3M CEO: Obama is "anti-business"

3M CEO: Obama is "anti-business" - Feb. 28, 2011:
"NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The head of industrial conglomerate 3M (MMM, Fortune 500) blasted the president as being 'anti-business,' claiming Obama has not done anything to improve the White House's relationship with Corporate America.
3M CEO George Buckley called Obama's policies 'Robin Hood-esque' and told the Financial Times that manufacturers like 3M may have to shift production to other countries in order to stay competitive. 'We know what his instincts are ... he is anti business,' Buckley said in an interview that ran late Sunday."

Its about time someone called out the current administration. Destroying businesses is NOT the way to create jobs. The big boys will simply move their factories and offices overseas, where labor is cheap and governments actually, ahem, help businesses to succeed. Smaller businesses don't stand a chance, and since small businesses are (were) the largest employers - say goodbye to whatever hopes are left of an economic recovery.

But our government does everything in its power, from over-regulation to over-taxation, to shut down any and every kind of business within the US. What kind of fiscal genius would even think of taxing a company out of business? Isn't it commonsense to realize that shutting down a business also shuts down the tax revenue stream? Commonsense, apparently, is uncommon in D.C.

Small business lending slashed by $43 billion last year

Small business lending slashed by $43 billion last year - Feb. 11, 2011:
"NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The numbers back up what small business owners have been saying for two years: Main Street suffered a brutal credit crunch.
The total value of outstanding loans to small businesses plunged by $43 billion, or 6.2%, between June 2009 and June 2010, according to a report released this week by the Small Business Administration. That's a drop of $59 billion, or 8.3%, from June 2008."

Oh look, the SBA took just two years to recognize the obvious. The banks have contributed to (if not been totally responsible for) the current "economy". By throttling small businesses by withholding loans, they have squashed tens of thousands of businesses and cost millions of jobs. And all this in spite of the generous "bailouts" that the Obama administration has showered on them, which of course was squandered on generous bonuses and raises to the banks' top management. As small businesses crash and burn, the big corporations quietly swoop in and corner their market. Of course they have no problem getting loans from the banks, in addition to sitting on hundreds of billions in cash.

"The Small Business Jobs Act, passed in September, authorized the creation of a $30 billion fund run by the Treasury Department that offers ultra-cheap capital to banks with less than $10 billion in assets. The idea is that pumping capital into small banks will get money in the hands of Main Street businesses."


And the Obama administration's solution to this? Oh great, yet another bailout. Thirty billion was a nice New Year bonus, don'tcha think? The cash never made it beyond the banks payroll. Thirty big-big ones for American taxpayers to cough up, again.

January jobs report: Payrolls up, unemployment fell to 9.0%

January jobs report: Payrolls up, unemployment fell to 9.0% - Feb. 4, 2011:
"NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Winter weather kept job seekers home and offices closed in January, getting the year off to a disappointing start, while the unemployment rate took a surprising tumble.
The economy added just 36,000 jobs in January, falling far short of expectations. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate unexpectedly sunk to 9%, down from 9.4% the month before."

Here is a real conundrum. How can less jobs being added give us a lower unemployment rate? Oh, here is how Uncle Sam does some fuzzy math.

"About 504,000 adults dropped out of the labor force in January for various reasons, bringing the unemployment rate down because they were no longer counted as unemployed.
Adding to economists' confusion, the Labor Department readjusted their calculations in January to reflect the latest Census data. So some of January's drop in the unemployment rate was due to "annual tweaking of the population data," Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist with High Frequency Economics, said in a research note."

Thats convenient. Just stop counting the half million people who stop looking for jobs, each month. Soon, the unemployment numbers will drop to zero, maybe even into negative percentages. Then "tweak" the numbers a wee bit this way and that, and viola. The people nod and ooh and ahh and vote for the same clowns for another term.

Yeah, that sounds like something to expect from D.C.

Job market looks stronger, maybe

ADP, Challenger data: Signs of strength in January - Feb. 2, 2011:
"Job market looks stronger ahead of Friday report
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The job market started 2011 on solid footing, according to two separate reports released Wednesday.

Payrolls among private employers rose by 187,000 in January, payroll processor ADP said. Analysts polled by Briefing.com were predicting 145,000 jobs added for the month."

A whisper of good news after a year in the economic doldrums and a hideous winter season for the northern States.

On the other side of the coin (which, in this economy, can best be described as haypenny), the article goes on to drop the disclaimer:

"Economists are also cautious about completely trusting the ADP and Challenger reports. For the last six months, the ADP figure has missed the government's reading on private payrolls by an average of 96,000 jobs, said Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital Markets.


Ahead of the Friday jobs report, economists surveyed by CNNMoney are predicting the economy added 149,000 jobs and the unemployment rate ticked up to 9.5% in January."

So we wait for the "report" (drum-roll) due out on Friday. That is, if we don't get hit by an iceberg till then.