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| 11/23 |
| 2010/9/17-30 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:53960 Activity:low |
9/17 "Report: Los Angeles spent $70 million in stimulus funds to create
7.76 jobs"
Yes, that's seven-point-seven-six jobs.
http://www.csua.org/u/rmu (news.yahoo.com)
\_ It is Obama's fault?
\_ Then: The Buck Stops Here
Now: Is it my fault?
\_ http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/bank/idea.php?ideaId=904
The Great Recession is even more sad when you realize they have
the answer.
\_ I like the turndown, so many things are cheap now, including
maids, gardners, hookers 'n' blow!
\_ It was the fact that the community or regional money could be
used to pay taxes [...] that made it acceptable and successful.
That is true for all currency, btw. The Fed is inflating the
money supply as fast as it dares.
\_ But they're not giving negative interest rates on the money.
The whole point of Borgl was to make people spend.
\_ I <3 my trustfund. Best times for it. :-)
\_ Stimulus saved 3M+ jobs, kept economy from second recession says
non-partisan CBO:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2bchjy8 |
| 11/23 |
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| www.csua.org/u/rmu -> news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100917/bs_yblog_upshot/report-los-angeles-spent-70-million-in-stimulus-funds-to-create-7-76-jobs john Cook - Fri Sep 17, 12:15 pm ET A new piece of evidence has emerged in the debate over the effectiveness of President Obama's 2009 stimulus package, and it's not good for Democrats. The $71 million that went to the Department of Public Works, which funded 15 road-surfacing and similar projects, was projected to save or create 238 jobs. The Department of Transportation's $40 million created or retained just nine jobs, the audit found. "With our local unemployment rate over 12 percent, we need to do a better job cutting the red tape and putting Angelenos back to work." But the breakdown of how some of the money was spent seems to indicate efficiency was not exactly the order of the day for project managers. The Department of Transportation, for instance, spent $9 million to install new LED lightbulbs in traffic lights at 1,800 intersections. Less the $228,000 in labor costs associated with the project, that's nearly $5,000 per location to change lightbulbs. Another project spent $4 million to install 65 new left-turn arrows, averaging more than $61,500 per arrow. California passed a measure to help small business - a huge sum of $ was made available to bid on and get for projects. for every 5 of my employees that i had work on the job - I was forced to Hire 5 Union folks in order to get the $. the Union guys barely worked at all - my employees did all the work. The $ that the Liberals are saying is for SMALL Business is a load of BS IT is being used to shuffle $$ to the unions. Citizens are drowning and Obama and bunch of fat Wall Street buddies are on the bout. Obama reaches to the dying people, but his hand in under high voltage ( you can see cables going to fat bankers connecting batteries together). Better lock yourself and your wife in the White House before you destroy this country Ops! I got a call from Obama and I had to go to talk to him about a job. tall and wouldn't even look at me - he just said "You got a job" - I woke up in the middle of the night - NIGHTMARE! A middle class person has a job at a factory making 70k a year. WHo invested the 30 million dollars to build the factory which produces jobs, buy wood and steal that produce jobs at the wood and steel plant in which another person invested millions in building. Its not that trickle does not work its that the Govt is inefficient and wastes the money. repealing the tax cuts would bring in 200 billion a year. Tell me would you rather give a tax break to a rich person so he can buy his new house, boat , mercedes and inverst in a factory as mentioned above or take that money from him for the Government to spend as they did in this article. Then instead of blaming a government on the Fed level for just throwing money to a STATE level inefficient Government lets blame Reagan and the rich. SO you have the STATE and FEDS Guilty of stupidity here. Would a guyt with 20 million invest in hiring 10 people? SO do you want to give more money to a Govt that knowingly does that or to someone willing to actually do something with it? Remember the TOILET SEAT that Pentagon billed 18000$ for back in 80s. That same Toilet seat is costing us roughly 200,000$ now, counting in inflation. Split the states, to Hong Kong or Singapore style governance. The ones that are not, won't be bringing down every one else with them. Our representatives will be close at hand, not somewhere far away behind closed doors in Washington acting like they are above the law. They can be held accountable and brought down much easier if seen mismanaging what has been entrusted to them. It makes no difference if it's the Dems or Reps running the country. Obama is no better than George Bush, and Bush wasn't any better than Clinton. Politicians have their own games and we are not aprt of it. If you think Palin or McCain will save this economy,you have to guess again. We are on a sinking ship and it makes NO difference who is at the helm. Our soldiers are NOT dying to get Osama or to spread Democracy. Why would we want to export our failed Democracy anyway, it sure as heck ain't working for us! And why should we loose 1000s in soldier's lives and TRILLIONS in tax payer money to get ONE guy? While we are quibbling over extension of unemployment to 99 weekers and lack of funds for Health Care. Something is really screwed up, and in my opinion, it will take no less than a proper revolution to fix it. but not necessarily in the USA because LEDs and LED signal heads are manufactured in the US and Asia. LEDs also consume about 15% as much electricity as an equivalent incandescent lamp, so that is good news too. Ofcourse, LA should have paid for their own LEDs like everyone else, but that is a matter better addressed by other posters. Report Abuse Those in LA that wasted our money this way SHOULD GO TO JAIL that is just wrong rebub or demo that is wrong. I cannot get away with my errors the banks get my butt if they do not pay that is CORRUPTION plain and simple Law enforcers look into this! |
| www.globalideasbank.org/site/bank/idea.php?ideaId=904 A blog about social entrepreneurs and social enterprise Idea Detail Depreciating community-owned currencies Score 86% 196 votes, Feasibility 91% Originality 81% Humour 50% There was a time when people were so convinced that the earth was flat, that the idea that it was round was inconceivable. Likewise today, the idea of a community or region issuing and using its own currency and running its own bank may seem just inconceivable. The Worgl Schillings In the early 1930s the small town of Worgl in the Austrian Tyrol, suffering like every other town in Europe and America from the Great Depression, took the unlikely step of issuing its own currency. Its burgomaster, Michael Unterguggenberger, faced an empty treasury, because the unemployed citizens could not pay their taxes; roads and bridges needed repair and parks needed maintenance, for which the town could not pay; He recognised that all three problems could be solved if he could find the connecting link. The three problems coexisted because no one had any of it, and his simple solution was to create money locally. He issued numbered 'labour certificates' to the value of 32,000 schillings, in denominations of 1, 5 and 10 schillings, respectively. These became valid only after being stamped at the town hall, and depreciated monthly by 1 per cent of their nominal value. It was possible for the holders to 'revalue' them by the purchase, before the end of each month, of stamps from the town hall, in the process creating a relief fund. These taxes were used to provide social and public services. At the end of each year, it was required that the notes be turned in for new ones. No charge was made for the transaction if the required stamps had been affixed. Subject to a 2 per cent deduction, the town also undertook to convert the labour notes into Austrian schillings. To facilitate this conversion at any time - and thereby provide a cover for the relief certificates - the trustees deposited at the local Raiffeisen Bank (credit union) an amount in Austrian currency equivalent to the issued local currency. The money was loaned out to trustworthy wholesalers at 6 per cent interest. Interest thereby flowed back into the town treasury, yet further facilitating transactions with the 'outside' world. Wages paid in the new money The burgomaster put this money into circulation by paying 50 per cent - later raised to 75 per cent - of the wages of the town's clerical and manual workers in the new money. The workers found that all businesses in Worgl accepted the currency in payment and at face value, and the notes returned to the parish treasury as dues and taxes. Economically, there was no inflation, and politically, the money was unanimously acceptable to all the municipal parties. Further, many paid their taxes in advance because it wa s financially advantageous' Because it was a depreciating currency, it circulated with rapidity, boosting the local economy. Also, not only did people merely pay their current taxes in the currency, but also discharged their tax arrears. Further, many paid their taxes in advance because it was financially advantageous. Apart from the obvious employment benefits, physical assets were created. These included improvements in the main street and its drainage system, street lighting, new road construction, manufacturing of kerb stones and drainage pipes, construction of a ski-jumping platform, and fencing and construction of a new water reservoir. Although the Worgl money was unanimously accepted at the local level, there was great opposition from two centralist forces - the Tyrol Labour Party and the Austrian State Bank. In both cases, there seemed to be the fear of the experiment spreading, for the idea was copied by the neighbouring town of Kirchbichel. Other towns in the Tyrol also decided on issuing depreciating money, but did not proceed because of threats from the State Bank. The experiment curtailed Ultimately, the State Bank threatened legal proceedings and on September 1st 1933, the experiment was terminated. In an analysis, Unterguggenberger concluded that depreciating currency fulfils the functions of money much better than unvarying nationalised currency. He noted that no difficulties or complaints had arisen in making payments in the new currency or in affixing stamps, and that the local currency was accepted by all businesses very shortly after starting the project. He also suggested that, not only did it work at the town level, but it could also be applied in larger entities including regions, provinces and the state. Although the experiment was terminated in Austria, it was noted and tried elsewhere. In Canada, for instance, the government of the Province of Alberta set up a provincial depreciating currency in the mid-1930s in the form of Prosperity Certificates. The 'danger' of its success prompted the central government to ban it. First and foremost, that there is nothing sacred about the 'national' money with which we grew up. Money - as information technology, metal chips, paper slips and electronic blips - is what people will accept in payment for goods and services and taxes. It was the fact that the community or regional money could be used to pay taxes, and also exchanged for familiar national currency, that made it acceptable and successful. The prime candidate for the cause of community and regional decline is the centralised banking and money system. The banks are also political in as much as they make policies to siphon off local wealth and value into their central financial vortex. Conversely and concurrently, the communities and regions are deprived of their wealth - via the national money - to feed the voracious appetite of the centre. Even if some of that money is re-imported into the community or region, it is as externally controlled capital. In the process the communities or regions lose control of their economy, and also their political systems, becoming dispensable 'Regions of Sacrifice'. A duplication of the process is now evolving in the push for a European central bank and a single European currency. From observation and experience, there is no doubt that the European Monetary System will be used to enhance a corridor of centralised financial power running from London to Zurich and connected to the other major financial centres of Europe, including possibly Moscow. The centralisation of power has always created problems, and its abuse comes as no surprise. The appropriate decentralisation of power, known as the Principle of Subsidiarity, can and should take place. This principle states that the priority for decision-making and action-taking should be at the most decentralised level possible. Only when those decisions and actions impinge upon the well-being of the next larger communities or regions, should those too have an influence. Community Barter In discussing these ideas, it is also important to understand the difference between community currency and community barter systems. A community barter system - like the LETSystem, which is not community currency - is usually based on voluntary organisational sharing of information about goods and services available from individuals in an area. The accounting is usually based either on time or the nationalised currency (pounds, dollars, etc). Such a system has three basic weaknesses: - It tends to be limited in scope to a handful of dedicated practitioners, usually in largely rural or semi-rural areas. A community currency, on the other hand, can be used by anyone in the community as a 'means of payment' for any commodity or service. The only limit to the expansion of its circulation is its acceptability, so it encourages all forms of economic activity. If suitable provision is made for 'convertibility', it can facilitate transactions with people and organisations outside the community, and indeed encourage community 'import replacement'. Also, of course, communities may agree - as they did in the Tyrol - to accept each other's currency at par. The example of Worgl suggests several prerequisites for success: - The currency be accepted by local government and other 'official' organisat... |
| preview.tinyurl.com/2bchjy8 -> voices.washingtonpost.com/political-economy/2010/08/cbo_says_stimulus_may_have_add.html com Close Ariana Eunjung Cha writes about the economy for the Post and is the Web editor for its national economy and business section. She has served as the paper's bureau chief in Beijing, Shanghai and San Francisco and as a correspondent in Baghdad. com Close Brady Dennis writes about economic policy and financial regulation. Before coming to The Post in September 2008, he was a staff writer at the St. At the Post, he was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and a Gerald Loeb Award for a three-part series he and a colleague wrote about the rise and fall of American International Group. com Close Zachary Goldfarb has covered the US financial crisis for The Post for more than three years. Originally from Manhattan, he is a graduate of the Princeton University and now lives in Washington, DC He enjoys vegetarian cooking, is getting started as a cyclist and spends too much time obsessing over gadgets. com Close Jia Lynn Yang is a staff writer at The Washington Post who covers policy that affects corporate America. She's interested in taxes, regulation and all the ways that business and Washington try to influence and make sense of one another. Before joining The Post, Jia Lynn was a Washington correspondent for Fortune magazine. com Close Neil Irwin writes about the US economy and the Federal Reserve. He has been at the Post since 2000 and has an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism. His interests include bond market data, cured pork products, and pinot noir. com Close Lori Montgomery writes about national economic policy emanating from the White House and Capitol Hill. A former foreign correspondent who traveled Europe pre-euro, she also covered domestic politics in such disparate locales as Dallas and Detroit. She has three kids, one dog and no time for your so-called "interests." com Close Ylan Q Mui covers the consumer economy and has been a member of the Financial staff since 2005 and a staff writer since 2002. She is also an adjunct journalism instructor at the University of Maryland. Ylan graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans, where she was born and raised. com Close Howard Schneider covers international economics and trade for the Post. He has served in a variety of roles at the paper, three tours abroad in Israel, Egypt and Canada, and as economics editor. He is a native of Maryland's Eastern Shore, and proudly includes a chief oyster inspector among his ancestors. com Close Mike Shepard is the Night Editor for Economy and Business News. A graduate of Georgetown University, Mike has worked at the Post for 22 years in a variety of editing assignments. He spent 1997 teaching journalism in Brazil on a Fulbright scholarship and is a fluent speaker of Portuguese. com Close Peter Whoriskey writes about manufacturing and the auto industry. He was formerly the Post's bureau chief in Miami, and covered Hurricane Katrina and its effects on New Orleans. com Close About This Blog Political Economy explores how political forces in Washington and elsewhere in the world shape the economy and how corporate agendas influence political institutions and politicians. The blog offers new perspectives on the day's top economic and business stories with exclusive interviews with government officials and lawmakers, commentary from influential economists and analysis from Post reporters. Ariana Eunjung Cha is the blog's lead writer and Mike Shepard is the author of the daily economic agenda. publicly supported the bank bailout and then repelled the populist measures to really hammer banker pay when they got into office. The financial reform bill didn't break up the banks, set leverage requirements in statute or do any of a number of other things that would've really hurt the financial industry. The auto bailout was designed to preserve the existence of America's auto industry, and even the Economist has admitted that the Obama administration did everything in its power to "restore both firms to health and then get out as quickly as possible." The various stimulus measures have been designed to directly support businesses or indirectly support the people who those businesses rely on." this is no time to be raising taxes on the middle class, as nearly every dollar taxed is nearly a dollar not spent buying goods and services... At the same time, even conservative economists acknowledge that while the rich account for a disproportionate share of consumer spending, raising their taxes by a modest amount won't alter that spending or have much of a short-term impact on the economy. The reason: Wealthy people make considerably more than they spend, and they save the rest." CBO says stimulus may have added 33 million jobs By Lori Montgomery President Obama's much-maligned economic stimulus package added as many as 33 million jobs to the economy during the second quarter of this year, and may have prevented the nation from lapsing back into recession, according to a report released Tuesday by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. In its latest quarterly assessment of the act, the CBO said the stimulus lowered the unemployment rate by between 07 and 18 percentage points during the quarter ending in June and increased the number of people employed by between 14 million and 33 million. The higher figure would come close to making good on Obama's pledge that the act would save or create as many as 35 million jobs by the end of this year. The CBO said the act also increased the nation's gross domestic product by between 17 percent and 45 percent in the second quarter, indicating that the stimulus may have been the primary source of growth in the US economy. The Commerce Department estimates that GDP grew 24 percent in the second quarter, a figure many economists expect to be revised lower in a report due out Friday. The CBO cautioned that the the act's effects are expected to "gradually diminish during the second half of 2010 and beyond," leaving the private sector to pick up the slack in an economy that is already showing signs of deteriorating rapidly. On the bright side, the CBO revised the cost of the package downward: Originally estimated to cost $787 billion over 10 years, the stimulus was later estimated to cost $862 billion. But in the report released Tuesday, the CBO said it now expects the measure to cost only about $814 billion through 2019, with 70 percent of those costs incurred by the end of this year. Polls show that the public is deeply skeptical about the stimulus and tends to believe that it increased the national deficit without improving the economy. Republicans hoping to seize control of Congress in the November midterm elections have been blasting the act as a failure. But the CBO, which is respected by both Republicans and Democrats, has long held a different view and Democrats hailed Tuesday's report as further vindication of the president's signal economic achievement. "This new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is further confirmation of what we've been hearing from leading economists, the nation's governors and families across the country: the Recovery Act is working to rescue the economy from eight years of failed economic policy and rebuild it even stronger than before," Vice President Biden said in a statement. Report abuse Bowspray - stop following the playbook of "if a story doesn't say what I want it to say, attack the source". So was the CBO non-partisan when it was calculating the cost of the health care plan? If you've been on the front lines, you'll know that the economy for the past two years had one or two phases (mid 2009, early 2010) when the pace of growth looked like it would be sustained. Job listings and recruiting had peaks during those time. But I'd hate to see where we would have been had we done nothing. Report abuse bowspray writes: The CBO is anything but "non partisan" The CBO has delivered some stinging reports to the democrats and Obama and it has delivered some helpful ones. The poster then proceeds with the typical straw-man argument, made by conservatives, that the 'failed' stimulus did not 'cur... |
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