A new report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office suggests that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is responsible from up to 2.9 million people currently having jobs. 

A new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimates that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) increased the number of people employed by between 1.0 million and 2.9 million jobs as of June.

In other words, between 1.0 million and 2.9 million people employed in June owed their jobs to the Recovery Act. This estimate, by Congress' non-partisan economic and budget analysts, is more comprehensive than the 550,000 jobs that ARRA recipients reported in July, CBO explains.

UPDATE: Tony Messenger did issue an apology...to first year law students coming off of benders. 

So, it seems State Auditor Tom Schweich called a press conference to demand an apology from the Post-Dispatch for today's editorial about his lawsuit to slow down recovery funds for Joplin. 

Here is St. Louis Post Dispatch Editorial Writer Tony Messenger's reaction:

And here is exsclusive footage of Tom Schweich upon hearing about his chances for getting a retraction: 

In an interview with KCMO this morning, Sarah Steelman supported zeroing out the capital gains tax and lowering the corporate income tax rate.

That’s right, Sarah Steelman wants lower taxes for corporations and the wealthy in addition to creating a balanced budget. Oh, and don’t forget that she is hesitant about any cuts to Medicare that have been proposed. All those things sound possible, right? 

Listen to her interview with KCMO's Greg Knapp here:

Steelman’s support for lower taxes for the wealthy comes after successful businessmen like Warren Buffett and Henry Bloch have called for the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share of taxes. Bloch, a self-proclaimed Republican, wrote an Op-Ed for the Kansas City Star reiterating those points.

Those of us earning more than $250,000 a year are very fortunate. We have an obligation to help our nation overcome this challenge. While I don’t look forward to paying more taxes, it must be done. And it’s a small price to pay for living in this wonderful country. Responsible change that promotes good public policy and tax fairness is to be welcomed.

You know an editorial is going to be worth the read when it describes State Auditor Tom Schweich’s lawsuit against Governor Jay Nixon as “a typical attempt at blatant partisanship wrapped up in legal arguments weaker than a first-year law student's paper written after an all-night bender.” 

The Post-Dispatch didn’t pull any punches in its assessment of Tom Schweich’s lawsuit against Jay Nixon. Schweich is arguing that the budget withholds, intended to aid Joplin’s tornado recovery, are damaging to his office’s own budget.

The editorial also notes that Schweich was the only statewide elected official to get increased funding for his office – a $300,000 increase to be specific.

State funding for disaster recovery has become much more important because of Republicans like Eric Cantor with stubborn stances on federal funds for recovery and the fact that FEMA is now really spread thin. This move by Schweich risks putting Joplin’s recovery efforts in the unstable hands of the United States Congress.

In an email, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder is urging supporters to stick with him through the stripper saga that has dogged his potential campaign for Governor for the last several weeks.

Specifically, he asks supporters to decide for themselves and not let the media or "powerbrokers" decide for them:  

Before I make my final decision, I want the chance to earn your trust so together we make the difference you deserve. Together we can chart a course to win in November 2012. Without your support I cannot succeed, and I will not run if I cannot win. The decision should reside in your hands, not a few powerbrokers or the media.  If I were not a real threat to their politics as usual and out of control spending, they would not be attacking me so viciously and falsely.

This email comes after Missouri Republican Party executive director Lloyd Smith sent a different email to prominent Missouri Republicans parroting posts from Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government blog – posts which included misinformation that has been denied and debunked.

For those interested, read the full email from Kinder after the break.

Midwest Voices details the services rendered by Jeff Roe's Axiom Strategies in defense of 1,950 percent  APR on payday loans.

Last week it paid $86,000 to Axiom Strategies, the company owed by Kansas City campaign guru Jeff Roe, for duties such as strategic campaign oversight ($15,000); strategic communications ($16,000); regional operations management ($25,000); and Website design ($9,500).

Earlier this year, the payday loan industry founded a political action committee called Missourians for Equal Credit Opportunity. Records filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission show the committee was terminated last week, and a balance of $107,000 was transferred to a campaign committee of the same name.

In the aftermath of the devastating tornado in Joplin, House Majority Whip Eric Cantor created controversy and unrest when he said federal money to aid the recovery in Joplin wouldn’t come without corresponding cuts.

Specifically he said: 

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Monday that if Congress passes an emergency spending bill to help Missouri’s tornado victims, the extra money will have to be cut from somewhere else.

“If there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental,” Mr. Cantor, Virginia Republican, told reporters at the Capitol. The term “pay-fors” is used by lawmakers to signal cuts or tax increases used to pay for new spending.

Now, Cantor’s home state of Virginia is suffering after Hurricane Irene caused damage up and down the east coast, and he says the same test applies – money for hurricane relief has to be offset by spending cuts.

Cantor told Fox News that while “we’re going to find the money,” “we’re just going to need to make sure that there are savings elsewhere to do so.”

This news also comes as money for the Joplin recovery is shifted to aid in the recovery from Hurricane Irene.

The Missouri Budget Project put at a new report on the most recent versions of the Mega Sales Tax proposals pushed by Rex Sinquefield. Specifically, the report notes that these proposals do not attempt to require the new taxes to be revenue neutral, which could cost the state $2.4 billion dollars in general revenue.

Unlike the previous versions, these proposals do not even attempt to be revenue neutral. The Missouri Budget Project’s initial estimate is that the new sales tax structure will result in a shortfall of at least $2.4 billion in general revenue.  Total general revenue is currently a little over $7 billion.  A shortfall this great will require deep cuts in K-12 education, higher education, health and mental health, and the services that serve as the foundation of our economy and result in a safe and healthy environment.

They also note that there are many purchases exempt from the Mega Sales Tax. Maybe everyone should just concede that this is a terrible idea instead of appeasing industries and groups opposed to the tax by exempting certain purchases -- making the damage it would do to state funding even worse.

State Senator Jane Cunningham's law prohibiting forms of teacher/student communication on Facebook and other social media sites was dealt two very significant blows today.  

Cole County Circuit Court Judge John Beetem issued an order blocking the provision from going into effect. 

In his ruling, Beetem called the breadth of the social-media restrictions in the bill "staggering."

He noted that the law -- as written -- would prohibit communication between family members and their teacher parents on social media. Moreover, evidence produced at a preliminary hearing found that social media is often the primary method for teachers to communicate with students. Beetem found that enforcement of such a restriction would have a "chilling effect on speech."

And the AP reported that Governor Jay Nixon called for the General Assembly to repeal the social media provision during the special legislative session slated for September 6th. 

In a front page Kansas City Star story, three more Republican lawmakers took a pass on supporting Peter Kinder, raising more doubts about his ability to compete in a statewide contest for Governor. 

State Reps. Myron Neth and Jerry Nolte both expressed hesitation about supporting Kinder as their party’s candidate for Governor, and State Senator Luann Ridgeway has similar reservations.

Also Tuesday, Missouri Rep. Myron Neth, a Liberty Republican, described his support for Kinder as “tentative” following the Chapman stories, noting: “When you look at your principles, you think, ‘Oh my gosh, can I really get my name behind someone like that?’ ”

In the Kansas City area, two veteran GOP lawmakers, Missouri Sen. Luann Ridgeway of Smithville and Missouri Rep. Jerry Nolte of Gladstone, this week declined to endorse Kinder, even though he’s been the presumed nominee for months.

“I’m anxious to see if someone else decides to pop up,” Nolte said.

h/t Fuse Innovation 

Yesterday, around 100 concerned Missourians met in Ballwin to express their concern with Rep. Todd Akin's proud support for Paul Ryan's budget that would eliminate Medicare as we know it, and call on Akin to stand up for Missouri's middle class families.  But in what appears to be a disturbing pattern, Akin refused to meet with constituents who might not share his narrow view on the world.

For more on the community town hall too scary for Todd Akin, check out coverage at Show Me Progress and x. 

In a unanimous vote, the Missouri Housing Development Commission passed a $122 million plan to combat homelessness in Missouri. State Treasurer Clint Zweifel championed the plan and said that it will provide long-term housing for homeless Missourians. 

We are going to embark on the creation of sustainable long-term housing that begins the process of eliminating homelessness for 24,000 Missourians, of which 5,000 are veterans and 16,000 are school-age children with an average age of eight.

The passage follows praise and an endorsement of the plan from the St. Louis Post Dispatch Editorial Board in today’s paper.

Missouri has about 24,000 homeless people. Mr. Zweifel's modest proposal will barely make a dent in that number. But it's a start. Leveraging state and private dollars to put a roof over the heads of our state's neediest citizens is precisely the role the MHDC should be playing.

Missouri Political Science Professor George Connor on the ongoing Peter Kinder stripper saga:

“There are campaign tactic avenues in which Lt. Gov. Kinder can defend himself against these allegations and move forward,” Connor said in a telephone interview. “I think the bigger question is do the Republicans have a viable alternative to Lt. Gov. Kinder? There, the answer is probably no.”

It doesn't sound like anyone really wants to run for Attorney General against Chris Koster, so a first term GOP state rep. from California, Mo., may have to take one for the team. 

This begs the question: Is the Missouri Republican Party's bench of up and coming political leaders really this thin?

I guess when a campaign is taking in less than it spends, bad news for others is by definition good news for them. As they say, misery loves company.

Sarah Steelman's fundraising numbers during the first two quarters of 2011 have been wholly unimpressive. So much so that she is now literally celebrating when people vow to stop donating to political candidates all together.

Roy Blunt takes a pass on supporting Peter Kinder. I guess he is expecting there might actually be a primary?

Meanwhile,  KMOX asked the highest-ranking elected Republican in the state to weigh in on the question of whether Kinder is still viable to top the ticket   U-S Senator Roy Blunt ducked the question during a tour of a plant that manufactures chicken and livestock feed. 

“You know, I think Peter Kinder has done a good job as Lt. Governor and what I’ve said about all these primaries is, I’m not going to have anything to say about them until we get a lot closer to election day,” Blunt said.