On Thursday, June 17, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on preventing employers from misclassifying employees as independent contractors. The hearing focused on the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act (EMPA), a recently introduced bill intended to reduce instances of worker misclassification through new record-keeping requirements, notice requirements, and the imposition of civil penalties for employer violations.

Chairman Harkin (D-IA) opened the hearing by arguing that independent contractors are not afforded sufficient protections under the labor law, such as those provided by minimum wage standards, overtime requirements, unemployment compensation, workers’ compensation, safety and health laws and antidiscrimination provisions. Harkin asserted that a few “unscrupulous” employers thus make economic challenges “even more difficult for their workers by intentionally misclassifying them as ‘independent contractors’ to gain an advantage over their law-abiding competitors.” Harkin also argued employee misclassification costs federal and state governments “billions of dollars in unpaid revenues.” For example, it deprives governments of the payments that support unemployment and workers’ compensation systems, as employers are only required to make these payments on behalf of employees and not independent contractors. Accordingly, Harkin posited that while employer misclassification laws are currently in place in several states, a federal legislative response is necessary.

Read the entire article here.

Today, U.S. and global energy policy remains in the forefront of public debate, and I expect will remain there well into this decade.  Unfortunately, too often lost in the sloganeering is the reality of what it will take to provide the nation with affordable, reliable energy and assist in returning the economy to full strength at a time of double digit unemployment.

We need to look no further than the oil and natural gas industry to understand this challenge.  During the give and take of public discourse, few truly stop to think how absolutely essential oil and natural gas are to our lives, to our prosperity and security, and to our future.

Oil and natural gas are the foundation of our energy-dependent economy.  They profoundly affect how we live and work.  They are key to our mobility, to keeping our homes and businesses warm, to providing us with electric power, and to supplying the raw materials for countless consumer and industrial products – everything from fertilizers to computer chips to medicines … the list goes on.

In total, oil and natural gas supply 63 percent of the nation’s energy today and represent more than $1 trillion of U.S. economic activity, accounting for some 7.5 percent of U.S. GDP – helping make our economy the biggest in the world. 

And, just as important, oil and natural gas are putting huge numbers of Americans to work.  They support more than 9.2 million U.S. jobs, a job base that even with the assumed maturity of this industry is surprisingly dynamic and growing and has potential for more growth.  For example, between 2004 and 2007 the industry created more than two million additional American jobs. 

Part of that dynamic growth springs from new initiatives in alternatives and other new energy technologies.  We understand that our energy future will be one of increasing energy diversity.  So while oil and natural gas companies continue to invest substantially in new oil and natural gas projects, they are also investing in virtually every alternative technology from solar power to lithium batteries to geothermal to fuels made from algae. 

Between 2000 and 2008, the oil and natural gas industry invested more than $58 billion on these and other carbon mitigation technologies, more than either the federal government or the rest of private industry combined.      

As the public debate focuses on how to move to a vibrant energy future, we must recognize that oil and natural gas will continue to serve as the principal bulwark of our economy for many years to come.  The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that oil and natural gas will supply more than half our energy in 2030 – some two-and-a-half gallons of petroleum products a day on average for every man, woman and child in the United States and significantly expanded amounts of natural gas.  We need to be investing now to meet this demand.  The International Energy Agency has warned that failure to develop now the oil and natural gas resources to meet future needs could lead to a supply crisis. 

Moreover, oil and natural gas companies will continue their investments and involvement in alternative energy, supplying a significant percentage of that.

And all of this will mean millions of jobs, high tech jobs, traditional industry jobs and what has become known as green jobs.  The U.S. oil and natural gas industry has already created very large numbers of green jobs.  Green jobs to develop advanced batteries, biofuels and other alternatives.  Green jobs for finding and implementing ways to decrease energy use.  Green jobs to increase recycling.  Green jobs for developing carbon capture and storage technology.  And many more.  Applying a green jobs calculation methodology developed by the Center for American Progress, the industry created about one million jobs related to green technology just from its 2000 through 2008 low-carbon investments.   [Later today, John Mahoney of Chevron, will talk to you about the many things his company is doing to increase efficiency in other businesses and government agencies, which is a good example of what our industry has done to increase green jobs and improve the environment.]  

And we will create more of these in addition to a vast potential of new jobs in oil and natural gas, especially if the nation is willing to take advantage of the tremendous oil and natural gas resources still available for development here within our borders. 

We are not running out of oil or natural gas.  Technology and innovation keep finding new supplies and squeezing out more resource from existing fields than ever thought possible.  Our experience in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere bears this out as ultimate production often exceeds initial estimates by a factor of eight.  In just the last few years, we have seen steep increases in estimated potential natural gas resources from some of the new discoveries onshore in the United States and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.  Natural gas reserves increased by more than one-third just between 2006 and 2008. 

Natural gas is one of our most flexible and clean-burning energy sources and can play an indispensable role reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Furthermore, it can serve as a stable domestic supply for U.S. manufacturing.  Ninety-six percent of everything manufactured in the United States is touched by the business of chemistry, and the U.S. chemical industry relies on natural gas as its primary feedstock.

Moreover, the oil and natural gas resource estimates I’ve presented don’t count the not fully known oil and gas potential of most of the rest of U.S. offshore areas, which until recently Congress had kept off limits. 

Producing all of this energy would spur vast job creation.  An ICF International study conservatively estimates that developing the nation’s federal non-park oil and natural gas resources could create 160,000 new direct jobs while also generating more than $1.7 trillion in government revenue.  And that doesn’t include potential development on private lands.  According to a Penn State study, developing the natural gas in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, for example, could create another 175,000 new jobs – on top of the 50,000 already created there.  Just today, it was reported that gas drillers bid $128 million to develop a tract of state land in Pennsylvania, generating double the revenue the state had targeted for the sale.  That will mean jobs and more government revenue. 

In addition, Canada, our neighbor to the North, sits on prodigious oil reserves in the form of oil sands, the development of which would help provide a secure supply of ample quantities of crude oil and even more jobs.  A CERI study showed that future Canadian investment in oil sands development would generate 342,000 additional U.S. jobs.  That’s in addition to the thousands of U.S. jobs created by U.S. pipeline and refining companies to prepare the infrastructure to receive and process that oil.

In short, the oil and gas industry is one of the nation’s premier job creating engines today and has the potential to expand that role tomorrow, provided our public policymakers understand the future as well as present breadth and significance of oil and natural gas to our domestic economy.  We seek no handouts and need no stimulus – just opportunity. 

Opportunity that is, which is supported by sensible energy policy.  Some of the policies advanced recently seem aimed at chilling the job creation potential of domestic oil and natural gas development.  Some climate proposals would put U.S. refiners at a competitive disadvantage, driving jobs out of the country, along with their emissions.  Other proposals would increase costs on the oil and natural gas industry, depressing new investment in domestic oil and gas prospects.  Still other initiatives would adversely affect leasing and development on federal lands and U.S. waters.

While some of these initiatives – hyped with promises of low “postage-stamp-a-day” costs and millions of new green jobs – had some early momentum, the public began to express their dissatisfaction. 

Americans were skeptical.  They had concerns about lost jobs and higher energy costs.  About new taxes.  About shifting energy production out of the country.  And about ultimately pushing the costs on to consumers. 

They were originally on board for environmental improvement, but they didn’t believe Congress and the Administration had stepped up to the plate with the right kind of policies or had done a good job looking out for their interests when jobs and our economy were in obvious peril.

That’s what the polls showed.  It’s also what people were saying to the media, talking about at town hall meetings, and writing about in the blogs.

A retiree from Chicago, for example, familiar with what was happening, wrote saying, “The energy issue is a passion with me because I see it as one of the few promising lights in our economy.  Our present energy policies in this country can only be described as insane, self-defeating, anti-growth, and suicidal.” 

An Alaskan reacting to the debate said: “This bill will affect my job, increase my home utility costs and not properly address the issues associated with the title.  Given our present economic environment, I have to ask how can Congress pass a bill which will reduce our energy output and kill jobs.”

In short, many Americans collectively were saying, “wait.  Your proposed solutions are unacceptable.   Give us something better.” 

Few Americans may know much about EIA projections, but they instinctively understand that oil and gas are important and that a precipitous transformation of our energy economy could hurt them and their families. 

They support developing our plentiful domestic energy resources and believe that can be done in a way protective of the environment.  They value a future where we take advantage of all forms of energy and not play one against the other.  And they value a future where we encourage domestic development to generate the jobs that will put them to work as well as supply the energy to help secure our economy, allowing it to thrive in the years and decades ahead. 

The opponents of domestic energy development are aligning themselves rhetorically with the right goal – what the public wants – even as they consistently espouse policies that would put that goal farther and farther out of reach. 

Reducing acreage leased for oil and natural gas development by 75 percent as occurred in 2009 will not put America on a path of preparing for its real energy future.

Cancelling leases, delaying lease sales, delaying environmental studies, holding back the next OCS Five-Year Plan, and adding layers of bureaucracy and new procedures will not ensure Americans have ample supplies of the oil and the natural gas that every projection shows they will be demanding in the near future. 

We have implemented policies in the past that have discouraged domestic development, which were followed by a rise in petroleum imports pushing them well over 60 percent of U.S. consumption and adding greater volatility in energy markets.  This was not what America wanted or needed then, either.  

We need to get to work, doing the right things for a better energy future.  Oil and gas development is a long range proposition requiring massive investments.  Better policy can help produce a better investment environment looking ahead.   

If we as a nation are serious about new jobs, if we want to stimulate our economy, if we want to constructively increase revenues to federal, state and local government, which could be used to battle deficits and accelerate the expansion of new energy technologies, we clearly have the means of doing so.  Domestic oil and gas development plays a significant role today and will continue to do so looking ahead. 

Most Americans understand this.  They want more jobs.  They want more affordable and reliable energy, both alternatives and traditional forms such as oil and natural gas.  It’s time to move policy in that direction.

Remarks by Jack Gerard
President and CEO, American Petroleum Institute

It’s one year after the stimulus and nobody, other than the brain-dead liberals who call into Sean Hannity’s show, think the economy is getting better. I have to laugh because no matter how hard you spin this one, the economy is not showing any signs of improvement. We just had another jobless report that experts say was higher than expected. If it’s always unexpected, then why are these people the experts? And who are they anyway? I want names so I don’t accidentally take some of their advice.

As I reported the other day, the only sector that seems to be growing is government. Along with the growing number of jobs are the growing salaries. Is it going to be that the only jobs we can get are in government? It won’t work and I’ll explain why in a minute. While the economy loses more and more jobs in the private sector, can this possibly be the goal or our current administration? I hate to think the worst of our elected politicians but could they be hoping that things get so bad we all rely on government for our handouts? And once that happens will we elect and re-elect a Democrat majority who will continue to give us those handing out the goodies? Here’s my question. What happens when everyone is in the cart? Who will pull it? How long can the printing presses continue to spit out money before they run out of ink?

Walter Williams was host on Rush’s show last week. I think it was a rebroadcast of an earlier show, but he is the first to use the analogy that I have been putting forth for some time. It was this. Think of the economy as a swimming pool and government is a bucket. The only money government gets is from those who work and produce. So take a bucket full of water (taxes) out of one end and dump it into the other end. For a few minutes it causes ripples, but the water level hasn’t changed. Sorry if I am repeating myself, but this is one reason government stimulus will NOT work. A second one would just be another mistake that takes money from the private sector for investment or creating jobs and gives it to the bureaucracy to pay itself to do essentially nothing toward solving the problem. Some call it a Democrat slush fund to buy votes in November. I can believe that.

Eagle Forum had a piece today talking about the causes of unemployment. While it offered no solutions, it did explain what is happening with many of the jobs that used to be done here in our country. They are being outsourced to places like China and India where people will do the same jobs for much less. Corporations move their operations there because there are less regulations. If illegal aliens come here and do the jobs Americans won’t do, pay no taxes and suck off the welfare trough, what will happen to us? You are beginning to see the results, and it is only bound to get worse if something doesn’t change.

Heritage said today the economy is showing signs of improvement. You could have fooled me, but let’s say for a moment that it is so. Is this what Democrats are hoping for? That the economy will come back on its own? We are a resilient nation, probably the one thing that gives me hope (real hope) for our country’s future. But the fact it is improving because of the government stimulus is a fallacy. It also could be that I ate chicken yesterday. Just because two things happen at the same time does not mean one caused the other. As in the swimming pool scenario above (and a comparison Heritage also makes in this article… great minds think alike), students of the economy KNOW that the stimulus is NOT what is bringing about recovery. In fact, in my opinion, it will probably have more to do with consumer confidence than anything. The worst thing that could happen now is that the economy starts doing well, Democrats erroneously get credit for it from the voters because of the stimulus. This would then set us up for a bigger recession in the not to distant future!

Economist Vox Day is quoted in World Net Daily today as saying we are headed for another great depression if things don’t change and politicians do something different than the way we’ve done it in the past. “When it comes to economic predictions, Vox Day is so accurate it’s scary. Scarier still is the content of his predictions.

“He’s forecast the sub-prime meltdown, the home-value crash, unemployment figures—right down to intricate details and key dates. He recently predicted the collapse of even more banks. He says the expansion of credit, which is necessary to provide what passes for growth in a credit-based economy, has ended.”

Essentially he says we are in for tough times unless something changes. That will be up to us. The mid-term elections may be the make it or break it for our country. It will be necessary for politicians to challenge the conventional wisdom and labels to educate the votes and do what’s right because it’s the right thing to do… not because it gets them re-elected.

- FedUpEditor

Let’s start with the headline number of 85,000 jobs lost. This comes from what is called the “business survey”, which uses many estimation tools, including the birth-death ratio of businesses, i.e. how many businesses were created or closed. The mechanics in coming up with the business survey allow the information to be gathered rapidly, but it also makes the information far less than accurate. On the other hand, there is also a “household survey”, where a sampling of households receive actual phone calls. Although the household number is not used by the Labor Department for their headline numbers of job losses or creations, some deem it to be a bit more accurate. The household survey paints a bit of a darker – but perhaps more realistic – picture, showing a whopping 589,000 jobs lost. But let’s dig deeper still.

The Labor Department does use the household survey to calculate the Unemployment Rate – and remember, it stayed stable at 10% – but the calculation is determined by how many people are presently in the workforce. And the household survey indicated that last month, 661,000 people left the workforce.

Whoa – what does “leaving the workforce” mean? And where exactly are they going? Let’s take a closer look to understand.

The Labor Department’s definition of this is a “discouraged worker”, who has not looked for a job during the past four weeks. Based on this definition, there are a few contributing factors that would help us understand why this would indicate such a large number of people “exiting the workforce.” And remember, more people exiting the workforce means less people counted as unemployed, and this number alone last month would have contributed to almost a half percent increase in the rate of unemployment from 10% to almost 10.5%.

So let’s talk about these contributing factors. First, frigid temperatures and piles of snow during December played a role in keeping job seekers home. Add to that the holiday season, as well as travel for family gatherings and vacations during this time, also contributing to pushing off the job search. And perhaps most importantly playing a role are the extended unemployment benefits – up to 99 weeks worth – which could also play into the decision to not seek work. Put this all together, and it might clarify the large so-called exodus from the workforce, which masks the true Unemployment Rate.

Overall – the job picture is still weak, at best. Census hiring in the next few months – although temporary – should boost job creations, which in turn may lead to upside Job Report surprises.

“We have shown we can do both,” he said. Excuse me?

California’s unemployment rate was over 12% in August of 2009 and is probably much higher by now. Much of this is due to the fact that regulations and legislation have chased many businesses out of the state to places like Texas, Nevada and Arizona (all red states, by the way). So much for his claim to a robust economy. You can’t have employment with no businesses and without employees and employers paying taxes, there is no money to run the state government. Legislators can not balance the budget with revenue shortfalls.

Now instead of solving our economic woes like maybe allowing drilling offshore in order to get some of those lucrative oil lease revenues, our state representatives like our brilliant Jared Huffman are busy banning things like trans-fats in restaurants. The theory is that trans-fats are making people obese. The next thing they will go after is sodas (they already have banned the machines on school property) and snack foods. But none of these things produces one bit of revenue or helps the economy. In fact it most likely hurts it. When does it stop? Besides, I don’t see people getting thinner because of this legislation! Enough is enough.

Our nanny state is in such a precarious position that it is starting to crumble before our very eyes. The only infrastructure projects that are happening on our highways are paid for by government stimulus money given to us out of “Obama’s stash”. What people seem to forget is… we don’t have it to begin with.

California is broke. The US government is broke. Yet they all keep spending our money like it magically appears out of thin air. Actually, in the case of the federal government, it does as the printing presses continue to whir away. Experts predict with all this frivolous spending and printing of new money, inflation has nowhere to go but up. In fact, if it weren’t being held down artificially by the Fed, it would probably be double digits right now. It can not continue forever if they want the economy to come back.

The story is that in Russia money became so worthless from policies similar to those we have today that people would carry around wheelbarrows full of rubles. They had a popular joke which went like this. A woman went into the bakery to buy some bread and left her wheelbarrow full of money outside. When she came back to get cash to pay the baker, the money was still there, but the wheelbarrow was gone.

If California goes belly up, we still have other states where we can move. But if the US goes belly up, the whole world loses. It will be too late for conservatives to say, “I told you so.”

- FedUpEditor

Read more…

API outlined its position on job creation in a news release here. I’ve also written a blog post about the topic here.

Jane Van Ryan

Talk about Nazi tactics. This is something you would expect from a communist regime, but not in the United States. To my knowledge, Republicans have NEVER used tactics like these on Democrats. Shameful!

NANCY PELOSI HATES YOU. When the Bush tax cuts expire, she can’t even be honest enough to call them tax increases. What a joke. She is single-handedly taking down the Democrat Party and you are stupid to let her. Blue Dogs are the only ones holding up the health care legislation. Republicans don’t have enough votes to stop it. So you Blue Dogs are the heroes, but will lose your jobs if you vote for this massive spending bill that nobody wants… and Pelosi doesn’t care about you or your political future! Wake up!

To the media, make up your minds. Today you said that the special elections were being run by Rush Limbaugh but only several months ago, you said he was irrelevant. Make up your friggin’ mind! You are a joke. As I pointed out, even 60 Minutes can’t do more than book reports for people they publish and Obama fluff pieces.

Unemployment might be Rahm Emmanuel’s crisis of opportunity. Remember he said never let a good crisis go to waste? Well, with growing unemployment and figures well into the double digits if you add in people who have stopped looking for work and people who have taken part time jobs while continuing to look for full time, we are in a true crisis. I know he thinks this is the perfect time for passing health care, but even with the dire circumstances, people are rejecting this notion. Yet they continue to move forward.

Congresswoman Michele Bachman is putting together a protest on Thursday of this week and escorting thousands of citizens through the halls of the Capitol building so people can talk face to face to the congressmen and senators who have been ignoring their phone calls and e-mails. Hope it works!

The Republican apparatus is becoming obsolete. There is a new conservative resurrection from the grass roots and the old guard is not liking it. Hoffman in NY-23 is a perfect example. After Liberal Scozzafava dropped out of the race because he was beating her badly, she endorsed the Democrat! How is that a Republican? And what about Newt? He has shown he is just a party hack! Palin, Thompson and others have shown themselves as the TRUE leaders of the new movement!

Finally, the just war in Afghanistan is waiting for President Obama to send more troops… No, actually they are waiting for him to make a decision as to whether or not he will listen to his advisers and send more troops. He goes to Dover to sit with the dead soldiers and tells a crowd he will support them, but after winning the Peace Prize, it’s going to be hard to do that. After all, his is a culture of celebrity! He is the worst president we have ever had.

- FedUpEditor

But if they were, wouldn’t they give their OWN money first rather than take it out of the pockets of people they don’t know? It’s cowardly and it’s stealing. Just because they don’t know the people they are stealing from doesn’t make it right! In fact, if they had to look people in the eye when they were going for our money instead of having the IRS do it for them, they would probably not be able to do it. COWARDS!

So when they start using words like “social justice” it is a code word for thievery, dishonesty and strealing… it just sounds nicer. Through political correctness we have let socialism creep into our language and rob us of our values. 

- FedUpEditor

Leno stated politicians do not cavalierlyraise taxes, but he sure was comfortable talking about taxing oil and pharmceutical  companies. Democrats have demonized big corporations for years. What they never talk about is… where will the money and jobs come from if they successfully put big businesses out of business? They have already left the state driving unemployment skyward. We can not constantly be anti-business and expect the state to flourish. With businesses and working individuals (the ones who pay taxes, remember?) leaving California, who will be left to pick up the tab? With an increasing number of Californians on unemployment where will the tax revenue come from?

Leno’s point was we need taxes to pay for schools, roads and parks which got a cheer from the crowd. But what he didn’t mention was how much money is already in the budget for these things, yet we still have a 41 billion dollar deficit with a shrinking tax base. With over regulation and taxation he and his Democrat pals will chase what’s left of the good paying jobs to other states.

- Michael Orton