The plant that I worked at for over 4 years closed it's doors & now I'm out of work. I am going on 56 and can't get Social Security Disability b/c they are making this even harder to get approved (even though I have heart problems & severe arthritis which requires strong pain meds everyday. The only jobs in my area are PT or temp, and hell, there aren't many of those! Obama's Hope & Change have killed the job market. Yes, the destruction of our manufacturing base started 20 years ago but it is clearly getting worse under Obama. And now he wants to legalize another 12- 15 million illegal immigrants? God help our grandchildren. I've been on unemployment for a year with no job prospects. Thanks Mr Hope & Change!
Many people know that NAFTA has already cost U.S. workers 700,000 jobs. Now Congress will soon debate whether to “fast-track” a trade deal that would make job-killers like NAFTA look puny. The Trans-Pacific Partnership would give corporations the right to sue national governments if they passed any law, regulation, or court ruling interfering with a corporation’s “expected future profits.” They could also sue over local or state laws they didn’t like. The TPP would cover 40 percent of the world’s economy. Existing laws and regulations on food safety, environmental protection, drug prices, local contracting, and internet freedom would all be up for challenge. And the decision-makers on such suits WOULD NOT be local judges and juries; they’d be affiliated with the World Bank, an institution dedicated to corporate interests.
A labor rights group Monday accused a Chinese company that makes iPhones for Apple Inc. of abuses including withholding employees' pay and excessive working hours. China Labor Watch said it found violations of the law and of Apple's pledges about working conditions at factories operated by Pegatron Corp., a Taiwanese company.
Apple said in a statement it was "committed to providing safe and fair working conditions" bla, bla, bla...
Hey, why ruin the revolving door? Go to a private law firm, become an AUSA after a few years, then go back to defending the same firms you were supposedly "investigating" and "prosecuting" as a fed. Maybe become a federal judge or partner in firm. Who knows, become head of the SEC or DOJ or something else. But whatever you do, don't, don't, DON'T seek real prosecutions and pretend to be a badass because there's no money in that. And you'll piss off future Wall Street companies and firms and big corporate attorneys you work with and have to report to in Manhattan, DC, etc.
Just compare the local DA's offices (or county prosecutor's offices, depending on state) and what they prosecute and the sentences they get after trial or on pleas vs. feds. And the feds have easy, easy laws they can get 30 years on every single count. Basically feds steal easily provable cases the locals wrapped up but the Feds want PR and press conference time with gullible reporters. Feds won't seek a fraction of that because it pisses of their future employers aka big $.
Plenty of people getting hard sentences in state prisons for violent and non-violent crimes. Now compare what the feds seek in the fed system. And that's with all the resources available to the feds (e.g., every alphabet agency, massive budgets, etc., etc.). Corruption says what? Madoff is kickin' it in a camp after people repeatedly warned every fed what he was up to. Insider trading? Corruption? Politicians on the take? And in other news, the sky is blue.
Before I comment let me say that as an engineer, i really don't offer much in the way of economic analysis but i do appreciate the owner(s) of this insightful blog for letting me vent on the "populist" side of their title. (i'll see if i can scrounge up the 2 cents)
Yes agreed exactly... Hedges also mentions that in his series of interviews with the real news network. I went to Zucotti park a couple of times during occupy as i live in a neighboring state and for a minute I thought there was hope. The first time i went police were present but not menacing. The second time i went a few weeks later police presence was overwhelming, surrounded by cops.
I am now mostly hopeless and see the middle class life that i grew up in basically already gone for many members of my immediate family.
But the pain must get worse for the vast number of workers and if present trends continue, it will. I don't know when or how but I do believe radical change will occur and the government will be changed from the bottom.
Yup, every single day it's the same crap and same old news proving no one in power really cares or learns any lessons or wants to change for the better of the majority of people. Larry Summers for Fed Chair? Yeah, brilliant, because we need to recycle idiots and criminals. US Govt. pissed that someone revealed US Government spies on its own citizens in violation of US Constitution, US Govt. wants to make $ for defense contractors so can't decide which Egyptian govt. or opposition to support, if only they could just unload those F-16s on someone (both sides could hate the US equally and use the planes against us, but hey, it's $$$$ for donor corporations, so who cares) already, etc.
News has become tragic farce and comedy with the same result no matter what day or year - we're screwed and losing our voice and wealth with every passing day. I could pull a Rip Van Winkle and sleep for 20 years and know with certainty the same thing will be going on when I woke up no matter which party is "in charge." It's all the same.
As far as a grassroots revolution goes, we just saw a systemic repression of Occupy Wall Street go on nationwide. Clearly coordinated, shutting millions of people down and it worked.
I don't begrudge those with $ that actually busted their asses for it (which is pretty rare nowadays - not too many self-made wealthy that aren't corrupt or backstabbed and stole it in some form in this generation or prior generations), wouldn't take offense with corrupt people if they were isolated and had no power.
Oh, but when $ unites with corruption and power, we're royally screwed. So we have politicians that only care about their own power and $ and securing both for their friends and relatives in perpetuity. And we have large business interests that will do anything to control/own those same politicians to advance their own interests at the expense of the struggling masses across the globe (we'll be seeing more and more how ugly this gets very soon as unemployment, strife, disenfranchisement, bankster financial Ponzis, etc. spread quicker and quicker). The two together = doom for us; locked out of power, too honest to be corrupt, and still naive enough to believe in democracy and freedom and our Founding Fathers' ideals.
there isn't a political party in the modern day USA that represents "workers" those who sell their time for a paycheck.
The democrats have long abandoned that role to compete with republicans by both being the party of wall street.
I agree with Chris Hedges who says that nothing short of grass roots revolution will improve the present state of american workers or what's left of them.
No more Saturday mail delivery. No more door-to-door mail service for millions of Americans. The Postal Reform Act of 2013, introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa and passed out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently, would implement these drastic changes to the postal service, while slashing over 100,000 mail carrier jobs. http://act.credoaction.com/sign/issa_usps
Who will compete directly with U.S. workers and lower wages. He is passing more bad trade agreements to offshore outsource more jobs.
I think most of America has long caught onto Obama's rhetoric game and clearly America gets the GOP insanity so we're screwed for there are no parties and political leaders who will stop the corporate control of this country and push to get America and the middle class back on track.
This site is fact based, economic based and non-partisan. This is good for it means we can slam any politician or any party equally!
I woman writes: "I raised a family, never got in trouble, paid my bills and expected to one day retire in peace. But my retirement has apparently come early, like a car that ran out of gas a lap short of the finish line, left stranded at the curb. Caught between the free enterprise system, which will give me no opportunity, and the Social Security system, which says I must wait at least another eighteen months for even basic necessities, I sit here day after day, filling out applications, answering silly questionnaires that I know by heart is probably a waste of time. I simply do not know what else to do." (Been there, done that. I know exactly how she feels.)
Obama said he will push initiatives to help manufacturers bring jobs back to America.
Obama said he will continue to fight to raise the minimum wage.
Obama said he will use his own executive authority to push the economy forward,
Obama said he will warn Republicans against creating another budget crisis in the fall.
Obama said...
I just got a newsletter today from the HuffPo Hill that says, "Food stamp cuts are happening this fall whether Congress passes a farm bill or not thanks to the expiration of a benefit boost from the 2009 stimulus bill. (The expiration wouldn't be happening this year but for Democrats raiding the funds and not replacing them despite promises to do so.) Food banks in Texas is dramatizing the cuts with a 100 day countdown.
That's why I pointed out the difference between SSI and SSDI --- SSI is more like a welfare program, whereas SSDI is for people who have a work history and has paid taxes into the Social Security Disability Insurance program, and aren't necessarily drug addicts or alcoholics (or mentally disabled), but have acquired a disability that prevents them to continue working. And unemployment benefits is an insurance that people get when they are laid off from work. They can't get jobless benefits if they were fired for being on drugs or drunk at work. I imagine in your line of work you met a lot of bad people.
I don't buy that unless it's some liberal state, I'm not familiar with. I know practicing alcoholics, drug addicts, even though it is a disease, cannot get SSI when practicing, they have to be clean and sober and then it's iffy. Never saw anyone get SSI for that.
The plant that I worked at for over 4 years closed it's doors & now I'm out of work. I am going on 56 and can't get Social Security Disability b/c they are making this even harder to get approved (even though I have heart problems & severe arthritis which requires strong pain meds everyday. The only jobs in my area are PT or temp, and hell, there aren't many of those! Obama's Hope & Change have killed the job market. Yes, the destruction of our manufacturing base started 20 years ago but it is clearly getting worse under Obama. And now he wants to legalize another 12- 15 million illegal immigrants? God help our grandchildren. I've been on unemployment for a year with no job prospects. Thanks Mr Hope & Change!
Many people know that NAFTA has already cost U.S. workers 700,000 jobs. Now Congress will soon debate whether to “fast-track” a trade deal that would make job-killers like NAFTA look puny. The Trans-Pacific Partnership would give corporations the right to sue national governments if they passed any law, regulation, or court ruling interfering with a corporation’s “expected future profits.” They could also sue over local or state laws they didn’t like. The TPP would cover 40 percent of the world’s economy. Existing laws and regulations on food safety, environmental protection, drug prices, local contracting, and internet freedom would all be up for challenge. And the decision-makers on such suits WOULD NOT be local judges and juries; they’d be affiliated with the World Bank, an institution dedicated to corporate interests.
A labor rights group Monday accused a Chinese company that makes iPhones for Apple Inc. of abuses including withholding employees' pay and excessive working hours. China Labor Watch said it found violations of the law and of Apple's pledges about working conditions at factories operated by Pegatron Corp., a Taiwanese company.
Apple said in a statement it was "committed to providing safe and fair working conditions" bla, bla, bla...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/apple-supplier-accused-of-labor...
This might be good for the error margins, although they claim the revisions are usual in-between 5%.
Here is Alfred.
Should mention annualization will always gives wild percentages and larger error margins in new home sales.
Hey, why ruin the revolving door? Go to a private law firm, become an AUSA after a few years, then go back to defending the same firms you were supposedly "investigating" and "prosecuting" as a fed. Maybe become a federal judge or partner in firm. Who knows, become head of the SEC or DOJ or something else. But whatever you do, don't, don't, DON'T seek real prosecutions and pretend to be a badass because there's no money in that. And you'll piss off future Wall Street companies and firms and big corporate attorneys you work with and have to report to in Manhattan, DC, etc.
Just compare the local DA's offices (or county prosecutor's offices, depending on state) and what they prosecute and the sentences they get after trial or on pleas vs. feds. And the feds have easy, easy laws they can get 30 years on every single count. Basically feds steal easily provable cases the locals wrapped up but the Feds want PR and press conference time with gullible reporters. Feds won't seek a fraction of that because it pisses of their future employers aka big $.
Plenty of people getting hard sentences in state prisons for violent and non-violent crimes. Now compare what the feds seek in the fed system. And that's with all the resources available to the feds (e.g., every alphabet agency, massive budgets, etc., etc.). Corruption says what? Madoff is kickin' it in a camp after people repeatedly warned every fed what he was up to. Insider trading? Corruption? Politicians on the take? And in other news, the sky is blue.
Before I comment let me say that as an engineer, i really don't offer much in the way of economic analysis but i do appreciate the owner(s) of this insightful blog for letting me vent on the "populist" side of their title. (i'll see if i can scrounge up the 2 cents)
Yes agreed exactly... Hedges also mentions that in his series of interviews with the real news network. I went to Zucotti park a couple of times during occupy as i live in a neighboring state and for a minute I thought there was hope. The first time i went police were present but not menacing. The second time i went a few weeks later police presence was overwhelming, surrounded by cops.
I am now mostly hopeless and see the middle class life that i grew up in basically already gone for many members of my immediate family.
But the pain must get worse for the vast number of workers and if present trends continue, it will. I don't know when or how but I do believe radical change will occur and the government will be changed from the bottom.
Yup, every single day it's the same crap and same old news proving no one in power really cares or learns any lessons or wants to change for the better of the majority of people. Larry Summers for Fed Chair? Yeah, brilliant, because we need to recycle idiots and criminals. US Govt. pissed that someone revealed US Government spies on its own citizens in violation of US Constitution, US Govt. wants to make $ for defense contractors so can't decide which Egyptian govt. or opposition to support, if only they could just unload those F-16s on someone (both sides could hate the US equally and use the planes against us, but hey, it's $$$$ for donor corporations, so who cares) already, etc.
News has become tragic farce and comedy with the same result no matter what day or year - we're screwed and losing our voice and wealth with every passing day. I could pull a Rip Van Winkle and sleep for 20 years and know with certainty the same thing will be going on when I woke up no matter which party is "in charge." It's all the same.
As far as a grassroots revolution goes, we just saw a systemic repression of Occupy Wall Street go on nationwide. Clearly coordinated, shutting millions of people down and it worked.
I don't begrudge those with $ that actually busted their asses for it (which is pretty rare nowadays - not too many self-made wealthy that aren't corrupt or backstabbed and stole it in some form in this generation or prior generations), wouldn't take offense with corrupt people if they were isolated and had no power.
Oh, but when $ unites with corruption and power, we're royally screwed. So we have politicians that only care about their own power and $ and securing both for their friends and relatives in perpetuity. And we have large business interests that will do anything to control/own those same politicians to advance their own interests at the expense of the struggling masses across the globe (we'll be seeing more and more how ugly this gets very soon as unemployment, strife, disenfranchisement, bankster financial Ponzis, etc. spread quicker and quicker). The two together = doom for us; locked out of power, too honest to be corrupt, and still naive enough to believe in democracy and freedom and our Founding Fathers' ideals.
there isn't a political party in the modern day USA that represents "workers" those who sell their time for a paycheck.
The democrats have long abandoned that role to compete with republicans by both being the party of wall street.
I agree with Chris Hedges who says that nothing short of grass roots revolution will improve the present state of american workers or what's left of them.
No more Saturday mail delivery. No more door-to-door mail service for millions of Americans. The Postal Reform Act of 2013, introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa and passed out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently, would implement these drastic changes to the postal service, while slashing over 100,000 mail carrier jobs.
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/issa_usps
Who will compete directly with U.S. workers and lower wages. He is passing more bad trade agreements to offshore outsource more jobs.
I think most of America has long caught onto Obama's rhetoric game and clearly America gets the GOP insanity so we're screwed for there are no parties and political leaders who will stop the corporate control of this country and push to get America and the middle class back on track.
This site is fact based, economic based and non-partisan. This is good for it means we can slam any politician or any party equally!
I woman writes: "I raised a family, never got in trouble, paid my bills and expected to one day retire in peace. But my retirement has apparently come early, like a car that ran out of gas a lap short of the finish line, left stranded at the curb. Caught between the free enterprise system, which will give me no opportunity, and the Social Security system, which says I must wait at least another eighteen months for even basic necessities, I sit here day after day, filling out applications, answering silly questionnaires that I know by heart is probably a waste of time. I simply do not know what else to do." (Been there, done that. I know exactly how she feels.)
Obama said he will push initiatives to help manufacturers bring jobs back to America.
Obama said he will continue to fight to raise the minimum wage.
Obama said he will use his own executive authority to push the economy forward,
Obama said he will warn Republicans against creating another budget crisis in the fall.
Obama said...
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/07/4-takeaways-obamas-big-economy-s...
Sequestration Will Prevent Creation Of Up To 1.6 Million Jobs In Next Year
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/25/sequestration-jobs_n_3654008.html
I just got a newsletter today from the HuffPo Hill that says, "Food stamp cuts are happening this fall whether Congress passes a farm bill or not thanks to the expiration of a benefit boost from the 2009 stimulus bill. (The expiration wouldn't be happening this year but for Democrats raiding the funds and not replacing them despite promises to do so.) Food banks in Texas is dramatizing the cuts with a 100 day countdown.
Democrats Not Trying To Prevent Food Stamp Cuts, Breaking Promise
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/21/democrats-not-trying-to-p_n_161...
Food Banks Launch 100-Day Countdown Clock to Federal Food Aid Cuts
http://www.myhighplains.com/story/food-banks-launch-100-day-countdown-cl...
That's why I pointed out the difference between SSI and SSDI --- SSI is more like a welfare program, whereas SSDI is for people who have a work history and has paid taxes into the Social Security Disability Insurance program, and aren't necessarily drug addicts or alcoholics (or mentally disabled), but have acquired a disability that prevents them to continue working. And unemployment benefits is an insurance that people get when they are laid off from work. They can't get jobless benefits if they were fired for being on drugs or drunk at work. I imagine in your line of work you met a lot of bad people.
As expected the initial unemployment insurance claims rose 7,000 but the week was also revised up 2,000 to 336,000.
Notice how the increase does not make media headline buzz and as usual, one cannot go running off of these weekly figures.
We think they are baked into high frequency trading algorithms where initial claims probably should not be used to trade on.
I don't buy that unless it's some liberal state, I'm not familiar with. I know practicing alcoholics, drug addicts, even though it is a disease, cannot get SSI when practicing, they have to be clean and sober and then it's iffy. Never saw anyone get SSI for that.
I was a State Trooper for twenty five years. Damn near every drug addict and alcoholic I encountered, when asked what they did for money, stated SSI.
Pages