Chateau Accidentally Razed

Wanna get away?

Just ask town officials in the town of Yvrac, in southwest France. They’re still infuriated after discovering that work crews hired to restore the local chateau Bellevue instead demolished the 18th century gem “by mistake”. Authorities in the village, nestled among picturesque vineyards some seven miles outside of Bordeaux, realized the regal manor had been unexpectedly razed in less than two days in late November. In fact, the only structure still standing is apparently one of the detached staff quarters — the building that was supposed to be leveled instead of the main house, which was undergoing renovation. Sorting out the mix up has been slowed by the fact the construction company and crew carrying out the work are Polish, and the owner is a Warsaw-based Russian millionaire.

Gimmie My $25!

Really?

Chanting “Save our food,” seniors rallied Thursday to urge congressional action to restore the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which provides $25 vouchers for the poor and elderly to buy fresh fruit and vegetables locally.

About 200 gathered at the Clinton Rose Senior Center, 3045 N. King Drive, in a push to revive the U.S. Department of Agriculture program that ended Sept. 30.

The program, financed by U.S. taxpayers, is part of the Farm Bill that failed to pass in Congress. Although Congress passed a continuing resolution for parts of the bill, the farmers market voucher program was not part of that, said Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the Hunger Task Force, who organized the rally.

“As of Sept. 30 the program is dead. Done,” she said.

It’s stuff like this that makes controlling government spending so difficult for some. We’re talking about $25 per YEAR and these folks are throwing a hissy fit about not having the taxpayers give it to them.

Unemployment Rate Drops

There’s a reason for the raised eyebrow...

As much as his fans scream and yell when he walks on water or levitates, most people have a pretty good idea that magician/illusionist Criss Angel is somehow tricking them and not actually defying the laws of physics.

In much the same why, when this morning’s surprisingly strong jobs data came out, professional investors and economists alike knew immediately that something was up. In a month when one of the nation’s most disruptive storms in recent history occurred, for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to report that Hurricane Sandy did not have an impact and the unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7% and 146,000 new jobs were created, that defies the laws of reason.

“It’s a little hard to believe quite honestly,” says Dan North, chief economist at Euler Hermes, in the attached video. “If there’s any report that deserved caveats and conditions it’s this one.”

Here’s the key figure:

The civilian labor force participation rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 63.6 percent in November

Michigan Workers Have the Right to Work

Perhaps Wisconsin’s Republicans will follow their lead...

LANSING, Mich. Republicans slammed right-to-work legislation through the Michigan House and Senate Thursday, drawing raucous protests from throngs of stunned union supporters, whose outnumbered Democratic allies were powerless to stop it.

Just hours after they were introduced, both chambers approved measures prohibiting private unions from requiring that nonunion employees pay fees. The Senate quickly followed by voting to impose the same requirement on most public unions.