Nordwave Florida

“We have not been forceful enough in our efforts to protect the most vulnerable population.” Maxine Waters (D-Calf)

WASHINGTON —- Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members on Wednesday criticized Obama administration for not doing enough to help African-Americans through the bleak economy.

Soon after withholding their votes on a wide-ranging financial services bill, 10 CBC members said they are pressurizing the White House to do more.

The House Financial Services Committee voted 31-27 in favor of the bill, but the lawmakers’ boycott came on a major financial measure the administration wants to see Congress pass this month.     ARTICLE

MARTINSVILLE, OHIO — With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children.

It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs.

While the numbers have soared during the recession, the path was cleared in better times when the Bush administration led a campaign to erase the program’s stigma, calling food stamps “nutritional aid” instead of welfare, and made it easier to apply.     ARTICLE

This is an extraordinarily bad number, and makes this week a 1-2 punch for Democrats. A 10.2 percent jobless rate is the highest since April 1983, even though the labor force participation rate actually dipped a bit. The broader U6 measured surged to 17.5 percent. Recall that 7 quarters of average GDP growth of roughly 7 percent in the 1980s only brought down the unemployment rate by 2 1/2 percentage points. As the Labor Department sums things up:

The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest job losses over the month were in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade.

In October, the number of unemployed persons increased by 558,000 to 15.7 million. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 10.2 percent, the highest rate since April 1983. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 8.2 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 5.3 percentage points.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was little changed over the month at 5.6 million. In October, 35.6 percent of unemployed persons were jobless for 27 weeks or more.

Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 190,000 in October. In the most recent 3 months, job losses have averaged 188,000 per month, compared with losses averaging 357,000 during the prior 3 months. In contrast, losses averaged 645,000 per month from November 2008 to April 2009. Since December 2007, payroll employment has fallen by 7.3 million.

Construction employment decreased by 62,000 in October. Manufacturing continued to shed jobs (-61,000) in October, with losses in both durable and nondurable goods production. Retail trade lost 40,000 jobs in October.

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Are You Ready For This?  It’s Coming. . . . Puerto Rico?

Not having a voting member of Congress doesn’t seem to have hurt Puerto Rico in its quest for jobs and economic recovery. In the middle of a four-year-long recession, the self-governing US territory has managed to add 17,000 new jobs for a grand total of over 4,000 per million residents, putting the Puerto Rico third behind Washington and Montana in jobs created by the federal stimulus bill, according to a Monitor analysis of new stimulus figures released by the White House.

President Obama on Saturday morning pointed to the success of the $787 billion stimulus program, saying it has “saved or created” about 1 million jobs from Alaska to, well, Puerto Rico.More

A stealth Puerto Rico statehood bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee in July and could be headed for a full House floor vote at any time. H.R. 2499 calls for a so-called “non-binding” expression by Puerto Rican voters on their political status. But appearances are deceiving. The wording and strategy of the proposed balloting are rigged to produce a majority vote in favor of statehood — while trampling on the wishes of Puerto Ricans who want to maintain the current U.S. commonwealth status or prefer full independence.That is why we appreciate the Paul Revere-like warnings today at The National Press Club regarding H.R. 2499 from U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., and Jose Hernandez-Mayoral, secretary of federal and international affairs for the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico which favors the island’s current commonwealth status.

H.R. 2499 by Puerto Rico’s pro-statehood delegate to Congress, Pedro Pierluisi, splits voting into two rounds. The first round stipulates a yes-or-no ballot on the current political status. If the current — e.g. commonwealth — status doesn’t win a majority, there will be a second referendum. But in round two voters will have only two choices: statehood or some form of independence. The idea is that statehood voters will join with those favoring full independence to vote for something other than the current commonwealth status in round one. But in the second round voters would have to choose between statehood and some form of independence. Remaining a commonwealth would not be an option. This is undemocratic, patronizing, and an insult to Puerto Rican voters.MORE> > >