Grandview Area Republican Club

From the Columbus Dispatch’s Daily Briefing Blog:

Posted by James Nash, Statehouse reporter on March 10, 2010 5:43 PM

ACORN, the liberal group vilified for allegedly trying to inflate the voter rolls with fraudulent voters, is leaving Ohio.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now reached a legal agreement with a conservative public-policy group today that requires it to file a certificate permanently surrendering its business license in Ohio by June 1.

The settlement extinguishes a lawsuit by two Warren County voters alleging that ACORN diluted their vote through a pattern of corrupt practices, namely fraudulent voter registrations. The voters were represented by the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, the legal arm of the conservative Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions.

The center’s lawyer, Maurice A. Thompson, said the settlement is mostly confidential but permanently bars ACORN from doing business in Ohio or reconstituting as another group and perpetuating its practices.

ACORN’s lawyer, Alfonse Gerhardstein, said the organization already ceased its operations “for reasons unrelated to this litigation.”

In Franklin County local elections officials had to toss out numerous ACORN voter registration forms in 2006, but by working closely with the group in 2008 greatly reduced the number of problem forms.

Want to know what the Fair Tax is all about?  Want to make sure the tax cheats have no way to cheat with a Fair Tax?  How about learn how everyone is taxed fairly regardless of income level?

Then attend this Fair Tax Event held in Upper Arlington.

What:                 The Fair Tax
When:                Wednesday, April 7, 2010
                             6 pm – 8 pm
Where:               MCL Cafeteria
                             3154 Kingsdale Center (between Macy’s & Jeffrey Thomas)
                             (Tremont Rd. side)
                             Upper Arlington OH 43221
Phone:               614-457-5786

The Democrats’ Nautilus Shell economy plan seems to be working – as the economy continues to spiral downwards before it goes upward.

In October, the National Unemployment Rate rose once again, from 9.8% in September, to 10.2% in October, marking the highest Unemployment has been since 1983. While the official numbers suggests 1 in 10 Americans are currently out of work, some estimates suggest that it could be closer to 1-in-5 Americans.

From The Associated Press:

The unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent for the first time since 1983 — and is likely to go higher.

Nearly 16 million people can’t find jobs even though the worst recession since the Great Depression has apparently ended. TheLabor Department said Friday that the economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October, less than the downwardly revised 219,000 lost in September. August job losses were also revised lower, to 154,000 from 201,000.

But the loss of jobs last month exceeded economists’ estimates. It’s the 22nd straight month the U.S. economy has shed jobs, the longest on records dating back 70 years.

While the unemployment numbers are bad enough, it has much higher ramifications for the economy in general. Without jobs, Black Friday may very well turn into Red Friday, not to mention that we’re in some of the hardest economic conditions since the Great Depression. To make things even more entertaining, the Obama administration is being questioned on just how many jobs have been saved as a result of the $700+ Billion Economic Stimulus Package.

Draw your own conclusions – but many economists are saying despite the government’s excitement to say their spending programs are working, we’re in for a very, VERY long winter.

Read the AP Article Here

The nation’s unemployment rate in September rose to 9.8 percent, its highest level since June 1983, as 263,000 jobs were cut from payrolls, the Labor Department announced Friday

The 263,000 jobs lost during the monthwere far more than most economists had expected. The consensus forecast was that around 175,000 jobs had been shed in September.

“One job lost is one job too many,” said Vice President Biden this morning, flanked by chair of the Council of Economic Advisors Christina Romer; OMB Director Peter Orszag; Director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers; and Executive Director of the Middle Class Task Force Jared Bernstein.

Meanwhile, here in the great state of Ohio, Unemployment still hovers around 11% – August’s Unemployment numbers were reported at 10.8%. While that is down from the high of 11.2% in July, there’s still no reason yet to celebrate – One in Ten Ohioans still do not have a job.

Here in Central Ohio, the picture doesn’t look any better. The area (Franklin County & Surrounding Areas) has an average unemployment rate of 9%, with Pickaway County reporting 11% unemployment in August alone. Other areas of concern throughout the state:

• Meigs County: 16.6% Unemployment
• Highland County: 16.3% Unemployment
• Williams County: 15.9% Unemployment
• Pike & Morgan Counties: 15.6% Unemployment
• Noble & Adams Counties: 15.0% Unemployment
• Scioto County (Gov. Strickland’s Home County): 13.1% Unemployment

The Administration may want to call this “Change.” If this is the change the Cult of Barack Obama was talking about…its change in the wrong direction.

Click here to read the full ABC News Article

Click here for Localized Ohio Unemployment Statistics

What do YOU think? Is there hope yet, or will it get worse before it gets better? Leave a comment!

Once again, Governor Ted Strickland (D) continues to play a shell game with the citizens of Ohio and their possibilities of employment in this state. This time, its found in creating agencies set to create economic opportunities – which do so by not meeting.

Dispatch Politics, an online division of the Columbus Dispatch, shed a little light on Gov. Strickland’s Economic Growth Cabinet. According to the Governor, they have worked tirelessly to bring jobs back to the State of Ohio. Despite the fact that they’ve only met three times.

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Saying he has no greater priority than getting Ohio’s economy moving again, Gov. Ted Strickland created a new Economic Growth Cabinet one year ago to “focus on creating jobs and increasing economic growth opportunities.”

But the group has met only three times. And although no one denies the effects that the global recession has had on all states, Ohio continues to fare worse than most others in net job losses.

“I will concede to you that I think more can be done,” Strickland said last week after announcing a $33 million expansion of the Rolls-Royce facility in Mount Vernon. “But I am very proud, and very appreciative, of all the efforts of my cabinet members and of our Department of Development.”

Administration officials say the measure of the new cabinet is not how many times it has met but how much work has been done behind the scenes to help agencies work together daily — often in unprecedented ways — that is bearing fruit.

Still, a promised “unified economic development budget” to increase transparency in spending and a scorecard to monitor progress of development remain works in progress.

Further proof that Gov. Strickland is playing a shell game with Ohio’s economic future – saying one plan, creating larger government in order to accommodate that plan, and being completely and absolutely ineffective in that plan. The result is money – which could have gone directly to serving Ohioans, and creating jobs – are being wasted on fruitless plans that serve nothing but the governor’s own inner circle.

Take heart, Ohio – only one more year before we can call John Kasich our governor…and get rid of this perfect mess in Gov. Ted Strickland.

Read the Columbus Dispatch article here

So much for change.

On Tuesday Morning, August 25, the Federal Office of Management and Budget announced that this recession is deeper than we all expected. How much deeper? Unemployment will hit 10% nationwide in the next year, and the Federal Budget Deficit will grow to over $1.5 Trillion Dollars.

From Bloomberg Business News:

U.S. unemployment will surge to 10 percent this year and the budget deficit will widen to $1.5 trillion next year, reflecting a “deeper recession” than previously expected, White House budget chief Peter Orszag said.

The Office of Management and Budget also forecasts that the U.S. economy will shrink 2.8 percent this year, worse than the 1.2 percent contraction the OMB projected in May. For next year, the budget office said the gross domestic product will grow 2.0 percent, less than the 3.2 percent expected in May. By 2011, the economy would be well on its way to recovery, growing at a 3.8 percent annual rate, according to the administration’s mid-year economic review, released this morning.

Read the full article here