Jobs For U.S. Workers Stripped Out of Stimulus Bill Behind Closed Doors - Update It Lives!

Shockers of all shockers, the Sanders-Grassley amendment survived the corporate lobbyists and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce! Senator Sanders press release:

Senate and House negotiators agreed to prohibit banks and other firms that take taxpayer bailouts from replacing laid-off U.S. workers with lower-paid foreign workers.

The proposal by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) was added to the economic recovery package in the Senate. A conference committee retained the provision in the version of the bill that is expected to win final congressional approval later today.

An investigation by The Associated Press found that a dozen banks now receiving more than $150 billion in bailouts requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years to replace laid-off American employees. The same banks announced at least 100,000 job cuts in recent months.

The measure would require the bailed-out banks to hire only Americans for two years, unless they could prove they were not replacing laid-off Americans with guest workers. Because the banks have announced mass layoffs, the measure would effectively place a moratorium on the H-1B visa program.

“With thousands of financial services workers unemployed, it is absurd for banks to claim they can’t find qualified American workers,” Sanders said.

“While we are suffering through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the very least we can do is to make sure that banks receiving a taxpayer bailout are not allowed to import cheaper labor from overseas while they are throwing American workers out on the street.”

Video & Quotes from the Bank CEO Congressional Grill

Who does not enjoy a good barbeque? Today Congress had a very good roast. On the menu were TARP receipient CEOs.

Hopefully these words will turn into action and Congress will demand a better restructuring for the financial sector. I would prefer not blowing $2 trillion dollars ($3 trillion, $4? who's counting these days?) and simply nationalize the banks but hey, that's just me.

In the interim, I think we all can have some fun watching Congress roast these bank CEOs over the coals.

From reuters:

Taxpayers were screwed to the tune of $78 billion, much of it by the the firms represented here - Rep. Brad Sherman

Sherman - "Don't Insult Our Intelligence"

Silver Lining -Trade Deficit Lowest in 6 years

A small silver lining to the economic recession is a dramatic decline in the trade deficit. From the BEA the December 2008 highlights are:

Deficit $39.9B, down from $41.6B in November, the lowest in 6 years.
BEA:

Exports of services decreased $0.2 billion to $45.1 billion, and imports of services decreased $0.1 billion to $33.4 billion.

McGraw-Hill axes Ritholtz book critical of Standard & Poors subsidiary

I won't give you the details here, because you can go to Ritholtz's blog and read all about them. McGraw-Hill has decided not to publish Ritholtz's book, Bailout Nation, because Ritholtz refused to tone down his strong criticism of the credit rating agencies, including Standard & Poors, which is wholly owned by McGraw-Hill.

Not only that, but McGraw-Hill asked Ritholtz not to alert the news media to the decision, then turned around and told some journalists that McGraw-Hill editors had decided not to publish the book because they did not like his style, and could not corroborate his footnotes.

Yeah, really. It's in a statement from a McGraw-Hill spokesthing.

Budget deficit tops forecasts

One thing to remember, January is traditionally a month that the government posts a surplus.

The U.S. budget deficit widened more than economists forecast last month as spending soared and corporate tax receipts shrank, putting the Treasury on course for a record annual shortfall of more than $1 trillion.

The excess of spending over revenue in January rose to $83.8 billion, compared with a $17.8 billion surplus in the same month a year earlier. Spending gained 30.6 percent, while revenue dropped 11.4 percent. Corporate tax revenue in the past four months is down 44.3 percent from a year earlier.

Brain Dead Friedman Dutifully Writes Propaganda for His Corporate Lobbyist Masters

I'm sorry but this guy is a fucking idiot. Now Friedman takes some incredibly racist comment from some Indian newspaper claiming Indians would pay their mortgage because not to do so is shameful (as if Americans think it's ok to not pay their bills?????) and complete fiction that a temporary visa holder will buy up subprime houses (uh, you are temporary, why the hell would you buy a house in a temporary visa?)
As if magically an American worker given a decent job would not magically buy a home.

Hello asshat! Have you seen the layoffs in the United States, the numbers of unemployed Americans? Anyone connect the idea that income might have something to do with getting a mortgage?

TARP Won't Work - Bank of America

Well, gee wiz Bank of America, could you have said this before you accepted $35 billion dollars of U.S. taxpayer money.

Bloomberg reports:

The U.S. Treasury’s bank-rescue plan won’t repair the financial system or revive credit markets, Bank of America Corp. strategist Richard Bernstein said as he recommended avoiding the industry’s shares

On the other hand, it appears Bank of America is pushing for more acquisitions...

ya know if it's too big to fail maybe it's a grand idea to not make it bigger.

Expect a catastrophic fall in food production in 2009

Historic droughts are striking the same places the world relies on for food production.

The countries that make up two thirds of the world's agricultural output are experiencing drought conditions. Whether you watch a video of the drought in China, Australia, Africa, South America, or the US , the scene will be the same: misery, ruined crop, and dying cattle.
...
Low stocks of foodstuff make the world's falling agriculture output particularly worrisome. The combined averaged of the ending stock levels of the major trading countries of Australia, Canada, United States, and the European Union have been declining steadily in the last few years:

2002-2005: 47.4 million tons
2007: 37.6 million tons
2008: 27.4 million tons

These inventory numbers are dangerously low, especially considering the horrifying possibility that China's 60 million tons of grain reserves doesn't actually exists.

Outsourcing the Government

Maybe this slipped your mind. The Bush administration pushed the outsourcing of U.S. government jobs, including moving Federal jobs offshore. EPI has just released a study showing those results insourced poverty to contractors while outsourcing the jobs.

In Outsourcing poverty: Federal contracting pushes down wages and benefits, K.Edwards, K. Filion, found:

Federal agencies have been under pressure to reduce the size of their workforce and cut costs, creating the incentive to outsource government work through contracts with private businesses for goods and services. Between 2000 and 2006, federal contract spending increased 69.1%—from $256 billion to $415 billion.

What is shocking in this report is 43% of all workers for the Federal Government are actually contractors.

Here Come the Lobbyists to the Stimulus Bill

Right on time. It's bad enough one cannot get policy firmly planted in economic reality through Congress but after they pass something, oh boy, that's when the real fun starts.

In this article:

The conference will be an inviting target to lobbyists. Housing advocates are lobbying conferees to add additional funds for communities to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed properties.

In trying to get in even a symbolic gesture that just maybe U.S. taxpayer dollars should go to hiring U.S. workers, we have these million dollar paid for hit men:

Business groups and immigration advocates hope to remove a controversial provision from the Senate's economic stimulus bill that would restrict companies receiving federal bailout funds from hiring highly skilled foreign workers

February 2009