Running out of unemployment benefits With the average time between losing one job and finding the next rising, about a thousand Minnesotans are falling off the cliff every week — running out of unemployment benefits. Continue reading
Tag Archives: employment
NEWS DAY | Unemployment running out / U of M vs. LRT / Flu shots / Honduras update
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NEWS DAY | Essential reading: The McChrystal report / Grocery wars in Twin Cities / Police notes
Essential reading: The McChrystal Report General Stanley McChrystal has delivered his initial assessment of the war in Afghanistan, and it is grim. McChrystal sets out an overall strategy of allied forces (ISAF) providing security to prop up the Afghan government (GIRoA) and security forces while they become stronger, more credible, less corrupt and capable of both supporting and protecting the population and winning the support of the population. But there’s no indication that the Afghan government or security forces are moving in that direction, and no reason given to believe that they will.
McChrystal advocates focusing on what is under ISAF control: a change of ISAF direction and practices, supported by greatly expanded military and civilian resources from the United States. It is clear that, even from a military perspective that accepts war as the answer, the increased resources McChrystal requests will not be enough to “win” Afghanistan. The crucial element — an Afghan government that is responsible to and supported by the people — is not achievable through U.S. military efforts. Excerpts from the document show the depth of the disaster-in-progress. Continue reading
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NEWS DAY | Understanding unemployment numbers / MNSCU bonuses, ethics / Fong Lee shooter fired
Minnesota unemployment: The numbers and beyond One in four Minnesotans say they or a family member in their household has lost a job in the last year, according to a new survey released by the Northwest Area Foundation yesterday. The survey release came one day after the MN Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) commissioner said he was “encouraged” by a slight drop in Minnesota’s unemployment. Yet, even with the decline in unemployment, fewer Minnesotans had jobs at the end of August than at the beginning. Here’s a closer look at the numbers, and what they really mean. Continue reading
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NEWS DAY | Food prices: Falling or spinning? / Domestic violence kills / T-Paw’s money
Food prices and news spins Are food prices down? Sort of, according to AP, which reports that the Labor Department index for the price of food to be eaten at home has fallen by nine-tenths of one percent over the past year. Of course, that comes after food sellers raised their prices by 6.7 percent in the previous year. And despite the fact that “ingredient costs for major food makers, including Heinz, Kraft and Hormel, are down about 28 percent on average as of Sept. 1, from Sept. 1, 2008.”
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NEWS DAY | Barnum & Bailey and health care reform / MN-Somali war death / New Flyer takes a dive
Barnum & Bailey and healthcare reform Bill Moyers, as usual, gets it really right:
Forget what you learned in civics about the Founding Fathers — we’re the children of Barnum and Bailey, our founding con men. Their freak show was the forerunner of today’s talk radio….
[Media scholar Henry Giroux] describes the growing domination of hate radio as one of the crucial elements in a “culture of cruelty” increasingly marked by overt racism, hostility and disdain for others, coupled with a simmering threat of mob violence toward any political figure who believes health care reform is the most vital of safety nets, especially now that the central issue of life and politics is no longer about working to get ahead, but struggling simply to survive…
[Josh Marshall has] offered the simplest and most accurate description yet of a public insurance plan — one that essentially asks people: would you like the option — the voluntary option — of buying into Medicare before you’re 65?
As Congress returns, the prospects for real health care reform seem ever dimmer. And neither Congress nor the White House is seriously talking about legislation to address the other, on-going crisis of a “jobless recovery.” Bob Herbert warns in the op/ed pages of the New York Times:
Politicians talk about it, but aggressive job-creation efforts are not part of the policy mix.
Nearly 15 million Americans are unemployed, according to official statistics. The real numbers are far worse. The unemployment rate for black Americans is a back-breaking 15.1 percent.
Five million people have been unemployed for more than six months, and the consensus is that even when the recession ends, the employment landscape will remain dismal.
MN budget cuts hit courts, schools, counties Without money to cover state judicial system needs, five Minnesota counties will begin sharing judges this week. Freeborn, Steele and Winona counties will share judges with Mower and Olmsted counties for a year, reports the Star Tribune. Winona County also has a waiting list for public defenders to represent defendants in criminal cases.
Charter schools are also feeling the pinch, because of delays in funding implemented by Governor Tim Pawlenty. The Star Tribune reports that many charter schools will have to borrow and pay interest on loans. So will public district schools, but they at least have an option of asking for increased tax levies.
Delayed payments are an annual part of the school funding landscape; 10 percent was deferred last year, for example. But as part of the state’s budget-balancing act this spring, 27 percent of what’s allocated for schools this year won’t be paid until next year, a scenario that will repeat itself again in 2010.
And in Stearns County, some workers required to take an unpaid furlough day were gone from their jobs on Friday and others will be gone on Tuesday. The Strib reports that county workers were given the options of taking their furlough days around the July 4 or Labor Day weekends. MPR reports that rural Minnesota is seeing another looming shortfall, with already-scarce public transportation being cut:
No shortage of demand but a definite shortage of money. Already Mn/DOT has cut $400,000 to rural transit providers. Another cut of a million and half dollars is on the horizon….
If people resist paying more taxes to supply rural transit and if enough volunteers can’t be found, there are still other options.The most obvious is people moving to areas with more transit options.
Another MN-Somali youth dies Laura Yuen at MPR reports that a fifth MN-Somali youth has died in fighting in Somalia. Mohammed Hassan, age 23, had been a student at the U of M and spent much of his time caring for his aged grandmother. Hassan was working on an engineering degree at the U of M, and had been voted “most friendly” of his Roosevelt High graduating class in 2006. He was the fifth of 20 young Minnesota-Somalis to die in the civil war in Somalia after leaving Minnesota and going to Somalia over the past two years.
MN Job Watch New Flyer bus company, headquartered in Winnipeg but with a large operation in St. Cloud, was supposed to be recession-proof. New Flyer makes the energy-efficient hybrid buses sought by mass transit companies across the country. But now it is laying off 320 workers. The reason, according to the New York Times:
The layoffs at New Flyer are a vivid illustration of the way that some of the economic impact of the $787 billion federal stimulus law is being diluted by the actions that state and local governments are taking to weather the recession. …The stimulus will spend $27.5 billion in federal money on highway projects, but at least 19 states are planning to cut their highway spending this year, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, a trade group. And as the stimulus devotes $8.4 billion to mass transit, transit systems across the nation have been forced to cut service, raise fares and delay capital spending.
According to the St. Cloud Times, about 70 of the layoffs (13% of the work force) will come in St. Cloud by December. Prairie Business reports that the Crookston plant will lose about 60 jobs. Most of the 320 jobs will be cut from the Winnipeg headquarters.
War Report | Afghanistan The U.N. Commission overseeing the Afghan election has ordered a partial recount, AP reports, beginning with polling places “showing 100 percent turnout or with a presidential candidate receiving more than 95 percent of the vote.” With widespread and credible allegations of massive fraud, President Hamid Karzai’s lead is approaching the 50 percent plus one needed to avoid a run-off election. The Afghan election commission has thrown out about 200,000 ballots from 447 stations because of fraud. An additional 224,000 ballots were disqualified for other reasons, bringing the total number of ballots eliminated to almost ten percent of the 4.3 million ballots cast.
In a statement as insulting as it was inaccurate, U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke compared the Afghan election fraud to Minnesota’s senatorial recount:
We recently had a senatorial election in Minnesota which took seven months to determine the outcome, there were so many charges of irregularities. It certainly won’t take that long in Afghanistan, but that happens in democracies, even when they are not in the middle of a war.
Meanwhile, reports AP, NATO acknowledged that its air strike last Friday that killed more than 60 people in a crowd around two hijacked and disabled fuel tankers did, in fact, kill civilians.
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Unemployed and out of luck – 9.7 percent in August
The unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent in August, up 0.3 percent over July figures, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report today. Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in August, with 216,000 jobs lost. According to the BLS, “Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 7.4 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 4.8 percentage points.”
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NEWS DAY | Profiling professors / School flu preparations / Revisiting single payer
Photo - U of M College of Continuing Education website
Abdi Samatar chairs the U’s geography department. He’s married to Cawo Abdi, a sociology professor. Since June, the husband and wife say they’ve been pulled aside a total of six times at airports for lengthy interviews that have lasted up to two and a half hours.
Abdi was born in Somalia and Samatar in neighboring Djibouti. Both professors are U.S. citizens, but that doesn’t help them at airports. Nor does Samatar’s past consulting work with the U.S. State Department. The extensive airport interviews included inspection of academic papers, a personal diary and even a diaper bag. Agents questioned Samatar about why he was reading academic papers on Somali piracy, and he explained, “We are scholars, and we write papers and books.” Samatar recognizes the need for security:
“But they should be on high alert on an intelligent basis, rather than on a dumb basis,” he said. “It seems to me there is a sort of ‘Dumb Operating Procedure,’ which picks up people for all kinds of nefarious reasons: You have a Muslim name, you live in Minneapolis, you are a Somali, and you travel a lot. Therefore, you become a target.”
Their experience is similar to reports from many other Somali American travelers. Nor did the profiling begin this summer – other Somali Minnesotans reported similar experiences in past years. The two professors say they are following procedures to formally seek information from the U.S. government about the continuing airport stops.
School flu preparations New hand soap dispensers, extra tissue boxes, warnings about staying home from school when sick, hand sanitizers and surgical masks — Minnesota schools are preparing this fall for the expected onslaught of H1N1 novel influenza (the flu formerly known as swine.) The Star Tribune reports that, “nationwide, the largest number of swine flu cases have hit young people ages 5 to 24, and vaccines are not yet available,” though vaccines are expected by some time in October. The Washington Post lays out some of the unanswered questions about vaccine administration:
The mass immunization program, likely to be the largest of its kind since the polio vaccine was given to about 100 million Americans in the 1960s, will play out with some differences between states and local jurisdictions. For instance, still waiting to be resolved are questions about who gets the vaccine, whether schools are used as vaccination sites, whether parents are present when children are vaccinated and whether the vaccine is administered by injection or nasal spray.
In contrast to last spring’s school closings, this time around the Centers for Disease Control advises keeping schools open and sending sick students home, where they should stay until they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the aid of fever-reducing medication. (That goes for adults, too, who should observe the same precaution in staying home from the workplace.)
World/National News
Prosecute the CIA That’s the advice of the Justice Department, according to the New York Times, as today’s release of more CIA memos reveals further torture and abuse of prisoners. The recommendation to reopen a dozen cases and prosecute the individuals involved came from the Justice Department’s ethics office:
When the C.I.A. first referred its inspector general’s findings to prosecutors, they decided that none of the cases merited prosecution. But Mr. Holder’s associates say that when he took office and saw the allegations, which included the deaths of people in custody and other cases of physical or mental torment, he began to reconsider.
With the release of the details on Monday and the formal advice that at least some cases be reopened, it now seems all but certain that the appointment of a prosecutor or other concrete steps will follow…
Single payer: A reform that makes sense The Nation reports that single payer health care — abandoned before the beginnning of the current debate — resurfaced in last Tuesday’s Morning Joe show, as Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York repeatedly asked why we are paying insurance companies. Show host Joe Scarborough summarized Weiner’s argument:
The goverment would take over only the “paying mechanism” of healthcare, not the doctors or their medical decisions themselves. His ears perked up every time Weiner mentioned that the nonprofit Medicare spends 4 percent on overhead, while private insurers spend 30 percent.
Weiner pressed the point repeatedly:
“Why are we paying profits for insurance companies?” Weiner asked Scarborough. “Why are we paying overhead for insurance companies? Why,” he asked, bringing it all home, “are we paying for their TV commercials?”
And why aren’t we hearing this simple, cogent argument in town halls and in Congress?
War Reports
Afghanistan Challenger Abdullah Abdullah says that last Thursday’s elections were tainted by fraud, reports BBC, and a group of election observers agrees that fraud and intimidation were widespread. Abdullah Abdullah is the most prominent of the 30 candidates challenging incumbent president Hamid Karzai.
Meanwhile, U.S. military commanders said they do not have enough troops to do the job, according to a report in the New York Times.
The assessments come as the top American commander in the country, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has been working to complete a major war strategy review, and as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, described a worsening situation in Afghanistan despite the recent addition of 17,000 American troops ordered by the Obama administration and the extra security efforts surrounding the presidential election.
“I think it is serious and it is deteriorating,” Admiral Mullen said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
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NEWS DAY | Tornado touchdown in Minneapolis / UCB up / All the children are above average / Whole Foods, meet Jess Durant and Will Allen
Tornado touchdown in Minneapolis “I heard a loud noise, it got louder and louder, I heard the roof coming up, it was the most weirdest sound I ever heard in my life. My heart was beating so fast, I realized it was a tornado, I dived as fast as I could into my bathtub,” Shane Gillespie told MPR, after Wednesday afternoon’s brief tornado touchdowns in south Minneapolis and downtown. The tornadoes triggered sirens (but not until after the touchdowns), emergency plan activation (“We are locking the doors to the store now. Everyone go to the dress section – that’s the safe zone.”), a mayoral press conference, and frenzied media coverage.
Unemployment claims up-again For a second week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported, “unexpected” increases in unemployment claims, with seasonally adjusted initial claims rising to 576,000 from last week’s 561,000. These are new claims: the total number of workers receiving unemployment benefits and emergency extended benefits is 9.18 million, according to the Star Tribune. Millions more do not qualify for unemployment benefits, or remain out of work even after exhausting the extended benefit period.
Where all the children are above average Or at least our Minnesota children are above average on the ACT tests. Or at least above average (best performance in the nation!) on the ACT tests taken by students in states where more than half the students take ACT tests. Our kids score 1.3 percent higher than second-place Iowa students and 1.8 percent higher than third-place Wisconsin students and a whopping 2.7 percent higher than the national average.
So what does it all mean? Perhaps that the ACT PR folks know how to time news releases for maximum ink and column inches in a slow news month. They got a nice headline in the PiPress, Minnesota retains top spot in ACT scores; Wisconsin ranks third, a more skeptical and nuanced read from Bob Collins at MPR, and a lengthier analysis at the Star Tribune, which pointed out that overall numbers of ACT test-takers are up this year because Illinois, Colorado, Michigan, Kentucky and Wyoming require 100% of their grads to take the test.
The ACT has pages and pages of data that can be sliced and diced six ways from Sunday. (So does the SAT, though it does not have 2009 information posted yet.)
Two items stand out as real news:
• According to ACT, more students–by a slight margin–seem prepared to succeed in college in the crucial areas of English, math, reading and science than in previous years, but more than 75% nationally and 68% in Minnesota are unprepared in at least one of these areas. (Of course, a skeptic might ask whether ACT can really judge, for example, college preparedness in science with a 35-minute, 40-question test.) The report that scores continue to rise even as more students take the test indicates that educational outcomes are improving.
• The ACT and SAT tests are locked in a neck-and-neck battle for the lucrative testing market. According to the Strib, “The number of ACT test-takers is on par with the number reported by the rival SAT exam last year, and the exam appears on track to surpass the SAT in popularity.”
SAT scores come out next week, and it’s a safe bet that they also will show Minnesota’s children above average. But above average overall is not good enough when a serious achievement gap leaves students of color struggling below the average. We know how to fix that. Geoffrey Canada described the practices and investments needed for success to a Minneapolis Foundation’s Minnesota Meeting earlier this year — practices and investments that have proven effective in the Harlem Children’s Zone that he founded. As Wilder Foundation Executive Director of Research Paul Mattesich observed in his blog:
Through our Twin Cities Compass initiative, we have documented the poor mathematics proficiency of our region’s high school students and the gap in skills that begins early in elementary school for our fastest growing group of students – students of color. If we want to preserve jobs and preserve our quality of life, we need to make some changes.
Harlem Children’s Zone demonstrates that low achievement, even for children from the poorest economic and community circumstances, does not have to occur; also, it can be reversed with sustained effort.
Whole Foods, meet Jess Durant and Will Allen Jess Durant tells her personal story in MinnPost to show why and how Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s rejection of health care reform is just plain wrong. Her thoughtful, persuasive analysis of why we need health care reform should be broadcast far and wide, and it’s going in my files, so I can send it to the naysayers among my family and email friends.
Will Allen also brought a message about health to the Twin Cities this week, advocating urban farms and vermiculture. Allen came to town to kick off the Urban Farm Project at Little Earth, reports the Daily Planet, with a message that combines work for healthy food and against racism. MPR also has a report on Allen’s visit and message.
World/National News
UnitedHealth organizes Astroturf The Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo that UnitedHealth sent a letter to employees urging them to get active in opposing health care reform:
[A] source who’s insured by UHG–and who also obtained the letter–called the hotline on Tuesday and says the company directed him to an events list hosted by the right wing America’s Independent Party, and suggested he attend an anti-health care reform tea party sponsored by religious fundamentalist Dave Daubenmire, scheduled for today outside the office of Blue Dog Rep. Zack Space (D-OH).
Daily Kos says, “A representative of UnitedHealth Group’s Corporate Communications office said they would call back with a reaction to the story. They didn’t.”
MinnPost reports that UnitedHealth officials are denying that they told people to get involved in tea parties.
War Reports
Iraq A wave of bombings and explosions in Baghdad killed at least 95 people and wounded more than 400 others. NPR reported:
It was the deadliest day in the capital since U.S. troops largely withdrew from cities on June 30 and a major challenge to Iraqi control of Baghdad. A steady escalation of attacks this month has sparked fears of a resurgence of violence ahead of next year’s national elections.
The deadliest of the attacks hit near the Foreign Ministry, killing at least 59 people and wounding 250. Officials said the toll may climb as rescue workers dig through rubble and debris.
Hiring mercenary assassins? The New York Times reports on connections between the CIA and Blackwater (which has now changed its name to Xe Services):
The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to current and former government officials.
Current CIA director Leon Panetta insisted on briefing Congress on the program, which has since been canceled – or so we are told.
Afghanistan Today is the day for Afghan elections. The Taliban threatens violence, the Afghan government tells the media not to report violence … and President Hamid Kharzai is expected to win an easy victory over the 41 opposition candidates.
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News Day: Fighting foreclosures / Central Corridor money / Unemployment claims rise / Lies, damn lies and health care
Photo by Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet
A second foreclosed homeowner, Linda Rorenberg of Robbinsdale, said she was inspired by Williams’s example and would resist eviction, reports MPR:
“We’re both 60 years old. We’re both in family-owned houses,” Norenberg said Wednesday. “I want to stay here. I love it here. I love the neighborhood.” …
Norenberg’s house has been in her family for 65 years. She said her father built the home in 1944, and she bought in 1977 after he died.
Foreclosures dropped slightly in Minnesota in the first half of the year, according to a report by the Minnesota Homeownership Council, reports MPR. At the same time, however, the number of homeowners more than 60 days in default increased. In 2008, Minnesota had a record high 26,000+ foreclosures. Nationally, foreclosures rose by 7 percent in July. One of the explanations for the decline during the first six months of the year was a partial, voluntary moratorium during the first quarter.
Central Corridor: New money An inflation adjustment will send about $16 million more in federal funds to the Central Corridorreports MPR, but Met Council head Peter Bell says the money will not be used to add stations on University Avenue. Met Council officials had previously said that if they got additional money, it would go to meet community demands for adding stations at Hamline, Victoria or Western avenues as they cross the University avenue route in St. Paul.
From somewhere, in spite of a budget shortfall, St. Paul has found a million dollars for parking alleviation along the Central Corridor, according to MPR. The city council was slated to approve a plan that would allow small businesses to apply for up to $25,000 in forgivable loans to improve their off-street parking, or even more if they are sharing offstreet parking with neighbors.
“We have so many small businesses on University Avenue who rely not on big parking lots, but sort of need one spot right in front for that customer who comes out at 1 o’clock on a Tuesday to park and walk into their store,” [Council member Melvin] Carter said.
The Met Council has consistently said it has no money for parking alleviation on University Avenue, where the Central Corridor will eliminate 85 percent of all on-street parking. Some of the new city money could also be used for alley repaving.
World/National News
Unemployment claims up The Department of Labor reported a slight increase in unemployment claims today. NPR’s Planet Money explains what that’s a problem:
New claims for unemployment insurance rose last week to 558,000, from 554,000 the week before, the Department of Labor reports. Heading into Thursday morning’s report, analysts expected new claims to drop to 545,000. They had fallen for six straight weeks.
Other economic news was also bad. AP reported an overall 0.1 percent decline in retail sales. Not much, but retail sales had been expected to rise by 0.7 percent. Instead, even the major bump given by the billion-dollar Cash for Clunkers program couldn’t pull retail sales out of the red.
Worried? I am, but I’m not an economist. NPR reports that the Federal Reserve says the economy is stabilizing, and other experts agree:
A growing number of economists now say they think the recession is finally over — by that they mean the economy is starting to grow again.
Until growth translates into jobs, it’s not a recovery in my books.
Lies, damn lies and the health care “debate” The rabid anti-health care reform forces don’t really give a damn about truth. Case in point: the Investor’s Business Daily charge that Stephen Hawking would have died under a British-style national health care system, because national health care devalues the handicapped and the elderly. Hawking, of course, is British, a point that escaped the notice of IBD. The Guardian debunks:
The danger, says the Investor’s Business Daily, is that [Obama] borrows too much from the UK. “The controlling of medical costs in countries such as Britain through rationing, and the health consequences thereof, are legendary. The stories of people dying on a waiting list or being denied altogether read like a horror script … People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.”
We say his life is far from worthless, as they do at Addenbrooke’s hospital, Cambridge, where Professor Hawking, who has motor neurone disease, was treated for chest problems in April. As indeed does he. “I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS,” he told us. “I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.” Something here is worthless. And it’s not him.
Robert Reich prescribes more information and more rationality in the debate. He says that the administration “needs to be very specific about two things in particular: (1) Who will pay? and (2) Why the public option is so important — and why it’s not a Trojan Horse to a government takeover.”
I’d like to believe that more information would make a difference, but it’s transparently obvious that the rabid right opinion leaders don’t really give a damn about facts. When confronted with the facts on Stephen Hawking, IBD excised that reference, but continued to insist that national health care will terrorize grandma. The objective of Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck, Investor’s Business Daily, et al is not informing the public, but stirring up fear and hatred. Unfortunately for the country, they succeed all too well.
War Reports
Pakistan At least 70 people are dead and scores of homes destroyed in Wednesday’s intense battle between Taliban fighters and a local warlord’s forces in the mountainous south Waziristan village of Sura Ghar, reports AP. The government sent in war planes in support of the local warlord, Turkistan Bitani, when an estimated 300 Taliban forces attacked his village. This is the region where U.S. and Pakistani forces believe that a missile strike an a residential compound killed Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud on August 5, while Taliban commanders say he is still alive and that the missile strike killed civilians, including one of his wives and children.
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News Day: July unemployment numbers / Swine flu ahead / Operation Red Zone / Scam alert
July unemployment numbers Surprisingly, unemployment fell slightly in July, with the U.S. Department of Labor reporting the figure as “9.4 percent, little changed for the second consecutive month.” Economists had forecast an increase. The U-6 unemployment figure, which includes all workers who are marginally attached to the labor market and those who are employed part-time for economic reasons, remained at 16.8 percent. The total number of non-farm jobs declined by 247,000.
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Mary Turck