President Obama talks about the American Jobs Act in Columbus, OH - pics

[Kadie]

President Barack Obama talks about the American Jobs Act, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011, at Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School in Columbus, Ohio.





























pics from daylife.com

[muntrv]

1. Face it! Barack's crowds are bigger than the teabaggers!

[Oceansaway]

2. thanks...n/t...

[femmocrat]

3. Great photos! Thanks for posting them.

Did anyone hear a crowd size estimate?

[DrunkenBoat]

4. Obama's Jobs Plan: The unemployed work for free!

A popular idea in President Obama's new jobs bill could represent a step toward fundamentally transforming the existing system of federal jobless benefits. Some critics say such a move is long overdue--but others worry that a major overhaul could threaten a program that since the Depression has been a core component of the social safety net.

Obama's jobs measure, sent to Congress Monday, contains a provision that would encourage states to replicate a voluntary Georgia program that allows jobless workers to continue collecting unemployment benefits while training with potential employers. (Last month, we looked at how effective the Georgia program has been.)

But Cantor and his party seem to see the idea as more than a short-term fix for unemployment. He described the proposed overhaul as "reforming the unemployment benefit program in this country"--a goal Obama had not mentioned in his speech. And Cantor used similar language when first pushing the idea back in 2009 in a jobs plan of his own (pdf), calling on Washington to "reform the unemployment system."

So if, as looks likely, Congress passes a version of the idea, at least one party will view it as a step toward radically transforming the system. How? Currently, jobless benefits are treated as a temporary lifeline for those who can't find work. But those advocating a new approach to disbursing jobless benefits want them to be linked more closely to work or training. The idea--similar to the thinking behind the 1996 welfare reform law--is to encourage the jobless to remain productive, and to keep them connected with the workforce. One major backer of an overhaul--and of the Georgia program specifically--is the American Institute for Full Employment, an Oregon-based group that helps states re-fashion both their welfare and jobless benefit programs with those ideas in mind.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/could-obama-jobs-bill-help-end-jobless-benefits-150417721.html


The American Institute for Full Employment (AIFE) is a nonprofit organization that since 1994 has been promoting welfare reform programs, worked on unemployment insurance and social security...


It's a campaign that in no small part has been orchestrated by one of Oregon's wealthiest residents, Richard Wendt of Klamath Falls.

Anatomy of an anti-welfare millionaire

Wendt is used to getting his way. Since its founding in 1960, his company Jeld-Wen has become the world's largest manufacturer of doors, windows, millwork and specialty wood products. It has over 200 subsidiary companies in 40 states and 10 countries, in such diverse industries as wood products, real estate titles, and time share resorts. It employs some 15,000 workers worldwide, over 2,000 in Oregon. Forbes magazine has estimated the company's annual revenues at $850 million a year...None of Jeld-Wen's Oregon employees are represented by a union.

Union officials in southern Oregon describe Jeld-Wen as an octopus that runs Klamath Falls like a company town. It has a hand in a local bank and a local auto dealership. It hired right-wing circuit court judge Ted Abram right off the bench as its energetic political advocate...On the AIFE website are links to right-wing think tanks - Heritage Foundation, Cascade Policy Institute, Cato Institute and the National Center for Policy Analysis. board."

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Institute_for_Full_Employment

Here's how it works:

Employers hiring JOBS Plus workers are reimbursed by the state for the minimum wage portion of the worker's wages for up to six months, with no requirement to hire the employee at the end of the subsidy. Program participants receive paychecks instead of benefit checks. After 30 days on the job, employers pay $1 an hour into an individual account for the workers to receive additional job training and education after they are employed...

In 1994, to spread the anti-welfare gospel, Wendt founded and funded a non-profit organization, the American Institute for Full Employment (AIFE). AIFE works closely with Oregon's JOBS Plus, and it also sends people to state legislatures around the country to promote the idea of converting welfare and unemployment benefits into wage subsidies for companies...Boundaries between Jeld-Wen, JOBS Plus and AIFE are very blurry. Jeld-Wen executive Hobbs, a former Reagan Administration official, described AIFE as a "not-for-profit subsidiary of Jeld-Wen."

...It's clear that Jeld-Wen wrote the bill. At a March 29 hearing at which critics of the bill testified, when Representative Harper was unable to answer questions about the bill, Jeld-Wen attorney Heidi Neill stood and answered for him.

http://www.nwlaborpress.org/1999/4-16-99Jeld-Wen.html



This President is touting policies developed by the FAR RIGHT. Unbelievable.

[ProSense]

5. And

"Obama's Jobs Plan: The unemployed work for free!"

...then there are facts!

Bridge To Work: Obama's Plan For Long-Term Unemployed

<...>

Bridge to Work programs would be different from Georgia Works in several ways. Under the Obama proposal, states would be required to ensure participants earn no less than the minimum wage. So if a jobless worker's unemployment insurance benefit amounted to less than the minimum wage, states would have to boost the benefit.

Bridge to Work programs would only be open to jobless workers who've exhausted the standard 26 weeks of state-funded benefits and become eligible for the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which provides up to 53 additional weeks of aid. The EUC program is set to expire in January; the administration is pushing for Congress to reauthorize it through 2012 as part of the "American Jobs Act," which would include funding for Bridge to Work and dozens of other initiatives

<...>

Money for states to administer Bridge to Work programs would come from a $4 billion "Reemployment NOW Fund" that would also support a range of reforms, including wage insurance, startup assistance, improved reemployment services, and work-sharing.

<...>

Participants in the program will be covered by workers' compensation laws. As the FLSA requires, states will be required to prevent businesses from using trainees instead of hiring new workers, and businesses will not be able to use Bridge to Work participants if a strike is in effect or if doing so would violate a collective bargaining agreement.

Dean Baker: Statement on the American Jobs Act and Work Sharing

Washington, D.C.- Following the President's address to Congress and the announcement of the American Jobs Act, CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker released the following statement:

"It is encouraging to hear that President Obama included work sharing as part of his jobs agenda. This is a job creation measure that both has been shown to be successful and has the potential to break through partisan gridlock.

"The basic logic of work sharing is simple. Currently the government effectively pays for workers to be unemployed with unemployment insurance. Rather than just paying workers who have lost their job, work sharing allows workers to be partially compensated for shorter work hours. Instead of one worker getting half pay after losing her job, under work sharing five workers may get 10 percent of their pay cut after their hours are cut by 20 percent.

"This situation is likely to be better for both employees and employers. It allows workers to maintain their jobs and continue to upgrade their skills. It avoids a situation where workers may end up as long-term unemployed and find it difficult to get re-employed.

"This is also likely to be better from the standpoint of employers since it keeps trained workers on the job. When demand picks up, they don’t need to find and train new workers, they simply must increase hours for their existing work force.

"This approach has been a proven success in many countries, most importantly Germany. The unemployment rate in Germany is half of a percentage point below its pre-recession level even though its growth has been no better than in the United States. If a work sharing program here in the United States can reduce dismissals and layoffs by just 10 percent, it would generate the equivalent of 2.4 million new jobs a year.

"As a new approach, this plan may also get around Republican opposition. Work sharing has drawn support across the political spectrum. AEI economist Kevin Hassett, who was Senator McCain’s chief economist in his 2000 campaign, has been a vocal proponent of work sharing. The policy in Germany is fervently embraced by Germany’s conservative government.

"It is encouraging that President Obama was willing to step outside the box and try a new approach. If the Republicans cooperate, this policy could make a big difference to millions of workers and their families."

[DrunkenBoat]

6. " "Bridge to Work" programs that would let businesses try out workers without having to pay them."

We're had the same program here for years. People shuffle back & forth from one "training" job to another doing shitwork for shit wages (shitwork that doesn't require any 'training,' shitwork that anyone over 25 has already done if they ever held a job) & never get hired anywhere. It's just government paid labor for non-profits & local governments, driving down wages and allowing them to reduce their paid staff.

Great, now we're going to expand the government subsidies to the private sector so everyone can get in on the gravy train.

Minimum wage jobs barely cover the transport & childcare costs.

[ProSense]

7. The

program is not the same as the Georgia program, which was mentioned as a concept.

There are other program models for the President's plan.

"Great, now we're going to expand the government subsidies to the private sector so everyone can get in on the gravy train."

Minimum wage jobs barely cover the transport & childcare costs."

The emphasis on minimum wage jobs is interesting, but there will be other jobs. Still, no job and in many cases unemployment aren't enough to live on.