Wood Works, Credit Tricks, Lost Jobs, Failed Apologies

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National joblessness appears to be stabilizing

New applications for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level in more than three months, a possible sign that the huge wave of layoffs has peaked. Still, the number of unemployed workers receiving benefits climbed to a new record.

On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that the number of newly laid off workers applying for benefits dropped to 601,000. That was much better than the expected rise to 635,000 claims predicted by economists.

But the total number of people receiving jobless benefits climbed to 6.35 million, setting a record for a 14th straight week. In comparison, weekly unemployment claims totaled 372,000 a year ago.
We continue to look for the bottom in this spiraling economy, but are encouraged to see signs that the bleeding is slowing.

Opening of new sustainable millworks

Appalachian Sustainable Development opened a new 5,000-square foot millworks facility near Castlewood, Va., this week and aims to use it to show how logging and wood processing can be done in a way that is environmentally sound and, eventually, profitable.

The organization manages forest land and selective timber harvesting and wood processing. With the addition of the millworks site, it will create hardwood flooring and trim that will be sold. Officials say it will begin as a break-even venture, but the aim is to turn it into a profitable business that creates a unique local product. Buyers will be able to get an environmentally-friendly product, a growing trend in new construction and renovation.

We wish Appalachian Sustainable Development good luck in this endeavor, which has been a dream for many years. Addressing financial, environmental and social goals can be difficult, but we admire them for setting the bar and trying to reach it.

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Credit card companies’ strong arm tactics

Despite being given billions by American taxpayers, banks like Citibank and Bank of America continue their strong arm tactics against credit card holders. This week the U.S. Federal Reserve rejected a request to force credit card companies to immediately halt retroactive interest rate hikes on existing balances. Sens. Charles Shumer and Christopher Dodd asked the Fed to use its emergency powers to help citizens being hit with these unexpected rate increases. The response? Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the banks need time to consider the request and noted that new, tougher rules are going into effect in 2010.

That’s not good enough. American taxpayers are getting hit with loan shark interest rates on credit cards from banks that are being bailed out with billions in taxpayers funds. There should be a limit to the interest they can charge, and an expectation that they must give customers some advance notice. At this point, Bernanke is wrongly siding with the banks. Struggling Americans, who were forced to bail out failing banks, now must wrestle over how to pay their credit card bills that can have skyrocketing interest rates, without warning. Bernanke’s answer – to wait until new rules come on line next year – is too little, too late for too many.

Giving half-hearted apology to victim’s mother

Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican who represents the Fifth District in North Carolina, has written a letter of apology to the mother of Matthew Shepard, a gay man from Wyoming whose name is on a bill adding sexual orientation to federal hate-crimes legislation. We support the recent apology, but the actions that led up to it were shocking.

During a debate on the bill last month, Foxx called attempts to label Shepard’s 1988 murder a hate crime “a hoax” and said he was killed during a robbery and not because he was gay. The two men who pleaded guilty to killing him testified that they singled Shepard out because he was gay. Shepard, 21, was robbed, beaten and left to die on a prairie fence near Laramie, Wyo., in 1998.

Foxx later issued a statement saying that her use of “hoax” was “a poor choice of words.” When the Winston-Salem Journal attempted to contact Foxx by phone and e-mail, no one would comment about the apology. Later, in a television interview with WXII-TV, she made the situation worse by reiterating the damage and she was “speaking off the cuff and I just simply chose a poor word.”

“Hoax” was a poor word? Choosing a poor word is when you call a chubby person fat. This was an attempt to defeat a bill she disagreed with by claiming Shepard’s killing was not because he was gay. The two men who beat and left him for dead have said otherwise. The Matthew Shepard Act passed the House 249-175 last week, with Foxx voting against it.

Shepard’s mother acknowledged receiving Foxx’s letter of apology, but would say little else. The best thing Foxx could do now is honor her apology, and Shepard’s memory, by keeping quiet.