Shooting the messenger: Report on layoffs killed

SFGate.com ^ | Jan. 3, 2003 | David Lazarus

[madfly]

The Bush administration, under fire for its handling of the economy, has quietly killed off a Labor Department program that tracked mass layoffs by U.S. companies.

The statistic, which had been issued monthly and was closely watched by hard-hit Silicon Valley, served as a pulse reading of corporate America's financial health.

[APBaer]

"simply by logging onto FreeRepublic and searching for Willie Green's posts."

"Searching for"??
Freepers can't escape being bombarded with his neverending missives of "Christmas Cheer".

[Willie Green]

Related thread: U.S. Drops Report On Mass Layoffs

Modeling itself after Pravda, the Rove/Bush Administration comes up with a lame excuse for suppressing "negative" information that would reflect poorly on its economic policies.

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Coincidentally, the same conclusion was reached in 1992 when the first President Bush canceled the Mass-Layoffs Statistics program amid election-year charges that he had bungled handling of the economy.

Good grief. Juanterm Bush is following exactly in Read My Lip's footsteps.

He really DID inherit the "stupid" gene, didn't he?

[Willie Green]

Wallstreet firms and Business magazines might be an alternative.

Those entities report individual incidents as they're anounced, but they too rely on government reports as their source of national, cumulative data.

[snopercod]

The Bush administration, under fire for its handling of the economy...

Presidents don't "handle" economies. Economies are the sum total of millions of individual transactions.

The only thing a president can do is keep the government out of our lives and our wallets.

[dark_lord]

In short...they have to pay H1B workers the prevailing wage in that area for that position. Anyone that states that these workers are taking jobs from Americans at a lower wage is full of you-know-what.

Sorry. You are wrong. Yes, technically it is illegal. But it is as enforced as the speed limit. Which means, not. There are several legal ways around it, but the main thing is that there is no enforcement. Or more accurately, very little enforcement. See, no one is documenting the information described in the law. No one is checking up on the corporations. So yeah, the law exists. So what. The corporation is under no obligation to sort their data regarding employment into those nice categories enabling comparisons. So they don't. And no one checks up.

Just because a law is on the books does not mean it is enforced.

[WRhine]

"Now Bush the younger is following in his father's footsteps, once again deciding that the American people have no real need to know how many mass layoffs are made each month."

"On the other hand, the Labor Department this week released a sweeping study of volunteer work over the past year, reporting that 59 million Americans donated their time and know-how to helping others."

Volunteer Work should be a burgeoning business for the administration as they ship more of our jobs overseas while importing massive amounts of foreign labor.

"The United States economy is growing again," Bush declared in a holiday radio address from his Texas ranch. "This economy is strong and it can be stronger."

And if not, best to just sweep the whole mess under the rug.

This administration is losing its credibility very quickly.

[doosee]

In short...they have to pay H1B workers the prevailing wage in that area for that position. Anyone that states that these workers are taking jobs from Americans at a lower wage is full of you-know-what.

No offense but you are really naive about what is really happening. I have a whole group of H1B working for me. I can guarantee you they dont make prevailing wages or benefits. Yet they would kill to maintain their positions because the alternative is back to India at $8 to $12 per hour.

[Eastbound]

Well, I'm not all that of a financial wizard either, madfly. But I don't think it would take a degree in finance to realize that the information is still compiled and packaged. Just who gets it is the big question. Certainly would allow a quick buy-off or sell-off at the opening bell if you had the edge. Like the orange futures in "Trading Places."

[El Gato]

There ought to be a better way to gather data than to have the Government do it with the likelihood data might be manipulated for political ends

I aggree. That is supposed to be the function of a free and independent "press". However, our "press" is not exactly what one would call independent these days...other than the electronic version that is.

[ARCADIA]

I just wanted to add that it is really funny to argue that 4 million jobs at the local pizza delivery shop are equivalent to 4 million six figure jobs lost from mass industry. Somewhere, somehow, our tax revenues are down, and I am willing to bet that the dollars lost are largly a result of our dropping payroll income.

Keep betting on real estate. That market will climb forever, just like the telecoms...

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Typical of bungling politicians. "In declining states the leadership intuitively choses the most harmful course of action."-A Great Historian 1888

Office holders in America 2003 A.D. can't help it, it is their nature, their essence, their very being. We are being flooded with third world trash. Jobs are leaving the country at a rate that staggers the imagination. The constitution is being violated right and left. Our foreign policy is run in the interest of alien nations. The office holders are so busy "balancing diverse interests" that they no longer govern in a just manner i.e. preferences.

[wharfrat]

You will find as you age not so gracefully, that there are selective groups, certainly not the norm thankfully, that exhibit very little sympathy or empathy to those who have suffered the indignity of job loss. The vast majority of them have no desire to be eternally on the government dole. The lack of empathy from this small vocal callous crowd of self righteous hypocrits have just somehow managed by hook or crook to sidestep being involved themselves. Since they obviously have never had to deal with spending time in unemployment lines they don't see the total picture layoffs present. In considering the "BIG PICTURE" the facts are this; sometime bad things happen to good people!

The stability of government programs have always been attacked because there is and always have been a percentage of people from back to early America who have been raised to believe the government owes them a living. There was a time back then when the popular saying was if you don't work you don't eat! The attitude of the vast majority of the unemployed is that opportunity abounds and it does! All of us have been required to accept positions we deem below us but you must come to grips with the fact that the economy is not the greatest, because we are in fact at WAR; even though it doesn't always see to be so!

To berate a person because he or she is "TEMORARILLY" out of work is callous and un-called for. This as I have said before is a transition period for the vast majority of those affected.Welfare should be limited and considered WORKFARE instead! It should never be easy and comfortable to be out of work! Benefits are only a bridge over troubled waters; not punched tickets to easy street! By the same token we don't have to revert to a barbarian culture either! Some need more help than others. If for what ever reason you have not had to contend with this issue remember this. The forcasts for the future do not bode well and I hope they are wrong! Most people living now don't believe the horror stories of the depression but my family lived through it somehow and the levels of unemployment were higher than it has been in our lifetimes. Your arrogant attitude may be wiped off your smug faces shortly if things don't turn around for the economy. Then you too will be scrapping and fighting like the rest of us today. Our terrorist enemies are out to destroy our national economy and whether you believe it or not they are having measured success,you will be one of those you criticize today if things don't change for the better. Your bravado will fade like a shirt in the sun one day when you need a smile and a few kind words from a world of uncareing people who are too busy to give you a passing glance!

[sistergoldenhair]

Concur.

[sistergoldenhair]

Thanks for the ping, Madfly.

[glock rocks]

let me begin by saying [*smooch*]

i was going to jump four-square into your DU face over posting this dive to the sewer sorry excuse for... wait ... omg, it's you, madfly!

then i read your comment. thanks for the ping, madfly :o)

this is a wonderful article along the lines of those in all the big socialist urban center's publications. now let's parade the poor hungry and homeless. there's a pubbie in power.

the poop on the power is always present. folk of all stripe can jump on this wagon.

this will only change when there are many dead in the street. i'd prefer it happened much, much later if not never. but then, i'm an optimist.

[facedown]

Thanx.

[WRhine]

Typical of bungling politicians. "In declining states the leadership intuitively choses the most harmful course of action."-A Great Historian 1888

That's a very insightful observation that describes well the policy decisions of our goverment. Who said that? Excellent Post btw.

[earplug]

44 Billion for the Department of labor. We had a private market system that did this.
Office of disinformation.

[Looking4Truth]

"If investment firms need to know layoffs for their decisions they will come up with the data. And a LOT more efficiently than lazy govt. employees."

And you can bet no gov't employee will be laid off because of this program being cut. You can bet your 'youknowwhat' that in private-sector there would be some jobs cut for a similiar decision.

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

"They didn't have anymore funding."

RW, Sure they do. But the funds are being used for "more important things" like the volunteer statistics. Dollar to a doughnut that they are still compiling the data. Just not publishing it on the web site. The data entry would cost too much. Peace and love, George.