Day: October 4, 2008

A Sign Of The Times?

In what has been perceived as a major concession, the McCain campaign announced this week that it would be pulling its campaign resources out of Michigan in order to shift to other battleground states.

The decision came after a series of polls showed Obama with a widening lead here and the same day that 16,000 people rallied in support of Barack Obama in the supposed Republican stronghold of Grand Rapids.

Both campaigns had previously argued that few winning scenarios existed without Michigan, though this fact more likely applied to Obama’s chances for securing a victory in November.
In addition to this development, McCain is now operating under limited resources as he accepted $84 million in public financing.

Significantly, the Michigan-based media is portraying the McCain campaign as having “given up on Michigan.”

That point is more than merely sarcastic or symbolic, however. In a campaign stop in the Midwest during the Republican primary race, McCain appeared to have given up on the fight for keeping manufacturing jobs in Michigan, a key component of Michigan’s economy when he said, “Have people lost jobs? Yes, they have, and they’re gonna lose jobs.”

By contrast, the Obama campaign’s message of investment in creating jobs and in revitalizing manufacturing in Michigan has more strongly resonated, leading to more solid poll numbers for the Democrat.

Today In Labor History

04 October

Thirty-seven black striking Louisiana sugar workers were murdered when Louisiana militia, aided by bands of “prominent citizens,” shot unarmed workers trying to get a dollar-per-day wage. Two strike leaders were lynched – 1887

President Truman orders the U.S. Navy to seize oil refineries, breaking a 20-state post-war strike – 1945

Distillery, Wine & Allied Workers International Union merges with United Food & Commercial Workers International Union – 1995

Afghanistan Needs Acceptable “Dictator”

Really?  Seems that would have been a pretty good idea for Iraq also.  Wait!  They already had one and it was unacceptable.

Investigative French weekly magazine La Canard Enchaîné has obtained a leaked copy of a coded diplomatic message from French diplomat Jean-François Fitou. The message, sent on September 2nd, gives an account of a previous meeting with British Ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles and comments made by the ambassador regarding the situation in the troubled nation.

Sir Cowper-Coles is reported as saying “the current situation is bad, the security situation is getting worse, so is corruption, and the government has lost all trust.” He also cautioned that an increase in NATO forces would be counterproductive, as “the military presence is part of the problem, not the solution,” and the addition of more troops would “identify us even more clearly as an occupying force.”

In Sir Cowper-Coles’ opinion the only realistic way to maintain control over Afghanistan over the next decade would be for it to be turned over to an “acceptable dictator.” The ambassador also said NATO countries “should think of preparing our public opinion” for that outcome.

Use Contractors To Investigate Contractors

Yet another move by the Bush Admin to let the “fox guard the hen house”.  When will the American taxpayer finally have had enough?  OMG!  I love this stuff–we are gonna let the bankers, who caused the economic crisis oversee the bailout and now this.

In an apparent violation of federal regulations, the State Department has outsourced to private contractors the responsibility to investigate possible crimes committed by security contractors in Iraq.

Earlier this year, the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security hired the private firm U.S. Investigations Services (USIS) to fill positions in the newly created Force Investigation Unit (FIU) that investigates potential misuses of force against civilians by U.S. security contractors. The contract investigators have been in Iraq since this summer.

The FIU was created in the wake of last year’s deadly shooting in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square, when 17 Iraqi civilians allegedly were killed by security personnel employed by Blackwater Worldwide who were guarding a State Department convoy. The case sparked widespread outrage and prompted calls for greater oversight of security contractors in Iraq.

According to a contract obtained by ABC News, the company was hired to supplement Diplomatic Security personnel. However, the eight USIS contractors hired for the team represent the majority of the full-time team, an apparent violation of federal regulations that prohibit such work by contractors.

According to Federal Acquisition Regulation part 7.5, it is not permissible to hire contractors for jobs “considered to be inherently governmental functions” including “the direct conduct of criminal investigations.”

Congratulations, It’s A Recession

Yes Irene, it is a recession…let the good times roll…

As the presidential election season nears its climax, there is growing evidence that the country is slipping into the deepest recession in decades.

The latest marker came Friday, when the government reported that employers shed 159,000 jobs in September, far more than expected. That was the worst one-month drop in more than five years and brings to 760,000 the number of jobs that have disappeared this year.

Economists say the accelerating pace of job losses, combined with the most severe credit crisis since the Great Depression, make it increasingly likely that the government bureau that determines business cycles will eventually stamp “recession” on this one.

“This should remove any lingering doubts that the economy is in a recession,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “The rate of job loss is accelerating and the unemployment rate is virtually certain to cross 7% early in 2009.”
August was when the unemployment rate jumped from 5.7% to 6.1%. That rate, calculated using a survey different from the one used to determine job losses, was unchanged at 6.1% in September. Economists took little comfort in that, however, pointing out that the jobless rate doesn’t count people who have given up looking for work, nor those who have had to settle for part-time work.

“Factoring in discouraged workers, unemployment is closer to 7.9%,” said University of Maryland economist Peter Morici. But this is not the figure that “they” want you to know.

But wait the good news is that is all unimportant because the $700 million bailout will create jobs and all will be alright. Really? And I have a bridge for sale.

Asset Management Firms To Join In The Bailout

To me this sounds like put the fox in to guard the hen house.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is hiring as many as 10 asset-management companies to join the lawyers and bankers he is recruiting to kickstart the government’s new $700 billion bank-rescue program.

The Treasury began implementing the plan within an hour of Congress yesterday giving Paulson the powers he sought to combat the U.S. financial crisis. Paulson is seeking to assemble a team to determine which toxic securities to target, how to value them and how to buy them. BlackRock Inc., Pacific Investment Management Co. and Legg Mason Inc. are seeking to become money managers for the program, people familiar with the matter said.

So I ask, you want the taxpayer to trust the very people that caused this crisis to work on getting us out of it?  Really?  And I have land in Florida if you are interested.

What Are The REAL Costs Of The Crisis?

There are some stories that need to be told and this is just one of many. This is what the greed of bankers and brokers does topeople.

A 90-year-old Ohio woman, facing eviction from the home she has lived in for 38 years, shot and wounded herself this week, becoming a grim symbol of the U.S. home mortgage crisis.

Addie Polk was found lying on the floor of her home with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her shoulder when police came to the home on Wednesday to serve an eviction notice, Akron police spokesman Lt. Rick Edwards said on Friday.

Polk survived the shooting and is being treated in a hospital.

It was the latest attempt by sheriff’s deputies to evict Polk from her modest single-family home because she could not keep up with her mortgage.

Home foreclosure rates are at record highs in the United States, in many cases because buyers with adjustable interest rates could not keep up with sharp increases in monthly payments. The foreclosure crisis has sparked a wider housing market downturn and is at the heart of the U.S. financial crisis.