“If you can’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else?” - RuPaul - - - - - - - - - - - “if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal.” - John F. Kennedy - - - - - - - - - - - - “Imagine finding someone you love more than anything in the world, who you would risk your life for but couldn’t marry. And you couldn’t have that special day the way your friends do – you know, wear the ring on your finger and have it mean the same thing as everybody else. Just put yourself in that person’s shoes. It makes me feel sick to my stomach …. When I shared a picture of my tattoo on my Twitter page and said, ‘ALL LOVE is equal,’ a lot of people mocked me – they said, ‘What happened to you? You used to be a Christian girl!’ And I said, ‘Well, if you were a true Christian, you would have your facts straight. Christianity is about love.’ The debate resulted in a lot of threats and hate mail to people who agreed and disagreed with me. At one point I had to say, ‘Dude, everyone lay off.’ Can’t people have friendly debates about sensitive topics without it turning into unnecessary threats?” - Pop star Miley Cyrus on her marriage equality tattoo - - - - - - - - - - -
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Monday, February 13, 2012

WTF Has Obama Done? - Issue No. 013 - Employment: Jobs

I hope everyone had a good weekend, minus the unfortunate news about Whitney Houston.  May God bless her and her family during this time of grief.  Just another quick reminder of how important it is to tell the people in your life how much you love them.   Start today, because death knows neither time or day, we can be gone in a matter of minutes, hours or days.

click to enlarge
As promised, Issue No. 13 will be about Jobs, because according to Fox News and a particular party President Obama hasn't done a damn thing, which is simply not the case.  As a matter of fact, job losses exploded under former President George W. Bush, and has been recovering ever since. [Reference]

President Barack Obama has not only  managed to achieve 3 broad policies, 6 sources of funding and 6 targeted areas when it comes to job creation, he's also managed to produce 9 results.  Today I will cover 1 from each area.


WTF-36
Jobs for Main Street Act (2010).
In a close vote of 217-212, the House passed a $154 billion jobs bill (HR 2847) on December 16, 2009.  The “Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010” includes $36.7 billion for highways and transit, and extends several other programs aimed at creating jobs and helping those hit hardest by the recession.  The Senate is not expected to consider the bill this year, and may craft its own version after reconvening in 2010.  H.R. 2847 also incorporates the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2009, which extends the core highway, highway safety, and transit programs through September 30, 2010, at $53.3 billion, the level assumed in the FY 2010 budget resolution.  In addition, the bill repeals the provision that prohibits Highway Trust Fund balances from earning interest and restores $20 billion to the Highway Trust Fund.

Highways:                   $27.5 billion
Transit:                       $8.4 billion
Amtrak:                       $800 million
[Reference-1, Reference-2]

WTF-37
$33 billion-dollar jobs package (March 2010).
US President Barack Obama unveiled a 33-billion-dollar package of tax cuts Friday to encourage small businesses to hire new workers, as he takes aim at 10 percent unemployment.

Obama, who has made job creation the top priority of his administration, spoke as the White House got a rare economic boost when GDP data showed growth for the fourth quarter at a higher than expected 5.7 percent.

"It is time to put America back to work. We have had two very tough years," Obama said, as he toured a small factory in Baltimore, Maryland.
 
The proposal, which must be passed by Congress, would allow small businesses to claim a 5,000-dollar tax credit for every new employee they hire and to be reimbursed for Social Security retirement taxes on increased payrolls. [Reference-1, Reference-2, Reference-3]

WTF-38
Job training programs in clean technologies for displaced workers.

Obama comes through on both parts of this promise.

Creating jobs that are also good for the environment was a big part of Barack Obama's campaign platform.

It was also a big part of the stimulus package he signed in early 2009. All told, the bill included $500 million to support job creation in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sector. The administration has been busy doling out this grant money to train displaced workers in the areas of home weatherization, hybrid and electric car maintenance and solar panel installation.

On Jan. 6, 2010, for instance, the Labor Department announced that $100 million will go to 25 projects around the country.

When Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in April 2009, he also created the Clean Energy Service Corps. The program will train young people to install solar panels, weatherize homes and conduct energy audits, among other things. [Reference-1]

WTF-39
CBO found 3.7 Million jobs created by stimulus (May 2010).
A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows the Recovery Act has increased the number of workers by between 1.2 million and 2.8 million. The CBO also projects that 3.7 million jobs could be attributed to the stimulus by the end of September, 2010.

The $787 billion measure included several tax cuts, including one for $400 ($800 per working couple) that showed up in workers' paychecks. It also created Build America Bonds, expanded unemployment insurance and funded several domestic spending programs.

Several of these provisions are now being expanded in legislation extending expiring measures that the House could vote on later Wednesday.[Reference-1, Reference-2]

As promised, I will come back to this topic in another issue.  Please make sure to read the next issue, Issue No. 014 - Military and National Security as I continue with
WTF-40
Posted daily or weekly on BLADE 7184
until Election Day!

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