America Is Sleepwalking On The Unemployment Crisis: Mohamed El-Erian

Project Syndicate:

The issue is the scope and composition of unemployment in America – a problem that is yet to be sufficiently recognized for its increasingly detrimental impact on the country’s social fabric, its economic potential, and its already-fragile fiscal position and debt dynamics.

Read the whole story: Project Syndicate

Comments

[dimplesmile7]

05:01 PM on 05/04/2011

I was recently told to take my degree off of my resume.

[spinotter11]

09:43 PM on 05/04/2011

I'd try it. What do you have to lose? Good luck and I hope you find a job soon.

[trobts]

07:40 AM on 05/04/2011

The GOP (in concert with Corporations) is on "schedule" to obliterate the middle class by 2015. Count on it!

[kcwookie]

10:18 PM on 05/03/2011

Unemployment is only half the problem, the other half is wages. Americans are more productive in the workplace that probably any other time in history. The fabric of the family is in tatters and the country crumbles. It's not taxes, nor big or small government, it the economy is out of balance with most of the money at the top. The poor and middle classes are being starved out. Look at the reports, spending is starting to improve, but it's credit card spending with loan shark interest rates that are funding it.

If we continue to follow the Tea Party lead, we will end up in a depression that will make 2008-2011 look like boom years. Our economy lives on consumer spending. Money enters the bottom as wages and enriches eveyone as it rises to the top. We don't do that we skip the rise and give the money to the top. They are getting richer than ever, but soon the economy won't be able to sustain the greed. The only way this can be fixed is for the government to take their fingers off the scale and allow the unions in all sectors to claw back wages for the middle class and poor. The government has taken all the safeties off business, now they need to do the same with labor. Organizing and collective bargaining are the ONLY way to fix the economy. Arab Spring needs to become American SUMMER!

[99er2049er]

01:35 AM on 05/04/2011

I can't believe we live in a time when harming the unemployed during a recession was actually an acceptable thing for a political party to legislate. I can't believe harming the future senior citizens by taking away our medicare and next our social security is an acceptable thing for a political party to legislate. The republicans actually broke all ethical and acceptable boundaries with these plans and will surely pay a heavy price for this in 2012!

Obama and the democrats for 2012!

[spinotter11]

08:48 AM on 05/04/2011

Hey, 99er - I hope that you are doing well. When you say "harming the unemployed," I presume that you mean by not extending the length of time that one can draw benefits beyond 99 weeks? Anything else? I too am very disappointed with our government and the people of the US who are allowing all of this to happen.

[lulubelle1956]

06:51 AM on 05/04/2011

The biggest problem is the contempt and hatred the GOP/TP has shown toward workers and the middle class--we/they are already in a depression created by them and their fiscal/tax irresponsibility, not to mention their irresponsibility in foreign affairs and diplomacy.

[lulubelle1956]

09:36 PM on 05/03/2011

Doesn't help that the GOP/TP keeps giving corporate tax breaks to shorten unemployment while likening the unemployed to "pigs" and "hogs":

Florida Senate approves business tax cut that shrinks unemployment ...
May 3, 2011 ... The Florida Senate approved a tax cut for businesses that will shrink unemployment ... “Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered,” Detert said. ...
www.miamiherald.com › News › Legislature

[99er2049er]

01:36 AM on 05/04/2011

We will begin voting the republicans out of power in 2012!

Pass the word to your friends and family and show up at the booths in 2012 to vote for the democrats.

[demilieu]

05:12 PM on 05/03/2011

We risk losing a generation of workers. One doesn't need a degree from the Wharton School or Harvard to see this isn't a good situation.

[99er2049er]

05:19 PM on 05/03/2011

I'm amazed that I am becoming obsolete and I even earned my degree last year. It seems as if you don't have friends and work in the exact same industry, you don't have a chance.

[stargazer13]

12:03 PM on 05/03/2011

No work No money No spending

get it got it

good

[99er2049er]

05:20 PM on 05/03/2011

And everyone wonders why we are in a recession. The companies have money, but don't want to use it to hire people and don't even want to pay a reasonable wage in many of the positions for people to be able to build a nestegg and survive. Lets next take away medicare and social security so the poor and middle class will struggle in poverty through their retirement or just basically DIE!

[William Hunter Duncan]

01:06 AM on 05/03/2011

Excellent piece. Government can't create jobs without borrowing trillions more than it already is, and the financial world and much of the corporate world doesn't care.

www.offthegridmpls.blogspot.com

[99er2049er]

05:21 PM on 05/03/2011

The corporations and the republicans don't care.

[nothingchanges]

09:17 PM on 05/02/2011

A fundamental question is not being asked.

What is Congress doing about it?

Ours is a representative form of government. Who do those in Congress represent?
The majority? or those with the majority of the money?

Tax cuts, (From 70% to 28% under Reagan) and trickle down economics bear a large part of the blame for the concentration of wealth that has taken place in the past three decades. Why does it matter? Wealth equals power.

Power corrupts, the more concentrated wealth becomes, the more corrupt our "system" will eventually be.

Until "He who spends the most money becomes our next elected representative" is no longer the norm, we will be at the mercy of those with the most to spend on representation.

[demilieu]

05:14 PM on 05/03/2011

Their 'solution' has been to help Wall Street with 'our' money so that stock prices recover. That's about the extent of their efforts.

[MiddleMolly]

09:53 PM on 05/03/2011

The conservatives believe that if you get "government out of the way of business" and get rid of "onerous regulations" and let the free market do its thing, the jobs will come. That is the Republican agenda; to create jobs through an "unfettered" private sector.

But there is no real proof that this works, or it certainly doesn't work in any absolute manner. Clinton tied any increase in free market activities to higher marginal tax rates.

[AlanBannacheck]

07:42 PM on 05/02/2011

The situation remains hopeless as long as we are unwilling to consider an alternative system of wages and labor. The credit bubble did play a large part, but automation combined is another nail in the coffin.

[AlanBannacheck]

07:44 PM on 05/02/2011

combined with outsourcing*

[einzelgaenger]

07:52 AM on 05/03/2011

I think (and thought for a number of years now) that the only answer to economic competitiveness for a country like the US is basic scientific research to solve a major issue. Energy could be it, or curing cancer. On a cost basis we are not going to win vs. places with unlimited labor pools and no rules (Clinton blew it pushing for China into the WTO without rules - but then again GOPers would have blocked any demand for "fair trade" back then, that was not the zeitgeist). It's finding the next high-value thing to compete and then sell to others.

[MiddleMolly]

09:55 PM on 05/03/2011

But most of that work would still be outsourced in the name of corporate profits.. no matter what the next "big thing" is. Apple has created many "big things" in the last few years (along with other high tech places) and they are all being made off shore somewhere.

[Arts4u]

06:40 PM on 05/02/2011

Only the wealthiest of the population, who are heavily invested in the stock market are feeling confident. Their spending, however, is not enough to spur the economy or create much additional hiring. Thus the catch-22.

[demilieu]

05:28 PM on 05/03/2011

2% alone can't float this boat.

[realmystical]

03:52 PM on 05/02/2011

In my age bracket 50+ it used to be that I knew maybe one or two acquaintances who were in the job market over the years. In the last couple of years, I have watched more than thirty people I know lose their jobs and either not be able to replace them at a similar level, or find absolutely nothing. I have watched this cause financial, emotional and medical hardship as many have lost hope. Ageism caused by escalating medical insurance costs have caused these good workers and smart people to not even be considered for full-time work. This is such sadness for people who have worked hard, paid to educate their children and just when they thought they could start saving and living some for themselves, their careers were ended. It is shameful that the Republicans are not addressing these people because they think it will lead to them regaining the white house. I think that the unemployed understand who is hurting them and the representatives for the corporations will find themselves under water in '12.

[graffitijoe]

04:05 PM on 05/02/2011

Right. Give it back to the ones who have been in complete control for the past two years because they are blowing smoke and saying what you want to hear. Go ahead, the Obama policies have stood us in such good stead let's give him another 4 years. I'm joining you in celeebrating the great times that Obamanomics has brought us.

If those Republicans hadn't taken one of the two houses of Congress 4 months ago we'd all be on easy street now, right?

[Trepasky]

04:32 PM on 05/02/2011

Funny I lost my job before Obama was elected.
Since then things have improved.

I agree OBama in 2012

[realmystical]

05:09 PM on 05/02/2011

I'll leave you to your delusions.

[99er2049er]

12:01 AM on 05/03/2011

I do find it amazing that the republicans, especially under Bush, cause the recession, give us this high unemployment rate, then for the tens of millions who lose their job, the republicans again slap them in the face, blocking unemployment extensions. Obama and the democrats look out for the unemployed, the poor, the working class, and the elderly (which will be all of us losing our medicare and social security if the republicans and Ryan have their way).

Who the hell do you think we are going to vote for???

Obama and the democrats in 2012!

[einzelgaenger]

07:54 AM on 05/03/2011

They are incredibly lucky to be shameless, that way they can smile in public.

[Birdman372537]

03:15 PM on 05/02/2011

Even those willing to take lesser paying jobs to make ends meet can't afford health insurance. THAT is the real crisis facing America. Single-payer is the answer.

[graffitijoe]

03:37 PM on 05/02/2011

Too bad Obama didn't go for it when he had the chance - too much insurance lobby money to pass up.

[bthechangeyouseek]

08:52 PM on 05/02/2011

Whether he would have pushed it or not, the majority of America is not ready for it. Many don't understand what it will do for us as a country economically. Health care has been a debate for nearly 100 years.

[MiddleMolly]

10:09 PM on 05/03/2011

I don't think it had much to do with "insurance money". It was hard to push that health reform bill through Congress, even with the Dems in both houses. The Repubs did a great job in agitating against it.

[99er2049er]

12:04 AM on 05/03/2011

I haven't been able to have health care insurance for years and you can't get dental help at a clinic. I was lucky enough to have health care with one company in the last 10 years, so I pretty much just don't get medical care. It's amazing republicans can put no value on human life, while thinking it is fine to give billions and now over a trillion to the rich who don't even need the money.

This is why Obama will win in 2012 and the democrats will take back seats. If you aren't a millionaire or a billionaire, the republican party is doing nothing of value for you.

[MiddleMolly]

10:11 PM on 05/03/2011

But the unemployment rate, even the alternate unemployment rates, are still only bout 20%. We have too many people who aren't seeing what is going on or who guy the "deficit" as the bogeyman or who see themselves as "taxpayers" agains all of the lazy welfare and union people. The Dems and progressives have a lot of work to do to stay on message.

[sfbbmom]

02:45 PM on 05/02/2011

The Repudicons are doing everything they can to control the American conversation about juob creation. Trickle down simply does not work. Never has, never will. Repudicons are scaring everyone with falsehoolds about pensions, minimum wages, unions, teachers, and the bulk of middle income workers. The poor have always been poor, they say, and there are veiled and not so veiled innuendos of laziness, welfare queens, and the like. They have not ONE real, concrete, viable offering. WE have to get real real serious about the economic structures in America, the grossly inadequate financial regulations of economic entities that have almost totally destroyed the middle and working classes while unjustly enriching the top few. WE have to do this real, real soon. City by city, State by State and nationally.

[graffitijoe]

03:42 PM on 05/02/2011

Brown is already trying to raise taxes in CA to cover the bloated public sector union pensions - it's not working. Taxpayers and corporations are already fleeing CA in droves - the unemployment rate here is one of the highest in the nation. Change the words from "California, here I come" to "California, here I go" or "Texas & Florida, here I come"?

There are still some people moving to CA, though ...from Mexico.

[demilieu]

05:37 PM on 05/03/2011

'Will to work' states. In other words, a career can be dissolved based on the boss' whim or opinion alone.

[99er2049er]

12:05 AM on 05/03/2011

The republicans have been using the same B.S. argument for years now, including tax cuts. The republicans always claim the dems will kill granny, yet they are the ones trying to kill granny (you know the Ryan plan). The republicans give that B.S. about being the ones who protect our country with military/defense, yet it's Obama and not Bush that caught Bin Laden.

Nobody is buying the republicans B.S. anymore.

[demilieu]

02:40 PM on 05/02/2011

Unemployment has fallen out of attention. There's no new news to report on it except that it is being pushed aside by other things-the Japan disaster, middle east problems and now Bin Laden's demise. There's still a huge number of people out there living on the edge from day to day.

[99er2049er]

12:08 AM on 05/03/2011

demilieu, I am one of those who has been out of work during this recession. The advice given to me, go back to college and complete your degree, then you will get a job. I went back to college during the recession and earned my degree. Still no job. Not only that, I am applying for an interviewing at many jobs that pay less than what I was making before having the degree. So we are supposed to go to college for what again??? To not have a job and to expect a job that pays less than what we made before having the degree? I likely won't even get enough money to pay for health care, invest in a 401k plan, or build a nestegg for the next time I lose my job.

Great opportunity here.

[MiddleMolly]

10:14 PM on 05/03/2011

The unemployment rate has come down just a smidge, enough to push it out of the news. There are still millions out there... 29,000,000 who are unemployed, underemployed, or who "want work".

[99er2049er]

02:18 PM on 05/02/2011

It amazes me that the republicans think of the unemployed as collateral damage of the recession. Nothing more, nothing less. If millions of unemployed can't find jobs and are struggling to feed their families, too bad for them, why should we provide them with extended unemployment benefits? Just let them wither away and die.

We are talking about tens of millions of people here, try counting that high and see how long it takes. These are real people suffering, not budgetary-line-items or invisible statistics. Don't forget that republicans. Because we will surely remember that at the polls in 2012.