Friday News Roundup - Domestic
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-07-06/friday-news-roundup-domestic
Four months before Election Day, another disappointing jobs report: the nation's unemployment rate remains at 8.2 percent. President Barack Obama takes his reelection campaign on the road to the Rust Belt, and announces a trade complaint against China on auto imports. Republican challenger Mitt Romney joins conservatives in saying the health care mandate is a tax, raising a furor over whether he has flip-flopped on the issue. More fallout from the Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act. And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration goes on record to deny the existence of mermaids. A panel of journalists joins guest host Susan Page for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
Guests
Juan Williams
political analyst, Fox News.
Janet Hook
congressional correspondent, The Wall Street Journal.
David Lindsey
Washington editor-at-large, Reuters.
Friday News Roundup Video
The economy added 80,000 jobs and the unemployment rate held steady at 8.2 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday. David Lindsey, Washington editor-at-large for Reuters, said the jobs report followed a trend of dismal economic numbers, but that it likely wouldn't affect U.S. presidential campaign narratives. Juan Williams, political analyst for Fox News, said American anxiety toward the economy would change only as a result of a dramatic shift in employment numbers. Janet Hook, congressional correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, said several more jobs reports are expected before the November elections.
Comments
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Bort wrote:
"Once you take inflation and population growth into account, President Obama did not "grow government". We've seen massive government layoffs."
There is a difference between growing government and growing the public sector.
J.R. Shaw wrote:
"I am assuming you are referring to to the Affordable Health Care law( Obama Cares Program) "
I am referring to ACA, like I said. It stands for the Affordable Care Act. Actually, the full name is the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act. "Obama Cares" is a new one! and I'don't know what the "Affordable Health Care" law is that you refer too.
With 22 emplyees, the law might help you. If you had 51, it would cost you money or you would have to lay people off - that's when the penalties kick in. People have absolutely no clue the damage this thing will do to American businesses if left in place after November. From the personal side, the left claims that "only a few people will pay the tax and those will be rich people". Bee Ess. This will hit the working poor HARD. Young people 27 and older (who will be off their parent's plans) who are working but do not have employer provided health insurance will pay the tax. Ouch. Their employers will not insure them. It is too expensive. They will lay them off or pay the penalty instead. This is a step toward single payer, make no mistake. His first try missed, but if Obama gets a second term, he will not miss. And once the FG controls your health care and insurance options, it controls you. Sounds scary ... and it is. (This is playing out in less obvious ways with SS and Medicare). Health reform and Health insurance reform is needed. The law has some good elements. But overall, it's bad law.
J.R. Shaw wrote:
"J.R. Shaw wrote:
Peaked?
I suspect that as more and more people actually benefit from this Obama Cares Law that the poles will reflect the fact that this is a great law and will benefit Americans much as Medicare has"
What you "suspect" and what polls show are two different things. I believe the drop in the polls since the "peak" is due to the fact that people are learning that all they are seeing now is benefits. Costs don't really kick in until 2014 and that is what they are starting to see.
Oh ... and as for the "great benefit of Medicare"? Medicare is going broke.
Please comment on the fact that the requirement that citizens have health insurance has worked elsewhere in the world. We recently returned from living and working in Switzerland where all citizens and residents MUST have health insurance. There is competition amongst health care insurance providers and the coverage there for my partner and me per annum was a lot cheaper than the medical coverage we now have here in the US.
Wallace Skok
Scottsdale, Arizona
I am tired of the canard that regulation is destroying small businessmen. Someone should have asked the caller this morning to name five regulations that were passed by the Obama Administration that are hurting his business. I doubt he could name two. Besides, which would he rather have, the economy of Clinton or the economy (and the economic disaster of the Great Recession of 2007) of Bush? Bet he would choose Clinton's. Clinton, by the way, raised taxes and left the budget in surplus mode. Too bad the Supremes decided to elect Bush. (Oh, and Romney's policies are the same as the Bush/Cheney Administraton.)
By the way, I believe it was Pawlenty who said that the economy was now worse than when Obama took office. The economy SHRANK 8.6% in the last quarter of 2008. It did not enter positive territory until the second quarter of 2009. As usual, the Republicans don't know what they are talking about.
Patsy Nomore wrote:
"Is Obamacare a tax,a penalty,or an insurance premium?"
-------------------------
It's a floor wax and a dessert topping.
When Obama's Solicitor General argued the Obamacare individual mandate case to the SCOTUS, he was emphatic that it was indeed a tax. Now that it passed, Obama's chief of staff orders are to says it's a penalty. Nancy Pelosi still has no idea what it is or what is in it.
Stevo wrote:
"the Republicans don't know what they are talking about."
I'm rubber, you're glue. You present lovely talking points - not the same as facts.
" I doubt he could name two. "
I can name one big one. ACA. The anticipation and uncertainty of it has been killing business for two years.
"Clinton, by the way, raised taxes and left the budget in surplus mode."
Should have read my earlier post, Stevo. Clinton raised taxes and got killed for it in '94. The Republican Gingrich-led Congress forced him to cut them back, and that, combined with the rise of the internet, put the budget into surplus. By the time he left however, the economy (as measured by GDP) was already in decline due to the internet bubble bursting. You could look it up.
As for Bush v Gore, you seem to be ok with SCOTUS writing law as they did with ACA, but not with Bush v Gore? Gore has proved himself to be unstable since 2000. I thank God he was not elected.
"It [the economy] did not enter positive territory until the second quarter of 2009." Second quarter?! In FG terms, that means that Obama was in office for about 20 minutes!
Stevo, you do not know what you are talking about, and you just proved it.
wtskok wrote: 'Please comment on the fact that the requirement that citizens have health insurance has worked elsewhere in the world. We recently returned from living and working in Switzerland where all citizens and residents MUST have health insurance. There is competition amongst health care insurance providers and the coverage there for my partner and me per annum was a lot cheaper than the medical coverage we now have here in the US."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/10/swiss_health-care_co...
The Swiss health-care system has the highest out-of-pocket payments of any OECD country, including the United States. They also spend a lot less than the United States. This, David Leonhardt argues, is no accident. "Because they feel the costs of their medical spending more than we do, they’re less likely to want care that brings little or no benefit," he writes. "We, on the other hand, are fooled into thinking our health care is free — because the costs are hidden, in the form of taxes and insurance premiums — and we end up with more expensive care."
Really ACA? Are you kidding me? Duh! Most start up business won't have anything to worry about since they rarely start out with more than 30 employees which is the minimum the plan requires for an employer to have to provide health insurance options for their employees. It's pretty rare for any company with more than 30 employees not to already offer their people some time of insurance plan already. Regardless, no employer will have to pay for their employees insurance just as they don't now. They may have to offer insurance plans, but they can still deduct the payments from their employees salary. Since employers of this size are large enough to gain "group" insurance rates, they will also and do currently offer insurance at lower rates than individual plans. So the Romneycare (also known as Obamacare) will really has little affect on small business.
ecgberht you only named one and that really isn't a regulation that affects business, especially small business. More Republican scare tactics there. If any entrepreneur held off starting a business because of their fear of ACA, then they need to stop believing the lies the right are so viciously putting out there.
So next? Can you come up with something real?
On Monday July 2, 2012, CNN's Piers Morgan attempted to sell the car insurance is the same as the individual mandate canard. When Rep. Michel Bachmann explained how they are entirely different, Morgan couldn't process the information and tried again to make the invalid analogy.
PIERS MORGAN: Do you have car insurance?
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN): Yes, I do.
MORGAN: Who told you to?
BACHMANN: I have car insurance because I have an investment in my car and I want to make sure that I can hold onto that investment. But car insurance is a very different thing from health insurance because no one is forced to buy a car if they don't want to, but here, in the case of ObamaCare, every American is forced to buy a health insurance policy just because they breathe.
MORGAN: Yeah, but hang on a minute. Let me jump in. You just hit the nail on the head. You talked about buying health insurance. You have to buy car insurance. If you want to drive a car in America, you have to buy insurance or you will be driving illegally, you will be fined, and if you keep defying it, you'll be put in jail.
What is the difference ideologically to a Republican like you that is so opposed to this, what is the difference between Americans being forced by law to have insurance to drive a car and being forced by law to have insurance for their health?
BACHMANN: Well, I said it in the beginning of my remarks. No one is forced to buy a car. You don't have to buy a car. But if you buy a car, you need to be responsible and buy car insurance.
The reason why independents like myself are increasingly distrustful of news outlets like npr (including this show) is that you get the distinct impression (whether explicitly or implicitly) from ALL of the commentators on this program, that the economy is hunky dory, and if it isn't, its republicans fault, that if you favor repeal of Obama care, its only because democrats have failed to inform you as to how amazing the bill is, etc. Its just pathetic: constant spin which props up the Obama administration and its many, many missteps, policy blunders, etc. Romney is no savior, and this program, and an overwhelming majority of news outlets are quick to jump all over any information which would point that out. However, it is abundantly clear that President Obama is just not a very good president, unless your shirt is blue and you play for the blue team, where the team motto is a tax isn't a tax, failure means success and if you don't believe it, you just aren't smart enough. If we were talking George W. Bush with these kinds of economic numbers, hyper partisan politics, etc., these commentators would be falling all over each other pointing out all the negativity. Lemmings need to wake up, unless you're okay being Greece.
drpsdw wrote:
"Most start up business won't have anything to worry about since they rarely start out with more than 30 employees which is the minimum the plan requires for an employer to have to provide health insurance options for their employees."
Well, interesting thought, but simply wrong.
These are the most recent stats I believe, from the Census Bureau even though they're a few years old.
http://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html
Note in table 2a, the sweet spot in the 20-99 on up category for NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES and PAYROLL. This is the area that ACA will hammer. There are more businesses under 20 but they employ far fewer employees and have much smaller payroll. Those folks will be fine if their employers offer insurance. If not, many of them, if they are the working poor will pay the tax. And you think businesses offering policies that are completely employee paid won't cost them anything?! And you claim to actually RUN a business?!
"that really isn't a regulation that affects business"
Now proven to be wrong.
http://montanashrugged.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/obamacare-will-hurt-s...
"ecgberht you only named one"
It's the first one that came to mind and I was unaware it was my responsibility to meet your expectations!
Will FIFTY do?!
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/04/27/the-list-could-be-longer
Make that Fifty-one ...
http://www.nvdaily.com/opinion/2012/06/obamas-policies-hurt-business.php
But what do I know? Those are probably just "More Republican scare tactics there. "!
Bieber wrote:
"However, it is abundantly clear that President Obama is just not a very good president, unless your shirt is blue and you play for the blue team, where the team motto is a tax isn't a tax, failure means success and if you don't believe it, you just aren't smart enough."
Astounding insight, Bieber. Thanks for that.
I get why the left won't admit that the guy is a failure as President. The first black President. I get that. People talk about how personable he is. That's he's a great family man. He may even be smart, (though that could get called into question). That may all be true. But his decision making skills and his ability to grasp and solve problems seems extremely weak. One example of that is how he has dealt (or not dealt) with the economy he was presented with. It doesn't matter who or what caused it. You're the President. What are YOU going to do? I think the interview (60 minutes I believe) early in his Presidency was very revealing. In it, he said, "if I haven't solved this thing in 3 years, you're looking at a one-term proposition". I believe he (and his advisors like Goolsbee, Reich, and Geithner) were such Keynesians, they thought they could just throw $1T at the economy and it would turn around ... you know, like it was a law of physics. "There, that's solved, let's move on to healthcare". Except it wasn't solved, and it isn't solved and it's now 3 1/2 years later, UE is still over 8%, U6 closer to 15%, and he doesn't know what else to do except more of the same! ("Jobs bill", "shovel ready", "infrastructure") sound familiar?
If there 's one thing good coming out of this Administration, it's that in the mind of a thinking person, it should have killed Keynesianism for good. It was tried. It failed.
And the Republican's are a success? Short term memory loss again, Bush's recession, two unfunded wars taxing the economy and give the farm to big business. Obama is a good President and the only reason some can't see that is because they are looking through red tinted elephant glasses. It's pretty simple, it's just like during the Clinton years, the right was so obsessed with denying any Democrat an inkling of respect or acknowledgement of their success that all they can do is cry "FIRE" yet when they get the reign's things never go as well. The good economy during the Bush years was a house of cards and that was proven when the banks started failing.
Regarding small business, all the new business around my area are thriving, the old Republican guys are dropping like flies. The few that do succeed just file for bankruptcy, screw those they owe money to and start again. And then fail again and do it all over again. I admit my perspective comes from my business and who I'm doing business with, but the new guys are tearing up the market and their politics are conservative, but they are smart.
Last year I saw part of "Too Big To Fail" on a hotel TV and was intrigued about that summer and fall of 2008 and how fast things unraveled in OUR economy.
So I ordered the disk from Netflix and watched it intently, even taking notes. There were lots of clips from CNN, Fox, CNBC, ABC, etc. with interviews and news all intertwined with a necessarily compressed dramatic portrayal of how Sec Paulsen and his crew tried to keep the financial world from exploding.
I had forgotten some of the turmoil and learned that China and Russia nearly sank the whole thing........China relented for long term selfish reasons.
The biggest "lesson"/theme was the blatant greed and arrogance exhibited by the bankers. The economy was rescued a number of times that year. But ultimately the banks WASTED 700 BILLION of taxpayer money in TARP.........provided millions in bonuses to their execs and never started lending to business as had been promised.
And, of course, the bankers still resist all restraints and any form of regulation or corrective processes. Note that a blur of clips basically showed the greedy environment was nurtured along by a lengthy string of administrations and Congresses from the Reagan era forward........plenty of blame to share and spread around. Critics would say the history-on-fast-forward might make Cliff notes seem like deep analysis. But the film is a good starting place to remind us ALL how fragile our lives are and that we should all work together better to preserve Our nation.
This is silly reporting or rebel rousing. There is NO way I will ever vote for a Mormon no matter what they say they stand for and Romney has not said anything. Do some research and you will find that Romney is doing a "Bush" thing and just wants to beat his DADDY. Bush, Sr. didn't win reelection and Jr did and Romney's Dad wasn't even born in the US and he ran for the Presidency on the Republican ticket but LOST. I guess that was okay for Republicans before they learned about something called the Constitution.
So many people just sound racist and prejudice when they talk about Obama. But when they try and justify how they can vote for a Mormon, they heehaw around, shuffle their feet and give some lame excuse. My response is that they can vote for a Mormon more than a Black.
This is called STUPIDITY and with less than 25% bothering to get a college education today, this is exactly what your children will inherit. LOOK IN THE MIRROR for the cause.
drpsdw wrote:
"And the Republican's are a success? Short term memory loss again, Bush's recession ...."
Bush did the right thing with the tax cuts, but never cut spending. Republican Congress between 2002 and 2006 was an embarrassment to conservatives everywhere. They paid the price.
The crash happened on Bush's watch, but it's not like he caused the whole thing. The pieces that were put in place to cause the collapse began a decade before with the repeal of Glass-Steagall. I've already posted on that. You can't blame Bush for that. Still, he was there so he will always wear the stink.
With the stats I just posted on the state of the economy and UE, I don't know how you can say "Obama is a good President". Yes, he inherited a mess. But he has not made it appreciably better. That we haven't double-dipped is a bloody miracle and the best he can offer is "it's not as good as we would like". Biden is on his 4th "recovery summer"! At what point do you say, he had his shot, the guy's policies have failed, the economy is stagnant, and he should go. 5T in additional debt. Meanwhile, his claim to fame on the world stage is having given the go ahead to pull the trigger on a washed up terrorist holed up in Pakistan with his porn. Pretty much everything else has been a mess. From Iran to Afghanistan, one poor decision after another.
The show describes Juan Williams as a "political analyst." Based on performance, "right wing propagandist" would be closer.
Example - during this show, one caller, claiming to be a small businessman, complained about the burden of regulations. A subsequent caller, claiming to have been in business for 30 years asserted there is little regulatory burden on small businesses.
Juan Williams then essentially dismissed the 2nd caller's experience and tried to assert that there are "crushing regulations" when starting a business.
"Crushing regulatory burden?" "Crushing?"
That isn't analysis, that is raw right wing propaganda.
.
BTW, right wingers never mention that many, if not most, business regulations exempt small businesses. (And that many regulations protect small businesses from the giant businesses' practices.)
And --- If the GOP and right wingers really wanted to unleash the pent-up entrepreneurial power in America and help them create jobs, they would support a national health care system - think of how many people with great ideas are unable to start businesses because the need health insurance and the cost of it for a new business is prohibitive.
Juan, if you want to talk about something which crushes business and job creation by small business people, focus on our voracious private sector health insurance industry.
(Regarding regulations: I practiced law as a regulatory compliance specialist from the 70s to the 90s and then I did some lobbying on behalf of small businesses for a particular trade. The GOP also ignores the fact that proposed government regulations are always open to public review and comment. Not so much most on-going consumer contracts with big companies, which change the rules as they please.)
Bob Walker wrote:
"Juan Williams then essentially dismissed the 2nd caller's experience and tried to assert that there are "crushing regulations" when starting a business.
"Crushing regulatory burden?" "Crushing?"
That isn't analysis, that is raw right wing propaganda."
BTW, right wingers never mention that many, if not most, business regulations exempt small businesses. (And that many regulations protect small businesses from the giant businesses' practices.)
-----------------------------------------
Would you consider a 14-year-old girl and her 10-year-old sister lemonade stand a "small" enough business for you? They experienced the crushing regulatory burden that you say doesn't exist.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/02/24/i_tried_to_open_a_l...
You consider Juan to be a "right winger?" He happens to be a Democrat and avid Obama supporter. Now, if you want to see actual propaganda from a supposed "news anchor," I suggest you look at CNN's biased Brooke Baldwin on-air comments.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2012/06/28/cnn-asks-gop-senator-...
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeffrey-meyer/2012/07/03/cnn-s-brooke-baldw...
I did not hear the entire program but I just wanted to comment on how great it was to hear Juan Williams back on NPR. I hope we can hear more of him. He gives the 'balanced reporting' claim of NPR a lot of credence.
We are all waiting to be galvanized with a cogent plan for economic growth and budgetary control. As it is, we’ve seen neither from either in this campaign.
My thoughts here:
http://yourthoughtshere.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/enough-talk/
I do believe that if the FED wishes to ease, they will buy bonds, not sell them.
I appreciate Diane mentioning my call about the Denver shooting, that we glorify violence, and the irony that our President was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. However, the point I was trying to make was not addressed, perhaps even misunderstood. I apologize for ranting afterward to the kind woman who took my call. Our nation has proved to be the most violent and aggresive worldwide. For example, despite the peace prize, our President authorizes continued drone bombs without due process all over the world. Violence permeates our culture, from our food production to the enemies we make and the wars we wage for our own economic stability. We are shocked when yet another shooting happens, yet we still take our children to see violent movies at midnight which is in essence a vote for violence. No matter what Barak Obama says in condolence, irreverence for life, the earth and the animals is bipartisian. Violence is not entertaining and no one profits from movies like Batman but the entertainment industry. Those of us who are trying to live cruelty free, literally, have no one to vote for! And, please remember to pray not only for the victims but for the man who killed. He is also one of us.