FireUpChips10

FireUpChips10's Journal

February 13, 2012

Feeling the Love on Valentine's Day (Ten progressive achievements to make us feel warm & cozy!)

On this day consumed by all those warm and fuzzy feelings, we thought it would be sweet to acknowledge some of the recent actions, policies, and initiatives that caused our progressive hearts to race, uplifted our spirits, brightened our outlook, strengthened our hope for the future, and made life better in America—basically, the things that have made us feel all warm and fuzzy.

Here is our “feeling the love” top 10 list:

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/02/feeling_the_love.html

February 13, 2012

Progressive policies hiding in plain sight

I'm beginning to see that if you want to find where President Obama is pursuing his most progressive policies, you need to look beyond the "outrage of the moment" coming from both the left and the right to find what he's hidden in plain sight - but no one is noticing.

...

So today President Obama will release his latest federal budget. I'm sure that all the talk coming from both the left and the right will be about his proposed tax increases for the wealthy and investments in infrastructure, education and jobs.

Those are all important policies. But what will likely go unnoticed is something I read about a few days ago.

http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2012/02/progressive-policies-hiding-in-plain.html?spref=tw

February 13, 2012

Progressive policies hiding in plain sight

I'm beginning to see that if you want to find where President Obama is pursuing his most progressive policies, you need to look beyond the "outrage of the moment" coming from both the left and the right to find what he's hidden in plain sight - but no one is noticing.

...

So today President Obama will release his latest federal budget. I'm sure that all the talk coming from both the left and the right will be about his proposed tax increases for the wealthy and investments in infrastructure, education and jobs.

Those are all important policies. But what will likely go unnoticed is something I read about a few days ago.

http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2012/02/progressive-policies-hiding-in-plain.html?spref=tw

February 11, 2012

Obama endorses Conyers

For what it's worth:

http://www.freep.com/article/20120210/COL05/120210040/Obama-endorses-John-Conyers

I like Anderson, Jackson, and Johnson, and I don't agree with everything Conyers has done - but I don't see why people seem to be lining up to challenge him.

February 7, 2012

Did 1.2 Million People Fall Out of the Labor Force in a Month? Umm, NO!

You may have seen this article from "financial blog" Zerohedge, and the rants of CNBC's Rick Santelli making the rounds among whackos of all political stripes, claiming that in one month, from December 2011 to January 2012, more than a million people dropped off the labor force.

What are they basing this on? Population estimate adjustments. See, every year, the Census Bureau makes new adjustments to our population, which changes the estimates on the exact number of people in the population, in the labor force, etc. So in short, the population was adjusted thusly: according to the BLS report for this month (increase from 2011 to 2012): non-institutional, over-16 population increased by about 1.5 million, and persons not in labor force by 1.2 million. Ergo, zomg, 1.2 million people fell out of the labor force in one month!!!!!

Actually, although the data shows up like that in this month's report, it actually has nothing to do with that month. It has to do with population data being readjusted. It means there are 1.2 million more people not in the labor force than previously estimated in last year's numbers. Oh, and the adjustments apply to December:

To gauge the impact on the labor force data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses special tabulations of December data that incorporate the new population controls. When applied to December 2011, the updated controls increased the estimated size of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over by 1,510,000, the civilian labor force by 258,000, employment by 216,000, unemployment by 42,000, and persons not in the labor force by 1,252,000. The total unemployment rate was not affected. The labor force participation rate and the employment-population ratio were each reduced by 0.3 percentage point.

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2012/02/did-12-million-people-fall-out-of-labor.html

February 7, 2012