World-News

David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers: "Republicans almost unanimously oppose spending $33.9 billion for extended unemployment benefits for some 2.5 million people who've lost them, because they say it would increase federal budget deficits. At the same time, they're pushing a permanent extension of Bush administration tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, which could increase federal budget deficits by trillions of dollars over the next 10 years."

http://www.truth-out.org/gop-no-more-help-jobless-rich-must-keep-tax-cuts61394



Bring It On

William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "It is tempting to begin a sentence about today's Republican Party with the words, 'Just when you thought they couldn't get any dumber,' but then you realize you're talking about a group that actively thwarts benefits for the unemployed while pimping tax cuts for rich people, a group that champions a political base which by and large doesn't believe dinosaurs existed because they're not in the Bible but can't stand the thought of stem cell research making people whole again, who attack the ideas and policies of the majority with vehemence but absolutely refuse to offer any of their own, and you come to the realization that you can't begin a sentence with those words, because there really is no bottom to this particular barrel."

http://www.truth-out.org/bring-it-on61535

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Washington elites face reality gap on economy

FreedomWorks
by Julie Borowski

07/19/10

While private sector workers across the country are struggling with abnormally high unemployment rates, federal government employees in Washington are likely to be bewildered by the current economic downturn. In fact, a Politico article released today confirmed that about half of ‘Washington elites’ who live in the D.C. metro area and work in politics or policy fields claim that the country and the economy are headed in the right direction — compared to less than 25 percent of the general population...

http://tinyurl.com/2enl47r



Tactical radicalism and the end of the GOP establishment

The New Republic
by Jonathan Chait

07/19/10

Obviously the conservative movement is intoxicated with hubris right now. Part of this hubris is their belief that the American people are truly and deeply on their side and that the last two elections were either a fluke or the product of a GOP that was too centrist. It’s a tactical radicalism, a belief that ideological purity carries no electoral cost whatsoever. Right-wing tactical radicalism has an old pedigree, and of course there is an equivalent (though less influential) tactical radicalism on the left-wing of the Democratic Party. Tactical radicalism is not the same thing as ideological radicalism. Tactical radicals are a subset of ideological radicals; some ideological radicals have clear-eyed of the pragmatic steps needed to advance their goals incrementally...

http://tinyurl.com/29utsbl



Unemployed and unfunded

San Francisco Chronicle
by Debra J. Saunders

07/22/10

President Obama hailed the 60 U.S. senators who voted to extend federal unemployment benefits Tuesday — without paying for the $34 billion tab — for standing on the side of ‘working families.’ The measure, which had been blocked by Republicans, would distribute unemployment benefits to some 2.5 million recipients who have been out of work for 26 to 99 weeks. GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine voted in favor of the measure. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., joined the GOP filibuster. The House is expected to pass the measure so that Obama can sign it. No doubt Americans who have seen their benefits run out are relieved that their unemployment checks will resume — and be paid retroactively...

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/saunders/#ixzz0uReniCbI


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

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Time runs out for 1.2 million on unemployment
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/29/unemployment.irpt/index.html


Informant: Margaret McCarron

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The Jobless Effect: Is the Real Unemployment Rate 16.5%, 22%, or. . .?

By Pallavi Gogoi

Ginsburg says the biggest source of undercounting comes from people who can't find a full-time job that they're qualified to do, for instance recent college graduates who take part-time jobs at fast-food joints or retail stores. Today, the Labor Department estimates that 8.6 million people are in this category.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25978.htm



Jobless Claims in U.S. Increase

The figures underscore projections that a lack of jobs will restrain consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy, and lead to slower growth in the second half of the year.

http://bit.ly/bcStEw


From Information Clearing House

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Obstinate GOP Removes 'Jobs' from 'Job Bill'
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/07/21-0



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