Back from a quiet summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, President Barack Obama this morning called on the Senate to pass a long-stalled small business assistance bill when it returns from its summer recess.
** HARSH REALM: THE MEG WHITMAN PROGRAM FOR FUTURE CALIFORNIA. Billionaire Meg Whitman keeps plugging what she says is a program for California’s future as a key reason to make her governor of the nation’s largest state. She must be counting on people not paying attention to what her program actually is.
For quite awhile, Whitman, still struggling to develop any momentum in her race for California governor against Jerry Brown despite having already broken all spending records for a non-presidential candidate in American history, has touted her program as the reason to vote for her as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successor. Namely, that she has one and Brown doesn’t. Or didn’t. Lately, Brown has released a lot of program points, none of which are a surprise since they reflect what he’s been doing and saying throughout his decades in public life.
But that didn’t stop Whitman from trying to have what she calls her “book” — it’s actually a 40-page pamphlet, with big type and many pictures and graphics — placed in California’s public libraries. Virtually all of them turned her down, since it’s campaign advertising and decidedly not a book. Nor did it stop her from using it as one her many excuses to avoid debates with Brown (I have a policy book and he doesn’t have one yet), or from mailing it around the state, or from having it lovingly photographed for one of her incessant TV ads.
For quite awhile, the much diminished state press corps bought into the whole Whitman-has-a-program thing. No one really took a look at what it is. Which is interesting, because the program makes no sense. …
** NEW SURVEY: WHAT WORKERS DON’T LIKE ABOUT THEIR JOBS. STRESS. Those fortunate enough to be employed during this slow-mo recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression generally like their work, according to a new Gallup Poll survey.
What don’t they like? Work-related stress. They’re not that happy about the pay, either.
Oddly, the level of satisfaction with jobs is higher than it was a decade ago, and doesn’t appear to have changed since before the mega-recession.
The majority of U.S. workers are completely satisfied with several aspects of their work environment, including their relations with coworkers, the flexibility of their hours, and the amount of work required of them. Of 13 job characteristics rated, they are the least satisfied with their on-the-job stress, followed by their pay. …
No more than 32% of workers are dissatisfied with any of the job aspects rated in the Aug. 5-8 Gallup poll; however, the number completely satisfied does dwindle well below 50% for several. Aside from stress, these include the important material rewards that come from working: pay, company retirement plans, health insurance benefits, and one’s opportunity for promotion.
Worker satisfaction ratings have not changed appreciably over the past year, or even since August 2007, a full year before the start of the global financial crisis. However, workers do appear to be more satisfied today than they were at the beginning of the decade, when Gallup launched the annual measure.
This is seen in the trend for overall job satisfaction, in which 48% are now completely satisfied, similar to the 50% recorded last year, but higher than 39% to 43% readings in most years from 2001 through 2006. …
Workers also appear to be more satisfied today than in 2001 with several specific aspects of their jobs. Ratings for physical safety at work, recognition for work accomplishments, the amount of work required, vacation time, and chances for promotion all show significant improvement since 2001.
Over the same period, workers have become no more satisfied today with their job security, their companies’ retirement plans or health insurance benefits, or on-the-job stress. …
Despite severe turbulence in the U.S. economy and labor market in recent years, working Americans’ satisfaction with their job conditions has changed little since 2007. The long-term comparison is more mixed. Workers are more satisfied today than they were in 2001 with the amount of work required of them, the recognition they receive, their chances for promotion, and pay, among others. Thus, either employers have become more generous in these areas, or employees — perhaps more grateful to have a job — have become easier to please. At the same time, there has been little or no improvement in worker satisfaction in three important areas: health insurance benefits, retirement plans, and job security.
Stress has consistently ranked near the bottom in Gallup’s annual worker satisfaction ratings, trading off with pay for last place. The potentially good news offsetting this is that workers continue to be largely content with their bosses, and with their coworker relations.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
It’s a relatively short week ahead in presidential politics and California politics, thanks to the impending Labor Day weekend, but there will be a few major developments.
Back from a quiet summer vacation with the family on Martha’s Vineyard, Obama brings Israeli and Palestinian leaders to the White House this week to renew the peace process.
On Monday, Obama will attend meetings at the White House and make a statement on the economy. There have been a few recent signs of renewed economic recovery, though most of the recent news has been mediocre.
On Tuesday, Obama will travel to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he will meet with troops returned from Iraq. Later, the President will also address the nation on Iraq from the Oval Office.
All U.S. combat troops have been withdrawn from Iraq, actually ahead of schedule. 50,000 U.S. troops designated as non-combat, who will not patrol or engage in combat operations, remain in country. They are scheduled to be withdrawn by the end of 2011.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Obama will attend meetings at the White House. Much of that is around the re-start of the Israeli/Palestinian peace process.
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, special envoy of the Mideast Quartet powers, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be on hand for a working dinner Tuesday night and scheduled peace talks on Wednesday.
After that, while Obama’s public schedule remains flexible as it always is later in the week to accommodate emerging issues, much of America’s attention turns to the start of Labor Day weekend.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban have been staging attacks in the relatively stable north, in addition to the usual attacks in the east and the south.
The touted Taliban offensive hasn’t amounted to that much. But then again, neither has the ballyhooed U.S./allied offensive in Kandahar Province, which is far behind schedule.
In Pakistan, relief efforts to deal with the country’s worst flooding in history are ongoing. Private American contributions to the effort are relatively low.
In Iraq, the governance situation remains unresolved over five-and-a-half months since national parliamentary elections on March 7th.
Back in California politics, Senator Barbara Boxer will debate her Republican challenger, ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. They’re in a tight race in which Boxer still has the edge.
Fiorina will head to the Middle East over Labor Day weekend. Boxer has a large built-in advantage with the Jewish community, despite her reputation as an ultra-liberal.
Naturally, these two will debate before the gubernatorial candidates.
Billionaire Meg Whitman has dodged Jerry Brown’s challenge to 10 town hall debates. Having already broken the campaign spending record for all non-presidential candidates in American history, Whitman is still busily spending her fortune, trying once again to overwhelm Brown and develop some momentum in her stalled campaign.
Meanwhile, California’s chronic budget crisis drags on, with no agreement in sight between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders.
The Legislature will conduct what’s called a drill on Tuesday, voting on budget proposals which don’t the votes to pass.
President Barack Obama traveled to New Orleans yesterday to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
He has met with senior advisors in the Oval Office and is receiving his daily intelligence and economic briefings there.
At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama makes a statement on the economy in the Rose Garden.
After stalling in July, there have been a few signs of renewed economic recovery. Unemployment claims were down last week. Now comes word that consumer spending is up slightly.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
Speaking of Iraq, that’s where Vice President Joe Biden is today and tomorrow.
He made a confidential trip there in advance of tomorrow’s formal announcement of the end of U.S. combat operations there. Among other things, Biden’s purpose is to bring together the disparate factions of Iraqi politics to at last form a new government, nearly six months after national parliamentary elections.
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
At 1 PM, Schwarzenegger will deliver remarks at the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) Political Reform Act Task Force meeting in Sacramento.
Schwarzenegger’s remarks will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.
Schwarzenegger will also hold private talks, much of them around California’s chronic budget crisis.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate in fall 2008, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. You can listen to my video webchat last year with Schwarzenegger here. It covers most of the major issues and also reveals his cameo in the latest Terminator movie.
Mad Men won the award for Best Dramatic Series for the third year in a row at last night’s Emmy Awards at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: ANOTHER FAMOUS ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY. The reports of Don Draper’s descent into chaos have been greatly exaggerated.
“The Chrysanthemum and the Sword,” a distinctly odd title for those who were not students of anthropology, sociology, or history, is a significant improvement over last week’s episode. Much more happened in this episode, and there was a sense of greater forward motion. There be spoilers ahead, as usual.
Let’s get the title out of the way first. It’s a direct reference to a famous book, published in 1946 by anthropologist Ruth Benedict, a close associate of Margaret Mead. Benedict, sadly, died not long after, but her work lived on. In particular this book, which drew from a series of papers Benedict prepared during World War II for American intelligence. Their purpose? To understand the Japanese, with whom we were then engaged in a war in the Pacific far more brutal than the war against Germany. … From my August 25th review.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “THE REJECTED” IS A ROUTINE EPISODE, BUT BETTY DRAPER HAS JOINED THE X-MEN! This was the most routine of the episodes so far this season. But afterwards, I learned where Betty Draper has gotten herself to. She’s joined The X-Men! … From my August 18th review.
** HARSH REALM: MEG WHITMAN AND THE C.E.O. MYTH. Billionaire Republican Meg Whitman, still trying to gain traction in her bid to beat Jerry Brown and succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as California’s governor despite already having smashed all non-presidential campaign spending records in American history, rests her campaign on her reputation as a corporate CEO. Since she didn’t bother to vote and was never involved in public affairs before deciding to start as governor of a state she moved to in the late ’90s, it’s all she has. Absent that, she is nothing more than an assertion of ambition and creation of paid advertising.
Californians have been inundated with ads since last fall extolling Whitman’s purported expertise as the former CEO of eBay, the online auction company, and other business credentials. With her negative ads coming up short against Brown, Whitman relaunched her imagineering efforts anew … with a TV ad telling us she did a great job at eBay.
But did she, really? Or did she actually do what she claims politicians do, i.e., disastrously expand into areas she knew nothing about, jack up overhead, take far more in personal pay and perks, and repeatedly hike fees (read: taxes) on eBay sellers? … From my August 17th feature.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “THE GOOD NEWS” IS SAD YET VERY GOOD. … From my August 9th review.
** HARSH REALM: THE LEGACY THAT MEG WHITMAN INVOKES. … From my August 7th feature.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “CHRISTMAS COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR,” EXCEPT FOR THESE THREE WISE GUYS. … From my August 3rd review.
** HARSH REALM: THE POST-PRESS ERA AND MEG WHITMAN. … From my July 30th feature.
** MAD MEN RETURNS WITH “PUBLIC RELATIONS,” IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE: WHO IS DON DRAPER … From my July 26th essay.
** DOES INCEPTION SALVAGE THE SUMMER MOVIE SEASON? … From my July 22nd essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $74 per barrel.
This is up about $40 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
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| Comments (52) |
Tony Blair’s memoir is finally out. I wonder if I could get it signed by Tony. Does anybody know if he is doing book signings? Can I buy it at Amazon?
I have been following your blog for three days now and I should say I am starting to like your post. Now how do I subscribe to your blog?