News & Public Affairs
Progresive groups target GOP on stimulus listen
01/14/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Economy, Stimulus Package, economy
Last December, leaders from more than 20 progressive and labor organizations such as the Service Employees International Union and MoveOn.Org coalesced after consulting with the Obama transition team and Congressional leaders on how best to fight for an economic stimulus plan that helps working people.
Calling themselves the Campaign For Jobs and Economic Recovery Now, officials have taken to the airwaves and the op-ed pages, hoping to convince reluctant members of Congress to pass such le...
Be the first to commentNew book looks at FDR's first 100 days in office listen
01/13/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Barack Obama, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Great Depression, economy
As America faces its greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, there have been countless allusions to Barack Obama’s presidency with what Franklin Delano Roosevelt had to contend with back in 1932.
Reports have surfaced that Obama is studying FDR’s first 100 days even looking at the words Roosevelt used and the tone he struck, in hopes of emulating the way FDR carried on a conversation with the American public and built confidence in the New Deal.
In the new book, *Nothing t...
Be the first to commentProgressive economist skeptical of Obama stimulus plan listen
01/12/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Economy, Stimulus Package, Barack Obama
On Saturday, President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team unveiled a 14-page report claiming his economic stimulus plan will create three to four million jobs by the end of next year.
Dr. Ravi Batra is an economics professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and somewhat of a prophet in his analysis of the financial crises.
In 2005, Batra wrote the book, Greenspan’s Fraud, and followed it up in 2006 with The New Golden Age, in which he predicted economic chaos would begin...
Be the first to commentCastor previews economic stimulus package listen
01/05/09 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Economy, economic stimulus package
One of the most pressing priorities of the new Congress after it begins session tomorrow is to pass the largest economic stimulus bill in history.
Tampa Democrat U.S. Representative Kathy Castor held a press conference in South Tampa this morning to announce how the state and the Tampa Bay area might benefit from the recovery package.
Castor predicted the U.S. government will send Florida $2 billion for Medicaid. Castor called the funding for Medicaid “the ...
Be the first to commentUF survey: Consumer confidence up in Florida listen
12/24/08 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
In Florida, the economic news is not all bad, according to a new University of Florida survey on consumer confidence.
Chris McCarty is survey director of UF’s Survey Research Center. “Consumer confidence in Florida is up from November … That’s still a low number historically speaking, but it is certainly better than it was last month.”
Sixty-seven points is not a percentage, but an index, McCarty said. The monthly Florida Consumer Attitude Survey is indexed to a 1966 baseline of 100. ...
Be the first to commentThe case for big government - Part 2 listen
12/23/08 Mitch PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Big Government is back and it is not only effective, but necessary. That’s the premise of a new book by renowned economist and former New York Times columnist Jeff Madrick. His new book is called The Case for Big Government.
WMNF spoke with Madrick and began the second half of his interview by asking if the "Republican Revolution" of the 1980s is the cause of so many Americans accepting the fact that they will not be able to rise in socioeconomic status.
Be the first to commentHillsborough Commission reviews its budget listen
12/17/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Hillsborough County Commission, budget, economy
As Florida’s House members were learning the ramifications of the worst economic environment since the Great Depression, Hillsborough County Commissioners were getting a local take on the dire picture.
The Board did get some relatively good news from Chris Lancamera is ddirector of finance with the Clerk of the Board. She told the Board that they don’t have to worry about the safety of the portfolio, but she said she wasn’t as optimistic about interest earnings, especially after the fed cu...
Be the first to commentState economist: Recession to last another year listen
12/17/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Economy, state budget, housing
This morning the Florida House was given sobering news about the state of Florida’s economy.
The upshot, delivered from Legislative Economist Amy Baker was that things won’t be getting better anytime soon. Baker said the key ingredient in Florida’s economy is new construction. But she says that won’t come back until the state deals with its considerable current inventory of available housing.
Baker said she expected the state to actually experience growth in the next year, but it wo...
Be the first to commentSarasota allocates $600,000 to help halt foreclosures listen
12/10/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Economy, housing, foreclosure crisis, Sarasota County
Sarasota County Commissioners yesterday approved $600,000 to give direct financial assistance for families in the county facing foreclosure on their homes.
The funding – which ultimately could rise to $1 million - will be distributed in grants of up to $5,000 through a group of nonprofit organizations in the county.
Last month, deputy administrator Susan Scott said there were approximately 8,000 pending foreclosures in the judicial process and an additional 900 filings occurring monthly...
Be the first to commentHow big should Obama's stimulus plan be? listen
12/09/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Barack Obama, economy, enconomic stimulus, Wall Street bailout, recovery plan
Over the weekend, President-elect Barack Obama discussed a major economic stimulus proposal he plans to unveil once he takes office.
Today members of the progressive left announced their own stimulus plan, which they say closely tracks what Obama says he’s planning.
Called “The Main Street Recovery Plan,” it has been endorsed by dozens of liberal economists and union officials. It was produced by the progressive group, the Campaign For America’s Future.
Dr. Jamie Galbreath is an econ...
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