(Excerpts)
Georgia’s labor market is treading water, according to new data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor. Georgia added 1,200 net jobs in January, basically flat from December, according to the report, the first glimpse at how the state labor market is performing this year.
- The state’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.5% in January, unchanged from December, and remains below the national rate.
- “I think the numbers are a little disappointing,” said Mark Vitner, chief economist of Piedmont Crescent Capital, a longtime analyst of the regional economy. "Job growth has just softened all across the country.”
- A major drag was the loss of 12,500 federal government jobs in Georgia over the year as President Donald Trump slashed workers at agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution treated the self-made billionaire health care entrepreneur Rick Jackson’s unexpected announcement that he is running for Georgia governor with a blunt but insightful opening: “Rick Jackson’s surprise bid for Georgia governor has turned the contest into a cash arms race. And the two front-runners are loading up.”
Georgia’s gubernatorial race is now in the front ranks of the elections where the outcome is less about a contest of ideas and policies than a about who has the most money. Billionaires are buying America, and its future, one election at a time. Georgia voters now have a chance to say “no” to establishing the reign of billionaires.
MORE NEWS ON JACKSON'S BID
From the Atlanta-Journal Constitution:
- A Republican activist recently tapped as a “special adviser” to Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon to help the party leverage technology to reach new voters has a history of xenophobic and hateful social media posts, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review.
- Brad Barnes, who describes himself online as a “national populist,” has amplified white nationalist social media messages claiming “ethnonationalism is the social norm” and made an antisemitic remark mocking Mexico’s Jewish president in a now-deleted post.
- He has also shared posts stating that “culture is the social expression of genetics,” echoing a scientifically debunked ideology promulgated for decades by white supremacists that racial groups were genetically predisposed to certain behaviors.
- He also has promoted a call for “remigration” of the United States, a term widely used in far-right circles as a euphemism for large-scale deportation or repatriation of immigrants.
IndieDems Comment: Were you under the opinion that the Georgia Republican Party is in the moderate position?