Nation’s Mayors Support Gay Marriage But Complain About Unemployment

DC, Washington, United States (AHN) – The U.S. Conference of Mayors wrapped up its winter meeting Friday in Washington, D.C., with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stepping into controversies on same sex marriage and education.

Emanuel joined about 80 other mayors from across the nation in endorsing laws to give legal recognition to same sex marriage, along with the tax breaks and other benefits spouses can share.

The mayors signed on to a statement that said, “Our cities derive great strength from their diversity and gay and lesbian families are a crucial part. Studies have shown what we know through our hands-on experience that cities that celebrate and cultivate diversity are the places where creativity and ideas thrive.”

Emanuel supported the Illinois Legislature’s effort last year to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.

He said New York did “a good thing” last June when state lawmakers legalized gay marriage.

In separate comments Friday, Emanuel discussed his plan to turn Chicago’s community colleges into training institutions for the city’s employers.

Currently, Chicago’s City Colleges have a graduation rate of about 7 percent and job prospects for graduates that are “not as high,” Emanuel said.

His plan calls for each of the city’s seven community colleges to operate with specialties, such as health care, transportation, hospitality and manufacturing.

In addition, employers would be brought in to develop curricula that would train the students to become their employees.

“I want it to have economic value” to attend college, Emanuel said at the downtown Washington hotel where about 250 mayors were meeting.

Turning colleges into job training institutions is controversial among some academics, who say a well-rounded education requires liberal arts courses that include literature, history and the arts.

Nevertheless, job creation and recovery from the economic disaster of the Great Recession were dominant themes throughout the meeting this week.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report that said the nation’s metropolitan areas will struggle for five more years to regain jobs lost during the recession that started in September 2008.

“The recovery is very uneven across U.S. regions, with the southeastern and southwestern metro [areas that] were the most affected by the housing bubble looking ahead to years of recovery,” the report says.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls will grow about 1.3 percent this year, which is unlikely to reduce the unemployment rate below 8 percent, according to a report by IHS Global Insight.

The report predicts the nation will regain nearly half the jobs lost during the Great Recession by the end of 2012.

The mayors used the economic report to try to prod Congress to approve legislation that would create more jobs.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, president of the Conference of Mayors, said “Congress has jumped ship” in its obligation to stimulate the economy and employment.

However, Villaraigosa acknowledged cities will have a hard time squeezing money out of Congress at a time the federal government is trying to reduce its deficit by cutting spending.

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Jobless rate falls to 8.6 percent while employed rate falls to 64 percent

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Employers added 120,000 jobs, the nation’s official unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent and the percentage of working-age Americans with a job dropped to 64 percent during November, the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday.

The drop in the unemployment rate was a combination of some people getting jobs while other long-term unemployed people gave up looking and were no longer counted as unemployed.

The 120,000 jobs were the bare minimum needed to keep up with growth in the labor force because from 120,000 to 200,000 people enter the labor force for the first time in their lives each month. That number of jobs is not sufficient to begin putting a dent in the millions of jobs that were either lost or not created during the recession.

Still, the official 8.6 percent unemployment rate was a drop of 0.4 percentage points from the 9.0 percent unemployment in October, while the 64 percent labor force participation rate was a 0.2 percentage point drop from the 64.2 percent of working-age Americans who were employed in October.

Among various groups, the unemployment rate was:

• adult men 8.3 percent
• whites 7.6 percent
• adult women 7.8 percent
• teenagers 23.7 percent
• blacks 15.5 percent
• Hispanics 11.4 percent

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VP Biden promotes American Jobs Act with Alexandria police chief

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – There was laughter and goodwill as Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday addressed a select audience of law enforcement officials in Alexandria in Virginia saying, “We need better roads, we need better bridges, we need safer streets.”

Sending a message to Congress to pass the $450-billion American Jobs Act Biden said, “We’ve got to kick start this economy that’s stalled.”

Speaking at the spacious new headquarters of the Alexandria Police Department in Alexandria, Va., Vice President Biden announced that the hosting organization had won funds for the hiring of four new officers with the almost $859,000 it received from the more than $243 million in grant funds.

Keeping the focus on American Jobs Act, Biden said, “We need to be in a position where our kids are in classrooms where there’s enough qualified teachers, where they are in fact in classes where they are safe.”

“Look, we should be doing all of this stuff even if we were growing by 8%, even if there was a 3% unemployment rate in America,” Biden. The recent unemployment rate continue to hover above 9% although it was around 7% when President Barack Obama took office in 2008.

In November 2010 the unemployment rate hit 9.8 percent for the third time since Obama signed the first stimulus bill into law. In August 2011 the unemployment rate was 9.1 percent.

Education and jobs for teachers was another major thrust of Biden speech as he talked about getting hundreds of thousands of teachers back to work.

“If anyone is gonna define what the middle class is — which is what we say this is all about — it’s a school teacher, a firefighter, a law enforcement officer. That is the definition of middle class,” Biden stressed.

Alexandria Police Chief Earl Cook thanked the Vice President for the federal grant of $900,000 but noted that he was still about 30 officers short of where he’d like to be as the department continued under pressure for nearly three years with budget cuts.

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Existing home sales fall 3.8% in May to lowest rate in six months

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Sales of existing homes in May fell by 3.8 percent from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million, according to a report by the National Association of Realtors.

That put existing home sales at its slowest rate in the last six months, since November.

Moreover, sales were down by more than 15 percent when compared to May 2010.

With a 9.3-month supply of housing units on the market, prices continue to drop and the continued high unemployment rate is being blamed for the shortage of buyers.

However, NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, also blamed temporary factors.

“Spiking gasoline prices along with widespread severe weather hurt house shopping in April, leading to soft figures for actual closings in May,” he said. “Current housing market activity indicates a very slow pace of broader economic activity, but recent reversals in oil prices are likely to mitigate the impact going forward. The pace of sales activity in the second half of the year is expected to be stronger than the first half, and will be much stronger than the second half of last year.”

He also blamed financing problems for the slow-down in existing housing sales.

“Even with recent economic softness, this is a disappointing performance with home sales being held back by overly restrictive loan underwriting standards,” Yun said. “There’s been a pendulum swing from very loose standards which led to the housing boom to unnecessarily restrictive practices as an overreaction to the housing correction – this overreaction is clearly holding back the recovery.”

Although housing prices continue to drop in some areas, especially those with high numbers of foreclosures in the pipeline, in areas with good employment conditions housing prices are stable or increasing. Areas with those conditions included Alaska, North Dakota, Washington, D.C. and some areas in Texas.

Overall, the national median price for all existing housing types was $166,500 in May, down 4.6 percent from May 2010, while distressed homes were typically selling at discounts of around 20 percent. Existing housing sales for distressed properties represented about 31 percent of sales in May, a decrease of 37 percent in April, NAR said.

The data for existing home sales counts single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops.

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Obama promises training skills to edge past global competition

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States would lead the world in college graduates by the end of this decade according to the pledges made by the top executive of the country on Wednesday at a manufacturing plant in Alexandria, Virginia.

Addressing an audience at Alexandria campus of the “Northern Virginia Community College,” during an event promoting the program, “Skills for America’s Future Manufacturing,” President Barack Obama touched upon ways aimed at enhancing skills through training workers and investing in research and technology to give the U.S. an edge in competing with other countries.

Citing a student named David, President Obama emphasized the importance of the facility said, “David said whatever he ends up doing, the automotive training program here was “the spark (he) needed to get (his) career started.”

“We’ve got to light more sparks all across America, and that’s going to make a difference in the futures of individuals who are looking for a better life, but it’s also going to make a difference in America’s future,” Obama continued.

Setting a goal “that by the end of this decade, we are going to once again lead the world in producing college graduates,” President Obama said, “To achieve that, we’re making college more affordable and we’re investing in community colleges.”

With unemployment figures still hovering at uncomfortable levels and economy sluggish in recovery, Obama balanced his words saying, “Obviously we’re slowly recovering from a very painful recession … But there are too many people out there still out of work.”

According to the White House officials, the latest program aims to train half a million community college students for manufacturing jobs over the next five years, which would help offset the gap left by the 2.7 million older workers who will be retiring in the next decade or so.

On a lighter vein, Obama explained his rolled-up shirt sleeves, saying, “My sleeves are rolled up. I was getting under the hood (to repair cars).”

Amid laughter, the president asked, “Do you guys want me to work on your car?” adding, “Don’t do it,” with more laughter breaking out among the audience.

Earlier before addressing the audience of more than 100 people, President Obama wearing button- down shirt with the cuffs rolled up, no jacket, light blue tie, gray pants, visited a classroom calling out, “Hello, hey everybody, what’s going on?” as he entered.

President made it a point to ask each students name and then had conversation with instructor Packer, who said it is the 5th semester of doing program.

From the classroom, the president moved to a garage where a half dozen people waited with cars with hoods propped open.

After the instructor had noted that the facility was a hybrid repair class, President Obama told the accompanying journalists, “This facility here at NOVA is one of the few that provides that kind of training.”

“This is going to be the future so you guys are on the cutting edge,” the president told students, adding as he was leaving, “You guys are doing great work, keep it up.”

Obama administration officials have confirmed that the National Association of Manufacturers is now backing the program, “Skills for America’s Future Manufacturing.”

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Republicans try to continue Yucca Mountain nuclear dump

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Republicans in Congress plan to discuss a bill Thursday that rejects an Obama administration decision not to dump the nation’s nuclear wastes in a repository under Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.

Instead, a House Energy subcommittee bill proposes $35 million in fiscal 2012 to continue the program.

The Yucca Mountain repository was the subject of one congressional hearing Wednesday and a second one planned for Thursday.

The subcommittee on energy and water development appropriations bill also proposes forbidding the Energy Department from closing the project.

The Yucca Mountain repository would be built about 90 miles north of Las Vegas in an underground vault that creates little risk radiation leakage, according to supporters of the project.

It would be used to dump the entire nation’s spent fuel from nuclear reactors. Currently, the 75,000 metric tons of nuclear waste is stored at 80 temporary sites in 35 states.

However, critics of the Yucca Mountain repository disagree it would be safe from radiation leaks. They say additional radiation hazards would come from transporting the waste to the underground vault.

The project is only one small part of an Energy Department funding bill for fiscal 2012.

The Energy Department asked for $29.5 billion for the year but Republicans in Congress wants to cut the request by $5.9 billion as they seek ways to reduce the nation’s deficit.

The nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain was one of only two programs that would get increased funding under the subcommittee’s proposal. The other program would be used to develop fossil fuels.

“In this time of budget crisis, we have to make tough, sometimes unpopular decisions to rein in budgets in order to get our economy back on track,” said House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky).

Unlike other Energy Department programs, Republicans say the Yucca Mountain repository would save money by diverting nuclear waste from more expensive temporary storage sites.

“The bill rejects the administration’s wasteful, partisan attempts to shutter the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository program,” according to a statement on the House Appropriations Committee’s web site.

A summary of the bill on the web site includes $10 million for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license the project.

The Republican bill contrasts sharply with President Obama’s decision to seek other alternatives to dumping the wastes under Yucca Mountain.

Obama curtailed the program in response to outrage among Nevada residents. Among the most outspoken critics was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev).

However, Republicans who support the Yucca Mountain repository drew support from a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that said stopping the project could “restart a costly and time-consuming process” to find other ways of disposing of nuclear waste.

The GAO report was the centerpiece of a House Energy subcommittee on environment and the economy hearing Wednesday.

The report said the federal government has spent nearly $15 billion to develop the Yucca Mountain repository site. Delays in opening the repository to nuclear waste storage have created an additional $15.4 billion in taxpayer liabilities that continue rising, the GAO reported.

Gregory H. Friedman, the Energy Department’s inspector general, said at the hearing, “Delays in the opening of Yucca Mountain have, as demonstrated by a number of financial and performance audits, increased the ultimate cost of disposal of this waste. It is likely that the closure of the project will significantly impact the [Energy] Department’s future environmental remediation liability, currently estimated to be $250 billion.”

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Arab Spring overshadows G8 meeting, Russia defers on Syria

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States put up a brave face on Friday in Washington as Russian delegation rejected U.N. intervention in Syria but Moscow agreed that time for Libyan leader Colonel Moammer Gaddafi was up.

Addressing journalists in Washington, Mark Toner, the U.S. State Department spokesman said, “In terms of the Security Council, I mean, obviously, we’ve been in discussions with our partners there about the most appropriate approach to condemning the ongoing violence in Syria.”

“We support pursuing a Security Council resolution. But beyond that, I don’t have any comment,” added Toner during the daily briefing at the State Department.

Pressed further about the Russian position of no-action on Syria, Toner, said, “We feel that the international community is increasingly concerned by the ongoing violence in Syria. We’re working through a variety of forums to apply pressure on the Asad regime and we’re going to continue to do that.”

Earlier, Russians had minced no words as Sergei Ryabkov, Russian deputy foreign minister told journalists, “We will not even read the text,” adding, “There are no grounds to consider this issue (of Syria) in the U.N. security council.”

On Libya, however, there was unanimous agreement that the Libyan leader had lost all legitimacy and had to go as the G8 communique, said, “Gaddafi and the Libyan government have failed to fulfil their responsibility to protect the Libyan population and have lost all legitimacy. He has no future in a free, democratic Libya. He must go.”

The ongoing democratic winds of change with Arab Spring got applauded not only with words but also with financial support as the world’s industrialized nations promised $20 billion over the next two years in the form of loans and financial aid to Tunisia, the flag bearers of change and Egypt with the mandatory condition for the duo to continue on the road to develop democratic institutions and implementing democracy.

Europeans lead the way with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announcing the expansion of its mandate to cover North Africa and the Middle East. The EBRD is set to invest billions in coming years to help the democratic process and help the economies to improve the conditions of populations in those countries.

The G8 communique also commented on the global economy saying, “The world economy is recovering,” but reiterated need for more action to reduce global imbalances and deficits.

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BEA says American personal spending, disposable income rose slightly in April

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – April saw a modest boost in personal spending of 0.4 percent and disposable personal income rose by 0.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The increases translated to $46.1 billion in additional spending and an extra $35.1 billion in disposable personal income. In addition, personal consumption expenditures rose by o.4 percent or $41.5 billion.

However, the disposable personal income figure is a bit misleading because real disposable personal income, which is adjusted to remove price changes, actually decreased in April. However, the decrease in real disposable personal income was less than 0.1 percent.

Although any increase in spending is considered good for the economy, most of this increase came from higher gasoline and food prices. That left consumers with less money to spend on other items.

Personal savings dropped slightly in terms of dollar amount but remained the same percentage of disposable personal savings, which is disposable personal income less personal outlays. The percentage was 4.9 percent, while the dollar amount was $570.6 billion in April, versus $576.7 billion in March.

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Court gives Postal Service second chance to raise rates

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The U.S. Postal Service might still have a chance to raise its rates by more than 5 percent after a federal court ruling this week.

The Postal Service tried to raise its rates earlier this year but the plan was rejected by the Postal Regulatory Commission, which oversees the agency.

The U.S. Circuit of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled this week that the Postal Regulatory Commission must better explain why it rejected the proposed rate increase before it can block a rate increase for the nation’s mail.

“While we continue to evaluate the court’s opinion and ruling to understand the full implications and options it presents to the Postal Service, we have renewed confidence that we are entitled to a rate increase under the exigency provision,” the Postal Service said in a statement.

The dispute is further evidence of the Postal Service’s failing fortunes as electronic mail and the nation’s staggering economy take a deep bite out of its finances.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 says the Postal Service can raise postage fees no more than the rise in the Consumer Price Index. The index represents an average price for typical consumer products, such as gasoline and some food items.

However, the federal law grants an exception for “either extraordinary or exceptional circumstances.”

Attorneys for the Postal Service argued that the recession that began in December 2007 created the “extraordinary” circumstances that would justify raising postage rates above the consumer price index.

The recession resulted in lower mail volume, which hurt the Postal Service’s revenue.

Before the Postal Service can raise its rates, it must apply for permission to the Postal Regulatory Commission. The commission is an agency whose leaders are appointed by the president.

The Postal Regulatory Commission denied the Postal Service’s request to raise rates above the consumer price index. The commission said the Postal Service failed to prove its drop in revenue was “due to” the recession. The “due to” proof is required by federal law.

Other factors that traditionally have hurt Postal Service revenue include e-mail and competition with private mail carriers, such as UPS and FedEx.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Postal Regulatory Commission relied on “ambiguous” language in the federal law.

“It incorrectly concluded the plain meaning of that ['due to'] phrase requires the proposed rate adjustments to be ‘tailored to offset the specific effects of the claimed exigency,’” the court’s ruling said.

The court concluded that the Postal Regulatory Commission must better explain why the Postal Service’s request to raise rates by 5.6 percent is unjustified before the postage increase can be blocked.

The court dispute follows by days a dismal quarterly report from the Postal Service that showed it lost $2.2 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2011. The Postal Service lost $1.6 billion in the same quarter of last year. Mail volume fell another 3 percent in the second quarter of this year.

Bad business is forcing the Postal Service to look harder at touch choices, such as ending Saturday mail service and asking Congress for a financial bailout that could reach $90 billion, according to policy analysts.

However, Postal Service officials have made a strong case for themselves in recent congressional hearings.

The estimated 170 billion pieces of mail they handle each year come from companies and individuals worth about $10 trillion. Many of the companies rely heavily on the Postal Service to continue operating.

The Postal Service also employs 520,000 workers on no taxpayer subsidies. The Postal Service is the nation’s second largest employer, surpassed only by Wal-Mart.

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Unemployment claims decrease to 409,000

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims declined by 29,000 to 409,000 for the week ending May 14 compared to the previous week’s tally of 438,000 claims.

That is still above the 400,000 mark. Analysts say first time unemployment compensation insurcance claims must drop below 400,000 and stay below that mark to signal the economy has turned around.

However, the less volatile four-week moving average was up by 1,250 from the previous figure, increasing to 439,000 claims.

The number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 30, the most recent week such data is available fell below the 8 million mark to 7,936,548, a decrease of 47,124 from the previous week.

Here is a look at which states had the largest increase in new claims for the week ending May 7.

• Alabama (+5,767)
• California (+4,015)
• Michigan (+3,122)
• Mississippi (+1,666)

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Supreme Court considers if illegal immigrants qualify for in-state tuition rates

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce as soon as next week whether it will hear an appeal involving California’s controversial law that grants illegal immigrants in-state tuition at public universities.

The immigrants say they could not afford college if they paid the higher out-of-state tuition rates.

Opponents of the law say taxpayers should not have to subsidize lawbreakers like illegal immigrants.

The controversy extends beyond California to 10 other states that grant reduced tuition to illegal immigrants. Out-of-state tuition can be triple in-state rates.

Courts took up the case of Martinez vs. Regents of the University of California in 2005 when students who paid out-of-state tuition sued the Board of Regents.

They accused the university of violating a 1996 federal law that prohibits public institutions from giving benefits to illegal immigrants.

The University of California’s attorneys argued the state law, AB540, was narrowly written to avoid conflicts with the federal law.

Illegal immigrants can get in-state tuition only if they attend a California high school for three years and graduate.

The same benefit is granted to any graduates of the state’s high schools, thereby eliminating legal U.S. residency as the issue in getting in-state college tuition, attorneys for the University of California argued.

The trial court agreed with the university and dismissed the lawsuit.

However, the California Court of Appeal for the Third District reversed the trial court, saying the state law is preempted by federal law. In other words, illegal immigrants cannot receive in-state tuition.

On appeal in November, the California Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal.

Now, it’s the U.S. Supreme Court’s turn to decide the dispute, this time with a likelihood of influencing debate in Congress over how to reform immigration laws.

The Supreme Court justices this week discussed whether to grant the case a hearing or let the California Supreme Court decision stand.

Just before the California Supreme Court accepted the case, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wrote a letter to the state’s highest court saying the dispute reaches “into the heart of the national debate about illegal immigration.”

Utah, along with New York and Texas, is among the states that allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition.

Other states, such as Arizona, are strongly opposed to granting any benefits to illegal immigrants.

They have been joined by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law group, which filed an amicus brief that supports cutting off in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

If the state law granting in-state tuition is upheld, “overburdened state taxpayers, who are suffering under California’s devastated economy, will be forced to continue subsidizing the college education of adult illegal immigrants,” the Pacific Legal Foundation said in a statement.

The foundation says in-state tuition gives the equivalent of a taxpayer-subsidized scholarship worth between $43,884 to $80,872 at a four year college.

However, LatinoJustice, a civil rights organization that filed an amicus brief in the case, said in a statement that the lawsuit against AB540 “threatens to erect an insurmountable barrier for high-achieving high school graduates from pursuing higher education in hopes of bettering themselves and benefiting their communities as a whole.”

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Congress Warned That Public Transit Cuts Would Hurt U.S. Economy

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Public transportation advocates said at a Senate Banking Committee Thursday that if transit agencies lose federal funding, the entire nation would suffer.

Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) chairman of the Banking Committee, said, “It is sometimes forgotten but reliable and accessible public transit is vital in rural areas like South Dakota, just as it is vital in large urban cities.”

Public transportation funding is among budget items members of Congress are considering reducing as they try to cut the $14 trillion federal deficit.

However, fewer bus, subway and passenger rail trips will mean more roadway congestion, transit advocates say.

“Our public transit systems connect workers with employers, keep cars off congested roads, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and get people where they’re going safely and affordably,” Johnson said.

Republicans, such as Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, say the federal government should subsidize local transit agencies only if they match the funds and agree to keep their systems in a state of good repair.

The Obama administration seeks to increase operating assistance to transit agencies. Operating assistance refers mostly to salaries for workers, but also recurring expenses like electricity.

“There’s no point in using federal dollars to buy brand spanking new buses for transit systems if they can’t afford to pay the drivers to put those buses into service,” Federal Transit Administration chief Peter M. Rogoff told the Banking Committee.

JayEtta Hecker, transportation advocacy director for the Bipartisan Policy Center, said public transportation will get the funding it needs only if Congress can be assured taxpayers are getting a good deal.

“We are not going to get consensus for the kinds of [revenue] increases that are required in transportation until we rebuild the credibility of the program,” she said. “A clearer set of performance objectives, clearer outcomes, clearer recognition that we’re getting value for our money.”

The Bipartisan Policy Center is a foundation that promotes policies supported by both Republicans and Democrats.

Other warnings about big cuts in public transportation came from a study released this week by the Urban Land Institute, a public policy group.

It concluded that the United States would fall behind other countries economically if transit spending is drastically reduced.

Outside of the United States, “in most of the developed world and in many emerging markets, countries have committed to fulfilling infrastructure agendas as essential for sustaining or enhancing living standards in an increasingly competitive global marketplace,” says the report.

One example mentioned in the report came from the United Kingdom, which is spending $326 billion over the next five years to stimulate its economy by investing in passenger rail, broadband access and energy production.

China is on schedule to complete 10,000 miles of high-speed rail lines by 2020, the report said.

Meanwhile, major U.S. cities like Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco are reducing transit service, raising fares and delaying new projects as they divert transportation funding to other priorities, the Urban Land Institute reported.

Additional budget cuts are likely for defense spending, federal employees’ pensions, student loan subsidies and farm payments, according to members of the Obama administration.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week described how the Pentagon is trying to figure out which weapons systems can be reduced without risking national defense.

President Obama announced a 12-year deficit reduction plan earlier this year that seeks to save $400 billion.

The Pentagon’s review of its own budget includes ways to find management efficiencies that might reduce the size of the armed forces, Gates said.

In addition, the Obama administration is doing a “serious examination” of policies that “drive dramatic” increases in health care, retirement and infrastructure, he said.

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Slighly higher unemployment rate despite more jobs in April

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The unemployment rate grew 9 percent in April despite the economy adding more jobs than was expected.

The Labor Department said on Friday nonfarm payroll increased 244,000 during the period, boosted by gains in the service, manufacturing and mining industries. In the private sector, 268,000 jobs were added while the federal and state governments lost 24,000 jobs.

There was an increase of 51,000 positions during the month in the professional and businesses services, specifically in technical consulting and coputers systems design.

Jobs related to healthcare rose 37,000, largely due to a 22,000 increase in employment in ambultory healthcare. Hospitals accounted for 10,000 jobs.

In the hospitatility industry, there was continued growth with 46,000 more jobs, mainly from a 30,600 spike in employment in accomodation and food services.

Manufacturing added 29,000 jobs to the economy and mining 11.4 percent.

Despite the gains, the unemployment trate rose to 9 percent in April from 8.8 percent in the previous month.

The number of jobless Americans remained little changed at 13.7 million. Those unemployed for less than five weeks rose by 242,000, but the number of jobless for at least 27 weeks dropped by 283,000 to 5.8 million.

There was virtually the same number of people involutarily working part-time, at 8.6 million.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) used the jobs report to assail the White House for “causing renewed uncertainty for private-sector job creators, crowding out private investment and punishing small businesses and entrepreneurs who are willing to invest.”

“While any improvement is welcome news, job growth in America is still nowhere close to what it should be,” the Republican leader added.

“Over the past month, rather than joining Republicans in focusing on policies that promote long-term economic growth to help balance the federal budget, the Democrats who control Washington have indicated they are planning to increase taxes and allow the government’s spending binge to continue.”

But the White House pointed out that there was an averge of about a quarter of a million private sector jobs created each month for three consecutive months.

“We’re pleased about that. We obviously have a lot more work to do,” presidential spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. “The recession cost the American labor force 8 million jobs and we’re still digging ourselves out of that hole.”

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International criticism rises over uncontrolled U.S. debt

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Concern and criticism are rising from abroad as difficulties of the U.S. government in controlling its debt threaten international markets.

So far this week, the Russian prime minister accused U.S. economic planners of “hooliganism” and the chief economist for the International Monetary Fund criticized Congress for lacking a “credible” plan for escaping more than $14 trillion in debt.

On Tuesday, China urged the U.S. government to take “responsible” steps to control its debt. China owns more U.S. debt than any other country.

On Monday, the credit rating service Standard & Poors downgraded the U.S. government’s credit from stable to negative.

Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats are fighting over whether to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

The debt ceiling refers to the highest amount of debt the U.S. government can assume under the law.

At the current rate, the U.S. government will reach its $14.3 trillion debt ceiling on May 16, according to the U.S. Treasury.

Republican leaders said again Thursday they will agree to raise the debt ceiling only if they get guarantees of drastic spending cuts for the federal budget.

Democrats are reluctant to make cuts to programs such as Medicare and Social Security, which they say are vital to many households.

The unresolved dispute prompted International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard to tell the French magazine Le Monde, “There are reasons to be worried.”

“The United States lacks a credible plan, for the medium term, to reduce its budget deficit,” Blanchard said in the magazine interview.

“The ideological gap is huge between Democrats and Republicans on how to deal with the problem,” Blanchard said.

An International Monetary Fund report last week said U.S. debt could reach 100 percent of its gross domestic product by 2015 without drastic budget cutbacks.

Even harsher criticism came from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who said during his annual address to parliament that “everything is not so good for our friends in the States.”

The U.S. economy is teetering as a result of a huge trade imbalance between imports and exports and growing annual budget deficits, he said.

Russia does not “have the luxury for such hooliganism,” Putin said.

He also accused the United States of flooding international markets with cash that lacks value because of the high debt.

The Treasury Department is buying back $600 billion in government securities in an effort to pump up the value of the dollar.

Mexican economists say the U.S. government’s inability to control its debt will result in increased cash flow into Mexico, an appreciation in the value of the peso, volatility in its stock market and higher unemployment.

Mexico’s economic trends are closely tied to the U.S. economy.

Gabriel Perez del Peral, an American University economist, said an increased value for the peso would slow Mexico’s exports.

“The change in perspective for U.S. debt will generate a greater appreciation of currencies for emerging markets and will complicate unemployment,” Perez told the Mexican news media.

He urged the Bank of Mexico to adopt cautious policies to protect the value of the country’s currency.

“The peso’s appreciation will generate greater unemployment and the economy will overheat, which will increase commodity prices,” Perez said.

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Obama takes his fiscal agenda live to American voters using Facebook

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Millions of users hooked to the virtual world on Wednesday got a taste of incumbent U.S. President Barack Obama’s upcoming campaign for 2012 presidential elections as he was hosted by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg live on the White House’s Facebook page.

Calling the ongoing economic recovery fragile, President Obama cautioned, “We could slip back into a recession,” in the absence of a serious plan to handle the deficit.

“The Republican budget put forward is fairly radical, but I would not call it courageous,” said Obama.

With Zuckerberg wearing a jacket and tie instead of his customary hoodie, President Obama told his audience at Facebook’s headquarters, “My name is Barack Obama and I’m the first guy to get Mark Zuckerberg to wear a jacket and tie.”

There was a thunderous applause as Obama called for “high-skilled immigrants” to stay, saying, “They are job generators. We don’t want them starting an Intel in China or France. We want them starting companies here.”

“Our education system has to do a better job of math and science education for women, blacks and Hispanics,” he said, adding, “I want people to think of the next big Internet breakthrough as the next moon launch.”

Obama used his oratory skills and tuned his answers for the technology-savvy youngsters asking them not to “get frustrated and cynical about our democracy.”

“If you don’t give the system a push, it’s just not going to change and you’re going to be the ones who suffer the consequences,” Obama warned the young Americans.

Without announcing the events at the Facebook and an earlier one in Virginia, as official campaign calls, Obama stayed focussed on the election subjects of economy and deficit reduction talks. He’s also scheduled to appear Thursday at a town-hall meeting in Reno, Nevada.

Although Democrat Obama and Republican Congress agree on need for significant fiscal reforms, Obama’s deficit reduction plan, is diametrically opposite to proposals floated by congressional Republicans. The former has vowed to keep Medicare and Medicaid alive and healthy while the opposition is striving to dilute these health-care programs.

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