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Just this week, including this morning, our local news announced that 6,000-7,000 people in our state alone are expiring their unemployment benefits every day. These people are no longer being included in the total number of unemployed, and I doubt this is the only state experiencing such numbers.
Then, they went on to feature the landmark business area in Pioneer Square is struggling to the point of collapse for several of the long established businesses...and Boeing laid off another 500 yesterday...
My pony's still on back order, and when it comes, I'll think about buying an Obama commemorative plate. Parent
I guess they couldn't call it the Chia Obama Pet, though maybe they've reserved that name for the 2009 Wall Street Christmas Edition of the Chia Obama. Parent
And the next 2-3 years won't see much improvement in the unemployment situation if the status quo holds, sez he. Galbraith advocates for a 21st-century oriented, large-scale New Deal type jobs program to get the patient out of bed and working again. Otherwise, he sees great danger in our current situation of a major second downturn if the Obama admin doesn't act boldly. Parent
Goldman Sachs; you know, the "smartest guys in the room," and the guys who cried "we didn't really need the Tarp money," really are that smart. They took a page out of Steve Martin's routine: " I can make you 2 million dollars. Just send me $19.95, and I will send you the secret on how you can make 2 million dollars......guaranteed."
"First, get yourself a million dollars, then...........
GS, with a little help from a few obscure friends, Bush, Obama, Geithner, Paulsen, Summers, decided they wanted to be a bank. Of course the little inconvenient fact that banks are supposed to earn their money by making loans to businesses and individuals is a rule reserved for others, certainly not the blood-sucking, self-centered, bonus-obsessed, slime balls at GS. And obediently, of course, Bush, Obama, Geithner, Paulsen, and Summers........agreed.
So, the new, improved GS "Bank" trots up to the FED window, backs up a thousand tractor trailers, and loads up gazillions of dollars at 0-½% interest.....in other words, free money. But, not knowing how to read maps, and discovering the batteries in their GPS went dead, they got lost on their way to making loans to businesses & individuals. So, being the geniuses we all know they are, they stroll up to the other window and lend that money right back to the Government.........at 3 ½%, netting a cool 3%.......instant Billions!
Then checking their vault, and discovering they have a few dusty nickels and dimes left over, more than enough in our deregulated, "get off businesses backs" paradigm, these "reserves" had to be put to work also. So they asked their chief financial officer, Professor Irwin Corey, to dream up a program even he couldn't understand, and then sent out their legions of "best & brightest" to sell these instruments to the fiduciaries at all our State Treasureries, Pension Funds, and to all those who felt a "wink, wink" was all the collateral they needed to risk the taxpayers' money. A meeting was held in the White House with the aforementioned five Wise Men to get their approval, and when asked, "where's the collateral?" they received a rock-solid guarantee.....wink, wink, wink, wink, wink.
And so, Willy Wonka's magical money machine cranks out so many billions of dollars, so fast, they had to buy a slew of super computers to keep track of their "High Frequency Trading Program" just to keep up with the Zillions of Bonus dollars our Mensa boys "earn."
So here we are: Our country is broken. Countless millions of families devastated, and no end in sight. GS and a small group of similar Slime caused it, with the full cooperation and collusion of your Government. The ones who caused it are also now in charge of fixing it. Good luck.
We lost our futures; GS will have to suffer with 29 billion dollars in bonuses for the year, 2009.
The Obama administration's recovery act has created or saved over 1 million jobs, top administration officials told reporters this week. While official data compiled and released by the independent recovery act oversight board this week showed that direct recipients of federal dollars under the act reported creating at least 640,000 full-time jobs, Jared Bernstein, a top economic advisor to Vice President Biden, stated that the report only told part of the story. The new report described only "a subset" of the total number of jobs "directly created or saved" by the President's economic recovery act, Bernstein explained on a conference call with reporters. Essentially, the new report was based on reports made by some 57,000 public and private entities about the number of jobs they were able to save or create with the assistance of federal recovery act money. Analysis of the "jobs multiplier" created by other recovery act money, such as unemployment insurance expansion, tax rebates, stimulus checks to seniors and veterans, expanded health benefits payments and additional circulation of money through the economy was not included in the report. According to Bernstein, the evidence suggests the total number of jobs reported by recipients and created with as a result of the "jobs multiplier" is at least 1 million.
The new report described only "a subset" of the total number of jobs "directly created or saved" by the President's economic recovery act, Bernstein explained on a conference call with reporters. Essentially, the new report was based on reports made by some 57,000 public and private entities about the number of jobs they were able to save or create with the assistance of federal recovery act money.
Analysis of the "jobs multiplier" created by other recovery act money, such as unemployment insurance expansion, tax rebates, stimulus checks to seniors and veterans, expanded health benefits payments and additional circulation of money through the economy was not included in the report. According to Bernstein, the evidence suggests the total number of jobs reported by recipients and created with as a result of the "jobs multiplier" is at least 1 million.
My guess is that the majority of the jobs he speaks of are the "saved" variety where it is nearly impossible to prove accuracy. Parent