HEADLINES

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Comparing This Recession to Previous Ones

March 8, 2010 ( NY Times) -- The economy lost 36,000 jobs in February, not quite as bad as most forecasters had expected. The consensus forecast on Thursday had been for a net loss of 68,000 jobs, largely because of the snowstorms that battered the East Coast in February.

The chart above shows job losses in this recession compared to other recent ones; the blue line represents the current downturn. Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has had a net loss of about 6.1 percent of its nonfarm payroll jobs. Read article

Past U.S. presidents come out in support of Obama's financial reform
Ron Howard directs a timely video

 

Consumer Agency Within Fed Seen as Victory for Banking Industry
March 3, 2010 (Bloomberg) -- For consumer advocates, housing a new agency to protect Americans from financial-product abuse within the Federal Reserve would be a defeat after lobbying for an independent body. For banks, it would represent a victory.

Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, called a Senate plan to house the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency at the Fed “a joke.” Shielding consumers from harmful financial products is “the most conspicuous failure by the Fed,” Frank said in an interview yesterday.Read article

Nissan recalls 540,000 trucks and minivans
March 3, 2010 (CNNMoney.com) -- Nissan is recalling 540,000 vehicles worldwide to fix faulty brake pedal pins and inaccurate fuel gauges.
The Japanese automaker's North American division said no accidents or injuries have been reported, but the company is initiating the recalls based on three reports of brake pedal pins partially disengaging, hindering braking ability. Read article

Charlie Crist's State of the State address
March 3, 2010- ( TampaBay.com) -  In his farewell State of the State speech, Gov. Charlie Crist made a last-ditch appeal to the Legislature on Tuesday to embrace his style of pragmatic bipartisanship to confront Florida's problems.

Rebranding his populism as "problem-solving" over ideology, the lame-duck governor who's locked in an ideological U.S. Senate race sent the message that results mean more than rhetoric: "Extreme views rarely solve problems and frequently create them," he said. Read more

Senate passes $10 billion jobless benefits measure
March 3, 2010( CNN) --Sen. Jim Bunning says that if the benefits are so important, senators could find a way to fund them. The Senate voted Tuesday to pass a $10 billion measure to extend benefits for unemployed workers and fund road projects after Sen. Jim Bunning agreed to end his filibuster.
The 78-19 vote on the 30-day extension known as H.R. 4691 came minutes after the Kentucky Republican made a final plea on the floor of the Senate for his colleagues not to borrow the money.

"We can't do everything we'd like to do," Bunning said. "We don't have the money.Read article

"Taliban commander's capture called biggest since 9/11
Feb 16, 2010 ( CNN) -- The seizure of the Afghan Taliban's top military leader in Pakistan represents a turning point in the U.S.-led war against the militants, U.S. officials and analysts said. The arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar represents the most significant Taliban capture since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a senior Obama administration official said Tuesday. Read article

White House takes tougher tone with China
Feb 16, 2010 ( Politico) -- After months of reaching out his hand to China, President Barack Obama hasn’t seen China reach back.
So his administration is shifting course. Next week, Obama will welcome the Dalai Lama to the White House — the latest move that has agitated relations with the emerging superpower. But Obama has done more: Selling weapons to Taiwan, denouncing Internet censorship and challenging China’s overvalued currency all have caused Chinese officials to call for retaliation. Obama has vowed to “get much tougher” on trade and prodded China to support sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.Read article

Obama's Corporate Messaging
Feb 12, 2010 ( Business Week)-- In a wide-ranging Oval Office interview, President Barack Obama takes aim at the perception that he and his Administration are anti-business. Obama's concern is more frustrating and far less likely to melt away: the impression that his Administration—and he personally—is anti-business.

At least on this day, business and the economy topped Obama's agenda. Twenty steps from the Oval Office, GE's (GE) Jeff Immelt, Honeywell's (HON) David Cote, and several other CEOs huddled with White House officials to provide industry input on climate change. With his economic council waiting outside, Obama repeatedly expressed his disappointment that policies he believes are overwhelmingly pro-business have been misunderstood. Read article

Last Kennedy calls it quits
Feb 12, 2010 ( Fox News) -- For the first time in nearly half a century, there may not be a member of the Kennedy clan in Congress. In a video message posted to YouTube, eight-term Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) says his “life is taking a new direction" and he will not be a candidate for re-election this year. Kennedy is the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. When elected to Congress in 1994, Kennedy was just 27 and the youngest member of the House. Read article

 

Bipartisan jobs bill short on making jobs
Feb 11, 2010 (AP) -- There's a problem with the bipartisan jobs bill emerging in the Senate: It won't create many jobs.

The bill includes tax cuts to please Republicans and its passage would hand President Barack Obama a badly needed political victory. But even the Obama administration acknowledges the legislation's centerpiece - a tax cut for businesses that hire unemployed workers - would work only on the margins. Read article

S. Africa Marks Anniversary of Mandela’s Release
Feb 11, 2010 ( Ap- New York Times) -- South Africans on Thursday celebrated the steps that sounded apartheid's death knell 20 years ago: Nelson Mandela walking to freedom after 27 years in prison.

Thousands gathered for commemorations near Cape Town at what was known in 1990 as Victor Verster, the last prison where Mandela was held. The crowds milled around a 10-foot (3-meter) high bronze statue erected at the prison in 2008 depicting Mandela's first steps as a free man. Exactly 20 years ago, Mandela emerged from Victor Verster on foot, hand-in-hand with his then-wife Winnie, fist raised, smiling but resolute.Read article

Iraq orders ex-Blackwater contractors out
Feb 10, 2010 (CNN) -- Iraq has ordered former employees of the private military contractor once known as Blackwater to leave the country.
Contractors who once worked for Blackwater, now known as Xe, have seven days to leave Iraq, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told the state television network al-Iraqiya. Blackwater became the target of widespread Iraqi outrage after its contractors were involved in the September 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square that left 17 civilians dead. That outrage was renewed in December, when a U.S. judge dismissed manslaughter charges against five guards involved in the shootings on constitutional grounds. Read article

Obama doesn't 'begrudge' big bonuses
Feb 10, 2010 ( The Hill) --President Barack Obama said he doesn't "begrudge" some of the multimillion dollar bonuses handed out to executives at top financial firms.

The president emphasized that while he believes companies have the right to pay top employees what they want, and said that differences in executives' talent can justify differences in pay.Read article

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Federal Government to Grow to 2.15 Million Employees in 2010
Feb 3, 2010 ( FOXNews.com) -- The Obama administration projects the number of employees on the government payroll will grow to 2.15 million this year, reportedly making it the largest federal workforce in modern history and fueling criticism over the size of government. Read article

Obama Deficit-Reduction Plans Face Difficult Sell
Feb. 2, 2010 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s budget request proposed modest reductions next year in the government’s deficit. Even that may be too much for lawmakers in an election year, based on reaction to the plan.

The administration, in the $3.8 trillion budget it released yesterday for fiscal 2011, called for freezing some non-defense discretionary spending and proposed a number of tax increases in order to reduce a budget deficit projected this year to reach $1.6 trillion.

If the tax-and-spending plan were implemented exactly as written, it would still produce large deficits for years to come, with the 2011 shortfall pegged at $1.27 trillion. And many of the steps proposed by Obama to achieve even this reduction received a chilly welcome from many lawmakers wary of riling voters who will go to the polls in November’s midterm election.Read article

States Seeking to Ban Mandatory Health Insurance
Despite federal stalemate, state lawmakers pursuing measures banning health insurance mandates

President Obama bringing $1.25 billion to Tampa for Florida high-speed rail

Jan 28, 2010 (St. Petersburg Times) --President Barack Obama, seeking to deliver on his State of the Union promise to create jobs, will arrive in Tampa today and announce Florida will receive $1.25 billion in funding for high-speed rail.The state, which has flirted with the idea for a quarter century, applied for $2.6 billion in stimulus money for a line that would run from Orlando to Tampa.

But the White House said no state would get more than half its request right away, and at today's town hall meeting Obama will cast the award as a down payment.In addition to $8 billion in rail projects to be awarded to states, Obama has pledged an additional $5 billion through the annual budget process.Read article

 

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Mayoral Candidate Forum- February 09, 2010               Read Recap

"Information is the currency that fuels democracy" said Thomas Jefferson. As such, Malcolm Out Loud is excited to be moderating the upcoming 2010 Oldsmar Candidate Forum hosted by the Upper Tampa Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce on February 09, 2010. Mayoral and council candidates will speak on their vision for the city of Oldsmar and will answer questions on how they can improve business and quality of life in the city.

Candidates for Mayor: Jim Ronecker & Suzanne Vale
Candidates for Seat 2: Tom Eckert & Janice Miller
Candidates for Seat 4: Robert Brown, Linda Norris & Loretta Wyandt

Address: Oldsmar City Council Chambers Building
100 State Street West, Oldsmar 34677

This event is free & open to the public. For more information contact the chamber at 813-855-4233 or click here

Sponsored by Tampa Electric and the Upper Tampa Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce.

 

The Malcolm Out Loud Show Moves On...

The Malcolm Out Loud Show has withdrawn its programming from Newstalk 820 AM WWBA and Baybiz 1470 AM WMGG, effective immediately. Listeners have come to expect a different kind of radio where Malcolm engages guests and listeners in a real and truthful dialogue, at the intersection of business and livability, education, the economy, healthcare, culture and the environment. We regret that differences in approach and philosophy have made it impossible to come to an adequate long-term agreement between the Malcolm Out Loud Show and Genesis Communications.

Thanks to all our listeners, fans, show guests and partners for their valuable participation. We are developing exciting new opportunities for you and look forward to making a difference.

Remember, Get Involved, Get Loud!

 

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