| May 1st, 2011, Denis Blesford  Update: Sunday 23:43 EST
President Obama has addressed the nation in a televised broadcast, confirming that Osama bin Laden is dead, as the result of a US military operation earlier today. President Obama confirmed that when he came to Office, he gave orders to the CIA to capture or kill bin Laden. Obama said that the CIA had received a lead on bin Laden’s whereabouts late last year. Earlier today, after months of following that lead, all the evidence pointed to bin Laden being holed up in a compound in Abbotabad, about 40km outside of Islambad. In response, he (Obama) authorized a covert strike by special forces. After a brief firefight, bin Laden was killed and his body taken into possession by the US. President Obama said on the telecast that “Justice has been done…Today’s achievement is testament to the greatness of our country.” → Read More March 3rd, 2011, Carlo Gabriel Simbajon  The number of planned job cuts for the month of February was 50,702 according to a report by executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. The figure is the highest since March of last year and represents a 32 percent increase over January’s total of 38,519. February’s layoffs number is also a 20 percent increase over the same month last year, the Job Cuts Report said. The government/non-profit sector accounted for the largest number of announced layoffs for the month with 16,380. This represents a 154 percent increase from January and a 196 percent increase from the same month last year. As state and local governments look to address budget deficits and excessive spending, more and more state employees face the prospect of losing their jobs. → Read More March 2nd, 2011, Carlo Gabriel Simbajon  Tens of billions of dollars are being wasted on federal programs that overlap with other programs, are duplicates of similar programs or are programs with fragmented objectives, a report by a government watchdog agency said on Tuesday. The Government Accountability Office’s first annual report to Congress detailed 34 areas in which government agencies, offices or programs have the same, overlapping or fragmented objectives and are serving the same target population. → Read More March 1st, 2011, Carlo Gabriel Simbajon  The planned cuts on this year’s federal budget by Republicans would kill 700,000 jobs through 2012, a report by the chief economist of Moody’s Analytics said. The report by Mark Zandi said budget cuts being pushed by GOP members would also pull down economic growth by 0.5 percentage points this year and 0.2 percentage points next year, the Washington Post said. Republicans are seeking a $61 billion cut in federal spending in the remaining 7 months of the fiscal year by cutting funding to dozens of programs. Last week, investment firm Goldman Sachs made a similar assessment saying the GOP cuts would cause greater harm to the U.S. economy by slowing growth in the second and third quarters by up to 2 percentage points. → Read More February 28th, 2011, Carlo Gabriel Simbajon  The U.S. economy’s gravest threat does not come from high unemployment nor inflation. According to a poll, economists think it is the country’s growing budget deficit. The poll conducted among members of the National Association for Business Economics showed that the 47-man panel singled out the massive budget deficit as posing the most serious threat to the economy. The NABE survey results showed that panelists continue to see “excessive federal indebtedness” as the “single greatest concern,” a report from Reuters said. The panel survey also revealed that the economists foresee the federal budget deficit to to be at around $1.4 trillion this year up from $1.1 trillion estimate the group made in a previous survey conducted in November. → Read More February 25th, 2011, Carlo Gabriel Simbajon  The new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness had its maiden session on Thursday with no less than President Barack Obama presiding over the meeting. The Council was created by the President “…to provide non-partisan advice to the President on continuing to strengthen the Nation’s economy and ensure the competitiveness of the United States and on ways to create jobs, opportunity, and prosperity for the American people.” → Read More February 24th, 2011, Carlo Gabriel Simbajon  The administration of President Barack Obama is seeking a settlement with America’s largest banks over breakdowns in mortgage servicing. If it pushes through, the deal could cost the banks billions of dollars in reductions to loan balances of troubled borrowers. The Wall Street Journal reported that the government wants to push the deal with as many as 14 mortgage servicers including Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC). Terms of the proposed settlement include a commitment from the banks to reduce loan balances of borrowers whose loans were worth more than value of their homes. → Read More February 24th, 2011, Michael Danielson  In what has been the most viral piece of political audio to hit the Internet in years, Ian Murphy of The Buffalo Beast recently called Wisconson’s Republican Governor, Scott Walker, and posed as David Koch. Mr. Koch is one of the infamous Koch Bothers, the owners of the largest corporation in the world, and one of the world’s single largest spenders on conservative politics. The two talked for more than twenty minutes, with Murphy trying to draw Walker into making some outlandish statements, and Walker being, all told, surprisingly canny even when talking to a supposed supporter. Before we all get into talking about how cool Murphy is, his previous record [warning: vuglarity] should be noted. → Read More | Listen to Mike Colliss Interviews |
Recent Feedback