Germany GDP drops to .1, 1st Q revised down, EuroZone only .2, unexpected

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8/16/11, "German economic growth slows sharply," BBC "A Serious Disappointment"

"Growth in the German economy slowed sharply between April and June and was weaker at the start of the year than previously thought, figures show....

German economic growth in the first quarter of the year was revised down to 1.3% from a previous estimate of 1.5%....

The economy grew by just 0.1% in the quarter, according to figures from the national statistics office. Growth in the eurozone as a whole also slowed.

Germany had been driving the economic recovery in the eurozone....

Figures also released on Tuesday showed that eurozone economic growth slowed to 0.2% in the second quarter,

• down from 0.8% in the previous three months."...

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Economy related family stress increasing, middle class American identity decreasing right on schedule

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Stress up 10 points from last year. Those who consider themselves middle class falls to 2 year low.

8/6/11, "67% Say Economy Causing Family Stress," Rasmussen Reports

"It's perhaps no surprise to find that a majority of Americans say the economy is adding stress to their family.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 67% of American Adults say the state of the economy is causing more stress on their family. That finding is up 10 points from this time last year . Twenty-seven percent (27%) say the economy isn’t causing their family more stress. (To see survey question wording, click here .)...

Still, 43% of adults say they have gotten into an intense argument with a friend or family member about economic conditions in the country. That's up six points from 37% last year....

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on July 31-August 1, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology .

Most Americans (68%) say their fellow citizens are less tolerant of each other’s political opinions than they were in the past, while just 16% say they’re more tolerant. Another 12% feel Americans’ level of tolerance is about the same as it was in the past. These results show little change from August 2010. ...

Higher-income adults are experiencing less family stress than those who make less. Non-investors claim more family stress than investors do.

Seventy-one percent (71%) of adults with children at home say economic conditions in the nation are adding stress to their family, compared to 64% of adults without children living with them.

Adults under the age of 30 report more stress than their elders do.

More Americans than ever (76%) say their fellow citizens are becoming ruder and less civilized . That’s up from 69% this time last year....

The belief among Americans that purchasing a home is a family’s best investment is weaker than ever.

One-in-five working Americans continue to classify themselves as poor , while the number of those who consider themselves

• middle class has fallen to a two-year low."...

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4/1/2010, "The Obama Coalition," The Atlantic, Thomas Byrne Edsall

"While both the “have” and “have-not” coalitions have been growing, with the middle (class) waning,"...

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Even the NY Times knows this is about the death of the middle class:

2/20/10. "The New Poor: Despite Signs of Recovery, Chronic Joblessness Rises," NY Times, Peter S. Goodman

"Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come."...

via WZ

Fairness Doctrine called for by Rep. Clyburn, father of FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn

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Blames Tea Party candidate. Mass media blanketing America with dangerous hate speech making innocent people accomplice to murder. They don't oppose inflammatory rhetoric after all.

• Congressman says Sharron Angle may have influenced Arizona shooter. Doesn't note shooter singled out and spoke to Gabrielle Giffords at least 3 years ago.

1/10/11, "Clyburn: Words can be danger," Post and Courier, Charleston, Yvonne Wenger

"U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in Congress, said Sunday the deadly shooting in Arizona should get the country thinking about what's acceptable to say publicly and when people

• should keep their mouths shut.

Clyburn said he thinks vitriol in public discourse led to a 22-year-old suspect opening fire Saturday at an event Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords held for her constituents in Tucson, Ariz. Six people were killed and 14 others were injured, including Giffords.

The shooting is cause for the country to rethink parameters on free speech, Clyburn said from his office, just blocks from the South Carolina Statehouse. He wants standards put in place to guarantee balanced media coverage with a reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine,

• in addition to calling on elected officials and media pundits to use 'better judgment.'

'Free speech is as free speech does,' he said. 'You cannot yell ‘fire' in a crowded theater and call it free speech and some of what I hear, and is being called free speech, is worse than that.'

Clyburn used as an example a comment made by Sharron Angle, an unsuccessful U.S. senatorial candidate in Nevada, who said the frustrated public may consider turning to 'Second Amendment remedies' for political disputes unless Congress changed course.

• Clyburn said the man accused of shooting Giffords did just that.

'He saw a Second Amendment remedy and that's what occurred here and there is no way not to make that connection,' Clyburn said.

• Despite Clyburn's position, law enforcement has not yet revealed any motives in the shooting.

Clyburn has been the most outspoken of the state's congressional delegation on the shooting.

U.S. Rep. Tim Scott, the 1st District Republican, said the Fairness Doctrine would stifle free speech and be harmful to the public, but he would say little on the matter beyond that.

• Engaging in a partisan conversation is not appropriate now, Scott said, because the focus of Saturday's shooting should remain on prayer for the victims.

'A 9-year-old little girl is gone and the Fairness Doctrine is not going to bring her back,' Scott said.

The Fairness Doctrine has been a controversial subject during the Obama administration. The Federal Communications Commission in 1987 stopped enforcing the policy that required the media to present both sides of an issue. Now, with the popularity of partisan cable news, some want the FCC to use the policy to inject balance into heated media discussions.

Clyburn's daughter Mignon Clyburn is an FCC commissioner. She took a stand on the matter during her confirmation hearings, saying

• she opposed such a policy in 'any way shape or form.'

Scott published an opinion piece in a October 2009 edition of The Post and Courier, writing that he, too, opposed the Fairness Doctrine, calling it is a 'clever way to regulate speech.'...

• 1/10/11, Partial list of hate and violence the left is apparently free to spew, via Michelle Malkin, "Progressive Climate of Hate"
  

via Drudge Report