Thursday, August 20, 2009

Government Jobs Have Grown Since Recession

While the private sector has shed 6.9 million jobs since the beginning of the recession, state and local governments have expanded their payrolls and added 110,000 jobs, according to a report to be issued Thursday by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government.

The report, based on an analysis of federal jobs data, found that state and local governments steadily added jobs for eight months after the recession began in December 2007, with their employment peaking last August. State and local governments have since lost 55,000 jobs, but from the beginning of the recession through last month they gained a net of 110,000 jobs, the report found, in part because of the federal stimulus program.

Government jobs are always more stable than private sector jobs during downturns, but their ability to weather the current deep recession startled Donald J. Boyd, the senior fellow at the institute who wrote the report.

“I am a little surprised at the fact that state and local government has remained as stable as it has in the nation as a whole, given the depth of the current recession,” Mr. Boyd said in an interview.

The report offered several possible explanations for the disparity between the private and public sectors. It noted that there can be a short lag between an economic downturn and the time it hits states in the form of lower tax collections, and an even longer delay before the problems hit local governments in the form of reduced state aid and lower property tax collections.

It pointed to the slow pace of decision-making in many states, and the power yielded by politically influential unions. But it also noted that the demand for many government services rises in a recession, and said that billions of dollars of federal stimulus money sent to states helped them avert layoffs.

The expansion, coming as many states and localities are raising taxes, troubled Tad DeHaven, a budget analyst for the Cato Institute, a libertarian research group in Washington. “That is disturbing,” Mr. DeHaven said. “Basically what you have is your producers in society losing their jobs and looking for work, and their tax burden isn’t necessarily going down — and as a matter of fact they are likely to face tax increases going forward — and government growing.”

States are likely to cut more jobs this year. Many have already imposed furloughs on their workers, reducing their pay, and with states facing record declines in tax collections, several are planning to cut their work forces. The report noted that some hard-hit states had already made deep cuts, led by Arizona, which cut its state government employment by 8.6 percent from the spring of 2008 to this spring.

The disparity between the public and private sector job market is striking in places like Boise, Idaho. Since the recession began, the area’s unemployment rate has more than doubled, to over 10.1 percent in June, as big employers, especially in the technology sector, shed workers. The Boise area lost 20,000 jobs in the year ending in June, the Idaho Labor Department said, and saw real gains only in government, which had an increase of 1,400 jobs, mostly in the public schools.

Jon Hanian, a spokesman for Gov. C. L. Otter, a Republican in his first term, said jobs in state government outside of education were declining. The new state budget, which took effect last month, cuts agencies across the board by 5 percent, Mr. Hanian said, but lets agencies decide whether to impose furloughs, cut wages or eliminate positions.

Kerry Korpi, the director of the research and collective bargaining department at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union representing government employees, said the public sector often lagged behind the economy in both downturns and recoveries. Ms. Korpi said that a growing number of government jobs were being eliminated now, and that many government workers had been forced to take pay cuts and pay more for benefits. And she noted that government workers were providing services that are needed in a downturn.

“At a time like this,” she said, “it’s really hard to lay people off at your unemployment office or your food stamp office, where they’re having trouble keeping up with what they’ve got.”

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal research group in Washington, recently reported that 30 states had raised taxes since January, and that at least 40 states were furloughing workers or eliminating jobs through attrition or layoffs. Many are cutting vital services, the center said.

“Crunch time is still to come for the states,” said Jon Shure, the deputy director of the center’s state fiscal project.

C.I.A. Sought Blackwater’s Help in Plan to Kill Jihadists

Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press
Blackwater security contractors flew over Baghdad in 2007. For years, Blackwater played a significant role in the Iraq operation.

WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to current and former government official

Executives from Blackwater, which has generated controversy because of its aggressive tactics in Iraq, helped the spy agency with planning, training and surveillance. The C.I.A. spent several million dollars on the program, which did not successfully capture or kill any terrorist suspects.

The fact that the C.I.A. used an outside company for the program was a major reason that Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A.’s director, became alarmed and called an emergency meeting in June to tell Congress that the agency had withheld details of the program for seven years, the officials said.

It is unclear whether the C.I.A. had planned to use the contractors to actually capture or kill Qaeda operatives, or just to help with training and surveillance in the program. American spy agencies have in recent years outsourced some highly controversial work, including the interrogation of prisoners. But government officials said that bringing outsiders into a program with lethal authority raised deep concerns about accountability in covert operations.

Officials said the C.I.A. did not have a formal contract with Blackwater for this program but instead had individual agreements with top company officials, including the founder, Erik D. Prince, a politically connected former member of the Navy Seals and the heir to a family fortune. Blackwater’s work on the program actually ended years before Mr. Panetta took over the agency, after senior C.I.A. officials themselves questioned the wisdom of using outsiders in a targeted killing program.

Blackwater, which has changed its name, most recently to Xe Services, and is based in North Carolina, in recent years has received millions of dollars in government contracts, growing so large that the Bush administration said it was a necessary part of its war operation in Iraq.

It has also drawn controversy. Blackwater employees hired to guard American diplomats in Iraq were accused of using excessive force on several occasions, including shootings in Baghdad in 2007 in which 17 civilians were killed. Iraqi officials have since refused to give the company an operating license.

Several current and former government officials interviewed for this article spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing details of a still classified program.

Paul Gimigliano, a C.I.A. spokesman, declined to provide details about the canceled program, but he said that Mr. Panetta’s decision on the assassination program was “clear and straightforward.”

“Director Panetta thought this effort should be briefed to Congress, and he did so,” Mr. Gimigliano said. “He also knew it hadn’t been successful, so he ended it.”

A Xe spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee, also declined to give details of the program. But she praised Mr. Panetta for notifying Congress. “It is too easy to contract out work that you don’t want to accept responsibility for,” she said.

The C.I.A. this summer conducted an internal review of the assassination program that recently was presented to the White House and the Congressional intelligence committees. The officials said that the review stated that Mr. Panetta’s predecessors did not believe that they needed to tell Congress because the program was not far enough developed.

The House Intelligence Committee is investigating why lawmakers were never told about the program. According to current and former government officials, former Vice President Dick Cheney told C.I.A. officers in 2002 that the spy agency did not need to inform Congress because the agency already had legal authority to kill Qaeda leaders.

One official familiar with the matter said that Mr. Panetta did not tell lawmakers that he believed that the C.I.A. had broken the law by withholding details about the program from Congress. Rather, the official said, Mr. Panetta said he believed that the program had moved beyond a planning stage and deserved Congressional scrutiny.

“It’s wrong to think this counterterrorism program was confined to briefing slides or doodles on a cafeteria napkin,” the official said. “It went well beyond that.”

Current and former government officials said that the C.I.A.’s efforts to use paramilitary hit teams to kill Qaeda operatives ran into logistical, legal and diplomatic hurdles almost from the outset. These efforts had been run by the C.I.A.’s counterterrorism center, which runs operations against Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks.

In 2002, Blackwater won a classified contract to provide security for the C.I.A. station in Kabul, Afghanistan, and the company maintains other classified contracts with the C.I.A., current and former officials said.

Over the years, Blackwater has hired several former top C.I.A. officials, including Cofer Black, who ran the C.I.A. counterterrorism center immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks.

C.I.A. operatives also regularly use the company’s training complex in North Carolina. The complex includes a shooting range used for sniper training.

An executive order signed by President Gerald R. Ford in 1976 barred the C.I.A. from carrying out assassinations, a direct response to revelations that the C.I.A. had initiated assassination plots against Fidel Castro of Cuba and other foreign politicians.

The Bush administration took the position that killing members of Al Qaeda, a terrorist group that attacked the United States and has pledged to attack it again, was no different from killing enemy soldiers in battle, and that therefore the agency was not constrained by the assassination ban.

But former intelligence officials said that employing private contractors to help hunt Qaeda operatives would pose significant legal and diplomatic risks, and they might not be protected in the same way government employees are.

Some Congressional Democrats have hinted that the program was just one of many that the Bush administration hid from Congressional scrutiny and have used the episode as a justification to delve deeper into other Bush-era counterterrorism programs.

But Republicans have criticized Mr. Panetta’s decision to cancel the program, saying he created a tempest in a teapot.

“I think there was a little more drama and intrigue than was warranted,” said Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.

Officials said that the C.I.A. program was devised partly as an alternative to missile strikes using drone aircraft, which have accidentally killed civilians and cannot be used in urban areas where some terrorists hide.

Yet with most top Qaeda operatives believed to be hiding in the remote mountains of Pakistan, the drones have remained the C.I.A.’s weapon of choice. Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration has embraced the drone campaign because it presents a less risky option than sending paramilitary teams into Pakistan.

By MARK MAZZETTI


中國‧“只能降不准漲”禁令解除後‧中國各景點門票漲價

(中國‧北京)中國四川省、北京市、貴州省、天津市等地區的景點門票從8月起加價,這是1年來中國景點首次大規模漲價。

北京經濟參考報報導,最近包括四川樂山、峨眉山在內的景區宣佈上調門票或索道價格,而貴州的5大景區也在醞釀提高價格。

8月起,樂山大佛景區門票由人民幣70元上漲為90元;天津的風景區從8月1日起也調高門票價格,如八仙山的門票價格從35元上漲到45元;7月底,北京多處風景區門票價格也調高,如靈山的門票從35元上漲到45元。

另外,部份景點調高索道價格。峨眉山上調金頂索道和萬年寺索道價格,其中金頂索道上下行價格分別上漲25元,萬年寺索道分別上漲25元和15元。

分析人士指出,去年4月中國8部門發佈“1年內景點門票價格只能降不准漲”禁令到期解除後,一些地方景區被“壓抑已久”的漲價意願開始釋放,展開調價行動。

中國‧胡錦濤:兩岸是一家‧中支持台災後重建

(中國‧北京)中共中央總書記胡錦濤週三(8月19日)表示,兩岸都是一家人,大陸將繼續對台灣提供援助,支持台灣同胞搞好災後重建。

胡錦濤下午在人民大會堂會見台灣立法委員高金素梅率領的台灣少數民族代表團時稱,不久前,台灣遭受了歷史罕見的颱風災害,台灣同胞的生命產蒙受了重大損失,特別是一些台灣少數民族同胞受災嚴重。對此感同身受,十分關切,十分牽掛。“在此謹代表大陸同胞,向遭受颱風襲擊的台灣父老鄉親致以深切慰問,對不幸遇難的台灣同胞深表哀悼。”

周三下午, 中國國家主席胡錦濤在北京人民大會堂會見高金素梅( 中) 率領的台灣少數民族代表團。(圖:中新社)
周三下午, 中國國家主席胡錦濤在北京人民大會堂會見高金素梅( 中) 率領的台灣少數民族代表團。(圖:中新社)

胡錦濤表示:“兩岸同胞是血脈相連的一家人。台灣同胞的困難就是我們的困難,我們將繼續向台灣同胞提供救災援助,支持台灣同胞搞好災後重建。”

願提供直升機救災

此前,國台辦發言人范麗青重申,大陸方面14日已電告台灣方面,願意提供包括吊裝重型機械的直升機在內的所有台灣救災所需物資和機械。

她說,大陸有一家民航企業飛龍公司,擁有1架米-26直升機,隨時可以赴台灣參與救災。

她表示,大陸方面現在仍然隨時可以提供台灣救災和重建所需的物資和機械,也願意派遣救援隊、醫療衛生專家隊和工程搶險隊赴台灣參加救災和災後重建工作。

范麗青同時表示,據不完全統計,大陸各界已向台灣捐款1億7600萬元人民幣(約馬幣9100萬令吉),物資折合2500萬元(約馬幣1290萬令吉)。

美軍援台曾知會北京

另外,范麗青表示,美軍派機援助台灣救災曾知會北京,她表示,有關國家已經向中方表明,這是其通過非官方管道向台灣提供的人道主義援助。

組合屋含甲醛?
中國:經檢測符台環保標準

中國捐送給台灣的100戶組合屋,週二(8月18日)下午運抵屏東縣佳冬鄉,但鄉長賴憲和以“組合屋含甲醛會致癌”拒收。

針對此事,范麗青週三指出,這些組合屋都檢測過了,沒有問題。

她在新聞發佈會上澄清,這次提供台灣災民的組合屋的主要構件是由大陸一流的組合屋生產企業生產的,完全是按照台灣方面提供的設計要求和技術標準製造的,是根據台灣提供的圖紙製造的。

她表示,組合屋按照能抗七級地震烈度來設防,並可以抵禦十級以下的大風。

引起恐慌
鄉長拒收

台灣《聯合報》報導,佳冬鄉公所原準備接受這100戶組合屋,但媒體報導組合屋含甲醛,引起鄉民恐慌,賴憲和向縣府反映後,拒收大陸組合屋。

屏東縣官員說:“雖然這些組合屋是人道物資,但我們先考量其安全性。而且,除了大陸之外,其他國家也提供同樣的物資。”

中國‧恐嚇電話勒索錢財‧吁海外公民警惕

(中國‧北京)中國外交部呼吁海外中國公民,警惕恐嚇電話。

外交部在網站上發佈特別提醒,指英國、法國、阿聯酋、德國等地,近日均有一些華商和中資企業負責人,陸續接到不明身份者電話敲詐,對方試圖用恐嚇方式勒索錢

中國駐上述地區使領館,已向當地警方提出交涉,敦促儘快破案,維護中國公民人身財產安全。

外交部領事司提醒海外中國公民和企業,加強安全防範;如接到恐嚇電話,要保持鎮定,注意保護公司或個人信息,立即採取錄音、記錄來電號碼和時間等方式保存證據,及時向當地警方報警,並通知同事或親友,提高警惕。有關情況應及時向中國駐當地使領館反映。

台灣‧民調:重懲失職官員平民怨‧人民盼行政院大換血

(台灣‧台北)民意調查結果顯示,台灣民眾多盼重懲失職官員,並大幅改組內閣以平民怨。

台灣《中國時報》今日(週四,8月20日)公佈的民調顯示,有75%的民眾希望嚴懲失職官員,47%的人期盼行政院大幅改組。

其中,行政院長劉兆玄、國防部長陳肇敏、行政院秘書長薛香川與外交部長歐鴻鍊等人,是民眾點名要求下台的前幾名。總統馬英九與劉兆玄聲望同步暴跌,均創下歷史新低。

馬英九早前為政府救災表現向人民鞠躬道歉,民眾反應兩極。調查發現,42%受訪者接受馬英九道歉,但也有39%不接受他的道歉。

37%指責任應歸咎政府

在800餘名受訪者當中,有37%認為南台灣災情嚴重,應歸咎中央政府,18%覺得地方政府責任較大,32%表示兩方責任一樣大。

此外,有75%贊成嚴懲救災不力的失職官員,12%認為不必追究。

同時,有47%希望行政院大換血,19%民眾覺得小幅改組即可,12%的人表示沒有必要改組,另有16%民眾認為閣員應該全部撤換。

若與今年5月間馬政府執政週年時的調查相比,當時希望行政院幅改組的民眾比例為25%,如今上揚了22%。

調查發現,30%受訪者滿意馬英九的表現,55%表示不滿。若與6月份出訪中南美洲時相比,馬英九的滿意度下挫幅度高達30%。

全球評論

黨政危機“四”起
馬考驗才要開始

面對民怨沸騰,馬劉聯手宣告“9月初內閣全面改組”,欲以時間換取空間,拉長危機處理戰線,緊急對這場政治風暴暫時止血。

面對未來黃金14天,執政滿意度不到30%的馬劉政權,將面臨最殘酷的執政危機,如何重組內閣陣容,再度拾回民眾信心,找出改革執政節奏,才是馬劉災後最嚴厲的考驗。

馬劉政權災後的第一個燙手山芋,不在劉兆玄要不要下台,而是他能不能下台?對還未坐上黨主席大位整軍的馬英九來說,閣員易找、閣揆難尋,如今四面楚歌,劉兆玄真撒手一走,將為黨內接班人大戰吹起第一聲號角。

馬英九民調重挫後,“絕對執政”的內部反撲,將是馬劉政權的第二個警訊。

馬劉政權的第3個危機,無非是馬神話被破後,執政姿態勢必弱化,未來重新整軍的劉內閣,恐怕更瞻前顧後。

無論馬英九端出的內閣改組,幅度有多大、臉孔有多新,馬劉政權最大的難題,將是他如何整頓黨政平台的運作。黨政蜜月期不再,面對黨內權力山頭,馬恐得正視分享執政資源的政治現實。

國際黃金需求增加 中國是大買主

(中央社台北20日電)儘管國際經濟低迷不振,黃金需求卻有增無減,許多國家的中央銀行是主要的買主,其中中國是最重要的買家。

廣州日報報導,自去年底以來,為抗擊金融危機,各國央行紛紛執行寬鬆量化政策,導致通貨膨脹預期大增,投資者為抵禦通貨膨脹,大量買入黃金避險。最新數據顯示,多國央行今年第2季也加入買金大潮。

世界黃金協會週3表示,第2季全球黃金可確認投資需求從上年同期的151.9噸上升到222.4噸,佔黃金消費的近50%。包括金條及金幣等小型投資商品在內的零售投資凈值則較上年同期攀升12%,達165.7 噸。

尤其值得關注的是,世界黃金協會指出,第 2季,各國央行轉而變成黃金的淨買家,當季官方淨買入14噸黃金,上年同期為淨售出69噸。

統計顯示,今年上半年,各國央行淨售出38.7噸黃金,為1997年上半年以來的最低銷售水準。

報導指出,黃金首飾消費疲軟,但全球第 2大黃金消費國中國第2季的珠寶需求卻較上年同期上升6%。與之形成鮮明對比的是,最大黃金消費國的印度第2季珠寶需求較上年同期驟降31%。

世界黃金協會的報告指出,「全球對黃金珠寶需求均下滑,僅有中國例外」,「這要歸功於中國仍然良好的經濟增長率、貨幣穩定和政府為減輕全球經濟下滑影響而推出的諸多措施。」

世界黃金協會還指出,中國第2季黃金投資需求與去年同期相比也大漲47%。第2季中國黃金投資需求從第1 季的16.1噸增加至17.1噸,珠寶需求從今年前3 個月的89.1噸降至72.5噸。

香港基金專家:中國股票基金1年回報最佳

(中央社記者王曼娜香港20日電)香港投資基金公會今天公布的數據顯示,受金融海嘯影響,到本月中為止的過去1年,全球各類基金投資報酬率普遍下跌,但中國股票基金投資報酬率卻達14.52%,高居第一。

投資基金公會公布,到今年8月14日為止的1年內,全球55個基金類別中,只有14類基金投資有正回報(獲利),其餘41類基金都出現負回報(虧損)。

在正回報的基金中,表現最好的是中國股票基金,投資報酬率高達14.52%,排名居首;印尼股票基金投資報酬率8.16%,排名第2;其他債券基金平均為6.87%。

至於港元貨幣基金和香港股票基金的投資報酬率分別為1.89%及1.24%,排名第10位及第12位。

在負回報的基金中,表現最差的是中歐及東歐股票基金,投資報酬率負36.07%;而台灣股票基金投資報酬率負8.11%。

南韓首枚運載火箭 倒數前中止發射

(中央社記者姜遠珍首爾19日專電)原計劃今天下午發射的南韓首枚運載火箭「羅老號」,進行發射倒計時數秒7分56秒之前,突然宣佈中止發射。

消息人士研判,今天發射的可能性相當稀薄。

下一張



The Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, South Korea's first space rocket, sits on its launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, south of Seoul, South Korea on Tuesday.


南韓停射運載火箭 原因以後說明

(中央社記者姜遠珍首爾19日專電)原定首爾時間今天下午5點發射的南韓首枚運載火箭「羅老號」,進入發射倒數7分56秒時,突然下令中止發射。南韓政府宣稱,以後再說明喊停的原因。

下一張



The Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, South Korea's first space rocket, sits on its launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009. Space officials aborted South Korea's first rocket launch just minutes before liftoff Wednesday. (AP Photo/Yonhap. Lim Hun-jung)

在南韓西南部羅老島羅老宇航中心待命發射的「羅老號」,發射前7分56秒突然喊停,令直盯電視直播畫面,希望南韓成為全球第10個運載火箭發射國的民眾頗感洩氣。

My Bad! Woman's House Mistakenly Auctioned by Bank

A Homestead woman's home was auctioned to the highest bidder


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You know times are tough when people are getting kicked out of their house when it’s not even for sale.

That’s what happened to Anna Ramirez after she found all of her stuff out on the front lawn of her Homestead home last week and a strange man demanding she get out of his newly purchased house.

The eviction came after Ramirez’s home was mistakenly auctioned off to the highest bidder by her bank, Washington Mutual (yes, we know WaMu is now Chase, but we're in denial). Usually, you get a warning before you get the boot. A foreclosure letter. Maybe a sign saying your house is up for sale. Not Ramirez, who found her belongings bashed and battered in the street.

"This came out of nowhere," Ramirez said. "The bank took the house from right under my feet."

The man who bought the house told Ramirez he paid $87,000 for it, which shocked Ramirez, who bought the house for $260,000.

What's worse is her husband, daughter and grand children were also kicked out by Homestead and Miami-Dade police officers, said Martha Taylor, who witnessed the unexpected eviction.

"I have never seen anything like it," Taylor said. "They literally threw all her stuff on the front lawn. I didn't sleep that night and it wasn't even my house."

Ramirez and her family had three hours to get out of the house, police ordered. They had to stash their belongings at multiple locations and shacked up with a friend for the night as cops chained the doors of their home. With Taylor's help, Ramirez appeared before a judge two days later to explain what happened.

"I had all my stuff scattered everywhere," she said. "They did this in front all my neighbors. It was so embarassing."

A mistake in the Miami-Dade Clerk's Office appears to be behind the mishap, which landed Ramirez homeless for more than 24 hours.

The sale was eventually reversed by a Miami-Dade judge, allowing Ramirez to return to her old digs. Ramirez said she wants to sue for the damage to her furniture.

Ramirez has lived in the house for three years and recently refinanced the home with the bank.

"This shouldn't be happening, you know, because we did the right thing," she said. "We went step by step."

By TODD WRIGHT

Judge Napolitano on Glenn Beck: Everything the Government Runs is Bankrupt!

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Dow Jones Industrial Average

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Aug 19
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Cannabis treats prostate cancer, study finds

Following the growing interest in medical benefits of cannabis, a new study finds that the compound can help fight prostate cancer.

According to the study published in the British Journal of Cancer, chemicals found in cannabis can stop prostate cancer cells from growing in the laboratory.

Its active chemicals known as cannabinoids -- methanandamide and JWH-015 -- are also reported to be effective in reducing the size of the tumor in mice.

The compound is believed to block CB2 receptors on the surface of the cancerous tissue, preventing the division and growth of the tumor cells. It is reported to be more effective in treating aggressive prostate cancer cell types, which do not respond to existing hormone treatments.

Scientists hope that cannabis-based medicines could help fight prostate cancer in the near future.

They, however, stressed that an individual should not start smoking cannabis with the aim of fighting the disease as its use is associated with psychotropic effects.

FBI Says Boston Cops Need M-16s to Prevent City from Becoming Next Mumbai

I kid you not. This is the reasoning used by the FBI. The cops need automatic weapons to respond if the city falls victim to a Mumbai-like terror attack. It’s more likely Boston will get hit by a hurricane, but you don’t see the government building levees and boarding up windows. A terror attack launched against Boston figures pretty low on the probability chart.

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
August 19, 2009

“Warren Bamford, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Boston, said Tuesday that he is baffled by opposition to a proposal to give some neighborhood police officers the semiautomatic weapons,” reports the Associated Press. “In May, Boston Mayor Tom Menino criticized a proposal to arm up to 200 officers with M-16s that the police department had ordered from the U.S. military. Menino said only specially trained units should have the guns.”

Menino, after all, has to face the wrath of citizens who will naturally resent the cops walking around as if Boston is Baghdad.

The FBI is merely playing its assigned role. From the Pentagon to the Department of Homeland Security to the FBI, the government is on the fast track to turn the country into a police state from sea to shining sea. A major part of that effort is the militarization of the police, a process already well along.

Let’s hand it to Boston Mayor Tom Menino — he didn’t buy into the FBI’s malarkey about a terrorist event that will probably never happen.

Source: Infowars

34 Million Americans Receiving Food Assistance - 6 Million Increase in One Year: Five Charts Showing the Status of U.S. Employment: Manufacturing Poun

There is something troubling when the theme of recovery is never tied to U.S employment. The American worker is suffering. This has not changed. The solace being offered is that less people are being fired. I suppose the 26 million American workers who are unemployed or underemployed might find some comfort in the jobless recovery talk. Yet this recession is making it particularly hard for people to find work. That is why we are seeing a spike in bankruptcy rates that rival those of 2005 when people rushed to file before more stringent guidelines were imposed. Even with the banking friendly rules, you can only squeeze so much out of someone who has nothing left.

If you want to see the actual pain for those at the lowest rung of the economic ladder, all you need to do is look at the massive spike in people receiving food stamps:

food stamp participation

This is off the charts here. We can look at two previous peaks to see how bad this in proportion to the population:

1981: Food stamp participation at 21 million

Population (229 million)

9 percent of total population on food stamps

1994: Food stamp participation at 27 million

Population (263 million)

10 percent of total population on food stamps

2009: Food stamp participation 34 million

Population (307 million)

11 percent of total population on food stamps

I adjusted the figures to account for population and by far, this is the highest rate of people on food stamps in the last 30 years. And the spike is amazing if you look at the above chart. We went from 28.4 million in May of 2008 to 34.4 million in May of 2009. 6 million people have been added to the food stamp program in the matter of one year. And if you think people receiving this assistance are making big bucks, the average monthly benefit comes in at $101 per person. And if you think these are average Americans (i.e., those making $50,000 a year who are struggling as well) think again:

snap income levels

The program itself is no longer called food stamps but is now labeled as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Bottom line however is that many people are struggling in this economy and those with lower incomes and the middle class are being squeezed the hardest.

With that as the economic back drop, let us now look at the overall employment situation:

Chart 1 - Sectors of Employment

chart-1-job-sectors-unemployment

These are illuminating charts from the Atlanta Federal Reserve. We already know that since December of 2007, the economy has shed nearly 7 million jobs by official standards. But if you look at which sectors have been hit the hardest, you can see why the middle class is being hurt. The biggest hit sectors are manufacturing, construction, and services. Now we need to remember that the manufacturing sector has been decimated over the last 40 years so these jobs being lost are in light of the already deep cuts. Construction employment has fallen with the housing bubble imploding. In the past, we would usually have construction and housing lead us out of recession but this recession was caused by housing and massive amounts of debt. Plus, we have $3 trillion in commercial real estate debt and plenty of empty vacant space for years to come.

These jobs were better paying positions. If you look on the chart above, the only 2 sectors that had any hiring in 2009 on an overall basis to show up on the chart are the government and services. This is not where you want to see job growth.

Chart 2 - Manufacturing

chart-2-manufacturing

At a certain point we are going to need to realize that having some semblance of a manufacturing base is going to be important for the vitality of our country. People may not even realize that we have the same number of people employed in manufacturing as we did back in the 1940s not adjusting for population growth!

manufacturing

These are typically better paying jobs and the pattern is abundantly clear. The employment picture looks grim if we don’t stabilize some of these markets.

Chart 3 - Unemployment and Participation Rate

chart-3-unemployment-rate-and-participation-rate

We are starring at unemployment rates and labor force participation rates that have not been seen in 30 years. What is troubling regarding this recession is how deep and how quick it is moving. What is even more disturbing is the new structural changes that are occurring. For example, we may not see the fabled 4 to 5 percent ideal unemployment rate for another decade. What industry is going to pick up this massive slack? This is one thing that escapes many. We went from a technology bubble to a housing bubble. This has preoccupied our nation for 20 years. Is there any other bubble to create massive amounts of employment? I just don’t see it occurring in the short-run. I’m looking at indicators like the food stamp participation rate, U-6 employment measures, and following the $3 trillion in commercial real estate debt outstanding. This will give us a better sense of when true recovery occurs and not just a bailout for Wall Street rallying on the subsidies of the American taxpayer.

Chart 4 - Part-time for Economic Reasons

chart-4-part-time-for-economic-reasons

Never have we seen this many Americans working part-time for economic reasons. In this way, we are becoming like Japan since they have a high part-time employment base. No security, no benefits, and no stability. Some 8.8 million fall in this category. This pattern is troubling because Japan saw similar impacts once their Heisei bubble burst and caused two (going on three) lost decades. They kept zombie banks alive while bleeding the real employment sector dry. They report low overall unemployment rates but those working part-time make up nearly a third of their entire workforce. We are seeing similar patterns with commercial real estate debt just sitting hidden and the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve buying up questionable assets in exchange for U.S. Treasuries.

Now this issue is going to carry a lot of weight especially with the current healthcare debate. Part-time employment growth is not exactly something you want to see.

Chart 5 - Less Layoffs but Few Hiring

chart-5-hiring1

Chart 5 probably summarizes our current position best. As you can see, the layoff trend is heading lower but the hiring trend is also at a low level. In fact, according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve Board for June of 2009 the hiring rate came in at a record low of 2.9%! This is the lowest on record since data started being measured back in December of 2000.

Now just think about what the above chart signifies. If people aren’t hiring and people are still letting people go, is this actually a good sign? That is why it is premature to say things are getting better. The jobs that were lost were good paying jobs. Many will never return. So what industry is going to make up that gap? If there is no industry, then our economy is going to have to adjust. Sure the S&P 500 is up by 50 percent but this isn’t based on solid earnings. If we look at more realistic indicators of our economy, the recession is still deep and painful and shows no signs of improving, just getting worse at a slower pace.

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