Posts

Celebrating Labor Day: A ‘Jobless Recovery’ On Earth, And The Future Of Workers On Mars

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo credit: Robert Couse-Baker

Happy Labor Day! And what better time than this annual celebration of America’s working stiffs to draw attention to our national economic recovery?

As those attached to the Dow Jones Average can attest, the economy is now perking along quite nicely, with the Dow up 57 percent since the dark days of 2009, presently soaring above 13,000. Also, the nation’s pile of wealth has grown impressively, executive paychecks have zoomed back up to Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah levels, and sales at stores like Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue are absolutely crackerjack!

The only little cloud over this otherwise sunshiny recovery is … well, you. You people for whom Labor Day is named, that is.

Not only did Wall Street’s crash knock jobs, wages, benefits, homeownership and middle-class opportunities into the ditch, but they’re still stuck there — and even sinking lower. Yet the financial elites, political establishment and media powers remain rapturously focused on the Dow, uncaring about the precipitous decline in the Doug Jones Average.

If Doug and Donna aren’t prospering, neither is America, no matter how much wealth the privileged few are lavishing on luxury goods or socking away in offshore tax havens.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Although Obama Aide Refuses to Answer, “Are you better off now than 4 years ago?”, Dem Governor Does

/4 Comments/in , /by

Although one of Obama’s top aides, David Axelrod, refused to answer the question of whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago, a potential 2016 presidential contender, Maryland Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley, did. Here’s a very short clip of his interview on Face the Nation today:

Fed’s Driving Youth Unemployment to Record Levels while GDP Stagnates

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo credit: clementine gallot

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor released its Employment and Unemployment Among Youth—Summer 2012 report. While many youths (ages 16-24) found a summer job this year, many did not even try. Fully 39.5 percent of the youth population neither worked nor looked for work this summer. This number has trended upward over time—it is almost double the rate (22.5 percent) from July 1989.

Of those who looked for work, many could not find it. The youth unemployment rate in July 2012 was 17.1 percent. By comparison, it was only 12.4 percent in July 2000 and 10.8 percent in July 2007. For men, blacks, and Hispanics, the youth unemployment rates in July 2012 were worse—at 17.9 percent, 28.6 percent, and 18.5 percent respectively.

Why are fewer youth participating in the labor force, and even fewer working? In part, because a bad economy always hits younger workers harder. The central problem with the labor market right now is a dramatic slowdown in job creation. While job losses rose at the start of the recession, they have since returned to pre-recession levels.

Hiring, meanwhile, has not recovered. Unemployment remains high because employers are creating fewer new jobs. This makes it much harder for those without jobs—like the youth—to find them. It also allows employers to become more selective in the people they do hire. That often means hiring older and more experienced workers.

Government policies have made this difficult labor market even worse for younger Americans. In 2007, Congress voted to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. Half of minimum wage earners are between the ages of 16 and 24. Raising the minimum wage, in addition to employer paid Social Security, workers compensation, and unemployment insurance prices many young workers out of the job market. An inexperienced high school student may not produce enough to be paid $7.25 per hour plus Social Security, workers comp, and unemployment insurance. As a result, since an employer is not allowed to pay her less by law, she is not hired and misses out on the job experience she needs to get a higher paying job: two-thirds of minimum wage workers earn a raise within a year.

Read more from this story HERE.

Click HERE for article regarding GDP’s 1.7% growth.

It’s Not Getting Better: GDP Slows to Sluggish 1.7 Percent Rate

/0 Comments/in , /by

This morning’s update from the Department of Commerce on economic activity in the second quarter shows that the economy grew at an anemic 1.7 percent annual rate. This follows a nearly equally weak first quarter growth rate of 2.0 percent.

How weak is this? In terms of economic output, the current recovery is the weakest of any since 1945: Total output is only 6.8 percent higher than when the recession ended in 2009, which was about 12 quarters ago. Compare that to the other really big post-war recession: 1981. After 12 quarters, economic output stood 18.5 percent higher than the end of that recession. Even the really slow recovery from the 2001 recession outdoes the current one: By 12 quarters following the end of the 2001 recession, economic output was 8.9 percent higher.

The weak spots in the current recovery stand out in today’s economic growth report. The Bureau of Economic Analysis traces the sluggish growth rate to slowdowns in the spending of households and businesses and shrinking inventories.

While the media will highlight the weak household spending numbers, the real focus of concern should be on business investment. When businesses hold back on improving and growing their productive capacity, that inaction directly affects hiring decisions and, thus, household incomes. And that’s what businesses appear to be doing this year: They are sitting this economy out.

Very few economic actions testify more strongly to the failure of current economic policy—especially the threats of tax increases next year—than what businesses are doing. Well before voters head to the polling booth in November, American business has apparently voted against the near-term prospects of the economy. Imagine the economy today if better economic policy had been the norm over the past several years.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Admin: “Proud” that stimulus produced jobs at $738k each (+video)

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo credit: merfam

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood told The Daily Caller that he is “very proud” of the Economic Recovery Act of 2009 that put 65,000 people to work with $48 billion in federal funds for the Department of Transportation, amounting to $738,461 per job.

The Recovery Act of 2009, which in total cost taxpayers $825 billion, has been criticized because it did not prevent the unemployment rate from rising above 8 percent, contrary to what the Obama administration predicted.

“Yeah, we spent $48 billion and we put 65,000 people to work in 15,000 projects in two years with no problems,” LaHood told The Daily Caller in a video interview in Alexandria, Va., on Friday. “I’m very proud of that. I know that the governors can spend this money because over two years we gave them $48 billion, they created 65,000 jobs in 15,000 projects. This is doable. We’re going to get the money out and get people to work.”

TheDC also asked LaHood about the Obama administration’s decision to send an additional $473 million in unspent earmarks to states.

“You know what? These are old earmarks. There are earmarks that were set aside by members of Congress going back several years,” LaHood said. “We’re in the no earmark era. There are no more earmarks. This money needs to be spent because we need to get people to work.”

Senate votes to raise taxes on 1.2 million small businesses, over 700,000 may lose jobs

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo credit: Sean MacEntee

Yesterday, the Senate narrowly voted (51-48) to raise taxes on 1.2 million small businesses, which will likely kill more than 700,000 jobs at a time when nearly 13 million Americans are out of work. Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Jim Webb (D-VA) joined all Republicans in bipartisan opposition to the tax hike.

This is President Obama’s economic plan. This is what he asked Congress to do. And he recently told a fundraising crowd that his economic plan has been working.

“Just like we’ve tried [Republicans’] plan, we tried our plan—and it worked,” he said.

But Obama’s Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, said yesterday that “the economy is not growing fast enough,” acknowledging that “unemployment is very high.” “The institutions with authority should be doing everything they can to try to make economic growth stronger,” he said.

The President’s plan, now endorsed by the Democratic majority in the Senate, has little chance of going anywhere in the House of Representatives. But it has put the 51 Senators who want to raise taxes on record.

Perhaps the biggest lie in the tax debate is that this vote affects only “the rich.” That’s simply not true. Many small businesses, known as flow-through businesses, pay their taxes through the individual income tax. Ernst and Young estimates that these types of businesses “employ 54% of the private sector work force.” This tax hike squarely hits 1.2 million of these businesses that hire workers and have incomes above $200,000.

Read more from this story HERE.

Americans Joining Disability Now Outpacing Americans Finding Jobs

/0 Comments/in , /by

In the last three months, more Americans have joined disability than have found a job.

Between April-June 2012, an estimated 246,000 Americans were added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. In that same time period, only 225,000 American jobs were created.

Since 2008, 3.6. million Americans have been added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. In that same time period, a net total of 1.3 million jobs were lost.

“Amazingly, while fewer Americans are working than at the end of 2008, 3.6 million Americans have been awarded SSDI benefits over the same period. The growing number of people on disability and other federal benefits, combined with weak economic growth, raises serious concerns about the sustainability of the American economy,” Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, says in a statement in response to these new numbers.

“It is clear there is a great need to distinguish between proper and improper disability claims, and to better incentivize and find acceptable work for those who are able. Today only 1 percent of Social Security disability recipients ever return to work. The administration of this program must be improved to avoid sinking our country deeper into debt, to ensure the program remains viable for those with disabilities, and to protect Social Security itself.”

Read more from this story and see the charts reflecting these numbers HERE.

Conservative-led states creating far more jobs than those supporting Obama

/2 Comments/in , /by

In each of the States that elected Republican governors during the Tea Party dominated 2010 midterm elections, unemployment rates have gone down. According to an Examiner.com analysis, since Tea Party Republicans took over in January 2011, the average reduction in unemployment for those 17 States has been 1.35%. When compared nationally, job creation in those States has been 50% better than the rest of the country.

The unemployment rate in States that elected “progressive” Democrats in 2010 saw a drop in rates that did no better than the .9% national rate of decline.  In at least one of these “progressive”-run states, the unemployment rate actually went up, not down. New York’s jobless rate increased from 8.2% to 8.6%, an increase of 0.4%.

Compare that lackluster performance to a solid decrease in unemployment in each of the 17 States that elected fiscally Conservative governors back in 2010:  Michigan -2.4%, Florida -2.3%, Nevada -2.2%, Alabama -1.9%, Ohio -1.7%, Tennessee -1.6%, South Carolina -1.5%, Georgia -1.2%, Wyoming -1.1%, Iowa -1.0%, New Mexico -1.0%, Wisconsin -0.9%, Kansas -0.8%, South Dakota -0.7%, Maine -0.6%, Pennsylvania -0.6%.

This is another substantiated example of how, when compared to fiscally Conservative Tea Party solutions, “progressive” economic policies fall short. It also blows a gigantic hole in the “we’re-making-progress-but-can’t-go-back-to-policies-that-caused-our-economic-problems” talking points lie that “progressives” insist on repeating ad nauseam.

This also indicates that the real problem in America is “progressive” ideas, which have been being imported into the United States from Europe since the early 20th century. Since then, these “progressive” ideas – hostile to the Republic envisioned by our Founders – have managed to infiltrate and infest both of America’s major political Parties.

The Republican vs. Democrat political paradigm is obsolete. This is especially true where economic policies and government power are concerned. To more accurately describe the philosophical divide in today’s political landscape, think Patriots vs. “progressives.”

It should be noted, “progressives” easily occupy a space within the “globalist” category. Globalism is a clear and present danger to the very concept of national sovereignty . . . any nation’s national sovereignty. Be assured, United States sovereignty is being targeted; “progressives” are eagerly playing a large part in this.

Patriots want the United States to follow the Constitution, which limits the size, scope, reach and power of the central government to that prescribed by the Constitution. “Progressives” wish to “evolve” beyond America’s foundation document, favoring a central government that usurps the maximum amount of power possible from the States and from the people.

Although many Americans supported the invasion of Iraq and George W. Bush’s strong backing of the U.S. military, a careful examination of his Presidency shows that Bush increased the size and cost of the federal government. He created the DHS, a large, expensive and essentially unnecessary Cabinet level bureaucracy. If the underlying cause of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was the FBI and the CIA not sharing information, that could have been rectified with the proper use of an Executive Order directing the two intelligence agencies to share pertinent data. Bush also greatly expanded the size, cost and presence of the TSA. Remember that the next time your 87 year old grandmother or four year old niece is being openly groped by an overly-controlling faux uniformed union member who can probably never be fired.

Bush also worked with a Republican majority Legislature to enact Medicare part D, which imposed that financial burden onto the States. Near the end of his Presidency he and his Goldman Sachs Treasurer promoted TARP, which put taxpayers on the hook to the tune of $700 billion. The Feds then used some of that money to bail out GM and Chrysler.  And, of course, we also have Bush’s role in adding $5 trillion to the national debt, War Powers Act issues, and nominating the current Supreme Court Chief Justice, who recently sided with “progressives” in preserving the biggest, farthest reaching government power grab in U.S. history.

Like it or not, the results of George W. Bush’s presidency indicate that in many instances he acted as a “progressive” Republican.

The chief discernible distinction between “progressive” Democrats and “progressive” Republicans is the rate at which government grows and individual Liberty is lost.

The government of the United States needs to shrink, not grow. Europe has been growing their governments decade after decade after decade. That is one of the major reasons why their economies are failing. “Progressives” are trying to make America more and more like Europe. Increasing government spending while expanding the size and scope of government bureaucracies and increasing the people’s dependency on government is not the way to fix a problem caused by big government spending, bloated bureaucracies and government dependency.

The last time America had an anyone like a patriot in the Oval Office was Ronald Reagan. Under the influence of the anti-American “progressive” economic policies of Obama, America’s GDP growth is currently 1.9%. At this point in his first term, under the influence of Reagan’s pro-American economic policies, America’s GDP growth was 7.2%.

For the America envisioned by its Founders to survive, “progressives” must be stopped. Forget the (R) and the (D). These political Party designations are growing increasingly meaningless. Voters need to realign their thinking and begin voting for Patriots and against “progressives”, regardless of Party affiliation.

If “progressives” currently living in America want to live in a European country doomed to economic failure, they can move to Europe. They would be doing America a favor. An even bigger favor would be if they sent disenfranchised Europeans who want to live the American way to the United States. America would definitely benefit from that exchange.

************************

Michael Fell is a former MCA recording artist from the seminal punk rock era who toured America from coast to coast. Today, he’s a leading voice in the L.A. Tea Party movement, active since the February 2009 inception. Mr. Fell currently chairs the Westwood Tea Party, is a founding member of the L.A. Metro Tea Party Coalition, serves as the Vice Chairman of the Westside Republicans Club in L.A. CA, and is an elected Republican delegate to the L.A. 47th AD Central Committee. He’s been Campaign Manager for a primary winning Congressional candidate, as well as Santa Monica and L.A. City Council candidates.  Mr. Fell is a contributing writer for https://conservativedailynews.com/, https://rightwingnews.com/, https://www.hollywoodrepublican.net/, https://beforeitsnews.com, https://www.redcounty.com/, https://www.uspatriotpac.com and, https://westsiderepublicans.com/.  His opinions on today’s news events and political climate can be found on his blog: https://mjfellright.wordpress.com/

 

Photo credit:  andyarthur

Economic stagnation: Obama’s baby

/0 Comments/in , /by

Today the American unemployment rate remains unchanged at 8.2 percent. The economy is still five million jobs shy of the breakeven point as America continues to drown in a sea of growing government red ink while struggling to tread water under the overburden of oppressive big government regulations.

Since the start of the seemingly never ending “great recession”, the nation has lost 8.8 million jobs. It has regained only 3.8 million, less than 44 percent. According to the most recent Labor Department report, employers added only 80,000 jobs in June. The economy averaged 75,000 jobs a month in the second quarter, one-third the pace of the first quarter. This marks the third straight month of weak hiring, clearly showing that the economy is still struggling under the weight of the current administration’s failed economic policies.

Thanks to the brilliance of Obama’s economic plan, over the course of the past two years, America’s alleged recovery has gone from adding an average of 161,000 jobs per month to 150,000 per month, and now to 75,000 per month. If a recovery was actually taking place, those numbers would be going up instead of down, right? Instead, a sinkhole is swallowing up hope for millions of Americans of finding a job.

Was there not a pledge made in 2009 by the self-imagined, self-appointed intellectual elites working in the White House that if American taxpayers funded the $878 billion “stimulus” package, unemployment would not go above 8 percent? Was there not a promise that the “stimulus” would have unemployment down to 5.5 percent by now? As it turns out the “stimulus” wasted taxpayer dollars, making little dent in the jobless rate.  But it did reward the White House’s political cronies within the inefficient, unproductive, largely imaginary “green energy industry.”  Obama’s claims that millions of jobs were “created or saved by the stimulus” must be met with severe skepticism. The unemployment numbers have never reflected that.

There are far too many people who know the real story because they are living it. Claims made to the contrary by the Obama re-election campaign don’t matter as they fail to reflect the reality people are living. Regardless of what is loaded on the teleprompter, reality cannot and will not be explained away. In short, people living in the real world are not buying the administration’s theoretical “cash for clunkers” economics approach. Taxing successful businesses, taking a cut for DC, then sending the remainder back to your favorite campaign bundlers running phony business fronts is not an economic recovery plan.  That’s money laundering, Chicago style.

How long is it going to be before the current White House occupant and/or his surrogates start popping up like Whack-a-Moles on the Sunday morning political talk shows blaming all of this on George W. Bush?

Did someone say this Sunday?

************************

Michael Fell is a former MCA recording artist from the seminal punk rock era who toured America from coast to coast. Today, he’s a leading voice in the L.A. Tea Party movement, active since the February 2009 inception. Mr. Fell currently chairs the Westwood Tea Party, is a founding member of the L.A. Metro Tea Party Coalition, serves as the Vice Chairman of the Westside Republicans Club in L.A. CA, and is an elected Republican delegate to the L.A. 47th AD Central Committee. He’s been Campaign Manager for a primary winning Congressional candidate, as well as Santa Monica and L.A. City Council candidates.  Mr. Fell is a contributing writer for https://conservativedailynews.com/, https://rightwingnews.com/, https://www.hollywoodrepublican.net/, https://beforeitsnews.com, https://www.redcounty.com/, https://www.uspatriotpac.com and, https://westsiderepublicans.com/.  His opinions on today’s news events and political climate can be found on his blog: https://mjfellright.wordpress.com/

Forget Justice Roberts; It’s the Economy, Stupid!

/4 Comments/in , /by

Forget the calls to waterboard Chief Justice Roberts until he confesses to committing high crimes and misdemeanors over the Obamacare “tax.”  It is time to move on to what really matters to American voters. The strategy must now be for the GOP presidential candidate to switch focus from the Obamacare tax controversy to America’s tepid economic recovery.

Recent official figures show that the U.S. economy grew by 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012, less than the 2.2 percent originally reported. According to the annual report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), this year’s growth forecast for the U.S. economy has been lowered to 2 percent. The IMF also lowered its forecast for 2013 from 2.4 percent to 2.25 percent. It also warned of the fiscal cliff known as taxmageddon, the $4 trillion tax increases and defense spending cuts that are due at the end of 2012.

The U.S. Gross Domestic Product growth rate in the first three months was slower than originally announced. This news was accompanied by a downward revision in consumer spending. After-tax corporate profits experienced their biggest fall since the last three months of 2008.

Meanwhile, U.S. employment rose only slightly in April. The Labor Department reported claims for jobless benefits were higher last week, suggesting a slowdown in job creation.

US retail sales fell for the second straight month in May, indicating that growth in the economy is still sluggish. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, retail sales fell by 0.2 percent.

The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that U.S. manufacturing shrank in June for the first time in nearly three years. The manufacturing activity index fell from 53.5 percent to 49.7 percent, the lowest reading since July 2009. Readings below 50 indicate contraction.

The Federal Reserve cut its forecast for 2012 growth to between 1.9 percent and 2.4 percent. That’s half a percentage point lower than April’s estimate.

With facts and figures like these, it is time for the GOP to go aggressively back on the offensive against the failed economic policies of the current administration. That the economy is tanking and employment prospects remain grim need not be explained to voters living that reality.

Give no quarter to the “progressive” campaign. Do not let them off the mat. While they are down, kick them as hard and as long as possible. Rest assured, given half a chance, “progressives” kick with glee…without hesitation.

The survival of America and the principles upon which it was founded are facing an existential threat.  Don’t be stupid.

 

 

Photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com