardiome, said on a conference call.
Cardiome shares rose 22 percent to 44 Canadian cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock, which has lost nearly 86 percent of its value this year through Tuesday close, was one of the top percentage gainers on the exchange.
Cardiome's U.S.-listed shares rose as much as 22 percent to 45 cents on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.
The drug, Vernakalant, is an experimental treatment for chronic atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disorder that can lead to stroke and heart failure.
Merck in March dropped the development of an oral version of the drug due to regulatory issues and expected development timeline, forcing Cardiome to cut about 85 percent of its workforce.
"We will take a long hard look at what can be done to reinitiate momentum on the intravenous program in the U.S. ... or what the next step should be on the oral program," the company said.
The intravenous version of the drug is not approved in the United States or Canada, Cardiome said in a statement.
Cardiome, which had cash and cash equivalents of $60.7 million at June 30, said it may be beyond its financial capabilities to do that alone.
Vancouver-based Cardiome also develops drugs for the circulatory system.
(Reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cardiome-says-merck-pulls-heart-drug-deal-130003347--finance.html
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The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM!
We're back! Well, some of us are back. Others of us are looking at fancy cars in Paris, France (*cough* Tim). Brian, Dana and Terrence are in the studio today, and we'll be talking Nokia cameras, BlackBerry operating systems and Nook tablets. Join us, won't you?
Continue reading The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM!
The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Next 'Bachelor' is 'Bachelorette' castoff Lowe
This undated publicity image provided by ABC shows Sean Lowe, the 28-year-old star of the next edition of ABC?s popular romance reality series, ?The Bachelor,? returning for its 17th season in January 2013. The 6-foot-3 Texan, who was a linebacker for Kansas State, worked in finance and insurance before starting a custom furniture business. (AP Photo, ABC, Kevin Foley)
This undated publicity image provided by ABC shows Sean Lowe, the 28-year-old star of the next edition of ABC?s popular romance reality series, ?The Bachelor,? returning for its 17th season in January 2013. The 6-foot-3 Texan, who was a linebacker for Kansas State, worked in finance and insurance before starting a custom furniture business. (AP Photo, ABC, Kevin Foley)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? ABC says the next star of "The Bachelor" will be Sean Lowe, who was dumped on "The Bachelorette."
The network says the 28-year-old Dallas businessman will be the one doing the choosing when "The Bachelor" returns for its 17th edition.
On the eighth edition of "The Bachelorette," Lowe confessed his love for Emily Maynard but was eliminated just before the finale.
ABC says Lowe is ready to look for love again and confident he will find his soul mate. The 6-foot-3 Texan was a linebacker for Kansas State and worked in finance and insurance before starting a custom furniture business.
"The Bachelor" is hosted by Chris Harrison and returns in January.
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Texas puts to death man who received three stays of execution
Texas executed a man on Tuesday who had received three stays of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court because of questions about how forcefully his lawyers defended him.
The former Army recruiter failed to win a fourth reprieve from the high court earlier in the day.
Cleve Foster, 48, was convicted with an accomplice in the 2002 murder and rape of Nyanuer "Mary" Pal, whose naked body was found in a ditch, according to a report by the Texas Attorney General's office.
He was pronounced dead at 6:43 p.m. local time (2343 GMT) at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas criminal justice spokesman Jason Clark said.
The Supreme Court a year ago granted a temporary stay of execution just 2 1/2 hours before Foster was to be put to death by injection. It was the third stay from the high court for Foster, who also was granted delays in January and April 2011.
Tuesday's request for a fourth stay was referred by Justice Antonin Scalia to the full court but just three of the nine justices -- Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- said they would favor another stay.
Foster's accomplice in the murder, Shelton Ward, died of brain cancer on death row in 2010. Foster maintained in his trial that Ward acted alone and that contact between him and the victim was consensual.
The two men and Pal were regulars at Fat Albert's bar in Fort Worth when, the night before Valentine's Day in 2002, bartenders said Pal walked out with them, according to the report. Pal left in her car and the men followed closely behind in Foster's truck.
Eight hours later, Pal's body was found with a gunshot wound to the head and wadded-up duct tape nearby, according to the report.
Foster is the 30th person executed in the United States this year and the ninth in Texas.
In his last statement, Foster sent his love to his family and friends. "I love you, I pray one day we will all meet in heaven ...," Foster said. "Ready to go home to meet my maker."
Texas has executed more than four times as many people as any other state since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49172667/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
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Astronauts may play role in Mars robotic missions
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/astronauts-may-play-role-mars-robotic-missions-215919934.html
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
eBusiness Experts Give Insider Tips to Win in the $327 Billion e-Tail ...
PRLog (Press Release) ? Sep 24, 2012 ?
On October 5, 2012, experts from across the United States will converge in the ATL to both attend and speak at the Internet Commerce Entrepreneurs (I.C.E.) Group?s first-ever ICE eBusiness Conference in Atlanta, GA. ?
On October 5, 2012, experts from across the United States will converge in the ATL to both attend and speak at the Internet Commerce Entrepreneurs (I.C.E.) Group?s first-ever ICE eBusiness Conference in Atlanta, GA. ?
The event will bring together thought leaders and successful professionals in the fields of Multi-Channel Marketing, SEO, PPC, Social Media, Merchandising, Promotions and Cross Border Trade for a comprehensive overview of the rapidly expanding arena of Internet Commerce and Online Retail Trade.
The Conference is scheduled for October 5-6 at the Hilton Atlanta Airport Conference Center, 1031 Virginia Ave Atlanta, GA 30354. ?Tickets to the event are $249.00 and can be purchased at http://www.events.internetcommerceentrepreneurs.com
?This year?s conference is particularly important,? said conference co-organizer John Lawson, and CEO of both ColderICE which provides eCommerce education and consulting and the ICE Group, a trade association of powerful and successful online e-tailers. ??As advances in eCommerce and online marketplaces rocket forward, online retailers are on the threshold of phenomenal growth and even traditional retailers are seeking ways to expand and increase their bottom line via the internet.?
With more and more shoppers in the United States turning to online buying, it is predicted that consumers will spend $327 billion in 2016, up 45% from $226 billion this year and 62% from $202 billion in 2011, according to a report released by Forrester Research Inc.
The conference is aimed not only at eCommerce company founders and other ePreneurs but any business owner, corporate CEO, President, Vice President or General Manager who is responsible for online marketplaces or is leaning toward online retail.
Industry experts predict that over the next few years, eCommerce is expected to undergo a profound change as technological developments and enhanced security measures in online payment systems and digital wallets pave the road towards mass acceptance of these practices. ?If you have a business and you?re not selling your goods and services online, you?re missing out on an extremely critical marketplace?
Keynote Speakers
?? ?Colin Sebastian ? Senior Research Analyst, Robert. W. Baird & Company
?? ?Rick Watson, eCommerce General Manager, Barnes & Nobles
Featured Speakers
?? ?Eric Yonge ? President &Creative Director ? EY Studios
?? ?Al Loise ? Marketing Director, Vayu Media.
?? ?Chris Green ? Author of Retail Arbitrage and founder of FBA Power
?? ?Troy Nalls ? CEO, Third Cousin Media
MC/Featured Speaker
?? ?Jacqueline Knight, Managing Partner, Knight Owl Communications, Hoot n? Holla Online Communications
Hosts and ICE Co-Founders
?? ?Brandon Dupsky, eCommerce Multi-millionaire (10 successful online businesses)
?? ?John Lawson, ColderICE Media, ColderICE eCommerce Education
Internet Commerce Entrepreneurs (I.C.E.) is a ?members only? trade association founded by successful eCommerce experts and designed to give businesses access to the very latest information, technology advice, software picks, best practices insider marketing and SEO secrets, online sales strategies, customer acquisition and retention as well as a wealth of educational and development resources to help take your internet presence to the next level. For more info: http://www.internetcommerceentrepreneurs.com.
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Enacting a Carbon Tax Can Cure Many Ills | Global Warming is Real ...
Several organizations have proposed variants of a US carbon tax, all of which incorporate mechanisms that both shield lower income individuals from its regressive nature while also building in incentives to reward those who lower their fossil fuel consumption and hence emissions while penalizing those who increase theirs.
Opponents have pounced on the counter-intuitiveness of carbon tax proposals, asserting they would further stifle economic recovery and growth by raising energy costs, disproportionately affecting lower income Americans. Exactly the opposite would be true, Hartung argues in his Sept. 13 op-ed on Energy Pulse.
Carbon Tax: Keystone for Building a Better America, and World
Hartung explains the three principles upon which his carbon tax proposal is based:
- It should include both a tax and tax credit. Entities that extract carbon from the ground, import carbon, or emit other greenhouse gases are taxed. Entities that remove carbon from the atmosphere or prevent it from ever entering the atmosphere receive a tax credit.
- The level of the tax and tax credit should reflect the external costs of fossil fuels, such as the indirect costs of oil imports, air pollution, and global warming.
- The tax and credit should begin at a reasonable starting level and increase slowly to their full level over several years, so energy consumers have time to adjust to the true cost of energy.
To illustrate how the carbon tax would work and the benefits it would yield, Hartung puts forward the example of a carbon tax and tax credits of $20 per ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) and equivalent greenhouse gases, increasing to $100 per ton in 2025 and thereafter, with annual adjustments for inflation that if enacted in fiscal 2013 would come into effect in 2015.
How a Carbon Tax Would Work
An initial carbon tax of $20 per ton would add 20 cents to the cost of a gallon in 2015, which is actually much less than the volatility in prices at the pumps Americans have been experiencing, he notes. Amounting to an additional $1 per gallon of gasoline, the $100 per ton in 2025 carbon tax would incorporate the true external costs of fossil fuel production and consumption into carbon fuel prices, costs that have never been incorporated in energy prices before, he explains.
Analyzing the benefits his proposed carbon tax would produce, Hartung writes, ?There are many obvious and a few not-so-obvious benefits of this carbon tax. Because it localizes responsibility to those entities that produce and use fossil fuels, it elicits more responsible actions from both energy producers and energy consumers.?
Each substantial in their own right, the benefits of such a carbon tax encompass:
- Energy efficiency improvements 10%-20% above Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections over the next twenty years by ?replacement of inefficient technologies and development of new high-efficiency technologies?Since the US now spends more than $1 trillion annually for energy, each 10% increase in efficiency saves more than $100 billion in annual energy costs.?
- Enhanced energy security as a result of further declines in US oil imports by making enhanced oil recovery?that includes CO2 sequestration in depleted oil fields. The Dept. of Energy (DOE) estimates as much as 137 billion barrels of additional oil could be produced in this manner in the US, Hartung notes.
- Enhancing US competitiveness, by making the US an energy exporter. No longer in need of Canadian crude oil, both ?the US and Canada could be exporting energy and energy products worth $100 billion to $200 billion annually in 10 years.?
- Adding to US? comparative advantage in energy. ?By making the US and energy exporter, the carbon tax ensures that energy remains less expensive here than in energy-importing countries.?
- Reductions in air pollution. The Harvard Medical School estimates that air pollution from coal-fired power plants in the US alone costs between $66 billion to $216 billion per year. ?The carbon tax remedies this by bringing all energy costs to their true value by 2025,? Hartung states.
- Stopping global warming. The carbon tax could result in the US being ?carbon-neutral? in about 50-70 years and help other nations achieve the same goal ?before [global warming] causes severe harm to the world?s population, economy and ecosystems? by reducing carbon and greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously increasing carbon sinks.
- Boosting economic growth. The true cost of energy was about 13% of GDP in 2011 with the currently excluded external costs of fossil fuels added in, according to Hartung. That distorts energy market prices in the favor of greater fossil fuel consumption. By leveling energy costs and putting them on an apples-to-apples basis, the carbon tax ?decreases the true cost of energy to about 9% TO 11% of GDP by 2025 and 5% to 7% of GDP by 2050. The resulting secure, clean, and affordable energy stimulates sustainable economic growth.?
- Tax reform and simplification. The carbon tax less carbon credits would net the government more than $2 trillion in new taxes over the next 10 years and about $20 trillion by 2050, Hartung asserts. Internalizing now externalized fossil fuel costs would also mean we could phase out all the bewildering variety of ?unsustainable government mandates, tax credits, and subsidies for alternative and renewable energy resources.?
Concluding his advocacy, Hartung writes:
?The U.S. is in a unique position to benefit from a carbon tax because of the size and competitiveness of its energy markets, the quantity and diversity of its domestic energy resources, and the breath and depth of its technological, business, and entrepreneurial capabilities.
?Most other countries will also benefit from implementing their own carbon tax. The U.S. can encourage them by bilaterally eliminating carbon import taxes from countries that have a similar carbon tax in place. Enlightened self-interest will trigger a domino effect, as most countries will want to secure the advantages of a carbon tax and avoid carbon import taxes on their exports to the U.S. market.?
* Graphic image credit: FossilTrax
Related posts:
- Climate Change, US Debt and Deficits: House Reps Urge Congressional Colleagues to Put a Price on Carbon US House representatives are once again urging Congressional colleagues to...
- Broadband Report Highlights ICT?s Role in Low-Carbon Economy Transformation A new Broadband Commission report illustrates "the kind of transformative...
- A Carbon Tax is More Viable than Cap and Trade Pricing carbon is the cornerstone of a blueprint to contain...
- Extending Renewable Energy Tax Credits Make a Step Forward in Congress ? National ?Day of Action? in Support Set for Tuesday Last Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 25?12??to...
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Burying the hatchet in the laser lab
ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2012) ? Experts have been heavily discussing why exactly electrically insulating materials insulate as they do. Based on different mechanisms, a classification scheme for insulators has been in use since the 1960s -- a theoretical one. However, it has been yet impossible to distinctly classify all insulators due to a lack of suitable experimental approaches. A team of physicists from Kiel University (Germany) and the University of Colorado in Boulder (USA) has now developed a new method to distinguish different insulators unambiguously.
The study was published in the online journal Nature Communications.
No notebook, no cell phone, no digital camera would be functional without electrical insulators. The hunt for precise knowledge about state-of-the-art or future insulators is just as rapid as the development of new, better electronic devices. For this reason, insulator research is currently one of the hottest topics in solid-state science.
Following the common scientific procedures in physics, such insulators are first described using universal equations and simulated by computer models. The theoretical results about materials then need to be verified by experiments in the lab. It is this experimental verification that failed for a number of insulators in the past. ?For many years, expert discussions went round and round without any final answer about the insulator class," says project leader Kai Rossnagel from the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics of Kiel University. The study presented now provides a completely new experimental approach to classifying the insulating behavior of materials objectively.
The science team made use of a special effect: some electrical conductors turn into insulators when strongly cooled down. At the same time, their electric state changes, and when the materials warm up again, their electronic properties also change. The scientists now use the speed of this change to distinguish different classes of insulators.
Inconceivably small time scales are applied in this method: For the classification, they use a laser beam camera to produce a film from individual images taken within femtoseconds. For comparison: If you took one picture every femtosecond for a period of one second, you would end up with 1.000.000.000.000.000 single pictures, while a regular film camera takes only 24 images per second. ?The electronic changes visible in the film, take about one to 50 femtoseconds for some materials and 100 to 200 femtoseconds for others," Rossnagel explains. In this manner, the scientists can distinguish one insulator class from another.
One of the heavily discussed insulator materials, titanium diselenide (TiSe2), was now precisely classified. On top of the precise classification of TiSe2, the scientists gave the first experimental evidence for a new class of insulators, the so-called excitonic insulators. ?We believe that our results may terminate the discussion about titanium diselenide after decades"; says Rossnagel but admits: ?Only after several years of cross-checking our results, we will know for sure if our method is as useful as we think now."
The new classification method uses a camera technique presented by the same team of researchers in the journal Nature in March 2011. It is called ?femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with extreme UV radiation." The current study was the first systematic application of the new camera technique to a scientific question. The study was carried out within the Kiel Nano and Surface Science, one out of four major research themes at Kiel University. It was funded on the German side by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- S. Hellmann, T. Rohwer, M. Kall?ne, K. Hanff, C. Sohrt, A. Stange, A. Carr, M.M. Murnane, H.C. Kapteyn, L. Kipp, M. Bauer, K. Rossnagel. Time-domain classification of charge-density-wave insulators. Nature Communications, 2012; 3: 1069 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2078
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Monday, September 24, 2012
Bank fees soar, free-checking offers decline
By Herb Weisbaum, NBC News contributor
A just-released study by Bankrate.com finds that checking account fees have hit unprecedented highs. At the same time, it?s becoming harder to get a truly free checking account, one with no strings attached.
Here are the key findings from the Bankrate 2012 Checking Survey:
- The average monthly maintenance fee for a non-interest checking account is now at a record high of $5.48. That?s a 25 percent jump from last year.
- Overdraft fees are also at a record high. The average NSF or nonsufficient funds fee is $31.26, up from $30.83 last year.?
- The cost to get cash from an out-of-network ATM is up dramatically. Expect to pay an average fee of $2.50 to the owner of the ATM, a new record and up 4 percent from last year. Plus your bank will charge you another $1.57 on average, an increase of 11 percent.?
As fees go up, ?free? checking ? with no minimum balance requirement and no monthly fee ? continues its march toward extinction.?
?And that?s going to continue over the next few years,? said Bankrate?s senior financial analyst Greg McBride. ?I don?t expect it to reverse anytime soon.??
The Bankrate survey shows that only 39 percent of the major banks in the U.S. offer non-interest checking accounts that have no fee. That?s down from a peak of 76 percent just three years ago and 45 percent in 2011.?
Why is this happening??
Bankers are responding to new federal regulations that have reduced their revenue from both overdraft fees and debit card swipe fees.?
?Free checking accounts have become the casualty of those regulatory changes,? McBride said. ?Rather than handing out that free checking to everybody who walks through the door, you typically have to have some other relationship or business with the bank.?
You can avoid the fees
Bankrate found that with most non-interest checking accounts ? about 95 percent ? there are ways to avoid the fees.
?The easiest way to get your account for free is to sign up for direct deposit,? McBride said. ?That?s the most common string attached and it?s a pretty low hurdle to clear.?
Some banks require a minimum balance to waive the fee and that amount continues to rise. In some cases, it can be thousands of dollars. According to the Bankrate survey, the average minimum balance to avoid a fee now stands at $723, an increase of 23 percent from last year.
There is another option: move your money. Look for a financial institution ? a credit union, community bank or online bank ? that offers totally free checking with no requirements to qualify. Bankrate found that 72 percent of the largest credit unions still offer free checking.
Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, has prepared a tip sheet on how to move your money to a new checking account.?
Skip most interest-bearing checking accounts
Bankrate found that these accounts have become even less attractive in the last year.
They have higher fees than non-interest accounts and require a larger balance to have those fees waived.?
- The minimum balance required to avoid a monthly maintenance fee now sits at a whopping $6,118. That minimum has nearly double in the last two years.
- Miss the minimum threshold and you?ll get hit with a monthly maintenance fee that averages $14.75.
More importantly, the yields are ridiculously low. The average interest-bearing checking account in the U.S. right now pays a paltry 0.05 percent. If you had $250,000 in that account for a year, you?d only earn $125.?
?This is not an efficient use of cash,? McBride said. The interest earnings you receive are a pittance and really don?t justify tying up that amount of money at very low and uncompetitive rates of return.??
Beat the banks
Most bank penalty fees can be avoided and it?s not all that difficult to do. You just need to remember what triggers a fee and act accordingly.?
Plan ahead if you need cash?
Only use your bank?s ATM or one that is in-network. In a pinch, make a purchase with your credit or debit card and get some cash back. That way, there?s no fee.?
Avoid overdraft fees?
We all make mistakes, but you?ll get clobbered if you overdraw your account. Monitor your account: keep track of automatic bill payments, debit card charges and cash withdrawals. It?s easy to check your balance online or on the phone. See if you bank offers email or text alerts that let you know when your checking account balance drops below a level you set.?
Link your checking account to a savings account that can be tapped if you overdraw. That service is a lot cheaper than paying an overdraft fee.?
If you want to prevent overdraws with a debit card (and avoid NSF fees) don?t opt-in to the bank?s overdraft protection program. Sign up for this ?courtesy? service and you will be able to overdraw your checking account when you make a purchase with your debit card ? and you?ll pay a hefty fee if you do. Without debit card overdraft protection the transaction will be declined at the register if you?re about to trigger an overdraft.?
Do you know if you have overdraft protection on your debit card account? If you?re not sure, call your bank.
ConsumerMan: Customers still confused about overdraft protection?
Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook or visit The ConsumerMan website.
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A mouse in the house? Tips for finding a qualified pest professional ...
Photo courtesy of NewsUSA
Saving a few bucks on do-it-yourself pest control isn?t worth the risks to your health and property, so call an expert.
(NewsUSA) ? Have you grown accustomed to the sight of gnawed-on package corners, bread crumb trails or mouse droppings? Are your Frosted Flakes littered with meal moth wings and larvae? Have you noticed several connect-the-dot piles of sawdust from hungry termites or beetles?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you have a pest problem, and not the kind to be solved by a trip to the hardware store. Pest problems are best left to licensed and qualified pest professionals.
?Pests, such as mice and insects, can transmit diseases and cause severe allergic reactions.
Inhaling fumes from dead mice or their droppings can cause headaches, fever, nausea and diarrhea. That?s why we strongly encourage people to call an expert at the first sign of a pest infestation,? says Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for the National Pest Management Association.
However, weeding through the list of pest-control professionals can be a challenge. Some door-to-door pest experts will offer a free home inspection that leads to all sorts of costly treatments and lengthy procedures.
Henriksen offers the following tips on finding a trustworthy professional control agent:
Always deal with a qualified and licensed pest management company. Consider asking to see the license or other credentials of the pest control professional who comes to solve your pest problem.
Ask friends and neighbors to recommend pest control companies, and find out how satisfied they were with the service.
If large sums of money are required, get bids from several pest control companies to get the best deal.
Look into professionals that are members of national, state or local pest management associations like the NPMA.
Ask plenty of questions about the extent of your pest problem, how it?s to be treated and the work needed so there aren?t any unwelcome surprises on your bill.
Find out if the pest management company has liability insurance to cover any damages to your house or furnishings during the extermination process.
If your purchase comes with a guarantee, know explicitly what it covers, how long it lasts and whether any action is required to keep it in effect.
Get more information about pest management issues at www.pestworld.org ? including pest prevention, identifying an infestation and how to find a pest professional.
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The Unintended Consequences Of QE Infinity - Business Insider
5.5% Unemployment Is Acceptable?
We Live in Uncertain Times?
With Apologies to Drunken Sailors?
What If They Gave a QE Party and No One Came??
The Magnitude of the Mess We're In?Atlanta, New York, Orlando, and South America
There is an intense debate going on in the first-class cabin of Economics Airlines about the direction in which our plane should be pointed. And while those of us back in the cheap seats don't get to help decide, knowing where we will land is of intense interest to all of us. This week we listen in on the debate, in the form of speeches and academic postings passed back from first class for the rest of us to read. This type of debate also occurred when Greenspan held rates down at an abnormally low level for a very long time. The unintended consequence of that move was a housing and debt/leverage bubble. Are there potential unintended consequences to Bernanke's current monetary policy, which some are calling Quantitative Easing Infinity? I suggest you put up your tray tables and fasten your seatbelts ? the ride could get bumpy as we explore?QE Infinity: Unintended Consequences.
?
The Federal Reserve (that is, the FOMC ? Federal Open Market Committee) last week gave us an open-ended quantitative easing policy. Most of the world thought they would only give us QE3, and more than a few observers expressed surprise that the Bernanke-led Fed decided not only to continue Operation Twist at its current level but also to buy an additional $40 billion a month of agency mortgage bonds. This latter easing policy will continue "(i)f the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially?"
This rather prodigious easing will total some $85 billion per month for the rest of the year and almost $500 billion a year, for some time to come. My first thought upon reading the post-meeting communiqu? and Bernanke's press release was, what exactly defines the policy? What is an acceptable rate of unemployment? This is not merely an academic question because, as we have noted in past letters, it is going to be quite some time before unemployment dips below 6%, and to reach that level will take a much healthier economy than the one in which we are mired.
The balance sheet of the Federal Reserve is now at a mind-numbing $1.5 trillion. Bernanke proposes to raise that by a half trillion dollars every year until we reach whatever is deemed an acceptable rate of unemployment, as long as it is "achieved in a context of price stability." And while Bernanke argued many years ago for a 2% inflation target, there has been no real line in the sand as to what the current target should be and what is an acceptable rate of inflation in an age of very high US indebtedness, not to mention high unemployment.
And so the Fed has embarked upon a course of extraordinary quantitative easing ? or printing money, in the vulgar parlance of those of us back in the cheap seats. And it is doing so in the face of a growing chorus of economists who are clearly seated in first class and who are hollering that more QE will not have?any?effect upon employment and may even do more harm than good.
We have discussed?William White's work, posted on the Dallas Federal Reserve's website (White is the chief economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] and was formerly with the Bank for International Settlements). He and Professor Michael Woodford of Columbia both argued at Jackson Hole (the venue to which first-class economists get whisked off each August ? my invitation seems to have gotten lost in the mail again this years) that more QE would not have the desired effect and could even be counterproductive. I should note that other papers at Jackson Hole lent support to the new Fed policy.
Last Monday an op-ed in the?Wall Street Journal,?penned by five PhDs in economics, among them a former Secretary of the Treasury and an almost-guaranteed Nobel laureate (and most of them former members of the President's Council of Economic Advisors) minced no words in excoriating the current policy. We will look at that op-ed in detail below. The point is that there are grave reservations about the current policy among some very serious policy makers.
But I note, again, that many others of equal stature are praising Bernanke. Martin Wolf of the?Financial Times?was especially effusive this week in praise of the new policy. The Fed, as we all know by now, has a dual mandate to maintain price stability while promoting full employment. These goals can clearly conflict with each other. For now, the goal of higher employment is taking precedence over the need to stem inflation that mightarise from overuse of the monetary printing press.
5.5% Unemployment Is Acceptable
At the press conference after the FOMC meeting, Bernanke would not be pinned down as to what was an acceptable rate of unemployment, except to note that the level of growth the last six months "isn't it?. There's not a specific number we have in mind?. We at least at this point have decided to define it qualitatively. I hope I am giving you at least a little color in terms of what we will be looking for.... We don't have a single number that captures that."
So I was somewhat surprised when Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota said in a speech that the Fed should hold the main interest rate near zero, until (in his words):
"As long as the FOMC is continuing to satisfy its price stability mandate, it should keep the fed funds rate extraordinarily low until the unemployment rate has fallen below 5.5 percent."
My first thought upon seeing that headline and news report (without reading the speech) was that Kocherlakota, who is normally thought of as one of the Fed's inflation hawks, had just advocated a policy that might mean QE Infinity for 5-6 years or more. We are talking about a potential tripling of an already bloated Fed balance sheet.
I have spent whole issues of?Thoughts from the Frontlines?on the topic of employment growth, so let me quickly summarize. It takes about 125,000 new jobs per month just to keep up with population growth. We need 250,000 new jobs per month for a year to drop the unemployment rate by a little more than 1%, and the economy needs to grow north of 3% per year for that to happen. This means we might reach 5.5% unemployment three years from now if, somehow, the economy started to grow substantially.
That scenario also assumes that everyone who is not considered unemployed stays that way. We have seen one million people drop from the official labor force in just the last two months. I think we can safely say that a very large majority of those people would take a job if they could find one; so if the economy does in fact begin to grow, those people are going to start looking for jobs and will once again be counted as unemployed. (For newbies: you are not counted as unemployed if you were not actually looking for a job within the past four weeks.)
Reasonable people can probably agree that at least 2% of the population not currently counted as unemployed would take jobs if they could find them. Factoring them into the equation, we need to see at least five years ??in a row ??of three million new jobs per year to get to Kocherlakota's acceptable level of 5.5% (give or take a few million). Achieving that would require nine years without a recession (since the end of the last recession), not an easy thing to accomplish in a world where governments are going to have to significantly cut spending.
The Fed clearly said it intended to keep rates low for another three years, although there is not universal agreement on that issue. (Note: Bernanke's term is over in 2014, so there is an assumption that this policy may outlast him.) Could inflation hawk Kocherlakota really be advocating an even lengthier easing period?
The answer is in his speech. What he actually said was that we should hold rates low until unemployment goes to 5.5%, assuming (and here's the point) that inflation stays below 2.25%. Now that is an interesting number to choose. It's not the 2% normally used in academic circles when discussing inflation targets, and it's not 2.5-3%, where it might be set to make sure any apparent inflation is just a temporary data anomaly. No, he said 2.25%.
(Another newbie note: the Fed likes to look at something called PCE inflation [Personal Consumption Expenditures] and not the headline Consumer Price Index we see each month. Google it if you want a longer explanation.)
So, I decided to take a quick look at what inflation is doing. Let's look first at the Consumer Price Index without the volatile food and energy categories (since economists don't eat or drive cars). We find that inflation bumped briefly up to the neighborhood of 2.25% early this year, before conveniently falling back to under 2%.
And what about the PCE index? It is also now just below 2%.
Last May Kocherlakota was talking about maybe needing to stop the easing policy by the end of this year. But after a more careful reading of his speech, I see that this is not him deciding to accept the higher rate of inflation that many on the Fed are openly espousing. It actually seems to be a very gentlemanly way to draw a line in the sand and say, "OK, I can go along with your longer-term QE, but only so long as inflation stays low. And by low I mean lower than 2.25%."
And then again, maybe I am reading too much into his speech. I think someone of the stature of Tom Keen of Bloomberg should get Kocherlakota on his show and ask him directly what he means. Why 2.25%? And for how long, before the trigger is pulled? Etc.
We Live in Uncertain Times
The?Wall Street Journal?op-ed I mentioned (which we will look at in greater depth in a minute) noted:
"In 2010, the number of Federal Register pages devoted to proposed new rules broke its previous all-time record for the second consecutive year. It's up by 25% compared to 2008. These regulations alone will impose large costs and create heightened uncertainty for business and especially small business."
A recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business shows that small-business concern over government regulation has risen to match the level of concern about taxes and poor sales.
Uncertainty is clearly a contributing factor to the economic malaise we are in.
"Policy uncertainty is another beast altogether. Two recent studies offer hard evidence to back the intuition that confusion about what Uncle Sam is going to do has dampened the recovery, leading to subpar job creation. Stanford University economists?Scott Baker?andNicholas Bloom?joined the?University of Chicago's Steven Davis?in using a variety of measures, such as news stories and the number of federal tax code provisions set to expire, to construct an index of policy uncertainty levels. The results show entrepreneurs have more doubts today about where policy is headed than they did just a few years ago.
"The economists estimated the rise in uncertainty from 2006 to 2011 resulted in a 16 percent plummet in private-sector investment and an employment drop of 2.3 million jobs. Their findings are consistent with earlier studies, such as the one by Harvard's Dani Rodrik, which showed uncertainty acts like a tax on investment. In fact, the literature on the depressing effects of uncertainty is vast. No less an authority than now-Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke argued as far back as 1983 that higher uncertainty encourages firms to postpone high-expense investment.
"In a just-released study, San Francisco Federal Reserve economists Sylvan Luc and Zheng Liu offer more hard evidence of uncertainty's depressing effect. When people don't know what government will do next, they're less willing to invest and spend. They found higher uncertainty levels during the Great Recession increased the unemployment rate by 1 to 2 percent. That is, if uncertainty levels had remained stable, they say, 'the unemployment rate would be closer to 6 or 7 percent rather than to the 8 or 9 percent it actually registered.' Each percentage point difference means 1.5 million wind up in the unemployment lines." (Nita Ghei for?The Washington Times,?athttp://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/21/uncertainty-and-unemployment/)
But this political uncertainty is not something that Federal Reserve monetary policy can deal with, which is one of the main arguments of those who oppose further quantitative easing.
"The Fed is adding to the uncertainty of current policy. Quantitative easing as a policy tool is very hard to manage. Traders speculate whether and when the Fed will intervene next. The Fed can intervene without limit in any credit market ? not only mortgage-backed securities but also securities backed by automobile loans or student loans. This raises questions about why an independent agency of government should have this power." (WSJ)
With Apologies to Drunken Sailors
Which brings us to a speech this week by my favorite FOMC member, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher. (Note: Fisher, though a Texan, did run for the US Senate?as a Democrat?before he was named Dallas Fed president, so forget that stereotype you have in your mind here of Texans and Republicans.) We are going to look at a few paragraphs of his speech to the Harvard Club of New York, which he kicks off on a nautical theme, noting his matriculation at the Naval Academy and then explaining why he is against further QE when the majority of the committee is bent on pursuing the policy. It boils down to the dual mandate from Congress, which leaves the Fed in a conflicted position. Which policy to make primary?
"It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I did not argue in favor of additional monetary accommodation during our meetings last week. I have repeatedly made it clear, in internal FOMC deliberations and in public speeches, that I believe that with each program we undertake to venture further in that direction, we are sailing deeper into uncharted waters. We are blessed at the Fed with sophisticated econometric models and superb analysts. We can easily conjure up plausible theories as to what we will do when it comes to our next tack or eventually reversing course. The truth, however, is that nobody on the committee, nor on our staffs at the Board of Governors and the 12 Banks, really knows what is holding back the economy. Nobody really knows what will work to get the economy back on course. And nobody ? in fact, no central bank anywhere on the planet ? has the experience of successfully navigating a return home from the place in which we now find ourselves. No central bank ? not, at least, the Federal Reserve ? has ever been on this cruise before.
"This much we do know: Our engine room is already flush with $1.6 trillion in excess private bank reserves owned by the banking sector and held by the 12 Federal Reserve Banks. Trillions more are sitting on the sidelines in corporate coffers. On top of all that, a significant amount of underemployed cash ? or fuel for investment ? is burning a hole in the pockets of money market funds and other nondepository financial operators. This begs the question: Why would the Fed provision to shovel billions in additional liquidity into the economy's boiler when so much is presently lying fallow?...
"One of the most important lessons learned during the economic recovery is that there is a limit to what monetary policy alone can achieve. The responsibility for stimulating economic growth must be shared with fiscal policy. Ironically, and sadly, Congress is doing nothing to incent job creators to use the copious liquidity the Federal Reserve has provided. Indeed, it is doing everything to?discourage?job creation. Small wonder that the respondents to my own inquires and the NFIB and Duke University surveys are in 'stall' or 'Velcro' mode.
"The FOMC is doing everything it can to encourage the U.S. economy to steam forward. When we meet, we consider views that range from the most cautious perspectives on policy, such as my own, to the more accommodative recommendations of the well-known 'doves' on the committee. We debate our different perspectives in the best tradition of civil discourse. Then, having vetted all points of view, we make a decision and act. If only the fiscal authorities could do the same! Instead, they fight, bicker and do nothing but sail about aimlessly, debauching the nation's income statement and balance sheet with spending programs they never figure out how to finance.
"I am tempted to draw upon the hackneyed comparison that likens our dissolute Congress to drunken sailors. But patriots among you might take umbrage, noting that a comparison with Congress in this case might be deemed an insult to drunken sailors.
"Just recently, in a hearing before the Senate, your senator and my Harvard classmate, Chuck Schumer, told Chairman Bernanke, "You are the only game in town." I thought the chairman showed admirable restraint in his response. I would have immediately answered, "No, senator, you and your colleagues are the only game in town. For you and your colleagues, Democrat and Republican alike, have encumbered our nation with debt, sold our children down the river and sorely failed our nation. Sober up. Get your act together.Illegitimum non carborundum; get on with it. Sacrifice your political ambition for the good of our country ? for the good of our children and grandchildren. For unless you do so, all the monetary policy accommodation the Federal Reserve can muster will be for naught."
(You can read the whole speech at?http://www.dallasfed.org/news/speeches/fisher/2012/fs120919.cfm)
What If They Gave a QE Party and No One Came?
I worried and wrote, when QE2 was being discussed, that the Fed was in danger of wasting a bullet that it might need in the future. The longer-term effects of the previous rounds of QE have not been very significant for the economy, unless you are a banker or own stocks. Getting an extra $25 billion, as US banks have gotten from the Fed, is significant largesse. And corporations are not exactly going wild on capital expenditure programs, either. The money the Fed is creating is sitting idle.
And now the Fed has essentially shot its last QE bullet. Yes, I know that the $40 billion a month has yet to show up. But I am quite worried that at some point the euphoria the market has temporarily exhibited with each new round of QE will be replaced by the dismayed cry, "Is that all you've got?" And then what will the Fed do?
If Europe falls into deeper crisis mode, and it well could (there is just not time to deal with Europe today, and for that I am sure you are glad), then what will the Fed do? More money will not be the answer. The Fed has shot all its monetary ammo, short of actually putting money into your and my bank accounts (which might be more useful than putting it into the accounts of banks that turn right around and put it back into the Fed's coffers).
Thus, I ask the question, "What if they gave a QE party and no one came?" Maybe this QE will be different and the party will go as planned. But there is a very large and real risk that the party will turn out to be one of those that you try to escape as soon as possible. You know, the kind where the people at the party are not fun, the food is bad, and the wine is awful. The kind where the air conditioning doesn't work in summer. Time to slip out the back, Jack.
But in one real sense, QE Infinity going to put even more pressure on Congress to do something after the elections. We are going to find out the real limits to monetary policy the hard way, I am afraid, and Congress will have to act, or things could get ugly.
I am concerned that we are going to have to deal with the unintended consequences of a monetary policy that has been and will continue to be too easy for too long. The last time out, that did not end well, and I am concerned that it won't this time, either. It will be sadly ironic if in the pursuit of higher employment the Fed creates the conditions for a recession or triggers a negative market reaction that forces them to scramble to pull back hard on the free money throttle.
But there is simply no way to know what will really happen when the Fed has to act to take back some of the liquidity it has provided. While the velocity of money is still trending down, at some point it is going to turn around. While that does not seem likely for the next few years, when it does happen, if the Fed has printed too much money, it will have to pull back sharply to check inflation.
It is a very dangerous game they are playing. They seem to be flying too close to the mountain tops, and it is making this passenger on Economics Airlines almost afraid to look out the window. Uncertainty indeed!
Finally ? and I know I am quoting a lot in this letter, but there was so much that was well-done this week, I felt I needed to ? we are going to look at one more piece. This is the WSJ op-ed I referred to earlier. I'll let the authors speak for themselves. The full essay can be found at?http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303561504577497442109193610.html
"The Magnitude of the Mess We're In
"The next Treasury secretary will confront problems so daunting that even Alexander Hamilton would have trouble preserving the full faith and credit of the United States.
"By George P. Shultz, Michael J. Boskin, John F. Cogan, Allan H. Meltzer and John B. Taylor
"Sometimes a few facts tell important stories. The American economy now is full of facts that tell stories that you really don't want, but need, to hear.
"Where are we now?
"Did you know that annual spending by the federal government now exceeds the 2007 level by about $1 trillion? With a slow economy, revenues are little changed. The result is an unprecedented string of federal budget deficits, $1.4 trillion in 2009, $1.3 trillion in 2010, $1.3 trillion in 2011, and another $1.2 trillion on the way this year. The four-year increase in borrowing amounts to $55,000 per U.S. household.
"The amount of debt is one thing. The burden of interest payments is another. The Treasury now has a preponderance of its debt issued in very short-term durations, to take advantage of low short-term interest rates. It must frequently refinance this debt which, when added to the current deficit, means Treasury must raise $4 trillion this year alone. So the debt burden will explode when interest rates go up.
"The government has to get the money to finance its spending by taxing or borrowing. While it might be tempting to conclude that we can just tax upper-income people, did you know that the U.S. income tax system is already very progressive? The top 1% pay 37% of all income taxes and 50% pay none.
"Did you know that, during the last fiscal year, around three-quarters of the deficit was financed by the Federal Reserve? Foreign governments accounted for most of the rest, as American citizens' and institutions' purchases and sales netted to about zero. The Fed now owns one in six dollars of the national debt, the largest percentage of GDP in history, larger than even at the end of World War II.
"The Fed has effectively replaced the entire interbank money market and large segments of other markets with itself. It determines the interest rate by declaring what it will pay on reserve balances at the Fed without regard for the supply and demand of money. By replacing large decentralized markets with centralized control by a few government officials, the Fed is distorting incentives and interfering with price discovery with unintended economic consequences.
"Did you know that the Federal Reserve is now giving money to banks, effectively circumventing the appropriations process? To pay for quantitative easing ? the purchase of government debt, mortgage-backed securities, etc. ? the Fed credits banks with electronic deposits that are reserve balances at the Federal Reserve. These reserve balances have exploded to $1.5 trillion from $8 billion in September 2008.
"The Fed now pays 0.25% interest on reserves it holds. So the Fed is paying the banks almost $4 billion a year. If interest rates rise to 2%, and the Federal Reserve raises the rate it pays on reserves correspondingly, the payment rises to $30 billion a year. Would Congress appropriate that kind of money to give ? not lend ? to banks?
"? the Fed's Operation Twist, buying long-term and selling short-term debt, is substituting for the Treasury's traditional debt management.
"This large expansion of reserves creates two-sided risks. If it is not unwound, the reserves could pour into the economy, causing inflation. In that event, the Fed will have effectively turned the government debt and mortgage-backed securities it purchased into money that will have an explosive impact. If reserves are unwound too quickly, banks may find it hard to adjust and pull back on loans. Unwinding would be hard to manage now, but will become ever harder the more the balance sheet rises.
"When businesses and households confront large-scale uncertainty, they tend to wait for more clarity to emerge before making major commitments to spend, invest and hire. Right now, they confront a mountain of regulatory uncertainty and a fiscal cliff that, if unattended, means a sharp increase in taxes and a sharp decline in spending bound to have adverse effect on the economy.
"Are you surprised that so much cash is waiting on the sidelines?...
"In short, we risk passing an economic, fiscal and financial point of no return. The problems are close to being unmanageable now. If we stay on the current path, they will wind up being completely unmanageable, culminating in an unwelcome explosion and crisis.
The fixes are blindingly obvious. Economic theory, empirical studies and historical experience teach that the solutions are the lowest possible tax rates on the broadest base, sufficient to fund the necessary functions of government on balance over the business cycle; sound monetary policy; trade liberalization; spending control and entitlement reform; and regulatory, litigation and education reform. The need is clear. Why wait for disaster? The future is now."
Atlanta, New York, Orlando, and South America
Before we get into my schedule, I want to call to your attention an excellent white paper on investing by my friends Jon Sundt and Allen Cheng of Altegris Investments. Their topic is the convergent/divergent approach to portfolio diversification.? At the recent Altegris Alternatives Forum for professional investors in Palo Alto, I listened to my good friend Matt Osborne discuss this topic.? Matt stressed the importance of moving away from traditional portfolio diversification, as defined by style or asset class, and instead suggested assessing strategies based on how they tend to perform in various market environments.? Convergent strategies historically perform when market fundamentals are intact. ?Long-short equity is an example.? ?Divergent investment strategies, on the other hand, are those that may thrive when markets are in a more irrational state.? Managed futures are a strong example of a divergent strategy. ?A blend of convergent and divergent strategies enables your portfolio to perform in a multitude of market environments.? You can access this paper by going to?www.altegris.com???it's right on the home page of the website. It really is quite a good piece on the current theories regarding diversification.
I'll reconvene with my friends at Altegris on Wednesday in Atlanta. As it turns out, Martin Truax will be in town, as will Jeff Saut of Raymond James, whom I have not seen for way too long. Then Sunday night I will be in New York with some of the team from Mauldin Economics, and Kiron Sarkar will be coming over from London. The following day is packed with meetings, capped by what shapes up as an awesome dinner with a great group that is gathering to hash over current affairs. Then I'll be with Tom Keene the next morning on Bloomberg, at 7 AM! Then it's on to Orlando as the guest of UBS, in an event hosted by Altegris. Finally, I'll enjoy a quick get together with Pat Cox and then head back home.
Care to join me election night, November 6 ? in Argentina?? From October 28 to November 8 I'll be in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, speaking to regional chapters of the CFA Society. As part of the trip, I'm stopping by for the season-opening celebration, November 5-10, of friend and partner Doug Casey's lifestyle and sporting estate,?La Estancia de Cafayate, where I'll host the group at a caf? on the scenic town plaza and watch the election results roll in.? If you'd like to join me and a group of interesting folks from around the world in what promises to be a unique experience, drop Dave Norden a note at?LiveMore@LaEst.com. David Galland has promised nonalcoholic beers for me for the evening. The recent polls suggest I might want something stronger, but I think I can hold out.
Wednesday evening I did a speech in Chicago for John Arthur of the RDA Financial Network. He was kind enough to take me, Mike Shedlock (the #2 or #3 financial blogger), and Steve Blumenthal to Ditka's for dinner afterwards, and the conversation was invigorating. We do live in interesting, if uncertain, times.
It really is time to hit the send button. Look for a VERY special announcement from me this week. There are some rather big changes coming up, and you will get to be part of them. I am actually quite excited about everything. Have a great week.
Your getting more comfortable with uncertainty analyst,
John Mauldin
subscribers@MauldinEconomics.com
Copyright 2012 John Mauldin. All Rights Reserved.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-unintended-consequences-of-qe-infinity-2012-9
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Saturday, September 22, 2012
Polar bear bill ties Senate in knots
WASHINGTON (AP) ? On its last day in session before the election, the Senate tied itself in knots over 41 polar bear carcasses that hunters want to bring home from Canada as big game trophies.
After punting tough decisions on far weightier issues like raising taxes and cutting spending, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., insisted that the Senate address the wide-ranging sportsmen's bill before voting on must-pass legislation to prevent the government from shutting down at the end of next week.
Republicans resisted for a while Friday, contending the only reason Reid wanted the vote now on the bill long sought by hunters and sport fishermen was to benefit Democratic incumbent Jon Tester 's re-election prospects in a tossup race in Montana that could determine which party runs the Senate next year.
"This isn't a campaign studio, It's the Senate," Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., complained on the Senate floor Friday. "We've got responsibilities to meet. Let's meet them. And leave the politics out of it for once."
The House had passed a similar bill in April that was co-sponsored by Rep. Denny Rehberg, Tester's Republican opponent in the Montana Senate race. In the end, Tester would get only a test vote as the Senate, yet again, punted another issue until after the election.
Tester's bill combines 19 measures favorable to outdoorsmen. In addition to dealing with the polar bear hides, it would allow more hunting and fishing on federal lands, let bow hunters cross federal land where hunting isn't allowed, encourage federal land agencies to cooperate with state and local authorities to maintain shooting ranges, exclude ammunition and tackle from federal environmental laws that regulate lead, boost fish populations and protect animal habitat.
Tester suggested that Friday's compromise allowing for a test vote but delaying a final one exemplifies why Congress has such a poor approval rating from voters.
"That might take some of the politics out of it and if we ever made a decision here without politics it would be an earth shattering day," Tester said. "This bill right here is a prime example of what is wrong in Washington, D.C. ? it's being held up for no reason whatsoever."
The polar bear provision would allow the 41 hunters ?including two in Montana ? who killed polar bears in Canada just before a 2008 ban on polar bear trophy imports took effect to bring the bears' bodies across the border. The hunters involved were not able to bring the trophies home before the Fish and Wildlife Services listed them as a threatened species.
Tester said it would just allow a few people who have polar bear trophies stored in Canada to finally bring them home. "These polar bears are dead, they are in cold storage and we know exactly who they are," he said.
Michael Markarian of The Humane Society of the United States criticized the measure. "The cumulative impacts of incentivizing this killing over and over again are contrary to American conservation law," he said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/polar-bear-bill-ties-senate-knots-221423720.html
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