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updated: 2022-08-18
 

"Thus Allan G.B. Fisher feels that in practice, governments will be content to define full employment as 'avoiding that level of unemployment, whatever it may happen to be, which there is good reason to fear may provoke an inconvenient restlessness among the electorate'." --- Albert Rees "The Meaning and Measurement of Unemployment and Full Employment" in _The Measurement and Behavior of Unemployment_ pg 13 (quoting Allan G.B. Fisher "International Aspects of Full Employment in Great Britain", London, Royal Institute of International Affairs 1946 pg 19)

 
 

2010 Jun

U	M	T	W	R	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

 

"The number of wholly unemployed as a percentage of the civilian labor force does understate the amount of total plus partial unemployment.   The under-statement arises in two ways:   (1) the numerator excludes partial unemployment, and   (2) the denominator includes as, full units the members of the part-time labor force.   This under-statement is offset in very small part by including as full units in the numerator the wholly unemployed seeking part-time work." --- Albert Rees "The Meaning and Measurement of Unemployment and Full Employment" in _The Measurement and Behavior of Unemployment_ pg 25

 
 
 

captain William Scott's flag for the Republic of Texas.

2010-06-01

2010-06-01
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring News-Letter_
"the value of a green card"
I'll be reporting here on an academic paper by Amy Kandilov, a Vivek Wadhwa blog posting, and relating both to the recent Mithas and Lucas study.
 
I've been stating for years that one doesn't need any data (though plenty exists) to see that H-1B workers make less money than comparable Americans (with "comparable" being a key word):   Since it's difficult for H-1Bs to switch jobs, and basically out of the question if they are being sponsored for a green card, they have a narrower range of opportunities than do those who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.   Thus, on average H-1Bs will be underpaid, relative to comparable Americans (the latter a shorthand, though technically inaccurate, term here for U.S. citizens and permanent residents).
 
When I explain the mathematical issue to students, I call it the Big Bag, Little Bag Principle.   Say you have two bags, filled with bills of various denominations.   The big bag has every bill the little bag has, AND MORE.   You are allowed to choose a bag and then choose a bill from that bag, with a full view of everything.   Which bag should you choose?   Of course, the big bag!
 
I also tell my students not to make decisions on the basis of a single study.   Look at multiple studies, and most importantly, see if they jibe with what you know qualitatively about the subject.   So, in addition to the many studies showing that H-1Bs are under-paid relative to comparable Americans (including 2 congressionally-commissioned employer surveys in which the question was asked directly), one also has the qualitative backing -- the Big Bag, Little Bag Principle, applied to the lack of mobility of the H-1Bs.
 
In my recent reviews here of a new paper by Mithas and Lucas, I emphasized that although I consider their data set to be invalid for the topic at hand (H-1Bs in the computer industry) and their general conclusions are quite different from mine, Mithas and Lucas do agree on my point about the Big Bag, Little Bag Principle.   They cite this as the reason why they found that green card holders got higher salaries than H-1B workers.
 
Vivek Wadhwa, a proponent of immigration programs for tech workers, recently cited the Mithas/Lucas paper as supporting his positive views on such programs, but also states that he too agrees with me on the Big Bag, Little Bag Principle.   He says;
 
The study also highlighted an issue that I have written about: these workers are earning less than they should.   Because of a flawed immigration system, the U.S.A. has admitted large numbers of workers on temporary visas, but has never increased the number of permanent resident visas (also called green cards) to enable these workers to make America their home.   Waiting times for green cards can be longer than a decade, and while workers wait in queue, they can't easily change jobs.   Employers often take advantage of the situation.   Indeed, Lucas and Mithas found that H-1B visa holders earned 6.1% less than equivalent green-card holders.
 
I'll have much more to say about Vivek's [web log] later in this posting, but for now let's stick to Big Bag/Little Bag point.   Vivek points out that the M/L data would indicate a 6.1% premium accruing to H-1Bs when they get their green cards.
 
But 6.1% is not very much.   Again, I don't think the M/L data are representative, for the reasons, I've given, but compare this figure to the others that research has found: 15%-20% in my studies, 33% in the UCLA study, etc.   (See my University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform article (pdf).)
 
Well, the other day, I came across a 2007 study by Amy Kandilov, then a doctoral student (coincidentally at the University of Michigan), titled "The Value of a Green Card: Immigrant Wage Increases Following Adjustment to U.S. Permanent Residence".   This study is different from those done by the rest of us (M/L, myself, UCLA, etc.), in that the Kandilov study analyzes data for new green card recipients, Princeton's New Immigrant Survey.   Moreover, the data state which of the respondents got their green cards through employer sponsorship.   This is very valuable data.
 
The NIS data is not perfect either.   It is far too coarse in its handling of region, it mixes data sets and so on.   Most importantly, it does not have before-and-after salary data.   Instead, it has the salary of the new immigrant and the salary he made when first coming to the U.S.A.   For that reason, Kandilov had to match the immigrants with similar Americans (she stuck to natives, not even naturalized citizens), using propensity analysis and the Current Population Survey data.   That way she could compare how much the immigrants gained in salary over the period from entry to the U.S.A. to the time of acquiring a green card, compared to what salary increase they WOULD have had during that period if they had had full labor market mobility like Americans do.
 
Here's what Kandilov found, as she writes in her abstract:
 
The results from the nearest neighbor propensity score matching indicate that becoming a permanent resident is accompanied by at least an 18% wage increase for employer-sponsored immigrants.   Additionally, I use kernel matching to confirm that immigrants who receive green cards experience a 25% gain in wages between their first U.S. job and the job they hold after receiving permanent residence.
 
That 18%-25% range is consistent with the previous studies I mentioned.   Moreover, it is consistent with the special-skills argument employers make in justifying their green card sponsorship.   In the computer industry, for instance (20% of Kandilov's sample), here were typical salary premiums for special skills around 2002: 24%24%20%20%16%

Oracle DBMS tool

SAP

HP UNIX

Visual C++

Java

[Those don't seem so "special", to me...jgo]
 
Now, as I've detailed before, the legal prevailing wage is NOT the market wage, due to a number of gaping loopholes.   So, ironically, the employer can say "I need to sponsor Mary for a green card, because she knows SAP.", but that same employer does not have to factor in Mary's SAP skills when he calculates the legal prevailing wage for her.   So he gets a 24% "discount" (more, if Mary has several of these skills) in hiring her as an H-1B, all perfectly legal.
 
At any rate, Kandilov's finding does jibe with these other figures.
 
Now, concerning other aspects Vivek's blog posting, he too comments on the nature of the Mithas/Lucas data set, but with a very different spin:
 
The data Lucas and Mithas analyzed did not include all tech professionals: Information Week readers are typically I.T. workers in large and mid-sized American corporations.   The researchers say that they compared their sample with that of other studies and believe that this is more representative of the tech industry than any other research.   And unlike other studies, this compares apples with apples (previous research has looked only at aggregate data, not at individual education and skills).   The Lucas/Mithas study clearly did not account for the shoddy bodyshops that break the law and under-pay their workers.   But it is likely to be representative not only of the Information Week readership, but also of foreign-born I.T. workers in Silicon Valley.   (Silicon Valley tech workers usually have the same advanced educational background and receive the same competitive salaries as their brethren in the I.T. world.)   These are the skilled immigrants that American industry needs—to remain globally competitive.
 
As I have shown in detail in recent postings, InformationWeek readers (the source of M/L's data) are not relevant to the issue of H-1Bs in the computer field, because IW's audience is largely semi-technical.   I've mentioned, for instance, IW's job ads from a given issue:
 
  * D.E. Shaw Research seeking Chief of Staff in New York, NY.
 
  * Switch and Data seeking Sr Product Marketing Manager in Tampa, FL.
 
  * Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson seeking Network Architect in Bismarck, ND.
 
  * Osram Sylvania seeking Benefits Specialist in Danvers, MA.
 
  * AccuWeather seeking Business Development Manager in Atlanta, GA.
 
Only one of these, the network architect position, is a technical job.   InformationWeek is NOT typical reading by software engineers, say at Google or Apple.   As I also mentioned, the M/L mean years of experience for H-1Bs in their sample is much larger than those of H-1Bs in general, etc.   It's just a different population.
 
But Vivek is completely wrong in saying that the under-paid H-1Bs are mainly in the "shoddy bodyshops that break the law and under-pay their workers".
 
First of all, as I said above, one can underpay H-1Bs and yet be in full compliance with the law.   Vivek has said this too:
 
I know from my experience as a tech CEO that H-1Bs are cheaper than domestic hires.   Technically, these workers are supposed to be paid a "prevailing wage", but this mechanism is riddled with loop-holes.
 
Indeed, a couple of years ago Vivek graciously consented for me to write up the details of his employment of H-1Bs, in a posting to this e-news-letter.   He, for example, was able to hire an H-1B of top talent, with a Master's degree and some experience, for about 15% less than he would pay an American of ordinary talent and no experience -- again, fully legally.
 
Secondly, it's not just the "shoddy bodyshops".   Presumably Vivek doesn't consider the 2 companies he founded to fall in that category, and more importantly, the main-stream, household name industry firms use H-1Bs for cheap labor too, as I've shown before in detail.   By the way, the bodyshops would not be in Kandilov's sample, as they sponsor very few of their H-1Bs for green cards.
 
Finally, one more point on Big Bag/Little Bag: Vivek, and many others, conclude from this that the "remedy" is to give fast-track green cards instead of H-1B work visas to foreign graduates of U.S. universities.   Although this would address the issue of exploitation, it would NOT protection for American workers (natives, naturalized citizens, green card holders).   Again, one of the most overlooked issues about H-1B as cheap labor is that, even with salary parity, the H-1B program provides employers with a vehicle for rampant age discrimination.   It expands the pool of younger (thus cheaper) workers, whom employers hire in lieu of older (thus more expensive) Americans.   The beneficiaries of the fast-track green card proposals would, by definition, be young, and thus would produce the same problem for older (age 35+) American workers [and US citizen workers in general].
 
Norm
---30---

2010-06-01 07:38:22PDT (10:38:22EDT) (14:38:22GMT)
Brandon Bailey _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_
HP to cut another 9K jobs from bodyshopping operations
Jeffry Bartash & Benjamin Pimentel: MarketWatch
Michael Bettiol: Boy Genius Report

2010-06-01 08:40PDT (11:40EDT) (15:40GMT)
Chris Isidore _CNN_
Say Good Bye to Full-Time Jobs and Benefits: BodyShopping Continues to Worsen
"Many of the jobs employers are adding are temporary or contract positions, rather than traditional full-time jobs with benefits.   With unemployment remaining near 10%, employers have their pick of workers willing to accept less secure positions.   In 2005, the government estimated that 31% of U.S. workers were already so-called contingent workers.   Experts say that number could increase to 40% or more in the next 10 years...   Doug Arms, senior vice president of Ajilon, a staffing firm, says about 90% of the positions his company is helping clients fill right now are on a contract basis...   But Horowitz said not everyone who works as a free-lancer or independent contractor is unhappy with their situation.   She estimates about 30% are satisfied with the arrangement, about equal to the number who desperately want to find a full-time job with benefits.   The other 40% are somewhere in the middle, feeling pleased by aspects of their job and unhappy about others."

2010-06-01 10:12:16PDT (13:12:16EDT) (17:12:16GMT)
Shaun Bishop _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_
Chapman supports elimination of H-1B visa program
"Chapman, who declined to be interviewed by phone because he assumed the Daily News would endorse Eshoo, said by e-mail that he wants to create and preserve American jobs by eliminating guest worker programs such as H-1B visas and reforming free trade policies.   'I have been working in technology jobs for the last 25 years.   I know how things work and I know what is really going on.', Chapman wrote.   'The voters are sick of professional politicians like Anna Eshoo and they don't seem to have much use for people who describe themselves as a Businessman or as an Entrepreneur."
Dave Chapman for congress

2010-06-01
_AP_
SIIA spent $130K on lobbying in 2010Q1

2010-06-01
Edmund L. Andrews _Fiscal Times_
Trying to foster extravagant government spending while strangling price increases has the fed fighting itself
When the Federal Reserve vowed to do 'whatever it takes' to fight the financial crisis, it did more than just reduce its bench-mark over-night interest rate to nearly zero.   It also became the world's single biggest bond holder, essentially printing money to buy up more than $1T in mortgage-backed securities and more than $700G in long-term Treasury bonds.   That massive effort financed the bulk of new mortgages during the past two years, and it propped up the overall economy by pushing down long-term interest rates of all types.   But now, analysts say, the Fed faces the prospect of jaw-dropping losses on its gigantic new bond portfolio whenever it starts to nudge interest rates up to more normal levels.   As interest rates rise, the market value of its portfolio will sink as investors slash the prices they are willing to pay for existing bonds in order to match the higher yields of new ones.   Though many of those losses will only be on paper, they could nonetheless reduce the Fed's real annual earnings by tens of billions of dollars.   That would aggravate the federal budget deficit, because the central bank hands over most of its profits to the Treasury.   Experts say Fed officials have never before found themselves in this type of economic box.   Laurence H. Meyer and Antulio Bomfim, economists at Macroeconomic Advisers, estimated in a new report that the value of the Fed's bond portfolio could drop by $100G for every increase of 1 percentage point in interest rates.   The Fed won't have to book any losses if it simply holds its bonds until they reach maturity.   But Fed officials decided last month to gradually sell off their holdings some time after they start raising interest rates.   Many analysts expect that process to begin sometime next year.   Even if the Fed keeps much of its portfolio for years, it will be caught in an interest rate squeeze.   It will paying higher rates on reserves that banks keep on deposit at the Fed, but it will be earning the same low rates as before on its portfolio of fixed-rate bonds.   'Some of the issues the Fed may encounter in a rising rate environment are closer to those facing a hedge funf.', Meyer and Bomfim wrote in a research note last week.   But in sharp contrast to a hedge fund, the Fed will be in the peculiar position of causing its own losses because its own policymakers will be the ones pushing up interest rates.   That inherent conflict of interest has provoked worries among some investors that the Fed's interest as a bondholder could clash with its core mission of steering the economy by setting interest rates.   The Fed's looming interest rate squeeze is the mirror image of its soaring profits as a result of low interest rates.

2010-06-01
David North _Center for Immigration Studies_
Corporate executives, not US citizens, get fastest service from USCIS

2010-06-01
Brian Reidl _Heritage Foundation_
Federal Spending by the Numbers

2010-06-01 (5770 Sivan 19)
Paul Johnson _Jewish World Review_
The English Language and Freedom
"It's my view that Britain and the U.S.A. do not do enough to promote the spread of English, which thereby decelerates or even reverses the spread of democratic freedom.   There's little doubt, for instance, that the hostility of the Muslim world toward the West is promoted by the failure of Muslim countries to develop democratic institutions, which, in turn, has been brought about by a resistance to the spread of English.   Even among educated Muslims few have read the writings of British philosophers John Locke and Edmund Burke, not to mention those of America's Founding Fathers, which has lead directly to a lack of understanding of what the West is about.   This problem will intensify as [Red China] moves massively and confidently onto the world scene.   Very few mainland Chinese speak English nor do they have any conception of the liberal tradition that the language enshrines.   It's alarming to realize that the [Red Chinese] government is spending massive amounts of money and deploying large numbers of people (by one calculation more than 1M) to spread its notions and influence in Africa -- cultural and political ideas that differ greatly from the West's.   Fortunately it's a different story in India, and the responsibility for this rests largely with one man, the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay."

2010-06-01 (5770 Sivan 19)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
The Real Public Service
"...the careers of others who merely provide us with the food we eat, the homes we live in, the clothes we wear and the medical care that saves our health and our lives...   By the end of the twentieth century, more Americans were connected to the Internet than were connected to a water pipe or a sewage line at the beginning of the century...   It was Thomas Edison who brought us electricity, not the Sierra Club.   It was the Wright brothers who got us off the ground, not the Federal Aviation Administration.   It was Henry Ford who ended the isolation of millions of Americans by making the automobile affordable, not Ralph Nader.   Those who have helped the poor the most... found ways to make industry more productive and distribution more efficient, so that the poor of today can afford things that the affluent of yesterday could only dream about."

2010-06-01 (5770 Sivan 19)
Andrew C. McCarthy _NYPost_
jihad in the USA

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-02

2010-06-02 02:30PDT (05:30EDT) (09:30GMT)
Sam Diaz _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Apple's Steve Jobs at D8: Plenty of insight with ammo in reserve for WWDC

2010-06-02 14:18PDT (17:18EDT) (21:18GMT)
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_
Bills have been proposed to reduce off-shoring
WCBS TV
"Schumer said Tuesday that he plans to introduce legislation requiring that firms disclose in publicly available reports their off-shore call center practices, and to pay a tax on every call sent off-shore.   The bill, according to details released yesterday, sets out three requirements.   First, it would impose a 25-cent excise tax on any customer service call that originates in the U.S. and is transferred to personnel located in a foreign location.   Second, the legislation requires that companies inform customers of where a call is answered.   And third, the bill would require that companies publicly disclose quarterly and in their annual reports submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission how many customer calls they received and how many are sent over-seas...   As chairman of the Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee, Schumer is the point person on immigration for Democrats in the Senate.   He is working on a [reprehensible immigration law perversion] bill that's expected to make permanent residency or green cards widely available to foreign students who graduate with advanced degrees in science, math and engineering.   The bill will also incorporate some of the restrictions sought on H-1B use by senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Charles Grassley (R-IA), including a provision limiting the number of H-1B workers at out-sourcing firms to no more than half of their U.S. employee head-count...   Ron Hira, associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said Schumer's call center efforts 'are still baby steps in addressing the out-sourcing of jobs.   Closing the H-1B and L-1 visa loop-holes would create and retain many more jobs for Americans than this particular bill'.   Schumer's bill follows the approval of the [Tax Extenders/ American Workers, State, and Business Relief/ American Jobs and Opening & Closing Tax Loop-Holes/ National Socialist Health Care Perverion/ Unconstitutional Micro-Management of Americans Act/ObummerDoesn'tCare], which would close tax loop-holes [and create many new ones] that its proponents said encouraged off-shoring, in the U.S. House last week."

2010-06-02
Sara Murray _Wall Street Journal_
Long-Term Unemployment Bites Deep (with graph)
"The job market is improving, but one statistic presents a stark reminder of the challenges that remain: Nearly half of the unemployed -- 45.9% -- have been out of work longer than six months, more than at any time since the Labor Department began keeping track in 1948.   Even in the worst months of the early 1980s, when the jobless rate topped 10% for months on end, only about 1 in 4 of the unemployed was out of work for more than 6 months.   Overall, 7M Americans have been looking for work for 27 weeks or more, and most of them -- 4.7M -- have been out of work for a year or more...   Those between ages 65 and 69 who still wish to work have typically been jobless for 49.8 weeks."

2010-06-02
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Canadian National Socialist Health Care Perversion is threatening to bankrupt provinces

2010-06-02
_AP_
TechAmerica spent $337K on lobbying in 2010Q1
"That's less than the $378K the technology trade group spent lobbying in 2009Q4 and the $456K it spent in 2009Q1."

2010-06-02
Charles Nichols _Los Angeles CA Examiner_
It's DeVore vs. Fiorina in California US senate primary

2010-06-02
Andrew Bolt _Herald Sun_
Terrorist support flotilla
"You see the Israeli commandos, at first brandishing just paint-ball guns [probably loaded with pepper-balls], being grabbed by mobs as they landed, dragged to the ground, and beaten brutally with metal pipes and clubs.   On another clip, apparently shot by protesters, you see a soldier stabbed in the back, and then in the front.   Another soldier is shown being beaten and thrown over the side.   Photographs show 2 Israeli soldiers, one of them shot, being carried off with serious wounds..."

2010-06-02
Kathy Shaidle _News Real Web Log_
Putting the oil spill in historical perspective: smallest n last 20 years

2010-06-02 04:56PDT (07:56EDT) (11:56GMT)
Chavon Sutton _CNN_
CGC: 38,810 announced lay-offs planned
Erik Greb: PharmTech Talk: Accentuate the Negative
Kevin G. Hall: Kansas City Star
Liz Wolgemuth: US News & World Report
Lee Howard: New London CT Day: Pharma firms aggressive in cutting pay-rolls
Atlantic
Kathleen Madigan, Sarah N. Lynch & Luca DiLeo: Wall Street Journal
Investor's Business Daily
Employers announced plans to cut 38,810 jobs in May, according to out-placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., for a 1.3% rise from April's 4-year low of 38,326, and well down from 2009 May's 111,182.  
Government and non-profits planned to dump 16,697 in May, pharmaceuticals 6,943, transportation 3,262, financial 2,363, entertainment/leisure 2,271, aerospace/defense 1,329, media 894, health care & health care products 740, food 613, retail 608, services 515, consumer products 511, industrial goods 409, computer 335.
Planned lay-offs announced during the first 5 months of 2010 totaled 258,319, down 69% from the 822,282 announced during the same period in 2009.   During the first 5 months, 51,034 pharmaceutical-industry employees lost their jobs, according to BLS, 34,157 of which were announced.   Government and non-profits area reported more than 93K reductions so far this year.   Retail has seen a dramatic comeback, as the 82K cuts announced during the same period last year has been cut to less than 22K through May of this year.
There were 18,960 lay-off plans announced in NY, 4,920 in CA, 2,050 in IL, 1,968 in FL, 1,377 in TX, 1,327 in SC, 1,256 in MO, 1,120 in DC.
graphs

2010-06-02
Eileen Silwell _Camden NJ Courier-Post_
L-3 cutting 45 engineers in Camden, NJ
"L-3 Communication Systems-East, a global defense contractor and one of the city's largest employers, told 45 engineers Tuesday they would be laid off effective June 11.   This marks the first nonvoluntary reduction of technical staff since the company was formed in 1997.   It also is a departure from the old RCA days, when engineers were retained during good and bad times because their specific skill sets were difficult to replace.   Both L-3 and Moorestown-based Lockheed Martin are derivatives of the former RCA...   37 of the 45 engineers -- or 83% -- who received notices are 40 or older."

2010-06-02 (5770 Sivan 20)
Mona Charon _Jewish World Review_
Theater of War

2010-06-02 (5770 Sivan 20)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
The Right to Discriminate

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-03

2010-06-03 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 410,302 in the week ending May 29, an increase of 3,427 from the previous week.   There were 500,380 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.4% during the week ending May 22, unchanged from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,330,107, a decrease of 77,692 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.5% and the volume was 6,033,293.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending May 15...   States reported 5,081,015 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending May 15, an increase of 21,172 from the prior week.   There were 2,347,218 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity. [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" changes
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-06-03
Reid Wilson _National Journal_
Fiorina regained lead over DeVore in California's US senate contest

2010-06-03
Judith Miller & David Schenker _NY Post_
Turkey turning against the USA
"Turkey played a key role in the runup to the incident, refusing Israeli and Egyptian requests to prevent the ships from sailing.   And by helping to orchestrate the crisis, Turkey is not just damaging Israel, but interfering with a top foreign-policy goal of the United States, its ostensible ally...   Just last week, Turkey hosted a conference of Iraqi insurgent groups seeking to reconstitute as the US prepares to withdraw.   The Istanbul conference was one of two meetings (the other in Damascus) that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned as 'destabilizing'.   'The only ones benefiting', he said, 'are al Qaeda and the terrorist organizations.'...   Turkey under the Islamist AKP is no longer a government committed to secular nationalism.   Having been rejected for membership in the European Union, it once again sees the Middle East as its natural sphere of influence."

2010-06-03
_Chronicle of Higher Education_
The Growth of "Citizen Science"

2010-06-03
Todd M. Schoenberger _Taipan's Tipping Point_
May jobs reports provide little clarity
graphs

2010-06-03
William L. Anderson
Explaining the 1983 economic recovery

2010-06-03 (5770 Sivan 21)
Steven Emerson _Jewish World Review_
Double standards on Hamas action against Palestinians

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-04

2010-06-03 22:51PDT (2010-06-04 01:51EDT) (2010-06-04 05:51GMT)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
Recession has even family businesses dumping, refusing to hire relatives

2010-06-04 07:09PDT (10:09EDT) (14:09GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Hiring was weak in May; seasonally adjusted another 322K dropped out of labor force
graphs

2010-06-04
Clair Johnson _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Pilot in WW2 battle of Midway honored
"Friday marked the 68th anniversary of Muri's death-defying flight over a Japanese aircraft carrier on 1942 June 4, during the Battle of Midway...   'Absolutely fabulous.', Muri said as he gazed at the painting and the B-26 bomber No. 1391, named the Suzie Q, he piloted.   Muri flew one of 4 twin-engine bombers that took off from Midway Island on 1942 June 4, to attack a powerful Japanese fleet that was preparing to invade the U.S. military outpost about 1,100 miles west of Hawaii.   Muri's plane was riddled by anti-aircraft fire and bullets from attacking Japanese fighters.   After unsuccessfully launching a torpedo at the Japanese carrier Akagi, Muri probably saved his crew with an improvised maneuver.   He banked hard and flew right down the length of the Akagi's deck, correctly guessing that Japanese antiaircraft gunners couldn't swing their guns fast enough to shoot him down.   Muri outran the Japanese fighters and crash landed on Midway.   There were more than 500 bullet holes in his bomber, Muri said.   He was only 24 years old at the time."

2010-06-04
Ron Scherer _Christian Science Monitor_
Executives are uncertain of economy, so they aren't hiring

2010-06-04
Holger Krahmer _Washington Times_
"Green New Deal" is a raw deal for the USA: Europe's path deeply inhuman, economically destructive

2010-06-04
Michael Powell, Helene Cooper & Christine Hauser _NY Times_
Jobs Data Casts Pall Over Economic Recovery
graphs

2010-06-04 12:00PDT (15:00EDT) (19:00GMT)
David Evans _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Discussion of why employers clam up about reasons for rejection of employment candidates
discussion on forum

2010-06-04
Donna Conroy _Bright Future Jobs_
We've Got Talent
For 20 years now, Americans have been denied the opportunity to fairly compete for jobs which we are qualified for in our own country due to unfair guest worker programs and immigration lawyers that "game" the green card system.
 
America's Got Talent:

1. American 4th and 8th graders matched their classmates in Germany in the latest round of TIMSS, the prestigious math and science international test.[New York Times, 2008/12/09]   India and [Red China], the two countries where tech companies recruit most from, don't participate in TIMSS[TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center of Boston College].
2. Black Computer Science graduates essentially reached parity in 2006; no longer can they be dismissed as an "under-represented minority".[2008 Nov/Dec issue of NSBE Magazine/Career Engineer]
3. Over the past decade, US colleges and universities graduated roughly three times more scientists and engineers than were employed in the growing science and technology workforce.[Lindsay Lowell, Director of Policy Studies, Georgetown University]
4. American's don't need science degrees to work in science and tech jobs, especially Information Technology. 40% of these jobs were held by liberal arts graduates from academic years 1997-2000.["Steady as She Goes Three Generations of Students through the Science and Engineering Pipeline", Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Rutgers University]

1. "H-1B workers may be hired even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of the foreign worker," according to theDepartment of Labor's Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2006-2011.
2. Americans face "H1-b Only" or " OPT Only" want ads for US job openings; many advertising free training and green cards.[BusinessWeek 2009 March 3]
3. Silicon Valley now has fewer White, Black, Hispanic and Female IT professionals than in 2000.[San Jose CA Mercury News 2010/02/13]
4. 55% of America's 'best and brightest' STEM graduates, those with the higest GPAs, didn't land jobs in STEM fields in the late 1090s.["Steady as She Goes Three Generations of Students through the Science and Engineering Pipeline", Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Rutgers University]
5. MSFT, Intel, Goldman Sachs and other American companies have increased their hiring abroad while laying off thousands of Americans in 2009.[BuinessWeek]

2010-06-04 (5770 Sivan 22)
Charles Krauthammer _Jewish World Review_
Those troublesome Jews
"Israel is accused of international criminality for doing precisely what John Kennedy did: impose a naval blockade to prevent a hostile state from acquiring lethal weaponry.   Oh, but weren't the Gaza-bound ships on a mission of humanitarian relief? No.   Otherwise they would have accepted Israel's offer to bring their supplies to an Israeli port, be inspected for military materiel and have the rest trucked by Israel into Gaza -- as every week 10K tons of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are sent by Israel to Gaza.   Why was the offer refused? Because, as organizer Greta Berlin admitted, the flotilla was not about humanitarian relief but about breaking the blockade, i.e., ending Israel's inspection regime, which would mean unlimited shipping into Gaza and thus the unlimited arming of Hamas.   Israel has already twice intercepted ships laden with Iranian arms destined for Hezbollah and Gaza."

2010-06-04 (5770 Sivan 22)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
Israel's daunting task

2010-06-04 (5770 Sivan 22)
R' Elazar Meisels _Jewish World Review_
Should religion and real life mix?

2010-06-04

DJIA	9,931.97
S&P 500	1,064.88
NASDAQ	2,219.17
Nikkei	9,763
10-year US T-Bond	3.21%
crude oil	$71.51/barrel
gold	$1,217.70/ounce
silver	$17.29/ounce
platinum	$1,525.30/ounce
palladium	$431.00/ounce
copper	$0.17621875/ounce
natgas	$4.79/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline	$1.99/gal
heatingoil	$1.9577/gal
soybeans	$9.00/bushel
maize	$3.595/bushel
wheat	$4.357/bushel
dollarindex	88.26
yenperdollar	91.91
dollarspereuro	1.1958
dollarsperpound	1.446
swissfranksperdollar	1.1602
indianrupeesperdollar	46.84
mexicanpesosperdollar	12.9745
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	544.28

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-05

2010-06-05
_Financial News USA_
10 Big Companies That Are Adding Jobs
"Boeing... JPMorganChase... Intel... Nationwide Financial Services... Ford... IBM... Google... GM... GE... Morgan Stanley..."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-06

1944-06-06: D-Day
D-Day Memorial Foundation
D-Day Museum
Jimbo Wales's WikiPedia
WikiPedia: "D-Day -1" (movie)
US Army
Brian Williams & John Barratt: Military History On-Line
History Place
Kansas Heritage: D-Day Fact-Sheet
UK school history
UK D-Day Museum
American D-Day
Columbus GA Ledger-Enquirer/McClatchy: Normandy ceremonies mark 66th anniversary of D-Day
Robert Burns: NC News & Observer/AP: Joint Chiefs chair pays tribute do D-Day fallen
Burlington VT Free Press: Veteran returns to Omaha Beach
Army Times
Tacoma WA News Tribune
Vin Mannix: Bradenton FL Herald

2010-06-06 06:45PDT (09:45EDT) (13:45GMT)
Eamon Javers _Politico_
5 economic clues to 2010 elections

2010-06-06
Rob Sanchez _Job Destruction News-Letter_ #2107
New NBC TV show called "Out-Sourced"
NBC will soon debut a new sitcom called "Out-Sourced".   I watched the trailer (link after commentary) and thought it was quite hilarious while at the same time raising cultural and societal issues in the United States versus India.   If NBC can resist the temptation to devolve the show into typical sitcom banality it could be used to raise many issues that have been largely ignored by the mainstream media such as job loss, ethnicity, national identity, and globalism.
 
The show is not subtle about its portrayal of Indians as clever and conniving (and willing to lie and cheat), and Americans as stupid narcissistic consumers (like the Sex and the City girls).   Hopefully NBC won't go further with these insulting stereotypes.
 
It's not clear if Americans who are the victims of out-sourcing will appreciate the humor.   Time will tell when the ratings come in.   Of course U.S. ratings might not tell the entire story since like most globally oriented entertainment, this show has the potential to be marketed in many places throughout the world.
 
If there is an ulterior motive to the show it might be discerned by considering that General Electric owns NBC.   GE pioneered out-sourcing and mass lay-offs under the leadership of "Neutron" Jack Welch, who cleared out GE offices with the efficiency of Neutron Bombs that leave the buildings but kill the people -- hence the nickname.   Could the TV show be nothing but a propaganda ploy to get Americans more accepting of the dubious deceptions that goes on in out-sourcing call centers?
 
I tried to find out how much of the TV show is produced in the U.S. versus India in order to verify or deny the irony of rumors the show is truly out-sourced.   The TV show depicts scenes with Indian trainees who are instructed to lie about their nationality, so it's doubtful that the production company would release accurate and reliable.   Some of it is definitely filmed in California.   Many of the scenes look like India but they could almost as easily be in 21st Century Silicon Valley!   Is "Out-Sourced" made in the USA or is it in reality just another industry that has been out-sourced to India?
 
This excerpt from the Seattle Times gives a good synopsis:
 
Winner of the best film award at the 2007 Seattle International Film Festival, "Out-Sourced" is the story of a laid-off Seattle retail manager who travels to India to train his replacement at a call center -- and falls in love with a fellow employee.
 
"George and I always felt that the show shouldn't be a carbon copy of the movie.", said Jeffcoat.   "We wanted to bring it someplace else, to a modern call center.   There are a lot of changes.   The comedy is definitely broader than in the movie, so that's going to be interesting to see how people respond to it."
 
Locally made 'Out-Sourced' joins NBC fall lineup, Seattle Times 2010-05-07
 
There is no shortage of web forums that voice disgust over "Out-Sourced" but not many articles have been written about the potential for back-lash.   "Is NBC's 'Out-Sourced' Funny Or Offensive?", raises some great questions:
 
Will Americans laugh at a sitcom about out-sourcing their jobs to India?   With our country reeling from the deepest recession and the largest job losses in india-call-center-decades?   NBC certainly thinks so.   The network just bet big on the premise by picking up the provocatively titled Out-Sourced as its first new primetime comedy series order for next season.   By tackling such a touchy subject, NBC is guaranteed free publicity because of the inevitable controversy over its new comedy series.   And that may distinguish it in next Fall's cluttered landscape where more than 90% of new shows fail.
Job Destruction News-Letter at V Dare
Seattle Times: Locally made "Out-Sourced" joins NBC Fall line-up
Is NBC's 'Out-Sourced' Funny Or Offensive?
NBC trailer
cast interviews
Internet Movie Data-Base on 2006 Out-Sourced movie
"Sex and the City"
General Electric's Jack Welch and the corporate plundering of America

2010-06-06
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
The importance of restricting government power

2010-06-06
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Slouching Toward Athens

2010-06-06 (5770 Sivan 24)
Mark Steyn _Jewish World Review_
Contempt for Israel is also contempt for the USA

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-07

2010-06-07 09:45PDT (12:45EDT) (16:45GMT)
Sam Diaz _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Steve Jobs key-note at WWDC
between the lines

2010-06-07
William L. Anderson
Fiscal Sanity

2010-06-07 10:06PDT (13:06EDT) (17:06GMT)
_Chronicle of Higher Education_
MIT dean nominated to head NSF
"Subra Suresh, dean of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been nominated by President Obama to serve as the next director of the National Science Foundation, 3 months after his selection was rumored.   If confirmed by the Senate, he would succeed Arden L. Bement Jr., who returned this month to Purdue University..."

2010-06-07
Frosty Wooldridge _News with Views_
American politicians are serving foreign constituents

2010-06-07 13:55PDT (16:55EDT) (20:55GMT)
Dan Gallagher _MarketWatch_
Apple announces 4th generation iPhone
"The iPhone 4 will sell for $199 for a 16GB version and $299 for a 32GB version...   Apple has reduced the price of its iPhone 3GS to $99 for the 8GB version; the iPhone 3G is being discontinued...   Jobs said the iPhone is 24% thinner than its predecessor.   It also features a gyroscope along with an accelerometer for improved performance in gaming."

2010-06-07
_NC News & Observer_/_AP_
Rand Paul interviewed by Walter E. Williams

2010-06-07 15:33PDT (18:33EDT) (22:33GMT)
_Investor's Business Daily_
The Doctor Will See You Later... Maybe

2010-06-07
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
American Worker Displacement Resumes - Immigration Moratorium Essential
"For every 100.0 Hispanics employed in 2001 January there were 123.8 in 2010 May.   For every 100.0 non-Hispanics employed in 2001 January there were 98.2 in 2010 May.   May's VDAWDI equals 126.1 (=100 X 123.8/98.2).   VDAWDI is the best measure we have of how foreign-born workers fare relative to native born workers in the latest month.   It is imperfect: only 40% of the Hispanic labor force are immigrants -- though the rest may be first and second generation.   But this approximation is eliminated in a table recently added to the monthly employment report.   Since January BLS has devoted a page of its monthly report to foreign -- and native-born employment...   over the past 12 months: foreign-born workers gained 637K jobs; natives lost 1.503M positions.   Unemployment rates for immigrants declined by 0.5 points, to 8.6%; native unemployment rose 0.5 points, to 9.5%.   The immigrant labor force grew by 2.4%; the native labor force shrank 0.8% -- a sign of discouragement...   Over the past year the foreign-born population of working age rose 2.5%, or more than 4 times the 0.6% rate for natives."

2010-06-07
Scott Shane _Small Business Trends_
Are immigrants really more or less likely to become high tech entrepreneurs?

2010-06-07
_USA Today_/_Gannett_
Network designer bought police's expiring web site
catching corrupt government functionaries in the daily vice
Ki Mae Heussner: abc
The Spec
Alice Wolke: Fox DFW
Barry Leibowitz: CBS
Rob Manker: Chicago Tribune
Knoxville TN News
Camera Fraud
Nanny State Liberation Front
Newport Television LLC
Mac McLean: Bristol Herald Courier
"A young Tennessee computer network designer now has a high-profile outlet to complain about speed cameras: He bought the expiring web site name of the Bluff City Police Department, the Bristol Herald Courier reports."

2010-06-07 (5770 Sivan 25)
Arnold Ahlert _Jewish World Review_
Politically Correct Warfare
"What's worse than war? Politically correct war.   PC warfare is the moronic attempt to make mankind's last resort a socially acceptable enterprise -- while tying it to an effective public relations campaign...   PC warfare is the result of two major factors: technological advances and ideological bankruptcy.   Because we can now produce firepower with pin-point accuracy, Western elitists have apparently decided that the minimization -- or outright elimination -- of 'collateral' damage is the first priority when considering a military operation.   While such a sentiment seems noble at first glance, it reveals a simple truth: such reticence makes war last longer.   We've been in Afghanistan for nine years with no end in sight.   Why? Because we no longer have a clear military objective there -- unless one considers 'bringing civilization' to one of the most uncivilized societies on the planet to be a job for our fighting forces.   In addition to that, if one considers that the most demoralizing aspect of any war is inflicting enough casualties on enemy forces to break their will, the idea that we will refuse to fire on terrorists who use innocent victims as shields will produce many possible outcomes.   But only one of those outcomes is absolutely certain: Terrorists will continue to engage in this repulsive -- but highly successful -- practice.   Again, no one wants to see innocent civilians killed, but how long would al Qaeda or the Taliban continue using innocents as shields if it became clear that such a tactic were no longer effective?   How long would mosques double as armories or fortresses if we were less 'sensitive' to the religious feelings -- of our enemies?   At some point, a 'noble' intention which both exacerbates and prolongs despicable behavior must be recognized for what it is: a 'feel-good' stop-gap measure.   One with no long-term benefits."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-08

1789-06-08: Bill of Rights proposed to congress by James Madison 1789

2010-06-08 08:32:59PDT (11:32:59EDT) (15:32:59GMT)
Scott McDonald _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_/_AP_
Red Chinese thugs say they will continue to block freedom of political and religious speech over the net

2010-06-08
_PR News Wire_
Cross-border bodyshops file suit against USCIS & DHS for restrictions on abuse of H-1B visas
Suzanne Gamboa: BusinessWeek
Journal Record
LA Times
Toni Bowers: TechRepublic/Ziff Davis/CBS
Don E. Sears: eWeek
Shane McGlaun: Daily Tech
Real Clear Politics
WorkForce Management
CourtHouse News Service
"TechServe Alliance, the national trade association representing [cross-border bodyshops], filed a law-suit today in U.S. District Court in and for the District of Columbia against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Alejandro Mayorkas, Director of USCIS, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security.   The 5 count Complaint charges that the government improperly and without any valid legal basis altered long-standing policy that has allowed IT [bodyshops] to obtain H-1B [described in 8 USC 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b)] visas on the same basis as other companies.   In an abrupt reversal of its policy without any notice or opportunity for comment and contrary to well settled law, the government now erroneously contends IT staffing firms are not 'U.S. employers' and are therefore ineligible to serve as petitioners for H-1B visas.   Since implementing this new policy, the agency has been improperly denying petitions of IT staffing firms on that basis.   Along with the complaint, TechServe Alliance filed a motion seeking entry of a preliminary injunction barring the agency from continuing to enforce this policy as it was adopted in violation of law.   In a Memorandum dated 2010 January 8 by Donald Neufeld, Associate Director of Service Center Operations at USCIS ('Neufeld Memo'), USCIS reversed well settled policy, determining that IT [bodyshops] are not 'U.S. employers' under U.S. immigration law and are therefore ineligible to access the H-1B visa program.   USCIS arrived at this... determination by arguing that IT [bodyshops] fail to exercise control over their consultants [at the work-site]; summarily concluding there is no employer-employee relationship -- an element of the definition of U.S. employer.   In doing so, USCIS ignores the fact that IT [bodyshops] hire, fire, pay and [kind of, sort of, somewhat] supervise; activities which the applicable regulation as well as other areas of law have long recognized as establishing an employer-employee relationship."

2010-06-08 02:16PDT (05:16EDT) (09:16GMT)
Jason Hiner _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
101 useful iPad applications

2010-06-08 13:30PDT (16:30EDT) (20:30GMT)
Kelly Truong _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Colorado Casualty Insurance Co. says Perpetual Storage is responsible for data security breach of U of Utah info that none of them should have had in the first place
ComputerWorld
"When colleges and universities out-source their technology services, who is responsible when something goes wrong? That appears to be the central question in a new law-suit, in which a Colorado insurance company says it is not responsible for reimbursing the University of Utah for a $3.3M data breach because a third party was handling the exposed information.   Colorado Casualty Insurance Co. has filed a complaint against Perpetual Storage, the provider responsible for housing the university's data, claiming that it is not obligated to cover the company's costs in this incident.   Data tapes stolen in 2008 contained information about 1.7M patients at the University of Utah's hospitals and clinics, including addresses and social security numbers.   The university sought $3.3M from Perpetual Storage, the provider responsible for housing the school's data, for incident-related costs."

2010-06-08
Merit Smith _Inurance Networking_
4 tips to get beyond One-State Thinking

2010-06-08 (5770 Sivan 26)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
The plain truth about Israel

2010-06-08 (5770 Sivan 26)
Dennis Prager _Jewish World Review_
Let's hope the world is right about Israel

2010-06-08 (5770 Sivan 26)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Random Thoughts
Detroit MI News
St. Augustine FL Record

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-09

1772-06-09: British revenue schooner HMS Gaspee ran aground and was taken by Rhode Islanders 1772

2010-06-09
William L. Anderson
Austerity or Reckoning?: We Cannot Print Our Way Out of the Crisis
1992-03-01: Robert Higgs: Wartime Prosperity? A Reassessment of the U.S. Economy in the 1940s

2010-06-09
David North _Right Side News_/_Center for Immigration Studies_
Big Picture Averages Can Distort Immigration Reality
"Peri's talk did have one saving grace, however.   He raised the issue of the very real subsidy to corporations flowing out of the H-1B non-immigrant worker program [described in 8 USC 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b)].   He suggested one way to reduce the subsidy and secure some economic data -- a twofer for an economist -- was to distribute these visas through a public auction process.   The government would get the auction proceeds and might use the data to decide how many H-1B visas to issue during the next round."

2010-06-09
Peter Ferrara _American Spectator_
Barack Obama's total eclipse for America

2010-06-09
William L. Anderson
Fiscal Responsibility or Reckoning? We cannot print our way out of the economic crisis

2010-06-09
Francine Knowles _Chicago Sun-Times_
Dismal job growth could be a mere blip
Jackie Headapohl: Michigan Live
"Job openings in April jumped by 293K to 3.08M in April from March, the highest level in 16 months, the Labor Department said Tuesday -- welcome news following a lackluster jobs report released last week."
graphs

2010-06-09
Nicholas Wade _NYTimes_
studies show Jews' genetic similarity
"A major surprise from both surveys is the genetic closeness of the 2 Jewish communities of Europe, the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim...   Jewish communities from Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus all have substantial genetic ancestry that traces back to the Levant; Ethiopian Jews and 2 Judaic communities in India are genetically much closer to their host populations...   Iraqi and Iranian Jews separated from other Jewish communities about 2,500 years ago.   This genetic finding presumably reflects a historical event, the destruction of the First Temple at Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 587BCE and the exile of many Jews there to his capital at Babylon...   members of any Jewish community are related to one another as closely as are fourth or fifth cousins in a large population, which is about 10 times higher than the relationship between 2 people chosen at random off the streets of New York City, Dr. Atzmon said.   Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews have roughly 30% European ancestry, with most of the rest from the Middle East..."

2010-06-09 (5770 Sivan 27)
R' Yonason Goldson _Jewish World Review_
The limits of leftism: the dangers of ideological confusion

2010-06-09 (5770 Sivan 27)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Can Black Americans Afford Obama?

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-10

2010-06-10 02:24PDT (05:24EDT) (09:24GMT)
_MarketWatch_
Honda plants in Red China down for 2nd day due to labor dispute
"In the latest strike action, workers at Honda Lock (Guangdong) Co., a supplier of door-locking systems located in the southern city of Zhongshan, are demanding increases that will lift their monthly base pay to 2,040 yuan ($299) from 1,700 yuan currently, according to reports. The plant has about 1,500 employees."
2010-06-11: Chris Oliver: MarketWatch: consumer prices in Red China up 3.1%
"Money supply as measured by M1 rose 29.9%, easing from April's 31.3%, while the broader M2 metric was up 21%, easing from 21.5% in April, according to data Friday...   May industrial-production growth eased to 16.5% from 17.8% in the previous month, missing economists' estimates for 17%...   Similarly, urban fixed-asset investments for the first five months of this year eased to 25.9% from 26.1% in the January-April period, though the result was slightly higher than the 25.8% growth anticipated by analysts.   But retail sales jumped 18.7% in May, beating April's 18.5% rise.   Overall, stock market indexes in China reacted favorably to the data release.   Shanghai's Composite Index added 0.4%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.3% in late morning trade."

2010-06-10 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 392,842 in the week ending June 5, a decrease of 22,287 from the previous week.   There were 581,092 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.3% during the week ending May 29, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,176,069, a decrease of 201,376 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.6% and the volume was 6,144,006.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending May 22...   States reported 4,995,133 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending May 22, a decrease of 10,588 from the prior week.   There were 2,256,591 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" changes
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-06-10 06:40PDT (09:40EDT) (13:40GMT)
Heather MacDonald _Forbes_
Say No to Amnesty for Illegal Aliens
"Illegal entries in the U.S.A. rose after the [Simpson-Mazzoli] Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1986 went into effect and have increased 5-fold from the 1980s to today.   The vast majority of illegal aliens who have entered the U.S.A. since 1986 have been low-skilled, low-educated Mexicans and Central Americans; those groups will also make up the bulk of illegal immigrants most attracted by the current proposed amnesty.   Mexicans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans made up 74% of the illegal population last year, says the Department of Homeland Security."

2010-06-10 08:33:27PDT (11:33:27EDT) (15:33:27GMT)
Annie Huang _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_/_AP_
Foxconn considering moving some tech manufacturing to Taiwan
"'We set up production lines in [Red China] in the past because of the huge labor cost differences between the 2 places.', said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.   'If the labor costs are narrowed, we certainly would prefer Taiwan.', he said.   Foxconn already operates a fully automated factory on the island to produce precision components with robotic arms, the official said."

2010-06-10 09:12PDT (12:12EDT) (16:12GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
US households shed more debt in 2010Q1: net worth up $1.1T in aggregate
"Net worth rose by $1.1T, or an 8% annual pace, during the quarter, as a bull run in stocks increased holdings in equities by $800G to $16.9T.   The value of real estate declined by $66G to $16.5T.   Net assets rose by $965G to $68.5T, while net liabilities fell $98G to $14G.   Despite the gains this year, net worth is down by $11.4T from the peak in early 2007.   It's likely that net worth will decline again in the second quarter, with stocks off about 7% and home prices falling...   Total outstanding debt in the economy increased at a 3.5% annual rate in the first quarter to $35T, led by an 18.5% increase in federal government borrowing.   Total borrowing had increased just 1.3% in the fourth quarter, the slowest pace on record (dating back to 1952)."

2010-06-10
Quin Hillyer _American Spectator_
Responding to Alien-ation, the Alien in the White House

2010-06-10
Justin Lahart _Wall Street Journal_
US firms have built up record cash piles
"The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that nonfinancial companies had socked away $1.84T in cash and other liquid assets as of the end of March, up 26% from a year earlier and the largest-ever increase in records going back to 1952.   Cash made up about 7% of all company assets, including factories and financial investments, the highest level since 1963."

2010-06-10
Miriam Jordan _Wall Street Journal_
Visa application fees to rise to try to cover more of the costs of processing

2010-06-10
William L. Anderson
NYTimes ramps up hysteria against fiscal responsibility

2010-06-10
Will Turner _Independent_
UK has talent surplus, but do our creative industries have the hunger -- or the nous -- for the globalised age?

2010-06-10 (5770 Sivan 28)
George Friedman _Jewish World Review_/_StratFor_
The Weakness of the Arab World

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-11

2010-06-10 21:01PDT (2010-06-11 00:01EDT) (2010-06-11 04:01GMT)
Al Lewis _MarketWatch_
Companies can always cut more

2010-06-11 06:53PDT (09:53EDT) (13:53GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
US retail sales fell 1.2% in May

2010-06-11 07:01PDT (10:01EDT) (14:01GMT)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index rose from 73.6 in May to 75.5 in June

2010-06-11
Phyllis Schlafly _Canada Free Press_
Obama prevaricates about jobs (and everything else)
"The rest of America may be suffering from a recession, but it's boom time for federal employees.   On average, federal employees are paid $71,206 per year compared to $40,331 for private sector workers.   Those figures are just the start of the comfort of being a federal employee.   When you include benefits such as health care and retirement, federal employees make almost double what private sector employees receive: $119,982 versus $59,909.   Stay tuned: federal employees receive raises practically every year.   From 2007 December through 2009 June, average federal government salaries increased 6.6% while private sector salaries increased 3.9%.   Most federal workers also get periodic pay hikes, called steps, which average 1.5% per year.   Federal employees don't spend much time worrying about being laid off, or about their jobs being transferred to [Red China] or Mexico, the worry that hangs over private sector workers.   Under Obama, federal jobs keep increasing in number, not diminishing...   19% of federal employees make more than $100K a year.   That's before benefits, over-time pay and bonuses are counted...   According to an article in The Hill, the SEIU expects to spend $44M to influence the 2010 elections, and AFSCME will spend $50M.   Most will be spent to help Democrats keep control of Congress and to implement Obama's agenda...   The second best way to create jobs would be to stop importing foreign workers.   Has Obama no regard for the 15M unemployed Americans and the additional 10M who have given up looking or are able to get only part-time jobs?   Each year, 1.5M foreigners are brought into our country and given work permits.   That's 1.5M jobs a year that do not go to Americans.   At least 8M illegal aliens also have jobs in the United States.   The enforcement of E-Verify would make those jobs available to our own unemployed.   Don't let the liberals get by with the lie that Americans won't do those jobs.   Illegal aliens work less than half of the jobs in every one of the categories where they cluster.   It's not only low-paid jobs that aliens take from Americans.   The Census Bureau found that 34% of all software engineers are immigrants, despite the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers reporting that 48K U.S. software engineers are unemployed [and that's likely an extreme under-estimate].   This is the 20th year of the H-1B program, which was supposed to admit only foreigners who can work jobs that require special expertise for which no U.S. employee can be found.   From the start, this program has been a racket to allow big corporations to bring in cheap workers with limited skills to work ordinary jobs.   The Times Square would-be bomber, who was only a 'B' student, once entered the United States on an H-1B visa.   We haven't heard about any bureaucrat being fired for that mistake or even admonished."

2010-06-11
_Rediff_
Indians are 3rd largest immigrant group in the USA
"Among the 713K Indian immigrant male workers age 16 and older employed in the civilian labour force in 2008, 27.0% reported working in information technology; 20.2% in management, business, and finance; 10.7% in other sciences and engineering; and 10.6% in sales, the report said...   The estimated number of unauthorised immigrants from India has increased from about 120K in 2000 to about 200K in 2009, an increase of 64%, the report said."

2010-06-11
William L. Anderson
Fiscal Responsibility

2010-06-11
Paul Fain _Chronicle of Higher Education_
U of FL announced raises of 4% for post-lay-off faculty
"Despite struggles with years of budget cuts, the University of Florida announced on Friday a broad package of pay raises for faculty members.   The 4% merit raises buck a national trend of wage freezes at public universities and are possible, university officials said, because Florida tapped federal stimulus money to cut costs through buyouts and retirement payments...   A recent study by the State Higher Education Executive Officers found that state appropriations for higher education across the nation were down 1.1% in 2010, but would have been slashed by 3.4% without stimulus funds...   some, like Florida, spent the money on buyouts and other trims to recurring expenses...   Money woes began earlier in Florida than in most other states, largely because of the state's dependence on property taxes amid a catastrophic housing slump.   At the flagship University of Florida, budget cuts began three years ago.   Mr. Machen said the state's base contribution had been cut by 22%, or about $140M.   Professors have received only one raise over the last 3 years -- 3% two years ago.   That drought ended with the salary increases announced on Friday.   The university also granted 3% raises for staff members, an increase in its minimum wage (now $9.75 an hour), and an across-the-board raise of 3% for all eligible graduate assistants.   Most of the raises will be effective on July 1.   The faculty raises can be larger than 4%, Mr. Machen said, because the university offers 9% pay increases for promotions.   In addition to buying out professors over the last 2 years, the university trimmed its undergraduate enrollment by 2K, to about 34,500.   Most universities lose money on each student because the cost of instruction typically outpaces tuition and government support.   This is particularly true in Florida, where tuition and fees are among the nation's lowest—roughly $4,400 at the University of Florida...   The university may charge up to 15% more each year until tuition and fees reach the 2009 national average of $6,900 for research universities."

2010-06-11 (5770 Sivan 29)
Carline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
The first rule of strategy

2010-06-11

DJIA	10,211.07
S&P 500	1,091.60
NASDAQ	2,243.60
Nikkei	9,705
10-year US T-Bond	3.216%
crude oil	$73.78/barrel
gold	$1,228.10/ounce
silver	$18.25/ounce
platinum	$1,535.00/ounce
palladium	$444.00/ounce
copper	$0.18125/ounce
natgas	$4.78/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline	$2.05/gal
heatingoil	$2.00/gal
soybeans	$9.0925/bushel
maize	$3.6375/bushel
wheat	$4.4075/bushel
dollarindex	87.38
yenperdollar	91.64
dollarspereuro	1.2107
dollarsperpound	1.4514
swissfranksperdollar	1.1505
indianrupeesperdollar	46.8
mexicanpesosperdollar	12.678
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	551.97

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-12

2010-06-12
_Los Angeles CA Times_
College degree is no guarantee of a better job and higher pay
"Alan Blinder, a Princeton professor and former Federal Reserve vice chairman, says it won't be surprising years from now if a carpenter in the U.S.A. earns more than a college-educated computer operator.   In fact, the data suggest that education bears little relationship to jobs that are vulnerable to off-shoring, he says.   On balance, Blinder says, 'there's little doubt a college education is a good investment for most students'.   But he offers this advice: 'Don't train yourself or your children [in work] that a computer can do or a smart kid in China or India can do.   Because that's ferocious competition.'"

2010-06-12
Ken Blackwell _Town Hall_
Obama's and Pelosi's bizarre notions of Christianity
"In the end, perhaps President Obama and Speaker Pelosi read the Bible the same way they read the Constitution.   They believe in rights to abortion and government-run healthcare, despite the fact that the Constitution nowhere mentions such rights, but they oppose the idea that the Second Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment make gun bans (like the D.C. gun ban or the Chicago gun ban) unconstitutional, despite the fact that the Constitution plainly declares it.   Obama and Pelosi likewise do not take at face value the Bible's words on countless moral issues or divine truths.   They claim biblical imperatives that are not found in the text, and ignore words that are spelled out in black and white."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-13

2010-06-13
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Jamming Everybody Into The Same Box
"Obamacare is in the long tradition of [leftism] that aims to make everybody equally poor in the name of 'social justice'.   Equality requires that private insurance providers not be permitted to tailor health insurance coverage to fit the needs and desires of people in different circumstances.   An estimated 1M lower-income citizens will lose their health insurance as a consequence."
2010-06-11: Investor's Business Daily: Insurance Canceled

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-14: Flag Day

2010-06-14
Beryl Lieff Benderly _Miller-McCune_
The Real Science Gap Is a Shortage of Employment Opportunities
"Americans need the reasonable hope that spending their youth preparing to do science will provide a satisfactory career...   Congress and successive administrations have responded with steps they have been told will solve the problem.   But some of the solutions they have adopted and hope to continue -- in particular, large increases in funding for research and graduate training -- will, experts in the scientific labor market believe, have the opposite effect, ultimately discouraging high-achieving Americans from committing their working lives to scientific innovation.   The solutions that will attract the nation's brightest young people back to science, these experts argue, are not even on the table...   'There is no scientist shortage.', declares Harvard economics professor Richard Freeman, a pre-eminent authority on the scientific work force.   Michael Teitelbaum of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a leading demographer who is also a national authority on science training, cites the 'profound irony' of crying shortage while scores of thousands of young Ph.D.s labor in the nation's university labs as low-paid, temporary workers, ostensibly training for permanent faculty positions that will never exist.   Back when today's senior-most professors were young, Ph.D.s routinely became tenure-track assistant professors, complete with labs of their own, in their late 20s.   But today, in many fields, faculty openings routinely draw hundreds of qualified applicants.   The tiny fraction who do manage to land their first faculty post are generally in their late 30s or early 40s by the time they get their research careers under way.   Today's large surplus of scientists began in the life sciences but is now apparent in fields as diverse as astronomy, meteorology and high-energy physics.   These surpluses, Teitelbaum notes, hardly constitute 'market indicators signaling shortages'...   the data clearly support those arguing for the existence of a glut of aspiring scientists...   Before the mid-1970s, U.S. science and engineering graduates could look forward not only to intellectual challenge and the excitement of doing important and admired work, but to security and, ultimately, an upper-middle-class income.   Aspiring scientists could climb a clearly defined ladder from [high school to college to] graduate school to stable and reasonably lucrative careers.   Able students could finish a doctorate in four or five years, generally supported by a fellowship or assistantship...   the reality that a once-desirable career path for the best U.S. scientific talent has become a route to penury, frustration and disappointment...   in the 1980s, when a policy office in the National Science Foundation produced a flawed demographic analysis predicting a shortfall of technical talent.   Testifying before Congress about that study in 1995, NSF Director Neal Lane stated that 'there was really no basis to predict a shortage'...   In regard to science- and math-based careers, Salzman says, 'Everything shows that wages and working conditions and career prospects have... gotten worse.'...   'Simply put, there are not enough tenure-track academic positions for the available pool of... researchers.', the Bridges report says...   Essentially, this system provides a continuing supply of exceptionally skilled labor at artificially low prices, permitting the federal government to finance research at low cost."
Vannevar Bush: Science, the Endless Frontier
Harold Salzman & B. Lindsay Lowell: Into the Eye of the Storm
Bridges to Independence: Fostering the Independence of New Researchers
Erling E. Boe & Sujie Shin: Phi Beta Kappan: Is the United States Really Losing the International Horse Race in Academic Achievement?
Slash Dot discussion

2010-06-13 21:53PDT (2010-06-14 00:53EDT) (2010-06-14 04:53GMT)
Amy Hoak _MarketWatch_
Without jobs, housing rebound may take years: Harvard's 'State of the Nation's Housing' report also cites lack of affordability
"Another problem: Affordability issues are still lingering, said Nicolas P. Retsinas, the center's director.   According to the report, 40.3M households spent more than 30% of their income on housing in 2008, and 18.6M spent more than half of their income, up from 13.8M in 2001...   Real median household incomes are poised to end 2010 lower than they were in 2000, according to the report.   The household median income was $49,800 in 2008, down from $52,400 in 2000, the report said, citing the most recent data available.   Meanwhile, an estimated 1 in 7 homeowners has a home worth less than they owe on their mortgage, and 5M need their home price to rebound by 25% before they're again above water...   The echo-boom generation is already larger than the baby boomer generation, and the baby-bust generation born between 1966 and 1985 is nearly as large.   Add immigration projections, and household growth should approach 15M from 2010 to 2020, according to the report."

2010-06-14
Joe Cogliano _Dayton Business Journal_
Air Force Research Lab hiring 275 STEM workers
AFRL won work-force development award
"Major-general Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of AFRL, said recently that the base is supporting efforts in the community to boost STEM-related education.   Pawlikowski also said earlier this year that managing the BRAC moves makes this a 'critical' year for AFRL.   Polly Sweet, director of personnel for AFRL, said the variety of positions require a background in operations research analysis; electronic, mechanical, aeronautical and materials engineering; chemistry and physics; sensors; or human performance."
AFRL
They've generated a flurry of press coverage that AFRL is hiring, but there's no contact info, and their "contact us" page is broken, suggesting some ambivalence.   Meanwhile, recent head-lines say: "College-educated have been turning to skilled manual labor for employment", "The Real Science Gap Is a Shortage of Employment Opportunities", and "Grim statistics raise questions on education's value".
search on AFRL in usajobs.gov

2010-06-14
William L. Anderson
Krugman's lack of understanding or misrepresentation of Austrian economics
"The Austrians don't claim that the Great Depression was a 'good thing', but rather the Great Depression occurred precisely because governments intervened in the economy to prop up mal-investments and to keep the necessary liquidations from occurring.   Because of those policies, the economy got both liquidation AND high unemployment...   In the Austrian view, we have EITHER liquidation of mal-investments or long-term high unemployment, with any high amounts of unemployment coming from the liquidation process being temporary.   Krugman and the Keynesians, on the other hand, believe that once the liquidation process begins, the economy never recovers. Ever."
2009-03-05: Robert Higgs: Recession and Recovery -- 6 fundamental errors of Keynesians
Thomas E. Brewton: View from 1776
"Austrian school economists focus upon preventing severe recessions by curbing the easy money policies that cause them.   By analogy, Krugman believes that the only cure for a hangover is another barrel of whiskey, that it is impossible for a drunk to drink too much more whiskey; that rehabilitation and adherence to the AA program is not worth consideration.   Krugman's big-spending on borrowed money, the Keynesian prescription, was a disaster during Roosevelt's New Deal, when unemployment for 8 years never dropped below double digits.   And the experience is being repeated today under the socialistic Obama administration."

2010-06-14
Melissa Silverberg _Daily Illini_
National PetaScale Computing Center ready to open
"The center is 88K square feet and will not only house Blue Waters, but other super-computers as well.   The data center -- the main room of the facility -- is 20K square feet and will hold Blue Waters as well as at least two other supercomputers.   The space is more than three times larger than that in the NCSA's current location on Springfield Avenue.   This main control room sits on a six-foot high raised floor in which every tile is removable, revealing a room below for wires, electrical components and workers to help keep the computers running smoothly...   The Petascale Computing Facility has a room to house three chilled water tanks, each holding 10K gallons of water that will support Blue Waters...   Although this cooling tower infrastructure cost about $1.5M to add to the building, the NCSA expects it to pay for itself in energy savings in the first year.   The National Science Foundation [NSF] will be paying utilities for the project.   In addition to the energy saved through water cooling, the facility hopes to achieve LEED Gold certification for its sustainable design and construction, Bell said...   Blue Waters is a joint effort between the University, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, IBM and the Great Lakes Consortium for Petascale Computation."

2010-06-14
_Trading Markets_
Temple-Inland, will pay $250K and furnish substantial remedial relief to settle an age discrimination law-suit

2010-06-14
Byron York _Town Hall_
Billions for so-called green jobs... whatever they are
"'The common thread through the studies and discussions is that green jobs are jobs related to preserving or restoring the environment.', the notice said.   Beyond that blinding insight, a precise definition has eluded Labor Department officials...   The Labor Department is shoving money out the door for 'green jobs', yet at the same time is admitting it doesn't know what a 'green job' is...   In a June 2 letter to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Grassley noted that there was an enormous amount of money in the $862G stimulus bill for those still-undefined green jobs."

2010-06-14 16:03PDT (19:03EDT) (23:03GMT)
_Investor's Business Daily_
The Last Straw: What a real leader might do

2010-06-14
Roya Wolverson _Smart Money_
US economy is still fragile
"For one thing, job losses were at there lowest level in 9 months at the end of September, an indication that the pace of lay-offs is winding down.   Granted, unemployment could continue to rise even as the economy improves, he says, which could depress consumer spending and the pace of economic recovery.   After all, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell to 53.1 in September, down from 54.5 in August, as many consumers are still wary about improvement in the job market.   And the number of consumers claiming that jobs are 'hard to get' increased to 47% in September from 44.3% in August."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-15

2010-06-15
_Huffington Post_
College-educated have been turning to skilled manual labor for employment
Carol Morello: Washington DC Post
"[IBEW] Apprentices start out getting paid half the scale for experienced workers, with raises every 6 months.   Ultimately, many make as much or more as they would in jobs requiring a college degree.   Licensed journeymen can expect to be paid $65K to $85K a year, depending on over-time.   Local apprentice programs, which typically last five years, are swamped with applicants nowadays.   The electricians' union program, for example, has 2,500 applications for 100 slots.   And nearly 4K want to get one of the 300 slots at plumbers and pipe fitters school...   Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys from 2009 show that more than 7% of workers in the construction trade have at least a bachelor's degree, up from less than 6 percent in 1990 and 2000...   In the early 1970s, Robert Glover, an economics professor at the University of Texas, studied apprenticeship programs in 9 cities.   He found that 27% of journeymen in 6 construction trades had at least 13 years of schooling.   Among the tradesmen he interviewed was an electrician with a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering and a bricklayer who was listening to classical music on the radio...   'When people asked me what I do, I'd say, I'm a plumber.'   He cups his mouth with his hand and bows his head while he whispers this.   'Now I'm proud of it.   Most of my friends from college are in IT.   And I have more discretionary income than all of them.'"

2010-06-15 (5770 Tamuz 03)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
How Hamas rises in the West

2010-06-15 (5770 Tamuz 03)
Thomas H. Maugh ii _Jewish World Review_
Genetic testing confirms Jewish differences
"Ashkenazim, the primary group descended from European Jews, are all as closely related as fourth or fifth cousins would be, the study found.   'Jews really are different from their non-Jewish neighbors.', said Dr. Harry Ostrer, a geneticist at the New York University Langone Medical Center, senior author of the new study appearing in the American Journal of Human Genetics.   They are not different enough to be considered a separate race as some experts have argued, he added, but definitely are a 'distinct population' -- the result, presumably, of cultural separation during thousands of years...   The study shows that there is 'clearly a shared genetic common ancestry among geographically diverse populations consistent with oral tradition and culture... and that traces back to the Middle East.', said geneticist Sarah A. Tishkoff of the University of Pennsylvania...   The researchers studied about 160K sites across the entire genome, providing a great deal more information about the population than has ever been available...   The data also show what the researchers call a 'bottleneck' in the Jewish population during the Middle Ages.   The population of European Jews shrunk below 50K during that period because of disease, prejudice, anti-Semitic edicts and the Crusades, Atzmon said.   Afterwards, however, an easing of restrictions led to what is known as the 'demographic miracle', in which the Jewish population rose twice as fast as that of other Europeans, reaching more than 5M by the 19th century."

2010-06-15 (5770 Tamuz 03)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Oil and Snake Oil
One News Now
Investor's Business Daily
"If the Obama administration was for real, and trying to help get the oil spill contained as soon as possible, the last thing its Attorney General would be doing is threatening a law-suit.   A law-suit is not going to stop the oil, and creating a distraction can only make people at BP start directing their attention toward covering themselves, instead of covering the oil well.   If and when the Attorney General finds that BP did something illegal, that will be time enough to start a law-suit."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-16

2010-06-16
Gary North _Market Oracle_
Busted Governments, Pensions, and Unions
"The governor and the legislature have a problem.   They need to fund the pensions adequately.   But the politicians do not want to raise taxes in what is already one of the most heavily taxed states in the United States.   The politicians also do not wish to cut spending...   The governor and the legislature have the power to write IOUs to the state pension fund in the name of the people.   The people are going to have to pay, whether they like it or not.   The people are going to come through.   The people are going to willingly accept the obligations that have been made in their name, and they will not revolt politically against pensioners who are being paid pensions higher than the income of the voters.   We know the people will do this, because politicians have promised that they will do this.   If this sounds utterly crazy, consider the funding of the [Socialist Insecurity] System.   It also is running deficits.   It also is statistically incapable of delivering on its promises.   The Federal government continues to borrow money, and part of this money is used to pay off obligations to pensioners."

2010-06-16 01:25PDT (04:25EDT) (08:25GMT)
Chris Isidore _CNN_
Unemployed need not apply
Stephanie Medeiros: Digital Journal
"Some job postings include restrictions such as 'unemployed candidates will not be considered' or 'must be currently employed'.   Those explicit limitations have occasionally been removed from listings when an employer or recruiter is questioned by the media though.   That's what happened with numerous listings for grocery store managers throughout the Southeast posted by a South Carolina recruiter, Latro Consulting.   After CNNMoney called seeking comments on the listings last week, the restriction against unemployed candidates being considered came down.   Latro Consulting refused to comment when contacted.   Sony Ericsson, a global phone manufacturer that was hiring for a new Georgia facility, also removed a similar restriction after local reporters wrote about it.   According to reports, a Sony Ericsson spokesperson said that a mistake had been made.   But even if companies don't spell out in a job listing that they won't consider someone who currently doesn't have a job, experts said that unemployed applicants are typically ruled out right off the bat.   'Most executive recruiters won't look at a candidate unless they have a job, even if they don't like to admit to it.', said Lisa Chenofsky Singer, a human resources consultant from Millburn, NJ, specializing in media and publishing jobs.   She said when she proposes candidates for openings, the first question she is often asked by a recruiter is if they currently have a job.   If the answer is no, she's typically told the unemployed candidate won't be interviewed.   'They think you must have been laid off for performance issues.', she said, adding that this is a myth in a time of high unemployment.   It is not against the law for companies to exclude the unemployed when trying to fill positions, but Judy Conti, a lobbyist for the National Employment Law Project, said the practice is a bad one.   'Making that kind of automatic cut is senseless; you could be missing out on the best person of all.', she said.   'There are millions of people who are unemployed through no fault of their own.   If an employer feels that the best qualified are the ones already working, they have no appreciation of the crisis we're in right now.'   Conti added that firms that hire unemployed job seekers could also benefit from a recently-passed tax break that essentially exempts them from paying the 6.2% of the new hire's wages in [Social Insecurity extortion] for the rest of this year."
All Voices
"Overburdened Human Resources departments, overwhelmed with a glut of job applications for nearly every position, available or not, are using an applicant's current unemployment standing against them.   'It's simply one more way to wade through the application morass most companies are seeing.', according to head-hunter and employment consultant Emily Lauter.   'Personnel staff are looking for quick solutions to pare down candidates.   No college degree? Cut.   Not currently employed? Cut.'"

2010-06-16 05:59PDT (08:59EDT) (12:59GMT)
Tami Luhby _CNN_
170K families were homeless in 2009, up from 159K in 2008, 131K in 2007

2010-06-16 07:02PDT (10:02EDT) (14:02GMT)
_MarketWatch_/_Globe NewsWire/NASDAQ OMX_
Yet another cross-border bodyshop and off-shorer

2010-06-16 07:50PDT (10:50EDT) (14:50GMT)
_KeysNet_/_AP_
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff released from prison

2010-06-16 07:52PDT (10:52EDT) (14:52GMT)
Stephanie Overby _NetworkWorld_/_CIO_/_IDG_
Off-Shore Out-Sourcer and Cross-Border BodyShopper Patni braces for mild restrictions on H-1B visas
"As president of Patni Americas, Naresh Lakhanpal has opened up or acquired delivery centers for the out-sourcer in 6 North American cities in the last 6 months, including brand new operations in El Paso, Texas and Queretaro, Mexico.   The activity is part of the $656M service provider's plan to increase its presence in the Western hemisphere and become an any-shore out-sourcer offering a menu of on-shore, near-shore and off-shore options...   Today, almost 20% of Patni's 14K employees work stateside, and the vendor now maintains delivery centers in almost as many cities in the Americas as it does in India.   Of the 2,800 Patni employees working outside the subcontinent, 2,300 of them sit in North American locations including Cambridge, MA, Bloomington, IN, and Milpitas, CA.   The Mexican center Patni opened in April to serve the Latin American market currently employs 40 but is slated to grow to a 300-person shop.   Patni has plans to triple headcount at its El Paso center, which currently employs 100 IT and BPO professionals who perform a range of insurance, financial services, and IT support, as well as an English-Spanish help desk.   In April, the company acquired four Florida back-office administration centers-and 250 employees-from health insurer Universal American.   One challenge to Patni's U.S. expansion, however, are immigration changes currently proposed in Congress.   Patni estimates that 60% to 65% of its U.S. employees are foreign nationals who hold temporary visas, like the H-1B and L-1.   Lakhanpal says the company doesn't seek out U.S. workers for specific roles and Indian employees for other roles.   Patni's H-1B visa holders working in its American offices possess a variety of skill sets ranging 'from management to engineering', says Lakhanpal, who was born in Montreal, got his undergraduate degree and MBA in Texas, and previously worked in management positions at Deloitte & Touche and Ericsson...   Lakhanpal says the company has had no problems procuring H-1B or L-1 visas for its staff, but it is concerned about the impact of potential immigration reform, which could force the company to hire more U.S.-born American citizens...   Specifically, Lakhanpal says Patni is planning for the '50/50 rule', which is a clause in the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act introduced in the Senate last year...   'A 50/50 visa rule would be a challenging short-term issue for several off-shore out-sourcers, many of which staff their U.S. locations with 75%-plus H-1Bs and L-1s.', says Phil Fersht, founder of out-sourcing analyst firm Horses for Sources.   He notes that such a restriction would decrease off-shore out-sourcers' margins or drive up their costs...   But, Fersht continues, the availability of U.S. IT professionals -- many willing to accept lower salaries for permanent work -- could ease the pain on [bodyshoppers] like Patni in the long run."

2010-06-16
_MarketWatch_/_Berkshire Hathaway Business Wire_
Wipro to provide legal process out-sourcing to MSFT
Hindustan Times
"In 2008 July, Wipro began providing U.S. Patent and Trademark filing and docketing services to MSFT's Intellectual Property & Licensing group, replacing the latter's in-house resources, outside law firms and off-shore vendors.   MSFT previously had used a mix of in house resources, outside law firms and off-shore vendors to perform these IP services.   [They deserve each other...jgo]"

2010-06-16
Robert Porter _Official Wire_
Thousands of US businesses only trust a us call center to deliver call support. Use a US call center to guarantee that articulate, fluent call center representatives answer your calls in clear voices

2010-06-16
C.Q. Francisco _Business World On-Line_
More business process out-sourcing firms sought in Philippines

2010-06-16
Trey Ratliff _Harvard U Nieman Journalism Lab_
Iceland trying to establish safe haven for freedom of the press

2010-06-16
_IBS Journal-News_/_IBS Intelligence_
Capgemini continues growth as off-shore out-sourcer with purchase of Strategic Systems Solutions
"In late 2009, the company purchased a VietNamese IT firm, IACP Asia, which became Capgemini's offshore development centre.   The purchase of SSS is valuable from a geographical perspective as well as the overall capital markets one, notes Ezzat.   It will provide Capgemini with delivery centres in [Red China], Singapore and the Philippines."

2010-06-16
Don Lee _Cal State Fullerton Daily Titan_/_McClatchy_
Grim statistics raise questions on education's value
"After spending tens of thousands of dollars on higher education, often taking on huge debts along the way, many face a job market that doesn't seem to need them.   Not only is the American economy producing few new jobs of any kind, but the ones that are being added are overwhelmingly on the lower end of the skill and pay scale.   In fact, government surveys indicate that the vast majority of job gains this year have gone to workers with only a high school education or less, casting some doubt on one of the nation's most deeply held convictions: that a college education is the ticket to the American Dream.   The Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] projects that 7 of the 10 employment sectors that will see the largest gains over the next decade won't require much more than some on-the-job training.   These include home health care aides, customer service representatives and food preparers and servers.   Meanwhile, well-paying white-collar jobs such as computer programming have become vulnerable to out-sourcing to foreign countries.   'People with bachelor's degrees will increasingly get not very highly satisfactory jobs.', said W. Norton Grubb, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley School of Education.   'In that sense, people are getting more schooling than jobs are available.'   He noted that in 1970, 77% of workers with a bachelor's degree were employed in professional and managerial occupations.   By 2000, that had fallen to 60%.   Of the nearly 1M new jobs created since hiring turned up in January, about half have been temporary census jobs.   Most of the rest are concentrated in such industries as retail, hospitality and temporary staffing, according to the BLS...   Even now, the unemployment rate for college graduates stands at 4.7% -- less than half of the figure for workers with only a high school diploma.   Also, federal statistics for 2008 show that men 25 and older with a bachelor's degree pulled down a median salary of $65,800.   That compares with a median of $39,010 for men in the same age group who had completed only high school...   Higher degrees today don't always bring higher earnings...   'A (four-year) college degree is not the security as it once was.', Autor said, although he quickly added that the alternative was far worse.   'Middle-class jobs for non-college graduates are going to be few and far between.'   Many employers regard a 4-year degree as a must, even for positions that can be handled by high school graduates.   That may partly reflect a kind of education inflation that's come with soaring college enrollment and many students earning multiple degrees."

2010-06-16
Henry Percy _American Thinker_
Who Owns the Land, Anyway?

2010-06-16
William L. Anderson
Unlimited government spending does not create prosperity

2010-06-16
Weaver
Immigration Reform, Reprehensible Immigration Law Perversion, and Federal Spending

2010-06-16
William Norman Grigg _Lew Rockwell_
Amnesty for the Banksters, Debtor's Prison for the Serfs

2010-06-16
Alan D. Leib & Aaron D. Werner _Horood Marcus & Berk_
business succession planning
"only 25%-30% of all family businesses successfully complete the transition from the 1st generation to the 2nd, only 10%-15% survive to the 3rd generation and only 2%-3% continue into the 4th generation..."

2010-06-16 (5770 Tamuz 04)
Ken Dilanian _Jewish World Review_
Full body scanners may make it easier to sneak weapons/explosives onto planes
"Classified tests show that X-ray screeners routinely miss threats, said Clark Ervin, former Department of Homeland Security inspector general.   The rate of detection for baggage X-rays is 'disastrously low, and it's no better than it was on 2001/09/11 -- that's the scary thing', he said."

2010-06-16 (5770 Tamuz 04)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Economic Myths, Fallacies and Stupidity
"In the world of economic decision making, there are no solutions -- only trade-offs, where having more of one thing means having less of another.   Having one desire fulfilled means having another unfulfilled...   profit-motivated businesses must please people...   In the market, when a firm fails to please its customers and fails to earn a profit, it goes bankrupt, making those resources available to another that might do better.   That's unless government steps in to bail it out.   Bail-outs send the message to continue doing a poor job of pleasing customers and husbanding resources.   Government-owned nonprofit entities are immune to the ruthless market discipline of being forced to please customers.   The same can be said of businesses that receive government subsidies.   The ruthlessness of the market discipline, which forces firms to please customers and thereby earn profits, goes a long way toward explaining hostility toward free market capitalism."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-17

1776-06-17: Battles of Breed's Hill & Bunker Hill

2010-06-17 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 440,701 in the week ending June 12, an increase of 44,112 from the previous week.   There were 558,407 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.3% during the week ending June 5, unchanged from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,287,298, an increase of 90,879 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.5% and the volume was 6,082,296.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending May 29...   States reported 4,804,030 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending May 29, a decrease of 191,103 from the prior week.   There were 2,359,537 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" changes
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-06-17
Republican losership (including John Boehner and Eric Cantor) should apologize to Joe Barton for demanding that he apologize for apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward for his having been shaken down by the WhiteHouse for yet another slush fund for the leftists.   I find it incredibly insensitive, incredibly out of touch, and incredibly stupid for Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and other fleming radical leftist rogues to deny the obvious and unconstitutional shake-down.
Thursday moning, Joe Barton had said: "I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday.   I think it is a tragedy in the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown -- in this case a $20G shake-down -- with the attorney general of the United States, who is legitimately conducting a criminal investigation and has every right to do so to protect the American people, participating in what amounts to a $20G slush fund that's unprecedented in our nation's history, which has no legal standing, which I think sets a terrible precedent for our nation's future.   I'm only speaking for myself.   I'm not speaking for anyone else, but I apologize.   I do not want to live in a county where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong, [it is] subject to some sort of political pressure that, again, in my words, amounts to a shake-down [rather than going through the existing reasonable and constitutional litigation process]."

2010-06-17
Catherine Clifford _CNN_
Innovative Americans decry difficulty in reaching BP & Government with solutions
"BP said Monday that it has ordered 32 of the 4K-pound machines that Ocean Therapy Solutions, a company Costner funds, invented to separate oil from water.   But getting the machine on BP's radar took a Herculean effort -- even for a rich, high-profile movie star like Costner.   Fellow witness Heather Baird testified about just how impossible that bureaucratic video game can be.   Baird is the vice president of communications for Microsorb Environmental Products, a Massachusetts company that uses non-toxic, oil-eating microbes to clean up spills.   BP (BP) has used Microsorb on past spills, and the technology is on the Environmental Protection Agency's approved product list for emergencies like this one.   But Microsorb can't get its little microbes into the Gulf of Mexico.   The company's executives have spent thousands of dollars traveling to the Gulf, pitching every BP executive and official they can reach on the efficacy and safety of their product."

2010-06-17
Thomas Sowell _Town Hall_
77 -- a mind-changing page from the book _Out of Work_ by Vedder & Gallaway: The myth of the recovery from the Great Depression
Washington Examiner
Creators Syndicate
Real Clear Politics
National Review
Columbus OH Dispatch

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-18

2010-06-17 21:01PDT (2010-06-18 00:01EDT) (2010-06-18 04:01GMT)
Kathleen Madigan _MarketWatch_/_Dow Jones_
Stealth price increases
"Underneath the quiet surface, however, are signs of 'stealth inflation'.   Companies and industries are trying to slip in price increases without appearing to be hiking prices...   Take airfares.   Even as they advertise bargain fares, airlines have instituted surcharges for summer travel.   The fee can add up to $30 per ticket (meaning an extra $60 for a round trip).   Just like baggage fees, the surcharge is a way to raise fares without having to raise the listed ticket prices.   The industry is taking advantage of supply and demand.   Airlines have cut back on routes, so consumers wanting to travel far have little choice but to pay up.   Plane tickets were up almost 14% in the 12 months ended in May, according to the CPI report.   Meanwhile, AT&T -- the exclusive provider of wireless service for Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPads -- has decided to jettison its unlimited mobile data plan and replace it with a tiered plan.   Under the new plan, low-volume users will pay $15 a month while higher-volume users will pay $25, and very heavy users will shell out more for extra charges.   The telecommunications giant says 98% of its customers will see lower monthly charges.   But as consumers increasingly use their smartphones to watch movies, search the web and get driving directions, the tiered pricing could push customers into paying more than they do now.   Lastly, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that some banks are ending free checking and are adding monthly fees for accounts with low balances or little activity."

2010-06-18 12:22:57PDT (15:22:57EDT) (19:22:57GMT)
Mike Swift _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_
On-Line Privacy: "Bill of Rights" for social networking debated at Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy
Social Network Users' Bill of Rights

2010-06-18 12:37PDT (15:37EDT) (19:37GMT)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
About 1.2M are expected to lose unemployment benefits this month, and doctors are starting to see a 21% cut in Medicare payments Friday

2010-06-18 13:30PDT (16:30EDT) (20:30GMT)
Matthew Kalman _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Are your text-books depressed or merely depressing?

2010-06-18 15:38PDT (18:38EDT) (22:38GMT)
Douglas Holtz-Eakin _Investor's Busines Daily_
New bank taxes under left's financial perversion proposals will raise borrowing costs and hurt growth

2010-06-18
William L. Anderson
That 1930s mistake, again
"with the U.S. Government running multi-trillion-dollar deficits, the notion that spending is anything but wild and wasteful is a fantasy in itself.   For Krugman to claim that the government is involved in an austerity program is ridiculous"

2010-06-18
Charles Krauthammer _Washington DC Post_
Obama and the vision thing

2010-06-18
William Norman Grigg _Lew Rockwell_
Quantum of Suffering: Economic Hitmen Target Main Street

2010-06-18 (5770 Tamuz 06)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
Weathering the coming storm

2010-06-18

DJIA	10,450.64
S&P 500	1,117.51
NASDAQ	2,309.80
Nikkei	9,995
10-year US T-Bond	3.23%
crude oil	$77.18/barrel
gold	$1,258.30/ounce
silver	$19.184/ounce
platinum	$1,587.00/ounce
palladium	$491.40/ounce
copper	$0.18134375/ounce
natgas	$4.997/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline	$2.1476/gal
heatingoil	$2.1289/gal
soybeans	$9.61/bushel
maize	$3.70/bushel
wheat	$4.7775/bushel
dollarindex	85.58
yenperdollar	90.6700
dollarspereuro	1.2365
dollarsperpound	1.4796
swissfranksperdollar	1.3718
indianrupeesperdollar	46.2
mexicanpesosperdollar	12.5438
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	569.07

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-19

2010-06-19
Randall Hoven _American Thinker_
Excessive federal spending: New deal or raw deal

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-20

2010-06-20
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
No-Fathers Day: leftists seek to undermine families

2010-06-20
Weaver
How much immigration is too much immigration?

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-21

1788-06-21: US Constitution ratified

2010-06-20 17:38PDT (2010-06-20 20:38EDT) (2010-06-21 00:38GMT)
Emily Bayci _Daily Illini_
Weight no problem for innovative Illini tractor
"Schilling was the president of Illini Pullers, the tractor design team which took first place overall at the 13th Annual American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition.   The event was held June 3-6 in Peoria, IL...   The teams are judged in four categories: tractor design, including maneuverability, safety and sound level; a written report with the team's budget and development of the design; an oral presentation to a mock corporate management team; and a performance competition where the team completes four tractor pulls, two each in a 1,050-pound and 1,550-pound weight class...   'We won all 4 pulls easily.', Hansen said.   'The one I like most is the guts pull, where you add as much weight as you want.   The students added no more than 2K pounds, but they still won.   So we even did pretty well in the fun class.'...   There were 20 other teams in the competition."

2010-06-21 08:38:40PDT (11:38:40EDT) (15:38:40GMT)
_San Jose CA Mercury "News"_/_AP_
Foxconn urged to end "rigid and inhumane management style" in petition signed by 180 Taiwanese academics and labor activists

2010-06-21 09:12PDT (12:12EDT) (16:12GMT)
Don Sears _eWeek_
The 50/50 Rule for H-1B visas could lead to higher employment of US IT workers
"A rule known as the 50/50 rule in a piece of 2009 Senate legislation (as well as a clause in the House in the [Reprehensible Immigration Law Perversion] Act of 2009) seeks to balance out the number of foreign-worker to U.S.-worker ratios in companies that employ more than 50 U.S.-based employees.   If a company is using H-1B and/or L-1 visa workers, the legislation would limit the number of those workers to no more than 50% of the U.S.-based work-force."

2010-06-21
Jeremy van Loon _Bloomberg_
German "clean power" push is breaking their economy

2010-06-21
Hans von Spakovsky _Heritage Foundation_
Nearly 600K deportation orders were not enforced
"Mark Metcalf's research on the deceptive statistics released by the Justice Department is quite shocking.   From 1996 to 2008, the U.S. [government] allowed 1.8M aliens (many of them here illegally) to remain free upon their promise to appear in court when their cases were scheduled to be heard, and 736K of them never showed up for their hearings.   After 2001/09/11, court evasion by illegal aliens exploded -- from 2002 to 2006, over 50% of all aliens summoned to court disappeared.   Of course, you'd never know this from the numbers reported by the EOIR, because it masks the true numbers by manipulating its statistics.   For example, in 2005 and 2006 EOIR reported to Congress that the 'overall failure' rate of aliens 'to appear' in court was only 39%.   The real number of aliens who were free pending their court date who then failed to appear was actually 59%.   EOIR got the deceptively lower 39% figure by combining the appearance rates for aliens who were free pending a hearing and aliens who were actually in jail!   That is ridiculous and clearly does not give a true picture of the problem, since someone sitting in jail is not capable of skipping out on his court hearing, at least not without committing the further crime of breaking out of jail.   But combining those groups makes the skip rate look lower than it really is.   Only 9% of aliens who lose their cases actually bother to appeal; most of them just walk away and disappear.   Those dodging deportation orders issued by immigration judges number in the hundreds of thousands.   In 2002, there were 602K back-logged deportation orders; in 2008, 558K remained unenforced.   (Of those ordered deported, 45K were illegal aliens from countries that, according to DHS, abet terror.)   The highest arrest rate for aliens ordered deported was achieved in 2008 when 6.1% were apprehended."

2010-06-21
William L. Anderson
Keynesians' spend now, save later insanity
"This whole thing is predicated upon the Keynesian 'solution' of massive borrowing and printing of money actually bringing about a recovery.   However, what if this continues to make things worse?"

2010-06-21 (5770 Tamuz 09)
Candice Novak & Kate Bowen _Deutsche Wells_/_German World_
last Soviet-era/post-Soviet squat ends as legitimate housing projects flourish; grunge neighborhoods infested by communist-anarchists turn marketable; the problems created by land & buildings without secure, clear respect for property rights

2010-06-21 (5770 Tamuz 09)
Rabbi Doctor Asher Meir _Jewish World Review_
All creditors need to be paid on time, but workers especially

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-22

2010-06-22
_Slash Dot_
At Google, You're Old and Gray at 40
"At a company of about 20K full-time employees, there were at last count fewer than 200 formally enrolled Greyglers working to 'make Google culture... welcome to people of all ages'."

2010-06-22
Paul Williams _Family Security Matters_
Gülen (Guelen) movement engulfing Lone Star State
"At the Harmony Schools which have spread throughout Texas, students are immersed in Turkish culture, customs, religion, history and language.   They are allegedly taught that the Ottoman Empire represented the golden age of global civilization and that the Armenian Holocaust, in which millions of Turkish Christians were massacred, never occurred.   The thousands of students who emerge from these schools advance the cause of Turkey and the New Islamic World Order, according to Act for America and other reliable sources.   32 Harmony Schools have been set up the Lone Star State at an annual expense to Texas [tax-victims] of $41M.   The schools reportedly are the breeding grounds for the Gülen movement in America and Fethullah Gülen's long-range plan to create a universal caliphate.   7 Harmony Schools are in Houston, 4 in Austin, 3 in Fort Worth, 2 in San Antonio, 1 in El Paso, and 2 in Dallas.   Others have been established in Brownsville, Laredo, Beaumont, Bryan, Waco, Lubbock, Carrollton, Euless, Odessa, Garland, and Grand Prairie.   The schools are operated by the Cosmos Foundation, a mysterious non-profit corporation with head-quarters in Houston...   Mr. Tarim said that very few teachers in Harmony Schools hail from Turkey.   Yet the Cosmos Foundation has obtained H-1B visas for more than 1,136 Turks to come to Texas to teach in the Harmony Schools...   In addition to Texas, his schools have been established at 40 other locations throughout the country."

2010-06-22 04:00PDT (07:00EDT) (11:00GMT)
_Chronicle of Higher Education_
Baltimore county juco to pay $50K to settle age discrimination suit
Hanah Cho: Baltimore MD Sun

2010-06-22
_News Wire_
ALIPAC joins the ranks of organizations trying to decrease excessive immigration rates
ALIPAC discussion

2010-06-22
Weaver
H-1B impact on computer-related occupations in FY2009

2010-06-22
Robert P. Murphy _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
Money vs. Wealth

2010-06-22
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Housing Continues to Slump
James R. Hagerty: Wall Street Journal

2010-06-22
_BLS_
How Americans use our time
"Employed persons worked an average of 7.5 hours on the days they worked.   More hours were worked, on average, on week-days than on week-end days -- 7.9 hours compared with 5.0 hours.   On the days that they worked, employed men worked 56 minutes more than employed women.   This difference partly reflects women's greater likelihood of working part time.   However, even among full-time workers (those usually working 35 hours or more per week), men worked longer than women -- 8.3 hours compared with 7.5 hours.   Many more people worked on week-days than on week-end days; that is, they spent some time doing tasks required for a job, regardless of whether it was part of their usual work schedule or arrangement.   83% of employed persons worked on an average week day, compared with 35% on an average week-end day.   On the days that they worked, 24% of employed persons did some or all of their work at home, and 84% did some or all of their work at their work-place.   Men and women were about equally likely to do some or all of their work at home.   [People with more than one job] were almost twice as likely to work on an average week-end day as were [those with one job] -- 59% compared with 32%.   [People with more than one job] also were more likely to work at home than were [those with one job] -- 32% compared with 22%.   Self-employed workers were 3 times more likely than wage and salary workers to have done some work at home on days worked -- 60% compared with 20%.   On the days that they worked, 40% of employed people age 25 and over with a bachelor's degree or higher did some work at home, compared with only 10% of those with less than a high school diploma...   On an average day, nearly everyone age 15 and over (96%) engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Of those who engaged in leisure activities, men spent more time in these activities (5.8 hours) than did women (5.1 hours)...   Students averaged 5.08 hours per day in class, and 2.66 hours on week-days and 3.36 hours on holidays and week-ends on home-work and research."
Time Use Survey

2010-06-22
William L. Anderson
If the Socialist Insecurity Abomination is a legitimate funding scheme, then why is Bernie Madoff in prison?

2010-06-22
Merrill Goozner _Fiscal Times_
the feral federal government may one day spend every tax dollar on health care
"Forget about holding health care spending to the same rate of increase as the rest of the economy.   'Bending the cost curve' is Washington wonk-speak for allowing health care costs to rise 50% faster than the rest of the economy instead of its usual 75% to 100% premium.   The Congressional Budget Office, the neutral arbiter in the debate, offered a relatively rosy scenario in March after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObummerDoesn'tCare) passed.   It predicted the law's combination of spending on newly-insured, tax increases and Medicare savings would reduce the federal deficit by $124G by 2019 compared to baseline projections, and further reduce it by $681G over the succeeding decade...   Base-line projections showed health care soaring to 19% by the end of this decade (it's already about 17%); more than 25% of all economic activity sometime during the next decade; and 34% by 2040.   At that point, Medicare and Medicaid spending alone would account for a staggering 15% of GDP, which is roughly what the Internal Revenue Service now collects each year."

2010-06-22 (5770 Tamuz 10)
Nancy A. Youssef _Jewish World Review_
Congressional Report: U.S. tax money funding Taliban in Afghanistan
"Private security contractors protecting the convoys that supply U.S. military bases in Afghanistan are paying millions of dollars a week in 'passage bribes' to the Taliban and other insurgent groups to travel along Afghan roads, a congressional investigation released Monday has found.   The payments, which are reimbursed by the U.S. government, help fund the very enemy the U.S. is attempting to defeat and renew questions about the U.S. dependence on private contractors, who out-number American troops in Afghanistan, 130K to 93K."

2010-06-22 (5770 Tamuz 10)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Degeneration of Democracy
Town Hall

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-23

2010-06-23
William L. Anderson
What "Expansionary" Policies?

2010-06-23
Robert Higgs _Independent Institute_
Why less government spending would mean less economic trouble
Christian Science Monitor

2010-06-23 08:19PDT (11:19EDT) (15:19GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
New-home sales fell 33% in May
"The median sales price in May was $200,900, down 9.6% from a year earlier and the lowest since 2003 December.   Home builders continued to shed inventories in May, cutting the number of unsold homes by 0.5% to 213K, the lowest level in 39 years.   In the past year, inventories are down 27%, while sales are down 18%.   The inventory of unsold homes represented an 8.5-month supply at the depressed May sales pace, up from 5.8 months in April and the highest in nearly a year."
census bureau records

2010-06-23 (5770 Tamuz 11)
Rabbi Yonason Goldson _Jewish World Review_
The Unfairness Doctrine

2010-06-23 (5770 Tamuz 11)
Mark Johnson _Jewish World Review_
Researchers unveil detailed look at genetic causes of autism

2010-06-23 (5770 Tamuz 11)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Government Aggravated Tragedy

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-24

2010-06-24 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 421,104 in the week ending June 19, a decrease of 23,066 from the previous week.   There were 568,552 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.3% during the week ending June 12, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,284,153, a decrease of 24,408 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.6% and the volume was 6,113,017.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending June 5...   States reported 4,733,012 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending June 5, a decrease of 71,018 from the prior week.   There were 2,491,318 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" changes
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-06-24 07:20PDT (10:20EDT) (14:20GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
Durable goods orders were down 1.1% in May
census bureau

2010-06-24 07:44PDT (10:44EDT) (14:44GMT)
Darrell Delamaide _MarketWatch_
Will mid-term election losses break up Obama's Chicago mob?

2010-06-24
Mike Dennison _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Charity care by hospitals has risen in Montana (with table)

2010-06-24
Tom Lutey _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Barley demand, prices down
"Karst, who received a $13 per hundredweight contract for his 2009 malt barley, is looking at a significantly lower price this year...   'The [beer] industry is down somewhere between 3% and 4%, depending on what dates you use, this year versus last year.', said Shepard, who tracks the beer economy nationally and internationally.   'Calendar year 2009 ended up being down 2.3% from the year before.   That's about 5M barrels.'   A barrel of beer holds 31 gallons...   But new customers, the predominantly male-21-to-30 crowd, have been hit hard by the recession, and they're not drinking as much beer.   Earlier this year, the federal government reported a 15.2% unemployment rate for workers ages 16 to 29, the highest rate since 1948.   And the numbers didn't improve when the under-21 crowd was pulled from the equation.   There were 2.3M new college graduates unemployed in March, roughly 1.45M more than 3 years earlier...   the Beer Institute... reports 1.03M barrels of beer were sold in Montana in 2009, a fraction of a percent increase from the previous year...   Most years, only 60 percent of Montana's malt barley crop makes the grade, as the rest has protein levels that are too high.   But lately, weather conditions were just right for most of Montana's malt barley to make the cut.   'The acceptance rate has been over 90% the last couple years.', Henderson said.   'Even when acres are down, yields have been up.'   This year, fewer farmers are getting into the barley game.   Plantings are down 9% in Montana and 8% nationwide, possibly creating the lowest barley planted acreage on record, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.   Henderson expects the smaller planting could begin to turn things around.   All a farmer can do now is pop the cap off a cold one and wait."

2010-06-24
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Why Democrat/Socialist Party Animosity Toward Private Enterprise

2010-06-24 14:51PDT (17:51EDT) (21:51GMT)
Russ Britt _MarketWatch_
People in Louisiana and SE are unified against oil drilling ban

2010-06-24
Rob Sanchez _Job Destruction News-Letter_/_V Dare_ #2109
John Deere CEO Says U.S.A. Needs Lots more H-1Bs

2010-06-24
_Immigration-Weaver_
Employment growth vs. population grown

2010-06-24
Cynthia Kocialski _Women in Technology International_
Where are the Women Entrepreneurs in Hi-tech Start-ups?

2010-06-24
Marsha Walton _Women's eNews_
Women Are Bailing Out of IT
"'56% of women in technology companies leave their organizations at the mid-level point, 10-20 years in their careers.', said Catherine Ashcraft, the senior research scientist who authored the report.   In 2008, women held only 25% of all professional IT-related jobs, down from 36% in 1991, according to the group's report, 'Women in IT: The Facts'."
SlashDot

2010-06-24 (5770 Tamuz 12)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
A Sad Day
"MacArthur was proud not only of his military victories but also of the fact that he won those victories with lower casualty rates among his troops than other generals had.   But General MacArthur too was not always discreet in what he said, and also had reasons to have contempt for politicians, going all the way back to FDR, who cut the army's budget in the 1930s, while Nazi Germany and imperial Japan were building up huge military machines that would kill many an American before it was all over.   If we are creating an environment where only political generals can survive, what will that mean for America's ability to win military victories without massive casualty rates? Or to win military victories at all?"

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-25

2010-06-25 04:02PDT (07:02EDT) (11:02GMT)
Grant Gross _Tech World_
Obama proposes "Internet kill switch" in yet another power grab: Corrupt senators approve
John E. Dunn: PC World/IDG: "Kill switch" dangerous

2010-06-25 05:55PDT (08:55EDT) (12:55GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
US GDP growth revised to 2.7% for 2010Q1 [and, BTW, GDP != "the economy"]

2010-06-25 06:01PDT (09:01EDT) (13:01GMT)
Dennis Romero _FWIX_
Your tax dollars at play: Villaraigosa's $120K European vacation
"Eric Spillman at KTLA News pried the details out the mayor's office regarding Antonio Villaraigosa's European vacation working trip last December that cost you, the [tax-victim], $120K.   Mayor V. spent 9 days in Berlin, London, and Copenhagen 'to tell the world of the ground-breaking work that the city of Los Angeles is doing to combat climate change and build the green economy', according to the mayor's office.   Of course, telling the world stuff costs money and requires luxurious accommodations, including, according to Spillman: -$2214 for a 5-night stay at a Copenhagen luxury hotel.   -$3576 for 3 dinners in Copenhagen (thanks, L.A!).   -$22,329 for 3 mini-vans with drivers in Copenhagen.   And who was that mysterious man along for the ride?   Non other than Keith Brackpool, chairman of Cadiz, Inc., which wants to store Colorado River water for the Metropolitan Water District and other potential customers under his land (a plan that needs approval from an MWD board that's 20% Villaraigosa's).   So the next time an L.A. pot-hole puts a several hundred dollars worth of ding in your nice, aluminum wheel because the city doesn't have the cash to fix it, remember that you just bought the mayor half a Euro-meal...   Dairenn Lombard says: I can't tell what's worse...   Villaraigosa's hubris or the fact that the LA Times called him 'the only responsible candidate to endorse' during last years mayorial election?"

2010-06-25 07:22PDT (10:22EDT) (14:22GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index up from 73.6 in May and 75.5 in mid-June to 76.0 in late June

2010-06-25
Thorsten Polleit _Market Oracle_
Towards a new monetary order

2010-06-25
William L. Anderson
In the Long Run, Government Inflation Harms Future Generations
"in the Austrian paradigm, people acquire goods they believe will meet their needs by purchasing them in the marketplace.   'Spending', in that view, is a purposeful activity done by individuals who wish to satisfy their needs.   However, on Planet Krugman, spending is an activity that is done for the sole purpose of keeping people 'employed'...   In other words, personal cut-backs in spending are occurring because the economy is in recession; to say otherwise is to violate what Carl Menger calls The Law of Cause and Effect.   Yet, Krugman and his followers continue to believe that the recession came about because people stopped spending, period."

2010-06-25
Ed Vogel & Antonio Planas _Las Vegas NV Review-Journal_
Unemployed Nevadans blast US senate decision to put off consideration of extension of emergency unemployment insurance benefits

2010-06-25 (5770 Tamuz 13)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
The Western way of war
"Missed in the hullabaloo over McChrystal's resignation are some important lessons about who we are and why we fight...   OT1H, there are people who want to fight to win in Afghanistan.   OTOH, there are people who are not interested in fighting to win in Afghanistan.   Obama -- and McChrystal as his general -- occupy the untenable middle ground.   There they try to split the difference between the two irreconcilable camps.   The inevitable end is preordained.   The US and its NATO allies first deployed in Afghanistan in 2001 October with the aim of toppling the Taliban regime and destroying Al Qaida's infrastructure in the country.   They have remained in the country ever since with the goal of preventing the Taliban from returning to power."

2010-06-25

DJIA	10,143.81
S&P 500	1,076.76
NASDAQ	2,223.48
Nikkei	9,737
10-year US T-Bond	3.11%
crude oil	$78.86/barrel
gold	$1,256.20/ounce
silver	$19.152/ounce
platinum	$1,570.40 /ounce
palladium	$477.90/ounce
copper	$0.193125/ounce
natgas	$4.89/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline	$2.1678/gal
heatingoil	$2.11/gal
soybeans	$9.57/bushel
maize	$3.4950/bushel
wheat	$4.71/bushel
dollarindex	85.31
yenperdollar	89.27
dollarspereuro	1.2388
dollarsperpound	1.5062
swissfranksperdollar	1.0927
indianrupeesperdollar	46.28
mexicanpesosperdollar	12.6525
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	542.49

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-26

2010-06-26
_Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Fitch robotics team competes

2010-06-26
Jonathan Shaw _Harvard_
After Our Bubble: Prospects for American economic recovery
"Saving more.   Consuming less.   Paying down debts.   Making sacrifices.   Most Americans have not experienced austerity in a long time, so the decade ahead may come as a shock.   Expect continued high unemployment, slow wage growth, the possibility of social and political unrest, higher taxes, cuts in government services.   Hope for moderate inflation to help reduce public and private debt loads.   And be happy if all that is the only price this country must pay as part of the financial hang-over from the party that began in 2001 [1933].   As the United States recovers from the 'Great Recession', economic stimulus has so far masked the austerity ahead.   The U.S. government, like others around the world, has solved the post-housing-bubble banking crisis by issuing debt—in effect trading one set of problems for another to create what Cabot professor of public policy Kenneth Rogoff calls 'an illusion of normalcy'.   But, says Rogoff (coauthor of This Time Is Different, a study of eight centuries of financial crises; see 'What This Country Needs', January-February, page 18, for a review), history shows that waves of banking crises are typically followed by waves of debt crises 2 or 3 years later...   Job losses tell the story.   Unemployment in the country as a whole today is 9.5% to 10%, but in the bottom 40% of the labor force it is 17%, while in the top 30% it is just 4%.   'There is a widespread feeling that the borrowing boom of the 2001-2007 period primarily benefited the wealthy', while the impacts of the crash and austerity measures will affect primarily the lower and middle classes, he says.   'This is not an inaccurate perception, and is a formula for a lot of political discontent.'   Furthermore, unemployment is not likely to improve soon, Frieden says.   Roughly 44% of those currently unemployed have been unemployed for more than 6 months, and 25% have been unemployed for more a year.   'That is way out of line with prior experience', in which 'people usually get jobs after 6 weeks', he notes...   if you look at the overall rate of growth in real per capita personal income from 2000 to 2010 [3.7% since 2000], it is essentially flat."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-27

2010-06-27
William K. Alcorn _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Couple weds 1860s style
"The groom, a 2003 graduate of Liberty High School, said he and his wife had been considering a nontraditional wedding, and when the Civil War-period wedding opportunity came along, they thought it would make a good memory...   Christopher, 25, and Heather, 31, both work for Wendy's.   He has a bachelor's degree in information technology from Youngstown State University and plans to return to YSU in the fall to pursue a master's degree.   Heather is about a year away from a degree in gerontology and sociology at YSU."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-28

2010-06-28
Frosty Wooldridge _News with Views_
America is cheating its children

2010-06-28
Nathan Koppel _Wall Street Journal_
Supremes ruled 5-4 against local arms bans
CNN
"In a 5-4 ruling, the court held that the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right that binds states.   Self defense is a basic right, recognized by many legal systems from ancient times to the present day.', wrote Justice Samuel Alito.   He was joined in reaching the result by Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.   An earlier 2008 holding by the Supreme Court, striking down a District of Columbia hand-gun ban, 'unmistakably' required the court to likewise over-turn laws in Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park, IL, that limited hand-gun possession, Justice Alito's opinion held."

2010-06-28
William L. Anderson
The Keynesian "Stones into Bread" Fallacy

2010-06-28
James C. Cooper _Fiscal Times_
Inflation may continue despite Federal Reserve disavowals

2010-06-28
William Norman Grigg _Lew Rockwell_
Clemency for Wall Street Criminals, Prison for the Powerless

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-29

2010-06-29 09:52:25PDT (12:52:25EDT) (16:52:25GMT)
Elaine Kurtenbach _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_/_AP_
Foxconn plans new 300K-worker factory in Red china
"The information posted on the Hebi city web-site says workers would be paid a basic wage of 1,200 yuan ($176) a month during their three-month probation period, with total income up to 2,300 yuan ($340).   After passing examinations, the monthly wage would rise to 2K yuan ($300), with total income of up to 3K yuan ($440), the notice says.   Over-time would be limited to 3 hours a day, with one day a week guaranteed off, it says.   The cost of living in Henan and other inland provinces tends to be lower than in Shenzhen.   Henan's minimum wage will be 800 yuan (about $120) per month as of July 1."

2010-06-29
Dennis Pettit _iMarket News_
Dollar Dipped as Yen Rips on Global Risks: Consumer Confidence Down
Financial Post/Reuters
San Francisco CA Chronicle
Wall Street Journal
MarketWatch
RTT News
"The June Conference Board consumer confidence index skidded sharply, to 52.9 vs 62.7 in May, and apprehension about the future of the economy was cited for the retreat after 3 gains (14.9% said short-term outlook could worsen).   The present Situation index slipped to 25.5 vs 29.8 in May; Expectations dropped to 71.2 vs 84.6.   Buying plans dropped across the board, and only 2 regions saw confidence improve.   The index of Jobs Plentiful slipped to 4.3 vs 4.6, and Jobs Hard to Get nudged up to 44.8 vs 43.9.   The one-year inflation expectation was 5.2% - about twice reality.   The April S&P/Case-Shiller home prices index rose 0.8% unadjusted for +3.8% year-on-year."

2010-06-29
William L. Anderson
On Current Government Bond Rates

2010-06-29
Lara Farrar _CNN_
Chinese firms hire US, European actors to defraud, give false impression of international backing & connections

2010-06-29 (5770 Tamuz 17)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Gun Control Laws

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010-06-30

2010-06-29 17:53PDT (2010-06-29 20:53EDT) (2010-06-30 00:53GMT)
Aaron Klein _World Net Daily_
Socialist group tied to plans to impose National Socialist Health Care Perversion (ObummerDoesn'tCare)
"Obama's health-care bill 'should create millions of new stake-holders in a health-care system governed by democratically established rules rather than by the fiats of private insurers', wrote Frank Llewellyn, national director of Democratic Socialists of America.   Writing in the latest issue of the socialist Democratic Left magazine, Llewellyn said 'progressives' must use Obama's health-care legislation 'to build support for the elimination of private insurers'."

2010-06-29 19:24PDT (2010-06-29 22:24EDT) (2010-06-30 02:24GMT)
_World Net Daily_
Oppose Obama's stroke-of-the-pen amnesty for illegal aliens: It's tiem to step up the pressure, not ease off

2010-06-30
Barbara Barrett _Charlotte NC Observer_
Representative Sue Myrick calls for investigation of terrorists entering via SW borders: believes Hezbollah is in Mexico
"As evidence of Hezbollah's connection to the Latino Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13 gang, Myrick's letter includes photographs of two prisoners' tattoos -- one of which reads Hezbollah, the other of which, she wrote, is a Farsi translation of MS-13.   'We have typically seen tattoos in Arabic, but Farsi implies a Persian influence that can likely be traced back to Iran and its proxy army, Hezbollah.', Myrick writes.   'These tattoos in Farsi are almost always seen in connection with gang or drug cartel tattoos.'   Myrick's request comes as drug-related violence in Mexico is in the news.   President Felipe Calderon asked for the United States' continued cooperation in fighting violence during his recent trip to Washington.   Throughout Mexico, drug-related violence has cost some 23K lives since 2006."

2010-06-30
Howie Carr _Boston Herald_
Red spies arrested in Cambridge
"The Commies did do a few things right -- there's a nice Cantabridgian ring to the name of Donald Howard Heathfield's alleged business -- 'Future Map Strategic Advisory Services LLC'."

2010-06-30
David North _Right Side News_
Similarities and Differences as U.K. and U.S. Face Immigration Decisions

2010-06-30
Joshua Rhett Miller _Fox_
Arrests of illegal aliens down
"the number of illegal immigrants apprehended along America's southern border plummeted by 54% between 2005 and 2009.   But, like everything else surrounding the fractious immigration debate in this part of the country, nobody agrees on exactly why...   But the president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents more than 17K Border Patrol agents, says the decline is actually a blip on the radar screen, due less to greater enforcement than to the nation's faltering economy."

2010-06-30 11:38PDT (14:38EDT) (18:38GMT)
Michael Pento _Forbes_
Why the Greater Depression Still Lies Ahead

2010-06-30
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Evil Forces Are Again Assaulting the Gates of Civilization
Investor's Business Daily: Paying president's "price on carbon"

2010-06-30
Zach Benoit _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Residency program keeps 5 of 6 new doctors in the state
"Nationwide, about half of the graduates of residency programs stay in the state where they trained, Fahrenwald said. But about 70% of Montana Family Medical Residency grads stay in-state, with many moving out to rural areas in need of doctors."

2010-06-30
"Washington Watcher" _V Dare_
Why Has No-One in Washington, DC Proposed an Immigration Moratorium?

2010-06-30 (5770 Tamuz 18)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Where Best To Be Poor

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

2010 June
top 500 fastest super computers LinPack bench-mark

Proposed Bills 2010

USA Over-Population Clock
World + USA Over-Population Clocks
Jimbo Wales's WikiPedia on World Over-Population
 

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