Remarks by President Obama on the Minimum Wage at Valencia College, Orlando, Florida

Remarks by the President on the Minimum Wage

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Valencia College
Orlando, Florida

3:00 P.M. EDT

March 20, 2014

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Valencia!  (Applause.)  Well, thank you so much.  It is great to be back in Orlando.  (Applause.)   I’m glad some of you came to work while a lot of folks are pretending to work and watching -- (laughter) -- the tournament. I know there must be some Gators fans around here.  (Applause.)  They are an outstanding team.  I put out my Men’s bracket -- I've got them going to the Final Four. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  They’re going to win!

THE PRESIDENT:  And they could win the whole thing -- in which case, I won't win the billion dollars.  (Laughter.)  You can only pick one winner.  There are 63 colleges mad at me.  (Laughter.)  I understand there are some neighbors up the road in Gainesville who are not happy with me.  (Laughter.)  There will be even more tomorrow when I release my Women’s bracket -- because you can't please everybody. 

But we’ve got some terrific elected officials here.  I just want to, in particular, thank the Mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer, who’s been a great friend.  Give him a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  And I want to thank the president of Valencia College, Sandy -- (applause) -- where’s Sandy?  Sandy Shugart -- there he is.  We've got the president of the West Campus who I just had an amazing conversation with -- Falecia Williams.  Where’s Falecia?  Right there.  (Applause.)  I want to thank everybody here at Valencia for having me. 

A few years ago, I announced a new competition called the Aspen Prize to recognize exceptional community colleges, and, lo and behold -- (laughter) -- your school, Valencia -- (applause) -- was the very first school in the entire country to win this prize.  (Applause.)  So between the students’ hard work, the outstanding faculty, the administrators who are making sure everybody has what they need to succeed, Valencia graduates are leaving here ready for a career; ready to continue their education; ready to pursue their dreams, wherever they may lead.

And so this college represents what’s best in America -- the idea that here in this country, if you work hard, you can get ahead.  And restoring that opportunity for every American, that's been our driving focus as a country.  That’s driven everything I’ve done since I came into office. 

And today, we’re at a moment when, after the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, after just some devastating losses that people had -- their homes, or their retirement accounts, or their jobs -- now we've see businesses creating 8.7 million new jobs over the past four years.  American manufacturers are adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s.  In American energy, we’re producing more oil here at home than we buy from other countries for the first time in two decades.  We're generating more renewable energy.  The housing market is rebounding, including here in Florida.  Our high school graduation rate is the highest on record.  (Applause.)  Absolutely.  More young people are earning college degrees than ever before.  (Applause.)

So even as we are digging ourselves out of the economic hole that we were in back in 2008, we've also worked to lay a new foundation for America’s future growth.  Here’s the problem, though -- there are a bunch of good things happening, the economy is starting to grow, but some of the trends that have really battered middle-class families and people who are working hard to get into the middle class for decades -- those have not yet gotten better.  Folks at the top are doing better than ever, but over the past four years, average wages have barely budged.  So you’ve got too many Americans who are working harder than ever just to keep up.  

And it’s our job to reverse these trends.  We've got to build an economy that works for everybody, not just for a few.  We’ve got to restore opportunity for all people -- the basic idea that no matter where you started, no matter what you look like, if you work hard you can get ahead.  America has got to be a place where if you’re responsible and you apply yourself you can make it.

So what we focused on is an opportunity agenda that has four parts.  Part one is more good jobs that pay good wages, whether it’s in manufacturing, in energy, in innovation and technology, in the service industries.  And one of the things we’ve done in Orlando is focus on growing tourism.  Buddy knows this.  Two years ago, I came here to announce an executive order to track more foreign tourists to the United States and last year spending by foreign tourists was up almost 10 percent.  That is a huge boost to Florida.  We’ve got to keep on taking those kinds of steps.

Part two of our opportunity agenda -- we’ve got to train more Americans with the skills that they need to fill the jobs that are actually out there not just today but also tomorrow. 

Part three you know something about -- we’ve got to make sure every young person has access to a world-class education, from high-quality preschool for every four-year-old to an affordable college education for all you striving young people. 

And part four is making sure that our economy rewards the hard work of every American with wages that you can live on, savings you can retire on, health care that’s there when you need it. 

And in pursuit of this opportunity agenda, I’m going to work with Congress wherever I can.  But Congress doesn’t always -- (laughter) -- move the way we’d like, and so we’re calling this a Year of Action.  Wherever I see a chance to go ahead and expand opportunity for more Americans, I’m going to take it.  I’m not going to wait for Congress.  We’ve just got to go ahead and get it done.  (Applause.)

I’ll give you a couple of examples.  In the past few weeks I’ve used my executive authority to require federal contractors to pay their employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour to make sure that folks, if they’re working full-time, aren’t living in poverty.  I’ve signed another executive order to make sure that they’re actually paid the overtime that they’ve earned, because everybody who works hard deserves that chance to get ahead.  And if you work more, you should get paid a little more.

As part of making sure our economy rewards the hard work of every American, I’m also coming here today to make sure that our economy rewards the hard work of women.  (Applause.)  Now, I just want to be clear -- I just want to be clear.  I’ve got nothing against you men.  (Laughter.)  We’re working hard to make sure that you’re doing the right thing, too, and that you’re getting opportunity as well.  But I’ve got a personal stake in seeing women get ahead. 

First of all, women make up 80 percent of my household -- (laughter) -- if you count my mother-in-law.  And I always count my mother-in-law.  (Laughter.)  But I also personally know the challenges that women face in our economy, and there are some particular challenges that women face.  I grew up the son of a single mom who struggled to put herself through school and make ends meet, and raise my sister and me the right way.  And she couldn’t have done it if it weren’t for my grandparents.  And the most important breadwinner in my family was my grandmother, who worked her way up from being a secretary to being a vice president of a bank -- never got a college degree -- but then hit a glass ceiling at that local bank where she worked.  So she’d train men to eventually be her boss, even though she knew a lot more than they did.

When Michelle and I had our girls, we gave everything we had to try to balance raising a family and chasing careers.  But I’ll be honest with you, it was harder for her than it was for me.  Because when she was with the girls, she’d feel guilty about, am I doing everything I need to be doing on the job; when she was at work, she’d feel bad about, are the girls missing me -- and I know Barack is messing up somehow.  (Laughter.)  So she’s calling to check.

And so today, obviously we’re lucky and Michelle and I usually get to have dinner with the girls every night and they’re doing great.  And the highlight of every day for me is sitting with them at the dinner table.  And I want to make sure my daughters are getting the same chances as men.  I don’t want them paid less for doing the same job as some guy is doing.  When they have children, I want to make sure that they’re not having to quit their jobs, or in some other fashion be hampered because we don’t have the kinds of policies in this country that support them.

My point is -- and I’m saying now to the men -- we’ve all got a stake in this.  Women make up about half of our workforce. Over half of Valencia students, 56 percent, are women.  In fact, for more than two decades, women have earned over half of the higher education degrees awarded in this country.  So that means soon, for the first time, America’s highly educated workforce will be made up of more women than men. 

But the thing is our economy hasn’t caught up to that reality yet.  So we’ve got too many women who work hard to support themselves and their families, including the 20 percent of women enrolled in college who are trying to raise kids while earning a degree, and they’re facing unfair choices or outdated workplace policies that are holding them back.  That has to change -- because it holds all of us back.

When women make less than men, that hurts their families, including their partners, their husbands, their kids.  They’ve got less to get by on.  It hurts businesses because now their customers have less to spend.  When a job doesn’t offer adequate family leave to care for a new baby or an ailing parent that burdens men and children.  When any of our citizens can’t fulfill their potential for any reason that doesn’t have to do with their talent or their character or their work ethic, well, that’s holding us back.  We do better when everybody participates, when everybody’s talents are put to use, everybody has a fair shot. 

And I had a wonderful conversation before I came out here with Carolyn and we had a group of other women, including Dr. Williams, and you should just have heard these stories.  I mean, I don’t know if Dr. Williams has shared her story, but her mom was blind and raised her, a single mom.  And she had to go to school and get a job, and when her child was born prematurely, her blind mother comes down to provide child care because that’s the only way she could manage it. 

You had another woman describing what it’s like when you’ve got twins, preemie babies, and she’s having to quit her job because there’s no child care available, and how she needed WIC and other programs to support her even though she had a loving husband who was helping out.

So this is a family agenda.  But it starts with making sure that every woman is getting a fair shot.  It’s time for a woman’s economic agenda that grows our economy for everybody.  Now, that begins with making sure women receive equal pay for equal work.  This is a really simple principle.  This should not be confusing. (Laughter and applause.)  It’s not that complicated. 

Today, more women are their family’s main breadwinner than ever before.  But on average, women are still earning just 77 cents on every dollar that a man does.  Women with college degrees may earn hundreds of thousands of dollars less over the course of her career than a man at the same educational level.  And that’s wrong.  This isn’t 1958, it’s 2014.  That’s why the first bill I signed into law was called the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- (applause) -- and it made sure that it was easier for women to sue if they weren’t being paid the same as men. 

And in the coming weeks, Congress will have a chance to go even further by voting yes or no on what’s called the Paycheck Fairness Act.  Right now, a majority of the senators support that bill but so far Republicans have blocked it.  We’ve got to get them to change their minds and join us in this century -- (laughter) -- because a woman deserves equal pay for equal work. It’s pretty straightforward.  (Applause.)

And Congress should not stop there.  A woman deserves workplace policies that protect her right to have a baby without losing her job.  It's pretty clear that if men were having babies -- (laughter) -- we’d have different policies.  I mean, we know that, that’s for certain.  A woman deserves to take a day off to care for a sick child or a parent without running into hardship. (Applause.)

So Congress needs to act so that Americans join every other advanced nation on Earth by offering paid leave to folks who work hard every day.  It’s time to do away with some of these workplace policies that belong in a “Mad Men” episode.  (Laughter.)  We’ve got to make sure that every woman has the opportunities that she deserves -- because when women succeed, America succeeds.  I truly believe that.  (Applause.) 

On the ride over here we were talking about some of the best practices of companies that are highly successful.  It turns out that if you give families -- you give your workers some flexibility so that if they’ve got a sick child or a sick parent they can have a little time off, those employees are more productive, the companies do better, you have less turnover.  So it’s good business practice.  It’s the right thing to do.

At a time when women hold the majority of low-wage jobs, Congress is going to get a chance to vote yes or no on whether millions of women who work hard all day deserve a raise.  There’s a bill before Congress that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.  That would lift wages for nearly 28 million Americans across the country.  And, again, it would be good for business.  Because what happens is more customers have more money to spend.  It will grow the economy for everybody.  It’s time for Congress to join the rest of the country.  It’s time for -- we’re calling it the $10.10 campaign.  Give America a raise.  And that, in particular, will help the disproportionate number of women who are in lower wage jobs.

And on each of these issues, members of Congress will have to choose between helping women and families get ahead or holding them back.  Part of our challenge is fewer than 20 seats in Congress are held by women.  I think we’re all clear that Congress would get more done if you kind of evened that out a little bit.  (Applause.)  I’m pretty confident about that.

But in the meantime, we’re going to keep making the case as to why these policies are the right ones for working families and for businesses.  So over the next few months, my administration is going to host a series of roundtable discussions like the one I had in different parts of the country just to hear stories about issues like workplace flexibility and opening up new leadership opportunities for women.  And it’s all going to lead up to the first-ever White House summit on Working Families that we’re going to be holding this summer.  And maybe some of you will participate, because we want to hear your stories.  (Applause.)

Let me close by mentioning one last policy that’s benefitting millions of women right now, and that is the Affordable Care Act.  (Applause.)  I know there’s a lot of politics around it.  I know there are a lot of TV ads around that don’t always accurately reflect what’s going on.  But right now, despite the fact that the website was really bad for the first month -- (laughter) -- it’s now fixed -- more than 5 million Americans have signed up for plans at healthcare.gov.  More than 5 million.  (Applause.)  More than 3 million young people have gained coverage because this law lets you stay on your parents’ plan until you turn 26.  So I’ll bet there are some young people right now who have health insurance in this auditorium because of the law.  (Applause.) 

And thanks to this law, no American -- zero -- can ever again be denied health insurance because of a preexisting condition.  (Applause.)  Not to mention no woman can ever again be charged more for just being a woman.  (Applause.) 

Now, this is something that people don’t realize.  Before we passed Obamacare, it was routine for insurance companies to charge women significantly more than men for health insurance.  It’s just like the drycleaners.  (Laughter.)  You send in a blouse, I send in a shirt -- they charge you twice as much.  (Laughter.)  But the same thing was happening in health insurance.  And so we’ve banned that policy for everybody, not just folks who were getting health insurance on the exchange.  But if you were getting health insurance on the job, they can’t discriminate against women in that same fashion.  Not to mention tens of millions of women have gained access to free preventive care like mammograms and contraceptive care.  The point is no woman should have to put off the potentially lifesaving care she needs just because money is tight.

And in the roundtable I just had there were at least three or four folks in that roundtable, the majority of the women I just talked to had an instance in their lives where either because of a sick child or a premature baby or an ailing parent, they would be bankrupt had they not had health insurance.  Broke. So when you hear folks talking about Obamacare and I’m not using it because I’ve got health insurance or I’m healthy, well, yes, you don’t need health insurance until you need health insurance. (Laughter.)  It seems like a drag until you actually confront what life does to all of us at some point.  Some unexpected thing happens and you want to make sure that you’ve got that support.

Now, none of that has stopped Republicans in Congress from spending the last few years not focused on legislation to create jobs, or raise wages, or help more young people afford college.  They’ve taken 50 votes to try to repeal or undermine this law -- 50.  You know what they say -- the 50th time is the charm.  (Laughter.)  Fifty times.  And it’s not just to try to improve the law or here’s a particular problem.  No, we just want to scrap it so that millions of people who now have health insurance, we want them to go back to not having health insurance. 

Well, that’s not going to happen.  They can keep wasting their time repealing -- trying to repeal the ACA; we’re going to keep working to make this law work better because every person and every woman deserves to control her own health care choices  -- not her boss, not her insurer, surely not Congress. 

So there’s an important deadline coming up, by the way.  This is now the last call for 2014.  If you’ve been thinking about buying one of the new plans on healthcare.gov -- and a large proportion of people, the majority, in fact, may be able to buy health insurance for as little as $100 or less a month -- less than your cable or your cell phone bill.  I saw everybody had a cell phone.  (Laughter.)  But the deadline to get covered this year is March 31st, which is just 11 days away.  So if you are uninsured, check out your new choices at healthcare.gov.  Many of you will be able to get covered for $100 a month or less. If you’re already covered, then help get a friend covered, because that’s part of what America is about -- taking responsibility for working to achieve our own dreams; also coming together to help our fellow citizens pursue and secure their own dreams as well.

There are just such amazing stories of the women that I talked with before I came out here.  Every one of them, at some point, had made a major sacrifice on behalf of their families.  One woman had a severely autistic son; took 12 years off to raise her three kids, including this son, before now going back to school and being able to teach once again.  Just like my mom. Just like my grandma.  I didn’t fully appreciate at the time the sacrifice they were making.  I was talking about how I used to complain to my mom when she was going to school and working, why are we eating the same thing every night?  (Laughter.)  Because she was doing so much, and then coming home and still taking the time to make sure that I had a decent meal. 

That’s what built this country -- those kinds of sacrifices. And we’ve got to make sure that we as a country are helping people who are so courageous and so brave and working so hard -- all those moms and grandmas and young women like Carolyn who are trying to start their own businesses. 

We’ve come a long way together over these past five years, but we’ve got to do more to restore opportunity for everybody. Whether you’re a man or a woman; whether you are black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, with or without a disability, all of us have something to offer.  All of us have a place in this American story.  And as long as I have the privilege of being President, I’m going to keep working to make sure every single one of us have a chance to succeed.  (Applause.)  Or as you say here at Valencia, “We Say You Can.” 

Thank you, everybody.  God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

END
3:26 P.M. EDT

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Press Statement: Republicans Deny 1.7 Americans Emergency Unemployment Insurance

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

February 06, 2014

Statement by the Press Secretary

It is disappointing that Republicans in the Senate chose to again deny emergency unemployment insurance for 1.7 million Americans who need this vital lifeline to support their families as they actively search each and every day for a job. As the President said during the State of the Union, we need to give these hardworking, responsible Americans a chance. We cannot allow one vote to stand in the way of supporting these Americans as they struggle to find work. Both sides of the aisle have worked together to prevent this kind of hardship in the past, and neglecting to do so now is unacceptable – especially given the high long-term unemployment rate.

Last week the President took action on his own, bringing together CEOs whose companies have agreed to take steps to help give the long-term unemployed a fair shot at a job, and announced new steps to expand partnerships that connect the long-term unemployed to good jobs.  Republicans in Congress need to allow this bill to have an up or down vote and remove this needless drag on our economy and American families.

* * *  Support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  

Subscribe in a reader to Dennys Global Politics

* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my other 20 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place. A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. * 

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

White House Press Briefing: Trade, Arms Control Treaties, Afghan Corruption, Sochi Olympics, Unemployment: Press Gaggle aboard Air Force One en route WI, 1/30/14

English: President Obama talks alone with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Oval Office a few days after the inauguration. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From Denny:  Just so you can see how the press interacts with the White House and how the White House responds on the issues of the day - and unfiltered.  At least this level of transparency has been fulfilled by this President.  His record on the NSA?  Not so good at all. 

Another bone to pick with my fellow media:  Why isn't ALL of this news that's being discussed in these White House press briefings getting out to the public?  Morning shows spend way too much time discussing Justin Bieber's hair, clothes and antics to shed his Good Boy image rather than informing about world issues that easily affect our economy, our families' security and our ability to hold long-term and well-paying jobs.  

Some entertainment news and fluff fillers are fine but not endless hours of streaming stupidity that drowns out meaningful news stories that require an informed public so they can weigh in effectively at the voting booth.  This kind of media pablum discourages critical thinking that people need to learn in order to do well at their jobs and life in general.  Businesses are complaining quite loudly about the lack of critical thinking ability in new workers.  

To the media outlets:  Quit doing the American people a disservice by going for the easy money all the time.  This is less the fault of individual journalists and more the fault of sleazy and scummy news producers who have no integrity, reducing journalism down to the level of a loud crass circus act.

Issues and subjects discussed in the order presented to the Press Secretary:  

For the amused Anti-Valentine's Day Crowd:

Love Cents Men's All Over Print T-Shirt

Practical love that is oh, so ruthless for the amusing anti-Valentine's Day crowd:  "so... where's your financial statement?" Also, available in many different t-shirt styles for men and women, hoodies, pajamas, mugs, stationery and more fun products - come see!

* * *  Support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  

For the my fellow die hard True Love Believers who want to "be the change you wish to see in the world": ...

Loved On Today Kid's All Over Print T-Shirt

Loved On Today poses the challenge to all of us "to be the change we wish to see in the world." Also, available in many different t-shirt styles for men and women, hoodies, stuffed animals, pajamas, mugs, stationery and more fun products - come see!

* * *  Support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  

The Social Poets: Where Is The Middle Class in America? Half Living Low Income Or Poor

The Social Poets: Where Is The Middle Class in America? Half Living Low Income Or Poor: From  Denny:  Where is the middle class in America?  Half of Americans are now scraping by on low income or downright poverty, according to the latest census data.  That's 146 million doing without because of high unemployment, costs that have risen fast, stayed high and suppressed wages.

Mayors of 29 cities say they cannot meet the needs for emergency food assistance, food stamps, and are turning away 25 percent of applicants.  There are already 46 million people on food stamps, a former middle class that never asked for any help until now. Federal and states' programs are frayed at the edges.

And the Republicans claim the Democrats are screaming "class warfare"?  These figures don't lie.  Just where did the GOP expect the unemployed to go?  How do they expect people to eat?

Dennys Funny Quotes: 50 Best: New Occupy Wall Street Protest Signs

Dennys Funny Quotes: 50 Best: New Occupy Wall Street Protest Signs: From Denny: As the Occupy Wall Street protests grow exponentially, enjoy some of their intelligent humor. The news could not be more true - or more entertaining - then when smart people take to the streets to protest our bought government. After viewing these signs it sure makes you want to run out and make your own and start a one-woman march on Wall Street - a real Kodak moment for the future grandkids...

Related articles

• The Social Poets: Occupy Wall Street: Are Their Conclusions Correct? (dennysfunnyquotes.blogspot.com)

The Social Poets: Occupy Wall Street Protests: Where To Find In Your State

The Social Poets: Occupy Wall Street Protests: Where To Find In Your State: From Denny: The Occupy Wall Street protests are growing so fast that it is tripling every three days.

The mainstream media complains it is too difficult to cover the protests. That sure sounds like their Big Business handlers and Wall Street are trying to sideline the protesters.

Well, not so fast Big Boys. The following is America's list by the states and territory of OWS protest events, dates and timeline updates.

The Social Poets: State of the Economy, Oprah, College Grads, 2012 Election, Cartoons

The Social Poets: State of the Economy, Oprah, College Grads, 2012 Election, Cartoons: "From Denny: Today President Obama's political team demanded $60 million from high roller campaign donors in Chicago, to be delivered before the end of June. Uh, there isn't even anyone to face yet in the Republican camp. A little over reaching, don't you think?

2012 Presidential Campaign

But hey, Mitt Romney jumped up and officially announced he is running for president. In case you have followed so many of his flip-flops of where he stands or doesn't stand - on just about any issue - he is running on the Republican side of the political aisle. Not to be confused with a guy not born in Kenya by the name of Obama. :)"

Dennys: News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food: Obama: Unemployed, Middle Class, Poor: Hey, Stupid, Watch Your Finances, Political Cartoons

Dennys: News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food: Obama: Unemployed, Middle Class, Poor: Hey, Stupid, Watch Your Finances, Political Cartoons: "To add insult to economic injury, completely tone deaf politically, President Obama Declares April Financial Literacy Month.  After just announcing his reelection campaign now he is urging Americans to learn more about their personal finances. You have got to be kidding me. How insensitive and downright stupid is this statement? Where have you been the past three years since the economy shed millions of jobs?

Obama: Do you even read - or better yet re-read - your own speeches over the course of a year? Or do you just parrot the words off the page or teleprompter without giving it much thought later.  Like Bush, you appear to be sleepwalking through this presidency, dancing to the tune of political handlers and Big Business."

What Is The Truth About Unemployment In America?

Check out the status of unemployment across America and how high the figure is for the long term unemployed.

From Denny: The reality is that the recent tax cuts bill that was signed by President Obama on Friday only reinstates and extends unemployment insurance to about one million people. That's it.

The 99ers

Remember all those who have been unemployed for so long - past the two year mark and many for as long as four years - now called The 99ers because they exhausted their 99 weeks of available benefits? There are literally millions of them, perhaps as many as seven million by now.  Every month there are an additional two million added to their roles. Though the statistics are sketchy and infrequent it's believed The 99ers make up at least 10 percent of the unemployed.

Most 99ers over age 50 

Never mind that most of The 99ers are older Baby Boomers, there are those under age 45, many are well past age 50. They have paid unemployment insurance from their paychecks every month, every year, for decades. Now, in their time of need, their own government and politicians turn a deaf ear to them. How long before you, a relative or someone close to you enters their unhappy ranks? And we wonder why we see so much violence on the news every night, as a larger and larger segment of American society grows more desperate?

Economists seem to think maybe the economy is turning around because of the number of initial unemployment claims have trended downward by 400,000 this past month. Let's hope they are correct on their judgment call because this economy has already shed eight million jobs during this so-called "recession."

Long term unemployed figures vs. short term 

How many long term unemployed are there in America? Try 6.3 million and that's about 42 percent of all the unemployed. That's not the best figure to know that creeping up to half of all your country's unemployed are long term unemployed.

Just this past week retailers like TJ Maxx let go 4,400 jobs right before Black Friday that comes the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. It's supposed to be the best shopping day of the year and yet they shed those jobs. Clearly, something is still wrong in this economy.

If you believe the news stories, watching bustling happy shoppers purchasing expensive gifts for this Christmas season you would be led to think the economy has bounced back. The problem is that those news clips are taken at the upscale shopping malls, in metro areas and wealthy neighborhoods. I'd like to see news clips from middle class malls, from small to medium-sized towns and cities, to get a better average of the truest reality of holiday shopping.

Take a look at the jobless rates in some of the states:

* North Dakota, lowest jobless rate, 3.8 percent
* South Dakota, 4.5 percent
* Nebraska, 4.6 percent
* New Hampshire 5.4 percent
* Vermont 5.7 percent
* Nevada, 14.3 percent, the highest unemployment rate among the states in November. * California, 12.4 percent
* Michigan, 12.4 percent
* Florida, 12 percent rate
* Rhode Island, 11.6 percent

True unemployment rate a guessing game

Apparently, there were 21 states, and the District of Columbia, reporting unemployment decreases. (In D.C. there are literally thousands who work for the federal government so it is not a true picture of the rest of the country since it is not a private sector free market free fall.)

There were 17 states reporting increases in unemployment while there were five states that had no change. Mind you, these are the official figures and I question the true transparency of this White House like its predecessors. Many speculate that unemployment figures run far higher, with figures ranging from 17 percent to 22 percent. That doesn't even begin to address the long term under employed who are finding it difficult to pay bills because prices remain high for necessities like gas for your car, food at the grocery store, a colder winter heating bills and the like.

The kind of numbers and spin we keep getting out of our politicians is annoying at best. The people they are not counting in government statistics are at least seven or more million long term unemployed, people unemployed for the past two to four years - which is insane.

Politicians keep telling us those eight to ten million jobs that went overseas will never come back. So, we can only assume that eight to ten million people will remain long term unemployed?

What is really going on here? We have official statistics of 6.3 million long term unemployed of which the government claims make up to 42 percent of the unemployed. Then add in seven million of The 99ers and you get a truer picture of almost 14 million or more long term unemployed - since two million a month are added to the rolls of The 99ers because they have exhausted their benefits. The reality is that almost 70 percent of our unemployed are long term unemployed. That's the dirty little secret this White House and Congress are hiding and the statistics with which they are playing spin games.

Well, it's any one's guess what will happen to the long term unemployed in this country.  Stay tuned for The New Ugly, the new Congress that's installed in January to see what's next on the horizon for increasingly desperate Americans.



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Gordon Brown Book: 9 Big Banks Manipulating World Economy

Check out the crooked world of global banking.

From Denny: Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown brings into focus the world economic meltdown in his latest book "Beyond The Crash: Overcoming The First Crisis of Globalisation." This video clip is the extended interview and also an exclusive one with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown Exclusive Interview

The revelations of inept government and banking officials is astounding here. Government leaders around the world assumed that bankers were professionals and actually knew and understood the banking system. According to PM Brown, apparently bankers from renowned global Big Banks admitted to not understanding the concept of how to calculate financial risk. That's like saying you don't understand the concept of burning yourself if you put your hand into the roaring fire. Unbelievable.

October 2008 beginning of world economic meltdown 

Brown and Stewart discuss the atmosphere of the beginning of the world economic meltdown in October 2008. The crisis was so severe that within three to six days huge global banks would be out of money. Brown relates that one banker told him that "all he needed was some overnight financing to get through." The next day the bank collapsed. Brown said the head of that Big Bank was completely clueless as to what was going on.

What shocked Brown the most as he delved into the financial crisis at the time was how interconnected like a world web were all the banks. In fact, they were so entangled that when one bank failed it started a domino effect worldwide.

Why banks failed worldwide and continue to fail today 

From what he experienced as a government leader, Brown learned a lot about the banking system and its terrible flaws, vulnerabilities and ruthless crookedness. As he sees it there are four major areas of problems with Big Banks:

* the banks were over leveraged with too many risks
* not enough working capital monies available because they were
* spent as bonuses rewarding the bankers instead of being invested back into the bank as working capital
* when the banks ran out of money all lending froze up

Government bailouts for greedy world bankers failed to bring about change

These idiot bankers were so greedy to reward themselves for the short term and too stupid to realize eventually the well would run dry and collapse their banks entirely. Of course, along come governments like America who gave huge bailouts to keep the banks in business. What did the bankers do? Nothing changed. They still continue to reward themselves with multi-million dollar bonuses - and allowing their working capital to dry up so we will end up bailing them out yet again.

What happened to create the economic crisis is that banks did not take in enough premiums on their risk investments to cover their risks.  Say they took in a $50 million premium to cover a $5 billion risk yet did not set aside a full $5 billion to cover that risk.  Instead, these stupid bankers got greedy, rewarded themselves with huge bonuses, leaving the banks unable to cover the huge losses that came their way.  In short, they gave out as bonuses to themselves what was supposed to be the bank's working capital.

Brown pushes for world banking standards to inspire trust and investments 

As idealistic Brown sees it the world must move to a global banking system where there are industry standards, integrity, trust, responsibility and fairness. While he is correct, good luck on that one with all the extreme greed on Wall Street.

Brown does admit that even if America finally reins in Big Banks with new legislation there will still be problems unless all the banks of the world in Europe, Asia and Latin America join the effort. Otherwise, if the crooks don't like the regulations in one country they will just move their operations to a country that will allow their greed to rein unchecked.

Brown also puts forth how important it is to have trust, integrity and transparency in the banking world. If there is not a way to verify what a bank has as investments and how leveraged they are for risk then it makes investors uneasy and disinclined to trust that bank's judgment. And, without that trust, the markets dry up.  He also claims that by developing this global banking system it would develop such a trust that the markets would begin flowing again. He seems to think this act would help stimulate as many as 50 million jobs right here in America. He did not elaborate further on that idea.

So, basically, Brown believes the world economic crisis boils down to greedy bankers too stupid to use their own money to keep themselves flush in working capital to cover bad investments. Which brings us to the Nine Big Banks who are manipulating our world economy.

9 Big Banks manipulating world economy 

The New York Times reported this past week about the secret meetings of world bankers who serve on a global council. What they do is meet every month to discuss and oversee trading in the derivatives market and the credit default market.

Anonymous secret bankers 

What is annoying is that no one knows who "they" are. They remain anonymous. They come from famous names like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Their locations are secretive as to when they meet and what exactly they do discuss. These men supposedly "safeguard" a multi-trillion dollar market - yeah, for themselves because they work hard to exclude other banks trying to get into the market.

Derivatives market 

Get this as to just how crooked the derivatives market truly is: they don't allow public information to know their prices and the fees for the "insurance" product they offer as derivatives. Of course, Wall Street also claims we are all too stupid to understand the so-called complicated world of derivatives.

Here's the deal: it's nothing but a fancy word for unregulated betting and gambling.  By not allowing their own customers who buy this product they are left wondering if they got a fair price and completely clueless as to the details of what the bank is charging them.  This affects small businesses as well as large ones.  This derivatives market also affects the average person because pension funds use this product to hedge their investments.

As it stands right now these banks are collecting billions of dollars in these undisclosed fees.  All this could change if governments would get involved and regulate this industry severely.  If there was more competition,  rather than this monopoly by the nine Big Banks, prices would go down and there would be transparency.

To read more on the details of just how these Big Banks operate, controlling these derivatives market clearinghouses, go here for the New York Times article: A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives



The Daily Show: Exclusive - Gordon Brown Extended Interview - In this unedited, extended interview, Gordon Brown thinks America should be optimistic about its future in the global economy.

Check out Gordon Brown's new book: "Beyond The Crash: Overcoming The First Crisis of Globalisation."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Gordon Brown Extended Interview
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

*** Check out Holiday Recipes From Dennys Food and Recipes

The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Best Spiritual Posts - my own best as well as links to other spiritual posts from all viewpoints
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor



Gordon-Brown, interviews, books, international-affairs, economy, America, Europe, Great-Britain, money, unemployment, Wall-Street, morality