“This and That” – May 1, 2010

A brief collection of items worthy of your awareness:

Traditional Media Circulation Continues To Slide

According to “media-mutt” Al Diamon, Maine’s established print media are continuing to lose circulation.  While the Press Herald and some others have declined to submit their recent figures, those that have show a consistent loss of readership (paid, at least.)

Brunswick’s revered Ostrich continued to demonstrate the wisdom of editorial policies that cater to less than half of their potential readership.

The Times Record in Brunswick was no exception to the trend. It went from a daily circulation of 8,673 a year ago to 8,091 now, a loss of 6.7 percent. The weekend edition dipped from 10,366 in 2009 to 9,583 in 2010, down more than 7.5 percent.

For the rest of the story, look here.

Public Sector Getting Rich on the Backs of the Middle Class

Got your attention there, didn’t I.  Regular readers know we’ve reported on the excesses of “public sector” unions before.  You may want to grab your ankles, or at least your knees, before you read further on this report though.

A periodical that we subscribe to recently carried an article that included this citation:

In Contra Costa, California, the final salary of one fire chief, 51, was $221,000. He was given an annual, guaranteed pension of $284,000. Another chief, 50, whose final salary was $185,000, got a pension of $241,000. Credit the Contra Costa Times with uncovering this.

You can read the entire article here.  And check out a referenced source here.

Too bad you didn’t take that job as a California fireman when you had the chance.  And 250 million Americans are thinking the same thing.

Coastal Journal – Government “Rescues the Economy”

Is your back hurting from bending over to absorb the last little snippet of good news?  Poor you; you better get used to it.

The Coastal Journal, which as we’ve opined before is the vehicle by which Editor Gina Hamilton earns a living while spewing collectivist and liberal orthodoxy, carried her “analysis” of the Obama administration’s plan for “Rescuing the economy” here.

I’ll spare you the gory details, other than to report that her review of the plans includes intentions to create a lovely array of new government agencies to oversee and improve our lives. The items below combine the “best ideas” of the house and senate versions of the bill.

Consumer Financial Protection Agency: Creates an independent agency with scope over financial products such as deposit accounts and loans.

Systemic Risk: Creates a new agency, called the Financial Services Oversight Council, which identifies threats to the stability of financial markets.

Investor Protection: Strengthens the SEC, and orders a study of the securities industry that will identify needed reforms.

Insurance: Creates a federal Insurance Office that will monitor all aspects of the insurance industry, including identifying gaps in regulation. (Or, if you prefer: Creates an Office of National Insurance in the Treasury Department to monitor insurance industry issues, coordinate international issues, and provide information and recommendations.)

Credit Rating Agencies: Creates the Office of Credit Ratings in the SEC.

Well!  I hope you feel better, because we certainly do.  How could we not when our aristocracy plans to create so many new agencies to look after our interests?  In all likelihood, the new government jobs will knock a tenth of a percent or two off the unemployment rate.  How could this not be good for us?

And now you know the Other Side of the story.

Technorati Tags: press,government,unions