U.S. Chamber Officials Visiting North Carolina For JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!

U.S. Chamber: North Carolina Needs To Create 1 Million Jobs


America’s most pressing challenge is getting its citizens back to work, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials are traveling to North Carolina and across the country this week to help make that happen.

North Carolina needs to create almost 1.1 million jobs over the next decade to replace those lost in the recession and meet the needs of its growing workforce, chamber Chief Operating Officer David Chavern will announce Tuesday in Hickory. That’s part of a larger effort that challenges business and government leaders to add 20 million jobs nationwide.

Chavern spoke with the Observer today about the chamber’s plan to create jobs, why 1 million is realistic for North Carolina and why creating jobs should be the country’s No. 1 priority. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: Tell me about the chamber’s message and its efforts to spread the word at the grassroots level.

Part of it is trying to get people’s minds around the employment challenge we have in the U.S. We had economists estimate not only the jobs lost in this recession and underemployment, but also in the next 10 years, with all the people coming into the workforce, how would we employ those people? There were various estimates, but they all revolved around 20 million new jobs needed.

We thought it was important to get the public to focus on the size of the challenge and then talk about how you might begin to address it. The government isn’t going to provide these jobs. The government can do some things, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be the private sector that’s going to have to create the jobs.

Q: The chamber says North Carolina should create more than 1 million jobs. How did you come up with that number, and where will those jobs come from?

It was basically driven by the relative size of the economy, compared to the overall economy. North Carolina probably had 1/20 of the economy of the U.S. One million jobs is a big number for any state, but you’re not going to start addressing the problem until you define it.

One thing North Carolina can do is think about infrastructure development. There’s a tremendous need for infrastructure investments that employ people. And it’s not all government money. There’s a lot of potential private money out there for infrastructure development.

We’ve also got to think about the energy challenge we have ahead of us. There’s a lot of talk about clean energy, and that’s true, we should have incentives for clean energy manufacturing in the U.S., but there are more traditional forms like nuclear, too. The building of a nuclear plant employs something like 20,000 people.

Q: What sectors will lead this effort in North Carolina?

Clearly, there’s a solid manufacturing base, and I know in some areas, they’ve been hurting because of that, but there are manufacturing skills there. We need to look at, can we make some investments in new energy, green energy, technology, where they’re making those new products in North Carolina. There’s a range of things, from infrastructure to services. North Carolina is a leader in banking and financial services. I think North Carolina has a nicely diversified economy.

Q: What kinds of jobs would you like to see created, overall?

We definitely need to continue to revitalize the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing today is not what it was 50 years ago. I grew up in Pittsburgh, and if you had a strong back and a willingness to work, that was enough to get and sustain a manufacturing job. That’s not the case anymore. All jobs at all levels require an educated workforce, and fundamentally, we’ve got education problems in the U.S. and are not preparing workers for jobs. North Carolina has done better than a lot of states, but even the best states aren’t doing enough.

Q: What can state and local leaders do to create stronger workforces and more jobs?

One, focus on the education system. Two, try to have the best, most predictable business environment you can, with stable taxes and stable rules, where businesses know they can come in and make money. Another challenge is the local impediment to infrastructure and big projects.

There are hundreds of energy projects, including clean energy, that have been held up by local permitting disputes and lawsuits. Do we have the capacity to get out of our own way? “Not in my back yard” is a great way to not have jobs, either.

Q: Realistically, how soon can this hiring begin?

Obviously, I’d like it to start today. We do have some concerns about the economy. While it seems to have stabilized, we are concerned about a possible double-dip recession. We think this administration and Congress have not been sufficiently focused on getting the economy back on track. Let’s start today.

If we were able to reduce some of the regulatory uncertainty out there, get the financial system lending again, reduce uncertainty about taxes, and get some energy and other projects going, you could start to see us moving aggressively out of the recession by mid-year.

Q: Why does the chamber think it’s important to publicize the job-creation effort?

It’s people’s No. 1 priority. Until we get the economy moving, we can’t deal with other problems we need to address. We do need to address healthcare. We need to address energy and financial regulation, but it’s real hard to focus on those things when you have so many people unemployed.


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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Google Maps

Do Hacked E-mails Help Prove Climate Change Theory To Be False?

Hackers steal electronic data from top Climate Research Center


Hackers broke into the electronic files of one of the world's foremost climate research centers this week and posted an array of e-mails in which prominent scientists engaged in a blunt discussion of global warming research and disparaged climate-change skeptics.

The skeptics have seized upon e-mails stolen from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in Britain as evidence that scientific data have been rigged to make it appear as if humans are causing global warming. The researchers, however, say the e-mails have been taken out of context and merely reflect an honest exchange of ideas.

University officials confirmed the data breach, which involves more than 1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents, but said they could not say how many of the stolen items were authentic.

"We are aware that information from a server in one area of the university has been made available on public websites," the statement says. "We are extremely concerned that personal information about individuals may have been compromised. Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm what proportion of this material is genuine."

Michael E. Mann, who directs the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, said in a telephone interview from Paris that skeptics are "taking these words totally out of context to make something trivial appear nefarious."

In one e-mail from 1999, the center's director, Phil Jones, alludes to one of Mann's articles in the journal Nature and writes, "I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (i.e., from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline."

Mann said the "trick" Jones referred to was placing a chart of proxy temperature records, which ended in 1980, next to a line showing the temperature record collected by instruments from that time onward. "It's hardly anything you would call a trick," Mann said, adding that both charts were differentiated and clearly marked.

But Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said this and other exchanges show researchers have colluded to establish the scientific consensus that humans are causing climate change.

"It is clear that some of the 'world's leading climate scientists,' as they are always described, are more dedicated to promoting the alarmist political agenda than in scientific research," said Ebell, whose group is funded in part by energy companies. "Some of the e-mails that I have read are blatant displays of personal pettiness, unethical conniving, and twisting the science to support their political position."

In one e-mail, Ben Santer, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, offered to beat up skeptic Pat Michaels, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, out of sympathy for Jones.

Neither Jones nor Santer could be reached for comment.




U.S. Chamber files suit over Climate Change Hoax


The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a civil complaint on Monday against members of a liberal activist group who staged a news conference to falsely announce that the 3 million-member business federation had reversed its stance on climate change legislation.

"The defendants are not merry pranksters tweaking the establishment," said Steven Law, general counsel for the chamber. "Instead, they deliberately broke the law in order to further commercial interest in their books, movies and other merchandise."

The chamber said it filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Washington to protect its trademark and other intellectual property from unlawful use by members of the group known as Yes Men and others involved in the group's commercial enterprises. The activists misappropriated the chamber's logo, created a fraudulent Web site and falsely claimed to be speaking as the chamber under the group's copyright, the chamber said in a statement.

As part of its hoax on Oct. 19, Yes Men announced at the National Press Club that the chamber would stop lobbying against the Senate's 800-page climate bill. Reuters moved a story based on the false press release, and both CNBC and Fox Business Network reported it — with the anchors correcting themselves mid-story upon learning it was false.

The chamber has taken heat from some of its members because of its position against the climate bill.

Some companies have defected from the group, including Apple Inc., Exelon Corp., Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and the Public Service Co. of New Mexico.




Anthony Foxx pledges to sign Climate Agreement


Anthony Foxx said his first act as Charlotte mayor will be to sign the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which incumbent Republican Pat McCrory refused to do.

More than a dozen N.C. cities have joined the campaign against global warming. By signing, the communities pledge to work toward cutting emissions of greenhouse gases to pre-1990 levels.

McCrory helped draft the measure as chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors environmental committee. But he refused to sign it two years ago because it didn't include nuclear power as an alternative energy source.

Foxx said he would put Charlotte on board "with the stroke of a pen."



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Sources: Washington Post, University of East Anglia, MSNBC, BBC, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Paramount Pictures, McClathchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Space Monkey Productions, Wikipedia, PA, Youtube, Google Maps