McCain, Obama release statements on largest monthly US job loss report in 5 years

Statements by Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama on Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department. In a sign that the economy is hurtling toward a deep recession, employers slashed payrolls by 159,000 in September, the most in more than five years.

___

McCain’s Statement:

Today’s report of another 159,000 lost jobs confirms what America’s working men and women have understood for months: Our nation’s economy is on the wrong track. It is imperative that Congress act to address the financial crisis while protecting taxpayers and being good stewards of their dollars. But we must do more.

America’s middle class needs help from a government that is truly standing on their side and not in their way. I am committed to getting to the roots of this crisis — reforming Washington and cleaning up the mess created by the greed and crony capitalism of government-backed mortgage giants — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I will reverse out-of-control spending, end the wasteful and corrupting practice of earmarks, and get the government budget back to balance. I will reform health care to control costs and better serve American families, open markets around the globe for our products, cut taxes, and expand domestic production of energy to eliminate the ability of international oil markets to hold our economy hostage. I will create jobs and get the economy on the right track.

Unlike Sen. Obama, I do not believe we will create one single American job by increasing taxes, going on a massive spending binge, and closing off markets. Our nation cannot afford Sen. Obama’s higher taxes. — John McCain

___

Obama’s Statement:

Today, Americans woke up to the sad news that 159,000 jobs were lost last month alone, making September the ninth straight month of job loss. With three-quarters of a million jobs lost this year, and millions of families struggling to pay the bills and stay in their homes, this country can’t afford Sen. McCain’s plan to give America four more years of the same policies that have devastated our middle-class and our economy for the last eight.

Instead of Sen. McCain’s plan to give tax breaks to CEOs and companies that ship jobs overseas, I will rebuild the middle-class and create millions of new jobs by investing in infrastructure and renewable energy that will reduce our dependence on oil from the Middle East. I also call on Congress to pass an immediate rescue plan for our middle-class that will provide tax relief, save 1 million jobs, and save our local communities from harmful budget cuts and painful tax increases. — Barack Obama.

On the Net:

• McCain campaign: http://www.johnmccain.com/
• Obama campaign: http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

My brother is in an Auto Insurance Commercial for 2 seconds…and they payed him over $3000 for it, God bless Unionized labor. :)

So, as some of you may know, my brother recently moved to the Los Angeles, California area.  Some of you may also know that my brother is an avid fan and player of “soccer” (football), by pressing play below you can see a local insurance ad that he and his teammates were asked to “stand in for.” (he is the dude in orange flipping the coin and the only guy form his team to actually be in the ad. (he was a very lucky man for this, as you will see.))

The crazy part is not that my bro was asked to be in a local commercial in L.A., but rather that the piece of paper he signed in compliance with California’s unionized laborforce of Actors ended up entitling him to over $3000.00 in “suprise” checks in his mailbox for his unexpected “role” as a “principle” for 2 seconds in the resulting local auto insurance company ad.  Amazing. (the ad IS slated to air over 2000 times on cable in California/WestCoast markets, but still seems like a nice chunk of change for 2 hours “work” 🙂 to me!)

While this is clearly an example of some rather unlikely “right place at the right time” luck and seemingly outrageous pay for 2 hours of “work”  :), I also see this as just one small example of how a nationwide/trade-wide return to the American tradition of Unionized Labor membership may soon help all working Americans regain fair value for their labors and hopefully a “LIVING WAGE” for anyone willing to work 40+ hours every week.  The point I want you all to see is that what happened to my brother here would never have been possible were it not for the long history of hard work, stubborn willpower, and years of sacrifice and organizing of thousands of people for many years.  People who had the courage, the optimism and the self-respect to fight for their own financial rights in the face of overwhelming structural/legal forces that have long been fostered to boost corporate profits at the expense of worker wage/living incomes.

The “Union-made” rule/regulation by which the corporation/production company/insurance company had to play by in California in this case is what allowed for my brother, the “worker” to be paid so handsomely for his “work.”

‘Google’ the phrase “Cut Workforce,” and “Job loss” Scary results to behold for sure, pray for optimism, God Bless America.

Click here to see News Search results and a long list of recent US company announcements to “Cut Workforce.” SCARY. And SAD. 😦

Click here to ‘google’ job loss to see scary truths and ways of coping.  😐

Connecticut General Assembly overrides Governor’s minimum wage increase veto

The following was published at Courant.com, in the Hartford Courant:

HARTFORD, Conn. – With two votes to spare, the Democrat-controlled state legislature voted Monday to override Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s veto of a minimum wage increase.

It marked the second time that the General Assembly has overturned one of the Republican governor’s vetoes.

The override will ensure that the current minimum hourly wage of $7.65 an hour is boosted to $8 beginning in January, and to $8.25 an hour in 2010. The change will make Connecticut’s minimum wage among the nation’s highest.

“It’s a simple matter of equity,” said Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, saying low-wage workers need the $14 weekly increase as gasoline and food prices are increasing.

House members needed a two-thirds majority – at least 101 votes – to override the veto. The final tally was 102-39.

The Senate’s vote was 25-9, a one-vote margin above the minimum 24 votes needed for the override. Both votes were mostly along party lines.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Washington currently has the highest minimum wage rate, at $8.07 an hour. Of Connecticut’s neighbors, the minimum wage is $8 in Massachusetts, $7.40 in Rhode Island and $7.15 in New York.

An estimated 65,000 workers in the state receive the minimum wage.

Rell, who supported past minimum wage increases, called Monday’s veto override “a seriously shortsighted decision” that will hurt small businesses during a difficult economic period.

“Even as the national economic picture continues to darken, the legislature has opted to further cloud Connecticut’s business environment,” she said.

Most of Rell’s GOP colleagues agreed.

“Please, before you cast your vote on this bill, think about what you’re doing,” pleaded state Rep. Anthony D’Amelio, R-Waterbury, who also owns a small business. “What you’re doing actually is hurting the people you’re trying to help.”

D’Amelio predicted that businesses will cut workers’ hours to cover the pay increase.

Some Democrats called the Republicans’ concerns a red herring. Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, said similar dire predictions were made when lawmakers increased the wage in the past, but they never came true.

Sister Teresa Fonti, co-director of the House of Bread soup kitchen in Hartford, said she’s seeing more poor people with jobs seeking assistance.

“Obviously, this salary is not getting them through the week,” she said.

Democratic leaders initially were unsure how many legislators would attend Monday’s veto session because of summer vacations and work schedules.

Let America Be America Again, a poem by Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed–
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek–
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today–O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home–
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay–
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again–
The land that never has been yet–
And yet must be–the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine–the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME–
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose–
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath–
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain–
All, all the stretch of these great green states–
And make America again!

Biggest monthly jump in U.S. unemployment since 1986 happened this April

From Newsday.com: (found here.)

“The unemployment rate rose to 5.5 percent, from 5 percent in April, the biggest monthly increase since 1986. The rise surprised economists, who were forecasting an uptick to 5.1 percent.

The economy lost 49,000 jobs across a spectrum of businesses, including construction, manufacturing, retail and temporary-help services, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Employers have cut payrolls for five straight months, but the latest cuts weren’t as deep as the 60,000 analysts were bracing for.”

Also…

(found here) ….”Oil prices jumped more than $11, approaching a record $140 a barrel. Earlier in the day, the Department of Labor released a startling figure: The nation’s unemployment rate in May climbed from 5 percent to 5.5 percent, the biggest one-month jump since 1986.”