400-408 – Theodore J. Smith, III, Deputy District Attorney for San Bernardino County and former Chairman of the African-American Caucus of the California Democratic Party from 1999 to 2007.
•• Arthur Laffer (WSJ, 9/12/2011) How to Fight Black Unemployment: The tragedy of the failed stimulus is felt hard in minority communities. There's a better way. Mr. Laffer, chairman of Laffer Associates, is co-author, with Stephen Moore, of "Return to Prosperity: How America Can Regain Its Economic Superpower Status" (Threshold, 2010).
[My Key Selections]
Some people actually believe government can create jobs by taxing and borrowing from people with jobs and then giving that money to people without jobs. They call this demand stimulus. To make matters worse, other people think these demand-stimulus ideas warrant a serious response.
Government taxes cigarettes to stop people from smoking, not to get them to smoke. Government fines speeders so they won't speed, not to encourage them to drive faster. And yet contrary to common sense, it seems perfectly natural to some people that government would tax people who work or companies that are successful only to give that money to people who don't work and to bail out losing companies. The thought never crosses their minds that these policies are the very reason why our economy is in such bad shape.
// If the U.S. wants prosperity, government doesn't need to do something, it needs to undo much of what it already has done.
// While overall U.S. unemployment stands at 9.1%, black unemployment has jumped to 16.7%. Black teenage unemployment is bordering on 50%, and that figure doesn't even take into account "discouraged" workers, "involuntary" part-time workers and "underemployed" workers.
// A) For all employment within the enterprise zone of people whose principal residence is also the enterprise zone, there should be no payroll tax whatsoever, neither employer nor employee portions.
// B) Federal and state minimum wages must be suspended in the enterprise zone. If not for all employees, then at least for employees under 30. These young people need on-the-job training, and at the present minimum wage many of them aren't worth hiring. That is why they are unemployed.
Even for teenagers who are in school, a summer job is an enormous benefit for a future productive career. This summer and last summer only 30% of all teens worked—all-time lows. We need to break this vicious cycle right now by getting rid of the youth minimum wage in our enterprise zones.
C) In the enterprise zones the government should do an expedited review of all building codes, regulations, restrictions and requirements to make sure that they don't unjustifiably impede economic growth. For example, mandated union membership rules should be voided in enterprise zones as should all prevailing wage provisions and the like.
D) Profits generated by companies operating and employing people within the enterprise zone should only be taxed at one-third the regular tax rate. No matter how many fewer regulations a company faces, those companies still quite rightly respond to profits for their shareholders.
Businesses don't move their plant facilities as a matter of social conscience. They do it to make profits for their shareholders. If you want more jobs in our most depressed areas, make those areas more profitable for companies to relocate there. It's as simple as that.
I guarantee Mr. Obama that he will receive the support necessary to carry the day in Congress. And once he sees how this plan works for our most depressed areas of America, he can then extend enterprise zones to cover the whole country.
413-423 – Ted Smith, expands on what were called "empowerment zones" under President Clinton.
428-438 – Ted Smith,
• AP (9/13/2011) Census: US poverty rate swells to nearly 1 in 6.
My Summary –
The 2009 median – or midpoint – household income was $49,445.
The 2009 poverty line is $22,314 for a family of four.
Mississippi has the most "poor," at 22.7%, New Hampshire has the least at 6.6%.
16.3% or 49.9M of Americans are uninsured.
• Robert Rector (NRO Corner, 9/13/2011) Strange Facts about America's 'Poor'.
// The public generally thinks of poverty as substantial material hardship such as homelessness, or malnutrition and chronic hunger. In reality, the vast majority of those identified as poor by the annual census report did not experience significant material deprivation.
In a recent Rasmussen poll, adults agreed (by a ratio of six to one) that "a family that is adequately fed and living in a house or apartment that is in good repair" is not poor. By that simple test, about 80 percent of the Census Bureau's "poor" people would not be considered poor by their fellow Americans.
In the same Rasmussen poll, however, 73 percent said poverty was a severe problem. Why the disconnect? The answer: Public perception of poverty in the U.S. is governed by the mainstream media, which invariably depicts the Census Bureau's tens of millions of poor people as chronically hungry and malnourished, homeless or barely hanging on in overcrowded, dilapidated housing.
The strategy of the media is to take the least fortunate 3 percent or 4 percent of the poor and portray their condition as representative of most poor Americans. While we must have compassion for those who are truly homeless or without food, they are far from typical among the poor. //
Given these facts, how does the Census Bureau conclude that more than 40 million Americans are poor? They identify a family as poor the family's cash income falls below specific thresholds. For example, in 2009 a family of four was "poor" if annual cash income fell below $21,954.
But in counting income, the Census Bureau ignores almost the entire welfare state. This year, government will spend over $900 billion on means-tested anti-poverty programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care and targeted social services to poor and near-poor Americans. (Social Security and Medicare are not included in that total.)
This means-tested welfare spending comes to around $9,000 for each poor or low-income American — virtually none of which is counted by census officials for purposes of calculating poverty or inequality. The missing money is greater than the gross domestic product of most other countries.
•• Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield (Heritage, 9/13/2011) Understanding Poverty in the United States: Surprising Facts About America's Poor.
My Summary –
The Census Bureau says 15.1% or 46.2M Americans are in "poverty" in 2010, up from 14.3% or 43.6M in 2009. When most people hear the word "poverty," they think of having not enough food to eat, not enough clothes to wear, or have adequate shelter.
However, for 2009 the Dept. of Agriculture reported the following about the American "poor," defined as households earning less than $22,314 for the year. This does not include the $9,000 in means-tested welfare assistance we spend on the average poor family
• 96% of poor parents said their children were never hungry at any time in the previous year because they could not afford food. (4% * 46.2M = 1.8M).
• 82% percent of poor adults reported never being hungry at any time in the prior year due to lack of money for food. (18% * 46.2 = 8.3M).
• 83% of poor families reported having enough food to eat. (17% * 46.2 = 7.8M).
• Only 4% of poor persons become temporarily homeless over the course of a year (4% * 46.2M = 1.8M).
• At a single point in time, only 1 in 70 poor persons is homeless.
• Just 6% of poor households are overcrowded. More than ⅔ have more than two rooms per person.
• Just 9.5% of the poor live in mobile homes or trailers. 49.5% live in single family houses or townhouses. 40% in apartments.
• 42% of poor households own their home, on average it's a 3BR, 1.5 bath house with a garage and patio.
• The average poor American has more living space than the typical non-poor person in Sweden, France, or the UK.
• The vast majority of the homes or apartments of the poor are in good repair.
• 80% air conditioning. 92% microwave. 75% car or truck, 31% have two or more. 66% cable or dish TV. 66% DVD player. 70% VCR. 50% computer, 15% two or more. 50% XBox or Playstation. 43% internet access. 33% wide-screen plasma or LCD TV. 25% TiVo.
443-452 – Ted Smith,
458-508 – Scott Daniels, Dean of APU's School of Theology (apu.edu) and senior pastor at Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene (paznaz.org), his radio show "Faith Works" can be heard Sunday mornings on KKLA at 1130am. His latest two books are: The First 100 Days: A Pastor's Guide and Seven Deadly Spirits: The Message of Revelation's Letters for Today's Church. Today we talk about how it takes a while for some people – like even the disciples – to "get" the gospel.
512-523 – Scott Daniels. What would you say to the 6000 people who went forward at the Harvest Crusade Saturday night?
528-539 – Scott Daniels.
544-554 – Cheri Liefeld (cheriliefeld.com) former Director of Womens' Ministry at Mariners, and former Director of the Birth Choice Health Clinics, is today Executive Director of the Horizon Pregnancy Center in Huntington Beach (horizonpc.org) helping them become a medical clinic too. She is also host of the Adventures in the Kitchen radio show heard Sunday afternoons on KKLA from 400-430pm (adventuresinthekitchen.com). The show is all about using cooking and the kitchen to connect people together, and she interviews people doing cool things in the community, like feeding the homeless.
558-608 – Scott Waller, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Biola, with expertise in American government, political theory, church-state relations, and First Amendment jurisprudence. Today we talk about politics and religion, and why so many young Christians don't know how to connect their theology with their political philosophy. Hint – your politics should grow out of your theology. Beware of people who design their theology out of their political commitments.
612-623 – Scott Waller
628-639 – Scott Waller
644-654 – Scott Waller
