While The Economic Populist is an economics blog, officially non-partisan, the most amusing statement coming from you is many on this site are extreme left and not only voted for Obama but volunteered for his campaign.
We're looking at policies that are current and you betcha we can rail away on Bush, both of 'em, Clinton too for bad trade deals and deregulation of financial markets.
But your assumptions are really wrong and I think that's because we are focused on the data, on economic theory, on the policies and are not writing up empty partisan rhetoric.
Let's keep pretending this is all Obama, as though it wasn't put in motion way before he was in office. That's akin to a terrorist attack happening and you blaming the current administration just months after they've been in office when you should blame the administration before it that failed repeatedly in preventing it from happening! OH WAIT!!! Republicans did blame Clinton didn't they... and the Dems blamed Bush... hmm...
And I also seem to remember, economy wise, Republicans claiming that the prosperity during Clinton was a result of the elder Bush's policies. And then later, when things started going to hell during Bush, blaming Clinton's policies. They stated that it takes years to realize the effects on the economy, so Clinton was who was to blame for what was happening during Bush Jr.
I fail to follow the logic that now makes Republicans say that the current problems are because of the CURRENT administration. It seems to me the logic used is solely political rather than based on fact.
Basing this on politics certainly isn't going to get anything done! We continue the partisan pseudo blaming, we will never work together and we will NEVER accomplish anything.
Republicans are the loudest about "bipartisanship" yet by the very nature of what they do, they make bipartisanship impossible by DEMONIZING the other side.
Part of the problem is that to acknowledge CRE problem + home mortgage problem means that a good portion of the financial sector is insolvent. In order to resolve that situation means a great deal more government intervention to resolve the insolvent situation a la Resolution Trust Corp. of the 80's.
But we will continue to blow it off and limp along just like Japan has.
But my experience, there isn't anyone over the age of 30 who doesn't know about offshore outsourcing, labor arbitrage, age discrimination, guest worker Visas and the media is the corporate controlled spin machine.
I completely agree about specific media targeting of the most ignorant, insane, illiterate, etc., to make their fallacious points -- we've all witnessed it countless times now.
BUT, I am witnessing far too many Americans today (and I no longer count them as my "fellow citizens") who are, and remain, virtually clueless. Be it the Californian woman I heard on NPR some months back declare her senator, Feinstein, to be a "progressive" -- and later recognize her voice when she's relocated out of state, then declaring her new (Bush-dog dem) to also be a "progressive" -- or that guy in his '50s, a PR professional who, completely oblivious to everything you just mentioned (in your quote), published a book urging American corporations to hire the older Americans due to their experience.
Geez, age simply no longer enters into an equation when they aren't hiring ANY American workers. Now many simple-minded types are proclaiming the problem in Washington to be "prejudice" -- as to why President Obama can't fill all his appointments due to neocon Shelby's holding them up.
But wait! Does anyone really, actually care (assuming them to be ethical Americans) whether Obama appoints yet another Diana Farrell, Larry Summers, Gary Gensler, Timmy Geithner, or Eric Holder, who has continued on the policies and programs of Alberto Gonzales!
Truly, is there any authentic dem or American who truly agrees with AG Holder? This guy's record is truly a slimefest to the first degree (worked against Gov. Segalman of Alabama, allowed Birkenfeld to be jailed, continued on with other Gonzales and Bush programs -- sure he talked real cheap about torture programs, but have any stopped? Negative -- just relocated elsewhere.).
No, I have to state that we are beset by too many people in this country who simply can't be bothered to know anything about their country, its economy, history, government, lack of legal system, etc., etc., etc.
And I don't have the time, and you don't have the hard drive space, for me to elaborate on my experiences with union officials. With the exception of that Canadian fellow, Leo Gerard (of the Steelworkers), who is incredibly knowledgeable, many of them are simply clueless.
(I had to explain to one reasonably intelligent fellow what the importance of the NY Fed was, and why they stuck that NY union guy in as its interim chief.)
Look around. You are not required to refinance with Wells Fargo - quite frankly screw them. Credit unions are great options but you have to be a member first typically by becoming a depositor. Community banks may understand local market better than a big financial conglomerate like Wells Fargo.
After borrowing $6,625.25 from my mother to come out of foreclosure.
Wells Fargo says Freddie Mac denied a loan modification because I have too much equity in my home.
Wells Fargo visited my homes 3 times and always knew I had equity.
Today, Rene (Executive Office of the President of Wells Fargo) suggested I sell my house buy a condo or a smaller home (my house is 900 sf) or try to refinance with Wells Fargo.
I called the refinance dept and they said they wouldn't refinance because I have been late on my mortgage payments.
They also said Freddie Mac could extend the loan out 40yrs but then said you wouldn't do that.
Why isn't TARP money being spent to keep long term older homeowners in their homes.
Why can't you reduce my 8.62% mortgage or extend my mortgage. I want to stay in my house.
I asked Wells Fargo for the correspondence between Freddie Mac & Wells Fargo which they refused to send me saying it's confidential.
I want to see in writing why my loan modification was denied. I also wanted to make you aware of Wells Fargo's refusal to refinance my $52,000 mortgage on a $200,000 home.
It seems unbelievable that I've paid my mortgage on time from 1992 until last year (due to lack of work), now I have a steady job, have almost $150,000 equity in my home and neither Freddie Mac or Wells Fargo will refinance my home.
NORFOLK MASS HOMEOWNER SINCE 1979
in every form and I have no idea why beyond keeping the ponzi scheme going.
I mean financial advisers are now recommending people purposefully default on their mortgages.
None of that would be going on if they would take a hair cut on the principle.
Rebel has been talking about this quite a bit. I think we need to run a spreadsheet. Let's let every homeowner take a 50% principle reduction, whether they have a mortgage or not...
and see what that tally is financially. Is it well below even the Fannie/Freddie losses?
Why are these GSEs using our money (TARP) to buy these mortgages? Mine is under water, but not delinquent, and I would like to buy it at fair market value. However, since it is a Fannie Mae mortgage, they won't negotiate. Why should they -- they have my money (and yours).
Frank T.
The $15 billion bill includes a $13 billion payroll tax break for employers who hire new workers; $35 million for small business depreciation; $2 billion for "Build America Bonds" for infrastructure; and a one-year extension of the highway bill
It looks like even unemployment extensions are gone.
A bond? One of us needs to flesh out this one and if it is just another debt placeholder.
Of any occupational class, I thought attorneys was safe, at least from being displaced by foreign guest workers or offshore outsourcing.
Think again, now they are temporary canon fodder.
Yeah, law school is a 6 figure debt proposition and even then you have to pass the bar, what a gamble.
Thanks for posting that. I wonder if Medical Doctor is yet another temporary worker category. I know they are deluged with foreign guest workers...
which is ridiculous, subsidized education with way lower standards to go to Medical school in a foreign country, meanwhile in the U.S. it's hyper competitive plus absurd hours and assuredly a 6 figure debt proposition.
That's so unfair for those considering studying Medicine in the U.S. and it's no wonder to me why there would be a shortage in that scenario.
Then....it appears you are slave to insurance companies and health monopolies.
They must have searched high and low to find one worker over 35 to not be aware of institutionalized age discrimination, global labor arbitrage and offshore outsourcing.
That's the problem with those "personal stories", the "reporter" can just find one person, zero in on that one person and try to claim that's the situation or even worse, that's the exception and then go about character assassinating that person to justify their circumstance. (i.e. it's the worker's fault).
But my experience, there isn't anyone over the age of 30 who doesn't know about offshore outsourcing, labor arbitrage, age discrimination, guest worker Visas and the media is the corporate controlled spin machine.
The game is to get workers to blame themselves or to try to claim somehow Americans suck in math, science, education or whatever.
If your a budding young lawyer, but not law review or top 10% of your ivy league class (only 10% of lawyers are you know), then this is what you do for living. There are no other options in the cities where 5,000 lawyers are pumped out a year. You shift from firm to firm doing the work that associates used to do, but now is done exclusively by "contract attorneys." Pay for the average contract attorney is about $28 an hour, which is definitely livable, if you didn't have $200,000 in debt and are regularly laid off for months at a time.
While I don't normally read the Atlantic Monthly (too neoliberal for me, and they print Virginia Postrel's faux libertarian/neolib rants from time to time), they have a semi-intelligent article in this month's issue titled along the lines of the Long Shadow of the Recession, or some such.
Some laid-off professional (asuming they are actually reporting this accurately, and that's a big assumption today) is complaining, and acts clueless, as to why he can't find a job (he's 59 frigging years of age).
Evidently he's either been living in a cave, and since he's been working at the same hospital for the last seven years, I kinda doubt that, or he's been in a coma over the last ten years, ditto I kinda doubt that, how in bloody creation can anyone be so completely befuddled and oblivious as to what's been going on???
Holy Mother of God and Geez Louise! This dude's completely unaware of the exponential growth in the offshoring of America over the past 25 - 35 years?
These clowns are essentially the problem --- anyone over 35 who remains in clueless mode is THE PROBLEM. They will suddenly pull their heads out of the ground (note the nice version used here), sniff the air, then begin calling their congress creatures, none of whose voting records they ever familiarized themselves with, and wonder why their congress creatures couldn't care less (because you aren't paying them, clownish peoples).
Anyone who can't comprehend that there aren't an infinite number of jobs in ANY country, and that once a targeted country begins offshoring a significant number of jobs, the multiplier effect kicks in to reduce those support jobs, and then critical mass is reached, and there are no longer any jobs, with all job turnover in those areas primarily dependent upon tips (yup, bartending and wait staff jobs out there, as they keep leaving due falling business).
Back in the '80s, there was a politically-active bunch who phone phreaked a bunch of congress people and senators (from the incoming trunk side). They kept track of all the pro and nay callers, then matched them against what the congress creatures claimed.
End result: the true caller count bore no resemblance to what and why the senators and creatures claimed to be voting.
I'd have to read the advanced R&D tax credit on how it's implemented. This is actually reasonably important, although in my view they have so screwed up investment in advanced R&D in the last decade....but innovation, breakthroughs do generate new industry sectors jobs.
But...only if it keeps the research in the U.S. and tied to U.S. citizens, LPR (probably a conditional labor test since this is advanced R&D), and doesn't incentize the opposite...i.e. it's a tax savings to use this credit, yet offshore outsource the actual R&D (which they have done in droves, it's disgusting).
So, while I think Harry Reid is the ultimate corporate Dem frankly maybe this one isn't such a bad thing.
From all of my reads on the "jobs" bill it was a complete, ineffective joke, about all it really did was extend again unemployment benefits.
Maybe we even have a prayer's chance of getting some infrastructure, direct jobs going.
Or the conditions Buy American, Hire America, which are important. I'd go for an amendment retroactive on ARRA to add that.
But watch them not pass anything. I think they need to get those bought and paid fors running committees plain out of their chairs and put in some of our Freshman Populist/Progressive Dems, who ran and won on middle class issues.
These committees and the chair are way too powerful and they can kill anything, which they have!
It's like Committees are where all great ideas go to die.
One of the worst crimes is the destruction of corporate R&D labs. I believe the U.S. is still running off of many of the innovations which came from Bell Labs, which is now destroyed. Hughes too, the entire Satellite technology, but Bell Labs is Linux, the cell phone, the computer processor, transistors, data/signal compression....
the list goes on and on and about 2002 was the true end...
literally these labs fired people with 50+ deep patent portfolios during the mass "let's offshore outsource all of the jobs" agenda.
There is no way to innovate to that level without serious culture, environment and financial support.
Baucus had stuffed the bill with many provisions that Democratic senators thought went beyond the goal of creating jobs, such as $31 billion in extensions to expiring tax provisions, including the research and development tax credit. That and other tax cuts were included to win GOP votes.
Democrats complained the bill did not focus enough on job creation.
Amazing. But what's is even more funnier and doesn't say much for Obama Administration - is that this morning they were publicly praising this weak ass 'jobs bill':
The President is gratified to see the Senate moving forward in a bipartisan manner on steps to help put Americans back to work. The draft bill released today by Senators Baucus and Grassley includes several of the President’s top priorities for job creation, including a tax incentive to encourage businesses to hire, a tax cut to make it easier for small businesses to invest and expand, further measures to keep people at work repairing our nation’s roads and bridges, and extended unemployment insurance and health care assistance for Americans who are out of work.
yet supposedly the IMF is lurking in the background, with their requirements for draconian reductions in social services, pensions, labor etc. that they like to impose for loans.
I hope midtowng or someone is watching all of this because I personally cannot keep track of the never ending yo-yo "on again, off again" messaging on what's happening to Greece and a potential sovereign default.
is occurring in direct jobs programs, infrastructure spending proposals too! I just pointed out major flaws as well as some special interest groups, who really are our classic global labor arbitrage folks too, pushing for a version of a "guaranteed" jobs agenda. Sad but true.
So, it's our job, regardless of whose mouth this stuff came from, to analyze down to the details and point out the fiction.
One of the most insulting things i see is globalists or some special interest group trying to spin their agenda as a middle class issue. We have quote unquote Progressive groups out there who are really special interest think tanks.
Hell, even EPI I think is becoming corrupted. I've noticed that more and more they seem to be releasing graph spin to defend the Obama's administration agenda...specifically ARRA.
This is yet another reason to keep EP non-partisan because we have this sort of vested special interest or corporate agenda that is not based on economic reality coming from both sides....it's easy to pick off the GOP, for their "ideas" are so obviously corporate generated but I see similar spin from some of these "labeled left" groups.
Maybe a nice post would be to do a "bang for the buck" ranking of various programs and proposals but pay strong attention to the details because that's often where the sieve is in terms of gov. exp. just turning into spending vs. Stimulative effects.
I think we wrote up 3? WPA posts plus at least 3 FMNs.
So obvious, such great results. I would claim the AAM proposals are "WPA like" at least in terms of projects...
but management, who maintains these details, is efficient, vs. just handing out grants through no-bid contract award systems to 3rd parties...
the WPA was managed and run by the U.S. government with strong accounting measures....
and it's those project management details, the fact they did direct hires for a lot of those...which I believe dramatically increased the bang for the buck.
While The Economic Populist is an economics blog, officially non-partisan, the most amusing statement coming from you is many on this site are extreme left and not only voted for Obama but volunteered for his campaign.
We're looking at policies that are current and you betcha we can rail away on Bush, both of 'em, Clinton too for bad trade deals and deregulation of financial markets.
But your assumptions are really wrong and I think that's because we are focused on the data, on economic theory, on the policies and are not writing up empty partisan rhetoric.
Let's keep pretending this is all Obama, as though it wasn't put in motion way before he was in office. That's akin to a terrorist attack happening and you blaming the current administration just months after they've been in office when you should blame the administration before it that failed repeatedly in preventing it from happening! OH WAIT!!! Republicans did blame Clinton didn't they... and the Dems blamed Bush... hmm...
And I also seem to remember, economy wise, Republicans claiming that the prosperity during Clinton was a result of the elder Bush's policies. And then later, when things started going to hell during Bush, blaming Clinton's policies. They stated that it takes years to realize the effects on the economy, so Clinton was who was to blame for what was happening during Bush Jr.
I fail to follow the logic that now makes Republicans say that the current problems are because of the CURRENT administration. It seems to me the logic used is solely political rather than based on fact.
Basing this on politics certainly isn't going to get anything done! We continue the partisan pseudo blaming, we will never work together and we will NEVER accomplish anything.
Republicans are the loudest about "bipartisanship" yet by the very nature of what they do, they make bipartisanship impossible by DEMONIZING the other side.
Part of the problem is that to acknowledge CRE problem + home mortgage problem means that a good portion of the financial sector is insolvent. In order to resolve that situation means a great deal more government intervention to resolve the insolvent situation a la Resolution Trust Corp. of the 80's.
But we will continue to blow it off and limp along just like Japan has.
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
I completely agree about specific media targeting of the most ignorant, insane, illiterate, etc., to make their fallacious points -- we've all witnessed it countless times now.
BUT, I am witnessing far too many Americans today (and I no longer count them as my "fellow citizens") who are, and remain, virtually clueless. Be it the Californian woman I heard on NPR some months back declare her senator, Feinstein, to be a "progressive" -- and later recognize her voice when she's relocated out of state, then declaring her new (Bush-dog dem) to also be a "progressive" -- or that guy in his '50s, a PR professional who, completely oblivious to everything you just mentioned (in your quote), published a book urging American corporations to hire the older Americans due to their experience.
Geez, age simply no longer enters into an equation when they aren't hiring ANY American workers. Now many simple-minded types are proclaiming the problem in Washington to be "prejudice" -- as to why President Obama can't fill all his appointments due to neocon Shelby's holding them up.
But wait! Does anyone really, actually care (assuming them to be ethical Americans) whether Obama appoints yet another Diana Farrell, Larry Summers, Gary Gensler, Timmy Geithner, or Eric Holder, who has continued on the policies and programs of Alberto Gonzales!
Truly, is there any authentic dem or American who truly agrees with AG Holder? This guy's record is truly a slimefest to the first degree (worked against Gov. Segalman of Alabama, allowed Birkenfeld to be jailed, continued on with other Gonzales and Bush programs -- sure he talked real cheap about torture programs, but have any stopped? Negative -- just relocated elsewhere.).
No, I have to state that we are beset by too many people in this country who simply can't be bothered to know anything about their country, its economy, history, government, lack of legal system, etc., etc., etc.
And I don't have the time, and you don't have the hard drive space, for me to elaborate on my experiences with union officials. With the exception of that Canadian fellow, Leo Gerard (of the Steelworkers), who is incredibly knowledgeable, many of them are simply clueless.
(I had to explain to one reasonably intelligent fellow what the importance of the NY Fed was, and why they stuck that NY union guy in as its interim chief.)
Look around. You are not required to refinance with Wells Fargo - quite frankly screw them. Credit unions are great options but you have to be a member first typically by becoming a depositor. Community banks may understand local market better than a big financial conglomerate like Wells Fargo.
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
so, CRE is smaller really, although as COP notes has more implications for small business and the loan structures are different.
Do you notice we are getting people posting their personal horror story in anonymous comments on EP?
I think we need a "what to do if you're desperate and in despair over your mortgage" post.
It's clear people are routinely getting jacked around and they are obviously at the "end of their ropes" on what to do.
Outstanding household mortgage debt: $10.29 trillion.
FRB: Z-1 Flow of Funds
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
After borrowing $6,625.25 from my mother to come out of foreclosure.
Wells Fargo says Freddie Mac denied a loan modification because I have too much equity in my home.
Wells Fargo visited my homes 3 times and always knew I had equity.
Today, Rene (Executive Office of the President of Wells Fargo) suggested I sell my house buy a condo or a smaller home (my house is 900 sf) or try to refinance with Wells Fargo.
I called the refinance dept and they said they wouldn't refinance because I have been late on my mortgage payments.
They also said Freddie Mac could extend the loan out 40yrs but then said you wouldn't do that.
Why isn't TARP money being spent to keep long term older homeowners in their homes.
Why can't you reduce my 8.62% mortgage or extend my mortgage. I want to stay in my house.
I asked Wells Fargo for the correspondence between Freddie Mac & Wells Fargo which they refused to send me saying it's confidential.
I want to see in writing why my loan modification was denied. I also wanted to make you aware of Wells Fargo's refusal to refinance my $52,000 mortgage on a $200,000 home.
It seems unbelievable that I've paid my mortgage on time from 1992 until last year (due to lack of work), now I have a steady job, have almost $150,000 equity in my home and neither Freddie Mac or Wells Fargo will refinance my home.
NORFOLK MASS HOMEOWNER SINCE 1979
in every form and I have no idea why beyond keeping the ponzi scheme going.
I mean financial advisers are now recommending people purposefully default on their mortgages.
None of that would be going on if they would take a hair cut on the principle.
Rebel has been talking about this quite a bit. I think we need to run a spreadsheet. Let's let every homeowner take a 50% principle reduction, whether they have a mortgage or not...
and see what that tally is financially. Is it well below even the Fannie/Freddie losses?
Why are these GSEs using our money (TARP) to buy these mortgages? Mine is under water, but not delinquent, and I would like to buy it at fair market value. However, since it is a Fannie Mae mortgage, they won't negotiate. Why should they -- they have my money (and yours).
Frank T.
He's whittled it down to $15 billion.
This is a joke, you're right.
FAUX:
It looks like even unemployment extensions are gone.
A bond? One of us needs to flesh out this one and if it is just another debt placeholder.
Of any occupational class, I thought attorneys was safe, at least from being displaced by foreign guest workers or offshore outsourcing.
Think again, now they are temporary canon fodder.
Yeah, law school is a 6 figure debt proposition and even then you have to pass the bar, what a gamble.
Thanks for posting that. I wonder if Medical Doctor is yet another temporary worker category. I know they are deluged with foreign guest workers...
which is ridiculous, subsidized education with way lower standards to go to Medical school in a foreign country, meanwhile in the U.S. it's hyper competitive plus absurd hours and assuredly a 6 figure debt proposition.
That's so unfair for those considering studying Medicine in the U.S. and it's no wonder to me why there would be a shortage in that scenario.
Then....it appears you are slave to insurance companies and health monopolies.
They must have searched high and low to find one worker over 35 to not be aware of institutionalized age discrimination, global labor arbitrage and offshore outsourcing.
That's the problem with those "personal stories", the "reporter" can just find one person, zero in on that one person and try to claim that's the situation or even worse, that's the exception and then go about character assassinating that person to justify their circumstance. (i.e. it's the worker's fault).
But my experience, there isn't anyone over the age of 30 who doesn't know about offshore outsourcing, labor arbitrage, age discrimination, guest worker Visas and the media is the corporate controlled spin machine.
The game is to get workers to blame themselves or to try to claim somehow Americans suck in math, science, education or whatever.
It's all statistical fiction.
If your a budding young lawyer, but not law review or top 10% of your ivy league class (only 10% of lawyers are you know), then this is what you do for living. There are no other options in the cities where 5,000 lawyers are pumped out a year. You shift from firm to firm doing the work that associates used to do, but now is done exclusively by "contract attorneys." Pay for the average contract attorney is about $28 an hour, which is definitely livable, if you didn't have $200,000 in debt and are regularly laid off for months at a time.
While I don't normally read the Atlantic Monthly (too neoliberal for me, and they print Virginia Postrel's faux libertarian/neolib rants from time to time), they have a semi-intelligent article in this month's issue titled along the lines of the Long Shadow of the Recession, or some such.
Some laid-off professional (asuming they are actually reporting this accurately, and that's a big assumption today) is complaining, and acts clueless, as to why he can't find a job (he's 59 frigging years of age).
Evidently he's either been living in a cave, and since he's been working at the same hospital for the last seven years, I kinda doubt that, or he's been in a coma over the last ten years, ditto I kinda doubt that, how in bloody creation can anyone be so completely befuddled and oblivious as to what's been going on???
Holy Mother of God and Geez Louise! This dude's completely unaware of the exponential growth in the offshoring of America over the past 25 - 35 years?
These clowns are essentially the problem --- anyone over 35 who remains in clueless mode is THE PROBLEM. They will suddenly pull their heads out of the ground (note the nice version used here), sniff the air, then begin calling their congress creatures, none of whose voting records they ever familiarized themselves with, and wonder why their congress creatures couldn't care less (because you aren't paying them, clownish peoples).
Anyone who can't comprehend that there aren't an infinite number of jobs in ANY country, and that once a targeted country begins offshoring a significant number of jobs, the multiplier effect kicks in to reduce those support jobs, and then critical mass is reached, and there are no longer any jobs, with all job turnover in those areas primarily dependent upon tips (yup, bartending and wait staff jobs out there, as they keep leaving due falling business).
Back in the '80s, there was a politically-active bunch who phone phreaked a bunch of congress people and senators (from the incoming trunk side). They kept track of all the pro and nay callers, then matched them against what the congress creatures claimed.
End result: the true caller count bore no resemblance to what and why the senators and creatures claimed to be voting.
It can only be worse today....
I'd have to read the advanced R&D tax credit on how it's implemented. This is actually reasonably important, although in my view they have so screwed up investment in advanced R&D in the last decade....but innovation, breakthroughs do generate new industry sectors jobs.
But...only if it keeps the research in the U.S. and tied to U.S. citizens, LPR (probably a conditional labor test since this is advanced R&D), and doesn't incentize the opposite...i.e. it's a tax savings to use this credit, yet offshore outsource the actual R&D (which they have done in droves, it's disgusting).
So, while I think Harry Reid is the ultimate corporate Dem frankly maybe this one isn't such a bad thing.
From all of my reads on the "jobs" bill it was a complete, ineffective joke, about all it really did was extend again unemployment benefits.
Maybe we even have a prayer's chance of getting some infrastructure, direct jobs going.
Or the conditions Buy American, Hire America, which are important. I'd go for an amendment retroactive on ARRA to add that.
But watch them not pass anything. I think they need to get those bought and paid fors running committees plain out of their chairs and put in some of our Freshman Populist/Progressive Dems, who ran and won on middle class issues.
These committees and the chair are way too powerful and they can kill anything, which they have!
It's like Committees are where all great ideas go to die.
One of the worst crimes is the destruction of corporate R&D labs. I believe the U.S. is still running off of many of the innovations which came from Bell Labs, which is now destroyed. Hughes too, the entire Satellite technology, but Bell Labs is Linux, the cell phone, the computer processor, transistors, data/signal compression....
the list goes on and on and about 2002 was the true end...
literally these labs fired people with 50+ deep patent portfolios during the mass "let's offshore outsource all of the jobs" agenda.
There is no way to innovate to that level without serious culture, environment and financial support.
Word is that Sen. Reid is scrapping the 'bipartisan' jobs bill and is rewriting it himself - remember the last time he did that (health care reform). What a joke? Why:
Amazing. But what's is even more funnier and doesn't say much for Obama Administration - is that this morning they were publicly praising this weak ass 'jobs bill':
Maybe, Washington is the comedy shop.
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
Now the EU is not giving a bail out...
yet supposedly the IMF is lurking in the background, with their requirements for draconian reductions in social services, pensions, labor etc. that they like to impose for loans.
I hope midtowng or someone is watching all of this because I personally cannot keep track of the never ending yo-yo "on again, off again" messaging on what's happening to Greece and a potential sovereign default.
It's like a bad date.
is occurring in direct jobs programs, infrastructure spending proposals too! I just pointed out major flaws as well as some special interest groups, who really are our classic global labor arbitrage folks too, pushing for a version of a "guaranteed" jobs agenda. Sad but true.
So, it's our job, regardless of whose mouth this stuff came from, to analyze down to the details and point out the fiction.
One of the most insulting things i see is globalists or some special interest group trying to spin their agenda as a middle class issue. We have quote unquote Progressive groups out there who are really special interest think tanks.
Hell, even EPI I think is becoming corrupted. I've noticed that more and more they seem to be releasing graph spin to defend the Obama's administration agenda...specifically ARRA.
This is yet another reason to keep EP non-partisan because we have this sort of vested special interest or corporate agenda that is not based on economic reality coming from both sides....it's easy to pick off the GOP, for their "ideas" are so obviously corporate generated but I see similar spin from some of these "labeled left" groups.
Maybe a nice post would be to do a "bang for the buck" ranking of various programs and proposals but pay strong attention to the details because that's often where the sieve is in terms of gov. exp. just turning into spending vs. Stimulative effects.
I think we wrote up 3? WPA posts plus at least 3 FMNs.
So obvious, such great results. I would claim the AAM proposals are "WPA like" at least in terms of projects...
but management, who maintains these details, is efficient, vs. just handing out grants through no-bid contract award systems to 3rd parties...
the WPA was managed and run by the U.S. government with strong accounting measures....
and it's those project management details, the fact they did direct hires for a lot of those...which I believe dramatically increased the bang for the buck.
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