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[Edited by moderator. -G]

Now regarding the "lunatics running the asylum" comment, the context is that the businesses should be subject to regulation, rather than participating in the formulation of those regulations! They shouldn't be RUNNING anything. I mean, the scenario is being depicted as an "asylum" so of course they would be the lunatics - LOL!

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Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!

I do wish the (supposedly liberal) Washington Post wouldn't say that the President is only trying to end unfair trade practices in China because he is gearing up for re-election! I mean, he is the President - it's sort of his job to do that, even if he has to (finally) try to do it by himself:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ap-source-in-re-election-focus-on-jobs-obama-sets-up-enforcement-center-for-unfair-trade/2012/02/28/gIQAzGmifR_story.html

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Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!

Well actually, we the people of Arizona are the most affected by the decisions of our state legislature. I for one do not appreciate the disproportionate access given ALEC. Our state legislature is here to server the citizens of this state, not the mega-corporations whose interest is not what is best for our state, rather what is best for their share holders. It's bad enough that big business has pretty much corrupted our entire election system at a federal level. Now, they have their cross airs on state houses across the country...with no accountability for their funding sources or what takes place behind closed doors at their weekend excursions with our state legislators.

The members of ALEC are actually writing legislation together! It's lawmakers (who spend their workday being PAID to interact with lobbyists instead of constituents) and corporations (who pay millions of dollars in "membership dues" for the ability to actually WRITE the legislation that affects them)! It's a huge racket operated under the radar as a 501C (secret donors).

Now, does anyone want to discuss the trade issue with China? A lot of the outsourcing problem that we have is directly related to China's unfair trade practices.

_________________
Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!

One of the reasons our economy is doing poorly is regulation run amok -- regulation so onerous that it stifles business activity, contrary to the spirit of the Declaration principle that we are endowed by our Creator with the unalienable right to pursue happiness through our own labors. I invite inquiring minds to research the positions ALEC has taken, as well as those model bills they have drafted for the consideration of state legislators, to see for themselves if ALEC is an evil organization that exists to impose its will on the citizenry, contrary to the best interests of the states, or if it is a reasonable and conservatively prinicipled organization that helps businesses defend themselves against unreasonable regulation.

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Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!

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I don't like secret membership and donors, though, with ALEC.

Get everyone out from under the 501C so we all know who they are. A little accountability would go a long way.

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Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!

I bumped my ALEC thread back to the top of our discussion list, because the ALEC discussion is heating up.

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Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!

The Republican House (and to a lesser extent, Republicans in the Senate) has not been willing to be part of the solution to our bad economy. And right now on Spring Break, they are getting an earful from their constituents - LOL!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/08/us-usa-campaign-voters-idUSBRE83709U20120408

_________________
Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!

So why doesn't President Obama get rid of more (he did get rid of some) of those "job killing regulations?" Here's a pretty good summary of why you might not want to do too much of that:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bad-science-around-job-killing-regulations/2012/04/24/gIQARQQTfT_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions

Quoting from the link:

It is a seemingly immutable law of modern Republican rhetoric that the word “regulation” can never appear unadorned by the essential adjective: “job-killing.”

As in nominee-in-waiting Mitt Romney, after winning the Illinois primary: “Day by day, job-killing regulation by job-killing regulation, bureaucrat by bureaucrat, this president is crushing the dream.”

Or House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) denouncing “the president’s job-killing regulatory agenda” last month after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new limits on coal-fired power plants....

If an employer’s costs increase as the result of a regulation, Livermore notes, that is another way of saying that the employer has to hire workers to, say, install new technology while other employers hire workers to produce the new equipment.

In a healthy economy, the cost of layoffs should be transitory, as workers quickly find new jobs. In an economy like the current one, the impact of such layoffs may be more persistent — but any new jobs created may be more significant since, in a soft labor market, otherwise unemployed workers may be hired.

Can these cross-cutting impacts be accurately measured in a dynamic economy? Perhaps more important for the current discourse, is it possible to have the jobs and regulation discussion without ignoring the inherent limitations of economic modeling?

“The jobs impact analysis is important and we should do it, but the way it’s discussed now is completely wrong,” Livermore told me.

First, he said, “we talk about the jobs impact on the one hand and the other impacts (such as health and safety improvements) on the other hand, and they’re treated as apples and oranges.” Instead, he said, “we need to integrate the jobs impact into the broader cost­benefit analysis.”

Second, Livermore said, is a failure among those doing the analyzing to disclose the assumptions and limitations of their models — and the willingness of politicians (and the media, for that matter) to treat the resulting figures as gospel rather than guesstimate.

“The real problem is the way they’re used in the political back and forth,” Livermore said. “They’re used as sledgehammers to beat up the other side.”

No surprise there. But a useful reminder at a time when the phrase job-killing has become mind-numbing.

We care about jobs, certainly. But we don't only care about jobs. As Mr. Livermore says, there should be a cost-benefit analysis that includes jobs in the discussion, but it isn't the ONLY consideration and shouldn't be talked about as though it is. Furthermore, it gives ONE side of the equation (the businesses being regulated) too much power IMO (not Ruth Marcus').

_________________
Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/02/us-usa-obama-youth-jobs-idUSBRE8411NT20120502

Quoting from the link:

Obama promises 110,000 new summer jobs for youth

The initiative is in partnership with the cities of Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco and is meant to add 110,000 jobs, internships and mentorships to the 180,000 summer work opportunities for 16-24 year olds that Obama has promised to create for 2012.

Under the new program, companies such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Johnson & Johnson, and UBS, as well as non-profits and federal agencies such as the Department of Education will offer paying jobs as well as mentorships and other training programs....

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Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!

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Blessings,
Randy
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