Black disappointment with Obama threatens Democrats
BY DAVID LIGHTMAN
McClatchy Washington BureauOctober 23, 2014
MIAMI — Black voters’ disappointment with President Barack Obama, who they so eagerly embraced for so many years, could be costly on Election Day to Democrats, who badly need a big African-American turnout to win Senate and gubernatorial races in key states.
Instead, many African-Americans see an unemployment rate well above the national average, continuing problems with crime in many neighborhoods, and a president more interested in trying to help other voting blocs that didn’t give him such unwavering support.
Related: Rep. John Lewis says he’d ‘vote against’ Obama judicial nominee
He talks about same-sex marriage in a nod to the gay and lesbian community. He discusses immigration and its benefits, an issue particularly important to the Latino community. He fights for equal pay, a vital issue to the women Democrats so avidly court.
Research shows marriage is responsible for the creation of wealth – so why aren’t millennials interested?
Generation Screwed By Naomi Schaefer Riley October 20, 2014 | 7:47pm
The attitudes of millennials toward marriage are getting harder and harder to understand.
This is a demographic whose economic prospects have never looked good.
They are coming of age at a time when college tuition is at record levels, student debt has surpassed a trillion dollars, houses (even after the bubble popping) are unaffordable, unemployment remains stubbornly high and wages have stagnated in recent years.
It’s no wonder they’ve been nicknamed “The Screwed Generation.”
So you’d think that if research shows there is something that could be a surefire way of improving their economic lot, they would grab hold of it like a life preserver. Well, you’d be wrong.
In fact, research has shown marriage to be responsible for the significant creation of wealth — yet millennials don’t seem interested. The average age of a first marriage for men is 29 and for women it’s 27. Many are simply not marrying at all.
Almost half of children born to women under 30 are out-of-wedlock births now, according to a recent study by Child Trends, a Washington-based research group.
Congressmen Scott Garrett points out ,” Really disappointing news. It’s time to do away with the stale, failed ideas of the past. We must unleash our economy and help get our people back to work. The House has passed more than 40 jobs bills that are#StuckInTheSenate; it’s time for the Senate to take action.”
N.J.’s long-term unemployed rate worse than 48 states By Erin O’Neill | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on October 15, 2014 at 6:50 AM, updated October 15, 2014 at 7:41 AM
Nearly half of jobless residents in New Jersey have been out of work for more than six months, according to a new report, a level that ranks the state among the worst in the country.
The brief released today by New Jersey Policy Perspective notes the “long-term unemployment crisis is a national problem” but found every other state except Florida fared better than New Jersey. Also, while the share of long-term unemployed in New Jersey has fallen from its peak in 2010, the brief found that drop has not been as sharp as it has nationally.
“We’re in a much deeper pickle than most of the rest of the country,” said Gordon MacInnes, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal-leaning think tank. “The reason for that is pretty plain: we haven’t produced enough jobs for people who are unemployed over a long period of time to fill.”
The report, which relies on analysis of federal labor data by the Economic Policy Institute, shows that 46.3 percent of the state’s jobless residents were unemployed for more than six months as of March 2014, compared to the state’s peak of 51.4 percent in December 2010. Those values represent 12-month moving averages.
On the national level, the share of long-term unemployed peaked at nearly 44 percent of all jobless residents in November 2011 and has since dropped to roughly 37 percent.
Only Florida had a larger share of long-term unemployed among the states in March at 46.5 percent.
The riddle of black America’s rising woes under Obama By Edward Luce
Those who have fared worst under this president are the ones who love him the most
A paradox haunts America’s first black president. African-American wealth has fallen further under Barack Obama than under any president since the Depression. Yet they are the only group that still gives him high ratings. So meagre is Mr Obama’s national approval rating that embattled Democrats have made him unwelcome in states that twice swept him to power. Those who have fared worst under Mr Obama are the ones who love him the most. You would be hard-pressed to find a better example of perception-driven politics. As the Reverend Kevin Johnson asked in 2013: “Why are we so loyal to a president who isn’t loyal to us?”
The problem has taken on new salience with the resignation of Eric Holder. America’s first black attorney-general has tried to correct the gulag-sized disparities in prison sentencing between blacks and whites. His exit leaves just two African-Americans in Mr Obama’s cabinet. Given the mood among Republicans, it is hard to imagine the US Senate confirming a successor to Mr Holder who shares his priorities.
Stocks plunge; Nasdaq Composite near correction Kate Gibson | @CNBCKateGibson
U.S. stocks on Monday fell for a third session, with the S&P 500 closing below its 200-day moving average and the Nasdaq Composite off 8.6 percent from its September record, as investors awaited earnings and fretted signs of a slowing global economy.
“I haven’t seen one bit of news, but we’ve had another failed late-day rally; everyone has been staring at their screens at the 1,905 level. Once you get past 3 o’clock and you can’t stay above it, we’ve now officially broken what’s considered an important technical level for the first time since November 2012,” said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at the Lindsey Group.
“That’s what has brought out the panic,” Boockvar added of the market’s rapid descent, which had benchmark indexes spiraling downward as the end of the session approached.
“There is a huge question mark about what does growth look like. The U.S. was the best house in a bad neighborhood, but we didn’t realize the neighborhood might have been deteriorating faster than we realized. Europe is a big question mark, and China seems happy with its lower growth rate,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity analyst at Fort Pitt Capital
How Awesome Would the U.S. Economy Be If It Were Set Free from Massive Government Regulations?
IImagine if the U.S.’s economy had grown an extra 1% every year since 1949 as a result from less strangulating federal regulation.
This is the thesis for a recent Forbes article by Rich Karlgaard, the magazine’s publisher and head writer. Using the concept of compound interest, along with an assertion that runaway federal tinkering and silly regulations have had a massive impact on the country’s economic growth over the decades, he gives a handful of answers to the question:
“Where would the U.S. economy be today without massive federal regulation?”
Here’s what he came up with:
The 2014 GDP would be $32 trillion, not $17 trillion. Per capita income would be $101,000, not $54,000. Per capita wealth would be $480,000, not $260,000. It would probably be higher than that, since savings rates might be higher. The U.S. would have no federal, state or municipal debts or deficits. Pensions would be solid. So would Social Security. The trend of new entrants to The Forbes 400 would not favor entrepreneurs in software, the Internet and financial services but would be more broadly distributed across all industries. Electronic bits–money and software–are less prone to regulation than such physical things as factories, transportation, etc. Faster, quieter successors to the supersonic Concorde? Cheap, safe nuclear power? Cancer-curing drugs for small populations? Bullet trains financed by private investors? Yes! The U.S. would have the resources to fight the multiplicity of threats from abroad, from ISIS to hackers.
His conclusion is that when considering political leaders, those that are committed to less government interference should be preferred.
Furthermore, he wisely points out that it’s not a partisan idea, stating that Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton are examples of these types of leaders, whereas Truman, George W. Bush, and Obama are examples of precisely the opposite.
Panelists debate Common Core at forum in Ridgewood
OCTOBER 9, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014, 5:01 PM BY BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
It’s not likely that a two-hour panel of experts both for and against the Common Core state standards and the standardized testing it’s linked to changed any minds of the hundreds of parents who watched the debate at the Ridgewood Library last Thursday.
Early in the event the fire department was brought in to handle the massive outpouring of interest, which significantly exceeded the 212-person capacity of the room. Some went home after being urged to do so by library staff, but most stayed packed tightly next to each other, leaning against the walls or sitting on the floor.
“It reinforced my positive view of the Common Core,” said Sara Erwin following the debate. “Knowing the teachers at the high school in Ridgewood, they’ll make it work.”
Kim Barron, of Mahwah, said “nothing changed my mind in my opposition.”
“I don’t think that the ‘pro’ people made their case,” Barron contended.
Resident-led advocacy group Ridgewood Cares About Schools (RCAS) joined with the Ridgewood League of Women Voters to host the panel of six experts representing both local, state and national voices on the topic.
Confidence in President Obama’s economic policies has reached an all-time low.
Just 24 percent of Americans say they are extremely or quite confident in Obama’s plan for the economy, according to the CNBC All-America Economic survey released Tuesday. In June 2013, 33 percent gave Obama’s economic policies a thumbs-up, which was the previous record low.
Forty-four percent of Americans say they have no confidence in Obama’s economic policies, tying a previous record set in August 2012.
The lingering economic pessimism comes despite signs that the economy is growing at a solid rate and with the unemployment rate at its lowest level in six years. However, wage growth remains muted at best, leaving many Americans feeling as if the economy has not improved much at all since the recession hit.
The persistent discontent is also complicating Obama’s attempts to tout the economic gains under his watch in an effort to help Democrats hold off Republican challengers at the polls. At the same time, he acknowledges much of the lingering concern, pushing for initiatives like increasing the minimum wage and equal pay for women to further bolster Democratic campaigns.
Obama is facing broad concern about his economic policies from all groups. Just 45 percent of Democrats say they have confidence in his policies.
BROKEN DREAM: EMOTIONAL AD HITS DEMOCRATS FOR YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT
A dramatic new political advertisement underscoring the plight of unemployed Millennial voters is taking aim at vulnerable Democratic senators who aligned themselves with President Barack Obama’s economic policies.
The ad, sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, takes a striking new approach to economic messaging, one that replaces the usual blizzard of statistics and jargon with the forlorn faces and emotional angst younger voters—and, by extension, their parents—are experiencing in today’s hostile jobs market.
Steve Wynn: I’m ‘more scared’ about US than China Jane Wells | @janewells
To rephrase a purported Chinese proverb: Steve Wynn lives in interesting times.
The casino magnate behind Wynn Resorts makes most of his money in Macau, China, and he’s worked closely with the Chinese government for a dozen years. However, gambling revenue across Macau has softened as the government has cracked down on what it calls illegal lending practices there, and as potential new anti-smoking rules threaten to turn off gamblers. Now, new tensions are rising on the heels of massive protestsin Hong Kong by residents who oppose Beijing’s efforts to dictate the candidates they’re allowed to vote for.
‘Everyone in China is pragmatic’
Is Steve Wynn bothered?
“I’m more scared about the United States than I am about China,” Wynn told CNBC this week at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. The protests in Hong Kong have “become sort of a party out there.”
Wynn said he believes the situation will be resolved: “Everyone in China is pragmatic and practical.”
Wynn said Chinese officials may be willing to bend in favor of protesters who want everyone to be able to vote on Hong Kong’s chief executive, though he seemed to think it’s less likely that Beijing will stop deciding who can run and who doesn’t.
“I think the central government is willing to let everybody vote for the CEO, but they want to have some positive input on the nominations, so that whoever it is, the group of candidates, have some kind of mature, rational attitude towards the fact that it belongs to China,” Wynn said. “I don’t think (Chinese President) Xi Jinping and the central government are going to give up some level of control of their own country. It’s not part of that culture there.”
Wynn continues to praise the business climate in China compared to the United States: “The regulatory burden in China is infinitesimal compared to the crap we get in America.”
Wynn’s comments come as Western companies have come up against growing scrutiny from the Chinese government, including surprise raids, long investigations and growing fines in the name of “anti-trust” enforcement.
Wynn refused to comment on a slander lawsuit his company has filed against Jim Chanos—the suit alleges that the famous short seller intimated that Wynn has violated anti-bribing laws in order to succeed in Macau. Instead, he praised what he called “the most laissez-faire place on the planet at the moment” in China, and said Americans don’t realize how positive and aspirational the Chinese are about their own lives and their own government.
How Long Will It Take to Repair Damage Holder Has Done at Justice Department? Hans von Spakovsky / @HvonSpakovsky / September 27, 2014
Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement Thursday that he is resigning, effective when his successor is confirmed, is welcome news.
As John Fund and I outline in our recent book, “Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department,” every time President Obama has broken, bent, ignored or changed the law, the person at his side advising him how to do it has been Eric Holder.
Mr. Holder is also responsible for spearheading an unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department, which should be of great concern to anyone who cares about the rule of law and the impartial administration of justice.
Why care about who runs the U.S. Justice Department? It matters because Justice is one of the most powerful executive branch agencies in the federal government. It has enormous discretionary power to pursue people accused of breaking the law and to exert major influence over social, economic and national security policies by the enforcement (or non-enforcement) choices made by its top officer.
Justice requires someone who understands that, while the attorney general is a political appointee, he (or she) has a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution and enforce the law in an objective, non-political manner. For the most part, Eric Holder failed in the execution of that duty.
Mr. Holder is the first attorney general in history to be held in contempt by the House of Representatives. He earned this dubious distinction by refusing to turn over documents related to what may be the most reckless law enforcement operation ever undertaken by the Justice Department: Operation Fast and Furious.
Every time President Obama has broken, bent, ignored or changed the law, the person at his side advising him how to do it has been Eric Holder.
During his tenure, the Justice Department launched more investigations and prosecutions of leaks than all prior attorneys general combined, while studiously ignoring high-level “friendly leaks” by White House officials designed to make the president look tough in the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Holder racialized the prosecution of federal anti-discrimination laws and led an unprecedented attack on election integrity laws, thus making it easier for people to commit voter fraud.
His handling of national security issues and his reinstitution of the Clinton-era criminal model for handling terrorists have endangered national security and the safety of the American public.
Mr. Holder has tried to restrict pro-life protesters’ First Amendment right to speak, has prosecuted American companies (under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) for behavior that is routine among government officials, and has on numerous occasions ignored his duty to defend the law and to enforce statutes passed by Congress.
Photo: Christy Bowe/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom
In clear violation of civil service rules, Mr. Holder filled the career ranks of the Justice Department with political allies, cronies and Democratic Party donors.
He treated Congress with contempt and did everything he could to evade its oversight responsibilities by misleading, misinforming and ignoring members of Congress and its committees.
For these reasons and many others, a former career lawyer who served in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations told us that, in his opinion, “Holder is the worst person to hold the position of Attorney General since the disgraced John Mitchell, who went to jail as a result of the Watergate scandal.” This is quite a criticism given that many DOJ veterans believe that the Department reached its nadir under Mitchell.
But in comparison to Holder, Mitchell seems like an amateur in corrupting the law enforcement duties of the Justice Department to carry out the political objectives of President Obama.
The many cases in which judges have accused DOJ prosecutors of engaging in prosecutorial abuse during Holder’s tenure shows, unfortunately, the extent to which this modus operandi has seeped into the lower levels of the Department.
How long it will take to repair the damage that Eric Holder has done to the management and operation of the Justice Department? There is no way to know.
In the end, it is the president who decides on the character, attributes and competence of the individual chosen to be the head of the largest law enforcement organization in the United States.
And it is the president who decides whether his administration – and his attorney general – will fulfill their obligation to “faithfully execute” their duty to enforce the law and “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Obama has had accurate intelligence about ISIS since BEFORE the 2012 election, says administration insider
A national security staffer in the Obama administration said the president has been seeing ‘highly accurate predictions’ about the rise of the ISIS terror army since ‘before the 2012 election’ Obama insisted in his campaign speeches that year that America was safe and al-Qaeda was ‘on the run’ The president said during Sunday’s ’60 Minutes’ program that his Director of National Intelligence had conceded he underestimated ISIS But the administration aide insisted that Obama’s advisers gave him actionable information that sat and gathered dust for more than a year ‘He knew what was at stake,’ the aide said of the president, and ‘he knew where all the moving pieces were’ Obama takes daily intelligence briefings in writing, he explained, because no one will be able to testify about warning the president in person about threats that the White House doesn’t act on
By DAVID MARTOSKO, US POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:22 EST, 29 September 2014 | UPDATED: 17:42 EST, 29 September 2014
President Barack Obama’s intelligence briefings have provided him with specific information since before he won re-election in 2012 about the growing threat of the terror group now known alternatively as ISIS and ISIL, an administration insider told MailOnline on Monday.
‘Unless someone very senior has been shredding the president’s daily briefings and telling him that the dog ate them, highly accurate predictions about ISIL have been showing up in the Oval Office since before the 2012 election,’ said a national security staffer in the Obama administration who is familiar with the content of intelligence briefings.
The staffer declined to share anything specific about the content of those briefings, citing his need to maintain a security clearance.
But ‘it’s true,’ he said, ‘that the [intelligence] community was sending pretty specific intel up to us.’
‘We were seeing specific threat assessments and many of them have panned out exactly as we were told they would.’
Geneva Report warns record debt and slow growth point to crisis
By Chris Giles, Economics Editor
A “poisonous combination” of record debt and slowing growth suggest the global economy could be heading for another crisis, a hard-hitting report will warn on Monday.
The 16th annual Geneva Report, commissioned by the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies and written by a panel of senior economists including three former senior central bankers, predicts interest rates across the world will have to stay low for a “very, very long” time to enable households, companies and governments to service their debts and avoid another crash.
The warning, before the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting in Washington next week, comes amid growing concern that a weakening global recovery is coinciding with the possibility that the US Federal Reserve will begin to raise interest rates within a year.
Barack Obama’s first speech to the UN was filled with the giddy hopes that won him the presidency in the first place. “More than at any point in human history, the interests of nations and peoples are shared,” he told world leaders in 2009.
Five years later, it was a greyer and more sombre Mr Obama who warned the UN this week about the “generational task” of defeating Islamist militants in the Middle East, two days after he launched his first air strikes in Syria. “The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force,” he said.
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Replete with George W Bush-style rhetoric about a “network of death” and “this brand of evil”, Mr Obama’s speech this week was an effort to reboot his flagging presidency.
In political terms, the more martial Mr Obama was trying to shake of the Jimmy Carter aura that has been hanging over his White House; the steady corrosion of leverage at home and influence abroad in the face of Middle East turmoil that slowly leaves an incumbent looking impotent.
The Khorosan Group Does Not Exist
It’s a fictitious name the Obama administration invented to deceive us.
September 27, 2014 4:00 AM
By Andrew C. McCarthy
We’re being had. Again.
For six years, President Obama has endeavored to will the country into accepting two pillars of his alternative national-security reality. First, he claims to have dealt decisively with the terrorist threat, rendering it a disparate series of ragtag jayvees. Second, he asserts that the threat is unrelated to Islam, which is innately peaceful, moderate, and opposed to the wanton “violent extremists” who purport to act in its name.
Now, the president has been compelled to act against a jihad that has neither ended nor been “decimated.” The jihad, in fact, has inevitably intensified under his counterfactual worldview, which holds that empowering Islamic supremacists is the path to security and stability. Yet even as war intensifies in Iraq and Syria — even as jihadists continue advancing, continue killing and capturing hapless opposition forces on the ground despite Obama’s futile air raids — the president won’t let go of the charade.
