MORNING MESSAGE: The Phony "Generational War": It's Like the Hunger Games, But With Old People
Ourfuture.org's Richard Eskow: "Like the Hunger Games, this spectacle only distracts us from the real economic injustices in our society. In an economy where most people's lives have been harmed by bank recklessness and massive wealth inequality—that is to say, by the diversion of an ever-increasing lion's share of our national income to the richest of the rich—these instigators and those who follow them want everybody to worry about a different predator instead: Grandma."
Jobs Concerns Escalating
Obama braces for June jobs data: "Weak June manufacturing numbers released Monday intensified concern about the fragility of the economic recovery and turned election-watchers’ attention toward unemployment numbers due out at the end of this week."
Tim Duy at Economist's View parses the manufacturing numbers. "I don't think this data is yet sending a particularly clear signal about the U.S. economy."
Census Bureau report shows private construction spending is recovering, but public sector cuts are a drag. Calculated Risk: "Private residential spending is 61% below the peak in early 2006, and up 17% from the recent low. Non-residential spending is 28% below the peak in January 2008, and up about 30% from the recent low. Public construction spending is now 17% below the peak in March 2009 and at a new post-bubble low."
Metro jobless rates for African Americans, Latinos in double digits through 2011, reports AFL-CIO's Tula Connell: "African American workers’ jobless rate in 2011 hovered between 9.7 percent and 22.6 percent in 19 major metropolitan areas, according to new data from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). … EPI also found that the 2011 unemployment rate among Latino workers was higher than 10 percent in 17 of 25 metro areas."
Farm labor shortage emerging as fewer undocumented immigrants cross the border. McClatchy: "A crackdown on illegal immigration, more job opportunities in Mexico and rising fees charged by smugglers are reducing the number of workers who cross the U.S. border illegally each year to help make up more than 60 percent of U.S. farmworkers. The American Farm Bureau Federation projects $5 billion to $9 billion in annual produce-industry losses because of the labor shortages…"
It's Gettin' Hot In Here…
AP science writer Jeff Borenstein story headlined "This US summer is 'what global warming looks like'" : "Since Jan. 1, the United States has set more than 40,000 hot temperature records, but fewer than 6,000 cold temperature records, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Through most of last century, the U.S. used to set cold and hot records evenly, but in the first decade of this century America set two hot records for every cold one, said Jerry Meehl, a climate extreme expert at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. This year the ratio is about 7 hot to 1 cold. Some computer models say that ratio will hit 20-to-1 by midcentury, Meehl said."
Eugene Robinson: "Still don’t believe in climate change? Then you’re either deep in denial or delirious from the heat. … The problem for those who dismiss climate change as a figment of scientists’ imagination, or even as a crypto-socialist one-worldish plot to take away our God-given SUVs, is that the data are beginning to add up."
But global warming no longer Americans’ top environmental concern, according to one poll: "Just 18 percent of those polled name it as their top environmental concern. That compares with 33 percent who said so in 2007, amid publicity about a major U.N. climate report and Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary about global warming. … The findings, along with follow-up interviews with some respondents, indicate that Washington’s decision to shelve action on climate policy means that the issue has receded — even though many people link recent dramatic weather events to global warming."
Consequences Of Conservative Austerity
Wildfire tests police force at the home of Colorado anti-tax movement: Colorado Springs, "the city where the Waldo Canyon fire destroyed 346 homes and forced more than 34,000 residents to evacuate turned off one-third of its streetlights two years ago, halted park maintenance and cut services to close a $28 million budget gap after sales-tax revenue plummeted and voters rejected a property-tax increase."
Republicans in Pennsylvania cut safety net for the disabled. "Pennsylvania will end $200 monthly general-assistance payments to residents who are poor, disabled and unemployable, joining eight states such as Illinois that have eliminated or curbed such aid since last year. About 61,000 Pennsylvanians will no longer get those checks as of Aug. 1 under the budget that passed the Republican-led Legislature last week."
Fifteen governors reject or leaning against expanded Medicaid program, reports The Hill: "At least 15 governors have indicated they will not participate in the expansion of Medicaid under the healthcare law, striking a blow to President Obama’s promise of broader insurance coverage. … Seven states with Republican governors have given a flat “no” to the Medicaid expansion since the Supreme Court ruling, according to reports and press statements. … In eight other states — seven with GOP governors — the Medicaid expansion seems unlikely, given comments from governors and their offices."
Breakfast Sides
California approves homeowner mortgage law: "They passed a law to stop foreclosures during mortgage renegotiations, with a ban on "robo-signing"—the bulk-approval of foreclosures. … The deal includes much of a $25 billion federal settlement with five banks, and would be the first state law of its kind."
Mother Jones examines electronic voting machines: "Bad technology could still wipe out your vote." Your vote wiped out by voter fraud? "UFO sightings are more common."
