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January 11, 2010 04:51 PM UTC

Monday Open Thread

  • 48 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”

–Winston Churchill

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48 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

  1. Trillions in excess spending has not helped unemployment, but certain contractors associations think you shouldn’t know.

    As the Mayor continues to ponder the risk of running the AP let loose with this national story.

    WASHINGTON-Ten months into President Barack Obama’s first economic stimulus plan, a surge in spending on roads and bridges has had no effect on local unemployment and only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, an Associated Press analysis has found.

    Spend a lot or spend nothing at all, it didn’t matter, the AP analysis showed: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless of how much stimulus money Washington poured out for transportation, raising questions about Obama’s argument that more road money would address an “urgent need to accelerate job growth.”

    Obama wants a second stimulus bill from Congress that relies in part on more road and bridge spending, projects the president said are “at the heart of our effort to accelerate job growth.”

    Construction spending would be a key part of the Jobs for Main Street Act, a $75 billion second stimulus to revive the nation’s lethargic unemployment rate and improve the dismal job market for construction workers. The House approved the bill 217-212 last month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., worked the floor for an hour; the Senate is expected to consider it later in January.

    AP’s analysis, which was reviewed by independent economists at five universities, showed that strategy hasn’t affected unemployment rates so far. And there’s concern it won’t work the second time. For its analysis, the AP examined the effects of road and bridge spending in communities on local unemployment; it did not try to measure results of the broader aid that also was in the first stimulus like tax cuts, unemployment benefits or money for states.

    “My bottom line is, I’d be skeptical about putting too much more money into a second stimulus until we’ve seen broader effects from the first stimulus,” said Aaron Jackson, a Bentley University economist who reviewed AP’s analysis.

    Even within the construction industry, which stood to benefit most from transportation money, the AP’s analysis found there was nearly no connection between stimulus money and the number of construction workers hired or fired since Congress passed the recovery program. The effect was so small, one economist compared it to trying to move the Empire State Building by pushing against it.

    “As a policy tool for creating jobs, this doesn’t seem to have much bite,” said Emory University economist Thomas Smith, who supported the stimulus and reviewed AP’s analysis. “In terms of creating jobs, it doesn’t seem like it’s created very many. It may well be employing lots of people but those two things are very different.”

    Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/busi…

    1. Now I see.

      “In terms of creating jobs … (i)t may well be employing lots of people but those two things (cf. creating jobs) are very different.” [Ital. added]

      See, those jobs would be there anyway, except that they weren’t ’cause no one could pay the salaries. That’s not the same as creating jobs that pay salaries to people who work in construction. No, not all all.

      Thanks, Perfesser Smith. Will that be on the final?

    3. If we buy this for you Lib, you need to promise to devote your full attention to the situation. Night and day.  As you are such an expert on construction jobs, reconstruction should be a breeze for you.  From the Montrose Daily Press

      “Montrose will be one of the main settings in the upcoming video game “Homefront,” to be available this March on the X-Box-360 and Play Station 3 consoles, as well as on computers.”

      “The first-person shooter game is set in 2027. A now-nuclear armed Korean Army invades the U.S. and defeats the U.S. Army. The game calls for the player (an American solider) to take down the Korean Army.”

      Getting nuked in Montrose!  What could be more fun than that, Lib?  Can General “Liberator” Libertad save us all?

  2. No, not here. In The New York Times. In Paul Krugman’s column. On Monday January 11, 2010:

    social democracy works

    Yeah, that’s “Socialism” to some of you, and everyone knows “it doesn’t work.” You’d think a Nobel Prize Princeton economist would realize that too, would you?

    Only he doesn’t.

    Go ahead, read it. I dare you.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01…

    Oh, we’re different. We’re ‘Murcuns. I forgot.

  3. Where is Bennet?  Isn’t he supposed to be out and about in Colorado introducing himself to his constituents and garning support for the Obama agenda???  MIA.

    Also, on the national scene, Repubs are gearing up on the radio circuit to help one republican Scott Brown make a final sprint for the MA Senate seat, left vacant by Kennedy;s death.  This is where the Bill Bennet national radio is so important; he is urging his listeners to send money to the candidate.  The election is January 19, I think.  Brown has been closing the gap in the MA polls.

    Meantime, locally radio guru boyles has accused the governor and the denver DA of lying.  No response from the dems.  Who will bell the cat???

    4. Senator Bennet was at least two meet-and-greet events in Arapahoe County just this Saturday.  

      Prior to last week he was stuck in Washington helping to pass health care reform.

      Senator Bennet “MIA”?  What a ridiculous and ignorant comment.

    7. I saw him three times on Saturday- I was carpooling.

      I could have seen him earlier in the week if I’d have wanted to head down to the Springs or Durango or Delta.  (The Delata meeting in particular sounds like it would have been fun. He described as a lot of Tea Party.)

      Where were you looking?

      Apparently he wasn’t in your living room or kitchen.

      Post your email and I’ll invite you to the next house party I hear about.

      Or contact the campaign and they’ll tell you.

      Better- offer to host a house party, round up everyone you can find to ask the hard questions – and he’ll show up.

    8. Along with Kim Jordan, many of us hosted Senator Bennet at New Belgium Brewing Co last Tuesday. It was a good turnout and he answered many questions… does that count as “out and about”???

      1. Now, apparently, the Gov, the DA, the ICE leadership and untold others are bought and paid insiders of some Mexican drug cartel.  Does it get any better?

        1. boyles is running a soap opera…but then reality intervenes….Villafuerte runs away and Ritter withdraws from a re-election campaign…so, is it real or not???

      1. There are registered dems in my household of many colors; some  have been id’d as Romanoff supporters; but none of us dems got  any notice of Bennet being in town.  I saw nothing on the local TV channels and nothing in the Post.

        So, I am out of the loop.  You all are obviously not.  I am glad he is out on the circuit. However, I think he has to talk to all of Colorado by making his presence known.  Now if the local media is refusing to cover his events, that is something else.

        Voyageur; if I thought not listening to boyles would stop his “rants,” then I would.  But turning off the radio, does not make him go away.  boyles has made very serious charges against the governor of this state and the Denver DA’s office.  Accused them of lying and said that they are at the heart of the worst scandal in Colorado’s history.

        No dem will stand up to him.  Charges are unanswered.

        2. in Colorado Springs, Lakewood and Highlands Ranch, in addition to all the others listed above. I heard about all these from multiple sources, including local media.

          1. I blog, I listen to the radio, read the Post cover to cover and always catch the five and ten o’clock news in Denver…and I missed Bennet.  Mea copa……however, I am beginning to think of myself as the representative from the great unwashed masses.or representative OF same.  it is possible that a lot of other people in Colorado also missed Bennet.  This is the only function I can serve, now….and that is to say….the Bennet message is not getting out to everyone.  

            2. n Jan 12, 2010, at 9:10 PM, Pat Waak, Chair, Colorado Democratic Party wrote:

              CDP WEEK IN REVIEW- January 12, 2010

              In This Issue:

              В·         Denver Mayor Hickenlooper Announces Run for Governor

              В·         CDP: New Video Reveals Jane “Insider” Norton Extreme Right-Wing Values

              В·         CDP Chair Regarding Affiliation Deadline Looming for Caucus Attendees

              В·         U.S. Senator Mark Udall Announces $75 M in Recovery Act Tax Credits for Clean Energy Jobs in Colorado and on the start of the Colorado State Legislative Session

              В·         U.S. Senator Michael Bennet Upcoming Events

              В·         Governor Ritter Announces Forty-Two Small Businesses Obtained Loans through a new Program

              В·         U.S. Representative Jared Polis Kicks off Re-election Campaign

              В·         Update from Andrew Romanoff for Colorado Campaign

              В·         Democratic Senate Campaign Fund Changes

              Bold is mine

                1. Look, gang, my point is: Bennet is running a Senatorial campaign,  but at the same time, he is a sitting Senator.  

                  You all are telling me I have to know somebody or click on to a partisan blog to find out what my Senator is doing.

                  INHO, Bennet is invisible to the general public.  The primary campaign may be going well; but I am telling you, I don’t see anything or hear anything about Bennet in the MSM.

                  I do want to say something.  I really appreciate the attentiveness of ColoPol bloggers. If I make a mistake or ask for information, I can read about it right away.  Thank you.

                  2. my refernece just above was from CO Dems weekly calendat. You said you were in a house of dems.

                    Boyles and Caplis & Caplis LIght aren’t going to be talking about him.

                    The MSM wants to cover controversy and hoopla.  They don’t need more footage of the Senator showing up in Delta to a Tea Party reception. Or working the room in CSprings.

                    THey would not show him working the roomful of small biz and th echamber of commerce and winning them over to heal reform last summer  unless there was screaming and shouting and crap.

                    You want the D’s and Bennet to engage the CO msm, I get that. I do. I think he should go on Caplis & Caplis light. I tihnk he should do Boyles. And Rosen. And he should have DT interview him.

                    hell, he should live bog a chat right here on CoPols.com

                    And maybe he will – but that’s besides your point that you didn’t see him out and about.  

                    1. There are two things going on.  One is that Bennet is engaged in a primary campaign…hence all the contact  with dems. Plus, Romanoff is at home in Colorado and Bennet needs to back in DC for most of the time between now and the caucuses.  So he doesn’t have as much time for face to face with the party.

                      I guess I am really worried about health care, and I was looking for Bennet to be real big on promoting the bill to all his constituents.

                      Bennet has dual roles.  It will be interesting to see how Hick handles them.

                    2. Just thought of him.  I had expected the Democratic delegation to be out in full force doing what it could to garner public support for the PResident and for health care.  

  7. “I am thrilled to be joining the great talent and management team at Fox News. “It’s wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balance news.”

    Sarah Palin

    1. Wonder why Palin asked Biden if she could call him Joe?  She could not pronounce his last name, even calling him O’Biden during the debate.   If you missed last night’s 60 Minutes segment, here is a quick rundown.  Palin, a last minute substitution for Joe Lieberman as McCain’s VP pick, could not understand why there was a North and South Korea, thought Saddam Hussain was responsible for 9-11 and lied about investigations she said had exonerated her shady dealings.  All told by Palin’s former trainer, Steve Schmidt.

  8. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, will take her conservative message to Fox News as a regular commentator, the cable channel announced Monday.

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