Chris Christie on Public Employees and Pensions: Thank Me in 10 Years Video

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie predicts public employees will thank him for being the governor "who saved their pensions.






Chris Christie on Public Employees and Their Pensions (video)
The Lonely Conservative has some short and pithy commentary
Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Cuba Cutting Government Jobs, Hiring Private Sector: Obama Growing Government Jobs, Quashing Private Sector

Raul Castro announced he is cutting thousands of government jobs and is looking to "private enterprise to fill the huge gap."  Meanwhile, POTUS is creating more and more government jobs at higher and higher salaries and destroying the private sector. Did you think you would ever see the day the U.S. lagged behind the Cuban curve?

Raul and Fidel Castro

Not only is Raul cutting the government jobs which employs 95 percent of all Cuban workers, he is cutting multiple THOUSANDS of government jobs. At the same time, Cuba is reducing restrictions on the private sector, while Obama, et al winds up on the mound of the oval office, to throw private enterprise a curve ball, and hopes we can't hit it out of the ballpark.

Cuba's official work force is 5.1 million - meaning nearly 10 percent of all employees could soon be out of a government job. 

The layoffs will start immediately and continue through April 2011, according to a statement from the nearly 3 million-strong Cuban Workers Confederation, which is affiliated with the Communist Party and the only labor union allowed by the government. Eventually the state will only employ people in "indispensable" areas such as farming, construction, industry, law enforcement and education. 

The new face of Cuba understands that he MUST do something for the many unemployed. He has promised to allow "more Cubans to be self-employed." The benevolent Castro brothers believe the people are demanding too much of their government:

Castro has long complained that Cubans expect too much from the government, which pays average monthly salaries of just $20 but also provides free education and health care and heavily subsidizes housing, transportation and basic food. 

Because unemployment is anathema in a communist society, state businesses have been forced to carry many people who do almost nothing. 

Monday's announcement also said Cuba will overhaul its labor structure and salary systems to emphasize productivity so that workers are "paid according to results." 

Brings to mind Jeffrey Goldberg's article in The Atlantic. Goldberg had lunch with Fidel Castro along with a Spanish speaker. Goldberg asked Fidel if he thought the Cuban-model of government was ripe for exporting. According to Goldberg and his translator, Fidel said "the Cuban-model isn't even working for Cuba." Immediately, the AFP said Castro was "joking," and a few days later Fidel said Goldberg was a great journalist, but misunderstood his words - yet Fidel admitted the quote was correct.

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Labor Day Cartoon - 'Ism' and some Stats about Labor

In honor of Labor Day - it is freedom that made America free - and allowed the workforce to work because they wanted to - not because they were told to, and to work for whom they wanted to work, if they could get hired. The Ism cartoon video below is essential for all of your Leftists relatives and friends, and for children - especially the children of the Left. It's a great way to teach children about the 'isms' they will face, and the 'isms' they will fight against the remainder of their lives.

Ism

From Valerie Strauss at the Washington Post:

Who Are We Celebrating?
154.4 million
Number of people 16 and older in the nation’s labor force in May 2010.

Employee Benefits
83%
Percentage of full-time workers 18 to 64 covered by health insurance during all or part of 2008.

78%
Percentage of workers in private industry who receive a paid vacation as one of their employment benefits.

The Commute to Work
17.7 million
Number of commuters who leave for work between midnight and 5:59 a.m. They represent 13 percent of all commuters.

76%
Percentage of workers who drive alone to work. Another 11 percent carpool and 5 percent take public transportation (excluding taxicabs).

25.5 minutes
The average time it takes people in the nation to commute to work. New York and Maryland had the most time-consuming commutes, averaging 31.6 and 31.5 minutes. (They are not significantly different from one another.)

3.5 million
Number of workers who face extreme commutes to work of 90 or more minutes each day.

Our Jobs
Americans work in a variety of occupations. Here is a sampling:

Teachers 7.2 million
Chief executives 1.7 million
Janitors and building cleaners 2.1 million
Computer software engineers 1.0 million
Aerospace engineers 137,000
Electricians 874,000
Registered nurses 2.8 million
Social workers 729,000
Clergy 441,000
Hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists 773,000
Chefs and head cooks 351,000
Customer service representatives 1.9 million
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs 373,000
Firefighters 293,000
Roofers 234,000
Pharmacists 243,000
Machinists 409,000
Musicians, singers and related workers 186,000
Artists and related workers 213,000
Gaming services workers (gambling) 111,000
Tax preparers 105,000
Service station attendants 87,000
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers and weighers 751,000
Farmers and ranchers 751,000

7.6 million
Number of workers who hold down more than one job. So-called moonlighters comprise 5 percent of the working population. Of these, 4 million work full time at their primary job and part time at their other job.

284,000
Number of moonlighters who work full time at two jobs.

10.1 million
Number of self-employed workers.

26.4 million
Number of female workers 16 and older in management, professional and related occupations. Among male workers 6 and older, 24.7 millionwere employed in management, professional and related occupations.

27%
Percentage of workers 16 and older who work more than 40 hours a week. About 7 percent work 60 or more hours a week.

4.1
Median number of years workers have been with their current employer. About 10 percent of those employed have been with their current employer for 20 or more years.

10.3 million
Number of independent contractors.

16.1 million
Number of labor union members nationwide. About 12 percent of wage and salary workers belong to unions, with Alaska, Hawaii and New York having among the highest rates of any state. North Carolina has one of the lowest rates, 3 percent.

-5.3%
Percentage decline in employment in the United States, between September 2008 and September 2009. Employment declined in 329 of the 334 largest counties (large counties are defined as having employment levels of 75,000 or more).

-14.5%
Percentage decline in Elkhart County, Ind., between September 2008 and September 2009, the largest decline in employment among the 334 largest counties. Los Angles County saw the largest numerical loss over the period: 278,000.

1.7%
Percentage increase in employment in Yakima County, Wash., between September 2008 and September 2009, the largest percentage increase among the nation’s 334 largest counties.

5.9 million
The number of people who work at home.

$46,367 and $35,745
The 2008 real median earnings for male and female full-time, year-round workers, respectively.

Hot Jobs
53%
Projected percentage growth from 2006 to 2016 in the number of network systems and data communication analysts. Forecasters expect this occupation to grow at a faster rate than any other. Meanwhile, the occupation expected to add more positions over this period than any other is registered nurses (587,000).

Make Mine Freedom - Labor Day
Linked by The Lonely Conservative - Thanks Karen!

Federal Workers Pocket Fraudulent Social Security Disability Payments

Some 1,500 federal employees "have wrongly received benefits," according to The Government Accountability Office. So, we know that the real number is probably at least 6,000. It's been going on for a long time.

Federal Workers get Fraudulent Disability Payments

"Our case studies ... confirmed some examples in which individuals received SSA disability payments that they were not entitled to receive," the GAO said in a letter to Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; and Tom Coburn, R-Okla. Some of the payments were attributed to fraud, others to "administrative error," according to the report. The GAO found that the Social Security Administration does not use its own automated system to flag workers who may be earning too much income to qualify for benefits.

"SSA's internal controls did not prevent improper and fraudulent payments," the GAO said.  The report also found thousands of commercial drivers and transportation business owners who may be skirting the law. It focused in part on federal , estimating that 1,500 workers were receiving about $1.7 million monthly. Of them, one-quarter were U.S. Postal Service employees and 16 percent were Defense Department civilians. 

Get this! Do we really think there is only one woman getting paid for "angst?"

According to the report, the TSA employee started receiving disability benefits in 1995 for "mood and anxiety disorders." But she started full-time work in 2003 and earned as much as $50,000; the income cap after which disability payments are supposed to stop was $940 per month in 2008. 

So what happens now? Can the taxpayers get their money back? 

Government Worker Benefits Getting Rich on Backs of Private Sector

"David Walker, the U.S.Comptroller for Clinton and then G. W. Bush says under the Obama administration, government workers, through pensions and salaries, are growing "prosperous" on the backs of the private sector. Walker says the only way to stop this is to inform the public, and for us to understand that "We the People" have the power to do something about it.

David Walker

From David Walker, now the CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation

“There is a huge gap. State and local plans on average … are much more lucrative than typical plans for employees. State and local government employees, on average, have greater job security than people in the private sector. And state and local government employees, in the middle of government, in many cases make more money than their private sector counterparts,” Walker said during a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. According to Pew numbers provided by the Chamber, the budget gap to cover state employees’ benefits totals $1 trillion.

“Therefore, if governments expect taxpayers to pay more taxes to fund lucrative benefit programs that are much better than the average employee gets, in jobs that more job security and in some cases make more money than their private sector counterparts, that ain’t gonna happen,” he said. “But the only way it’s not going to happen is if there’s transparency and if the cover is blown, so that pressure is brought to bear to make changes.”

"We the People" will have a private sector rebellion on November 2nd.

Chris Christie Privatizes New Jersey

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is proposing a massive privatization program for the state. A 57-page report gives the steps necessary to save $210 million a year by putting many services in the hands of private enterprise. Finally we have an outspoken public champion of the private sector.

Governor Chris Christie

Two thousand state employees may lose their jobs.

From North Jersey.com [my formatting]:

(1) State parks, psychiatric hospitals and even turnpike toll booths could also be run by private operators, 


(2) Preschool classrooms would no longer be built at public expense,

(3) state employees would pay for parking

(4) private vendors would dish out food, deliver health care and run education programs behind prison walls.

The most controversial loss to privatization is the state withdrawing entirely from the state vehicle inspections:

New Jersey would close its centralized car inspection lanes and motorists would pay for their own emissions tests....

But the car inspection proposal is sure to stir up controversy in a state with a tortured history of privatizing emissions testing.

Currently, New Jersey pays for the complete inspection process.

Americans Don't Know Meaning of July 4th Independence Day

Via Twitter's pinnie99 comes this amazing Mark Dice video, which shows the stupidest of all the stupidest-people videos. So, the average 20-30-40-50-somethings do not know the name of the Secretary of Defense, or the Vice President, but the Fourth of July! What are we teaching? The Fourth of You Lie?

Just my opinion here, but I think questions about our founding and the Founding Fathers should be a part of every test for a driver's license, a food handler's license, every marriage license - City Hall, State or Federal exam for a job opportunity, etc., etc. The story of how the Star Spangled Banner was written should be among the questions. This is so disgraceful.



Mark Dice - Americans Don't Know the Meaning of July 4th (video)

Workers No Longer Seeking Jobs at 625,000

Going into the Independence Day holiday, it is apparent we desperately need independence form Democrats, Liberals and Progressives.

Barack Obama

On June 29th Obama said "the economy is strengthening" and "we are into recovery...." Neither is true. "We worked exceptionally hard to restore growth..." which brought about no growth. Today we read that the jobless rate fell to 9.5% but it didn't really. In addition to the 125,00 jobs lost in June, 625,000 gave up and are no longer seeking work. Census workers completed their "assignments" to document every illegal they could find, and 225,000 census takers, that cost the US taxpayer a tidy sum, are now unemployed.

Here's a stat that will astound you. The Flint Journal reports that in one Michigan country, those not returning their census forms cost country tax forms "about $2.4 million" for census workers to track you down - or $57 per person in the county.


Even though the loss of census jobs were expected, new jobs in private sector were lower than expected.

In fact, the percentage of overall working-age population that is in the labor force fell last month to 64.7% --near a 25-year-low

At the Toronto G-20, Obama said we have pulled back from the brink, stood his ground and called for more spending around the world. Country after country gave him the bird - said been there, done that with you, and we're over it.

To drawout Obama's own version of a pleasant pipedream, he says the economy is "strengthening" despite the weak data.  " The weak data showed a 2.7% growth, less than expected growth for the first quarter.

From Forbes on Obama's speech today from Andrews AFB:

Obama: We are headed in the right direction

To that end, Obama announced the latest burst of taxpayer-financed stimulus spending, a nationwide project to expand broadband access in places with little or no reliable internet service. 

Before Obama spoke today, the market was up slightly. The minute he stopped talking, it lost its gains, as it does every time this man speaks. At this time, the DOW is still down.

Today the Wall Street Journal announced Consumer bankruptcy filings are at the highest level since 2005.

Geithner: I Never Had a Real Job: Geithner Only Worked for Government

We have an entire administration that doesn't know what it is to keep the bottom line "black," meet a payroll, produce a product or service and work without a fail safe like tenure or seniority. Tim Geithner, Obama's Treasury Secretary tells us he "never had a real job."

Tim Geithner

From the Wall Street Journal:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is haunted by the misperception that he used to work on Wall Street.

"I find that the charge that -- the myth that I worked in Wall Street all my life, somewhat amusing," Geithner said on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS." "But it is part of a narrative that hardened. People came to view the judgments we were making through the prism of a myth...it's actually very damaging. It's completely false, of course, and it, you know, should have been corrected a long time ago."

Geithner has worked in government his whole life. Before becoming Treasury secretary, he was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which is a government job but is closely associated with Wall Street. The New York Fed president is selected by a board of private sector bankers and other private sector officials but has to be approved by the Federal Reserve Board in Washington. Almost all of the New York Fed's profits get turned over to the u.S. government.

"What I say is the I never had a real job," Geithner jokes

 H/T The Lonely Conservative"

Obamas quiet outreach to Muslims not so quiet

The New York Times headline is Reaching Out Quietly to Muslims in America, speaking of Obama. Who are they kidding? What better outreach than to help Muslims destroy Israel. Muslims must see Obama's treatment of Israel as a great, gigantic leap for anyone adhering to the Koran. See two videos below.

I believe in diversity. It is Islam that does not believe in diversity - or at least, thus far, no one has explained how they ignore the teachings of their Holy book. Does anyone really think Americans would be so distrusting of Muslims if the Koran didn't wish us dead? That's what 9/11 did. It gave us a clue. Until then, we weren't paying attention.

According to the NYT, way down below the fold:

While the administration's solicitation of Muslims and Arab-Americans has drawn little fanfare, it has not escaped criticism. A small but vocal group of research analysts, bloggers and others complain that the government is reaching out to Muslim leaders and organizations with an Islamist agenda or ties to extremist groups abroad. 

We are paying attention.

I do not think all Muslims want to kill us (but I'm not sure how they feel about the Jews). I don't even think most want to kill us, but since most Muslims will never be tested by their faith, we will never know. Neither will they. We just bide our time waiting to see who comes after us.

 I don't care that the Koran does not accept infidels. I do not care that they think we must believe as they do to make it to heaven. I do care that they think we should be dead. As Bill Clinton told us this week, words have consequences. The Koran has consequences.

There are numerous Muslims already working in the White House, and Obama is armed with a book of 45 Muslim resumes of "the nation's most qualified -- Ivy League grads, Fortune 500 executives and public servants, all carefully vetted...." Do you know who the most influential Muslim is, with exclusive access to our President? Read about it here and here.

So cut the crap. There is nothing subtle about Obama's outreach. Take a look at this press release from The White House, and every time you see the word "Muslim," substitute the world "Jew." Can you see this ever happening?



Muslims in the White House (video)
Obama hosts Ramadan Dinner at White House (video)

Less Depressing Financial News: Jobs Losses Rise: Home Mortgages Default

Never have Americans been so completely clueless about our country's financial health and our job-creation ability.  God help us. We believe in this country, but everyday it becomes clear that we have been lied to, and are being lied to, with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Home Mortgage Defaults

Fortune Magazine tells us the "long-awaited recovery is now underway." It's a slow, painful slog that has shifted from "dreadful to less depressing." Unemployment stands at least, at 9.7%. Home prices are in the toilet, but...corporate profits are up. Our job-makers have realized they can do more with less...and boost profits by being leaner. Earnings were up among the Fortune 500 by an astounding 335%, but sales are sluggish. "The largest part of the gain came from lower payrolls...and explains the "explosion" in Fortune 500 profits.

George Soros, the mover and shaker behind Barack Obama is warning of another market crash, but if we get lucky we have 8 years before the bottom falls out. Keep in mind that George Soros is as anti-America as one can be.

Jobless claims rose...again...it wasn't expected. Reports out yesterday said new requests for jobless benefits rose by 24,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 484,000. The second week in a row for increased claims. Economists predicted claims would fall.

As the Wall Street Journal said, if that were possible Russia, Cuba and North Korea would be economic powerhouses:

Currently, the mean government salary is fully twice the mean private-sector salary. That means every government job destroys or displaces two private-sector jobs. 

Home mortgage defaults rise among those who took advantage of Obama's wildly criticized "loan modification" program. Many have defaulted even after the government modified their payment amount. A NYT writer says if the trend continues the Obama plan may collapse on itself. The Treasury Department can't explain what is happening - other than the common sense that the people still can't afford their mortgages, and I'll point out that probably many have lost jobs since "modifying" their loans. Seven million households are behind on mortgage payments.

A senior policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending said she expects the post-modification defaults to continue to rise. "The current model for modifications doesn't necessarily produce sustainable results."

Readers, can you name one program this administration has launched that provides sustainable results? I didn't think so. Looking forward to "less depressing news" is not the American way. Let's get these job-killers out of Washington, D.C.

Linked by The Lonely Conservative

Obama Muslim Summit Hosts Islamic Entrepreneurship

President Obama, known for mounting summits for everything from putting a police officer in his place to teaching Republicans the American public doesn't know jack about their own health care, will  host a "presidential summit" with Muslims from more than 40 countries to teach them about entrepreneurship. Another sermon from the summit coming for all the capitalist-hating Muslims around the world.

First question, how much will this summit cost American taxpayers? Will taxpayers be funding Muslim entrepreneurial endeavors here in America before other non-Muslim entrepreneurial ventures?

War blogger, Holger Awakens suggests in a comment to this article, the summit might like look a bit like this:

I'm guessing this will be a bunch of booths set up on the South Lawn of the White House with Obama parading around showing the American people via video the likes of:  

Abdul's EasyOnEasy Off Suicide Belts, 

Haji's PrayerRugs with Kevlar, 

the RageBoy Ringtone Emporium, and oh, don't forget 

the popular Achmed's Home Kit for Effective Honor Killings (includes knives and stones).

From Breitbart:

The White House on Friday announced a "summit on entrepreneurship" to build economic ties with the Islamic world, part of President Barack Obama's outreach to Muslims.

The White House said it has invited participants from more than 40 countries over five continents for the April 26-27 conference in Washington.

"The summit will highlight the role entrepreneurship can play in addressing common challenges while building partnerships that will lead to greater opportunity abroad and at home," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Remember his "jobs summit" for America in December? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was not invited. The National Federation of Independent Business was not invited. The movers and shakers  actually supporting entrepreuneurs were denied entry to the jobs summit!

Confirmed attendees include liberal economists credited with shaping the $787 billion stimulus package, union leaders, environmental advocates and executives from Google and other blue-chip firms.

"He's going to get lots of recommendations to spend more money," said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. "These are the very same people who gave us the stimulus package. My feeling is we're not going to get what we need, and that's a complete change in direction on economic policy.

Other's talking about Obama's Summits:
Riehl World View - Obama's Summit Addiction

Space Shuttle Retires: 23000 Join Unemployment Lines

No hope but lots of change coming to the area around The Kennedy Space Center:

VIERA — The local economic forecast tied to President Barack Obama's NASA budget keeps growing bleaker.

Revised projections now show that about 23,000 workers at and around Kennedy Space Center will lose their jobs because of the shuttles' retirement and the new proposal to cancel the development of new rockets and spacecraft.

That sum includes 9,000 "direct" space jobs and -- conservatively speaking -- 14,000 "indirect" jobs at hotels, restaurants, retail stores and others that depend on activity at the space center, said Lisa Rice, Brevard Workforce president.

The organization's earlier estimate of 7,000 direct jobs reflected just the retirement of the shuttle program. The updated numbers also include the cancellation of Project Constellation and other initiatives as outlined in the president's 2011 budget, Rice said.

Source

Job Creation is All Government All the Time in The Time of Obama

All government jobs, all the time, in The Time of Obama

 Employment is up, wages are up, and job security is as firm as ever. Unfortunately, this is only true for federal government workers.

President Obama is presiding over the largest federal work force in decades. In the current fiscal year, the number of civilian workers will grow by 153,000, to 1.43 million. These are the only jobs Mr. Obama can legitimately claim to have created. Unfortunately, they are subsidized by deficit spending. 

Federal positions are not shovel-ready make-work jobs, either. Working for Uncle Sam pays extremely well these days. Government employment used to be a calling, a career in which a sense of fulfillment from public service offset low pay and spartan working conditions. Not so today. According to a study by the Cato Institute, 2008 federal worker pay-and-benefits packages averaged $119,982. That's more than double the private-sector average of $59,909.  

Source: Washington Times

For more read, read about the bonuses:
Fat Cat Feds Reaped While You Sowed: Federal Salaries Boom While Yours Tanks

Newsbusted: Scott Brown, Saving Jobs, Edwards, Obama and Martha, Pot Grow House

This Newsbusted video is good all the way through, but the segment about John Edwards is an Amen moment.

Newsbusted: Scottbrown, Saving Jobs and John Edwards (video)

Government Workers Increasing: Government Salaries Up: Union Members Up: Everyones on the Government Payroll

The number of government employees are increasing in astounding numbers, as the Obama administration tries to hire "the people" and get them off of unemployment roles. At the same time, private industry issues pink slips to longtime employees.

When Obama took office, there were 1.9 million civilian employees, but by the end of September 2010, 2.15 million federal civilian employees will be on government payrolls. There are not many reasons to want to live in Washington, D.C. but with an unemployment rate of 6 percent - one of the lowest in the Nation among metropolitan areas, you might give relocating to the city of enormous and corrupt government another thought.

Most of the jobs the government will be adding are skilled white-collar jobs, with a focus on public health, information security, scientific research, law enforcement, and financial services. Across the board, white-collar federal jobs paid an average salary of $74,403 in 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If you can get hired inside the Executive Branch, salaries for 2011 are expected to rise to $86,911 - an almost 7% increase over 2010. Between now and the end of 2011, 64,000 jobs are expected to be added.

Read the story at The Daily Caller, which ends their piece with this nugget:

...for the first time more than half of all union members in the country worked for the government.

Linked by An Ol' Broad - Thank you!

Bloomberg Investors: Obama Anti-Business

A quarterly poll of Bloomberg investors finds that 77 percent believe Barack Obama is anti-business, and they question, one year out, his ability to handle the financial crisis. The poll also shows that his favorability among the same investors has dropped from 32 percent to 27 percent.

We've watched the Dow plunge the past couple of days. No surprise. What is a surprise, is that very smart people like Bloomberg investors, ever had confidence in this president.

Investors no longer feel they can trust their instincts to take risks,” said poll respondent David Young, a managing director for a broker dealer in New York. Young cited Obama’s efforts to trim bonuses and earnings, make health care his top priority over jobs and plans to tax “the rich or advantaged.

The poll also stated their concern that Obama has not appointed "a leading business executive for his cabinet or a top advisory role. In other words, Obama is not vested in private business. He WANTS YOU on his government payroll.

Fat Cat Feds Reaped While You Sowed: Federal Salaries Boom While Yours Tanks

Salaries for those toiling...or hardly, on the taxpayer dime, saw their wages take monumental leaps - and you and I paid for it.

Federal Salary Increases

Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months — and that's before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.

Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.

The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available. [NOTE: this represents the 119% leap shown above.]


When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.

Jessica Klement, a government works in the Office of Personnel Management says the reason for the high-pay is because your government needs many, many highly skilled workers, such "as scientists, physicians and lawyers." Really?

USA TODAY analyzed the Office of Personnel Management's database that tracks salaries of more than 2 million federal workers. Excluded from OPM's data: the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, intelligence agencies and uniformed military personnel.

The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker's pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector.

Good grief - look at this:

Many top civil servants are prohibited from making more than an agency's leader. But if Congress lifts the boss' salary, others get raises, too. When the Federal Aviation Administration chief's salary rose, nearly 1,700 employees' had their salaries lifted above $170,000, too.

Read the whole report here.

Valerie Jarrett Community Jobs Forum: Obama and Jarrett Call for Community Organizing

Last week, President Barack Obama held a jobs forum. Liberals endorsing Obama's expansion of government were invited to solve the jobs problem in the U.S. Harry Alford, the President of the Black Chamber of Commerce was not invited. The National Chamber of Commerce was not invited. Valerie Jarrett, the other side of Barack Obama's brain, wants to know what you think about jobs. See a video below.

Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett

The White House is asking communities like yours to chime in, and hold "jobs forums" locally - some community organizing coming your way. The administration really wants your ideas:

Hearing from working Americans and communities across the country means understanding what’s really happening on the ground, what’s working, and what’s not.

 Yeah...I don't think the President is too interested in what is happening on the ground. In Union shops and in faculty dining rooms, yes...at your small business...huh uh.

Big Obama donors, union executives and a bevy of the 'learned' were hosted on behalf of you and me, and we both know that none of these people care about either of us.

The National Chamber of Commerce, the Black Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business were not invited. The SEIU (Service Employees International Union) was there. The AAFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers was there.

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt - big Obama supporter and contributor - giving $4,000 personally and Google employees shelling out over $800,000, attended. Just to keep things clean, McCain donor, Frederick Smith of Federal Express was invited.

The Bureau of Labor says unemployment "edged down to 10.0 percent" in November 2009, but we had several days over Thanksgiving with unemployment offices closed for the holiday.

From the Washington Times' Critics not invited to White House 'jobs summit:'

"The panel does not include free-market voices who will contend the administration is spending too much or interfering too much in the economy, or that it is hurting job creation by increasing the burden of taxes and government debt," said Josh Barro, a senior fellow on fiscal policy at the conservative-leaning Manhattan Institute. "I expect these economists will generally call for more Keynesian stimulus - more deficit spending and more aid to state governments." 

I saw a comment on a forum board that put it all in perspective:

"Why invite them when you'd rather nationalize them?"

You can sign-up to host or help organize a forum in your local area on the WhiteHouse.gov website.  If you are a community organizer and get involved in this effort, come back and let us know your ideas for job creation. In the meantime, if you need some ideas to kick-start your creative thinking, begin here and be sure to pass it on to Valerie Jarrett.



Harry Alford, Black Chamber of Commerce and Glenn Beck (video)

Obama Administration Human Capital: Republican Civil Service Jobs Denied?

The administration's Office of Personnel (OPM) is changing the rules for civil service jobs at the Executive and Senior Executive Service levels.The impact of the change, probably means that a Republican political appointee (Bush appointee) will have a much more difficult time winning a Federal job. In fact, it may be impossible to be hired for a high level Civil Service job - no matter your qualifications.

Obama Human Capital - Office of Personal Management

Via RedState, via Glen Reynolds at Instapundit: Reynolds received an email from a reader, with a Chief Human Capital Officers Council banner, and on OPM letterhead with the OPM seal. The "memorandum" is from John Berry, Director, and has the name Marlene Lightburn, Dallas, Texas office, at the bottom. The memorandum is directed to "Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies."

The short story is, in the past the OPM approves all Federal jobs for high-level political appointees in an election year. High-level is considered the Executive Branch and the Senior Executive Service positions. Executive Branch political appointees include U.S. Ambassadors, U.S. Attorney Generals, U.S. Marshals and others. Note that it is unlawful to deny a Federal job based on a person's political persuasion - excepting the election year requirement for a review at the highest level within the OPM.

The new OPM memo requires that all political appointees be approved for Federal jobs only by the highest levels of the OPM. The idea is to prevent political appointees from "converting" or "burrowing" into lifetime career jobs, and all the enormous perks that come with such a position. While a Bush appointee is not automatically rejected, they will now receive a more stringent review of their application.

Republicans are screwed on this one, at least for the next five years (until January 1, 2015), and note that if Barack Obama is ousted in 2012, it is conceivable Bush appointees will still not be accepted for a position for another three years - although I assume an incoming President can revert to previous rules, or ban Democrats for life?

The OPM is supposedly "independent" of the government and is considered neutral. The generally liberal Brookings Institute explains it this way:

Each new president who comes to office appoints thousands of men and women ot help lead the executive branch. While the career civil servants who work under their direction are recruited on a continual basis by the Office of Personnel Management and individual agencis, the leaders themselves are recruited by the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, which is formed anew by each president.

This means the White House personnel office decides who runs the OPM. This means the White House influences how many, if any, opposition party applicants get hired - for a full five years. While a one-year stringent review may be appropriate, a five-year stringent review period seems inappropriate.

The Federal News Radio offered some statistics about "converting" and "burrowing." According to FNR, out of 1,600 political positions reviewed by OPM in 2008, "only two required further evaluation." So they asked OPM why the memo with the new five year plan?

OPM's Jeff Sumberg said it all has to do with Obama's goal of open and transparent government (...that's what the article said):

"Director Berry says it's not enough just look at conversion cases only during presidential election year. We need to focus on merit principles all the time," Sumberg says.

"The policy in government regarding looking at hiring of political appointees extends back to President Carter's years. It's about safeguarding the hiring process and paying particular attention when politicals or former politicals appointees try to get jobs."

Then, Sumberg said something that should snap you out of that slumber, if you are napping through this exceedingly boring, but important subject:

He emphasizes that OPM did not change the fact the rule applies to not only current political positions, but anyone who has served as a political appointee in the last five years.

Does that mean you might lose a Federal job you have now, if you took the position as a Republican in the last five years? Or does it mean your job reviews will be more thoroughly scrutinized - maybe unfairly scrutinized, or does it mean you may not receive a deserved promotion?

 About the Chief Human Capital Officers Council  moniker. "Human Capital" and "Human Resources" - both are obscene and disrespectful tags for employees. What is wrong with "employees?" Obama administration Human Capital?  Who thinks these things up? Consider this, the CHCO Act was enacted as part of Homeland Security in 2002, and the Council developed from that, so maybe that explains it - and yes, I know that would have been under a Republican administration, but knowing President Bush, he likely left Bill Clinton's Democrats to run the OPM.