2010 September

3rd month of the 3rd quarter of the 21st year of the Bush-Clinton-Shrub-Obummer economic depression

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updated: 2019-01-08
 

  "The psyche of science is touched, and scientists are often energized, by magical thinking and voodoo misperceptions of plain matters of fact in the political history, financing, and public acceptance of science.   Many important institutions of science are bureaucratically calcified, financially insecure, and risk-averse.   An infinity of researchable topics renders science insatiable for money and increasingly indiscriminate in ways to get it.   Within the [metaphorical] metropolis of science, the academic core shuns conventional politics while vigorously employing non-electoral techniques for obtaining government money, the denial of which it attributes to public and political ignorance and hostility." --- Daniel S. Greenberg 2001 _Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion_ pg463  

 
 
2010 September
UMTWRFS
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  "In the annals of science and politics, count as historic events of ethical consequence the Cold War red scares and other false alarms of foreign scientific superiority, the manufactued PhD 'shortages', the careless creation of surplus labor pools of scientists, the annual recurrences of financial 'crises', the spurious announcements of imminent disease cures, the deliberate under-pricing of mega-projects, the claims of popular hostility to science, and the public-understanding scam... [but] they worked.   In the journals of research and in the popular press, reports of dubious deals and casual betrayals of society's faith in the practitioners of science in some instances, astonishing reports." --- Daniel S. Greenberg 2001 _Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion_ pp469-470  

 
 

 

 


captain William Scott's flag for the Republic of Texas.

2010 September

3rd month of the 4rd quarter of the 11th year of the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama economic depression


 
 

2010-09-01

2010-09-01
CocoaHeads is an international Mac programmer's group. Meetings are free and open to the public.   We specialize in Cocoa, but everything Mac programming related is welcome.
AustraliaSydneyThursday, 2010 September 2, 18:30
CanadaOttawa/Gatineau, OntarioThursday, September 9, 19:00
ChinaHong KongThursday, September 9, 19:00
GermanyHamburgThursday, September 2, 19:00
GermanyStuttgartWednesday, September 15, 19:00
NorwayOsloWednesday, September 15, 18:00
USAAnn Arbor, MIThursday, September 9, 19:00
USABoston, MAThursday, September 9, 19:00
USABoulder, COTuesday, September 14, 19:00
USAChattanooga, TNThursday, September 2, 18:00
USAChicago, ILTuesday, September 14, 19:00
USACleveland, OHMonday, September 13, 18:00
USAColorado Springs, COThursday, September 9, 19:00
USAColumbia, MDTuesday, September 14, 19:00
USADenver, COTuesday, September 14, 19:00
USADes Moines, IAThursday, September 9, 19:00
USALake Forest, CAWednesday, September 8, 18:00
USANashville, TNThursday, September 9, 19:00
USANew York, NYThursday, September 9, 18:00
USAPhiladelphia, PAThursday, September 9, 19:00
USAPittsburgh, PAThursday, September 9, 19:30
USAPortland, ORWednesday, September 15, 19:00
USASacramento, CATuesday, September 7, 19:00
Some chapters may have yet to post their meeting for next month. Meeting times may change.   (Locations and more information)
 
Also be sure to check for an NSCoder Night in your area:
---30---

2010-08-31 21:01PDT (2010-09-01 00:01EDT) (2010-09-01 04:01GMT)
Andrea Coombes _MarketWatch_
Recession slams workers' pay; men's pay falling faster than women's according to left-wing EPI
EPI briefing paper

2010-08-31 21:01PDT (2010-09-01 00:01EDT) (2010-09-01 04:01GMT)
Steve Goldstein _MarketWatch_
CEOs who dump more employees are paid more than the average S&P 500 CEO
Kansas City Star
"Chief executives of the 50 firms that laid off the most workers since the onset of the economic crisis earned 42% more than the average pay for an S&P 500 company, according to a study released Wednesday.   The left-wing Institute for Policy Studies found that the CEOs of the job-cut companies on average took home nearly $12M in 2009, above the $8.5M brought in by the average CEO of an S&P 500 company.   The study found that 72% of the announced lay-offs came at a time when the company was reporting positive earnings...   The group also maintains heavy lay-offs are bad business, citing a University of Colorado study concluding that companies that have less than 5% staff turn-over per year tend to outperform companies...   The study also noted that 5 of the top 50 layoff leaders received bail-out money, including American Express's Kenneth Chenault, who took home $16.8M after cutting 4K positions.   And it pointed out in the financial sector, companies gave big pay-outs to lower-ranking high-level executives, such as the $29.9M that [Bank of India's] Thomas Montag brought in as president of global banking and markets, and the $19.6M took home by William Winters as co-CEO of the investment bank of J.P. Morgan Chase."

2010-09-01 04:55PDT (07:55EDT) (11:55GMT)
_CNN_
CGC: Plans to dump 34,768 employees announced in August
Ruth Mantell: MarketWatch
Kathleen Madigan: WSJ
Kent Bernhard: Portfolio/Business Journals
Central Valley CA Busines Tmes
Timothy R. Homan: BusinessWeek
Reuters
Andrea Tse: The Street
Kevin Kastner: iMarketNews
Planned job cuts fell to a 10-year low in August, as employers shed 34,768, down 17% from the previous month, according to out-placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.   In July there were 41,676 cuts announced, and in 2009 August there were 76,456 planned cuts announced.   Through the first 8 months of the year, planned job cuts have been 374,121, down 62% from last year's 1,070,504 lay-offs through August.   Industrial-goods employers led with 6,236 announced reductions (16,962 year to date), the largest monthly cut this year for the industry.   Government and non-profit entities had the next-largest cuts, with 5,509 (112,378 year to date).   Pharmaceuticals has had 37,265 year to date.   California led all states with 6,711 announced job cuts, followed by New Jersey, with 5,486.

2010-09-01
Dahleen Glanton _WGN_
Numbers of illegal aliens down... but not in Illinois
"Illinois ranked #5 with an estimated 525K illegal aliens in 2009, more than the approximately 475K in the state in 2008...   Nationwide, the total number of illegal aliens has declined by about 1M since 2007, to 11.1M in 2009, representing about 4% of the U.S. population...   Meanwhile, the number of illegal aliens from Mexico, which accounts for about 60% of all illegal aliens, leveled off after reaching a peak of 7M in 2007, the study found."

2010-09-01
Diana Petterson & Jason Surbey _US DoL OSHA_
US Labor Department announces interim final rules and invites public comment on whistle-blower procedures

2010-09-01
Ruffin Prevost _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Proposed 145K square foot Catholic monastery with 150 foot tall gothic spires on 2,500 acre (4 square mile) ranch site drawing criticism
"a 145K-square-foot French Gothic-style monastery.   The Park County Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday to continue a public hearing on the project, which has drawn both praise as a visionary expression of religious devotion, and criticism for its size, scope and location.   In a series of public meetings and private gatherings, debate about the project has touched on a wide range of hot-button issues, including land planning, taxes, traditional Western ranching and even religious freedom.   The stone monastery, to be built in a style dating back centuries, would house 40 men who are members of the Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, a federally recognized religious order operating under the auspices of the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne.   Called The New Mount Carmel of America, the monastery would be built on the 2,500-acre Elk Meadow Ranch, traditionally used for raising cattle and sheep.   The property, on Meeteetse Creek Road, is about 7 miles from the nearest neighbor and 14 miles from Highway 120...   Benson said she is concerned that any building with 150-foot spires and a foot-print the size of a Costco wholesale store is not in harmony with the surrounding ranching community...   Some residents and neighbors have asked why the monks, who have resided for years in much smaller buildings in Clark, are seeking to build such an elaborate and sprawling structure near Meeteetse...   Linda Gillett, planning director for Park County, said zoning variances sought by the foundation to reduce the number of required parking spaces for the monastery and for a nearby coffee-roasting facility will be decided by Park County commissioners.   Because of its size, the monastery requires a special-use permit, which must also be approved by county commissioners, she said.   Gillett said plans for the project's sewage system, which must be designed to accommodate up to 40 full-time residents and as many as 150 church-goers during special ceremonies, will be submitted to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality for approval."

2010-09-01 11:59PDT (14:59EDT) (18:59GMT)
Stephanie Overby _ComputerWorld_
How to save US IT jobs

2010-09-01
Kristina Davis & Greg Moran _San Diego CA Union-Tribune_
Discovery Channel hostage-taker in Silver Spring, Montgomery county MD had been prosecuted for trying to smuggle an illegal alien through the port at San Ysidro
"Records in San Diego federal court show that a James Jae Lee was sentenced in August 2003 to 18 months in federal prison for trying to smuggle an illegal immigrant in a hidden compartment in a car through the San Ysidro Port of Entry.   [7 years ago, a federal judge wrote that James Jae Lee was a loner whose life was a nightmare.   In a written statement to the judge said that he regretted agreeing to work for the smuggler but said he was at the bottom, after 'years and years of dead end jobs, failed attempts at a normal life, trying to give some meaning to my life, only to end up disillusioned and cynical'.]...   [JJLee] was given a 12.5% ownership stake in a Lahaina home in 2003 through a family trust.   The newspaper said property records show he sold his interest in 2007 for $90K.   Aaron Lee said his brother had been 'a devoted Jehovah Witness for a decade'...   Lee repeatedly listed his inspirations as former Vice President Al Gore's 'documentary' 'An Inconvenient Truth' and environmentalist Daniel Quinn's novel _My Ishmael_."

2010-09-01
_Dr. Dobb's Journal_
Worldwide APL Programming Contest Winners Announced
"The First Prize Winner is Ryan Tarpine, a doctoral candidate in Computer Science at Brown University in Boston, Massachusetts.   The First Prize includes a round trip to this month's APL 2010 Global Conference in Berlin, Germany, where Ryan will receive the award in person and present his winning work.   The Second Prize Winner is Mstislav Elagin, doctoral candidate in Mathematics at Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Germany.   Mstislav has already confirmed that he will be attending the APL 2010 Conference in Berlin, where he will give a presentation.   The Third Prize Winner is Joel Hough, a Computer Science student at Salt Lake Community College, Kaysville Utah.   This year, the Judges also chose to bestow a special effort award to Alexander Ivanov, who is doing nuclear research at the Moscow Institute for Physical Research.   Alexander submitted solutions to all of the questions in the main competition AND all the Rosetta Code problems."

2010-09-01
_Dice_
Dice Report: 68,901 job ads

Total68,901
UNIXNA
WindozeNA
JavaNA
C/C++/Objective-CNA
body shop32,496
full-time temp40,178
part-time temp1,470

 
graphs

2010-09-01
Randall Hoven _American Thinker_
Population growth rates in selected countries

2010-09-01 (5770 Elul 22)
Nat Hentoff _Jewish World Review_
What hath the ground zero imam wrought?

2010-09-01 (5770 Elul 22)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
The Passing of E-6... and Kodachrome

2010-09-01 (5770 Elul 22)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Something for Nothing
"A congressional hoax that's flourished for seven decades is the [Socialist Insecurity] hoax that half of the [Socialist Insecurity] tax (6.2%) is paid by employers, the other half (6.2%) paid by employees.   The law says that if you are self-employed, you get to pay both halves.   The fact of the matter is whether you're self-employed or not, you pay both halves of the [Socialist Insecurity] tax that totals 12.4%.   Let's look at it.   Suppose you hire me and our agreed-upon weekly salary is $500.   From that $500, you're going to deduct $31 as my share of the [Socialist Insecurity] tax and you're going to add $31 as the so-called employer's share, sending a total of $62 to the IRS.   Here's the question: What is the weekly cost for you to hire me? I hope you answered $531.   The next question is: In order to make hiring me profitable, what must be the minimum dollar value of my contribution to your total output? If you said $531, go to the head of the class because if the value of my contribution to total output is only our agreed-upon salary of $500, you're making losses hiring me and you're going to be out of business soon.   Therefore, if I am producing $531 worth of value per week, it is I who's paying the so-called employer as well as the employee share.   The reason why Congress created the fiction of the employer share was to deceive us into thinking that we're paying fewer taxes than we in fact are."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Our nation -- about 6% of the world's population -- has for decades produced more than 20% of the world's doctorates in science and engineering." --- National Science Board _Science and Engineering Indicators 2004_ Two volumes. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation, 2004 pp 2-36 (quoted in _Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future_ National Academies)  

 
 

2010-09-02: VJ Day

2010-09-02 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 378,511 in the week ending Aug. 28, a decrease of 6,400 from the previous week.   There were 456,682 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.2% during the week ending Aug. 21, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,103,789, a decrease of 115,895 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.2% and the volume was 5,622,401.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA ID, IL, IN KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending August 14...   States reported 4,546,010 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Aug. 14, a decrease of 281,676 from the prior week.   There were 3,081,750 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" changes
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03;
to 126,763,245 beginning 2010-07-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-09-02 12:23:36PDT (15:23:36EDT) (19:23:36GMT)
_San Jose Mercury News_
Sili Valley economic indicators
Indicator2010 July2010 June1-month change2009 July1-year change
Residents employed806,900801,500+0.7%804,500+0.3%
Residents unemployed105,000103,000+1.9%109,200-3.8%
Unemployment rate11.5%11.4%+0.9%11.8%-2.5%
Total jobs853,200858,000-0.6%880,900-3.1%
MN150 market value$1.30T$1.21T-6.9%$1.13T+18.6%
Median home sale price$583,250$600,000-2.8%$540,000+8.0%
Homes sold1,1591,336-13.2%1,531-24.3%
Air passengers774,659766,344+1.1%789,869-1.9%
Air freight tonnage3,4293,543-3.2%4,400-19.5
Total hotel rooms sold83,91981,081+3.5%65,895+27.4%
Average hotel room rate$111.60$110.59+0.9%$115.87-3.7%
Average occupancy rate61.26%6116%+0.2%53.85%+13.8%
Hotel revenue$9,365,583$8,967,103+4.4%$8,548,164+9.6%
Office/R&D space to let48,276,70848,276,7080%46,023,468+4.9%
Space unoccupied/for lease22%22%0%20.7%+6.3%
Approved construction$244,121,000$167,562,000+45.7%$211,345,000+15.5%
Non-residential construction$108,710$76,982+41.2%$163,975-33.7%
Residential construction$135,411$90,580+49.5%$47,370+185.9%
New housing units approved711233+205.2%123+478.0%
Journalists who can do HTML000%00%

2010-09-02 14:29PDT (17:29EDT) (21:29GMT)
Michael Krigsman _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Marin county CA wrote off $30M SAP ERP project out-sourced to Deloitte: law-suits and disclaimers are flying

2010-09-02
Byron York _Washington Examiner_
Evidence supports Arizona bill against illegal immigration

2010-09-02
Rich Morin _Pew_
Most re-employed workers say they're over-qualified and under-paid
alternate link

2010-09-02
Marta Weeks _Examiner_
American workers given the boot to make room for cheap, young, pliant foreign labor with flexible ethics
"Figures are kept under wrap, but the numbers of H-1B visas keep rising even while America's unemployment rates escalate.   In 2006, hundreds of thousands of Americans were given the boot while more than 77,851 workers were imported from overseas to replace them by the use of H-1B visas; and that is just one of the visas used.   In 2008, the US Department of Labor audited Cisco to determine if one of the nation's 'largest immigration law firms' were improperly used by Cisco to bring in workers using H-1B visas.   The Cisco reporter, Brad Reese that covered that story was let go by Cisco in 2010 to let 'all good things run their course' and to give him more time for 'his business ventures'."

2010-09-02
William L. Anderson
Spending versus Consumption and Purposeful Behavior: Does Economic Theory Actually Assume that People Are Human?

2010-09-02 (5770 Elul 23)
Evan Gahr _Jewish World Review_
it seems that Bloomberg truly CAIRs
Investigative Project: CAIR-Hamas-Muslim Brotherhood links
Discover the Networks: Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
anti-CAIR
Discover the Networks: Muslim Brotherhood (MB)

2010-09-02 (5770 Elul 23)
John Rosemond _Jewish World Review_
What do today's children seriously lack, that children in the 1950s and before enjoyed in abundance?
"the variable most lacking in the lives of children who currently live in the Land of the Free is freedom itself."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "As Myrdal observed in 1942, America is 'conservative in fundamental principles... but the principles conserved are liberal and some, indeed, are radical.'" --- David Hackett Fischer 1989, 1991 _Albion's Seed_ pg 4 (citing Gunnar Myrdal 1944, 1962 _An American Dilemma_ pg7)  

 
 

2010-09-03

2010-09-03 05:46PDT (08:46EDT) (12:46GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
US non-farm pay-rolls down by 54K seasonally adjusted in August; seasonally adjusted U-3 unemployment rate at 9.6%; bodyshops added 17K to their stables
graphs

2010-09-03
Grace Wyler _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
YSU received $1.66M grant to develop precision sensors to inspect parts as they are manufactured
"The university will work with M-7 to develop sensors that can be integrated into the manufacturing process to inspect a part as it is being made, eliminating the need for the part to be removed from the line, said Darrell Wallace, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and the project's principal investigator.   M-7, which builds and repairs industrial machinery, has expanded into high-tech, 3D image sensors that can be incorporated into precision machining...   The YSU funds were one of 6 grants, totaling more than $17M, announced this week by the Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering at Cleveland State University.   The Center, part of Ohio's Third Frontier Program, aims to boost economic development in the growing sensor-technology industry.   The Youngstown grant comes on the heels of the creation of the Youngstown Entrepreneurial Hub of Advanced Materials Commercialization and Software Development, announced Wednesday by governor Ted Strickland."

2010-09-03
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Obama backs Violent Islamics and Union Bosses

2010-09-03
Roy Beck _Numbers USA_
50 worst congress-critters when it comes to employment issues

2010-09-03
Don E. Sears _eWeek_
H-1B visa cap for FY2011 has not been reached

2010-09-03
William L. Anderson
Krugman demands: Over-Spend Boldly

2010-09-03
DJIA10,447.93
S&P 5001,104.51
NASDAQ2,233.75
Nikkei9,114
10-year US T-Bond2.71
crude oil$74.60/barrel
gold$1,251.10/ounce
silver$19.949/ounce
platinum$1,561.10/ounce
palladium$529.05/ounce
copper$0.21875/ounce
natgas$3.939/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline $1.9195/gal
heatingoil$2.0573/gal
soybeans$10.35/bushel
maize$4.645/bushel
wheat$7.4125/bushel
dollarindex82.01
yenperdollar85.29
dollarspereuro1.2893
dollarsperpound1.5409
swissfranksperdollar 1.0186
indianrupeesperdollar 46.64
mexicanpesosperdollar 12.9450
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex551.22

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "By 1980, the proportion of the American population who reported having any British ancestors at all had fallen below 20%.   Nearly 80% were descended from other ethnic stocks.   The largest ethnic stock in the United States was no longer British but German." --- David Hackett Fischer 1989, 1991 _Albion's Seed_ pg872  

 
 

2010-09-04

2010-09-04 04:25PDT (07:25EDT) (11:25GMT)
Charlie Spiering _Washington DC Examiner_
What about the employment rate?: the employment/population ratio (with graph)
graphs

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "'It is while we are young that the habit of industry is formed.   If not then, it never is afterwards.' He would also tell his own daugter: 'Determine never to be idle.   No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any.   It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing.'" --- Thomas Jefferson (quoted in Noble E. Cunningham 1987 _In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson_ pg5)  

 
 

2010-09-05

2010-09-05
Onell R. Soto _San Diego CA Union-Tribune_
Electrical engineer Bill Powers advocates distributed generation of electricity
"Distributed generation essentially means you're generating power at or near the point where you're using that power...   A great example is the University of California San Diego, or San Diego State University, where they have their own power plant to take care of their need, and ironically enough, these smaller local plants, because they reuse all the heat that's generated from burning the fuel, not only do they generate electricity, but the heat coming off whatever that generator is, an engine or a gas turbine, that is used to generate hot water or steam...   The utility model is to generate power at very large power plants, often that are remote to the area where the power is used.   They generate only electricity.   And as a result, even the most efficient, state-of-the-art large power plants aren't as efficient as these small power plants.   The other aspect is renewable energy distributed generation.   The one example that everyone is familiar with is putting a solar panel on your roof.   That's an example of distributing generation among many points.   And, supplying the same amount of power, but instead of being one giant power plant in Chula Vista or in Otay Mesa, that same power is provided on 100K roof-tops feeding into the grid, into the distribution system."

2010-09-05 13:45PDT (16:45EDT) (20:45GMT)
Roy Beck _Numbers USA_
congress-critters who helped defend US workers

2010-09-05
William L. Anderson
Fallacy or Composition, or Non Sequitur?: Krugman wants to put the US economy in traction

2010-09-05
Robert Higgs _Independent Institute_
Consumption spending

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "The rules that are obeyed by the half-spin particles are called Fermi-Dirac statistics, after Enrico Fermi and Paul Dirac, who worked them out in 1925 and 1926.   Such particles are called 'fermions'.   the rules obeyed by the full-spin particles are called Bose-Einstein statistics, after the 2 men who worked them out, and the particles are called 'bosons'.   Bose-Einstein statistics were being developed at the same time, 1924-1925, as all the excitement about de Broglie waves, Compton effect, and electron spin...   [Satyendra Nath Bose] was born in Calcutta in 1894, and in 1924 he was Reader in Physics at the then new Dacca Unversity." --- John Gribbin 1984 _In Search of Schroedinger's Cat_ pp96-97  

 
 

2010-09-06

2010-09-06
Michael Barone _Town Hall_
The Higher Education Bubble Is Ready To Burst
"A century ago, only about 2% of American adults graduated from college; in 1910, the number of college graduates nationally was 39,755 -- smaller than the student bodies at many campuses today."

2010-09-06
William L. Anderson
Krugman Economics as Though the Non Sequitur Means Something

2010-09-06
James Heffern
Dunciad

2010-09-06
Robert P. Murphy _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
The Fed and the Ratchet Effect

2010-09-06
David Gordon _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
What's the Right Thing to Do?

2010-09-06
S.M. Oliva _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
Patenting Irregular Regulation
"The definition of regulation is 'to make regular', yet most of what the government touts as regulation is just the opposite.   The prevailing model of 'regulation' since the [Regressive] Era has been to make things irregular and subject to the subjective discretion of government officials -- usually unelected, extra-constitutional agencies.   This is not a model of regulation at all, but really a perverse category of patents.   While we generally associate patents with creation rights over literature and inventions, the patent power applies to a wide range of state activities designed to monopolize (or cartelize) private industry...   The 'regulator', the Comptroller of the Currency, holds a patent to 'charter, regulate, and supervise all national banks' in the United States.   As the patent-holder, all banks ultimately depend on the Comptroller's discretion to stay in business, irrespective of whether they are profitable or satisfy customers.   If there's any conflict, the Comptroller's patent over-rules the market."

2010-09-06
Bob McCarty _Big Government_
Opaque Government

2010-09-06
Catherine Rampell _NY Times_
Once a Dynamo, the Tech Sector Is Slow To Hire
"'We are talking about people with very particular, advanced skills out there who are at this point just not needed anymore.', says Bart van Ark, chief economist at the Conference Board, a business and economic research organization.   'Even in this sector, there is tremendous insecurity.' &nbnsp; Government labor reports released this year, including the most recent one, present a tableau of shrinking opportunities in high-skill fields...   Nevertheless, many high-tech companies large and small say they are struggling to find highly skilled engineering talent in the United States."

2010-09-06
David P. McGinley _American Thinker_
Our Dying Constitution

2010-09-06
Raymond Richman, Howard Richman, & Jesse Richman _American Thinker_
Obama created 3M jobs in Red China

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "The reflections that the boys of this age are to be the men of the next; that they should be prepared to receive the holy charge which we are cherishing to deliver over to them; that in establishing an institution of wisdom for them, we secure it to all our future generations; that in fulfilling this duty, we bring home to our own bosoms the sweet consolation of seeing our sons rising under a luminous tuition, to destinies of high promise; these are considerations which will occur to all." --- Thomas Jefferson 1821 to James Breckinridge ME 15:314  

 
 

2010-09-07: 8 weeks to USA elections

2010-09-07
Grace Wyler _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Workers and officials to celebrate start of GM Chevrolet Cruze production line in Lordstown, OH on Wednesday
continuing coverage

2010-09-07
Jeff Dunetz _Big Government_
Days of Awe

2010-09-07
_Conference Board_
Employment Trends Index declined
"The Conference Board Employment Trends Index™ (ETI) decreased in August for the second time in the past 4 months.   The index now stands at 96.7, down from July's revised figure of 97.4.   The index is up 9.4% from a year ago."

2010-09-07
Rob Rogers _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Science wizard working her way through high school
"Bob Redding, a pilot and flight enthusiast, set up a scholarship to help Nelson with tuition and even gave her a plane that she sold to help cover costs.   Her science teacher at Will James, Pat Kenney, helped her get school supplies, and a colleague at First Interstate Bank bought all her school uniforms.   Nelson's hope is to continue to work at Central Hobbies and build up a savings account so she doesn't have to worry about how to cover the next four years of high school...   Nelson is optimistic about her future.   She loves science and wants to study mechanical engineering at either the U.S. Naval Academy or the U.S. Air Force Academy when she graduates.   Her dream is to work as an engineer at Boeing."

2010-09-07
Patrick Thibodeau _CIO_/_IDG_
Ohio government bans off-shoring of government contracts at the same time it gives subsidies to off-shore out-sourcing firm
InfoWorld
InfoWorld web log
"In 2007, Indian IT services giant Tata Consultancy Services said it would build its North American Delivery Center in Milford, Ohio, after the state offered about $19M in tax credits and other incentives.   TCS said Friday that it has 400 people working at its Ohio delivery center, an increase of a 100 workers from about a year ago.   TCS employs more than 141K people worldwide, but more than 90% of its work force is Indian.   U.S. workers account for only a tiny fraction of its work-force.   Earlier this year, TCS reported that it has 10,700 employees who are nationals of other countries and of that number, fewer than 7% were Americans...   Strickland's deal with TCS has drawn White House attention.   Last November, Strickland was among 16 people seated at the head table for a State Department luncheon for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.   Others with Strickland included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and secretary of state Hillary Clinton."

2010-09-07 (5770 Elul 28)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Political Fables from the Obama Administration
Town Hall

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "We now have 5 private security workers for every 1 sworn police." --- colonel John Alexander 2009-10-19  

 
 

2010-09-08

2010-09-08
_Wall Street Journal_
Hurd moves from one corrupt corporate culture to another
to be paid $950K per year
HP sues
Dennis Howlett of Ziff Davis chimes in

2010-09-08
Shanon Stevenson _4 Hoteliers_
H-1B Labor Condition Application Violations Could Cost Your Company Millions

2010-09-08
Carrie Coolidge _AOL_
Top 10 scams that target the unemployed

2010-09-08
Jim Yardley _American Thinker_
We Don't Like Either of You Candidates

2010-09-08 (5770 Elul 29)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
What Glenn Beck can teach Israel
"It was about restoring the American creed.   That creed is so ingrained that it has served as the subtext of every major political and civic speech by every American political and civic leader since the eighteenth century.   The American creed has two main components.   First, its core belief is that America is an exceptional country and that the American people are an exceptional nation.   Second, it asserts that as Abraham Lincoln first said outright, America is the last, best hope for mankind.   The reason Beck's rally was a watershed event is that in the Age of Obama, millions of Americans for the first time feel the need to reclaim what they believe is their birthright as Americans.   Because what distinguishes Obama from his predecessors is that he is the first American President who clearly rejects the American creed."

2010-09-08 (5770 Elul 29)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Racial Stupidity and Malevolence
"In 'Assumptions Versus History in Ethnic Education', in Teachers College Record (1981), Dr. Thomas Sowell reports on academic achievement in some of New York city's public schools.   He compares test scores for sixth graders in Harlem schools with those in the predominantly white Lower East Side for 1941 April and 1941 December.   In paragraph and word meaning, Harlem students, compared to Lower East Side students, scored equally or higher.   In 1947 and 1951, Harlem third-graders in paragraph and word meaning, and arithmetic reasoning and computation scored about the same as -- and in some cases, slightly higher, and in others, slightly lower than -- their white Lower East Side counterparts.   Going back to an earlier era, Washington, DC's Dunbar High School's black students scored higher in citywide tests than any of the city's white schools.   In fact, from its founding in 1870 to 1955, most of Dunbar's graduates went off to college."

2010-09-08 (5770 Elul 29)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
A Non-Prediction
"What would probably get the economy recovering fastest and most completely would be for the President of the United States and Congressional leaders to shut up and stop meddling with the economy.   But it is virtually impossible that they will do that.   Think about telling all the millions of people who have lost their jobs, their homes or their businesses: 'I really messed you up but, hey, nobody's perfect.   So I'm going to leave things alone now.'...   The history of the United States is full of evidence on the negative effects of government intervention.   For the first 150 years of this country's existence, the federal government did not think it was its business to intervene when the economy turned down.   All of those downturns ended faster than the first down-turn where the federal government intervened big time -- the Great Depression of the 1930s...   Unemployment never hit double digits in any of the 12 months following the big stock market crash of 1929 that is often blamed for the massive unemployment of the 1930s.   Unemployment peaked at 9%, two months after the 1929 October crash, and then began drifting downward.   Unemployment was down to 6.3% by 1930 June, when the first big federal intervention occurred.   Within 6 months, the downward trend in unemployment reversed and hit double digits for the first time in 1930 December."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Now, a third and final trait, one which, in my eyes, best describes socialists of all schools and shades, is a profound opposition to personal liberty and scorn for individual reason, a complete contempt for the individual.   They unceasingly attempt to mutilate, to curtail, to obstruct personal freedom in any and all ways.   They hold that the State must not only act as the director of society, but must further be master of each man, and not only master, but keeper and trainer.   For fear of allowing him to err, the State must place itself forever by his side, above him, around him, better to guide him, to maintain him, in a word, to confine him.   They call, in fact, for the forfeiture, to a greater or less degree, of human liberty, to the point where, were I to attempt to sum up what socialism is, I would say that it was simply a new system of serfdom." --- Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville 1848-09-12 to the Constituent Assembly (Ronald Hamowy 1981 _New Individualist Review_  

 
 

2010-09-09

2010-09-09 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 376,558 in the week ending Sept. 4, a decrease of 6,476 from the previous week.   There were 466,277 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.2% during the week ending Aug. 28, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,052,572, a decrease of 73,554 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.1% and the volume was 5,437,541.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA ID, IL, IN KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending August 21...   States reported 4,510,645 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Aug. 21, a decrease of 35,365 from the prior week.   There were 3,156,763 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" changes
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03;
to 126,763,245 beginning 2010-07-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-09-09
Jay D. Homnick _American Spectator_
Days of Reckoning (and Reconnoitering)

2010-09-09
George Neumayr _American Spectator_
The Founding Fathers' First Amendment
"6 of the 13 states that signed the Constitution ran established churches.   It is a historical fact that the First Amendment was written not to suppress those state churches but to protect them.   Those 6 states would have never signed the Constitution otherwise.   They insisted on the language, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.', to make clear that the federal government had no right to establish its own religion and disestablish theirs.   The wall of separation in the Constitution is not between government and religion but between the federal government and the states' religious activities."

2010-09-09 06:39PDT (09:39EDT) (13:39GMT)
_Treasure Coast FL Palm_
NetBoss Technologies, which has existed for half an hour, plans to set up shop in Indian River county: 60 jobs averaging $85K
"NetBoss Technologies Inc., a supplier of network management software, was awarded the county's Local Jobs grant...   The jobs, which could be filled within the next 6 months, will be computer [hardware] technicians and customer support."

2010-09-09
W. James Antle iii _American Spectator_
Colorado Republicans endorse Tancredo for Governor

2010-09-09
Praveena Sharma _DNA India_
India's bodyshopping executives decry Ohio ban on off-shore out-sourcing of government projects
"'I am dismayed by the action of Ohio state.   I think this is electoral posturing and the Indian IT industry is becoming a whipping boy.', Subroto Bagchi, vice-chairman and Gardener at MindTree Ltd, said...   'It reminds me of India in the 1970s when we used to blame the so-called ''foreign hand'' for all ills.   We have outgrown that.   It is time, they did.', said Bagchi.   On a different note, he said the Indian IT industry was not dependent on US government out-sourcing...   Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO and managing director of Infosys Technologies, said: 'We are concerned with the recent news from US about banning off-shore out-sourcing by Ohio state government departments.'   He, however, feels the move will not impact the second-largest software [bodyshop] in a big way.   'Infosys's initiative in the public services sector is focused on creating a domestic delivery centre in the US [where, if operated as usual, 90% of the workers will likely have been born in India], hence this should not be affected.', he said...   Ganesh Natarajan, former NASSCOM chairman and CEO of Zensar Technologies, said the financial impact of the ban would be very small as the share of government IT contracts was less than 1% of India's IT-BPO revenues of $60G.   But he believes there was cause for concern from the Ohio governor's order in a directional sense.   'This should not become a trend.   We would be worried if other states follow suit.', said Natarajan."

2010-09-09 11:24PDT (14:24EDT) (18:24GMT)
Jeff Young _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Campus Tech in Red China
"Perhaps the most crucial technology at Tsinghua University is the bicycle...   They're both seniors in the computer-science department hoping to land jobs in Beijing's booming tech sector after they graduate, and both named Google as their first choice of employers.   When asked why, Mr. Zheng said, 'it's open', by which he meant its policies, not that it would be easy to score the gig...   I didn't see any lap-tops in use here, though the three Korean exchange students I sat with proudly produced their favorite educational gadgets: portable electronic dictionaries that can hunt down words in Chinese, Korean, English, and Japanese.   Language learning has the best use of technology here...   Not everyone on the campuses rides an old-fashioned bicycle, of course.   Some drive mopeds or scooters.   After lunch, though, I was stuck taking the journey back to my hotel on foot...   [To which JRS commented: Note the imbalance of female students.   Ask where are all the boys.   Visit the computer arcades and see the numbers of males video-game-addicted and using all sorts of techniques to avoid limits, if any.   Note the predominance of females on-line in the library...   Note how classroom technology is carefully secured and faculty can't use it unless checked out on it.   See how much equipment has tech oversight by less expensive workers.   How viruses pervade everything.   Note attitude on intellectual property and copying/pirating...   as with India, etc. early education promotes teacher and book being memorized and fed back...thus why Asian students may have difficulty with plagiarism concept.   Note massive influence of all-important leaving exams (zhong kao, gao kao) in fashioning what students believe is important in study methods.]"

2010-09-09
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
National Socialist Health Care Perversion (ObummerDoesn'tCare) already pushing costs higher

2010-09-09
Andrea Koncz & Kevin Gray _National Association of Colleges and Employers_
starting salary offers for new grads begin to stabilize: down but not as rapidly

2010-09-09
Marcus Stern _Pro Publica_
Obama admin unilaterally reduces deportations of illegal aliens

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "As we hope to show, the conflict in existence between the National Socialist 'Right' and the 'Left' in Germany is the kind of conflict that will always arise between rival socialist factions.   If this interpretation is correct, it means, however, that many of those socialist refugees, clinging to their beliefs, are now, though with the best will in the world, helping to lead their adopted country the way which Germany has gone...   the true explanation is that they were socialists whose experience had carried them several stages beyond that yet reached by [most] socialists in England and America...   But it would be a mistake to believe that the specific German rather than the socialist element produced totalitarianism.   It was the prevalence of socialist views and not Prussianism that Germany had in common with Italy and Russia -- and it was from the masses and not from the classes steeped in Prussian tradition, and favored by it, that National Socialism arose." --- Friedrich A. Hayek 1944, 1963 _The Road to Serfdom_ pp8-9 (citing Novalis a.k.a. Friedrich von Hardenberg 1798 _Glauben und Liebe, oder der Koenig und die Koenigin_)  

 
 

2010-09-10

2010-09-10
Sean Barron _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Human trafficking in Ohio

2010-09-10
Martin Crutsinger _Knoxville TN News_/_Scripps_/_AP_
Wholesale inventories rose 1.3% in July

2010-09-10
Don E. Sears _eWeek_
Cross-border bodyshoppers throw hissy-fit over Ohio's decision not to award them contracts

2010-09-10 08:19PDT (11:19EDT) (15:19GMT)
David Weidner _MarketWatch_
Firms pile on debt? How will they spend it?
"Post-Labor Day investment-grade bond issue issuance topped $33.7G through 35 offerings [in only the last 4 days].   In dollar volume, it's the biggest week since 2008 May 11.   In number of deals, it's the most significant raise since 2007 Sept. 28...   More likely: [Executives] are hoarding cheap cash again, as they did in the worst days of the financial crisis, this time fearing a double-dip recession that would erode profits."

2010-09-10
Mark Drajem _Bloomberg_
Caterpillar Executives Lobbying to Block Market Exchange Rates for Red Chinese Currency

2010-09-10
_SlashDot_
FoxConn's Founder doesn't want to be held responsible

2010-09-10
James MacPherson & Matthew Brown _Billings MT Gazette_/_AP_/_Lee_
New trans-US pipe-line under construction opened to oil pumped within USA
"A Canadian company is inviting U.S. oil producers to bid on rights to use a proposed pipe-line from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, easing worries that domestic crude could get left out of the project.   TransCanada Corp. and Montana governor Brian Schweitzer plan an official announcement Monday to kick off a so-called 'open season' to solicit interest in the pipe-line's capacity from companies in Montana and North Dakota.   Calgary-based TransCanada has faced political pressure to allow U.S. oil on its 1,980-mile Keystone XL pipe-line...   With Keystone XL and a second pipeline, Keystone, TransCanada plans to invest $12G in its efforts to export as much as 1.5M barrels of oil a day to U.S. refineries.   Montana and North Dakota combined produce about 380K barrels of oil daily, primarily from North Dakota, said Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority.   Industry representatives have said that figure could triple over the next several years.   The U.S. Geological Survey in 2008 estimated that up to 4.3G barrels of oil could be recovered from the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana, using current technology.   The agency called it the largest continuous oil accumulation it had ever assessed."

2010-09-10
John Miano _Center for Immigration Studies_
H-1B Commentary Removed from Reality

2010-09-10
Peter Landesman _American Thinker_
When More Math Is Less

2010-09-10
William L. Anderson
Government and wealth destruction
"While I hold no love for the Republican Party and fully agree that the Bush administration was irresponsible and profligate, nonetheless, when the Democrats took power, they did not put the brakes on runaway spending, but, instead, stepped on the accelerator."

2010-09-10
DJIA10,462.77
S&P 5001,109.55
NASDAQ2,242.48
Nikkei9,150.32
10-year US T-Bond2.79
crude oil$76.46/barrel
gold$1,246.50/ounce
silver$19.845/ounce
platinum$1,542.50/ounce
palladium$529.05/ounce
copper$0.21290625/ounce
natgas$3.883/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline $1.9731/gal
heatingoil$2.1044/gal
soybeans$10.31/bushel
maize$4.7825/bushel
wheat$7.3675 /bushel
dollarindex82.73
yenperdollar84.16
dollarspereuro1.271
dollarsperpound1.5355
swissfranksperdollar 1.0187
indianrupeesperdollar 46.47
mexicanpesosperdollar 13.01
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex553.23

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Costco's labor costs are about 40% higher than Sam's Club is.   In 2005, Costco's operating profit per employee was $21,805, as compared to Sam's Club of $11,615, and Costco's sales per square foot was $866, compared to $525 for Sam's Club.   Moreover, Costco's employee turn-over rate was only 6%, as compared to 21% for Sam's Club.   Productivity and unionization can be positively related." --- Chris Mosquera 2008 _Is Organized Labor a Decaying Business Model?_ pg 45 (citing Harley Shaiken 2007 Economic Policy Institute Briefing Paper "Unions, the Economy, and the 'Employee Free Choice Act'" Briefing Paper #181)  

 
 

2010-09-11

2010-09-11
Mark Cromer _NoozHawk_
Shovel Ready?   More like a Shovelful
"Even as the real unemployment rate is more than 20% in many areas of the country -- and pushing 40% or more among various race, age, geographic and skill-level demographics -- the federal government is still allowing an average of more than 100K foreign workers legally into the United States every month.   That number of immigrants -- the highest in the world -- is matched or exceeded by immigrants illegally crossing the border or over-staying their visas to effectively squat in the United States.   A 5-year-old could connect the dots between rising joblessness and hardship with continued mass immigration and the increased competition for shrinking resources that it brings, but the rank-and-file of the Fourth Estate refuse to even acknowledge the obvious association.   While the reasons for the media's silence are varied, most stem from ideological conditioning.   News-rooms now tend to reflect the dynamic so prevalent at universities, places where certain 'truisms' are neither explored nor challenged, but rather sung in unison, as if the chorus itself celebrates some self-evident truth...   more than 24M foreign workers in the United States -- or the 1M-plus who arrive every year.   This intellectual dishonesty and perverse dereliction of duty throughout much of the media (and the academic institutions that feed it) have allowed Democrats and Republicans to play a cynical double-game without fear of widespread journalistic reproach, at once claiming to be fighting for the American worker and their families, all while demanding massive increases of foreign workers and their families who will compete not only for jobs but critical social services...   Barbour goes on to demand more H1B visas so millions more foreign workers — yes, millions — can legally come to the United States for work, evidently maintaining a straight face as he declared that it's better to have Ph.D. graduates [and many more without the equivalent of US high school diplomas or bachelor's degrees] from India create jobs for 1,800 people in Des Moines than it is to have them return home and create those jobs there."

2010-09-11
David Deming _American Thinker_
Comparing Christianity and Islam

2010-09-11
Randall Hoven _American Thinker_
graph of reported "hate crimes" in the USA

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Don't retreat.   Instead - reload!" --- governor Sarah Palin 2010-03-23 10:31PST (13:31EST)  

 
 

2010-09-12

2010-09-12
_Billings MT Gazette_/_Montana Standard_/_Lee_
Economic summit Monday and Tuesday at Montana Tech
"People like MSFT's CEO Steve Ballmer, Barry Diller, chairman of Expedia Inc., General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, Disney President and CEO Bob Iger, Nobel Laureate and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Small Business Administration administrator Karen Gordon Mills will speak.   Investor, philanthropist and one of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffett, will participate via video link at 09:15 today.   U.S. senator Max Baucus, D-MT, who helped spearhead the summit, said he is thrilled to have the industrialist commit to speak with Montanans via video link.   Tech's HPER complex -- its gymnasium -- will serve as summit head-quarters, hosting some of the major speakers.   Workshops and panel discussions will be held throughout the campus.   A trade show also is planned.   Topics include Manufacturing in Montana, Broadband Access: Creating Jobs in Rural Areas, Siting Wind in Montana, BioPharma Business Development, Cultural Magnets for the Economy, Cultivating Sustainable Tourism and a Montana Solutions for Montana Jobs Roundtable.   The summit is free, and all Montanans are welcome."
Montana Economics Summit (live streaming)
GE chair Immelt and senator Baucus tour GE Financial Operations Center in Billings
"The Billings center opened with 87 employees, and has since grown to employ more than 150 people.   'Every job that we post we get between 45 and 50 applicants.', Hansen said.   'At career fairs, we get thousands of people interested.'...   About 2K people are expected to attend today's event which lasts through Tuesday...   'This location, we think, can out-compete anybody in the world, and that is what determines long term success.', Immelt said.   'I have ideas for expansion.'   Immelt has been with GE for the past 28 years.   His father was employed with the company for 40 years.   'It's what paid for college.', Immelt said.   'Everywhere I go, I think about how the organization can grow.'"
Tim Trainor & George Plaven: MT Standard/Billings MT Gazette: Executives think economy is great
"Some of the biggest names in business said Monday that they see a bright future for the economy...   Ballmer's speech resided in what he called 'the cloud' [where his head has been for years].   'I'm enthusiastic about what we can do over the course of the next few years.'...   [Immelt] called the service economy 'lazy' and said the country has to get back to manufacturing, with an aim to reduce the trade deficit.   'It was just wrong.   It was stupid.   It was insane.', Immelt said of the push for a service-based economy.   'The future of the economy has to be as an exporter.'   But he also said it is important to stay positive and to work hard to find solutions.   'Be a contrarian.', he said.   'Everyone is mad today.   Be happy.'...   U.S. Ambassadors from [Red China], Chile, Ireland, Japan and New Zealand spoke about how Montana can increase its trade with their respective countries."

2010-09-12 08:06PDT (11:06EDT) (15:06GMT)
James Kirley _Treasure Coast FL Palm_
8 illegal aliens who landed at Hutchinson Island were taken into custody

2010-09-12
Bruce Walker _USA Thinker_
The Judeo-Christian Right

2010-09-12
Ilana Mercer _Barely a Blog_
meet Mr. Barack Hussein O'Moocher

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "There is only one reason that the government takes away freedoms: Freedom is an obstacle to dominance, and almost everyone in government possesses what St. Augustine called libido dominandi, the lust to dominate." --- judge Andew P. Napolitano 2010 _Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History_ pp296-297  

 
 

2010-09-13

2010-09-12 20:43PDT (2010-09-12 23:43EDT) (2010-09-13 03:43GMT)
Avani Chhaya _Daily Illini_
Tips for making a good impression in an interview... if you ever get one
"Sarah Zehr, assistant dean and director of engineering career services, said dressing professionally is one of the ways to ace an interview.   She suggested 'dressing more formally than less'.   Zehr said men should wear suits and women should wear either a pant suit or a suit with a skirt.   'I would err on the side of conservative.', she said...   Both Zehr and King-Taylor said to bring extra copies of your resume and a portfolio for an interview.   While Zehr added that an interviewee should also bring a list of about three references and a license for security reasons for off-campus interviews, King-Taylor emphasized the importance of a portfolio.   '(A portfolio) shows a range of talents outside of academics.', King-Taylor said.   'It's anything additional you would like to show that's not resume-worthy.   [It's all about] showing that you go out of the box to separate you from other applicants.'   Zehr said getting a good night's sleep, being yourself and thinking about the questions before you blurt out the answer are some simple tips students can take with them to an interview...   Being engaged in the interview and looking interested in the process is another simple check to remember.   Zehr said sitting up straight gives off an impression of being interested."

2010-09-13
_Youngstown OH Vindicator_
2 killed when rioters attack government offices, in furor over WTC mosque, Bible and Koran burnings
"Mohammad Rahim Amin, chief of the Baraki Barak district in eastern Logar province, said the deaths and injuries occurred when Afghan soldiers opened fire on hundreds of protesters who were trying to storm the local government head-quarters."

2010-09-13 14:40PDT (17:40EDT) (21:40GMT)
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
Bodyshops lose H-1B law-suit over USCIS Neufeld memo concerning definition of employer/employee relationship
IT World Canada
"In August, U.S. district judge Gladys Kessler dismissed their case.   Although the matter is unlikely to be appealed, it did clarify the limits of the controversial memo, according to the TechServe Alliance, an [bodyshopping] industry group in Alexandria, VA that took part in the legal fight.   The memo, written by USCIS associate director Donald Neufeld, said that IT [bodyshops] that place H-1B workers at third-party sites didn't control the workers or have a true employer-employee relationship.   That, he wrote, is why they weren't eligible for the visas.   The [bodyshops], in turn, argued that they maintained the authority to hire, pay, fire and supervise the workers and were very much in control of their employment.   Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance, said the USCIS made some concessions during the case, namely that joint employment, or staffing [i.e. bodyshopping], is permissible under the H-1B program, and that the memo was not binding on adjudicators...   'The memorandum instructs USCIS adjudicators to look to the totality of the circumstances in each case to determine whether there is an employer-employee relationship.', Kessler wrote.   The judge said that adjudicators have 'considerable discretion' in interpreting the H-1B rules.   The law-suit argued that the IT [bodyshopping] industry could lose some $100M in business a year because of the memo.   The firms that joined TechServe in filing the law-suit were: Broadgate Inc. in Troy, MI, which counts 21 H-1B visa holders among its 46 IT workers; Logic Planet Inc., in Edison, NJ, which employees 95 IT workers, including 89 on H-1B visas; and DVR Softek Inc., also in Edison, NJ, which says that 45 of its 50 tech workers hold H-1B visas."

2010-09-13
Jan Falstad _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Recovery from economic depression could take years
"Manufacturing in the United States has fallen by half over the last 20 years, and those jobs won't be coming back because labor is cheaper over-seas, McCann said.   Yet future U.S. economic growth will come from serving 1.2G people in [Red China] and 1.1G residents of India who are trying to better their lives, McCann said.   The next economic model for this country won't be making products for those masses and shipping them overseas.   It will be an idea-based invention...   Cattle prices are up 10%, corn prices have risen 18% and wheat has jumped nearly 54%, largely due to the drought in Russia and Australia, he said.   Russia quit exporting grain last month, boosting demand for U.S. grain."

2010-09-13
Jennifer Merritt _Wall Street Journal_
Employers favor grads of state universities
Texas A&M
My Fox Philly
My Fox 9, Twin Cities
Penn State Daily Collegian
Daily Illini
"In the study—which surveyed 479 of the largest public and private companies, non-profits and government agencies—Pennsylvania State University, Texas A&M University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ranked as top picks for graduates best prepared and most able to succeed.   Of the top 25 schools as rated by these employers, 19 were public, one was Ivy League (Cornell University) and the rest were private, including Carnegie Mellon and University of Notre Dame...   the survey participants hired more than 43K new graduates in the past year."
Teri Evans: WSJ: Penn State tops recruiters' rankings because it's "one stop shopping"
more

2010-09-13
Mike Trupo & Lina Garcia _DoL ETA_
US Department of Labor announces $437K grant to assist workers in Iowa affected by information industry lay-offs
"The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a $437,084 grant to assist about 75 workers affected by layoffs from CDS Global in Red Oak, IA [a subsidiary of Hearst].   'The information industry has experienced painful lay-offs during this recession.', said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis.   'This grant will help affected Iowans get the retraining and re-employment services necessary to transfer their skills and secure new jobs in expanding fields.'   Awarded to Iowa Work-force Development, this grant will be operated by MATURA Action Corp.   The grant will provide affected workers with access to dislocated worker services.   These services may include skills assessment, computer skills training, individual career counseling and occupational skills training.   On 2010 April 30, CDS Global, a provider of out-sourced business solutions to multiple industries [a bodyshop], issued a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice announcing the permanent closure of its facility in Red Oak, which is located in southwestern Iowa.   Lay-offs took place between 2010 May 10 and 2010 June 30.   National Emergency Grants are part of the secretary of labor's discretionary fund and are awarded based on a state's ability to meet specific guide-lines.   For more information, visit National Emergency Grants."
CDS Global
Hoovers
Jimbo Wales's Wikipedia
"The company employs over 2,500 individuals worldwide, with sites located on 3 continents; Australia (Sydney), Europe (Market Harborough), and North America (Boone, IA; Harlan, IA; Tipton, IA; West Des Moines, Iowa; Wilton, Iowa; Bethlehem, PA; Prescott, AZ; New York City; Markham, Ontario; and Montreal)."

2010-09-13
Jonathan Adams _Global Post_
Small signs of progress with reforming silicon sweat-shops
"The good news: since that report, conditions have improved for this one small group of Filipina workers at a company supplying Apple and other high-tech brands.   The bad news: it's business as usual for many of the other 370K southeast Asian migrant workers in Taiwan, including those assigned to companies in the supply chain of the world's high-tech giants: exorbitant 'placement fees', additional 'broker fees' deducted from workers' hard-earned pay; and second-class status.   The workers trade away basic freedoms and rights for the chance to earn better money than they could at home.   The story's the same in Japan, South Korea and other wealthy East Asian countries, which increasingly import cheap labor from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, VietNam and elsewhere to fill low-end jobs that locals don't want."

2010-09-13
Larrey Anderson _American Thinker_
Economic Lunacy

2010-09-13
William L. Anderson
Those Chinese Commies, er, Capitalists, Finally Got Us!
"China has become a productive country, as it throws of [some of] the shackles of communism...   the U.S. Government under the Bush administration pushed the housing bubble, and then the Obama administration proceeded to try to prop up failed banks, the housing market, and producers (Government Motors being Exhibit A) as a sop to Wall Street contributors and American labor unions.   By forcing the diversion of trillions of dollars of resources to those firms and sectors that cannot stand up on their own, President Obama and his minions are aggressively and deliberately blocking the recovery."

2010-09-13 (5770 Tishrei 05)
Michelle Malkin _Jewish World Review_
The Eternal Flame of Muslim Outrage

2010-09-13 (5770 Tishrei 05)
Rabbi Doctor Asher Meir _Jewish World Review_
Fair Consideration
"The conclusion: if you advertise a position, you are obligated to give serious consideration to all applicants, in order to give them the fair chance they are promised when the position is advertised.   The column generated an unusual degree of reader mail.   Most people asked the question above: What about the many cases where soliciting applicants is a requirement? The implicit question is: Should these regulations be changed, or perhaps flouted?   Some asked the opposite question.   They complained about workplaces where hires are made by fiat, without giving even minimal consideration to other applicants.   Regarding the first question, it is important to note that the conclusion of the column was not that soliciting applicants when you have a hire in mind is improper.   Rather, other applicants deserve to have their applications given serious consideration.   That is exactly what the government regulations require.   In the case of hires where government aid is given or some kind of government permit is required, the government sees a valid public interest in providing equitable opportunity for jobs.   The meaning of the requirement is not merely to advertise the position but also and primarily to give due consideration to all applicants.   This is no different than the requirement that multiple bids be solicited for government contracts in order to prevent favoritism (giving the contract to someone you know) and laziness (taking the first supplier who comes along).   This also gives the answer to the second question.   Soliciting applicants is not an unfair practice; on the contrary, in many cases it is the fairest practice.   But the solicitation has to be sincere."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "The sense of possibilty so necessary for success comes not just from inside us or from our parents.   It comes from our time: from the particular opportunities that our particular place in history presents us with." --- Malcolm Gladwell 2008 _Outliers_ pg137  

 
 

2010-09-14: 7 weeks to USA elections

2010-09-14
David Skolnick _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
City takes different approach to coping with economic depression: Use more funds to demolish houses
"HUD announced last Wednesday that Youngstown would receive $1,096,328 in the third round of its Neighborhood Stabilization Program.   Only 10% of the money can be used for housing demolition.   The demolition of rundown and vacant houses is what the city needs the most to help its neighborhoods, said Bill D'Avignon, the city's community-development-agency director...   The city has about 600 to 1K residential houses in need of demolition.   Being able to use only 10% of the $1.09M for demolition would not adequately address that need, D'Avignon said.   'Any time we can get additional money for the city, it's good.', said Councilman Jamael Tito Brown, D-3rd.   'The question is how best to use the funds.   The need should determine how we spend the money.   We need to lobby and advocate for a greater percentage for demolition.'...   The city received a $39K grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency a year ago for deconstruction.   Deconstruction systematically takes apart a dilapidated house by removing portions of the structure, such as entire wood floors or chunks of brick, rather than using a traditional wrecking ball.   The city hired Steve Novotny, a former planning department intern, who wrote the EPA grant, for $30K to develop a deconstruction policy last year."

2010-09-14 05:45PDT (08:45EDT) (12:45GMT)
Dave Flessner _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
Chattanooga gets Gb/s telecomm service
Chattanooga TN Times Free Press
San Jose CA Mercury "News"
"In the race for Internet speed, Chattanooga claimed the nation's fastest broadband service Monday when EPB launched America's first gigabit broadband service...   The $350-a-month initial price for the service is unlikely to immediately attract any of the more than 100K homes EPB now serves with its fiber optic connections."

2010-09-14 06:22PDT (09:22EDT) (13:22GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
US retail sales rose 0.4% in August
Knoxville TN News Sentinel
census bureau

2010-09-14 (5771 Tishrei 06
Richard Z. Chesnoff _Jewish World Review_
Surprise, Surprise! Palestinians won't recognize Israel

2010-09-14 (5771 Tishrei 06)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
The Money of Fools part 1: "rent control", "gun control", war "to make the world safe for democracy", "social justice"

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "It was not until the 18th century, during the 'Age of Reason', that what had been the one science [astronomy/astrology] was divided into 2 distinct forms.   But even the founders of modern astronomy, Tycho Brahe (b: 1546 d: 1601) and Johannes Kepler (b: 1571 d: 1630) practised as astrologers as well." --- Peter Berresford Ellis 1994 _The Druids_ pg227  

 
 

2010-09-15

2010-09-14 21:01PDT (2010-09-15 00:01EDT) (2010-09-15 04:01GMT)
Grethen Reynolds _NY Times_
Exercise can make you smarter

2010-09-15 04:43PDT (07:43EDT) (11:43GMT)
Roy Beck _Numbers USA_
Even If You Favor Amnesty For Some Illegal Alien Teens, This DREAM Act Must Be Stopped
Harry Reid to alow a vote on NIGHTMARE act by amending it into Defense Dept. appropriation bill (with list of co-sponsors)

2010-09-15
James B. Kelleher _Reuters India_
Blue-collar, unemployed and seeing red
Yahoo!
"Stevenson is one of the 14.9M U.S. workers who are officially jobless, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor.   More depressingly, he is also among the 6.2M unfortunate enough to have been that way for 27 weeks or more -- a beleaguered cohort that the government dubs the 'long-term unemployed'...   He hasn't had to sell his truck and work tools -- yet -- and he recently picked up some temporary contract work that put a little cash in his pocket.   But he spends most of his days at his parents' home, trawling the Internet for jobs that don't pan out or playing computer games -- 'anything', he said, 'that doesn't cost money.' On warm days, he takes his bike out for a ride around the neighbourhood...   according to a recent analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the National Employment Law Project.   The study, released just before Labor Day, found that while jobs paying $17.43 an hour or more accounted for nearly half the positions lost in the downturn, they have accounted for just 5 percent of those created in the recovery.   Most of the new jobs are concentrated below $15 an hour and in service industries like retail sales, food preparation, waste removal, or health-care.   It's not that jobs aren't being created in manufacturing -- they are.   But they are fewer in number and either pay far less than the jobs of old or require technical skills...   Gone was the security and stability his father knew.   'When the work was there', Mike Stevenson, 66, remembered, 'you could say, ''I don't want to work for you anymore.'' walk out the door and have a job down the street.' In its place was a more cut-throat environment -- 'They had their boot on your neck and were yelling, ''Get it done, get it done, get it done. Now get out!''.', Scott Stevenson said -- with no benefits, few breaks and frequent lay-offs.   Still, he managed to buy his first new vehicle when he was 29 -- the 2000 Ford Ranger pickup truck he continues to drive today.   Five years later, he bought a house about 40 miles away from Ferndale for $130K.   And in 2006, he had his best year ever, earning $38K a year at a plant that built material handlers for GM.   But he accomplished that by clocking 15 to 20 hours of overtime almost every week, a schedule that left him little personal time.   'One of the reasons I'm not married is I've always been working.', he said.   'Or not working.   You're either 60 hours a week or not at all.'...   In 2009 alone, the sector laid off 11.4% of its total work-force -- the largest one-year percentage drop in manufacturing employment since the Great Depression, dwarfing even the 10.4% drop seen in 1945, when America's victorious industrial war machine throttled back production." Jobs by Sector US jobless picture
more graphs

2010-09-15 08:00PDT (11:00EDT) (15:00GMT)
Jeff Young _Chronicle of Higher Education_
South Korean Institute of Science and Technology project attempting to create robots to teach English
"The first prototype costs about $40K each to build, but Mr. Kim hopes to get the costs down to $10K each for a new model that is now being manufactured."

2010-09-15 09:33PDT (12:33EDT) (16:33GMT)
Daniel Wagner _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_AP_
US industrial production increased 0.2% in August
Greg Robb: MarketWatch
"Excluding autos, factory output increased 0.5% in August after a 0.2% rise in July.   Utilities output dropped 1.5% in August.   Capacity utilization for total industry increased 0.1 percentage point to 74.7% in August.   This is the highest level since 2008 September.   Capacity utilization is now 4.7 percentage points above its rate of a year ago.   Production of high-tech goods continued to expand at a solid pace, rising 1% in August after a 0.8% gain in July."

2010-09-15 12:00PDT (15:00EDT) (19:00GMT)
Heather M. Whitney _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Keeping Track of Job Postings

2010-09-15
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Belated Understanding
"Former Fed chairman Greenspan seems finally to have grasped [once again, as he knew in the 1960s] the historically demonstrable truth that an over-expanded economy will rebound more swiftly and on sounder footing when the government stays out of the picture."

2010-09-15
Chuck Baldwin _V Dare_
Why we are moving to Montana

2010-09-15
William L. Anderson
Yeah, sure, it was Lehman all along

2010-09-15 (5770 Tishrei 07)
Tony Blankley _Jewish World Review_
America's New Terrorist Networks

2010-09-15 (5770 Tishrei 07)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Leftist Crack-Up
"While America's [leftist] elite have not reached the depths of tyrants such as Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Hitler, they share a common vision and, as such, differ only in degree but not kind.   Both denounce free markets and voluntary exchange.   They are for control and coercion by the state.   They believe they have superior wisdom to the masses and they have been ordained to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us.   They, like any other tyrant, have what they see as good reasons for restricting the freedom of others.   Their agenda calls for the elimination or attenuation of the market.   Why? Free markets imply voluntary exchange.   Tyrants do not trust that people behaving voluntarily will do what the tyrants think they should do.   Therefore, they seek to replace the market with economic planning control and regulation.   Why [leftism] has become an ugly sight, as Krauthammer claims, is because more and more Americans have wised up to their agenda."

2010-09-15 (5770 Tishrei 07)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
The Money of Fools part 2: "health care reform", "the rich", and "the poor"
"If you stop and think -- which catch-words can deflect us from doing -- it is clear that homicide and car crashes are not things that doctors can prevent. Moreover, if you compare longevity among countries, leaving out homicide and car crashes, Americans have the longest life-span in the western world... If we stop and think, instead of going with the flow of catch-words, it is clear than income and wealth are different things. A billionaire can have zero income. Bill Gates lost $18G dollars in 2008 and Warren Buffett lost $25G. Their income might have been negative, for all I know. But, no matter how low their income was, they were not poor."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "most unquestionably there is no legal tender and there can be no legal tender in this country under the authority of this government of anything but gold and silver, either the coinage of our mints or foreign coins at rates regulated by congress.   This is a constitutional principle of the very highest importance...   Congress has no power to substitute paper or anything else for a coin as tender in payment of debts." --- chief justice Salmon P. Chase 1869 Hepburn v. Griswold (quoted in judge Andew P. Napolitano 2010 _Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History_ pg139)  

 
 

2010-09-16

2010-09-16 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 339,838 in the week ending Sept. 11, a decrease of 38,145 from the previous week.   There were 411,126 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.1% during the week ending Sept. 4, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,888,599, a decrease of 246,280 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.0% and the volume was 5,300,249.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA ID, IL, IN KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending August 28...   States reported 4,108,529 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Aug. 28, a decrease of 402,116 from the prior week.   There were 3,178,368 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" changes
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03;
to 126,763,245 beginning 2010-07-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-09-16
Grace Wyler _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
throngs of more than 5K job seekers are told they need training as hyper-credentialism shows its ugly face
"Nearly 90 employers and 30 training centers from Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties and Pennsylvania's Mercer and Lawrence counties set up shop across the floor, offering information and positions in several industries, including manufacturing, logistics, law enforcement, retail and financial services.   Although the job seekers far out-numbered the 1,600 positions available, this year's employer turnout was significantly higher than the 2009 event's, said Bert Cene, director of the Mahoning Columbiana Training Association, which oversees work-force development...   The natural-gas bonanza in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale has been a bright spot in job creation, said Angela Palumbo, an administrator for Mercer County's CareerLink employment agency...   A consortium of community colleges, including Eastern Gateway Community College and the Pennsylvania College of Technology, has launched Marcellus ShaleNET with a $4.9M federal-training grant."

2010-09-16
J.T. Young _American Spectator_
Those in government keep over-spending other people's money

2010-09-16
Randall Hoven _American Spectator_
Recap of the last year's graphs
Government has grown by obscene amounts since William McKinley was president.   In 1900, federal, state, and local governments combined spent under 5% of Gross Domestic Product.   Today they spend 40% of GDP or more and account for half of all health care spending.   The federal government alone spends more than 20% of GDP, owns 29% of all land, and controls virtually all ocean activity, including oil drilling, for miles off-shore.   This puts us square into the mix of European welfare states in terms of government spending and debt.   Federal government debt is on an unsustainable path, set to grow beyond 100% of GDP soon, and driven mostly by increased spending on Medicare and Medicaid.   (And not defense.)   Yet many federal programs are ineffective and/or going broke: Medicare, [Socialist Insecurity] Disability Insurance, the Post Office, the War on Poverty, education, affirmative action, other race-based initiatives, the minimum wage here and in Samoa, bank regulations, regulation in general, etc.   Then came Obama.   He asked for the second half ($350G) of TARP bailout money even before he was inaugurated.   (He also voted for the TARP bailout while in the Senate.)   Then, as president, he went on to buy car companies with it.   'Pay as you go' went out the window, as Obama's plans would explode the deficits, even in the years after the current recession was assumed over.   He signed a 'stimulus' bill within one month of being sworn into office, adding $814G to the 2009-2019 deficit in one fell swoop.   His crowning achievement was the trillion-dollar [perversion] of all health care in the nation under a byzantine system of additional costs, additional taxes, and additional bureaucracy.   The legislators who 'wrote' the bill did not even read it...   Temperatures over much of the last 2K years were higher than now.   Raw measured temperatures, which showed no warming trends, have been 'adjusted' by government-funded climate scientists in ways to yield warming trends in places as diverse as Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Romania, Illinois, Arkansas, and Missouri.   Reconstructed 'proxy' temperatures were adjusted as well.   Climate model predictions are not matching reality.   One (of the two) polar ice caps has been growing since satellite observations have been available.   Snow extent is growing in the Northern Hemisphere.   There is no upward trend in hurricane damage or hurricane frequency/energy.   Sea levels rose much more dramatically centuries before the pyramids.   The last century of sea-level rise is consistent with coming out of an ice age 20K years ago.   Meanwhile, the U.S.A. is doing pretty well without the government mandates of Kyoto, Copenhagen, or Cap & Trade in managing carbon emissions, air pollution, and energy use.   Obama's dreams of 'green energy' and 'green jobs' are equally empty.   The U.S.A. leads the world in recoverable fossil fuel resources, which are enough to last many more decades at least.   'Renewable' energy resources, other than hydroelectric dams, supply less than 5% of all energy in the U.S.A., even after years of government-funded research, incentives, regulations, and subsidies.   Fossil fuels, nuclear, and hydroelectric will dominate for decades to come.   The most economical source of electricity for some time to come is natural gas.   The most expensive is solar panels...   Brazil is not exactly some outstanding example of bio-fuel generation or energy conservation we need to follow.   Spain has demonstrated that 'green energy' leads to fewer net jobs, green or not...   The death penalty seems to actually deter murder.   Higher rates of handgun ownership do not appear to cause more crime.   Putting more people in prison seems to reduce crime.   Increased concealed carry of handguns by law-abiding citizens coincides with reduced homicide rates.   The nuclear family is disappearing, yet the safest place for a child is in the home of her married, biological parents.   A child is also less likely to be poor if her parents are married."
Randall Hoven's graph of the day

2010-09-16
William L. Anderson
Spending or Economic Regime Uncertainty?

2010-09-16
Andrea Koncz & Mimi Collins _National Association of Colleges and Employers_
Hiring down 7% for class of 2010

2010-09-16 (5770 Tishrei 08)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
The Money of Fools part 3: "liberals", "conservatives", "volunteering", "community service"
"Most liberals are not liberal and most conservatives are not conservative...   The late liberal Professor Tony Judt of New York University gave this definition of liberals: 'A liberal is someone who opposes interference in the affairs of others: who is tolerant of dissenting attitudes and unconventional behavior.'   According to Professor Judt, liberals favor 'keeping other people out of our lives, leaving individuals the maximum space in which to live and flourish as they choose'...   But, if we follow Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' admonition to 'think things, not words' and look beyond the label to the tangible realities of the world, we find almost the exact opposite of what the word 'liberal' is supposed to mean.   Does the sweeping legislation empowering federal officials to tell doctors, patients, hospitals, and insurance companies what to do, when it comes to medical care, sound like leaving individuals the maximum space to live their lives as they choose? Communities that have had overwhelmingly liberal elected officials for decades abound in nanny state regulations, micro-managing everything from home-building to garbage collection.   San Francisco is a classic example.   Among its innumerable micro-managing laws is one recently passed requiring that gas stations must remove the little levers that allow motorists to pump gas into their cars without having to hold the nozzle...   As for conservatism, it has no specific political meaning, because everything depends on what you are trying to conserve...   Conservatism, in its original meaning, would require preserving the welfare state and widespread government intervention in the economy.   [Leftists who call themselves liberals] often flatter themselves with having the generosity that the word [liberal] implies.   Many of them might be shocked to discover that Ronald Reagan donated a higher percentage of his income to charity than either Ted Kennedy or Franklin D. Roosevelt.   Nor was this unusual.   Conservatives in general donate more of their income and their time to charitable endeavors and donate far more blood."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "The real story is that a lot of men who don't pay [child] support are poor; they hold menial jobs; they're under-educated.   Many of them pay when they can.   Journalists, and [leftists] in general, should care about poor men like that.   But to the media elites -- being as reliably [leftist] feiminist as they are -- the very idea that men in divorce and custody cases might be part of an oppressed class is an alien concept." --- Bernard Goldberg 2002 _Bias_ pg136  

 
 

2010-09-17

2010-09-16 21:01PDT (2010-09-17 00:01EDT) (2010-09-17 04:01GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Middle class people are running as fast as they can (with graph)
"The Great Recession has taken away the small gains made during the 1980s and 1990s and ripped open wounds that were festering for 30, 35, or 40 years."

2010-09-17
Denise Dick _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Mahoning valley colleges post record autumn enrollment numbers

2010-09-17
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring News-Letter_
surprising Zavodny article
In 2003, the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank released a study on the H-1B work visa by one of their researchers, Madeline Zavodny.   One of the major findings was that the H-1B program did not seem to negatively impact wages of American workers.   The study was actually quite severely flawed.   But it was just what the industry lobbyists wanted to hear, and they've cited Zavodny's study quite often since then.
 
The Fed, of course, has been a major source of support for the H-1B program.   Bob McTeer, who as Dallas Fed President was Zavodny's boss at the time, has often advocated expanding H-1B, and former Fed chair Alan Greenspan has on several occasions explicitly praised H-1B as a way to hold labor costs down.
 
IOW, I had Zavodny pegged as a doctrinaire, libertarian/ open borders/ free market type, and had expected her op-ed piece enclosed below to bring up the usual misleading arguments.   I was thus rather pleased to see the more nuanced tone.   I still disagree with the prescriptions she and her coauthor make, and I still believe they suffer from "numeritis" -- blind number crunching without knowing what the numbers actually mean -- on the H-1B issue.   Yet, I find the authors' essay here well-reasoned, given their premises, and can find some common ground.   Let's see what commonalities we have:
 
Here is the obvious one.   The authors write,
 
Finally, the auctions would provide the government with new revenue in an era of huge deficits.   Some of that money might be used to offset costs incurred by states or localities with large numbers of immigrants, or to retrain American workers displaced by immigration.
 
I'll discuss the issues of auctions and retraining later, but the salient part of this passage is that the authors recognize that American workers are displaced by immigration!
 
The authors also say,
 
The visas would be "portable" -- that is, the holder wouldn't be tied to one employer -- to ensure that workers are treated fairly...
 
Exactly!   The current H-1B system, especially for H-1Bs who are being sponsored for green cards, renders the foreign workers as de facto indentured servants.   That's why they are paid less than comparable U.S. citizens and permanent residents, as several careful studies and government reports have shown.   It's also why the H-1B program is so popular with employers.
 
Which brings us to the auctions idea.   This notion has been promoted in the last couple of years by the Programmers Guild and other tech worker organizations.   The industry lobbyists claim that tech companies hire H-1Bs because they are "the best and the brightest", rather than the cheapest.   As I've also shown, the vast majority of H-1Bs are not of best/brightest caliber.   But a small percentage are really brilliant, creative workers, and I've always strongly supported encouraging and facilitating their immigration.   By granting H-1B visas to the employers who are the highest bidders, we give priority to the types of workers that benefit our nation, and reduce the use of H-1Bs as cheap labor.
 
I won't comment on the authors' points on low-skilled immigration, but it's nice to see that they agree with me on the high-skilled end.   In terms of implementation, I've recently advocated that instead of using absolute salaries as the "bids" in these auctions, the basis should be ratios of salaries to the official government prevailing wages in the workers' occupations.   Of course, as it is, the legal prevailing wage levels are riddled with loop-holes and thus are well below market wages, so that should be fixed too.   But by defining bids as these ratios, occupations with lower wages would not be at a disadvantage.   Employers of engineers, say, would not be at a disadvantage relative to employers of physicians.
 
Another point of agreement I have with the authors is that our current immigration system places too much emphasis on family immigration.   It is of course justified for nuclear family members (which is already a large number), but the phenomenon of chain migration that developed around 1980 or so just isn't what Congress intended.
 
Needless to say, I have disagreements with the authors on various points as well.   I certainly don't agree that the work visas should be good indefinitely.   The auctions, though helpful, would not solve the cheap labor problem for various reasons, especially if the prevailing wage law were not reformed, so the authors' proposals here would end up perpetuating work visas as a mechanism for hiring cheap labor.
 
Even more importantly, I would point out that the authors' premise concerning green cards is invalid.   Yes, there are long waits for green cards, but only for THIRD-TIER workers.   The best/brightest are in the first 2 tiers, which have reasonable wait times; the first-tier wait time has essentially been zero in recent years.   IOW, the authors' premise on green cards is completely at odds with their expressed goal of our nation acquiring the best/brightest.   The workers that are "most-valued", in the authors' phrasing, actually don't have a green card problem under the current rules.
 
The authors are well-intentioned but sadly quite naive in their idea that the auction fees would go to retraining the displaced workers.   The reason the workers are displaced in the first place is that they are "too expensive".   A software engineer who is displaced and then retrained in a new programming language would STILL be unattractive to employers, because his/her experience level corresponds to higher wages.   See my previous writings on this, plus the Dept. of Commerce study.
 
Lastly, the authors are also naive in one sense in saying that the foreign tech workers are "least likely to be a burden on [tax-victims]".   The fact is that large numbers of these workers sponsor their elderly parents for immigration after the workers naturalize, and place the parents on welfare (SSI, Medicaid, low-income housing etc.).
 
Again, I must commend the authors for their thoughtful piece.   But I do hope that they will dig below the surface on these issues, and take a second look at their assumptions.
 
Norm
Pia Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny: NY Times: Foreign Stimulus

2010-09-17 06:56PDT (09:56EDT) (13:56GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
Consumer prices rose 0.3% in August
graphs

2010-09-17 06:58PDT (09:58EDT) (13:58GMT)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index fell from 68.9 in August to 66.6 in September

2010-09-17 08:43PDT (11:43EDT) (15:43GMT)
Donna Conroy _Huffington Post_
Union joins WV IT pros to mount on-going resistance to out-sourcing
"Once the out-sourcing begins, so do the firings, the cost overruns, and loss of expertise.   So when Ron Bolin, the new West Virginia State Director of Information Services, a former IBM employee and lawyer specializing in IT out-sourcing contracts, assembled 35 programmers to inquire, 'What does everybody think about out-sourcing?', they thought they were dead-men walking.   'You couldn't draw this picture any better if you used Crayolas.', said Jennifer Ayers, an applications developer programmer who walked out of the meeting determined to fight.   While other programmers were willing to 'play-nice', she and a handful of programmers at the state of West Virginia, all non-union workers who once considered unions irrelevant, formed a team that day that would draw a line in the sand against a national trend.   Twenty years in the making, this trend is played out over and over: Permanent top dollar, white-collar jobs convert to dead-end perma-temp jobs which eventually sail abroad.   First, this team alerted every IT pro they knew.   Robert Bryant, a systems programmer with strong pro-union sentiments, replied, 'You're gonna be fired anyway.   You might as will fight for your job -- and our future as Americans.   This is the only chance we have.' Then he contacted the union that just 4 years ago organized the state of West Virginia's workers as an open shop.   That union was United Electrical Workers (UE)...   An aggressive, preemptive strike against any outsourcing plans was devised.   IT pros activated their broad networks, committing to reach all 600 IT workers across the state.   While many IT professionals still wouldn't speak out, support to quash any outsourcing plans was spreading covertly.   It even reached into low-level management.   Carolyn Saul, a systems programmer for the West Virginia Office of Technology discovered the fight back on the nightly news.   She wrote to a colleague whose job was out-sourced by her current boss, Kyle Schafer, in his previous position, 'I have joined a union; something I never believed in.   Because I assumed if you did your job you'd never have to worry about losing your job.'   Two weeks later, she was a headliner at a rally of 75 IT professionals on the Capitol Complex...   While favorable local coverage expanded, the union moved to lobby state legislators -- with IT professionals eloquently arguing their case.   On 2010 September 5, the union filed a law-suit against West Virginia's Office of Technology and Kyle Shafer.   The suit alleges Shafer has yet to submit a 4-year plan that was due in June 2007 and failed to submit biannual reports of his activities.   Both are required by law.   In addition, UE is requesting the court prevent the Office of Technology from soliciting bids for out-sourcing.   IT professionals showed another display of strength on Tuesday, September 14th, by speaking to a joint House and Senate subcommittee, packing the upstairs gallery, and gluing themselves to their desks to hear the live audio of the hearing.   Legislators then moved to audit the Office of Technology and examine all documents related to potential outsourcing plans.   As House Delegate Randy Swartzmiller put it, '...we want to make sure that we know what's going to happen with the employees that are down there working now and are doing a tremendous job.'"

2010-09-17 09:15PDT (12:15EDT) (16:15GMT)
Jeannine Aversa _Knoxville TN News_/_AP_
Americans' wealth dropped in 2010 Spring
"The Federal Reserve says household net worth fell 2.7% -- or $1.5T -- in the April-to-June quarter.   The decline left Americans' net worth at $53.5T...   Americans' net worth would have to rise an additional 23% to revisit its re-recession peak of $65.8T."

2010-09-17 09:18:23PDT (12:18:23EDT) (16:18:23GMT)
Patrick May _San Jose CA Mercury "News_
Sili Valley unemployment rate dropped in August
"the valley's civilian labor force dropped to 909,700 from 911,500 in July. And the total number of jobs in the valley -- 852,100 -- was down 1,500, or 0.2%, from a year earlier."
US visa fees are consistent with international agreements
"This is exactly how the new fees work and what they aim to accomplish -- they are processing fees which fund border protection and do not reduce the total number of H-1B visas granted or restrict L-1 use in any way.   The fee amount, $2K or $2250, is also reasonable (and even negligible), compared to the profits of these companies and the cost savings they get when hiring H-1B and L-1s.   A representative of Infosys confirmed this when he stated he didn't think the fees 'will have any material impact on our financials', in part because the 'fee cost is a mere 0.4% of the cost and even doubling the fee will not make much of a difference'...   industry that grew 5.5% and generated $50G in revenue just this past year...   Cognizant (a major player in the industry, with a revenue forecast of $4.46G for 2010), Logic Planet (93% of its 95 employees have H-1Bs) and DVR Softek (90% of 50)...   To achieve a more level playing field for U.S. workers, Congress should pass legislation proposed by Senators Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley to limit the maximum share of H-1B/L-1 workers in companies operating in the U.S. to 50%, or even to set a lower threshold -- say 15% or 20%.   The [left-leaning] Economic Policy Institute has documented how the abuse of H-1B and L-1 visas, coupled with minimal governmental oversight or enforcement, has led to the creation of a class of under-paid workers who are indentured to their employers for up to 7 years -- whom companies prefer and use to replace U.S. workers.   The visas also incentivize age discrimination and speed up the out-sourcing and off-shoring of American jobs."
* According to State Department annual reports, 80,547 H-1B visas were issued through consular offices in FY1997, 91,360 in FY1998, 116,513 H-1B visas were issued in FY1999, 133,290 in FY2000, 161,643 in FY2001, 118,352 in FY2002, 107,196 in FY2003, 139,037 H-1B visas were issued in FY2004, 124,374 in FY2005, 135,861 in FY2006, 154,692 in FY2007, 130,183 in FY2008, 110,988 in FY2009, 117,828 in FY2010, 129,552 in FY2011, 135,991 in FY2012...jgo

2010-09-17
Eric Peters _American Spectator_
automated license plate scanners and trackers

2010-09-17
Henrietta Jenrette _Raleigh News & Observer_
STEM is stagnant career path
"American high school students are not motivated to spend years working for degrees in these fields because they do not feel that good jobs will be available when they graduate.   If American companies are not sending these jobs overseas, then they are bringing in foreign workers on H-1B visas.   Although CEOs say there are not enough highly trained Americans to fill these jobs, pay for IT jobs has been stagnant or worse for years.   Usually when workers are scarce, pay goes up.   Instead, CEOs ask Congress for unlimited H-1B visas.   Americans are smart enough to spend their time and energy in fields that need and reward workers.   Are there fields like this anymore?   Are students not motivated, or do they just recognize 21st century American economic reality?"

2010-09-17
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
August Jobs: American Worker Displacement Slowed Last Month -- But Last Year Was Devastating

2010-09-17
William L. Anderson
Tax-Cut/Tax-Increase Dishonesty

2010-09-17 (5771 Tishrei 09)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
Israel, alone

2010-09-17 (5771 Tishrei 09)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
The Money of Fools part4
"One of the many words that sound so attractive, to people who do not think beyond the word, is 'disarmament'.   Wouldn't it be better to live in a world where countries were not armed to the teeth, especially when they are armed with nuclear weapons? Of course it would.   But the only country we can disarm is our own.   The only countries we might be able to persuade to disarm are countries that intend no harm in the first place.   Those countries that do intend to harm others -- and we know all too well that they exist -- would be delighted to have all their victims disarmed.   What if we can just get nuclear disarmament?   Again, we need to think beyond the word to the realities of the world, so that we do not simply accept words as what Thomas Hobbes called the money of fools.   Had there been no nuclear weapons created during World War II, that would have given an overwhelming military advantage in the postwar world to countries with large and well equipped armies.   Especially after the U.S. Army withdrew from Europe, following the end of World War II, there was nothing to stop Stalin's army from marching right across the continent to the Atlantic Ocean.   The American troops that remained in Western Europe were not enough to stop the Soviet army.   But they were enough that their slaughter by the Russians would have risked nuclear war with the United States.   Western Europe has had one of its longest periods of peace under the protection of the American nuclear umbrella.   Japan, one of the biggest and most cruel conquerors of the 20th century, has become a peaceful nation after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.   In the real world, the question of whether nuclear disarmament is desirable or undesirable is utterly irrelevant because it is simply not possible, except in words -- and we would truly be fools to accept such words at the risk of our lives.   Even if every nuclear weapon on the planet were destroyed -- and how could we be sure that that had happened? -- this would still not destroy the knowledge of how to make nuclear weapons.   Those countries with aggressive intentions towards other countries need only choose the time when they would put their knowledge of nuclear weapons to use, and have the world at their mercy.   Once they had nuclear weapons, they could threaten annihilation to any other nation that started to produce offsetting nuclear weapons...   International disarmament has long been a favorite crusade of the left, before as well as after the age of nuclear weapons.   The period between the two World Wars were full of popular disarmament agreements and renunciations of war.   In fact, such pious agreements contributed to the out-break of war.   Because some nations adhered to these agreements and others did not, the military advantage swung to the latter, who started the war -- in which tens of millions of human beings died."

2010-09-17
DJIA10,608.00
S&P 5001,125.59
NASDAQ2,315.61
Nikkei9,626.09
10-year US T-Bond2.74
crude oil$73.61/barrel
gold$1,277.50/ounce
silver$20.816/ounce
platinum$1,621.90/ounce
palladium$543.30/ounce
copper$0.220125/ounce
natgas$4.024/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline $1.9192/gal
heatingoil$2.0992/gal
soybeans$10.69/bushel
maize$5.1325/bushel
wheat$7.3925 /bushel
dollarindex81.42
yenperdollar85.79
dollarspereuro1.304
dollarsperpound1.5625
swissfranksperdollar 1.0120
indianrupeesperdollar 45.845
mexicanpesosperdollar 12.79969
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex571.83

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "The domestic dog is an extremely close relative of the gray wolf, differing from it by at most 0.2% of mtDNA sequence." --- Robert K. Wayne "Molecular Evolution of the Dog Family_ (quoted in Temple Grandin & Catherine Johnson 2000 _Animals Make Us Human_ pg311 note4 to chapter2)  

 
 

2010-09-18

2010-09-18
Gene Nelson _V Dare_
Immigration's and Guest-Workers' Impact on PhD job markets in the USA
"Female scholars apparently have not yet been clued in to the fact that most American Ph.D.s (1992-03-10 Malcolm W. Browne NY Times "Amid 'Shortage', Young Physicists See Few Jobs") are now doomed to a life of poverty (Edwin S. Rubenstein Colosseum Builders "Piled Higher and Deeper").   I'm all-too-familiar with this problem as an unemployed 58 year old male science Ph.D. holder.   Most current higher education openings are in lower-paid adjunct or short-term contract positions, instead of tenured positions.   In my most recent adjunct professor positions at two different colleges, I earned approximately the minimum wage when my out-of-class preparation time was included.   As a 1993 Wall Street Journal article [1993-04-14 G. Pascal Zachary "Black Hole Opens in Scientist Job Rolls"] regarding the ongoing Ph.D. glut (2004-07-31 Edwin S. Rubenstein "If We Need Immigrant PhDs, Why Are American PhDs Poor And Unemployed?") makes clear, the most important law is Supply And Demand (multiple V Dare articles).   [2007-02-12 Dirk Krueger New America Media, see comments "Give H-1B Visa Holders a Life"]   Universities create graduate student openings primarily to meet institutional needs for highly skilled graduate assistants -- not to insure that careers exist for their graduates.   Naturally, the wage depression effects of the large influx of imported scholars that was created by the 1976 Eilberg Amendment and the Immigration Act of 1990 are not mentioned in de Vise's article.   Instead, non-representative salary statistics are cited.   I predict that eventually the U.S. [tax-victim] will reach the breaking point.   Perhaps at that time, reforms will occur that will re-instill meritocracy to higher education."

2010-09-18
Wayne R. Roustan _Florida Sun Sentinel_
Hundreds wait hours to apply for U.S. Border Patrol jobs: More than 100K nationwide expected to seek 2,200 positions
"The starting salary ranges from $38,619 to $63,259 a year, said Prichard.   Applicants must be between 18 and 39, be a U.S. citizen and have a valid driver's license.   They must also pass a thorough background check, take a written examination, undergo medical and drug screenings, take 2 pre-employment physical fitness tests and pass an oral hiring board conducted by 3 Border Patrol agents.   Then there are 13 weeks of training at the academy and several more weeks to learn Spanish, if necessary, before most new hires are stationed along the southwest U.S. border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.   Many applicants are former military or law enforcement officers.   The Border Patrol states its primary mission is to prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States, but agents are also charged with 'detecting and preventing the smuggling and unlawful entry of undocumented aliens'."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Virtually any job is a job that Americans will not take if the pay is low enough.   Nor is there any reason for pay to rise if illegal immigrants are available at low pay." --- Thomas Sowell 2007-06-14 _Baltimore MD Sun_ "Border Scheme Built on Fraud, Empty Promises" pg23A  

 
 

2010-09-19

2010-09-19
Grace Wyler _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Great Lakes Wind Energy, Cavallo Energy and Bechtel to put up wind turbines in Lake Erie off Cleveland

2010-09-19
_YouTube_
Nirupama meets senator for Punjab Hillary: sets agenda for Obama's visit to India (video)
another video

2010-09-19
Motoko Rich _NY Times_
For the unemployed over 50, fears of never getting employment again
Globe and Mail
"Of the 14.9M unemployed, more than 2.2M are 55 or older.   Nearly half of them have been unemployed six months or longer, according to the Labor Department.   The unemployment rate in the group -- 7.3% -- is at a record, more than double what it was at the beginning of the latest recession...   For PR, it has been 4 years of hunting -- without a single job offer.   She buzzes energetically as she describes the countless applications she has lobbed through the Internet, as well as the on-line courses she is taking to burnish her software skills...   According to a Gallup poll in April, more than a third of people not yet retired plan to work beyond age 65, compared with just 12% in 1995...   the poverty rate among those 55 to 64 increased to 9.4% in 2009, from 8.6% in 2007...   after more than 20 years of commuting across Puget Sound to Boeing, PR was exhausted when she was let go from her $80K-a-year job.   Stunned and depressed, she sent out résumés, but figured she had a little time to recover...   Although the couple do not have a mortgage on their 3K-square-foot house, they pay close to $7K a year in property taxes.   The roof is leaking.   Their utility bills can be $300 a month in the winter, even though they often keep the thermostat turned down to 50 degrees.   They could try to sell their home, but given the depressed housing market, they are reluctant."
David Dayen: FireDogLake: Unemployed Staying Unemployed, Locked Out of Work Force
graphs

2010-09-19
David Kane _Naples FL Daily News_
An open letter to my grand-children
"Will the America our forefathers fought for, and dedicated their lives to, be a relic of a time long ago and far away?   Will the intellectual genius which conceived this most remarkable system of government be cast aside for a concept of authority designed to constrict our freedoms, restrain our economic engine and reduce our creative entrepreneurial instincts to satisfy the lowest common denominator?   Or will we continue to grow, mature and expand the appreciation for what made our country the envy of the world and the magnet for all those who dream of living a life limited only by one's own work ethic?...   On 1789 June 21, the Constitution of the United States went into effect.   As I write this, our country is in its 221st year of the world’s greatest and most successful experiment with a republic democracy.   It is my opinion that many of us have taken our Constitution and its accompanying Bill of Rights for granted and we have done so at your peril.   I am very concerned that you, my grand-children, will be denied your God-given, unalienable rights guaranteed by these sacred documents that have defined life in our beloved United States of America."

2010-09-19
Thomas E. Brewton & Dinesh d'Souza _View from 1776_
What makes Barack Obama tick?
"Both socialism and Islam require exercise of arbitrary political power at the expense of individual liberty."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "32% of all illegal immigrants and 15% of legal immigrants have not completed the 9th grade.   Only 2% of natives of the United States have not.   Nearly 31% of adult immigrants do not have a hgh school diploma.   8% of United States natives do not." --- Mark R. Levin 2009 _Liberty and Tyranny_ pg157; citing Steven A. Camarota 2007 November _Center for Immigration Studies_ "Immigrants in the United States 2007"  

 
 

2010-09-20

2010-09-20 03:03PDT (06:03EDT) (10:03GMT)
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
Ohio takes lead in fight over off-shoring: back-lash against sending work/jobs over-seas has implications for IT policy
"There are anti-out-sourcing efforts in almost every state, but few are as loud and aggressive about it as Ohio.   This is a state that has suffered major job losses in manufacturing, and the anger about those losses has put offshore outsourcing in the cross-hairs of state politics.   The actions by state political leaders, including a recent state ban on offshore work, might be minor news in the U.S., but not over-seas.   India's news outlets, in particular, have written more stories about Ohio's anti-off-shore moves than their U.S. counterparts, and the ban has drawn the attention of cabinet-level ministers and the leaders of India's big IT firms...   The president spoke in Parma, Ohio, earlier this month about the economy, saying in part: 'And, Ohio, I think if we're going to give tax breaks to companies, they should go to companies that create jobs in America -- not that create jobs over'seas...'...   Last week, U.S. representative Marcy Kaptur's 'Made in America' bill passed the U.S. House by a lopsided margin: 371-36.   Its goal is to ensure that products purchased by the legislative branch are made in America.   Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio, was blunt: 'Out-sourced production translates into lost jobs.'   The anti-out-sourcing efforts picked up steam last month when Ohio governor Ted Strickland issued an executive order barring state agencies from sending any work offshore.   'Out-sourcing jobs does not reflect Ohio values.', said Strickland, who is up for re-election this year.   He didn't stop there; Strickland blasted off-shore firms, saying their use has 'unacceptable business consequences', including data security and privacy risks.   Strickland took that position despite having given about $19M in tax breaks in 2007 to Indian giant Tata Consultancy Services to build a development center in the state.   Tata has already established 400 jobs at the center and is supposed to have 1K there by the end of 2011 [but there is still no word on how many of Tata's employees are US citizens]...   'Manufacturing is extremely important because that is where the bulk of the research and development is.', said Harold 'Hal' Williams, an economics professor emeritus at Kent State...   The Ohio Supercomputer Center's Blue Collar Computing program in Columbus has been on the leading edge in the U.S. to provide high-performance computing resources to manufacturers."

2010-09-20
Sara C. Tobias _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
TP Tools' abrasive-blasting equipment used in classic vehicle restorations

2010-09-20
_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_AP_
county approved over $8.3M in subsidies to move Whirlpool within Cleveland, TN area
"the package includes $6.5M in grant funds from the state, $1.8M to be split between the county and city of Cleveland and a 20-year [early] payment-in-lieu of taxes agreement that starts in 2013...   Whirlpool is building a cooking appliance plant and distribution center in Cleveland, creating 130 new jobs, while closing its 100-year-old plant...   Whirlpool executives have said the 1M square foot plant and 400K square foot distribution facility are part of the Benton Harbor, MI-based company's commitment to manufacturing in the U.S.A.   Construction is scheduled to start later this year.   The LEED-certified facility is expected to start production of built-in cooking products in early 2012.   Whirlpool currently has more than 2K employees in its Cleveland-based operations."

2010-09-20 08:30PDT (11:40EDT) (15:40GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
NBER says recession ended 2009 June, but the public says the economic depression continues
Jeffry Bartash & Ruth Mantell: MarketWatch (with graph)
NBER announcement
NBER announcement from NBER site

2010-09-20 10:16PDT (13:16EDT) (17:16GMT)
_Jacksonville FL Times-Union_
Leonard Skinner, rest in peace
Matt Soergel: Augusta GA Chronicle
Clark Collis: Entertainment Week
JackTimes
Kathy Kelly: Daytona Beach FL News-Journal
John Popovich: WCPO
Labelle Bitalac: News Chronicle
Jodi Jill: Examiner
CNN
Adam Gabbatt: Manchester Guardian
"He was just a by-the-book gym teacher at Robert E. Lee High School, his alma mater, who, in the late 1960s, sent some students to the principal's office because their hair was too long.   Gene Odom, who worked security for the band and survived the crash of its plane in 1977, said one of the longhairs was Gary Rossington.   Rossington was guitarist in a rock band that would later name itself Lynyrd Skynyrd in a smart-aleck tribute to the gym teacher.   During an interview in 2009 January, Mr. Skinner said he was just following the rules about hair length...   Forby Leonard Skinner was born 1933 Jan. 11, in Jacksonville.   He graduated from Lee High in 1951.   A talented athlete who played basketball into his sixties, he went to Jacksonville Junior College (now Jacksonville University) on a basketball scholarship before being drafted into the Army.   'He did more playing ball and playing than studying.', noted his wife, Rosemary Skinner.   They were high school acquaintances who reunited at the beach in 1955 as 'he was celebrating his release from the Army and uniforms', she said.   They married in 1956.   The next year, he graduated from Florida State University.   He remained a dedicated Seminoles fan for the rest of his life and rarely missed a football game.   He taught and coached in schools until 1969, when he retired from Lee.   He then had a real estate firm, sold cars and owned a few bars."

2010-09-20 11:40:18PDT (14:40:18EDT) (18:40:18GMT)
_San Jose CA Mercury "News"_/_AP_
German government pushes tech firms to adopt privacy code

2010-09-20
Donald A. Collins _V Dare_
US Immigration Reform Is Vital -- But World Population Growth Coming Like A Tsunami

2010-09-20
William L. Anderson
Krugman and Obama are hardly low-income populists, themselves

2010-09-20
Ben Stein _American Spectator_
Atonement Saturday

2010-09-20
Arnold Kling _Library of Economics and Liberty_
Did the recession really end 15 months ago?

2010-09-20
_UBM_/_PR News Wire_
Tata given Ohio's "Investing in People"
"the Workforce One Investment Board of Southwest Ohio (WOIB) selected TCS as one of six 2010 Investing in People Awards recipients for its goIT initiative, which aims to [sucker] local high school students [into dead-end IT careers]...   With a total of more than 400 employees at the Seven Hills Park office in Milford, OH, TCS actively supports the community on a national, regional, and local level.   In the last 15 months, TCS has hired more than 300 new local employees at their Seven Hills Park office of which 220 are recent U.S. College graduate hires [but they continue adamantly to refuse to say how many and what proportion are US citizens]."
Tata median salaries by city

2010-09-20 (5771 Tishrei 12)
Jonah Goldberg _Jewish World Review_
A Convenient Excuse

2010-09-20 (5771 Tishrei 12)
Rabbi Doctor Asher Meir _Jewish World Review_
Believe It or Not?
"But before you can try to help the oppressed, you have to verify the story.   In this column we have discussed innumerable times the prohibition of speaking lashon hara, speaking ill of others unless the disclosure meets stringent conditions of accuracy, necessity and proportionality.   This prohibition is learned from the Torah verse, 'Don't go about as a talebearer among your people'. (Leviticus/Va Yikra 19:16)   However, it is less well known that there is also a prohibition on receiving slander.   In particular, when we hear someone making a damaging disclosure about someone else, we are forbidden to believe the story, again unless certain stringent conditions are fulfilled.   The Torah commands (Exodus/Shemot 23:1): 'Do not accept a false report.   Do not join forces with a wicked person to be a corrupt witness.'...   The second explanation is what is familiarly known in legal jargon as 'ex parte': a judge is forbidden to hear the claims of one side without the presence of the other side.   This is true even if subsequently the other side is given the full opportunity to present the case; in order to rebut the other side it is necessary to know exactly what the judge has heard.   This accepted rule in modern jurisprudence was accepted in Jewish law from at least the time of the Mechilta."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Simplicity can yield functionality, robustness, speed and space.   Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson originally developed the Unix operating system on a machine with 8192 18-bit words.   In their paper about the system, they remark 'there have always been fairly severe size constraints on the system and its software.   Given the partially antagonistic desires for reasonable efficiency and expressive power, the size constraing has encouraged not only economy but a certain elegance of design." --- Jon L. Bentley 1986, 1999 _Programming Pearls_ pg99  

 
 

2010-09-21: 6 weeks to USA elections

2010-09-20 20:00PDT (2010-09-20 23:00EDT) (2010-09-21 03:00GMT)
Courtney Yuen _Daily Illini_
Engineering Employment Expo at U of IL
"Just over 170 companies, including Rolls Royce, BP, Procter & Gamble, the CIA and many others are participating in the career fair this week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.   The Engineering Employment Expo compliments last week's Engineering Career Services Career Fair.   Mike Alvarez, expo director, said these two weeks combined have brought over 400 companies to the University.   The Expo will be held from 09:00 to 16:00 Tuesday and Wednesday in the Illini Union rooms A, B and C.   Next Spring's exposition is scheduled for Feb. 10...   'Recently the University of Illinois was ranked at number 3 in recruiting for the nation...   We're all pretty happy with that because we felt like we had at least a small part to do with that.', Alvarez said.   '(Recruiters) are typically pretty excited, which is why we get returning companies, because they have great success at our fair.'...   Brandon Seerup, senior in Engineering, said he has attended previous employment expositions before and appreciates the opportunity to meet with companies that he may not have considered initially."

2010-09-21
Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings _Charleston SC Post & Courier_
Media have ignored the USA's surrender in trade wars

2010-09-21 11:20:29PDT (14:20:29EDT) (18:20:29GMT)
Bradley S. Klapper _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_/_AP_
EU, WTO agree to lower 14% tariffs on some electronic goods from USA, Japan and Taiwan
"The trade body condemned the EU in August for levying duties on flat-panel computer monitors, cable and satellite boxes that can access the Internet, and printers that can also scan, fax and copy.   The U.S.A., Japan and Taiwan argued that those products should have been accepted tax-free under a 1996 agreement on information technology equipment."

2010-09-21
Erin Rosa _NarcoNews_
Eye-scanners being tested along USA-Mexico border
"The eye scanners being tested are reported to have the ability to track up to 50 people a minute from several feet away."

2010-09-21
W. James Antle iii _American Spectator_
Immigration Double-Speak
"in private, the discussion among Obama appointees often turns to ways they can use their administrative powers to give illegal immigrants work permits and an interim legal status, even if Congress does not go through the formality of passing [reprehensible immigration law perversion'.   In fact, getting around the democratically elected legislative branch's intransigence seems to be the point...   Now TAS has obtained an early draft of a memo prepared in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a version of which sources say made it all the way up to Secretary Janet Napolitano, contemplating a 'bold' program [abusing] 'administrative measures to side-step the current state of Congressional grid-lock and inertia'.   Translation: an amnesty for people -- described as 'the current unauthorized population or selected sub-sets' -- Congress has repeatedly decided not to grant amnesty.   Maybe that amnesty would affect 'the entire potential legalization population' with the exception of 'individuals who pose a security risk'.   Maybe it would be "narrowly tailored" and extend only to 'individuals eligible for relief under the [NIGHTMARE Act], AgJOBS, or other specifically defined subcategories'.   For English, press 1: that means [illegal aliens] who would have benefited from mini-amnesty legislation that Congress has also pointedly declined to pass."

2010-09-21
Gloria Della & Clarisse Young _US DoL_
USTR and US DoL meet about US-Bahrain "Free" Trade Agreement

2010-09-21
Christina Hernandez _SmartPlanet_/_Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Transportation is important to metro economies

2010-09-21
Michelle Malkin _V Dare_
The Delphi Disaster: An Economic Horror Story Obama Won't Tell
"Consider the real-life horror story of 20K white-collar workers at Delphi, a leading auto parts company spun off from GM a decade ago.   As Washington rushed to nationalize the U.S. auto industry with $80G in [tax-victim] 'rescue' funds and avoid contested court termination proceedings, the White House auto team schemed with Big Labor bosses to preserve UAW members' costly pension funds by shafting their nonunion counterparts.   In addition, the nonunion pensioners lost all of their health and life insurance benefits.   The abused workers—most from hard-hit northeast Ohio, Michigan and neighboring states—had devoted decades of their lives as secretaries, technicians, engineers and sales employees at Delphi/GM.   Some workers have watched up to 70% of their pensions vanish."

2010-09-21
William L. Anderson
Veronique de Rugy on the need for austerity in government

2010-09-21
David North _Center for Immigration Studies_
H-1B visa program gets 2 well-deserved kicks in the ribs
"A federal court ruled in favor of a USCIS memorandum designed to limit some of the worst abuses of the program, and the U.S. Labor Department forced a software firm to pay $1M in back wages to 135 of its workers."

2010-09-21 (5771 Tishrei 14)
Bruce Maiman _Examiner_
immigration, anchor babies, and the intent of the 14th amendment

2010-09-21 (5771 Tishrei 14)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
The Politics of Resentment
"Mayor Adrian Fenty, under whom the murder rate has gone down and the school children's test scores have gone up, was resoundingly defeated for re-election.   Nor was Mayor Fenty simply a passive beneficiary of the rising test scores and falling murder rates.   He appointed Michelle Rhee as head of the school system and backed her as she fought the teachers' union and fired large numbers of ineffective teachers -- something considered impossible in most cities across the country.   Mayor Fenty also appointed the city's chief of police, Cathy Lanier, who has cracked down on hoodlumism, as well as crime.   Either one of these achievements would made mayors local heroes in most other cities.   Why then was he clobbered in the election?   One key fact tells much of the story: Mayor Fenty received more than 70% of the white vote in Washington.   His opponent received more than 80% of the black vote.   Both men are black.   But the head of the school system that he appointed is Asian and the chief of police is a white woman.   More than that, most of the teachers who were fired were black.   There were also bitter complaints that black contractors did not get as many of the contracts for doing business with the city as they expected.   In short, the mayor appointed the best people he could find, instead of running a racial patronage system, as a black mayor of a city with a black majority is apparently expected to.   He also didn't spend as much time schmoozing with the folks as was expected...   How did we reach the point where a city is so polarized that an overwhelming majority of the white vote goes to one candidate and the overwhelming majority of the black vote goes to the opposing candidate?   How did we reach the point where black voters put racial patronage and racial symbolism above the education of their children and the safety of everyone?   There are many reasons but the trend is ominous.   One key factor was the creation, back in the 1960s, of a whole government-supported industry of race hustling...   One of the largely untold stories of our time has been the story of how ACORN, Jesse Jackson and other community activists have been able to transfer billions of dollars from banks to their own organizations' causes, with the aid of the federal government, exemplified by the Community Reinvestment Act and its sequels.   Racial anger and racial resentments are the fuel that keeps this lucrative racket going.   How surprised should anyone be that community activist groups have used mau-mau disruptions in banks and harassed both business and government officials in their homes?"

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "In 2004 the Papers and Proceedings of the _American Economic Review_ included an empirical study of deflationary episodes in 17 countries over the past 100 years.   When the authors excluded the Great Depression, they found that, in 90% of the deflated episodes they studied, no depression resulted.   'In a broader historical context, beyond the Great Depression, the notion that deflation and depression are linked virtually disappears.', they concluded.   Falling prces in and of themselves are not a cause of business depressions -- they've occurred far too often during prosperous times for that to be true -- and are more likely a consequence of depressed economic conditions rather than a cause of them." --- Thomas E. Woods 2009 _Melt-Down_ pg139; citing Andrew Atkeson & Patrick J. Kehoe 2004 May "Deflation and Depression: Is There an Empirical Link?" _American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings_ vol94 pp99-103; see also Joseph T. Salerno 2004-08-06 "Deflation and Depression: Where's the Link?"  

 
 

2010-09-22

2010-09-21 17:53:08PDT (2010-09-21 20:23:08EDT) (2010-09-22 00:23:08GMT)
Troy Wolverton _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_
Xerox PARC turns 40
"If anything, the Palo Alto Research Center, which was spun off from Xerox in 2002, has a broader mission today -- pursuing research in areas such as solar energy generation, drug discovery tools and even water treatment, in addition to its long-time focus on information technology hardware and software...   To be sure, a big part of PARC's legacy is Xerox's failure to capitalize on many of its inventions.   While Xerox cashed in on the laser printer, it missed out on other, bigger markets.   Apple and Microsoft popularized the desk-top interface for computers, not Xerox.   Palm, not Xerox, brought hand-held computers to the main-stream.   Frustration over the failure to adopt or commercialize much of PARC's work led many of its early stars to leave for other ventures.   Among them were Chuck Geschke and John Warnock, who left in 1982 and cofounded Adobe Systems.   Geschke remembers PARC as both 'magical', because of the innovative people and technology, and frustrating, because of Xerox's inability to put those inventions and people to good use."

2010-09-21 20:57PDT (2010-09-21 23:57EDT) (2010-09-22 03:57GMT)
Cindy Carcamo _Orange county CA Register_
NIGHTMARE act amnesty for illegal aliens died in the US senate
ALIPAC Congratulates Americans for Defeating Amnesty NIGHTMARE Again
roll-call vote

2010-09-22
_Judicial Watch_
senators ask Napolitano to explain back-door amnesty plan: alternatives to immigration reform

2010-09-22 06:06PDT (09:06EDT) (13:06GMT)
_Forbes_/_AP_
Ohio governor writes to USTR regarding preference for domestic out-sourcing

2010-09-22 06:27PDT (09:27EDT) (13:27GMT)
_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
TN gets $11.6M federal grant for health information privacy violation scheme

2010-09-22 07:59PDT (10:59EDT) (14:59GMT)
Steve Goldstein _MarketWatch_
US house prices best in nearly 6 years: fell 1.2% in June, 0.5% in July
"'In the absence of a rapid employment growth, and factoring in all the potential excess housing supply from foreclosures and looming delinquencies, housing prices will likely remain under pressure and continue trending lower throughout this year and next.', said Yelena Schulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas."

2010-09-22 12:44:37PDT (15:44:37EDT) (19:44:37GMT)
Rachel Metz _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_/_AP_
Apple leads computer-makers in customer satisfaction survey

2010-09-22 10:56PDT (13:56EDT) (17:56GMT)
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_
Indian government and NASSCOM continue to push for exemption of their guest-workers in the USA from pay-roll taxes

2010-09-22 13:00PDT (16:00EDT) (20:00GMT)
Jack Tymann _Naples FL Daily News_
Political bosses simply don't understand the tea party movement

2010-09-22
_Billings MT Gazette_/_AP_
Canada to close their side of port in April, now, after expenditure of $8.5M in "stimulus", senator wants US side closed

2010-09-22
W. James Antle iii _American Spectator_
moderates McCain and Napolitano square off on immigration enforcement

2010-09-22
Steve Sailer _V Dare_
SAT scores in California
Larry Gordon: Los Angeles CA Times
Mark J. Perry: American Enterprise Institute (with graph)
"For perfect scores of 800 points on the SAT math test, there were 8,072 males and 3,887 females achieving at the highest possible level, for a male-female ratio of 2.08:1.   However, there were almost 15% more female high school students (827,197) taking the SAT in 2010 than male students (720,793), and to account for those differences in the number of test takers, we can calculate that 1.12% of all male test takers scored perfect 800 scores, versus only 0.47% of all female test takers, for a male-female ratio 2.38:1, which is even higher than the unadjusted male-female ratio."

2010-09-22
Steve Sailer _V Dare_
IQ Genes

2010-09-22
Chuck Baldwin _V Dare_
More On The Montana Freedom Rush: Will Liberty Continue To Have A Home In America?

2010-09-22
Matthew Richer _V Dare_
Aunt Zeituni's immigrant entitlement complex

2010-09-22
Jeff Young _Chronicl of Higher Education_
On Many Campi in India, Infra-structure Is Still a Problem
"on a campus here that is only 6 years old and boasts of state-of-the art class-rooms and campuswide Wi-Fi.   They can’t fix the country's iffy power grid, but the computer labs here are equipped with generators to keep students from losing their papers when the lights go out...   The power failed again as I was waiting to meet with Surendra Prasad, director of the Indian Institute of Technology at Delhi, one of the country's most prestigious universities...   'There are accredited engineering colleges that don't have windows or tiles on the floors.', Mr. Khemka said.   'I tell administrators from American colleges, ''India sounds great, but before you consider sending your students here, visit the lavatories.'''"

2010-09-22
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring News-Letter_
Ohio bans off-shoring of state work
Though not noticed by the main-stream press, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has issued an executive order that has riled up the Indian government and Indian off-shoring firms.   As reported by ComputerWorld on Sept. 7.
 
Strickland's criticism of off-shore out-sourcing was part of a recent order to state agencies prohibiting them from hiring any firm that sends work off-shore.   The agencies were ordered to be in compliance by last week.
 
As I've mentioned recently, I no longer post ComputerWorld articles in full, due to an anti-distribution notice at the bottom of each page. But here are some excerpts:
 
Ohio isn't the first state to bar off-shore out-sourcing.   New Jersey also moved to block off-shore out-sourcing after a vendor used off-shore labor for call center support.
Budget Woes Could Boost Government Off-Shoring

 
The phrasing above -- "prohibiting [state agencies] from hiring any firm that sends work off-shore" -- is a little vague, and makes it sound as if the new policy forbids Ohio state agencies from contracting with any firm that does off-shoring, even if the agency's work itself is not off-shored.   Now THAT would be a very strong law!   But apparently it doesn't work that way, according to the actual text of the executive order.
 
A bill proposing a similar policy for California was passed by the legislature in 2004, but was vetoed by governor Schwarzeneggar.   The details were reported in the San Francisco Chronicle.
 
Part of that article contained a bit of dark humor:
 
In a lengthy veto message of AB1829 by Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-Los Angeles, Canada Flintridge, Schwarzenegger characterized an out-sourcing ban as a restriction of foreign trade that could hurt the economy and stymie entrepreneurship.
 
"Our focus should not be on erecting artificial barriers that that will thwart the spirit of our citizens and the businesses that will help our economy grow.", he said.
 
The governor cited a recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California that concluded that the outsourcing phenomena affected relatively few workers and that a ban could have unintended negative consequences, such as a slow-down of foreign investment in California.
 
The study was actually commissioned by Assembly Democrats, who suffered some embarrassment with the results.
 
Applauded by the state Chamber of Commerce, Schwarzenegger was blasted by Democrats, who said the governor protected big corporations at the expense of workers.

 
What those poor schnook Democrats didn't realize is that the Public Policy Institute of California is hardly going to come out against off-shoring, as it is tied to big business.   PPIC is funded by Wm. Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.   Moreover, much of PPIC's endowment consists of Hewlett-Packard stock.   (See David W. Lyon "The Role and Impact of the Public Policy Institute of California: An Operating Foundation as Think Tank", presented to the PPIC Board of Directors at its quarterly meeting, 2004 March 4.)
 
Getting back to the present and the Computerworld article, the account notes that this same governor Strickland actively encouraged TCS, one of the biggest off-shoring operations worldwide, to locate in Ohio:
 
But Strickland has also wooed off-shore companies to his state.   In 2007, Indian IT services giant Tata Consultancy Services said it would build its North American Delivery Center in Milford, Ohio, after the state offered about $19M in tax credits and other incentives.
 
TCS said Friday that it has 400 people working at its Ohio delivery center, an increase of a 100 workers from about a year ago.
 
TCS employs more than 141K people worldwide, but more than 90% of its work force is Indian.   U.S. workers account for only a tiny fraction of its work-force.   Earlier this year, TCS reported that it has 10,700 employees who are nationals of countries other than India, and of that number fewer than 7% were Americans...
 
Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, sees a contradiction in the governor's action.
 
"Governor Strickland should be commended for his recognition that out-sourcing reduces employment opportunities for Americans and harms American workers.", Hira said.   "This is an important epiphany given the massive government subsidy he gave to the largest off-shore out-sourcing company."
 
Tata's business model "is to off-shore as many American jobs as possible.   So, it's strange that Mr. Strickland would use precious tax dollars to subsidize such a company.", Hira said.   About 80% of Tata's workers are in low-cost countries, he said.

 
Yes, most Americans would see Strickland's actions as contradictory, but this seeming clash has, sadly, has been the semi-official party line for the Democrats for some years now -- exporting jobs to India is bad, but importing workers from India is glorious.
 
Nonetheless, the Strickland order has drawn sharp reactions from the Indian side, especially by the Indian trade association NASSCOM; see for instance.
 
OTOH, NASSCOM chairman Harsh Manglik must tread carefully, as I and others have noted; see the Indian paper, the Economic Times, 2010 August 19.
 
Norm
Tata median salaries by city

2010-09-22
Arnold Kling _Library of Economics and Liberty_
I, Super-Senior CDO Tranche?

2010-09-22 (5771 Tishrei 14)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Profit versus Non-Profit
"'Philadelphia Scandal Underscores Pitiful State of Public Housing Oversight', read Jonathan Berr's Aug. 28 report in the Daily Finance.   It was a story about Carl Greene, the embattled director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA).   He was put on paid leave while the board investigates charges that he settled four sexual harassment claims against him without notifying the PHA, doled out work to politically connected law firms and pressured employees to donate to his favorite non-profit.   Greene is also being investigated by the U.S. Attorney General Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and HUD's Office of Inspector General.   They have yet to bring criminal charges against him.   People always act surprised by revelations of political corruption but the Philadelphia Housing Authority corruption is highly probably in non-profit entities such as government.   Because of ignorance and demagoguery, being profit-motivated has become suspicious and possibly a dirty word.   Nonprofit is seen as more righteous.   Very often, people pompously stand before us and declare, 'We're a non-profit organization.'.   They expect for us to believe that since they're not in it for money, they are somehow above self-interest and have the public interest as their motivation.   There's little much further from the truth.   People are always self-interested.   It's just when they manage a non-profit organization such as the Philadelphia Housing Authority, government entities in general, universities and charitable organizations, they face a different set of constraints on their behavior.   The fundamental difference between non-profit organizations and their profit-making counterparts is that non-profits tend to take a greater portion of their compensation from easier working conditions, more time off, favors and under-the-table payments.   Profit-making organizations take a greater portion of their compensation in cash, except those that are highly regulated.   In the profit-making world, there is much greater monitoring of the behavior of people who act for the organization.   Profit-making organizations have a financial bottom line they must meet, or sooner or later, heads will roll.   Not so with non-profits, who have no bottom line to meet.   On top of that, incompetence for non-profits means bigger budgets, higher pay and less oversight.   That description aptly fits one the nation's largest non-profit organizations -- the public education establishment.   Profit is vital to human well-being.   Profit is the payment to entrepreneurs just as wages are payments to labor, interest to capital and rent to land.   In order to earn profits in free markets, entrepreneurs must identify and satisfy human wants and do so in a way that economizes on society's scarce resources.   Here's a little test.   Which entities produce greater customer satisfaction: for-profit enterprises such as supermarkets, computer makers and clothing stores, or non-profit entities such as public schools, post offices and motor vehicle departments?...   When a firm fails to please its customers and thereby fails to earn a profit, it goes bankrupt, making those resources available to another who might do better."

2010-09-22 (5771 Tishrei 14)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Penny-Wise on Crime
"For more than 200 years, the political left has been coming up with reasons why criminals should not be punished as much, or at all.   The latest gambit in Missouri is providing judges with the costs of incarcerating the criminals they sentence.   According to the New York Times, 'a 3-year prison sentence would run more than $37K while probation would cost $6,770'.   For a more serious crime, where a 5-year imprisonment would cost more than $50K, it would cost less than $9K for what is described as '5 years of intensive probation'.   This is only the latest in a long line of "alternatives to incarceration" schemes that are constantly being pushed by all sorts of clever people, not only in Missouri but across the United States and across the Atlantic, especially in Britain.   The most obvious question that is being resolutely ignored in these scientific-sounding calculations is: What is the cost of turning criminals loose?   Phrases like 'intensive probation' may create the illusion that criminals at large are somehow under control of the authorities but illusions are especially dangerous when it comes to crime.   Another question that ought to be obvious is: Why are we counting only the cost to the government of putting a criminal behind bars, but not the cost to the public of turning him loose?...   In the United States, the cost of incarcerating a criminal has been estimated as being $10K a year less than the cost of turning him loose.   In all these calculations we are leaving out the costs of violence, intimidation and the fears that people have for the safety of themselves and their children, not to mention the sense of helplessness and outrage when the society refuses to pay as much attention to innocent victims as they lavish on the criminals who victimize them."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Most knew some trade other than farming.   Almost half of the Scottish males who came to America between 1815 and 1914 qualified as either skilled or semi-skilled workers." --- Arthur Herman 2001 _How the Scots Invented the Modern World_ pg328  

 
 

2010-09-23

2010-09-23 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 379,369 in the week ending September 18, an increase of 37,705 from the previous week.   There were 437,543 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.1% during the week ending September 11, unchanged from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,891,808, a decrease of 42,132 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 3.9% and the volume was 5,223,904.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA ID, IL, IN KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending September 4...   States reported 4,222,314 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Sept. 4, an increase of 113,785 from the prior week.   There were 3,213,139 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" changes
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03;
to 126,763,245 beginning 2010-07-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-09-23
Hilda L. Solis _US DoL_
National Employ Older Workers Week

2010-09-23 08:24PDT (11:24EDT) (15:24GMT)
Steve Goldstein _MarketWatch_
Conference Board: Leading Economic Index up only 0.3%

2010-09-23 11:48PDT (14:48EDT) (18:48GMT)
_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
Knox county unemployment rate was up slightly in August

2010-09-23
Philip Klein _American Spectator_
GOP pledges to be timid in the face of crisis
James Fulford: V Dare
Doug Mataconis: Outside the Beltway

2010-09-23
Paul Chesser _American Spectator_
Nature videos are artifice

2010-09-23
Ed Kemmick _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Owners of second-hand store sue city over abuses by code-nazis

2010-09-23 12:22:17PDT (15:22:17EDT) (19:22:17GMT)
Mike Cassidy _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_
Iranian immigrants invest heavily in incubation of start-ups of other immigrants in Sili Valley

2010-09-23
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
Immigration Heresy (Or At Least Error) From Episcopal Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

2010-09-23
Rob Sanchez _V Dare_/_Job Destruction News-Letter_
Krentz Widow Speaks Out

2010-09-23
Michelle Malkin _V Dare_
How privileged Leftists pay for their houses

2010-09-23
Michael Cutler _News with Views_
Mexico building security fence on border with Guatemala
Dave Gibson: Examiner

2010-09-23
William L. Anderson
Krugman's Pseudo-Non-Partisan Adventure

2010-09-23
Neeraj Chaudhary _Seeking Alpha_
Krugman, you're cannibalizing America
"When looking for zombies, the first place Mr. Krugman should look is in the mirror.   He has one answer to every problem: eat more taxpayers.   He isn't even a true Keynesian.   Mr. Krugman is the guardian of a system that died a long time ago.   He is the walking undead of the New Deal era.   What Keynes actually said about government spending is that during recessions, governments should run budget deficits to boost aggregate demand, and during expansions, governments should run budget surpluses in order to save up for the inevitable recession years.   Now, whether you agree with this or not -- and I happen to disagree with this approach -- what we have actually done is run deficits, year-in, year-out, almost every single year for 40 years!   And, as a result, we have accumulated a national debt approaching 100% of our annual gross domestic product."

2010-09-23
Arnold Kling _Library of Economics and Liberty_
Alan Blinder testifies

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "When you're practicing deeply, the world's usual rules are suspended.   You use time more efficiently.   Your small efforts produce big, lasting results.   You have positioned yourself at a place of leverage where you can capture failure and turn it into skill.   The trick is to choose a goal just beyond your present abilities; to target the struggle." --- Daniel Coyle 2009 _The Talent Code_ pg 19  

 
 

2010-09-24

2010-09-23 21:01PDT (2010-09-24 00:01EDT) (2010-09-24 04:01GMT)
Ashley Allen & Douglas McIntyre _MarketWatch)
The reason behind its growth is simple: Apple clobbers the competition
"Apple has remained ahead of its competitors with innovations that gamble on its ability to assess the consumer and enterprise markets.   In the case of the iPod, the lead is astronomical.   In the case of the iPhone, the lead has not even been established."

2010-09-24
D.A. Wilkinson _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Aquafarmer pleased with crop of tilapia, prawns and frogs

2010-09-24 05:53PDT (08:53EDT) (12:53GMT)
Martin Crutsinger _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_AP_
Investments in capital goods were up 4.1% in August after having fallen 5.3% in July

2010-09-24 08:45PDT (11:45EDT) (15:45GMT)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
August durable-goods orders dropped 1.3%

2010-09-24 13:25PDT (16:25EDT) (20:25GMT)
Joelle Tessler _Seattle WA Times_/_AP_
tech executives settle with Obummer/Holder DoJ over hiring conspiracy
Newport News VA Daily Press
Kansas City Star
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Charleston SC Daily Mail
Tacoma WA News Tribune
Forbes
TreeHugger
Lexington KY Herald-Leader
AOL
Olympian
Denver CO Post
WSB Atlanta GA TV
St. Paul MN Pioneer Press
Trading Markets/McClatchy-Tribune
Tom Krazit: CNET/Ziff Davis/CBS
"allegations that they colluded to stifle competition for employees by restricting the way they could poach workers from each other.   The settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia late Friday, names Google Inc., Apple Inc., Intel Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., Intuit Inc. and Walt Disney Corp.'s Pixar Animation Studios.   The Justice Department had been investigating whether the companies pledged not to use 'cold calls' to recruit each other's employees, as part of partnership agreements.   For example, Apple placed Google on its 'do not call' list, which instructed employees not to directly cold-call Google's employees.   Similarly, Google listed Apple among the companies with which it had special agreements not to solicit, the Justice Department said.   These agreements were 'actively managed' by senior executives, it added.   The government was concerned that such promises amounted to a form of collusion to avoid bidding wars for employees with specialized skills, and in turn hold down pay-roll expenses."

2010-09-24 12:51PDT (15:51EDT) (19:51GMT)
Steve Goldstein _MarketWatch_
Graphs: What we learned about the economy

2010-09-24
Rob Rogers _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
teachers nationwide spent $1.33G of their own money to stock their class-rooms during the past year
"That figure comes as no real surprise to Linda Bertelson, a third-grade teacher at Broadwater Elementary who used to spend around $800 of her own money each year buying supplies to augment her teaching and to benefit students.   'I think most teachers are pretty generous people.', she said.   On average, Billings teachers spend about $150 a year of their own money for their class-rooms, said Bruce MacIntyre, director of government affairs for the Billings Chamber of Commerce and its liaison to the school district.   For the nearly 1,200 teachers in the district, that's just less than $200K a year.   Jeff Greenfield, president of the Billings Education Association -- the district's teachers union -- sent out an informal survey last year to find out just how much of their own money teachers were spending.   Most of the teachers appeared to be spending in the $100 to $200 range, he said.   Although one respondent said she'd spent $3K of her own money last year...   Many teachers buy classroom prizes, additional supplies and fund field trips, he said.   They also spend money to help poorer students.   He had a colleague last year buy a student a pair of shoes because the family couldn't do it.   Confronted daily by students who are in deep need for some of life's basic items, many teachers feel compelled to help, he said...   The National Retail Federation has estimated families will spend 17% more on school supplies for their children's class-rooms than they did last year...   At Broadwater Elementary, the PTA has played an important part in helping teachers cut down their expenses, Bertelson said.   The group awards small grants to teachers who demonstrate the need and show where they'll spend the money.   They also help pay transportation costs for field trips."

2010-09-24
Sherrod Brown
senator Sherrod Brown co-sponsors tax changes to balance incentives for firms to employ US citizens
++ S3816; Durbin; Creating US Jobs and Ending Off-Shoring

2010-09-24
_Numbers USA_
Battle over NIGHTMARE act is not over

2010-09-24
DJIA10,860.26
S&P 5001,148.67
NASDAQ2,381.22
Nikkei9,472
10-year US T-Bond2.61
crude oil$76.50/barrel
gold$1,298.10/ounce
silver$21.399/ounce
platinum$1,621.90/ounce
palladium$558.50/ounce
copper$0.226125/ounce
natgas$3.881/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline $1.9471/gal
heatingoil$2.1306/gal
soybeans$11.26/bushel
maize$5.2175/bushel
wheat$7.20/bushel
dollarindex79.27
yenperdollar84.18
dollarspereuro1.3489
dollarsperpound1.5828
swissfranksperdollar 1.3263
indianrupeesperdollar 45.25
mexicanpesosperdollar 12.5397
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex586.89

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
++ S3816; Durbin; Creating US Jobs and Ending Off-Shoring
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "For years, the leaders of science and their political supporters had urged scientists to team up and take the case for science directly to the public.   In 1990, a post-doctoral fellow in physics at the Naval Research Laboratory, Kevin Aylesworth, adapted that advice to the job situation, setting up an e-mail alliance, the Young Scientists' Network, to swap information, and dismay, about job prospects.   'I have conducted an informal poll of 25 post-docs and recent recipients of PhDs in physics.', Aylesworth wrote in _Physics Today_, the monthly magazine of the American Institute of Physics.   'I have found that all of them have been seriously hunting for permanent positions for the last 3 to 6 months with absolutely no success.'   Aylesworth doggedly telephoned, wrote to, e-mailed, and visited reporters and congressional staff members in Washington [DC], supplying them with details of the bleak job market and urging skepticism toward the short-fall-shortage alarms.   Engineers, particularly afflicted by the poor job situation, lashed the 'short-fall' forecasts in their professional publications.   'Annual Surplus of 10K-15K EEs Predicted' head-lined an article in the 1990-07-30 _Electronic Engineering Times_.   The engineers also took their grievances to congress.   The result was a rare event, a probing, skeptical congressional hearing into the short-fall issue and the internal workings of the NSF and its allies in academe and in the bastions of science in Washington [DC]." --- Daniel S. Greenberg 2001 _Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion_ pg128  

 
 

2010-09-25

1789-09-25: 14 amendments of the Bill of Rights approved by congress and sent to the states for ratification

2010-09-25
Ed Runyan _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Lordstown UAW Local says GM management being "sneaky, evasive and dishonest"
"A flier distributed by United Auto Workers Union Local 1112 this week calls GM management 'sneaky, evasive and dishonest on many issues' and calls on the union's workers to treat management with 'the same respect that they treat us.   So as of today, that's none'.   The flier says the union is especially troubled by a GM document that spells out rules relating to skilled-trades workers at the plant and the practice of sending Cruzes out of the plant for repairs 'that our membership should have been repairing'.   The union hand-bill also says Local 1112 learned Tuesday morning that Cruzes were going to a warehouse, believed to be on Victoria Road in Austintown, where a 'third-party vendor' was doing work on 'the switch and a canister' on the underside of the vehicle.   At 07:30, 'We took pictures of the content of work they were doing, which pertains to us in the assembly plant.', the union flier says.   'The following day, after many heated discussions, your leadership had management agree to stop shipping vehicles to this designated area until we reach a full resolution.', says the flier, which was signed by Jim Graham, Local 1112 president and Ben Strickland, Local 1112 shop chairman...   The flier said Local 1112 leadership had hoped that because of all the changes the union had agreed to in recent months and years to help make GM profitable, 'we envisioned our relations would improve with management.   Unfortunately, we were mistaken because it has not happened.'   The flier says meetings are planned for Monday at GM's Center of Human Resources in Detroit between the company and the UAW union to determine whether the company is following the UAW's national agreement regarding work performed by skilled-trades employees.   'Our position is that they are violating the national agreement and overstepping their boundaries.', the flier says.   In 2007 and 2009, the UAW and General Motors agreed to reduce the number of skilled-trades classifications to cut costs by having employees cross train and do more types of work than in the past."

2010-09-25
Elise Franco _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
PA-OH ACS celebrated 60th anniversary, received National Outstanding Performance Award

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
++ S3816; Durbin; Creating US Jobs and Ending Off-Shoring
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Lauchlin Currie... who had trained at the London School of Economics, was the intellectual leader of the spending group.   (Currie, like Hiss, was also a Soviet spy, whose arguments won a good reception from naieve colleagues.)" --- Amity Shlaes 2007 _The Forgotten Man_ pg340  

 
 

2010-09-26

2010-09-26
Donna Healy _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Oompah band, Alle Kameraden, brings friends together
Band keeps ethnic and old west music alive
"Some of the Finnish music is light, in 2/4 time, and you can picture a child skipping along on a farm, said Stephen Hanley, of Billings, who plays clarinet.   Finnish polkas are usually very lively, said Rayno Kansala, who has played in Red Lodge Bands since 1948 and is the keeper of the Finnish music collection.   The phrasing in a Finnish polka often ends with the staccato syllables, 'dah, dah, dah'.   The band plays one Finnish polka, Greek-style, starting off slowly and then getting faster and faster, Hanley said...   The band's music taken from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show conveys the excitement and energy of circus music, said Ken Boggio, the band's leader.   'The rodeo, the circus, the vaudeville atmosphere.   That life is in the music all the time.', Boggio said.   The music accompanied every act in the Wild West show, from Annie Oakley's marksmanship to stage-coach rescues.   Mike Masterson, a retired music professor at Northwest College in Powell, WY, researched the authentic music for his doctoral dissertation, finding old programs to learn the titles of original music and then finding those scores.   One march, 'Gilmore's Triumphal', was named after Patrick Gilmore, one of the great Civil War-era band leaders, Masterson said.   Buffalo Bill Cody's Cowboy Band played 'Gilmore's Triumphal' march at a London park in the 1800s when Buffalo Bill's band shared the stage with a British military band, Masterson said.   The piece may also have been used during the Grand March in the Wild West Show.   Some of the Wild West Show pieces are equestrian marches, where you can imagine a cavalry troop marching along at 6/8 time, Hanley said.   In others, there's a brilliance in the trombones and trumpets, a lot of sparkly and very rapid pizzazz and fanfare, he said.   But one piece, a sentimental song, 'Tenting Tonight in the Old Campground', was a Civil War-era hymn, built on the sweet sound of a euphonium, a brass horn similar to a tuba...   At the National Folk Festival in Butte, Alte Kameraden's audience included a former member of the Butte Miner's Band from the 1940s, said Joe Acciani, of Columbus, a band member who is also a composer and conductor."
Red Lodge Band

2010-09-26
_Youngstown OH Vindicator_
PA voters must register by October 4 to vote in November general election

2010-09-26
Andrew Downie _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Wanted: campus "leaders" with few morals, flexible ethics
"Applicants must possess 'an indifference to transparency', 'a willingness to work with dark political agendas', and a 'command of Cold War jargon', the ads said. Candidates with 'few morals and flexible ethics' were preferred."

2010-09-26 08:00PDT (11:00EDT) (15:00GMT)
Jeff Young _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Colleges vs. Cyber-Addiction (and CS students, apparently)

2010-09-26
Michael M. Phillips _Wall Street Journal_
Bill allegedly aimed at slowing over-seas hiring debated

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
++ S3816; Durbin; Creating US Jobs and Ending Off-Shoring
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "When Steve LaTourette, a Republican congress-man from Ohio, surveyed his constituents, he found that just about half wanted the IRS abolished.   But a full three-quarters wanted to see the tax code itself abolished." --- Amity Shlaes 1999 _The Greedy Hand_ pp225  

 
 

2010-09-27

2010-09-27 04:52PDT (07:52EDT) (11:52GMT)
Chas Sisk _Tennessean_/_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_Scripps_
over the last 4 years, TN taxes have been stealthily increased by $115M

2010-09-27 04:54PDT (07:54EDT) (11:54GMT)
Paul Ivice _Treasure Coast FL Palm_
Old Cell Phone plans to hire hundreds more
"Old Cell Phone Company is ahead of schedule to meet a projected expansion to 500 employees by year-end and now executives said the company expects hiring to continue beyond the 863 jobs they'd planned to add by 2013.   The company is in the middle of a $1.5M renovation to a 30K-square-foot building in the Sands Commerce Center in Stuart.   This latest renovation will install 300 more work stations in addition to 406 already in place.   Old Cell Phone, which was honored Friday at the Martin County Business Development Board's annual luncheon as the Martin County Business of the Year, had previously told the Business Development Board it would hire 450 people in 2010.   Chief Financial Officer Chris Stapleton said the company will reach 500 by the end of October.   Old Cell Phone's success in selling used cell phones and its expertise in providing customer service and order fulfillment is drawing interest from more potential clients, co-owner Henry Caldarazzo said...   'The majority of our hires have come through Workforce Solutions.', Caldarazzo said."

2010-09-27
Zach Groth _Daily Illini_
U of IL ranks 2nd most costly of Big 10 universities, next to Penn State

2010-09-27
Fides Araneta _Daily Illini_
Dance your science dissertation

2010-09-27 07:57PDT (10:57EDT) (14:57GMT)
Gene C. Fant _Chronicle of Higher Eduation_
In an academic market where the supply of talented candidates far exceeds the demand, it helps to stand out from the crowd -- a little

2010-09-27
John Miano _Center for Immigration Studies_
before the truth can get its boots on
"I recently wrote about how 2 separate newspapers ran nearly word-for-word identical editorials on H-1B visas. The piece at issue he was published as an opinion of the newspaper without attribution to another source."

2010-09-27 15:21PDT (18:21EDT) (22:21GMT)
Beth Bacheldor _CIO_/_IDG_
Brand New Anti-Off-Shore Bill: Politics or Progress?: A group of Democratic senators have introduced a new bill aimed at giving employers greater incentives to create jobs and not to off-shore. Will it work?

2010-09-27
William L. Anderson
Unemployment

2010-09-27
Steve Sailer _V Dare_
The Real Inequality Scandal: Rich, poor and main-stream media gang up on American middle class
"The farther up the pyramid you are, the faster the growth has been.   The rise in income has been slower for the top 10% than for the top 1%, and the top one percent has lagged behind the top 0.1%."

2010-09-27
Peter Schmidt _Chronicle of Higher Education_
university execs wage war against openness about compensation
"A new study of employees at three University of California campuses suggests that letting workers make rough in-house pay comparisons hurts morale over all, by causing unrest among those at the bottom while having little impact on those on top."
David Card, Alexandre Mas, Enrico Moretti & Emmanuel Saez: NBER: Inequality at Work: The Effect of Peer Salaries on Job Satisfaction

2010-09-27 (5771 Tishrei 19)
Mark Steyn _Jewish World Review_
Bowing to Islam's view of us
Free Mark Steyn! Free Canuckistan!

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
++ S3816; Durbin; Creating US Jobs and Ending Off-Shoring
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "[In 1900] only 10% of young Americans went to high school...   In the rapidly growing big cities you lived bunched together: in many neighborhoods there were more people than rooms.   One-quarter of urban Americans never married, as compared to just 8% today.   Many men did not marry because they could not support a family; they lived with their parents or as boarders in other people's founses..." --- Michael Barone 2004 _Hard America, Soft America: Competition vs. Coddling and the Battle for the Nation's Future_ pg18 (citing Diane Ravitch 1983 _The Troubled Crusade_ pg45; Richard Sennett 1984 _Families Against the City_ pp107-108)  

 
 

2010-09-28: 5 weeks (35 days) to USA elections

2010-09-28
Peter H. Milliken _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Some struggle to fight back against urban decay; one such gentle warrior was recently shot down
"Neighbors remembered Repchic, 75, who was killed Saturday in a drive-by shooting, as a man who would do favors for people, such as helping people with disabled cars, upon request.   Repchic and other members of his family mowed grass on vacant lots where houses once stood, and Repchic fought to keep open the post office around the corner from his house, recalled Bill Boston, owner of Boston Machine Co...   The machine shop Boston has owned since 1996 is on Trenton Avenue, across the street from the two-story house Repchic and his wife, Jacqueline, occupied for 46 years.   When Boston would work late hours in the shop, Repchic would sit with him because of his concern for Boston's safety, Boston recalled.   'His grand-children were all out cutting grass.   Why? Because grandpa didn't want it looking like a dump, and he didn't want it to look like somebody wasn't living here.', Boston said of Repchic's neighborhood philosophy.   Jacqueline Repchic, who survived the shooting, suffered the amputation of her leg, which was hit by a bullet."

2010-09-28 07:08PDT (10:08EDT) (14:08GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
home prices increasingly more slowly

2010-09-28 07:58PDT (10:58EDT) (14:58GMT)
Ruth Mantall _MarketWatch_
Conference Board consumer confidence index down

2010-09-28
Tyler Woods _Emax Health_
Baby boomer suicides on the rise: health, economy are factors
Lewis Page: Register
Live Science
Ronnie Koenig: AOL
NY Daily News
Maggie Fox: Reuters

2010-09-28
William L. Anderson
The paradoxical Krugman and the fixed pie

2010-09-28
Andrew S. Ross _San Francisco CA Chronicle_
400 weird Sili Valley executives deliver wish lists to DC
"Perhaps the most timely, and politically inconvenient, proposal is a reduction on the 35% tax rate on foreign earnings of U.S. multi-nationals, including, of course, Silicon Valley companies like Cisco Systems Inc. and Intel Corp...   It cites a recent statement by Cisco CEO John Chambers that 'there is $1.2T sitting abroad that can be repatriated and taxed', if the rate was right.   It also refers favorably to an idea floated by former Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern to lower the rate temporarily to 5.25%, which he calculates would bring home $500G to re-invest...   The bill -- introduced by senator Dick Durbin, D-IL, and supported by President Obama -- is seen by supporters as sort of a job repatriation scheme.   It would give U.S. companies a two-year pay-roll-tax break on new domestic hires if they are replacing existing employees overseas.   There are also R&D and other tax credits in the bill.   But it would also eliminate a company's current right to defer U.S. taxes on its over-seas earnings (on which the company is paying the host country's usually lower taxes) until said earnings are brought back home."

2010-09-28
Ezra Klein _Washington DC Post_
Why the anti-off-shoring bill?

2010-09-28
Chuck Grassley _IA Politics_
To make qualified Americans a priority
"One of the Grassley amendments mirrors legislation Grassley co-authored with senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.   The amendment would prevent any company engaged in a mass lay-off of American workers from importing cheaper labor from abroad through temporary guest worker programs.   Companies truly facing labor shortages could continue to obtain employer sponsored visas.   The other amendment is similar to legislation he and senator Dick Durbin have introduced that would root out fraud and abuse of the H-1B and L Visa programs while making sure Americans have the first chance at high-skilled jobs in the United States.   The H-1B visa has been labeled the 'out-sourcing visa' by India's former Commerce and Industry Minister.   Grassley said the H-1B program is well-known for encouraging companies to take their work off-shore.   The New York Times reported in 2007 that the H-1B Visa is 'a critical tool for Indian out-sourcing vendors to gain expertise and win contracts from western companies to transfer critical operations like Bangalore.   As Indian out-sourcing companies have become the leading consumers of the visa, they have used it to further their primary mission, which is to gain the expertise necessary to take on critical tasks performed by Western companies, and perform them in India at a fraction of the costs.'   The H-1B and L Visa amendment would require employers to try and recruit U.S. workers before hiring H-1B visa holders; require employers to pay a better wage to visa holders who take these jobs; expand the powers of the federal government to go after abusers; create new rules regarding the outsourcing and outplacement of H-1B and L-1 workers by their employers to secondary employers in the United States; and establish a new data-base that employers can use to advertise positions for which they intend to hire an H-1B worker."

2010-09-28
Chuck Grassley _IA Politics_
Senate proposal played politics with jobs
"The legislation that was defeated in the Senate today would make U.S. companies pay an extra tax, of up to 35%, compared to foreign competitors, and really hit companies like John Deere, where they have big over-seas markets...   Grassley said it also was ironic that the Senate Majority Leader pushed for a $1G pay-roll tax holiday while failing to give small businesses certainty about taxes by putting off action on legislation to prevent a job-killing tax rate increase.   That small business tax rate increase is over 50 times the supposed tax benefit, designed for big and small businesses, in the bill proposed by Democratic leaders of the Senate...   Grassley said the real issue with taxes on American companies that have foreign subsidiaries is that corporate tax rates in the United States put U.S. employers and, in turn, our work-force at a competitive disadvantage...   Grassley said the Democratic leadership’s lack of interest in job-protecting amendments during debate on the Reid-Durbin-Dorgan legislation revealed that consideration of the overall bill was motivated by politics rather than policy.   Grassley filed 2 amendments to try to make sure qualified American workers are first in line for job openings.   His first amendment would have prevented any company engaged in a mass lay-off of American workers from importing cheaper labor from abroad through temporary guest worker programs.   The second would have taken aim at fraud and abuse of the H-1B and L Visa programs, while making sure Americans have the first chance at high-skilled jobs in the United States.   Both amendments were being blocked by the Democratic Senate Majority Leader.   Despite the number of Americans without a job, companies are still allowed to import thousands of foreign workers with little or no strings attached.   My amendments would make it possible for qualified Americans to fill the vacant positions first."

2010-09-28
_Web CPA_
Anti-Off-Shoring bill blocked in senate
Information Age
Daily Pioneer
"Senate Republicans blocked a bill on Tuesday that would have denied tax breaks to companies that move jobs off-shore and provide companies with a two-year holiday from their share of Social Security pay-roll tax withholding for each employee they hire to replace a worker at a foreign-based facility...   It would prohibit a firm from taking any deduction, loss or credit for amounts paid in connection with reducing or ending the operation of a trade or business in the U.S.A., and starting or expanding a similar trade or business over-seas.   The bill would also prevent U.S. companies from deferring the payment of U.S. taxes on income earned by their foreign subsidiaries until that income is brought back to the United States.   The bill would repeal deferral for companies that reduce or close a trade or business in the U.S.A., and start or expand a similar business over-seas for the purpose of importing their products for sale in the United States.   U.S. companies that locate facilities abroad in order to sell their products overseas would be unaffected by the law, however...   Senate Finance Committee ranking Republican member Charles Grassley, R-IA, said that the blocking of two amendments he had introduced during debate on the Reid-Durbin-Dorgan legislation revealed that consideration of the overall bill was motivated by politics rather than policy.   Grassley filed two amendments to try to make sure qualified American workers are first in line for job openings.   His first amendment would have prevented any company engaged in a mass lay-off of American workers from importing cheaper labor from abroad through temporary guest worker programs.   The second would have taken aim at fraud and abuse of the H-1B and L Visa programs, while making sure Americans have the first chance at high-skilled jobs in the United States.   Both amendments were blocked by senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-NV, Grassley contended.   'Despite the number of Americans without a job, companies are still allowed to import thousands of foreign workers with little or no strings attached.', Grassley said.   'My amendments would make it possible for qualified Americans to fill the vacant positions first.'"

2010-09-28 15:30PDT (18:30EDT) (22:30GMT)
John Harwood _CNBC_
53% in USA say "free" trade hurts nation/economy

2010-09-28
Mike Dennison _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
If they know them, Montana PSC will reveal salaries (but not other compensation) of utilities' top executives whose monopolies it sustains
"The PSC, which regulates electric, gas, telephone and other utilities, voted 4-1 on Tuesday to adopt a rule that says that if the PSC has salary information for a utility’s three highest-paid executives, it will no longer grant 'protective orders' to keep that information from the public.   Utilities regulated by the PSC often submit executive salary information as part of annual reports or other documents they file with the commission.   Commissioner Ken Toole, D-Helena, the main backer of the new rule, said customers of these regulated companies should be allowed to know what the companies pay top executives."

2010-09-28
Katherine Mangan _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Accreditor Tightens Limits on Medical Residents' 80-Hour Work-Weeks
"Doctors in training at teaching hospitals would continue to be limited to an 80-hour work-week, but some new limits would be imposed to cut down on errors by sleep-deprived residents under new standards approved on Tuesday by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education...   Residents can work more than 80 hours some weeks, as long as the average over a 4-week period doesn't exceed 80.   First-year residents would be limited to working no more than 16 hours a day—down from 24 hours—and they would be supervised more closely.   Residency-training programs would also have a tougher time getting exceptions to the work-hour limits.   The changes are based on recommendations made in 2008 by the Institute of Medicine, which warned of widespread medical errors caused by sleepy residents, as well as a 16-month review of scientific writings on sleep issues, patient safety, and resident training."

2010-09-28 04:01PDT (07:01EDT) (11:01GMT)
Conor O'Clery _Global Post_
Many once again flee Ireland in search of work
"According to the Irish Central Statistics Office, the country is experiencing the highest level of net emigration since the end of the 1980s, a decade remembered for the semi-permanent queues at the American Embassy of people seeking visas.   In the 12 months to April this year, 65,300 people left Ireland for good.   With arrivals exceeding departures during the last 2 decades the population increased phenomenally from 3.5M to 4.5M.   Among the arrivals were Irish emigrants returning from abroad to benefit from the booming economy.   With virtually full employment, government teams even traveled to New York and other American cities to recruit nannies to come to Ireland to care for the children of working parents, reversing the historic flow of workers between the two nations.   The United States has always been the favored country for Ireland's poor and huddled masses, especially during the Great Famine of the mid-19th century when about one and a half million people left the starving country for good, mostly on 'coffin ships' sailing to New York and Boston.   The economic downturn has also meant that the large-scale immigration to Ireland from Africa and eastern Europe during the Celtic Tiger years -- at one time there were more than 250K Poles living in the country -- has gone into reverse.   Foreign nationals were the first to start leaving; now it is the Irish themselves."

2010-09-28
Henrik Clausen _Vimeo_/_MEMRI_
New trends in Arabic anti-Semitism (video)

2010-09-28 (5771 Tishrei 20)
Annysa Johnson _Jewish World Review_
Survey: Many Americans are religious illiterates

2010-09-28 (5771 Tishrei 20)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Politics versus gold
"One of the many slick tricks of the Obama administration was to insert a provision in the massive Obamacare legislation regulating people who sell gold.   This had nothing to do with medical care but everything to do with sneaking in an extension of the government's power over gold, in a bill too big for most people to read.   Gold has long been a source of frustration for politicians who want to extend their power over the economy.   First of all, the gold standard cramped their style because there is only so much money you can print when every dollar bill can be turned in to the government, to be exchanged for the equivalent amount of gold.   When the amount of money the government can print is limited by how much gold the government has, politicians cannot pay off a massive national debt by just printing more money and repaying the owners of government bonds with dollars that are cheaper than the dollars with which the bonds were bought.   In other words, politicians cannot cheat people as easily.   That was just one of the ways that the gold standard cramped politicians' style -- and just one of the reasons they got rid of it.   One of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first acts as president was to take the United States off the gold standard in 1933.   But, even with the gold standard gone, the ability of private individuals to buy gold reduces the ability of the government to steal the value of their money by printing more money...   The Constitution begins, 'We the people' but, to the left, both the people and the Constitution are just things to circumvent in order to carry out their agenda."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
++ S3816; Durbin; Creating US Jobs and Ending Off-Shoring
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "He, therefore, who is now against domestic manufacture, must be for reducing us either to dependence on that foreign nation, or to be clothed in skins, and to live like wild beasts in dens and caverns.   I am not one of these; experience has taught me that manufactures are now as necessary to our independence as to our comfort; and if those who quote me as of a different opinion, will keep pace with me in purchasing nothing foreign where an equivalent of domestic fabric can be obtained, without regard to difference of price, it will not be our fault if we do not soon have a supply at home equal to our demand, and wrest that weapon of distress from the hand which has wielded it." --- Thomas Jefferson 1816-01-09 to Benjamin Austin (_The Letters of Thomas Jefferson: 1743-1826_)  

 
 

2010-09-29

2010-09-29
William Baker _Island Packet_
employers actively resist training employees
"The other observation is about the business community.   During a session of the Beaufort Senior Leadership Program, the leader commented about a Beaufort-area businessman who was approached by Clemson University with an offer to make his employees computer literate at no cost to him.   The owner refused because the learning would make his employees 'leave or want more money'.   Businesses still can follow the model set by Bill Gates and import technical workers on H-1B visas and pay them receptionist wages, bypassing Americans who have acquired those skills."

2010-09-29
Dan Whitcomb _Reuters_
former house-keeper Nicky Diaz says Meg Whitman knew she was in the USA illegally
Andrew Blankstein: Los Angeles CA Times
Carla Marinucci, Joe Garofoli: San Francisco CA Chronicle
AP
Ben Smith: Politico
"Meg Whitman's campaign and her former housekeeper and nanny's high-profile lawyer, Gloria Allred, offered dueling versions of the story today dominating the race for governor of California.   They agree that Whitman fired Nicky Diaz last June on the grounds that she was an illegal immigrant, a few months after Whitman began her campaign for governor.   Whitman's lawyer, Tom Hiltachk, said Whitman fired her after she confessed her status.   Allred said Whitman fired the house-keeper after she asked Whitman's help getting legal status.   The nanny had, he said, deceived Whitman: She filled out standard [Internal Revenue Service] forms and Department of Justice forms and presented her [Socialist Insecurity kkkard] and California driver's license.   She filled out immigration forms that stated under penalty of perjury that she was a lawful resident."

2010-09-29
Grace Wyler _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Suit by Delphi retirees can move forward
"A federal judge has rejected motions to dismiss the Delphi Corp.'s salaried-retirees law-suit against the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a ruling that virtually assures that their case will be tried in federal court.   The PBGC's attempts to dissolve the Delphi salaried retirees' case were thwarted in a preliminary hearing last week, when Judge Arthur Turnow in a Michigan U.S. District Court denied the PBGC's motions for dismissal and summary judgment.   The judge also ruled against the PBGC's motion to seal court proceedings, with the exception of 50 pages of PBGC documents.   'The end result of this is that it officially sets the stage for us to go to trial.', said Dennis Black, chairman of the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association.   'The judge decided that our case had enough validity to make it reasonable.'   The ruling is a major victory in the salaried retirees' on-going struggle against the federal pension insurer, which took over their pension plans during the federal government's restructuring of General Motors last year.   The termination of the salaried pension plans led to between 30% and 70% benefit reductions.   The PBGC has agreed to pay back the benefits lost in the event that the law-suit is decided in favor of the retirees."

2010-09-29
Dan Rather _Huffington Post_
Guest-workers and employment of US citizens
Three-in-four Americans (76%) believe that transporting someone who is an illegal immigrant should be a crime, two thirds would arrest people who are unable to provide documentation to prove they are in the U.S.A. legally (69%) and require state and local police to determine the status of a person if there is reasonable suspicion that they are illegal immigrants.   A majority (57%) would make it a crime to hire day labourers off the street.   (Angus Reid, 2010 Summer; 2010-06-04) Why? The same poll gives us the likely answer.   Six out of ten Americans think that immigrants take jobs away from those born in this country.   And with unemployment hovering around 10%, with 14.9M Americans out of work...   In March 2006, the Pew Hispanic Center calculated the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S.A. at somewhere between 11.5M to 12M.   A majority of respondents believe that these illegal immigrants take jobs away from American workers (59%), and two-in-five (42%) would require them to leave their jobs and be deported.
H-2B data search

2010-09-29
_Fox_
Congress-critters' compensation packages

2010-09-29
Arnold Kling _Library of Economics and Liberty_
Recalculation vs. Structural Unemployment vs. AS/AD

2010-09-29
Mark Whitehouse _Wall Street Journal_
employers are not trying hard to hire: recruiting intensity index is low

2010-09-29 (5771 Tishrei 21)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Leftists Confuse Me
"Being 74 years old, I have frequently told people that I'm glad that I received just about all of my education before it became fashionable for white people to like black people.   That means I was obliged to live up to higher standards."

2010-09-29 (5771 Tishrei 21)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Random Thoughts
"human race has survived for thousands of years without being anywhere close to perfection.   I would vote against anyone who plays the race card.   Race and politics have been an explosive mixture in countries around the world...   If polygamists were not allowed to redefine marriage to suit themselves, why should homosexuals be allowed to?   Although Tiger Woods' behavior that led to his divorce does him no credit, it is a credit to him that he cared enough about his family that losing them ruined his performance in golf.   If he gets married again, I suspect that he will not repeat what he did.   In a sense, politicians don't know what they are talking about.   But, in another sense, they know exactly what they are talking about.   They may not have a clue about the issue they are discussing and yet be experts on how to get you to think they know.   This is truly the 'me' generation, when someone will release secret information that includes who has been helping us in the fight against terrorism -- information that can get girls' faces mutilated and their parents beheaded by our Islamic terrorist enemies.   Politicians often act as if you can create costs without creating consequences.   Force insurance companies to cover more things and then act surprised when the premiums go up.   Mandate more benefits for employers to provide for their employees and then act surprised when they don't hire as many workers.   It is great political theater but lousy economic policy...   The problem with splitting the difference between opposing sides, as many negotiators are prone to do -- whether these negotiators are marriage counselors, labor arbitrators or the United Nations -- is that this gives an advantage to the side with the most unreasonable demands, and therefore promotes more unreasonable demands in the future.   The title of the article on the cover of the September 13th issue of Time magazine -- 'Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace' -- speaks volumes about our times and about us.   Future historians looking back at the history of this era may well be baffled as to why both our media and the administration in Washington embraced our enemies and repudiated our friends...   How anyone can read history and still believe in political messiahs is beyond me.   The fact that it has become possible to graduate from even our most prestigious colleges and universities, still fundamentally ignorant of history, may have much to do with our electing a political messiah to the White House -- for which we, our children and grandchildren will pay dearly.   Franklin D. Roosevelt called 1941 December 7 -- when Pearl Harbor was bombed -- 'a date that will live in infamy'.   What should also live in infamy is the time when too many Americans forgot about Pearl Harbor and started wringing their hands with guilt about Hiroshima.   Do people understand that the world toward which the Obama administration is leading us is a world where individuals' economic well-being is no longer determined by how much their goods and services are valued by those pay for them, but by politicians in Washington?   The counterproductive economic consequences of this are dwarfed by the harm done by making us all dependents and supplicants of 'public servants' who become in reality public masters."

2010-09-29 (5771 Tishrei 21)
Richard Rapaport _Reader Supported News_
the job-killing touch: how Carly Fiorina wrecked Hewlett-Packard and Bell Labs, and set USA science back by decades
"That Carly Fiorina was a one-woman wrecking crew during her tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard is a scandal that the Republican senate standard bearer is spending millions to try [to] blunt.   Running on her executive experience, it is hard to see how Fiorina can square her professed executive aptitude with the fact that as H-P CEO between 1999 and 2005, she single-handedly came near to sinking what was widely considered the world's best technology company.   At Hewlett-Packard Fiorina was responsible for the ill-fated merger with Compaq [after their ill-fated gobbling up of Digital Equipment Corporation], as well as firing nearly 30K employees and sending tens of thousands of jobs over-seas.   Never lacking in chutzpa, Fiorina celebrated the latter coup as 'Right Shoring'.   Things got so bad for H-P that in 2002, Arianna Packard, grand-daughter of founder David Packard joined with Bill Hewlett, Walter Hewlett's son, in a proxy fight to oust Fiorina.   That moved failed, but in 2005, Fiorina was finally fired, and given a $20M settlement to just go away.   In response H-P's stock price bounced back by 10% in a single day.   About Fiorina's service at H-P Arianna Packard wrote, 'I know a little bit about Carly Fiorina, having watched her almost destroy the company my grand-father founded.'   While the H-P episode is better known, Fiorina was involved in a much more damaging business disaster, one that America will continue to pay for for generations; the destruction of the Bell Laboratories.   Beginning in 1995, Fiorina took over as the head of corporate operations of the AT&T spin-off, 'Lucent Technologies' which included the Bell Labs.   That is where the trouble began.   For those unfamiliar with the Bell Labs, it was Ma Bell's gift to America, a place where monopoly telephone service was offset by a research business that employed over 25K scientists, engineers, mathematicians and researchers.   At the Bell Labs, research was considered an end unto itself, where, according to one executive, 'you did something useful or you do something very beautiful'.   The realm of the former included such immensely important breakthroughs as the transistor, the silicon microprocessor, the laser, fiber optics, the communications satellite, the UNIX [C] and C++ computer operating systems [and programming languages].   In the pursuit of improved communications, serendipity occurred such as in the form of the confirmation of the 'Big Bang' theory which won physicist Arno Penzias a 1977 Nobel Prize.   Penzias, the retired Bell Labs vice-president for research, put it best when he told this writer that 'one of the great luxuries of the Bell Labs is that we don't always need to get it right'.   The Labs did get it right enough to amass more than 25K patents.   That all began changing in 1995 when a corporate team that included Carly Fiorina descended on the Bell Labs and began to pull the plug on pure research...   Fiorina is one of those one-dimensional corporate bottom feeders whose only answer to fixing the bottom line is to fire thousands of people rather than finding creative ways to use the immense brain-power that could be used to grow a company and a nation out of economic hard times..."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
++ S3816; Durbin; Creating US Jobs and Ending Off-Shoring
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "In 1897 this aspiration was expressed in the resolution of the first Zionist Congress calling for the creation for the Jewish people of a home in Palestine secured by public law.   In spite of opposition from the Ottoman government, and growing anxiety among part of the local Arab population, by 1914 the Jewish population of Palestine had increased to approximately 85K, or 12% of the total.   About a quarter of them were settled on the land, some of it bought by a national fund and declared to be the inalienable property of the Jewish people, on which no non-Jews could be employed.   Some were living in agricultural settlements of a new kind (the kibbutz), with collective control of production and communal life." --- Albert Hourani 1992 April _An History of the Arab Peoples_ pp 288-289  

 
 

2010-09-30

2010-09-29 17:30PDT (2010-09-29 20:30EDT) (2010-09-30 00:30GMT)
Jordan Fabian _The Hill_
bill to censure Red China for currency manipulation passes US House 438-79: GOP divided 99-74
Chuck Schumer pushing to schedule senate vote fr lame-duck session

2010-09-30 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 370,147 in the week ending Sept. 25, a decrease of 12,176 from the previous week.   There were 445,618 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0% during the week ending Sept. 18, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,766,450, a decrease of 169,875 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 3.8% and the volume was 5,072,855.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA ID, IL, IN KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending September 11...   States reported 3,965,778 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Sept. 11, a decrease of 256,536 from the prior week.   There were 3,312,386 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" changes
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03;
to 126,763,245 beginning 2010-07-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-09-30
David Skolnick _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Youngstown receives award for housing-deconstruction program
"The ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, formerly known as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, awarded Youngstown its runner-up honor for midsized cities in its planning process innovation category.   The city received the award at the organization's summit in Washington, DC, over the weekend...   The city received a $39K grant last year from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for deconstruction.   Additional money to pay for some of the deconstruction costs came from money the city received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development."

2010-09-30 11:09PDT (14:09EDT) (18:09GMT)
Patrick Thibdeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
5 reasons why legislation to limit off-shore out-sourcing fails
"A just-released NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of 1K people illustrates the strong interest in off-shore out-sourcing issues this year.   For instance, the poll asked whether respondents agreed with the statement, 'U.S. companies are out-sourcing much of their production and manufacturing work to foreign countries where wages are lower'.   The result: 68% strongly agreed, 18% somewhat agreed, 12% disagreed, and 2% were unsure.   But despite the growing public anger and calls for action in Washington, few bills that impact IT off-shoring are ever passed by Congress, and those few that are generally accomplish little...   1. Off-shore firms can manage the risk of new laws...   2. Congress hasn't acted, and isn't expected to act soon, on the bill off-shore out-sourcers fear most...   3. Exports and trade matter [more] to state and federal government officials [than US citizen employment]...   4. No legislation [proposed] is likely to change the overall trend toward [off-shore] out-sourcing...   5. As Congress debates laws, federal government officials work on trade agreements [which would undermine any reform]."

2010-09-30
Laura Bassett _Huffington Post_
Unemployed parents holding signs along streets

2010-09-30
Maria Bello _Huffington Post_
Women running for office in Haiti

2010-09-30
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Leftist American Labor Unions
"Any way you look at it, advocating economic policies that, under Joseph Stalin, produced perpetual shortages of food and other consumer products, is evil.   Yet that's exactly what labor unions, steeped in Marxist class warfare ideology, are doing."
Investor's Business Daily: Trumka's Leftism

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
---- HR5658; Shadegg; STEM Job Destruction Act
++ S3816; Durbin; Creating US Jobs and Ending Off-Shoring
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "In Palestine, the acquisition of land for European Jewish immigrants, which had begun during the late 19th century, continued within the new system of administration established by Britain as mandatory government.   Jewish immigration was encouraged, within limits determined partly by the administration's estimate of the number of immigrants the country could absorb at any moment, and partly by the amount of pressure which Zionists or Arabs could bring to bear upon the government in London.   The structure of the country's population changed dramatically during this period.   In 1922 jews had formed about 11% of a total population of 750K, the rest being mainly Arabic-speaking Muslims and Christians; by 1949 they formed more than 30% of a population which had doubled...   By the early 1940s Jews owned perhaps 20% of the cultivable land, and a large part of this was possessed by the Jewish National Fund, which held it as the inalienable property of the Jewish people, on which no non-Jew could be employed...   By 1939 only 10% of the Jewish population lived on the land, because immigration by then was too great to be absorbed in agriculture.   The typical Palestinian Jews was a town-dweller living on 1 of the 3 large towns, Jerusalem, Haifa or Tel Aviv; but the farmer living in the collective settlement, the kibbutz, was an important symbol." --- Albert Hourani 1992 April _An History of the Arab Peoples_ pp 323-324  

 
 

2010 September
Giovanni Peri & Chad Sparber _Industrial Relations_ vol50 #3 pp 385-411 (2011 July)
Moderately-Educated Immigrants and Native Occupational Choice (pdf)
"Between 1950 and 2007, the foreign-born share of employees in the US with a masters, professional, or doctorate degree rose from 5.9% to 18.1%...   Borjas (2003) finds that the immigration influx in the 1980s and 1990s caused wages to fall by 4.9% for college graduates.   Similarly, Borjas (2006) argues that a 10% immigration-induced increase in the supply of S&E doctorates causes the wages paid to native S&E doctorates to decline by 3%-4%.   Half of this wage effect can be explained by the displacement of natives into low-paying post-doc positions in the sciences...   O*NET categorizes its variables into 6 distinct surveys, though we choose to select variables only from 2 -- the Abilities and Activities surveys.   These surveys ask respondents to evaluate the importance of 52 particular abilities (skills) and 41 activities (tasks) required by his/her current job on a scale of 1 to 5.   In principle, this would allow us to assess workers' comparative advantage for 8,556 skill pairs...   Over the survey period, 6.2% of the 44,018 highly-educated native individuals in the sample changed their occupation in the course of a year...   The change in the foreign-born share also varies considerably -- it declined for both Police Officers and Kindergarten Teachers, but rose by more than 20 percentage points for Electrical Engineers and Computer Software developers."

2010 Autumn
_Social Contract_ vol21 #1
candid observations on Islam -- perceptive insights from John Quincy Adams, John Wesley, and Winston Churchill
Christopher Hitchins: City Journal: 1.5M Europeans and Americans slaves in Islamic North Africa between 1530 & 1780




Proposed Bills 2010


Congressional candidate fund-raising, expenditures, and debt
 

USA Over-Population Clock
World + USA Over-Population Clocks
Jimbo Wales's WikiPedia on World Over-Population
 

  "A unilateral breach of contract involves an indirect use of physical force: it consists, in essence, of one man receiving the material values, goods or services of another, then refusing to pay for them and thus keeping them by force (by mere physical possession), not by right -- i.e. keeping them without the consent of the owner. Fraud involves a similarly indirect use of force: it consists of obtaining material values without their owner's consent, under false pretenses or false promises." --- Ayn Rand "The Nature of Government" _The Virtue of Selfishness_ pg 111  

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