Daily Political Wire 8-12-2010

George Wenschhof

More Bad News on U.S. economy - unemployment claims have jumped to a five month high, the Dow Jones dropped 2.5% yesterday and foreclosures continue to spread across the country. Bloomberg.com has more here.

Not only is this bad news for the country as a whole, it is bad news for Democrats facing election this fall. The main thing saving Democrats at this point is the Republicans have not offered any plan(s) to correct the dismal economy.

The "Recovery Summer" theme pushed by the Obama administration has fallen flat with the average voter not even aware the administration has been trying over the summer to tout the success of the 787 billion stimulus bill in creating jobs.

For more than a year now, I have been calling for a federal public service employment program which would put unemployed to work immediately. While, this program does not create jobs, it does put unemployed to work performing public service oriented job which benefit the public as a whole. In addition, most Americans would rather perform a job to receive income as opposed to collecting an unemployment check.

There is no question the economy will take some time to rebound and as it does this public service employment program could then be phased out.

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NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows Americans dissatisfied with Government - a whopping 72% disagree with the way Congress is doing doing it's job and less than 50% approve of President Obama. MSNBC.com has more here.

When broken down by the two major political parties, voters are unhappy with both. Republicans receive only a 24% positive rating and a 46% negative rating, while Democrats only fare a little better with a 33% positive rating and a 44% negative rating.

In the close races this fall, this feeling by voters would seem to favor a newcomer or outsider rather than the incumbent. Stay tuned...

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GM provides good news amidst the gloom and doom - they posted a profit of 1.3 billion for the second quarter and will likely proceed with a public offering of stock. They benefited with a 50 billion loan from the U.S. government which was converted into 60% ownership. The public offering could easily retire the government debt and be a success story for the Obama administration. The NY Times has more here.

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Federal Appeals Court to rule on lifting Stay of Decision on Gay Marriages in California - last week U.S. district Court Judge Vaughn Walker ruled Proposition 8; which banned gay Marriage in California violated the u.S. constitution and was therefore illegal. A stay was placed on the decision as it was expected to be appealed. the ruling today will determine if the stay of the decision is lifted during the appeal process, which if lifted, would allow for gay marriages in California to be legal at this time. CNN.com has more here.

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