But They Are Stealing Our Jobs!

How many times have you heard that tired old talking point?

If you truly believe that then …how many of you want to pick lettuce or harvest apples or…….well you get the point……back during Katrina my company hired 10 people for debris removal paying $10 an hour……at the end of a week we had 4 people left…all Hispanic…the Americans could lower themselves to pick up debris…….

But are they stealing jobs?

(Newser) – Odilia Chavez, a 40-year-old undocumented migrant farm worker based in California, is the first person to tell her story in a new Modern Farmer “Farm Confessional” feature, and she has a message for anyone who thinks people like her are stealing American jobs: “We’re not taking their jobs. In the 14 years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen an American working in the fields. I’ve never seen anyone work like Mexicans,” she writes. “Agriculture is dependent on undocumented workers. We need the money from the farmers, and the farmers need our hands.”

She tells her story and describes the low pay and difficult conditions that leave her exhausted by 9pm and awake again by 3am. Even so, she says, she would keep her job even if immigration reform passed. She’d be able to get a driver’s license and social security card and see her mom in Mexico for the first time since 2008, but in terms of a job, she and a lot of her fellow workers don’t know how to do anything else, don’t know how to use a computer, and never got far in school. “We can’t get a better job. They were farmworkers in Mexico and we’re going to die as farmworkers.” Her full column is worth a read.

As far as I have seen…they are not stealing jobs….but rather accepting jobs that Americans find demeaning and boring…….

Have yet to see an American in the crowd of day laborers at 5 am in the parking lot of a building supply company…….Americans want to be the CEO not the laborer…….

Scandal! Scandal?

For a couple of months now we mere mortals have been bombarded with scandals……Benghazi was a scandal……IRS is a scandal…….AP is a scandal……we are over run with scandals……scandals to the Right….scandals to the Left…….

My problem with all this political theatrics is the word scandal……Watergate was a scandal……selling arms to Iran was a scandal…….missing WMDs was a scandal…..Sen. Vitter being found using a high price call girl service and he keeps his job is a scandal…..after all he is a criminal…..you took part in an illegal act….he is a criminal…..Let us not forget one Senator Ensign who used is position of power to get laid…..and he kept his job!

But if we are looking for “real” scandals…..how about the USS Liberty?  I bet you are asking….what the HELL?

Let me refresh you memory……on June 8, 1967 a sigint ship, Liberty, was attacked by Israel in the Mediterranean….34 American sailors were killed…..and the prez, Johnson, pretty much covered it up and silenced the whole matter…..there could have been NO mistaken identity….the American flag was being flown and the sailors waved at the approving jets…..(check back on 08 June I post an interview I had with a sailor from that ship)….

But if you want a more recent event that could be called a scandal then look NO further than our comatose Congress…….we have all heard the days countdown presented by Repubs on how many days has passed without a budget from the Dems……I believe at last count it was somewhere around 1200 days……that may be true but the Repubs have NO right to point and mock……..why?

It has been approximately 900 days since there has been any effort to put Americans back to work by offering up a jobs bill.  Now there is a scandal that we should be covering in the media…….

Or how about 37 votes to end a law while ignoring the plight of the country….you wanted scandals!

As long as we elect clowns we should expect a circus…they go hand in hand……

Is Full Employment The Goal?

We hear all the political rhetoric about jobs….jobs….jobs…..we listen to the prez tell us he wants to put Americans back to work……we hear the GOP tell us all about the evils of the Dems approach and that they will put all Americans to work if we just trust them with our vote…..everyone has heard it and has made their own decisions on who will put us mere mortals back to work….

Recently Mitt Romney after hearing the jobs report said that he was disappointed in the report and in particular the unemployment rate of 8.1% which he said that anything above 4% was unacceptable…….pause here for thought……..maybe Mr. Romney needs to take a refresher course in economics……for the US to have full employment it will need 5% unemployment…..I will say that I like his statement but an unemployment rate of 4% is just not gonna happen…..no matter how many promises he makes…….it just not gonna happen.  (Mitt has updated his prediction to 6% by the end of his first term)……..CBO has already stated that the rate should be 5.0% by 2016……

Apparently, both parties are trying to reach that magic idyllic number of full employment.  But what does that really mean?  Does it mean that every man and woman of employable age will have a job?  Only if you are not living in this world.  Full employment does not mean an employment level of 100%. In fact, it is estimated to be around 5% – the idea being that there is always a level of unemployment due to the existence of people who are between jobs or work seasonally.

If  full employment, as defined in economics, is an unemployment rate of 5% or lower…..that means that in today’s world we are at about 8%…..that is only 3 percentage points away from the official definition of “full employment”.

Basically, full employment means that the conditions in which all people who are looking for jobs can find one…..not that everyone has a job……

(In case you missed it…the redundancy was intentional…..just saying)

We Have A New Jobs Act!

Many of us ‘liberals’ have been bitching that the Congress has done nothing to create jobs and after all that is the single most important election issue that got many of these people elected and sent to Washington….and since they have been in the capital they have offered up bills on everything from re-naming post offices to contraception to …..just about everything but JOBS……and now there is a Jobs bill headed to the president for his signature…..that is right….you heard correctly…..a new jobs bill waiting for the prez to put his John Hancock on the dotted line……..SURPRISE!

So how much have you heard about this bill?

A rare bi-partisan bill?  Well it is election time and they do not want to be beat to death about doing nothing to create jobs……the truth is this bill does more to help businesses than it does to create many jobs…..as always the financial side of the argument won out and the people needing more and more jobs lose….yet again……

The House on Tuesday signed off on the final version of the package, aimed at helping small businesses and startups more easily raise capital by loosening various Securities and Exchange Commission regulations.

“The bipartisan JOBS Act represents an increasingly rare legislative victory in Washington where both sides seized the opportunity to work together, improved the bill and passed it with strong bipartisan support,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said in a statement.

Politico is reporting……Senators tweaked the package to include an extra layer of restrictions on crowdfunding, which allows companies to raise smaller amounts of money from more people without subjecting them to SEC rules.

The JOBS Act is a collection of six measures that its backers say would make it easier for companies to go public more quickly and raise money.  (and here is who the politicians are protecting….NOT YOU!)

For instance, it allows more shareholders to invest in companies without triggering SEC regulations. Other components allow small businesses to use ads to solicit investors and permit more companies making public offerings to opt out of SEC rules.

The bill, soon to be a law, has done very little for the middle class….it has made it easier for companies to raise money……you kinda like Apple…..and how many new jobs does their IPO create?  Once again we see that the people we elect spend all their time and energy working for businesses and not the people that voted them into office….this will not create enough jobs to give validity to the title of the bill…….How much more pathetic can these baboons become?

I will pause here for the people to shake their heads and laugh out loud…..we working stiffs are so SCREWED!

It’s Good To Be Right!

WE bloggers, both right and left, have been warning the people of the situations that we are now faced….few people listened and we have a crap economy and a crap political system……from time to time we have even predicted certain things and they have come true…but were we given a atta boy?  Hell, no!  We have been ignored even more and the MSM gets all the credit for seeing into the future……being the bigger persons we bloggers give credit where credit is due….but the MSM feels NO way the same……(the pricks!)

But from time to time it feels good to see something that you wrote about months even years ago were spot on…..that is where I am coming from now…..awhile back I wrote several times that the Tea Party and the GOP were playing a dangerous game….that is that they do not want any jobs created so they may have a shot at winning the presidency.  Then I, among others, were told that politicians were not so petty as to wish ill on the American public……but guess what?  The Tea Party Express has proven me and the others correct…..and it feels good to be right!

Tea Party Express activist, Melissa Brookstone, has sent out a message and it reads……

Resolved that: The Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Senate, in alliance with a global Progressive socialist movement, have participated in what appears to be a globalist socialist agenda of redistribution of wealth, and the waging of class warfare against our constitutional republic’s heritage of individual rights, free market capitalism, and indeed our Constitution itself, with the ultimate goal of collapsing the U.S. economy and globalizing us into socialism.

Resolved that: President Obama has seized what amount to dictatorial powers to bypass our Congress, and that because the Congress is controlled by a Progressive socialist Senate that will not impeach one of their kind, they have allowed this and yielded what are rightfully congressional powers to this new dictator.

Resolved that: By their agenda and actions, those in our government who swore oaths to protect and defend our Constitution have committed treason against the United States.

Resolved that: The current administration and Democrat majority in the Senate, in conjunction with Progressive socialists from all around the country, especially those from Hollywood and the left leaning news media (Indeed, most of the news media.) have worked in unison to advance an anti-business, an anti-free market, and an anti-capitalist (anti-individual rights and property ownership) agenda.

…

Resolved that: Our President, the Democrats-Socialists, most of the media, and most of those from Hollywood, have now encouraged and supported “Occupy” demonstrations in our streets, which are now being perpetrated across the globe, and which are being populated by various marxists, socialists and even communists, and are protesting against business, private property ownership and capitalism, something I thought I’d never see in my country, in my lifetime.

I, an American small business owner, part of the class that produces the vast majority of real, wealth producing jobs in this country, hereby resolve that I will not hire a single person until this war against business and my country is stopped.

Damn!  Looks like another one of those pledges in the Grover vain…….The last paragraph says it all…….and Dammit!  It feels good to be right!

So the Tea Party would rather force Americans into joblessness just to make a point for the upcoming election….does that sound like a group that gives a crap about you and your family?  By all means support these dipsticks and crap on your family at the same time…..

Small Busisness To The Rescue

I hope that people are listening………I am sorry to be redundant but……..

Just how many times have you heard the crap from the GOP and from the president?  Small business creates all the jobs in this economy…..I have tried to help the people realize what a pile of bovine fecal matter the politicians are handing you….they are force feeding you erroneous information….and now it is not just me that is telling the voter what crap it is but Bloomberg’s Business Week…….

While extolling small business “might be a good way for politicians to win elections,” Bloomberg Businessweek notes that “the notion that small business is the force behind prosperity is not true.”

“Most small employers are restaurateurs, skilled professionals or craftsmen (doctors, plumbers), professional and general service providers (clergy, travel agents, beauticians), and independent retailers. These aren’t sectors of the economy where product costs drop a lot as the firm grows, so most of these companies are going to remain small.”

Read the article closely……..learn what is meant by small business….to the politicians they want you to believe that an oil company that employs a 1000 workers with $7 million in income is somehow a small business….not so!

A Real Jobs Plan

Sunday…last day of mental cleansing……

Unfortunately, I could not get away from the politics of the day….everybody has a jobs plan….well everybody but congressional GOP…..but few have a chance of passing the smell test…..but I found one that just makes sense (it is sarcasm)……

In the name of job creation, Florida state Rep. Ritch Workman (R) filed a bill this week to bring back “dwarf tossing,” the “barbaric and dangerous barroom spectacle that was imported from Australia and thrived briefly in Florida before it was outlawed in 1989,” the Palm Beach Post reports.

Said Workman: “I’m on a quest to seek and destroy unnecessary burdens on the freedom and liberties of people. This is an example of Big Brother government. All that it does is prevent some dwarfs from getting jobs they would be happy to get.”

And the Left is bitching that the Repubs do not have a jobs plan…see how wrong people can be?

“Pass This Bill”

“Pass the bill….Pass the bill…..Pass the bill”

Reminds me of “Yes We Can….Yes We Can”………

Remember the feel good slogan of 2008?  Let me help…..”Yes We Can”  That was what it was a feel good slogan….how about another?  Change We Can Believe In!  Remember that one?

Guess what?  We have a new one!  “Pass The Bill”.  That is right after about 3 years of trying the Dems have a new slogan….a new bumper sticker……they could not find a hook for health care or financial regulation….but when needed they arose to the occasion….”Pass The Bill”…..

Obama is making the rounds….connecting with the people….and of course, getting in a little campaigning…..he has his new hook…he has the mindless and optimistic throngs of Dems chanting at each stop…”Pass The Bill”…..and though it is only about a week old it is already as irritating as some of the other tag lines…like 24/7…..or boots on the ground….or the most irritating off slogans…”kick The Can Down The Road”……

But with all that said, how about the line?

“Pass The Bill” has NO shot of passing, perhaps parts of it, but NOT the whole thing.  Why?  You may ask.

All money bills must originate in the House of Representatives….(pause here for thought)…..With Boehner the Speaker and Cantor the majority leader does passing sound like a possibility?  And then, even if by some miracle the bill makes it out of the House and on to the Senate where it would need just 41 senators to block it…….a Senate that has 47 Repubs….a Senate leader that has stated that the sole purpose of the Senate is to see that Obama is NOT re-elected…….now does that sound like it has a chance in Hell?

It is a great slogan….a great bumper sticker…..but a thoroughly waste of energy to chant it….it is NOT a jobs bill….it is, however, a good piece of campaign strategy…..will create few jobs and give away even more revenue that is needed….so by all means….chant your butts off…..but do NOT expect any chance of a massive jobs creation bill…..

Eventually, Americans will learn that chants, slogans and bumper stickers do NOTHING for the country!

But all means…..chant your butts off!

It’s Demand, Stupid!

Keeping with my week of jobs and the economic thing……

The Prez made his speech to the joint session of Congress and the American people, after caving in to the political BS, and we now have his plan for jobs……..“intention to lay out a series of bipartisan proposals that the Congress can take immediately to continue to rebuild the American economy by strengthening small businesses, helping Americans get back to work and putting more money in the paychecks of the middle class and working Americans, while still reducing our deficit and getting our fiscal house in order.”

First of all…..YAWN!  This has about as much chance as I have being elected “Miss Teen America”…..

Now for the GOP plan for jobs creation……..a noun, a verb and tax cuts……..

Analysis…..a even bigger YAWN!

Let us try to be realistic….we need demand, not liquidity…….tax cuts will create liquidity and liquidity will create profitability and profitability creates NO jobs!  Is that easy enough for you?

But wait!  What is demand?………..analysis of demand with regard to consumer behavior and rationale when changes occur in variable factors such as price, income, substitute goods.

And then there is liquidity…….the ability to convert assets to cash quickly…….

Back in 2008, at the beginning of this present economic crisis I posted……

Governments in advanced countries have still not recognized this onset of a crash. They have proceeded on the assumption that the injection of liquidity into the system is all that is needed. It was thought initially that this injection could be achieved through the government purchase of “toxic” securities, but widespread opposition to that scheme has now made most governments accept the idea of injection of liquidity in lieu of equity, i.e. through the part-nationalization of financial institutions.

But injection of liquidity, even in this manner, is not enough. Credit will not start flowing simply because banks can access more liquidity. There has to be adequate demand for credit for viable projects by solvent and worthwhile borrowers. And this is not happening. First, the injection of liquidity does not improve the solvency of firms saddled with “toxic” securities, so that the risk associated with lending to them remains prohibitively high. And secondly, quite apart from this, the anticipation of a Depression makes borrowers chary of borrowing and lenders chary of lending.

This anticipation in turn derives from several factors: first, the bursting of one bubble is not necessarily succeeded by the immediate formation of another, so that some recession of a more or less prolonged duration is in any case inevitable. Secondly, the very scale of the current financial crisis is such as to entail an anticipation of a prolonged recession. And thirdly, since the recession has already started, the prospects of crisis-prevention now through the usual monetary instruments (including liquidity injection) appear distinctly dim. The scenario, in which tendencies towards increased liquidity preference on the part of private individuals and institutions and a downward slide in the real economy mutually reinforce one another, has already started unfolding itself and will continue for a prolonged period, unless governments now act to inject demand into the economy directly, apart from injecting liquidity. Until this happens on a large enough scale the Depression will persist.

ZZZZZZZZ….all that is so much mumbo jumbo, right?

I can fix that!  Chuq’s economic law………demand creates jobs; liquidity creates billionaires……see it is that simple!  Let us go back to another theorem…..a theorem that pertains heavily to the jobs debate in Washington…..and since our elected officials are not the sharpest pencils in the box when it comes to economics…..let me make it really, really, really simple for them……..

tax cuts creates liquidity, liquidity creates profitability, profitability creates NO jobs….one more time……PROFITABILITY CREATES NO JOBS!

Without demand there are NO jobs…..without jobs there is NO recovery from a recession…….Very simple……Create Demand, Not Liquidity!

Thus Spake Barack–Part 2

All the prayer have been said and tears shed….and now it is time to return to the problems that are the reality…….a new week….a new jobs speech…..much like the one for the joint session…..

After the original Obama speech I said it was a good speech but that was all the further I would go…..and I said that his proposals were anemic and a waste of time for it would create few, if any jobs,,,,,,,in case you missed my analysis it can be read here…..http://wp.me/pclTd-5b9

So he makes it again….and again it is anemic and a waste of time…….let me explain why I say this….

1 The payroll tax cuts are going to cost more than anything else in the plan, but they will do very little to create jobs.

#2 Obama’s plan to extend unemployment assistance is going to cost about $49 billion but it is not going to do much to create any jobs.

#3 Obama is proposing $50 billion in “immediate” infrastructure spending and $10 billion for a new infrastructure bank that will be dedicated to raising private capital to finance infrastructure projects around the country.

#4 According to the fact sheet on the jobs plan released by the Obama administration, direct financial aid to state governments will prevent up to 280,000 teacher layoffs, and it will also help states retain more police and firefighters.

#5 There are a bunch of other minor things in Obama’s proposal such as “modernizing” public schools and helping more Americans refinance their mortgages, but it is not entirely clear how those things will help create a lot more jobs.

#6 The Obama jobs plan does next to nothing to prevent jobs from being shipped out of the country.

#7 The Obama jobs plan does nothing about the unfair trade practices that are absolutely killing America on the global economic stage.

#8 The Obama jobs plan does nothing about the gigantic mountains of ridiculous regulations that are absolutely killing small business in this country.

#9 The Obama jobs plan does nothing about the negative effects of Obamacare.  Obamacare is going to absolutely slaughter U.S. businesses.  Look, when most other nations do not burden their businesses with providing health care and we force our businesses to comply with the nightmare that Obamacare represents, who do you think has the advantage?

#10 The Obama jobs plan makes our national debt worse.  Yes, Obama insists that his plan will be “100%” paid for, but he has not told us how it will be paid for.

(Once again I thank Michael Synder for all his research and his list….makes life easier for people like me)

Once again you heard about all the jobs…..we heard that it would be paid for……and once again it is an anemic attempt to placate the voices of the unemployed……this sounds good but it will do little to help put our people back to work.