Holiday Cookies!

The final year begins in January.

The final jobs report for the year comes out and it seems like President Barack Obama is smiling all the way. The unemployment rate remains unchanged but it did net over 211,000 jobs.

U.S. job growth increased solidly in November in a show of the economy's resilience, which most likely paves the way for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this month for the first time in nearly a decade.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 211,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. September and October data was revised to show 35,000 more jobs than previously reported.

The unemployment rate held at a 7-1/2-year low of 5 percent, even as people returned to the labor force in a sign of confidence in the jobs market. The jobless rate is in a range many Fed officials see as consistent with full employment and has dropped seven-tenths of a percentage point this year.

Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen may raise the federal interest rate. She believe the government is healthy enough for the interest rate to increase to at least 4%.

Yellen said the economy needs to create just under 100,000 jobs a month to keep up with growth in the working age population.

The Fed's policy-setting committee will meet on Dec. 15-16. Market-based measures of Fed policy expectations assign a probability of 79.1 percent to the central bank's raising interest rates at that meeting, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch site.

The dollar extended gains against a basket of currencies, while prices for U.S. government bonds fell. U.S. stock futures extended gains.

The second month of strong job gains should allay fears the economy has hit a soft patch, after reports showing tepid consumer spending in October and a slowdown in services industry growth in November. Manufacturing contracted in November for the first time in three years.

Though wage growth slowed last month, economists say that was mostly payback for October's outsized gains, which were driven by a calendar quirk. Anecdotal evidence, as well as data on labor-related costs, suggest that tightening job market conditions are starting to put upward pressure on wages.

Average hourly earnings increased four cents, or 0.2 percent from 0.4 percent in October. That lowered the year-on-year reading to 2.3 percent from 2.5 percent in October. The average workweek, however, dipped to 34.5 hours from 34.6.

Other labor market measures that Fed officials are eyeing as they consider lifting the benchmark overnight interest rate from near zero were mixed.

The labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, rose to 62.5 percent from a near 38-year low of 62.4 percent.

But a broad measure of joblessness that includes people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 9.9 percent.

Employment gains in November were broad-based, though manufacturing shed 1,000 positions and mining lost 11,000 jobs.

Manufacturing has been crippled by a strong dollar, efforts by businesses to reduce bloated inventory and spending cuts by energy companies scaling back well drilling and exploration in response to sharply lower oil prices.

House Speaker Paul Ryan's (R-WI) first months as House Speaker have been so far "fair" to say at least.

Mining employment has declined by 123,000 since reaching a peak in December 2014. Three quarters of the job losses over this period have been in support activities for mining.

Oilfield services provider Schlumberger (SLB.N) this week announced another round of job cuts in addition to 20,000 layoffs already reported this year. The company said it expected the slowdown in drilling activity to continue in 2016.

Construction payrolls increased 46,000 last month. With 163,000 jobs added, the services sector accounted for the bulk of the increase in employment last month. Retail jobs rose 30,700 and transportation and warehousing employment rebounded after two straight months of declines.

Professional services added 27,000 jobs and government payrolls increased 14,000 last month.

Of course, the conservative agitators will not accept this good news. They keep repeating the debunked talking points that over 94.6 million people are unemployed.

And I will continue to tell you that 1/3 of the U.S. population is either in the iron college, attending high school or college, disabled, retired or dead.

Republicans have not passed any legislation to create jobs. They've shown the world that they're incapable of governing. They won power to just showboat their ignorant agenda.

Newsflash: We have mass shootings in the United States. People are dying because of gun violence everyday. Over 245,000 people have been killed by firearms. We have a large generation of retiring people. We are going through a baby boom. We are having more people quit their jobs in search of better jobs. We have people in college, high school, and vocational school. We have people on disability.

Demands For $15.00 Wage!

Demands for higher wages spread across the country.

Prices of food are rising. The average price of milk is $3.39 a gallon. The average price of eggs is $1.85 a dozen. The

The cost of shipping goods and services is rising.

The cost of living has went up.

The average rent for an apartment is $465 a month.

The insurance rates for home, auto and life has increased.

But Republicans think that it's Obama's fault because his policies aren't working. For one thing, his policies are either being blocked by the House or stalled by the Senate. Then every policy was met in the Supreme Court.

When Americans in the service industry demand $15/hour minimum wage, Republicans say that they shouldn't complain. Cause in the mind of Republicans, if we raise the minimum wage, it will destroy jobs. It will make longer term workers struggle even more. Cause the new hires will make more.

Companies will replace cashiers, greeters and underlings with machines. That's how conservatives think about the low wage worker.

When you hear Republicans and conservative agitators say that under President Barack Obama's leadership, 94 million Americans aren't working, 50 million in poverty and 47 million on food stamps, they say that it's a travesty.

When Republicans say that African American unemployment hasn't changed since Obama's been in office, I want to scream.

For over 50 years, African American unemployment has been practically stagnant at 24% in rational terms. It's been like this way before Obama's got into the White House. 

The reasons to why there's unemployment by rational terms.

1) DEATH

2) RETIREMENT

3) QUITTING JOB

4) TERMINATED FROM JOB

5) GOING OUT OF BUSINESS

If an act of nature or man destroys a part of your life, then I guess you're screwed. If these Republicans becomes the president, their policies will not advocate for the safety net. No food stamps. No welfare assistance. No disaster relief. 

You worked for years at a company and you still makes below $23,000 a year. You get a wage increase after working over 800 hours a year, and still have trouble paying the bills. I guess if you're looking forward to relief, then you're screwed. Republicans refuse to raise the minimum wage.  

I agree that raising the minimum wage will leave an after effect. The after effect would usually be long term workers being upset that they don't get a cost of living adjustment. The new hire gets just about the same rate a longer term worker earned. That's not fair.

So if they get hired at $15/hour, then the long term workers should make $20/hour.

Anyway, there was a massive walkout at many fast food restaurants in 270 cities across the country.

Many are demanding Congress raise the minimum wage so things could be affordable.

Republicans have already slammed the notion of raising the minimum wage. Of course, it's a part of the never ending campaign to win the primaries.

I've stated this so many times. The safety net includes social security, disability, food stamps, farm aid, Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare.

The middle class, lower class and those who are too poor are the core of the safety net.

With the rising food and gas prices, people are turning to food stamps, food banks and government assistance to keep themselves from landing in the homeless shelter.

Without a safety net, these people will rob and kill those who have the luxuries of having food in the refrigerator or in the pantry. They would steal fuel, water, bread and meat to keep feeding their families. And yet, these Republicans and their conservative allies are thinking the poor are the reasons for the economic recession. Perhaps those who complain about the poor, should walk a day in that person's shoes!

The Republican Party and its allies in the conservative movement are heartless when it comes to the lower and middle class. In their warped minds, the lower class and those who are too poor are stealing from the taxpayers by accepting food stamps, disability, welfare, disaster relief, student grants and other necessaries.

Turkey Jerky!

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) in 2010 meets with President Barack Obama.

Well it seems like the ney sayers will have an opportunity to debate the October jobs numbers.

It seems like House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will have to find some reason to attack the president for 95 million people not working.

Conservatives are fucking stupid. They seem to be fixated on this notion that 95 million people not working. If 95 million people aren't working, then 1/3 of the nation isn't working.

So that means over a third of 320 million Americans are determined to be lazy gubmint leeches right?

Nevermind the incarcerated, the disabled, the retired, the underage, those attending college and the dead. Nevermind those who felt confident to quit their jobs. Nevermind those who were laid off, fired, or temporarily hired for a selective period.

To spread a misleading statement as fact is the reason to why Ben Carson and Donald Trump in the lead. That helped Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) gain momentum.

Anyway, the unemployment drops to 5 percent after it was revealed 271,000 jobs were recorded for the month of October.

This strong jobs report may push Janet Yellen, the Federal Reverse chief to push the interest rate up.

Employment gains in October were broad-based, though manufacturing added no jobs and mining shed 4,000 positions.

Manufacturing has been hit by a strong dollar, efforts by businesses to reduce bloated inventory and spending cuts by energy companies cutting back on well drilling and exploration in response to lower oil prices.

Mining employment has declined by 109,000 since peaking in December 2014. Oilfield services provider Schlumberger last month announced further layoffs in addition to the 20,000 jobs it has already eliminated.

Construction payrolls, however, increased 31,000 last month, the biggest gain since February.

The services sector added 241,000 jobs last month, with large gains in retail, health and leisure. Government payrolls increased 3,000 last month.

It seems like the president and Secretary of State John Kerry will also reject the building of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada put a lot of influence in the Congress. They were bidding for lawmakers to support the measure. Many Republicans claim the pipeline will create 30,000 jobs. Many Democrats said that tar sand oil could be dangerous to the environment.

Republican passed a bill supporting the pipeline. The president swiftly vetoed the bill and it died.

The pipeline would cut through a lot of properties. A lot of people have to lose land due to government seizure of land.

What could happen if there's an earthquake and the pipeline is ruptured?

Once the pipeline is completed, how many jobs will it take to work on the pipeline?

The Justin Trudeau effect helped a lot.

Trudeau who won the Canadian national elections to become the next prime minister. He opposes the Keystone XL pipeline.

Springfield, Ohio Lost Its Target!

Target announces another round of closings. Springfield, Ohio loses its only store.

Springfield, Ohio was dealt a blow. The Minneapolis based retailer announced another round of closings. The closings are affecting areas where they claim sales are in decline.

In the latest rounds of closings, the First Avenue location is on the list. The only Target store in the area will close in January.

That leaves Dayton metropolitan area four area locations. Huber Heights, Beavercreek, Centerville, and Miamisburg locations are still open for the time being.

Since 2013, the areas surrounding the Upper Valley Mall and Bechtle Avenue shopping district were hit with retail closing up.

When it was announced J.C. Penny and Macy's were closing in the same period, it put the nail in the coffin for the Upper Valley Mall. It's now declared a dead mall.

Springfield Ohio's only Target store is closing.

The mall is in receivership and the property's only anchor store Sears is considering closing.

The property hasn't secure a major anchor since the announcement.

The Bon Ton Corporation which owns Dayton-based Elder-Beerman closed first. Then Macy's and later J.C. Penny.

The Springfield city and township leaders are hoping that Hobby Lobby and Dick's Sporting Goods brings a little bit of good news to the area.

The Columbus area took a hit as well. Despite having the Hollywood Casino in the area, the Westland Mall is officially dead and everything around it is dying as well.

The Target Graceland location on West Broad Street in Columbus, Ohio is closing in January.

Target had closed all its Canadian stores in 2014-15. The 133 stores operated independently of the Target Corporation. It pull completely out of the country.

Target is trying to rebrand its image. They recently aired promotional for The Peanuts Movie and a cameo appearance from Brian and Stewie from Fox's Family Guy.