Happy Friday folks,
Sobering news on the economic front, as Gallup just reported that there is “no momentum” in Americans’ ability to find a quality job. People simply don’t feel that the economy is growing for them. This news is disappointing, but not surprising- the “recovery” guided by the left’s ideological agenda has not connected economic growth to everyday Americans.
Take the gargantuan stimulus package, for instance. The Congressional Budget Office recently released an analysis of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and its impact in 2012. The bill, as you may recall, has an enormous price tag: “CBO estimates that ARRA will increase budget deficits by about $830 billion over the 2009–2019 period.”
Because it is the largest piece of legislation drafted on this side of the galaxy, it is reasonable to believe that it would have a long-lasting positive impact, no? Well, the CBO estimates that the ARRA “lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.1 and 0.6 percentage points” in 2012. Quite frankly, the American people need jobs, and with this bill’s impact shriveling up after three years, they are not getting what they (and their children and grandchildren) are paying for.
Seize the day,
Mark Bednar
@MarkBednar
Important Things On Tap For Today
11:00 AM: President Obama & Vice President Biden attend Democratic Governors Association meeting.
11:30 AM: Press Secretary Jay Carney Briefs Press
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@Politico “.@marcorubio stresses the importance of Israel’s security:http://politi.co/YhaiuZ”
@Will_McCants “Tip #23: don’t join al-Qaeda MT @switch_d: Al-#Qaeda’s 22 tips for dodging #drone attacks http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9886673/Al-Qaedas-22-tips-for-dodging-drone-attacks-the-list-in-full.html …”
@SeanSpicer “Group of protestors gathered around 1st & D St SE - cant tell but maybe outside the #Subway — did #Jared piss somebody off?”
@NYTimes “FiveThirtyEight: Oscar Predictions, Election-Style http://nyti.ms/13sqE3u”
@ILoveCoffee “#coffeeMYTH Coffee is Bad for You”
On The Radar
Economic Growth
Ford Investing $200 Million To Build Turbocharged Engine In Ohio from Reuters by Deepa Seetharaman. “Ford Motor Co plans to invest nearly $200 million in its Cleveland engine plant to build a 2-liter version of its popular turbocharged engine for the company’s North American lineup. Production of the 2-liter ‘EcoBoost’ engine is expected to start in late 2014. The move will add 450 jobs at the Cleveland factory, which now makes Ford’s 3.5-liter turbocharged engine as well as a 3.7-liter V6 engine, the company said on Thursday.”
Forrest Gump At Treasury from The Wall Street Journal. “Senate Democrats are in a hurry to confirm Jack Lew as Secretary of the Treasury before anyone notices his biography. Otherwise, liberal lawmakers might be embarrassed voting for a man who represents everything they’ve been campaigning against. Investor in Cayman Islands tax haven? Check. Recipient of a bonus and corporate jet rides underwritten by taxpayers at a bailed-out bank? Check. Executive at a university that accepted student-loan “kickbacks” for steering kids toward a favored bank? Check. Excessive compensation with minimal disclosure? Check.”
Detroit Named Most Miserable U.S. City In Forbes Ranking from Reuters by Patricia Reaney. “With its violent crimes, high unemployment, dwindling population and financial crisis, Detroit was named on Thursday as the most miserable city in the United States. It toppled Miami, which held the title last year, and surpassed Flint, Michigan, Rockford and Chicago in Illinois and Modesto, California, which rounded out the five most unhappy urban areas. ‘Detroit’s problems are hardly news. It has been in a four-decade decline paralleling the slide in the U.S. auto industry,’ according to Forbes.com, which compiles the yearly ranking.”
Immigration
U.S. Unions, Business Agree On Guidelines For Low-Skilled Workers from Reuters by Rachelle Younglai. “The largest American union and the country’s biggest business lobby group said Thursday they agreed on principles for revamping the low-skilled worker visa program, a move hailed as major progress that could hasten immigration reform in Congress. The AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said they agreed on three points that would ensure that American workers get the first opportunity at jobs, create a new guest worker program and establish another bureaucracy to analyze labor trends and advise Congress.”
Immigration: The Lesser Of Two Evils from The Washington Post by Charles Krauthammer. “The president suggested he would hold off introducing his own immigration bill as long as bipartisan Senate negotiations were proceeding apace — until his own immigration bill mysteriously leaked precisely as bipartisan Senate negotiations were proceeding apace. A naked political maneuver and a blunt warning to Republicans: Finish that immigration deal in Congress, or I’ll propose something I know you can’t accept — and flog the issue mercilessly next year to win back the House.”
Health Care
Why Republican Governors Are Saying Yes To Medicaid, No To Obamacare’s Exchanges from The Washington Post by Sarah Kliff. “These same governors have, however, also eschewed another big Obamacare component: The exchanges. The three most recent Medicaid expansion converts—Florida’s Rick Scott, Michigan’s Rick Snyder and Ohio’s John Kasich—have all rejected the idea of setting up the marketplace, leaving it to the feds to do the work, instead (Michigan is splitting the difference and will run its market in partnership with the feds).”
Fewer Americans Getting Health Insurance From Employer from Gallup by Elizabeth Mendes. “Fewer Americans reported having employer-based health insurance in 2012 than did in 2008, 2009, and 2010, but at 44.5% it is unchanged from 2011. At the same time, more Americans continue to report having a government-based health plan — Medicare, Medicaid, or military or veterans’ benefits — with the 25.6% who did so in 2012 up from 23.4% in 2008.”
X-Factor
Iran Appears To Advance Construction Of Arak Nuclear Plant from Reuters by Fredrik Dahl. “Iran appears to be advancing in its construction of a research reactor Western experts say could offer the Islamic state a second way of producing material for a nuclear bomb, if it decided to embark on such a course, a U.N. report showed.”
This & That
38 Maps You Never Knew You Needed from Buzzfeed by Tanner Ringerud.
Oscar Pistorius Granted Bail from The Guardian.
Unpretentiousil Medicine Commercial To Heal Hipster
Lindsay Lohan Gets Her A## Kicked In Legal Fight With Pitbull from TMZ.
Kobe Bryant Confident In Lakers from ESPN.