Production down at 0.5% annual rate in Q4, down 1% on a year-on-year basis
There was a 4.6% decline in the output of motor vehicles and parts in December.
The numbers: Industrial production fell 0.3% in December, the third decline in the past four months, the Federal Reserve reported Friday. The decline was in line with Wall Street expectations of a 0.3% fall, according to a MarketWatch survey. The softness in the factory sector was telegraphed in the December unemployment report released last week, where manufacturing shed 12,000 jobs. For the fourth quarter as a whole, industrial production was down at a 0.5% annual rate. Production was down in three of the four quarters of 2019. Output was down 1% on a year-over-year basis.
What happened: Manufacturing output rose 0.2% in December, but was down at a 1% rate for the fourth quarter. The gain in December came despite a 4.6% drop for output of motor vehicles and parts. Assemblies of cars fell to 10.3 million units in December from 11.2 million in the prior month. There have been reports that automakers are planning to reduce production in 2020 in face of projections of slower sales. Mining output rose 1.3% in December on higher oil and gas extraction. Utility output fell 5.6% as warmer weather reduced the demand for home heating. Capacity utilization fell to 77% in December, the second lowest reading in 27 months. The capacity utilization rate reflects the limits to operating the nation’s factories, mines and utilities. It’s still below pre-recession levels, above 80%, that economists believe could fan production costs and prices.
Big picture: The manufacturing sector hurt by the decline in global trade, trade tariffs with China and Boeing Co.’s problems with the 737 MAX airplane The ISM factory index sank in December to its lowest level since the Great Recession. Some economists think the sector could hit bottom in the first quarter.
What are they saying? “The trend in manufacturing output probably is about flat, with no real prospect of any serious improvement in the near term,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, in a note prior to the data’s release.
Eleven people are being screened for traumatic brain injuries following attacks on two bases in Iraq that house U.S. troops
On Jan. 13, U.S. soldiers stand at the site where an Iranian missile hit the Al Asad air base in Iraq earlier this month. Photo: john davison/Reuters
WASHINGTON—Nearly a dozen American troops were injured in the Iranian missile attack on two bases in Iraq last week, Defense Department officials said, after initially stating that there were no casualties in the strikes. Eleven individuals are being screened for traumatic brain injuries following the attacks on two bases in Iraq that house American troops. Iran fired a dozen rockets total at Erbil in northern Iraq and the sprawling Al Asad air base in the west in retaliation for the American killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani days before. Pentagon officials at the time said there were no casualties. Late Thursday, U.S. Central Command acknowledged that there were injuries and the 11 service members suffered concussions during the attack. “While no U.S. service members were killed in the Jan. 8 Iranian attack on Al Asad Air base, several were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast and are still being assessed,” according to Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. “As a standard procedure, all personnel in the vicinity of a blast are screened for traumatic brain injury, and if deemed appropriate, are transported to a higher level of care.” Eight troops were transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and three others were sent to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait for screening. Those troops are expected to return to Iraq following the screening, Capt. Urban said. “The health and welfare of our personnel is a top priority and we will not discuss any individual’s medical status,” he said. The revelation that there had been injuries followed a confusing week in which administration officials have struggled to explain the intelligence that led to the decision to kill Gen. Soleimani, whose death in Baghdad on Jan. 3 brought the U.S. and Iran to the brink of war. After Iran struck the two bases in eneralIraq, the two countries, exchanging diplomatic communications through the Swiss and others, agreed to a stand-down and tensions have eased for now. Nick Note: Bottom line is Trump is not going to do sht about the Iran retaliation after the hit on General Soleimani
Supply of shipping fuels compliant with the stricter, low-sulfur, regulations are growing at a fast pace and are at adequate levels at the key hubs around the world, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. According to the new rules by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), only 0.5-percent or lower sulfur fuel oil should be used on ships beginning January 1, 2020, unless said ships have installed the so-called scrubbers—systems that remove sulfur from exhaust gas emitted by bunkers—so they can continue to use high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO). In previous months, refiners, traders, and buyers have been bracing for what was expected to be “the single largest oil market disruptor” and there were concerns that supply of low-sulfur fuels, especially very-low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), could not be enough. The IEA allayed those concerns today, saying that early data shows that supply is rising fast. “We are starting to see the first data on the transition and, it appears that deliveries of the new VLSFO bunkers are increasing fast,” the IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report, as carried by Reuters. “Although there are initial local difficulties as might be expected from such a complex global change, ship operators, products suppliers and ports have so far coped well,” the Paris-based agency said in its report. “As the new IMO rules are introduced, cracks for compliant VLSFO made large gains and HSFO in Singapore drew some support on demand from ships fitted with scrubbers,” the IEA noted. Due to the new IMO rules, demand for heavy and sweet crude grades is high, as those are the most suited for processing into low-sulfur fuel for ships. Strong demand for heavy-sweet crude grades has resulted in a recent spot tender in which a crude from Australia sold for close to US$100 a barrel, making it what traders said was probably the most expensive crude in the world.
Quarterly net profits for them rose 40% to $1.3 billion their clients well that is a much different story
Laurence Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, which reported quarterly results Wednesday. Photo: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg News
BlackRock Inc.’s BLK 0.81% assets surpassed $7 trillion for the first time as the investment giant reported record-setting flows in 2019. The world’s largest money manager logged net inflows of $428.7 billion for the year. BlackRock’s quarterly net profits rose 40% to $1.3 billion. The company’s fourth-quarter earnings exceeded Wall Street forecasts. A flood of investor money into the firm’s fixed-income products and rising equity markets helped lift BlackRock’s assets to $7.43 trillion by the end of 2019, an increase from $5.98 trillion at 2018’s close. The passing of the $7 trillion mark follows a decade of dramatic growth fueled by the rise of funds that trade on exchanges and mirror markets. BlackRock today reaches millions of people with funds that are part of retirement savings; financial software that Wall Street banks and wealth managers rely on to monitor risks; and shareholder votes it casts on behalf of fund investors. The firm’s success brings BlackRock new scrutiny on everything from responsibilities as a shareholder on behalf of investors to its reach across markets. Chief Executive Laurence Fink said in an interview that BlackRock’s $7 trillion milestone hasn’t changed the sense of responsibility he felt toward clients when the firm was starting out. “If we become overinflated about the numbers we’re managing, we’re going to forget our responsibilities and moral objectives,” he said.
BlackRock announced this week that it would take a tougher stance on companies that aren’t providing a full accounting of environmental risks in line with industry standards. The firm is rolling out efforts to address the investment risks of climate change.
Mr. Fink said that public companies across the corporate world are now being held to higher standards. “Society is putting more demands on public companies,” Mr. Fink said. “Purposeful companies have to show their social purpose to clients and to their employees.” To capture the broadest group of investors, BlackRock is continuing its push to diversify its business lines and find new touch points into institutions and individuals.
The movement of money into the firm reflected crosscurrents of investor behavior this year. Investors added $263.6 billion, or 78.5% of the net flows into the firm’s asset-management products last year, to BlackRock’s bond offerings. Investors have increasingly flocked to bond ETFs as a way to hedge their risks or bet on credit markets. BlackRock sees more room to grow in the bond ETF space. BlackRock attracted $24.8 billion into alternatives to stocks and bonds, a growing priority for the firm as it looks to capture more of the world’s money shifting from public securities into private markets. In past quarters, an influx of new money hasn’t always translated to higher profits or an increase in revenue, especially when the firm’s mix of assets shifted into cheaper products. Intense competition in the asset-management industry has pushed fees of the most commonly offered funds near zero. The firm has no channel of its own to directly sell funds to everyday investors. But being a provider of technology gives BlackRock a way to get new visibility and influence into the ecosystem of wealth managers and advisers that oversee the money of individuals. Nick Note: This is a monster that is making very very little NET money for its clients… By way of example
Trump’s Impeachment Trial Kicks Off With GOP Moderates Under Pressure
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s impeachment moves to the GOP-controlled Senate where the president and Democrats will battle over a small group of Republicans whose votes will determine the course of a trial on whether he should be removed from office. The Senate proceedings will begin formally on Thursday with a show of pageantry that includes the reading of two impeachment articles and U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts swearing in 100 senators as jurors. Yet one of the most pressing and contentious issues — whether to meet Democratic demands for witnesses — will remain unresolved for more than a week. The seven House Democrats chosen by Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday to argue the impeachment case will have their best shot when the trial fully gets under way early next week to persuade at least four Republicans that new witnesses must be heard and new evidence presented. Despite Trump’s conflicting statements about wanting witnesses to defend him during the Senate trial, White House officials said Wednesday the president’s team is seeking a short trial and that no additional testimony is needed. The trial is almost certain to end with Trump’s acquittal on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress; 67 votes are required to convict and no Republican senator has said the articles laid out by House merit his removal from office. But the entire proceeding will hang over his bid for re-election as well as his legacy. Before the trial fully gets under way on Tuesday, the Senate must summon the president to respond to the charges and make other procedural moves, including adopting a resolution setting the rules. McConnell has said they would parallel those set out for the 1999 impeachment trial of then-President Bill Clinton. Assuming that resolution is adopted by 51 senators without changes, the impeachment managers will have several days to be present their case, followed by the defense, questions from senators and then either votes to extend the trial or wrap it up and declare Trump guilty or not guilty. Once the House managers and Trump’s counsel begin presenting their cases, senators will find themselves in an unusual setting. They’ve been told they must stay seated at their desks for the proceedings with only reading material related to the case and have been admonished to avoid even talking to neighboring senators. Their telephones and other electronic devices will be kept in special cubbies in the cloakrooms, and access to the Senate side of the Capitol will be unusually limited for both reporters and staff. The trial may go on for six days a week. The managers can file certain preliminary motions under the rules of impeachment, and also file a trial brief stating its overall case. Nadler said one focus of House legal arguments from the start will be to argue for the allowing of evidence not considered or available in the House’s impeachment investigation. The attempt to sway Collins, Romney and the other GOP senators had begun well before the first arguments are made on the Senate floor. “Above all, a fair trial must include additional documents and relevant witnesses,” Nadler said. Among the additional evidence, Nadler cited the materials turned over by Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who was central to the attempt to pressure Ukraine A lawyer for Parnas, who is under indictment on campaign finance-related charges, turned over to House investigators a trove of notes, emails and text messages that Democrats said “further corroborates the findings and evidence related to the president’s scheme, which was laid out in the Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report.” The material includes a May 2019 letter from Giuliani to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy requesting a meeting “in my capacity as personal counsel to President Trump and with his knowledge and consent.” Schiff said the materials from Parnas showed that Giuliani’s back-channel effort to influence Ukraine was directed by Trump. “There is no fobbing this off on others,” he said. “The president was the architect of this scheme.” He said the documents are only a “small sample” of the kinds of material that were withheld by the White House during the House investigation. “Those documents should be demanded by the senators,” Schiff said. Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas said an impeachment trial is a “unique process” that is unlike a regular court proceeding. “They call us a jury but we’re hardly disinterested,” Cornyn said. “So the analogies we are all trying to make” to judicial trials “have their limitations.” Nick Note: Well the circus is about to begin. I immensely dislike Donald Trump…. BUT this impeachment saddens me. I know he wlil never be convicted. And their is a good chance he will be reelected by the stupid majority. The great threat to democracy is when the masses figure out they can vote for themselves largesse from the treasury. Want to destroy a man. Pay him not to work. He will become stupid, lazy and he will end up looking for something to fuck, something to fuck up and something to get fucked up on. In other words you created a Fuck Up.
BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China will boost purchases of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years in exchange for the rolling back of some tariffs under an initial trade deal signed by the world’s two largest economies, defusing an 18-month row that has hit global growth.
Key world stock market indexes climbed to record highs after the deal was signed on Wednesday in Washington, but later stalled on concerns it may not ease trade tensions for long, with numerous thorny issues still unresolved. While acknowledging the need for further negotiations with China to solve a host of other problems, President Donald Trump hailed the agreement as a win for the U.S. economy and his administration’s trade policies. “Together, we are righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers and families,” Trump said in rambling remarks at the White House alongside U.S. and Chinese officials on Wednesday. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He read a letter from President Xi Jinping in which the Chinese leader praised the deal as a sign the two countries could resolve their differences with dialogue.
The centerpiece of the deal is a pledge by China to purchase at least an additional $200 billion worth of U.S. farm products and other goods and services over two years, above a baseline of $186 billion in purchases in 2017, the White House said.
Commitments include $54 billion in additional energy purchases, $78 billion in additional manufacturing purchases, $32 billion more in farm products, and $38 billion in services, according to deal documents released by the White House and China’s Finance Ministry. Liu said Chinese companies would buy $40 billion in U.S. agricultural products annually over the next two years “based on market conditions” which may dictate timing of purchases in any given year. Chinese companies will import U.S. agricultural goods according to consumers’ need, and demand and supply in the market, Liu told reporters, according to CCTV. Although the deal could be a boost to U.S. farmers, automakers and heavy equipment manufacturers, some analysts question China’s ability to replace imports from other trading partners with more shipments from the United States.
The deal does not end retaliatory tariffs on American farm exports, makes farmers “increasingly reliant” on Chinese state-controlled purchases, and does not address “big structural changes,” Michelle Erickson-Jones, a wheat farmer and spokeswoman for Farmers for Free Trade, said in a statement.
Oil prices rose, helped by expectations of more Chinese purchases of U.S. oil and gas. Trump, who has embraced an “America First” policy aimed at rebalancing global trade in favor of U.S. companies and workers, said China had pledged action to confront the problem of pirated or counterfeited goods and said the deal included strong protection of intellectual property rights. Washington’s insistence on enforcement mechanisms “with real teeth” could tear the deal apart if any tariffs are re-imposed for non-compliance. The deal touted new wins for U.S. companies looking to access China’s $40 trillion financial sector, but many of the changes were already in the works with Beijing stepping up the pace of opening up in the past year.
TARIFFS TO STAY
The Phase 1 deal canceled planned U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made cellphones, toys and laptop computers and halved the tariff rate to 7.5% on about $120 billion worth of other Chinese goods, including flat-panel televisions, Bluetooth headphones and footwear.
But it will leave in place 25% tariffs on a $250-billion array of Chinese industrial goods and components used by U.S. manufacturers, and China’s retaliatory tariffs on over $100 billion in U.S. goods.
Trump, who has been touting the Phase 1 deal as a pillar of his 2020 re-election campaign, said he would agree to remove the remaining tariffs once the two sides had negotiated a “Phase 2” agreement. “We’ve already begun discussions on a Phase 2 deal,” Vice President Mike Pence said in a Fox Business Network interview. Nick Note: Talk about a nothing burger! What bullshit what crap… People are buying into this bullshit hook line and big titted blonds……… for me and you this will be a GREAT pay day. in essence short the shit out of this joke trade deal,,,,….,,,.. I’ll show you how.
LONDON (Bloomberg) – Oil supplies from Iraq, the Middle East’s second-biggest producer, are “potentially vulnerable” amid rising political risks in the country and the broader region, the International Energy Agency warned. Crude prices briefly soared to a three-month high above $70 a barrel last week as tensions between the U.S. and Iran erupted in neighboring Iraq, where America assassinated an Iranian general and Tehran struck U.S. military bases in response. Though hostilities faded, the threat of escalation still menaces Iraq, which was already grappling with domestic protests that spread to its oil-rich southern region. Iraq’s oil exports have doubled during the last decade to reach 4 million barrels a day, with half these volumes flowing to China and India, the two major centers of global demand growth, the Paris-based IEA said in its latest monthly report. The country relies heavily on shipping crude through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has periodically threatened to close. Still, the clash between Washington and Tehran hasn’t yet caused any supply disruption, and protests inside Iraq have had only minimal impact on oil operations, the agency said. Global oil markets have a “solid base” of ample inventories and swelling U.S. shale-oil output to weather any shocks, it said. Iraq’s fragile security situation may limit its plans to expand oil-production capacity in the medium-term, making it difficult for the global industry to meet rising demand in the second half of the decade, the IEA warned. The agency advises most major economies on energy policy. Ironically, Baghdad is obligated to reduce output in the coming months as part of its agreement with fellow OPEC nations to keep world markets in balance. It pumped 4.59 million barrels day last month, and will need to reduce by 130,000 barrels a day to comply with the accord.
Saudi Arabia, the biggest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, already delivered all of the additional curbs promised before they formally took effect, pumping 9.68 million barrels a day in December.
Even if OPEC and its allies fully implement the deeper cutbacks announced last month, world markets will still face a surplus of about 800,000 barrels a day in the first half of the year, the IEA predicted. The agency kept forecasts for global oil supply and demand mostly unchanged. Nick Note: I do not like how oil is trading at all. It has bear trap written all over it. I am out of the market for now. I smell a big screwing coming. To much bearish information……. Best to wait them out!!
U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) decreased by 2.5 million barrels from the previous week. At 428.5 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are at the five year average for this time of year. U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 17.0 million barrels per day during the week ending January 10, 2020, which was 76,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 92.2% of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 9.3 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging 5.2 million barrels per day. U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.6 million barrels per day last week, down by 179,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.6 million barrels per day, 13.1% less than the same four-week period last year. Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 443,000 barrels per day, and distillate fuel imports averaged 202,000 barrels per day. Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 6.7 million barrels last week and are about 5% above the five year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline and blending components inventories both increased last week. Distillate fuel inventories increased by
8.2 million barrels last week and are about 3% below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories decreased by 0.9 million barrels last week and are about 21% above the five year average for this time of year. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased last week by 14.5 million barrels last week. Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 19.9 million barrels per day, down by 1.0% from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.7 million barrels per day, down by 0.9% from the
same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.5 million barrels per
day over the past four weeks, down by 6.9% from the same period last year. Jet fuelproduct supplied was up 2.0% compared with the same four-week
Part of the mystery solved this dead broke cheating piece of shit is part of the money black hole the Fed is trying to fill
Wells Fargo said on Tuesday that its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2019 was $19.9 billion, falling from $21 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $0.60 in the same three-month period, declining 50% year-on-year. Net income in the fourth quarter of 2019 was $2.9 billion, which compared to net income of $6.1 billion in the last three months of 2018. In the full-year 2019, net income was $19.5 billion on diluted EPS of $4.05. Net income fell 12.7% and diluted EPS declined 5.4% year-on-year. The bank’s revenue was reported at $85.1 billion for the entire 2019, declining 1.5% year-on-year. CEO Charlie Scharf said: “Even in my short time at the company, it is clear that our opportunities to improve our performance are substantial when we finish this work. Our cost structure is too high, and I believe there are many areas where we will be able to increase our rate of growth. ” Nick Note: This is one of the largest mortgage originates, Credit card issuers and If you have a drivers licence (even if its expired) car loans at twice what the car is with lenders.
The galah /ɡəˈlɑː/ (Eolophus roseicapilla), also known as the pink and grey, is one of the most common and widespread cockatoos, and it can be found in open country in almost all parts of mainland Australia.
TENERIFE, Spain — Parrots have long been considered intelligent birds, but a new set of research focusing on African gray parrots finds that besides just being smart these fascinating animals are also very kind to one another. Over the course of the experiments, the studied parrots exhibited selfless tendencies, prosocial behavior, and cooperativeness — even when there were no obvious opportunities for reciprocation. Furthermore, these extraordinary birds returned favors or good deeds amongst one another, and never became jealous whenever a particular bird received a larger reward than others. These traits are exceedingly rare in the animal kingdom, with only great apes behaving in similarly selfless ways.
All in all, these findings make a strong case that parrots are among the smartest animals on the planet, rivaling crows, apes, and dolphins in terms of overall and social intelligence.
In the behavioral experiments, the parrots receive metal tags, which they can then exchange for food. (Photo credit: Comparative Cognition Group)
The research team hailed from the Max PlanckInstitute for Ornithology in Germany, but had been stationed at the outpost for parrot comparative cognition in Spain. Let’s take a look at a female parrot, Bella, as an example. Bella has learned to accept metal tokens given by researchers, and exchange them with another researcher for food. However, Bella’s exchange opening has been blocked off. So, she has some metal tokens but can’t use them at the moment. Instead of hoarding her tokens, Bella decides to give them to her neighbor, Kimmi. Kimmi and Bella’s living spaces are connected via an additional opening, and while Kimmi’s exchange hole connecting him to the researchers is still open, he doesn’t have any tokens. Selflessly, Bella gives her tokens to Kimmi, and watches in a relaxed manner as Kimmi exchanges the tokens and eats the food he receives in return. The research team were astounded by Bella’s altruistic actions, especially given the fact that she didn’t appear to become jealous at all of the food Kimmi enjoyed using her tokens. This is especially noteworthy because there were no clear signs that Kimmi would reciprocate in the future and do something nice for Bella. “Our parrots indeed seem to have grasped that another individual requires their help in order to achieve a goal,” comments first author Désirée Brucks in a statement. Moreover, when researchers recreated the same situation but with both Bella and Kimmi’s exchange openings blocked off, Bella didn’t bother to give her tokens to Kimmi. A surefire sign that the parrots understood the situation, and were able to recognize when a fellow bird would actually benefit from sharing tokens. A second experiment was conducted that illustrated the parrots’ overall prosocial attitude, or willingness to help and care for one another. This experiment also revealed that parrots are capable of reciprocating good deeds from one to another, a trait that is considered an integral building block in the evolution of cooperation. In this scenario, the parrots were given an option of choosing two different types of tokens: one token that only provided food for themselves, and another that provided food to both the subject and their immediate neighbor. “Initially the parrots chose randomly, without paying any attention to the wellbeing of their neighbor”, explains first author Anastasia Krasheninnikova. “As soon as the parrots were tested alternatingly with their neighbor, they very rapidly learned to choose the token that benefitted both birds.” A third experiment revealed that parrots rarely, if ever, become jealous of one another. In this setting, two parrots performed the same task, but one bird was given a larger reward than the other. “At first, this finding came as a surprise, given that a ‘sense of fairness’ is considered a prerequisite for the evolution of cooperation,” says Auguste von Bayern, the leader of the comparative cognition research group. Even primates become frustrated when faced with unfair situations like the one described above, and usually end up boycotting the entire activity. Researchers theorize that parrots don’t react in this way because they usually stay bonded with a single partner throughout their entire life, while primates tend to move on from one partner to another. “Given that parrots are so closely bonded with a single individual and thus so mutually interdependent, it does not make any difference if one of them gets a better pay-off once in a while. What counts is that together, they function as a unit that can achieve much more than each of them on their own (in addition to raising their joint offspring). This is probably why parrots are much more tolerant towards unequal treatment than species that are not long-term monogamous, while still being excellent cooperators,” Auguste von Bayern explains. Nick Note: Phoenix is my best friend. She is a parrot in the cockatoo family. She by far is the most intelligence animal on the farm. Come to think of it she is smarter and for sure kinder then most people i know. I inherited from the kids when they went off to school. She lives in my office and is content to watch me work. When i get excited like on a tape you can hear her joining in the fun. She perches on her branch or my microphone boom. She comes for hugs a few times a day. She likes to lift up her wings so i can scratch her feathers. And she does not like anyone else touching her. When i have strawberries she goes crazzy for the stems. When night comes i cover her. She has done an amazing thing. She cut a hole in the cover at her eye level so she can watch me at night. Sometimes she hops off the branch or the boom and walks around on my desk. When on the desk if i ask her to she will bring me a pen. What a incredible animal!
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.” quote Alexander Fraser Tytler
