Michael Linden, Director for Tax and Budget Policy of The Center For American Progress spoke of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)
The Private Sector Layoffs, The Gross Domestic Product and the Total Payroll Employment were in bad shape before the stimulus began, and all three turned around at almost exactly the moment the stimulus
started.
For the transcript: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/02/av/stimulus_transcript.html
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“We’ve got a choice: We can settle for a country where a few people do really, really well, and everybody else struggles to get by. Or we can restore an economy where everybody gets a fair shot, everybody does their fair share, everybody plays by the same set of rules — from Washington to Wall Street to Main Street. That’s the America we believe in.
Now, we’re still recovering from one of the worst economic crises in three generations. We’ve got a long way to go before everybody who wants a good job can find one; before middle-class Americans regain that sense of security that’s been slipping away for too long — long before the recession hit.
But over the last 23 months, we’ve added 3.7 million new jobs. American manufacturers are creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s. The economy is growing stronger. The recovery is speeding up. And the last thing we can afford to do right now is to go back to the very policies that got us into this mess in the first place. We can’t afford it. The last thing we need is for Washington to stand in the way of America’s comeback. “
“Congress needs to stop taxes from going up on 160 million Americans by the end of this month. And if they don’t act, that’s exactly what will happen. Congress needs to pass an extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance without drama, and without delay, and without linking it to some other ideological side issues. “
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President Obama begins a three-day trip to the Midwest and West Coast, heading to Milwaukee, Wis., to talk about his economy plans, American manufacturing and the importance of companies insourcing and investing in America.
Wednesday, February 15
President Obama travels to Master Lock in Milwaukee, WI
Thursday, February 16
President Obama travels to Corona del Mar, CA and San Francisco, CA
Friday, February 17
President Obama travels to the Boeing Everett Production Facility, Everett, WA
Contact your Congress person to TELL THEM TO START WORKING WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA!!
U.S. Senators
U.S. Representatives
Tweet a Message to Your Representatives
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Washtington State Governor Christine Gregoire to sign newly passed legislation into law to legalize gay marriage in Washington state
11:30 AM PST, 2:30 AM EST Statehouse signing ceremony – Olympia, Washington
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Washington State will be the seventh U.S. state with a law on the books to recognize same-sex marriage, the others being New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and New Hampshire; other entities that also recognize same-sex marriage are The District of Columbia, The Coquille Indian Tribe, and The Suquamish tribe.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States
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U.S. Civil Unions
Jurisdictions in the U.S. that offer civil unions or domestic partnerships granting nearly all of the state-recognized rights of marriage to same-sex couples include:
Domestic partnership in California (2000 – expanded over time)
Civil union in New Jersey (2007)
Domestic partnership in Oregon (2008)
Domestic partnership in the District of Columbia (1992 law implemented, 2002 became effective – expanded over time)
Domestic partnership in Washington (2007 – expanded over time)
Domestic partnership in Nevada (2009)
Civil union in Illinois (2011)
Civil union in Rhode Island (2011)
Civil union in Hawaii (2012)
Civil union in Delaware (2012)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_union#United_States
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1/30/12 Posted by Ezra Klein - WashingtonPost
Two years ago, the McKinsey Global Institute looked at the recoveries of 32 countries that had undergone a financial crisis. Their analysis was grim. It was also correct. Contrary to the hopes some held for a quick recovery, MGI warned that financial crises tended to lead to long, slow recoveries as households, businesses and governments dug their way out of debt. But in a report released last week, MGI delivered some sunnier news — at least for the United States. If you look at the 10 largest developed economies in the world, the United States is the furthest along the path to recovery.
Looking back to their sample of 32 past instances with post-financial crisis recoveries, MGI zeroed in on Finland and Sweden’s experiences in the 1990s as the most relevant to our current moment. Those examples “show two distinct phases of deleveraging. In the first, households, corporations, and financial institutions reduce debt significantly over several years, while economic growth is negative or minimal and government debt rises. In the second phase, growth rebounds and government debt is reduced gradually over many years.”
Most economies, the authors say, are barely even in phase one. In the United Kingdom and Spain, for example, total debt is still rising. But not in the United States. Here, “debt in the financial sector relative to GDP has fallen back to levels last seen in 2000, before the credit bubble. U.S. households have reduced their debt relative to disposable income by 15 percentage points, more than in any other country; at this rate, they could reach sustainable debt levels in two years or so.”
For the entire article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/study-us-recovering-faster-than-its-peers/2011/08/25/gIQAWuD9cQ_blog.html#pagebreak
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Since President Obama signed the Recovery Act of 2009 to help get our economy back on track. As a result:
-The U.S. has seen 23 consecutive months of private-sector job growth.
-The private sector added nearly 3.7 million jobs over those 23 months.
-The manufacturing sector has added 396,000 jobs since December 2009, with annual job growth in the last two years for the first time since 1997.
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To continue America’s recovery:
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What drove the U.S. economy in 2011? And can it last?
12/28/2011 Posted by Brad Plumer – washingtonpost
Through the first three quarters of 2011, the U.S. economy expanded at a 1.2 percent annual rate. So where did this (middling) growth come from? The Council of Foreign Relations serves up a handy graph breaking things down:
The left-hand side shows the drivers of economic growth — both up and down. Government layoffs and budget cuts, particularly at the local level, slashed growth by about half a percentage point. On the positive side, meanwhile, the biggest driver of growth was an increase in personal consumption. Americans were buying more stuff. Trouble is, it’s unclear how sustainable even this modest spending binge will prove to be.
As the bar graph on the right shows, 44 percent of the increase in consumption this year came because incomes were growing and people were actually getting richer. By contrast, 36 percent of the consumption bump came because Americans were saving less, while 20 percent of the spending boost came thanks to the payroll tax cut, which is set to expire in two months unless Congress extends it again.
NOW YOU CAN HELP BY CONTACTING YOUR CONGRESS PERSON TO EXTEND THE PAYROLL TAX CUT!
U.S. Senators
U.S. Representatives
Tweet a Message to Your Representatives
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State of the Union 2012 – White House Follow Up Events
January 24:
10:00 PM EST
Open for Questions: State of the Union 2012
Senior Administration officials take questions from a live audience at the White House as well as from Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ about the President’s State of the Union Address. January 24, 2012.
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January 25:
All Day Josh Earnest answers your questions on Twitter @jearnest44
12:55 PM EST
President Obama will travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to deliver remarks at Conveyor Engineering & Manufacturing
1:00 PM EST
Mark Zuckerman, White House Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council holds a follow up event of the State of the Union speech
3:00 PM EST
Ray LaHood, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary holds a follow up event of the State of the Union speech at Virginia Commonwealth University
3:00 PM EST
Dan Pfeiffer , White House Communications Director holds a follow up event of the State of the Union speech
6:30 PM EST
President Obama travels to the Phoenix area to deliver remarks at the Intel Ocotillo Campus, Chandler, AZ
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January 26:
11:00 AM EST
Vice President Biden tours and delivers remarks at a center co-operated by Albany Engineered Composites and Safran USA on promoting partnerships between Community Colleges and Businesses in Rochester, NH.
10:00 AM EST
Veterans: Matt Flavin, Director of Veterans & Wounded Warrier Policy
11:00 AM EST
LGBT: Miriam Vogel & Gautam Raghavan
12:00 PM EST
Women: Racquel Russell and Avra Siegel
1:00 PM EST
President Obama delivers remarks at UPS Las Vegas South about the importance of American workers developing American-made energy to an economy that’s built to last
1:00 PM EST
Seniors: Jeanne Lambrew and Nick Papas
1:10 PM EST
Vice President Biden to answer some of the most popular questions on Twitter
2:00 PM EST
Latinos: Felicia Escobar, Julie Rodriguez and Luis Miranda
3:00 PM EST
President Obama delivers remarks at Buckley Air Force Base, Aurora, CO
4:00 PM EST
Small Business Owners: Christine Koronides,Senior Advisor for Economic Policy
5:00 PM EST
African American: Danielle Gray, Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy
5:30 PM EST
President Obama will deliver remarks on American Energy and Promoting Energy Security
at Buckley Air Force Base, Aurora, CO
6:00 PM EST
Asian American Pacific Islanders: Chris Lu, Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary
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January 27:
All Day Submit your questions for President Obama to answer 1/30 at youtube.com/whitehouse
9:00 AM EST
Disability Issues: Kareem Dale, Deputy Assoc. Director of Public Liaison
9:45 AM EST
President Obama will deliver remarks at the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, MI
10:00 AM EST
Rural Issues: Doug McKalip, Senior Policy Advisor for Rural Affairs
11:00 AM EST
Foreign Policy: Ben Rhodes, Deputy NSA for Strategic Communications & Speechwriting
12:00 PM EST
Education: Roberto Rodriguez, Special Assistant to the President for Education Policy
1:00 PM EST
Health: Jeanne Lambrew and Nick Papas
2:00 PM EST
Energy: Heather Zichal and Dan Utech
3:00 PM EST
Consumer Protections: Brian Deese, Deputy Director National Economic Council
4:00 PM EST
Economy: Jason Furman, Principal Deputy Director National Economic Council
5:00 PM EST
Job Opportunities: Portia Wu, Senior Policy Advisor for Mobility & Opportunity Policy
6:00 PM EST
Urban Issues: Racquel Russell, Special Assistant to the President for Mobility & Opportunity
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January 30:
5:30 PM EST
President Obama will answer your top-voted questions in a special post-State of the Union interview from the White House. To participate, visit http://www.youtube.com/whitehouse and submit your question. YouTube videos you submit will drive the interview and will be used to select a few lucky people to join a live Google+ Hangout with the President.
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$12.7 Trillion Added to the Debt Over the Last Decade
Graph source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infographics/us-national-debt
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For the last decade, we have spent more money than we take in. In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus. But instead of using it to pay off debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in the nex tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription drug program were simply added to our nationsl’s credit card…To mkae matters worse, the recession meant that there was less money coming in, and it required us to spend even more – on tax cuts for the middle-class families to spur the economy; on unemployment insurance; on aid to states so we could prevent more teachers and firefighters and police officers from being laid off.
Because neither party is blameless for the decision that led to this problem, both parties have a responsibility to solve it.
President Obama
To learn more about President Obama’s plan for reform and fiscal responsibility: http://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/reform
Voters who wanted to empower the Republican Congress and the Rich 1% came out and voted in 2010 in force.
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By the Numbers: 170,000
Posted by Megan Slack on January 10, 2012
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood was in Detroit on Monday, kicking off the opening of the North American International Auto Show and highlighting the resurgence of the American auto industry. Since Chrysler and GM emerged from bankruptcy in June of 2009, the auto industry has added 170,000 jobs—the best period of job growth for the industry in more than a decade.
When President Obama took office, the American auto industry was shedding jobs by the hundreds of thousands and GM and Chrysler faced the possibility of liquidation – which would have caused at least 1 million more jobs to be lost. The Presidentmade the tough choice to help provide the auto industry the temporary support it needed to grow and prosper.
Today, GM and Chrysler have repaid their government loans, and the “Big Three” automakers– GM, Ford, and Chrysler– are all adding jobs, generating profit, and investing in their U.S. facilities. Auto sales climbed in December for the seventh consecutive month and GM, Chrysler, and Ford saw their market share increase to over 47 percent in 2011, the second straight year that Detroit gained market share against their foreign competitors, something that had not previously happened since 1995.
This industry and our economy have a long way yet to go to repair the damage from this recession and return to full health. But the distance these companies and the auto industry have traveled over the past two years is a bright spot on the road to recovery.
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News Headlines:
Once struggling U.S. auto market now industry bedrock (1/8/12 Reuters)
GM Leads U.S. Carmaker Gains in China as Honda Sales Fall (making GM the world’s largest carmaker) (1/10/12 BusinessWeek)
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The U.S. economy added 212,000 private sector jobs in December 2011. After losing more than 8 million jobs in the recession, more than 3 million private sector jobs were added over the past 22 months. The White House is starting 2012 with manufacturing on the rise and the American auto industry on the mend. Analysts and executives expect 2012 U.S. auto sales to grow 4 percent to 9 percent, the third consecutive annual gain. All three U.S. automakers took market share in the United States for the first time in 23 years.
President Obama announced in his January 7th Weekly Address that on Wednesday the White House will host a forum called “Insourcing American Jobs.” Attending the forum will be U.S. business leaders who are bringing jobs back home to America.
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Creating a judicial pool for the 21st Century, one with intellect, fair-mindedness and integrity that resembles the nation that it serves, is a top priority for President Obama and his administration. In fact, the President’s nominations for federal judges embody an unprecedented commitment to expanding the racial, gender and experiential diversity of the men and women who enforce our laws and deliver justice.
Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice
confirmation date: 8/6/2009
Hon. Elena Kagan, Associate Justice
confirmation date: 8/7/2010
Unfortunately, the delays these nominees are encountering on Capitol Hill are equally unprecedented: earlier this month, the Senate left for its August recess without considering 20 eminently qualified candidates, 16 of whom had passed through the bipartisan Senate Judiciary Committee completely unopposed, a development the Washington Post called “not only frustrating but also destructive” in an editorial published yesterday.
The victims of these delays, of course, are the American citizens who are being denied the fair and timely judicial proceedings they deserve because of the chronic shortage of federal judges on the bench. Stephen Zack, president of the American Bar Association, told Senate leaders in a recent letter that the abundance of vacant federal judgeships “create strains that will inevitably reduce the quality of our justice system and erode public confidence in the ability of the courts to vindicate constitutional rights or render fair and timely decisions.”
75 Comments | Civil Rights, Economy, Education, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Immigration, Legislation, Military, PBO, Security & Defense, Technology | Tagged: Civil Rights, Economy, Education, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Immigration, Legislation, Military, PBO, Security & Defense, Technology | Permalink
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