THE MORNING LOOP: 11.17.11

Unemployment Cause By Household Debt x Dems Forgive Rangel? x Reality TV Mag Coming Soon

According to economists Atif Mian and Amir Sufi, of Berkeley and University of Chicago respectively, unemployment is directly correlated with household debt. Because people stopped spending money and buying things due to high debt, industries began shedding jobs. The high debt load was attributable to the foreclosure crisis. The economists’ research found that 65% of job losses between 2007 and 2009 came from a drop in spending induced by the housing collapse.

Alabama state lawmakers were pumped about their super draconian immigration laws they were able to pass, which gave law enforcement broad powers to stop arrest and deport anyone who appeared to be a Latino immigrant. Now that business leaders and education providers have been complaining to them, though, those state lawmakers are finally acknowledging that their law is too harsh. Alabama state senator Slade Blackwell said “The longer the bill has been out, the more unintended consequences we have found.” Some lawmakers want to revamp the bill and take out some of the wacker provisions, like the parts that deter the children of immigrants from attending school. But the laws is still popular in the state, so it might be hard to turn back some of the pages. It’s not popular with farmers and poultry plant operators who’ve lost a significant portion of their workforce.

Rep. Charlie Rangel guesses he got his swagger back—it’s the Democratic bloc ... he is back. Almost a year after being embarrassingly censured before Congress, after strung up on ethics violations for not declaring hundreds of thousands of dollars on his financial statements, Rangel is back to being the toast of the Democratic Party. He recently held a $5,000 a plate fundraiser where all of the top Democratic brass, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, attended. Instead, says Rangel, it’s the congressional Ethics Committee who floored him last year that is now in danger of being floored. Said Rangel, “Now there’s no bus, now there’s no election. And now, my accusers are under investigation.” Meanwhile, Rangel’s congressional seat is considered vulnerable next year as he has at least two challengers looking to unseat him.