House Republican leadership today responded to their session with President Obama in a press conference.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) condemned the Internal Revenue Service targeting scandal on Wednesday, demanding that the administration hold someone responsible.

"The IRS admitted to targeting conservatives, even if the White House continues to be stuck on the word 'if,'" he told reporters at a weekly briefing. "My question isn't about who is going to resign. My question is who's going to jail over this scandal?"

Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday he had ordered the FBI to open a criminal probe in a growing scandal over the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative political groups for extra tax scrutiny.

Speaker Boehner made no mention of jobs during the Republican press conference today, nor did any of the other GOP House "leaders."

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

The U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs in April, which caused the unemployment rate to fall to a 4-year low at 7.5 percent.

Forbes:

More significant, perhaps, are the revisions to March’s gains (up 50,000) to 138,000 and February’s gains (up 64,000) to 332,000. Together, those upwardly revised numbers takes the sting away from March’s dismal numbers and helps to reduce some of the unevenness in job growth.

Meantime, joblessness continues to slowly tick lower. The unemployment rate dropped to 7.5% last month, compared to 7.6% in March. It has fallen from by 40 basis points since January.

Stocks rose following the better-than-expected jobs data. Dow Jones industrial futures gained 103.42 points to 14,767.58. Nasdaq composite futures increased 20.6 points to 2,903.94. S&P 500 futures was up 11.4 points to 1,592.62.

Still the economy is far from completely healed. The labor-force participation rate remains dismally low–remaining at 63.3% in April–at levels unseen since the 1970s, a period when an entire portion of the U.S. population (women) was less likely to work. And despite the upside surprise for the April data, the 165,000 jobs are woefully beneath the point at which the economy needs to reach to hasten the recovery. Economists say the nation must add nearly double that number, closer to 250,000 to 300,000.

The government is now the biggest drag on the job market. Overall, federal, state and local governments cut 11,000 jobs in April.

The terrace at St. Regis Deer Valley, the “Ritz-Carlton of ski resorts.”

By Justin Elliott, ProPublica, April 30, 2013

In January, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, ascended to the powerful chairmanship of the House Financial Services Committee. Six weeks later, campaign finance filings and interviews show, Hensarling was joined by representatives of the banking industry for a ski vacation fundraiser at a posh Park City, Utah, resort.

The congressman's political action committee held the fundraiser at the St. Regis Deer Valley, the "Ritz-Carlton of ski resorts" known for its "white-glove service" and for its restaurant by superstar chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

There's no evidence the fundraiser broke any campaign finance rules. But a ski getaway with Hensarling, whose committee oversees both Wall Street and its regulators, is an invaluable opportunity for industry lobbyists.

Among those attending the weekend getaway was an official from the American Securitization Forum, a Wall Street industry group, a spokesman confirmed. It gave $2,500 in February to Hensarling's political action committee, the Jobs, Economy, and Budget (JEB) Fund.

Len Wolfson, a lobbyist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, which gave the JEB Fund $5,000 that month, posted a picture on Instagram from the weekend of the fundraiser of the funicular at the St. Regis. (It was labeled, "Putting the #fun in #funicular. #stregis #deervalley #utah.") Wolfson did not respond to requests for comment. (UPDATE 1 p.m. Wolfson has now set his account to private.) 

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A record 6 million people -- or 27.2 percent of the population -- are unemployed in Spain, the highest level for the country since it began keeping records in 1976. Luckily, there is a silver lining: authorities say the rate of the increase has at least slowed since the recession first began. Spain’s economy -- the fourth largest in Europe -- has relied heavily on the major central banks, but the country has been left in recession by deep spending cuts. “These figures are worse than expected,” said Jose Luis Martinez, a strategist at Citi in Madrid. Spanish President Mariano Rajoy is expected to unveil a new reform plan Friday, but thousands of protesters still converged in Madrid on Thursday.

[Language may not be suitable for work.]

This is your Moment of Clarity #223: There are roughly 28 million Americans who can't find a job or have given up looking. Many more than that are suffering. And I just want to remind everyone, it's not your fault. Don't believe the "personal responsibility" bullshit that gets thrown around. This is not your fault.

Keep fighting,

Lee

The unprecedented level of economic inequality in America is undeniable. In an extended essay, Bill Moyers shares examples of the striking extremes of wealth and poverty across the country, including a video report on California’s Silicon Valley. There, Facebook, Google, and Apple are minting millionaires, while the area’s homeless -- who’ve grown 20 percent in the last two years -- are living in tent cities at their virtual doorsteps.

“A petty, narcissistic, pridefully ignorant politics has come to dominate and paralyze our government,” says Bill, “while millions of people keep falling through the gaping hole that has turned us into the United States of Inequality.”

Full transcript below the fold.

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The Bakken oil boom in North Dakota has brought much-needed jobs and economic development to the region. But the fast pace of the drilling has caused many problems, including industrial-scale impacts on Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the land surrounding it.

"A Boom With No Boundaries" explores how one of America's 59 national parks is already being affected by the pollution, traffic, and noise associated with oil and gas drilling.

For more information, visit American Progress.

In an exclusive interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, President Barack Obama had this to say about Republicans who want to gut Medicare and replace it with health care "coupons" (vouchers), and cut Social Security before considering any Grand Bargain:

"Well– I understand. Which is why, at some point, I think I take myself out of this. Right now, what I’m trying to do is create an atmosphere where Democrats and Republicans can go ahead, get together, and try to get something done. And, y– you know– I think what’s important to recognize is that– we’ve already cut– $2.5– $2.7 trillion out of the deficit. If the sequester stays in, you’ve got over $3.5 trillion of deficit reduction already."

"And, so, we don’t have an immediate crisis in terms of debt. In fact, for the next ten years, it’s gonna be in a sustainable place. The question is, can we do it smarter, can we do it better? And– you know, what I’m saying to them is I am prepared to do some tough stuff. Neither side’s gonna get 100%. That’s what the American people are lookin’ for. That’s what’s gonna be good for jobs. That’s what’s gonna be good for growth."

"But ultimately, it may be that– the differences are just– too wide. It may be that ideologically, if their position is, “We can’t do any revenue,” or, “We can only do revenue if we gut Medicare or gut Social Security or gut Medicaid,” if that’s the position, then we’re probably not gonna be able to get a deal."

No debt crisis? But, the GOP has been screaming that the sky is falling ever since Obama took office. In fact, a recent poll by Bloomberg News asked Americans whether they believed the budget deficit was growing or shrinking, just six percent answered the question correctly. Ninety-four percent had no clue. And 62 percent actually thought it was getting bigger. So the next time you hear a poll about how Americans think it's important to shrink the budget deficit, remember that 94 percent of us don't even know that it's getting smaller.

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President Obama began this week’s address by praising the latest jobs numbers, a rebounding stock market and a quickening pace for new home sales. “And we need to do everything we can to keep that momentum going,” he said. “At a time when our businesses are gaining a little more traction, the last thing we should do is allow Washington politics to get in the way.” That's why he met with Republican senators on Wednesday, and is making plans to attend both the Democratic and Republican Party meetings in Congress next week. He hopes to “untangle some of the gridlock” and continue discussions to end the sequester. Obama acknowledged that progress won’t be easy, but added “I still believe we can come together to do big things.”

Full transcript of the President's remarks below the fold, or you can read it at the White House website.

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Robert Reich, former U.S. labor secretary and professor at U.C. Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, tells Current TV’s John Fugelsang why Democrats and Republicans need to cooperate in order to avert the looming sequester.

“What Democrats ought to be proposing, and even Republicans ought to be proposing, is to say, ‘Let’s just repeal the sequester,’” Reich says. “The problem right now is not the budget deficit — the budget deficit is actually shrinking — the problem right now is jobs. The problem right now is the economy and economic growth. Wages. That’s what we ought to get back to – the fundamentals.”

“Trickle-down economics is just a bald-faced lie,” Reich adds. “It means that you’re protecting the rich, protecting the powerful. It’s what Republicans have been doing for years, and you know, you tell a lie over and over and over again … and eventually people start to believe it.”