"Castle doctrine clears two arrested in St. Louis fatal shooting"

If someone breaks into your home and attacks you, how far should you have to retreat before you can fire your gun in self-defense?

Prosecutors have declined charges against two arrested in the shooting death of an intruder in April because they said the killing was justified under Missouri's "castle doctrine" law.
Police arrested a woman, 29, and a man, 37, after the April 6 shooting death of Emmett Terry. Police said Terry broke into his ex-girlfriend's home in the 4600 block of Oregon Avenue and tried to attack her.
Police have said the woman had had a restraining order against Terry.
Authorities say the woman shot and killed Terry, of the 1900 block of Semple Avenue. He died at the scene. . . .

30% of companies say they’ll stop offering health insurance coverage because of Obamacare

From Market Watch:

Once provisions of the Affordable Care Act start to kick in during 2014, at least three of every 10 employers will probably stop offering health coverage, a survey released Monday shows.

While only 7% of employees will be forced to switch to subsidized-exchange programs, at least 30% of companies say they will “definitely or probably” stop offering employer-sponsored coverage, according to the study published in McKinsey Quarterly.

The survey of 1,300 employers says those who are keenly aware of the health-reform measure probably are more likely to consider an alternative to employer-sponsored plans, with 50% to 60% in this group expected to make a change. It also found that for some, it makes more sense to switch. . . .

Even the Washington Post calls Obama's auto bailout accounting "phony"

Obama claims that only his spending on Chrysler has been paid back. Doesn't take responsibility for money spent at the very end of the Bush administration even though Bush spent the money at Obama's urging. From the Washington Post:

. . . Let’s look at the claims in the order in which the president said them.

“Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency — and it repaid that money six years ahead of schedule. And this week, we reached a deal to sell our remaining stake. That means soon, Chrysler will be 100 percent in private hands.”

Wow, “every dime and more” sounds like such a bargain. Not only did Chrysler pay back the loan, with interest — but the company paid back even more than they owed. Isn’t America great or what?

Not so fast. The president snuck in the weasel words “during my presidency” in his statement. What does that mean?

According to the White House, Obama is counting only the $8.5 billion loan that he made to Chrysler, not the $4 billion that President George W. Bush extended in his last month in office. However, Obama was not a disinterested observer at the time. According to The Washington Post article on the Bush loan, the incoming president called Bush’s action a “necessary step . . . to help avoid a collapse of our auto industry that would have had devastating consequences for our economy and our workers.”

Under the administration’s math, the U.S. government will receive $11.2 billion back from Chrysler, far more than the $8.5 billion Obama extended.

Through this sleight-of-hand accounting, the White House can conveniently ignore Bush’s loan, but even the Treasury Department admits that U.S. taxpayers will not recoup about $1.3 billion of the entire $12.5 billion investment when all is said and done.

The White House justifies not counting the Bush money because, it says, that money was completely spent when Obama was making a tough political decision on whether to extend another loan. In other words, a decision to do nothing at the time would have resulted in the immediate loss of the $4 billion that Bush had extended.

This is chicanery. Under the president’s math, Chrysler paid back 100 percent of Obama’s loan and less than 70 percent of Bush’s loan. A more honest presentation would combine the two figures to say U.S. taxpayers got back 90 percent of what they invested. In fact, that is how the Treasury and other administration officials frequently portray it; it is just when Obama speaks that the numbers get so squishy.

The White House justifies saying that Chrysler will be in 100 percent “in private hands” because there will no longer be government ownership once Fiat completes its purchase of the U.S. stake. For the record, the United Auto Workers will own 46 percent of the company. . . .

What would the government debt be if they calculated it the way businesses do?

The government notion of debt is really a meaningless concept, it never looks at the obligations that you owe in the future, just how much you have paid out more than you had in the past. Here is an attempt to try to count all those obligations that the Federal government is accumulating.

The government added $5.3 trillion in new financial obligations in 2010, largely for retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. That brings to a record $61.6 trillion the total of financial promises not paid for. . . .
The $61.6 trillion in unfunded obligations amounts to $527,000 per household. That's more than five times what Americans have borrowed for everything else — mortgages, car loans and other debt. It reflects the challenge as the number of retirees soars over the next 20 years and seniors try to collect on those spending promises.
"The (federal) debt only tells us what the government owes to the public. It doesn't take into account what's owed to seniors, veterans and retired employees," says accountant Sheila Weinberg, founder of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, a Chicago-based group that advocates better financial reporting. "Without accurate accounting, we can't make good decisions." . . .

Medicare: $24.8 trillionObligation per household: $212,500
Social Security: $21.4 trillionObligation per household: $183,400
Federal debt: $9.4 trillionObligation per household: $79,900
Military retirement/disability benefits: $3.6 trillion
Federal employee retirement benefits: $2 trillionObligation per household: $17,000
State, local government obligations: $5.2 trillionObligation per household: $44,800

WSJ: "Nearly 40% Who Borrowed Against Homes Are Underwater"

From the WSJ:

Almost 40% of homeowners who took out second mortgages—extracting cash from their residences to cover everything from vacations to medical bills—are underwater on their loans, more than twice the rate of owners who didn't take out such loans.

The finding, in a report to be released Tuesday by real-estate data firm CoreLogic Inc., illustrates the consequences of easy borrowing amid the housing boom's inflated prices. The report says 38% of borrowers who took cash out of their residences using home-equity loans are underwater, or owe more than their home is worth. By contrast, 18% of borrowers who don't have these loans were underwater. . . .

CBS News: "Chronic unemployment worse than Great Depression"

From CBS News:

About 6.2 million Americans, 45.1 percent of all unemployed workers in this country, have been jobless for more than six months - a higher percentage than during the Great Depression. . . .

Nearly 14 million Americans are looking for work

Summer job bummer: Teen unemployment 24 percent

Palin does very good job on Fox News Sunday

Palin does very good job on Fox News Sunday

How the Left Wing Media covered Weinergate

Legal Insurrection has a long list of left wing media claims available here. These screen shots were taken about 9 hours after Weiner's press conference.

Some such as Cannon Fire still don't accept all of Weiner's confession.


The very strained Daily Kos discussion claiming to provide proof that Weiner's twitter account was hacked. As Politico described it: "Breitbart’s seemed to be speaking not just for the last week and a half, during which left-leaning media outlets like the Daily Kos suggested he might have been involved in hacking Weiner’s Twitter account, but for his broader profile in the mainstream media. . . ."


Media Matters attacks Andrew Breitbart's "slander" for daring to discuss the Weiner case here.

Pilot using gun to stop hijacking

An old story about how an armed pilot stopped a hijacking. Back from the time when all commercial airline pilots had to carry guns when they flew.

Until now it was largely forgotten, a brief, tragic incident that lay buried in fading newspaper accounts and the memories of only a few, but the shooting of a hijacker by an airline pilot almost 50 years ago has taken on a new significance today.
It occurred shortly before noon on July 6, 1954, when a strapping teen-ager armed with a pistol commandeered an American Airlines DC-6 at the Cleveland Airport, only to be shot and fatally wounded by the captain.
The shooting ended the life of Raymond Kuchenmeister, 15. It made a reluctant hero of the late Capt. William "Bill" Bonnell of Fort Worth . . . .

Thanks to Kansas State Rep. Terri Lois Gregory for the link.

Where are the poor people with pre-existing health conditions?

Last year it looked as if only about 2.5 percent of the predicted number of people with pre-existing conditions were signing up. This was originally sold as a program that those with pre-existing conditions were desperate to get. To encourage more people signing up for the extremely needed insurance, the government cut the prices. "hoping to boost low participation" this year, the government is cutting premiums still further: "cutting premiums in some states by up to 40%."

Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies for the libertarian Cato Institute, said the lack of enrollees shows that the program was never popular to begin with.

"They're giving away health insurance, and people don't want it," he said. . . .

Administration and state officials say the issue is more about money and getting the word out. In fact, in Indiana, where enrollment stood at 177 as of March 1, the changes may not be enough. . . . .

In Nevada, where 147 people had signed up as of March 1 . . . .

Moody's gives thumbs up to Wisconsin credit rating, and warns US of possible downgrade

Moody's warns that the US might default on its interest payments, though I have to confess that there is really no nonpolitical reason for this to happen. I fear that Obama has backed himself into a corner where he has claimed 50 times that failure to raise the debt ceiling will produce a default so he will have to carry through on his promise just to maintain some credibility.

Moody's Investors Service said Thursday there is a very small but rising risk of a short-lived default by the United States if there is no increase in the statutory debt limit in coming weeks. . . .

Meanwhile, there is good news for Wisconsin.

“Or can take a look at austerity measures and… grow your way out of fiscal problems. It is why Moody’s rated Governor Walker’s budget credit positive. . . .

Day that unemployment rate rises to 9.1 percent and Obama administration is advocating $1 trillion in new taxes

Do the Democrats understand the importance of incentives? It would seem not if they are advocating a $1 trillion tax increase. This is at the same time that the Obama administration is saying that they are "trying to leverage the private sector and give incentives" for growth.

Members of the historic class 87-member freshman class were unmoved by Geithner’s insistence that raising nearly $1 trillion in taxes was the answer to the problem; especially since Republicans have stated since the beginning of the heated battle that they would not vote for any debt limit extension if tax increases paid for the difference. . . .

Of course, Austan Goolsbee was out there on all the Sunday morning talk shows saying that Obama was pro-business. Obama's "leverage" approach has been to use government money to get firms to do what he wants them to do.

President Obama intends to employ a strategy going forward to revive America’s private sector and get companies spending again, Goolsbee said.

“This president will enact [policies] to leverage corporate money,” he said, noting that was the impetus behind the Obama administration’s regulatory reform effort.

Several economic experts appearing on Sunday morning shows said U.S. firms are sitting on large stocks of funds, but those corporations are reluctant to begin spending again due to worries about the fragility of the economy. . . .

Obama's message to job creators has been clear. Hire at your own risk. Higher taxes, more burdensome regulation and crony capitalism are here for some time to come.

Republicans less than convinced by Geithner's push for debt ceiling increase

Can the Democrats really explain why failure to increase the debt limit is so bad? OK, so not increasing the debt limit cuts spending by about one-third in August and September and by about 29 percent for next year.

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), who sat through most of the hour-long meeting, told The Hill that Geithner said “absolutely nothing” to convince him of the urgent need to increase the current $14.3 trillion limit by the August 2 deadline.
If Congress does not raise the borrowing authority for the Treasury secretary by August, Chabot predicted that “we’ll have to reduce the level of spending, which I’m in favor of.”
“It just looks to me like we’re moving towards that [deadline], and the administration just assumes that we’re going to raise it, and they’re sure not going to do it with Republican votes in the House unless there was dramatic changes in the level of spending. And I don’t see this White House being willing to compromise on that,” Chabot said.
In fact, last Tuesday, the House defeated a resolution that would raise the national debt limit by the administration's requested $2.4 trillion without spending cuts or reforms, on a strong bipartisan basis. The resolution failed 97-318. . . .

Geithner didn't exactly produce a lot of credibility when he made obviously false statements.

“There were a lot of groans,” from GOP freshman lawmakers when Geithner told them he didn’t ask for a vote on the doomed resolution, despite the fact that President Obama and Geithner had sent letters to Congress and “made demands” that the legislative branch vote on a clean increase, for months, according to Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.).

Guinta continued, “He backed off on that statement, and he did allude to the fact that that was political in nature. Our response was: ‘no that was not political in nature, you asked for it, the president asked for it, we gave that to you and in a bipartisan fashion Republicans and Democrats said no to a clean raising of the debt ceiling.'” . . .

Liberals are upset about the victories for vouchers this year

The Left wing "Nation" magazine claims that they know why conservatives support vouchers: "the Friedmanites seem to have concerns that are less about children and good education than about privatization, small government and the blessings of the free market." Apparently left wingers don't understand that the reason some people support the market is that they think that it does a BETTER JOB providing products, including education. That means a lot better education for the children.

Early in May, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed what is probably the broadest voucher law ever enacted in this country. A few days later Oklahoma approved tax credits for those who contribute to a privately funded private school “opportunity scholarship” program. In New Jersey, on May 13, a voucher bill was approved by a Senate committee with bipartisan support. In Washington, DC, the voucher program, which was killed by the Democratic majorities in the last Congress, is all but certain to be restored. In Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, famous for his attack on union collective bargaining rights, is pushing hard to broaden Milwaukee’s voucher program to other cities and many more children.

Altogether, according to the Foundation for Educational Choice, a pro-voucher organization that lists Friedman as its patriarch, more than fifty-two bills have emerged this year, some passed, some still pending, in thirty-six states—among them Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania—providing funding for vouchers, tax credits or other tax-funded benefits for private education. . . .

And early in April, using a procedural dodge, a bitterly divided Supreme Court further heartened the movement by upholding Arizona’s law providing tax credits for contributions to “school tuition organizations”—scholarship funds for private and religious schools. . . .

How the government destroys the incentive to lend mortgages

Beware of government help to create loan modifications. These programs involve mortgage holders agreeing to large write offs. Why would anyone want to make a loan if they face government pressure to write down the principal by a large amount? If there are no loans, what happens to housing prices?

Citigroup is going to be expanded their FDIC Loan Modification Program after pressure from the FDIC. The current Citigroup loan modification program was not doing enough to curb foreclosures and help real homeowners. . . . "They seem to just try to coerce the industry into" the loan-modification program, said David Watts, a strategist at analysis firm CreditSights Inc. They're saying, "We want you to do this program, and we're going to make sure you do it by helping you, possibly with money and possibly with a big fat stick."

Or this from last year:

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank is going after the four largest providers of U.S. mortgages to write down second mortgages to prevent "a deepening crisis" in the U.S. housing market.
Frank, in a letter to the chief executives of Citigroup (C.N), Wells Fargo (WFC.N), Bank of America (BAC.N) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) dated March 4, said that taking losses on the second mortgages is necessary in order to allow modifications of the first mortgages to be made, which he said is critical to preventing further home foreclosures.

At issue are so-called second lien mortgages, which theoretically are worth nothing in cases when a home's value is less than the amount owed on the first loan.

But banks that hold the second liens want to be able to collect at least something from the homeowner. And if they do not mark the loan as a loss on their books, the first lien holders are unwilling to negotiate principal write-downs with the homeowners. . . .

And more pressure here has just been announced. Mortgage holders get some money, but they have to bear big write downs.

"We are very definitely trying to facilitate more principal reductions," said Timothy Massad, Treasury's acting assistant secretary for financial stability. "It is a very important piece of the overall solution," he said.

The administration is trying through taxpayer-funded programs to prevent homeowners from losing their homes. Nearly $50 billion has been set aside from the $700 billion bank bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to help distressed homeowners.

Persistently high unemployment and a weak housing market pose a threat to President Obama's re-election prospects next year.

So far, one of the programs has helped some 670,000 distressed homeowners win lower mortgage payments. But that has done very little to help the overall housing market, which remains depressed even as other parts of the economy have started to recover.

A glut of houses for sale, foreclosures, tight credit and little demand have impeded the housing recovery. Recent data showed that home prices dropped below the low seen in April 2009 during the financial crisis. . . .
One housing counselor expressed frustration with the servicers, saying more people would still be in their homes if their principal was reduced. . . . .

Obama doesn't talk about new jobs numbers, gets some boos from union workers

Two years into the recovery and the unemployment rate has risen for the second straight month and is stuck above 9 percent.

President Obama didn't mention Friday's weak jobs report in his speech at a Chrysler plant in Ohio, instead choosing to talk about the recovery of the auto industry.

Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, told reporters on the flight to Toledo that Obama "will talk about the jobs numbers."

But one of the only allusions Obama made to the bleak report was when he said that "we're going to pass through some rough terrain that even a Wrangler would have a hard time with." (The Chrysler workers, who make the Wrangler at that plant, responded by booing and heckling him.) . . .

See also here.

As Goolsbee sees it:

Austan Goolsbee, President Barack Obama’s chief economist, said today’s jobs report represents a “little bump” in the road to recovery and that the broader trends are “substantially more positive” than when Obama took office.
“We should never read too much into any one month’s report,” Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “No doubt we face some headwinds and hit a little bump in the road.”
Manufacturing has continued to grow and there still is more to be done to drive the unemployment rate down, he said.
Employers added 54,000 jobs in May, the smallest increase in eight months, the Labor Department reported in Washington. The unemployment rate rose 0.1 percent to 9.1 percent. . . .

When has he previously cautioned not to read much into one month's data?

A proxy for the number of Illegal Aliens?

With Illegals using others Social Security numbers, it would be interesting to know what percent of these cases involve illegal aliens. They might all use the ever popular 000-00-0000, but some might get other numbers.

Imagine filing your tax return and learning that someone else got your refund. With your name and Social Security number, no less.
The IRS is grappling with a nearly five-fold increase in taxpayer identity theft between 2008 and 2010, a Government Accountability Office official plans to tell a House hearing Thursday. There were 248,357 incidents in 2010, compared to 51,702 in 2008.
The GAO findings, obtained by The Associated Press, don't begin to describe the pain for a first-time victim, who must wait for a refund while the IRS sorts out which return is real and which is a fraud.
Many identity thieves don't get prosecuted, according James White, director of strategic issues for the GAO..
"IRS officials told us that IRS pursues criminal investigations of suspected identity thieves in only a small number of cases," White says in testimony prepared for a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee. . . .
"We want to know why this problem is apparently getting much worse," said Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., chairman of the subcommittee. "By bringing these issues to the public as quickly as possible, the committee hopes to give citizens the necessary information so they can protect themselves from such identity theft." . . .

Taxpayers pay $129 million to cover the time of union workers to negotiate over their benefits

Why can't unionized workers cover the costs of negotiations on their own time?

The cost of official time used by federal employees participating in union activities increased nearly 7 percent between fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2009, according to a new report from the Office of Personnel Management.

The report, the subject of a Wednesday hearing on Capitol Hill, found that federal employees spent nearly 3 million hours of official time on union activities in 2009 at a cost of $129 million to taxpayers, an increase of $8 million from fiscal 2008. . . .

Geithner continues to claim that Debt-ceiling debate means "lights out"

The Obama administration just can't stop pulling out scare tactics. The interest equals 6 percent of spending. The government can easily cover that with money that will still be coming in as well as a long list of other programs that I have already written about.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday warned skeptical Republican freshmen it would be “lights out” for the economy if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling.
Geithner trekked to Capitol Hill on the same day that Moody’s Investors Services warned that the nation’s perfect credit rating could be at risk if lawmakers do not make progress on a debt deal.
Leaders of the freshman class struck a diplomatic tone after the session, but there was little evidence that Geithner’s argument won anyone over.
“Everything that we got in there from him is a step in the right direction,” said Rep. Austin Scott (Ga.), the president of the GOP freshman class.
Others were more blunt.
Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) said in a tweet that he was “disgusted and discouraged” by what he heard from the Treasury chief.
Some Republicans said they were frustrated because Geithner did not offer up any compromises for solving the nation’s fiscal crisis, other than acknowledging broadly that entitlements need to be reformed.
“I think to some degree the mood was, or the question Republicans were asking themselves is: Why are we here?” said Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). “[Geithner] said taxes were something that needed to be raised. Now he is talking about the taxes on the job creators — he used the word ‘wealthy.'”

The Two Year Anniversary of the Obama Recovery

From Investors' Business Daily:

Without a lot of fanfare, the Obama economic recovery officially turned 2 this month. Anyone think we're better off than we were two years ago? . . .

Single family home prices dropped in March to their lowest level since April 2009; the consumer Confidence Index tumbled to a six-month low of 60.8; and regional manufacturing is slowing. In the Chicago area, it fell to its lowest level since November 2009.

Yet if you listened to President Obama and his cheerleaders in the press over the past two years, the answer should have been a resounding yes.

Obama promised way back in February 2009 that his $830 billion stimulus plan would unleash "a new wave of innovation, activity and construction" and "ignite spending by businesses and consumers."

In June 2010, he announced that the recovery was "well under way" and that it "is getting stronger by the day." A couple months later, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner penned a New York Times op-ed headlined "Welcome to the Recovery."

And all along, media simply parroted the White House line, extolling every "green shoot" they could find, celebrating every time a handful of jobs got created, while constantly acting surprised by the ongoing "unexpected" bad economic news.

But the fact is that the Obama recovery is one of the worst ever. Certainly the worst since the Great Depression. It's so bad, in fact, that even 24 months after the recession officially ended there are few places beyond the stock market and corporate profits that have shown much, if any, improvement. A few examples:

• Jobs: The number of people with jobs has barely changed since June 2009 — up just 0.4%.

• Unemployment: While the unemployment rate has dropped a bit, the number of long-term unemployed is up by a third, and the average length of unemployment is now a staggering 38 weeks.

• Earnings: Median weekly earnings are down slightly between Q3 2009 and Q1 2011, after adjusting for inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Housing prices: The National Association of Realtors reports that median price for existing home sales dropped 10% since June 2009. . . . .

Yet, incredibly, Obama continues to escape blame for this sorry state of affairs. A Rasmussen survey in May found 54% of the public still blames President Bush, while just 39% blame Obama's policies. . . .

Obama's demagoguery on Medicare

This rhetoric makes it hard to do the negotiations that the Obama administration claims that it wants.

Paul Ryan told Barack Obama on Wednesday that the president has been incorrectly describing the Republican congressman’s Medicare plan as a voucher system.

Ryan told reporters outside the White House that he “simply explained what our plan is” to Obama during a meeting in the East Room with the House GOP.

“It's been misdescribed by the president and others,” Ryan said. He added that he wanted to clarify his position with Obama “so that in the future, he won't mischaracterize it.”

The meeting was described to POLITICO by Phil Gingrey as “frosty” and “cool.” Tim Murphy said it was like “group therapy.”

Eric Cantor, the majority leader, told POLITICO that “we pressed him repeatedly to stop the demagoguery.” Obama, he said, replied by saying that “the demagoguery runs on both sides.” . . .

So much for the urgency of the debt ceiling increase

Apparently fixing the debt limit problem quickly isn't quite as crucial as the Obama administration claimed.

When the House Republicans stop by the White House to talk about the deficit with President Obama on Wednesday, a central figure won’t be there: Joe Biden.

The vice president, who has been leading negotiations on raising the debt limit with the GOP, is in Italy with his wife to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the country’s unification, on Thursday. Instead of domestic matters, Biden will be talking foreign affairs with Italy’s president and its prime minister, and the presidents of Russia and Georgia, according to the White House. . . .

With economic growth slow and jobs not growing, Obama wants to impose more costs

From John Fund at the WSJ's Political Diary:

It's another marker of President Obama's true inclinations that he has chosen to nominate a leading environmentalist to be his new secretary of commerce, a post designed to stimulate job creation.

John Bryson, the nominee, began his career as a top appointee of Jerry Brown back in the 1970s, when Mr. Brown first served as California's governor. During that time, Mr. Brown preached "an era of limits" when it came to the economy and loaded up the state with onerous regulations. Before his stint as a state water and public utility commissioner, Mr. Bryson opened up the West Coast operations of the Natural Resources Defense Council. According to Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, the NRDC has filed more lawsuits seeking to block offshore oil drilling than any other group in the country.

. . . Republicans couldn't help noticing that Mr. Obama characterized his friend as a "fierce proponent of alternative energy" during the announcement yesterday.

"With gas prices at nearly $4 a gallon, another green evangelist pushing failed talking points on the cap-and-trade energy tax and European-style gas prices is not who most Americans want to have at the helm of efforts to expand trade and grow our economy," said Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee.

More on the anemic recovery: US Manufacturing stuck in stop

Housing, unemployment, manufacturing are all looking pretty bad.

The pace of growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector tumbled in May, slackening more than expected to its slowest since September 2009, according to an industry report released Wednesday.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity fell to 53.5 in May from 60.4 the month before. The reading missed economists' expectations for 57.7.

A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the manufacturing sector, while a number above 50 means expansion.

New orders fell to 51.0 from 61.7 in April, the lowest since June 2009. The index for prices paid fell to 76.5 from 85.5, below expectations of 82.0. . . .

On top of that planned layoffs are up.

U

.S. private-sector payroll growth slowed sharply in May, falling to the lowest level in eight months and prompting some economists to lower forecasts for job growth in Friday's U.S. government report. . . .

The ADP report showed private employers added a scant 38,000 jobs last month, falling from a downwardly revised 177,000 in April and well short of expectations for 175,000. It was the lowest level since September 2010.

The report boded poorly for the key U.S. non-farm payrolls report at the end of the week. Credit Suisse lowered its estimate for Friday's employment number to 120,000 from its previous forecast of 185,000 and its private payroll estimate to 135,000 from 200,000.

ADP's number has been weaker than the government's private payrolls figure for 12 of the last 14 months, making Friday's government numbers likely to come in above ADP's report, Credit Suisse said. . . .

A separate report showed the number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms rose modestly in May with the government and non-profit sectors making up a large portion of the cuts.

Employers announced 37,135 planned job cuts last month, up 1.8 percent from 36,490 in April, according to a report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

"Most employers realise that these types of ups and downs are typical during recoveries. So, it is unlikely that we will see a sudden resurgence in corporate downsizing in the months ahead, unless there is a major shock to the economy," John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas said. . . . .

Toy gun sales doing very well

This is a nice cultural change. Toy companies might not like to call them guns, but they do have triggers and they are sometimes called cannons.

Toy companies are coming out with new extreme toy weapons for summer, outfitting kids for the traditional summertime pastime of playing in the yard . . . and blasting each other to smithereens with foam projectiles and water.

Noting the explosive popularity of outdoor "blasters" from Hasbro's Nerf and Super Soaker lines, more companies are jumping in with rival products, whether weapons that shoot wet paper pellets (a modern take on the old-fashioned spitball) or bows that fling foam arrows.

Amid overall lackluster toy sales in recent years, sales of outdoor playthings have been a bright spot, jumping 8% last year, according to market-research firm NPD Group. Industry experts say much of the growth is due to innovations like shooters that dispense foam darts with machine-gun rapidity and water blasters that let loose a torrential stream at increasingly greater distances. Hasbro's Nerf blasters and Super Soaker water shooters dominate the category. Innovations this summer include a cannon soaker with expanded water capacity and a battery-run soaker that promises a long, steady stream with no pumping required.

The shooters—makers assiduously avoid calling them "guns"—are antidotes to other summertime activities that kids or their parents soon tire of, whether it's the demands of day camps and other structured activities, or videogames and computer screens. According to NPD, the amount of face time kids spend with friends and siblings in leisure activities declines as they grow older, with an average of 10.8 hours a week by the time they are in the 9- to 12-year-old range. . . .

I remember this toy gun from when I was a kid. I didn't own this toy, but friends did.