President Obama's weekly address

President Obama explains how the budget he sent to Congress will fulfill the promises he made as a candidate, and assures special interests that he is ready for the fight.

Gov Beshear's weekly address

The party of 'No'

While President Obama acted, Republicans in Congress said NO. Tell Republicans that Americans won't take NO for an answer.

Republicans get fact-checked

One of the most pervasive Republican talking points is that Obama's tax plan will hurt small businesses. The Associated Press today points out that it's not true:

Obama is proposing to raise taxes on households earning over $250,000 by increasing the rate on the top two tax brackets and limiting deductions, starting in 2011.

Republicans and other critics, knowing they will get little mileage from defending the rich, instead are casting the plan as a tax hit on people who run industrious little companies driving job growth.

That's not likely, according to one in-depth analysis, which found that more than 95 percent of small business owners would be off the hook.

Beshear releases plan for stimulus dollars

Governor Beshear issued this press release today:

LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Gov. Steve Beshear today unveiled the “Kentucky at Work” initiative – the details of an estimated $3 billion in stimulus funding from the federal government that will be invested in Kentucky over the next 28 months.

“Kentucky At Work,” the commonwealth’s plan to implement American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars signed into law last week by President Barack Obama, will provide a much-needed, one-time infusion of dollars for two primary purposes: to maintain jobs and quality of life through investments in education, health care and public safety; and to make strategic investments now to position Kentucky for the future.

“Both of these principles recognize that we cannot retreat in our commitment to vital areas like education, health care, economic development and public safety,” Gov. Beshear said. “The bipartisan, mid-year budget initiative that the General Assembly passed and I just signed into law preserves these priorities.

“At the same time, building roads, bridges and water and sewer lines, as well as new energy programs and health initiatives, not only create jobs but also enhance the infrastructure that makes expanded development possible. The ‘Kentucky at Work’ initiative helps to stimulate the economy in both the short and long term.”

Beshear, who recently returned from a weekend conference of the National Governors Association (NGA) in Washington, D.C. where he met with President Obama, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, said the President’s recovery plan recognizes that states are hurting.

The NGA estimates that between 2009 and 2011, states will face shortfalls totaling $250 billion. Kentucky cut spending over the last year by $432 million and just reached agreement on a bipartisan plan to address an additional $456 million hole in this fiscal year.

At a briefing today in Louisville with Mayor Jerry Abramson, Gov. Beshear presented a breakdown of major areas of funding under the “Kentucky at Work” plan:

Medicaid: Kentucky’s Medicaid program will receive about $990 million over the next two years. The program currently faces a $232 million deficit this year, while demand for services is increasing by about 3,000 people a month due to the economy.

Health and welfare: Kentucky will receive about $272 million for areas like public housing, weatherization, child care, child support enforcement and homelessness prevention.

Education: Kentucky will receive about $924 million in stimulus money. Approximately $535 million will be used to preserve existing commitments to K-12 and higher education, as well as to continue efforts to hold down the cost of tuition. The remaining $389 million, administered through the Kentucky Department of Education, will go to Title 1, Head Start, technology and school lunch programs and other programs that help families in crisis.

General Fund: Kentucky will receive nearly $120 million to help address critical shortfalls in priority areas and mitigate against even deeper cuts over the next two fiscal years.

Job training and public safety: The commonwealth will receive $66 million in job training and workforce development dollars. In the area of public safety, Kentucky will receive about $30 million to combat violence against women and to support criminal justice efforts at both the state and local levels.

Roads and Bridges: Kentucky will receive $421 million for highways and bridges. Gov. Beshear and legislative leaders have been working together on a road plan that contains projects that meet the federal government’s requirement that 50 percent of those funds be obligated within 120 days. Projects must be shovel-ready.

Transit: About $50 million will be allocated for transit.

Water and Sewer lines: Kentucky will receive about $71 million for water and sewer infrastructure.

Community Development: The state will be allocated some $12 million for local community development block grants.

Energy Projects: About $63 million will be allocated to Kentucky for energy initiatives.

The governor has put together an interagency work group – led by Cabinet Secretary Larry Hayes – to help guide planning for the Kentucky at Work initiative.

Two areas not accounted for in this $3 billion of direct investment include opportunities for states to compete for several billion in grants in the areas of health technology, education, public safety, transportation, energy research and the expansion of broad-band networks, among others.

Kentuckians will also benefit from various tax cuts, tax credits and other incentives included in the President’s plan. These include those for low-income families, first-time homebuyers, incentives for the purchase of new vehicles and tuition assistance for college.

As investments are made, Gov. Beshear stressed the need for openness and accountability of the “Kentucky at Work” plan.

“The federal government has created a Web site to track the dollars and how they are spent, and we will have something similar available here in Kentucky,” Gov. Beshear said. “These are tax dollars and public deserves to know how their money is being spent.”

Download the Kentucky At Work Program fact sheet

Obama's Address to Joint Session of Congress

Did you miss President Obama's speech last night? You can watch it here:

Bunning's gaffe

Kentucky's newspapers have sounded off on Jim Bunning's recent outrageous comments. Here's what the Courier-Journal had to say:

Kentuckians know that Jim Bunning was a terrific Hall of Fame pitcher. Practically all of them know that (on his best days) he is a mediocre senator. But who knew he was an oncologist?

Yet, there stood the state's intrepid junior senator the other night at a Lincoln Day Dinner in Hardin County, telling fellow Republicans that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months.

...Republicans should think hard about whether Sen. Bunning should carry their banner in next year's Senate race. Or will they demand an alternative?

The Herald-Leader added this:

Bunning, a former major-league pitcher who makes his living representing us and selling autographed baseballs, told a Republican dinner in Elizabethtown Saturday night, that Ginsburg probably won't live out the year because she has pancreatic cancer, the "kind that you don't get better from." Bunning reportedly mentioned this as an opportunity because Ginsburg is liberal and he'd like a conservative justice in her place. Twisted? Appalling? Disgusting? Yes.

Bunning's shocking insensitivity

Jim Bunning showed a shocking lack of sensitivity in Elizabethtown this weekend. The Courier-Journal has the story:

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning predicted over the weekend that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months.

During a wide-ranging, 30-minute speech on Saturday at the Hardin County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner, Bunning, of Kentucky, said he supports conservative judges "and that's going to be in place very shortly because Ruth Bader Ginsburg... has cancer."

..."Even though she was operated on, usually, nine months is the longest that anybody would live after (being diagnosed) with pancreatic cancer," he said.

Bunning has since apologized for his comments. But according to The Arena, he managed to embarrass himself further in the process:

This afternoon, Bunning's office issued a statement in which the senator said: "I apologize if my comments offended Justice Ginsberg." He spelled her name with an "e" instead of a "u." The mistake was repeated in the headline on the press release.

Mitch distorts facts on CNN

Media Matters catches Mitch McConnell spreading falsehoods yesterday on CNN:

During the February 22 edition of CNN's State of the Union, host John King allowed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to revive the debunked claim that letting the Bush tax cuts expire for Americans making more than $250,000 would affect a large percentage of small businesses. After King stated that "the Obama administration says it will, as he promised during the campaign, let the Bush tax cuts go away for Americans who make more than $250,000 a year," McConnell replied, "[W]hen the -- our good friends on the other side of the aisle say raising the taxes on the wealthy, what they're really talking about is small business. A vast majority of American small businesses pay taxes as individual taxpayers. So, we've got to ask ourselves whether increasing capital gains taxes, dividend taxes, and taxes on small business is a great thing to do in the middle of a deep recession."

Likewise, a February 22 Hill article reported: "McConnell said that tax hikes on the wealthy, which [President] Obama is expected to propose in his first budget, would hit small businesses."

McConnell's assertion is a revival of a false talking point made by Sen. John McCain during the 2008 presidential campaign. As Media Matters for America documented, McCain falsely claimed that "[i]f you are one of the 23 million small business owners in America who files as an individual rate payer, Senator Obama is going to raise your tax rates." In fact, according to the Tax Policy Center's table of 2007 tax returns that reported small business income, 481,000 of those returns -- about 2 percent -- are in the top two income tax brackets, which include all filers with taxable incomes of more than $250,000.

Mitch's shameful legacy

Today's Courier-Journal chastises Mitch McConnell for his irresponsibility:

Why do so many Kentucky politicians -- especially Republicans -- shun taxes like some combination of Plague, Ebola and Necrotizing Fasciitis? Because it's the easy way to please voters, and because the state's most powerful pol, Mitch McConnell, has advised them to do it.

...Remember last year's weeks of McConnell campaign ads lambasting Bruce Lunsford for once having pushed (as a gubernatorial staffer) a gas tax system tied to the price at the pump -- a formula that had raised the tax just over 12 cents in the ensuing 28 years?

When the McConnell biography is written, it should devote a chapter to his singular achievement -- perfecting an anti-tax culture that dooms Kentucky to remain a backward state.

Simpson earns rep for oratory

The subject of today's column by Pat Crowley is our own Arnold Simpson:

Northern Kentucky statehouse watchers and political activists increasingly view Simpson's oratorical skills as way to help boost or kill legislation...

"Arnold has become an increasingly effective and compelling legislator in his House floor speeches, so don't consider him 'just one vote' because his effectiveness with his colleagues stretches far to both ends of the state," [Stan] Lampe wrote.

Suffice to say that when Arnold Simpson speaks in Frankfort, people are going to listen.

President Obama's weekly address

President Obama announces that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will start having an impact as soon as a few weeks from now, in the form of the quickest and broadest tax cut in history.

Gov Beshear on Kentucky's budget

Beshear Creates Early Childhood Task Force

Governor Beshear issued this statement today:

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Recognizing the significant role a child’s younger years play in future achievements, Gov. Steve Beshear today signed an Executive Order creating the Task Force on Early Childhood Development and Education.

“The future success of our commonwealth is dependent upon the education, health and welfare of our youngest citizens,” Beshear said. “We must all work together to provide for them a solid foundation on which to build happy, healthy, successful lives.”

While Kentucky has the elements of a comprehensive system of early childhood programs including dedicated service providers, a supportive business community and leaders who recognize the importance of high-quality early childhood experiences, the governor said it’s time to bring those components together for collaboration and coordination.

To that end, the governor appointed a 27-member task force of stakeholders including public and private child care providers, school system personnel, college professors and businesspeople. The group will work to promote greater collaboration among service-providers to young children, bring a renewed emphasis to quality at all levels, and determine a common understanding and definition of “school readiness.”

Kentucky’s Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Secretary Helen Mountjoy and Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Janie Miller will co-chair the task force.

The Obstructionists Lost

The most recent column by Joe Conason is worth a read:

Nearly every poll now says that Mr. Obama’s popularity and approval ratings remain at extraordinary levels. Just as important, he has displayed the capacity to persuade the public that his policies deserve support, as he did when he finally began to campaign on behalf of the stimulus last week. The latest Gallup survey shows that support for the stimulus rose markedly among Democrats and stabilized among both independents and Republicans as soon as he started speaking out forcefully.

Not only did the president win the debate over his bill, but he also rebutted the Republican argument over tax cuts versus spending, according to Gallup’s Feb. 9 poll. By 50 percent to 42 percent, most Americans believe that government spending will do more to spur economic growth than tax cuts — a stunning repudiation of conservative ideology. Although Republicans tend to prefer tax cuts by wide margins, Democrats remain convinced that spending works better and, ominously for the right, so do independents by a margin of 50 percent to 36 percent.

...So the approval ratings of the Republican Party and the Congressional minority declined during this struggle, while the ratings of the Democrats and the Congressional leadership improved, despite their uneven performance. Those numbers should bolster the determination of the president and his party to push ahead—and to push back when they meet obstruction, as they inevitably will.

Republican unity can backfire on party

Jay Bookman is good today:

...it’s pretty clear that Republicans in Congress decided to approach the stimulus measure not on its merits but as a matter of party discipline; they voted not as individuals with minds of their own, but in lockstep, as a party following a herd instinct. Before the vote, the small number of GOP members who had expressed support for the stimulus or were waffling were pressured not to betray their fellow party members, and the pressure worked.

...In poll after poll, roughly 60 percent of Americans say they approve of how Obama is handling the economy. More tellingly, in a new CNN poll 60 percent of Americans say they approve of how congressional Democrats are handling it, while 55 percent disapprove of Republican congressional leadership.

In times of stress, people naturally seek comfort in unity. The Republicans, hurting politically, turned to each other for that comfort. But the American people, also under stress, also sought unity and instead saw the GOP act in boldly partisan fashion. They clearly don’t approve.

Associated Press-GfK poll

An interesting tidbit from the Associated Press:

Nearly two-thirds, or 62 percent, think Obama is making about the right amount of effort to cooperate with Republicans in Congress on solving the country's economic problems. About the same percentage, 64 percent, think Republicans aren't doing enough to cooperate with the Democratic president.

Recovery

Gov Beshear leads in energy efficiency

Governor Beshear issued this press release today:

Beshear Administration leads the nation in public building energy efficiency standards
Governor orders immediate night, weekend energy “setbacks” for lighting, heating, and air in state facilities

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Steve Beshear today announced a couple of energy efficiency initiatives that will further establish Kentucky as a national leader in the “greening” of public buildings.

The first initiative will require new public facilities or renovations to existing facilities built with 50 percent or more state funds to be designed according to nationally recognized energy efficiency standards outlined in a rating system called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

The second initiative will require certain existing state-owned facilities to “set back” their use of lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems on nights and weekends to reduce energy consumption. It’s estimated that the program could immediately save approximately $2 million a year by reducing energy use by 24 percent.

The “building setback” plan immediately affects 3.8 million square feet of facilities operated by the Finance and Administration Cabinet, including the Capitol, Capitol Annex, Governor’s Mansion, Frankfort Convention Center and Capital Plaza Tower. Essential and emergency operations will be excluded, and government agencies can receive waivers during periods of essential government service, such as late-night sessions of the General Assembly.

By encouraging other public agencies and departments that receive taxpayer funds, such as schools, universities and local governments, to work toward adopting a similar “building setback” plan, the governor said the savings could surpass $100 million a year.

Today’s moves are timely as the greening of public facilities plays a central role in the recently passed federal stimulus package, which relies in part on creating energy-related jobs to stimulate the economy.

“These initiatives will save taxpayer money and promote a clean environment,” Gov. Beshear said. “But they will also position us to implement President Obama’s mission of improving energy efficiency in the nation’s building stock and thereby creating millions of new ‘green-collar’ jobs.

“I’m excited that Kentucky continues to lead the nation in terms of progressive action on energy reduction and savings,” Gov. Beshear said.

Reducing energy use in government buildings is a critical element of “Intelligent Energy Choices for Kentucky’s Future,” the state’s first-ever comprehensive strategy for energy independence. In that plan, Gov. Beshear set ambitious, aggressive goals for reduction of energy use in public facilities. By 2015, state facilities will reduce their energy consumption by 15 percent and 25 percent by 2025. By 2025, public facilities will reduce their carbon footprint by 50 percent.

“These initiatives demonstrate how energy, environment and economy are linked in a significant way,” said Energy and Environment Cabinet Sec. Len Peters. “By reducing our energy consumption and by operating more sustainable buildings, we reduce our impact on the environment and we realize important economic benefits.”

The regulations for new construction issued today by Finance and Administration Cabinet Sec. Jonathan Miller are based in part on House Bill 2, which was sponsored by Rep. Rocky Adkins and passed by the General Assembly in 2008, and also employ LEED standards. Those standards specify that:

All new construction and major renovation building projects of $25 million or more shall be designed and built to achieve LEED Silver level or higher.

All such building projects between $5 million and $25 million shall be designed and built to achieve LEED Certified level or higher, and also achieve a minimum of seven points under the Energy and Atmosphere Credit 1, Optimize Energy Performance standards.

All projects between $600,000 and $5 million shall be designed and built using the LEED Rating System as guidance.

In the cases where obtaining LEED certification is deemed to pose an extraordinary hardship, the Secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet may grant a waiver.

HB 2 was recently recognized as a “Megatrend” national model by the Council of State Governments. The standards put in place by Sec. Miller put Kentucky in an elite group of 12 states with laws requiring that some or all design, construction and operation of state buildings earn LEED Silver or other comparable standard.

The regulations, which will make Kentucky’s public facilities among the greenest and most energy efficient in the country, were developed following six months of work by the High Performance Buildings Advisory Committee (HPBAC), which is chaired by Sec. Miller and is composed of environmentalists, architects, engineers and builders from across Kentucky.

“These new regulations will help us reach the governor’s ambitious goals for reducing energy use and carbon emissions in state facilities, and place us as one of the most progressive states in the nation in addressing the global climate change crisis,” said Sec. Miller. “However, this is not an end product, but the beginning of our journey. As new funds become available and as new technologies make energy efficiency more affordable, we will strengthen these standards even more.”

Sec. Miller said he will soon reconvene the HPBAC following the recent passage of an economic stimulus plan by Congress to determine if funds made available to Kentucky will enable the state to use even stricter, more environmentally friendly standards. The committee will reconvene annually to determine how the development of future energy-efficiency technologies can promote stronger standards and greater savings.

“Reducing energy consumption is an integral part of Kentucky’s energy policy and I am pleased with Gov. Beshear’s implementation of House Bill 2’s energy efficiency standards,” said House Majority Floor Leader and HB 2 sponsor Rep. Adkins. “I believe that Kentucky can lead the nation in energy production and conservation practices, and today’s announcement puts us one step closer to that goal.”

Obama signs stimulus bill

AFP has the story:

DENVER, Colorado (AFP) — President Barack Obama signed his huge 787-billion-dollar stimulus bill into law, declaring the "beginning of the end" of the worst US economic crisis since the 1930s...

"I don't want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems nor does it constitute all of what we have to do to turn the economy around," Obama said in the city where he vowed to unleash a wave of change in his convention speech in August.

"But today does mark the beginning of the end -- the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs."

Here's video of President Obama's remarks:

Obama Riding the Wave

Today's column by Bob Herbert is great:

Listening to President Obama, I was struck by how well he understands that most voters are not driven by ideology and are not searching for politically orthodox leadership. Most want leaders who speak to their needs — especially in this time of economic crisis — and a government that works.

Republicans in Congress — all but completely united in their effort to build a wall of obstruction in the path of President Obama’s economic revitalization effort — seem to be missing this essential point.

...beyond his specific policies (and whether one supports them or not), Mr. Obama is emerging as the very model of the type of person one would want in high public office. He is intelligent, mature, thoughtful, calm in the face of crises and, if the nation is lucky, maybe even wise.

They Sure Showed That Obama

Today's Frank Rich column is a must-read:

...the final score [on the stimulus] was unambiguous. The stimulus package arrived with the price tag and on roughly the schedule Obama had set for it. The president’s job approval percentage now ranges from the mid 60s (Gallup, Pew) to mid 70s (CNN) — not bad for a guy who won the presidency with 52.9 percent of the vote. While 48 percent of Americans told CBS, Gallup and Pew that they approve of Congressional Democrats, only 31 (Gallup), 32 (CBS) and 34 (Pew) percent could say the same of their G.O.P. counterparts.

At least some media hands are chagrined. After the stimulus prevailed, Scarborough speculated on MSNBC that “perhaps we’ve overanalyzed it, we don’t know what we’re talking about.” But the Republicans are busy high-fiving themselves and celebrating “victory.” Even in defeat, they are still echoing the 24/7 cable mantra about the stimulus’s unpopularity. This self-congratulatory mood is summed up by a Wall Street Journal columnist who wrote that “the House Republicans’ zero votes for the Obama presidency’s stimulus ‘package’ is looking like the luckiest thing to happen to the G.O.P.’s political fortunes since Ronald Reagan switched parties.” There hasn’t been this much delusional giddiness in these ranks since Monica Lewinsky promised a surefire Republican sweep in the 1998 midterms.

Not all Republicans are so clueless, whether in Congress or beyond. Charlie Crist, the moderate Florida governor who appeared with the president in his Fort Myers, Fla., town-hall meeting last week, has Obama-like approval ratings in the 70s. Naturally, the party’s hard-liners in Washington loathe him. Their idea of a good public face for the G.O.P. is a sound-bite dispenser like the new chairman, Michael Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor. Steele’s argument against the stimulus package is that “in the history of mankind” no “federal, state or local” government has ever “created one job.” As it happens, among the millions of jobs created by the government are the federal investigators now pursuing Steele for alleged financial improprieties in his failed 2006 Senate campaign.

Bush budgets mock Republicans balking at stimulus

Be sure to check out this excellent column from Gene Lyons:

Contrary to GOP dogma, Bush's tax cuts failed to pay for themselves. As Obama pointed out during his Feb. 9 press conference, the national debt doubled on his predecessor's watch. The Iraq war alone cost several times more than Obama's stimulus plan. Republicans like Sen. John McCain, who voted to spend billions rebuilding Iraqi roads, schools and power plants, now calls it "criminal" to rebuild them here at home.

GOP politicians stood quietly by when Bush's Coalition Provisional Authority airlifted $12 billion in cash, 363 tons of crisp, shrink-wrapped $100 bills to Iraq. Then lost a reported $9 billion of it. As in, the money vanished - permanently. Yeah, it sounds like the premise of a George Clooney movie, but it's an historical fact. Odd how quiet the allegedly liberal media's been about it, don't you think? Imagine the uproar had a Democratic administration done that.

...Together, the centrists slashed billions from the stimulus in a ham-fisted fashion. Several cuts strike most economists as shortsighted. Broadly speaking, the more cash Obama's plan puts into the hands of people certain to spend it, the more stimulus it provides the broader economy. Mark Zandi at Moody's Economy.com, a former adviser to Sen. McCain's presidential campaign, has produced a chart estimating how much bang for the buck the stimulus provides: Every dollar spent on unemployment benefits should generate $1.64 increase GDP, a dollar on food stamps, $1.73, etc. Least effective are income-tax cuts for people who won't spend it.

President Obama's weekly address

President Obama celebrates the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act while keeping his eyes on the tough road ahead.

Red Ink

Americans approve of Obama's performance

Good news from McClatchy:

Nearly seven in ten Americans approve of the way President Barack Obama is doing his job, giving him enormous political capital as he pushes Congress to give him unprecedented tools to fight economic crisis, according to a new McClatchy-Ipsos poll.

Obama outpolls Congress by more than 30 points, and he also can point to an uptick in the number of people who think the country's headed in the right direction even as a majority thinks the worst is yet to come in the economy.

The survey found that 69 percent of Americans approve of Obama's performance — with a robust 38 percent "strongly" approving.

Obama appeals for bipartisan help on economy

From the Associated Press:

Obama appealed again Tuesday for bipartisan support for a more than $800 billion bill designed to improve business conditions and restore lost jobs across the country.

He called for Democrats and Republicans to work together as he appeared at a town hall forum in Fort Myers, Fla., an area hard hit by unemployment.

Obama told the crowd: "When the town is burning, you don't check party labels. Everybody needs to grab a hose."

Here's video of Obama's remarks at the Fort Myers town hall forum:

Obama calls for swift action on 'economic emergency'

McClatchy has the story:

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday used his first news conference in office to urge Americans to embrace big government in the face of a recession he called "the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression."

"The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life," Obama said during his the news conference. He implored Congress to pass his $800 billion-plus economic stimulus program.

Noting Republican objections to his plan, he said that former President George W. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy had only "helped lead us to the crisis we face right now," and pledged that "as long as I hold this office, I will do whatever it takes to put this economy back on track and put this country back to work."

Here's video of President Obama's prepared remarks:



On a related note, The Gavel provides a useful visual aid for understanding the current economy:

What 3.6 Million Jobs Lost Over 13 Months Looks Like

This chart compares the job loss so far in this recession to job losses in the 1990-1991 recession and the 2001 recession – showing how dramatic and unprecedented the job loss over the last 13 months has been. Over the last 13 months, our economy has lost a total of 3.6 million jobs – and continuing job losses in the next few months are predicted.

By comparison, we lost a total of 1.6 million jobs in the 1990-1991 recession, before the economy began turning around and jobs began increasing; and we lost a total of 2.7 million jobs in the 2001 recession, before the economy began turning around and jobs began increasing.


(click chart for larger image)

Obama Stumps for Stimulus

Via the New York Times:

ELKHART, Ind. — President Obama took his case for an $800 billion economic recovery package to one of the most distressed places in America on Monday as he opened a series of campaign-style events intended to press Congress to approve the plan by week’s end.

Wrapping himself in the mandate of his election last November, Mr. Obama sounded like a candidate all over again, scolding greedy Wall Street bankers and pointedly rejecting Republican critics for sticking with what he called a failed philosophy. At one point, he spoke about people with as many as five homes, which sounded like a reference to his opponent last fall, Senator John McCain.

“We can’t wait and see and hope for the best,” Mr. Obama told a packed high school gymnasium that sounded like an election rally. “We can’t posture and bicker and resort to the same failed ideas that got us into this mess in the first place. That was what this election was all about. The American people rejected those ideas because they hadn’t worked. You didn’t send us to Washington because you were hoping for more of the same. You sent us there to change things.”

You can view Obama's remarks below:

And oh, one more tidbit from the folks at Gallup:

Do you approve or disapprove of the way each of the following has handled the government's efforts to pass an economic stimulus bill?

President Barack Obama
Approve 67%
Disapprove 25%
No Opinion 8%

The Republicans in Congress
Approve 31%
Disapprove 58%
No Opinion 11%

GOP’s outcry over deficits disingenuous

Jay Bookman hits the nail on the head today:

Republicans in Congress and on the TV and radio talk shows claim to oppose the economic stimulus out of concern about the national debt and a moral conviction that we should not saddle future generations of Americans with such a burden.

...We do face a long-term problem. Our gross federal debt is at $10.6 trillion, with a good portion owed to lenders in China, Japan and the Middle East. But how did that number get so huge?

Well, of that $10.6 trillion debt — a figure that accumulated over more than 225 years — a shocking $8.35 trillion was racked up during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush. And much as their apologists pretend otherwise, those numbers can’t be blamed mostly on Congress. During the Reagan era, for example, final budgets approved year after year totaled almost exactly what Reagan had requested.

'If Rush Limbaugh told you to jump off a cliff...'

President Obama's weekly address

In the weekly address for Saturday, February 7, 2009, President Barack Obama commends the progress the Senate has made on moving the recovery plan forward, and urged its completion.

On the Edge

Today's column by Paul Krugman is great. Here's an excerpt:

A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to economic recovery. Over the last two weeks, what should have been a deadly serious debate about how to save an economy in desperate straits turned, instead, into hackneyed political theater, with Republicans spouting all the old clichés about wasteful government spending and the wonders of tax cuts.

It’s as if the dismal economic failure of the last eight years never happened — yet Democrats have, incredibly, been on the defensive. Even if a major stimulus bill does pass the Senate, there’s a real risk that important parts of the original plan, especially aid to state and local governments, will have been emasculated.

...Would the Obama economic plan, if enacted, ensure that America won’t have its own lost decade? Not necessarily: a number of economists, myself included, think the plan falls short and should be substantially bigger. But the Obama plan would certainly improve our odds. And that’s why the efforts of Republicans to make the plan smaller and less effective — to turn it into little more than another round of Bush-style tax cuts — are so destructive.

The Action Americans Need

Today's Washington Post included a guest column from President Obama. Here's an excerpt:

[The economic recovery] plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care and education. And it's a strategy that will be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability, so Americans know where their tax dollars are going and how they are being spent.

In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.

I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. They know that we have tried it those ways for too long. And because we have, our health-care costs still rise faster than inflation. Our dependence on foreign oil still threatens our economy and our security. Our children still study in schools that put them at a disadvantage. We've seen the tragic consequences when our bridges crumble and our levees fail.

Dems can win Kentucky US Senate seat in 2010

The polling group Research 2000 just polled various possible matchups for Kentucky's 2010 US Senate race. And right now, the Democrats are very much in the game:

The poll results indicate that despite wildly diverging favorabilities for each candidate, every matchup yields a four-point margin at the most, regardless of who the candidates are. Even stranger, the least popular candidate in the field by favorability - Senator Bunning - actually has the strongest numbers in head-to-head polls.

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 1/29-2/2. Registered voters. MoE 4%. (No trend lines)

Jim Bunning (R) 45
Ben Chandler (D) 42

Jim Bunning (R) 46
Jack Conway (D) 42

Jim Bunning (R) 45
Crit Luallen (D) 41

Jim Bunning (R) 46
Daniel Mongiardo (D) 42


Trey Grayson (R) 42
Ben Chandler (D) 42

Trey Grayson (R) 42
Jack Conway (D) 41

Trey Grayson (R) 42
Crit Luallen (D) 42

Trey Grayson (R) 43
Daniel Mongiardo (D) 42

Every one of these matchups is within the poll's 4 percent margin of error. This is great news for Kentucky Democrats!

Online video of Gov Beshear's speech

In case you missed Governor Beshear's State of the Commonwealth Address last night, you can view it online at KET by clicking here.

The Governor's office also issued this press release regarding the speech:

Beshear urges shared unity, purpose to resolve budget crisis

FRANKFORT, Ky. – In the wake of massive, statewide recovery efforts from the devastation of last week’s winter storm, Governor Steve Beshear tonight called for unity and a sense of shared purpose in tackling the state’s $456 million budget shortfall in his second State of the Commonwealth address.

To combat that shortfall, Gov. Beshear urged support for a plan that includes a significant increase in the tax on tobacco products as well as another $150 million in additional spending cuts. The governor pointed out that Kentucky’s tax on cigarettes is currently the fourth lowest in the nation, while the state also ranks first in the number of smoking related deaths each year, which adds hundreds of millions of dollars in health-care costs.

“There comes a point—if we slash too deep and without regard to the devastating impacts of those reductions—when we jeopardize state government’s ability to expand our intellect and capacity to reach out to the needy,” said Gov. Beshear. “This is why my proposal, even while cutting spending further, clearly articulates priorities for investment.”

Since taking office, Beshear has already reduced spending by more than $430 million dollars, shrinking the state workforce by 2,000 employees and using cost-effectiveness and efficiency efforts to reduce day-to-day spending within the Executive Branch.

Additionally, the Governor introduced several initiatives for the legislature to consider during this session and in the coming months, including:

Economic Development: increasing job-creation incentives and support for small businesses, making Kentucky better equipped to compete in the 21st Century economy.

Energy: positioning Kentucky to become a national leader on energy by aggressively exploring new methods of energy production and renewables as well as revisiting the statewide ban on nuclear power.

Education: bringing together leaders from both the public and private sector, along with key legislators, to review the Kentucky Education Reform Act. The governor also announced his intention to announce a task force on early childhood education next week.

The Governor also spoke to the administration’s successes thus far, including working with the legislature to reform an outdated pension system, increasing accessibility to the KCHIP program for thousands of uninsured Kentucky children, reforming the Transportation Cabinet and partnering with the federal government to help provide heating assistance to those in need during winter months.

“We cannot control the global economy, we cannot choose the economic conditions in which we serve, but we can define the manner in which we lead,” said Gov. Beshear. “We can’t pick the moment, but we can help to shape and define it. Our state motto says it succinctly: ‘United we stand, divided we fall.’ ”

Stimulus plan's effect on Kentucky

Today the White House issued this press release:

AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT PLAN:
THE IMPACT FOR KENTUCKY

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan is a nationwide effort to create jobs, jumpstart growth and transform our economy for the 21st century. Across the country, this plan will help businesses create jobs and families afford their bills while laying a foundation for future economic growth in key areas like health care, clean energy, education and a 21st century infrastructure. In Kentucky, this plan will deliver immediate, tangible impacts, including:

• Creating or saving 50,700 jobs over the next two years. Jobs created will be in a range of industries from clean energy to health care, with over 90% in the private sector. [Source: White House Estimate based on Romer and Bernstein, “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.” January 9, 2009.]

• Providing a making work pay tax cut of up to $1,000 for 1,620,000 workers and their families. The plan will make a down payment on the President’s Making Work Pay tax cut for 95% of workers and their families, designed to pay out immediately into workers’ paychecks. [Source: White House Estimate based on IRS Statistics of Income]

• Making 72,000 families eligible for a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to make college affordable. By creating a new $2,500 partially refundable tax credit for four years of college, this plan will give 3.8 million families nationwide – and 72,000 families in Kentucky – new assistance to put college within their reach. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of U.S. Census data]

• Offering an additional $100 per month in unemployment insurance benefits to 246,000 workers in Kentucky who have lost their jobs in this recession, and providing extended unemployment benefits to an additional 27,000 laid-off workers. [Source: National Employment Law Project]

• Providing funding sufficient to modernize at least 151 schools in Kentucky so our children have the labs, classrooms and libraries they need to compete in the 21st century economy. [Source: White House Estimate]

In addition to this immediate assistance for Kentucky, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will help transform our economy by:

• Doubling renewable energy generating capacity over three years, creating enough renewable energy to power 6 million American homes.

• Computerizing every American’s health record in five years, reducing medical errors and saving billions of dollars in health care costs.

• Launching the most ambitious school modernization program on record, sufficient to upgrade 10,000 schools.

• Enacting the largest investment increase in our nation’s roads, bridges and mass transit systems since the creation of the national highway system in the 1950s.

Gov Beshear's State of the Commonwealth Address

Governor Steve Beshear will be giving his State of the Commonwealth speech tomorrow, February 4, at 7:00 pm. The speech will be broadcast locally on Channel 54. Please tune in!

New radio ad targeting Jim Bunning

According to The Fix, several groups are teaming up to take on Republican obstruction of the stimulus plan:

The groups -- led by Americans United for Change, Moveon.org, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union -- is expanding an ad buy announced last week to include television ads targeted at Sens. Kit Bond (Mo.) and Richard Lugar (Ind.) and radio commercials aimed at Sens. Jim Bunning (Ky.), Richard Burr (N.C.), and Mel Martinez (Fla.)...

"House Republicans decided to listen to Rush Limbaugh and put partisan politics ahead of getting people back to work as the Obama plan would do," said [Americans United president Brad] Woodhouse. "We are putting senators on notice not to follow Limbaugh off the cliff into the political abyss but to support the Obama jobs plan instead."

You can listen to the ad by clicking here.

Herbert Hoover Lives

Frank Rich has a must-read column today. Here's an excerpt:

Of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones industrial index, 22 have announced job cuts since October. Unemployment is up in all 50 states, with layoffs at both high-tech companies (Microsoft) and low (Caterpillar). The December job loss in retailing is the worst since at least 1939. The new-home sales rate has fallen to its all-time low since record-keeping began in 1963.

The crisis is at least as grave as the one that confronted us — and, for a time, united us — after 9/11. Which is why the antics among Republicans on Capitol Hill seem so surreal. These are the same politicians who only yesterday smeared the patriotism of any dissenters from Bush’s “war on terror.” Where is their own patriotism now that economic terror is inflicting far more harm on their constituents than Saddam Hussein’s nonexistent W.M.D.?

...The problem is not that House Republicans gave the stimulus bill zero votes last week. That’s transitory political symbolism, and it had no effect on the outcome. Some of the naysayers will vote for the revised final bill anyway (and claim, Kerry-style, that they were against it before they were for it). The more disturbing problem is that the [Republican] party has zero leaders and zero ideas. It is as AWOL in this disaster as the Bush administration was during Katrina.

Funny comic by Bill Day