CO’S BAND-AIDS: Nearly Half a Million Qualify for Obamacare Subsidies

Published on April 18, 2013 by

A recent study by FamiliesUSA found that 466,000 people in Colorado will qualify for federal subsidies relating to Obamacare next year.  Of that population, 36% nationally are young adults aged 18-34 years old, which is virtually identical to the number of young adults who qualify in Colorado – 36.3%.

This all may sound well and good, but that 36% of young adults nationally and locally qualify for federal health care subsidies simply serves to mask a larger issue – the persistent unemployment in this age group.  A recent study by Bowling Green State University’s National Center for Family and Marriage Research found that unemployment among this age group increased 55% from 2006 through 2011.

At a time when entitlement spending (see Social Security and Medicare) has ballooned out of control, the federal government is proposing to bring a whole new generation of Americans under its generous wing.  The more troubling aspect to this march towards Obamacare is that the program inserts additional barriers between the consumer of the care and the person who pays for the care.  It’s this dichotomy that sends health care costs spiraling out of control.  From the FamiliesUSA study’s explanation of how this benefit works:

“When a person or family qualifies for a tax credit, the dollars from the credit will flow directly to the health plan in which the individual or family enrolls, offsetting the total cost of the family’s health insurance premiums for that plan.”

That families are struggling is not breaking news, but instead of adding government band-aids to each problem that arises, let’s start taking a look at the underlying causes of this struggle.

 

BETTER OFF? Jobs Down; CO’s Child Poverty Rate 2nd Fastest Growing in Nation

Published on April 5, 2013 by

Coloradans have heard rumors for the past few months that our economy may be improving.  Unfortunately, it was just a rumor.  Two pieces of news recently surfaced that indicated Colorado as well as the nation is in an economic slump – the jobs report was dismal and Colorado’s child poverty rate is the second fastest-growing in the nation.

This morning, the U.S. jobs numbers were released by the Department of Labor and the number of new jobs added to the economy versus what was expected was a huge miss.  Nationally, it was expected that the economy would add 190,000 new jobs in March.  It added just 88,000.  Not even half.  While some publications blamed this trend on a “post-sequester world”, employers have said that they’re hesitant to hire because of government regulation and the cost of Obamacare, which continues to spiral out of control.

Perhaps the under-employment situation is not surprising to the sobering number of children who live in poverty in Colorado – the second fastest growing state in the union, said the Colorado Children’s Campaign.

According to its annual report, the rate of children living in poverty in the state skyrocketed from 10 percent in 2000 to 18 percent in 2011.  According to the press release, this increase represents an additional 113,000 children living in poverty.

The report, part of the Anne E. Casey Foundation’s national Kids County project, found that the rate of children living in poverty almost doubled between 2000 and 2011, to 18 percent from 10 percent, a trend experts say could get worse as the state slowly recovers from recent economic recessions.

While the Colorado Children’s Campaign noted that the state would “slowly recover”, the sad reality is that the Colorado legislature have focused on everything but jobs and the economy.  In fact, the Democrats are doing everything in their power to chase jobs from the state – from passing the high-capacity magazine ban, which killed several hundred jobs, to raising billions of dollars in new taxes on small businesses to killing pro-business legislation.  Coloradans and our children deserve better.

 

SMART CHOICE: Colorado Springs City Council Picks Jobs Over Enviro Jokers In Fracking Fight

Published on November 28, 2012 by

Credit: Colorado Springs No Fracking FB page

The fracking fight came to Colorado Springs yesterday, and energy development won out over a radical environmentalist “mob” of about 20 people. In a 6-3 vote to allow exploratory drilling on private land in the Springs, the city council decided to not make the same mistake Longmont Councilman Brian Bagley and the Longmont City Council made by getting in bed with radical environmental wackjobs.

Reports the Colorado Springs Gazette‘s Ned Hunter:

Dave Gardner wore a green gas mask in front of City Hall Tuesday, hoping to encourage City Council members to vote against an ordinance that allows drilling for oil and natural gas within the city.

Gardner was among more than 30 people who showed up to present their views on the ordinance. More than half of the attendees spoke against it, but their efforts failed.

After more than six hours, council members voted 6-3 to approve a set of rules that would allow Ultra Resources, Hilcorp Energy Co. and other energy companies to drill exploratory and other wells within city limits. Council members Tim Leigh, Angela Dougan, Merv Bennett, Brandy Williams, Lisa Czelatdko, and Bernie Herpin voted in favor of the ordinance. Council members Jan Martin, Val Snider and Scott Hente voted against it. The ordinance must be voted on again at the council’s Dec. 11 meeting.

While the Gazette‘s reporter romanticizes the environmentalist protesters in his write up, giving short shrift to the majority supporters, the key takeaway is that the council ignored the radical environmental hysteria.

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CULTURAL FIT: Colorado-Based Brewery Screens Job Candidates on Politics?

Published on October 18, 2012 by

It’s tough enough to get a job these days, but Colorado-based New Belgium brewery, which produces the popular Fat Tire beer and others, gives job candidates one more hoop to jump through – a cultural fit.  This may sound ok on its face; however, the admission came in a Wall Street Journal article yesterday about the discussion of politics in the workplace.

Here’s the excerpt:

“In Colorado, executives  at New Belgium Brewing Co. have made their political views public. Indeed, CEO  Kim Jordan attended the Democratic Convention in Charlotte earlier this year.  Favored candidates have also been permitted to hold events at the brewery.

Still, “we try to be really careful to allow everyone to have their own  opinion,” says Jenn Vervier, the director of sustainability and strategic  planning at the 450-employee company. Because the company considers “cultural  fit” when hiring, she says, most staffers tend to agree on partisan issues.”

According to Wikipedia, which is always right (or rightish), employment discrimination is discrimination in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, and compensation. It includes various types of harassment. Many jurisdictions prohibit some types of employment discrimination, often by forbidding discrimination based on certain traits (“protected categories”).

Protected categories may include: race or color, ethnicity or national origin, sex or gender, pregnancy, religion or creed, political affiliation, language abilities, citizenship, disability or medical condition, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital status.

We’ve certainly worked in environments in which “cultural fit” is important, but cultural fit is typically embodied by qualities like “self-starter”, “innovative”, “entreprenurial”.  Not screening for political affiliation.

So, did (does?) New Belgium commit employment discrimination in considering “cultural fit” that allows most staffers to “agree on partisan issues” when hiring?  Does this impact your willingness to purchase New Belgium products?

Perhaps this is just another chapter in the tolerance of the left.

 

COLORADO SLIPPING AWAY? 4 Takeaways From The Denver Post Poll That Should Scare Barack Obama

Published on October 15, 2012 by

The latest Denver Post poll of Colorado showing Romney taking the lead 48%-47% has many reasons to scare the strategists at Obama HQ back in Chicago. The host state to Obama’s historically embarrassing first debate loss not only has shifted away from the President, but the Post‘s topline results likely mask a much larger Romney lead than the single point that hit headlines.

The Denver Post has set an admirable bar by posting the full crosstabs and question phrasing on their Colorado polls from SurveyUSA. That lets readers know what kind of biases are cooked into the results they release.

From the way questions are asked to whom they are asked of, this data affects the horserace numbers in the headlines. The numbers below — what different ethnic groups, genders, income levels, party members, etc think about candidates and issues — also give a much better sense of the direction of a race than do the top-line candidate A vs. candidate B figures.

In the case of The Denver Post poll released last Friday, and scooped by the Peak on Thursday, there are a number of issues that lead us to believe Governor Mitt Romney’s lead in Colorado is actually more than the one-point advantage the poll found. Here are 4 reasons Barack Obama has more to fear from the latest Post poll:

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ANYTHING FOR OBAMA, PART 4 MILLION: Press Trumpets Positive Jobs News, Ignores Communities With Unemployment At 20%

Published on October 3, 2012 by

The power of omission and inclusion – when it comes to this presidential election, it is the favored tool in the journalistic tool box of the pro-Obama media here in Colorado.

Earlier this week, the Drudge Report trumpeted a story from our friends at The Colorado Observer reporting that, according to the state’s Department of Labor, a number of Colorado counties had unemployment at or near 20 percent.

DENVER — The slowest economic recovery since World War II is going especially slow for sections of Colorado, according to a letter from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) obtained by The Colorado Observer.

In seven counties in Colorado unemployed individuals are close to or exceeding 20% of the population, a letter from the Chief Economist of CDLE to the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.

A Drudge link brought the story to the attention of at least tens of thousands of eyes, which is more than you can say about the Colorado press.

The CO press still hasn’t covered the story. Why? Shut your mouth you vainglorious pantywaist. You know why. It doesn’t fit Dean Singleton and the Post‘s preferred story line.

See today’s online edition in the Post where news of titillating economic comeback is the story of the hour. That is the Post narrative, so keep all that talk of 20 percent unemployment to your no good selves.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday reported a 7.7 percent unemployment rate in the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield Metropolitan Statistical Area in August 2012, which ranks below the national rate of 8.2 percent for the month.

Non-farm employment in the area was 1.25 million in August, up 33,800 or 2.8 percent from August 2011. That mirrors July’s numbers. Nationally, non-farm employment rose 1.4 percent from a year ago.

There you have it. All is well.

Good night. God Bless. And may God richly bless Barack and Michelle Obama.

 

SAVIOR OR EMPTY CHAIR: Did HD3 Rep. Daniel Kagan Save or Shutter the Family Business?

Published on September 28, 2012 by

When the Colorado Accountable Government Alliance sent out a mailer lobbing all sorts of accusations against Colorado House District Three candidate Brian Watson’s business dealings, House Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino batted clean up by offering to Fox31 that “Kagan saved his parents’ textile company and managed it for 10 years” and added, “His parents’ company in England was failing, he went back and rescued it.”

Well, not quite.

We took a closer look at Kagan’s business, Kagan Textiles, in the United Kingdom.  It would appear from the financial statements that the Kagan family (including his mother and brother, who also served as directors) dissolved – not saved – the family’s company.  In fact, during his time on the board of directors, Kagan liquidated nearly £20 million in company assets.

Kagan was appointed a director of Kagan Textiles from September 1, 1996. For the period ended January 31, 1996, gross revenue totaled approximately £493,000.  Of this amount, £417,000 was derived from rental revenue and interest income.  The cash the company had on January 31, 1996 was £605,000.  At the end of 2008, the company’s revenues were £684,320 and they had £13,580,191 cash on hand.

Selling off nearly £20 million in company assets doesn’t exactly equate to “rescuing” a company.  Those are the actions of someone who is dissolving the company, which Kagan did formally on July 19, 2011.  Further, to give you a concept of scale, in 2007, Kagan Textiles collected approximately £80,000 in gross rents and earned approximately £274,000 in interest, while the company recorded a £6,120,515 profit on the sale of fixed assets (e.g., real estate).

It was also interesting to note that around 2001, the principle purpose of the textile company changed significantly.  (See snippets from the financial statements below)

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BROW BEATEN: Small Businesses Shrug in CO and Nationwide

Published on September 26, 2012 by

Earlier today, we posted on how weak Colorado’s so-called recovery has been.  Two new polls released in the past few days may help explain why.

Public Opinion Strategies conducted a survey of 800 small business owners and manufacturers, owners, or C-Level decision makers at companies with between two and 499 employees.  The survey was commissioned by the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the National Association of Manufacturers.  Here are the most important findings from the respondents:

  • 69% of small business owners and manufacturers say President Obama’s recent Executive Branch and regulatory policies have hurt them, compared to just 29% who think they’ve helped (we assume those businesses are in the green energy sector)
  • 55% say that given what they know now and in the current economic climate for business, they would not start a business today
  • 55% said that, compared to three years ago, the national economy is less favorable to the success of American small businesses owners; just 24% think the economy is more favorable
  • 66% said economic uncertainty makes it hard for them to grow and hire; they hold the Obama Administration or Congress responsible.
  • 58% rate government spending as a significant challenge facing facing small business owners and manufacturers
  • 49% rate federal, state, and local taxes  as a significant challenge facing facing small business owners and manufacturers
  • 55% say that given what they know now and in the current economic climate for business, they would not start a business today

Emphasizing these findings, Thumbtack.com also published a study of Colorado small businesses’ responses to the question: “What is the single most important issue in your choice for president?” The chart below shows that Colorado entrepreneurs, not surprisingly, rate jobs and the economy as top issues.  But, surprisingly, the Colorado respondents rated ethics/honesty/corruption in government as the next most important.  (Yeah, they’re talking to you, Adams County.)

 

 

DEAD LAST: Colorado Has Worst Recovery in Unemployment in Nation

Published on September 25, 2012 by

A chart of the improvement in unemployment, sent to us by faithful Peak reader and contributor Dave Diepenbrock, showed that Colorado has had the greatest increase in unemployment since August 2009 of any state in the country. Not only have our unemployment numbers not improved, they’ve actually gotten worse.  See the chart below.

Perhaps Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper knew about the improvement (or lack thereof) in unemployment in Colorado last week when he noted: “It’s always good to get positive news with the state revenue forecast,” Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said in a statement. “But we know many households are still struggling and different sectors of the economy are still fragile.”

While the rest of the country continues to suffer from high unemployment, some areas have seen tepid improvement.  Colorado is simply not one of them.  Of course, with the national unemployment average remaining at a stubbornly high 8.1%, the recovery that President Obama promised to Americans seems out of reach.

As a reminder, he promised that if he was to enact the massive spending programs that added exponentially to our national debt, he would be able to return unemployment to 5.6%.  Then again, he also claimed he would slash deficits by 50% and we’ve seen how that’s worked out for us.  Obama claimed that if he was unable to accomplish this within his first term, he would be a one-term president.  For the sake of Colorado’s families, let’s hope so.

 

HICK STEPS ON MSM RECOVERY FICTION: Colorado Guv Says More Tough Times Ahead

Published on September 20, 2012 by

Give it to Governor Hickenlooper. His awe-shucks, tell-it-like-it-is communication strategy may work well for his own political fortunes, but he often ends up putting his foot in someone else’s mouth.

While the mainstream media was out pushing 2011 census numbers released today proclaiming the economy has “bottomed out,” Hickenlooper took the occasion of increased revenue forecasts for the state of Colorado to sound a note of caution on those optimistic assessments:

“It’s always good to get positive news with the state revenue forecast,” Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said in a statement. “But we know many households are still struggling and different sectors of the economy are still fragile.”

That would seem to be an obvious statement of fact to those who recall that Colorado’s unemployment rate has risen for the last four consecutive months. The government’s coffers may be swelling, but that should be no cause for joy while Coloradans are still more likely to get a pink slip than a raise.

Still, it’s not a helpful argument from the state’s leading Democrat. Right now, Democrats are trying to convince people their stewardship has a positive effect on the economy. Any tiny headline that doesn’t spell economic doom has been heralded by them.

Governor Hickenlooper’s top economist, Henry Sobanet, kicked some more sand on the Democrats’ talking points when he predicted things could be about to get worse:

“We are maintaining a relatively cautious forecast as the economy continues to face several major uncertainties and risks, such as the continuing struggles in Europe and possible impending federal spending cuts and tax increases,” said Henry Sobanet, executive director of OSPB. “These issues may result in more pronounced slowing than currently forecast.”

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