How Federal “Stimulus” Didn’t Help California’s Economy

How has the stimulus program of President Obama affected California? Have things gotten better?

We can see the answer for the whole state by looking in detail at how stimulus money was spent in Pasadena. City Finance DirectorVic Erganian said the city borrowed money at lower than normal interest rates and the funds opened the door for projects and jobs the city otherwise could not support.

Now winding down, the federal stimulus program pumped $133 million into Pasadena in 10 separate bond issues under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The renovation of the 89-year old Rose Bowl consumed $114 million of the funding by Build America Bonds at a blended interest rate of 4.8 percent.  But the price tag for renovation has now run up to $162 million, leaving the city with a $39 million financing gap.  The Rose Bowl is a revenue generator for the local Old Town restaurant district in Pasadena, as well as for tourism and hotels.

The National Football League may consider “temporarily” locating a team in the Rose Bowl until a new stadium can be built elsewhere.  Speculation is that the Rose Bowl may well become the permanent stadium for whatever NFL team finds a home in the Los Angeles area.

And $7.4 million of stimulus money went to subsidize a 43-unit low-income senior housing project with a total cost of $17 million.  That reflects a whopping cost of $395,000 for each one-bedroom unit, or $296 per square foot of building area. The units now rent at $416 per unit per month. Market rates would be at least $1,200 a month, probably higher.

Other projects funded with stimulus funds include $4.3 million on roads; $2.8 million on employment and training programs; $2.25 million on energy efficient upgrades; $1 million on water and power infrastructure; and $908,000 to homeless housing programs.

Arguably, what the stimulus funded in Pasadena was just more luxury improvements to the Rose Bowl than could have been conventionally financed anyway, a windfall to a low-income housing developer for a financially dubious project, and a smattering of other projects that didn’t do much to generate the local economy on a permanent basis.

Via: CA Political Review

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JUSTICE DEPT QUIETLY DROPS CHALLENGE TO FLORIDA VOTING LAW

(YAHOO NEWS) Florida has received a green light to implement its new early voting schedule for the November presidential election, including a Republican-backed plan that eliminates early voting on the Sunday before Election Day.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division agreed to end its challenge to the new early voting scheme in Florida, considered a critical battleground in the upcoming election.

The department notified state officials late Wednesday that it would approve the state’s plan for early voting, provided election supervisors in five designated counties agree to offer 96 hours of early voting over an 8-day period. “The Attorney General does not interpose any objections to the specified changes,” the letter says in part.

Two weeks ago, a federal judge in Ohio, another key battleground state, ordered Ohio officials to restore early voting during the three days prior to Election Day.

The Ohio ruling came at the request of lawyers for the Obama presidential campaign. They argued that a Republican-backed law that cutoff early voting for most voters three days prior to Election Day, but allowed military personnel to continue to vote during those three days, was unfair and unconstitutional.

The judge agreed. His decision is being appealed by the state of Ohio.

At issue in the Florida case was a voting law change passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that eliminated early voting on the two days prior to the election – including the Sunday immediately before Election Day.

Via: Pat Dollard

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Obama and Clinton Must Resign – NOW!

Purported President Barack “Barry Soetoro” Hussein Obama, and so-called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must resign immediately. No ifs, ands, or buts. Pack up their things and get the h*ll out of Washington, today. This woman, The Smartest Woman in America, and her boss, The Smartest Man in the Room, have just shown the world that they are anything but.

The unmitigated arrogance and stupidity of this pair was on display this week, for all the world to see. These two apostles of Marxist agitator Saul Alinsky clearly see themselves as leaders of an elite intelligencia, far smarter than us of the Unwashed Masses, and therefore, ordained to lead, with We, the People, as blind, sheep-like followers. Thus, they were flabbergasted to discover that Muslims have not been won over by Obama’s endless apologies and bowing a scraping before Islamic royalty. They were stunned that Libyans were not grovelingly grateful that we had “liberated” their country from Muammar Gaddafi.

“We came, we saw, he died,” gloated Clinton.

Obama, too, has made a spectacle of himself, repeatedly, publicly bragging the He, the Anointed One, killed Osama bin Laden. He bragged, too that He, and only He, was in charge of the government’s “kill list,” containing the names of Islamist terrorists that are targeted for death.

Via: Canada Free Press

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US Credit Rating Cut by Egan-Jones ... Again

Ratings firm Egan-Jones cut its credit rating on the U.S. government to "AA-" from "AA," citing its opinion that quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve would hurt the U.S. economy and the country's credit quality.

Getty Images

The Fed on Thursday said it would pump $40 billion into the U.S. economy each month until it saw a sustained upturn in the weak jobs market. (Read more: Fed's 'QE Infinity' — Four Things That Could Go Wrong)

In its downgrade, the firm said that issuing more currency and depressing interest rates through purchasing mortgage-backed securities does little to raise the U.S.'s realgross domestic product, but reduces the value of the dollar.

In turn, this increases the cost of commodities, which will pressure the profitability of businesses and increase the costs of consumers thereby reducing consumer purchasing power, the firm said.

In April, Egan-Jones cuts the U.S. credit rating to "AA" from "AA+" with a negative watch, citing a lack of progress in cutting the mounting federal debt.

Via: CNBC

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David Limbaugh Column: Liberal Media Might As Well Wear Obama Buttons

The liberal media gave the ceaselessly political President Obama a pass for campaigning instead of performing his presidential duties when they were most needed, while they castigated Mitt Romney for being political when he was the only one of the two acting presidential.

To be sure, Obama is a political candidate for re-election to the presidency, but do we have to remind ourselves — as he often reminds us — that he also currently holds that office and that it includes duties that supersede his political activities?

After remaining silent for hours after the attacks in Egypt and Libya, Obama called a news conference to issue a brief statement on the matter and, in response to the first question, turned on his heels and walked off. Yet the liberal media, feigning outrage over Romney's alleged political exploitation, are neither curious nor critical about Obama's refusal to answer questions about the attacks, such as whether he considers them an act of war and what responses he is considering.

Via: Newsbusters

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Obama's Twitter Feed Hawks Campaign Sweatshirts During Ambassador's Casket Transfer Ceremony

AP/FNC

9/14/2012 | FOXNATION.COM

At 2:20 PM, as flag draped coffins that carried the bodies of U.S. Embassy attack victims were being carried by Marines, President Obama's twitter feed was hawking campaign sweatshirts. 

As of the publishing of this article, the original tweet (http://twitter.com/BarackObama) is still present on the President's twitter feed.

Via: Fox News

Israel leader says US may not act against Iran

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insinuated in an interview published Friday that Israel cannot entirely rely on the U.S. to act against Iran's suspect nuclear program, a sign that the Israeli leader is not backing down from the sharp rhetoric that strained relations this week with the Obama administration.

Netanyahu has been arguing in recent weeks that Iran is getting close to acquiring nuclear weapons capability, a claim Iran denies. He has been pushing the U.S. to commit to the circumstances under which the U.S. would lead a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have repeatedly hinted that if the United States does not attack, Israel will.

"I hear those who say we should wait until the last minute. But what if the U.S. doesn't act? It's a question that must be asked," Netanyahu told Israel Hayom, in an interview marking the Jewish New Year.

The paper, a free mass-circulation daily, is funded by Netanyahu's billionaire Jewish-American supporter Sheldon Adelson.

The Obama administration also suspects Tehran is seeks to become a nuclear power and says it is committed to preventing a nuclear Iran, but insists more efforts must be made before resorting to military action. Washington is refusing to be specific about what exactly would necessitate a strike on Iran and has rejected an Israeli demand for "red lines" that cannot be crossed.

Earlier this week Netanyahu issued a rebuke of the U.S. cautious stance, perceived as an indirect swipe at the Obama administration. He said that "those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel."

Via: Chron

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Michelle Obama: ‘No One Gets Where They Are on Their Own’

(CNSNews.com) – In a campaign speech on Thursday in Fredricksburg, Va., first lady Michelle Obama said that “no one gets where they are on their own” because there is a village of people “lifting us up,” including teachers and janitors.

In her speech about the Obama family’s values, Mrs. Obama said, “We learned that the truth matters, so you don’t take shortcuts, you don’t game the system, you don’t play by your own set of rules. And we learned that no one gets where they are on their own; that each of us has a community of people who are lifting us up -- from the teachers who inspire us to the janitors who keep our schools clean.”

Mrs. Obama spoke at the University of Mary Washington, telling the crowd that she and the president learned about citizenship and service from their parents.

“And we were taught to treat everyone with value, and everyone with respect,” she  said. “We learned about citizenship and service, that we’re all part of something bigger than ourselves; that with our freedoms come obligations, and with our blessings come a duty to give back to others who have less.

“See, these are the values that make Barack such an extraordinary husband and partner to me, but more importantly, such a phenomenal father to our girls,” Obama said.

Mrs. Obama said the president is “struggling” along with the American people and that progress has been made over the past four years.

Via: CNS News

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AS WORLD BURNS, OBAMA PARTIES WITH BEYONCÉ

While the world is engulfed in Islamist ragefests, including the storming of Western embassies across the Middle East and the evacuation of the University of Texas at Austin due to bomb threats, President Obama is doing what he does best.

He’s hobnobbing with celebrities.

Last night, as the German embassy in Sudan smoldered, Tunisian police fired tear gas at US embassy rioters, the American military upgraded its presence in Yemen, investigations continued in Libya, Islamists burned American flags in London, Islamists invaded the US embassy in Tunisia, rioters went insane in Lebanon, protesters in Jordan went crazy, protests continued in Egypt, and crowds began to form in Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Iraq, the Obama campaign tweeted, “Beyoncé and Jay-Z are hosting the President in New York—your chance for two spots on the guest list ends at midnight.” Priorities, people!

This morning, President Obama also took action at the White House: he welcomed the 2012 US Olympic and Paralympic teams to the White House. Because, as Michelle Obamasaid, obesity is the greatest threat to national security.

President Obama will get back to business tonight: he’s doing a private fundraiser at 7 PM EDT. 

This isn’t leading from behind. This is a leadership vacuum.

Via: Breitbart

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State Department sets up 24-hour monitoring team for embassy crisis

The State Department has gone into full-blown crisis mode, organizing a round-the-clock effort to coordinate the U.S. government's response to the expanding attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East and North Africa.

"The State Department has stood up a 24-hr monitoring team to insure appropriate coordination of information and our response. In addition, our consular team is working with missions around the world to protect American citizens and issue appropriate public warden information," a senior State Department official told reporters Friday afternoon.

"We have been monitoring events in the Middle East and North Africa intensively today, and working with our personnel and missions overseas and host governments to strengthen security in all locations and to respond effectively where protests have turned violent," the official said.

The official noted that U.S. embassies in Libya and Yemen have been reinforced with Marine FAST teams and noted that other unspecified measures are being taken to strengthen embassy security around the region. The State Department is working with the governments in Tunisia and Sudan to increase security at the U.S. embassies there as well, the official said.

The U.S. Embassy in Tunis was breached by rioters who replaced the American flag with the black banner of al Qaeda. According to Tunisian state television, at least three Tunisians died when security forces open fire in an effort to disperse the crowd; another rioter was killed in Sudan, Reuters reported.

"The secretary, other department principals, and our ambassadors and charges in the field have been in constant contact with regional leaders, and we appreciate the many public statements that leaders have made in recent days condemning the attack in Benghazi, denouncing violence and calling for calm," the official said

Via: Foreign Policy

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Gasoline Prices More than Double Under Obama: $1.84 to $3.85

In this Monday, Sept. 10, 2012 photo gasoline prices are displayed at a Mobil station in Needham, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

(CNSNews.com) – Average retail gasoline prices have more than doubled under President Obama, according to government statistics, rising from $1.84 per gallon to $3.85 per gallon.
The average gasoline price is calculated by the Energy Information Agency, and shows that over the past 43 months of President Obama’s term retail gasoline prices have more than doubled, rising from an average of $1.84 per gallon to $3.85 per gallon
.
Rising gasoline prices were particularly prevalent in August, which saw a 9.0 percent rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for gasoline, a rise that almost entirely accounts for the general increase in prices seen by families across the country over the past month.

In other words, the recent spike in prices for all goods – tracked by the government’s Consumer Price Index – can be almost entirely accounted for by the rise in gasoline prices. Prices in the economy rose by 0.6 percent overall in August
.
“The seasonally adjusted increase in the all items index was the largest since June 2009. About 80 percent of the increase was accounted for by the gasoline index, which rose 9.0 percent and was the major factor in the energy index rising sharply in August after declining in each of the four previous months,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a press release announcing the new CPI figures for August.

Over the past twelve months, general prices have risen 1.7 percent, BLS reported.
CPI is a measure of the average change in prices for goods and services in the economy seen by consumers – making it the leading indicator of the inflation experienced directly by consumers throughout the country.

Via: CNS News
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Beware of Backfire: Striking Chicago teachers may turn Illinois into Wisconsin

If Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has spent the last 18 months painting a portrait of public-employee unions as intransigent and selfish, the Chicago Teachers Union this week provided him with confirmation. On Monday, 25,000 Chicago teachers (average salary: $76,000 before benefits) walked out of their classrooms, leaving nearly 350,000 schoolchildren and their parents in the lurch. The teachers are fighting to protect their lavish pay and benefit packages and also trying to stave off a new accountability plan that would evaluate their effectiveness using students’ test scores.

The Chicago strike serves as a counterpoint to events in Wisconsin after Walker’s election in 2010. In a protracted, contentious battle, Walker virtually eliminated collective bargaining for public employees, weakening the unions’ power significantly. Illinois is now demonstrating what Wisconsin might have looked like without Walker’s reforms. Those reforms didn’t come easy: for a year and a half, Wisconsin was paralyzed by demonstrations and union disruptions. But the union tantrums in Wisconsin clearly backfired, and in a recall election this past June, Walker won by a greater margin than he had in 2010, against the same opponent. Walker is now a national star on the Republican scene, while public-union membership is plummeting.

There’s no reason to believe that the Chicago teachers’ strike won’t similarly backfire on union loyalists. For one, the teachers’ demands are well beyond what normal citizens consider just. In recent negotiations, the CTU rejected a 16 percent pay increase over the next four years, which in today’s economic climate would seem like a generous deal to virtually anyone who doesn’t work for a public-employee union. Instead, the union demanded a 30 percent pay increase, in part to compensate for an extended school day. And the negotiations addressed only salaries. With new accounting rules in place, the Chicago Public Schools’ unfunded liability for teacher pensions will jump from $231 million to $684 million between 2013 and 2014, according to the Illinois Policy Institute. Next year, pension costs will eat up nearly half of the education funding that Chicago schools receive from the state.

Perhaps most egregious are teachers’ attempts to duck accountability to save union jobs. Under Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan, a public school teaching position would no longer be a sinecure; teachers would have to justify their employment with their students’ test scores. While this makes sense to the public—Barack Obama’s own secretary of education, Arne Duncan, has fought for similar accountability plans nationwide—unions see it as a threat to job security, which, to them, clearly takes precedence over student learning.

Even to those inclined to support unions, these issues are losers. People out of work and parents scrambling to find care for their kids are likely to lose sympathy with teachers quickly as the strike drags on. The fact that Emanuel, a Democrat, is the one getting tough with the CTU is a sign that the union’s demands are out of line even by mainstream liberal standards. (On Monday, Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan issued a statement saying that he “stands with Rahm Emanuel,” which made me check to see if my office was properly ventilated.)\

Via: CA Political Review

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Totalitarians Run California

The main problem with the California Legislature is not that it spends your money far faster than it comes in, or that much of it is squandered on absurd programs and on the enrichment of those Californians who work for the state. Those are symptoms of the real problem, which is that the Legislature recognizes no natural limits on its power.

If a legislator doesn’t like something, expect a proposal to ban it. If a legislator likes a particular idea, expect plans to build a bureaucracy to implement it.

The only issues off the table involve fixing those budgetary and governmental problems that the state government is legitimately tasked with handling.

When you see supposedly serious efforts to address a problem, such as the Legislature’s last-minute embrace of public-employee pension reform, a closer look reveals such reform is just a fig leaf covering something else.

This particular reform package does little but was passed after polls showed the governor’s tax-increase initiative (Proposition 30) for November was on thin ice. The pension bill is designed to help a political campaign — “Look, voters, we are serious about reforming government, so go ahead and vote yourself (or your wealthier neighbors) a hefty tax hike!”

So another legislative session comes to a close, and a load of new rules and regulations is headed to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature or veto. California bans and regulations, including those emanating from local governments, have gotten so out of hand that regulation-happy New Yorkers at the New York Times now are making fun of our state.

“Once known for its sunny, freewheeling disposition — a live-and-let-live sensibility rooted in Western ideals and relied upon by generations of surfer dudes and misbehaving Hollywood stars — this region has long been as regulated as anywhere,” the Times reported recently. “Lately, however, cities, school districts and even libraries have been outlawing chunks of what used to pass here for birthright at a startling clip.”

Via: CA Political Review

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Pentagon Denies Reports of No Live Ammo for Marines

A Marine spokesperson at the Pentagon denied reports that U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition in a statement to Fox News Thursday.

Pentagon Lt. Col. Chris Hughes told the outlet: “The ambassador and RSO (Regional Security Officer) have been completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation. No restrictions on weapons or weapons status have been imposed. This information comes from the Det Commander at AMEMB (American Embassy) Cairo.”

The statement came in response to open-source reporting that U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition.

Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition,” according to multiple reports on U.S. Marine Corps blogs spotted by Nightwatch. “She neutralized any U.S. military capability that was dedicated to preserve her life and protect the US Embassy.”

Time magazine’s Battleland blog also reported Thursday that “senior U.S. officials late Wednesday declined to discuss in detail the security at either Cairo or Benghazi, so answers may be slow in coming.”

If true, the reports indicate that Patterson shirked her obligation to protect U.S. interests, Nightwatch states.

“She did not defend U.S. sovereign territory and betrayed her oath of office,” the report states. “She neutered the Marines posted to defend the embassy, trusting the Egyptians over the Marines.”

Via: WFB

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U.S. denies premeditation report in Libya attack

A U.S. official told POLITICO: “There's no intelligence indicating that the attack in Benghazi was premeditated.”

The newspaper, The Independent, plastered its cover with the headline, “Revealed: inside story of US envoy’s assassination,” and reported inside: “The killings of the US ambassador to Libya and three of his staff were likely to have been the result of a serious and continuing security breach … American officials believe the attack was planned."

The article continued: "According to senior diplomatic sources, the U.S. State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and ‘lockdown’, under which movement is severely restricted."

Shawn Turner, spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, emailed: “This is absolutely wrong. We are not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”

(Also on POLITICO: Top lawmakers briefed on Libya attack)

The Drudge Report gave the story banner, red-type, siren treatment, with a photo of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “PAPER: U.S. WARNED OF EMBASSY ATTACK BUT DID NOTHING.”

Via: Politico

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JOBLESS CLAIMS JUMP TO 382K

New claims for US unemployment insurance benefits headed higher last week after the previous week's drop, underscoring the continued frailty of the US jobs market, data showed Thursday.

As markets awaited a decision by the Federal Reserve to aid the weak economy, the Labor Department said that initial jobless claims rose to 382,000 for the period to September 8 from the previous week's 367,000.That pushed the four-week moving average higher to 375,000, the department said.

Via Breitbart
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Paper: America 'Was Warned Of Embassy Attack But Did Nothing'

The killings of the US ambassador to Libya and three of his staff were likely to have been the result of a serious and continuing security breach, The Independent can reveal.

American officials believe the attack was planned, but Chris Stevens had been back in the country only a short while and the details of his visit to Benghazi, where he and his staff died, were meant to be confidential.

The US administration is now facing a crisis in Libya. Sensitive documents have gone missing from the consulate in Benghazi and the supposedly secret location of the "safe house" in the city, where the staff had retreated, came under sustained mortar attack. Other such refuges across the country are no longer deemed "safe".

Some of the missing papers from the consulate are said to list names of Libyans who are working with Americans, putting them potentially at risk from extremist groups, while some of the other documents are said to relate to oil contracts.

According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and "lockdown", under which movement is severely restricted.

Mr Stevens had been on a visit to Germany, Austria and Sweden and had just returned to Libya when the Benghazi trip took place with the US embassy's security staff deciding that the trip could be undertaken safely.

Eight Americans, some from the military, were wounded in the attack which claimed the lives of Mr Stevens, Sean Smith, an information officer, and two US Marines. All staff from Benghazi have now been moved to the capital, Tripoli, and those whose work is deemed to be non-essential may be flown out of Libya.

In the meantime a Marine Corps FAST Anti-Terrorism Reaction Team has already arrived in the country from a base in Spain and other personnel are believed to be on the way. Additional units have been put on standby to move to other states where their presence may be needed in the outbreak of anti-American fury triggered by publicity about a film which demeaned the Prophet Mohamed.

Via: The Independent

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Black pastor uses lynching photo to help get out the vote

A pastor in Indiana has put up a sign that uses a historical image of the 1930 lynching of two black teenagers in an effort to recharge the black vote. Rev. Joy Thornton, the senior pastor of Greater St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis, said he’s concerned that African-Americans have grown complacent about voting, and he wants to urge people to exercise the right he says was hard won, the Associated Press reported.

The sign, which has stood for nearly a week along the street in front of the church, shows, on one side, a white mob gathered around the teens to watch the lynching in Marion, Ind. Atop the photo is the word “VOTE!!!” Beneath it is the question: “Is this a reason to vote?” The other side of the sign shows an image of slaves in chains, with wording beneath it that reads, “Lest we forget.”

“[The sign] is to let people know there’s been a price paid for the privilege of voting,” Thornton, a black pastor of what he describes as a multiracial congregation, told Indianapolis' WISH TV. “Oftentimes people get complacent and don’t realize that people made a sacrifice, matter of fact, the ultimate sacrifice for such a privilege.”

Via: NBC News

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The Great Green Car Fleet Pentagon buying Chevy Volts to ‘green up’ military

The Pentagon is buying Chevrolet Volts to help “green up” the military—while propping up sales of the bailed-out automaker’s most politicized car.

The Department of Defense began purchasing the struggling luxury electric car, which retails at $40,000, this summer as part of its goal to purchase 1,500 such green vehicles. The Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, Calif. purchased its first two Volts in July, and 18 more vehicles will come shortly to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where Air Force One is based, according to military magazine Stars and Stripes.

The Obama administration championed the production of the Volt. Along with the president’s pledge this year to “buy one and drive it myself … five years from now when I’m not president anymore,” the government offers a $7,500 tax break to encourage sales.

Such perks, however, have failed to drive consumers to GM car lots. The vehicle has been forced to suspend production twice this year after the Volt failed to gain a foothold in the marketplace.

GM is now offering the vehicle for as low as $169 per month, a financing deal that is generally reserved for $15,000 cars—a price so low that GM is reportedly losing nearly $50,000 per vehicle. The struggling automaker will again suspend production later this month after only 2,500 Volts drove off the lots last month.

GM has spent $1.2 billion developing the electric car and is still working out kinks, such as the Volt’s tendency to electrocute firefighters and first responders to accidents. The Department of Defense has been involved in that process, helping to test the Volt’s battery safety and capabilities.

Via: WFB

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Chesterfield rejects Michelle Obama's bid to speak at county school

First Lady Michelle Obama had sought to speak at a Chesterfield County elementary school during her campaign swing through Virginia today, but county school leaders rejected her request, citing school policy, a Chesterfield supervisor has confirmed.

“I do believe and think that Mrs. Obama, the first lady, should be allowed to attend a Chesterfield school,” said Dale District Supervisor Jim Holland, who confirmed the Obama campaign request. “I know it’s not school policy. However, I just do not agree with that, because I think it’s an honor for the first lady to visit a school. That’s just my personal opinion as supervisor."

Chesterfield schools officials refused to discuss the Obama campaign’s request or even confirm whether a request had been made. School system spokesman Shawn Smith did not reply to two email inquiries about the matter Wednesday until after the Times-Dispatch contacted School Board Chairman Patricia M. Carpenter.

“We respectfully decline to comment,” Smith said in an email.

Holland, the only Democrat on the five-member Chesterfield board, was unaware of the Obama campaign request until contacted by a reporter. He then confirmed it after contacting the county administration.

“It was confirmed that (Mrs. Obama) did in fact ask to come to a Chesterfield school,”Holland said. “I don’t know the extent of what their request was, whether it was a political request or whether it was an educational request.”

“If it was official, that would be appropriate,” Holland added. “If it was political, that would be inappropriate.”

Wednesday evening, the school division’s community relations director, Tim Bullis, sent by email a statement regarding the school board’s policy in response to the newspaper’s inquiry.

“If a political campaign were to inquire about the use of a school facility during the school day, the campaign would be referred to a School Board policy 6100, which prohibits the use of school facilities during the school day for political purposes,” Bullis wrote.

Holland said school officials felt that making their denial public would potentially embarrass the Obama campaign.

Via: Richmond Times-Dispatch

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US median household income in 2011 lowest since 1995

The median income of US households in 2011 dropped to its lowest level since 1995, highlighting the income pressure on Americans on middle to lower steps of the economic pyramid.

The median level is the mid point where half the population sample are above and half below. It avoids the distortions caused by top earners in average income data.

Real median household income in the United States in 2011 was $50,054, a 1.5% decline from the 2010 median and the second consecutive annual drop.

The nation's official poverty rate in 2011 was 15.0%, with 46.2m people in poverty. After three consecutive years of increases, neither the poverty rate nor the number of people in poverty were statistically different from the 2010 estimates.

As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2011 was $23,021.


The number of people without health insurance coverage declined from 50.0m in 2010 to 48.6m in 2011, as did the percentage without coverage - - from 16.3% in 2010 to 15.7% in 2011.

In 2011, real median household income was 8.1% lower than in 2007, the year before the most recent recession, and was 8.9% lower than the median household income peak that occurred in 1999.

In 2011, the median earnings of women who worked full time, year-round ($37,118) was 77% of that for men working full time, year-round ($48,202) - - not statistically different from the 2010 ratio. Real median earnings of both men and women who worked full time, year-round declined by 2.5% between 2010 and 2011. The rates of decline for men and women were not statistically different from one another.

Via: FinFacts