Obama readies jobs plan; Bank of America cuts 40k positions

While President Obama spoke to reporters from the White House this morning about his proposed plan to tackle the unemployment epidemic, another announcement concerning the country’s workforce came out today: Bank of America is shedding 40,000 jobs.

In an effort to scale back expenses by around $5 billion before 2013, Bank of America is looking at eliminating around 40,000 employees — or roughly 10 percent of its entire workforce. A report out from the Los Angeles Times explains that the state of California will be hardest hit by the lay-offs, which is expected take a toll on the branches and loan centers throughout the state. Currently BofA employs around 45,000 people in California alone in its nearly 1,000 branches. Before the branch closures will hit California, the state is already in an unemployment mess as it is – while the rest of the country averages a 9.1 percent unemployment level, California sports one of over 12 percent."We don't need to lose any jobs in this environment, whether in financial services or anywhere else," Esmael Adibi, a Chapman University economist, tells the LA Times.President Obama, meanwhile, said just after 11 a.m. Washington, DC time this morning that his American Jobs Act is ready for Congress and that "the only thing that's stopping it is politics.” His plan, which he put before the American people during a Thursday night delivery from Capitol Hill, aims to keep the unemployment rate from getting any worse with the aid of hundreds of billions in assistance that the commander-in-chief claims it already paid for. "Instead of just talking about America's job creators, let's actually do something for America's job creators," Obama says of the bill. Back at the Bank of America offices, however, those 40,000 jobs expected to be shed by 2013 only add to the 6,000 that the bank intended on eliminating before the end of this year. Bank of America is also in the process of closing around 10 percent of its branches from coast-to-coast.Economic blogger and RT contributor Demitri Kofinas adds that as economic unrest continues across the Atlantic, financial turmoil in Greece could signal a disaster for the US, only adding to the shutdowns plaguing BofA."The fall of Greece could precipitate a panic in markets," says Kofinas, who adds that, psychological or not, such a stir could take down Bank of America, whom he calls "a disaster." He tells RT that BofA is so tied to the mortgage market that it wouldn't take much to take them and other big banks off the map.From the White House’s rose garden this morning, President Obama noted “We’ve got a world economy that’s full of uncertainty right now,” and that “Some events are beyond our control,” but that his job bill is instead rather, “something we can control.”He held up a copy of his American Jobs Act which he says is on his way to Congress. Republicans, meanwhile, are expected to respond to his bill in front of the press this evening — GOP candidates will argue each other once again in a televised debate later tonight.