Category: Economy

Updated with Video: Republicans and Democrats on the hill stand against the Trans Pacific Partnership

Update: Here is video on the subject regarding a leak by Wikileaks on the text of this monstrous thing: (H/T Democracy Now)

For once there is something that the President is trying to get accomplished, that the Democrats and Republicans in Congress are actually standing against. For once, this is a very good thing.

This comes via Mother Jones:

The Obama administration is nearing the end of negotiations on the biggest free trade deal in US history, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The stakes are high: The pact affects the United States and 11 other countries, domestic policy areas ranging from intellectual property rights to product safety and environmental regulations, and $26 trillion in annual economic output. But in order to secure the deal, President Barack Obama says he wants Congress to grant him permission to sign the final trade agreement, which Congress has not yet seen, without congressional input. A coalition of about 174 conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats in the House signaled this week they would likely vote against giving those trade powers to the president.

The US trade representative Michael Froman and Obama want to finalize the TPP by the end of the year and are pushing Congress to pass legislation soon that grants the president something called fast-track authority, which would allow him to sign the final trade agreement without Congress making any amendments to the pact. If Obama gets what he wants, Congress may not even be able to read the final version of the massive trade deal in its entirety until after lawmakers have signed away their rights to influence it. At that point, the two chambers will only be allowed an up-or-down vote to implement the international pact into domestic law. The administration says fast-track authority will assure other countries that the deal the United States has committed to after three years of negotiations won’t be dismantled by American lawmakers who dislike some of the provisions. No major trade agreement has been finalized without it.

[…]

Many conservative Republicans—usually fans of free trade—feel the same way. “For two hundred years of our nation’s history, Congress led our nation’s trade policy,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and 22 Republicans in the House wrote in a letter sent to the president Tuesday. “However, recent presidents have seized Congress’ constitutional trade authority and also ‘diplomatically legislated’…using…’Fast Track.’”

“Conservatives have shown themselves to instinctively oppose anything coming out of the Obama White House. So their opposition is not surprising,” Adam Hersh, a trade expert at the liberal Center for American Progress, says in an email. But he adds that the Democratic opposition is new. “We’re seeing the culmination of dissatisfaction with persistent poor trading outcomes for the US economy” such as job outsourcing, he says, and the feeling that Congress has been “kept in the dark.

Rod Dreher, of whom I owe the hat tip to for reporting this story on his blog says:

Trust him? No. It’s not about Obama personally; Congress gave fast-track authority to Bill Clinton, and to George W. Bush. But the House Democrats who oppose this — and the overwhelming majority of the opponents are Dems — say. Establishment Republicans tend to support fast-track authority, but some Tea Partiers are standing with the Dems.

[….]

I’m willing to hear the counterarguments, but in general, I’m not in favor of giving this or any president the authority to approve something so enormous and consequential without Congress even seeing it. I could be wrong, but it seems that we’ve had enough trusting political and business elites always to operate in the best interests of the American people.

I feel the same way; this is not about Obama personally. However, it is about policies that undermine the sovereignty of the United States of America and literally it is about policies that put the screws to the American worker. We have enough “free trade” deals in this Country as it is; and they are quite literally draining this Country of its GDP. People want to know why there are no jobs in this Country? This is why! Because crony capitalists and the political elites who protect them; would rather manufacture products overseas on the cheap, instead of giving an American worker a living wage.

This is something that we have to stop and reverse at all costs, if we are ever going to be able to put America back as the manufacturing mecca that it once was.

From the “You gotta be kidding me” file: House just voted on 2 bills that would undercut new financial regulations

This one somehow snuck past me.

I happen to read on Populist Jim Hightower’s website about this one here and I went and looked it up and sure enough; there it was in black and white:

The story:

WASHINGTON –– To Wall Street, this town might seem like enemy territory. But even as federal regulators and prosecutors extract multibillion-dollar penalties from the nation’s biggest banks, Wall Street can rely on at least one ally here: the House of Representatives.

The House is scheduled to vote on two bills this week that would undercut new financial regulations and hand Wall Street a victory. The legislation has garnered broad bipartisan support in the House, even after lawmakers learned that Citigroup lobbyists helped write one of the bills, which would exempt a wide array of derivatives trading from new regulation.

The bills are part of a broader campaign in the House, among Republicans and business-friendly Democrats, to roll back elements of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the most comprehensive regulatory overhaul since the Depression. Of 10 recent bills that alter Dodd-Frank or other financial regulation, six have passed the House this year. This week, if the House approves Citigroup’s legislation and another bill that would delay heightened standards for firms that offer investment advice to retirees, the tally would rise to eight.

Both the Treasury Department and consumer groups have urged lawmakers to reject the bills, warning that they could leave the nation vulnerable again to excessive financial risk taking. The House proposals stand little chance of becoming law, having received a much chillier reception in the Senate and at the White Ho

via House, Set to Vote on 2 Bills, Is Seen as an Ally of Wall St. – NYTimes.com.

You believe those greedy bastards? Jim Hightower is not amused and rightly so:

Audio:

[podcast]

Partial Quote:

On the day before Halloween, the ethically-challenged members of our lobbyist-haunted House of Representatives did a perverse imitation of “Profiles in Courage,” turning that body into “Profiles in Spinelessness.”

In particular, they cravenly caved in to an outrageous and dangerous demand by Wall Street whiners. Such financial powerhouses as Citigroup just hate having their profiteering recklessness restrained by the regulatory reforms passed after their 2008 financial meltdown. Even though the shockwaves from that Wall Street collapse continue to devastate America’s middle class, the banking elite have completely recovered – including recovering their swaggering arrogance and ability to sway money-hungry congress critters with rich campaign donations. — Read the rest at Jim Hightower’s site

I am shocked that more Conservatives are not swinging from the trees on this one here! To their credit, there are some Democrat Party house members that are opposed to this bill and rightly so. This is the same idiotic crap that brought down the stock market and killed our economy; thank goodness there is some semblance of sanity up on the hill.

Sure enough the Bill passed the house, But it is not expected to make it through the Senate and the White House has said that they would veto the thing, if it made it to the President’s desk. Which in this instance is a very good thing. However, this is not the point. What is the point is this: Those same bastards who caused the great meltdown of 2008, are now lobbying our Government to put things back as they were, so that this sort of thing could happy again. That my friends is enough to make an economic populist, like myself, to want to bite a nail in two! 😡

The people that caused the Wall Street meltdown and downturn in our economy ought to be brought up on treason charges, and lined up against a wall and shot! 😡 But, instead, they are trying to buy their way back to lawlessness. This my friends, is an outrage.

Jobs? What Jobs?!?!

(H/T Insty)

Saith Megan McArdle:

The unemployment rate has fallen, but keep the cork in the champagne bottles: it’s falling because people are just giving up looking for work. The share of the population that is either working, or looking for work, has fallen to a 35-year low. The economy created just 169,000 jobs last month, barely more than we need to keep up with population growth. It’s nowhere near enough to absorb the people who have been out of work for months or years — what Karl Marx called the reserve army of the unemployed. No wonder fast-food workers are demonstrating for higher wages; jobs designed as supplementary income for kids, or housewives, are now being taken by breadwinners who can’t find anything else.. . .

Here’s the really bad news: The weak economy may be accelerating the rate at which older workers exit the labor market. Thanks to changes in Social Security benefits (and the entry of women into the workforce), labor force participation rates among those over 55 have been trending upwards since the 1990s. But since the recession, that progress has plateaued. Older workers are actually less likely to be out of work than their younger counterparts (probably in part because they’re clinging to jobs in order to make up big losses in their retirement accounts). But if they do end up out of work, they have a much more difficult time finding new jobs.

That doesn’t just bode ill for the present; it also promises lower growth for the future. There is no ray of sunshine to be found in this jobs report. The best thing you can say about it is that it wasn’t worse.

Fun part is, we got three more years of this crap. 🙄

Of course, it’s pretty damned hard to get even get a job; when you have racist blacks accusing whites of racism and making up stories to get you fired —– and have companies afraid of lawsuits.  Something that I know all about. 😡

 

So, why did gold crash?

I am not an expert on the subject, but I think here might be a good reason as to why:

Who killed the gold?

 

 

In the wake of gold prices cratering in recent days, more than a few prominent experts have already started pinning the blame on Western central banks — especially the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB). According to numerous analysts, the central bankers are desperate to salvage their fiat currencies and eliminate competition as “monetary authorities” continue to create ever-greater quantities of euros and dollars out of thin air.

Some experts, whistle-blowers, traders, and former officials say the Fed dumped as much as 400 or even 500 tons of “paper gold” on the market — metals that it might not even have — as part of a naked short sale aimed at driving down the prices. Other analysts, especially among the establishment, pointed to the ECB chief’s recent suggestion that struggling European authorities in countries such as Cyprus would have to sell their precious metals to keep receiving bailouts

via After Gold Crash, Experts Point to Central Bank Manipulation.

I do not really want to veer into Alex Jones territory; but it does seem interesting that gold plunges, there’s an attack and the stock market dives too. The events might not be related; but it sure does look a bit suspect to me.

Oh yeah, it’s a nightmare alright

I have one thing to say about this below — Welcome to my world.

The Story:

Close your eyes and picture the scariest thing you can think of. Maybe it’s a giant spider or a giant Stay Puft marshmallow man or something that’s not even giant at all. Well, whatever it is, I guarantee it’s not nearly as scary as the real scariest thing in the world. That’s long-term unemployment.

There are two labor markets nowadays. There’s the market for people who have been out of work for less than six months, and the market for people who have been out of work longer. The former is working pretty normally, and the latter is horribly dysfunctional. That was the conclusion of recent research I highlighted a few months ago by Rand Ghayad, a visiting scholar at the Boston Fed and a PhD candidate in economics at Northeastern University, and William Dickens, a professor of economics at Northeastern University, that looked at Beveridge curves for different ages, industries, and education levels to see who the recovery is leaving behind.

via The Terrifying Reality of Long-Term Unemployment – Matthew O’Brien – The Atlantic.

I have been unemployed for 8 solid years. Now, some of that, is my fault. I got into some of that HERE, when I wrote about my job hunting.  But, some of it; is simply the bad economy here in Michigan and as of 2008; the entire Country.

One part that I quibble with on this piece, is this here:

It’s time for the government to start hiring the long-term unemployed. Or, at the least, start giving employers tax incentives to hire the long-term unemployed. The worst possible outcome for all of us is if the long-term unemployed become unemployable. That would permanently reduce our productive capacity.

We can do better, and we need to start doing so now. We can’t afford long-term thinking in either the short or the long-term.

Okay, let me break this down here:

  1. Our Government is broke. They hardly can afford the people that they have now! They are having to cut hours and staff to stay afloat. So, that is out. 
  2. As for the tax incentives; I just do not think that incentives would even remotely work. What the employers would do, is hire the people; declare it on their taxes and then turn around and let the people or fire them for silly reasons.

What will work is a strongly worded piece of legislation that would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against those, who have been unemployed longer than six months and make damned sure the law is enforced to the hilt. With fines and loss of business license being the penalties for the infraction.

Let me clear here; I am not in favor of big Government statism at all; however, there are times, when, because of the actions of crony capitalists, Government has to take action to protect the American people, namely long-term unemployed Americans, like me — from being discriminated against, for the simple crime of not being able to find a job.  My reasons for not being able to get a job in the field that I trained in are explained here.  Yes, I whacked a pole, trying to make a turn out of a parking lot; that was in 2003. I should have been able to find work with a trucking company locally or at least regionally. I have not, why? Because no one locally or regionally is hiring, outside a big company around here, which is notorious for screwing its employees.

Again, I agree with what this man is saying is this article; I simply just do not believe his solutions are the right ones.

The Working Class under Obama: Screwed, as always

This comes via InstaPundit, who snarks:

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA?

Gallows humor, I like it. Hee hee

Reason Magazine reports the following:

If the labor participation rate had remained where it was in 2008, points out Investors Business Daily, unemployment would have recently risen to 11.1 percent.

True unemployment

By the way, I am one of those people, who basically left the job market, because there simply are not any jobs around here.

Some more lovely news, via Investors Business Daily:

Small businesses, who employ the bulk of American workers, don’t plan to hire additional staff, in another sign the job market is deteriorating again.

The National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday that confidence among small firms dropped, with its index dipping to 89.5 in March from 90.8 in February.

The share of firms planning to grow employment minus the share planning to shrink it fell to a net 0%, the lowest in a year, from 4% in the prior month.

The survey also found business owners were no more pessimistic on the economy, but the balance of sales expectations swung to -4% from 1%. Small firms also were more inclined to shrink inventories and less inclined to think now is a good time to expand.

The NFIB index comes days after the Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls grew by just 88,000 in March, after averaging gains of more than 200,000 in the earlier five months.

The latest jobs report seems to indicate a pattern of strong winter hiring followed by a spring or summer slump will be repeated this year.

“After another false start, small-business confidence has sputtered and stalled again,” said Bill Dunkelberg, NFIB’s chief economist, in a statement Tuesday. “For the sector that produces half the private GDP and employs half the private sector workforce — the fact that they are not growing, not hiring, not borrowing and not expanding like they should be, is evidence enough that uncertainty is slowing the economy.”

You have to understand, this is what Barack Obama and the Democrats want. They want people like me, the working class; to depend on Government. They do not want people like me working. They would rather I depend on Government and get some sort of Government assistance. Remember, Obama said, “I am interested in those high tech jobs” during the last President debate.  The truth is, President Obama does not give two rips about the general labor types or the unskilled workers. The only people that the Democrats care about is:

  1. Union Workers – Actually, he really does not care about them either. He just is obligated to them, because of the legacy of the labor movement of the past. Also too, because there are still some high rolling donors among the labor movement still to this day. So, the Democrats do still have to pay their respects; all the while selling their jobs overseas.
  2. High Tech Jobs – This is because 90% of the tech job workers are immigrants and they. of course, are going to support a President, who gives them what they really want; which is amnesty. The other 10% of them are upper income liberals, who live in cities, like Ann Arbor, Michigan; fresh out of college and filled to the brim with liberal, socialist indoctrination.

This right here, is why I cannot find at least a local dirt hauling job around here. One, because the house construction business around here is basically bust, since the crash of 2008 — Which was caused by the stupidity of the Bill Clinton and the Democrats in the 1990’s. Two, because of what I have pointed out above. You have to have a reason for hauling that dirt around and if the economy is in the condition it is in, no one is going to want to have a house built or anything else for that matter; and companies who provide this service are not going to hire anyone extra, due to the fact that it might cost them in taxes.

This above, is why it looks like I am simply going to have to suck it up, pack up my bags, tell my parents goodbye; and get in a truck for a big company and basically be a slave for 2 years, working for crap wages. Once I get through the refresher, and running with a trainer, I should start making a decent wage; that is, if I actually get the miles. I would love to own my own truck and trailer; and pull loads off of a load board. However, that requires a good deal of capital, or in layman’s terms; a whole shitload of money, which I simply do not have. Oh, and another thing too; I am simply not interested in going into a ton and mean A TON of debt to start a trucking company. Since deregulation, the trucking industry is so stacked against a small time operator, that it simply is not worth the hassle anymore.

In short: I would be better off working for a big company. It is the way it is anymore, here in good ‘ol ‘merica. SadRolling EyesLoserDoh

I know the feeling….

This basically what happened with me. I just gave up on looking, after I saw that I was not going to get hired around here. Same goes for the trucking work. It’s a long story, and not a pretty one.

Video:


The Story:

WASHINGTON –  After a full year of fruitless job hunting, Natasha Baebler just gave up. She’d already abandoned hope of getting work in her field, working with the disabled. But she couldn’t land anything else, either — not even a job interview at a telephone call center. Until she feels confident enough to send out resumes again, she’ll get by on food stamps and disability checks from Social Security and live with her parents in St. Louis. “I’m not proud of it,” says Baebler, who is in her mid-30s and is blind. “The only way I’m able to sustain any semblance of self-preservation is to rely on government programs that I have no desire to be on.” Baebler’s frustrating experience has become all too common nearly four years after the Great Recession ended: Many Americans are still so discouraged that they’ve given up on the job market. — Americans discouraged by economic recovery leave labor force | Fox News

It sucks, but it’s my life. Only way that I am going to be able to get a driving job now, as in a class A truck; is go to a big company, take a refresher course and drive with a trainer for a few weeks and then drive for two to five years over the road. I am not looking forward to it. But, if I want my career back, I have to do it. There are other issues however: My parents ages for one, I am an only child and I am all they have. That one weighs on me heavy. Because I would hate to be out across the Country and have one of them have a problem.

This is the stuff that I am wrestling with. Do I or don’t I?

Taking Religion out of the Military?

I have mixed feelings about this one:

“Soldiers with minority religious beliefs and atheists often feel like second-class citizens when Christianity is seemingly officially endorsed by their own base,” American Atheists president David Silverman told Fox News. “We are very happy the Pentagon and the Army decided to do the right thing.” A military spokesman told Fox News the cross was literally dismantled and will be removed from the base to be in “compliance with Army regulations and to avoid any misconception of religious favoritism or disrespect.” “After a Christian prayer, the cross was removed from the roof of the chapel,” the spokesman said. “During the removal, the cross was dismantled; however the cross was reassembled and currently awaits transportation to a larger operational base.” The military told Fox News the cross will only be brought out during Christian services and will be designated as a “non-permanent religious symbol.” Silverman said a Christian chapel on an Army base in Afghanistan could have put American troops in danger. “It inflames this Muslim versus Christian mentality,” he said. “This is not a Muslim versus Christian war — but if the Army base has a large chapel on it that has been converted to Christian-only, it sends a message that could be interpreted as hostile to Islam.” An Army spokesman said all chapels must be religiously neutral. “The primary purpose of making a chapel a neutral, multi-use facility is to accommodate the free exercise of religion for all faith groups using it,” he said. “We take the spiritual fitness of our Soldiers seriously and encourage them to practice their faith and exercise their beliefs however they choose.” Retired Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, of the Family Research Council, told Fox News a Christian cleansing of the military is under way. “I don’t think you can categorize it any other way,” he said. “There is a strong effort, led partially by the Administration as well as by atheist groups to destroy the identity of who we are as a nation and that means robbing us of our history.” —- Military: Crosses Removed ‘Out of Respect for Other Faiths’ | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes

On one hand, I would hate to think that having Christian symbols on a battle front could be putting our Military at risk. On the other hand, I would hate to see Christianity being removed from the Military entirely. However, we are in a Muslim Nation is Afghan region; one would think that the Military would want to be respectful of those people and their culture.

It is a mixed bag, and all the more reason why we really need to get out of that Country. Our mission is done there; we killed Osama and we need to leave. We do not want to make the same mistake the Russians made there. Besides all that, Al-Qaeda has moved into other regions and is much more a threat to other interests in other parts for the world now.

So, to this Independent, the quicker we leave, the better.