Weekly Claims For Unemployment Benefits Drop

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plummeted last week, reversing nearly all the sharp rise reported the previous week.

The number of laid-off workers seeking benefits dropped 44,000 to a seasonally adjusted 434,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That is the steepest weekly fall since February 2010.

The drop suggests that the increase of 47,000 reported last week was mostly due to temporary factors. The state of New York reported that applications jumped by more than 24,000 two weeks ago, because more school systems had spring break than usual. That led to a spike in temporary layoffs. A new extended benefits program in Oregon had caused applications to rise in that state.

Still, the latest applications figure is far above the 375,000 level typically consistent with sustainable job growth. Weekly applications peaked during the recession at 659,000.

The tornadoes that devastated parts of Alabama led to a jump in applications in that state last week, a department spokesman said, though it wasn't enough to significantly impact the national numbers.

The four-week average of claims, a less volatile measure, rose to 436,750, its fifth straight increase. The average has jumped 46,500, or nearly 12 percent, since early April.

That rise has raised concerns among many economists that hiring could slow this month, weighing on the economy. More jobs are critical to boosting consumer incomes and spending. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.

Employers have been adding jobs at a healthy pace since February. Companies have added 250,000 jobs each month, on average, in the past three months, the biggest hiring spree in five years. The unemployment rate has dropped nearly a full percentage point in the past five months, though it remains at 9 percent.

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits edged up by 5,000 to 3.8 million, the department said. But that doesn't include millions of additional people receiving emergency benefits under an extended benefits program put in place during the recession. All told, just under 8 million people received unemployment benefits in the week ending April 23, the most recent data available. That's about 30,000 fewer than the previous week.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/12/136234846/weekly-claims-for-unemployment-benefits-drop?ft=1&f=1003

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New Texas Bill Sparks Abortion Debate

The Texas legislature recently passed a bill requiring doctors to conduct a sonogram at least 24 hours before performing an abortion. Texas State Rep. Sid Miller wrote the bill and says it will "save numerous unborn lives." Abortion rights advocates worry the law will make it tougher for women to seek abortions. Host Michel Martin discusses the legislation with Texas State Rep. Sid Miller and former Planned Parenthood board member Carol Alvarado.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/11/136205477/new-texas-bill-sparks-abortion-debate?ft=1&f=1014

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Drowning in Debt: CA Lifeguards Make $200K Per Year

Brian Calle, OCRHigh pay and benefits for lifeguards in Newport Beach is the latest example of frustrating levels of compensation for public employees. More than half the city’s full-time lifeguards are paid a salary of over $100,000 and all but one of them collect more than $100,000 in total compensation including benefits.When thinking about career options with high salaries, lifeguarding is probably not one of the first jobs to come to mind. But it apparently should. In one of Orange County’s most desirable beach destinations, Newport Beach, lifeguards are compensated all too...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/05/11/drowning_in_debt_ca_lifeguards_make_200k_per_year_255264.html

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GOP Freshmen Admit To Playing Politics, Ask Obama To Stop Doing Same

In a fascinating attempt to gain the political high ground, freshmen House Republicans have asked President Obama, and by extension, his fellow Democrats, to stop using what the GOP members call Medicare scare tactics to try and gain political advantage.

The plea for civility comes after Obama and other Democrats have pounded House Republicans for supporting a GOP 2012 budget proposal that would privatize the Medicare program for future seniors, forcing anyone under 55 to buy health coverage from private insurers when they become eligible for the benefit.

Democrats vowed to remind voters as often as possible that House Republicans voted for the controversial proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) which is meant to cut the government's soaring spending on health care but would change Medicare radically. And so they have.

 

House Republicans have been hearing from frightened and angry constituents who fear what the proposal could mean for them or their middle-aged children.

The blowback from the GOP Medicare vote is being blamed for making a special election contest to fill a vacant House seat in a New York State much more competitive. According to the latest poll, the Democrat is leading in the race for the 26th Congressional District seat, a heretofore safe Republican seat in an area considered solidly Republican.

House Republicans are accusing Democrats of playing rank politics with Medicare which, Republicans freely admit, they have done, too, especially in the run-up to last year's mid-term election. But that was then, is their message now.

An excerpt of prepared remarks by Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) for a Wednesday news conference where he was accompanied by other GOP freshmen:

Clearly Washington is facing a great deal of challenges, but with these challenges come great opportunity. We are presented with the opportunity to reset the tone in Washington by ending the partisan bickering. We have all been guilty, at one time or another, of playing politics with key issues facing our country.

As the freshman class, we have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and fulfill the mandate set by the people to strengthen our country for future generations – not continue the petty politics we have seen in the past, which only creates an environment of stalemate...

... The Republicans have put forward what President Obama called a 'serious proposal' to deal with Medicare spending, which will save necessary programs like Medicare for current seniors, as well as our children and grandchildren.

A week after its passage, Democrats began launching what the Chicago Tribune referred to as 'MediSCARE' attacks against Republicans. House Freshmen asked the President to stand above partisanship, condemn the disingenuous attacks and work with this Congress to reform spending on entitlement programs.

Kinzinger and other House freshmen sent a letter with the same request to the president.

An excerpt from the liberal site, Talking Points Memo:

"Yeah, I mean there's been — again, this is a both-sides issue," said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) when asked if GOP candidates and the NRCC had engaged in 'MediScare' tactics last year. "To say that one side is blameless in trying to use issues to win votes is just dishonest."

The risk for the GOP freshmen in their appeal to the president is that Democrats will see it as confirmation that they've drawn blood and have Republicans running scare and now just redouble their efforts.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/05/11/136207994/gop-freshmen-admit-to-playing-politics-ask-obama-to-stop-doing-same?ft=1&f=1057

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A Look Back At Syria's 1982 Crackdown

Melissa Block talks to Christian Science Monitor editor John Yemma about the 1982 crackdown by the Syrian military in the town of Hama. Yemma, who was the Middle East bureau chief for the Monitor at the time, gives his thoughts on how modern-day crackdowns in Syria compare to the one in 1982 that left at least 10,000 dead.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/11/136214343/a-look-back-at-syrias-1982-crackdown?ft=1&f=1003

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Appeals Court Hears Challenges To Health Care Law

The hearing in Richmond, Va., marked the first time any of the dozens of lawsuits filed against last year's law have reached the appellate level, and brings the measure a step closer to what most predict will be a legal showdown that will only end at the Supreme Court sometime in 2012.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/11/136184844/appeals-court-hears-challenges-to-health-care-law?ft=1&f=1003

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Toyota's Profit Dives Amid Earthquake Disruptions

Toyota's quarterly profit crumpled more than 75 percent after the March earthquake and tsunami wiped out parts suppliers in northeastern Japan, severely disrupting car production.

The maker of the popular Prius hybrid gave no forecast for the current fiscal year through March 2012, citing an uncertain outlook because production continues to be hampered by shortages of parts. Toyota is expected to lose its spot as the world's top-selling automaker to General Motors Co. this year because of the disasters.

The automaker's president Akio Toyoda said he and others at Toyota are "gritting our teeth" to keep jobs in Japan. He promised to disclose earnings forecasts by mid-June.

Toyota Motor Corp. reported Wednesday that January-March profit slid to 25.4 billion yen ($314 million) from 112.2 billion yen a year earlier. For the fiscal year ended March 2011, Toyota's earnings doubled, showing that the Japanese automaker had been on the way to recovery from its recall crisis when the magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck on March 11.

Recovery Efforts Better Than Expected

But Toyota also said efforts to fix production, including using other plants and finding replacement parts, were going better than initially expected, with car manufacturing expected to gradually pick up in Japan and abroad from next month to 70 percent of pre-disaster levels.

Toyota earlier said such production improvements wouldn't start in Japan until about July, and overseas in August, with a full recovery not expected until late this year.

"Our priority is to get our production back to normal and recover from the disaster," a somber Toyoda told reporters. When a full recovery would come was still unknown, he said.

By the end of May, the crisis has cost the company production of 550,000 vehicles in Japan, and another 350,000 overseas. Production is now back at about 50 percent.

"By reviving our company, we want to help bring Japan's comeback," said Toyoda.

Analysts say the quake and tsunami have sorely hurt Toyota but a production recovery could come quickly.

"I think chances may be good that getting production back would be speedy," Shotaro Noguchi, analyst at SMBC Nikko Capital Markets in Tokyo, said in a recent report.

Nuclear Power Shutdown Could Hurt Rebound

Still, Toyota may face a different kind of challenge in the months ahead because the government has asked for a shutdown of the Hamaoka nuclear power plant, which is located on a fault-line and furnishes the power supply for the region where Toyota is headquartered and has many of its plants and suppliers.

The request came because of growing fears about the safety of nuclear power after the tsunami damaged the cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on the northeastern coast, sending it to the brink of a meltdown.

Toyoda did not say how much the Hamaoka shutdown would reduce production, but promised the company would do its utmost to secure a stable power supply.

He said production at all lines for all models would be back at pre-disaster levels by November or December at the latest, but efforts are under way to do it faster.

The hit Toyota has taken makes it likely a resurgent General Motors will regain the title of world's No. 1 automaker by annual vehicle sales. Toyota overtook GM as the world's biggest automaker in 2008, a distinction the American manufacturer had held since 1932.

Toyota said it sold 7.31 million vehicles for the fiscal year through March 2011, up by 71,000 vehicles from the previous year.

For the January-March period, Toyota sold 1.79 million vehicles worldwide. That is fewer than the 2.22 million vehicles GM sold and fewer than No. 3 automaker, Volkswagen AG of Germany, at 1.99 million.

Toyoda said the automaker was still missing about 30 types of parts, although that was an improvement from the 150 it had lacked before. Toyota hopes to be producing at 70 percent of its pre-quake levels by June.

The automaker's full-year results highlight how, when the quake struck, Toyota had been on its way to a recovery from the recall fiasco, affecting 14 million vehicles worldwide, which had battered its reputation for quality.

Quarterly Sales Dip

Sales for the January-March quarter dipped 12 percent year-on-year to 4.6 trillion yen ($57 billion), according to Toyota. For the fiscal year ended March 2011, profit doubled to 408.1 billion yen ($5 billion) from 209.4 billion yen the previous year. Annual sales edged up 0.2 percent to 18.99 trillion yen ($234 billion).

Toyota said vehicle sales fell in North America, Japan and Europe, but it had robust sales in other regions, such as the rest of Asia, Africa and South America.

Toyota is especially struggling in the U.S., where its April sales rose just 1 percent from the previous year, while GM's car and truck sales surged 26 percent and South Korean rival Hyundai Motor Co. posted a 40 percent jump in sales.

Like other Japanese exporters, Toyota has been hurt by the surging yen, which erodes overseas earnings. The dollar has now fallen to near 80 yen from about 90 yen a year earlier.

"Despite negative factors such as a rapid rise in the yen and the earthquake, our profit sharply rose, thanks to massive cost-cutting and sales efforts," said Toyoda, referring to the full-year result.

Honda, which reported a quarterly profit drop of 38 percent last month, has said it doesn't expect to return to full production in Japan until the end of the year.

Toyota shares closed up 0.6 percent at 3,270 yen ($40) in Tokyo, shortly before earnings were announced. That is still down 9 percent from before the quake.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/11/136201443/toyotas-profit-dives-amid-earthquake-disruptions?ft=1&f=1004

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