Jobs Report Friday: The economy added 120,000 jobs last month -- fewer than economists predicted. The good news is that the unemployment rate ticked down to 8.2%. We'll dig into what it all means for President Obama and Mitt Romney as they kick off their general election campaigns.
Today, President Obama delivers remarks at a White House forum highlighting the ways the Obama Administration has helped create economic security for women. It's a key part of the ongoing contrast they're hoping to draw with Republicans on gender issues.
The Road to 270: Real Clear Politics breaks down the pathways to victory for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
King of Swing: Politico looks at the campaign of independent Senate candidate Angus King of Maine, who could end up being the most powerful member of the Senate.
And while President Obama probably wasn't too politically astute to send a warning to the Supreme Court this week, The New Republic raises the idea that SCOTUS justices should be appointed to something less than a life term.
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I want to know the demographics of the people that can afford to no longer look for work. When we hear these figures we tend to believe its our next door neighbors that have a stash in the basement and can afford to not work. Better yet we are convinced that people somehow can opt out of the capitalistic system and say I'm tired of looking. With unemployment exhausted one has to wonder how many of these people no longer looking are in true need of employment. How many are on social security, maybe were working part time; now out of work are no longer looking? How many are returning to education to retrain into another field? How many died? The implications are clear and endless but I suspect very few having to still pay bills are refusing to look for work. Statistics are the billy club and the active distraction used by several groups in and out of government. Keep your eye on the ball; it will scare the hell out of you.
My comment has to do with health insurance and "religious freedom". The Roman Catholic Church is not a person. It is an institution that receives federal money to help with its hospitals and universities.
Even though Governor Romney thinks that corporations are people, that is an issue that is different from individuals who need health care.
No one is planning to force nuns to use birth control.
I remember going to a parochial school in the late fifties and their greatest fear was that if they took federal money, they would have to take federal guidelines. I don't think its even come to that in this case. The government was simply requiring the insurer to cover the insured for a standardized group of services. Whether or not for religious or other reasons the insured chooses to opt out of that service is up to them, but for the insurer to have an a la cart system they force their values, in this case on non catholic or non fundementalist employees. Now is the, once again in this case, Catholic Church or the government depriving the employees or choice which I always understood constituted freedom.
New train of thought:
Many of those citizens who wish for more liberty in their affairs should read the major author, John Stuart Mill. Mill also wrote an essay "On the Subjection of Women" His major premise here was that no woman's well being should be solely dependent of the goodwill of one man, whether father or husband.
His notions of liberty were tied to social responsibility.
I think it's hilarious that Smerc thinks Obama wasn't too politically astute by commenting on the Courts possible ruling. It's sweet that Smerc seems to side more and more with the opinions of the right wing media. The President did exactly the right thing as usual since the vast majority of the public are low information voters and what little information they do get is misinformation from places like Fox and Clear Channel so its essential that the President use the bully pulpit to let people know that the majority of constitutional scholars believe the Affordable Care Act in toto to be constitutional.
What's so astonishing here is that it's guys like Smerc who will bitch and moan that the President and the Dems never use the bully pulpit or never use the press enough on one hand to get their views across but when they do they whine that they made a mistake because they pissed off the right wingers. You can't have it both ways and here's a newsflash for guys like Smerc who want to maintain friendships with their right wing contacts; the right wingers will always be upset with the President no matter what he says or does because they're insecure and infantile. Case in point, they couldn't even bring themselves to give him credit for getting Osama Bin Ladin.
If it's one thing the Progressives don't need it's guys like Smerc who pose as Progressives but are really passive aggressive towards the Dems.
when Smerc talks about adding 120,000 jobs to economy, he goes on and on about its under economists predictions.
As a broker we always took jobs numbers with a grain of salt, we knew more times than not that you wait for the later "adjustments" for actual numbers.
This was because economists were regarded as a tool and never an absolute. Economists were explained as being absolutely right explaining about their wrong predictions.
In investing "the trend is your friend!" Under Obama the trend is upward for creating jobs although we would like to have them being created faster.
Now, Freshman Republicans are trying to take credit job creation, although they did everything they could to block his ideas, even when Obama's ideas were there on.
Republicans strategy of "lying about everything, then accuse dem's of having their (conservative) shortcomings.
So question is, will America again, buy into the pseudo perceptions?