Haiti Goodwill Ambassador, Wyclef Jean arrived in Port au Prince last week with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former U.S. President Bill Clinton in an effort to bring worldwide awareness to Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti, which has been hit by a series of devastating storms over the past year, desperately needs help after more than 800 people died and over 1 million people were left homeless or in desperate need of recovery and reconstruction efforts.
President Obama capped off a busy week in Washington remarking on new lending guidelines aimed at lowering mortgage payments; an initiative to generate funds for small business and college loans; the release of his administration’s first budget which includes $2T in deficit reduction; and the start of long overdue health care reform.
The Associated Press is taking a stab at artist Shepard Fairey over copyright infringement for his iconic Barack Obama “HOPE” posters that became the official image of the current president during the 2008 election. President Obama personally thanked Fairey for his contributions to the campaign and approved the use of his image, which Fairey had produced for the Obama campaign and Rock the Vote organization.
A.P. photographer Manny Garcia first took the photograph that Fairey later used as reference for the poster and had never denied appropriating from Garcia. Fairey’s legal team defends the use of the image as protected under the doctrine of fair use.
President Obama and Vice President Biden speak about the new Middle Class Task Force dedicated to raising the living standards of middle class families. Learn more at www.astrongmiddleClass.gov.
President Obama recorded a series of interviews about his economic recovery plan. Help is on the way, and you can help spread the word. Join thousands of people across the country who are organizing Economic Recovery House Meetings: http://my.barackobama.com/recoveryplan
David Plouffe, Obama for America campaign manager, and Mitch Stewart, executive director of Organizing for America, discuss the future of this movement for change.
Sundays are my days, meaning me-time. The phone turns off, I check emails in the morning and try my best not to again (which doesn’t happen to often), cook, plan the week out, watch Netflix movies, and watch and read as much global news as possible. So this past Sunday, I was looking over CNN.com and my eyes were drawn to a article about how much of the bailout can really be yours. There was a question from Miranda Marquit of Utah. Read below.
Question:“If we just gave all the bailout money to taxpayers, how much would we each get? I’ve seen $25,000, $300,000, $1 million – what’s the real answer?” — Miranda Marquit, Logan, Utah
Answer: $9,718.49
To arrive at that figure, CNNMoney.com took the total of the bank bailout, $700 billion, and added that to the proposed stimulus spending in the House of Representatives bill, $819 billion. That totals $1.519 trillion.
We then divide that number by 156.3 million, which was the total number of U.S. filers in 2008.
So: $1.519 trillion divided by 156.3 million equals $9,718.49 per U.S. taxpayer.
So now you can pick up your bottom lip and ask yourself “Why don’t they give the money to taxpayers?” Here’s a great followup question to that along with two answers by experts in the economy, Lakshman Achuthan and David Laibson which talks about what the people would really do with it, I for one would definitely do as their answers say. (more…)
We’ve all been effected in someway shape or form of this current economic down fall. Some of us have loved ones that have been effected, I personally have had 6 people around me get laid off over the past 3 months and it begins to take a emotional toll on you wondering about folks future. This isn’t a matter of being laid off due to performance although in some cases that’s how many of the layoffs get chosen to see who stays or who leaves, these layoffs are all about companies taking this time to be a bit selfish and look out for themselves and do whatever it takes to keep their business running; which isn’t something we can blame them for, survival of the fittest.
The Wall Street Journal reports within the last week 70,000 jobs have been lost across from trucking to technology industries. GDP (Gross domestic product), fell at a 3.8% annual rate in the fourth quarter, adjusted for inflation, from the previous quarter. The decline was the largest since 1982, though still well below the postwar record 10.4% quarterly drop seen in 1958. President Barack Obama stated Friday that the economic data underscore the urgency of passing the stimulus package. “This isn’t just an economic concept, this is a continuing disaster for America’s working families,” he said. The House passed an $819 billion stimulus bill Wednesday, a version of which is now being debated in the Senate.
Remember years ago, maybe a decade ago when putting items on layaway was something to be a bit embarrassed about. Now, it’s a close to being a necessity for the average working American. Retail owners are suffering a great deal with some having sales down 35% from the previous year so to maintain their sanity and business, owners are reintroducing the layaway option which tends to help bring profits up to as little as 10%…if the customer actually comes back for the item.
But instead of making you feel hopeless and more depressed than you already may be. I’ve included this link to CNN’s list of companies that NEVER lay people off (click here). But what I really want to share with you is WSJ’s impressive interactive graphic chart showing you the amount each industry has lost thus far (click here).
In his weekly address, President Barack Obama announced that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is preparing a new strategy for reviving our financial system, and urged the swift passage of an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.
