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Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.

Businesses in the U.S. added 204,000 jobs in August, led by broad-based gains across industries and company sizes, according to the ADP National Employment report released Thursday. The figure fell short of the consensus estimate of 220,000, and was down from the 218,000 jobs the group said the economy added in July. Continued monthly gains in job growth would signal to Federal Reserve policymakers labor market tightening, which could put pressure on employers to raise wages if labor is scarce. Wage gains, which have yet to really materialize, could in turn enable households to pickup their pace of spending and...

The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose more than expected, dampening optimism over the strength of the labor market, official data showed on Thursday. In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 30 increased by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 302,000 from the previous week’s total of 298,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 2,000 to 300,000 last week. Continuing jobless claims in the week ended August 23 declined to 2.464 million from 2.528 million...

350 more U.S. troops are headed to Iraq to fight a war that Obama declared over almost exactly four years ago today. “President Obama declared an end on Tuesday to the seven-year American combat mission in Iraq,” wrote the New York Times on the last day of August in 2010, “saying that the United States has met its responsibility to that country and that it is now time to turn to pressing problems at home.”Like a lot of journalism, what the New York Times wrote that day was more of an elegy for the Obama administration and its brand of progressivism...

When Republicans want to support their position that Americans have become dependent on welfare, they frequently point to the number of workers on food stamps. In 2012, Senator Rand Paul called the program “out of control.” In 2011, Senator Jeff Sessions told the Daily Caller, “There is no doubt, if this country isn’t willing to look under the hood of the food stamp program as we try to bring our surging debt under control, we are obviously not serious about what we are doing.”Paul, Sessions and their Republican colleagues are right that the number of food stamp beneficiaries grew considerably...

MADISON, Wis. – In the land of cheese and bratwurst, a surprising 740,000 Wisconsinites are worried about going hungry. A recent study by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health shows a significant portion of the state's population is worried about not having enough to eat. Lead researcher Dr. Javier Nieto said it isn't just a problem in the rural areas of the state. "We also found more than six percent of respondents in suburban, wealthier areas, also responding 'yes' to the question about whether families have been concerned about having enough food for their family in...

Okay, So I know of a few people who are shall we say very Lower middle class who used to be Mid-Middle class until recently due to the wonderful economy as of late. I know they are wanting to prep, but are unable to make ends meet and I have been rotating out my own personal prepping stock to just keep them fed day to day. (don't worry I am not giving them expired food, just food that is nearing expiration). The question recently arose about if they should get an EBT card and use it to buy their own...

109,631,000 Americans lived in households that received benefits from one or more federally funded "means-tested programs" — also known as welfare — as of the fourth quarter of 2012, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau has not yet reported how many were on welfare in 2013 or the first two quarters of 2014. But the 109,631,000 living in households taking federal welfare benefits as of the end of 2012, according to the Census Bureau, equaled 35.4 percent of all 309,467,000 people living in the United States at that time. When those receiving benefits from...

As the events in Ferguson, Missouri continue to unfold, a common excuse being offered for the riots and looting is poverty and income inequality. An article written by retired NBA player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar outlines what he calls the reasons for a coming race war that stems from class warfare and systemic racism. The article was so full of liberal talking points and delusional distortions that I had to take a break after each paragraph. He, like others, claims that the rich are somehow holding back poor blacks in order to maintain control of their riches. He also claims the rich...

Dana Loesch on Monday shared the story of her upbringing, saying “poverty is a choice” and she knows “a thing or two” about it. “I spent my childhood in a house headed by a single mom, and sometimes, we would have milk, gravy and biscuits twice a day to save money,” Loesch began, filling in on The Glenn Beck Program. “I borrowed notebook paper from my cousin because we were pinching pennies. We didn’t have cable. We didn’t have cell phones. We didn’t have any of the stuff that kids today have. We rented a tiny house in a small...

Count yourself fortunate, or something, if you’re among the 48 percent of Americans who can cough up a spare $400 in emergency cash without having to beg, borrow or steal. According to a Federal Reserve report on American households’ “economic well-being” in 2013, fewer than half of all Americans said they’d be able to come up with four Benjamins on short notice to deal with an unexpected expense. The report, released last week by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, indicates a disparity between how Americans view their financial situation and the reality of where their finances actually...

One hundred ten million! That’s how many Americans now live in households that receive some form of means-tested welfare benefit from the federal government. According to a report from the Census Bureau released last week, that’s the highest absolute number in American history, and it represents 35.4 percent of the American population. Think about it — more than one out of every three Americans live in households that are now on welfare. Looked at another way, America’s welfare state now has nearly three times the population of the largest actual state. Because many of these households include more than one...

Fifty years after the “war on poverty” was first waged, there are signs a new offensive is needed. Newly released Census data reveals nearly 110 million Americans – more than one-third of the country – are receiving government assistance of some kind. The number counts people receiving what are known as “means-tested” federal benefits, or subsidies based on income. This includes welfare programs ranging from food stamps to subsidized housing to the program most commonly referred to as “welfare,” Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. At the end of 2012, according to the stats, 51.5 million were on food stamps, while...

Consumer spending fell in July for the first time in six months, as Americans cut back on purchases of new cars and other retail goods, the government reported Friday. The drop in spending was a bit of a surprise: economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a seasonally adjusted 0.1% increase. The growth in incomes, meanwhile, slowed to 0.2% pace in July from 0.5% in each of the prior two months. It was the smallest gain since December and also below Wall Street expectations.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell for a second straight week last week, underscoring the strengthening labor market fundamentals. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 for the week ended Aug. 23, the Labor Department said Thursday. Claims for the prior week were revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims climbing to 300,000 last week. A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing the state level data. The four-week average of claims, considered a better measure...

SunTrust Banks Inc. is shuttering its fraud-response call center group in Orlando and shedding more than 100 jobs, the bank confirmed Wednesday. Atlanta-based SunTrust, the largest bank in Central Florida, handed out pink slips to 105 employees on Tuesday. The effective layoff date is Oct. 31, according to documents filed with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. "Difficult decisions must be made to increase operational efficiencies and decrease expenses to better position the company for the future," SunTrust told employees in the layoff notice. The bank posted a $400 million profit on revenue of $2.2 billion in the second quarter,...

Tarisai Mukahanana (26) says if she could, she would tell all those who are graduating these days that they have set themselves on a rough and tough road -- tougher than any university assignment. Perhaps like Mukahanana who graduated with a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Nursing Science in 2010 from a local university and many other graduates that are being churned out each year, today's university graduates already know that they are graduating into obvious unemployment. Considering the high levels of unemployment in Zimbabwe, Mukahanana believes the future of Zimbabwe's youth is hopelessly bleak. Mukahanana now survives on...

Germans could foot the bill for unemployment benefits in other European countries under an EU plan to tax the union’s richest states.László Andor, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, set out his proposal in June in Berlin to share the burden of unemployment benefits among EU countries. The plan is now “not far from the table”, CDU politician and MEP Herbert Reul told Welt newspaper on Monday. Andor claims that in a time of economic downturn, this concept could stabilize and revive struggling economies. He told the Welt on Monday that his plan would not replace countries’ unemployment...

America has a deficit of workers. Willing workers. Capable workers. Skilled, or at least semi-skilled workers, who can do a job and do it well. There are at least one million jobs that go begging day after day if only employers could find workers to fill them. This probably seems hard-to-believe. After all, how can America have a worker shortage when we have about 18 million Americans who are unemployed or underemployed? When the real unemployment rate is 12 percent? Well certainly the economy isn’t creating nearly as many jobs as it should – in large part because of regulatory...

Boca Raton-based Office Depot said Tuesday it would close 165 stores during 2014 — up from the 150 estimated earlier this year — but stuck with a total count of 400 store closures through 2016, the company said. The office-supply retailer, which merged with OfficeMax last year in a $1.2 billion transaction, said it has completed its analysis of which stores will be closed across the U.S. and Canada. Locally, the retailer has closed two OfficeMax stores, in Coral Springs and Deerfield Beach. The company also announced on a conference call following its second-quarter earnings announcement that it has settled...