Short answer: too many
Or, as Ron Johnson, the Republican businessman currently running ahead of Wisconsin’s incumbent senator Finegold says:
There are 100 members of the U.S. Senate.
Fifty-seven of them, including Russ Feingold, are lawyers.
That’d be fine if we had a lawsuit to settle, but we have an economy to fix.
There are zero manufacturers and one accountant.
It’s no wonder we’re losing jobs and piling up debt. …
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_706364.html
Yesterday, at a campaign rally in Bridgeport, Obama was heckled by “young people” chanting “keep the promise” … and responded with a boldface lie that drew cheers from supporters.
Wonder if mainstream media will call him on the lie?
I’m betting ‘no’.
First, here’s the recap of the heckling:
Obama was interrupted by college-age hecklers demanding more funding for the global fight against AIDS.
They chanted, “Keep the promise,” and unfurled banners with the same message. The protesters were booed.
“Excuse me! Excuse me, young people!” Obama said, trying to regain control.
“These folks have been, you’ve been appearing at every rally we’ve been doing. And we’re funding global AIDS, and the other side is not. So I don’t know why you think this is a useful…”
CT Mirror, Obama tries to rekindle hope, October 30, 2010
http://ctmirror.org/story/8229/bridgeport-obama-finds-hope-and-hecklers
Now, from left-leaning CNN no less, the inconvenient truth …
CNN, George W. Bush led on AIDS. Will Obama?, September 21st, 2010
The world needs President Barack Obama to be a global leader on HIV/AIDS.
It was not that long ago faith leaders and millions of activists organized across the globe to press President George W. Bush to respond to the AIDS pandemic and fund solutions to end extreme global poverty.
The result of bold American leadership led to nothing short of a historic wave of success.
Today, nearly four million Africans are on life saving HIV/AIDS medicines, up from 50,000 in 2002. President Bush’s legacy in the fight against global AIDS is strong …
Barack Obama campaigned on a promise to continue that leadership.
But today, his promise has yet to be kept.
Unfortunately, one major source of funding to fight AIDS, The Presidents Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) has been neglected.
During his campaign, President Obama made a promise to increase the Presidents Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) funding by $1 billion a year if elected.
He hasn’t done it. That’s a broken promise.
For those of us in this country, it’s a matter of Obama fulfilling a campaign promise. For the world’s poorest, it’s a matter of life and death.
Full article:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/21/my-take-george-w-bush-led-on-aids-will-obama/
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Side note: “Excuse me, young people” ????
Translation: “You’re dumb, I’m smart”.
Nice recap from the League of Women’s Voter’s:
First, the serious part: we’re all thankful that the bomb packages didn’t do any harm.
Now, the lighter side of a very serious situation:
Again, thankful that nothing bad happened …
TakeAway: Wal-Mart has built its reputation on its ability to cut its costs, and then pass the savings on to its customers.
To lower its costs even further, Wal-Mart is now exploring the idea of buying raw materials in conjunction with the manufacturers who sell products in Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart would presumably know exactly how much the manufacturers are saving, so it’s no surprise they’re staying away.
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Excerpted from Bloomberg Businessweek, “Wal-Mart Wants More Buying Clout,” by Matthew Boyle and Carol Wolf, October 7, 2010
Wal-Mart Stores purchasing chief Hernan Muntaner has a dream: teaming the giant retailer with soda and snack maker PepsiCo to buy potatoes jointly for a lower price than either company can get on its own. That would allow both to earn more money on the chips and spuds they sell in Wal-Mart’s supermarkets. So far, Pepsi isn’t playing along. But with sales slowing in the U.S. and the price of sugar, meat, and wheat on the rise, the world’s largest retailer is jointly purchasing a growing share of raw ingredients with manufacturers of food and household products sold in its stores. …
It’s all about the retailing giant doing what it’s become famous for: squeezing costs out of its supply chain. And although Wal-Mart is already feared by many suppliers for its enormous buying clout, it’s convinced it can cut even better deals by consolidating its purchasing with partners. Currently, only makers of private label goods sold under Wal-Mart’s house brands have joined in its so-called collaborative sourcing program. Manufacturers of branded products have taken a pass because they’re loath to share pricing data and product formulas …
Muntaner says that “in most cases” the branded companies “are more sophisticated than we are” in buying raw materials. ” …
Muntaner’s primary job is to circle the globe helping Wal-Mart’s international divisions … find ways to use the company’s massive buying muscle to lower what it spends on everything from copier paper to store-branded bottled water. Increasingly, that means selling the benefits of sourcing collaboratively. Muntaner says a soda maker … has teamed up with Wal-Mart in Britain to buy sugar. The soda company paid 14 percent less, he says. Wal-Mart’s sugar costs also fell, savings it used to lower the price of bags of its own house brand of sugar. …
This is just the company’s latest attempt at slowing expense growth. Wal-Mart … wants savings of over a billion dollars eventually.
Edit by DMG
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Full Article
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_42/b4199023758279.htm
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The Homa Files 