Update: This hearing appears to have been rescheduled for 2:30 PM.
At 2:00 PM Eastern the Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the energy and water appropriations bill will be webcast. The bill includes the nuclear weapons programs of the Energy Department. Location is 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington.
The video webcast is available on OpenHearings.org; audio only on CapitolHearings.org.
I will post a link to the bill here as soon as it it available.
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29 comments:
Why does Congress get paid, and why do they give themselves raises? For the last few years, all they do is posture, and end up passing a CR with some extra pork larded on, and making sure to fund the DoD war efforts. The last real budget passed was when? 2005? Does this mean the only chance of real change in DC will be when one party gets a veto-proof and filibuster proof majority in both Houses, plus the Presidency? I don't think that is the way it is supposed to work. What is happening now is that the entrenched special interests are seeing their budget allocations frozen in time, with this sham budget process each year making voters think something is happening, so the political contributions from the flyover country peons keep rolling in.
They are only going through the motions...there will not be a budget because of the election. Come October 1, things could get very iffy here at LANL if the House budget becomes the law for the land. January 1 will even be worse because Pete will be retired and Tom U will be voting for and additional $2M for MaRie, which LANS management has made to be the cornerstone of our future.
I hope that everybody read the article from the the top Russian Nuke scientist. They certainly don't believe in this 100 year crap! But we have now had 15+ years of science-based stockpile stewardship (at a cost approaching $105B) and yet the Russians just keep churning out the same models plus newer ones (just like their automobiles). I hope that our politicians wake up and understand that we need some realistic policy to maintain the stockpile (Kudos to Bush for getting it right-sized). That should drive the budget instead of the prok in the DOE budget going to useless stuff like MOX.
I hope that you all post the latest article from C&E news (from the June 30, 2008 issue) entitled "Numbers Shrink at Weapons Labs". To quote Kevin Roark, a Los Alamos spokesperson..."These reductions (the VSP), along with normal attrition, meant that we did not have to resort to a layoff", and continues, "we are not going to do a separation program again and that Los Alamos is managing its workforce through normal attrition and strategic hiring". Does Kevin understand how Los Alamos get's its budget? Does Kevin understand that things in the future will be very different than in the past? Does Kevin understand that as a nation, we have a nine trillion dollar deficit? And does Kevin understand recession?
Do you have a url for the article or can you scan it and send it in?
What about another C&E article?
DOE Warns Of lab Layoffs — Some 1,800 nuclear weapons lab staff would have to be laid off to comply with congressional funding cuts to the Department of Energy 2009 budget request.
"Does Kevin understand how Los Alamos get's its budget? Does Kevin understand that things in the future will be very different than in the past?" - 7/10/08 2:32 PM
After the SSP in January, Mike said he didn't see a need for a RIF if the following criteria were met:
(1) We have normal attrition.
- This is unlikely, since most of the people close to retirement who would have feed into the attrition figures over the next few years all left with the SSP.
(2) We have a normal budget.
- Large segments of Congress are eager to slash NNSA's budget and St. Pete will soon be gone. The writing is clear for all to see with this one.
(3) We grow outside programs.
- I've seen no reduction in labor costs or increased efficiencies or proficient program managers who have the ability to rapidly grow LANL's outside programs. NNSA is also hindering LANL's WFO efforts.
It's unlikely that LANL will be able to meet Mike's criteria, so we'll probably see RIFs sometime soon. If not in FY09, then almost assuredly by FY10 and the layoff numbers could be quite high (~1500 to 2000). They'll be some extra funding provided as political "window dressing" for TR and energy research, but not nearly enough to cover for the huge upcoming cuts in the weapons program.
I dunno, 9:17. Attrition is still looking pretty strong, especially as people burn out on the "floggings will continue until morale improves" program. Just wait until we get deep into the HSS audits and NAP certifications, to name a few more joys coming at us.
www.csmonitor.com/
patchworknation/csmstaff/2008/0709/
for-voters-everywhere-its-still-the-economy-stupid/
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Obama, McCain will find it’s again ‘the economy, stupid’ everywhere
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by Dante Chinni, Christian Science Monitor
Posted: 07.09.2008 / 8:11 AM EDT
As Barack Obama and John McCain take their economic messages across the country, they are not really talking to one place. In a country as vast and diverse as the United States, economic hardship doesn’t affect everyone or every place the same way.
In some areas, the economic hard times are very much a part of daily life. In others, the recession is a cloud, threatening and maybe even closing in, but not yet there.
To understand which Patchwork Nation communities are feeling the effects the most, we turned to our citizen correspondents in Lincoln City, Ore., a resort town on the Oregon coast with a big service economy (“Service Worker Centers”) and in the well-to-do Mesa-top burg of Los Alamos, N.M. (“Monied ’Burbs”).
What we learned is that few locales have escaped America’s growing economic anxiety even though residents are experiencing the downturn differently depending on where they live.
...
In contrast, “hard times” have not really hit Los Alamos – at least not yet. With a median household income of about $80,000, the land of Oppenheimer has more of a cushion.
Economic concerns are growing, however. May’s unemployment rate was 2.8 percent. That’s high for Los Alamos where the jobless rate rarely goes above 3 percent.
“The talk around Santa Fe and Los Alamos is general concern about the economy,” writes Bill Enloe, chairman and CEO of Los Alamos National Bank. “The cost of gas is a concern, but more discussion is how and if we can get a cohesive long-term energy program. The concern is that the lack of cooperation between the Democrats and Republicans will prohibit a real solution.”
Many city residents say a “real solution” to the energy problem should involve the Los Alamos Laboratory. Currently, new funding for the lab is locked in a congressional battle. “The lab and the community are ideally situated to turn their attention to focusing on energy,” says James Rickman, who works at the lab.
In the meantime, he sees hard times ahead for this community of scientists. “People here are worried,” Mr. Rickman says. “This is a community of savers and tough times means they save even more. You hear it from the businesses around town that people are spending less.”
And the poor housing market hovers over the worries here just as it does in Lincoln City.
“There is a lot of money here tied up in retirement accounts and in housing. And the housing prices here are way down,” Rickman says. “People here are thinking if the lab gets cuts and I have all this money tied up in my house, ‘What am I going to do?’ ”
Add in the climbing price of gasoline and it’s all enough to make Los Alamos residents wonder about their place in the economic pecking order. “We’ve always thought of ourselves as lucky to be upper-middle-class and we still are upper-middle-class, but we’re sure feeling a lot more middle-class lately,” Rickman says.
Those aren’t exactly words of doom. But for the people living on the higher end of the income scale, the economic concerns aren’t usually about survival. They lead to a change in lifestyle.
Those kinds of changes make economic hardship a reality. So while Senators Obama and McCain may be talking about the economy differently depending on where they’re campaigning, they will be talking about it everywhere between now and November.
2:32 pnm: "Does Kevin understand how Los Alamos get's its budget? Does Kevin understand that things in the future will be very different than in the past? Does Kevin understand that as a nation, we have a nine trillion dollar deficit? And does Kevin understand recession?"
Kevin (who is a friend of mine) may or may not understand those things. What you do not seem to understand is that his job is to say publicly what his bosses want him to say. Why should his personal understanding of, or even agreement with, the Lab's position be of any concern to you?? You obviously have no grasp of the reality of the world: your opinion is meaningless, as is mine and anyone else's. No one cares what you think and your myopic self-centered view of the situation is laughable. No one needs the government nonsense. Life outside LANL is fun, exciting, and vibrant. Try it. You'll be happier, I guarantee. Life sings, dances, and is happy. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, I pity you.
Does the name of Bush's former PR man, Scott McClellan, ring a bell?
If you don't believe in the boss's message, you shouldn't be fulfilling the role as the boss's messenger. To do otherwise is deceitful and a cop out.
I had an urgent request from a WFO sponsor who needed a field tested technology ASAP. They had the money, the tests scheduled, everything. I put together a team of 8 people to work almost full time to get it developed and done, wrote the proposal...in steps my lab's program management and DOE bureaucratic process...no one answered my emails or phone calls, all I needed was for them to forward the thing. Here we are five months later, after weeks of needless delay, no funding in, sponsor asking what is going on, no way to make the testing deadlines. My view is that there are many very capable technical staff at the labs who are just stymied by the overburden and cost of management and DOE.
"What you do not seem to understand is that his job is to say publicly what his bosses want him to say. "
I've never understood the flogging that Kevin takes in this forum. You got a problem with what he says, take it to the boss. It's amazing how many bright people can't figure out that shooting the messenger is as stupid now as it ever was.
It goes to show that a PhD means little or nothing when it comes to common sense.
With Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac near collapse, it's only a matter of time until the government will be forced to bail them out using huge amounts of taxpayer debt to stall a US depression. When this happens, the amount of funding left over for the US discretionary budgets (DOE, NNSA, etc.) is going to be severely impacted. The article below says that the US government would need to back up around $5 trillion dollars in holdings to bailout Freddie and Fannie!
Given what is happening to the US economy, it's beginning to appear like the large layoff numbers that have been mentioned for LANL for the next few years may not be off the mark. Let's hope the doomsday financial scenarios don't occur, but the odds are increasing. Best advice I can think of is to save as much as you can while you still have a job. Any large loss of jobs in this small, one company town will have a devastating effect.
biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/
080711/1194793612725.html
*********
U.S. Weighs Takeover of Two Mortgage Giants - NY Times
Friday July 11, 12:35 pm ET
By STEPHEN LABATON and STEVEN R. WEISMAN
WASHINGTON — Alarmed by the growing financial stress at the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies, senior Bush administration officials are considering a plan to have the government take over one or both of the companies and place them in a conservatorship if their problems worsen, people briefed about the plan said on Thursday.
The companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have been hit hard by the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Their shares are plummeting and their borrowing costs are rising as investors worry that the companies will suffer losses far larger than the $11 billion they have already lost in recent months. Now, as housing prices decline further and foreclosures grow, the markets are worried that Fannie and Freddie themselves may default on their debt.
Under a conservatorship, the shares of Fannie and Freddie would be worth little or nothing, and any losses on mortgages they own or guarantee — which could be staggering — would be paid by taxpayers.
The government officials said that the administration had also considered calling for legislation that would offer an explicit government guarantee on the $5 trillion of debt owned or guaranteed by the companies. But that is a far less attractive option, they said, because it would effectively double the size of the public debt.
In assuming the liabilities, they would also get the (currently depreciating) assets as well. Currently valued assets-liab ~ - couple $100B from what I've read.
12:03 pm: "With Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac near collapse, it's only a matter of time until the government will be forced to bail them out using huge amounts of taxpayer debt to stall a US depression."
Get a grip. If you want to spread "the sky is falling" panic, then at least do it professionally - not the childish whining you use. Your whole screed is based on fear. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy. Have fun with it.
No, he's not whining, this is for real. We are now in the midst of the biggest economic crisis since 1929. Most Americans are just too ignorant to realize what's going on. Huge amounts of taxpayer money are being used to bail out the likes of FNM, FRE, BSC, IndyMac, etc... Everyone get in line at the Fed discount window. FNM/FRE have $5 trillion dollars of mortgage debt obligations. That's half the national debt. All so a Taco Bell assistant manager can buy millions of dollars worth of houses and "flip" them. Congress (Dodd, et al.) is trying to pass bills that will attempt to prop up housing prices at levels way above historical norms so that people who made very bad financial decisions won't have to face the consequences of their actions. The value of the dollar relative to gold has fallen off a cliff. There is nowhere to put money where you can beat inflation. Couple that with historic oil prices, an Iran/Israel conflict on the horizon, rising unemployement, the impending SS bankruptcy, and you'd better stock up on rice and ammo. All the while, our jobs are being shipped offshore and wages coming down to compete with China/India/Mexico/Panama, or wherever the next place is our corporations can exploit for slave labor. The big fish make off with millions in an offshore account and retire to Costa Rica. The rest of us come out of retirement to work as a Wal-Mart greeter to pay for food until we die. The next few years are ones we will be telling our grandchildren about. We are witnessing the death of capitalism in this country. Privatize the winnings and socialize the losses. The issues at LANL are fish food compared to what's going on in this country. Yet the people keep voting the same corrupt fools into office. Kennedy, Feinstein, Boxer, Schumer, and yes, even Domenici. Year after year we vote them back in and expect different results. Why? Vote the scum out.
This is not fear mongering, this is the reality of our current situation. No amount of happy-go-lucky, "What me worry?" thoughts are going to save us this time. Look at the facts. Look at what is going on outside of this little bubble on the hill.
10:18PM Get a grip. If you want to spread "the sky is falling" panic, then at least do it professionally - not the childish whining you use....
I don't 12:03PM is being childish. Sounds more like you are whining. Certainly the sky is not falling, but you need to open your eyes and see the writing on the walls or better yet, the recent appropriation bills" LANS (i.e. Bechtel) lucked out in FY08 by carrying over hundreds of millions of dollars from FY07, having an SSP and hoping they could survive the FY09 budget via this strategy. Probably will work for FY09, but if you work at LANL prepare yourself for FY10. Then, maybe not, if you are part of the management team from Bechtel driving luxury cars and living in the wonderful world on healthy pay raises, bonuses and a having a place setting at Bechtel Corporate when the "real budget" problems pinch LANL!
"We at LANL have it really bad and pretty soon everybody else will too! So there!!"
Classic fear-mongering. 11:47 am said "Huge amounts of taxpayer money are being used to bail out the likes of FNM, FRE, BSC, IndyMac, etc"
No, it's not, at least for FNM and FRE. No bailout has occurred. Congressional testimony called them "in good financial shape."
Congressional testimony called them "in good financial shape."
Oh, well, then it must be true. Everything is fine. Although, I wonder why FNM stock price has dropped 85% since this time last year. Make no mistake, one way or the other, covertly or not, taxpayer money will be pumped into FNM/FRE. Their demise would signal a return to sensible lending standards in this country, a contraction of easy credit, and would expose the fact that our standard of living is actually going down. The government will never allow that.
Get a grip. If you want to spread "the sky is falling" panic, then at least do it professionally - not the childish whining you use." (10:18 PM)
Poster 10:18 PM, do you have any earthly idea about just how highly leveraged and exposed the whole US financial system is right now? Any idea at all?
Get a bit of education on the subject. Here's a link with video of former GAO David Walker on 60 Minutes telling us what we face. It's not pretty, and of all the people in this country, the head of GAO should know something about the subject.
GAO David Walker on 60 Minutes -
video.google.com/
videoplay?docid=-7461407498377956300
Watch this video and then tell me that the US is not in serious economic trouble.
Over the next few years the entitlement side of the US budget will be eating up almost all of the available US budget. There will be virtually nothing left for the discretionary budget (i.e., NNSA). Throw in huge bailouts for the collapsing housing market and skyrocketing energy costs and this problem only gets much worse.
This is not fear mongering. This is the harsh reality we face in the US today.
9:42 pm: "This is not fear mongering. This is the harsh reality we face in the US today."
Get over yourself. You watch way too much TV. I certainly don't face any such "harsh reality." Get out of the house, and stop keeping CNN on while you work. They don't make truth, they don't even tell it. You do, if you'd just let yourself be free of the media. We don't face anything we didn't create. If you fear something, it will eat you. If you have an actual life outside LANL and outside government, you can actaully engage in free time, not controlled or managed by anyone, and not subject to anyone's dire predictions, just your own creations. Try it. Turn off your TV and your other electronic devices for a week. Try living again. No one owns your life but you.
7/12/08 1:50 PM
Eat your words, read the papers today and appologize to 11:47. Freddie and Fannie are not in such good shape and shame on you for believing anything coming out of Washington.
Well, there you have it. Fannie and Freddie bailed out by Congress. Direct line to Treasury and the Fed discount window. Can you hear me now?
If you have money in any of these banks, I would get it out now.
National City
Washington Mutual
Wachovia
Citigroup
You've been warned. Don't stop thinking those happy thoughts though! That'll make those long nights in the bunker easier.
"If you fear something, it will eat you." - 11:47 PM
... but you can work at banishing fear by educating yourself and understanding complex situations.
Poster 1:50 PM/11:47 PM sounds like some type of "by-choice" village idiot. If things get bad, why, then turn off the news and ignore the events that are bothering you.
I'll bet there were are a lot of customers sweating in the long line at IndyMac Bank this morning who use to feel this same way. Reality just slapped them in the face.
7/14 10:24 pm: "Well, there you have it. Fannie and Freddie bailed out by Congress."
Nope, still wrong. It still hasn't happened. The Fed has allowed direct loans to FRM and FNM, but no loans have been made, and Congress has not passed legislation. Try actually reading the news stories.
7/14 11:03 pm: "I'll bet there were are a lot of customers sweating in the long line at IndyMac Bank this morning who use to feel this same way. Reality just slapped them in the face."
The "reality" is that over 90% of those folks have, and had, nothing to worry about since they had less than $100,000. on deposit. They, like you, were reacting out of fear, not knowledge. Actually, some of the posters here seem to be reacting out of hope...kinda funny.
Actually, despite the gloom-and-doom of some posters here, experienced investors recognize a big sale when they see one. I for one intend to buy while the investments are low priced. It's a welcome break from high prices.
"I for one intend to buy while the investments are low priced. It's a welcome break from high prices."
7/15/08 8:18 PM
I would suggest you load up your 401k retirement fund with lots of Fannie Mae stock. It hasn't hit zero as of yet, so you still have time to buy, buy buy! All those stock certificates can be used as a nice wall paper covering once the stocks becomes worthless.
You may also want to consider recklessly throwing away your retirement savings by snapping up shares of Washington Mutual, Wachovia, and Lehmans. Better yet, don't listen to all the TV cheerleaders like Kudlow and Cramer and just burn the cash in the fireplace for warmth this Winter.
9:24 pm: "I would suggest you load up your 401k retirement fund with lots of Fannie Mae stock. It hasn't hit zero as of yet, so you still have time to buy, buy buy! All those stock certificates can be used as a nice wall paper covering once the stocks becomes worthless."
If you're the kind of investor that doesn't do homework before investing, than your comments may apply. I do my homework. But thanks for the pointers. I have money to invest, and the time to do it right. I'm not worried about my future.
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