On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson is joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss Ben Bernanke’s comments this morning on the job market, what it will take to spur growth and we’ll ask if Bernanke is the right man for the job.
We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.
On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson is joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss Ben Bernanke’s comments this morning on the job market, what it will take to spur growth and we’ll ask if Bernanke is the right man for the job.
We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.
After every primary, there are the inevitable cries for the laggard of the day to quit. Since Super Tuesday, there have been calls for Newt Gingrich to suspend his campaign, and while Rick Santorum is on record saying, “People should stay in the race as long as they feel they should stay in the race,” his supporters have been ardently vocal in their belief that if Gingrich would withdraw, there would be a better chance at a more conservative Republican winning the nomination.
Santorum has been on the receiving end of such demands for months now. He’s got enough sense and integrity not to become a hypocrite on the matter, and more to the point, he knows the pressure is already on Gingrich, who desperately needs to win Alabama and Mississippi to remain statistically viable. Santorum victories in the south will assure a two-man race going forward.
Many pundits maintain that a lengthy and contentious primary is bad for the eventual nominee, in that it will leave the candidate battered and depleted, and leave the party faithful bitter and disenfranchised. But recent history tells us this is merely the false hope of Democrats desperate to see Obama remain in office; in fact, the 2008 Democratic primary was just as hard-fought.
The fact is, the Republican primary season has given all of the candidates valuable experience. Over the course of twenty heated debates, intense campaigns in over two dozen states, and countless interviews with hostile media, the eventual nominee will emerge well-seasoned and battle-hardened for the general election. There will be little left for Obama to strike him with that he hasn’t already learned to defend.
The GOP nominee will have enjoyed months of media scrutiny and publicity, making him familiar with voters and primed to make his case for the White House.
Couple these historically bad numbers with historically high gas prices and an anemic economy, and you have all the makings of a one-term President. It really doesn’t matter how long it takes the Republicans to settle on a nominee, and the combative primary will only serve to produce a strong and well-known candidate, one that should be equipped to unseat the man who, by the numbers, is the worst American President since Herbert Hoover.
So sit back, enjoy the fight, and stop begging for someone to quit. It’s better to win on the field than by forfeit.
The unemployment rate stats just came out this morning. It is reported to be steady at last months rate of 8.3%. How the unemployment rate is factored is quite flawed, and the reported percentage is no where near what the title “unemployment rate” implies.
First of all, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://bls.gov) surveys just 60,000 households on a monthly basis. The preferred method of contact is a landline. So if you don’t have a landline, you probably won’t be surveyed. Next, they ask you if you’ve worked for at least “one hour within the last 4 weeks.” If you are unemployed, but were fortunate enough to spray perfume at the make-up counter at Penney’s for extra cash, and answer yes, you are marked as “employed”. Even though you are unemployed and scrumping for side jobs, your honesty about one hour of work skews the unemployment numbers. So even if you are employed part time, but it isn’t enough to support yourself or your family, you are counted as employed.
If you answer “no”, the next question is: “Are you actively seeking employment and ready to accept employment if it were offered?” If you answer “yes”, you are counted as unemployed. If however, you are medically injured and incapable of accepting work until you heal, or have returned to school, you are marked “not a member of the labor force”. In that instance you would not be counted among the unemployed because you cannot or will not accept employment.
There is also a faction of people who have stopped looking for work. That category is known as the discouraged worker, and they also are not counted as unemployed. So the “discouraged worker”, the injured, the people that have returned to school, and the underemployed, are not represented in the published unemployment rate.
When we see just 8.3% unemployment rate, the number of financially struggling is estimated to be at least twice that.
On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss the February unemployment report, how the positive unemployment trend helps Obama’s reelection hopes, and the big news from Greece this week.
We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.
On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss the February unemployment report, how the positive unemployment trend helps Obama’s reelection hopes, and the big news from Greece this week.
We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.
This is a totally absurd thought. Take this to a logical example. If a 3rd party, say a government, extorts a dollar from me, since I am a worker who own my own business. Let’s say I make pizza, and sell it for a dollar.
So the government takes a dollar from me and gives it to someone who is not working because, well, they aren’t working.
OK, so now that person spends it at my pizza shop to by a large cheese pizza.
According to V. Jarrett, that is stimulating the economy.
According to my accountant, I just sold a large cheese pizza for zero dollars.
My profit, zero. Which means that I must now either raise the cost of my pizza and risk going out of business
OR
I can just go out of business.
So now, instead of a pizza shop employing workers, accountants, energy suppliers, delivery trucks, and suppliers of raw materials,
I am on unemployment asking for that dollar to buy a pizza for a dollar.
And the people I employed and the suppliers all feel the pinch.
So to say that the theft of a dollar is stimulating is Ignorance in it’s most basic format.
Perhaps all government employees and elected officials should be compelled to read
‘Economics in One Lesson’. Originally written in the ’40s it is amazingly relevant today.
The good folks at the RNC took a look at what candidate Obama promised in Nevada during the 2008 presidential campaign … and the record of failure that followed. The result reveals President Obama’s failure to live up to candidate Obama’s promises.
In a new video the RNC reminds us of how Obama’s failed promises impact Nevada. Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the country — 12.6%, the highest foreclosure filings in the country and more than 58% of properties with mortgages underwater:
Research proving Obama’s failed promises is provided below the fold courtesy of the RNC.
FAILED ON HOUSING
PROMISE: Obama Promised Nevadans That He Would “Act Quickly To Help People Stay In Their Homes” “I’ll also act quickly to help people stay in their homes, something that’s especially critical here in Nevada where foreclosure rates are five times the national average. I’ll help responsible homeowners refinance their mortgages on affordable terms, and put in place a three-month moratorium on foreclosures to give folks the breathing room they need to get back on their feet. And I won’t let banks and lenders off the hook when it was their greed and irresponsibility that got us into this mess.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Reno, NV, 10/25/08)
FAILURE:Obama’s “Mosaic” Of Housing Policies Is “Entering Its Fourth Year Of Weak Sales And High Foreclosures.” “The proposal, to be released in the coming weeks, is the latest addition to a mosaic of Obama administration programs aimed at boosting the housing market, which is entering its fourth year of weak sales and high foreclosures.” (Lorraine Woellert, “Obama Pushes Proposal To Streamline Refinancing For Homeowners,” Bloomberg, 1/25/12)
Under Obama’s Housing Programs “Fewer Than 1,000 Loans Have Refinanced.” ”Haven’t similar programs been tried before? Yes. But those programs put in place a series of rules designed to ensure that government entities weren’t taking on more risk by allowing investors and banks to offload risky mortgages onto the government. In 2010, for example, the Obama administration rolled out a program to let underwater borrowers refinance through the FHA, but that program required banks to first write down loan balances so that borrowers could qualify under existing rules. Fewer than 1,000 loans have refinanced through the program. Congress approved a more complicated version of this idea in spring 2008 called Hope for Homeowners, but it also resulted in just a few hundred refinances.” (Nick Timiraos, “Six Questions On Obama’s Mortgage Refinance Proposal,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/25/12)
Four Years Later Housing Is Still “Especially Critical Here In Nevada”
“For 60 Consecutive Months, Nevada Has Had The Highest Foreclosure Rate Of Any State. That’s Five Long, Painful Years.” (Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh, “No Silver Lining In Housing Market As Nevada Votes,” CNN, 2/3/12)
“More Than 6 Percent Of Nevada Housing Units (One In 16) Had At Least One Foreclosure Filing In 2011, Giving It The Nation’s Highest State Foreclosure Rate For The Fifth Consecutive Year” (RealtyTrac, “2011 Year-End Foreclosure Market Report: Foreclosures On The Retreat,” Press Release, 1/12/12)
“[L]as Vegas Posted The Nation’s Top Foreclosure Rate For The Year Among Metropolitan Statistical Areas…” “With 7.38 percent of its housing units (one in 14) with at least one foreclosure filing in 2011, Las Vegas posted the nation’s top foreclosure rate for the year among metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 200,000 or more.” (RealtyTrac, “2011 Year-End Foreclosure Market Report: Foreclosures On The Retreat,” Press Release, 1/12/12)
In Nevada, Nearly Two-Thirds Of Homeowners Are Underwater On Their Mortgages. ”Data earlier this year from CoreLogic.com showed that nearly two-in-three Nevada homeowners owed more on their property than their homes were worth – a situation also known as being ‘underwater.’ Nevada was followed by Arizona (51 percent), Florida (47 percent) and Michigan (36 percent) in terms of underwater loans.” (Aaron Blake, “Obama And The Politics Of The Housing Foreclosure Crisis,” The Washington Post ‘s “The Fix ,“ 10/24/11)
FAILED ON AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE
IN 2008, OBAMA PROMISED NEVADANS THAT HIS HEALTH CARE PLAN WOULD LOWER PREMIUMS
PROMISE: Obama Said That Under His Plan, Americans Would See “Lower Premiums.” “If you have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Reno, NV, 10/25/08)
FAILURE: Factcheck.org: ObamaCare Is Actually Making Health Care “Less Affordable.” “At the moment, the new law is making health care slightly less affordable. Independent health care experts say the law has caused some insurance premiums to rise. As we wrote in October, the new law has caused about a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family plans because of requirements for increased benefits. Last year’s premium increases cast even more doubt on another promise the president has made – that the health care law would ‘lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.’” (D’Angelo Gore, “Promises, Promises,” Factcheck.org, 1/4/12)
The Washington Post‘s The Fact Checker: “Insurance Premiums Have Gone Up . . .” “Moreover, at this point it is debatable whether the law has made health care more affordable. Insurance premiums have gone up, in part because of new benefits mandated by the law.” (Glenn Kessler, “The Fine Print In Obama’s ‘Promises Kept’ Ad,” The Washington Post’s ” The Fact Checker,” 1/6/12)
Kaiser Study Found That Costs Of Family Coverage “Climbed” 9 Percent In 2011. “The average cost of a family policy climbed 9 percent in 2011 to $15,073, according to a poll of 2,088 private companies and state and local government agencies by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California, and the Chicago- based American Hospital Association’s Health Research and Educational Trust.” (Jeffrey Young, “Health-Benefit Costs Rise Most In Six Years,” Bloomberg, 9/27/11)
Workers Paid An Average Of $132 More For Family Coverage In 2011 Than They Did In 2010. “Although premiums rose, employers kept the percentage of the premium workers pay about the same: An average of 18 percent for single coverage and 28 percent for family plans. Still, with rising costs, workers paid more, up an average of $132 a year for family coverage. Since 1999, the dollar amount workers contribute toward premiums nationally has grown 168 percent, while their wages have grown by 50 percent, according to the survey.” (Julie Appleby, “Cost Of Employer Insurance Plans Surge In 2011,” Kaiser Health News, 9/27/11)
The Cost Of Single Employee Coverage Grew 8 Percent According To The Kaiser Survey. “Family plan premiums hit $15,073 on average, while coverage for single employees grew 8 percent to $5,429, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust. (KHN is an editorially-independent program of the foundation.)” (Julie Appleby, “Cost Of Employer Insurance Plans Surge In 2011,” Kaiser Health News, 9/27/11)
Nevada Received A Waiver From ObamaCare To Avoid “Destabilization”
The Obama Administration Gave Nevada A Statewide Waiver From ObamaCare To Avoid “Destabilization Of The Individual Market.” “The Health and Human Services Department announced late Friday that Nevada had secured a statewide waiver from certain implementation requirements of the Obama administration’s health care law, because forcing them through, the department found, ‘may lead to the destabilization of the individual market.’” (Karoun Demirjian, “Nevada Secures Partial Waiver From Federal Health Care Law,” Las Vegas Sun, 5/16/11)
Nevada Received A Waiver Reducing The Requirement Of Revenue Spent On Medical Expenses From 80 Percent To 75 Percent Due To Fears It Would Drive Golden Rule And Aetna From The Insurance Market. “Nevada’s Insurance Division had appealed to the feds to reduce the federal requirement that health plans serving people who buy insurance on their own must spend at least 80 percent of the money they collect on medical expenses. Under the national rule, companies that don’t spend that percentage of revenue on medical costs have to cut policyholders rebate checks starting this year. Nevada asked that requirement be reduced to 72 percent for one year, arguing that top insurance providers would be so strapped to make the payments that they’d exit the state market. Health and Human Services didn’t fully buy that argument, but did agree to reduce the requirement to 75 percent for a year, expressing concern about what might happen to people with policies from insurers Golden Rule and Aetna if they didn’t.” (Karoun Demirjian, “Nevada Secures Partial Waiver From Federal Health Care Law,” Las Vegas Sun, 5/16/11)
FAILED ON GREEN ENERGY JOBS
IN 2008, OBAMA PROMISED TO CREATE GREEN ENERGY JOBS AND REDUCE DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL
PROMISE: Obama Said He Would “Create Five Million” New Jobs And “End Our Dependence On Oil From Middle East Dictators.” “If I am President, I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new, green jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and fuel-efficient cars; jobs that will help us end our dependence on oil from Middle East dictators.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Reno, NV, 10/25/08)
FAILURE: Obama Has Taken Credit For 2.7 Million Green Energy Jobs That He Did Not Create. “The Brookings Institution study refers to 2.7 million workers currently employed by the clean economy — not the number of jobs created by Obama, which a viewer might interpret from the ad. The report found that ‘clean economy establishments’ added half a million jobs between 2003 and 2010, comprising six years of the Bush administration.” (“AdWatch: Obama’s 1st Campaign TV Ad Defends His Energy Record Without Feel-Good Images,” The Associated Press, 1/20/12)
Obama’s $38.6 Billion Green Loan Program Created Only 3,500 Jobs, But Obama Had Predicted It Would Save Or Create 65,000. “The Washington Post reported in September that Mr. Obama’s $38.6 billion green loan program had created a mere 3,500 jobs over two years. He had predicted it would ‘save or create’ 65,000.” (Editorial, “The Non-Green Job Boom,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/28/11)
Obama’s $500 Million Program Designed To Train Workers For Green Jobs “Has Come Up Far Short Of Its Goals.” “The Labor Department’s inspector general says a $500 million program designed to train workers for green jobs has come up far short of its goals. A report finds that only about 8,000 people participating in the program have actually found work so far. That’s just 10 percent of the target goal of placing 80,000 workers in careers in energy efficiency or renewable energy by 2013.” (“Report Says Green Jobs Program Far Short Of Goals,” The Associated Press, 10/3/11)
It Is “Absolutely Not True” That Obama’s Policies Have Helped Wean The U.S. From Foreign Oil. “When asked, though, whether the Obama administration’s policies have helped wean the U.S. from foreign oil, [Oppenheimer & Co. energy analyst Fadel] Gheit was equally emphatic. ‘Absolutely not true,’ Gheit said. ‘It was all market driven and all through American ingenuity….It was no thanks to Washington, not thanks to lobbyists, not thanks to anybody.’” (Josh Gerstein, “What Obama’s First Ad Doesn’t Say,” Politico’s “Under The Radar”, 1/19/12)
The Obama Administration Denied A Permit To Build The Keystone Pipeline. “The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will deny a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline, an important link between a U.S. market that’s thirsty for energy and a rich source of petroleum in nice, stable, neighborly Canada.” (Editorial, “Pipeline Politics: Misguided Obama Blocks Keystone Pipeline,” Chicago Tribune, 1/19/12)
“The Oil From Canada Could Ultimately Supplant Much Of The Oil The United States Imports From The Middle East And Other Unstable Regions. It Could Give The Country A Measure Of Energy Security.” (Editorial, “Pipeline Delay An Insult To Jobless,” The Detroit News, 11/14/11)
The good folks at the RNC took a look at what candidate Obama promised in Nevada during the 2008 presidential campaign … and the record of failure that followed. The result reveals President Obama’s failure to live up to candidate Obama’s promises.
In a new video the RNC reminds us of how Obama’s failed promises impact Nevada. Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the country — 12.6%, the highest foreclosure filings in the country and more than 58% of properties with mortgages underwater:
Research proving Obama’s failed promises is provided below the fold courtesy of the RNC.
FAILED ON HOUSING
PROMISE: Obama Promised Nevadans That He Would “Act Quickly To Help People Stay In Their Homes” “I’ll also act quickly to help people stay in their homes, something that’s especially critical here in Nevada where foreclosure rates are five times the national average. I’ll help responsible homeowners refinance their mortgages on affordable terms, and put in place a three-month moratorium on foreclosures to give folks the breathing room they need to get back on their feet. And I won’t let banks and lenders off the hook when it was their greed and irresponsibility that got us into this mess.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Reno, NV, 10/25/08)
FAILURE:Obama’s “Mosaic” Of Housing Policies Is “Entering Its Fourth Year Of Weak Sales And High Foreclosures.” “The proposal, to be released in the coming weeks, is the latest addition to a mosaic of Obama administration programs aimed at boosting the housing market, which is entering its fourth year of weak sales and high foreclosures.” (Lorraine Woellert, “Obama Pushes Proposal To Streamline Refinancing For Homeowners,” Bloomberg, 1/25/12)
Under Obama’s Housing Programs “Fewer Than 1,000 Loans Have Refinanced.” ”Haven’t similar programs been tried before? Yes. But those programs put in place a series of rules designed to ensure that government entities weren’t taking on more risk by allowing investors and banks to offload risky mortgages onto the government. In 2010, for example, the Obama administration rolled out a program to let underwater borrowers refinance through the FHA, but that program required banks to first write down loan balances so that borrowers could qualify under existing rules. Fewer than 1,000 loans have refinanced through the program. Congress approved a more complicated version of this idea in spring 2008 called Hope for Homeowners, but it also resulted in just a few hundred refinances.” (Nick Timiraos, “Six Questions On Obama’s Mortgage Refinance Proposal,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/25/12)
Four Years Later Housing Is Still “Especially Critical Here In Nevada”
“For 60 Consecutive Months, Nevada Has Had The Highest Foreclosure Rate Of Any State. That’s Five Long, Painful Years.” (Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh, “No Silver Lining In Housing Market As Nevada Votes,” CNN, 2/3/12)
“More Than 6 Percent Of Nevada Housing Units (One In 16) Had At Least One Foreclosure Filing In 2011, Giving It The Nation’s Highest State Foreclosure Rate For The Fifth Consecutive Year” (RealtyTrac, “2011 Year-End Foreclosure Market Report: Foreclosures On The Retreat,” Press Release, 1/12/12)
“[L]as Vegas Posted The Nation’s Top Foreclosure Rate For The Year Among Metropolitan Statistical Areas…” “With 7.38 percent of its housing units (one in 14) with at least one foreclosure filing in 2011, Las Vegas posted the nation’s top foreclosure rate for the year among metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 200,000 or more.” (RealtyTrac, “2011 Year-End Foreclosure Market Report: Foreclosures On The Retreat,” Press Release, 1/12/12)
In Nevada, Nearly Two-Thirds Of Homeowners Are Underwater On Their Mortgages. ”Data earlier this year from CoreLogic.com showed that nearly two-in-three Nevada homeowners owed more on their property than their homes were worth – a situation also known as being ‘underwater.’ Nevada was followed by Arizona (51 percent), Florida (47 percent) and Michigan (36 percent) in terms of underwater loans.” (Aaron Blake, “Obama And The Politics Of The Housing Foreclosure Crisis,” The Washington Post ‘s “The Fix ,“ 10/24/11)
FAILED ON AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE
IN 2008, OBAMA PROMISED NEVADANS THAT HIS HEALTH CARE PLAN WOULD LOWER PREMIUMS
PROMISE: Obama Said That Under His Plan, Americans Would See “Lower Premiums.” “If you have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Reno, NV, 10/25/08)
FAILURE: Factcheck.org: ObamaCare Is Actually Making Health Care “Less Affordable.” “At the moment, the new law is making health care slightly less affordable. Independent health care experts say the law has caused some insurance premiums to rise. As we wrote in October, the new law has caused about a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family plans because of requirements for increased benefits. Last year’s premium increases cast even more doubt on another promise the president has made – that the health care law would ‘lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.’” (D’Angelo Gore, “Promises, Promises,” Factcheck.org, 1/4/12)
The Washington Post‘s The Fact Checker: “Insurance Premiums Have Gone Up . . .” “Moreover, at this point it is debatable whether the law has made health care more affordable. Insurance premiums have gone up, in part because of new benefits mandated by the law.” (Glenn Kessler, “The Fine Print In Obama’s ‘Promises Kept’ Ad,” The Washington Post’s ” The Fact Checker,” 1/6/12)
Kaiser Study Found That Costs Of Family Coverage “Climbed” 9 Percent In 2011. “The average cost of a family policy climbed 9 percent in 2011 to $15,073, according to a poll of 2,088 private companies and state and local government agencies by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California, and the Chicago- based American Hospital Association’s Health Research and Educational Trust.” (Jeffrey Young, “Health-Benefit Costs Rise Most In Six Years,” Bloomberg, 9/27/11)
Workers Paid An Average Of $132 More For Family Coverage In 2011 Than They Did In 2010. “Although premiums rose, employers kept the percentage of the premium workers pay about the same: An average of 18 percent for single coverage and 28 percent for family plans. Still, with rising costs, workers paid more, up an average of $132 a year for family coverage. Since 1999, the dollar amount workers contribute toward premiums nationally has grown 168 percent, while their wages have grown by 50 percent, according to the survey.” (Julie Appleby, “Cost Of Employer Insurance Plans Surge In 2011,” Kaiser Health News, 9/27/11)
The Cost Of Single Employee Coverage Grew 8 Percent According To The Kaiser Survey. “Family plan premiums hit $15,073 on average, while coverage for single employees grew 8 percent to $5,429, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust. (KHN is an editorially-independent program of the foundation.)” (Julie Appleby, “Cost Of Employer Insurance Plans Surge In 2011,” Kaiser Health News, 9/27/11)
Nevada Received A Waiver From ObamaCare To Avoid “Destabilization”
The Obama Administration Gave Nevada A Statewide Waiver From ObamaCare To Avoid “Destabilization Of The Individual Market.” “The Health and Human Services Department announced late Friday that Nevada had secured a statewide waiver from certain implementation requirements of the Obama administration’s health care law, because forcing them through, the department found, ‘may lead to the destabilization of the individual market.’” (Karoun Demirjian, “Nevada Secures Partial Waiver From Federal Health Care Law,” Las Vegas Sun, 5/16/11)
Nevada Received A Waiver Reducing The Requirement Of Revenue Spent On Medical Expenses From 80 Percent To 75 Percent Due To Fears It Would Drive Golden Rule And Aetna From The Insurance Market. “Nevada’s Insurance Division had appealed to the feds to reduce the federal requirement that health plans serving people who buy insurance on their own must spend at least 80 percent of the money they collect on medical expenses. Under the national rule, companies that don’t spend that percentage of revenue on medical costs have to cut policyholders rebate checks starting this year. Nevada asked that requirement be reduced to 72 percent for one year, arguing that top insurance providers would be so strapped to make the payments that they’d exit the state market. Health and Human Services didn’t fully buy that argument, but did agree to reduce the requirement to 75 percent for a year, expressing concern about what might happen to people with policies from insurers Golden Rule and Aetna if they didn’t.” (Karoun Demirjian, “Nevada Secures Partial Waiver From Federal Health Care Law,” Las Vegas Sun, 5/16/11)
FAILED ON GREEN ENERGY JOBS
IN 2008, OBAMA PROMISED TO CREATE GREEN ENERGY JOBS AND REDUCE DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL
PROMISE: Obama Said He Would “Create Five Million” New Jobs And “End Our Dependence On Oil From Middle East Dictators.” “If I am President, I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new, green jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and fuel-efficient cars; jobs that will help us end our dependence on oil from Middle East dictators.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Reno, NV, 10/25/08)
FAILURE: Obama Has Taken Credit For 2.7 Million Green Energy Jobs That He Did Not Create. “The Brookings Institution study refers to 2.7 million workers currently employed by the clean economy — not the number of jobs created by Obama, which a viewer might interpret from the ad. The report found that ‘clean economy establishments’ added half a million jobs between 2003 and 2010, comprising six years of the Bush administration.” (“AdWatch: Obama’s 1st Campaign TV Ad Defends His Energy Record Without Feel-Good Images,” The Associated Press, 1/20/12)
Obama’s $38.6 Billion Green Loan Program Created Only 3,500 Jobs, But Obama Had Predicted It Would Save Or Create 65,000. “The Washington Post reported in September that Mr. Obama’s $38.6 billion green loan program had created a mere 3,500 jobs over two years. He had predicted it would ‘save or create’ 65,000.” (Editorial, “The Non-Green Job Boom,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/28/11)
Obama’s $500 Million Program Designed To Train Workers For Green Jobs “Has Come Up Far Short Of Its Goals.” “The Labor Department’s inspector general says a $500 million program designed to train workers for green jobs has come up far short of its goals. A report finds that only about 8,000 people participating in the program have actually found work so far. That’s just 10 percent of the target goal of placing 80,000 workers in careers in energy efficiency or renewable energy by 2013.” (“Report Says Green Jobs Program Far Short Of Goals,” The Associated Press, 10/3/11)
It Is “Absolutely Not True” That Obama’s Policies Have Helped Wean The U.S. From Foreign Oil. “When asked, though, whether the Obama administration’s policies have helped wean the U.S. from foreign oil, [Oppenheimer & Co. energy analyst Fadel] Gheit was equally emphatic. ‘Absolutely not true,’ Gheit said. ‘It was all market driven and all through American ingenuity….It was no thanks to Washington, not thanks to lobbyists, not thanks to anybody.’” (Josh Gerstein, “What Obama’s First Ad Doesn’t Say,” Politico’s “Under The Radar”, 1/19/12)
The Obama Administration Denied A Permit To Build The Keystone Pipeline. “The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will deny a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline, an important link between a U.S. market that’s thirsty for energy and a rich source of petroleum in nice, stable, neighborly Canada.” (Editorial, “Pipeline Politics: Misguided Obama Blocks Keystone Pipeline,” Chicago Tribune, 1/19/12)
“The Oil From Canada Could Ultimately Supplant Much Of The Oil The United States Imports From The Middle East And Other Unstable Regions. It Could Give The Country A Measure Of Energy Security.” (Editorial, “Pipeline Delay An Insult To Jobless,” The Detroit News, 11/14/11)
If anyone joined the Democrats and the Old Establishment Republicans to celebrate the slight decrease in the unemployment rate, you may want to reconsider the motives behind this news.
Is the 8.3 % unemployment accurate? Logic tells you it couldn’t possible true, but the banks, Wall Street, Obama and the Democrats are in the streets doing an “I told you so” dance. But buyers beware, if it sounds too good to be true – you know the rest.
Well Obama and the Bureau of Labor just did a snow job on us and you can take that statement to the bank. They just neglected to count the 2.8 million who had quite looking for employment. It’s like Granny being shoved over the cliff – these 2.8 million were just quietly shoved over the cliff, never to be counted again by the Bureau of Labor.
From the labor
board February 2012: In January, 2.8 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and
were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.) Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged workers in January, little different from a year earlier.
Actually the Bureau of Labor came up with the 8.3 unemployment rate because they derive their false figure from Americans that are employed or that are unemployed and still looking for work.
The master magician along with the Democrats and Liberal News Media just fooled Wall Street, many economists and pundits from coast to coast bought this lie hook, line and sinker. We shouldn’t be surprised, because this kind of shenanigans has been the story of our life the
past 37 months.
A 787 billion dollar stimulus squandered and redistributed a Healthcare bill that’s a financial disaster, a “Green Company” scandal that is eating us alive plus high inflation, high fuel prices, weapons that have and probably still are walking across the border of Mexico into the hand of the cartel.
The CBO said the National Deficit will grow at least 1.08 trillion dollars and the actual unemployment rate will continue increasing, not decreasing.
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