Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Important questions are NOT being asked in South Florida: With President Obama coming to South Florida today re his immigration/amnesty plan, when was last time you heard an honest public discussion in South Florida about African-American unemployment rates in Miami? I think Obama's amnesty plan makes that worse. Much worse!

Important questions are NOT being asked in South Florida: With President Obama coming to South Florida today re his immigration/amnesty plan, when was last time you heard an honest public discussion in South Florida about African-American unemployment rates in Miami? I think Obama's amnesty plan makes that long-term problem worse. Much worse!






















The news that President Obama was coming into South Florida today got me to wondering and musing over the weekend, and not surprisngly, some of this sentiment clearly echoes things I've asked and answered in this very space many times over the past 8 years.

Simply put, have any of you attended a public meeting anywhere in South Florida in the last two years where, either together or individually, Representatives Lois Frankel, Debbie Wasserman 
Schultz or Frederica Wilson have spoken about immigration issues and attempted to make the case that President Obama's immigration plan for amnesty for up to 5 Million people would NOT 
negatively hurt long-term unemployed workers in South Florida, esp. African-Americans?
Or seen a similar public discussion in your area? 
Why do you suppose that is?
And why fdo you suppose that the local news media ignores that obvious question, just as supposed South Florida-based public policy groups do as well?

When I was a kid growing-up as a news and politics junkie in 1970's South Florida, on the day that unemployment 
rates came out of the Dept. of Labor Statistics in Washington -i.e. the BLS- I seem to recall that it was usually the case that then-WTVJ anchor Ralph Renick -when he was the dominant media voice in all of South Florida- would make a point of mentioning not only the national and state numbers, but the ones for Dade and Broward, too, along with the local unemployment rate for Blacks.
And those numbers would usually appear on screen, along with a very simple graph that would be embarrassing to put up these days.

The idea being that accuracy mattered, of course, but also that it's important to have 
useful context and nuance to draw upon before making any reasonable conclusions about what was happening with unemployment and the economy.

That seems like such a simple thing, but before I left the area last June for an extended 
period of time, I can't think of the last time I actually heard the long-term unemployment levels for African-Americans in Miami getting either mentioned in print or on TV or brought into the larger discussion about their relative economic standing only getting worse if that action took place.

Especially since I think it's fair to say that based on my living in South Florida again for 
the past 11 years, there are many less Black adults or children in South Florida who can speak even passable Spanish, compared to when I was a kid growing-up taking Spanish for 6 years and French for 4.

Those Latin American entrepreneurs coming to Miami that seemingly everyone in South Florida's incurious media horde likes to make a fuss over in often over-the-top sycophancy, with some TV stations being especially egregious about making no pretense of being anything but Chamber of Commece cheerleaders, are NOT going to be hiring people who are NOT bilingual, except for low wage jobs.

So what group is that going to be in Miami-Dade County?
Precisely, but instead, everyone just pretends they don't know what the logical result of this will be.
#Despair

I guess we'll all have to just wait until after the next riot and have yet more foreign and out-of-state reporters fly into the area to comment again on the self-evident short-term attention span of reporters that is actually much worse than South Florida residents as a whole.
Which is why those out-of-towners will again be speaking about South Florida reporters continuing to ignore the legitimate concerns of Black Miami, preferring to do ponintless stories about breast surgery, food fads and fashion and crime lowlights among visiting celebs and rappers on South Beach.

But then isn't that lack of energy and foresight the same reason why local news media don't exert any energy at all in pressing local South Florida Congressional representatives on policies that are harmful to such a large share of the populace?
Their own constituents!

Recently, Rasmussen Reports released a national poll on the Obama Amnesty plan.
Guess what it said

Voters Weigh Costs of Obama's Amnesty Plan
Voters still view President Obama's order exempting up to five million illegal immigrants from deportation as illegal and tend to think Congress should try to stop it. But they're evenly divided over whether a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security is the way to do it.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/february_2015/voters_weigh_costs_of_obama_s_amnesty_plan

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Dennis Miller says he not only is NOT undecided, he's "over-decided" for Mitt Romney; opines on Sandra Fluke and the contrived issue of the "war on women"; the role of individual responsibility in combating unemployment and slumping U.S. economy and NOT allowing the govt. to have so much control over your life; the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign



Amusing and pithy as always, appearing this past week on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Dennis Miller, opinionated comedian and host of the nationally-syndicated radio program, "The Dennis Miller Show," told host Bill O'Reilly that he not only is NOT undecided, he's "over-decided" for Mitt Romney. He also discussed President Obama's appearance on CBS-TV's the "Late Show with David Letterman" and the softball questions he received while a guest there, and spoke about the 2012 election campaign. Uploaded September 19, 2012. http://youtu.be/tpN8u4uHe1M
LOL!


Appearing three weeks earlier on NBC-TV's  “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,”  Dennis told Jay what he really thought about Sandra Fluke and the Democratic party's contrived issue of the "GOP "war on women " in order to solidify their base of young female voters; taxpayer-funded government programs and the distinction he makes between helping people who are genuinely in need of help, and helping the merely clueless, who feel they can use the govt. as a hammock to support them when it's convenient. Uploaded August 27, 2012. http://youtu.be/lv2jAiWmpio


DennisMillerShow video: Dennis Miller Radio Show- Bathrobe Sessions #220. 
Dennis on the role of individual responsibility in combating unemployment and slumping U.S. economy and NOT allowing the govt. to have so much control over your life. Uploaded September 20, 2012. http://youtu.be/107_ZV_XV7s



"Dennis on The Road " tour schedule: http://www.dennismillerradio.com/b/Fall-2012:-Dennis-on-the-Road!/969152456530916447.html

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Video: 60 Minutes reports on Obama's economy in Orlando and Central Florida: Homeless kids living in cars. If you missed this powerful 60 Minutes story last year, see it Sunday night at 7 p.m. Eastern: heart-breaking hard times for kids in Obama's America - Hard times generation: homeless kids, reported by Scott Pelley; #60Minutes, @ScottPelley, @60Minutes


CBS News 60 Minutes Preview: Hard Times Generation. Above, Arielle and Austin Metzger. CBS News anchor Scott Pelley goes to Central Florida to document a slice of life under Obama you may've missed: kids and their parents forced to live in cars. 
See his report on Sunday night at 7 p.m. Eastern.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7389253n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

CBS News 60 Minutes: Hard times generation: Homeless kids,

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Must-see videos from '60 Minutes' - End of NASA's Space Shuttle & cancellation of Constellation program cripples FL's Space Coast economy, as space program's Best & Brightest leave Florida or downsize their lives, leaving personal, social & economic devastation in its wake -14,000 prideful people suddenly jobless



CBS News 60 Minutes video: Scott Pelley reports: "High joblessness in the home of U.S. space flight." Originally aired April 1, 2012. "With the end of the space shuttle program, Brevard County, Fla., lost its largest employer, and Kennedy Space Center workers lost good jobs that made them proud." http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403938n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

Must-see videos from '60 Minutes' - End of NASA's Space Shuttle & cancellation of Constellation program cripples FL's Space Coast economy, as space program's Best & Brightest leave Florida or downsize their lives, leaving personal, social & economic devastation in its wake -14,000 prideful people suddenly jobless.




"60 Minutes Overtime" video: Space Coast: Through the lens of 60 Minutes. Posted online April 1, 2012. CBS News cameraman Chris Albert uses his Canon 5D to capture the story of the devastation of the end of the Space Shuttle program in Brevard County, Florida, home to the Kennedy Space Center, and its ripple effect throughout the Space Coast.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57407321-10391709/space-coast-through-the-lens-of-60-minutes/ 

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Newt Gingrich plays hardball, tells truth, electrifies South Carolina GOP debate re education policy, govt. benefits, war on terrorism, Pakistan; the post-debate spin on Sean Hannity Show


Newt Gingrich campaign video: Newt on Education: Return Power to Parents. January 17, 2012. http://youtu.be/6Gc-x-tZ2bQ



Newt Gingrich campaign video: Newt: "99 Weeks is an Associate Degree". January 17, 2012. http://youtu.be/2Xr72U1jdtE



Newt Gingrich campaign video: Newt Gingrich to Juan Williams: Americans Want Paychecks, Not Government Food Stamps. January 17, 2012. 
http://youtu.be/4c1-22w2G7M



Newt Gingrich campaign video: Newt Plan for America's Enemies: Kill Them. January 17, 2011. http://youtu.be/50WYM-1SjQQ



Newt Gingrich campaign video: Newt Gingrich's appearance on Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity Show after the debate. January 17, 2012.
http://youtu.be/NTDP5-7OTj4


All videos are from the January 16, 2012 Republican Presidential debate held at North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina sponsored by Fox News Channel, The Wall Street Journal and the South Carolina Republican Party.





National Journal: Newt Gingrich on Mitt Romney: Why Nominate a Loser?, January 16, 2012. http://bcove.me/afa4zld8


National Journal
CAMPAIGN 2012
Gingrich on Romney: Why Nominate a Loser?
Former speaker says past defeats show Romney, Santorum are unelectable
By Sarah Huisenga
Updated: January 17, 2012 | 1:03 p.m.
January 16, 2012 | 5:32 p.m.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/gingrich-on-romney-why-nominate-a-loser--20120116


The Florida GOP Presidential primary is two weeks from today and I will be voting for Newt Gingrich.
I received my new voter's registration card in the mail on Saturday, exactly eleven days after visiting the Broward Supervisor of Elections HQ in Ft. Lauderdale to do the paperwork to change my party registration. 


-----
More information on Newt Gingrich at:

http://www.newt.org/


http://www.youtube.com/user/ngingrich


http://twitter.com/newtgingrich 

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Henry Blodgett's insightful take on the U.S. economy, unemployment and job creation: Sorry, high-tech isn't labor-intensive; the Apple example


The Blaze video: Amy Holmes Interviews Henry Blodget from Business Insider, October 13, 2011. http://youtu.be/N_l-gBTW1To

Below is an interesting and sobering take on the U.S. unemployment situation that was written a few days ago by Henry Blodgett, CEO and Editor-In Chief of Business Insider, before the contentious debate began in earnest on Friday about the validity of the official numbers being released, esp. about the "real" number of Americans unemployed, given how many Americans have now used up their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits.
They no longer count in the official govt. statistics, just like people who have given up looking for work.
More below the article.
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For years while I lived in the Washington, D.C. area -roughly 1988-2003- Henry Blodgett's alternately insightful, funny and tart-tongued essays, commentary and darts on the economic scene and the ups and downs of various U.S. businesses and the people who ran them, as well as his take on the regulators and Capitol Hill legislators who pretended to know what was going on -mostly written for Slate- was an almost daily source of amusement and email back-and-forth between myself and many of my more professionally financially-focused friends and former colleagues, some of whom wrote for well-known national media outlets.

Blodgett is CEO and Editor-In Chief of Business Insider

Here's an example of one email to someone in Washington, D.C. from just over three years ago, with the response to it first; names changed to protect the innocent and guilty.

Re: FYI: re Henry Blodgett on buying NYT Digital; Hillary as Cordell Hull?
Monday, November 24, 2008 2:11 AM

Love this e-mail! The Hillary analysis was dead on.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

From: (me)
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:55:44 -0800 (PST)
Subject: FYI: re Henry Blodgett on buying NYT Digital; Hillary as Cordell Hull?

Dear X:

Hola amigo!

Meant to send this interesting post below to ya on Friday.
Hope all is well with you and your real family -and the extended Timesian family in DC that I came to know- this coming Turkey Day.

You can't begin to know how much I miss being around the action!!!
You would not believe the number of reporters, print and TV, down here who wouldn't recognize a story if their lives depended on it. Really.
The banal quality and quantity of news reporting down here is SO much worse than I can adequately describe here, or ever remembered witnessing when I'd come down here from D.C. over the holidays or for Orioles spring training.
(Have you heard if Tom F. is renewing his O's season tickets???)

Suffice to say that in an area that has a million stories cooking, too many reporters in South Florida have a pronounced lack of curiosity and resourcefulness, and seem to think they are all on stand-by for Access Hollywood, ie, are literally led by hand to stories by publicists and corporate cousins and their flacks.

As you might recall me having previously mentioned, I subscribe to the Silicon Alley Insider via email, and when I saw the photo of Jane and Arthur, Jr. in Henry Blodgett's post below, it made me laugh uncontrollably when I first saw it, largely because -what are the odds- I'd just been reading something about the British monarchy and -wait for it- Lady Jane. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Jane_Grey

She, too, thought that she was in charge, but when push came to shove with the royal family, "Off with her head!"
(And they meant it!)

As your friend, I have to advise you that in the event she comes down to D.C. anytime soon, do NOT stand next to her, he said only semi-jokingly!

No doubt over the next few months, IF she walks the plank, we'll be reading revisionist essays from many quarters in the punditocracy saying that Grey Lady Jane wasn't really ever responsible for any of the bad decisions made by the Times, it was others.

Sadly and rather predictably, I suspect that'll esp. be the case with female writers, who will posit some heretofore unknown convenient alibi that this particular corporate suit, is, well, different than all the other business suits that have been recently tarred-and-feathered metaphorically for bad business performance and poor decisions that helped lead to that dead end.

I especially think that'll be the case for those female columnists outside the Times' outer defense perimeter, since, well, seriously, how many times can they pretend that they really care where the Obama girls go to school?
Like you didn't guess Sidwell Friends about 30 seconds after it was official he'd won just like I did?
Please!

Very disappointed to see recently that the Times sports magazine PLAY went buh-bye for good.
I could never tell when it was going to come out, which is frustrating and perhaps part of the bigger non ad-related problem, due to lack of topicality, but there was always something interesting in it, the same way there always was with the late great
Inside Sports magazine in the 1980's, which presaged so many of the past 25 years of sports writing, good and bad, though I prefer to recall the good.
That's where I first heard of John "Junior" Feinstein...

When I lived in Evanston, I lived next door to their editorial office my first year there. So, tell me again why I was so stupid that I never thought to go next door and talk my way into some sort of assignment to prove my worth, such as it was at the time?
Easily one of my worst decisions ever!

Monday's LA Times has an interesting angle on the possible Hillary move to Foggy Bottom, and I've been thinking about it more than most, since it's actually quite original.
New York Times

A TIME OF TRANSITION
Clinton's potential pitfalls seen in FDR's secretary of State
Like Cordell Hull, she could find herself marginalized because she hasn't been close to the president she would serve. Her future ambitions could also complicate her job.
By Paul Richter
November 24, 2008

Reporting from Washington — Cordell Hull was a veteran lawmaker with a worldwide reputation when Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him secretary of State in 1933, in part to win needed support from Hull's army of Democratic admirers.

But the dignified Tennessean was never close to FDR. As time passed, he was "muscled out by others in the administration," said Michael Hunt, a diplomatic historian at the University of North Carolina.

Barack Obama's election as president has drawn other comparisons with Roosevelt's, especially for the economic crisis he inherits. But the example of Hull, a marginal figure despite the fact that he served into the 1940s and later won the Nobel Peace Prize, may point to potential pitfalls for Hillary Rodham Clinton if she takes the top diplomatic post, as seems increasingly likely.

Clinton would come to the role with global star power, a first-name relationship with world leaders, and a long familiarity with foreign policy.

But her relationship with the president and the new administration -- so key to success in the job -- is coarsely mixed. And her future ambitions could affect her pursuit of the administration's goals.
Hmm-m...
Now consider this, from a recent NYT quiz
NOODLE NUDGER #335 -- Steel Trap
Question #3 was:
He headed U.S. Steel before he was tapped by Franklin D. Roosevelt to run the Lend-Lease Program. Name this executive who went on to succeed Cordell Hull as the Secretary of State in 1944.

You said John W. Aiken. The correct answer is Edward Stettinius.
As Secretary of State, Stettinius helped establish the United Nations, and represented the U.S. at that institution from January to June 1946.

If Hillaryland goes to Foggy Bottom, I think she won't last past the first term.
Consider the following two pieces from NYT 'Christmas Past' as part of my reasoning.

THE MAN WHO SITS AT ROOSEVELT'S RIGHT; Cordell Hull Has Long Been a Student of International Economics
By BERTRAM D. HULEN,
Sunday Magazine
April 9, 1933
WASHINGTON
A student of economics, Cordell Hull comes to the office of Secretary of State at a time when, in his own words, "the world is in a state of bitter economic war" and when negotiations in the interests of world peace must, for some time to come, be based on economic questions...
------
DEWEY'S STRENGTH SHOWN IN SURVEY;
He Would Give Roosevelt or Hull a Close Race Now, Gallup Study Finds
THIRD 'TRIAL HEAT' HELD
It Pictures Possible Result if Election Were Conducted at This Time
Sunday May 12, 1940
Thomas E.. Dewey would run an extremely close race for the Presidency against either Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, or President Roosevelt, if the contest were staged now, a survey just completed by the American Institute of Public Opinion indicates, according to Dr. George Gallup, its director...
I forgot, while Hull was the father of the inheritance tax and the modern federal income tax, what exactly was Hillary's track record and expertise with economics in the Senate and the presidential race with Obama? Exactly.
Her numbers didn't add up!

If -as Tom always says in his columns and books - economics is more important than ever to U.S. foreign policy, isn't that likely to make Hillary even less important in an Obama-dominant administration?
In a word, yes.

Adios!
____

Silicon Alley Insider
Reducing Our Offer For The New York Times (NYT)
Henry Blodget
November 20, 2008 12:52 PM

As you recall, back in July, we happily made an offer for the digital operations of the New York Times Company (NYT).

We offered a massive price--$1 billion--and proposed an innovative deal structure that would avoid the need for annoying shareholder approvals, jillion-dollar legal fees, egregious tax hits, etc. (In short, the NYT would acquire us, and then spin us and NYT Digital out--see details below). We explained how we would run the standalone NYT Digital and how the proposed transaction would benefit New York Times shareholders, who have since been obliterated.

Well, we are pleased to say that, despite the global market carnage, our offer remains in effect! Alas, in light of the impending depression and recent developments at the New York Times Company, we must mark our offer to market.


Obviously, in retrospect, I wasn't right about everything three years ago.
Hillary Clinton has outperformed all of Obama's economic team!

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Another helpful article to me on Janet Robinson's handling of the New York Times and their financial condition at the time I wrote the email above was this great piece in the New York Observer, which I've been faithfully reading for 22 years:
The New York Times Company Severely Cuts Dividend, Pot of Wealth for Sulzbergers; Analyst: ‘It Was Inevitable’
By John Koblin 11/20/08 9:50pm





Thursday, September 22, 2011

Obama Isn't Working: Florida; When is FL-17's Wilson signing-on as a sponsor of Obama's doomed jobs bill to at least be consistent in her bad choices?

Mitt Romney campaign video: Obama Isn't Working: Florida
http://youtu.be/m1V5-tPoubE


Question for the South Florida news media:
When is FL-17's Rep. Frederica Wilson actually signing-on as a sponsor of President Obama's doomed jobs bill to at least be consistent in her bad choices?
Today makes two weeks since his speech.

She was the CBC sponsor of that meeting in Miami, depicted above in Mitt Romney's ad, so why won't you ask her that simple question?

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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Ten days after Obama's speech, no Florida Democrat in U.S. House has sponsored Obama Jobs Bill -Wilson, DWS, Deutsch, Hastings, Castor...

Ten days after President Obama's speech -"pass this bill now"- no South Florida Democrat in U.S. House has sponsored his American Jobs Act -Wilson, DWS, Hastings, Deutsch, Castor...
In fact, not a single Democratic House member from Florida has done that.

Though I'm against it, you'd think the fact that some of South Florida's biggest big-mouths are playing coy thus far might be something that someone at the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun-Sentinel might've noticed, or maybe someone at one of the local TV stations.

FL-17's Frederica Wilson, who, unfortunately, is my rep in Washington, says she supports it,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/08/congresswoman-frederica-wilson-supports-american-jobs-act yet despite all her bombast about wanting jobs at those Congressional Black Caucus sponsored events that got so much attention, even while she did NOT, she STILL hasn't bothered to sign up as a sponsor.
Hmm-m... guess she's too busy.
Or something.

But while Rep. Wilson and her local pro-Big Government pals in Congress were doing whatever they were doing -NFL Fantasy Drafts?- since nobody else was using it, Texas Republican Louis Gohmert decided to fill the vacuum and is using use the title American Jobs Act of 2011 for his own bill, HR 2911.

Yes, the early bird does indeed get the worm.

But then this lack of enterprise journalism is hardly surprising, given where we live.
Weeks after the fact, NONE of those same news entities have yet seen fit to mention publicly that Wilson's trip to Israel a month ago came courtesy of AIPAC.

Something I told you here back on August 11th in my post titled , "Next year in Jerusalem" is right now for FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson, courtesy of AIPAC. But that's bad news for Americans, esp. her constituents,

Yes, that's where we live... the outer edge of the news universe: South Florida.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Mitt Romney campaign ads: Obama Isn't Working: Chicago; Take China to the Mat

Mitt Romney presidential campaign ad: Obama Isn't Working: Chicago
http://youtu.be/DjOfuPo_vzU



Mitt Romney presidential campaign ad: Take China to the mat

Here's a perfect example of what that businessman in Ohio was talking about with regard to China's mendacity and propensity to either steal technology or create products and claim them either for themselves or create counterfeits.

ITN News: Fake Apple store found in China. July 22, 2011 http://youtu.be/ea7UqoTszaI



http://www.mittromney.com/

Mitt Romney YouTubeChannel