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The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment

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by Jim Clifton

Here’s something that many Americans — including some of the smartest and most educated among us — don’t know: The official unemployment rate, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, is extremely misleading.

Right now, we’re hearing much celebrating from the media, the White House and Wall Street about how unemployment is “down” to 5.6%. The cheerleading for this number is deafening. The media loves a comeback story, the White House wants to score political points and Wall Street would like you to stay in the market.

None of them will tell you this: If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job — if you are so hopelessly out of work that you’ve stopped looking over the past four weeks — the Department of Labor doesn’t count you as unemployed. That’s right. While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news — currently 5.6%. Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, the vast majority of them aren’t throwing parties to toast “falling” unemployment.

There’s another reason why the official rate is misleading. Say you’re an out-of-work engineer or healthcare worker or construction worker or retail manager: If you perform a minimum of one hour of work in a week and are paid at least $20 — maybe someone pays you to mow their lawn — you’re not officially counted as unemployed in the much-reported 5.6%. Few Americans know this.

https://www.gallup.com/opinion/chairman/181469/big-lie-unemployment.aspx

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Rep Scott Garret’s Bipartisian JOBS Act spurs business formation and jobs

House Budget Panel Holds Hearing to Receive  Views on Fiscal 2012
April 15,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Chairman Scott Garrett Opening Statement for Hearing Entitled

“The JOBS Act at Four: Examining Its Impact and Proposals to Further Enhance Capital Formation”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee Chairman Scott Garrett (NJ-05), delivered the following remarks at a hearing entitled “The JOBS Act at Four: Examining Its Impact and Proposals to Further Enhance Capital Formation”:

Congressman Scott Garrett’s opening remarks as prepared for delivery:

It’s not very often that Congress can look back at a major piece of legislation and be able to measure the tangible, positive impact it is having on peoples’ lives and on our economy

Too often, we find ourselves – particularly on this Committee – counting up the costs of misguided Washington mandates and comparing them with the phantom benefits promised by the bureaucratic class

Fortunately, that is not the case today

The Jumpstart our Business Startups – or “JOBS” Act – signed into law four years ago this month has by most measures been a resounding success for our economy and the future of innovation in America

The JOBS Act did this not by creating new federal mandates or spending taxpayer money on wasteful programs, but by empowering entrepreneurs and innovators who were struggling under a regulatory regime that was better suited for 1934 than it was for 2016

Just consider some of the following:

·        The JOBS Act has led to a resurgence in the initial public offering (IPO) market, with some 85% of IPO’s since April 2012 coming from emerging growth companies

·        Companies have raised some $50 billion under the new Reg D provision that allows business to solicit an offering to the general public

·        While the newly modernized “Reg A+” is only a year old, business are already beginning to issue securities under this exemption

·        And recent reports indicate that the SEC has already received up to 30 applications for portals under the new crowdfunding rules, which are set to go live next month

So while it’s clear that many parts of the JOBS Act are working as intended, the point of this hearing is not to pat ourselves on the back and say “job well done”

For starters, because the Senate tried its best back in 2012 to neuter the crowdfunding title and the SEC has taken some liberties with other rulemakings, the JOBS Act needs some “fixing”

So I want to thank the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. McHenry, for putting forward the “Fix Crowdfunding Act” which makes some necessary changes to help ensure Title III reaches its full potential

Additionally, I have put forward a bill – the Private Placement Improvement Act – that will prohibit the SEC from implementing burdensome new rules for Reg D issuers that were uncalled for by the JOBS Act

We’ll also consider two other bills today

Mr. Emmer has introduced an innovative bill that would create a safe harbor for so-called “micro offerings”, and Mr. McHenry has another bill which would raise the threshold for when venture capital funds would have to register with the SEC

In addition to these targeted fixes, I’m also interested in hearing from our witnesses about further areas that Congress should be addressing in order to maintain the competitiveness of our capital markets

For example, we should be exploring the cumulative burdens that come with being a public company – including, unfortunately, some of the ridiculous disclosure requirements of Dodd-Frank as well as the outsized influence that proxy advisory firms have in the corporate governance arena

It’s also time to think more about the lack of research and liquidity that exists for certain public companies, and whether the equity research Global Settlement of 2003 swung the pendulum too far and has led to a dearth of research for small cap stocks

These are all important questions, and I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today.

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Rep .Scott Garrett Sponsors Bills to Assure Due Process with the SEC and give Main Street businesses new tools to to Access Capital Markets

scott garrett

Happy 75th anniversary to M&M’s! I’m proud to represent such an iconic American candy that is made right in Hackettstown! Such a source of New Jersey pride.

Financial Services Committee Passes Two Garrett-Sponsored Bills  

Bills would enforce Constitutional rights and give Main Street businesses new tools to succeed
Mar 2, 2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ,  Today the Financial Services Committee passed two bills introduced by Congressman Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises. The bills were H.R. 4638, The Main Street Growth Act, and H.R. 3798, The Due Process Restoration Act.

“One of the biggest concerns I hear from my constituents that the executive branch has run wild and Congress needs to regain control to protect the Constitutional rights of all Americans. For that reason, I’m pleased that today the Financial Services Committee passed my bill to restore the due process rights of all Americans by allowing them to have their case before the SEC heard by a federal court. I’m also happy to announce that my bill to allow Main Street businesses to raise capital by accessing public markets passed the committee. Because if we want to revive America’s economy, we need to give Main Street businesses the tools they needs to innovate and succeed.”

H.R. 3798, The Due Process Restoration Act Would:

Provide a mandatory right of removal allowing the defendant to request that the case be moved to a district court
Grant a right of removal to defendants who are subject to a cease and desist order and monetary penalty that the commission is seeking
Raise the burden of proof for cases that remain in the ALJ to a higher “clear and convincing evidence” standard

The Main Street Growth Act Would:

Authorize the creation of “venture exchanges” which would be registered as a national securities exchange with the SEC and be specifically tailored to list the shares of emerging growth companies and companies that issue shares under the newly finalized “Reg A+”
Exempt venture exchanges from Regulation NMS, Regulation ATS, and would be exempt from extending unlisted trading privileges to companies that list on them;
Subject venture exchanges to all of the existing anti-fraud and investor protection statutes administered by the SEC
Permit all investors— not just Silicon Valley billionaires or the well-connected—to invest in companies that list on venture exchanges.

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Lessons on New Jersey Corporate Welfare Schemes

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Bill to restart BEIP payments angers some NJ businesses

DECEMBER 20, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY HUGH R. MORLEY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The passage last week of a bill that would restart incentive payments to about 270 New Jersey companies owed hundreds of millions of dollars for creating jobs in New Jersey sounds, at first glance, like good news for the companies.
Yet the legislation has upset some of the businesses by including a delayed payment schedule that means some won’t get their money for years.

The state stopped funding the Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP) more than two years ago, after underfunding it and skipping payments for years because of budget constraints. The revived program changes the method of payment, from rebates needed to be provided for in the state budget, to tax credits, which are reductions in taxes the businesses have to pay.

But the new system’s delayed payment schedule has only renewed criticism from the companies affected, which are now owed $785 million.

Payments not made between 2008 and 2013, for example, will now be paid in five installments, beginning in 2017 and concluding in 2021 – more than a decade after some first became due. Payments not made in 2014 and 2015, won’t be paid until 2019, and all payments for the next five years will be paid at least three years after they are accrued.

Sponsors of the bill, which passed both houses of the Legislature on Thursday and is expected to be signed by Governor Christie, say the payment delays are needed to cope with an estimated total obligation of $1.267 billion once all the bills are paid by 2025. The estimate comes from the state Economic Development Authority, which manages the state economic development programs.

But the delays are too long for some companies already irate that they reshaped their business – in some cases moving into New Jersey from out of state – based on a commitment that the state hasn’t kept.

“That’s absolutely asinine, literally,” said Thomas Churchill, vice president for operations at Model Electronics in Ramsey, of the delayed payment schedule.

Churchill, whose company remanufacturers audio navigation and other auto parts, added, “If they are doing it over a period of time, it becomes monotonous, and idiotic. It becomes very, very hard to manage, and it’s probably not worth the cost.” He said spreading payments over several years makes calculating how much money the company receives, and the taxes owed on it, more complicated and burdensome.

Churchill’s company moved from Rockland County, N.Y., to Bergen County in 2005 with the help of a grant for $468,000 over 10 years, contingent on bringing 85 new jobs to the state. After he fulfilled that commitment, the state at first paid the annual rebate checks on schedule, but the company has not received a check since getting the company’s 2011 incentive payment.

Another business owner, who is owed payments but declined to be identified, welcomed the bill but added: “However, I cannot get excited for something that is four years away, and six years after the first payment was due initially.” In a reflection of how the BEIP history has damaged confidence in the state’s development efforts, the owner added: “I am sure anything can happen and change by then anyway, as it did two years ago.”

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/n-j-trying-to-make-good-1.1477063

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Record 94,031,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Stuck at 38-Year Low for 3rd Straight Month

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By Susan Jones | September 4, 2015 | 8:54 AM EDT

(CNSNews.com) – A record 94,031,000 Americans were not in the American labor force last month — 261,000 more than July — and the labor force participation rate stayed stuck at 62.6 percent, a 38-year low, for a third straight month in August, the Labor Department reported on Friday, as the nation heads into the Labor Day weekend.

The number of Americans not in the labor force has continued to rise, partly because of retiring baby-boomers and fewer workers entering the workforce.

In August, according to BLS, the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population, consisting of all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 251,096,000. Of those, 157,065,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.

The 157,065,000 who participated in the labor force equaled only 62.6 percent of the 251,096,000 civilian noninstitutional population — the same as it was in July and June. Not since October 1977, when the participation rate dropped to 62.4, has the percentage been this low.

https://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/record-94031000-americans-not-labor-force-participation-rate-stuck-38-year