Economy

Includes 11 funded through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

11/3/2009 -- Raleigh -- North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue announced today that 18 contracts totaling $56.6 million have been awarded for highway and bridge projects across North Carolina, including 11 projects funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The contracts were awarded by the N.C. Department of Transportation to the lowest respective bidder, as required by state law. A list of the projects is attached.

“These recovery projects continue to help us to put North Carolinians to work and to deliver critical infrastructure improvements that will have a long-lasting economic impact on our state,” said. Gov. Perdue.    » read more »

Markell lays out “five foundations” for making state government smaller and more cost-effective during budget process in advance of OMB hearings

November 2, 2009 -- WILMINGTON – State government will have at least 1,000 fewer positions than it did in the beginning of his term this January, Delaware Governor Jack Markell announced today. As the Office of Management and Budget begins a month of budget hearings, the Governor laid out five foundations he and his Cabinet are using to make government work more efficiently and cost-effectively to reduce the size and cost of state government.    » read more »

Outlook also better for capital spending and credit availability

SAN FRANCISCO -- November 3, 2009 -- Optimism among small business owners improved during October, driven by improved outlook for revenue, capital spending and hiring, according to the latest results of the quarterly Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index.

Concluded October 9, the latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index optimism score came in at negative 15 (-15), a net six-point increase from the previous survey (conducted in July, 2009), and 129 points lower than the Index high of 114 (conducted December, 2006). A score of zero indicates that small business owners, as a group, are neutral -- neither optimistic nor pessimistic -- about their companies’ situations.    » read more »

November 3, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Roland W. Burris today announced that American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds from the Department of Energy have been allocated to Illinois to fund industrial energy efficiency technologies.

The funds will be directed as follows:    » read more »

October 31, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – In this week’s address, President Barack Obama said that while times are still too difficult for too many American families, this week saw real evidence of progress in the economy. On Thursday, we learned that in the third quarter the GDP grew for the first time in over a year, and grew faster than it has in the previous two years.

And on Friday, reports from across the country made it clear that Recovery Act has now created or saved over one million jobs. The American people are still hurting, but these are signs that we are starting to move in the right direction.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Weekly Address
Saturday, October 31, 2009    » read more »

640,329 Direct Jobs Reported on Approximately Half of Spending To-Date

October 30, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – The Obama Administration today reported that recipients of Recovery Act funds have informed the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board that they have created or saved 640,329 direct jobs in reports covering approximately $160 billion, which represents a little less than half of the funds put to work through September 30, 2009.    » read more »

Federal Funds Are Helping To Put Sacramento On The Path To Recovery

October 30, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-05) applauded the Obama Administration’s commitment to transparency and accountability, and the release of the jobs created so far under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) through September 30, 2009.    » read more »

October 29, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Congressman Barney Frank today called a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee to discuss legislation to deal with large financial institutions which may causes systemic risks to the American economy. Frank seeks to establish federal “resolution authority” which would make it possible to wind down very large, failing firms without using taxpayer funds.

A similar mechanism, operated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), has successfully operated for decades, protected both depositors and the economy as a whole. The task of creating a system for institutions which fall outside the jurisdiction of the FDIC will be a major, difficult hurdle for proponents of financial reform.    » read more »

October 30, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Lois Capps released the following statement today after the announcement that GDP rose 3.5% in the third quarter of 2009:

“Today’s announcement that GDP grew by 3.5% in the third quarter of this year is positive news and encouraging, providing another sign that our economy is slowly recovering from the deepest recession in 75 years. This growth is significant, amounting to a turnaround of nearly 10% in just two quarters and it stands in contrast to the beginning of the year when the economy contracted by 6.4%. This is also the largest reversal of GDP since 1980, and the first increase since last year.    » read more »

HOUSTON, October 28, 2009 --- ConocoPhillips [NYSE:COP] Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Mulva commented, "We operated very well during the third quarter, with E&P production and R&M refinery utilization rates higher than a year ago. Through September year to date, our E&P production has increased nearly 100,000 BOE per day, or more than 5 percent, compared with the same period in 2008."    » read more »

IRVING, Texas --

Exxonmobil's Chairman Rex W. Tillerson commented:

“Despite ongoing global economic weakness and reduced demand for products, we continued our robust investment program and delivered strong results.

“Our third quarter earnings, excluding special items, were $4.7 billion. While continuing to be impacted by lower commodity prices and weak product margins, we maintained our focus on operational excellence and invested $19 billion through the first three quarters of the year to develop new energy supplies.

“Oil-equivalent production increased by 3% over the third quarter of 2008 with contributions from major start-ups of world-class assets including Qatargas 2, Train 5 and Ras Laffan 3, Train 6 in Qatar.    » read more »

30-Oct-2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) issued this statement following the release of the White House report showing that 650,000 jobs were created or saved in America through stimulus funds, including more than 14,000 in Maryland:

“The Recovery Act was always about jobs, jobs, jobs. When President Obama took office, he inherited a terrible mess: an economy on the brink of collapse, shedding an average of 700,000 jobs a month, frozen credit markets, banks refusing to lend to students and small businesses.    » read more »

October 29, 2009 -- "Data released today by the Commerce Department show that real GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of the year. This is in stark contrast to the decline of 6.4 percent annual rate just two quarters ago. Indeed, the two-quarter swing in the rate of growth of 9.9 percentage points was the largest since 1980. Analysis by both the Council of Economic Advisers and a wide range of private and public-sector forecasters indicate

"s that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 contributed between 3 and 4 percentage points to real GDP growth in the third quarter. This suggests that in the absence of the Recovery Act, real GDP would have risen little, if at all, this past quarter.    » read more »

Seasonally Adjusted Data

October 29, 2009 -- In the week ending Oct. 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 530,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 531,000. The 4-week moving average was 526,250, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 532,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.4 percent for the week ending Oct. 17, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 4.5 percent.    » read more »

October 29, 2009 -- U.S. Senator Mark Begich today announced the award of over $15 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for development of geothermal fields and research into new geothermal technologies for three Alaska based entities.

"Alaska already leads the nation in producing electricity from the lowest temperature geothermal waters. However, our efforts to use this abundant energy source have barely broken the surface of potential energy production," Sen. Begich said. "The Department of Energy is right to look to our state when developing new clean energy technologies. Alaskans have as much to gain from the development of affordable and clean energy technology as anywhere in the United States."

The awards include:    » read more »