Obama says, "We Have Agreed to $73b Cut", Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Williams Ekanem for MACTV News

As fear of a government shut down looms in Washington D.C., President Barack Obama says the White House and Democrats have agreed to a $73billion cut originally proposed by Speaker Boehner.
Addressing White House Correspondents on the outcome of the meeting between Republican and Democratic leadership at the White House, Obama pointed out that, “the only question is whether politics or ideology are going to get in the way of preventing a government shutdown.”

Giving details of the tripartite meeting, Obama said, “Speaker Boehner, Chairman Rogers, the Republican appropriations chairman -- their original budget proposed $73 billion in cuts. We have now agreed to $73 billion worth of cuts. What they are now saying is, well, we’re not sure that every single one of the cuts that you’ve made are ones that we agree to; we’d rather have these cuts rather than that cut. That’s not the basis for shutting down the government.

We should be able to come up with a compromise in which nobody gets 100 percent of what they want, but the American people get the peace of mind in knowing that folks here in Washington are actually thinking about them -- because they’re going through a whole lot of struggles right now.”
Responding to question of another short term budget, the President responded this way, “We did it once for two weeks, then we did another one for three weeks.

That is not a way to run a government. I can’t have our agencies making plans based on two-week budgets. I can’t have the Defense Department, I can’t have the State Department, I can’t have our various agencies on food safety and making sure our water is clean and making sure that our airports are functioning, I can’t have them making decisions based on two-week-at-a-time budgets.”

On the implication of all these on the American people, the President stated that at a time when the economy is just beginning to grow, where we’re just starting to see a pickup in employment, the last thing we need is a disruption that’s caused by a government shutdown. Not to mention all the people who depend on government services, whether you’re a veteran or you’re somebody who’s trying to get a passport or you’re planning to visit one of the national monuments or you’re a business leader who’s trying to get a small business loan. You don’t want delays, you don’t want disruptions just because of usual politics in Washington.

Pointing out that he is not ready to blame anyone in case of a government shut down, Obama said thw white House is ready to reconvene the meeting until a solution is arrived at.

According to him, “t right now we’ve got some business in front of us that needs to be done, and that is making sure that we are cutting spending in a significant way, but we’re doing it with a scalpel instead of a machete to make sure that we can still make investments in education; we can still make investments in infrastructure; we can still make investments what put the American people back to work and build our economy for the long term.”

Obama Administration adds .2m Jobs in March, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Williams Ekanem


WASHINGTON - The Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Austan Goolsbee said employment report shows that private sector payrolls increased by 230,000 in March, marking 13 consecutive months of private employment growth.

A breakdown shows that private sector employers added 1.8 million jobs over that period, including more than half a million jobs in the last three months.
The unemployment rate fell for the fourth straight month to 8.8 percent.

The full percentage point drop in the unemployment rate over the past four months is the largest such decline since 1984, and, importantly, it has been driven primarily by increased employment, rather than people leaving the labor force, he indicated.

According to him, as long as millions of people are looking for jobs, there is still considerable work to do to replace the jobs lost in the downturn. Nonetheless, the steep decline in the jobless rate and the solid employment growth in recent months are encouraging.

He added that the last two months of private job gains have been the strongest in five years.

“We are seeing signs that the initiatives put in place by this Administration – such as the payroll tax cut and business incentives for investment – are creating the conditions for sustained growth and job creation. We will continue to work with Congress to find ways to reduce spending, so that we can live within our means and focus on the investments that are most likely to help grow our economy and create jobs - investments in education, infrastructure, and clean energy,” he emphasized.

My Africa Channel Television found out that in addition to the increases last month, the estimates of private sector job growth for January (now +94,000) and February (now +240,000) were revised up significantly. Overall payroll employment rose by 216,000 in March. Payroll employment grew in almost every sector. Solid employment increases occurred in professional and business services (+78,000), education and health services (+45,000), leisure and hospitality (+37,000), wholesale and retail trade (+31,800), and manufacturing (+17,000). Local government experienced a decline of 15,000, and has shed jobs in 16 of the past 17 months.

The overall trajectory of the economy has improved dramatically over the past two years, but there will surely be bumps in the road ahead. The monthly employment and unemployment numbers are volatile and employment estimates are subject to substantial revision. Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.

S.Africa needs jobs leap to avoid N.Africa fate-Gordhan, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* South Africa must move fast on job creation
* New growth policy must be implemented quickly


CAPE TOWN, Feb 24 (Reuters) - South Africa could in the long run face the same type of political unrest that has wracked North Africa if it doesn't move quickly to create jobs and reduce inequalities, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday.

Gordhan's comments came a day after he projected a much larger-than-expected budget deficit for next fiscal year -- with billions of rand set aside for jobs -- as the approach of elections put the government under pressure to spend more.
The ruling ANC, in power since the end in 1994 of apartheid which kept millions of blacks on the sidelines of economic activity, is under pressure to do more to slash unemployment levels of around 25 percent and provide social welfare for millions of people still mired in poverty.

On Thursday Gordhan told a post-budget breakfast meeting that South Africa should move quickly to implement a new growth policy that aims to end poverty among black South Africans. "As South Africans we have to be frank that we are good at ideas and not always good at implementation. Let's learn from ... North Africa," he said.

"North Africa is about allowing inequalities to grow, allowing joblessness to grow. It is about a state that hasn't actually performed, about a minority that accumulates things for itself. If you want to follow that path for the next 20 years, we'll end up like North Africa."

Hundreds of people have been killed in Libya and Bahrain this month in anti-government protests sparked by upheavals that just weeks ago dislodged decades-old regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.

South Africa's Treasury on Wednesday shaved its growth forecast for 2011 to 3.4 percent from 3.5 percent projected last October, after Africa's biggest economy grew 2.8 percent last year, emerging from its first recession in nearly two decades.
Gordhan projected growth at 4.1 percent in 2012 and 4.4 percent in 2013, but those rates are still well below levels needed to reduce unemployment, with the Treasury estimating last year that annual growth of 7 percent was needed to make a big dent in joblessness.

The ANC is pouring billions of dollars into job promotion schemes. Besides 39 billion rand already earmarked for job creation and factory investment, Gordhan said the government would spend an extra 5 billion rand on a youth employment subsidy to get school-leavers and graduates into work. (Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by xx)