By James Freeman and Brian Carney
Can companies refuse Valerie Jarrett’s offer? Plus, state governments are rolling in dough.
The Journal reports that top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett has been calling companies and urging them to sign a pledge not to discriminate in hiring against the long-term unemployed. So far, she’s extracted promises from blue-chips like AT&T T +0.12% and Procter & Gamble, PG -0.58% and others like Bank of America are expected to follow suit. The agreement doesn’t seem to bind the companies to any specific actions. So perhaps it can be viewed as a meaningless public-relations stunt. We’d say it is more than inappropriate, given all of the regulatory and tax burdens legally placed on American business, for the White House to pile on with additional ad hoc extra-legal requests to particular companies.
STATES FLUSH WITH CASH, BUT PENSIONS STILL NOT FUNDED Just a year after a congressional debate in which many Senators claimed state and local governments needed more Internet tax revenue, state receipts are swelling. But that doesn’t mean state finances are well managed. The Journal reports that “state and large local pension funds were short an estimated $1 trillion in assets needed to cover existing benefits promised to government workers as of 2012, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.”
MAYBE EMERGING MARKETS AREN’T SO BAD… Countering recent pessimism that has triggered stock sell-offs in many countries, Procter & Gamble shared some upbeat news on emerging markets. And as far as we can tell P&G shared this news without any prodding from the White House.
…AND THINGS ARE LOOKING UP IN GERMANY, TOO A measure of German business sentiment is higher.
BUT BIG INVESTORS SEND MIXED MESSAGE ON TELECOM AT&T says it won’t bid for British wireless giant Vodafone, ending (for now) months of speculation about AT&T’s intentions. Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, but has agreed to sell that stake back to Verizon. That transaction should close soon, leaving Europe’s largest wireless operator without a presence in the U.S. market. But while AT&T demurs, John Malone’s Liberty Global continues its European expansion with a $9.44 billion bid for the 71.5% of Dutch cable company Ziggo that it doesn’t already own. Some observers look at Mr. Malone’s acquisitive streak and see the pieces falling into place to remake Europe’s telecom industry. Telecom was Europe’s industrial crown jewel just a few years ago, but today the industry has fallen behind the U.S. and Asia in many respects.
WEAKENING CURRENCY DOESN’T BOOST EXPORTS Just ask Japan. A decline in the Yen hasn’t delivered the hoped-for surge in foreign orders.
NOW THAT BILL IS PASSED, WE FIND OUT WHAT’S IN IT They may or may not qualify as earmarks, but the items in Congress’s new annual spending bill have lawmakers bragging to their constituents about all the bacon they’re bringing home.
CALIFORNIA’S WATER HOG IS A TINY FISH A Journal editorial notes that while humans in California experience a drought, environmental rules divert water to the treasured three-inch smelt.
OCCUPY KIEV Ukraine’s justice minister has warned that the government could invoke a state of emergency if anti-government protesters don’t vacate the Ministry of Justice, which demonstrators occupied Sunday. Last week in The Wall Street Journal Europe, the Atlantic Council’s Adrian Karatnycky warned that Ukraine was headed for more violence and harsher repression in the coming weeks, a prediction that unfortunately seems to be holding up.
SUPREME COURT PROTECTS NUNS FROM OBAMA Friday night brought encouraging news for those who treasure First Amendment liberties, and religious freedom in particular. The Supremes issued a permanent stay pending appeal against an ObamaCare regulation that would have forced the Little Sisters of the Poor to pay for contraceptive services.
This column is available every day at wsj.com/morning.
