You know the nation’s economy still really stinks when it’s good news that 216,000 jobs were lost last month (down from July’s 276,000 and the fewest monthly losses in a year). At 9.7 percent, the highest since 1983, the national unemployment rate is still better than Wichita’s 9.9 percent in July. People such as the 118 Hawker Beechcraft workers who got 60-day layoff notices this week won’t see much to celebrate. The recession so far has cost the nation a net total of 6.9 million jobs since December 2007.
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68 Comments
Everyone knew this recession would be long and hard. It started, according to the economists, in December of ‘07. No significant action to ease it was taken until nearly a year later.
The trends in recent months are all clearly better than the months before. The trajectory has changed, thanks in part to the stimulus spending bill, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Much of the stimulus is not yet spent, so the recovery is bound to accelerate.
It ain’t great, but it’s a whole lot better than a year ago.
Well David I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.
Oh no, the Stimulus IS Working!
Obama said we’d have over 8% unemployment unless that $787 BILLION STIMULUS Bill was passed.
What? Oh, Unemployment is now 9.7% Even After The $787 Billion Stimulus Bill was immediately passed?
Sounds like the $787 Billion Stimulus is AFU!!!
No one can deny our economy is better than it was, if they are being truthful. It’s the worst recession this country has ever seen and a few months ago we were very close to depression. We’ve come a ways from that brink! There are signs of improvement, and there is much work left to do.
Biden just yesterday said the Stimulus was Working!
L I A R !!!
This is what happens when people elect a glib, inexperienced President.
All hat, no cattle as they say in Texas.
U.S. unemployment rate hits 26-year high of 9.7%
It was 4.5 when the demorats took over congress….
Why do libtards hate American workers and families?
“JimJohnson” –
The stimulus is working.
Note how the Vice-President didn’t say, “It worked.”
The worst economy since 1929 started as the natural consequence of Shrub-onomics, in December, 2007. It took 14 months of the Bush Recession to fester and take to nation (and much of the world with it) to the brink of disaster.
And now, less than eight months into President Obama running things, CONs are playing the role of the bratty kid in the back seat whining, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”
Wichita city is at 11%, the metro 9.9%.
We will hit 15% before all improvement is made.
What proof is there in signs of economic improvement?
The drops aren’t as large?
“What proof is there in signs of economic improvement?”
Mr_Kia, Who do you normally ask to use “the google” for you? Maybe you could impose on them again?
Linda – blogs found on the google are not economic facts.
Munkeyboy – tries with facts:
The worst economy since 1929 started as the natural consequence of Shrub-onomics, in December, 2007. It took 14 months of the Bush Recession to fester and take to nation (and much of the world with it) to the brink of disaster.
——————-
Shrub-onomics went out the window with the 110th congress of the u.s. (in 2007 to save you some time)
——
It’s funny when libtards try to use facts.
COUNTDOWN…6 Days and Counting….
9/10/2009 White House Report to Detail Jobs Saved by Stimulus
“Linda – blogs found on the google are not economic facts.”
Exactly! And this is a blog. That’s why I thought you might find the facts, but I see now that might not be what was behind your question.
You know, if you say it LOUDLY and OFTEN ENOUGH, that the STIMULUS IS WORKING!, then maybe people will believe it, no matter what the economic indicators show.
It also helps if you put on your Ruby Slippers, and tap them three times together while saying:
The Stimulus is Working
The Stimulus is Working
The Stimulus is Working
(If that doesn’t work, repeat the toe tapping and chanting.)
JABBERWOCKY
Linda,
“Not as much as expected” is not growth.
lindainks55
Posted September 4, 2009 at 12:34 pm | Permalink
No one can deny our economy is better than it was, if they are being truthful.
————–
Linda, you’re just wrong here. The economy has gotten worse every quarter since Dec. 07.
Teachable moment: “better” is the opposite of worse.
Mr_Kia, I don’t have any idea what point you’re trying to make. I still suggest that any information you’re ready to accept may be found, facts are available too. I don’t pretend to be able to satisfy whatever it is you would like to prove or believe, but I feel sure you can find whatever you want and believe whatever you choose.
Here is one article from The New York Times to get you started, you could go to actual government websites, you could go to Marvel Comics if you choose. It kind of depends on what you’ve got your mind set on.
“Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the economy has shed 6.9 million jobs, the department said. Stubbornly high unemployment is wearing on consumer confidence and crimping domestic demand, pointing to an anemic recovery from the worst slump in 70 years. Consumer spending accounts for over two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
However, the August report confirmed the pace of layoffs was easing from early this year, when nearly three quarters of a million jobs were lost in January.”
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/04/news/news-us-usa-economy-jobs.html
Obama Has Saved Countless Jobs and Prevented A Great Depression!
Such a feelin’s coming over me
There is wonder in most every thing I see
Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eyes
And I won’t be surprised if it’s a dream
I’m on the top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I’ve found ever since Obama’s been around
His love’s put me at the top of the world
Everything I want the world to be
Is now coming true especially for me
And the reason is clear, it’s because Obama is here
He’s the nearest thing to heaven that I’ve seen
I’m on the top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I’ve found ever since Obama’s been around
His love’s put me at the top of the world
Something in the wind has learned my name
And it’s telling me that things are not the same
In the leaves on the trees and the touch of the breeze
There’s a pleasin’ sense of happiness for me
I’m on the top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I’ve found ever since Obama’s been around
His love’s put me at the top of the world
There is only one wish on my mind
When this day is through I hope that I will find
That tomorrow will be just the same for you and me
All I need will be mine if you are here
I’m on the top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I’ve found ever since Obama’s been around
His love’s put me at the top of the world
Believe it or not, there WAS a time when almost everyone worked for themselves. We should be working to encourage that more for our people.
BlueJay
Posted September 4, 2009 at 1:55 pm | Permalink
Believe it or not, there WAS a time when almost everyone worked for themselves. We should be working to encourage that more for our people.
—————
BJ in your bizzarro world you think someone holds a gun to peoples head and forces them to work for the ‘man’. Don’t you understand there are many people who are risk averse. They want a 9-5 job with nothing invested besides their time. They want to be able to go home and night and not give it a moments thought until they go to the work the next day.
By trying to paint everyone with the same brush you are erring big time. As I have said before – a nation of yous would be a nation gone under pretty quickly. There are many hard workers in this country who do an admirable job of managing small businesses. Who invest their personal money to create jobs for others. These are the heros of our nation. Not the politicans who take tax dollars to give to those who choose not to work.
lindainks55
Posted September 4, 2009 at 1:25 pm | Permalink
Mr_Kia, I don’t have any idea what point you’re trying to make. I still suggest that any information you’re ready to accept may be found, facts are available too. I don’t pretend to be able to satisfy whatever it is you would like to prove or believe, but I feel sure you can find whatever you want and believe whatever you choose.
Here is one article from The New York Times to get you started, you could go to actual government websites, you could go to Marvel Comics if you choose. It kind of depends on what you’ve got your mind set on.
“Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the economy has shed 6.9 million jobs, the department said. Stubbornly high unemployment is wearing on consumer confidence and crimping domestic demand, pointing to an anemic recovery from the worst slump in 70 years. Consumer spending accounts for over two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
However, the August report confirmed the pace of layoffs was easing from early this year, when nearly three quarters of a million jobs were lost in January.”
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/04/news/news-us-usa-economy-jobs.html
————————————————–
God love you Linda, you illustrated the point.
Less loss does not equal gain.
It’s because of all those negative vibes you cons are putting out, you’re holding back the recovery! Least that’s what you all were saying not too long ago.
All they want to do is obstruct and argue. Hoping against hope that America will fail. They want power that badly.
Even when you acknowledge there is nothing you could say that would be acceptable to them, they want to argue!
Quite unsavory people.
Does anyone remember the forecast of the WSU economist in January? He clearly stated his professional opinion that the recession would show signs of recovery by the 3rd quarter–REGARDLESS of any government actions.
But, of course, bho is going to try to take ‘credit’ for something that was forecast 8 months ago.And the libs here are wetting themselve in glee, since their ‘hero’ has saved us.
horse hockey. It was forecast to recover long before the first ’stimulus’ dollar hit the streets.
“Raptor” –
A WSU economist? Well, day-uhm! You sure can’t find a better academic lineage than that!
Eat your heart out, Nobel Prize-winning Princeton professor Paul Krugman! If you were any good you’d be teaching at Wichita State!
ridicule all you want, mh. The man has a Ph.D in economics and stated his professional opinion. He was clearly right, so your demeaning comments are, as usual, meant solely to belittle.
Typical..add nothing and tear down everything.
pathetic.
If I remember the economic professionals have had every opinion possible, some of them two or three. No one will ever know for absolutely sure if this WSU professor was correct or not. Because the economy was on the verge of depression and something was done, making it impossible for anyone to know that recovery could have happened without action.
Still arguing in circles around here. Blame Bush! No blame Obama!
meanwhile…
see ya.
When the result you predict isn’t accomplished in the manner you predicted… How can you say, “He was clearly right,” when his scenario didn’t happen?
“Raptor” tries –
“He was clearly right….”
Uhm, no.
He alleged if nothing were done there’d be a 3rd Quarter rebound.
But something was done. (As “lindainks55″ noted.)
Now I realize how highly WE Blog CONs respect academia.
If Wichita State University still played football they’d win the National Championship next January. Prove me wrong.
Biden Ignores Problems With Stimulus, Says AP Fact Check
Washington (AP) – Vice President Joe Biden proclaimed success beyond expectations for the $787 billion economic stimulus, but his glowing assessment overlooks many of the program’s problems, including delays in releasing money, questionable spending priorities and project picks that are under investigation.
In a speech aimed squarely at Republican criticism and public skepticism over the costly program’s effectiveness, Biden said accomplishments over the past 100 days provide proof of promises kept when he and President Barack Obama began rolling out the plan earlier this year.
“The Recovery Act is doing more, faster and more efficiently and more effectively than most people expected,” he said.
The stimulus program includes tax cuts, billions for Medicaid and unemployment benefits, and a massive federal investment in education, environmental projects, technology and traditional infrastructure work. The administration has struggled to make the case that the huge spending program has delivered real economic recovery at a time when the nation’s unemployment rate threatens to top 10 percent.
Biden, Obama’s chief stimulus cheerleader, proudly pointed to more than 2,200 highway projects Thursday funded by the program, but didn’t mention the growing frustration among contractors that infrastructure money is only trickling out and thus far hasn’t delivered the needed boost in jobs.
“It is difficult to understand why more communities aren’t moving to put their stimulus funds to work while they are experiencing these kinds of job losses,” Stephen E. Sandherr, head of the Associated General Contractors of America, said in a statement this week. “Coping with the red tape required by the stimulus ought to be worth it to help put neighbors and friends back to work.”
The problem is with money for building projects, not roads and highways, Sandherr said.
Biden noted 192 airports targeted for improvements with stimulus money, but made no reference to the investigation launched after a federal watchdog raised concerns about how the projects were selected.
Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel said last month he will examine the Federal Aviation Administration’s process for selecting programs for the $1.1 billion in grant money. His announcement came after his office discovered that the Obama administration used stimulus money to pay for 50 airport projects that didn’t meet the grant criteria and approved projects at four airports with a history of mismanaging federal grants.
And Biden praised the more than 2,400 military construction projects paid for with stimulus money, but ignored the millions of dollars in savings the Defense Department lost because it hasn’t competitively bid many of the jobs.
The Defense Department frequently awards no-bid work to small contractors for repairs at military bases under the stimulus, costing taxpayers millions of dollars more than when businesses compete for the work, an Associated Press analysis of 570 such contracts found.
Biden exercised some restraint in his praise for the stimulus’ impact. He took a more cautious approach, for example, when asked if his declaration of stimulus success means Americans can now rethink the common view that government is wasteful and inefficient.
“I think it’s too early to make that decision, to be very blunt about it,” he said.
And Biden didn’t attempt to credit the stimulus alone for signs of broad economic recovery, saying it was one of several government actions that are helping.
“Had we done just this and not done the incredibly unpopular thing of bailing out the banks, had we had done this and tried to deal with stabilizing the housing market, had we done only this we would not be where we are,” he said.
But most of Biden’s remarks focused on what he argued is evidence of success with the stimulus, even if his examples were questionable.
In making the case that the recovery program was not just economically sound but also good policy, Biden noted that transportation money was replacing unsafe bridges.
“It is worthwhile to take some of those 5,000 bridges out there that are ready to collapse, follow what happened in the upper Midwest, and fix them,” he said.
But most states are spending stimulus money on bridges that are already in good shape, another AP analysis found. Of the 2,476 bridges scheduled to receive stimulus money so far, nearly half have passed inspections with high marks, according to federal data. Those 1,123 sound bridges received such high inspection ratings that they normally would not qualify for federal bridge money, yet they will share in more than $1.2 billion in stimulus money, the AP analysis published in July found.
The vice president’s speech is part of a concerted White House push in advance of the 200th day of the stimulus act on Saturday.
Wonder if they know to come in out of the rain? Maybe Rush or one of those other leaders tell them when it’s time. If they stay out in the rain, it’s because they love the rain. Or something. It’s pretty amazing! If the effort to find excuses were put into finding ideas they might not be a regional party representing too small a number to ever win at the national level.
Obama 365
McCain 173
Dem pickups (vs. 2004): CO FL IN IA NV NM NC OH VA
GOP pickups (vs. 2004): (None)
150 million of Stimulus dollars go to booze, smokes, an wide screen tv’s in New York. Money that was intended to go to school supplies. What do welfare people do?
Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – Welfare and food stamp recipients Wednesday started getting letters in the mail letting them know extra money they received in their benefit payments this month, is supposed to be used to buy school supplies for their kids.
The problem is, the money was available on their cards Tuesday, and local retailers tell us they were swamped with people cashing in.
The owners of the Sunoco on the corner of Wolf and Grant Street in Syracuse were swamped Tuesday; food stamp recipients, they say, who found an extra $200 per child on their benefit cards, were coming in to cash in.
“One person said she was going to buy a cell phone, I said ‘Wow, I thought the money was supposed to be for the kids — other people were just buying cigarettes and beer,” says Sunoco gas station owner Diane Goly.
It’s very possible most of those people didn’t even know this cash that mysteriously appeared on their cards was supposed to be used to buy school supplies for their children — the letters from the state telling them that were still in the mail.
Governor Paterson announced at a press conference Tuesday that he was using $140 million in stimulus money to fund this program — but prior to that, it seems he kept this allocation close to the vest.
“We hadn’t done a lot of planning for it because we didn’t know about it,” says Ann Rooney of Onondaga County Human Services.
Social Services had no say in the program or how the cash was distributed; they just learned about it last week and were told not to say anything about it to the public until Tuesday, when the governor announced the program at a press conference.
“We would have liked to have been involved in the process and have some input,” says Rooney.
Congressman Dan Maffei says, “The Governor gave me no heads up that they were going to do this, so this is a program that the state is implementing without the input of at least our congressional office.”
State Republicans claim the governor developed this plan in secret with no legislative input and it’s ripe for fraud and abuse.
We tried speaking with the governor’s office Wednesday about this, and they deferred us to the Office of Temporary Assistance.
They admit the letters should have gone out well in advance of the money, but there was a lot of overhead and they wanted to make sure the cash was out before school started.
With the governor’s plan, there’s no accountability. His office is just hoping folks do the right thing and spend the extra cash on their kids.
Rooney thinks there may have been a better way to ensure that.
“Perhaps we could have done something with Mary Nelson, who’s having her barbecue this weekend and put some of the money in her hands to supplement what she’s doing with the backpack giveaway,” she says.
Nelson says she found out about the money and says she’s heard of people using it on other items rather than on their children.
It shocks her, but she says it’s not the children’s fault and that she’ll still help them.
“Maybe those parents should come by and bring some of those supplies, and feel bad for what they did,” Nelson says.
She wishes she could have received at least some of that money; with just days left before the Youth Day Barbecue, she still needs enough supplies to fill up 1,000 backpacks.
She also says she needs about 2,000 backpacks for folks who may not have signed up.
He can’t pull a bush and just back up the truck and start throwing money out. This isn’t Iraq!
Show signs of recovery, was he talking .01 %? What were his numbers.
I predict by next quarter the stock markets will be higher.
Keep dreaming Linda:
Democratic Advantage in Party Affiliation Shrinks
Gap now 5 points, down from 17 in January
September 2, 2009
The Democratic Party’s strength in party affiliation nationally has diminished over the course of the year, with its 17-point advantage over the Republicans in January (52% to 35%) shrinking to a 5-point edge in August (45% to 40%). Gallup
The narrowing of the gap may be merely a reflection of the difficulties a party has in governing. Democrats began to build up a party-identification advantage in 2005 as George W. Bush’s job approval rating sank, which ultimately led to the Democrats’ retaking party control of Congress in the 2006 elections and of the presidency in the 2008 election. Possible optimism about a new era of governing led Democrats in 2008 to rise to their greatest position of relative strength in more than two decades. A Gallup analysis found little evidence that the rise in Democratic fortunes was due to an embracing of the party’s liberal-leaning issue positions.
Over the course of the year, President Barack Obama’s approval rating has declined, particularly during the last two months.
Despite the results of the 2008 presidential election, Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, say their political views in recent years have become more conservative rather than more liberal, 39% to 18%, with 42% saying they have not changed. While independents and Democrats most often say their views haven’t changed, more members of all three major partisan groups indicate that their views have shifted to the right rather than to the left.
These findings, from a June 14-17 Gallup Poll, somewhat conform to Gallup’s annual trends on Americans’ self-defined political ideology. Thus far in 2009 (from January through May), 40% of Americans call themselves conservative, up from 37% in 2007 and 2008, and the highest level since 2004.
Conservatives currently outnumber liberals in the population, and thus, conservatism has a natural advantage on any question asking the public to choose between these standard ideological labels. So that’s part of the explanation for the incongruity.
Indeed, in the latest survey, 38% of Americans describe their political views as conservative, and among this group 58% say their views have grown more conservative in recent years. Although a large segment of liberals (42%) say they have become more liberal, far fewer Americans in the poll (18%) describe themselves as liberal — thus providing little counterweight to the rightward movement of conservatives. At the same time, political moderates are twice as likely to say they have grown more conservative as opposed to more liberal (33% vs. 18%), thus further tipping the scales in favor of conservatism.
Gallup
Recent Gallup poll.
Calling themselves Democrats 40%
Calling themselves Republican 35%
And while the gap HAS narrowed since the election, we see in these numbers that the moderates are, in balance, on the side of the Democrats. The Republican 35% is just beyond the numbers of the kook fringe.
I predict that this October, H1N1 vaccine will have killed scores more folks than the virus itself and people who worked for certain state governments and who were paid in coupons will find out that the coupons are in fact worthless and redeemable in maybe some government cheese will be mad beyond your wildest dreams. And also, by the Summer of 2010, China will have dumped these trillions of dollars back into our laps, thus creating Weimar Republic-esque hyper-inflation, the commercial real estate bubble will have popped and the Greater Depression that is actually occuring now (sorry “job-less recovery”) will be abundantly clear for all of the circle jerkers who still have yet to figure out and understand reality as it is, not as they would like it to be.
You folks are still in denial? Obama was paid $500 MILLION for his part in all of this. And you know he ain’t buying anything from Wall Strret …except maybe some Roche, that Nazi company…Bayer and maybe some Merck stock.
Speaking of Bayer/AG Farben…
check it out, you may remember this…doubt it though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg-52mHIjhs
Take it easy.
Apologies, my numbers were just slightly off.
Without Bush to bash, Democrats sink
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
09/02/09 2:44 PM EDT
Back in January, there was a lot of talk about the enormous lead that Democrats held over Republicans in party identification. According to Gallup, 52 percent of those surveyed in January identified with or leaned toward the Democratic party, versus 35 percent who identified with or leaned toward the Republicans — a 17 percentage-point gap.
The latest Gallup numbers? Democrats, 45 percent, Republicans 40 percent — a five point margin.
President Obama won with only slightly more than a 5% margin.
You cons have attracted just about all the loosey gooseys you are gonna get. THOSE folks would easily be scared away by a Sarah Palin.
Sorry, Bayer/IG Farben.
As I’ve posted many times, it is not the die hards on the left or right who elect presidents. It’s the independents and those in the middle.
And the more Obama crams stuff down our throats (leads from the extreme), the more the deficit skyrockets, the faster he rushes legislation –
the more he is going to suck to the middle. They are leaning more conservative and more right the further from the left Obama rules. It’s the middle.
That’s where all the action is at.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 43% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 36% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent.
That represents the lowest level of support for Democrats in recent years, while Republicans have tied their highest level of support for the third straight week. The previous low for Democrats over the past year was 37%.
This summer, support for Republican candidates ranged from 41% to 43%, support for Democrats ranged from 37% to 39%. Looking back one year ago, support was strikingly different for the parties. Throughout the summer of 2008, support for Democratic congressional candidates ranged from 45% to 48%. Republican support ranged from 34% to 37%.
This is now the tenth straight week GOP candidates have held the advantage.
Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters nationwide believe that Congress is too liberal while 22% hold the opposite view and say it is too conservative. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 14% say the ideological balance of Congress is about right and 12% are not sure.
Republicans overwhelmingly believe that Congress is too liberal, a view shared by 59% of those not affiliated with either major party.
A plurality of Democrats have a different view. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Democrats say Congress is too conservative, 19% too liberal, and 26% about right.
Middle income earners are more likely than others to see Congress as too liberal. Among those who earn between $40,000 and $100,000 a year, 64% hold that view.
Do you think a song could be written about ‘dueling polls?’ We could each bring a poll and then evolve to the point that someone says polls don’t mean anything, or you can find a poll to support whatever position you choose. And then someone could write the song! It could be great fun!
“Barack Obama’s drop in the polls has not made the Republican Party more popular than the Democrats.
The survey suggests that, by 13 points, Americans think the Democrats rather than the Republicans would do a better job handling the economy and Medicare. The Democrats have a 9 point advantage on health care and an 8 point edge on Afghanistan. The two parties are tied on the question of how they’d handle taxes and the federal budget deficit. The GOP holds a clear advantage on just one issue — terrorism.”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/04/poll.republicans.democrats/
As always, if any incumbent (from either side) is voted in, this country will get (and deserves) everything that is coming to it.
Orwell would be shocked.
No joy for republicans though.
Republicans still say their own congressional GOP members are out of touch.
They still lack visible and strong leadership.
So although democrats are quickly shooting themselves in the foot – there are no GOP candidates to fill the void.
So, at this point, I’d say 2010 is shaping up for the middle, independents, and other moderats as a choice between who will do the less harm. On this point, republicans have the advantage. Many Americans, particularly in the middle are scared and taken aback by the Obama charge.
The American public everywhere but on WEBlog are seeing what is happening with our economy. No matter how rosy the picture the MSM tries to paint and the double speak Biden tries to spread – the jobs are still evaporating. We have spent billions and have nothing to show for it. Instead of working to help job growth by encouraging more small businesses to expand or start up this administration is coming up with ways to punish their initiative with Obamacare.
This is what the town hall participants are saying. It is what the polls are showing. It is what voters are waking up to.
Deny it all they want – the left is losing this battle unless they change their ways.
Linda the polls aren’t important. I agree with you on that one. However this is where we split on what matters. The number of un or under employed is growing weekly. To say this is an improvement is just not being honest with yourself.
This administration has to step up, take responsibility and do something that will encourage job growth not discourage it.
Business owners should be rewarded not punished. The rush to push through an ill thought out healthcare plan is counter productive. The left has lost track of the goal.
Florida Exodus: Rising Taxes Drive Out Residents
MIAMI Tim Padgett / Miami – Thu Sep 3, 4:10 pm ET
There are many things public officials probably shouldn’t do during a severe recession, but no one seems to have told the leaders in Florida about them. One thing, for instance, would be giving a dozen top aides hefty raises while urging a rise in property taxes, as the mayor of Miami-Dade County recently did. Or jacking up already exorbitant hurricane-insurance premiums, as Florida’s government-run property insurer just did. Or sending an army of highly paid lobbyists to push for a steep hike in electricity rates, as South Florida’s public utility is doing.
And you wonder why the Sunshine State is experiencing its first net emigration of people since World War II. (See pictures: “Florida’s Paradise Lost.”)
A few years ago, journalists – citing the chasm between Miami’s high cost of living and its low level of income – began predicting that South Florida and its perpetual population-growth machine would soon face the unthinkable: a falling head count. Now it’s official. The region – Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties – lost 27,400 residents between 2008 and 2009, while Florida as a whole lost 58,000.
—————-
The voters in Florida are voting with their feet. People are saying enough. We can no longer afford to allow the government to pile on mandated costs that will have to be paid for with increased taxes or out of pocket money.
This is what the town hall meetings are all about.
“the left is losing this battle unless they change their ways.”
I actually agree. There is too much pandering to the right. The left needs to fire up the steamroller.
“Business owners should be rewarded not punished.”
We should be GRATEFUL they have devastated the American standard of living, outsourced all the jobs, and exploit illegal and imported labor?
No. No thanks for that. They’ve had their way for 25 years. Time to start paying up.
I tire of this neverending boohoo for “small business”. A great many of these “small businesses” are franchises to larger companies. A real small business has an employment of one.
When state taxes rise, businesses and residents flee
Examiner Editorial
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January 24, 2009 Maryland used to be in the middle of the pack of states with business-friendly environments. No more. The Tax Foundation now ranks Maryland as the sixth worst state in the nation in which to do business. Only Rhode Island, Ohio, California, New York, and New Jersey are more hostile to job- and revenue-producing enterprises. Maryland’s “remarkable drop” – from 24th in 2008 to 45th place this year – is attributed to last year’s passage of the largest tax hike in state history, coupled with other major tax policy changes that also put the Free State dead last in the personal income tax category. . . . Decades of empirical research prove that economic growth in high-tax states consistently lags behind states with lower tax burdens. The 10 states with the lowest taxes also attracted almost 10 percent more new residents during the last decade than their high-tax counterparts. Just last year, 144,000 people fled from California’s punishing taxes, the highest state-to-state migration in the U.S. The ramifications of losing revenue-producing businesses and highly-skilled workers to lower-tax states should by now be apparent even to big-spending governors like Maryland’s Martin O’Malley and California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger – long-term economic decline.
With states facing nearly $100 billion in combined budget deficits this year, we’re seeing more governors than ever proposing the Barack Obama solution to balancing the budget: Soak the rich. Lawmakers in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Oregon want to raise income tax rates on the top 1% or 2% or 5% of their citizens. New Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn wants a 50% increase in the income tax rate on the wealthy because this is the “fair” way to close his state’s gaping deficit.
Here’s the problem for states that want to pry more money out of the wallets of rich people. It never works because people, investment capital and businesses are mobile: They can leave tax-unfriendly states and move to tax-friendly states.
And the evidence that we discovered in our new study for the American Legislative Exchange Council, “Rich States, Poor States,” published in March, shows that Americans are more sensitive to high taxes than ever before. The tax differential between low-tax and high-tax states is widening, meaning that a relocation from high-tax California or Ohio, to no-income tax Texas or Tennessee, is all the more financially profitable both in terms of lower tax bills and more job opportunities.
Updating some research from Richard Vedder of Ohio University, we found that from 1998 to 2007, more than 1,100 people every day including Sundays and holidays moved from the nine highest income-tax states such as California, New Jersey, New York and Ohio and relocated mostly to the nine tax-haven states with no income tax, including Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire and Texas. We also found that over these same years the no-income tax states created 89% more jobs and had 32% faster personal income growth than their high-tax counterparts.
Did the greater prosperity in low-tax states happen by chance? Is it coincidence that the two highest tax-rate states in the nation, California and New York, have the biggest fiscal holes to repair? No. Dozens of academic studies — old and new — have found clear and irrefutable statistical evidence that high state and local taxes repel jobs and businesses.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124260067214828295.html
Nevermind the great useage of private offshore banks. They always help the super rich hide their wealth.
Pleefer true small businesses don’t have enough capital to store off shore. This is only in BJs deluded mind. He is so divorced from reality that I certainly can understand him saying something like this but I don’t know enough about you to know what you are saying.
Only the truly rich, like the Ted Kennedys of the world put their money in places like Haiti.
And the Donald Rumsfelds’, George Herbert Walker Bushs’ and the Bill Gates’ and John Kerrys’ and the Osama Bin Ladens’ of the world.
But I was actually referring to AmWays’ second post, second paragraph upthread.
I am as stunned as you on BlueJays’ rant on small business being a “business of one”. Didn’t the entire Olsen family help run Olsen’s Mercantile in Little House on The Prairie? I’d call that a small business…but then again, I’m not BlueJay-guy. I’m in agreement with him on our corporate/fascist dilemma here in this country though. I think our governement on either side of the ailse is owned exclusively by corporations. We’re in deep deep trouble and no Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Keith Olbermann, Wolf Blitzer lying through their own bought and paid for scat-filled teeth will help. Half-truths are just as dangerous as outright deceit.
I’ve many dimwitted friends that are as deluded as BJ and will not own up to a mistaken vote in November. These friends of mine will go down with the ship as fast as the hard-core Bush apologists did for him/them.
Nothing will change until the Federal Reserve is audited.
The BS “debate” going on about the health care revamp is pure theatre. The health care will pass regardless of the Ron Paul-esque “tea parties” and town hall uprisings. Those who demand it pass, have the votes. Same goes for the cap and trade economy killer.
But when they pass…watch out, things be getting hairy.
Yep. Those job numbers keep dropping.
And the libs sing, “The sun will come out tomorrow!”
Obama sucks.
Worst President. Ever.
1838 S Ridgewood Drive
Copy that. Duly noted.
At least Wichita has been spared the massive layoffs and high unemployment going on in most of the country. Be thankful for that if nothing else. God is watching out for ya!
Just remember- it was not Barrack Obama that made this mess. This mess is W’s. A year from now it will be Obama’s.
We have a Liberal SOCIALIST Bass Turd as President, and jobs continue to evaporate.
What a surprise!
Oh wait! Didn’t Obama S A V E at least 4 Million jobs?
Work toward empowering more people to employ themselves.
The words that most present day Americans should run in terror from are not “I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” as Reagan lied.
The words people should run away from are “help wanted”.
BlueJay
Posted September 5, 2009 at 9:52 pm | Permalink
Work toward empowering more people to employ themselves.
The words that most present day Americans should run in terror from are not “I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” as Reagan lied.
The words people should run away from are “help wanted”.
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God knows, YOU can’t or won’t help.
BJ doesn’t your arm get tired holding that tin cup all day?