Unemployment Rate Drops In April

post from jobsanger on 05 May 2012 01:06:00 AM. © jobsanger

The United States Labor Department released the unemployment figures for April yesterday, and for the sixth time in the last seven months it has fallen. The rate fell 0.1% in April (from 8.2% to 8.1%). This means the unemployment rate has dropped a full point since September 2011 (from 9.1% to 8.1%).

This is not good news for Republican hopes at the polls in November. They have been doing everything they could to keep the economy bad and unemployment high, in the hopes they could fool Americans into thinking it was President Obama's fault and use that to return to power. Toward that end, they have blocked any real job creation plans and slashed the social programs that would help Americans hurt by the Bush recession.

There were 115,000 non-farm jobs created in the U.S. economy during April. That is barely enough to account for the new workers entering the job market, and nowhere near the amount of jobs that needs to be created in a month to start to solve our unemployment crises. But in the face of Republican obstructionism, it is amazing that many jobs could be created and the rate dropped by 0.1%.

The truth is that the government should be spending much more to create jobs and put people back to work. The GOP claims this would just increase the deficit, but that is not necessarily so. The increased spending that is needed could easily be covered by cuts to the military budget (where we spend close to half of the world's total military spending) and by raising taxes on the richest Americans and corporations (who are making record profits and paying less taxes than at any time since World War II).

Here is a demographic breakdown of U.S. unemployment:
Men...............7.5%
Women...............7.4%
Teenagers...............24.9%
Whites...............7.4%
African-Americans...............13.0%
Hispanics...............10.3%
Asians...............5.2%

As usual under both Democratic and Republican administrations, not all of the unemployed were reported in the official unemployment rate. Those labeled as "marginally-attached" to the labor force, meaning they had not looked for work in the last four weeks, were not counted. There are at least 2.4 million unemployed Americans labeled as "marginally-attached". In addition, there are 7.9 million Americans who are working part-time because they cannot find (but would like to have) full-time work.

Even if the substantial job creation programs that are needed were to be put into place, it would take several years for the economy to right itself and unemployment to fal to a reasonable rate of 4% to 5%. But as long as the Republicans control the House of Representatives (and are able to block all efforts at job creation), that is not going to happen -- there will be no jobs recovery.

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Owned By The Homophobes

post from jobsanger on 05 May 2012 01:05:00 AM. © jobsanger

Political Cartoon is by David Horsey in the Los Angeles Times.

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Teabaggers Think Texas Taxes Aren't Regressive
Enough

post from jobsanger on 05 May 2012 01:04:00 AM. © jobsanger

Texas already has one of the most regressive tax systems in the United States. There is no income tax. That's because it's far too progressive (with the rich having to pay a higher rate than the poor), and the Republican leadership in the state would never make the rich pay taxes. Although some state money is raised from a lottery and from license fees, the majority of state funds comes from two kinds of taxes -- a sales tax and a property tax.

The sales tax is easily the most regressive kind of tax, because it takes a much larger percentage of the income of the poor, working class, and middle class, than it does from the rich or from corporations. In fact, the lower your income, the larger percentage of that income is paid in sales taxes. You can't get anymore regressive than that.

The conservative mantra is that the poor don't pay property taxes because they don't own property. That sounds good, but it isn't true. Landlords pass on their property taxes to their renters, and businesses pass on their property taxes to their customers. So the truth is that no one avoids paying property taxes. However, the property tax is a bit more progressive than sales taxes, because the owner of a very expensive property will generally pay more in taxes than the owner of a property that is not worth very much.

And even a slightly progressive tax system is anathema to teabaggers (ultra-right-wing Republicans). And it seems that they have figured out that the property tax is a slightly progressive tax -- that taxes the mansion of a multi-millionaire more than it taxes the hovel of a poor person (even though both pay the same rate). The very thought of the rich (and corporations) actually having to pay taxes has sent them into a tizzy.

Led by their failed gubernatorial candidate, Debra Medina, Texas teabaggers have asked the state legislature to outlaw property taxes. Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, which is currently looking at tax fairness, Medina and her cohorts asked that property taxes be banned, and replaced with an "improved" sales tax and new business taxes. Now any observer of state government will know that the Republican leadership in Austin is not going to raise or create new taxes on businesses (because that might affect the rich, and would certainly affect corporations).

That means that the teabaggers are actually asking state government to replace the property tax with a bigger sales tax (either through a higher tax rate or a broadened tax base, or both). In effect, this would raise taxes on the poor and working classes while lowering them for the rich and corporations -- making Texas the absolute king of regressive taxation.

This is sheer insanity. But then sanity or common sense has never been a teabagger attribute.

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Harvard Elitist

post from jobsanger on 05 May 2012 01:03:00 AM. © jobsanger

Political Cartoon is by Dan Wasserman in the Boston Globe.

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Cinco de Mayo

post from jobsanger on 05 May 2012 01:02:00 AM. © jobsanger

Today is Cinco de Mayo. It's not an official United States holiday, but it is celebrated in many places in this country, especially here in Texas. For many people in this country, this is just a Mexican holiday -- and while it is true that the holiday celebrates the victory of Mexico over the French at the Battle of Pueblo, the truth is that the battle may well have altered the course of history of this country also.

My fellow blogger, Stace over at Dos Centavos, wrote an excellent post on the Battle of Pueblo and how it may have affected the course of U.S. history. The post is a couple of years old, but it is still relevant and I urge you to go over to his site and read it. Then go out and have some fun at a local Cinco de Mayo celebration.

The Republicans are trying hard to make Americans think that our good neighbor to the South is our enemy. It is not true. The destinies of the United States and Mexico have always been intertwined, and probably always will be. And the worth of a human is neither lessened nor enhanced by which side of the border they (or their ancestors) were born on. Frankly, this whole anti-immigrant (anti-Hispanic) thing should be a profound embarrassment for a nation of immigrants like the United States.

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Corporate Incest

post from jobsanger on 05 May 2012 01:01:00 AM. © jobsanger

Political Cartoon is by Dan Wasserman in the Boston Globe.

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Late Late Night FDL: Little Bit of Dis

post from Firedoglake on 05 May 2012 01:00:13 AM. © Firedoglake

Dizzy Gillespie, Floyd Pepper, and Zoot -- Little Bit of Dis, from episode 413 of The Muppet Show.[...]

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The Nightowl Newswrap

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 05 May 2012 01:00:00 AM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

By BG & YD

This doesn't lend credence to the military's claims that they will step down after the election. "At least one person has been killed and 373 others injured in the Egyptian capital, the health ministry says, after armed forces used water cannon, tear gas and rocks to disperse protesters trying to reach the defence ministry."

We're sure the vicious fuckers are thoroughly pissed at losing this one. Well done, Madame Secretary. "China has agreed to let Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident at the centre of a diplomatic crisis, and his family leave the country soon, according to the US state department."

Of the many dangers present at modern political rallies, this is a new one on us. "At least 144 have taken to the hospital with burns after clusters of balloons exploded in Armenia. Friday's explosion took place in the central square of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, during an election rally by the ruling party two days before a parliamentary election. "All the victims had either medium or light injuries. Now doctors are trying to revive them from shock," Health Minister Harutiun Kushkian told reporters. The emergencies ministry said the explosion was caused by a smoker who had lit a cigarette near the balloons."

And finally...

One of us trained in classical piano, and we are glad to see this true master of it honored. "Pianist Dame Mitsuko Uchida is to receive the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Gold Medal, one of the highest honours in classical music. Celebrated for her performances of Mozart and Schubert, she was described as a "peerless musician" by the RPS. Dame Mitsuko will join modern-day gold medallists including Alfred Brendel, Pierre Boulez, Sir Simon Rattle, Placido Domingo and Daniel Barenboim. She will be presented with the medal at the RPS Awards in London on 8 May. The 63-year-old was born in Japan and moved to Vienna at the age of 12 with her diplomat father. She has lived in London for more than 35 years and was made a Dame in 2009. Her previous honours include a Grammy Award in 2010 for best instrumental soloist. The Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal was launched in 1870 to mark the centenary of Beethoven's birth and has been given to figures including Brahms, Elgar, Stravinsky, Britten and Bernstein."

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Missouri Town Hall Meta

By @MBersin

Meta. Here's a tip for folks in public life who are new to this Internets and blogging thing - if you did or said something that attracted a lot of attention, remember, you were the one who did or said it.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) presented three town halls in Missouri's 4th Congressional District today in the towns of Buffalo, Versailles and California. We were there.

Under the constituent sign-in table at Representative Vicky Hartzler's (r) town hall in Buffalo, Missouri - May 4, 2012.
For anyone who has attended one of Representative Hartzler's town halls this is funny and ironic on so many levels.

Before the start of the Buffalo town hall one of Representative Hartzler's staffers approached us as we had finished setting up and I had started taking stills of people signing in for the town hall. The conversation (paraphrased):

Staffer: Are you taking video?
Me: No, he does video [pointing to Jerry Schmidt]. I take stills. [There was a slight pause in the conversation]
Staffer: I would prefer that you not. People attending don't want to be on video or pictures, their privacy...
Me: This is a public meeting. Have we ever done anything in the past other than present everything in its entirety?
Staffer: I could ask you all day and I suppose the answer would be the same.
Me: This is a public meeting.

There were six different staff in attendance at different stages of the three town halls.

In Versailles, Missouri. That's a staffer on the right with a camera.

Wait, that's a staffer with a camera taking pictures of Representative Hartzler interacting with constituents at a town hall? We do that, too. We also do meticulous transcripts of the proceedings so anyone can read what went on.

Part of the response to a question by a constituent at the Versailles, Missouri town hall about Representative Hartzler's worth as reported in her personal financial disclosure report:

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r): ....So those reports are written by people who don't like me, who don't want me reelected. They're here, we've got people been following me around. They take my pictures, they're video recording me so they can defeat me this November. Uh, anyway, that's a part of it. So, you know, But it's out there and, uh, anyway, so....

"...they're video recording me so they can defeat me this November..."

"...if you did or said something that attracted a lot of attention, remember, you were the one who did or said it..."

Uh, we cover politics and government in Missouri. We post that information (photographs, video, transcripts, public reports) on our blog so that anyone who may be interested can access it. You know, it's called reporting.

If you think we're just being mean to you, you might want to ask Senator Claire McCaskill (D) and Representative Chris Kelly (D) about that.