Jobs, jobs, jobs...

[Guest]

Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 474,000, an increase of 43,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said. In the last two weeks, the number has risen by a total of 78,000, and is now at its highest mark since the summer of 2010.

Rome burns and Nero fiddles.

[Guest]

But.. But... The private sector is making RECORD PROFITS. The stock market has recovered.

Isn't it the siren song of people who dislike Obama that the private sector can run things better?

Or, is it that, perhaps, all those record profits are going to the shareholders and executives since the companies don't NEED more employees?

I've read article after article that shows it's *automation* that keeps us from rehiring as much as would be expected.

[Guest]

Nice spin though.

[Guest]

Isn't it time to reactivate the "Misery index"?

[Guest]

Automation could be a contributor but is far from a major culprit. It takes manufacturing and sales of the items manufactured to create jobs. There will be no recovery unless there is increased manufacturing in this country. Corporations have been outsourcing manufacturing since the 80's.

Just google lost manufacturing jobs over the past twenty years and see the mass of information about the loss of our manufacturing base....machine tool companies closed...appliance manufacturing companies all a shadow of the past...automotive manufacturing ditto...

There has been no major initiatives by this POTUS or those before him to pursue what it takes to create more manufacturing. How about incentives for American companies like GE that are keeping their profits earned off shore to avoid paying taxes here at home..reduce or eliminate the tax on those earnings to incent bringing the money back to the USA to invest in new technology and manufacturing (GE Already pays no taxes on money earned here!!).

How about incentives for companies to mass produce wind power products? Solar power products? How about building new modern refineries to replace the ancient ones of the past 40 years? Or incenting coal companies to invest in clean coal manufacturing? And yes more drilling in the USA to keep the money from going to non USA entities and re-invest in manufacturing?

There have been no initiatives by past POTUS and there certainly will be none from Obama...it just is not on his agenda as so many important issues for we the people are not.

There is no mystery about the loss of jobs and how we got here. There is even less mystery about how to get the USA going again....NONE WHAT SO EVER!!!!!!!

btk

[Guest]

Rome burns and Nero fiddles.

Nero and Congress.....

Wait I forgot....Congress voted to extend the Bush Tax Cuts because doing that would start the jobs flowing.....

So where are the jobs? And if we lost jobs after big tax cuts why do we continue to offer them?

[Guest]

But but but....

Yeah, we've lost jobs but our exports have INCREASED. We're actually manufacturing more than ever (this latest dip notwithstanding but I think you know what I'm driving at).

[Guest]

John Boehner promised jobs with their majority in the House.....but wait, he's too busy trying to reign in his own troops who want to damage social security, do away with medicare, repeal health care, throw us into a financial disaster by not raising the debt ceiling and god knows what other harmful ideas.

[Guest]

John Boehner promised jobs with their majority in the House.....but wait, he's too busy trying to reign in his own troops who want to damage social security, do away with medicare, repeal health care, throw us into a financial disaster by not raising the debt ceiling and god knows what other harmful ideas.

I have news for you incase you weren't watching. Social Security is broke, Medicare is broke, the government is broke. Not raising the debt ceiling won't do a darn thing other than not let the government borrow any more money. That means the government would have to make do with their two trillion dollar income and stop their deficit spending.

Only a liberal would see the logic in spending more and borrowing more when you are already broke. Does that work for anyone's family here? Would you recommend that strategy for your own kids?

By the by, here's a little quote for you from your man Mr. Obama himself on the debt ceiling.

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

[Guest]

I have news for you incase you weren't watching. Social Security is broke, Medicare is broke, the government is broke. Not raising the debt ceiling won't do a darn thing other than not let the government borrow any more money. That means the government would have to make do with their two trillion dollar income and stop their deficit spending.

Only a liberal would see the logic in spending more and borrowing more when you are already broke. Does that work for anyone's family here? Would you recommend that strategy for your own kids?

By the by, here's a little quote for you from your man Mr. Obama himself on the debt ceiling.

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."


But extending the Bush Tax Cuts was supposed to create jobs......


So where are the jobs?

[Guest]

Ask Obama, he's the one killing off most of them.

[Guest]

Silly me, I thought the present administration extended tax cuts and now they are "bush tax cuts" and not Obama tax cuts.

If you haven't noticed, jobs are heading outside the US at a frenetic pace never to return. Ask the all knowing Michael Moore, he and other libs seem to have the answers.

[Guest]

Looks as though some folks in Spring Hill, TN, have pretty good jobs with homes for sale like this. http://www.homefinder.com/TN/Spring_Hill/72975610d_4850_Ollie_Chunn_Rd

Oops, did I put your home in there that you are selling to come to The Villages? Looks pretty nice to me.

[Guest]

...Not raising the debt ceiling won't do a darn thing other than not let the government borrow any more money. That means the government would have to make do with their two trillion dollar income and stop their deficit spending.

Only a liberal would see the logic in spending more and borrowing more when you are already broke. Does that work for anyone's family here? Would you recommend that strategy for your own kids?....I think you're terribly wrong, DK....dangerously wrong! I think a few other things will happen if Congress refuses to increase the debt ceiling. Don't get me wrong, I'm not proposing that 'the 535' simply authorizes more borrowing. I'll be very disappointed if they don't keep such authorization short and definitely have any such approval conditioned on some very aggressive spending cuts, a move in the short term towards a balanced budget, or some other legislation that might suggest a semblance of fiscal responsibility.

But back to your assertion that "not raising the debt ceiling won't do a darn thing". There is no bankruptcy court for sovereign nations. There is no creditors committee who negotiates which of them will take the write off of their loans and investments. There is no group of lenders to provide interim financing until a balanced budget is achieved. I don't think it's much of a stretch to conclude that any and all of the following would result.
The debt rating agencies would immediately drop the credit rating of U.S. bonds and bills from AAA to AA or maybe even lower. That would severely constrain our ability to borrow in the future, probably permanently.

As our debt which on average is very short-term in duration rolled over, the interest rates on any new debt we might issue to fund the rollovers would increase substantially. Default would be a distinct possibility. Even at current low rates the CBO projects that the combination of rising debt and rising interest rates is projected to cause net interest payments to balloon from 1.4% to 3.4% of GDP by 2020. Lowered debt ratings would increase the amount we spend on interest on the national debt substantially. Having our interest payments rise to the level of the current defense budget is not beyond possibility.
Both the stock market and bond market would have significant declines in values. No one really knows how the markets would react, but a decline in value of "Black Friday" proportions, as much as 50% or more, isn't out of the question. With the resulting uncertainty, the banking system would grind to a halt.
Unemployment would skyrocket as our economy ground to a halt because of the uncertainty caused by the failure of our government. Without federal money, there would be no unemployment benefits.

The federal government would be thrown into complete turmoil. Because there would be no way to pay for any "discretionary" government services, most or all of them would have to be shut down. Services such as Homeland Security, the air controllers, the entire regulatory infrastucture, would have to be shut down because there would be no money to fund their continued operation. In time, they'd be restarted at substantially lesser levels of service--most of what we know as "government" would have to be almost eliminated. It would take Congress months and months to finally agree at what non-discretionary programs would be reduced in order to return funding for discretionary programs. But until Congress reached some very complicated conclusions, our lives would change immediately!

Our military operations would have to be shut down immediately. Arguably, there wouldn't be enough money to pay for additional munitions, hospital and rehab care, or even enough to pay for the travel expenses to bring our military home from wherever they are in the world.

Medicare and Social Security? There wouldn't be enough money to fund next month's checks.

Should I keep adding to the list??
Making thoughtless and misinformed statements such as yours is what's dangerous about public forums such as this one. What's worse is when the person making such thoughtless statements is serving in an official capacity--in your case "Administrator"--on a public website.

DK, I'd really suggest that you think a little bit before you make such dumb statements. You may influence others who don't choose to think about what's being said, relying on statements such as yours as fact, which would almost certainly result in detrimental results in their lives. I don't think that would be your intent.

[Guest]

Still think it's time to reinstate the "Misery Index".

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/2011_0308obama_misery_index_hits_a_record_high/srvc=home&position=0

[Guest]

[QUOTE=chuckster;352171]Silly me, I thought the present administration extended tax cuts and now they are "bush tax cuts" and not Obama tax cuts.

If you haven't noticed, jobs are heading outside the US at a frenetic pace never to return. Ask the all knowing Michael Moore, he and other libs seem to have the answers.[/QUOTE

To funny.... and just like a Repub. Revisionist history.

[Guest]

Silly me, I thought the present administration extended tax cuts and now they are "bush tax cuts" and not Obama tax cuts.

If you haven't noticed, jobs are heading outside the US at a frenetic pace never to return. Ask the all knowing Michael Moore, he and other libs seem to have the answers.:BigApplause:

[Guest]

Nero and Congress.....

Wait I forgot....Congress voted to extend the Bush Tax Cuts because doing that would start the jobs flowing.....

So where are the jobs? And if we lost jobs after big tax cuts why do we continue to offer them?

Here, let CNN give you the real scoop. Caution, brief commercial before CNN hammers Obama for not sticking to his Marxist Ideology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvhX1E8PBa8

and regarding the jobs, it's the uncertainity of what the administration is doing, and the jobs and business killing debt.

[Guest]

I think you're terribly wrong, DK....dangerously wrong! I think a few other things will happen if Congress refuses to increase the debt ceiling. Don't get me wrong, I'm not proposing that 'the 535' simply authorizes more borrowing. I'll be very disappointed if they don't keep such authorization short and definitely have any such approval conditioned on some very aggressive spending cuts, a move in the short term towards a balanced budget, or some other legislation that might suggest a semblance of fiscal responsibility.

But back to your assertion that "not raising the debt ceiling won't do a darn thing". There is no bankruptcy court for sovereign nations. There is no creditors committee who negotiates which of them will take the write off of their loans and investments. There is no group of lenders to provide interim financing until a balanced budget is achieved. I don't think it's much of a stretch to conclude that any and all of the following would result.
The debt rating agencies would immediately drop the credit rating of U.S. bonds and bills from AAA to AA or maybe even lower. That would severely constrain our ability to borrow in the future, probably permanently.

As our debt which on average is very short-term in duration rolled over, the interest rates on any new debt we might issue to fund the rollovers would increase substantially. Default would be a distinct possibility. Even at current low rates the CBO projects that the combination of rising debt and rising interest rates is projected to cause net interest payments to balloon from 1.4% to 3.4% of GDP by 2020. Lowered debt ratings would increase the amount we spend on interest on the national debt substantially. Having our interest payments rise to the level of the current defense budget is not beyond possibility.
Both the stock market and bond market would have significant declines in values. No one really knows how the markets would react, but a decline in value of "Black Friday" proportions, as much as 50% or more, isn't out of the question. With the resulting uncertainty, the banking system would grind to a halt.
Unemployment would skyrocket as our economy ground to a halt because of the uncertainty caused by the failure of our government. Without federal money, there would be no unemployment benefits.

The federal government would be thrown into complete turmoil. Because there would be no way to pay for any "discretionary" government services, most or all of them would have to be shut down. Services such as Homeland Security, the air controllers, the entire regulatory infrastucture, would have to be shut down because there would be no money to fund their continued operation. In time, they'd be restarted at substantially lesser levels of service--most of what we know as "government" would have to be almost eliminated. It would take Congress months and months to finally agree at what non-discretionary programs would be reduced in order to return funding for discretionary programs. But until Congress reached some very complicated conclusions, our lives would change immediately!

Our military operations would have to be shut down immediately. Arguably, there wouldn't be enough money to pay for additional munitions, hospital and rehab care, or even enough to pay for the travel expenses to bring our military home from wherever they are in the world.

Medicare and Social Security? There wouldn't be enough money to fund next month's checks.

Should I keep adding to the list??
Making thoughtless and misinformed statements such as yours is what's dangerous about public forums such as this one. What's worse is when the person making such thoughtless statements is serving in an official capacity--in your case "Administrator"--on a public website.

DK, I'd really suggest that you think a little bit before you make such dumb statements. You may influence others who don't choose to think about what's being said, relying on statements such as yours as fact, which would almost certainly result in detrimental results in their lives. I don't think that would be your intent.


Thank you for your post! Well said.:BigApplause:

[Guest]

VK,

I'm not really sure who died and left you the expert? There are plenty who totally disagree with you. You know the US has defaulted 3 times in the past right?

Obama himself is against raising the ceiling. It's a bad idea and even he knows it.

What I think is dumb is your assumption you have some level of understanding and expertiese others don't. Typical elitist attitude.

That's why we have the problems we do.

[Guest]

Lassen,

I really enjoy reading your posts and your exceptional wording like "only a liberal" and calling others elitists. Not that I agree with many of your ideas at all, but keep it up. It gives me a good laugh to see what some reactionaries are thinking up for their latest conspiracy theories.

Hope the flooding stays away from your area.

[Guest]

Isn't that what VK is? He calls my statements "dumb" and yet his are no more than his theories. Not even Obama agrees with him. But yet he is gospel and I'm dumb?

"Kahuna is a Hawaiian word, defined in the Pukui & Elbert (1986) as a "Priest, sorcerer, magician, wizard, minister, expert in any profession."

I don't think so scooter...

Obama's own words. Or did he change his mind now that he and his party are spending the money?

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

[Guest]

dk: When was the last time the US defaulted on it's debt? Seriously.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/fearing-another-u-s-debt-default/


The first time was in 1790, the only episode Professor Reinhart unearthed in which the United States defaulted on its external debt obligations. It also defaulted on its domestic debt obligations then, too.

Then in 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, the United States had another domestic debt default related to the repayment of gold-based obligations. Additionally, there were two episodes when a spate of American states defaulted on their debts, in 1841-42 (nine states) and 1873-84 (10 states). The havoc wreaked by these state-level defaults is part of the reason that so many states now have constitutional balanced-budget requirements.


So defaulting on a $14T debt has no precedent. Figuring out which seniors or soldiers get paid in a multi trillion dollar budget has no precedent.

Guess what happens to the stock market when it encounters situations with *uncertainty*, never mind things that are UNPRECEDENTED.