More

Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors
Brent Budowsky

GET UPDATES FROM Brent Budowsky
 

Jobs: An Angry Dissent

Posted: 06/02/11 06:30 PM ET

On behalf of the 15.9 percent of Americans who compose the real jobless rate and their moms, dads, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters who compose the 30 percent of Americans suffering misery from unemployment, I write this angry dissent against the culture of callousness of official Washington, which is doing virtually nothing to create jobs in America.

The ugly housing numbers released Tuesday suggest a double-dip collapse below earlier crash levels. The ugly jobs numbers released Wednesday by ADP remind us why 55 percent of Americans believe the nation is in a recession or depression, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Never before in American history has unemployment been so high, yet neither the president nor Congress pushes for a major jobs bill. With so many Americans crushed by personal and family economic tragedy, there is no attempt to enact any program worth a damn to help the jobless, except by House Democrats, whom I credit for trying.

My mission here is to give voice to the jobless, who have little voice in this town. I must offend some friends as well as adversaries.

I angrily dissent from the lack of a major jobs program. I angrily dissent from a Federal Reserve policy that provided some $20 trillion to bankers in the greatest trickle-down exercise in world history, which created vast wealth at the top, rampant speculation throughout markets, the cash-starving of small businesses and a tidal wave of foreclosures by bailed-out bankers who showed neither common sense, basic decency nor economic patriotism. Then they whine to the media that their feelings are hurt because they are unpopular.

I called for a foreclosure freeze in this paper in 2007. I angrily dissent against incompetent foreclosure programs under two presidents and many banks that poison our economy by extending the collapse of housing and reinforcing the collapse of jobs, which small minds call "the new normal."

The acceptance of current jobless levels is the lowering of our standards to miserable levels, the shame of our time, the scandal of our age and the source of public contempt toward Washington and Wall Street.

The president deserves great credit for rescuing the auto industry, but this is not the moment for victory laps. It is a time for taking responsibility, not taking credit. If Martin Luther King were here, he would express great pride that President Obama was elected while calling millions of people to Washington to protest against the neglect that I 
deplore here.

It is not acceptable for the president and Democrats to fail to fight for a major jobs program and take their fight to the voters. It is not acceptable for Republicans to blockade programs to create jobs, propose many actions that will destroy jobs, and try to blackmail America into an economic crash by threatening to defeat the debt-ceiling increase unless their anti-jobs ideology is enacted into law.

It is an outrage to punish the jobless with Marie Antoinette economics, where the same old policy pigs are dressed in new tuxedos, the same old bromides are falsely called job creators, the jobless are told, "Let them eat public relations" and those jobless for 99 weeks are treated like human garbage to be thrown away and forgotten, or degraded and humiliated by the sickening lie that they want to be jobless.

Let's bring back the housing tax credit, now. Let's put a jobs program into the budget talks. Let's promote buying American and rebuilding America. Let's not burden our children with costs and deaths of bridges that collapse and cars that crash on roads that decay.

Let's find Ted Kennedy Democrats and Jack Kemp Republicans and take the best of their ideas for jobs.

Today I condemn the consensus in this town and write on behalf of the jobless. Those whose failures caused their pain should have the moral decency, economic sense and political courage to make America great by putting Americans to work.

This column was originally published at The Hill.

 
 
 
  • Comments
  • 38
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View All
Favorites
Recency  | 
Popularity
Page: 1 2  Next ›  Last »  (2 total)
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
anonymous67
03:04 PM on 06/03/2011
Brent Budowsky -- you are my hero. However, I have come to believe that our President has knowingly sold out the public's interest to Wall Street. He has packed the Department of Treasury with the very bankers responsible for the financial crisis and who unerringly pursue Wall Street's interests. Our President has even appointed a Wall Street banker as his chief of staff. Sadly the list goes on...

America needs new leadership in 2010 -- and NOT a Republican. Anyone voting Republican at this point in history is dumber than a stump or among the top 1%.

And the US Department of Treasury MUST be investigated for public corruption and obstruction of justice.
jhNY
Mercy.
12:46 PM on 06/03/2011
I want what you want, Mr. Budowsky, and like you, I am angry so little is being done. But that's the problem with a corporatocracy-- nothing can be done that doesn't benefit the powerful mostly and firstly. And those guys don't need jobs. They own stuff.
12:33 PM on 06/03/2011
repubs will not allow job bills nor infrastucture bills,also some dixiecrats(bluedog dems) back repubs up so nothing gets done. 200 job bills from last congress in senate-can't even get heard..that's where the problem lies..repubs
06:59 PM on 06/03/2011
And you have hit the nail on the head!!
photo
uniquindividual
I'm unique and so are you
12:27 PM on 06/03/2011
I second your motion of dissent sir.
11:56 AM on 06/03/2011
The housing tax credit only helped people with money and drove up the prices of homes.
photo
uniquindividual
I'm unique and so are you
12:26 PM on 06/03/2011
Home price appreciation was driven by an irrational banking policy that provide mortgages to people who could never pay them back.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
bg66astoria
Research Helps
11:24 AM on 06/03/2011
Job # 1 = More Jobs
Job #2 = More Jobs
Job # 9999 = MORE JOBS!
photo
humanbeing-rick
Born in the USA 1947
11:23 AM on 06/03/2011
Bravo!!! I love this guy! Keep up the good work! We need more like this.
We need to stop the sell-off of America's future by selfish tunnel-vision business leaders.
It is time to bring the good jobs and industries back to America!
09:32 AM on 06/03/2011
Yeah, the last housing tax credit worked so well - with something like 85% of those homes now underwater - that we should have another one.
photo
uniquindividual
I'm unique and so are you
12:28 PM on 06/03/2011
I don't think he advocated loaning money to people who don't have an income high enough to ever pay it back.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
rtx47
08:55 AM on 06/03/2011
We stimulated our economy over several decades now. Here are the problems:

CRUX of the fiscal numbers:
Annual national GDP 15 Trillion.
Federal govt debt 14T.
State and Local govt debt 2.4T.
Unfunded obligation­­s 3.5T, including 2.6T to the Social Security Trust Fund.
Personal debt of Americans 13.4T.

ANNUALLY
Federal budget deficit 1.6T. Federal govt borrows - 40 cents/ dollar of budget.
Interest payment on debt 0.2T which increases with more borrowing; and benefits no one.
Annual borrowing by the private sector - household, companies and banks 3.9T.

PROPOSED FUTURE
President’s ten-year plan 46T in spending.
Paul Ryan’s alternativ­e ten-year plan 40T in spending.
FURTHER federal budget shortfall over ten year is about 7-8T depending on the propsal, the economy, further natural or man-made disaster, including financial meltdown, here or abroad.

FISCAL CRISES ON THE HORIZON - Rescuing Fannie May and Freddie Mac. Student Loan Defaults. Boomer retirement at 1 million every year for next twenty years adding to SS and Medicare.

Most other countries have the debt owned by their own citizens; stimulating personal savings. In the US we elected to have foreigners own our debt; so Americans can continue to borrow and spend to keep our "Supply and Demand" economy afloat. This reduces our savnigs and makes us more dependent on govt for our retirement and catastrophies.

Debt is one of our biggest threats as per Pentagon.

Passing the massive debt to grandchildren and yet-to-be-born Americans is the worst legacy of this generation.
photo
uniquindividual
I'm unique and so are you
12:31 PM on 06/03/2011
Agreed, I've been saying this for years.

As long as Reagan's policies remain unexamined we will continue down this terrible road.

when an individual is undergoing psychological therapy, dealing with the past honestly is an important component of a true recovery.

I think the same applies to nation states.
jhNY
Mercy.
12:48 PM on 06/03/2011
But without the creation of millions of jobs by all means, public and private, the tax revenues taken in by government will stay too low to pay down a significant portion of the debt.
08:37 AM on 06/03/2011
Unfortunately facts are not like opinions. Real wages and jobs have been in free fall or stagnant for the last ten years. Wall Street created a fake jobs programs for real estate that will never return. Unfortunately the right never really studied facts so they are to stuborn to realize our infrastrure is crumbling and it will take a huge country wide rebulding effort to lift us out of this shiite. No private program will help us and we are repeating the history that gave us the double dip depression. What kind of idiot doesn't have 20/20 hind sight? Only the fools!
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
bg66astoria
Research Helps
11:26 AM on 06/03/2011
stagnant wages for more like 30 years! - see Krugman, Stiglitz, Madrick, Dean Baker, Robert Reich, etc.

We've been through multliple asset bubbles - our versions of the South Sea Bubble, Tulip Bubble, etc.
photo
uniquindividual
I'm unique and so are you
12:35 PM on 06/03/2011
thirty year trends in many arenas...

Wages...

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
rtx47
08:20 AM on 06/03/2011
Solve the housing crises by increasing the demand for homes in win-win scenarios.

If the home-owner is having difficulty making mortgage payments on the home, then rent part of the home to a relative or to someone with good references ­. Many NY city dwellers outside Manhattan do so.

Increase demand in low-end housing market ($100K homes) by solving the undocument­ed employed worker issue and permitting them with work-permit to come out of the shadow. They (20 million) would BUY homes, furniture, cars, dishwasher­, washers and dryers, etc..

Increase demand in mid-range housing market ($ 250K ), by permitting foreign physicians (50,000) to immigrate to America and meet the need of current doctor shortage.

In addition, each physician on average creates employment for five to six individual­s - Nurse Practition­ers / PA, nurses, secretarie­s billing staff, transcript­ionist. These jobs will be scattered throughout the country, including inner cites and rural areas.

Many Americans are against immigratio­n as an emotional and intellectu­al response to our current economic difficulti­es. Yet most studies show immigrants greatly contribute to the economy. Immigrants and their immediate offspring are and have been a great source of innovation and economic engine to spur economic growth.

Being against immigratio­n or legalizing the undocument­ed is to 'cut our nose to spite our face'. Talk about citizen pathway, etc for those who merely want to work is spining our wheels and a side-show.
08:03 AM on 06/03/2011
Be realistic...these jobs are NOT coming back. We can no longer pay more than what the market demands for labor because you feel slighted. $5/hour jobs are $5/hour jobs, period. Nobody cares if you think you should get $10/hour...it pays $5/hour. Take it or move on/get a better education/whatever you need to do to make more. The point is that what's gone is gone. It is what it is...deal with it.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Christopher Hull
Democratic Socialist
12:36 PM on 06/03/2011
I'm sorry but I disagree with your point. It's too vague. Which jobs are you talking about? The manufacturing jobs? The customer service phone operator jobs? Which ones exactly?
And which market demand are you referring to? The US market? The global market?
I'm not trying to be difficult but is it your position that the worker in American should have to compete with workers in China and Vietnam with no government regulations to level the field? If so, are you prepared to live in the same conditions as those workers?
What we need is ENFORCEMENT of the trade deals we have signed. That would go a long way to restoring American manufacturing. And how is it that Germany is doine quite well manufacturing wise even though their hourly labor costs are higher than in the US? Oh....They have a government that wants to keep their population working.
jhNY
Mercy.
12:52 PM on 06/03/2011
Who are 'we' exactly? Are you yourself a tough-love employer dispensing your wisdom and conditions of employment to those you will hire for less than legal wages? Or are you 'channeling' such a fellow?
11:55 PM on 06/02/2011
We live under a two party system with two identical parties. Both parties are corporate owned and operated. We are a nation of, by, and for multinational corporations and foreign nations.

Until Americans wake up to the fact that we have only one party rule they will continue living under the delusion of choice.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
01:35 AM on 06/03/2011
Amen.

http://www.corporateamericanflag.com/
Corporate American Flag

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the corporate states of America.
And to the conglomera­tion,for which it stands, one nation, under many CEOs,
always divisible, with liberty and privileges for some." -- unknown
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
10:29 PM on 06/02/2011
You said it. In one word, INFRASTRUCTURE. Without it, any society is dead.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
spinotter11
Spinning through life and trying to understand it.
10:08 PM on 06/02/2011
You may angrily dissent, and I applaud your principles. But it's not going to make any difference to the outcome. The die is cast.
11:19 AM on 06/10/2011
Again otter...correct. Idealizing and and spewing what "you people" think should happen, will never happen. None of you are effective enough to make anything change...you're just keyboard social specialists. Bucking the system always sound fun and exciting but at this point its not going to work.