WWSWD – What Would Sam Walton Do?

The Supreme Court is due to hear this Wal-Mart sex bias lawsuit.  Any ideas on how the Court will decide. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42250811/ns/business-careers/

Oil prices effect everything

As we well remember when oil prices spike we pay more for everything!  We pay more to heat our homes, operate our vehicles, and anything we bought that was trucked in to the store — pretty much covers everything.

Can someone explain why the prices for everything increase so quickly?

A mere 70 years ago

I am reminded to be grateful for what I do have.

And hopefully we won’t end up like this again…..

The photos below were taken 1935 – 1939

To the Stars Through Difficulties!

Wichita calls itself the “Air Capital of the World.” That was certainly true during and after the Second World War, but increasingly, Wichita is in danger of becoming the Detroit of the Aircraft Industry.

Recently, after taking a hard line with the Union, Cessna management announced a layoff of 700 employees days after they approved a new contract, through a technicality. Hawker-Beech is going to layoff another 300, all the while working on plans to move to Louisiana. Boeing/Spirit may choose, in the end, not to even bid on the tanker contract.

Like the auto plants in SE Michigan, aircraft plants may be a distant memory in Wichita in another decade.



This past weekend, my family and I attended the Wichita Air Show, at McConnell Air Force base. While it was an exciting and enjoyable show (despite the hours-long waits for shuttle buses to and from the base) one had to wonder what is happening to the American manufacturing industry in general and aircraft manufacturing specifically.

Some will try to blame it all on the Unions, but that is hardly the reason that so many manufacturing jobs are headed south, literally and figuratively. The union man has been vilified by the Right for more than a quarter century, for his supposed greed and alleged lack of sufficient work ethics.

In Europe, the union and company work together to a mutual benefit. Japan has recovered from their “lost decade” and is working back to where they were years ago. Despite dire warnings to the contrary, American workers can still provide a productive work force for American companies.

In the end, America has become a nation that produces very little. It doesn’t have to be this way. Greedy company CEO’s and Senior Management have been focused on the wrong issues and now are blaming the workers for their failures.

The Air Show was a great spectacle, but it may be a dieing event.

William Stephenson Clark

(Blog header and thread photos by the author – yes, I will change the blog header back.)

Obama to GOP: ‘Drop the Blockade’

President Obama returned to the White House ready to get back to work, giving a brief speech on Monday about the U.S. economy. Obama said that his administration is planning to kick-start the economy with several quick measures: extending tax cuts for the middle-class, redoubling the government’s investment in clean energy, adding further tax cuts, and “making it easier for our small business to grow and hire.” A bill that’s been “languishing in Senate for four months,” as Obama put it, would help put these plans into motion. But the biggest obstacle, of course, remains garnering Republican party support. “I ask the Senate Republicans to drop the blockade,” he said.

Obama: GOP Will Move Country Backward

With a victory on the financial regulation overhaul in his pocket—a “key pillar” in his recession recovery plan—President Obama said a Republican plan for the economy would move the country backward to the job-killing policies of his predecessor. “It took nearly a decade of failed economic policies to create this mess, and it will take years to fully repair the damage,” Obama said in his weekly address that aired Saturday, vowing that his policies would move the country forward. That’s expected to be one of the White House’s main messages during this fall’s midterm elections. The president admitted that the growth since the credit crisis two years ago hasn’t created enough jobs, but said the GOP would make things much worse. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) countered that the GOP would promote growth by cutting spending and taxes.

Read more here.

Or, listen to the address here.

GOP answer to budget shortfall — “Who knows?”

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) took to CNN Sunday to bash Democrats’ “gargantuan spending spree,” the latest in a long line of Republican attacks over the deficit that began almost immediately after President Obama’s inauguration. But what, exactly, would the GOP do to reduce the substantial budget shortfall–a much of it coming from the sea of red ink President Bush bequeathed to President Obama?

The answer: Who knows?

That, of course is nothing new — talking about belt-tightening in the broad sense is always easier than throwing out specifics.  Since Sen. Jon Kyl’s clarification on Fox News earlier this month that extending unemployment benefits is fiscally dangerous but deficit-financed tax cuts to the tune of $678 billion are just gravy, Republicans have been under new pressure to clarify how exactly they intend to reduce the national debt.  Sen. Pete Sessions’ (R-TX) appeared Sunday on Meet The Press and under persistent questioning from David Gregory, he failed to offer any specific examples of what spending programs the GOP would cut.

This evasion probably won’t keep them from being elected or reelected, it hasn’t in the past.  And if they should regain the majority and are asked to present a budget they’ve painted themselves into a corner.  They’ve signed pledges to not increase taxes, they’ve endorsed an array of new tax cuts that blow a further hole in the budget.

The GOP recently rebranded itself as the holy defender of Medicare during the health care debate, putting another huge chunk of the budget out of play. Let’s assume that Defense Spending is an unlikely target as well. That pretty much leaves Social Security and a handful of popular spending programs like SCHIP on the block, which are as politically disastrous targets as they come.

Pinned down by a conservative base demanding drastic spending reductions AND tax cuts, it seems extremely unlikely a Republican House would be able to produce a workable budget that would get past the president’s desk, leading some observers — most notably Paul Krugman — to predict a government shutdown.

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ANYTHING, as long as Obama fails

If America fails too.  So what?  GOP goal is to make sure Obama fails!

In a 57-41 vote, Senate Republicans successfully killed a “tax-extenders bill” that includes tax cuts, aid to states, an extension of unemployment relief, and a delay in a cut to Medicare payments to doctors. Republicans, joined by Democrat Ben Nelson and Independent Joe Lieberman, complained that the spending is not offset with other spending cuts or tax hikes; Democrats, in order to satisfy them, offset all the spending except for the unemployment relief, but it still wasn’t enough.

The Elephant in the Room



There is no doubt in my mind that both as Senator and as President, Barack Obama did the right this regarding TARP and the Stimulus Bill. These measures were required, in my view, to keep our economy, and conversely the global economy, from sliding in another Great Depression.

Understanding the complexities of the world’s economies is far from being my strong suit. Quite frankly, I am just too intellectually lazy to pursue a complete knowledge of Wall Street v. Main Street and all that lies in between.

I am capable, in my defense, to place my trust in those that know far more about the subject than I do. And, I trust Barack Obama. Republicans, not so much. They drove the bus into the ditch in the first place.

Regardless of the need for spending bills to prevent the crash of the economy, the National Debt is rising to levels heretofore unimaginable. Of course, much of that debt was incurred under Republican administrations, but you’ll never get a Tea Bagger to admit that.

It’s easy to say “cut spending!” Okay, where? Now the equation becomes a bit more tricky. It’s kind of like earmarks – everyone hates them, everyone wants to see money going to their home district.

Here’s a few ideas of mine to cut spending:

Eliminate  two third’s of our 700 foreign military bases.

Enact Secretary Robert Gates’ proposed cuts to the military.

Eliminate the Depart of Redundancy Department.

Freeze all new Federal hiring without specific Congressional approval.

End off-shore tax havens for American corporations.

Repeal and replace the Bush prescription drug bill.

Simplify the tax code to reduce loopholes.

Reduce salaries of all elected and appointed Federal employees by 10%.

Review and cut where necessary all tax subsidies and credits for business.

Those are my ideas, Pop Bloggers. What are yours?

William Stephenson Clark

Saving America’s Economy

The picture above shows what the current crop of Republicans in Congress have to run on in elections this fall.  How successful do you think this strategy will prove to be?  Although the Party of No didn’t participate beyond saying, “Hell No!,” here’s some facts about how the Stimulus bill passed by the Democratic majorities under the leadership of President Obama has saved America’s economy —

• Income tax rates in 2009 were the lowest they’ve been since Harry Truman was president.  The tax rate paid by all Americans — rich and poor, combined — has fallen 26% since the recession began in 2007.  Federal, state and local income taxes consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports.  One-third of last year’s $862 billion economic stimulus went for tax cuts.
• Most state governments counted on The Stimulus money to stay afloat.  Most states are now seeing reports from their Departments of Labor showing how many jobs in their states are funded solely by The Stimulus package.
• American auto makers are making profits again.
• In 2010 small businesses will receive a tax credit of up to 35% of their premium costs for employee health coverage.

Check out the web site where the Obama administration is tracking the money.  It’s an enormous task — publishing a real-time, reliable accounting of what the government is doing — and it wouldn’t have been possible a decade ago. Call it Government 2.0, or Democracy 2.0 — Deputy OMB Director Rob Nabors says it’s time for a new era. “We’ve never really been in a position before where the government took on the responsibility of showing at a state level, at a local level, how federal dollars are being spent.  We’re allowing the public to connect the decisions that government makes in a way that’s relevant to their civic lives,” he says. “And that feedback look gives a sense of empowerment that they never had before.”

Recovery is slow going, but this wasn’t any run-of-the-mill recession, it was the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.  Our economy continues to sputter and joblessness persists — there is still work to be done, but great progress has been made.  Obama’s economic policies helped America avoid a depression.  America is going forward!  We’ll get there even without Republican help.

Jobs!

The economy had its biggest jump in jobs in three years in March, according to a government report released Friday.

B of A Reducing Loan Balances

While millions of Americans are foreclosing on their homes, Bank of America has stepped in by offering significant mortgage loan reductions—”the industry’s boldest move yet,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Struggling homeowners with subprime and other risky mortgages will be offered reductions as high as 30 percent on their loan principal. So far banks have been reluctant to reduce principal amid the financial crisis, instead offering lowered interest rates or extending the life of repayments. But these measures haven’t been enough to convince homeowners to hang on to their bum houses, which may never regain their purchase value. Bank of America’s approach reduces loan balances to the home’s current estimated value, and the bank estimates that at least 45,000 customers will qualify for the program.

The Decline: The Geography of a Recession

by LaToya Egwuekwe

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 30 million people currently unemployed — that’s including those involuntarily working part time and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one. In the face of the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression, millions of Americans are hurting. “The Decline: The Geography of a Recession,” as created by labor writer LaToya Egwuekwe, serves as a vivid representation of just how much. Watch the deteriorating transformation of the U.S. economy from January 2007 — approximately one year before the start of the recession — to the most recent unemployment data available.

Bipartisan Deficit Commission

Republicans who attack President Obama over the national debt were unwilling to create a bipartisan deficit commission with him. So the president has decided to go around  them: He will issue an executive order on Thursday creating an 18-member deficit commission. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform will be chaired by Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and Erksine Bowles, the former chief of staff to President Clinton who brokered a 1997 balanced-budget agreement with Congress. “There isn’t a single sitting member of Congress—not one—that doesn’t know exactly where we’re headed,” Simpson tells The New York Times. “And to use the politics of fear and division and hate on each other—we are at a point right now where it doesn’t make a damn whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican if you’ve forgotten you’re an American.”

Stimulus Foes Seek Their Share

So much for a principled opposition: More than a dozen Republican lawmakers sent private letters to federal government agencies seeking stimulus money for pork projects even as they publicly criticized the stimulus. Missouri Senator Kip Bond, for example, sought more than $50 million for two projects in his state. “I strongly opposed the stimulus, but the only thing that could make it worse would be if none of it returned to the taxpayers of Missouri,” Bond said. Other guilty members include Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson, Senator Robert Bennett of Utah, and Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander.

Read it here.

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