closing | The Obama Diary

Posts Tagged ‘closing

Mar

rise and shine

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Tags: act, Affordable, Barack, Biden, care, closing, court, economy, factory, father, jobs, Joe, mitt, Obama, obamacare, poll, President, romney, story, supreme, unemployment, Wisconsin

Bloomberg: The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in almost four years, adding to evidence the U.S. labor market is strengthening.

Initial jobless claims fell 5,000 in the week ended March 24 to 359,000, the lowest since April 2008, the Labor Department reported today in Washington…..

Companies are retaining workers and hiring as sales improve along with confidence in the expansion. The pace of employment has gained momentum in the past three months, helping drive income growth that may ease the strain of higher gasoline prices.

…. The U.S. jobless rate could drop to as low as 6 percent by the first half of 2013, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

More here

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E.J. Dionne: Three days of Supreme Court arguments over the health-care law demonstrated for all to see that conservative justices are prepared to act as an alternative legislature, diving deeply into policy details as if they were members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Senator, excuse me, Justice Samuel Alito quoted Congressional Budget Office figures on Tuesday to talk about the insurance costs of the young. On Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts sounded like the House whip in discussing whether parts of the law could stand if other parts fell. He noted that without various provisions, Congress “wouldn’t have been able to put together, cobble together, the votes to get it through.” Tell me again, was this a courtroom or a lobbyist’s office?

It fell to the court’s liberals — the so-called “judicial activists,” remember? — to remind their conservative brethren that legislative power is supposed to rest in our government’s elected branches.

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Send the postcard - link

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CNN: President Barack Obama holds a double-digit lead over GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in hypothetical general election matchups, according to a new poll.

And a CNN/ORC International survey released Wednesday also indicates that the president’s approval rating has inched over the 50% mark in CNN surveys for the first time since last May, when the polls were still registering the after effects of the death of Osama bin Laden. The number of Americans who say the economy’s in good shape has jumped 13 points since January, though the survey shows a majority still think it is in poor shape.

If the general election were held today instead of in early November, 54% of registered voters say they would back Obama, with 43% supporting Mitt Romney … That’s up from a five-point 51%-46% advantage the president held over Romney in February.

And Obama would have a 55%-42% lead over Santorum …. the president led Santorum by a seven-point 52%-45% margin last month.

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Mediaite: In recent weeks and months, there has been much made about the frequent “rich guy gaffes” that Mitt Romney has been making …. these gaffes seem to show the candidate can’t relate to the people he wants to lead …. Today he made yet another one. Perhaps Chris Matthews was right; this guy just isn’t “trainable”.

So, what did he do this time? Well, Romney called in to a “telephone town hall” in Wisconsin where he talked up his support of Gov. Scott Walker and Rep. Paul Ryan. All good, right? You’d think, but, at towards the beginning, Romney decided to tell a funny story about his history with the state of Wisconsin and … just see for yourself.

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ABC: …. Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement: ”The only things more out-of-touch than Mitt Romney’s ‘joke’ about his dad closing a factory are his policies that would give massive tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and allow insurance companies to discriminate against individuals with pre-existing conditions. He continues to be callous about the struggles that ordinary Americas face and his policies would make it harder-not easier-for anyone but the very wealthy to succeed.”

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Sun Times: The eagerly-anticipated “Biggest Loser” makeover episode is here, and this season, it’s bigger than ever. First Lady Michelle Obama guest stars in a two-part celebration that whisks the contestants away to the White House to reunite with their loved ones, and take part in the show’s first-ever White House workout. The episode will air as two, one-hour episodes on Tuesday, April 3 (8-9 p.m. ET) and Tuesday, April 10 (8-9 p.m. ET).

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Morning everyone ;-)

Jun

the jobs killer

By Chipsticks 113 Comments

Categories: Articles
Tags: 2012, 47th, 50, bain, bankruptcy, Barack, capital, closed, closing, companies, company, economy, employment, gop, governor, jobs, Massachusetts, mitt, Obama, of, out, President, republicans, romney, states, unemployment

Mitt Romney and Bill Bain in 1990

I see Romney’s campaign released a poster today (copied from a 1970’s campaign by Margaret friggin’ Thatcher) attacking the President’s jobs record …. oh Mitt, do you really want to go there?

New York Post (February 2011): ….Mitt Romney has been saying he is the man to get Americans back to work … However, the former private equity firm chief’s fortune - which has funded his political ambitions - was made on the backs of companies that ultimately collapsed, putting thousands of ordinary Americans out on the street.

That truth, if it becomes widely known, could become costly to Romney who told CNN’s Piers Morgan that “People in America want to know who can get 15 million people back to work,” implying he was that person.

Romney’s private equity firm, Bain Capital, bought companies and often increased short-term earnings so those businesses could then borrow enormous amounts of money. That borrowed money was used to pay Bain dividends. Then those businesses needed to maintain that high level of earnings to pay their debts.

….Bain and Goldman Sachs, for example, put $85 million down in a $415 million 1994 leveraged buyout of Baxter International’s medical testing division (renamed Dade Behring), which sold machines and reagents to labs … In August 2002, Dade filed for bankruptcy.

This was not an isolated case.

* Bain in 1988 put $5 million down to buy Stage Stores, and in the mid-’90s took it public, collecting $100 million from stock offerings. Stage filed for bankruptcy in 2000.

* Bain in 1992 bought American Pad & Paper (AMPAD), investing $5 million, and collected $100 million from dividends. The business filed for bankruptcy in 2000.

* Bain in 1993 invested $60 million when buying GS Industries, and received $65 million from dividends. GS filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

* Bain in 1997 invested $46 million when buying Details, and made $93 million from stock offerings. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

Romney’s Bain invested 22 percent of the money it raised from 1987-95 in these five businesses, making a $578 million profit.

While I have not investigated all of Romney’s Bain investments and there may be cases where he made money and improved businesses, there’s little question he made a fortune from businesses he helped destroy.

Full article here

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Marketwatch: …. Romney was the governor of Massachusetts from January 2003 to January 2007. And during that time, according to the U.S. Labor Department, the state ranked 47th in the entire country in jobs growth. Fourth from last.

The only ones that did worse? Ohio, Michigan and Louisiana. In other words, two rustbelt states and another that lost its biggest city to a hurricane.

The Massachusetts jobs growth over that period, a pitiful 0.9%, badly lagged other high-skill, high-wage, knowledge economy states like New York (2.7%), California (4.7%) and North Carolina (7.6%). The national average: More than 5%.

….In Romney’s first year in charge, Massachusetts ranked dead last in America in jobs growth. What makes this worse for Romney is that he actually ran on a jobs platform …. he promised the voters of Massachusetts that as governor he’d use his business savvy and connections to bring new jobs to the state.

Net result: 50th out of 50 after one year, 47th after four.