Daily Archives: 10/05/2014

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One Year Later ~~~ What Conservatives have cost Americans


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A Year After The Government Shutdown, Conservatives Haven’t Learned Their Lesson

Today marks the one-year anniversary of when federal offices began closing due to a Republican-forced government shutdown — that lasted 16 days — in an effort to pursue their extreme ideological agenda. A quick reminder of what the government shutdown costs America:

  • $24 Billion: What the shutdown cost the economy.
  • $2.5 Billion: What the shutdown cost taxpayers.
  • 120,000 Jobs: The number of jobs lost due to the shutdown.
  • $414 Million: The estimated lost revenue to parks and surrounding communities due to the closure of 401 national parks.

Despite the deep unpopularity of the government shutdown shenanigans among the American public, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised more of the same if the GOP takes control of the upper chamber in 2015.

“The typically reserved McConnell laid out his clearest thinking yet of how he would lead the Senate if Republicans gain control of the chamber. The emerging strategy: Attach riders to spending bills that would limit Obama policies on everything from the environment to health care, consider using an arcane budget tactic to circumvent Democratic filibusters and force the president to “move to the center” if he wants to get any new legislation through Congress. McConnell risks overreaching if he follows through with his pledge to attach policy riders to spending bills. If Obama refuses to accept such measures, a government shutdown could ensue. Republicans bore much of the blame for last year’s government shutdown, and their fortunes rebounded only when the administration bungled the rollout of Obamacare…But asked about the potential that his approach could spark another shutdown, McConnell said it would be up to the president to decide whether to veto spending bills that would keep the government open.

This is a stark reminder of how much is at stake this election cycle. But the implications go beyond just government shutdown threats. A Republican-controlled Senate would also mean:

  • A Senate focused on creating an economy that only works for the wealthiest and select few, instead of an economy that works for everyone.
  • A Senate focused on taking away people’s healthcare and gutting environmental safeguards that provide vital public health protections.
  • A Senate focused on obstruction of progressive appointments to the executive and judiciary, which will impact voting rights, marriage equality, health care, immigration and more.
  • A Senate focused on overblown Administration scandals instead of addressing the serious issues facing Americans.

BOTTOM LINE: One year after the shutdown, it’s clear conservatives haven’t learned their lesson. Americans want a Senate that works for them, not one that holds them hostage for political reasons.

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Your Update from the White House Business Team


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Friends,

We hope you had the opportunity to watch President Obama’s economic address at Kellogg Business School on Thursday. As the President emphasized, with your help, business has added 10.3 million jobs over the past 55 months. It’s the longest streak of job growth on record. Just yesterday, the Labor Department announced the unemployment rate fell even further to 5.9% with 248,000 jobs added in September. More people in the U.S. have gone back to work than Europe, Japan and every other advanced economy combined. We’ve reduced the deficit from 9.8% of our economy to near 3%.

Watch or read the President’s speech at Northwestern. Check out the infographic.

Keep reading for more information on recent economic data and other announcements.

As always, please don’t hesitate to be in touch with any questions or concerns at Business@who.eop.gov.

The White House Business Team,
Ari, Nate, Sam, and Quinn

The Employment Situation in September

Yesterday, the Labor Department announced 248,000 jobs added in September, with unemployment falling to 5.9%. The data underscore that six years after the Great Recession — thanks to the hard work of the American people and in part to the policies the President has pursued — our economy has bounced back more strongly than most others around the world. But even as we take stock of the progress that has been made, too many Americans do not yet feel enough of the benefits.

FIVE KEY POINTS IN YESTERDAY’S REPORT FROM THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS:

1. The private sector has added 10.3 million jobs over 55 straight months of job growth, extending the longest streak on record. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 248,000 in September, mainly reflecting a 236,000 increase in private employment. Private-sector job growth was revised up for July and August, so that over the past twelve months, private employment has risen by 2.6 million. So far this year, private employment has risen by nearly 2 million, on pace for the strongest year of private-sector job growth since 1998.

Find out more about yesterday's jobs report.

2. The overall unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent in September, the lowest since July 2008, and is down 1.3 percentage point over the last year.

3. Total job growth in August was revised up by 38,000, continuing a pattern seen over the past several years of substantial upward revisions to the initial August report.

4. On the occasion of Manufacturing Day, we take stock of the major gains in the manufacturing sector seen over the course of the economic recovery — including more than 700,000 jobs added and an increase in the average workweek to levels not seen since World War II.

5. The pattern of job growth across industries in September was generally in line with recent trends.

See the rest here.

Third Estimate of GDP for the Second Quarter of 2014

This revision confirms that economic growth in the second quarter was strong, and other recent data suggest that this momentum has continued into the subsequent months. While these indicators demonstrate that the economy has come a long way in recovering from the Great Recession, there is more work to do to both boost growth and ensure that growth translates into greater financial security for working families.

FIVE KEY POINTS IN THE REPORT FROM THE BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

1. Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 4.6 percent at an annual rate in the second quarter of 2014, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the third estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The strong second-quarter growth represents a rebound from a first-quarter decline in GDP that largely reflected transitory factors like unusually severe winter weather and a sharp slowdown in inventory investment. Growth in consumer spending and business investment picked up in the second quarter, and residential investment increased following two straight quarters of decline. Additionally, state and local government spending grew at the fastest quarterly rate in five years. However, net exports subtracted from overall GDP growth, as imports grew slightly faster than exports. Real gross domestic income (GDI), an alternative measure of the overall size of the economy, was up 5.2 percent at an annual rate in the second quarter.

Find out more about the GDP report.

See the remaining key points here.

The Cost of Doing This Kind of Business: What Corporate Inversions Mean for America’s Future

A good way to build a stronger economy is to create a fairer and more efficient tax code — one that promotes business investment and job creation in the United States. That is why the President has proposed business tax reform that will simplify the tax code by lowering the corporate tax rate and closing wasteful loopholes.

Congress has yet to act on the President’s proposal, and in the meantime, some companies continue to exploit unfair tax loopholes. One such loophole allows U.S. corporations to undertake an ‘inversion,’ whereby a company relocates their tax residence overseas, while changing very little else about its operations or business, in order to avoid paying taxes. With a simple change of paperwork, these companies can dramatically reduce their taxes, leaving other businesses and middle-class taxpayers to pick up the tab.

Dozens of U.S. corporations have taken advantage of the inversions loophole in recent years, and more are looking to follow suit. By renouncing their U.S. citizenship, these companies will cost our country nearly $20 billion over the next decade — critical dollars that could be used to grow and expand the middle class.

The Treasury Department is using its authority to take initial, targeted steps to discourage American companies from inverting by limiting the benefits they would receive from such action. You don’t get to pick your tax rate, and neither should corporations.

Take a look at why the President has called on Congress to close the inversion tax loophole:

Find out more about inversions.

U.S. Companies Leading to Reduce Emissions of HFC Climate Pollutants

Fulfilling a commitment under the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Obama Administration is announcing new private sector commitments and executive actions to reduce emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), powerful greenhouse gases that exacerbate climate change. Taken together, these commitments will reduce cumulative global consumption of HFCs by the equivalent of 700 million metric tons of carbon dioxide through 2025. That’s an amount equal to 1.5% of the world’s 2010 greenhouse gas emissions — or, in other words, it’s like taking nearly 15 million cars off the road for 10 years.

HFCs, used primarily in air conditioning and refrigeration, are greenhouse gases with up to 10,000 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Unless we act, U.S. emissions of these potent greenhouse gases would nearly double by 2020 and triple by 2030.

U.S. industries are leading the way in helping fulfill the President’s pledge by investing billions of dollars to develop and deploy the next generation of safe, cost-effective alternatives to HFCs, and by incorporating these climate-friendly technologies into the cars, air conditioners, refrigerators, foams and other products they manufacture and use.

For a full list of companies and commitments, please check out our fact sheet.

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The Little Red State That Could

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What Other States Can Learn From Kentucky

Despite its deep red perception, common sense policies implemented in Kentucky are succeeding and helping improve the lives of people throughout the state.

COMMON CORE:

Today, the Kentucky Department of Education released data showing improvements in student performance and college/career readiness, after three years of implementing the Common Core standards. Despite the Tea Party-driven controversy over the standards, early adopters like Kentucky are showing their potential, and educators are saying the standards are going well.

  • College/career readiness has jumped to 62.3 percent, from 47.2 after 2012, the first year of implementation. Before the new standards were implemented, that number sat at just 34 percent.

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT:

Kentucky has also found success with its implementation of the Affordable Care Act. As with Common Core, it was an early adopter of the program.

BOTTOM LINE: Kentucky shows that no matter if your state is red, blue, or purple, common sense policies like Common Core and the Affordable Care Act work when they are not obstructed by conservatives determined to make anything a failure for political purposes.

Like CAP Action on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Through the Google lens: search trends September 26 – October 2


Posted: 03 Oct 2014 02:46 PM PDT

Diseases, protests and DUIs? Search wasn’t a pretty place this week.

Somebody call a doctor
This week, searchers went into a frenzy following news that someone had been diagnosed with Ebola on U.S soil—causing a surge in interest for the deadly disease. While this hopefully will remain an isolated case in the U.S., the virus is taking its toll on the people in West Africa. The region is experiencing its worst outbreak in history, with more than 3,000 people dying from the illness.

An indefinite break
It was a bad day at the office for several prominent figures this week as they were asked to step down from their positions. After a couple of bizarre security breaches like allowing the President to share an elevator with an armed man or when a person literally jumped the White House fence and walked inside the building (knife in tow), Secret Service director Julia Pierson handed in her resignation.

American Olympian and swimming icon Michael Phelps was arrested on charges of a DUI after he was pulled over for going 84 mph in a 45 mph zone. Amidst a firestorm of bad behavior from athletes, some are calling for USA Swimming to suspend Phelps, who had a previous DUI in 2004, for at least a year. Across the Pacific, students in Hong Kong staged massive demonstrations against the country’s Chief Executive, C.Y. Leung, seeking to oust him from office. The government has proposed talks with the students in order to calm the chaos, but so far Leung has refused to quit.

Crossovers
Searchers were saying “what the?” this week as we were hit with a couple of crossovers on TV and in music. First up, two classic American cartoons came together for one night to give viewers double the laughter. The famed Simpsons appeared in an episode of Family Guy. Unfortunately, the laugh track was off this time around and the show received negative reviews, perhaps thanks to an awkward seven-minute fight scene between Peter and Homer (d’oh!). And we heard a new take on a popular tune as “The Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin made a breathtaking cover of pop-soul star Adele’s song “Rolling in the Deep.” Listen to it and prepare to have your mind blown.

Who’s got game?
The MLB playoffs are in full, um, swing. The Kansas City Royals and their fans had something to cheer about as team made the playoffs for the first time in 29 years, ending the longest postseason drought in North American sports history—and then eliminating Oakland in an extra-inning thriller. And, after an 8-0 stomping of the Pittsburgh Pirates behind ace Madison Bumgarner, the San Francisco Giants are hoping to keep their every-other-year World Series streak alive.

Tip of the week
It’s beginning to look a lot like winter. Before you head out, make sure to check the weather by saying, “Ok Google, what’s the weather like outside?” and you’ll be ready to go—mittens or umbrella in hand.

Posted by Jenise Araujo, Communications Associate, who searched for [hypochondriac] and [one day you’re in, the next day you’re out].