The Political Bridge

NY Times: The White House Data Indicate that Schools Are Where Stimulus Funds Saved Jobs

Most (reported jobs saved by the simulus funds) were teachers’ jobs that states said were saved when stimulus money averted a need for layoffs.

Of course, counting jobs that were saved can be a squishier proposition than counting jobs that were created.  

Indiana, for example, reported saving or creating 13,232 education jobs with its stimulus money, but Cris Johnston, the director of the government efficiency division of the state budget office, said that it was difficult to say whether the state would have actually lost those jobs without the money.

Read More: Click Schools

The U.S. Might Not Be Out of the Economic Woods Just Yet

From The RGE Monitor

The impact of tax cuts and "cash for clunkers" on personal disposable incomes and retail sales have waned. Ex-auto industrial production and ISM are weak. Job losses are comparable to the past recessions. Bank credit is still contracting. The impact of tax credit on home sales will begin to fade. Durable goods orders are still under pressure. Inventory adjustment and stimulus measures will drive growth to positive territory starting H2 2009. Early withdrawal of policy stimulus or increase in commodity prices pose the risk of a "double-dip" recession in late 2010 or early 2011.

Gov. Beshear Announces that $800,000 in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act Funds are Now Available to Kentucky’s Farmers

Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office

Press Release Date:  Wednesday, October 28, 2009  

Contact Information: 

Jay Blanton
Jill Midkiff
502-564-2611  

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Gov. Steve Beshear today announced that $850,000 in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds are now available to Kentucky’s farmers on approved energy efficiency cost-share items.

“In September, I announced the awarding of stimulus funds for on-farm energy efficiency improvements to Kentucky,” said Gov. Steve Beshear. “Now, I am pleased to announce that these funds are available for farmers to access for making their operations more energy efficient.”

The energy stimulus incentive program will provide 25 percent reimbursement of the actual cost of a federally qualified energy saving item, up to $10,000.  Permissible items include, but are not limited to, energy audits, energy efficient farm building components, on-farm energy upgrades and on-farm energy efficiency training.  Only expenditures made after Oct. 15, 2009 will be eligible for reimbursement.

“These on-farm energy efficiency incentives represent only a small part of Kentucky’s State Energy Program award,” said Roger Thomas, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy (GOAP). “But they will provide enormous benefit to Kentucky’s farmers and position Kentucky agriculture as a leader in on-farm energy efficiency.”

Producers may apply for these funds in two ways.  First, producers in all counties who have completed a sign-up period for the County Agricultural Investment Program (CAIP) will have their requests from the “On-farm Energy Efficiency and Production” investment area automatically forwarded to GOAP by their county’s program administrator.

Farmers in each of the 49 counties that will not have completed a sign-up period for CAIP prior to Nov. 15, 2009 may apply directly to GOAP for these energy stimulus incentives. GOAP will accept direct applications from Nov. 2-13, 2009.  For a list of counties that will follow this alternate application process or to download the application, visit agpolicy.ky.gov.

All applications received from across the Commonwealth will be reviewed and scored by a committee comprised of representatives from GOAP, the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, the UK College of Agriculture and a Rural Electric Cooperative.  A representative from USDA Rural Development and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet will each serve in an ex-officio capacity.

All applications meeting the minimum requirements of eligibility will be considered for funding.  If the total eligible applications exceed the available funds, the committee will rank the applications using the scoring criteria.  Applicants will be notified of their approval.

Any energy stimulus funds remaining after the 2009 sign-up will be made available to producers in all Kentucky counties in 2010.  Additional information will be disseminated as it is available.

If you have any questions about this application process, please contact Bryan Thomas at (502) 564-4627 or [email protected].

###

Energy bonus incentives are made possible through the Renewable Energy Partnership between  the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy and  the Energy & Environment Cabinet’s Department for Energy Development & Independence. Funding comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Governor Steve Beshear and the Kentucky Legislature continue to make great strides toward lessening Kentucky’s dependence on tobacco production while revitalizing the farm economy by investing 50 percent of Kentucky's Master Settlement Agreement into the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund.

From the KY Education and Workforce Development Cabinet: Jobless Rates Up in All Counties from September 2008 to September 2009

Press Release Date:	Monday, October 26, 2009
Contact Information:	Kim Saylor Brannock (502) 564-1207 [email protected]

  

EDITOR’S NOTE: September’s preliminary and August’s revised county unemployment rate charts are posted at http://workforce.ky.gov/Sept09charts.pdf. Acrobat Reader is required to view charts. To download Acrobat Reader, please see the end of this news release.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 26, 2009) — Unemployment rates rose in all 120 Kentucky counties between September 2008 and September 2009, according to the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training, an agency of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.

Fayette County recorded the lowest jobless rate in the commonwealth at 7.7 percent. It was followed by Calloway County, 8 percent; Boyd and Woodford counties, 8.3 percent each; Oldham and Rowan counties, 8.6 percent each; Madison County, 8.7 percent; Jessamine and Webster counties, 8.8 percent each; and Clinton County, 9 percent.

Magoffin County recorded the state’s highest unemployment rate — 21.4 percent. It was followed by Jackson County, 17.5 percent; Powell County, 16.7 percent; Grayson County, 16.4 percent; Trigg County, 16 percent; Metcalfe County, 15.8 percent; Lewis County, 15.1 percent; Menifee County, 14.7 percent; Morgan County, 14.5 percent; and Fulton County, 14.4 percent.

Unemployment statistics are based on estimates and are compiled to measure trends rather than actually to count people working. Civilian labor force statistics include non-military workers and unemployed Kentuckians who are actively seeking work. They do not include unemployed Kentuckians who have not looked for employment within the past four weeks. The statistics in this news release are not seasonally adjusted to allow for comparisons between United States, state and county figures.

Learn more about the Office of Employment and Training at www.workforce.ky.gov.

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The ABC News/Washington Post: Most Americans Do Not Believe that the Recession is Over

 The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll: “Many economists say that using the standards they apply, the recession probably is over. Thinking about your own experience of economic conditions, would you say that from your point of view the recession is over, or not over?” Result: Not over, 82 percent.

Seventy-four percent in this poll are worried about the direction of the nation’s economy over the next few years.  Sixty percent remain worried about their own family’s financial prospects.  

 

To Read More Download 1095a5Recession

Former Federal Reserve Chief, Paul Volcker, Wants to Break Up the Big Investment Banks: The Obama Administration is Saying NO

(Former Fed Chief Paul Volcker is another hero of mine. I believe that it was he not Ronald Reagan that safe the American economic system during the 1970s and 1980s period of stagnation, DrTed)

From the NY Times, October 20, 2009

The aging Mr. Volcker (he is 82) has some advice, deeply felt. He has been offering it in speeches and Congressional testimony, and repeating it to those around the president, most of them young enough to be his children.

He wants the nation’s banks to be prohibited from owning and trading risky securities, the very practice that got the biggest ones into deep trouble in 2008. And the administration is saying no, it will not separate commercial banking from investment operations...

The Waxman-Markey Climate Control Could Result in Higher Energy and Food Costs for Americans

In The Voice of Agriculture, November 2009

Under the cap-and-trade legislation in the House and Senate, American families will pay higher energy costs. According to the Department of Energy, energy costs could grow by $1,870 per household.

Combined with higher costs for food, the additional yearly hit on families would total about $2,300 per household.  As much as 17 percent of U.S. agricultural land currently used for food production will be idled…resulting in food costs rising by up to an average of $33 billion annually in 2020

Inverting the Nation's Economic Order by Wendell Berry

I would put nature first, the economies of land use second, the manufacturing economy third, and the consumer economy fourth.

A properly ordered economy, putting nature first and consumption last, would start with the subsistence or household economy and proceed from that to the economy of markets. It would be the means by which people provide to themselves and to others the things necessary to support life: goods coming from nature and human work.  

 

To read more of Mr Berry's dream click towards a new America

The Cook Report: The Jobs Nightmare

The Cook Report is one of the most prestigious political and social journals in the United States

The ISI Group, a Wall Street economic and policy analysis firm that Institutional Investor magazine consistently rates at the top, forecasts unemployment to peak at 10 percent in the current fourth quarter and fall slightly to 9.5 percent by next year's fourth quarter, during the 2010 midterm election. It sees unemployment coming down only a bit more by the fourth quarter of 2011.

The Blue Chip survey projects that unemployment will average 10 percent for the next three quarters and improve only modestly in the second half of next year. Finally, the NABE survey forecasts that unemployment will rise to 10 percent in the first quarter of next year and edge down to 9.5 percent by the end of 2010.

To read the political and social implications of this jobs' nightmare click The Cook Report

Justice for the Unemployed

By John Buell

With the official unemployment rate nearly 10 percent, now is no time to let talk of recovery deter us from concern for the suffering of the unemployed. The unemployment rate continues to grow and will likely do so even if a modest growth in statistical GDP is under way.  

To this day, much of the mainstream media underplays the human tragedy here