Bringing The Pain, Part 6

(Part 1 including the setup is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here, Part 4 is here, and Part 5 is here.)

New York

Start spreadin’ the news…the state’s unemployment rate was 8 percent (here), though the official rate in the city was 8.7 percent, as noted here (and this tells us of a Brooklyn schoolteacher who was left jobless despite a budget deal NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg reached with the City Council).

July was kind of a “good news, bad news” month anyway, as it turns out. This tells us that The Empire State topped all the others when it came to jobless claims, though 14,000 private sector jobs were added, as noted here (and did you know that New York is the only state in which, under some circumstances, striking workers can receive unemployment, as noted here?).

And this tells us that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (who, I must say, has turned out to be more impressive than I thought she would be) voted against the recent debt ceiling deal, but she explained her reasons pretty well, I thought.

Hey, if she can make it there, she can make it anywhere…

(OK, I’ll knock it off.)

North Carolina

Dem U.S. Senator Kay Hagan talked about the 10.1 percent (ouch) rate in her state here (and as noted here, it was driven by public-sector layoffs…this is a recording).

So what does the “loyal opposition” offer in response? This tells us that Dem governor Bev Perdue was forced (that’s what I would call it anyway) to veto an unemployment extension for 37,000 jobless residents because the Party of Unreality added a bunch of funding cuts also to the legislation.

Continuing, I give you this for the “What Country Am I Living In Again?” file; an unemployed man robbed a bank of $1 to get health care in prison since he would not have qualified any other way.

And if the teabaggers thought this was a hoot, then I’m sure they found this man’s plight to be hilarious.

North Dakota

This tells us that the state’s unemployment rate is 3.8 percent, with Gallup saying the state has “the best job market in the country” (think oil and energy-related business primarily, but apparently a smattering of hi-tech also).

Hey, things must be good if anything related to jobs doesn’t even rate a mention on the issues of (happily) departing Dem Senator Kent Conrad, as noted here (yes, I realize the seat could very well flip, but what’s the use of having someone with a “D” who doesn’t act like one?).

Meanwhile, locked-out union workers can’t get unemployment insurance (nice – here), and the state’s newly-elected teabagger senator to replace Byron Dorgan, John Hoeven (who isn’t even good enough to shine Dorgan’s shoes) supports another crappy trade deal, after trade adjustment assistance expires first of course (here).

Northern Marianas Islands

Not much to say – this tells us about all you’d ever want to know about the Islands and American Samoa, and this tells you about exploitation of workers recruited from China and elsewhere who were told they were going to the U.S., but went here as “guest workers” instead (with a certain convicted former Repug House speaker and bug exterminator and his pal, a Mr. Abramoff, making sure that reform legislation was never introduced).

Ohio

When it comes to crappy Repug governors, Hosni Mubarak Walker is #1, with strong challenges from Lex Luthor Scott in Florida, Rick Snyder in Michigan, and Paul LePage in Maine (I guess you could also lump Governor Bully, Susana Martinez and our own Tom “Space Cadet” Corbett into the mix).

But when it comes to true awfulness, John Kasich definitely deserves a dishonorable mention also.

As noted here, both Kasich and “Goodhair” Perry of The Unreality Party denied a total of $731 million in unemployment funds for their states (and as noted here, under Kasich’s “jobs” budget, unemployment went up). And did I mention that Kasich allowed employment protections to expire for the state’s LGBT workforce (here)?

Fortunately, Sen. Sherrod Brown helped to fight discrimination in unemployment here (and how could I take note of Ohio politicians on the issue of unemployment and not recall this golden oldie?).

Update 9/22/11: Someone trying to do good on this (here) and someone telling workers that they're about to lose their rights (here)...

Update 9/24/11: Oh, and by the way...



Update 9/30/11: Surprised? You shouldn't be.

Oklahoma

The unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in July (here); part of me thinks that that’s better than this state deserves, but on the other hand, I don’t know of anyone besides Repugs who actually want to see people out of work, so I shouldn’t even suggest that.

Meanwhile, from here…

…Oklahoma Transportation Secretary Gary Ridley said the state will be ready to move on projects if it gets the $489 million for road and transit projects included in the (American Jobs Act from President Obama).

(I should have a link to this site somewhere for jobs-related stuff and other matters, so I might as well put it here).

In addition (and even though he’s a Repug), I think state rep David Dank deserves a lot of credit for this (i.e., forcing legislators and lobbyists to defend tax credits, telling us how many jobs they’ve created…would that that happened everywhere).

Oh, and even though I linked to this above, I think it should be noted again that Sens. Coburn and Inhofe and Gov. Mary Fallin are too busy trying to score political points than to actually provide constituent service, as you might expect.

Update 9/14/11: Coburn's idiocy is "as high as an elephant's eye" (here...what do 80,000 jobs matter when you can burnish your wingnut bona fides, right?).

Oregon

A 9.6 percent unemployment rate in August (here)? Yikes! A broader number of 19.6 percent covering the “under-and-unemployed” (here, fourth highest in the nation)? AAAGGHH!!!

Well, at least Dem U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley obtained $1.3 bil for a wind farm, creating construction jobs (here), as well as obtaining funding for a geothermal plant and still more jobs (here). Also, Dem Guv John Kitzhaber claimed that 16,000 jobs have been added since January (here).

Also, for the record, let it be known that Wyden and Merkley fought the efforts of Big Oil to get their ridiculous tax subsidies once more, as noted here, though the two were ultimately unsuccessful of course.

(By the way, I hope what is becoming thoroughly obvious in these posts is that trying to turn around our economy has been and will continue to be a very long, hard slog. Between 2008 and 2010, the congressional Dems and President Obama were on their way to doing that. However, the mass stupidity of the electorate that returned the Repugs to power in the House – and threatens to do so in the remaining branches of government next year – has come at a very high price on the issue of jobs in particular, and that price will only grow steeper if these charlatans obtain still more power in 2012.)

I’ll plan to pick this up next week.