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Rep. Lynn Woolsey answers questions about the government's role in creating jobs Tuesday during a forum at the Sonoma Mountain Village in Rohnert Park. KENT PORTER/PD
By STEVE HART
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
North Bay labor unions and their supporters pushed for a massive federal jobs program Tuesday at a forum in Rohnert Park, saying it’s the only way to jump-start a flagging U.S. economy.
“In this environment, government is the last resort,” said Bill Scott, an official of the Marin Building Trades Council. “It’s the only thing that’s going to create demand and create jobs. A trillion dollars would get this thing started.”
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, echoed the call, saying supporters should pressure President Obama to draft an ambitious jobs plan.
“This is a national emergency,” Woolsey said. “We need government to take a major role.”
About 70 people attended the public forum at Sonoma Mountain Village sponsored by North Bay Labor Council and Service Employees International Union.
Not everyone in Tuesday’s audience agreed that a federal stimulus program is needed. Some questioned the cost, arguing for less government, not more.
“The pie is shrinking,” said one critic. “You guys live in a bubble!” shouted another.
President Obama is expected to unveil a new economic program after Labor Day, with a mix of stimulus spending and tax cuts.
The president’s $787 billion stimulus program in 2009 helped start the recovery, but it didn’t go far enough, said Sylvia Allegretto, a research economist at UC Berkeley. The economy stalled earlier this year as Washington politicians argued over deficits and debt limits, she told the Rohnert Park group.
“The recovery was hijacked by the deficit hawks,” Allegretto said.
“We need a big, bold stimulus package,” she said. “The only thing that’s going to get us out of this is government.”
Unemployment has hovered in double digits in Sonoma County for all but four of the past 26 months, inching up to 10.3 percent in July. The region’s construction sector has been particularly hard hit, with 30 percent unemployment, said Chris Snyder, district representative for the Operating Engineers union.
“The human toll has been unbelievable” as families lose their homes and health care, he said.
The 2009 stimulus program provided $275 million in federal funds for her North Bay district, Woolsey said, paying for transportation projects, health clinics, education, energy conservation and public safety.
She said a new round of stimulus could be financed by ending the war in Afghanistan and repealing the Bush tax cuts.
Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane said earlier stimulus funding provided more than 700 jobs in Sonoma County, about 94 percent in the private sector.
A recent cutback in federal funding is hurting the county’s health clinics and other programs, Zane said.
“Those dollars produce jobs and they save lives too,” she said.
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Liz is correct. There are so many restrictions, regulations, and taxes going against small business. Those that support the unions are not working for themselves. They have no idea what it takes to run their own business. They believe all the hogwash the unions shovel out. How sad they are not smarter. Union sheep remember before you start threatening us again, we are watching you and we are smarter. We can think for ourselves (which is the nightmare you have) and what started as protection people from abuses from employers have turned into abuse from the unions. You crave power and we are on to you. We are not taking it anymore! You have taken the very rights, you profess to give, away from the American public and we as Americans will not stand for it anymore. Good Work Liz!
@ Really?
why don’t you try and open your own small business and hire employees and tell me how it goes.
Between trying to get the proper zoning for your business in this county, (that takes months) then trying to work with workman’s comp, (also takes months and many hours with lots of issues and no resolve) then trying to provide health insurance that you can afford for employees (not easy if at all, the cost is so high, because and I quote from Blue shield when I called “the rates are up because of the uncertainty with the new health care law”) it makes it near impossible to run a small business. Not to mention laws in this state preventing us from hiring employees. Why should we stay here when we could move our business to NV or AZ or TX with better tax rates and that would also let us hire employees (which we really need).
This state is out of control with rules and regulations that do us no good and only make the state worse off!!! this is obvious as we are 49th in schools and we are the most broke state….geee I wonder why…. maybe a messed up past governator and governors past and also the Sac state legislature. It’s time we wake up and fix this state!
@Eric Newman
You are right those tea partiers should not have done that, but the people on the left should also not do everything they do i.e code pink and union members destroying a state capital a few months back.
We all need to act civil and polite, and until everyone on the left and those on the right do so we will never make a better America. Time to Restore Honor & Courage!
@Liz What rules and regulations keep small businesses down? All the EPA stuff? OSHA? E-verify? What exactly?
California’s business tax burden no heavier than average
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/24/business/la-fi-adv-biz-taxes-20101024
Sounds like myths to me.
I say go Hoffa, go. His statements were taken out of context by the rightwing media with glee. You who watch Faux wouldn’t know that. He was referring to VOTING. We WILL take the Republicans OUT of their jobs next year because the unions are going to be mobilized (like in WI). By the way, not only did the unions get mobilized in WI but the middleclass as a whole was supportive. Smart people those Wisconsins.
As for POTUS siding with unions. This appears to us union members to be only when he’s running for office. We feel majorly ignored during this inbetween time. Not only that, but the people who surround him are corporate cheerleaders without a union member to be found.
WE UNION MEMBERS WANT SPENDING ON JOBS to be the focus. Without jobs THERE IS NO IMPROVEMENT IN THE ECONOMY for the middleclass and poor. We want penalties for every job sent out of the country and tax breaks for every full time, with reasonable pay and benefits, job created by business IN THIS COUNTRY. So far, the big corporations have tax INCENTIVES to move the jobs overseas. The rich have been doing more than great while we the people are floundering and suffering. Bush put us in such a hole during his “reign” and the Republicans, many who were in office then, voted for every spending bill and tax break he put through. Now they claim “austerity”. Amazing that the sensible Republican voters actually buy this from them and continue to keep them in office.
Anyone who has studied economics knows that the economy is stimulated by people with paychecks.
Wow what anger! Woolsey is an honest and sincere Representative. I for one am proud of her constant reminder that we are paying for two wars that we can’t win. I believe she served us well and has the capacity to bring Federal dollars home for jobs.
In the seventies the Feds funded CETA jobs: Federally funded county allocated jobs in non-profits and local business; folks were given a chance to work again because of the creative joint efforts of government and business. Government creating jobs is not a new theory but a proven one!
@Eric…
Respect our meetings or you will pay the price? Where did you get this sudden rush of testosterone?
Were you recently in Michigan standing behind that loudmouthed lout Jimmy Hoffa when he made POTUS look like the total thug that he wants to be?
You and your ilk can huff and puff all you like, but your movement is through, and not a moment too soon.
@Eric,
Congratulations!
Your post has inspired legions of tax-cutting patriots opposed to Big Govt.-everything to attend all your meetings.
We promise to be civil, and to speak in the hushed tones and healing phrases Teamsters Pres. Jimmy Hoffa used yesterday in Detroit.
Your pals in Code Pink-O showed us the way. We embrace their tolerance, good manners and civility.
Expect Code Red Ink to make regular appearances at your local rallies and meetings.
And thanks for the kind invitation!
Thank you Lisa. Finally, someone had the guts to put the tea party hecklers in their place. I was not at this meeting, but I heard from others that Lisa Maldonado was firm in not letting the meeting get hi-jacked by a handful of angry and irrational shouters, who come to these meetings to disrupt and spoil the tone by being rude and obnoxious. We’ve seen enough of this in the last two years, and frankly, I’m glad that we have folks like Lisa from a working class background who are tough enough to put these wreckers and haters in their place.
We will not let you dominate every public gathering with your ill-tempered disruptions, deliberate sabotage techniques and bad manners. We’re getting to the point where we will have to bring in security and have the tea party hecklers removed from the venue, if they refuse to cooperate with the basic rules of civic behavior.
You won’t look too cool when you are being frog-marched out of the room, and given the bum’s rush out the back door. Respect our meetings or you will pay the price.
Why in the world would anyone pick on Jim Judd? If what he said was over your head look up the word first before you speak. He is smart and a very good possible candidate. I for one hope he runs again. The only reason he lost is the union’s control the voting machines, they house them, collect them and no one watches the machine as it counts the votes. I was there for that and this is a blue state. There are many uneducated libs out there. So before you cast another stone, listen to yourself. Do you really believe yourself?
Seventeen months ago, when speaking about the high unemployment rate, Lynn Woolsey happily chirped “We have turned the corner, and things are looking up”!
“Green” jobs were going to lift us out of the doldrums.
Now, it’s a national emergency.
It was said by one of the panel members that government is what makes America great.
This is a fundamental flaw in their logic that is antithetical to our constitution, and harmful to our freedom and prosperity. Many other problems stem from this belief in big government superiority.
While we do need limited government, the PEOPLE of our country are what make America great.
Many of our elected officials forget this and become power hungry elitists.
When the panel members were asked why they considered more stimulus money the solution, when the first stimulus had done so little, the research economist, Sylvia Allegretto replied “We propose government spending because there is nothing else to do”.
It sounds as if, in their opinion, government control, spending and manipulation are the only answers.
These same people say that food stamps and unemployment checks are the very best stimulus to the economy there is.
No wonder we are in this mess.
I was there to hear Woolsey and the “Economist.” Out of those 70 people in attendance, it would be interesting how many of those people were either hosting this event, on Woolsey’s staff, SEIU members, running for office or media?
Why isn’t anyone asking this question? Why would Lynn Woolsey not go to the people she claims to be so concerned with? Why not meet with local business’ to see what works and what doesn’t?
We all know why.
This was suppose to be about jobs….I spoke to a few people who were actually small business owners and they did NOT agree with what was said by that panel. The majority of American’s know that Government is not the answer! Less Government and more We The People is what works!
The only good I got out of this is that regular people are getting out and paying attention….they are getting out of their comfort zone and they are attending events like these and educating themselves. Next step is to get some of these people into office!
@ Mockingbird – “The stimulus DID stimulate.” And here are a few of the projects, the costs and the number of jobs created….I highlighted a few for you, but you can do your own homework.
Here is one project that cost the taxpayers $20 million dollars and has created 3 whole jobs…this project less than 50% completed.
http://stimuluswatch.org/2.0/awards/view/2645/the-purpose-of-this-work-is-to-implement-the-remedial-action-ra-at-the-south-minneapolis-residential-soil-contamination-site
Award Description: RUI : Genetic Control of Sensory Hair Cell Membrane Channeels in Zebrafish $327,337 creating ONE job
http://stimuluswatch.org/2.0/awards/view/46045/rui-genetic-control-of-sensory-hair-cell-membrane-channeels-in-zebrafish
Award Description: Replace existing dumbwaiters and they are planning to spend $351,807.
http://stimuluswatch.org/2.0/awards/view/15471/replace-existing-dumbwaiters
How stimulating! This is the mentality of our Government and you would agree? Do you actually read the bills these people pass or just believe what you are told? Please, do a little homework. Here is a site created to keep us informed.
http://stimuluswatch.org/2.0/
Can you honestly continue to say that we need more of this?
Bear, first of all it is Perry and Bachmann and if you know them personally it is ok to use first names (for your info.) Also Ms. Bachmann first name is spelled Michele..for your information. Yes Obama should never have been elected and having that idiot take another term would be a nightmare. Bachmann and Perry have a lot going for them, alot more than Obama.
@Not a Chance
There are so many flaws in your attack on Jim Judd, it’s hard to find a place to begin. Let me start by saying when your voting populous is easily outnumbered 2-1 and you still attract your base plus some, not to mention raise over $100,000 dollars in campaign contributions, you’ve made an impact. Reiterating a margin of “33%” doesn’t do much to strengthen your lousy argument.
I’m sure you’ve been watching the news recently, and see the social and economic stuttering of Britain, the poster child for Keynesian economic practice. When you start to have social collapse, as a reason of economic disparity created by the government, you have a problem. Blaming the government for loss of job opportunities and equality, is cause for concern. When policies supported by you, and our fearless congressional member, are enacted to entitle the government with the power to create and destroy jobs, you arrive at a situation similar to the one plaguing Britain. The citizens are blaming the government for a loss of prosperity. Why do you think that is? Maybe because when the majority of your population is working for the government, or on govt assistance, and when cuts are made to govt expenditures, people lose their jobs. Wealth created by private citizens, like Jim Judd, provide new and untouched wealth. They are not dependent on the government for their checks each week.
Let me leave you with an old phrase, Liberals AND Republicans alike should become tuned into.
“When you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. When you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” Maybe it’s time to strengthen this country by not giving people money, but teaching them skills to work and earn their money!
That’s a Green Job!
Well whoever Liz is, I understand not being able to ask a question. They didn’t allow me that either. Do I get mad? No, it is obvious they had a few
people asking the questions they wanted. Anyone else was a possible problem, so they allowed roughly 4 questions and that was it. The other lady Virginia was not rude. She tried to ask a question and Lisa Maldanado kept stopping her and same with the other lady. They cut her off at the quick. Lots of people raised their hands but the truth is no one is more important than anyone else, not you or me. It is bad form, but it is what it is. Lets not take it so personally. Consider the source. Miss M is not all that smart,she is rough, tough, tacky, loud and obnoxious. That is how it is in the unions. She is someone you would never want to see in a dark alley.
Hmmm: 0 Jobs. Obama Downgrade.
Just might fit on a bumper sticker that progressives can understand.
I know of no better example of the negative effect of the regulatory process on economic growth than our own Smart Train. No, not its cost overruns, etc, but it’s recent discovery that the enviro review process will add an unexpected 2 years before a single train runs.
This project was the product of local government officials in two counties. Its consisted of elected leaders well versed in the review process. Yet not even they could accurately predict the time necessary to navigate the maze , and that’s without the endless court battlesa private developer faces.
Trying to pencil out a project paid for with private capital becomes practically impossible when the regulatory process defies estimates of time and cost.
That less and less is built in California is not surprising.
The official position of the republican party is that their number one job is to make Obama a one-term president.
It doesn’t take hidden meetings or secret handshakes to understand that the GOPs funders – corporations, Chamber of Commerce, wealthy non-taxpayers, etc. are doing everything possible to achieve this goal.
At the expense of the middle class.
Think of it this way: lots of folks don’t like what Obams’s doing, or not doing. But he is someone with an almost impossible job. Things are not worse than what GW Bush handed us.
Things WILL get worse if any of these republican clowns get elected president.
Can’t you do better than Rick and Michelle?
If anyone doubts the Marxist agenda is alive and well in Sonoma County, just attend an event where Woolsey, Maldanado or SEIU hold forth. Many believed their failed ideas died with the fall of the icon of the left the Soviet Union.
But no, same rhetroic, same speeches, same discredited nonsense can be heard at their get togethers.
The old Marxists never had a good or new idea. They specialise in destroying lives and enslaving people. They also love to try and outshout people who oppose them.
The new Marxists follow the same road under the guise of trillions in stimilus money, environmental regulations, business regulations, taxes, government debt and social programs painted up like something else. SMART comes to mind.
Voters need to examine their agenda and think about what Woolsey, SEIU and Maldanado offer this nation, state and county. It isn’t a reality most people want find themselves in.
I agree with Recovering Democrat. That person is very correct. Jobs are being killed by the current administration. Obviously the writer knows his stuff! Woolsey and LM have just tried to put up a smoke screen to make every think they care about private sector jobs. They won’t do more than go to every senior home for their union agenda, we see them. They always have food and then have these little town hall meet and have the bogus meet and greet to try to pull one over on us. But we are finally getting smarter. I too was a Democrat. You are wrong Liz you can’t say both parties have failed. I am now a proud Republican and so is my wife!
As for who ever this Liz is, few got to ask questions, I was there with my wife and saw that. Why should you be any different? Wondering where to move!
Uh-oh. The August Jobs Report was just released: Not a SINGLE job was created for the month of August. Keep in mind that over 250,000 jobs must be created EACH MONTH to brin the country back to full employment. Turns out that while a paltry 17,000 private sector jobs were created in August, 17,000 governement (state, local) jobs disappeared for a net-net of 0 new jobs for August. (Notably, the loss of 17,000 gov’t jobs also supports the idea that government might be the next “bubble” to burst.)
Here’s an idea!
Over Labor Day (!) weekend, Rep. Woolsey and her union pals might do some light reading… maybe Peter Schiff’s book, “How Jobs Are Created” or this article (Job Losses Demystified):
http://www.lewrockwell.com/schiff/schiff57.1.html
Progressives rarely read anything more than what will fit on a bumper sticker, but come on, Rep. Woolsey and company… with unemployment stuck nationally at 9.1% and over 12% in CA (second worse in the country), let’s face it: Your progressive, Big Government, Obamanomics ideas ain’t working!
While it’s like pulling teeth to get a cogent answer out of Rep. Woolsey, inquiring minds want to know: “Why ARE businesses leaving California?”
Not that Rep. Woolsey or her union pals or any local paper will really explore this critical issue. (It’s easier to demonize the opposition than confront the harsh reality facing Californians.)
Joseph Vranich, president of JV Executive Consulting, which helps companies relocate OUT of California says, “It’s no mystery what causes companies to leave California: High taxes, undue regulation, workers’ comp costs, a legal environment stacked against businesses and lengthy and costly construction permitting requirements.”
For the full story:
http://jan.ocregister.com/2010/02/24/list-names-100-companies-leaving-california/31805/
Lynn Woolsey’s dog-and-pony show was a set-up for another one of President Obama’s Big Jobs Speeches next week. She was softening the public for Stimulus 3.0, and her union friends and the press obliged, no questions asked. Surprisingly, only one small business owner asked, “Why are businesses leaving CA at FIVE times the rate they were in 2009?”
The answer she received was shocking: “Because there aren’t any customers.” Really? How about this: Busineses are leaving because California is run by clueless economic illiterates who have created a repressive nanny state plagued with debt, welfare hogs, entitlement junkies, high taxes, and ornerous regulations. Hate to break it to all of our repressive/progressive friends, but a LOT of people are leaving Calfornia.
Read this article by small business owner Erica Douglass, entitled “Dear California: I’m Leaving You. Here’s Why…”
http://www.erica.biz/2011/california-im-leaving-you/
I could relate to this final shot:
“California just isn’t worth it. My priorities have changed. I value income freedom and flexibility more than I value living near the beach. I value having a paid-off house I can call “home” more than I value having a half-million-dollar noose around my neck that declines in value by the day.”
By the way, Ms. Douglass is moving to Austin, Texas, which reminds me of a great Davey Crockett quote: “You can all go to hell. I’m going to Texas.”
Last person out in California: You can leave the lights on. The progressives will pay for it.
As goes CA goes the rest of the U.S. Huh?!!! No it doesn’t, other states Americans talk about crazy California. Sad but true. I love it here but liked it alot better along time ago. We need to get that back. California and New York are the most extreme.
Someone mentioned Obamacare. Let’s take the most basic tenets of human nature and the inevitable unintended consequences that government so often fails to consider…
Travel forward in time to 2014- The largest potion of the 47mil uninsured that don’t have health insurance simply because they can’t afford it still can’t afford it, but now pay interest and penalties or risk jail. Brilliant!
Every employee and/or employer that has or offers health insurance figures out that it’s cheaper to pay $1500 to the IRS, rather than spending what they do now, and at a rate that’s climbing steadily. Absolute no-brainer here. They save a fortune, make it the government’s problem, or, they offshore all operations to another country that would welcome their business and subject them to virtually no regulation at all.
@Skippy
First off, your language only furthers the perception that your side of the argument never thinks logically or clearly, only passionately.
You think because we support government-market partnership (American Economics, since the markets have existed) that we are attempting socialism or class warfare, no Skip, its called capitalistic democracy, 1st world economic policy–been doing it for a century. Here we go again “My way er’ the highway!”
“Your inflammatory and irresponsible language must stop immediately, before you have the blood of some innocent American on your hands.”
I said nothing inflammatory, this is what you people do, you disagree with my argument, I don’t back down, so you get all whacked out and crazy as hell. That isn’t productive, your side of the equation for decades has been brash, rude, disrespectful, etc. the second the left uses THE EXACT SAME TACTICS you guys get defensive, huffy puffy and honestly entirely hypocritical.
Jared Loughner, the would be assassin in Arizona, preached conservative propaganda, so im sorry to hit you with some more facts, but the only blood currently is on the hands of the neo-conservative movement, literally :’(.
So, Skippy, sticks and stones may break my bones and you really need a xanax.
P.s. just a tip: when you don’t agree with someone using the words kill, bloodshed, murder and slaughter just makes you look insane and actually prevents objective readers from seeing your argument on its merits. You just seem like a crazy radical on the right. More facts, less cowbell.
It is amazing that the idiots dictate to us. And we let them. Miss Union reminds me of the bully in high school that beat kids up on the playground, just because they had more than her. She is proud her dad was an illegal? What is that advocating for illegals, yes illegals to come here and take jobs, free medical care, free food stamps, welfare,unemployement insurance,college education when tax payers have to pay for them. She is still a loud mouth today! She after all couldn’t listen to and reasonable questions because what she says is not plausible. We need to get a backbone and speak up or we will end up even worse off than we are now! It is time we stand up for our rights as Americans and stop the insanity. We need to speak up and educate the left that up until now has just played follow the lefties over the cliff. We can not afford this!
One other thing look at a true recovery graft from recessions in the last 63 years. Allgretto’s don’t match. Fabricated? Yup! The truth of the matter is gov. jobs have grown with inflated salaries and privated sector is diminishing. People are moving out of state in record speeds. The American Dream is to have your own home, have a family, possibly business, and be able to get ahead. Too be dictated to by government and unions was never in that picture. This is suppose to be by the people for the people. When did some forget that?!
Ms. Walters was not out of line but Maldanado wanting only pro-union/ Woolsey comments and praise, gandstanded her. To watch her fawn all over Woolsey was was sickening. Anyone that thought other wise is not thinking clearly. It is clear the Liz wanted the self gradification she gets from having her words written and reread, no matter what it sounds like. She needs to get over that. Ms Walters had a right to ask her question. Most completely agreed with Ms Walters. She had legitimate concerns. I have those same concerns and would have liked to have heard an answer. But then we got that, they don’t have one, that won’t incriminate them. I hated the way Maldanado silenced Sally. It was rude and
out of line that didn’t sit well or speak well of Ms. Maldanado. God help us!
Skippy: Not a single thing I said was inciteful, rhetorical, or false. If you see this as potential for causing violence, that should tell you just how broken the system is. Maybe we should fix it instead of trying to hide it, eh?
@ Not A Chance
Yes Republican Governors have been more than Democrats and Democratic have been in charge of Sac in both senate and assembly.
But I am going to throw you for a loop. They both SUCK!!! both parties have done us wrong in this state for years and years now.
It’s time we the people take this state back!! if we let it stay the way it is it will fall into the ocean. And remember as goes CA so goes the rest of America.
I am a small business owner and was at this event on Tuesday. Sad to say I did not get called on and did not get to ask my questions to the panel.
I was so very upset that the entire panel was so unwilling to listen to several different small business owners.
The one small business owner who did get to speak did nothing to help us and did not ask any valid questions and just basically yelled at the panel. That I was not ok with at all as I had valid questions to ask. She did not act very respectful or professional.
Sylvia Allegretto, the economist from UC Berkeley said quote: “small business is not hiring because customer base is down”
I take issue with that as I tried to tell her at the end of the meeting. In her statement it implies that all small business is not hiring because of less customers, weather she meant it or not that is how it sounds. And she could not be further from the truth!!! as I tried to tell her.
I am a small business owner who has 3 times the customers we did 2 years ago. I would love nothing more than to be able to hire several employees but because of government rules and regulations I can not.
My brother-in-law also a small business owner had to lay off all his employees because of government rules and regulations and costs even though he needed them and had the work for them.
In short government needs to get out of the way and let us the american people put people back to work.
The panel showed their true colors just by not being willing to listen to all the small business owners there.
We can’t paint a broad brush over everyone!!!!!! I was there to listen to what they had to say as I hoped they would be willing to listen to my ideas as well. We all need to work together listen to each other and come up with ideas we can both work with and maybe agree on!!!!!! Not yell at each other as some did on Tuesday at this meeting.
Yelling, arguing, shutting down and not being willing to respectfully listen to each other is no way to act and no way to solve this problem!!
@Demo, Not & Eric:
The class warfare you promote could easily get out of hand and explode into real violence.
Demonizing and de-humanizing certain people based on where they live and what they do for a living could easily lead a mentally unstable person to act out and react violently.
Your inflammatory and irresponsible language must stop immediately, before you have the blood of some innocent American on your hands.
Class warfare inevitably leads to real warfare, and real people get hurt.
Of course, you could simply be honest and admit you really don’t care how many are killed or injured by the consequences of your policies.
Collectivists always sell the egalitarian results(which never come to pass)rather than the brutal policies(which always do)of their social justice.
Social justice is code for taking the wealth of those who earn it by whatever means necessary.
Murder, gulags and terror are always the tools required to achieve this brutal “justice”.
Wow. Groovy. Peace, love and slaughter, man.
I love how, on this site, so many people have such little compassion for their fellow man.
The stimulus DID stimulate. It wasn’t near enough. Even the Republican governors in other states say so, though THEY took credit for the jobs created from the stimulus. Talked against it in public while sending letters behind their constiuents’ backs to request millions of “job producing” dollars for various projects. Even Michelle Bachmann, the WELFARE QUEEN asked for money. No one seems to have problems with all the farm subsidies she collects (welfare for the big corporate farmers), or the Medicaid money her husband gets for “counseling” gays, or the welfare money she got for those foster care kids she “cared” for whom she didn’t ADOPT so they were government supported.
Looks around you. I don’t know one family who hasn’t been touched. The Republicans have been attacking the poor and middleclass since Reagan was President and you right wing fanatics (who are also affected but can’t see it) keep voting for the very people who are attacking your middleclass existence.
There appears to be plenty of money for the rich. This is at the expense of WORKERS.
What Woolsey and her followers must sense is the fact that their dreams of an elaborate Social Democracy under Obama are being crushed by the realities of our debt and by the voters,who are rejecting their failed belief system.
The Left’s mounting defeats(Mid-terms,Wisconsin etc.)are an encouraging sign that this country is waking up and getting busy!
Jim Judd discussing Keynesian economics is like a kindergartener discussing quantum physics. You clearly don’t have a complete grasp of either the historical or political context we find ourselves in today. Talk about ‘out of touch’. It wasn’t Keynes that let us down. It was lack of government intervention in wall street. Deregulation of the banks allowed them to take greater risks- risks with OUR money. Simultaneously, some people noticed the potential for the bubble burst and were taking bets against the system. They were rooting for the economy to fail. When it did, they hit it big.
This is the historical context we now find ourselves in. We have companies making record profits and not hiring. We have extended tax breaks to the wealthy (Republican dubbed ‘jobs creators’) and they are NOT hiring. At what point do we stop throwing money at them and begging them to hire? At what point do we stop pandering to wall street and actually regulate them? At what point do you acknowledge that the failed Republican ‘trickle down’ theory was a sham to convince the populace to accept government policies not geared to the average voter?
I will leave it at this…when the economy fails as it currently has, everyone takes the hit. But when the economy booms, I only see the rich getting richer. That’s a broken system. The disparity of wealth in this country is at a volatile, dangerous level. You don’t want higher taxes, fine. Close the tax loop holes or go to a proportional/flat tax system. Republicans have consistently hidden behind their Grover Norquist pledges as a reason for not closing the loop holes. It’s downright pathetic.
More stupid statements from a very ignorant and worthless hack politician. Woolsey is a bad joke on the county and the country.
@ Joe Public
This progressive liberal nanny-state has had, since the end of WW2, drum roll please… 48 years of Republican leadership in the Governors office compared to 21 years of Democrats. Last I checked all laws are signed by the Governor, so don’t dump the blame on the legislature. The Republicans have had 48 years to make it super-non-nanny state, and the only thing I can recall is Pete Wilson signing into law the trigger tax on car registration that buried the economy before we recalled Gray Davis. And that could have been avoided if Wilson would have never lowered the tax in the first place.
Republicans don’t govern responsibly they govern ideologically, because God told them too :) as a religious person myself God just asked me to ask you guys to be a bit more responsible, and that I should run for president.
I don’t know Jim Judd from Adam, so this is not an endorsement of any of his views, I may agree or disagree with one or all of them. But touting what the majority of voters views are in Sonoma County let alone California is a strange argument. Exactly how is this progressive liberal majority state doing economically with all its nanny state and entitlement minded policies? That’s what I thought. When people like Woolsey win we all lose, even if the majority doesn’t comprehend the facts they still are the facts.
“In this environment, government is the last resort,” said Bill Scott, an official of the Marin Building Trades Council. “It’s the only thing that’s going to create demand and create jobs. A trillion dollars would get this thing started.”
“This is a national emergency,” Woolsey said. “We need government to take a major role.”
A $787 billion TARP (bailout, initiated by Bush and adopted/passed under Obama), plus QE1 and QE2, plus the GM Bailout of $17.4 billion, plus the Home Mortgage incentives bill, plus the increase in unemployment covergae/benefits, plus the Affordable Healthcare Act, plus the increased funding to UN regarding assisting third world nations comply with new standards, plus two existing military actions and one new one and we could just keep going and going.
There is no lack of government involvement in the economic issues at hand and no lack of spending money (mostly borrowed). Guess, what it hasn’t worked. Do we need more revenue? The issues are how to come up with it fairly, without punishing one portion over another. And, we also need to spend it effectively and wisely.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting a different result.
And all this mudslinging amoung parties, people and politicians is ineffective and juvenile.
We need to be looking at the issues and really thinking about what they are and what are the best solutions for the longterm. Both sides have valid points and issues that need to be seriously considered. Is the tax code full of unnecessary loopholes? Is it too complicated? Can’t we revise and re-work it? Are there too many regulations in some industries and too few in others? Shouldn’t we take a serious look at the sustainablilty of social programs and their effectiveness? Have many gone beyond the safety nets intended and become expected? Have they replaced motivation with dependence? Should we lessen the burden on business for certain things and instead require a larger but more simple and uniform “business tax”? The questions are endless and potential solutuions are endless, and there is a reasonable middle ground where both the government and the private sector are “right sized”. The problem is both parties are full of extreme left and right ideologies that forbid any real discussion and solutions (at least in my opinion)…
“Voodoo Tea Party Economics is Exhausted:
Rebuild the American Dream”
It is truly astonishing to see the durability of the discredited conservative economic theories that have run our national economy into the ditch and steadily eroded the America middle-class. The only reason that these intellectually theadbare and morally bankrupt ideas still have any currency is that right-wing billionaires like the Koch Bros. and Pete Peterson, and many other enablers pump vast sums into buying elections to place their functionaries in office to perpetuate their socially destructive and economically ruinous ideas. They have invested a trillion dollars in propaganda over the last 30 years to hire flunky academic think tanks and PR firms to pedddle thier poisonous snake-oil.Their ‘medicine’ is the cause of our economic disease.
Woolsey and the North Bay Labor Cpouncil are right on the money. We need a massive national infra-structure investment that will buld the foundations for a 21st century sustainable economic transformation and bring down the corrosive levels of unemployment.
Where will the money comne from? Where it should, from the corporations, multi-millionaires and billionaires who have used their fortunes to exempt themselves from a fair level of taxation and place thwe burden on the working class and middle-class. They can fool some of the people all the time, but many of us see through their selfish and sociopathic agenda, and we will serve them the tax justice that has been long denied.
End the wars, enact tax fairness by making the Koch Bros. and their ilk pay the same rate on captital gains as their workers pay on their wage income, introduce a financial transaction tax to dampen speculation and market volatility, and we will have the resources to rebuild America without borrowing a dime from China.
QED
Well Well Well, Jim Judd back at it again.
Woolsey 66%
Judd 33%
Keynesian economics is what makes us one of the most stable nations in the world, Jim. When the government injects stimulus into a failing economy, yes putting itself further into debt, it strengthens the financial sector knowing that the debt of the united states is a secondary concern; the entire world is based on our economic health. Remember that little thing that happened called the great depression? The government created a ton of jobs military, public sector and private sector, the debt of the US was large but the size of our economy was twice the size, so Mr. Free Market Purist, what say you? Should we have not spent record amounts of cash to support the markets, create jobs and turn the tide of the United States making it the great nation it is today? Government needs to be an equal partner with the financial sector. Believe it or not Jim, their fortunes are tied together. One can’t operate fully when the other is weak.
I know you and I know Republicans, you don’t have an issue with Keynes, you don’t have a problem with the government-market partnership, what you take issue with is that half of the government is Democrat and you’d rather see the entire system fail then the Dems garner any success. You hate Liberals, you hate their policies so please don’t pretend like you are some centrist, you’re a fringe candidate with detrimental ideas (33%). Its no wonder the Democrats have to swoop in a clean up Republican messes ever 15 years.
We live in the first world, regulation is necessary, progressive taxation is necessary, Education is necessary (can’t believe I have to tell that to a freaking congressional candidate). You want to be number one is the world sir? Tax and spend like it, if you’re not interested in shared sacrifice, diplomacy, and democracy move to Chile and hang out with the Chicago Boys and Pinoche, just keep my America out of it.
What is that sour smell, is that…socialism?
“This is a national emergency,” Woolsey said. “We need government to take a major role.”
When government calls 911, and the government answers …. run.
Here we go again with “cut taxes” ! Taxes are lower than they have ever been since the 50′s- Where are the Jobs?! Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich were extended- Where are the Jobs? The reason no one is hiring workers is that there are no CUSTOMERS because there are no jobs! Even Henry Ford knew that he had to pay his workers enough for them to buy the cars they were making. So you folks keep peddling the same dumb voodoo economic, trickledown nonsense that got us into this mess.
@Jim Judd with all due respect I think it’s pretty nervy of you to get up on a soapbox here and pontificate after the trouncing Lynn Woolsey gave you in the last election. I think the voters here(with the exception of your Tea Party acolytes on this site) have rejected you and your ideas.
I am sorry but government never creates jobs, just new taxes.Reduce regulation and get out of the way of businesses, this will create jobs. How did that shovel ready stimulus work out the first time?
The mad women of hopey-change accounting.
What is the single most important step the government should take to create more jobs? Easy—it should stop trying. Just stop trying!
Keynesian government spending has drastically added to an almost $15 trillion debt and growing at a rate of $4 billion per day. With unfunded liabilities of well over $60-$80 trillion and uncontrolled deficit spending what the hell does government know about job creation? What small business owners do understand is how government sucks the very life out of us small business owners through over regulating, fees and taxation.
Stop trying to control the free market.
Stop trying to fix everything anyone complains about.
Stop thinking smart people who work for the government can wisely run the world, if only they usurp a little more power and a little more individual liberty.
Stop “Obamacare.”
Stop all subsidies.
Stop the Education Monopoly.
Stop spending so much. Stop taxing productivity. Stop borrowing entirely.
Stop demonizing profit (which is the way we measure the creation of new resources).
Stop debasing the currency.
Stop robbing from our children’s future
Stop expanding the government past its constitutional limits.
More importantly stop getting in bed with global corporations, the SEIU and the so called financial wizards on Wall Street thereby manipulating regulations, fees and taxes for their benefit as well as you career politicians and public service union leaders. You’re greedy, self serving and don’t give a rats a@* about America or small business unless it’s to your benefit.
There is nothing the government can do to create more jobs. What it can do is get out of the way, quit taking the money small business desperately needs to create jobs. That will happen when small business owners have confidence again and that won’t happen until government gets out of our way!!
In 2 years we’ve spent $787 billion on top of our annual budget of $3 trillion,with 9-10% unemployment and less than 2% growth per quarter to show for it.
And we need to spend another trillion?!?!?!
For what? for whom?
I guess the good news is that only 70 people (not all of them misguided apparently) showed up to this Whine and cheese party.
Woolsey, back to her roots, more welfare. What she really wants is more tax money to give to the public employee unions so they can return it to the Obama and democrat campaign.
Somehow, I don’t think Congress will approve 3 trillion that doesn’t exist. Most of them want to be reelected.
Woolsey and SEIU are going to have to rob somebody else. They have robbed their members for too long. They have had a go with Congress and spent it all with no result. What next, getting the Somali pirates to help out?
Its good to hear to old Marxists speaking out. They have so little to say about anything these days.
You may as well just send all the workers over to China since that’s where the money will come from and of course we’ll have to surgically remove an arm and a leg from every newborn for the foreseeable future since that’s who’ll end up paying it back, if that’s even possible.
Since we raised the dept ceiling we certainly have an extra 1 trillion to through at the problem (after we borrow it).
You people (especially you County Supervisors), are complete idiots.
You cannot raise taxes enough (on those who currently pay taxes) to even come close to fixing the problem, even if they were raised all the way down to those making less than 75,000 or even 50,000 a year.
If all the “poor” folks, you know the people who don’t pay any taxes but still have a flat screen TV or two, some sort of video game system with who knows how many games, a cell phone for every family member (because you know, its your right to have these now, they’re no longer luxuries). Now if these people had to start paying some taxes now we’re talking revenue.
Or here’s an idea, government get out of the way, policy wise and monetarily wise, of the small to large businesses who are waiting and wanting to hire people but can’t because of the uncertainty of a government that has no clue to what they are doing.
Allegretto said “The only thing that’s going to get us out of this is government.” What a frightening thought and person you are. I think Hugo is looking for loyal subjects, please go.
More cowbell.
The 1 trillion dollar stimulus stopped unemployment figures from exceeding 8%, just like He said it would…wait…they rose to 9.2%.
Never mind, the economy is recovering just fine and firms are hiring..er..actually no.
I got it!
Let’s print 2..no..3 trillion more worthless dollars and throw them at public employee unions and local govts.
They always invest so wisely!
This time for sure, Rocky!
More cowbell.