Friday News Roundup - Domestic
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-12-02/friday-news-roundup-domestic
Finally some good news -- the U.S. unemployment rate drops to 8.6 percent. Legislators discuss with new urgency a bill to prohibit insider trading by members of Congress and their staffs. Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain faces fresh allegations of personal misbehavior. He says he’ll have a face-to-face talk with his wife today about the future of his campaign. Meanwhile, former House speaker Newt Gingrich takes the lead among the GOP candidates in several key states. And Congressman Barney Frank, the long serving and groundbreaking Massachusetts Democrat announces he won’t seek a seventeenth term.
Guests
Jeanne Cummings
deputy government editor, Bloomberg News.
Greg Ip
U.S. economics editor, The Economist, and author of "The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World."
Cynthia Tucker
Pulitzer-Prize winning syndicated columnist; she was editorial page editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for 17 years.
Friday News Roundup Extra
The panelists respond to a caller's comment about who the White House might like to run against next year. The caller's pick? Newt Gingrich:
Comments
Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use before posting your comments.
What is the latest flavor of the month in Tea Party heaven? Well it appears that Republican base voters concerned with so-called "family values" are slowly shifting their focus away from Hermann Cain to Newt Gingrich. Which makes perfect sense….! After all, the former Speaker divorced his hospital bed-ridden first wife to marry his first mistress….that was before divorcing that second wife to marry his second mistress…. with whom he had an affair during his championing of the Clinton impeachment.
His most recent campaign proposal was to do away with child labor laws. Who would have thought that Gingrich was still having such trouble keeping his campaign staff together?
Nov. 29, 2011
"Republican Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and John McCain (Ariz.) battled on the Senate floor Tuesday over a proposed amendment to the pending defense authorization bill that could allow American citizens who are suspected of terrorism to be denied a civilian trial."
I for one am not goig to shed any tears when John McCain leaves the scene.
Hey TB,I don't think the Tea Party is overjoyed with Newt. As far as sexual immorality goes no one beats the master, Clinton.
You really gotta wonder who would want the job in the first place, the fact that the democrat party threw Hillery overboard for Obama makes me think the electorate is just too dumb to worry about. What we need right now is another Ross Perot type candidate to drive home the issue of suicidal government spending.
A new Pew Research Center survey finds more Americans now disagree with the Tea Party movement than agree with it -- 27 percent disagree and 20 percent agree. Last year, those numbers were flipped.
The poll lends credence to the idea that the Tea Party is hurting the Republican Party. Research shows overall support for the GOP is down in districts represented by Tea Party Caucus members: 48 percent reported having an unfavorable view of the GOP vs. 41 percent who held a favorable view. Interestingly, the loss of support for the Republican Party dropped even further in these conservative districts than in districts not represented by Tea Party members.
Even Rasmussen has Congress down to a 6% approval rating. John Boehner as Speaker has turned out to be a huge bust.
The Senate failed Thursday to pass an extension of a payroll tax cut.
Democrats sought to extend and expand the break, while paying for it with a 3.25 percent surtax on incomes over $1 million. A majority of Senate Republicans voted against their own bill, calling into question whether they would support a middle-class tax cut at all!
Claiming immediately after the vote that a tax increase on the richest Americans would punish "job creators" the Republican version of the measure would have been paid for by cutting 200,000 federal workers?
Oh, this makes sense….
It makes a lot of sense. Government produces nothing and only survives at the expense of the private sector, money is taken from one person and then given to another. I know I can spend my money more efficiently than the government can. Out of control government spending must be dealt with.
Since the beginning of the last recession (December 2007) the private sector workforce has shrunk by 6.6% while shedding more than 7.5 million jobs. Over that same time period, the federal government workforce (excluding Census and Postal workers) has grown by 11.7% while adding 230,000 jobs.
This trend has continued throughout the Obama Administration. Since President Barack Obama was sworn into office, the private sector workforce has shrunk by 2.6% while shedding 2.9 million jobs while the federal workforce (excluding Census and Postal workers) has grown by 7% while adding more than 144,000 jobs.
Now, President Obama’s FY 2012 budget proposes adding even more people to the federal payroll. Specifically, the President wants to create an additional 15,000 federal government jobs including 4,182 additional Internal Revenue Service employees 1,054 of which will be needed to implement Obamacare alone.
A data point for when we talk about the drop in unemployment. I'm sure that'll be news on this program. The unemployment rate dropped from 9% to 8.6% in November.
This is in part due to the economy adding 120,000 new jobs. But, it is in larger part due to 315,000 workers giving up looking for work and being dropped from the unemployment rolls. When you're not looking for work, they don't count you as unemployed when they run the statistic. I hope we all keep this in mind as we listen to our politicians pat themselves on the back for making "progress."
For some reason, that number wasn't mentioned in the CNN Money article on it.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/02/news/economy/jobs_report_unemployment/in...
At least the NY Times kept that data in the story
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/business/economy/us-adds-120000-jobs-u...
McConnell and Boehner seem to believe that the wealthiest Americans are the ones who create jobs in this country. They are not, haven't been for a while, and is just a myth the Right likes to propagate. The people he and his tea party minions fight tooth and nail for are the people who profit exorbitantly by pocketing profits and not creating a single job. All the while sending jobs overseas to chase cheap labor.
They're all for trying to extend the tax holiday that so many of them enjoy by cutting the federal workforce. It's not hard to see their desires to help the wealthiest while doing nothing for the working class. Its been their means of operation for years. For them, it's better to acquiesce to Norquist's pledge than try to do anything useful and productive for the citizenry.
No wonder their approval ratings are the worst that has ever been recorded. They've earned it. Our Capitalist government is a joke. They portray themselves as willing to work on the jobs crisis, but their actions are different story. Boehner has said increased tax revenue was a non-starter, and has no qualms about how to treat the long-term unemployed.
Hey TB, how about some facts and figures for a change. Democrat party talking points really don't hold up very well once examined and your just chock full of them.
The working class share of income has plunged to its lowest level since the measure was first recorded. The percentage of national income fell to a sixty year low in this last quarter. The share dropped to 57.1 % compared to an average of 65% before the year 2000.
This lower level of national income shows that, though employers are experiencing a growth in productivity, the rise in income is going to “company profits”…. not to the workers. The figures simply reinforce that income inequality is on the rise. The top 1% have seen their income grow by 275% between 1979 and 2009, while the bottom fifth of workers experienced a 20% rise during that same period.
Capitalist economists like to claim that we are in a recovery…. but the American median income has dropped in 2010 for the second year in a row to a whopping $26,364 dollars! Meanwhile, millionaires control almost 40% of the global wealth. The American median income has actually fallen MORE during this so-called recovery than during the actual recession.
All the while companies are squeezing all they can out of workers. Profits per employees rose and corporate profits have increased without a corresponding boost in workers’ wages.
This is why Capitalism is a failed system.
monte, I can't take anyone seriously who states that, "Government produces nothing and only survives at the expense of the private sector, money is taken from one person and then given to another." Anyone who spends money "takes money and gives it to someone else." That's more or less the description of what constitutes economic activity. Government produces highways and other forms of infrastructure, provides 12 or more years of basic education of the employees whether private or public sector, funds police and firefighters who provide security and protection, provide a level playing field for businesses in the form of regulation, such as food safety, so that no one is in a competitive disadvantage by doing the right thing (e.g., providing safe food). If government doesn't achieve these things, it's because it's being starved by the nonsense of the likes of Grover Norquist and his tax extortion.
Someone should point out why the Republicans want to cut government employee jobs….because government employees will be replaced by government contractors that cost the taxpayers twice as much. And defense contractors lobby the government to hand them more jobs. The real waste in government is in the Pentagon.
The military budget has tripled since 9/11 and yet the military has not increased in size. The majority of that tripling of funds has gone into failed weapons programs that the Pentagon didn't ask for and for hiring contractors from those same companies that sold the failed weapons systems.
Really good to hear from Mr. Ip again on the Friday roundup. It's been too long...
TB, This is an argument for the shrinking of local and federal government expenditures, not an indictment of capitalism.
Please explain what U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis meant when she said that if we didn't extend unemployment benefits, then joblessness figures would go even higher.
WHAT??!! I don't get that logic, can anyone enlighten me?
kbatch wrote:
"monte, I can't take anyone seriously who states that, "Government produces nothing and only survives at the expense of the private sector, money is taken from one person and then given to another"
What you mean to say is, I can't take anyone seriously that I disagree with. So your saying we do not have a spending problem?? If you take every dime the rich has it won't even make a dent in our fiscal crisis.
Please focus first on the impact of events on people - US. Make comments on the effect to politicians and campaigns secondary. Listening this morning about the jobless rate, all I heard was a response from Romney and what it means for President Obama' campaign.
What about US? Please put us first always. It is a huge problem throughout the media.
Thank you.
I feel as if Herman Cain has insulted all of our intellengence..... Seriously,
2 sexual harassment claims and a 13 year affair... was all of this things he thought would never come out?? And Now, Newt Gingrich is the front runner?? Scary, go back and look at his record people..it will make the hair on the back of your neck stand-up! This is a serious, sad state of affairs.. Where are all of the Great Woman who have been dedicating their lives to public service??This should be your year!
i haven't heard anything about the legislation that might allow the us military to arrest and detain americans on american soil. this terrifies me. i can't believe that i haven't heard more about this - is it true that this is about to pass through congress/senate as part of a defense bill? this seems profoundly unconstitutional
The politicians do not want a solution to the economy. Especially the Republicans. So long as they can keep the economy in a mess they see it as their advantage so that they can get back in office and blame the other party.
The Democrats talk a great line but do not want to offend their corporate masters. Neither party wants anything to do with working class people. Neither party will do anything to help the American people.
The problem is money and its' influence on the political process.
THANK YOU Cynthia Tucker, for finally pointing out the truth about Newtie's ideas.
Newt is constantly referred to as an "idea guy" but nobody ever mentions how ludicrous, bad, or just plain stupid most of his ideas are.
Romney, Perry, Bachman, Cain and now Gingrich. Is this a joke. I am honestly hoping that this is some sick dream I'm having. When are we going to get serious and start talking about candidates that actually offer something of substance! Let's hear more about Huntsman and Santorum.
Why do most reporters treat Presidential candidates as if they were running a president of the Congress instead head of the Executive Branch? Whomever is nominated, his or her major effect is made by nominating people for leadership positions that agree with him not what laws he or she would decree if made king for a day. JLM.
Ms. Tucker was spot on regarding her comment that topics like Newt, Herman, and the weekly poll numbers are not what people in the country are talking about and concerned with. In fact, I don't find anyone talking about these subjects. People are frustrated with the lack of courage and solutions from the D.C. politicians and much more focused on what is happening at the local and state level when it comes to daily concerns. The media and talking heads that make a living from political chat are in a bubble and need to get out and talk about some real issues/problems with Mayor and Governors who are actually addressing and working daily with people and problems.
MH
Memphis, TN
Listening on WFAE while hauling garden dirt to Stanley in my dump truck it occurred to me that this is a better panel than usual, with two smart ladies.
DRShow should make them a regular on domestic issues
Thanks Matthew for pointing out that the US labor force is shrinking.
We are losing positions at a rate of nearly 3 million a year.
The ranks of discouraged workers are swelling even faster.
Teece provides figures that show median income is also shrinking.
At least a fourth of November's new jobs were classified as temporary.
Many others are part time Christmas hiring in hopes of one last credit blowout.
Things will stall in January. We are being deceived in so many subtle ways.
They'll probably expect us to stand good for bad loans by the FED to European bankers. If we only knew we would not be merry.
I sure hope it is Gingrich as the Republican candidate.
It's is going to take someone who is willing to be ruthless enough to combat Obama's underhanded campaign tactics.
Gingrich, unlike Romney, can get after O like none of the other candidates so far.
Even if Gingrich loses, there will be such a fever pitch of divisiveness that Obama will not be able to govern, which is one favorable outcome.
The best outcome, of course , is that Obama loses by a significant margin.
It would be glorious to see Obama go back to the crime capitol of Illinois with his tail between his legs, leaving the liberal press and leftists everywhere crushed.
Go Newt!
Will Smoot be a Shuckshess after we gamble ourselves back into the Stone Age? Probably not, because he can't envision politics without the two big powerhouse teams, or the celebrity players media forces down his gullet. Has conservative come to mean: without imagination? How impoverished intellectually to assume Gingrich and Obama encompass all our possibilities in their canned rhetoric. Both represent the one tenth of one percent, and Smoot ain't included.
Smoot, I like the cut of your jib!
Smoot, I agree with a lot of what you wrote. As I listened to a comment this morning with respect to the deadlock in Congress, it occurred to me that this need not have been. It is true that Republicans are bent on making Obama a one-term President. But it is also true that with the Presidency and both houses of Congress from 2009 through 2010, Democrats simply over-reached. They made the same mistake that Republicans did with all three houses in the early part of the past decade. Republicans also over-reached.
Democrats could have cemented control of the government for a decade or two, but over-reaching by either party seems to be the thing to do.
Jib-cutters Anonymous meets at 7 pm every Thursday at the Swampy Springs Methodist Church on Bullfrog Road. Jib-suckers are also welcome. Send a written request and if you are "at sea" we will remember you in our prayers. Come July we will be making a pilgrimage to the graveyard of lost jibbers near Cape Fear inlet of the Outer Banks (if those banks remain in business by then).
Listen To Adam Carolla's Rant Against OWS
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-12-01/politics/30462057_1_adam-...
"Among the many highlights in Carolla’s rant, he asks why the top “1 percent” of America paying 50 percent of all income taxes in the country is not good enough for the Occupiers. He also observes how “envy” never before existed among Americans the way it does now, and that it, along with “shame” plays a crucial role in the Occupiers’ motivation and self-justification."