President Barack Obama has compiled a handy to-do list for Congress that, “if acted upon quickly, will create jobs and help restore middle class security,” according to the White House’s blog. And it’s about time. This is most certainly not, as cynics might suggest, another transparent political scheme. After all, these initiatives, the White House claims, enjoy bipartisan support—which, I gather, is meant to impress you, even if it’s not exactly true.

Regrettably, the sentiment of the to-do list does garner bipartisan support and illustrates how cheap populism leads to bad policy and why Washington shouldn’t be in the business of “creating jobs” in the first place.

Obama says passing his to-do list would help create “an economy built to last—one that creates the jobs of the future and makes things the rest of the world buys—not one built on outsourcing, loopholes, and risky financial deals.” History tells us that when government “creates” an economy, it won’t be much of an economy to speak of—but here’s the new plan:

“Reward American Jobs, Not Outsourcing.” Hey, let’s play on the genuine frustration of struggling Americans. Most politicians will latch on to this protectionist notion to some extent. But need it really be repeated that outsourcing, by generating more productivity, creates more wealth and more jobs? On this point, most economists actually agree.

CONTINUED at Reason. Written by David Harsanyi.

A New York woman who donated a kidney so her ailing boss would move up the transplant waiting list says she was fired shortly after the operation, according to a complaint she filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights.

Deborah Stevens said her former employer, Atlantic Automotive Group, discriminated against her over disabilities brought about by complications from the surgery, and she plans to sue the company for lost earnings and damages.

The company, which runs car dealerships on Long Island, said Stevens’s complaint is groundless.

“My gal is just a good-natured woman who’s trying to save a life and as soon as she did it, everything changed,” said Stevens’ attorney Lenard Leeds on Tuesday.

“When she wanted to take time off, she was scolded, she was yelled at,” he said. “Instead of being sympathetic, they were very hostile towards her.”

Stevens, of Hicksville, New York, said she learned that Jacqueline Brucia, who worked at Atlantic Automotive, was in need of a kidney in November 2010. Stevens had worked there as well but at the time had temporarily moved to Florida.

Stevens said she told Brucia she would donate a kidney.

“Brucia declined, but told her, ‘You never know, I may have to take you up on that offer one day,’” the complaint said.

Stevens learned the company would rehire her following her return to New York and not long afterward, Brucia told her a potential donor had not been approved by the hospital and asked if she was still willing to donate.

Stevens now believes Brucia was “grooming (Stevens) to be her ‘back-up plan,’” the complaint said.

Stevens’s kidney was not a good match for Brucia, but she agreed to donate it to a stranger in St. Louis, Missouri, setting up a transplant chain that enabled Brucia to receive a better-matched kidney from a donor in San Francisco.

Surgeons removed Stevens’s left kidney in August, and she returned to work about a month later. The surgery left her with damaged nerves in her leg, digestive problems and mental health issues, her lawyer said.

At work, Brucia became “curt and dismissive,” the complaint said. Stevens said she was berated for taking sick days and forced to relocate to a less desirable office after she complained to human resources about Brucia’s behavior.

On April 11, the company fired her, citing performance reasons.

Stevens’s lawyer said the complaint filed with the Division of Human Rights last week was a necessary step before a federal lawsuit is filed against Brucia and the company.

Telephone calls to Brucia’s home were not answered on Tuesday.

Atlantic Automotive released a statement saying: “It is unfortunate that one employee has used her own generous act to make up a groundless claim.

“Atlantic Auto treated her appropriately and acted honorably and fairly, at every turn,” it said. …

Source: Reuters.

The environmental agenda has been infected by extremism—it’s become an economic suicide pact. And we’re here to challenge it. On Earth Day, visit http://freemarketamerica.org/

If I Wanted America to Fail.

The Obama administration is looking for states that will experiment withunemployment insurance programs by letting people test a job while still receiving benefits.

The plan is a key feature of a payroll tax cut package that President Barack Obama negotiated withcongressional Republicans in February.

The Labor Department will open the application process Thursday for 10 model projects across the country. Any state can apply for the “Bridge to Work” program.

The plan is modeled after a Georgia program called “Georgia Works.” Under the plan, workers who have lost jobs can be placed in other temporary jobs as trainees for short periods to retain their skills or gain new ones while receiving jobless assistance. About a third of the time, those workers wind up getting hired full-time.

A number of states are combining unemployment benefits with on-the-job training, including North Carolina, New Hampshire, Utah and Missouri.

A senior administration official said those states would be eligible to apply for the federal demonstration project. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the program before an administration announcement.

States that are chosen could get waivers from the federal government allowing them to tap their unemployment insurance accounts to pay for such costs as transportation for workers in temporary jobs.

The program has had mixed results in some states that have their own programs. Administration officials said they hope the waivers and assistance offered by the federal demonstration projects could help rectify any problems that have emerged.

Supporters of the programs say it helps workers retain or learn new skills and add new job references to their resumes. The plan passed with support from leading Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

It also is designed to answer critics of unemployment benefits who say the aid discourages some people from aggressively seeking work.

Source: Yahoo News.

Either someone just attempted the subtlest of jabs at our nation’s force of uncomfortably invasive rent-a-cops or the recruiters at the Transportation Security Administration need to invest in a better thesaurus. A job posting on the Ann Arbor, Michigan Craigslistinvites would-be screeners to “[b]e part of aimperious security team protecting airports and skies as you proudly establish your future.”

Imperious, indeed.

The Dictionary.com definition of imperious is “domineering in a haughty manner; dictatorial; overbearing.” The definition from Google is even better, describing it as “assuming authority without justification.”

If it was a joke I’d assume the posting would be made elsewhere, but it’s only been posted in Ann Arbor. But what word could they mean instead if it’s real? Imperative? Impetuous? The rest of the text is also a mess, which screams either that this is a fake… or a federal government employee.

Either way, I’ve emailed the poster curious if this might actually be a great jab or a bad job.

Here’s the full posting below, in case it’s pulled:

Transportation Security Officers (Ann Arbor)
See the individual you are in a vital position for our security firm where you implement security-screening procedures that counter deadly or dangerous objects from being smuggled onto an aircraft. Be part of a imperious security team protecting airports and skies as you proudly establish your future.

Minimum Qualifications:
1. You must be a U.S. Citizen
2. You are required to have a high school diploma or equivalent

PT, full training
• Location: Ann Arbor
• Compensation: $17 per hour
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
PostingID: 2926913263

Source: Jalopnik.

When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and password.

Bassett, a New York City statistician, had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. But she couldn’t see his private profile. She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.

Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didn’t want to work for a company that would seek such personal information. But as the job market steadily improves, other job candidates are confronting the same question from prospective employers, and some of them cannot afford to say no.

In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person’s social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.

“It’s akin to requiring someone’s house keys,” said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it “an egregious privacy violation.”

Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.

CONTINUED at WTOP.

Finding out that you’re the lowest paid person on your team even though you do the same (or more!) work than your colleagues is a pretty discouraging discovery. If you do find out, you should definitely bring it up to your manager or if you think they’re sympathetic and can do something about the discrepancy. How you do it, however, is what makes the difference between getting a raise or getting fired. Thankfully, it’s not as difficult as it may seem.

If you’ve “discovered” that you’re underpaid, it’s likely either because someone else you work with let it slip, or because you did the research yourself at a site like Glassdoor and found that the average salary for your role at your company—or in the industry as a whole—is higher than what you’re making. Now it’s time to do a little homework.

CONTINUED at Lifehacker.

Just one month from today, Japan will lower their corporate income tax rate from 39.5 to 35 percent.  When they do so, the United States will officially have the dubious distinction of possessing the highest corporate income tax rate in the developed world, a federal/state integrated rate of 39.2 percent.

To put that in perspective, the average in the developed world (OECD) is only 25 percent.  Our six major trading partners–Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and France–will all have a lower rate than we will have.  As a result, capital and jobs will continue to flow overseas, rather than staying here to create jobs, increase wages, fund pensions, invest in new business, or grow nest eggs.

President Obama last month proposed a plan to raise net taxes, but in the process lower the U.S. corporate rate to about 32 percent.  That simply isn’t worth it.  In exchange for a jobs-killing net tax hike, the Obama plan would still leave us with a tax rate higher than the OECD average, and higher than all our major trading partners except Japan and France.  No thanks, Mr. President.

Source: Americans for Tax Reform.

The economy created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.3 percent, providing some measure of comfort for President Barack Obama who faces re-election in November.

Nonfarm payrolls jumped 243,000, the Labor Department said on Friday, as factory jobs grew by the most in a year. The gain in overall employment was the largest since April and outpaced economists’ expectations for a rise of only 150,000.

The report pointed to underlying strength in the economy, despite expectations that growth will slow in the first quarter.

Economists had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 8.5 percent. The rate is the lowest since February 2009 and has dropped 0.8 percentage point since August.

The decline last month reflected large gains in employment in the separate household survey from which the unemployment rate is derived.

“It’s certainly supportive of the U.S. recovery and suggests that momentum is gathering pace,” said Brian Dolan, chief market strategist at FOREX.com in Bedminster, New York.

U.S. Treasury debt prices fell sharply on the report, while stock index futures surged. The dollar rose against the yen.

The continued labor market improvement could be a relief for Obama who faces a tough re-election.

The report contrasted with a glummer assessment of the economy’s prospects offered by the Federal Reserve last week and it could lessen chances of the central bank launching another round of asset purchases to spur a stronger recovery.

Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed was mulling further purchases to speed up the recovery. It has already bought $2.3 trillion in bonds to keep rates low and spur the economy.

“Certainly the Fed will welcome it but they remain worried about other areas of the economy, namely housing. This should not change its view on the economy,” said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York.

The U.S. central bank said it would probably hold interest rates near zero at least through 2014, citing still-high unemployment.

BROAD JOB GAINS

Job gains last month were widespread, with even the transportation and warehousing sector increasing payrolls.

The tenor of the report was further strengthened by revisions to November and December payrolls data, which showed 60,000 more jobs created than previously reported.

In addition, average hourly earnings rose four cents, which should help to support spending. The report suggested that expectations of a slowdown in U.S. economic growth in the first quarter were not yet impacting on companies’ hiring decisions.

Employment in the private sector surged 257,000 – the largest gain since April. Government payrolls fell 14,000, the least amount since September.

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2011, quickening from 1.8 percent in the third quarter. However, the rebuilding of stocks by businesses accounted for two-thirds of the rise, setting the economy up for a slower growth pace this quarter.

Growth is also seen moderating as the European debt crisis, which has already pushed some economies in the region into recession, takes an edge off U.S. exports.

Still, there are signs that the economy continues to have momentum. Auto sales were buoyant in January, factory activity hit a seven-month high and the four-week average of new jobless claims fall through the month.

While job growth has quickened there are no jobs for three out of every four unemployed people and 19.3 million Americans are either out of work or underemployed.

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

But there is reason for cautious optimism. The unemployment rate has declined for five straight months, partly because of unemployed workers giving up the hunt for a job but also because people are finding work.

A broad measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have stopped looking and those working only part time but who want more work, slipped to 15.1 percent in January from 15.2 percent in December.

The January household survey data incorporated new population controls. The department also released annual revisions to the payrolls data from the survey of employers and introduced new factors to adjust for seasonal fluctuations.

It said the level of employment in March of last year was 165,000 higher than it had reported, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Mild winter weather boosted construction employment last month, which added 21,000 after a 31,000 increase in December. Manufacturing surged 50,000, the largest rise in a year, after rising 32,000 the prior month.

That contributed to the goods-producing sector posting 81,000 jobs last month, the most since January 2006.

Transportation and warehousing employment increased 13,100 and courier jobs only fell 1,500. Last month, the Labor Department reported a large increase in courier jobs in December, but revisions showed they actually declined.

Retail employment rose 10,500 after gaining 6,200 in December. Temporary help services jumped 20,100 after rising 8,300.

Source: Reuters.