Late Wednesday, siouxcityjournal.com was the first to report on the expansion of Stream’s contract call center in Sergeant Bluff, “Stream addign 300 jobs.”

The suburban Boston-based company attributed the new hiring, which will raise total local employment to about 1,100, to added business growth by the clients the local call center supports. They include Sirius XM, Apple, Nike and Intuit.

Could the “cash for clunkers” auto incentive program be contributed to at least some of the Sergeant Bluff growth growth. The Wall Street reported Thursday that Sirius in the third quarter began adding satellite radio subscribers for the first time since December, “Sirius makes strides in third quarter.”

Sirius XM, which ran into financing difficulties that nearly sent it into bankruptcy early this year, before Liberty Media Corp. took a 40% stake, got a boost during the third quarter from cash-for-clunkers, the federal goverment program that paid consumers to trade in their gas-guzzlers for new, more fuel-efficient models.

The purchase of many new models comes with a subscription to Sirius XM. To activate the service, owners must call an 800 number. Customers service representatives at the Sergeant Bluff center handle many of those inbound calls, helping Sirius subscribers not only set up their service, but also answer questions about it afterwards.

Is the Obama administration trying to marginalize America’s largest business group?

“The uneasy relationship between the Obama White House and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has steadily eroded over the past several months, with the business group’s opposition to health care and climate change legislation triggering an all-fronts backlash from the administration,” Fox News reports, “White House targets Chamber.” “The administration is now trying to neutralize the Chamber by doing an end-run around the group and dealing directly with its members.”

“Obama and top aides quietly have met with 50 to 60 big-time corporate CEOs over the past few months in an effort to cultivate their support on key issues — the White House denies that it has encouraged any companies to sever ties with the Chamber.”

Liberal groups have highlighted such firms as Apple cancelling their Chamber membership over climate change legislation. Another influential firm, Nike, resigned its seat on the board of directors.

(It’s somewhat hypocritical of Apple and Nike to support the proposed cap-and-trade legislation pending in Congress. Both companies manufacture their products in third-world countries exempt from limits on carbon emissions. The Chamber’s membership also includes many companies with U.S. factories that would face steep costs to stay in business if cap-and-trade would become law.

Obama’s allies are turning up the heat on the U.S. Chamber as well. A group of small businesses in Iowa, called 1Sky, recently issued a news release in which they criticized the Chamber for not supporting climate change legislation.