President Obama's Weekly Radio Address

President Obama's Weekly Radio Address

If you haven't already heard...

cartoon source: Media Bistro

...then you must be living under a rock or part of a obscure, unknown and well-insulsated tribe.

NPR BREAKING NEWS:

Unemployment Rate Jumps To 8.1 Percent

Employers slashed a total of 651,000 jobs in February.

Golly how I wish this were a graphic of job growth.

Time Warp: FDR - "They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred. "

It's like time has stood still as I read this speech by FDR from 1936.

What do you think?

source: The American Presidency Project

Senator Wagner, Governor Lehman, ladies and gentlemen:

On the eve of a national election, it is well for us to stop for a moment and analyze calmly and without prejudice the effect on our Nation of a victory by either of the major political parties.

The problem of the electorate is far deeper, far more vital than the continuance in the Presidency of any individual. For the greater issue goes beyond units of humanity—it goes to humanity itself.

In 1932 the issue was the restoration of American democracy; and the American people were in a mood to win. They did win. In 1936 the issue is the preservation of their victory. Again they are in a mood to win. Again they will win.

More than four years ago in accepting the Democratic nomination in Chicago, I said: "Give me your help not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people."

The banners of that crusade still fly in the van of a Nation that is on the march.

It is needless to repeat the details of the program which this Administration has been hammering out on the anvils of experience. No amount of misrepresentation or statistical contortion can conceal or blur or smear that record. Neither the attacks of unscrupulous enemies nor the exaggerations of over-zealous friends will serve to mislead the American people.

What was our hope in 1932? Above all other things the American people wanted peace. They wanted peace of mind instead of gnawing fear.

First, they sought escape from the personal terror which had stalked them for three years. They wanted the peace that comes from security in their homes: safety for their savings, permanence in their jobs, a fair profit from their enterprise.

Next, they wanted peace in the community, the peace that springs from the ability to meet the needs of community life: schools, playgrounds, parks, sanitation, highways—those things which are expected of solvent local government. They sought escape from disintegration and bankruptcy in local and state affairs.

They also sought peace within the Nation: protection of their currency, fairer wages, the ending of long hours of toil, the abolition of child labor, the elimination of wild-cat speculation, the safety of their children from kidnappers.

And, finally, they sought peace with other Nations—peace in a world of unrest. The Nation knows that I hate war, and I know that the Nation hates war.

I submit to you a record of peace; and on that record a well-founded expectation for future peace—peace for the individual, peace for the community, peace for the Nation, and peace with the world.

Tonight I call the roll—the roll of honor of those who stood with us in 1932 and still stand with us today.

Written on it are the names of millions who never had a chance—men at starvation wages, women in sweatshops, children at looms.

Written on it are the names of those who despaired, young men and young women for whom opportunity had become a will-o'-the-wisp.

Written on it are the names of farmers whose acres yielded only bitterness, business men whose books were portents of disaster, home owners who were faced with eviction, frugal citizens whose savings were insecure.

Written there in large letters are the names of countless other Americans of all parties and all faiths, Americans who had eyes to see and hearts to understand, whose consciences were burdened because too many of their fellows were burdened, who looked on these things four years ago and said, "This can be changed. We will change it."

We still lead that army in 1936. They stood with us then because in 1932 they believed. They stand with us today because in 1936 they know. And with them stand millions of new recruits who have come to know.

Their hopes have become our record.

We have not come this far without a struggle and I assure you we cannot go further without a struggle.

For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent.

For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.

I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.

The American people know from a four-year record that today there is only one entrance to the White House—by the front door. Since March 4, 1933, there has been only one pass-key to the White House. I have carried that key in my pocket. It is there tonight. So long as I am President, it will remain in my pocket.

Those who used to have pass-keys are not happy. Some of them are desperate. Only desperate men with their backs to the wall would descend so far below the level of decent citizenship as to foster the current pay-envelope campaign against America's working people. Only reckless men, heedless of consequences, would risk the disruption of the hope for a new peace between worker and employer by returning to the tactics of the labor spy.

Here is an amazing paradox! The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine that system by this attempt to coerce the votes of the wage earners of this country. It is the 1936 version of the old threat to close down the factory or the office if a particular candidate does not win. It is an old strategy of tyrants to delude their victims into fighting their battles for them.

Every message in a pay envelope, even if it is the truth, is a command to vote according to the will of the employer. But this propaganda is worse—it is deceit.

They tell the worker his wage will be reduced by a contribution to some vague form of old-age insurance. They carefully conceal from him the fact that for every dollar of premium he pays for that insurance, the employer pays another dollar. That omission is deceit.

They carefully conceal from him the fact that under the federal law, he receives another insurance policy to help him if he loses his job, and that the premium of that policy is paid 100 percent by the employer and not one cent by the worker. They do not tell him that the insurance policy that is bought for him is far more favorable to him than any policy that any private insurance company could afford to issue. That omission is deceit.

They imply to him that he pays all the cost of both forms of insurance. They carefully conceal from him the fact that for every dollar put up by him his employer puts up three dollars three for one. And that omission is deceit.

But they are guilty of more than deceit. When they imply that the reserves thus created against both these policies will be stolen by some future Congress, diverted to some wholly foreign purpose, they attack the integrity and honor of American Government itself. Those who suggest that, are already aliens to the spirit of American democracy. Let them emigrate and try their lot under some foreign flag in which they have more confidence.

The fraudulent nature of this attempt is well shown by the record of votes on the passage of the Social Security Act. In addition to an overwhelming majority of Democrats in both Houses, seventy-seven Republican Representatives voted for it and only eighteen against it and fifteen Republican Senators voted for it and only five against it. Where does this last-minute drive of the Republican leadership leave these Republican Representatives and Senators who helped enact this law?

I am sure the vast majority of law-abiding businessmen who are not parties to this propaganda fully appreciate the extent of the threat to honest business contained in this coercion.

I have expressed indignation at this form of campaigning and' I am confident that the overwhelming majority of employers, workers and the general public share that indignation and will show it at the polls on Tuesday next.

Aside from this phase of it, I prefer to remember this campaign not as bitter but only as hard-fought. There should be no bitterness or hate where the sole thought is the welfare of the United States of America. No man can occupy the office of President without realizing that he is President of all the people.

It is because I have sought to think in terms of the whole Nation that I am confident that today, just as four years ago, the people want more than promises.

Our vision for the future contains more than promises.

This is our answer to those who, silent about their own plans, ask us to state our objectives.

Of course we will continue to seek to improve working conditions for the workers of America—to reduce hours over-long, to increase wages that spell starvation, to end the labor of children, to wipe out sweatshops. Of course we will continue every effort to end monopoly in business, to support collective bargaining, to stop unfair competition, to abolish dishonorable trade practices. For all these we have only just begun to fight.

Of course we will continue to work for cheaper electricity in the homes and on the farms of America, for better and cheaper transportation, for low interest rates, for sounder home financing, for better banking, for the regulation of security issues, for reciprocal trade among nations, for the wiping out of slums. For all these we have only just begun to fight.

Of course we will continue our efforts in behalf of the farmers of America. With their continued cooperation we will do all in our power to end the piling up of huge surpluses which spelled ruinous prices for their crops. We will persist in successful action for better land use, for reforestation, for the conservation of water all the way from its source to the sea, for drought and flood control, for better marketing facilities for farm commodities, for a definite reduction of farm tenancy, for encouragement of farmer cooperatives, for crop insurance and a stable food supply. For all these we have only just begun to fight.

Of course we will provide useful work for the needy unemployed; we prefer useful work to the pauperism of a dole.

Here and now I want to make myself clear about those who disparage their fellow citizens on the relief rolls. They say that those on relief are not merely jobless—that they are worthless. Their solution for the relief problem is to end relief—to purge the rolls by starvation. To use the language of the stock broker, our needy unemployed would be cared for when, as, and if some fairy godmother should happen on the scene.

You and I will continue to refuse to accept that estimate of our unemployed fellow Americans. Your Government is still on the same side of the street with the Good Samaritan and not with those who pass by on the other side.

Again—what of our objectives?

Of course we will continue our efforts for young men and women so that they may obtain an education and an opportunity to put it to use. Of course we will continue our help for the crippled, for the blind, for the mothers, our insurance for the unemployed, our security for the aged. Of course we will continue to protect the consumer against unnecessary price spreads, against the costs that are added by monopoly and speculation. We will continue our successful efforts to increase his purchasing power and to keep it constant.

For these things, too, and for a multitude of others like them, we have only just begun to fight.

All this—all these objectives—spell peace at home. All our actions, all our ideals, spell also peace with other nations.

Today there is war and rumor of war. We want none of it. But while we guard our shores against threats of war, we will continue to remove the causes of unrest and antagonism at home which might make our people easier victims to those for whom foreign war is profitable. You know well that those who stand to profit by war are not on our side in this campaign.

"Peace on earth, good will toward men"—democracy must cling to that message. For it is my deep conviction that democracy cannot live without that true religion which gives a nation a sense of justice and of moral purpose. Above our political forums, above our market places stand the altars of our faith-altars on which burn the fires of devotion that maintain all that is best in us and all that is best in our Nation.

We have need of that devotion today. It is that which makes it possible for government to persuade those who are mentally prepared to fight each other to go on instead, to work for and to sacrifice for each other. That is why we need to say with the Prophet: "What doth the Lord require of thee—but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God." That is why the recovery we seek, the recovery we are winning, is more than economic. In it are included justice and love and humility, not for ourselves as individuals alone, but for our Nation.
That is the road to peace.

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Citation: John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters,The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15219.

Toledo, Ohio: Recession Realty

New RNC Chairman Michael Steele on This Week

We're back to the same old tired B.S. from Republican National Committee Chairman Mr. Steele. Rewriting history or as we have come to know it, lying.

Six Million jobs, many of which were crap jobs that couldn't support a single person, let alone a family.

That's why in recent memory many (even some on the main stream media) have focused on the underemployed within the economy and not simply the raw unemployment statistics which are misleading.

Is America going to buy it again?

I hope not.

North Carolina: Standing in the 'online' unemployment line; website crash

Monday was a record day for the website as well.

North Carolina unemployment claims crash website

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Unemployment is up so much in North Carolina that the state's Internet site for benefits crashed twice this week under a rush of claims.

Once the system was back up, the state set one-day records both for the amount of unemployment benefits paid and for the number of transactions, officials said Tuesday.

The number of people trying to sign up online for new or continuing benefits was as much as triple pre-recession levels Sunday and Monday, the Employment Security Commission said. That volume, together with a phone line problem, overwhelmed the agency's computers and prevented some people from filing claims.

The system was working again by Monday afternoon after the ESC added another server and demand lessened, said ESC spokesman Andy James.

source: USA Today

Stock up on your anti-depressant of choice: "50% chance of depression in US"

Soon to be (but not soon enough) President Obama has such great challenges on his plate. Fiscal depression and physiological depression go hand-in-hand.

Bloomberg
Published: December 20, 2008, 22:40

San Francisco: The US economy has a 50 per cent chance of falling into a depression during the next three years, said Roger Farmer, a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research's economic fluctuations and growth programme.

"There's a significant probability things will get worse," Farmer, 53, said during a phone interview Friday. "We're certainly not at the end of the recession and things are getting worse."

A drop in the Conference Board's index of leading indicators, released Thursday, underscores econo-mists' expectations that the recession will be the longest in the postwar era as banks restrict credit, home and stock values plunge, and job losses mount. Farmer said he is predicting the US recession will last at least another year.

"Everything depends on business confidence, and what I see is declining confidence," said Farmer, who is also graduate vice-chair of the Economics Department of the University of California at Los Angeles.

The loss of confidence is leading households and companies to undervalue assets, which is hurting consumer spending and investment, he said. A government fiscal stimulus programme will have a "questionable" immediate effect on consumption and financial markets, Farmer said.

Instead, he said he supports the idea of letting the Federal Reserve or government step into the stock market by buying indexed securities such as those linked to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

Left to itself

"I don't think anything from historic episodes suggests that, left to itself, the economy is going to magically recover and come back to full employment," he said. source: Bloomberg

The Daily Analyst: Republican CRAP Circles

Listen to The Professor (that's my nickname for him)

Transcript:

We have a burning problem on our hands.

--- The problem are Crap Circles, and no, I dont mean Crop Circles, which one way or another are the result of intelligent design. No, no, I mean Crap Circles and the lack of it.

The lack of intelligent design, that is.

--- CRAP is actually an acronym for CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS AMATEUR

POLITICS, that is the mind-boggling incompetence to analyze the consequences of their actions.

--- You are aware of course of the problem the car makers have. The problem is very serious and whoever is at fault this is not the time to put 2.5 million MORE people out of work. There would be a dramatic ripple effect.

--- We cannot afford it for macro-economic reasons: You dont create another loss of nearly $150 billion in purchasing power if you are in a recession with millions unemployed. That is Macro-Economy 101.

--- At this moment we have 4.43 million people on the unemployment list. The loss in purchasing power is dramatic already. Add to that the cost to the taxpayer caused by payments of unemployment benefits.

--- According to the Almanac of Policy issues, the average total payment per unemployed is $3,118.

--- Now lets calculate the cost to taxpayers for the current number of people unemployed. That is 4.43 million times $3,118, or a total of $13,782 billion that are being paid as unemployment benefits by tax payers, that is you and me.

A few days ago I presented the extent of the loss in purchasing power if the failure of GM and Chrysler causes a loss of 2.5 million more jobs. The loss in annual purchasing power would be another $145.6 billion.

Add to that the total unemployment payments to these 2.5 million and you come to another nearly $8 billion. Looks to me we are talking real money by now, especially if you consider that the loss in purchasing power at this moment is already beyond the $100 billion mark.

Now lets look at the Crap Circles some Senators are making, Senator Shelby being the poster boy. The reason for his opposition, he says, is that the UAW, the auto worker Union should make concessions on their wage demands.

--- According to Crain Detroit Business News the average wage of auto workers is $27.88 cents, based upon $58,000 income per year, that is of course before taxes.

--- Now lets look at the wages paid in Shelbys home state Alabama. According to The Birmingham News the average weekly wage of auto workers is $1,302. $1,302 divided by 40 hrs amounts to $32.55 per hour, or nearly $5 higher than Detroit. The problem is that reducing the benefits retroactive, that is taking away the benefits from retired workers raises serious legal problems, as these payments are being paid under contracts that were fulfilled by the workers.

The problem is no longer national. I reported yesterday that German car makers too need help. Indeed, General Motors Opel Divisions workers fear the worst.

--- According to media reports Republicans claim they have an issue with the bonus benefits auto workers receive.

Actually a memo circulated between Republicans gave a different reason.
The true reason was to KILL the UAW, even if it kills American car makers. The Republicans are not realizing that the profits made by foreign car makers in the USA go to other countries!

Interestingly, Republicans have no problems with the bonuses and benefits the finance companies pay their employees, and no I am not talking about the CEOs, that was taken care of before.

--- Foreign car makers in Alabama and in other states have announced that they will cut car production. There is simply no market for new cars at the current unemployment rate, never mind if it increases.

The Republicans incompetence to deal with economic issues originated with Herbert Hoover and has evolved into a craft. Hoover, too, found himself in a recession and crashed the economy by refusing to deal with it.

Try saying infrastructure ten times real fast: Americans on board for funding infrastructure building to create jobs

New polling by Rasmussen indicates that Americans are with President-elect Obama's plan to fund public works projects the build and rebuild infrastructure thereby creating jobs.

Sixty percent (60%) of adults favor the mega-infrastructure plan, while 24% are opposed. Another 16% are undecided.

Even a third of Republicans (34%) are in favor of the plan, along with 83% of Democrats and 61% of unaffiliated voters.

Women are more undecided than men. While 57% of women favor the plan, 19% oppose it, and another 25% are not sure. Meanwhile, 64% of men are in favor of the plan, with 29% opposed and just seven percent (7%) unsure.

More than half (56%) of adults believe the investment will create a substantial number of new jobs. Only 19% disagree. One in four voters (25%) are not sure yet. While over half of Democrats (69%) and unaffiliated voters (53%) say the plan will create a large number of jobs, just 43% of Republicans agree. source: Rasmussen

What did Detroit learn from entry of Japanese automobiles into the U.S. market? Watch and learn from 1980 ABC news report.

ABC News: US Auto Industry in Trouble' (1980)

Ford top exec talks about the company in the current economic climate

Alan Mulaley says that Ford is in a good position going forward. He talks about why Ford is at the table with GM and Chevy when Ford is not in urgent need of capital at this time.

I personally do not know much about cars these days. I have a vehicle and it is not on the road, out of commission with transmission problems. It is a Dodge mini-van.

I also have owned Toyota and Nissan vehicles in the past because they were affordable, less issues with maintenance and repair than with American made vehicles and as a single woman for most of my adult life, that was a plus. The down side to those foreign vehicles was on the rare occasion that there were repairs. Very expensive.

I have lived in an economic world where used vehicles were the prudent and more often than not, the only option. I have owned one brand spanking new car in my life and it was a red, five speed manual transmission Nissan Sentra, with nothing but a radio. Certainly not air conditioning. In other words a stripped down vehicle from the olden days when everything was optional.

At the same time, I have come to understand that American-made products are important and that if consumers do not support American-made companies, those companies have and will continue to cease to exist.

At Ford, we are headed in a new direction. After turning a profit this year in the first quarter and making significant progress on cost reductions, we were hit by a spike in gas prices, followed by the current credit crisis. But instead of focusing on our challenges, we’d like you to know how very far Ford has come and how we’re doing business differently. source: Ford

I have posted this here because I know that I need to start listening more closely, whether or not I can afford to purchase an American vehicle, or any other vehicle for that matter.

I am hopeful that one day I will be able to purchase a car again, although as a teacher on a recent trip I took on my Big Yellow School Bus said, the trend seems to be towards more public transportation. Even with the need to be leaner and greener, I doubt that Americans will ever give up the desire to drive.

We are at a crossroads that is for certain.

MyBO: President-elect Obama's Statement on Job Loss

by Christopher Hass - Friday December 5 2008 01:38:55 PM

In response to the announcement today of November job loss numbers, President-elect Obama released the following statement:

The 533,000 jobs lost last month, the worst job loss in 34 years, is more than a dramatic reflection of the growing economic crisis we face. Each of those lost jobs represents a personal crisis for a family somewhere in America. Our economy has already lost nearly 2 million jobs during this recession, which is why we need an Economic Recovery Plan that will save or create at least 2.5 million more jobs over two years while we act decisively to maintain the flows of credit on which so many American families and American businesses depend.

There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it's likely to get worse before it gets better. But now is the time to respond with urgent resolve to put people back to work and get our economy moving again. At the same time, this painful crisis also provides us with an opportunity to transform our economy to improve the lives of ordinary people by rebuilding roads and modernizing schools for our children, investing in clean energy solutions to break our dependence on imported oil, and making an early down payment on the long-term reforms that will grow and strengthen our economy for all Americans for years to come.

Local television news feeling the pinch of the year-long (recently proclaimed) economic recession

Local television news fixtures are exiting the airwaves across the country as the economic downturn, officially proclaimed by economists just yesterday takes it toll.

Keith Olbermann eluded the following news story when he slammed George Will's comments made on This Week with George S. on Sunday underplaying the state of the economy.

Television news in indeed taking a hit by letting go of long-time news anchors and all too familiar faces from the evening news.

Across the country, longtime local TV anchors are a dying breed. Facing an economic slump and a severe advertising downturn, many stations have cut costs drastically in the last year, and veteran anchors, with their expensive contracts, seem to be shouldering a disproportionate share of the cutbacks. When station managers are forced to make cuts, hefty anchor salaries are a tempting target.

In Chicago, the 23-year anchor Diann Burns was laid off from WBBM. In Boston, the renowned sports anchor Bob Lobel was let go by WBZ. In Houston, the 26-year veteran Carolyn Campbell was dismissed from KHOU.

When the anchors depart, they take decades of experience and insight with them. “Basically, you replace someone who knows City Hall with someone who can’t find it,” said John Beard, who lost his job at KTTV last December after 26 years as a news anchor in Los Angeles.

Almost all of the country’s 1,300 television stations with network affiliations have a face, or a pair of faces, that represent their news operations better than any logo or commercial can. Many years after signing off, the larger-than-life characters are still fixtures of newscast lore, like Bill Beutel in New York, Fahey Flynn in Chicago and Ann Bishop in Miami. source: The New York Times

I have lived within the Chicago media market from some 47 years, so I am familiar with Diane Burns. Fahey Flynn was a part of family life during my childhood as my parents ritualistically watched the evening television news.

This disclosure makes me feels a though that I am rapidly approaching 'older than dirt status', but not quite there just yet.

The Times they are a changing. There are a few people on the television newsish channels that I would love to see laid off. Can you guess who that would be? What about radio too?

IU Economists predict recession will hit Indiana in 2009

The Forecast: 15,000 additional job losses due to the economy slowing. This recession they say at first would be comparable to 2001 and 1990. But then it turns a bit more pessimistic.

Republican Governor Mitch Daniels was re-elected. I wonder what part of the Hoosier infrastructure is available to sell or lease now.

More from those IU economists:

"But we cannot rule out something worse, comparable to the severe recession in the early 1980s," said Bill Witte, associate professor of economics and co-director of the Center for Econometric Model Research at IU.

The annual report by the IU economists calls for the statewide job market to shrink through most of 2009, before improving late in the year. Indiana's unemployment rate in September was 6.2 percent, down from 6.4 percent the previous month, and the IU study said the average rate for 2009 could range from 6 percent to 7 percent.

for source - click here

So I guess all we can do is brace ourselves. I've been braced for quite some time. Hopefully the school funding will keep coming so I can keep my job. There's no guarantees in this world except death and taxes.

Peon singing 'On the Road again': The Road Blog Pictures - Florida! Florida! Florida!

Road Blog: Day in Pictures, Florida

by Obama Road Blog, Friday, August 01, 2008 at 09:44 PM