Friday, April 2, 2010

Randi Rhodes Newsletter for Friday April 2 2010

Friday, April 2, 2010


Good news (unless you’re a Republican politician). New employment figures for March show that the economy added 162,000 jobs last month. And I assume the March figures include the RNC employee who got fired over the bondage club scandal. Hey, if that RNC staffer hadn’t screwed up, we would have a net gain of 162,001 jobs. In any case, that’s 162,000 people who don’t have to worry if Jim Bunning is going to block their unemployment checks.
48,000 of the new jobs were census worker jobs. If you believe Michelle Bachmann, there must also be a lot of jobs for people setting up those internment camps, but I assume those are off the books. But even without the 48,000 census jobs workers, private employers added 123,000 jobs—jobs that I assume Congresswoman Bachmann has no problem with. It would be difficult for conservatives to say that the census hiring skewed the numbers, because then they’re essentially saying that a government program worked—and it wasn’t even intended to be a jobs program. If you’re looking for a reason jobs figures aren’t even better, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that U.S. corporations, reluctant to expand in an uncertain economy, are sitting on $1.6 trillion in cash reserves. Hey, who needs to expand when your bank account is expanding anyway? Companies evidently feel that cash is better than employees. Cash doesn’t ask for health insurance. The CEO’s of these companies should have signs on their desks that say “The recovery stops here.” To go into the weekend on a lighter note, the RNC sent out a mailer this month that accidentally listed a phone sex number as the RNC’s number. Hey, if the RNC actually gave phone sex, it would be an improvement over what they’ve been offering their donors up until now. As it stands, all the RNC offers its little donors is the chance to fund bondage club outings for RNC staffers and the big donors. Read the full blog...

AND THE RICH EAT YOU
Many Companies Have the Cash to Hire, but Instead are Hording it."The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobslast month while the unemployment rate remained steady at 9.7 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported this morning, adding evidence that the recovery from the tailspin set off by the economic crisis is well under way." Article and video here.
Wall Street Driving up Oil Prices – Again."Oil consumption has fallen, demand from U.S. motorists for gasoline is flat at best and refiners that turn crude into fuel are operating well below capacity. Yet oil prices keep marching toward $90 a barrel, pushing gasoline toward $3 a gallon in many markets, and prompting American drivers to ask, 'What gives?'" Read more here.
Job Market Brightens as U.S. Payrolls Surge in March"After more than two years in which more than 8 million jobs were lost, the country’s nonfarm payrolls surged in March." Full story here.

MISCELLANEOUS / SPICE
Dr. George Tiller’s Killer Gets 50 Years"It took only 37 minutes to convict Scott Roeder of murder in January; it took nine hours Thursday to sentence him." Post continued here.
Bill O’Reilly’s Jihad Against Dr. George Tiller"Since 2005, Bill O’Reilly has waged jihad against Dr. George Tiller, dedicating 29 segments of his show to demonizing and dehumanizing Tiller, who he invariably called 'Tiller the baby killer'." Watch the video here.
RNC "Census" Mailer Offers Phone Sex Number"The Republican National Committee sent a fundraising mail piece earlier this month with a return number that leads to a phone-sex line offering 'live, one-on-one talk with a nasty girl who will do anything you want for just $2.99 per minute'." Full post here.
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