“The Economy Stupid” were the words on the now famous sign in successful presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s 1992 war room. Today, that sign should be in the war rooms of all candidates—from those seeking the presidency down to those running for local office. And right below it should be three words, “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.” The time has come for all our elected leaders and those who want to win our votes in the months ahead to focus on the most pressing problem facing our country—the jobs crisis.
Some of our leaders are stepping up to offer solutions—including Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), who along with 44 colleagues has introduced “The Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act” (H.R. 2914) to create over 2.2 million jobs for two years in order to provide time to get the economy back up and running and respond to some of our greatest needs. With 13.9 million people out of work—many for more than nine months, extended unemployment benefits scheduled to expire at year’s end, and dim prospects for full-time employment among private sector employers who largely refuse to hire those who are currently jobless, jobs are critical to our nation’s economic recovery. And as Rep. Schakowsky has noted, “Congress can and must do something today.”
Each part of Rep. Schakowsky’s bold proposal would create real jobs immediately that would benefit children, their parents, and their communities. This critical initiative would create a Neighborhood Heroes Corps and a Child Care Corps to provide support for early childhood, elementary and secondary educational services—the most strategic and cost effective investments our nation can make to lift children out of poverty and to ensure an adequately educated workforce for the future. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 230,000 education jobs have been lost since 2008. State and local budgets are stretched and the American Association of School Administrators says more than a quarter of a million education jobs could be lost this school year. This bill would keep those jobs secure and rehire some of the teachers laid off by funding 300,000 education jobs for two years. Rep. Schakowsky’s proposal also would help bridge the gap between what’s needed and what’s available through the Early Head Start program. This program which helps children in the years of greatest brain development currently reaches only three percent of eligible children from birth to age three. Her proposal will create 100,000 new jobs to serve infants and toddlers who desperately need a healthy, fair start in life.
Amanda, 4, and Emily, 3, play with toys their parents got on a bartering website called freecycle. Their father, John Nailor, owns a computer repair business in Evart, Michigan but makes less than $22,314 a year, the poverty level for a family of four. “If it weren’t for food stamps and the income tax credit, I don’t know where we’d be,” he said. “We would be lost.”
Children like three-year-old Emily Nailor of Evart, Michigan, who lives with her four-year-old sister Amanda and their parents John and Sarah, who earn less than $22,314 a year, the official poverty guideline for a family of four. “If it weren’t for food stamps and the income tax credit, I don’t know where we’d be,” John said. The Nailors don’t fit the old image of a poor family. They live in a house with a yard in a small town in Middle America—the sort of place that might have been featured in a Norman Rockwell painting, according to reporter Julia Cass. On assignment for the Children’s Defense Fund, she found the Nailor family in a rural county in central Michigan where 35 percent of the children live in poverty. John is a certified computer technician, and Sarah graduated from culinary arts school. But with a very high local unemployment rate and few opportunities available, neither one has been able to translate their education and training into a full-time job. For the last two years John’s tried to keep the family afloat by running his own business fixing clients’ computers and recycling old computers for their metal parts, but, Cass notes, “The best John can say about it is that ‘I’m still in business, even though we don’t have enough business to get off food stamps.’”
The children’s toys are mostly second hand, and their clothes are hand-me-downs that John got through Freecycle.org, an international website with local groups that trade items for free. About 300 people in Osceola County and three neighboring counties, undoubtedly struggling like the Nailors, are in their group, exchanging household items, furniture, toys, clothes, and even food like fresh eggs... “Amanda and Emily are young, so they don’t realize how poor we are,” Sarah told Cass. “But when they get older…” She did not finish the sentence.
Other parts of Rep. Schakowsky’s proposal would benefit families like the Nailors. John, as a computer technician, might qualify for one of the 750,000 new jobs the bill would create through the Community Corps. This group of workers, like the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps, would address community blight, including foreclosure and disaster-affected areas, rural conservation work, recycling, and reclamation of reusable materials, among many other projects. Many of these workers have children and would once again be able to put food on the table and a roof over their heads.
Emily and her sister Amanda and many children like them could benefit from the work of the School Improvement Corps, which would create 650,000 new jobs to create “healthier, safer, and more energy-efficient teaching and learning environments” for the 14 million children pre-K-12 who attend deteriorating public schools. About a third of the 80,000 schools in this country need extensive repairs or replacement and about two-thirds have troublesome environmental conditions. Walls filled with asbestos, walls and water laced with lead, and leaking underground storage tanks polluting the playgrounds are just some of the devastating conditions our precious children face every day. This bill would put boots on the ground to ensure our children have safe spaces in which to learn.
American communities would be made stronger through the Park Improvement Corps, which would create 100,000 jobs in conservation projects on public lands for youth 16 to 25 years old, and the Student Jobs Corps which would create 250,000 part-time, work study jobs for eligible college students. The Neighborhood Heroes Corps would provide a chance for states to hire 40,000 police officers and 12,000 firefighters. The Health Corps would provide grants to hire at least 40,000 health care providers including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and health care workers to expand access in underserved rural and urban areas.
All of this will cost money, of course, but it’s an investment we cannot afford not to make. It’s long past time for millionaires and billionaires and corporations who have benefited from tax breaks and corporate loopholes and government subsidies to contribute to rebuilding our nation’s economy. The investments in the Schakowsky bill make common sense to many Americans, economic sense for our country, and moral sense for the millions of poor children and families who have fallen into poverty who desperately want to find jobs that will help them build a better future for their children. Jobs, jobs, jobs. When will enough of our leaders get it? When we citizens make enough noise to make them hear and act.
Follow Marian Wright Edelman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ChildDefender
Van Jones: A Job for Every Veteran: Let's Give Them the Homecoming They Really Deserve
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Some chickens in the slaughter house got to talking. One of them said, "I've discovered the solution to our problem. All we need to do is ask one of the humans to turn the conveyer belt off. If the conveyer belt is off, this senseless slaughter of chickens comes to an end."
That's what all of these articles about what to do about unemployment remind me of. Yes, let's go get someone in charge to spend billions and billions on a jobs program. Because the current situation isn't by design, you know. Things are the way they are because that's how it suits the 1%.
The one that is surprisingly close to President Obama is President Reagan.
President Reagan took office the unemployment rate was 7.5% for President Obama it was 7.6%.
President Reagan's high unemployment numbers was 10.8% and President Obama's 10.2%.
November of the Year before his re-election President Reagan's unemployment numbers was 8.5% and for President Obama it was 8.6%.
November of the election year President Reagan had unemployment back to 7.2%! And President Reagan won in a landslide!
I wonder what President Obama's number will be?
What number do you think President Obama needs to get to to win re-election!
I
http://www.davemanuel.com/historical-unemployment-rates-in-the-united-states.php
Wish a Roosevelt Democrat would challenge President Obama!
A Roosevelt Democrat knows on an instinctual level BANKS TO BIG TO FAIL & UNRESTRICTED FREE TRADE ARE dumb ideas!
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Actually, the phrase was "It's the economy, stupid". From wikipedia:
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"It's the economy, stupid" was a phrase in American politics widely used during Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign against George H. W. Bush. For a time, Bush was considered unbeatable because of foreign policy developments such as the end of the Cold War and the Persian Gulf War. The phrase, made popular by Clinton campaign strategist James Carville, refers to the notion that Clinton was a better choice because Bush had not adequately addressed the economy, which had recently undergone a recession.
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Regardless of whether Romney or Perry becomes the republican candidate that's exactly the strategy they're going to pursue in their attempt to unseat Obama. And they don't need your prompting in order to do it - you can take that to the bank, if you still have a bank account.
The truth is that Obama is swimming in the same situational waters as George Bush Sr and Jimmy Carter. His best hope for re-election is if the repubs nominate Perry, who then decides not to take off his crazy pants during the general.
Healthcare is crucial - but his Univeral Hlth Cr Bill may be dismantled.
I think Government Health Insurance is a terrific idea, BUT it won't pay the Rent for the myriad displaced Workers.
There are a few issues here. The first is while the ethos of the American Dream is anyone can succeed if they work hard, by our own admission a fundamental moral and ethical principle we ascribe to is taking care of our brothers and sisters. I’m not opposed to some tough love, and the parable about teaching a man to fish, however, today we are faced with a growing crisis that is beyond anyone’s control, (If listening to policymakers, business leaders, pundits, and sages responses is any indication).
This leads to a second issue. Today we are faced with deep structural and systemic concerns that will not be easy to fix. Even if we slide horizontally many more will be marginalized. More and more of us will struggle and our children will be affected most. We’re not talking about unproductive individuals who have not or will not work hard, but individuals who take on multiple jobs just to tread water.
And that’s the main reason for this discussion. Wages have been flat for over a decade and more are sliding into poverty. Until recently there has not been much discourse on this topic by policymakers or the average American. No one worries until it’s close to home, (sounds selfish to me).
We need to replace taxation with our common wealth. Nationalize the oil, gas and coal for the country's sake. Stop the capitalist destruction of our national inheritance. Universal Birthright and Individual Sovereignty.
I propose using a flat tax of 10% of all gross income on everyone, including corporations and banks, with the only exception being wadges paid with taxes extracted [SS number and amount paid would be filed with the exemptions showing revenues were actually taxed and referenced by IRS]. Government working toward perfecting our union (Preamble) by capping profits and wadges (Article 1, section 8) while raising minimum wadges to a near equal. Include taxing the gamblers on Wall Street between $0.25 to $0.50 FST on every bought and sold transaction [since they are responsible for the nation's dilemma and most lower income people don't constantly trade so will only be slightly affected] to increase the government's revenues to finance job creation and protection while eliminating the national debt. It was done after 1932.
Maybe I grasped the IMMEDIACY & seriousness of the "too big to fail" Bank & Housing BUST (JUST as Obama took office.....) because I am merely a simple worker, at a tedious lower-wage Job, which I must keep in order to SURVIVE.
I grasped it the MOMENT I watched CNN's first reports about MORTGAGE FAILURES & Banks scrambling. I had a sick feeling massive lay-offs were imminent.
I'm not a Brain-Trust. If I understood that "JOBS JOBS JOBS" should have been the IMMEDIATE reaction from the FED GOVERNMENT, why didn't others? E.G., Obama??? NOTE!!!! I UNDERSTAND HE DID NOT CREATE THIS MESS - G W BUSH handed this to Obama - but when Obama stepped into the Presidency, it became his job to try to stop it.
Why did the Fed Gov bail-out the BANKS/LENDERS (per G W Bush's 'parting instructions'), while American Citizens were FORECLOSED & LAYED-OFF/TERMED??????
Couldn't ANY OF OUR LEADERS see what was bound to happen???? And here we sit - Broke.
Make 'em pay!
We need politicians that will revamp the code and eliminate corporate interference AND corporate giveaways. And that includes unions - you know I am for workers' rights, but NO single interest has a right to fetter the majority.
And it's not just "party loyalty" as it is "loyalty to the party that 'donates' the most money so they can demand a 'return on investment'." That is not an example of a republic or democracy, that is an example of a plutocracy.
People voted for change in 2008. People have noticed that not as much change has taken place since, a lot of the same people around last decade were kept by Obama, et cetera. And if anybody believes voting Republican in 2012 will change anything, they're mistaken. You don't keep the same people who contributed to an economic disaster while saying "I will bring change". That alone made a big yellow flag, if not a red one. Politicians' records speak for themselves, and newbies will be seeing "career politicians" to "learn the ropes" soon enough.
Real change doesn't always come slowly, and in some cases you don't want it to go slowly. If you're driving a car and it's approaching a cliff, you don't have much time. You can apply the brakes, emergency breaks, turn the car a different direction, or try to get enough dirt to fill up the chasm you're about to plunge into. Problem is, the car is the middle class. Those who dug the chasm are the banks and companies with ARMs, whittling down worker wages, and everything else. Shoveling to fill up the chasm is just bailing out the root causes while doing nothing about the fact you're still careening toward the precipice without trying to save the car. And the chasm can't be filled because the road depended on a stable car (the middle class) to begin with. They sabotaged the steering and braking controlled and they want bailouts and handouts while they continue gutting our country's infrastructure (the chasm that was made).
Look at the FRIGHTENING alternatives, e.g., Michele Bachman?
We need FDR - and look at the options: Bachman, Perry????
Are ALL our politicians crazy fools & corrupt? Is America no longer a Democracy?
Answer: The Democrats are willing to betray America for their own hoped-for political profit. They want to legalize the trespassers and then turn them into Democrat voters.
The GOP is guilty of treason by cowardice. They know they should be fighting for real Americans but don't because their political "wisdom" (!) is "Don't upset the Latino voters."
America is betrayed.
Dump your party loyalty (as I did) and FORCE your politicians to serve America and not their greedy selves!
On Facebook: Sovereign-Tea
type programs that rarely produce the intended results. The amounts spent on education projects
continue to escalate without success. Where I live, the corruption in "community" associations
is rampant while poverty, under-eduction and unemployment don't improve. The ones who seem
to benefit the most from these programs are the bureaucrats and shady locals who run them, Acorn
being the most well known. Until progress is made with the culture of teenage pregnancies, single
parent homes, and ridicule of minority students doing well in school, NOTHING is going to improve.
It is heartbreaking to watch the hopelessness and loss of opportunity the country's educational
failures are producing. Political correctness has prevented concentration on the major problem
of minorities lagging behind. Social promotions and teaching to the lowest common denominator
are not the answers. Failure must stop being an acceptable option.
Do you support this? Are you bugging your politicians to do this?
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/hiring-illegal-immigrants.html
And, yes, I did see your response to someone else about people taking responsibility for their own conduct... I hope these companies acting illegally are not an exemption.
I do know that many are suffering, while others seem unphased.