Grumpy Editor

U.S. spends $750,000 on soccer field --- for detainees

While expenditures for our troops at military bases remain frugal, taxpayers --- with tax filing time approaching --- should be a bit grouchy with word that a nearly-completed soccer field for inmates at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, carries a hefty price tag of $750,000, notes Grumpy Editor.

Along with the soccer field, the new recreation yard at Camp 6, where most of 171 prisoners are confined, will feature a walking trail and exercise equipment.

The only negative (for detainees) in close-to-resort living is that screened fences block views of the blue Caribbean Sea.

The project, designed to keep prisoners occupied and happy with outdoor activities, started last April and is the third recreation yard at the Guantanamo complex.

An Associated Press story on the added playground, wrapped up in three small paragraphs, appears in some newspapers today.

But it is Catherine Herridge of Fox News who led with the revelation yesterday, mentioning, “The new field has been specially constructed so that the detainees ‘have maximum access’ -- about 20 hours a day.”

She added, “Special passageways allow the detainees to pass into the new recreation yard without being escorted by the military.”

 

Obama visits Vegas, still reeling from his 2009 comment

Most curious stop on President Barack Obama’s two days of speeches in five cities is today’s stop in Las Vegas, the place where three years ago he scolded companies that planned to hold meetings or events in the gambling mecca, which now ranks as the foreclosure capital of the U.S. as thousands of casino and allied workers were laid off, notes Grumpy Editor.

Unemployment in Las Vegas last year:  13.3 percent, among the highest in the nation.

In reporting from Sin City today, it will be interesting to observe if  national print/broadcast correspondents, some with fuzzy memories, work in the president’s February, 2009 line aimed at business gatherings, “You can’t take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers’ dime.”

Soon after that statement, Wells Fargo Bank and Goldman Sachs, among others, shifted major meetings from Las Vegas to other cities.  Tourists also shunned the famous Las Vegas Strip. 

Prior to that, Obama made 20 visits to Las Vegas during his first campaign, grabbing attention by saying he wanted to help “not just the folks who own casinos but the folks who are serving in casinos.” 

So today’s nationally-televised speech in Las Vegas will not be from the casino-lined Strip but rather at a United Parcel Service hub near McCarran International Airport. 

Soon after the mid-morning delivery, mainly to UPS workers, the president heads for Denver, then Detroit.

 

Grumpy Editor lists FOMC’s meeting dates for 2012

Investors, market observers, economists and business writers --- in a period with uncertainty in financial markets --- will be paying close attention to the periodic Federal Open Market Committee meetings during 2012, reminds Grumpy Editor.

Wording in statements following each meeting during the year will be put under the microscope, as clues will be sought from FOMC’s 12 members headed by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke.

Any change in the federal funds rate triggers a chain of events that affect short-term interest rates, long-term interest rates, foreign exchange rates, the amount of money and credit, and, ultimately, a range of economic variables.

That includes employment, output, prices of goods and services plus, of course, the stock market direction.

While business and financial stories in coming months will mention upcoming Fed action, many writers are fuzzy in pinpointing actual dates of FOMC meetings in advance.  Sometimes they come close with “next week” or “next month.”

So, as a guide, Grumpy Editor lists the dates of the 2012 scheduled meetings, including four two-day sessions:

 

January	24-25
March	13
April	24-25
June	19-20
July	31
September	12
October	23-24
December	11

 

Following the meetings (or at the end of two-day gatherings), statements are released to media around 2:15 p.m., Eastern time.

 

Where are the rich? They gather in Washington, D.C.

So where is the best place to rub elbows with millionaires? 

Forget Beverly Hills.  Skip the Hamptons on Long Island.  Best bet for the biggest congregation of the truly rich is at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., finds Grumpy Editor. 

That’s where 250 members, or almost half, of Congress are millionaires. 

USA Today and ABC News are among the few major print or broadcast outlets that ran detailed material, released Tuesday, based on 2010 financial disclosures analyzed by Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics. 

The nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization adds that 58 members of Congress, or about 11 percent, have a net worth of more than $9 million.  That puts them in an even more elite group:  the top one percent of wealth. 

Net worth may be even higher.  That’s because lawmakers’ disclosure forms do not include primary residences (which could add millions more) or other personal property --- which could be anything from gold bars to diamonds. 

With members’ assets and liabilities disclosed only in broad ranges, the tallies of estimated net worth are figured in the middle of the ranges. 

The top five richest people in Congress, based on Center for Responsive Politics’ findings: 

Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), with an estimated net worth of $448.1 million. 

Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), $380.4 million. 

Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.), $231.7 million. 

Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), $192.7 million. 

Sen. Herb Kohl (D., Wis.), $173.5 million.

 

NOTE:  Continuing with the focus on the rich, tomorrow’s Grumpy Editor covers which publicly-held companies are top investments  with members of Congress.