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...that's what might be next in Arizona, if the Governor signs legislation into law. According to Media Matters, this means that anyone who doesn't carry the proper paperwork could be arrested. Moreover, the Arizona approach is not only misguided, it's expensive. Plus in these days of extra concern over government spending, no doubt comprehensive immigration reform is the better option.
But why talk about Arizona on Blue Hampshire? Think that can't happen here, too?
NH's own Union Leader editorial page supports Arizona's steps towards a police state, according to an editorial last Friday. This editorial makes a few erroneous claims, such as equating immigration reform with amnesty (which it is not) and assuming that our businesses and economy have no dependence on immigrants (they do.)
+162K jobs in March is still below what's needed just to tread water with population growth, but there is no question the number is a significant improvement, and yet another sign that the Obama Administration's economic policies, and especially the Recovery Act, played a critical role in lifting this country out of the economic devastation of the Bush years. Steve Benen:
The jobs report is easily the best we've seen since the start of the Great Recession late 2007, and the strongest overall in three years. With revised numbers for recent months, March is now the third month to show positive job growth since the start of the economic downturn, but last month's totals far exceeded the modest totals from November 2009 and January 2010...
Between this and RepealFail, the GOP might actually have to come up with something to campaign on this summer other than fear and misinformation.
The attached news brief from Reuters says it all - one in 7+ Americans is receiving food stamps. The USDA expects an average enrollment in 2010 of 40.5 million people.
http://www.forexyard.com/en/ne...
The BLS is reporting the U6 unemployment rate at 16.5% - more than 25 million Americans unemployed or underemployed.
When viewed through the lens of tightening credit markets and skyrocketing health insurance premiums, it's hard to see where job growth occurs. To be polite, the president's $5K tax credit for job creation is grossly inadequate for creating any meaningful employment. There's simply no demand.
Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter has co-signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking that the public option be put back into the health care reform bill.
The letter was written by Jared Polis of Colorado and Chellie Pingree of Maine.
Howie Klein has more.
The text of the letter is below the fold.
(h/t to Dean)
As we approach 2010, populism appears to be the exclusive province of the passionate right wingers. But it remains an opportunity for Democrats in the coming election.
Democratic Party insiders consider me somewhat of a boat rocker (untitled is unmuzzled). I've always been a populist, a Jeffersonian. This may upset a few, but now more than ever, Democrats need to renew our call for decentralization of power and democratization of the economy.
Which is what the tea partyists clamor for. Those Democrats who ignore the populist revolt do so at their own peril. When Democrats are strong on these pocketbook issues, we do well. But if we yield the populist ground to the Republican Party, the results of 2010 will not be in our favor.
The middle class feels abandoned by both parties, the American Dream is more out of reach than ever. When it comes to outrage at the bipartisan march toward centralization of power and wealth, it's in our nature for Democrats to lead the charge.
New York Times: Jobs Report Is Strongest Since the Start of the Recession
In the strongest jobs report since the recession began two years ago, the nation's employers all but stopped shedding jobs in November, the government reported on Friday, and they appeared to be on the verge of finally rebuilding the work force.
The sudden and unexpected improvement surprised even the most optimistic forecasters. Instead of yet another six-figure job loss, only 11,000 jobs disappeared last month and instead of another rise in the unemployment rate, it went down, to 10 percent from 10.2 percent in October.
Say what you will about Afghanistan (on some other thread), President Obama and our party have been right on the economy.
By a vote of 2708 to 1875 the SEA rejected a contract that would have preserved jobs but implemented furloughs.
As a result, Governor Lynch will begin laying off state workers:
"Over the last few weeks, agencies have been developing plans for layoffs in the event the union rejected the contract. I will be meeting with department heads tomorrow morning to begin implementing those plans, which include notifying impacted employees this week and completing most layoffs by the end of October."
How did we get here?
I suspect that in the court of public opinion, and in the midst of a "jobless recovery" from the recession, more will side with the Governor than the SEA on this. Whether it is fair to do so, I have no idea.
So there's a lot of conversation out there about car dealerships being told they won't be selling cars for Chrysler and GM any more.
The idea, we are told, is to save the auto manufacturers money by reducing the number of dealerships with whom they do business.
I don't really know that much about the car business; and I really didn't understand where these cost savings would come from, but I was able to have a conversation with the one person I do know who actually could offer some useful insight.
Follow along, Gentle Reader, and you'll get a bit of an education at a time when we all need to know a bit more about these companies we suddenly seem to own...and about the closure of thousands of local businesses that will make the news about our bad job market worse.
From the beginning, this was more about sandbagging, and from that perspective, it worked. The coverage has been shameful, and not just on Fox. CNN had a live feed from Boston yesterday at about 5.
"I am just concerned about the direction of the country. In the last two months." -- Boston protester
None of the regular Joe plumbers CNN interviewed had their names shown. It doesn't really matter what their names are, but journalistic standards demand -- well, journalistic standards exist, and you're supposed to name the people you're quoting.
The protest (demonstration?) looked large on TV; small, perhaps, by antiwar or civil rights standards, but large by the standards of a typical Beacon Hill protest.
It would be sort of exciting if the Right started taking to the streets. It would also make no sense, because conservatives have traditionally stood for law and order, not civil disobedience.
I can't shake the notion that Dick Armey just wanted to be TV. The story has been plugged endlessly on Fox, to the point where the other broadcast media (notably MSNBC) saw an opportunity to pander to Democratic viewers by calling out Fox for its plugging. Armey's involvement leaked out at just the right moment. And even more nagging is the feeling that they knew the other meaning of "teabagging" and just wanted us to comment on that. This could well have been a textbook example of "Just spell my name right."
Honestly, I can't really find fault with any of it. I understand the impulse to call it phony, but all protests have an air of "phoniness" -- central organization, coordination of messages, and a concerted media effort. The root of the phony charge is the belief that a left-wing equivalent would have gotten far less attention, and that, I think, is undeniable.
So my question to the man quoted above is, has Barack Obama really changed the direction of the country after two months?
I sure hope so.
Power to the people, dude. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to turn on iTunes, tune in NPR, and drop Fox out of my cable package, if possible.
and not too late to submit text or video questions for this event, as mentioned in the last press conference. I searched BH, and so far have turned up no mention of this effort by our current administration. Not sure how/why we seemed to have missed this (perhaps some of us didn't miss it, but didn't mention it, or my search was ill-formed).
The voting on questions ends tomorrow at 9:30 AM, and the live part of this starts at 11:30 AM EDT.
Another example of how these guys "get it", and a good chance for any of us to put an oar in.
Homeowners - like the banks, much of corporate America and the government itself - are suffering under the weight of excessive debt. The Obama plan will make mortgage indebtedness more manageable, but ultimately the debt itself needs to be greatly reduced. The sooner we as a nation move in that direction, the better.
This is a better written and more concise version of what I've been ranting about.
But how do we get there? The NYT suggests finding ways to reduce principal on the various debt instruments. One different idea unrelated to reducing principal I've been kicking around in my head is muscling banks into absurdly low interest rates (below 5%), and perhaps repackaging various consumer debt items into one or two loans. I think this would save banks a whole lot more money in the long run, and give middle class America a means to an ongoing stimulus to, say, fix that leaky roof that's been put indefinitely on the back burner.
My sense is that The 21st Century's Great Recession is so wide, and deep, and particular in its origin, that we need to think more boldly and outside of the box than perhaps is the case. Keeping insolvent zombie banks "alive" by an IV drip of taxpayer money, for example, is likely not bold enough.
Adding: and by thinking more boldly, I mean re-examining the values we hold about banks, about debt, about the role of government, about the commonweal. I think the nation is already having an internal conversation re-examining the values of health coverage, so this is not an impossible place to go.
And the first campaign ad to go up against Sununu '10 writes itself:
The key to solving the current economic crisis is to return to President Reagan's values of deregulation and lower taxes, [John E. Sununu] added.
I've had this article on my screen for almost an entire day, which is practically a lifetime in blog years. But I seriously had no idea what to add to that statement.
Because what on earth could you add to that? After 28 years of a governing philosophy of deregulation and tax cuts, accelerated during the last eight, The Smartest Man Not in the Senate's idea to fix our economic collapse is more of the same?
But it gets better. John E. trots out the usual nation-bashing stereotypes to make his radical free marketeer points:
"The answer is not to become more like [someone in audience says "France"] I couldn't bring myself to say it," Sununu said. "Again, we've become so focused on the challenges we face. I don't want to say we've become desperate. We start getting in to some of these arguments being made by those who have always wanted us to be like France, and so now they seem to have an opportunity to say that's the solution in this crisis.
Of course, in France, they've stopped complaining about health care a long time ago, but I digress.
You really should read the whole piece, though. It is the portrait of a man in denial about why he and his party lost in 2008. The projection of cluelessness is so strong, imho, that I am more convinced than ever he's going to run for Gregg's seat.
Embed removed post-speech. I'm allergic to the right-wing spin right out of the gate from FOX's coverage.
Congrats to Hulu for providing one of the easiest embeds around (except for streaming FOX - why would NBC's Hulu do that?).
And here's an advance excerpt:
And I think about Ty'Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina - a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters."
Now the meaning of ``credit'' is this -- when a customer buys a bar of soap, instead of the customer pulling out a purse and paying for it -- she says she will pay another time.
And Pickles makes a low bow and says, ``With pleasure, madam,'' and it is written down in a book.
The customers come again and again, and buy quantities, in spite of being afraid of Ginger and Pickles.
But there is no money in what is called the ``till.''
I tend to think New Hampshire is a much better spot to ride this beast out than many other places in the country and world. But I freely admit it; I am starting to become seriously spooked by the sheer magnitude of the downside to Bush's Home Pwnership Society. And somewhat related to that, seriously agog at the Republican party's decision to double-down into the short-sighted strategy of a do-nothing, obstructionist fringe.
Let's make this an "It's the Economy, Stupid," Open Thread.
Have you just started shopping regularly at Walmart? This may be a sign that you haven't been doing so well financially. At least that's what some credit card companies think, because reportedly your credit card score can be lowered if you shop at the retail giant:
VP Biden stated this weekend that the Stimulus Bill projected creating "up to" 4M jobs. At a cost of nearly $1T, that would mean we'd be spending nearly $250K per $35K (1-year) job created, or 250K per $70K (2-year) job.
By contrast, if the funds were spent strictly on creating jobs, it would create 25M jobs!
This is another substantially "pork-laden, pet-project" bill, that will have little real effect on consumer confidence or turn around the looming Depression.
Swift, decisive government intervention in the financial and middle class sectors might have had a chance of averting disaster. But the TARP initiative was never capable of achieving its stated objective, now or ever, and neither is the pending Stimulus Bill.
We are about to walk over the ledge and into the abyss while the hyenas feed.
The House Committee on Appropriations has released a summary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill that includes new details about federal funding for dozens of projects designed to create new green jobs and stimulate economic growth. The bill is one version of the economic stimulus package being negotiated by members of the incoming Obama administration and lawmakers in Congress. Last week President-Elect Barack Obama said that he wants to create around half a million new green jobs nationwide.
According to the summary, the House version of the stimulus package includes:
Reliable, Efficient Electricity Grid: $11 billion for research and development, pilot projects, and federal matching funds for the Smart Grid Investment Program to modernize the electricity grid making it more efficient, secure, and reliable and build new power lines to transmit clean, renewable energy from sources throughout the nation.
Renewable Energy Loan Guarantees: $8 billion for loans for renewable energy power generation and transmission projects.
GSA Federal Buildings: $6.7 billion for renovations and repairs to federal buildings including at least $6 billion focused on increasing energy efficiency and conservation.
Local Government Energy Efficiency Block Grants: $6.9 billion to help state and local governments make investments that make them more energy efficient and reduce carbon emissions.
Energy Efficiency Housing Retrofits: $2.5 billion for a new program to upgrade HUD sponsored low-income housing to increase energy efficiency, including new insulation, windows, and furnaces.
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Research: $2 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities to foster energy independence, reduce carbon emissions, and cut utility bills.
Advanced Battery Loans and Grants: $2 billion for the Advanced Battery Loan Guarantee and Grants Program, to support U.S. manufacturers of advanced vehicle batteries and battery systems.
Energy Efficiency Grants and Loans for Institutions: $1.5 billion for energy sustainability and efficiency grants and loans to help school districts, institutes of higher education, local governments, and municipal utilities implement projects that will make them more energy efficient.
Home Weatherization: $6.2 billion to help low-income families reduce their energy costs by weatherizing their homes and make our country more energy efficient.
Smart Appliances: $300 million to provide consumers with rebates for buying energy efficient Energy Star products to replace old appliances, which will lower energy bills.
GSA Federal Fleet: $600 million to replace older vehicles owned by the federal government with alternative fuel automobiles that will save on fuel costs and reduce carbon emissions.
Electric Transportation: $200 million for a new grant program to encourage electric vehicle technologies.
Cleaning Fossil Energy: $2.4 billion for carbon capture and sequestration technology demonstration projects. This funding will provide valuable information necessary to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from industrial facilities and fossil fuel power plants.
Department of Defense Research: $350 million for research into using renewable energy to power weapons systems and military bases.
Alternative Buses and Trucks: $400 million to help state and local governments purchase efficient alternative fuel vehicles to reduce fuel costs and carbon emissions.
Industrial Energy Efficiency: $500 million for energy efficient manufacturing demonstration projects.
Diesel Emissions Reduction: $300 million for grants and loans to state and local governments for projects that reduce diesel emissions, benefiting public health and reducing global warming.
Department of Energy: $400 million for the Advanced Research Project Agency - Energy to support high-risk, high- payoff research into energy sources and energy efficiency.
NASA: $400 million to put more scientists to work doing climate change research.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Satellites and Sensors: $600 million for satellite development and acquisitions, including climate sensors and climate modeling.
New Construction of Commuter & Light Rail Systems: $1 billion for Capital Investment Grants for new commuter rail or other light rail systems to increase public use of mass transit and to speed projects already in construction.
Upgrades and Repair to Public Transit Systems: $2 billion to modernize existing transit systems, including renovations to stations, security systems, computers, equipment, structures, signals, and communications.
Transit Capital Assistance: $6 billion to purchase buses and equipment needed to increase public transportation and improve intermodal and transit facilities.
Amtrak and Intercity Passenger Rail Construction Grants: $1.1 billion to improve the speed and capacity of intercity passenger rail service. The Department of Transportation's Inspector General estimates the North East Corridor alone has a backlog of over $10 billion.
Veterans Medical Facilities: $950 million for veterans' medical facilities. The Department has identified a $5 billion backlog in needed repairs, including energy efficiency projects, at its 153 medical facilities.
Construction on Public Lands and Parks: $3.1 billion for infrastructure projects on federal lands including improvements to visitor facilities, road and trail restoration, preservation of buildings of cultural and historic importance, rehabilitation of abandoned mines and oil fields, and environmental cleanup projects. This includes $1.8 billion for the National Park Service, $325 million for the Bureau of Land Management, $300 million for the National Wildlife Refuges and National Fish Hatcheries, and $650 million for the Forest Service.
Clean Water State Revolving Fund: $6 billion for loans to help communities upgrade wastewater treatment systems.
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund: $2 billion for loans for drinking water infrastructure.
Rural Water and Waste Disposal: $1.5 billion to support $3.8 billion in grants and loans to help communities fund drinking water and wastewater treatment systems.
Superfund Hazardous Waste Cleanup: $800 million to clean up hazardous and toxic waste sites that threaten health and the environment.
Leaking Underground Storage Tanks: $200 million for enforcement and cleanup of petroleum leaks from underground storage tanks at approximately 1,600 additional sites.
Nuclear Waste Cleanup: $500 million for nuclear waste cleanup at sites contaminated as a result of the nation's past nuclear activities.
Closed Military Bases: $300 million for cleanup activities at closed military installations allowing local communities to redevelop these properties for productive use.
NOAA Habitat Restoration: $400 million for ready-to-go habitat restoration projects.
Brownfields: $100 million for competitive grants for evaluation and cleanup of former industrial and commercial sites - turning them from problem properties to productive community use.
School Construction: $20 billion, including $14 billion for K-12 and $6 billion for higher education, for renovation and modernization, including technology upgrades and energy efficiency improvements.
Training and Employment Services: $4 billion for job training including formula grants for adult, dislocated worker, and youth services (including $1.2 billion to create up to one million summer jobs for youth). The needs of workers also will be met through dislocated worker national emergency grants, new competitive grants for worker training in high growth and emerging industry sectors (with priority consideration to "green" jobs and healthcare), and increased funds for the YouthBuild program. Green jobs training will include preparing workers for activities supported by other economic recovery funds, such as retrofitting of buildings, green construction, and the production of renewable electric power.
Public Housing Capital Fund: $5 billion for building repair and modernization, including critical safety repairs. $4 billion of the funds will be distributed to public housing authorities through the existing formula and $1 billion will be awarded through a competitive process for projects that improve energy efficiency.
HOME Investment Partnerships: $1.5 billion to help local communities build and rehabilitate low- income housing using green technologies.
Native American Housing Block Grants: $500 million to rehabilitate and improve energy efficiency at some of the over 42,000 housing units maintained by Native American housing programs.
Self-Help and Assisted Homeownership Program: $10 million for rural, high-need areas to undertake projects using sustainable and energy-efficient building and rehabilitation practices.
Lead Paint: $100 million for competitive grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations to remove lead-based paint hazards in low-income housing.
Although the bill is still far from becoming law, it contains many projects designed to create new green jobs and stimulate economic growth. You can help make sure that the final version of the economic stimulus package contains funding for green jobs by contacting your representatives in Congress.
A New Deal style policy investing $2.5 billion in the National Parks Service could create more than 57,000 new jobs nationwide, according to a recent report published by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). I talked to Tom Hill, NPCA's Legislative Representative, to learn more about the report.
The National Parks system has suffered from chronic underfunding for many years, according to Hill. In fact, funding falls about $750 million short of what is needed each year. This shortfall has led to a widespread deterioration in park infrastructure. Unmaintained roads, trails, and bridges pose real safety threats to park visitors, and irreplaceable historic buildings are crumbling due to lack of repair. The total backlog for road repair and maintenance alone totals a staggering $8.5 billion.
"National Parks should be a priority," says Hill, noting that the parks are part of our national heritage.
But Hill is also eager for people to know about the economic benefits of the park system. A recent NPCA study that found that "...every dollar invested in national parks generates at least $4 in economic value to the public." Hill describes funding for the National Parks System as an investment that can produce very real economic returns. He explains that spending money to improve park infrastructure can create new jobs both directly and indirectly. Improvements in infrastructure can lead to increased use of the parks by the public, which means more tourist dollars and new economic opportunities for states and local communities.
Lawmakers in Washington are eager to include "shovel ready" projects in the economic stimulus package. Hill is confident that the plan advocated by the NPCA fall into that category. In fact the National Park Service has $1 billion in ready-to-go projects awaiting funding.
"They fall into the category of things that can put people to work quickly," he notes.
While most of the policy makers approached by the NPCA have been supportive of the group's proposals, Hill believes that the details of the economic stimulus package probably won't become clear until after President-Elect Barack Obama is sworn into office next week.
"It continues to be important for people to let their own members of Congress know that taking care of National Parks should be a priority," says Hill. "In this case it can also stimulate economic growth."
You can help the NPCA send a strong message to Congress by writing a letter to editor of your local newspaper. Tell them you want your representatives in Congress to create new jobs by investing in the future of America's national parks!
It will be hard for Obama and the Democratic-majority Congress to resist the false balance tradmed "debate" over how to craft the recovery package, but they need to show some courage.
Because the last thing we want is economo-ideologues, their ideas discredited by the fiscal ruin brought to our country by Republican presidents from Reagan on, carrying their failures forward:
The good news is that a bipartisan group of senators, led by Democrat Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Republican Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, is on the right track.
Their idea is for Congress to empower a commission to make the tough choices about future benefits and taxes to restore sanity to the U.S. budget outlook, and then to fast-track the commission's recommendations to an up-or-down vote. If Congress fails to take Conrad and Gregg seriously, we may all be headed for the bread line.
(Kevin Hassett, director of economic-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, is a Bloomberg News columnist. He was an adviser to Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona in the 2008 presidential election. The opinions expressed are his own.)
I'm really happy to see this piece come out. It confirms to me my suspicion: that due to the failures of the past eight years, in which Senator Judd "Obama Spend-O-Rama" Gregg played a major role, we should not take him seriously.
