Friday, October 23, 2009

McCarthy: Obama-Pelosi stimulus bill has failed as jobless rate hits 26-year high

 Bakersfield Congressman Kevin McCarthy brings us up to date on his week on Capitol Hill.
 

 "It was nice to start off the week in Bakersfield with a visit to Mrs. Mehciz’s 4th grade Centennial Elementary School class. It was great to hear our local students take pride in knowing America’s constitutional form of government. I posted a few pictures from my visit on my facebook page: www.facebook.com/CongressmanKevinMcCarthy. 

 "If you missed the Ralph Bailey show on Wednesday, you missed Ralph trying to stump me on the locations of our U.S. Service Academies because we were talking about the Service Academy Forum that will be at the Kern County Board of Supervisors’ Chambers from 2:00-3:30pm on Saturday.  I hope all high school students that are interested in attending one of our academies, and their parents, will stop by to learn more and visit with an academy representative.  To RSVP, email: RSVP.McCarthy@mail.house.gov or call my Bakersfield office at 327-3611.

 "In the Financial Services Committee this week, I voted to protect American entrepreneurship. America needs jobs and not Washington business-as-usual regulation that stifles opportunity.  That is why my colleagues and I supported a solution that balanced protecting innovation with greater pro-consumer transparency measures.  Unfortunately, over my objection, the Committee approved a bill that would harm innovation by establishing a government-run financial product approval agency which goes too far in restricting credit. From my experience of starting a small business at the age of 19, I know how hard it can be to get credit, the lifeblood for many entrepreneurs trying to build their American dream.   At a time when Americans are asking “where are the jobs,” we’re continuing to see this Congress approve legislation that makes it harder for our small businesses and innovators to grow their businesses and hire more people.  

 "More broadly, as much as our nation’s unemployment rate rises, it continues to lag on this Congress’ priority list - Democrats spent a good part of this week bickering with themselves on how large their new government-run health care should be instead of working in a bipartisan manner to grow jobs.  While we all agree we need to improve health care, Congress must focus on reversing the job losses all over the country.  California lost over 39,000 jobs in September and ranks among the top 5 states with the highest unemployment rates.  Back in February, when the 8.1% national unemployment rate was then considered high, the President signed Speaker Pelosi’s $787 billion “stimulus” bill that Democrats claimed would “save or create” 4 million jobs.  Fast forward to today - our unemployment rate has risen to a 26-year high of 9.8%, with almost 3 million jobs lost.  And here in California, we know the stimulus has not created the jobs we need, as our unemployment rate has escalated to 12.2%.  As we approach November, I will continue to fight to refocus Congress on creating jobs, especially the small business tax relief ideas that are part of the Republican economic growth solution, a solution that could help grow over 6 million jobs. 
 

1 comment:

Kittie Howard said...

I'm a registered Independent, one of those both parties try to pull on board. I take my independence seriously and pay attention to what's out there.

On October 22,2003, the Chinese dumped a significant amount of our T-bills. It took time for the ramifications of this to ripple outward. But those of us who were living overseas at the time and had to exchange dollars for local curriencies felt the impact. First, the dollar dropped even with the euro. Money changers said the Chinese had dumped more bills. And, so, the dollar slid a bit more. I read an article that said the dollar couldn't slip past $l.43 for one euro without a serious psychological loss that perhaps couldn't be reversed.

At a dinner I was fortunate to sit next to Mr. James LeFleur, an economist, who has written for The Wall Street Journal, and asked him how long it would take the U.S. to pull out of the slide we had entered. He sighed and referenced Japan which, 11 years later, still had peaks and valleys. Our present economic problems were some years in the making and will not be resolved overnight. Anyway, I enjoyed reading your comments.