The big talk in Washington rightfully is all about jobs, jobs, jobs, and what to do to create them. Some would rather do nothing and wait for them to magically appear. Others have trotted out a proposal to create jobs that media sources say carries a price tag of about $100 billion. While many have protested a $100 billion price tag is too much to spend at time of record deficits, the reality is it's not nearly enough.
It's not enough when you have the worst unemployment crisis in 70 years with nearly 16 million unemployed Americans and another 9.3 million underemployed. It's not enough when according to economic forecasts the unemployment rate will remain above 8 percent through 2011. It's not enough when 8 million jobs have been completely removed from payrolls since the start of the recession, nearly a million more than previously estimated.
The economy is a mess, and while we rescued Wall Street from self inflicted wounds, the greatest threat to America's stability, economic stagnation and slow job growth, festers. Congress must do more to promote job growth. Now is not the time to shrink deficits on the backs of America's workers, not when persistently high unemployment rates will continue to weigh down economic growth, continue to ravage lower- and middle-class Americans' earnings, and continue to incur long-lasting damage on our economy. Putting Americans back to work is our best chance to turn around our economy and address our long-term debt. Without heavy government intervention, the economy will recover, but slowly and so weakly that we will doom ourselves to lower tax revenues, stagnant wages and higher government spending, all of which would exacerbate our fiscal woes.
Putting Americans back to work fast enough to pull us out of this slump is going to take a lot more than $100 billion. According to the Economic Policy Institute's American Jobs Plan, a solid start to bringing our unemployment rate back to pre-crisis levels would require a $400 billion investment by our government, leading to the creation of at least 4.6 million jobs in the first year.
We need more than $100 billion in order to take a comprehensive approach that includes the creation of a community jobs program, strengthens the safety net, provides fiscal relief for state and local governments, invests in transportation and schools, and extends a job creation credit tax.
The money for a community jobs program would be allocated through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) formula, and would increase employment and household income in the communities most severely affected by the economic downturn. The jobs created would target four areas: neighborhood/community improvement, child health and development, access to public services, and public safety.
The second phase would focus on jobs that integrate education and job skills training, coordinate with apprenticeship programs and in sectors where job growth is most likely and with the most opportunities for advancement.
Putting Americans back to work is not only an economic imperative, but a moral one as well. It's a national shame that we put the tax payers on the hook for $23 trillion to rescue Wall Street fat cats, but balk at spending a tiny fraction of that on the workers who are the backbone of our economy. After neglecting lower- and middle-class workers for more than 20 years, a time when the richest one percent received more than half of all income growth in the US, it's high time for the government to act boldly on behalf of the people who build and sustain our country.
$100 billion? Not enough!
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I say cover it all and re-invest in our own people. If it's going to take 21 months from now until you can get into a class and complete it fully, then we extended your benefits to 21 months for enrolling. We cover the cost of your tuition, your books and your transportation to and from school. While you are waiting for your classes to begin, we put you to work doing volunteer community service work somewhere as a requirement and when you graduate and get a job, you have to put 5% of your gross earnings back into a fund that helps pay for others to be able to do what you did.
"past two decades, information technology has advanced dramatically and is increasingly employed to eliminate jobs of all types. Job automation technology, together with globalization, has been the primary force behind the stagnant wages and diminished opportunities."
Thoughtful writers need to make this point more often. The above applies to workers who do not possess "niche skills" - which are lacking in the larger workforce.
Recent lay-offs are in middle-management; with blue-collar workers already laid-off in prior economic restructuring. Majority of middle-level managers are paper-pushers; going from one management meeting to next. With consolidation and data collating technology, mid-managers are redundant. Some find scapegoats for their plight - the immigrant.
What individuals without a "niche skill" do? Same they've done for 5000 years - taken care of children and indigent relatives - thus bringing down the high cost of healthcare in hospitals and nursing homes, especially at the end of life - the biggest reason of escalating healthcare costs.
Next issue: How to live on a single-income family? Change our consumer-driven lifestyle and tighten our belts. Eat at home more often.
Difference in today's world? More girls are diligent, learning and developing better skills. Likely bread-winner of tomorrow will be women, as many are today. Earlier this message is accepted, better our society will be; and roles better defined and accepted by men and women, saving lot of marriages.
Sincere apologies to readers who cannot stomach the truth
Keep in mind that it takes the taxes of 5 wage earners in this country to pay the wages of one make work government job. Leave the money in the workers hands and they will create jobs that are sustainable and create wealth.
You wanna create jobs? Give $10B in tax cuts across the board, even the “rich folks†you hate so much, they are the ones who know how to create jobs and sign your paychecks.