An Internet hub with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, indies, centrists, moderates, and right
Currently Browsing: Economy

Quote of the Day: Obama Appealed to Independents and Center In His Jobs Speech

NOTE: Due to a variety of conflicts TMV does not have a post on it yet by any of its writers on President Barack Obama’s jobs speech before a joint session of Congress. Yours truly drove 500 miles today and was unable to post. So here is our Quote of the Day: part of Andrew Sullivan’s take on Obama’s speech from his live blogging. Other posts will likely follow on the speech over the next 24...

‘Two Septembers’ that Changed the World (Folha, Brazil)

Has the 2008 economic crisis in some ways corrected for the mistakes America made after September 11? Former Brazil foreign minister and ambassador to the United States Roberto Abdenur writes that the global financial crisis has served to open the United States to greater cooperation with the world – if only the Tea Party would get out of the way. For Brazil’s Folha, former Brazil Foreign Minister...

Vampires, Zombies and Tea Parties, oh my!

No apologies here. There will be, of course, because a significant number of Progressives and Morlocks have no conception of the difference between thought and deed, which is THE critical differentiator in law and policy. You can IMAGINE strangling your boss all that you want. It is only when you actually TRY to strangle your boss that there is any moral or ethical problem. click to play What? I am speaking,...

Obama’s Jobs Speech

Keefe, The Denver Post This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

This 9/11 Anniversary, Make It a Fitting and Enduring Legacy

As we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11, as with every previous anniversary, we find ourselves once again trying to make sense of that unprecedented event; once more trying to find a fitting and worthy way to commemorate the tragic anniversary. Most importantly, we are still poignantly reminded of the unfathomable grief and pain that thousands experienced on that day, and probably forever after, but also...

Government as a Chinese Fire Drill

Prime-time TV tonight will feature, instead of a Barack Obama speech on the economy, a scramble of Republicans eager to replace him. This President will propose emergency legislation on job creation at 7 P.M. tomorrow to accommodate the scheduling convenience of John Boehner and a network football game. Is this any way to run a recession? While voters are eating dinner on the East Coast and those still employed...

Obama’s Dialogue of the Deaf With Congress

Lawmakers return to Washington to deal with deficits and unemployment, bringing with them little personal experience of either with House Tea Party freshmen making up one-fifth of this year’s list of Congress’ 50 Richest Members. Among those considering the President’s proposals for job creation will be multi-millionaire car dealers and other entrepreneurs swept into office last year by voters angry over...

Talk Is Cheap (Guest Voice)

And so Labor Day has passed, and soon Barack Obama will give his landmark address on job creation. He was, as you probably know, going to give his speech on Wednesday — but, as usual, someone in this White House failed to do the most basic of legwork, which would have quickly revealed that a debate between the Republican presidential candidates had been scheduled for that day. In fact, it has been scheduled...

Obama’s Panhandlers

Gary McCoy, Cagle Cartoons This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Texas Burning

Texas has been heavily affected this summer by sweltering heat and severe drought. We have broken nearly every record in both categories, and Austin, Texas, has endured 80 days with triple digit temperatures this year—another record. We have also had our share of wildfires which have already cost a tremendous amount in lives, human suffering and material destruction and damage. Already back in April ...

Hard Work: A Labor Day Memory

At 16, I have a summer job as a shipping clerk, standing at a table, wrapping cartons. More and more keep appearing, and soon I am swimming against a cardboard tide that threatens to swamp me if I stop pulling brown paper off a huge roll and wrestling it around packages. By noon, I am getting the hang of it and I eat a sandwich in a kind of dreamy stupor. But when I start working again, time has slowed. My hands...

Labor Pioneers Helped Create Modern America

So it’s Labor Day – one of those quaint, old fashioned holidays that once meant something to people but is now just another excuse for a barbecue or a ballgame. Thus will it ever be so; America changes and we slough off the old and embrace (or at least tolerate) the new. But Labor Day should be a time to call to mind the triumphs and tragedies that built the labor movement and through the efforts...

Mean, Ornery and Just Plain Wrong: Eric Cantor’s Ideological Purity Overrules Common Sense and Heart

Mean, Ornery and Just Plain Wrong: Eric Cantor’s Ideological Purity Overrules Common Sense and Heart by Michael Winship For Manhattan at least, last week was the weather week that wasn’t. But the minor earthquake and weakened Hurricane Irene served as reminders of the caprice of nature and — only a couple of weeks before the tenth anniversary of 9/11 — the knowledge that at any given...

The Last Labor Day?

WASHINGTON — Let’s get it over with and rename the holiday “Capital Day.” We may still celebrate Labor Day, but our culture has given up on honoring workers as the real creators of wealth and their honest toil — the phrase itself seems antique — as worthy of genuine respect. Imagine a Republican saying this: “Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit...

Broke U.S. Postal Service Could Shut Down This Winter

If you hear a crunch it’s the sound of the U.S. Postal Service: it is now so broke that unless Congress enacts emergency legislation it could shut down this winter. When the slogan ““Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night…..will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds” the list didn’t include email: The United States Postal Service has long lived...

Dr. King’s Dream on a Dismal Labor Day

Last week’s storm postponed the Martin Luther King Memorial dedication in Washington, and Labor Day brings a sobering commentary on his life and work in a nation with 16.8 percent unemployment for African-Americans, 11.3 for Latinos and 8.2 for whites. Half a century after the “I have a dream speech” with a bi-racial President in the White House, median household net worth is now under $6500 for minorities...

The Jobs Speech Obama Should (But Won’t) Give

Today is Labor Day in a nation where not enough of us are able to find work. Later this week President Obama will give a major speech on the economy and jobs and there is naturally speculation as to what he will say. I’ve been pondering what I would say, assuming anyone chose to listen, and have come up with what I hope the President will say about how we will get things back on track. The first thing...

Jobs

Eric Allie, Caglecartoons.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Mancession an Opportunity (Guest Voice)

“Mancession” Opportunity by Tom Purcell It sounds good to me. I speak of an opportunity made possible by the “mancession.” You see, the recession that began in December 2007 hit male-dominated industries, such as construction, harder than female-dominated industries. The male unemployment rate hit 10.4 percent in November 2010, whereas the female unemployment rate hovered around 8 percent. This...

Stossel’s Indignation

I just watched a John Stossel Special show on Fox Business Network (FBN). Tonight he did a sort of redemption show for a previous one on the phenomena of “walking away”. I call it a redemption show because Stossel claimed the subject of the previous show felt he did a “hatchet job” the last time. The subject, Chad Ruyle a co-founder of YouWalkAway.com, agreed to go back on Stossel’s show to set the...

Job Growth Dead in the Water

More bad news on the economic front: job growth seems dead in the fetid economic water in the worst jobs report in many months: Employment growth ground to a halt in August, as sagging consumer confidence discouraged already skittish U.S. businesses from hiring, keeping pressure on the Federal Reserve to provide more monetary stimulus to aid the struggling economy. Nonfarm payrolls were unchanged last month,...

STOP BEING SO CLUELESS PRESIDENT OBAMA

SCHEDULE AN OVAL OFFICE ADDRESS AND IGNORE CONGRESS President Obama should ignore Congress and make an Oval Office Speech directly to the nation at a time when there are no major television conflicts. What’s so important about a speech before a joint session of Congress when the majority of its members probably don’t want to listen to him anyway? The President and his advisors should look over the scheduled...

Labor Day 2011 and Obama’s Job-Killing Policies (Guest Voice)

Labor Day 2011 and Obama’s Job-Killing Policies by Susan Stamper Brown Three years in, and the Obama administration’s attempts to fix unemployment have been about as effective as trying to scratch your ear with your elbow. Despite countless tricks, schemes and maneuvers to change the labor outlook in this country, the administration either lacks the ability to work their way through the problem,...

The Bachmann Sound Bite Six-Shooter

This column is long but, the issues are complex and demand full development Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) brought a talking point and a sound bite to a real policy discussion again today. The former IRS tax attorney continues to exhibit a complete lack of understanding of how our government works. Additionally, she continues to be fearless when it comes to wading off into complex policy discussions...

Is Obama’s Upcoming Jobs Speech Partially Motivated to Overshadow Republican Debate?

President Barack Obama has requested time to speak before a joint session of Congress on his jobs plan ideas — a request that if granted (it will be a major story if House Speaker John Boenher refuses his request) would plop him on the tube around when Republicans were to have a debate. And, as CBS points out, some liberal commentators are already applauding the timing. From their point it’s smart....
© 2003-2011 The Moderate Voice | Site design by Elegant Themes | Site customization, hosting, and security by Mode Equity