News Day

Franken and Coleman: Together at last As reported in the Strib this morning, backers of Israel’s war on Gaza and opponents both staged events at the Minneapolis JCC yesterday. The Strib reported about 750 inside (supporting the war) and about 250 outside (opposing the war). Supporters included both Norm Coleman and Al Franken, finally finding something they could agree on, and a line-up of other MN politicos, beginning with T-Paw. As the Minnesota Independent reported last week, only Reps. Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum resisted the Congressional tidal wave of support for the war.

Opponents include Jewish, Palestinian, and other voices.

Hybrids ahead! Toyota plans to start selling its new hybrid plug-in car later this year, according to the NYT. The car will be made in Japan, powered by lithium-ion batteries, and sold to fleets, rather than to the general public, which will give them a year to monitor performance and usage and make changes before Chevy starts selling its Volt late in 2010. I want one — but price point and repair records are major considerations, so it will be a while.

How to stimulate an economy The Progressive offers this chart showing the most effective ways to spend economic stimulus money. Top three: food stamps, extending Unemployment Insurance benefits, and infrastructure spending. Bottom three: corporate tax cuts, extending Bush tax cuts, and accelerated depreciation.

That pretty much follows the economic analysis I’ve been reading, which all points to spending on jobs as the most effective use of economic stimulus funds, NOT tax cuts. (See Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, for example.) The Progressive‘s chart comes from Mark Zandi, a McCain economic adviser — hardly a radical. Bob Herbert advises:

And the way to create jobs is through infrastructure investments (building and repairing roads, bridges, tunnels and water and sewer systems); and by investing in 21st-century clean energy initiatives, in public transportation systems, and in school construction; and by providing access to health care for the millions who don’t have it.
In other words, by investing in the people and the enormous productive capacity of the United States.

In Minnesota, reports MPR, DFL legislators are talking about a state economic stimulus package. At this point, MPR says, Senate File 1 has only ” vague references to promoting a green economy, augmenting federal funds with state spending and bonding for public works projects, including roads, sewers, parks and trails. But no projects are listed, and the sections that appropriate money and authorizes bonding remain blank.” Republicans, predictably, point to the state’s $4.8 billion budget deficit and say the state can’t afford any economic stimulus spending. The difference is that capital projects are funded by borrowing through issuing state bonds. That means the spending is not part of the regular budget, which must be balanced each year, but instead is premised on future economic growth to pay off the bonds.

Press reports that gas prices are heading back up across the country. I can confirm the trend in the Twin Cities, as I paid $1.59/gallon to fill up less than a week ago, and today the same stations posted $1.85/gallon. Does anybody really believe that supply and demand control gas prices? Or that some combination of Russian-Ukrainian conflict and OPEC production cuts explain the increase? I know that a lot of experts pooh-pooh talk of manipulation of gas prices, but the roller-coaster of the past eight months has convinced me. I don’t understand why, and I don’t know who, but somebody is making money on this craziness.

MN Job Watch: The Strib reports that CostPlus is closing six Minnesota stores. And target=”_blank”>David Brauer reports that the Strib itself is about two weeks away from bankruptcy filing, though it’s not clear that will result in job losses on top of the already-large number that have been cut in the past year and a half. Finance and Commerce quotes the Associated General Contractors of America predicting a 30% cut in construction jobs ahead, but hoping that the economic stimulus package will change this grim prospect. According to Finance and Commerce:

Minnesota Democrat Jim Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, wants the plan to include $85 billion for transportation and public works construction.

The breakdown includes $32.5 billion for highways and bridges, $12 billion for mass transit, $14.275 billion for wastewater treatment facilities and other “environmental” projects, $5 billion for airports and $4.9 billion for passenger rail, among other projects, noted Oberstar spokesman John Schadl.

Oberstar wants the spending to be for projects that are ready to go within 120 days, all the better to quickly stimulate the economy.

Two Minnesota Republicans in Congress–John Kline and Michelle Bachmann–are warning that the economic stimulus plan must not include any earmarks, and “Bachmann referred to Obama’s stimulus plan as ‘a pork barrel’ package.”

Looks like jobseekers should head for McDonald’s, where profits are still rising, according to the NYT.

If you’re looking for a way to take your mind off the economy for a few hours, the Twin Cities Daily Planet recommends First Avenue’s best new bands of 2008, the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio for Henry V, and the West Bank’s Tam Tam African Restaurant. MPR recommends the month-long, first-ever International Chamber Orchestra Festival in St. Paul.

“Shockingly awful” and “spectacularly grim” employment figures materialize, right on schedule. Today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows unemployment in December running at 7.2%, and notes that, “Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has grown by 3.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.3 percentage points.” BBC notes that total job loss numbers for October and November have also been revised upward.

This week’s MN Job Watch: Some 500 employees in corporate HQ have taken Best Buy’s buyout offer. On the other side of the metro, Anderson Windows is cutting 50 jobs, and laying off another 400 employees. Alliant Tech/Federal Cartridge is eliminating 70-80 jobs, after cutting 40-50 in November. Macy’s will close its Brooklyn Center store, as well as cutting hours at the downtown St. Paul store.

The Strib reports that nursing homes are closing, and waiting lists growing, as reimbursement rates continue low. The state’s 393 nursing homes say they are losing $23 per day per resident at the current rates of state reimbursement. The state/federal Medicaid program pays for two-thirds of nursing home residents’ care.

John Judis in The New Republic and Paul Krugman in the New York Times both question whether the Obama economic agenda goes far enough in dealing with the nation’s crisis. Krugman:

This is the most dangerous economic crisis since the Great Depression, and it could all too easily turn into a prolonged slump.
But Mr. Obama’s prescription doesn’t live up to his diagnosis. The economic plan he’s offering isn’t as strong as his language about the economic threat.

For the full text of the Obama address on the economy, click here.

Meanwhile, in other news of the day:

Gran Torino has opened in the Twin Cities. The Twin Cities Daily Planet has a line-up of stories about the Minnesota and Hmong connections, written by both Daily Planet reporters and Hmong Today.

One RNC protester has pleaded guilty to the molotov cocktail charges. The other still awaits trial.

Minnesota salmonella cases make us one of the lucky states hit by the latest outbreak, with causes as yet undetermined.

“Your vote didn’t count.” That’s the message for about 400 voters, now receiving letters from the Secretary of State to tell them that either the Coleman or the Franken campaign challenged their absentee ballots and that the ballots consequently were not opened and counted.

Bad as it was to hear about the coal ash sludge bursting out of its dam and destroying homes and rivers in Tennessee, at least the news seemed far away. Tennessee — they have coal mines there, don’t they? Or weak environmental laws? It’s a dreadful thing that happened, and we are sorry for those poor people and glad that we don’t have to worry about it up here.

Except that we do. I never heard of a coal ash dump until the disaster in Tennessee. Now I know that there are 1300 coal ash dumps spread all across the United States. Three of them are in Minnesota, with 18 to 50 foot high dikes holding in the coal ash in Becker, Cohasset and Hoyt Lakes. Like the other 1300 coal ash dumps, these three hold tons of coal ash sludge containing lead and mercury and other chemicals.

According to the New York Times,

Numerous studies have shown that the ash can leach toxic substances that can cause cancer, birth defects and other health problems in humans, and can decimate fish, bird and frog populations in and around ash dumps, causing developmental problems like tadpoles born without teeth, or fish with severe spinal deformities.

A 2007 Scientific American article notes that coal ash contains concentrated amounts of uranium and thorium, and says that “fly ash emitted by a power plant—a by-product from burning coal for electricity—carries into the surrounding environment 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy.”

The Environmental Integrity Project on January 7 released a report saying that “the Stanton Energy Facility in Orlando, FL., has reported dumping roughly 10 times more of the carcinogen in its site between 2000-2006 than the TVA did over the same period in its now ruptured Harriman, TN storage pond site.” The EIP report listed other sites that are more contaminated than the Tennessee site.

Eric Schaeffer, director, Environmental Integrity Project, said: “The Tennessee eco-disaster has cast a spotlight on what is a very serious national problem – the existence of under-regulated toxic pollution coal dump sites near coal-fired power plants that pose a serious threat to drinking water supplies, rivers and streams. Our analysis confirms that this problem is truly national in scope and that Tennessee may end up only being a warning sign of much more trouble to come. In addition to so-called ‘surface impoundments’ in ponds, we need to be concerned about inadequate oversight and monitoring of land-based disposal and other ‘storage’ of these toxic wastes. We can no longer afford to ignore this problem and we certainly can’t be content to just sit around and wait for the next Tennessee-style disaster to happen.”

Minnesota regulatory agencies told the Star Tribune that these dams are safe, not like the one on the North Shore, which “crashed” down a hillside in July 1993 after a heavy rain. That dam, like the one in Tennessee, was made up in part of ash, while the three dams at Becker, Cohasset and Hoyt Lakes are entirely earthen.

Minnesota’s stringent rules call for inspection of coal ash dumps every eight years, though State Dam Engineer Jason Boyle told the Strib he couldn’t find inspection records for two of the three dams.

Downsizing the news, again and again and again. David Brauer has the full list of buyouts at the Strib, including columnist Kathy Kersten and online managing editor Will Tacy. Brauer reported earlier that the Strib has proposed paycuts of up to 42 percent for some Teamsters union workers. Cuts hit both WCCO and City Pages last week, and the Strib has followed the PiPress in combining both A and B sections in the Monday paper, with Business and Classifieds in a single section Monday-Thursday. (The PiPress combines both sections on Monday and Tuesday, and the Strib says its move is only a “test” during January. Right.) And the Minnesota Daily is cutting costs by going down to four issues each week when it resumes publication with the new term in January, and paying reporters per-story rather than per-hour, according to the Strib.

Journalism, with feeling. For old-style reporting in the teeth of danger, Palestinian journalists in Gaza are offering a couple of inspiring examples. JTA, the Jewish Telegraph calls AP writer Ibrahim Barzak, “the best reporter in Gaza,” describing his work in better days:

He is an assiduous, just the facts reporter. He never raises his voice and always asks the tough questions. He has risked his life more than once for his job, and more than once for pissing off the Palestinian powers that be.

Barzak begins his own account of reporting in Gaza this week:

I live alone in my office. My wife and two young children moved in with her father after our apartment was shattered. The neighborhood mosque, where I have prayed since I was a child, had its roof blown off. All the government buildings on my beat have been obliterated.
After days of Israeli shelling, the city and life I have known no longer exist.

I heard another moving interview with a Palestinian journalist Rami Al Meghari on KFAI radio Tuesday, from Pacifica’s Free Speech Radio News program. The podcast explores ” between his pull to ‘get the story’ as a journalist and his constant fear for his family and children.”

RNC? Which RNC? As Twitter follows the RNC (Republican National Commitee) chair candidates (Schmelzer: “Listening to RNC chair candidates speak. One guy: “It’s tough being a Young Republican.” Then glee answering how many guns each owns.”), the aftermath of St. Paul’s RNC drags on. Yesterday, the Strib reported that St. Paul and the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War agreed to dismiss any claims against each other in federal court. Not sure what complaints the city had against the group, which staged the biggest march of the convention, staying within the lines on September 1, but the Coalition gave up its challenge to the city rules that kept them out of sight and hearing of all convention delegates. No legal protests were allowed to approach the RNC, except on the closed back side of the Xcel Center, and safely separated by a well-patrolled dead zone and tall double fences, leaving protesters free to shout slogans to one another.

The PiPress reported that police videos of St. Paul streets during the RNC are now available for public viewing–at least if “public” means filing legal demands under the Minnesota Data Practices Act, waiting for police permission, and then waiting your turn at the single video terminal available at the Western District police station.

Best/Worst Bush Moments Both local blogger Jeff Fecke and the august BBC offer lists of the “best” Bush moments. While Fecke’s Blog of the Moderate left includes some serious moments (Worst Bush Moments: #14, The Alito Appointment), the BBC article sticks to the silly side, noting that the “word ‘Bushism’ has been coined to label his occasional verbal lapses.” BBC offers video of some of the greatest moments, as well as several categories of quotations. Perhaps we should all be glad that, in the words of GWII, “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.” (5/12/08)

From the east and west side of the river St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman announced January 7 that he is running for re-election. As the incumbent Democratic mayor of a Democratic city with a 100% Democratic City Council, his chances for re-election look good.

UPDATED JANUARY 9
“This is a terrible time to be a parent of young adult children,” my friend told me at lunch a few weeks ago. “You tell them to study hard and work hard to get ahead — and then when they graduate, there’s nothing.” A reader writing to the New York Times echoed her feelings: “We have GOT to get the twenty somethings jobs. The kids around here are getting really desperate, and they can’t even get into the classes they need at colleges right now with the budget cuts to universities.”

Friday morning update: Today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows unemployment in December running at 7.2%, and notes that, “Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has grown by 3.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.3 percentage points.” BBC notes that total job loss numbers for October and November have also been revised upward.

All of the latest jobs figures confirm their concerns, with the bleakest jobs picture seen by anyone now under retirement age — more than 2.4 million jobs lost last year, unemployment continuing at 8-9 percent through 2010, and no prospect for even the beginning of a recovery for more than a year.

The Labor Department released the December national unemployment figures on January 9, and they are not pretty. (Minnesota’s December numbers will be out on January 22.) NPR’s Planet Money blog quotes one expert who calls the prospects “shockingly awful,” and points to the ADP employment report dated January 7, which estimates that the nation lost 693,000 jobs in December. That’s the biggest drop in 59 years. ADP bases its reports on its experience as the payroll service provider for 400,000 employers with about 24 million employees.

Minnesota’s unemployment rate was 6.4 percent (seasonally adjusted) in November, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. “This was the result of an increase of 14,400 unemployed people,” said the DEED website “which raised the total to 188,925, the highest number since early 1983.” Every sector except government lost jobs, and the increase in government jobs was “almost entirely due to election judges.” Statewide, initial unemployment claims in November “increased by 12,800 or 43.0 percent from one year ago to 42,600.”

Another one of the economic markers that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks is the number of mass lay-offs, defined as more than 50 unemployment claimants in a single month from a single company. November and December are typically high months for mass lay-offs, but the 60 reported in Minnesota in November 2008 were a significant increase from 41 reported in 2007. November’s 60 mass lay-offs yielded 5,442 new unemployment claimants in November (compared to 4,315 in November 2007), in addition to all those unfortunate workers laid off in smaller increments.

Nationwide, the BLS reported 2,574 mass lay-offs in November 2008, compared to 1,799 in November 2007. The Congressional Budget Office just issued its annual report,, which paints a grim picture that includes 2009 unemployment averaging 8.3 percent, increasing to 9 percent in 2010:

The sharp downturn in housing markets across the country, which undermined the solvency of major financial institutions and severely disrupted the functioning of financial markets, has led the United States into a recession that will probably be the longest and the deepest since World War II. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) anticipates that the recession—which began about a year ago—will last well into 2009.

Under an assumption that current laws and policies regarding federal spending and taxation remain the same, CBO forecasts the following:

• A marked contraction in the U.S. economy in calendar year 2009, with real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) falling by 2.2 percent.

• A slow recovery in 2010, with real GDP growing by only 1.5 percent.

• An unemployment rate that will exceed 9 percent early in 2010.

Nobel-prize-winning economist Paul Krugman warns that the CBO estimates may be over-optimistic. He calls the jobs picture “spectacularly grim,” and says that the Obama plan is not enough, especially with “a significant share going to ineffective tax cuts.”

According to MSNBC:

Obama plans to propose $310 billion in tax cuts for the middle class and businesses as part of the $775 billion stimulus plan. Some U.S. governors and economists are pushing for a larger package—around $1 trillion. Many Republicans want a more modest bill, possibly in the range of $500 billion.

Legal experts say Coleman faces an uphill battle, according to MPR. Coleman lawyer Fritz Knaak says they intend to put local officials under oath and question them about what happened in local polling places in a process that he predicts will take at least two months. Coleman loyalists Joe Soucheray and the Wall Street Journal editorial page, also republished in the PiPress continue beating the drums with attacks on the recount and on Minnesota elections.

As MnIndy reports/repeats, the January 5 WSJ editorial is one “that nearly everyone but Rush Limbaugh has laughed off for its woolly inaccuracies and hidebound misrepresentations.”

Sooch faults SoS Ritchie and anyone else who was “encouraging more voting and making it sound virtuous and noble to do so.” He wants voting left to “the legitimate lot of us who vote correctly and responsibly” — and Republican-ly?

Sooch charges that Ritchie’s “eagle-eyed glare” intimidated two Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices into committing recount fraud as they joined in the unanimous rulings of the State Canvassing Board. Joe’s fans may include a girl named Alice, who proudly proclaimed “I can believe in three impossible things before breakfast.”

Norm Coleman will sue to overturn the election results, despite calls from distinguished Minnesotans, including Democratic former V.P. Walter Mondale and Republican former governor Arne Carlson.

Twittering? Watch out for phishers, who have been trying to get e-mail contacts from Twitter users. Someone also hacked 33 Twitter accounts over the weekend, including Barack Obama and Britney Spears. According to BBC, the hackers promised free petrol from Mr. Obama and ” some very personal statistics from Ms Spears.”

Snow, ice, sledding and broken backs – that’s winter in Minnesota, according to the Hennepin County Medical Center. Docs say they’ve seen twice as many back injuries this year as last year. Icy hills made sledding more dangerous.

And the beat goes on — Alcoa cutting 115,200 employees, Toyota shutting down its Japanese plants for 11 days.

Here in MN, the PiPress reports that social services are seeing more need. In Sherburne County, “14 people called the county every day in 2008 for information about financial assistance. That’s up from an average of three calls a day in 2006.” December 1 saw an all-time one-day record of 625 calls for help.

NPR’s Planet Money asks “Where would we be if FDR had done nothing?” And over at NYT, Paul Krugman warns that Congress and the incoming Obama administration have to act quickly. “The fact is,” writes Krugman, “that recent economic numbers have been terrifying, not just in the United States but around the world. Manufacturing, in particular, is plunging everywhere. Banks aren’t lending; businesses and consumers aren’t spending. Let’s not mince words: This looks an awful lot like the beginning of a second Great Depression.”

“The deficit is so overwhelming that it’s hard to even think about what the other issues would be,” said Senator Sandy Pappas (D-St. Paul), expressing what might be the only easy consensus about the legislative session that begins January 6. From higher education to green jobs to child care to roads and bridges, the deficit looms over all other issues.

Pappas said that an emergency bonding bill for infrastructure will be on the agenda, either to provide a match for federal economic stimulus dollars, if that is requried, or to do infrastructure repair and replacement. As chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, Pappas noted that both the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MNSCU) and the University of Minnesota have “a huge backlog” for infrastructure projects such as energy-efficient HVAC systems and new roofs. Other bonding may provide for highways, transit and schools. “If we do our own economic stimulus package,” Pappas said, “it would include bonding for capital investment.”

“Investments in infrastructure and renewable energy that stimulate the economy, provide living wage jobs, and protect the environment,” should be a priority, according to Russ Adams, director of the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability. “We have a battle to prioritize the spending of federal dollars.”

Adams explained that the emphasis on the federal level seems to be on funding “shovel-ready” projects, such as roads and bridges. That de-emphasizes projects such as mass transit, which may need more planning, studies and fiscal analysis before start-up. He says the Obama administration “is doing a balancing act between ready-to-go work and work to shift to a new, greener economy.”

Top priority, according to Adams, should go to green jobs for low income people and people of color, such as building retrofitting for energy efficiency.

“There’s a shortage of workers to do it,” he said. “We know how to create job training programs to teach people how to do the retrofitting. It pays for itself in about three years. This could be a green pathway out of poverty.”

Job training for unemployed workers is a key concern for higher education, too, according to Pappas, who expressed concern that cuts in funding would mean higher tuition. “In an economic downturn,” she said, “a lot of people go back to school to upgrade skills, learn a new profession, or go to graduate school. If tuition rises, people could be squeezed out.”

Jeff Bauer, director of public policy for Family and Children’s Services, said he is hearing legislators and advocates express concern about identifying areas where people in need are most vulnerable to budget cuts, and trying to make sure that cuts are made in a fair and equitable fashion.

“The other message we are hearing loud and clear,” said Bauer, “is that just saying ‘please don’t make cuts’ isn’t going to cut it this year. The two numbers — $4.8 billion and $5.2 billion — are just a massive amount of money to find somewhere.”

Bauer said that advocates have to wait and see what is in the governor’s budget, when it comes out later in January or in early February.

(Published in