Showing posts with label tanking the economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tanking the economy. Show all posts
Friday, February 01, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Rep. Nadler: ‘Gangster’ Republicans threatening U.S. with another depression
By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) blasted Republicans in Congress on Thursday for using the federal debt ceiling as political leverage to demand spending cuts from Democrats.
“[Obama] is betting that the Republican Party is not completely insane,” he said on MSNBC. “I hope that is a good bet. I’m not sure it is, because essentially what Republicans are doing is saying, like a 1930′s gangster, ‘That’s a nice economy you got over there, pity if it should happen to blow up if you don’t pay me off with what I want.’ That’s a direct threat, and the hostage is the entire economy because if we don’t raise the debt ceiling, we will default, and if we default we will have a depression. I mean, a real depression.”
Obama has said he will not negotiate over the federal debt ceiling, which authorizes the U.S. Treasury Department to pay the nation’s creditors. Fitch Ratings warned Tuesday that the United States could have its Triple-AAA credit rating downgraded if it fails to raise the debt ceiling in a “timely manner.”
Nadler and other Democrats in the House have introduced legislation that would abolish debt ceiling altogether.
“The debt ceiling is arbitrary, doesn’t affect the deficit, and serves no real function in keeping spending down – and it’s time to abolish it,” the congressman said in a statement. “Only then will we be certain to pay our bills on time and take away from extremists this tool for political blackmail.”
Watch video, uploaded to YouTube, below:
Raw Story (http://s.tt/1yCrx)
Friday, January 04, 2013
Friday, July 06, 2012
5 Ways Republicans Have Sabotaged Job Growth
New numbers released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the economy added a mere 80,000 jobs in June. That’s down from an average of 150,000 jobs a month for the first part of the year, and far too little to keep up with population growth.
Republican intransigence on economic policy has been a key contributor to the sluggish recovery. As early as 2009, Republican fear-mongering over spending and their readiness to filibuster in the Senate helped convince the White House economic team that an $800 billion stimulus was the most they could hope to get through Congress. Reporting has since revealed that the team thought the country actually needed a stimulus on the order of $1.2 to $1.8 trillion. The economy’s path over the next three years proved them right. Here are the top five ways the Republicans have sabotaged the economic recovery since:
1. Filibustering the American Jobs Act. Last October, Senate Republicans killeda jobs bill proposed by President Obama that would have pumped $447 billion into the economy. Multiple economic analysts predicted the bill would add around two million jobs and hailed it as defense against a double-dip recession. The Congressional Budget Office also scored it as a net deficit reducer over ten years, and the American public supported the bill.2. Stonewalling monetary stimulus. The Federal Reserve can do enormous good for a depressed economy through more aggressive monetary stimulus, and by tolerating a temporarily higher level of inflation. But with everything from Ron Paul’s anti-inflationary crusade to Rick Perry threatening to lynch Chairman Ben Bernanke, Republicans have browbeaten the Fed into not going down this path. Most damagingly, the GOP repeatedly held up President Obama’s nominations to the Federal Reserve Board during the critical months of the recession, leaving the board without the institutional clout it needed to help the economy.3. Threatening a debt default. Even though the country didn’t actually hit its debt ceiling last summer, the Republican threat to default on the United States’ outstanding obligations was sufficient to spook financial markets anddo real damage to the economy.4. Cutting discretionary spending in the debt ceiling deal. The deal the GOP extracted as the price for avoiding default imposed around $900 billion in cuts over ten years. It included $30.5 billion in discretionary cuts in 2012 alone, costing the country 0.3 percent in economic growth and 323,000 jobs, according to estimates from the Economic Policy Institute. Starting in 2013, the deal will trigger another $1.2 trillion in cuts over ten years.5. Cutting discretionary spending in the budget deal. While not as cataclysmic as the debt ceiling brinksmanship, Republicans also threatened a shutdown of the government in early 2011 if cuts were not made to that year’s budget. The deal they struck with the White House cut $38 billion from food stamps, health, education, law enforcement, and low-income programs among others, whilesparing defense almost entirely.
There have also been a few near-misses, in which the GOP almost prevented help from coming to the economy. The Republicans in the House delayed a transportation bill that saved as many as 1.9 million jobs. House Committees run by the GOP have passed proposals aimed at cutting billions from food stamps, and the party has repeatedly threatened to kill extensions of unemployment insurance and cuts to the payroll tax.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, those policies — the payroll tax cut, food stamps, unemployment insurance, and discretionary spending for low-income Americans —have the highest multipliers, meaning more job boosting potential per dollar.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Former Romney Adviser: Republicans Are ‘Rooting Against The Economy’
By Travis Waldron/Think Progress
A media strategist who was a senior adviser to Mitt Romney when he ran for governor in 2003 said that he thinks Republican lawmakers are “rooting against the economy” to ensure that President Obama doesn’t win re-election.
Rob Gray, a senior adviser on Romney’s gubernatorial campaign, is a Republican media strategist who owns Gray Media, which lists an assortment of Republican officials among its past clients. Gray worked for Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign and, according to Gray Media’s web site, has advised former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld (R), Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey (R), the Republican National Committee, and Romney. He did not respond to inquiries from ThinkProgress about whether he currently advises Romney or his campaign.
Appearing on Boston’s Fox 25 news channel this morning, Gray said he bought the idea that congressional Republicans were “rooting against the economy somewhat” because they believed “short-term pain” between now and November would be better than four more years under Obama:
HOST: Plenty of pundits, Rob, are suggesting that GOP lawmakers might be dragging their heels when it comes to trying to turn it around in fears that it might actually help the president. Are you buying that?GRAY: Well, I’m not buying that they’re dragging their heels. I am buying that they’re rooting against the economy somewhat because they think that the short-term pain of, you know, the next four months is much better than having additional four years of pain under Obama. They believe the government should spend less and that they have better economic ideas than the president does. So, you know, if we have to suffer between now and November to get a better president for four years, they’re all for it.
Watch it:
Democrats have made similar allegations of congressional Republicans in the past. After Republicans blocked the American Jobs Act last October, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Americans were “tired of Republicans in Congress rooting for the economy to failinstead of working with us to secure our economic future.”
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Rep. Levin blasts House GOP for ‘increasingly undisguised’ effort to sabotage job growth
By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story
Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) on Thursday blasted Republicans for failing to act on the transportation funding bill while touting the repeal of the medical device tax as a “jobs bill.”
“This is further evidence of what is really going on here in this establishment,” he said on the House floor. “A deliberate effort, now increasingly undisguised, to close the door on action to engender job creation and economic growth before the election. November 6 is what is driving the Republican Congress. Politics, not people. This is not only cynical; it is indeed pernicious. We owe it to the American people to blow the whistle on this.”
The Senate in March passed legislation reauthorizing transportation funding for two years with bipartisan support. The $109-billion bill is estimated to create 1.8 million jobs, but the Republican-led House has failed to act on the legislation.
“That bill would means jobs, millions of jobs,” Levin said. “No action. The Republican House message is ‘our way or the highway’ and that means no highways. It is June. There is now the likelihood of no action or none before the construction season is over in numerous states.”
“We will hear today Republican efforts to describe the bill before us to repeal the tax on medical devices as a jobs bill,” he added. “What it really is is another Republican effort to repeal health care reform.”
Republicans on Thursday pushed for legislation, H.R. 436, to repeal the medical device tax, which is part of the Democrat’s health care reform bill. The 2.3 percent tax will be implemented on January 1, 2013, and is estimated to raise $29 billion over the next decade.
Republicans claim the tax will hurt the medical device industry and lead to job losses.
“In Ohio alone, this new tax threatens the jobs of more than 35,000 people,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said Thursday. “With many medical device manufacturers headquartered in our area, it will surely affect families in our community and our region’s economy.”
But Democrats argue the extra costs for medical device manufacturers will be more than offset by the benefit they receive from the new health care law. The White House claimed Thursday the new health care law would give the industry approximately 30 million new potential customers.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
GOP Threatens Transportation Funding Shutdown That Could Jeopardize 1.9 Million Jobs
By Travis Waldron/Think Progress
House Republicans last night rejected the Senate’s bipartisan transportation reauthorization bill and said they would instead adopt a short-term resolution that would maintain current funding levels for 90 days. With just 10 days until the current short-term authorization plan expires, that means House Republicans have made possible a transportation shutdown that could force more than 1.9 million workers off the job.
The Senate approved MAP-21, its transportation bill, 74-22 last week. The bill “is the biggest jobs bill that Congress will consider this year,” according to its main Democratic sponsor, California Sen. Barbara Boxer. The bill is also fully paid for. A long-term House bill that was rife with problems — not least that it would have bankrupted the Highway Trust Fund — has already been defeated.
According to the Department of Transportation, MAP-21, which continues the current levels of funding plus inflation, would save 1.9 million transportation jobs that would temporarily disappear during a shutdown. The bill would also create roughly 1 million new jobs, according to Democratic estimates, bringing the total number of jobs in jeopardy to nearly 3 million, Boxer told the Washington Post:
“The clock is ticking on the shutdown of our transportation programs,” said Boxer, who was floor leader in crafting bipartisan support for the Senate bill. “We’re talking about almost 3 million jobs, and the House is playing games. This is a jobs bill — make no mistake about it.”
If Congress fails to authorize a new transportation package, it wouldn’t be the first time House Republicans have forced workers off the job. Last August, the GOP skipped town after voting on a debt package without reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, forcing the agency to temporarily furlough 4,000 workers while others worked without pay.
Friday, December 02, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Fox Attacks Facebook Jobs Initiative After Tea Party Started Pressuring Businesses Not To Hire
by Solange Uwimana/Media Matters
Two days ago, as Right-Wing Watch reported, leading tea party group Tea Party Nation sent a message to its members calling "for a strike of American small businesses against the movement for global socialism." Activist Melissa Brookstone wrote:
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.I hereby declare that my job creation potential is now ceased."I'm on strike!"
On the heels of this initiative to pressure companies not to hire employees, Fox is complaining about a company trying to help unemployed Americans find jobs:
Fox linked to a report by The Hill that referred to a partnership Facebook has struck with the Obama administration to offer employment resources to Americans:
[Labor Secretary Hilda] Solis said the goal of the partnership is to connect employers with people looking for employment. The initiative will allow the Labor Department to provide information and resources to the millions of users on Facebook, Solis said.[...]As part of the partnership, Facebook created a "Social Jobs Partnership" page to provide job information and resources to users. "Think of this as a free online job fair that can be accessed seven days a week, day or night," said Marne Levine, Facebook's vice president of global public policy.The page will offer Labor Department resources, including job listings and job search services, along with resources from partnering nonprofits.Facebook will target public announcements to users in the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates and Puerto Rico. The announcements will include information about job resources available in the users' area.Levine also said Facebook plans to invest in developing new social technologies to help people find jobs.
Fox later changed its headline to read: "Facebook and Obama Join Forces Again."
Tea Party Group Urges Small Businesses ‘Not To Hire A Single Person’ To Hurt Obama
By Marie Diamond/Think Progress
Congressional Republicans have acted shocked and offended at Democrats’ suggestions that they are intentionally sabotaging the economy to try to win back the White House in 2012. Republicans have refused to pass President Obama’s jobs plan — which experts estimate will create at least 1.9 million jobs — and proposed an alternative plan that Moody’s says “will likely push the economyback into recession.”
Now influential Tea Party leaders are throwing caution to the wind and openly lobbying business owners to stop hiring in order to hurt Obama politically. This week, Right Wing Watchpicked up on a message Tea Party Nation sent to their members from conservative activist Melissa Brookstone.
In a rambling letter titled “Call For A Strike of American Small Businesses Against The Movement for Global Socialism,” Brookstone urges businesses “not hire a single person” to protest “this new dictator”:
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. [...]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.
Brookstone cites Democrats’ support of the Occupy Wall Street movement as proof that Obama, media elites, and the like are “against business, private property ownership and capitalism.” Although she fails to explain how a freeze on hiring would send a bold pro-business message, given that such a boycott would further damage the economy and exacerbate high national unemployment.
But these Tea Partiers are only too happy to put politics ahead of the well-being of 14 million unemployed Americans, not to mention the businesses who are looking for qualified workers.
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