The effect of the drought on corn prices will not be felt for another year or so. However, in the meantime, wholesalers and retailers will anticipate inventory scarcity by increasing prices in the short-term.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wetter, cooler weather was moving into the drought-stricken U.S. crop belt on Friday, and while the change comes too late to benefit the devastated corn crop, it may give some solace to soy.

As the worst drought in over a half century took its toll, investors went on a buying spree, boosting corn prices by more than 50 percent from late May to fresh record highs above $8 per bushel. The U.S. government on Friday released fresh crop data that revealed shocking cuts for this year's grain and oilseed output as the drought spread through America's breadbasket.

I dont hear anybody talking about these crazy warm temperatures that we have been having recently---global warming anyone? July, was the hottest month on record in US history.

True, but the records only go back to the late 19th century. We can't be certain that it wasn't this hot at some point prior to that.

I think the Right doesn't pay enough attention to it, I think the Left makes it out to be more than it is. Politics as usual .

I know but that still is a long time.

i've heard that sometimes the temperature readings that are used by the people pushing global warming are sometimes therometers on airport runways and on top of buildings which are gonna be hotter. also, i think a few years ago there was some controversy about the icecaps melting when they used satelite photos during the warm season when the ice is gonna be noticeably less.

i'm not saying that man-made gasses don't contribute in some ways to environmental changes, but like was stated before the records only go back so far. the earth seems to go through temperature changes all the time so that could be partly to blame.

another thing that makes me question this global warming is the whole carbon tax issue. seems like it could be another convienient way to make money, pay this tax and global warming goes away but lets sell and trade our unused credits. something doesn't seem right about that. like i said i'm not sure about the whole issue but it helps to look at all possibilities.

Did you ever read "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton? Very interesting view on global warming. It's mostly fiction with a few facts thrown in. It's a good read.

The times, they continue to change.

Domino's Pizza (DPZ +3.04%) is overhauling its operations, getting a new logo and dropping the word "Pizza" from its name [because they sellmor than pizza].

The changes -- the company's biggest in decades -- stem from an important shift in customer behavior. People are starting to pass on home delivery in favor of picking up their orders in person [apparently to save money].

^^^if you have the dominos app on your phone you can order it on the phone and pick it up at the store, very convenient!

It is so amazing what you can do via your phone these days. Who would have ever thought you could deposit checks, pay bills and now order pizza via an "app". There's a dang app for everything.


TIS

Yep, I havent had a need to go to a physical bank in over a year. Besides direct deposit, if I need to deposit a check I take a picture of it and upload via a bank app and then its posted to my account.

That I am afraid to do, DD. If your phone gets lost or stolen, then someone could have your bank info.

Denny's to charge 5% 'Obamacare surcharge' and cut employee hours to deal with cost of legislation

James Nye
Daily Mail.co.uk
November 15, 2012

President Obama’s election victory ensured his Affordable Care Act would remain the centerpiece of his first term in power – but that has left some business owners baulking at the extra cost Obamcare will bring.

Florida based restaurant boss John Metz, who runs approximately 40 Denny’s and owns the Hurricane Grill & Wings franchise has decided to offset that by adding a five percent surcharge to customers’ bills and will reduce his employees’ hours.

With Obamacare due to be fully implemented in January 2014, Metz has justified his move by claiming it is ‘the only alternative. I’ve got to pass on the cost to the customer.’


Read full article

Fuck him and the rest of these assholes like Papa John Schnatte who are worth 1/2 a billion dollars, but don't want to provide health care to their workers who barely make minimum wage.

whether or not those companies wanna provide health insurance to thier workers is irrelevant, it is thier business after all. what gives the government the right to force anyone to provide it is beyond me. but don't worry, its not a tax, but if you opt out, you have to pay a "penalty"

These assholes are only trying to make a political statement by announcing the "5%" increase or charging 14 cents more for a shitty pizza. The fact is they still don't have to provide health care, and their cost would be $695 per person for their full-time employees making between $9,500 and $37K. Pocket change to these assholes.

^^^ right, not much in the grand scheme of things, but i just find it funny how BOTH parties always seemingly call for "less regulation" as a way to boost the economy. look at it however you want, this is another regulation. is it gonna run these companies out of business, no, but added to the ever rising cost of fuel, food, and electricity and it can really add up. drop in the bucket effect, but pretty soon that bucket fills up and might tip over. health insurance should be affordable for everyone, and its a clusterfuck however you look at it but anything "government mandated" is bound to leave us in worse shape then we started. these fools can't do a damn thing right, so adding a huge undertaking like this is bound to end badly once the beurocracy takes hold. no easy solution but i would start by cutting all forign aid right away, why the fuck should we prop up other countries when people are suffering here? use a fraction of that money to set up more free or reduced cost services for people struggling/without insurance. i also believe that all doctors should be encouraged, not forced or "mandated" to spend alot more time volunteering giving free care ect.

Ask the Russians how their socialized health care system turned out, and why when Boris Yeltsin needed a heart transplant he came to America for the operation.

And surely there are thousands of mom-and-pop small business owners who aren't worth anywhere near a 1/2 billion dollars, barely scraping by, whose regulatory costs are set to double under Obamacare, no? I speak from personal experience.

Btw you could tax every millionaire to the nth degree and it would finance the government for about five minutes. There are no free lunches. We need GROWTH, and real reform, not hand outs.

Better yet, ask Massachusetts how Romneycare worked out. The law has a 63% approval rating, and twice as many people now have health insurance there compared to before the law. ...Oh, and its penalty is over twice as much as Obamacare.



Obamacare Small Business Facts and Myths

That was a success for Romney during his tenure here. The only drawback is the penalty which does cost twice as much Obamacare. So not everyone was happy

Read today that 16% of the population is below the poverty level....49 million people. That's hard to comprehend in the greatest country on earth. Imagine what that number must be in the not-so-greatest countries.

just saw this now, actually you have the option to use a numeric code AND password on these banking apps so it makes it very difficult to crack.

on top of that, if one would lose their phone then first thing I would do is change your banking passwords/notify your bank, etc.

Compared to the rest of the West, we're actually doing very well in our economic recovery.

^^^Yep, notice the euro countries doing the worst (Greece,Spain) are the ones that are completely focused on debt repayment at the expense of economic growth. That is why I am not in favor of having such draconian cuts across the board without being smart about it just for the sake of getting the debt under control.

What in the world constitutes getting the national debt or even annual budget deficits under control? Even cutting $3 trillion in spending over the next 10 years is only $300 billion per year. Applied this fiscal year, that merely reduces the budget deficit to $600 billion.

From what I understand Greece hasn't paid a darn thing on their debt and never will, just enough to not get kicked out of the Euro. And Olivant's spot-on, you could tax every millionaire at 100% and that would only net around $3 trillion. We need GROWTH and a broader base of tax payers. That 3 trillion is about the same amount the Fed has pumped into the system through quantitative easing the past few years, and thus that supposed declining unemployment rate.

But since none of these Fiat currency system supporters care about debt anyway it doesn't matter. Never mind that during the Great Depression the debt to GDP ratio was 16% and today it's around 105. Many economists say this election was a win for the ultra Fiat currency system and their 'funny money,' and although I don't consider myself a Ron Paul Gold reservist, I do believe in a MARKET DRIVEN economy, not a system that's based on whatever rate Bernanke wants. I mean, what's the point of anyone showing up to work at the futures and options exchange if the Fed's going to set the rate anyway??!

While I don't reject our Fiat currency system I don't think that the Gold system should be replaced with sea shells or whatever supposedly credit worthy asset the Fiatists deem redeemable, either. Inflation is REAL, ask people in places like Iran if you don't think it's true.

GM Bailout Will Cost U.S. Taxpayers Billions
Investors.Com Posted 07:26 PM ET

Sale of the U.S. government's stake in General Motors Corp. ends a sorry saga. Not only were Americans lied to about the costs, but the bailout underscores why replacing market forces with federal bailouts doesn't work.

The Obama administration says it will unload 200 million shares — or about 40% of its holdings — back to GM right away. The rest, 300 million shares, are to be sold by March 2014.

So by dumping the stock and putting GM back in business, the federal government's "investment" was a rousing success, right? Hardly.

Remember, we were told repeatedly that GM's bailout would not only save jobs, it might even net the taxpayers a profit.

As Obama's hand-picked CEO for Government Motors, Dan Akerson, told USA Today in 2011: "I think people go, 'Wow, I'm glad we invested in GM.' I'm talking about the American taxpayer."

Well, GM on Wednesday said it will buy back the 200 million share government stake for $5.5 billion, or $27.50 a share.

The break-even point on the government's total holdings was $53 a share. But now, with $20.9 billion in taxpayer funds left to pay off from 300 million shares, the break-even point has risen to $69.72 a share.

In other words, at current prices, taxpayers are sitting with a loss of 61%, or nearly $15 billion, on their investment.

Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials...m#ixzz2FZRw8o00

Anyone notice their paychecks were a bit smaller last week? That 2% increase in the Social Security tax comes out to about $80 a month for someone making $50,000 a year, or about a bag of groceries per week.

Plus, the tax hikes for Obamacare--passed in 2010 and conveniently delayed to hit after 2012--begin to hit. One Trillion over next decade. Five of the taxes hit for the first time on January 1. In total, Americans face a net $1 trillion tax hike for the years 2013-2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The Obamacare Medical Device Tax
The Obamacare Flex Account Tax
The Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income
The Obamacare “Haircut” for Medical Itemized Deductions
The Obamacare Medicare Payroll Tax Hike

And here I thought it was Republicans who wanted to raise taxes on the middle class, and Dems only on millionaires and bazillionaires!!

Happy New year!!

The deficit is so big and it is going to get much much bigger by the end of Obama term. That the economy is likely to collapse by then.

There is no job creation to speak of. So taxes for every one has to keep going up and they will.

We are printing what could be a trillion dollars a year for the next 4 years. With nothing to back that up.

Wait to you see how that effects the food prices and the cost of buying anything will also go up.

It is not a 2 percent increase in SS. It was always that amount. When Obama took office he raided SS and used that to give workers that extra 2 percent tale home pay. That ended this years that all.

We have things we can do to create more jobs in the private sector. But Obama won't do it. Hey I did not vote for him either time other people did. Now your stuck with him.

More and more people are going on public assistance and many more will be added.

Our grand children will be living in an interesting new world.

Real millian aires the new tax rate is about 80 thousand more a year. That means nothing to them.

But middle class tax heights us a big deal to them and that has to happen so good luck you will need it. By the time it get really bad mostly likely I will be dead

Well I was just goading the Democrats a bit. The Social Security tax rate for employees had been 6.2 percent from 1990 to 2010. It decreased to 4.2 the past two years and will now return to the 6.2 level as part of the fiscal cliff deal. Republicans see no advantage in talking about that part of the agreement, though, as it was perhaps the only part of the deal that was actually desired by both parties.

Higher earned income persons can expect a double hit this year - an increase in the wage base (wages subject to tax) and a return to normal Social Security rates. This in addition to the major tax hikes set for 2013 per the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and implementation of Obamacare.

Where are the middle class private sector jobs? Fast food restaurants? Ooops, their still over there in China, or Malaysia, or Sri Lanka, or Mexico, or Bangledesh, or Jordan, or India. Check the labels on your clothes.