Texas snatches 1,000 high-paying eBay jobs from California
On a recent trip to Los Angeles, Texas governor, Rick Perry, met with wealthy business types to boost the number of companies doing business in the Lone Star State. The trip paid off as eBay, formerly run by Meg Whitman, agreed to tax incentives in exchange for relocating to Texas.
The average salary for these “green economy” jobs is $122,500 and they would have made California’s progressive peddlers very happy. Austin City Council members referred to the coup as “green software programming jobs” that will provide sustained economic growth in the state.
The Internet giant eBay says they will employ approximately 1,000 new workers at their new location.
“This is precisely the kind of company we would like to see expand in Austin. This project will include great jobs for Central Texans,” Mayor Lee Leffingwell said.
Gov. Rick Perry’s office claimed the eBay move would bring an estimated $5.1 million in capital investment to the state.
“Austin’s high-tech economy and skilled workforce are perfect for eBay, and I’m pleased to welcome this expansion and the more than 1,000 quality jobs it will bring to Texas,” he said.
By moving to Texas eBay will not only save money they will avoid those pesky regulations that plague California’s business sector.
Advertisement
“Austin is a vibrant, exciting city with a strong heritage for technology expertise and lots of growth potential,” says eBay Vice President Mark Carges. “Our state-of-the-art facility there has room for expansion and the support we have received from the state of Texas and the city of Austin reinforces our commitment to attracting top talent in regions where we operate.”
Currently Texas offers one of the country’s best tax environments for corporations. The state tax burden in Texas is 8.40 percent and in California it’s 10.50 percent. Texas also offers healthy double-digit personnel income growth 67.6 percent versus 56.6 percent in California.
With no personal state income taxes in Texas, eBay should be able to recruit California’s best and brightest minds to relocate in a state looking to expand commerce and provide lucrative jobs for young families.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/county-political-buzz-in-san-diego/kimberly-dvorak
© Copyright 2011 Kimberly Dvorak All Rights Reserved.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: Texas snatches 1,000 high-paying eBay jobs from California – San Diego County Political Buzz | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/county-political-buzz-in-san-diego/texas-snatches-1-000-high-paying-ebay-jobs-from-california#ixzz1KC3nLk2g
Summer of recovery falls flat in America
This week, President Barack Obama visited the ZBB Energy battery factory in Wisconsin. The 30-employee company manufactures high-tech devices that stores renewable energy and ZBB Energy was also a benefactor of U.S. stimulus dollars.
“Companies like this are showing us how manufacturing can come back right here in the United States of America, right back here to Wisconsin,” Obama explained. “We’ve been fighting on all fronts – inch by inch, foot by foot, mile by mile – to get this country moving forward again, and going after every single job we can create right here in the United States of America.”
Many restless Americans couldn’t disagree more with the president on the job front as the unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent. The Wisconsin energy company hosted the Obama Energy Department in January when they invested $14 million in the business; the President was present to claim credit for every employee.
However the Wall Street Journal decided to do their homework and found a very different story than the one the Obama Administration was portraying. ZBB Energy went public in June of 2007, and for the past three years ZBB has been hemorrhaging money.
The firm lost $4.9 million in fiscal year 2008, $5.5 million in fiscal year 2009, and has a “cumulative deficit” of $44.1 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. They also admitted that its ability to continue was a growing concern and would be directly tied to an infusion of more cash.
Economists argue that in a free market economy, private investors would invest the money, and either reap the rewards or suffer the losses if ZBB Energy failed. Under President Obama’s “new” capitalist economy, ZBB Energy wins while the taxpayer is left holding the bag.
Not one to let the fundamental money making practice to get in the way Obama has decided to move full steam ahead with the Cap and Trade energy push.
“There are folks in Washington right now who think we should abandon our efforts to support clean energy,” Obama said.
“They’ve made the political calculation that it’s better to stand on the sidelines than work as a team to help American businesses and American workers. And my answer to people who have been playing politics the past year and a half is, they should come to this plant. They should go to any of the dozen new battery factories, or the new electrical vehicle manufacturers, or the new wind turbine makers, or the solar plants that are popping up all over this country, and they should have to explain why they think these clean energy jobs are better off being made in Germany or China or Spain, instead of right here in the United States.”
If that statement was true, these companies would be running cash surpluses and not in the red and wouldn’t require bailout after bailout like ZBB Energy’s $44.1 million deficit shows.
Moving forward it is clear President Obama will stick to his agenda a push for an unproven clean energy market.
“The worst mistake we could make is to go back to doing what we were doing that got us into the mess that we were in,” Obama said. “We can’t turn back.”
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/county-political-buzz-in-san-diego
No more taxes is the call from Americans when it comes to the deficit
With tax day still looming in the rearview mirror, it appears the American taxpayer is not feeling very giving when it comes to the Uncle Sam.
A new Rasmussen Report poll finds 69 percent of Americans are not in favor of higher taxes to pay down the ballooning deficit. The new poll finds that only 18 percent of taxpayers are willing to shell out more money to the Federal Reserve in order to pay down the country’s bloated deficit.
An overwhelming number of Americans would rather see Congress curtail their
spending habits instead of reaching their sticky fingers into taxpayer pocketbooks. With many entitlement programs running in the red, either higher taxes or severe spending cuts are on the horizon.
However, Rasmussen found that most voters believe President Obama’s bipartisan debt reduction commission will recommend tax hikes rather than spending cuts. The poll also disclosed that if the panel suggests tax increases, 78 percent believe Congress will raise taxes across the board.
The results also showed that men were twice as likely to accept a tax hike compared to women.
A staggering 83 percent of Americans believe the growing size of the national deficit has more to do with an addiction to spending by Congress and the reluctance of Americans to foot the ever-increasing tab.
While 66 percent of taxpayers think they are already overtaxed, 46 percent fully expect their taxes to go up under the Obama Administration in the coming years.
The higher taxes trend will only be exacerbated as more details trickle out of the health care package. Most American’s think the President’s new health care bill will raise the deficits as a result 58 percent feel lawmakers should repeal the bill. In the long-term taxpayers indicate the recession is placing enough of a burden on their family and want the other guy to foot the bill.
Estimates from nonpartisan groups like the Urban Institute or Tax Policy Center point out that if the federal government does not curtail spending it would take taxing those making more than $200,000 per year 77 to 91 percent to bring the deficits to reasonable levels of 2 to 3 percent of GDP, but this drastic measure would not erase the country’s debt.
This last option seems highly unlikely as folks making that kind of money would simply leave the country or quit their jobs. The fact is that nearly half of Americans pay no income tax and this is already a sour point with taxpayers who just wrote their yearly Internal Revenue Service (IRS) checks.
Looking forward to next year’s tax bill one thing is certain, this year will most likely be the last respite families will see from taxes for many years to come.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
Looking to relieve unemployment Congressmen launch a new caucus
In an effort to tackle the growing joblessness plight the U.S. workers face, Congressmen Gary Miller (R-CA) and ranking member, Lamar Smith (R-TX) formed “Reclaim American Jobs Caucus.” In a statement issued today the Congressmen responded to a report commissioned by the Chicago Urban League and Alternative Schools Network.
According to the study, illegal immigration affects lower-skilled citizens and legal immigrants chances to gain employment.
“During the course of the 2007-2009 recession, the employment rate of the nation’s teen[s] feel steeply to 26.2% by October-November 2009, setting new record lows each year. No other age group has experienced employment declines of this magnitude in the current recession,” the report said. “Young adults 20-24 years old in both Illinois and the nation also have been adversely affected by the deterioration in labor market developments in the state and nation in recent years, especially men, Blacks and Hispanics, and non-college graduates.”
Both Congressional members, Smith and Miller, noted that these are often the same Americans who face the most competition for jobs. A slow job market adds competition for jobs and result is more competition from illegal immigrants.
“The fact is that illegal immigrants take jobs from American workers, particularly poor and disadvantaged citizens and legal immigrants. The best outcome for low-skilled citizen and legal immigrant workers is the removal of the illegal immigrant population,” Congressman Smith said.
“The very jobs that illegal immigrants occupy rightfully belong to out of work citizens and legal immigrants. With 15 million Americans out of work, we need to enforce immigration laws and oppose amnesty for 12 million illegal immigrants,” Smith concluded.
The new Congressional caucus will not only focus on solving immigration issues, but stand up for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants rights to secure valid employment.
California has been hit extremely hard with a higher-than- national average unemployment and long lines at the unemployment offices.
“At home in California, almost weekly I hear from my constituents that illegal immigration is exacerbating the unemployment crisis. Today’s report that a record number of young Americans are jobless once again highlights the fact that we must enforce our current immigration laws to ensure illegals do not take away jobs that rightfully belong to American and legal workers,” Congressman Miller explained.
Any push from the Obama Administration to grant amnesty to those in the country illegally will certainly meet with a strong resistance from the millions of unemployed Americans, legal immigrants as well as those who want the current immigration laws enforce.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
$787 billion jolt to economy falls flat
The $787 billion stimulus package the country could not survive without in February fell flat as President Obama’s top economic aide said the package has already seen its biggest impact on the economy.
Christina Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors explained, the $194 billion spent in the second and third quarters of this year provided the largest bang and any additional money infused into the economy would not contribute to any significant growth in the economy next year.
In other words, the stimulus failed.
In a meeting with a congressional panel, Romer said the impact of the stimulus will continue to level off.
Romer also pointed out the $787 billion saved or created 600,000 to 1.5 million jobs. She also warned the congressional panel that unemployment would hover around the 10 percent mark through the end of 2010.
The grim unemployment numbers will further dampen economic recovery and slow growth for the average American looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
President Obama promises to create or save 600,000 jobs from stimulus funds
The myth that is saved or created continues to grow while American workers continue to lose their jobs.
“We have to pass the stimulus bill or the economic crisis will worsen,” President Obama said while selling this dud of a program to the American people. Since the president took office 1.6 million Americans have lost their livelihood, yet the president wishes to take credit for 150,000 new or saved jobs.
That is still a net job loss of 1.45 million jobs. According to Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist, the only real number associated with the jobs saved or created doublespeak, “is the $787 billion this country is in debt for. The save or create jobs number is meaningless.”
The country’s unemployment rate was supposed to top out at 8 percent if congress passed the stimulus bill in February. The bill passed without a single Republican vote in the house and three in the senate, and unemployment continues to soar past the 9.4 percent mark.
It’s not working. The extravagant spending that was supposed to take place has only trickled into the economy. The White House contends of the $787 billion of emergency dollars the government was going to jolt the economy with only $44 billion has gone out the door.
This misstep has led the voters to voice their concerns. For the first time in his presidency, Obama and the democrats are no longer king in the world of U.S. economy, the republicans are. President Obama’s numbers are down to a 31 percent approval rating for the economy, according to the latest Rasmussen polls.
The Gallup poll also has the president’s numbers down. While 62 percent approve of the president overall, only 45 percent approve of his handling of federal spending and deficit numbers.
All this has prompted the president to up the ante in the spending arena. In a statement from the White House on Monday the president said, “I’m not satisfied. We’ve got more work to do.”
He then went on to promise 600,000 more jobs to be ‘saved or created.’ Again there is no way to prove these numbers unless we actually see a decrease in unemployment benefits, according to leading economists and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
Nevertheless, over the next 100 days the Obama White House will ramp up spending in these key areas in order to slow the unemployment process.
-Enable 1,129 health centers in 50 states
-Begin work in 107 National Parks
-Begin improvement work projects at 98 airports
-Fund 135,000 education jobs
-Begin improvements at 90 veteran’s medical centers
-Hire or keep 5,000 law enforcement officers (kind of that save or create thing)
-Start 200 new waste and water systems in rural America
-Begin work at 20 ‘superfund sites’ within the EPA
-Create 125,000 temporary summer youth jobs (key word temporary)
-Initiate 2,300 construction projects at 359 military facilities
The statement the White House put out was again lean on specifics. Details like names of facilities or which teachers or law enforcement officers would keep or get new jobs was conveniently left out.
“Today’s announcement is an acknowledgement that the Democrats’ trillion-dollar stimulus is not working and the American people know it,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner. “These policies are harming the middleclass families when they can least afford it.”
No amount of White House cheerleading can encourage businesses to ramp up hiring if they are worried about hyperinflation down the road. The current federal debt is $1.8 trillion and counting.
That translates into the country borrowing 50 cents on every dollar it spends, something economists say is unprecedented in the history of this country.
Another problem that comes along with the kitchen-sink stimulus package according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is lack of oversight and the potential for fraud.
Coincidentally, a few days earlier the GAO office reported the Treasury has no real details on how Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) funds are being spent. TARP was started under the Bush Administration with $350 billion and the Obama administration quickly doubled the spending to $700 billion.
Many on the republican side of the isle believe the economy will turn on its own without any help from the federal government. However, now the American people will never know the truth and it is any one’s guess when taxpayer rights will be returned to the people.
thekdreport 