Category Archives: Jobs

Unemployment applications jump to 399000, Increase 24000, January 13, 2012, US Labor department, 4 week average rose to 381750, Media silent

Unemployment applications jump to 399000, Increase 24000, January 13, 2012, US Labor department, 4 week average rose to 381750, Media silent

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984”

Last week, when the alleged drop in unemployment claims was announced and the media was lavishing praise on Obama, I certainly had my doubts. The temporary jobs of the Christmas Season are always a problem and now with so many job applicants giving up, a realistic number is even more difficult to arrive at. Before reacting to last week’s numbers, I decided to let the dust settle and wait for the effect of the seasonal hiring to diminish.

Yesterday I heard Rush Limbaugh react to the Unemployment applications jump to 399,000. His reaction was much the same as mine with the recent jubilation in the media of reports of so called reductions in unemployment. Yesterday the media was silent. We still do not have a realistic number to reflect the true unemployment rate. Last week Sean Hannity indicated it is probably around 15.2 %.

From the Lake County News Sun January 12, 2012.

“Unemployment benefit applications jump to 399,000”

“The number of people applying for weekly unemployment benefits spiked last week, largely because companies let go of thousands of workers after the holiday season.

The Labor Department said Thursday that applications jumped by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 399,000, the most in six weeks. That followed three months of steady declines that brought applications to the lowest level in more than three years.

Applications typically soar in the first two weeks of the year. That’s because many companies lay off temporary workers who were brought on to help during the holidays. The department tries to adjust for those patterns. But the task is difficult because the data can be volatile.

The four-week average, which attempts to smooth such fluctuations, also rose, to 381,750. It had fallen in the previous week to a three-and-a-half-year low.”

“The pickup in hiring reflects greater economic growth. The economy will likely expand by more than 3 percent at an annual rate in the final three months of last year, economists expect. Rising consumer spending will likely power much of the gain. That would be a sharp improvement over the 1.8 percent growth in the July-September quarter.

Even so, economists worry that growth could slow in the first half of 2012. Europe is almost certain to fall into recession because of its financial troubles.

And wages didn’t keep pace with inflation last year. So without more jobs and higher pay, consumers may have to cut back on spending. That could drag on growth next year. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.”

http://newssun.suntimes.com/business/9973056-420/unemployment-benefit-applications-jump-to-399000.html

 

Unemployment rate lies exagerations, Obama lies, 315000 Americans left the labor force, Worst jobless figures since Great Depression in NC

Unemployment rate lies exagerations, Obama lies, 315000 Americans left the labor force, Worst jobless figures since Great Depression in NC

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984”

From Gallup November 17, 2011.

“U.S. Unemployment Ticks Up in Mid-November

Underemployment is at 18.2%, with 9.7% working part time but seeking full-time jobs
by Dennis Jacobe, Chief EconomistPRINCETON, NJ — Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is 8.5% in mid-November — up from 8.3% in mid-October, but down significantly from 9.2% in mid-November 2010. Gallup’s mid-month unemployment measure suggests the government is likely to report no change in its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November 2011.
An additional 9.7% of U.S. employees work part time but want full-time work, up from 9.2% in mid-October. The current reading is significantly higher than the 8.5% of mid-November 2010.
Underemployment, a measure that combines the percentage of workers who are unemployed with the percentage working part time but wanting full-time work, is 18.2% — up from 17.5% a month ago. Underemployment stood at 17.7% in mid-November 2010.
Implications

Gallup’s analysis suggests that the deterioration in November unemployment is essentially the result of seasonal factors. In turn, this implies the government is likely to report on the first Friday in December that there was no change in the U.S. unemployment rate for November.”

http://www.gallup.com/poll/150794/unemployment-ticks-mid-november.aspx

From the US Labor Department December 2, 2011.

“The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 8.6 percent in November, and nonfarm payroll employment rose by 120,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in retail trade, leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and health care. Government employment continued to trend down.”

“Household Survey Data

In November, the unemployment rate declined by 0.4 percentage point to 8.6 percent. From April through October, the rate held in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent. The number of unemployed persons, at 13.3 million, was down by 594,000 in November. The labor force, which is the sum of the unemployed and employed, was down by a little more than half that amount.”

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

From Bloomberg December 3, 2011.

“Household Survey
 
The unemployment rate, derived from a separate survey of households, was forecast to hold at 9 percent. The decrease in the jobless rate reflected a 278,000 gain in employment at the same time 315,000 Americans left the labor force.

“While the rate is certainly a very favorable rate, I would highlight that a lot of it is because people pulled out of the workforce,” Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said in a speech yesterday.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-03/payroll-gains-improve-as-u-s-unemployment-rate-drops-economy.html

From Rush Limbaugh December 2, 2011.

“Regime Manipulates Numbers to Get Unemployment Headline Under 9%”

“BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I don’t want to be an I told you so, but I told you so, and I told you so five weeks ago.  Gallup, every week, puts out their own unemployment numbers and Gallup has been signaling that this day unemployment below 9% was coming.  They’ve been blatantly saying so, based on their own unemployment data, which is not related to the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.  It’s their own surveys; and in the last five weeks, occasionally they will say that their numbers that they come out with on a Wednesday or Thursday indicate that we’re getting very close to a Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment number of under 9%.  I said, “The regime needs this, and when we finally get to under 9%, it will be eight-point-something, but the point-what won’t matter.  The only number that’s going to matter is the eight.

“It could be 8.9; it won’t be 8.9, it will be ‘8.’”  Well, it’s 8.6, but it doesn’t matter, it’s eight; and predictably, the media’s all over it, and that’s the headline.  You know, I got up this morning and I did the show prep routine and one of the first places I always go is Drudge and I saw it right there in red, and it’s 8.6, and that’s all it said, and I knew what it was. It’s Friday, and I didn’t need to know anything else.  I knew that was the unemployment number, 8.6, and that’s all anybody else is gonna hear. They’re not gonna dig deep and find out how it happened.  Some people have, some people are. There’s a slight bit of reservation in certain sectors of the Drive-By Media.  But most of the Drive-By Media is doing hosannas and hallelujah and merry…

Well, Happy Holidays. They don’t do Merry Christmas in the media.  But we’re back, it’s done, they got the headline: “Unemployment, 8.6%!” Now, the truth of the matter is — and Bloomberg News even points out that the only way — it’s a corrupt number.  It is a corrupt number. Folks, the number of people who have quit looking for work in the last few weeks is 315,000.  Those are the people have thrown up their hands after 99 weeks or more of being unemployed; and they’ve said, “I’m quitting.  I’m not looking.”  So they’re not counted.  Therefore, the universe of jobs available in the country is down by 315,000.  That is the labor force participation rate.  The labor force participation rate is a meager 64%.  It fell to 64% from 64.2%.  So the 0.2% drop equals 315,000 people leaving the workforce.

That means there are 315,000 fewer jobs to have, so the universe of jobs has been steadily shrinking.  What was the number of jobs created?  It’s 120,000 jobs.  It’s 120, 126,000, whatever. That’s in the ballpark.  That number of jobs created can lower unemployment rate 0.4%, almost one half of a percent? Creating 120,000 new jobs can do that?  That alone tells us how small the labor force participation rate is.  That tells us how small the universe of available jobs in the country is, when creating 120,000 — and we still have, don’t forget, over 400,000 applications for unemployment compensation reported yesterday.  So just 120,000 new jobs can lower the unemployment rate almost a half a point.  That’s not possible without that 315,000 figure, the 315,000 people who have just walked away.

Bloomberg News is even reporting this means that more people left the workforce than got jobs.  Now, stop and think of this.  More people left the workforce than got jobs, and the unemployment rate goes down?  We’re dealing here with a serious form of corruption, manipulation of data; but, we all knew it was coming.  After all, we’re talking about the regime.  We knew this was coming.  We know the fact, we know the histoire, that no president’s been reelected with an unemployment rate higher than 8%.  So here we are 11 months away from the next election, voila! Heading into the Christmas, slash, holiday season, and we’re at 8.6%, the 0.6 doesn’t matter, we’re at 8%.  And the media is having orgasms out there, O-gasms.

But everybody in the country knows the economy is not growing, that new jobs are not being created a massive, robust way that signals, or feels like economic growth.  But the sad thing is that all these details that I have provided — probably, sadly — won’t even matter because the regime has gotten the headline that it wanted.  It got 8.6.  The regime got unemployment 8.6%.  That’s what they wanted; that’s what they got.  All these other details are irrelevant.  Now, this is the U3 unemployment rate.  The U6 unemployment rate counts the 315,000.  The U3 is a government marker.  U3 is what is reported.  The U6 unemployment number counts the 315,000 who have given up looking for a gig.  The U6 unemployment number is around 16, 17% — and that’s real unemployment.

The job universe from January 2009 when Obama was immaculated to the present is down about 2.5 million jobs.  There are 2.5 million fewer jobs in our country in the two and a half, almost three years now that Obama has been in orifice — and that’s the dirty little secret.  You shrink the workforce by two, 2.5 million people is the only way you can report the unemployment rate going down.  More people leave the workforce than found jobs, and the unemployment rate went down a half a point.  So again we are being massaged, we are being spun, we are being inundated with corrupt numbers, but it was all predictable, all understandable.  Again, so small has the employment universe become — so small, so many people having dropped out of the system altogether…

No longer counted, is what that means, as being unemployed. No longer counted as being alive in terms of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When you quit looking for a job, you’re only counted in that U6 number, which is not the one that’s reported.  The U3 number is.  So you drop out of the system altogether, you’re no longer counted by the Obama regime.  A mere 126,000 job increase drops unemployment rate almost one half of a percentage point.  This is nothing more than the government manipulating the real work situation that exists in the country.  It’s all calculated to create a false impression of economic recovery and a healthier job market.  It’s truly outrageous — and watch how the Obama media cronies regurgitate this propaganda for the most part.  Watch how they’ll all fall in line. You’ve probably heard it already this morning.  I have examples of it here in the sound bite roster, but I don’t… Ah, I’ll probably play a couple of them just for the fun of it.”

Read more:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2011/12/02/regime_manipulates_numbers_to_get_unemployment_headline_under_9

Obama Greensboro NC Guilford Technical Community College jobs speech, AKA Obama 2012 campaign speech, AKA Obama lies

Obama Greensboro NC Guilford Technical Community College jobs speech, AKA Obama 2012 campaign speech, AKA Obama lies

“Stuart Levine, as a witness in the Rezko and Cellini trials, stated that he bribed the Chicago Board of Education over 10 times.”

Obama will give a speech at Guilford Technical Community College today, Tuesday, October 18, 2011. This speech will certainly be a campaign speech disguised as a jobs speech which is something he obviously knows nothing about.

From the GTCC website:

The President’s Address on the Guilford Technical Community College Campus is not open to the public.
It is a ticketed event and tickets have already been distributed.

Remarks by President Obama on
American Jobs Act

October 18, 2011
Marry Perry Ragsdale Family YMCA
900 Bonner Drive • Jamestown, NC 27282

divider

Advisory for Faculty, Staff and Students
Presidential Address
October 18, 2011

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:As you may be aware, our college is being honored by a visit from President Barack Obama on Tuesday, October 18 during the morning hours.  This is an exciting event for us.  However, with the additional visitors and subsequent traffic on and near campus, traffic flow and student movement will be greatly affected from approximately 7:00 am until 1:00 pm.  The east side of the campus (Koury Hospitality Careers Center, Science Hall, and Transportation Technologies) will be most affected.  Classes will continue as normal with few exceptions.  Lot C, Lot F and the Stanford Road lot will be closed to all GTCC traffic. At 9:00 am, no traffic will be allowed on the east side of campus as Guilford College Road, High Point Road, East Bonner Road, Millis Road and Stanford Road will be closed to all traffic until approximately 1:00 pm.  The Vickery Chapel / West Bonner Road entrance on High Point Road / Main Street (Jamestown) on the west side of campus will remain open during the time of the Presidential visit.
President Parker requests that you follow these suggestions to minimize disruptions to your morning.

  • Please arrive on campus no later than 7:00 am.
  • Carpooling is highly recommended.
  • The parking deck will be open to all – first-come, first served.
  • All spaces are first-come, first-served regardless of markings with the exception of handicapped, visitor and special permit parking spaces.  If possible, plan to remain on campus until 1:00 pm.
  • You must have your GTCC identification with you at all times.  There is to be no exceptions.

Thank you for your understanding and patience during this momentous event.  More information will be forthcoming.”

Oh, I see, Obama is creating jobs for the security people and new tasks for the students trying to get to class. Today is the first day of the short schedule fall classes. I am certain this will help those students.

And speaking of education, my next article on Obama’s impact on education in Chicago and IL will be of interest.

Obama economy worsens, Highest poverty rate, Unemployment claims rise, Unemployment rate 9.1 percent, Gas prices high, Obama wants to raise taxes on business

Obama economy worsens, Highest poverty rate, Unemployment claims rise, Unemployment rate 9.1 percent, Gas prices high, Obama wants to raise taxes on business

Obama, et al are ruining this country and it’s economy. Today we learn from the US Labor Department.

“UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending September 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 428,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 417,000. The 4-week moving average was 419,500, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 415,500.”

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20111330.htm

The US Census Bureau just reported.
“Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the United States last year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, and the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it.

And in new signs of distress among the middle class, median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1996.

Economists pointed to a telling statistic: It was the first time since the Great Depression that median household income, adjusted for inflation, had not risen over such a long period, said Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard.

“This is truly a lost decade,” Mr. Katz said. “We think of America as a place where every generation is doing better, but we’re looking at a period when the median family is in worse shape than it was in the late 1990s.”

The bureau’s findings were worse than many economists expected, and brought into sharp relief the toll the past decade — including the painful declines of the financial crisis and recession —had taken on Americans at the middle and lower parts of the income ladder. It is also fresh evidence that the disappointing economic recovery has done nothing for the country’s poorest citizens.

The report said the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line last year, 15.1 percent, was the highest level since 1993. (The poverty line in 2010 for a family of four was $22,314.)”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html

The reported unemployment rate remains at 9.1 %.

“THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — AUGUST 2011
Nonfarm payroll employment was unchanged (0) in August, and the unemployment rate held at 9.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Employment in most major industries changed little over the month.”

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

The tax and spend policies of Obama and his cronies are a huge part of why this economy is tanking. Obama is more concerned about getting reelected than he is  the lives of ordinary struggling Americans. He speaks of creating jobs (with the worst past performance on record) and raising taxes on businesses to do so. The next part is important. Pay Attention!

Businesses do not pay taxes. Consumers do!

Taxes are part of the cost of doing business. When taxes are raised, some combination of the following will occur:

1. Prices will be raised.

2. Employees will be let go or have reduced hours.

3. Hiring will be diminished.

We have enough revenue. Cut spending!

Gasoline Prices

One of the biggest, if not biggest drains on the economy, one exacerbated by Obama and his cronies, is gasoline prices. This affects the cost of everything and is killing our economy. The left are so  concerned about theoretical environmental damage and emulating Europeans that they disregard the plight of average Americans. Below is a chart showing the rise in fuel prices during the Obama reign.

I am all for alternative energy initiatives that make sense and are not in place to enrich Obama supporters. In fact, I have done so myself with my own limited funds. However, gasoline prices are hurting this economy and the poor and middle class citizens who the Democrats pretend to represent.

Drill baby drill!

Obama jobs speech, September 8, 2011, Joint session of Congress, More shovel ready jobs?, More Obama promises, More Obama spending

Obama jobs speech, September 8, 2011, Joint session of Congress, More shovel ready jobs?, More Obama promises, More Obama spending

***  UPDATE BELOW  ***

From the Chicago Tribune September 8, 2011.

“President Barack Obama will lay out a jobs
package worth more than $300 billon on Thursday, staking his
re-election hopes on a call for urgent bipartisan action to revive the
faltering economy.

With his poll numbers sliding to new lows amid voter frustration with
9.1 percent unemployment, Obama will make tax cuts for middle-class
households and businesses the centerpiece of the plan and will press
for new spending to repair roads, bridges and other deteriorating
infrastructure.

He will use his televised speech before a joint session of the U.S.
Congress, at 7 p.m. EDT, to urge passage of those measures by
year-end.

If congressional Republicans reject his remedies, his strategy will be
to paint them as obstructionists and blame them for the stagnating
economy.

Stubbornly high unemployment has heightened fears that the economy
could be headed for another recession. Net employment growth
registered zero in August as a budget standoff in Washington and the
European debt crisis spooked businesses and consumers.

Obama is under intense pressure to change perceptions that he has
shown weak leadership. His economic stewardship has been criticized by
both Republicans and fellow Democrats, casting a cloud over his
prospects for re-election in November 2012.”

“Republicans have derided an $800 billion economic stimulus package
that Obama pushed through Congress in 2009 as wasteful spending and
have pushed for immediate cuts in the deficit.

Democrats say that while long-term deficits must be addressed, the
economy needs a short-term fiscal boost.

Media reports have put the size of Obama’s jobs package at upward of
$300 billion. CNN quoted sources saying it could top $400 billion. The
White House would not confirm the reports.”

“Republican Senator Lamar Alexander said Obama should take
responsibility for making the economy worse.

“Unemployment is worse, housing is worse, the debt is worse, and he’s
done all that by throwing a big wet blanket over the economy with his
regulatory, tax and healthcare policies,” he said.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-obama-jobstre781765-20110902,0,2398267.story

What Obama stated on March 3, 2009.
    “Two weeks ago, I signed into law the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act, the most sweeping economic recovery plan in history.
 And already, its impact is being felt across this nation.
Hardworking families can now worry a little less about next month’s
bills because of the tax cut they’ll soon find in the mail.  Renewable
energy companies that were once downsizing are now finding ways to
expand.  And transportation projects that were once on hold are now
starting up again — as part of the largest new investment in
America’s infrastructure since President Eisenhower built the
Interstate Highway System.

    Of the 3.5 million jobs that will be created and saved over the
next two years as a result of this recovery plan, 400,000 will be jobs
rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools, repairing our
faulty levees and dams, connecting nearly every American to broadband,
and upgrading the buses and trains that commuters take every day.
Many of these projects will be coordinated by Secretary LaHood and all
of you at the Department of Transportation.  And I want you to know
that the American public is grateful to public servants like you —
men and women whose work isn’t always recognized, but whose jobs are
critical to our nation’s safety, security, and prosperity.  You have
never been more important than you are right now, and for that we are
all grateful.  (Applause.)

    Now, in the coming days and weeks, my administration will be
announcing more details about the kinds of transportation projects
that will be launched as part of the recovery plan.  But today, I want
to speak about an investment we are making in one part of our
infrastructure.  Through the Recovery Act, we will be investing $28
billion in our highways, money that every one of our 50 states can
start using immediately to put people back to work.  It’s an
investment being made at an unprecedented pace, thanks in large part
to Joe Biden, who’s leading the effort to get the money out the door
quickly.  Because of Joe, and because of all the governors and mayors,
county and city officials who are helping implement this plan, I can
say that 14 days after I signed our Recovery Act into law, we are
seeing shovels hit the ground.”

“Now, we have another responsibility.  Having inherited a
trillion-dollar deficit that we’re working to cut in half, we also
need to ensure that tax dollars aren’t wasted on projects that don’t
deliver results.  And that’s why, as part of his duty, Joe will keep
an eye on how precious tax dollars are being spent.  To you, he’s Mr.
Vice President, but around the White House, we call him the Sheriff —
(laughter) — because if you’re misusing taxpayer money, you’ll have
to answer to him.”

Read more:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-and-vice-president-transportation-infrastructure

From The Blaze October 13, 2010.

“Obama: ‘No Such Thing’ as a Shovel-Ready Job”
“The president has offered a number of his own “serious proposals,” not
the least of which was the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
The underwhelming fallout from the $787 billion investment is one of
many reasons the American public is challenging the Democratic
leadership this year.

In reflecting on his time in office, the president laments that he
looks too much like “the same old tax-and-spend Democrat,“ and
realized that ”there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects.”

But the promise of these “shovel-ready” jobs was one of the Democrats’
main selling points in lobbying for the stimulus plan. In December
2008, the then-President-elect Obama pledged, “We’ve got shovel-ready
projects all across the country that governors and mayors are pleading
to fund.  And the minute we can get those investments to the state
level, jobs are going to be created.”  Just one day later, the
president-elect presented his ideas for a “bold agenda” of
“shovel-ready projects,” promising the creation of 2.5 million new
jobs when he took office.”
In March 2009, President Obama boasted that just “14 days after I
signed our Recovery Act into law we are seeing shovels hit the
ground.”

“At the same time, Vice President Joe Biden, the White House’s de facto
stimulus shepherd, said the stimulus act “provides a necessary jolt to
our economy to implement what we refer [to] as ‘shovel-ready’
projects, meaning projects that were on the books that were needed in
the municipalities and the states that would improve the quality of
life for our constituents, the competitiveness of our businesses, but
were unable to be funded.”

Months later when the economy hadn’t begun to turn around, Obama
continued to promise “shovel-ready” jobs.  In August he bragged that
the stimulus helped fund “almost 100 shovel-ready transportation
projects… which are beginning to create jobs.”

A year later, Biden continues to parrot the White House’s claims that
“shovel-ready” projects were putting Americans to work, despite
stagnate unemployment levels.  “Last summer… we had 1,750 highway
projects that were underway — ‘shovel-ready,’” he said this summer.”

Read more:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/obama-no-such-thing-as-a-shovel-ready-job/

*** Update from the Guardian September 9, 2011 7:45 AM ***

“President Obama’s jobs speech to Congress – as it happened”

“9.10pm: Here’s a summary of tonight’s speech on jobs by Obama:

• Barack Obama unveiled his American Jobs Act, designed to boost employment and costing $447bn. Obama repeatedly urged Congress to “pass this jobs plan right away”

• The bulk of the plan is for $245bn in reduced payroll taxes, designed to make it cheaper for business to hire new staff, as well as spending on building infrastructure and education, including funds to retain teachers and retraining for the long-term unemployed

• Under the act, an average American family would receive a tax cut of $1,500 in 2012

• Economists said the plan, if adopted in full, could support two million new jobs and cut the unemployment rate from 9% down towards 8%

• But the plan contained little to address the crushing burden of America’s housing market, and for that reason was rejected as “inadequate” by some economists

• Republican leaders gave a tepid but civil welcome to Obama’s speech, without offering specific support, although more conservative Republicans remained staunchly opposed to any new spending

• The new spending and lower revenue would have to be offset by further cuts to the federal budget under the recent debt ceiling deal, to be identified by the congressional “super committee”, with Obama pledging to submit a revised set of budget changes”

Read more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2011/sep/08/obama-jobs-speech-congress-live

Illinois July Job Losses leads nation, Obama cronies raise taxes and government spending, IL unemployment rate 9.5 percent

Illinois July Job Losses leads nation, Obama cronies raise taxes and government spending,  IL unemployment rate 9.5 percent

As Obama formulates another award winning solution for creating jobs, you know like the Stimulus Bill, Illinois, Obama’s home state, gained recognition recently for having the highest job losses in the nation.

From the Chicago Daily Observer August 23, 2011.

“Illinois Leads Nation in Jobs Losses”

“Nationally, lawmakers and economists are debating what policy changes will help the U.S. progress toward economic recovery. Here in Illinois, residents are getting a harsh lesson of what happens when taxes go up, government spending isn’t reformed and past-due bills continue to go unpaid.

Last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics delivered three pieces of bad news to Illinois:

The number of Illinoisans employed continues to fall.

Illinois lost more jobs during the month of July than any other state in the nation. After losing 7,200 jobs in June, Illinois lost an additional 24,900 non-farm payroll jobs in July.

The Illinois unemployment rate, which rose to 9.5 percent, now exceeds the national rate.
“The policies currently in place – higher taxes, more spending, and unreformed liabilities – are clearly not working for those who are struggling to make ends meet,” said Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president at the Illinois Policy Institute. “A great starting place for lawmakers eager to create an atmosphere of job growth would be to repeal the recent income tax increase, which robs families and businesses of resources they could put to better use.””

Read more:

http://www.cdobs.com/archive/featured/illinois-leads-nation-in-jobs-losses/

Obama bus tour spin, Everyone but Obama to blame, Spend more money, The more Obama speaks the worse the markets perform

Obama bus tour spin, Everyone but Obama to blame, Spend more money, The more Obama speaks the worse the markets perform

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

From the LA Times August 18, 2011.

“Obama’s bus tour themes: Washington (not him) really screwed up and we should spend a lot more”

“President Obama did some real good talking the last few days out there in Iowa and Minnesota and Illinois. Well, he did a lot of talking anyway.

He made it sound as if he’s been living in Peosta or Atkinson himself, the way he went on about all the misbehavior going on back there in Washington, D.C., where he has lived since January of 2005 and, since January of 2009, at taxpayer expense in the White House.

The way he described those D.C. political shenanigans, who would want to spend $745 million of someone else’s money to get there? Or $1 billion more to stay there? Or pay $37.1 million of others’ money to 464 aides to help him work there.

Here are a few things said by the Democrat who just spent weeks negotiating spending cuts. See if this sounds like a chastened spender whose credit rating just got downgraded:

When folks tell you that we’ve got a choice between jobs now or dealing with our debt crisis, they’re wrong. They’re wrong. We can’t afford to just do one or the other. We’ve got to do both….

We’ve got over $2 trillion worth of repairs that need to be made around the country, and I know there are some right here in this county and right here in this state. And we’ve got a lot of construction workers that are out of work when the housing bubble went bust, and interest rates are low, and contractors are ready to come in on time, under budget — this is a great time for us to rebuild our roads and our bridges, and locks in the Mississippi, and our seaports and our airports….

I think to myself, you know what, if folks in Washington were carrying out their responsibilities the way you’re carrying out your responsibilities, we’d be just fine. We would be just fine. (Applause.)…

Of course, those folks in Washington including him are not in Washington. Congress is on recess, the same time-off Obama will begin today on another island vacation.”

Read more:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/08/obama-bus-canada.html

Obama’s rhetoric is doing a good job of calming financial market fears.

Stock Indexes

Dow 11,046.60 -363.62 -3.19%
S&P 500 1,149.37 -44.52 -3.73%
Nasdaq 2,411.45 -100.03 -3.98%

From the US Labor Dept. today.

In the week ending August 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 408,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 399,000.

Obama budget ceiling manufactured crisis, Americans pay attention!, Economy Jobs Rezko Birth Certificate Communist Party ACORN

Obama budget ceiling manufactured crisis, Americans pay attention!, Economy Jobs Rezko Birth Certificate Communist Party ACORN

“Why has Obama, since taking the White House, used Justice Department Attorneys, at taxpayer expense,  to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records?”…Citizen Wells and millions of concerned Americans

“As the crisis develops, it will be important to use the mass media to inform the broader llberal community about the inefficiencies and injustices of welfare. For example, the system will not be able to process many new applicants because of cumbersome and often unconstitutional investigatory procedures (which cost 20c for every dollar disbursed). As delays mount, so should the public demand that a simplified affidavit supplant these procedures, so that the
poor may certify to their condition. If the system reacts by making the proof of eligibility more difficult, the demand should be made that the Department of Health, Education and Welfare dispatch “eligibility registrars” to enforce federal statutes governing local programs. And throughout the crisis, the mass media should be used to advance arguments for a new federal income distribution program.”…Richard Cloward and Frances Piven

The so called budget crisis, debt ceiling negotiations, were custom made and one could say custom designed by Obama, et al. Never let a good crisis go to waste. The budget is a serious matter. We must take it seriously. However, aside from the socialist, radical tactics of the Obama camp, we still have someone occupying the White House, at the controls of the most powerful office on the planet.

How has the budget crisis benefited Obama?

  • Obama has used this as a pulpit to lie to the American people about his opposition and what he has done for the economy.
  • Focus is taken off his fraudulent birth certificate.
  • Focus is taken off his natural born citizen deficiency.
  • Focus is taken off of the financial markets.
  • Focus is taken off the jobs reports.
  • And….a two for one for Obama. More budget spending for ACORN affiliated groups that few notice because of the diversions.

I am relieved that some  are paying attention to the radicals being funded and enabled by the Obama camp.

From Fox News July 06, 2011.

“A conservative watchdog group is accusing President Obama of violating a funding ban that he signed into law that prohibits the flow of federal money to the now-defunct community activist group ACORN or any of its affiliates.

Judicial Watch says that in March, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued nearly $80,000 in grants to Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA), which the groups says is an offshoot of ACORN.

“This was an ACORN affiliate at the time of the funding ban and it has not changed in sum or substance since then,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told Fox News in an interview. “The funding ban was violated and the administration is calling these new entities. It just doesn’t pass the laugh test.”

But Alyson Chadwick, a spokeswoman for AHCOA, denied any connection to ACORN.

“We are not an affiliate, subsidiary or ally of ACORN,” she told FoxNews.com. “Both the GAO and HUD’s General Counsel have done exhaustive work and come to the same conclusion.””

“Judicial Watch senior investigator Sean Dunagan told Fox News that the GAO ruling used “strained logic.”

The group says the government’s website listing federal expenditures identifies the organization receiving the $79,810 grant as “ACORN Housing Corporation Inc.” and lists ACORN’s New Orleans address.

The group also says that ACHOA maintains the same board of directors, executive director and offices as ACORN Housing.

The group also notes that a HUD general counsel report from September 2010 says that ACORN Housing is “now operating as Affordable Housing Centers of America” and has misappropriated funds from a $3.2 million federal grant.

Although Dunagan admits no laws were broken, he says the bigger issue is the politicization at GAO.

The once powerful ACORN fell on hard times after a series of undercover videos showed its employees offering tax advice to a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute, tarnishing the group’s reputation and crippling its source of funding.

Congress passed and Obama signed into law the Defund ACORN Act in 2009 that yanked the organization’s federal funding. After private donors held back cash, the group shut down in April 2010.

“Certainly the intent of Congress was not to allow ACORN to change its name and get money,” Fitton said.”

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/06/obama-violates-acorn-funding-ban-with-housing-grant-to-offshoot-watchdog-says/#ixzz1RNKp3ID9

And just in case you are wondering. I am still reporting on Obama’s ghosts of Christmas past. That includes Blagojevich, Rezko, Cellini and Daniel Frawley.

July Announced Job Cuts Jumped 59 percent, Third consecutive increase, Consumers retrenching manufacturing cooling and confidence waning

July Announced Job Cuts Jumped 59 percent, Third consecutive increase, Consumers retrenching manufacturing cooling and confidence waning

From Bloomberg Auigust 3, 2011.

“Announced U.S. Job Cuts Jumped 59% in July”

“Employers in the U.S. announced the largest number of job cuts in July in 16 months, signaling a labor market that’s struggling to improve.

Planned firings climbed 59 percent from July 2010 to 66,414, according to figures released today by Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Job-cut announcements were led by the pharmaceutical industry, which included drugmaker Merck & Co.’s plans to eliminate as many as 13,000 jobs.

The figures follow other data showing consumers retrenching, manufacturing cooling and confidence waning. Employers in July probably boosted payrolls at a pace that failed to reduce the jobless rate, according to a Bloomberg News survey before a report in two days.

“July marks the third consecutive increase we have seen in monthly job-cut announcements, which certainly seems to provide additional evidence that the recovery has stalled,” John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement. “It has been a couple of years since we have seen this level of private-sector job cuts coming in a single month.”

Compared with June, job-cut announcements increased 60 percent. Because the figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal effects, economists prefer to focus on year-over-year changes rather than monthly numbers.

The pharmaceutical industry led the firings with 13,493 job cut announcements in July.”

Read more:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-03/announced-u-s-job-cuts-jumped-59-in-july.html

Austan Goolsbee Obama chief economic adviser leaving, Citizen Wells commenters on small business problems, Obama economic failures

Austan Goolsbee Obama chief economic adviser leaving, Citizen Wells commenters on small business problems, Obama economic failures

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“Another liberal economic nut ‘quits’ his job to go back to teaching, because the economy isn’t better. This is nothing more than a manager firing his advisors because he made a horrible decision, based upon his beliefs and their recommendations. Sadly, it’s not like these ‘economic advisors’ get held accountable for poor decision making process and economic policies. No, they get to go back to their ‘teaching jobs’ so they can tell students how great they are and how it was all somebody else’s fault.”…commenter pete

“It’s easy to see why some businesses hire undocumented workers to avoid the tax burden. Or worse yet they just pick up stakes and move out of the country.
And now obamacare will tax us more? Our government’s over taxation and interference has caused small businesses to be reluctant to hire more employees. Under the Obama regime we’ll see businesses leaving the country droves. It is no wonder that our country’s economy is on a downward spiral”….commenter Jonah

Reported on Citizen Wells this morning.

“Most of the key economic indicators have worsened recently, the unemployment rate is back over 9 percent and there is increasing mention of the spectre of a depression.

From the Chicago Tribune June 6, 2011.

“Top Obama economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, will quit to return to University of Chicago”

“Austan Goolsbee, President Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser, is leaving the administration and returning to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business to teach.

The announcement from the White House late Monday comes at a time when the U.S. unemployment rate is back above 9 percent, speculation is growing that the nation may be at risk of dipping back into a recession and amid intense political debate over whether to extend the nation’s debt ceiling,

Goolsbee began advising Obama before his election as president and has become the administration’s chief public spokesman on the economy. He has headed the White House Council of Economic Advisers for the past nine months. On ABC’s “This Week” program Sunday, Goolsbee emphasized that the administration had made progress on employment since the depths of the Great Recession and said “don’t make too much of any one jobs report.”

May’s unemployment rate, released last week, climbed to 9.1 percent. The stock market has been sliding recently on concerns about a slowing economy in the U.S. and globally.

Obama said in a statement, “Since I first ran for the U.S. Senate, Austan has been a close friend and one of my most trusted advisers. Over the past several years, he has helped steer our country out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”””

The following comments placed on that article are worthy of publishing:

Commenter pete:

CW,
Do you think that anyone has seen through the game. Another liberal economic nut ‘quits’ his job to go back to teaching, because the economy isn’t better. This is nothing more than a manager firing his advisors because he made a horrible decision, based upon his beliefs and their recommendations. Sadly, it’s not like these ‘economic advisors’ get held accountable for poor decision making process and economic policies. No, they get to go back to their ‘teaching jobs’ so they can tell students how great they are and how it was all somebody else’s fault.

From a small business perspective the problems are easy to see. Foremost, you have a bunch of idiots making the hiring of new employees and economic growth very risky. Obamacare, new regulations, unable to get loans and credit, inflation of goods costs, and bear marketplace all conspire to strike fear into employers. Second, customers are AFRAID. About 1/3 of americans see the Constitution (and rule of law) evaporating before their eyes for the first time in history, and they fear for the future. About 1/3 of Customers are oblivious to the politics, but have no jobs or real income and are underwater on their houses. About 1/3 are starting to believe that the government could default on SS and Medicare/Caid, as well as other entitlements which they are dependent upon. These factors lead to a loss of Consumer Confidence, and fewer and fewer exchanges, jobs, and tax revenue. By the way, even IF you succeed now, and make more than 250k in a year, create jobs, and help your local community, you will be saddled with 71% income tax next year. REALLY! 71%, you might as well make less and smell the roses, send some of your employees home.

What I’m trying to say, while out in the trenches of the small business world, is that Jimmy Carter II on Steroids, Barack Obama (or whatever his/her name is) is bad for small business. Small Business is the engine that runs the American Economy, and it hurting. The government bailouts…..none was targeted to growth of small business or small industry. The new regs and obamacare attack all industry , but are especially hard for small business to cope with because of limited resources.

Ronald Reagan understood america and small business contribution. His economics weren’t trickle down as much as they were designed to help the middle class businessman, the Job creator, to succeed. Obama economics are pumping trillions to the Bankers and the GM/GE of the world, which is truly a trickle down economics. Worse yet, that money just ends up overseas in the ‘global economy’ with job creation elsewhere.

Obama’s economics have struck at the heart of America by removing MIDDLE CLASS JOBS and therefore, the middle class. The liberals, whom pride themselves supposedly helping the poor and middle class, are hypocrites, as their policies actually make it worse for these people by depriving them of needed small business jobs and manufacturing. While people will start to get used to the ‘new economy’ of 8-12% unemployement, the government is going to run out of ‘other peoples money’ soon, and the other shoe is going to drop.

What I written above I believe with my very core, and since it is critical of Obama and his Fascist/Elitist policies, I suppose that makes me a racist. I have sensed an increase in attacks from the left wing nuts as the reality falls upon them that the ‘annointed one’ and his cronies are a lot of hot air and not of true real life tested ideas. Just like socialism I might add, lots of ‘utopia promised’ followed by lots of misery and failure.

Keyensian ecomomics doesn’t work when you don’t have a base of production and small business. Keyensian economics doesn’t work when the Government is not a moderator, but becomes the unchecked new predator (competing for business resources) in a delicate system of customer and business. The ‘brilliant’ economists that have ‘quit’ the Obama economic team obviously not as smart as they thought they were….perhaps we should call Obama’s Economics the ‘Audacity of Arrogance with Ignorance implemented with Inexperience’.

Sorry, done ranting for the morning, I gotta go back to work to try to keep my employees with jobs and pay for other peoples mortages.

Pete”

Commenter Jonah:

“Pete,

Our family has owned a business for almost 40 years. I started paying the bills for the business about 7 years ago and I was alarmed to learn the cost to run a business.

OUR SMALL BUSINESSES PAYS:
FEDERAL INCOME TAX
STATE INCOME TAX
FEDERAL UNEMPLOYMENT TAX
STATE UNEMPLOYMENT TAX
7% SOCIAL SECURITY TAX FOR EMPLOYEES
(this is in addition to the 7% the employee gives the government)
PROPERTY TAX
PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX
UTILITY TAXES ON GAS, ELECTRIC, AND PHONE
GASOLINE TAX
SALES TAX TO THE STATE FOR EVERYTHING WE SELL
APROXIMATELY 7% SALES TAX ON EVERYTHING WE BUY

PLUS WE PAY
MEDICAL INSURANCE
AUTO INSURANCE
PROPERTY INSURANCE
LIABILITY INSURANCE
WORKMAN’S COMP
VARIOUS LICENSES AND PERMITS
I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few things.

THE GOVERNMENT GETS MORE OF OUR MONEY THAN WE DO!

It’s easy to see why some businesses hire undocumented workers to avoid the tax burden. Or worse yet they just pick up stakes and move out of the country.

And now obamacare will tax us more? Our government’s over taxation and interference has caused small businesses to be reluctant to hire more employees. Under the Obama regime we’ll see businesses leaving the country droves. It is no wonder that our country’s economy is on a downward spiral.”