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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (108258)	7/21/2011 12:15:43 PM
From: d[-_-]b	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224751

ask dumbo - he asked for them.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (108258)	7/21/2011 12:23:15 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224751

Jobless Claims Jump By JEFF BATER And ANDREW ACKERMAN New claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week following two declines, a setback for a sector that hasn't been producing many jobs. Separately, U.S home prices posted a monthly increase in May, a government agency said Thursday, but are still lower than year-earlier levels. Claims increased by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 418,000 in the week ended July 16, the Labor Department said Thursday. The prior week's claims figure was revised to 408,000, up from an originally reported 405,000. The increase was the first in three weeks. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast claims to remain unchanged. Minnesota indicated about 1,750 of its claims were the result of a state government shutdown. The four-week moving average of new claims, considered a more reliable indicator of the labor market's recent performance, fell last week, by 2,750 to 421,250. Still, the job market is weak. Economists generally think the economy is adding more jobs than it is shedding once the weekly claims figure falls below 400,000. Claims have been above that level since the week that ended April 9. In May and June, the economy created only 43,000 jobs, according to Labor's latest monthly report on non-farm payrolls in the U.S. The Federal Reserve predicts the unemployment rate will remain high into 2012. In an example of the labor market's softness, networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. is planning to reduce its work force by about 6,500 employees. The Labor Department Thursday said the number of continuing unemployment benefit claims -- those drawn by workers for more than a week -- declined by 50,000 to 3,698,000 in the week ended July 9. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag. The unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance fell to 2.9% in the week ending July 9, down from 3.0%. The state-by-state breakdown, which is also reported with a lag, showed the biggest drop in claims the week ended July 9 was in California, with a decrease of 15,751 due to fewer service industry layoffs. The largest increase in claims that week was in New York, up by 20,599. Home Prices Post Monthly Rise Home prices rose 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis from April, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's monthly home-price index. The results were better than expected. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a 0.1% monthly increase. April's results were revised downward to a 0.2% increase from an initial estimate of a 0.8% increase. Compared with a year earlier, prices were still down 6.3%. May's index value was 181.8. A reading of 100 is equal to the price of homes in January 1991. The FHFA's index is calculated by using the prices of houses purchased with mortgages backed by government-controlled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Despite the monthly increase, the ailing U.S. housing market remains one of the major weak spots for the economy. The index remains 19.6% below its peak in April 2007 and roughly equal to the level of January 2004. Sales of previously occupied homes in the U.S. fell 0.8% in June to a seven-month low, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. The median sales price, however, was $184,300, up 0.8% from a year earlier.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (108258)	7/21/2011 12:46:55 PM
From: JakeStraw	3 Recommendations Respond to of 224751

One other thing Obama is full of...

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (108258)	7/21/2011 3:36:55 PM
From: Sedohr Nod	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224751

How did the other 60% that actually cost something work out?....Are you giving that part a pass just because of your rip roaring bias towards continued waste?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (108258)	7/21/2011 4:32:05 PM
From: TimF	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224751

They worked better than the spending increases. But they where not big enough, and they where poorly designed. They didn't cut rates, and they where mostly set to expire after a year or two. You don't get investment and hiring because of a one year tax cut. It would be foolish to base such decisions on tax cuts that are going to go away soon. What we need is a "permanent" cut in rates (in quotes because no tax change lasts forever, but the point is there should be no expiration date), and a real cut, from today's rates, not from a legislative baseline that includes a tax increase. To deal with the lower short to medium term revenue, and the deficits that exist even prior to the rate cuts, we can eliminate a bunch of tax breaks, and cut future growth in spending.