Republican opposition in Congress has stalled legislation that would extend much-needed benefits to unemployed workers.

There are more than 14.5 million people out of work and another 2.5 million who are discouraged and have given up looking for work, according to the Labor Department.

As we have noted before, some conservatives stunningly argue that benefits keep people from looking for work.

Nevada leads the nation in the percentage of people unemplyed at 14 percent. There are 120,000 Nevadans out of work, and that doesn’t include those who have given up looking.

Despite arguments to the contrary, this isn’t about people being spoiled or lazy. There aren’t jobs available. This is about ideology: The right-wing crowd doesn’t like government, and they are willing to let millions of Americans suffer to get their way. That is tragic.

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

I wonder  how many of those unemployed, who need this extension of unemployment benefits, are unemployed Republicans?I also wonder how those unemployed Republicans are going to vote come November?

Nevada will receive $102.8 million as part of a program to help residents who are trying to avoid foreclosure on their homes.

Nevada is among five states that will receive funds from the program, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Nevada will receive the largest amount per resident.

“I’ve been working hard to help stabilize Nevada’s housing market and provide resources for Nevadans who are struggling to keep their homes,” Reid said in a prepared statement this morning. “I told President Obama and Secretaries Donovan and Geithner that Nevada needs help and I thank them for responding. Now it’s up to banks and credit unions to step up to the plate so that this $100 million will have the maximum benefit for homeowners to reduce principal amounts and provide lien relief.”

The $102.8 million for Nevada is set to be used in this way:

· Nevada will create a mortgage modification program using a combination of forgiveness and forbearance with a goal of reducing principal to less than 115 percent of loan-to-value and lowering payments to 31 percent of debt-to-income.

· The state will also offer assistance to reduce/eliminate second liens with earned forgiveness over a three-year term.

· The state will provide allowances for appraisal and transaction fees, moving fees, a legal allowance for up to three months,and a combination of incentives for borrowers and servicers to facilitate short sales.

Senator Harry Reid

Now, as Senator Reid points out,

“Now it’s up to banks and credit unions to step up to the plate so that this $100 million will have the maximum benefit for homeowners to reduce principal amounts and provide lien relief.”

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“Among those who qualify for this help are borrowers who are unemployed, homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages and Nevadans struggling with second liens,” Rep. Shelley Berkley said in a statement. Rep. Dina Titus called it “a critical step forward that will make much-needed funds available to help families stay in their homes.”

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

Job Outsourcing

I keep remembering the wholesale outsourcing of manufacturing jobs by global corporations over the past decade or so. Auto manufacturers outsourced their jobs to Mexico. Computer software companies outsourced their technical support to India, and so on.

As they did so thousands of Americans lost their jobs. It has been apparent that the motivation of the corporations in doing so was to cut their production costs thereby increasing their profits. Might have been a good move for the corporations, but devastating to the American blue-collar middle class.

My wife, who is the primary shopper in our family, tells me she looks at the labels of things she shops for to see if they were manufactured in the United States. She wants to buy American. But the preponderance of goods are manufactured in some foreign country. (Like many she shops at Wal-Mart). The stuff she is looking for is made in China, Mexico, Taiwan, etc. Very little is made in the USA.

Of course the lack of jobs in the USA is a major concern at present. No wonder there is such a lack of jobs—they are outsourced to foreign countries.

I don’t hear about the outsourcing being discussed on the news. Am I wrong in my conclusion that the outsourcing is the cause of the job loss in the US?

If I’m right then why isn’t it being talked about and addressed?

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has opened a public comment period for a third solar project in Nevada: a 180-megawatt solar plant called the Crescent Dunes project, planned by Tonopah Solar Energy, a subsidiary of Solar Reserve. [Pahrump Valley Times]

Progress in solar energy is slowly inching ahead in Nye County.

“BLM will accept comments on the project until Dec. 24. Public hearings have been scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Dec. 17, at the Tonopah Convention Center and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Dec. 18, at the BLM Southern Nevada District Office at 4701 N. Torrey Pines Drive in Las Vegas. Representatives from the BLM and Tonopah Solar Energy will be present to answer questions.

“Comments submitted in writing have to be postmarked before Dec. 24. They may be sent to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, attention Tom Seley, field manager, Tonopah Field Office, 1553 S. Main St., PO Box 911, Tonopah NV 89049. Comments will also be accepted by fax, at 1-775-482-7810 or by e-mail to crescent_dunes@blm.gov.

“A megawatt is roughly enough to power 200 to 250 homes, meaning the plant could supply power to almost 50,000 homes.”

“Tonopah Solar Energy will use an array of 17,350 mirrors called heliostats that follow the sun and reflect light onto the top of a 633-foot tower with a holding tank of molten salt. The salt liquid, heated to 1,000 degrees, is then routed to an insulated storage tank. When electricity is to be generated, the hot salt is routed to a heat exchanger to produce steam, which generates electricity.”

So, if you have questions or input now is your chance to speak up.

The Associated Press Stress Index is out. The index is a monthly analysis of economic distress in more than 3,100 counties nationwide.

Nye County, home to Pahrump, had the second-highest stress score in Nevada, with 23.3 points. That was up nearly 1 point from July. At 15.8 percent, Nye’s jobless rate is considerably higher than Clark County’s.

A list of the 20 most economically stressed counties with populations larger than 25,000 residents and their August 2009 score, according to The Associated Press Economic Stress Index:
1. Imperial County, Calif. 31.83
2. Yuma County, Ariz. 27.58
3. Merced County, Calif. 24.28
4. Lyon County 24.02
5. Lauderdale County, Tenn. 23.56
6. Nye County 23.30
7. Clark County 23.19
8. Yuba County, Calif. 23.00
9. San Joaquin County, Calif. 22.92
10. Riverside County, Calif. 22.72
11. Stanislaus County, Calif. 22.56
12. Dallas County, Ala. 22.38
13. Wayne County, Mich. 22.35
14. St. Clair County, Mich. 22.03
15. Macomb County, Mich. 21.86
16. Lapeer County, Mich. 21.81
17. Chester County, S.C. 21.67
18. Chambers, Ala. 21.57
19. Marion County, S.C. 21.27
20. San Bernandino County, Calif. 20.97

[Source: Las Vegas Review Journal]

The U.S. Census released some interesting information about Nevada today.

• Nevada ranks 33rd in percentage of children living in households below the poverty level and 47th for children living in households that get food stamps.
• 15 percent of its children under age 18 were living below the poverty level in 2008.
• Mississippi ranked first with 30.4 percent of its children living below the poverty level, and Massachusetts had the lowest, 12 percent.
• Nevada was 47th for families with children receiving food stamps: 8.7 percent. That compares to Louisiana, which had the highest ranking at 25.8 percent, and New Hampshire, which had the lowest at 9 percent.

But Nevada’s low food stamps ranking could be misleading, said Miki Allard, staff specialist for the Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services.

“We would have more children on food stamps if the people who live below the poverty line applied for them,” she said.

Really sad statistics. Wonder if people qualified for food stamps even know where to go to apply for them?

[Source: Reno Gazette Journal]

Nevada’s unemployment rate reached 12.5 percent in July, the Nevada Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation reported this morning.

That tops the record of 12 percent set in June.

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal

Unemployment means no income to families, no way to make the house payment, no way to make the health insurance premium payment. Life is hard.

BY TERRY SAVAGE savage@suntimes.com

Credit card issuers have been rushing to raise rates in advance of this Thursday, when the first provisions of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) will go into effect, with other protections starting in February 2010. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Starting this week, card issuers need to give you more time to pay your bills. Now, instead of mailing bills 14 days before the due date, issuers must send bills 21 days in advance of the payment date. That will mean fewer people will get hit with late fees because of postal delays.

Another provision going into effect this week requires card issuers to give you 45 days’ notice when they plan to raise your rate, instead of the current 15-day advance notice. That’s behind the rash of notifications sent in recent weeks, advising you that no matter what your credit history, you’ll be paying higher rates. [Read more →]

Nine banks that accepted $175 billion from the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) doled out $32.6 billion in bonuses last year. New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo’s report also said that the bonuses for some of executives were "substantially greater" than the banks’ net income itself. [ABC News]

The New York Times reports today that “The latest government report shows the economy contracted at a 1 percent annual pace in the second quarter, a better-than-expected showing and the strongest signal to date that the recession, the longest since World War II, is finally winding down.”

“The Commerce Department said the slippage in gross domestic product for the April to June period came after the economy was in a free fall, tumbling at a 6.4 percent pace in the first three months of the year, worse than the earlier estimate of 5.5 percent. That made the first quarter the worst for the economy in nearly three decades.”

The economy’s long, churning decline leveled off significantly in the second quarter, as stock markets started to recover from their worst levels in a dozen years, some housing markets stabilized and the rampant pace of job losses tapered off.

Now, even with jobs still vanishing and wages flat, many forecasters expect the economy to touch bottom sometime in the next few months. Economists say that businesses from small manufacturers to big automakers are poised to rebuild their depleted inventories, which would spur modest economic growth later this year.