An inmate is suing Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and the state, claiming he is being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment because county jail rules ban pornographic materials. Kyle Richards, 21, is also arguing that porn should be provided by taxpayers if the inmate does not have the financial means to pay for it. Richards has been in jail since January after being charged with bank robbery. Police say he stole about $900 after handing a bank teller a note.
Source: The Detroit News, July 3, 2011
While the president’s jobs plan contains some ideas that American business supports, it falls short by focusing too much on government spending and temporary tax breaks and too little on the trade, energy, tax, regulatory, and entitlement reforms we need.
International Trade Balance
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services narrowed to $44.8 billion from $48.9 billion in June. Exports rose 3.6% to $178.0 billion and imports declined 0.2% to $222.8 billion. The trade deficit in goods narrowed to $60.6 billion and the trade surplus in services rose $0.3 billion to $15.8 billion in July. Despite weakness in the global economy, we expect exports to continue to rebound in the next few months and for imports to gradually rise as well.
President Obama’s recent call for withdrawal of a disastrous new ozone rule was a step in the right direction. The president can’t offer a serious jobs plan with one hand and expect it to succeed while his other hand tightens the regulatory grip on America’s job creators.
It seems like everyone in Washington has a jobs plan these days. While the focus is welcome, the talk must translate into meaningful action. The 25 million Americans who are unemployed, underemployed, or have stopped looking for work want to hear specific ideas that will jump-start job creation—and they want to see Congress act on them.
We’ve put together a jobs plan, based on practical, private sector solutions that we’re sending to the president and Congress today:
Last week, the Chamber was named a 2011 “Small Business Influencer Champion” by Small Business Trends and Small Biz Technology. The award, determined by more than 125,000 online votes and a judging panel, “honors companies, organizations, and people who have made a significant impact on the North American small business market.”
