Report: White Businesses Received Vast Majority of Stimulus Loans
An investigation by New American Media has found that loans handed out to struggling small businesses as part of President Obama’s stimulus package have largely shut out minority businesses—especially those owned by African Americans and Latinos. Over 91 percent of the special small business loans went to white-owned businesses. Three percent went to Latino-owned businesses, just 1.5 percent to black-owned firms. Overall, white-owned businesses received over $130 million in loans through the program, while Hispanic-owned businesses got $4 million and black-owned businesses less than $2 million. In five states—Alabama, Arkansas, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Wyoming—every single firm that received a loan was white-owned. In eight other states, including Louisiana and Nevada, all but one loan went to a white-owned firm.


State Unemployment Funds Running Out
The Washington Post reports states are quickly running out of funds to pay unemployment-compensation funds due to the nation’s high jobless rate. Twenty-five states have already run out of unemployment money and have borrowed $24 billion from the federal government to cover the gaps. Another fifteen state funds are expected to go broke within two years.


Senate Moves Closer to Passing Healthcare Bill
The Senate is prepared to take two more key procedural votes today on overhauling the nation’s healthcare system. A final vote on the legislation is expected on Christmas Eve. On Monday, the American Medical Association endorsed the legislation, and President Obama described the Senate’s actions as historic. But many progressive supporters of President Obama have decried the Senate legislation in part because Democrats removed a proposal to create a government-run insurance program. Many questions still remain over how congressional leaders will merge the House and Senate bills.


Health Insurance Stocks Soar in Value
Wall Street has reacted favorably to the Senate bill. Stock prices of health insurance companies have been soaring since October 27, when independent Senator Joe Lieberman announced that he would filibuster any healthcare reform bill that included a public option. Since then, the stock value of CIGNA has jumped 29 percent; Aetna, 27 percent; UnitedHealth, over 20 percent; and Humana, almost 14 percent. During that same period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by just over two percent.


Study Reveals "Revolving Door" Between Capitol Hill Staffers and Healthcare Lobbyists
A new study on healthcare lobbying published in the Chicago Tribune has found that healthcare companies have spent $635 million on lobbying over the past two years. At least 166 former congressional aides involved in shaping healthcare legislation have registered to lobby for healthcare companies. This includes at least fourteen former aides to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and at least thirteen former aides to Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, the chair of the Finance Committee.


US-Led Copenhagen Accord Decried as Flawed, Undemocratic
The climate summit in Copenhagen came to a close Saturday with the world’s nations reluctantly agreeing to “take note of” but not endorse a non-binding accord President Obama announced Friday night. The twelve-page agreement seeks to limit global warming to a maximum of a two degree Celsius rise in temperature. But it does not specify targets for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.


Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on How to Tackle Climate Change: "We Must Go from Capitalism to Socialism"
In an interview, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez talked about climate change, the Copenhagen summit and President Obama. Chavez calls the COP15 summit undemocratic and accuses world leaders of only seeking a face-saving agreement. “We must reduce all the emissions that are destroying the planet,” Chavez says. “That requires a change in the economic model: we must go from capitalism to socialism.”


“Hell on Earth”: Released Somali Man on Guantanamo
A Somali man just released from Guantanamo described his time at the US military prison as “hell on earth.” Mohamed Saleban Bare was one of twelve Guantanamo prisoners released over the weekend. Bare told Agence France Presse “Some of my colleagues in the prison lost their sight, some lost their limbs and others ended up mentally disturbed. I’m OK compared to them.” Bare was first detained in Pakistan and then transferred to a series of US military prisons. He said, "At Bagram and Kandahar, the situation was harsh, but when we were transferred to Guantanamo the torture tactics changed. They use a kind of psychological torture that kills you mentally.”


Bush Admin Relied on Conman to Determine Terror Alert Level
A new report in Playboy has revealed the Bush administration raised the terror alert level to high in 2003 after a self-proclaimed scientist from Nevada convinced the CIA that the TV network Al Jazeera was transmitting secret messages to al-Qaeda sleepers. The alleged codebreaker, Dennis Montgomery, claimed that secret bar codes were hidden in Al Jazeera’s broadcast that told terrorists the terms of their next mission, laying out the latitudes and longitudes of targets, sometimes even flight numbers and dates. Montgomery also claimed he had developed technology to decrypt this code. Convinced that Montgomery had cracked an important code, the Bush administration relied on the conman for years for information used to determine when to increase the terror alert level. Montgomery’s intelligence found its way to the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, Special Forces Command, the Navy, the Air Force, the Senate Intelligence Committee, and even to Vice President Dick Cheney’s office. Eventually a branch of the French intelligence services helped convince the Americans that Montgomery’s claims were all faked.


Study: Hospital Cleaners Create More Economic Value than Bankers
And a new study from a progressive British think tank says low-income workers, such as hospital cleaners, have a far higher economic value to society than bankers. The New Economics Foundation says bankers take away seven British pounds for every one pound they earn. By contrast, hospital cleaners create ten pounds of economic value for every pound they earn. The study’s authors say the findings suggest pay structures should reward jobs that create societal benefit, not profit.


Click here to post a comment.

Click here to view all our blogs and discussion groups, where you can comment on any news stories or post your own news.

Read and search hundreds of news stories on SeeingBlack.com's 411 Channel.

Do you shop at Amazon? Please shop through our link and support
SeeingBlack.com!

© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com

Top of Page