State Department Spends $70,000 on Obama Books (Taxpayers Foot the Bill)

The State Department has bought more than $70,000 worth of books authored by President Obama, sending out copies as Christmas gratuities and stocking “key libraries” around the world with “Dreams From My Father” more than a decade after its release.

The U.S. Embassy in Egypt, for instance, spent $28,636 in August 2009 for copies of Mr. Obama’s best-selling 1995 memoir. Six weeks earlier, the embassy had placed another order for the same book for more than $9,000, federal purchasing records show.

About the same time, halfway around the world, the U.S. Embassy in South Korea had the same idea and spent more than $6,000 for copies of “Dreams From My Father.”

One month later, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, spent more than $3,800 for hardcover copies of the Indonesian version of Mr. Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope,” records show.

A review of the expenditures in a federal database did not reveal any examples of State Department purchases of books by former Presidents George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.

The purchases of Mr. Obama’s literary work mostly, but not always, took place in the months after Mr. Obama captured the White House.

President Barack Obama arrives at Los Angeles International Airport to board Air Force One in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, to head to a fundraiser in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group, said if the federal government is looking to cut costs, eliminating purchases of Mr. Obama’s books is a good place to start.

“It’s inappropriate for U.S. taxpayer dollars to be spent on this,” she said. “This sounds like propaganda.”

From:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/25/state-department-buys-70000-worth-obama-memoir/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obama, and the Solyndra Scandal in a Nutshell

A man named Steven Spinner, who bundled together over $500,000 in donations for Barack Obama in 2008 and was rewarded with a cushy Energy Department gig…

…has been exposed for lobbying the White House on behalf of Solyndra despite the fact that his wife was working for the law firm representing the now-defunct company!

The White House was eager to approve an ill-advised loan to the solar energy company, in part due to Spinner’s prodding.

And after the Obama administration has so richly provided for him and his wife, campaign finance documents show Steven Spinner is again bundling over $500,000 for Obama’s reelection campaign!

This corrupt you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours attitude is what turned Washington into the cesspool it is, and it’s exactly the kind of corruption that Barack Obama ran against in 2008.

In addition to Spinner’s pay-for-play shenanigans at the expense of taxpayers, the executives of Solyndra TOOK THE FIFTH AMENDMENT WHEN TESTIFYING TO CONGRESS!

From:  http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/hostedemail/email.htm?h=46257b166f40700aceb601507e0166a8&CID=10185617164&ch=56D4B08D7D684654B1A994F16F1282D3

Thanks, Obama! A Half Billion Dollars In “Stimulus” Money Ends Up Creating Jobs In…Finland!

With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.

Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department’s $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs.

But two years after the loan was announced, the company’s manufacturing jobs are still limited to the assembly of the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car in Finland.

“There was no contract manufacturer in the U.S. that could actually produce our vehicle,” the car company’s founder and namesake told ABC News. “They don’t exist here.”

The loan to Fisker is part of a $1 billion bet the Energy Department has made in two politically connected California-based electric carmakers producing sporty — and pricey — cutting-edge autos.

Fisker Automotive, backed by a powerhouse venture capital firm whose partners include former Vice President Al Gore, predicts it will eventually be churning out tens of thousands of electric sports sedans at the shuttered GM factory it bought in Delaware.

And Tesla Motors, whose prime backers include PayPal mogul Elon Musk and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, says it will do the same in a massive facility tooling up in Silicon Valley.

 An investigation by ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News that will air on “Good Morning America” found that the DOE’s bet carries risks for taxpayers, has raised concern among industry observers and government auditors, and adds to questions about the way billions of dollars in loans for smart cars and green energy companies have been awarded.

Fisker is more than a year behind rolling out its $97,000 luxury vehicle bankrolled in part with DOE money. While more are promised soon, just 40 of its Karma cars (below) have been manufactured and only two delivered to customers’ driveways, including one to movie star Leonardo DiCaprio.

Tesla’s SEC filings reveal the start-up has lost money every quarter. And while its federal funding is intended to help it mass produce a new $57,400 Model S sedan, the company has no experience in a project so vast.

There is intense scrutiny of the decisions made by the Department of Energy as it invests billions of taxpayer dollars in alternative energy. The questions come in the wake of the administration’s failed $535 million investment in solar panel maker Solyndra.

The company’s collapse, bankruptcy and raid by FBI agents generated a litany of questions about how the Energy Department doles out billions in highly sought after green energy seed money.

A key question, experts and investigators say, is whether another Solyndra is in the offing.

From:  http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/car-company-us-loan-builds-cars-finland/story?id=14770875

Obama Job Approval Average Slides to New Low

President Barack Obama’s 11th quarter in office was the worst of his administration, based on his quarterly average job approval ratings.

His 41% approval average is down six percentage points from his 10th quarter in office, and is nearly four points below his previous low of 45% during his seventh quarter.

Only one elected president since Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, had a lower 11th quarter average than Obama. Carter averaged 31% during his 11th quarter, which was marked by a poor economy and high energy prices.

From:  http://www.gallup.com/poll/150230/Obama-Job-Approval-Average-Slides-New-Low-11th-Quarter.aspx

 

 

 

Thanks, Obama! Misery Index At Highest Point Since 1983…

An unofficial gauge of human misery in the United States rose last month to a 28-year high as Americans struggled with rising inflation and high unemployment.

The misery index — which is simply the sum of the country’s inflation and unemployment rates — rose to 13.0, pushed up by higher price data the government reported on Wednesday.

The data underscores the extent that Americans continue to suffer even two years after a deep recession ended, with a weak economic recovery imperiling President Barack Obama’s hopes of winning reelection next year.

Inez Stallworth, an underwriting assistant for a financial services company, recently gave up her car, in part because of rising costs for gasoline and groceries.

“I can’t fit it in,” said the 27-year-old Chicago resident, who said most of her extended family was getting by “paycheck-to-paycheck.” Consumer prices rose 3.9 percent in the 12 months through September, the fastest pace in three years.

With gasoline prices high, consumers have less to spend on other things.

Moreover, a rise in overall prices saps economic growth, which is typically measured in inflation-adjusted terms.

The last time the misery index was at current levels was in 1983.

Harold Archie, a bus driver with the Chicago Transit Authority, knows well the toll that unemployment is taking on Americans.

Higher food and gasoline prices have compounded the strain on his finances since his son lost his job.

Archie, 57, has been helping him financially.

Archie said his son might have a shot at getting his job back, but with a pay cut: “And he was only making $13 an hour to start with.”

From:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/44970105

Thanks, Obama! Bad Economy Falls Disproportionately on Generation O Voters

Yet another resumé arrived in my email box this week, from a young man who graduated with a BA in economics and a minor in math last May, and has yet to find a job. He’s a graduate of York College of Pennsylvania, with summer job experience as an engineering technician at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland.

Unable to find a job in an economy with persistently high unemployment because of weak job growth, Anthony Lewis is now looking for an unpaid internship. As a new entrant to the labor force he doesn’t get unemployment insurance. He’s just looking for a job.

Anthony is not alone. The unemployment rate in 2010 for newly graduated men and women with bachelor degrees was 9.2 percent, far higher than the 5.1 percent rate such adults experienced in 2005.

This is Generation O: the age cohort that contributed, registered, volunteered and voted for Barack Obama with greater intensity than we have seen since at least the 1960 presidential election.

Since then, the effect of President Obama’s failed economic policies has fallen most disproportionately on them.

The unemployment rates among Generation O not only suggest personal disappointment, but also large and lasting implications for them and for society.

From:  http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2011/10/20/the_economic_travails_of_generation_o_99319.html

 

Thanks, Obama! An Unprecedented 26 Million Americans Are Now Underemployed

While the number of unemployed workers has held steady at around 14 million in recent months, another telling measure of frustration in the labor market—the number of underemployed individuals—rose for a third consecutive month in September, by almost a half of a million people.

Almost 9.3 million Americans are considered underemployed, defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as working part-time for economic reasons, such as unfavorable business conditions or seasonal declines in demand.

That’s up from just over 8 million in July, but down from a peak of about 9.5 million in September 2010.

In addition, about 2.5 million individuals are considered “marginally attached to the labor force,” meaning they were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. (They are not counted as unemployed because they had not looked for a job in the past four weeks prior to the survey.)

Put together, almost 26 million Americans are either unemployed, marginally attached to the labor force, or involuntarily working part-time—a number experts say is unprecedented.

From:  http://www.businessinsider.com/the-number-of-underemployed-people-keeps-growing-2011-10

 

 

Thanks, Obama! Americans’ Standard of Living Continues to Free Fall

Think life is not as good as it used to be, at least in terms of your wallet? You’d be right about that. The standard of living for Americans has fallen longer and more steeply over the past three years than at any time since the US government began recording it five decades ago.

Bottom line: The average individual now has $1,315 less in disposable income than he or she did three years ago at the onset of the Great Recession – even though the recession ended, technically speaking, in mid-2009. That means less money to spend at the spa or the movies, less for vacations, new carpeting for the house, or dinner at a restaurant.

In short, it means a less vibrant economy, with more Americans spending primarily on necessities. The diminished standard of living, moreover, is squeezing the middle class, whose restlessness and discontent are evident in grass-roots movements such as the tea party and “Occupy Wall Street” and who may take out their frustrations on incumbent politicians in next year’s election.

What has led to the most dramatic drop in the US standard of living since at least 1960? One factor is stagnant incomes: Real median income is down 9.8 percent since the start of the recession through this June, according to Sentier Research in Annapolis, Md., citing census bureau data. Another is falling net worth – think about the value of your home and, if you have one, your retirement portfolio. A third is rising consumer prices, with inflation eroding people’s buying power by 3.25 percent since mid-2008.

The so-called misery index, another measure of economic well-being of American households, echoes the finding on the slipping standard of living. The index, a combination of the unemployment rate and inflation, is now at its highest point since 1983, when the US economy was recovering from a short recession and from the energy price spikes after the Iranian revolution.

From:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/44962589

Obama’s Approval Rating On Economy Plummets To 33% in New Poll

A majority of Americans think President Obama’s $447 biillion proposal to create jobs will not actually help lower the unemployment rate, according to a poll released Wednesday by Bloomberg.

And his overall approval rating on the economy fell to 33 percent from 39 percent in June. His approval rating on the economy was 43 percent in March.

His economic disapproval ratings rose to 67 percent from 57 percent in June and 52 percent in March.

Those are grim numbers for the White House and the trend is clearly going in the wrong direction just as the campaign season heats up.

Core Support Decline

Of the respondents who said they’ve supported Obama at one point since he launched his presidential campaign in 2007, fewer than half say they still support him as fervently.

Thirty-seven percent say their support has waned and 19 percent say he lost their backing because they’ve grown disappointed or angry with his leadership.

Almost a third of Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents say they’d like to see Obama face a primary challenge.

From:  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20105949-503544.html

Obama “Recovery” Continues: Lowe’s Closes 20 Stores, Lays Off 1,950 Workers

(Reuters) – Lowe’s Cos Inc is closing 20 of its U.S. locations and eliminating nearly 2,000 jobs, and the home improvement retailer is slashing its store-opening plans to improve profitability.

Lowe’s, which operates about 1,700 stores in the United States, said on Monday that it had closed 10 on Sunday and would close another 10 within a month.

Some 1,950 workers will be laid off. As of January, Lowe’s had 161,000 full-time and 73,000 part-time employees.

The company also said it planned to open only 10 to 15 new North American stores per year starting in 2012, down from a previous goal of 30.

Shares of Lowe’s were up 2.8 percent at $21.37 in morning trading.

Chief Executive Officer Robert Niblock said in a statement that the company had to “make tough decisions” to improve profitability.

Lowe’s has been slower to cut costs than market leader Home Depot Inc , whose sales at stores open a year or more have beaten its rival’s for nine straight quarters.

“This continues (Lowe’s) progress toward becoming a more efficient operator,” Janney Capital Markets analyst David Strasser said in a research note on Monday. “Management is making significant changes that should improve returns.”

Expenses from the closings will come to between $100 million and $130 million, including lease obligations, employee layoffs and inventory adjustments, Lowe’s said. It expects to record those charges in its current and next quarters, according to a regulatory filing.

Including noncash expenses, the closings and abandoned store openings will reduce earnings by 17 cents to 20 cents per share this fiscal year, Lowe’s estimated.

Lowe’s reduced its full-year sales and profit outlook in August as U.S. homeowners put off renovations. It also announced plans to buy back $5 billion of its shares.

Lowe’s becomes the latest retailer to pare the number of stores it operates amid tepid consumer demand.

Gap Inc last week affirmed a plan announced in June to close 200 of its 889 namesake U.S. stores, while luxury retailer Saks Inc has closed seven of its department stores in the past two years and plans to eventually close a few more over time.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York, editing by Dave Zimmerman and Lisa Von Ahn)

From: http://www.portfolio.com/business-news/reuters/2011/10/17/lowes-closes-stores-lays-off-1950-workers