Tag: economy

Categories
Politics

Bernie Sanders Lays Out his Economic Agenda – Video

After a one-sided win against Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, Democratic Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders flew back to Harlem, New York and was interviewed for MSNBC’s Politics Nation by the Rev. Al Sharpton. In the interview, Bernie Sanders laid out his policy agenda for the upcoming votes in Nevada and South Carolina, and for the rest of the country.

Among his policy initiatives are positions the Senator has advocated for decades –

  • Reforming Wall Street,
  • Healthcare for all,
  • Tuition free colleges,
  • Creating Jobs and
  • Reforming the tax code ensuring that the rich pays their fair share.

The presidential candidate spoke about his agenda in the video below. The interview will broadcast on Sunday’s episode of Politics Nation on MSNBC.

Video

Categories
Politics unemployment rate

Unemployment Drops to 5% with 271,000 Jobs Added in October

 

And the positive economic growth continues, regardless of what the Republicans say.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that nonfarm payrolls grew 271,000 for the month, a sharp jump from weak August and September numbers. The headline unemployment rate declined to 5.0 percent, declining even as the civilian labor force increased by 313,000.

A broader measure of unemployment that includes those who have stopped looking as well as those working part time for economic reasons declined to 9.8 percent, the first time it’s been below 10 percent since May 2008.

Perhaps more important than the headline number was the growth in average hourly earnings, which jumped 9 cents, representing a monthly gain of 0.6 percent and an annualized increase of 2.5 percent. The average work week remained at 34.5 hours.

Categories
Politics unemployment rate

Unemployment Rate Falls Again – Down to 5.6 Percent – #BlameObama

No wonder the jokers in the Republican party are now trying to take credit for the economic growth in this country. Who wouldn’t want to be in charge of an economy with a 5.6 unemployment rate?

The U.S. capped its best year for hiring in 15 years with a healthy job gain in December and the unemployment rate falling to a six-year low. The data adds to signs of strength that contrast with sputtering global growth.

The Labor Department says employers added 252,000 jobs last month and 50,000 more in October and November combined than previously estimated. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent from 5.8 percent and is at the lowest level since June 2008.

Categories
Education failure New Jersey News Politics

Pension Outrage

Last year, my personal investments provided over a 19% return and I paid no investment or broker fees.

Under Chris Christie’s dysfunctional fiscal management, the New Jersey Public Pension fund returned 15.9% (2014) but paid $398.7 million dollars in fees (fiscal 2013). Since his term in office began in 2009, the pension fund had paid billions in fees, has underperformed the market, and the governor has not made a full payment to the system.

There’s fiscal management for you. Imagine what he’d do to the country as president. On second thought, let’s not.

All of this economic tomfoolery, detailed in a new report in the International Business Times, tell you all you need to know about why Chris Christie is not only unsuited to be president, but why his tenure would be a disaster for the United States’ economy. He is steeped in the old trickle down theory that brought us the Great Recession and the Billionaire’s Recovery. He’s warming up in New Jersey by soaking the middle and working classes with higher payments, property taxes and fees, while insulating the wealthy by refusing to even entertain the idea of more revenue for needed state services.

And his latest gambit, a state commission to look into how to reform the state pension program, is led by a Christie campaign contributor and former Reagan Administration economist, Thomas J. Healy, who says that the commission is not political.  Should I be skeptical?

Or outraged?

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
BLM Employment Politics unemployment rate

JOB CREATION UP, UNEMPLOYMENT DOWN BUT OBAMA STILL BLACK

As seen on America The Not So Beautiful

July 7, 2014

By Mike Caccioppoli

There is much controversy and ballyhoo over the headline “A Nigger In The White House” by a paper in Greenwich Village in NYC. It’s actually a pro-Obama article which makes the point I have made many times and will make again today. That there is much racism involved when it comes to the criticism of Obama. There is more talk about that headline than the problem the article lays out. This is commonplace from a media that loves sensationalism and hates those boring things known as facts.

This of course always plays right into the Republicans hands since they are a party and voters who love vitriol and despise facts. We don’t see headlines like “OBAMA CREATES JOBS, SLASHES UNEMPLOYMENT.” No instead we see “BOEHNER SUES OBAMA” and “REPUBLICANS CALL OBAMA DICTATOR” and of course the perpetual “BENGHAZI BENGHAZI BENGHAZI.”

So why don’t we see the factual headlines? Such as “OBAMA’S JOB NUMBERS LEAVING BUSH IN THE DUST” OR “OBAMA ISSUES FEWER EXECUTIVE ORDERS THAN BOTH REAGAN AND BUSH.” Because THOSE are facts. I mean jobs are important right? Here is a fact based column written by Michael Tomasky. It documents how Obama has a net gain of 4.5 million jobs so far. A 3 million job advantage over Bush. But that is “The Daily Beast.” In all due respects to that publication it isn’t the “NY Times” or “USA Today”. You won’t see that headline in those publications. Of course you won’t see it on Fox News or CNN either.

Now the media is certainly to blame. We can say that’s a reason why voters don’t know this information. Tomasky blames the media somewhat and also blames the Democrats themselves for not being louder about their accomplishments. He is right. But if the media doesn’t want to cover it the Democrats can do no better than yelling out their windows ala Peter Finch in “Network.”

The other reason, the one the paper in the Village spoke about, I think is the bigger problem. The inherent racism of the United States. Hey maybe the media is racist as well, because unlike corporations, the media ARE people. Before you go and tell me how a black guy won the Presidency twice and that proves there is no racism anymore I will explain how he won. He won because Obama’s people did a superb job of getting African-Americans out to vote. That would be his own people. There is also a good percentage of white racists with low IQ’s that don’t vote..at all. Oh they complain but they don’t vote.

Those people, the white racists do have cars, and driver’s licenses. They do get polled. And when they do it reflects on Obama’s overall approval rating. You need to ask yourself this…IF a Clinton or a Bush, had been creating jobs for 45 straight months and if a Clinton or a Bush had lowered unemployment, would they be struggling to get above 45-50 percent approval? I think anyone who is honest with themselves would say no.

If a Clinton or a Bush was consistently obstructed by the opposing party would it be they who would be having the popularity problem? We can blame the media but they almost always go with the negative headline over the positive. It didn’t just start with Obama. And the Republicans have always been loud mouthed obnoxious assholes while the Democrats have always been meek and unable to toot their own horn.

The only denominator that has changed is the race of the President. These lowbrow, lowlife racists are just too dumb and prejudiced to realize that he is creating jobs for THEM! Not for the rich, but for those who need them the most. He is improving THEIR lives by lowering the unemployment rate.

Obama has given THESE people health coverage, jobs, a steady check instead of unemployment which runs out fast because Republicans won’t extend it. Their kids, if they want to go to college will have less debt due to changes in student loans. I could go on and on about how he has been on THEIR side.

Yet it doesn’t matter. His economic numbers are crushing Bush. If it keeps going like this as Tomasky points out, he will get close to Reagan’s numbers. Doesn’t matter.

Bush and Reagan were white. Obama is still black.

Mike.Caccioppoli@yahoo.com

@CaccioppoliMike

Visit America The Not So Beautiful

l

Categories
Politics

Heading In The Right Direction – GDP Grew by 4.1 Percent

The third and final estimate of third quarter U.S. GDP by the Bureau of Economic Analysis is out.

GDP grew 4.1% at an annualized rate in the third quarter, according to the estimate. Economists predicted growth of 3.6%, in line with the second estimate published by the BEA earlier this month.
Personal consumption growth surged to 2.0% from the previous 1.4% estimate.

The GDP price index came in at 2.0%, as expected, while core PCE was 1.4%, slightly below the previous 1.5% estimate.

A buildup in inventories contributed 1.7% to GDP growth in Q3, unchanged from the previous estimate (private businesses increased inventories $115.7 billion in the third quarter, following increases of $56.6 billion in the second quarter and $42.2 billion in the first.)

Categories
Domestic Policies Education News Politics

Inflation: Letting The Air Out Of Teacher Pay

As if being a teacher isn’t enough of a financial challenge, here’s some worse news, compliments of a front-page article in Sunday’s New York Times about the Federal Reserve possibly injecting some inflation into the economy. Right now it’s an intellectual argument, and if you’ve ever studied the Great Depression of the 1930s, you know that the real danger to the economy would be deflation. In an effort to combat that, the Fed would look kindly on an inflationary course for these reasons:

The Fed has worked for decades to suppress inflation, but economists, including Janet Yellen, President Obama’s nominee to lead the Fed starting next year, have long argued that a little inflation is particularly valuable when the economy is weak. Rising prices help companies increase profits; rising wages help borrowers repay debts. Inflation also encourages people and businesses to borrow money and spend it more quickly. 

The next paragraph, though, shows that not all people would benefit from such an economic course. Read it and weep.

The school board in Anchorage, Alaska, for example, is counting on inflation to keep a lid on teachers’ wages.

But wait; there’s more.

Rising inflation also punishes people living on fixed incomes.

So there you have it. The very same people who caused the financial meltdown, destroyed the pension system, and enacted laws that capped what municipalities and states could pay for social services now want an economic policy that would punish teachers and other public workers while they’re working, and it would keep on giving after they retire and are on a fixed pension and Social Security. Is that the way to continue to attract the best and brightest people to teaching, and to show them how much society respects their contributions? Absolutely not.

(As a side note, I completely reject the notion that we have not already attracted some of our best people to become teachers. America’s teachers put in an extraordinary amount of hours into their jobs and genuinely care about their chosen field. We’ve attended some of the best universities in the land and have studied with world class professors and professionals. So, it bothers me a great deal when others say that we need to get the best and brightest into our classrooms. We’re already there. Pay us what we’re worth, give us the tools to do our jobs and stop nickle and diming the schools in the name of an ideology that disrespects and ultimately wants to destroy a system that gives us the right to bargain collectively, set acceptable work rules and protect our due process rights.)

(Which leads to another side note. The right wing doesn’t know what it’s talking about on education.)

The politicians and think-tank lackeys who are presently influencing the education debate in this country have done a fine job singling out teachers, telling the public that their schools are failing, and blaming us for having pensions and benefits. Now the economists want to manipulate the economy so that it punishes us more. The contradiction is that if you continue to squeeze America’s public workers, then we won’t be able to spend and otherwise contribute to the economy. We won’t be able to afford to send our children to college. And we won’t be able to continue to do what we love.

Yes, I know there’s an old myth in this country that says that teachers don’t teach for money, they teach because they’re committed to their craft. As with most myths, this is not only false, but dangerous, and society is playing with fire if it believes it can continue to treat us poorly.

For more please go to:
www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and Twitter @rigrundfest 

Categories
Politics unemployment rate

First Unemployment Falls, Now Jobless Claims Falls – More Economic Progress

Last time we checked, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7%, the lowest jobless rate since December of 2008. And now, first time jobless claims are also falling.

First-time jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 332,000 in the week ended March 9, the fewest since mid January, according to data today from the Labor Department in Washington. The median forecast of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an increase to 350,000. The four-week average declined to a five- year low.

Managers are maintaining staffing levels as consumers sustain spending even after a two percentage-point increase in the payroll tax at the start of the year reduced paychecks. Nonetheless, there remains a risk that the recent pickup in employment will be cut short as federal budget cutbacks prompt companies and government agencies to trim payrolls.

“The rate of job destruction is pretty low,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida, who projected the number of claims would drop to 338,000. “The labor market is in continued-recovery mode, though there is still a lot of ground to make up.”

The economy is improving, in spite of all the road blocks Washington politicians are putting up.

Categories
Employment Tid Bits Unemployment

How To Turn Your Rejection Letter Into Full Time Employment

Finding employment in this economy can be a daunting task. Many candidates have received numerous rejections for jobs they may very well be qualified for. So the question now is, what to do when you have received one rejection letter too many? You turn it into a job opportunity.

Below is a good idea.

From Ray RedSpider

Categories
Foreign Policies

Iran’s President Ahmadinejad Admits – Western Sanctions Are Crippling Iran’s Economy

Ahmadinejad is finally admitting that the steep decline in his country’s currency is due to the sanctions imposed by President Obama and other supporting nations. The Iranian president calls the sanctions “psychological pressures.”

In the past few days Iran’s currency, the rial, has lost more than half its value against the U.S. dollar.  It has prompted fears that the economy is on the verge of collapse, crippled by sanctions which means Iran has lost markets where it can export oil. The price of goods has also risen, as many have to be imported.

The U.S. and its allies have imposed the punishing measures in attempts to force Iranian concessions over its nuclear programme, which the West says is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Tehran insists it is for peaceful purposes.

h/t The Daily Mail

Categories
Politics weekly address

Presidential Weekly Address – Republicans Are Willfully Doing Nothing To Win An Election

President Obama spoke about our economic future, claiming that we have all the answers to our problems, but because of Republicans’ lack of interest in doing anything to help the economy, things are at a stalemate.

Right now, we’re still fighting our way back from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  The economy is growing again, but it’s not growing fast enough.  Our businesses have created 4.3 million new jobs over the last 27 months, but we’re not creating them fast enough.  And we’re facing some pretty serious headwinds – from the effects of the recent spike in gas prices, to the financial crisis in Europe.

But here’s the thing.  We have the answers to these problems.  We have plenty of big ideas and technical solutions from both sides of the aisle.  That’s not what’s holding us back.  What’s holding us back is a stalemate in Washington.

Last September, I sent Congress a jobs bill full of the kinds of bipartisan ideas that could have put over a million Americans back to work and helped bolster our economy against outside shocks.  I sent them a plan that would have reduced our deficit by $4 trillion in a balanced way that pays for the investments we need by cutting unnecessary spending and asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more in taxes.

Since then, Congress has passed a few parts of that jobs bill, like a tax cut that’s allowing working Americans to keep more of your paycheck every week.  But on most of the ideas that would create jobs and grow our economy, Republicans in Congress haven’t lifted a finger.  They’d rather wait until after the election in November.  Just this past week, one of them said, “Why not wait for the reinforcements?”  That’s a quote.  And you can bet plenty of his colleagues are thinking the same thing.

Categories
Politics

President Obama’s New Ad – ‘Go.’ We’re Moving in the Right Direction

It’s Monday, and the Obama re-election campaign has released another ad with a simple message – we are not there yet, but we are heading in the right direction.

The ad begins looking at the state of the economy before the President took into office. It also mentions that compared to where things were and where they are now with over 4 million jobs created, a rebounding auto industry, ending the war in Iraq and capturing Osama Bin Laden, the nation is coming back.

The ad will run in the battleground states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, North Carolina, Florida and Colorado.

Exit mobile version