Fri 09|03|10

It’s the economy ...

Submitted by The City Wire staff on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 7:26am.

Healthcare is still No. 1 on the list of important issues for Americans, but more of us are beginning to mention the economy, according to a new Harris poll.

When asked to say, without being prompted or shown a list, what “are the two most important issues for government to address,” more people (45%) mention healthcare than any other issue. However, many more people, in total, mention either the economy (32%) or employment or jobs (31%), according to Harris.

Harris conducted an online survey of 2,576 adults between Jan. 18-25 to gather the survey results.

“While there is evidence in other polls of ‘health reform fatigue,’ almost half of all adults still think health care is a major priority that the government should address,” noted a Harris statement.

OTHER SURVEY FINDINGS
• The only other issues to be mentioned as most important by more than five percentage points are government spending or the budget (7%), and terrorism (6%). Five percent each mention immigration and education.

• The public remains overwhelmingly critical of Congress (84% negative).

• Many more people give negative than positive ratings to both the Democrats in Congress (by 54% to 17%) and the Republicans in Congress (by 50% to 16%). Until a few months ago more people were critical of the Republicans than the Democrats.

• Majorities are not familiar with either Defense Secretary Robert Gates (53%) or Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (57%) and substantial numbers are not familiar with Vice-President Joe Biden (33%), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (32%). And, in spite of her many years of high profile visibility, a remarkable 18% are not familiar with Hillary Clinton.

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Negative On Congress

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 10:24am.

The people of our country are (84% negative) of Congress.
I think people are mad because it seems that the only thing that is represented in Washington is big business interests. Most people agree that's it OK to help big business because of the jobs they create and the revenue that is generated, for our economy etc.. but when they start influencing the law making process of our country, that's another ballgame. Would the American people let another country come to Washington and start ordering our lawmakers on what laws to pass and not pass? I think most of us would be ready to fight! But then, we have big world corporations,that have no identy to any one country, (so they say) use their money to influence are law makers!
I think people need to wise up and stop making this a democrate vs republican thing (that's their cover) and work together, put pressure on congress to do the will of the people. If we don't are democracy will have been bought off without a shot being fired.

Big business and government

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 12:05pm.

Big business and government have worked hand in hand since the end of civil war.
Railroad, steel, mining, forestry, farming, etc, etc.
They worked together to provide a safer place to work and live.
As industry grew so followed government.

Just for kicks here are a few jobs created by just one senator.

* Scott Allen, Press Assistant
* Julie Barkemeyer, Legislative Assistant
* Thirise Brown, Systems and Web Administrator
* Elizabeth Hurley Burks, Chief of Staff
* Mark Chaney, Legislative Correspondent
* Katie Church, Legislative Corespondent
* Leah Vest DiPietro, Speechwriter
* Marni Goldberg, Press Secretary
* Emily Hildebrand, Legislative Correspondent
* Katie Hoard, Executive Assistant
* Liz Thompson Horowitz, Scheduler
* Christoph Keller, Legislative Correspondent
* Kenny Kraft, Deputy Projects\Approps. Specialist
* Hunter Matson, Correspondence Manager
* Brandon McBride, Legislative Assistant for Appropriations
* Megan McCafferty, Asst. to C.O.S. & Leg. Director
* Tony McClain, Legislative Assistant
* Mouaz Moustafa, Correspondence Manager
* Katie Laning Niebaum, Director of Communications
* Stan Luker, Constituent Relations Specialist
* Meg Pursley, Constituent Relations Specialist
* Ashley Ridlon, Legislative Assistant
* Courtney Rowe, Asst. Director of Rural Outreach
* Stephanie Schisler, Administrative Manager
* Ted Serafini, Legislative Assistant
* Jim Stowers, Legislative Director\Counsel
* Anna Taylor, Legislative Assistant\Tax Counsel
* Chief operator toilet paper changer
* Assistant chief operator toilet paper changer
* Director of hiney wiper
* Assistant director of hiney wiper

All except the last four are a few listed under
Lincoln's Arkansas State Offices Staff

I am not picking on just Lincoln's staff, This is common for all senators and governors. Just making a point that I can see why they lose touch from the average working citizen.

Response to big biz/gov

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 1:53pm.

There is nothing wrong with big business working with our government but when big business is working against the will of the people, then it becomes an intrusion of our laws of Liberty. And the house and senate haven't lost touch with the people. They know darn well what the people issues are but are more interested in special interest money. I also think any government lawmaker/parties found guilty of giving/taking money with the intent of intrusion of our rules of law should be tried and punished for treason.

I disagree with you that

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 3:51pm.

I disagree with you that congress has in fact lost touch with the people.
Have you noticed how casual our legislators are when talking about how much their decisions will cost the American people? They speak of spending millions, billions, and trillions of dollars like they're buying properties in a game of Monopoly. Does this bother you as much as it does me?

I disagree that congress knows..

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 6:41pm.

Have you ever noticed that the legislators never talk about spending cost unless there is a political agenda swirling around in their refuse of coruption and special interest mellow yellow waters. They talk about long term projected costs and seldom mention the projected savings cost such as, (Health Care Reform). Why..because of party politics and they don't what to step on the toes of their special interest money. IF we don't get the cost of health care down we are going to be bankrupt anyways because good paying jobs from large companies will not be left in our country. I worked for a large corporation, I know why they started moving out 20 years ago. The company said, that it was not so much the labor cost as it was the high cost of benfits especially (health care) because most of the big compaines pay their own employees medical cost. We need to stop this baby fighting between parties and get or force congress to act on real health care reform before it's too late, reform should have been done 10 years ago it may already be too late.

I assure you health care is

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 9:18am.

I assure you health care is not the only expensive benefit that has large corporations packing it's bags.
How about retirement plans?
****How about government regulations*****?
How about union labor rates?
How about large corporation taxation?
just mentioning a few.

(Sorry for this example) Ticks attach to anything that can provide it blood.
Enough ticks or even one bite will kill it's host.
Corporations have a lot of ticks hanging on them.
Why not look at government and how big it is and all the waste. I bet there is no factual figure or percentage that represents the overhead of all our government.

As a business overhead is critical for survival.

Why can't the USA tax the heck out of imported products and direct us consumer back towards purchasing American made products. Sounds crazy doesn't it?

I may be wrong here, but I'm getting the impression you believe health care will save us our jobs. That's simply not true.
Everyone knows and agrees with you that health care needs to be made affordable. The proposed program that on the table is a problem to most.
I argue waste of government as a main culprit.

Would health care reform save our jobs....

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 4:01pm.

Would reformed health care save our jobs, the answer is, I really don't know. I gave you my opinion based on info. that I received from a major corporation based here in Ft. Smith Ar. I ask them why are we moving product to Mexico and went on to ask, was it labor cost, EPA, taxes and etc..
Their answer to me was (projected employee benifits) mainly health care and that was 10 yrs ago. Now.. if what they told me was true and they wasn't giving me a line of BS, then President Obama is right on getting heath care reduced to help the job market and everyones medical cost.
I agree, the HC plan they have now..if it's just to get everyone on insurance, I really don't see much advantage maybe for the insurance companies and all the insurance salesmen that will be needed. Hey..if you need a job go get your insurance licenses now because the fee will go up.

health care smokescreen

Submitted by arnold fudpucker on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 5:14pm.

You are correct. BO isn't doing a thing about the costs of health care. He is just "redistributing" who pays and creating more entitlements. His biggest purpose is to control the money and the power. Companies are moving because of the high labor costs including the benefits, government interference and corp greed. Lots of blame to go around.

Chasing cheap labor

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 4:49pm.

If you are refering to Whirlpool, it has more to do with actual wages than benefits. Although benefits do play a role, wage gaps by far outweigh them.

The average WHR Fort Smith worker probably makes what? $12.oo per hour plus benefits, which are usually calculated at approx 20% of wages. So were looking at $14.40 ($12 + $2.40) per hour.

The minimum wage in Mexico varies by region but it's anywhere from 53-57 pesos per DAY. That's about $4.30 per DAY. If we were to assume they were paid $4.3 per hour instead of per DAY (because manufacturing along the border pays much better), it would still be a $7.70 per hour savings in Mexico.

At it's best WHR had about 5,000 employees in Fort Smith, now anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 depending on which month. If 3,500 jobs were moved to Mexico it would save WHR approximately $54,000,000.00 ($54 Million) every year.

Now, take the Evansville division of WHR, they have employed anywhere from 1,100 to 9,000 employees. Most recently they employed approximately 2,500 before moving jobs to Mexico. After moving 2,500 jobs, WHR saved an additional $38.5 million, assuming workers made $12.oo per hour. The last article I read quoted a line worker in EV making $16.79 + benefits so it was probably more, but let's stay conservative.

So in refrigeration alone, Whirlpool has saved $92.5 million PER YEAR in compensation. Keep in mind refrigeration is only part of Whirlpool's business. They also produce cooking, laundry, counter top appliances, etc.

Don't blame Whirlpool, they were the last of the major appliance manufacturers to move south. Blame NAFTA for sucking the jobs out of America.

cheap?

Submitted by arnold fudpucker on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 5:16pm.

So old Ross Perot was right and Slick Willy was wrong.

"YOUR GOING TO HEAR THIS

Submitted by matt1524 on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 5:38pm.

"YOUR GOING TO HEAR THIS GRRREEEATTT SUCKING SOUND..."

We heard it loud and clear!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 5:44pm.

Does anyone know where the power OFF switch is located!

Congress holds the switch

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 5:56pm.

The switch is located in CONGRESS! They turned it on, they can turn it off.

Not trying to be a smarty

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 11:34am.

Not trying to be a smarty pants, a serious question.

When a large corporation that is "running in the black" take big bonus in another country will you complain?

I agree with you the gov has

Submitted by matt1524 on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 9:46am.

I agree with you the gov has way to much overhead. I read the report where it costs the gov in Washington 100Million to be closed, PER DAY! Imagine if it cost that much for private business?!! But simply taxing imports will not make us buy american products. The simple fact is that if we tax imports from other countries they will tax our exports (ya we do still have grain, ore etc..that we export).That will just make it harder on the people that produce these products for export. The US also has trade agreements with many nations.Not to mention that we simply dont have the production capacity to build some things. Like TVs for example, to make those here we would have to have the technology first, and i simply cant think of a TV maker that is American. (well im sure there are a few, but im talkin big names, Sony, Samsung etc..) Simply put, we are not the isolationist country we were from about 1875-1915, nor can we be. This is a global economy with global challenges.

I sadly agree and understand

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 11:17am.

I sadly agree and understand Matt. USA has become a service society.
It would require a total revamp and radical door closings to tax imports.

Even better! ****Lets import

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 9:24am.

Even better!
****Lets import health care****

Import healthcare

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 3:09pm.

We already do. My internists have been from India and are quite thorough and empathetic not to mention well trained.

My Opthalmologist was from Japan, young and brilliant and he listened.

ENT's from Poland and Iran,very smart and willing to try new things.

ENT from Canada, way ahead of the curve due to more alternative treatment experience in Canada.

Yes, the USA is a beacon for the best and the brightest because we can't all be the best and the brightest. But this is still our country where we were born and we can demand our piece of the pie. Doing without just to honor the "Holy Grail" of efficiency in a deliberately skewed society is Orwellian at best and just plain foolish at least. Econmics exists to serve people not the other way around.

Seems to me we always hear

Submitted by matt1524 on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 3:59pm.

Seems to me we always hear of "our grandkids will have to pay for this", and that has been said for 20yrs now. Eventually our grandkids wont have anything to pay for it with!

Grand Kids

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 4:59pm.

While I love kids,although we don't have any of our own,I am tired of the "grandkids" cliche being used to soften us up. We need to deal with the here and now to provide what all generations need and deserve or else their won't be any tommorrow. Past generations have spent big money and acquired massive debt to handle crises of war,pestilence,revolution,economic collapse,etc.

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Filter that water and recylce it. That means filter and clean-up the dirty water of politics then there will be enough to not only wash with but to drink also.

Read the Original Soc Sec Bill

Submitted by Jo Jo (not verified) on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 10:01pm.

I just did----In 1935 the bill was passed in a few mo's and less than 70 pages. n