petard
(pe-TAHRD)
1. A small bomb
used to blast down a gate or wall.
2. A loud
firecracker.
From French péter
(to break wind), from Latin peditum (a breaking wind), from pedere (to break
wind). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pezd- (to break wind) which also
gave us feisty, fart, and French pet (fart).
_______________________________________________
TIP OF THE WEEK
TIP OF THE WEEK
Ignore some of the
petards about wasteful government spending.
The continuing
resolution that will fund the federal government for another 86 days should
include broad based support for the Small Business
Administration.
For the SBA 7(a) program, the return to a zero subsidy
rate removes the need to seek appropriations. It also reduces lender
fees. For its 7(a) guaranty loan program, the SBA budget
authority will support a program level of $17.5
billion!
SBA loans are good
for the economy. Remember, SBA 7(a) loan volume is a leading economic
indicator as the correlation coefficient between SBA 7(a) loan volume and the
economy’s Gross Domestic Product is a statistically significant
0.86.
_____________________________________
Indices:
PRIME RATE= 3.25%
SBA LIBOR Base Rate October 2013 = 3.18%
SBA Fixed Base Rate October 2013 = 5.37%
________________________________________
SBA 504 Loan Debenture Rate for October
Indices:
PRIME RATE= 3.25%
SBA LIBOR Base Rate October 2013 = 3.18%
SBA Fixed Base Rate October 2013 = 5.37%
________________________________________
SBA 504 Loan Debenture Rate for October
The debenture rate
is only 3.37% but note rate is 3.425% and the effective yield is
5.451%.
________________________________________________
AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE
AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE
Lost
amongst the petards in Washington
The
government shutdown has severely affected employment, or at least the reporting
of it.
The
jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the month of September will
finally be released tomorrow. It would have normally come out three weeks ago.
Only 169,000 jobs
were added in August. The government had also revised down its estimated job
growth for June and July by a combined 74,000 jobs, meaning the net gain from
the job’s report is under 100,000 jobs. That does not even keep up with
population growth.
Here is a summary
of net monthly payroll employment and this week’s interesting little table of
data:
August
169,000
July
104,000
June
172,000
May
176,000
April
165,000
March
88,000
February
332,000
January
148,000
2012
December
155,000
November
161,000
October
137,000
September
114,000
August
142,000
July
181,000
June
45,000
May
77,000
April
68,000
March
143,000
February
240,000
January
243,000
2011
December
203,000
November
157,000
October
112,000
September
158,000
August
104,000
July
127,000
June
20,000
May
25,000
April
232,000
March
194,000
February
235,000
January
68,000
2010
December
121,000
November
93,000
October
210,000
September
(41,000)
August
(1,000)
July
(66,000)
June
(175,000)
May
431,000
April
218,000
March
230,000
February
(36,000)
January
(26,000)
2009
December
(150,000)
November
(11,000)
October
(111,000)
September
(215,000)
August
(201,000)
July
(304,000)
June
(443,000)
May
(322,000)
April
(504,000)
March
(699,000)
February
(651,000)
January
(655,000)
2008
December
(681,000)
November
(597,000)
October
(423,000)
September
(403,000)
August
(127,000)
July
(67,000)
June
(100,000)
May
(47,000)
April
(67,000)
March
(88,000)
February-
(83,000)
January-
(76,000)
What does all this
mean?
I don’t
know.
At the current
pace of job growth, it would take more than six years to get back to
pre-recession employment levels. The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market
Committee meets next week on monetary policy and they have made it clear that
they won’t even consider raising interest rate until unemployment
improves.
It
would appear that interest rates won’t be going up anytime
soon.
Our
politicians might be hoisted by their own petards
yet.
__________________________________________
OFF BASE
OFF BASE
Hoisted
by one’s own petard?
Believe
it or not, Vin Scully once used that phrase in a baseball
game.
On
Cinco de Mayo back in 2008, Dodger pitcher Chad Billingsley struck out
ineffectually, prompting Vinny to state that "he was hoisted on his own
petard"... The Dodgers would go on to win that game 5-1.
So
what does it mean to be hoisted by one’s own
petard?
A
petard was a bell-shaped bomb used to breach a door or a wall. Now that we have
advanced to nuclear missiles, this low-tech word survives in the phrase "to
hoist by one's own petard" meaning "to have one's scheme backfire".
The
idiom was popularized by Shakespeare in his play Hamlet. Hamlet, having turned
the tables on those tasked with killing him, says:
For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard
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