Thanks Barack… Shorter Work Week Equivalent To 500,000 Jobs Lost

Thanks Barack… Shorter Work Week Equivalent To 500,000 Jobs Lost – Gateway Pundit

The good news is the unemployment rate dropped to 7.5%. The bad news is that companies are cutting hours.

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In April the shorter work week was equivalent to 500,000 jobs lost.

Market Watch reported:

The April employment report exceeded expectations, with 165,000 jobs created and a welcome drop in the unemployment rate to 7.5%.

But there was a dark side to the report: Total hours worked fell sharply, and the total amount of money earned by U.S. workers actually declined from the month before.

“Aggregate weekly hours” is an obscure series of data in the jobs report, but it’s vital to understanding how strong the economy is performing. As the name implies, it measures the total number of hours worked, which is what matters for sizing up overall growth in the economy.

Usually, we focus just on the number of new jobs created and the unemployment rate, but the number of hours we work matters just as much, if not more, to our economic well-being…

…In April, companies hired 165,000 more workers, but they cut everyone’s hours (on average) by 12 minutes. That doesn’t sound like much of a decline, but spread out over the 135 million-strong work force, the decline in hours worked is the equivalent of firing more than 500,000 workers while keeping hours steady.

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Thanks Barack… Georgia Power Company Closes 15 Plants Thanks To Latest EPA Regulations

It’s An Obama World… Georgia Power Company Closes 15 Plants Thanks To Latest EPA Regulations – Gateway Pundit

The Milledgeville area plant closing will cost more than 200 jobs. (The Telegraph)

A Georgia utilities company is closing 15 coal, oil and gas plants thanks to the latest Obama EPA regulations.

Reuters reported, via The Examiner:

Georgia Power said on Monday it plans to seek approval from Georgia regulators to retire 15 coal-, oil- and natural gas-fired power plants in the state totaling 2,061 megawatts (MW) due primarily to the high cost of meeting stricter federal environmental regulations.

Over the past few years, U.S. generating companies have announced plans to shut about 40,000 MW of older coal-fired power plants as low natural gas prices have made it uneconomic for the generators to spend millions to upgrade the plants’ emissions systems to meet the latest federal and state environmental rules.

In a press release, Georgia Power, the biggest unit of U.S. power company Southern Co, said it wanted to shut units 3 and 4 at Plant Branch in Putnam County; units 1-5 at Plant Yates in Coweta County; units 1 and 2 at Plant McManus in Glynn County; units 1-4 at Plant Kraft in Chatham County; and units 2 and 3 at Boulevard in Chatham County.

The company said it plans to file its updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with Georgia’s utility regulators on Jan. 31.

Units 3-4 at Branch, units 1-5 at Yates and units 1-3 at Kraft are coal-fired units. Kraft Unit 4 and Boulevard 2 and 3 are fired by natural gas and oil. McManus units 1-2 are oil-fired.

The company said it expects to ask to retire the units, other than Kraft 1-4, by the April 16, 2015, effective date of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Mercury and Air Toxics (MATS) rule.

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Thanks Barack… Iranian Regime Says All Data From Captured U.S. Drone Has Been Decoded (Video)

Iranian Regime: All Data Of Captured U.S. RQ-170 Drone Has Been Decoded – Gateway Pundit

Despite repeated warnings from the Pentagon, Barack Obama rejected three plans to recover or destroy the U.S. drone that was intercepted over Iranian territory.

FOX News reported on this earlier this year.

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Today a senior Iranian commander announced that the regime has extracted all the information from the downed drone.

Fars News reported:

A senior Iranian commander announced that the country has extracted all the data and information existing in the intelligence gathering systems of the United States’ highly advanced RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft which was captured by Iran last year.

“All the intelligence existing in this drone has been completely decoded and extracted and we know each and every step it has taken (during its missions),” Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh told reporters here in Tehran on Monday.

The stealth drone was downed by Iran last December through a sophisticated cyber attack.

The commander further revealed some of the data taken from the aircraft’s intelligence system, and added, “The U.S. President (Barack Obama) had told the Israeli officials that the drone was tasked with spying on Iran’s nuclear program, but our experts found after decoding the drone that it had not performed even a single nuclear mission over Iran.”

“And this reveals that Americans are treating the nuclear issue (of Iran) as an excuse” to conduct hostile moves, including spying operations, against Iran.

The unmanned surveillance plane lost by the United States in Iran was a stealth aircraft being used for secret missions by the CIA.

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Thanks Barack… U.S. Drops 10 Spots In Economic Freedom Rankings

Thanks Barack… U.S. Drops 10 Spots In Economic Freedom Rankings – Gateway Pundit

It’s an Obama world.

The U.S. dropped 10 spots in the economic freedom rankings this week.

The National Post reported:

Canada has taken its place among the Top 5 countries with the most economic freedom, according to a new Fraser Institute report – now leaps and bounds ahead of the United States thanks to the gradual shrinking of the Canadian government since the mid-1990s as America’s just got bigger.

The annual Economic Freedom of the World report, released Tuesday, has Canada tied in fifth place with Australia – up one spot from last year. Hong Kong remains at the top, Singapore’s next, then New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the United States, once a “standard bearer” of economic liberty among industrial nations, spiralled 10 spots from the 2011 rankings to 18th place – its lowest position ever.

It must be Bush’s fault, right?

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Thanks Barack… Gas Prices Expected To Continuously Increase Through Summer

Gas Prices Expected To Continuously Increase Through Summer – WJZ

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, gas prices are up again this week.

Monique Griego has the latest on when and if they’ll come down anytime soon.

Gas stations continue to pump out the pain.

“It’s outrageous,” said Pauline McKesson, driver. “I just put $20 in and that’s not even half a tank.”

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This week prices jumped another six cents, bringing the national average to around $3.90 a gallon.

Maryland’s average is even higher at $ 3.93, inching ever closer to that dreaded $4 mark.

“It’s just too much,” said Harold Walter, driver.

“When is it going to get down? When will the happy days come back?” said Mohammad Naqibuddin, driver.

Despite these outrageously high prices, AAA has even more bad news. They say the summer months mean another spike.

AAA says April is when the east coast switches from winter fuel blends to the more expensive summer fuel blends. And for drivers that means topping off already abnormally high prices.

“What we’re about to see the increases will just make it even worse but these are typical increase we would see seasonal,” said Ragina Averella, AAA spokeswoman.

Experts expect prices to jump 10 to 20 cents over the next few weeks before spiking in mid-May at around a record breaking $4.25 a gallon.

“I actually expect it to go high,” Walter said. “I think $4.50 to $4.70 a gallon isn’t impossible. I’m sure there’s a lot of people who hope you’re wrong. I hope I’m wrong.”

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Thanks Barack… Jobless Claims Up 9,000

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rise More Than Expected – Forex Pros

The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose more than expected, official data showed on Thursday.

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In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 12 rose by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 408,000, higher than the expected increase of 400,000.

The previous week’s figure was revised up to 399,000 from 395,000.

Continuing jobless claims in the week ended August 6 rose to 3.702 million from a revised 3.695 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing jobless claims to rise to 3.700 million.

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Thanks Barack… Teen Unemployment Hits 50% In Washington DC

Teen Unemployment Hits 50% In Washington DC – Investment Watch

An analysis based on U.S. Census Bureau data by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) shows that the average unemployment rate for teens ages 16 to 19 in the District of Columbia was 50.1 percent as of June 2011. This corresponds with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showing that for D.C. the annual average unemployment rate for teens in 2010 was 49.8 percent.

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Michael Saltsman, research fellow at EPI, provided the 50.1 percent figure to CNSNews.com as an update of an analysis he compiled based on the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.

The 50.1 percent figure is almost double the average teen unemployment rate in June 2007 in the District, when it was 26.2 percent, according to Saltsman.

Since 2007, the rate has increased each year: 29.5 percent in June 2008, 44.7 percent in 2009 and 48.8 percent in 2010, based on EPI’s analysis.

“We’re in the midst of the third summer in a row where teen unemployment has been above 20 percent,” Saltsman said when he announced his report on July 8.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does not keep monthly unemployment rates on teens, but its data showing the average annual unemployment rate for teens ages 16 to 19 in D.C. for 2010 was 49.8 percent.

The state with the second highest unemployment in the EPI analysis, California, also closely mirrors the BLS annual average for 2010 — 34.4 percent compared to EPI’s 34.6 percent.

The latest data from the BLS on average teen unemployment nationwide – all 50 states and the District of Columbia — as of July 2011 was 25 percent.

“Young people are facing more competition for fewer jobs, a lingering consequence of the recession and wage mandates that have eliminated entry-level opportunities,” Saltsman said. “The consequences for this generation of young people missing out on their first job are severe, including an increased risk of earning low wages and being unemployed again in future years.”

Saltsman’s analysis, which was released on July 8, ranked the 20 states with the highest average teen unemployment through May 2011: the first column shows the actual teen unemployment rate over the teen labor force; the second column reflects the number of discouraged teen workers added to the unemployment rate (also compiled from Census Bureau data).

District of Columbia – 49.0 percent, 52.2 percent

California – 34.6 percent, 36.2 percent

Georgia – 34.6 percent, 35.7 percent

Nevada – 34.3 percent, 36.4 percent

Washington – 33.2 percent, 34.2 percent

Idaho – 31.8 percent, 33.1 percent

West Virginia – 30.2 percent, 32.9 percent

Missouri – 29.6 percent, 31.2 percent

Florida – 29.4 percent, 31.4 percent

Kentucky – 29.0 percent, 30.3 percent

South Carolina – 28.5 percent, 29.0 percent

Rhode Island – 28.0 percent, 29.6 percent

Michigan – 27.6 percent, 29.1 percent

Mississippi – 27.5 percent, 30.7 percent

Tennessee – 26.9 percent, 27.4 percent

Arizona – 26.7 percent, 28.2 percent

Arkansas – 26.7 percent, 28.2 percent

Colorado – 26.1 percent, 26.7 percent

Illinois – 26.1 percent, 27.5 percent

Oregon – 25.8 percent, 26.4 percent

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Thanks Barack… Private Sector Jobs Cuts At 16-Month High

Planned Jobs Cuts Surge 60 Percent In July – Atlanta Urinal-Constipation

A wave of private-sector downsizing pushed the number of announced job cuts by U.S. employers to a 16-month high in July, according to a report released Wednesday.

The 66,414 announced job cuts last month were up 60 percent from the previous month, according to the report by the Challenger, Gray & Christmas outplacement firm. The July figure was 59 percent higher than the planned layoffs announced in July 2010.

July’s planned cuts represented the largest monthly total since March 2010, when 67,611 job cuts were announced by the nation’s employers, Challenger said.

The July increase was dominated by a handful of private-sector employers, Challenger said. They include Merck & Co., Borders, Cisco Systems, Lockheed Martin and Boston Scientific. The job cuts from these five companies alone accounted for 57 percent of the July total.

Despite the increase in planned job cuts, the pace of downsizing in 2011 remains slower than 2010, Challenger said. So far this year, employers have announced 312,220 cuts — 8 percent fewer than in the first seven months of 2010.

But the trend has been getting worse recently.

“July marks the third consecutive increase we have seen in monthly job-cut announcements, which certainly seems to provide additional evidence that the recovery has stalled,” John Challenger, CEO of the firm, said in a statement. “What may be most worrisome about the July surge is that the heaviest layoffs occurred in industries that, until now, have enjoyed relatively low job-cut levels, including pharmaceuticals, computer and retail.”

Pharmaceuticals led all industries with 13,493 job cuts in July, Challenger said. It was the first time in seven months that government was not the top job-cutting sector. Government was the third largest job-cutting sector in July (9,389 cuts), behind retail, where employers announced 11,245 cuts.

On Friday, the government will release the nation’s jobless rate for July. Many economists are predicting it will remain unchanged at 9.2 percent.

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Daily Benefactor News – Thanks Barack: Jobless Claims Rise, Confidence Falls

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Thanks Barack: Jobless Claims Rise, Confidence Falls – Bloomberg

More Americans than forecast (by people who never get their forecasts right) filed first-time jobless claims last week and consumer confidence fell, highlighting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s concern that the slowdown in the economy may persist.

Applications for unemployment benefits increased 9,000 in the week ended June 18 to 429,000, Labor Department figures showed today. The level of claims exceeded the highest estimate in a Bloomberg News survey in which the median projection called for 415,000 filings. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index dropped to minus 44.9 last week from minus 44.

Stocks slumped and Treasury securities rose as the figures, combined with a drop in new-home sales, showed the “recovery” was struggling. Bernanke said yesterday that joblessness above 9 percent and weakness in housing show the economy’s “headwinds” may be stronger than Fed policy makers initially estimated.

“The jobless claims numbers are troubling,” said Maxwell Clarke, chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal in New York. “The Fed is a little nervous,” he said, and the economy is “going to start next quarter out on a weak note.”

Purchases of new homes dropped 2.1 percent in May to a 319,000 annual rate, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The median price of new properties sold declined from a year earlier.

“Things are still going to be weak for a while,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida. “We need to see much better job growth and more confidence in general,” he said, adding that new-home sales are “still sort of bouncing around the bottom.”

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Thanks Barack… IMF Cuts U.S. Growth Forcast, Warns Of Crisis

Thanks Barack… IMF Cuts U.S. Growth Forcast, Warns Of Crisis – Gateway Pundit

Worst. President. Ever.

Obama said he was going to cut the deficit in half back in 2009. Instead he tripled it his first year in office and it’s only getting worse.

The Obama deficit this year may reach $1.65 trillion. (The Captain’s Comments)

The IMF cut the US growth forcast and warned of a economic crisis today.

Reuters reported:

The International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for U.S. economic growth on Friday and warned Washington and debt-ridden European countries that they are “playing with fire” unless they take immediate steps to reduce their budget deficits.

The IMF, in its regular assessment of global economic prospects, said bigger threats to growth had emerged since its previous report in April, citing the euro zone debt crisis and signs of overheating in emerging market economies.

The Washington-based global lender forecast that U.S. gross domestic product would grow a tepid 2.5 percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2012. In its forecast just two months ago, it had expected 2.8 percent and 2.9 percent growth, respectively.

Overall, the IMF slightly lowered its 2011 global growth forecast to 4.3 percent, down from 4.4 percent in April. Its forecast for 2012 growth remained unchanged at 4.5 percent.

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Daily Benefactor News – Thanks Barack… American Electric Cuts 600 Jobs, Closes Several Plants To Comply With Oppressive EPA Regulations

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Thanks Barack… American Electric Cuts 600 Jobs, Closes Several Plants To Comply With Oppressive EPA Regulations – Gateway Pundit

Let’s face it, Obama doesn’t give a damn about creating jobs. He only cares about fundamentally changing America and destroying its wealth.

(WFB)

New Obama EPA regulations will cost one energy company at least 600 jobs and over $6 billion which will be pushed on consumers.

Times News reported, via Free Republic:

American Electric Power on Thursday announced it plans to shut down several coal-fired power plants, convert or retrofit others, and cut as many as 600 jobs in the next few years to comply with regulations proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Based on the proposed regulations, AEP will have to retire nearly 6,000 megawatts of coalfueled power generation; upgrade or install new advanced emissions reduction equipment on another 10,100 megawatts; refuel 1,070 megawatts of coal generation as 932 megawatts of natural gas capacity; and build 1,220 megawatts of natural gas-fueled generation.

The cost of AEP’s compliance plan could range from $6 billion to $8 billion in capital investment through the end of the decade. The company said high demand for labor and materials due to a constrained compliance time frame could drive actual costs higher than these estimates.

AEP said the plan, including retirements, could change significantly depending on the final form of the EPA regulations and regulatory approvals from state commissions.

The retirements and retrofits in the plan are in addition to more than $7.2 billion that AEP has invested since 1990 to reduce emissions from its coal-fueled generation fleet, according to the company.

John Hinderaker has more on Obama’s plan to make America weaker and poorer.

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Thanks Barack… S&P Moves US Outlook To Negative

Thanks Barack… S&P Moves US Outlook To Negative – Gateway Pundit

Thanks Barack.

Thanks to the failed economic policies of the Obama Administration and democratic lawmakers the S&P moved the US outlook to negative today.

CNBC reported:

Standard & Poor’s on Monday downgraded the outlook for the United States to negative, saying it believes there’s a risk U.S. policymakers may not reach agreement on how to address the country’s long-term fiscal pressures.

“Because the U.S. has, relative to its ‘AAA’ peers, what we consider to be very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us, we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable,” the agency said in a statement.

The S&P said the move signals there’s at least a one-in-three likelihood that it could lower its long-term rating on the United States within two years.

The U.S. dollar fell broadly on word of the revision. Gold prices, meanwhile, hit a new record above $1,496 an ounce.

Wall Street CNBCdropped today on the news.

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