Friday, February 28, 2014

China's Keystone XL pipeline


From Rep. Alan Grayson:

Forty-one years ago, when I used to get up at 5 a.m. to get on gas station lines with my parents, I started hearing about "energy independence" — a secure source of supply for our energy needs. Today, energy independence soon will be a reality...

...for China, thanks to the Keystone XL pipeline.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Casey B. Mulligan: Shill for the Rich

In his never ending attacks on Obamacare (which is the law of the land) a cheerleader for the uber-wealthy, Casey B. Mulligan, writes in his latest post The Affordable Care Act’s Multiple Taxes:

"Income taxes discourage people from doing the things that create income."

This is really code for:

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Still Long-Term Unemployed in 2014

And still forgotten, just as they were in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Only now, they no longer have unemployment benefits...adding further injury to insult to injury.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Net Affects of Raising the Minimum Wage

It's not all "doom and gloom" as some billionaires and their millionaire cable news pundits in the media want you to believe (they're just trying to keep the man down).

Friday, February 21, 2014

Sticker Shock for Pot in Colorado

New budget numbers predict that marijuana taxes in Colorado could add more than $100 million a year to state coffers, far more than earlier estimates.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

New Bits (and Pieces)

Quote of the Day: "The TPP is not a trade deal, it's a corporate coup d'etat." (So why does Obama keep pushing for this "free trade agreement that's been described at NAFTA on steroids? Especially when even his political base is against this? Is Obama just another puppet president for the big corporations?)

I'm Fed Up with the Fed Blaming Boomers!

Why does the Fed keep claiming that Baby Boomers are the main reason for the decline in labor force? The real reason is because there aren't enough jobs for prime-age workers, and not because older workers are leaving the work force.

When did the CBO turn Partisan?

Has the CBO Director, Douglas Elmendorf, been taking cash bribes from conservative operatives?

By deliberately misinterpreting an earlier CBO report, conservative lawmakers have claimed that Obamacare would cost some 2.3 million jobs—when really, it would just be the number of hours that workers would voluntarily not work, which would be the equivalent of 2.3 million full-time jobs—not 2.3 million lost jobs that employers would cut or not offer.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Study Downplays Job Loss with Offshoring, as does Technology

A new study by two UC Berkeley economics professors claims that the public fear that offshoring to lower-cost countries is putting downward pressure on U.S. jobs may be overblown; and says most international sourcing is to high-cost locations such as Canada and Western Europe.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Howard Dean says Some Workers Paid too Much

The Congressional Budget Office released a report today concluding that the Democrats' proposal to raise the minimum wage would reduce poverty, but could also cost the economy jobs—ranging from a "very slight decrease" in employment to up to 1 million positions lost.

Meet the Job Killers: The Job Creators

The job creators have many creative ways to extract wealth from the economy. Some do it by buying a company in bankruptcy, dumping their pension obligations on taxpayers, firing all the union workers, and flipping the firm for a huge profit—just like many corporate raiders have been known to do—such as Mitt Romney, Carl Icahn and Gordon Gekko. But there are many other ways our job creators can extract wealth, and that's by killing jobs.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

How Much do Americans Really Earn?

In my quest to determine where I once fit into the grand scheme of things (as it pertains to wages), I've found a lot of conflicting information from the government, the media and our economists. I wanted to know where I was in the income scale—was I near the middle (in the "median" range), where half earned more than I did while the other half earned less? Or was I much worse off than most others, or was I doing a little better than most? I wanted a realistic self-evaluation, and not a false perception.

Here are some poll results as to where people perceived themselves to be:

Saturday, February 15, 2014

The CEO's Pals on the Board of Directors

CEOs and their PayPals

The Huffington Post has an informative article noting that one key source of wealth at the very top is the pay of the executives of our largest companies (besides investment income, such as capital gains on stocks). But they go on to explain that CEOs overly generous executive pay packages are approved by the other corporate directors, who are themselves paid for their service. Many of those directors are also executives at other companies, meaning they sit on both sides of the arrangement.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Nick Hanauer on MSNBC Discussing Inequality

To listen to him speak, you wouldn't think that Nick Hanauer was a wealthy venture capitalist—or a rich snob or an uppity elitist in the top 0.01%—because he sounds too much like a decent and fair and empathetic human being—just a regular guy.

In 2012, I posted a speech (and video) he gave at TED University; and in 2011 I posted an interview he did on Fox News with Neil Cavuto (which now has had over 94,000 visits).

Yesterday (on Thursday, February 13, 2014) Nick Hanauer was a guest on MSNBC's "All in with Chris Hayes" discussing inequality and the attitudes of the wealthiest people in America.

It was fascinating bit of insight he gave us about those at the very tippy-top of the income ladder. Here are some excerpts and the full video below:

"Ultimately, this is not about money—it's about status, privileges and power. For a subset of these people, the most important thing in the world is status, privilege and power. They have sacrificed everything for it. This is my world—I know a lot of these folks—and a lot of these folks are border-line sociopathic people, and they don't care about other people."

Mister Hanauer goes on to explain that if someone in the top 0.01% believes they are a job creator, and if they accept the efficient market hypothesis—the idea that markets are perfectly efficient—then the rich deserve to be rich, and the poor deserve to be poor. So they deny that the working class are the true wealth creators, because to believe otherwise—to challenge them—would threaten their core belief in that they deserve all their status, privileges and power.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Going, Going, Gone: American Exceptionalism

American exceptionalism is what the political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset called "the first new nation"—a country that developed a uniquely American ideology called "Americanism"—based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism, populism and laissez-faire.

However, many people argue that the United States has retained the European-class inequities, race-based inequalities, imperialism and war.

Some say American exceptionalism is gone.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Ex-Louisiana Mayor Ray Nagin found Guilty

Ray Nagin, as a Democrat, was the 60th mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana from 2002 to 2010. He became internationally known in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the New Orleans area.

On January 18, 2013, Nagin was indicted on 21 corruption charges, including wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering related to his alleged dealings with two troubled city vendors following Hurricane Katrina disaster.

NPR Raises False Flag on National Debt

Center for Economic and Policy Priorities: Does National Public Radio Have the Ability to Control Its Obsession With the National Debt:

Casey B. Mulligan vs. Paul Krugman


Casey B. Mulligan, the (maybe a Koch brothers bought-and-paid-for) economist at the New York Times, is at it again - Demoralization Is Not a Policy Achievement:

Prime Age Workers: Bulk of Discouraged Workers

The vast majority of "discouraged workers" are unemployed working-age "prime-age" (25 to 55 years old) Americans that are not counted as part of the labor force, and many have been incrementally dropped from the labor force in droves over the past 5 years.

8 Million Jobs Short, 6 Million Missing Workers

The Great Recession has left in its wake a shortfall of nearly 8 million jobs.

Chart below from The State of Working America: Payroll employment and the number of jobs needed to keep up with the growth in the potential labor force, 2000-2014

8 million jobs missing

Jeffrey Frankel, Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at Harvard University, and former member of the Council of Economic Advisers:

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The Corporate Rape of America

If you rob a bank, you get 20 years. If the bank robs you, the CEO gets $20 million. --- Two banks neck-deep in mortgage and foreclosure fraud, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, announced 2013 CEO paydays at $20-million.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Redskins: Change Your Name or We'll Tax You

The Washington Redskins originated as the Boston Braves in 1932. The following year the club moved to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, whereupon owners changed the team's name to the Boston Redskins. The Redskins relocated to Washington, D.C. in 1937—and for the next 76 years the team was known as the "Washington Redskins".

Mass Exodus of Boomers from Labor Force

Most Americans, when asked, will tell you that the unemployment rate is still high because there aren't enough jobs for everybody. And they would be right. But why are some of the "experts" trying to give us a different reason?

Whether ideologically or politically motivated, economists and politicians on both sides of the aisle have been debating as to the reason for the falling labor participation rate.

If Mitt Romney Runs for President in 2016

Please keep these short videos handy ---- just in case Mitt Romney runs again (Lest we forget). I produced and edited them all, then posted them at my YouTube channel, so feel free to do with them as you wish.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Employers don't need Back Scratchers

You (as an employer) are in an completely empty room with three unemployed people—an 18-year old young man (who just graduated from high school), a "prime-age" 30-year old man, and a middle-aged 55-year old man (who is 7 years away from an early Social Security retirement).

All three people represent the entire work force, and are potential employees.

You are the only employer. You have one dollar in your pocket and you want to hire one of those three unemployed people by paying them one dollar to scratch a small itch in the middle of your back.

All three people can most likely perform the task equally as well, as it requires no special skill or education, no work-related experience and no extra strength or physical endurance.

All three people offer their service to you, but you only need one person to perform this task, and you only want to spend one dollar for this task; so as the employer, you will choose just one person.

After you make your choice (say the "prime-age" 30-year old man), that person becomes employed; but the other two remain unemployed and are not in the labor force. Why is that?

Is it because the high school graduate was discouraged and couldn't find someone's back to scratch? Is it because the middle-aged man retired? Or is it just because there were not enough backs to scratch? (lack of jobs)

So why do some economists want to say that the high school graduate is probably in college, when he's on his mom's couch? Or that the middle-aged man is probably retired, when he's living as a homeless man?

Abstract: "In this paper, we provide compelling evidence that cyclical factors account for the bulk of the post-2007 decline in the U.S. labor force participation rate." (Economists describe cyclical unemployment as the result of businesses not having enough demand for labor to employ all those who are looking for work.)

As an aside: Are either of those two unemployed men drunks, drug addicts or lazy—just because no one else wanted their backs scratched?

My Related Posts

Saturday, February 8, 2014

They're not Retired, they're Desperate you Fools!

* Editor's Note: You can consider this PART II to a previous post. It's about the Labor Force Participation Rate (AGAIN!!!!) Read that post (or not) then read this post (or not) or skip directly to the data (or not).

Friday, February 7, 2014

2014 CBO Report on Labor Force—Debunked

* Editor's Note: This post IS NOT about the earlier and much publicized 182-page CBO report about Obamacare. It's a different report, and this post only pertains to what the CBO says about the labor force participation rate in that report. Look for Editor's Notes along the way.

Congress Ignores the Long-Term Unemployed

It was just reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that the economy added 113,000 jobs in January, while the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 6.6 percent. (Analysts had expected job growth of about 181,000, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists.)

But it was reported that only 3.6 million Americans were long-term unemployed (a declined of 232,000 from the month before) and that the long-term unemployed accounted for 35.8 percent of the unemployed. But most of this decline are "discouraged workers" who "dropped out" of the labor force—just as we've seen for the past 5 years.

And yet, the Republicans won't pass extending unemployment benefits.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

If Only the Top One Percent had...

...cared about ordinary people (the little people).

If the job creators had not hoarded (and hid in offshore tax havens) all their profits, and had instead, not offshored our jobs and paid us better wages, we would have a thriving middle-class and a lot less poverty today.

The Nouveau Poor

Many of the nouveau poor today are mentally well-balanced individuals with college educations. Many are middle-aged adults with years of experience in their field of study or trade, but were replaced with H-1B workers willing to work for lower wages; or they had their jobs offshored. They are poor, not because they didn't responsibly plan ahead or work hard; they are poor because the rich insisted on becoming richer.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

2.5 million Less Full-time Jobs by 2024 (maybe), CBO Report

Last Update: New York Times editorial board:

Republicans immediately tried to brand the findings as “devastating” and stark evidence of President Obama’s health care reform as a failure and a job killer. It is no such thing. ... The report clearly stated that health reform would not produce an increase in unemployment (workers unable to find jobs) or underemployment (part-time workers who would prefer to work more hours per week). It also found “no compelling evidence” that, as of now, part-time employment has increased as a result of the reform law, a frequent claim of critics.

First Update: From the Washington Post: "Some people might decide to work part-time, not full time, in order to keep getting health-care subsidies. Thus, they are reducing their supply of labor to the market. Other people near retirement age might decide they no longer need to hold onto their job just because it provides health insurance, and they also leave the work force." Scroll down to "The Facts" in the Washington Post article --- it explains everything very well. (But some in the media, like Fox News, will most likely keep reporting that Obamacare is a "job killer" and will want it repealed so that the billionaires won't have to pay the 3.8% surtax on capital gains to expand Medicaid.)

In short, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that over the next 10 years, because of Obamacare, there will be 2.5 million less full-time jobs by 2024 (less than there otherwise might have been) because:
  1. employers will hire more part-time workers to avoid paying for healthcare;
  2. and because some workers will prefer to work part-time to get the healthcare subsidies (as if workers had all that much to say about how many hours they can work).

Here is just the portion of the CBO's labor force projections. (Full report in PDF)

What the new CBO Really says about Obamacare

Here is the full portion of the Congressional Budget Office's recent 182-page study as it pertains to Obamacare, part-time jobs and the labor force projections. In short, the CBO predicts that over the next 10 years, because of Obamacare, there will be 2.5 million less full-time jobs by 2024 (less than there otherwise might have been) because:
  1. employers will hire more part-time workers to avoid paying for healthcare;
  2. and because some workers will prefer to work part-time to get the healthcare subsidies (as if workers had all that much to say about how many hours they can work).

The actual text from the CBO report is as follows, pertaining just to the part about the labor force projections. You be the judge.

Congressional and Corporate Welfare

Fifteen members of Congress or their spouses received $237,921 in federal farm subsidy payments last year, according to a new analysis of Agriculture Department data by the Environmental Working Group. According to Arthur Delaney at the Huffington Post, the House and Senate farm bill will boosts subsidies for farmers to buy crop insurance policies that protect them against losses from weather or price changes.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Disposable Worker Syndrome

Peet's Coffee and Tea

Joh. A. Benckiser SE (JAB) is a German holding company owned by 4 German billionaires—the heirs to a 189-year- old chemicals empire that their father helped transform into one of the largest consumer-goods companies in the world.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Revoke the NFL's Tax Exempt Status

In 1966 Congress allowed the NFL to qualify for 501(c) tax exempt status. Ever since then, while the NFL now generates $9.5 billion in annual revenue, they pay no federal taxes. The NFL's league office calls itself a trade association "promoting the interests" of its 32 teams. This is a bit like McDonalds calling itself a trade association and "promoting the interests" of its 14,000 U.S. restaurants.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Congress Fiddled while America Burned

For five years the citizens of modern-day America watched helplessly as their country's economy collapsed. The great bust that consumed the United States in A.D. 2008 spread quickly and savagely. After it was over, 16 percent of the country had been left in poverty. Millions had lost their jobs, their cars, their retirements and their homes—many were left homeless and destitute—and many felt forced to take their own lives. The lives of millions were reduced to scorched and mangled ruins.

Walmart: The Parasite that Killed its Host

24/7 Wall Street: "Regarding U.S. same-store sales for the company's fourth quarter, ending Friday, Walmart said it expects sales, excluding fuel, to be "slightly negative" to its earlier guidance of flat sales at Walmart stores" --- Why are those sales negative?

Boomers, the Economy and Jobs in 2014

Boomers haven't been shuffling off into retirement. They are either unemployed (because no one will hire them) — or if they weren't laid off, they are working longer. Some went on disability, and some were forced to take an early Social Security at age 62.

But what about the reason for the low labor force participation rate that the Feds can't seem to agree on? Some say it's because Boomers are retiring, some say it's because prime working-aged adults can't find jobs, and some say it's because middle-aged people are going on disability (Even though the labor force participation rate has been in decline since 2000.) So who should we believe?