Tag: jobs

Clifford A. Brown

Retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Colonel after 30 years of active and reserve assignments. M.A. Political Science, M.S. Strategic Studies, Army War College, JD. Served in 1st Armored Division in West Germany when the Berlin Wall came down, in 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea during the regime of Kim Il Sung, and commanded a logistics battalion in Iraq 2003-2004. Wide-ranging public policy interests. Occasional home brewer and infuser of alcohol spirits.

| July 26, 2019

6 COMMENTS

President Trump hosted another event at the White House to highlight job training and opportunities, together with the claim that companies do well by doing good. This was a different set up than most past events. Instead of people standing around him and people being called to walk up to a microphone, President Trump sat in a group circle. His eldest daughter, Ivanka, was the lead presenter, but the real focus was on people who have long been discounted.

The president sat next to a military veteran, an African-American woman. She told about the military giving her job and life skills and now Toyota, in America, opening doors and challenging her to increased responsibility, to advancement through the skilled labor ranks. She sat next to a suit, a Toyota executive, representing one of many corporate leaderships who President Trump has alternately praised and browbeaten on behalf of American workers, “forgotten no more.”

By James Pethokoukis

James Pethokoukis is a columnist and blogger at the American Enterprise Institute. (Previously, he was Washington columnist for Reuters Breakingviews, the opinion and commentary wing of Thomson Reuters.) In addition, he is an official CNBC contributor. Pethokoukis has written for many publications, including The New York Times, The Weekly Standard, Commentary, National Review, The Washington Examiner, and The Daily. Pethokoukis has appeared numerous times on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, Fo… [more]

| May 29, 2019

9 COMMENTS

If you look at the national unemployment rate of 3.6% — the lowest in more than 50 years — American capitalism doesn’t appear to be terribly broken. And as the economy has rebounded from the Great Recession and Financial Crisis, real wages continue to rise, especially so for lower-income Americans. Another seeming sign of non-brokenness.

Or to approach things a different way: A recent Federal Reserve survey finds 75% of U.S. adults say they are either “doing okay or living comfortably,” 56% say they are better off than their parents were at the same age (vs. 25% saying “about the same” and 19% “worse off”), and 64% rate their local economic conditions as “good” or “excellent.”

By Front Seat Cat

Member

Front Seat Cat

291527,201

Cat lover

| May 22, 2019

32 COMMENTS

Earlier today, President Trump commented about a planned infrastructure meeting that he just left with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer. This was followed by Pelosi and Schumer describing how the President left the meeting without the discussion on infrastructure even taking place. They were ready to present a 35-page plan and said the President just shut it down. They went on to describe how he “ran away” from the meeting.

Apparently, the President asked them to stop the constant harassment and re-investigation (of the Mueller Report) and threats of impeachment (of which there is no basis) so they can sit down and work together amicably. Is this unreasonable? Is it not insane to constantly backstab, threaten, and investigate, then expect to come into a meeting all smiles and get anything done? Would the meeting on infrastructure have gone well, had the Democrats accepted the two years of investigation that cost us, the American taxpayers, $35 to 40 million (and I think we’re still counting) several weeks ago when it was released?

By Ricochet Audio Network

| May 3, 2019

2 COMMENTS

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer a much stronger than expected April unemployment report, showing the addition of 263,000 jobs and the lowest unemployment rate since December 1969. They also react to a New York Times report detailing how a second person tried to get George Papadopoulos to admit […]

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Member Post

By Ricochet Audio Network

| April 5, 2019

0 COMMENTS

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are happy to see Vice President Pence laud our NATO partners for contributing more to the common defense and building greater cohesion while also calling out Turkey for its troubling embrace of Russia and a more Islamist outlook on the world. They also welcome […]

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Member Post

By Eridemus

Coolidge

Eridemus

| February 12, 2019

16 COMMENTS

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180806-how-hidden-bias-can-stop-you-getting-a-job I was just reading the BBC essay above, on problems encountered in the hiring process, and how employers can further eliminate their hidden biases. Some of it was probably helpful but one sentence jumped out at me: More

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Member Post

By Ricochet Audio Network

| February 1, 2019

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are thrilled to see over 300,000 jobs created in January, easily surpassing expectations. They also smack Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine for the wimpiest possible opposition to the controversial abortion bill in Virginia and break down the logical problem in Kaine’s official position that he’s […]

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Member Post

By Ricochet Audio Network

| December 27, 2018

0 COMMENTS

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America embark on the second half of their six-episode saga known as the 2018 Three Martini Lunch Awards. Today, Jim and Greg offer up their selections for the best political idea, worst political idea, and boldest political tactics for 2018. More

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Veneration and Vulnerability: Suicide in the Midst of Prosperity

By Clifford A. Brown

Clifford A. Brown

| December 6, 2018

63 COMMENTS

Man does not live by bread alone. As bread was being earned at a record clip, and more people got off the dole, more people in their prime years cut their own lives short. Reflecting back on the U.S. military’s Herculean effort to end suicide in the service, an unwon battle, I am painfully aware there is no clear solution, no magic pill or words. And. I wonder if our changing societal habits and beliefs make vulnerable people more vulnerable.

2017 brought unbroken good economic news, and not just for stockholders. President Trump repeated at every occasion the good news for everyone, including demographic groups who had been lagging in employment. Wages started to rise. And in the midst of all this, the suicide rate increased to a 50-year peak.

By James Pethokoukis

| November 16, 2018

44 COMMENTS

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, researcher Max Gulker offers a harsh critique of a “federal jobs guarantee.” Example: “Temporarily unemployed workers, along with millions of low-paid workers, would be diverted into a complex bureaucracy with no mechanism or incentive to put the workers’ skills and time to their best use.”

Oh, the idea has problems, such as the possibility of these permanent government gigs possibly crowding out existing jobs. (That and many other problematic issues are discussed in an excellent blog post by economist Timothy Taylor.) Still, some folks on the right are cooking up their own idea of a jobs guarantee. In the new book “The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America,” former Mitt Romney policy adviser Oren Cass argues for what he calls the “worker hypothesis.” This is the idea, Cass writes, that an American labor market “in which workers can support strong families and communities is the central determinant of long-term prosperity and should be the central focus of public policy.”

By Ricochet Audio Network

| November 14, 2018

Nicole Gelinas joins Howard Husock to discuss the resolution of Amazon’s year-long “HQ2” competition. This week, the Internet giant announced that it would open new offices in Crystal City, Virginia—near Washington, D.C.—and New York’s own Long Island City, Queens. Located just across the East River from midtown Manhattan, Long Island City had struggled for years as a post-industrial neighborhood until the early 2000s, when rezoning allowed the […]

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Member Post

By Ricochet Audio Network

| November 2, 2018

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer a robust October jobs report, which shows 250,000 new jobs last month, rising wages, and job growth in every sector. They also wince as Ainsley Earhardt of “Fox and Friends” says all President Trump wants from the press is to “be accurate and […]

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

The Last Time Unemployment Got This Low, the Economy Got Weird

By James Pethokoukis

| October 8, 2018

13 COMMENTS

The US unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent in September, the lowest rate since December 1969. That’s even lower than the jobless rate during the 1990s internet and productivity boom. Other bits of good news in the report include decent monthly job growth of 134,000 — probably a depressed number because of Hurricane Florence. With upward revisions to the previous two reports, job gains have averaged 190,000 per month over the past three months. Such gains are consistent with “steady declines in the unemployment rate and solid increases in aggregate household income,” according to Barclays. There was also a 0.3 percent gain in average hourly earnings, a tick higher employment rate, and a 420,000 rise in the household measure of employment easily outpaces a 150,000 rise in the labor force.

By Ricochet Audio Network

| July 27, 2018

6 COMMENTS

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America celebrate the booming economy that hit second quarter growth of 4.1 percent. They also notice the Democrats want to institute five years of jail time for spreading false information about elections dates and locations. And they see that Michael Avenatti was invited to speak […]

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Member Post

By Ricochet Audio Network

| July 20, 2018

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America give credit to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for countering Democratic demands for a million pages of documents on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by suggesting the Senate vote on him may come just days before the election. They also mourn the impending loss […]

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Member Post

By Ricochet Audio Network

| July 6, 2018

3 COMMENTS

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America appreciate the June jobs report that shows more people entering the work force, a slight uptick in wages, and 213,000 new jobs. They also bid a bitter farewell to EPA Director Scott Pruitt’s excellent conservative policies but happily watch his self-aggrandizing attitude exit the […]

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

It’s Great Disability Rolls Are Finally Shrinking, But the System Still Needs Pro-Work Reform

By James Pethokoukis