People around the world breathed a sigh of relief today as President Obama announced that he would keep his campaign commitment to wind down the war in Iraq. And families across our country are overjoyed that they will have their loved ones home for the holidays.
Unfortunately for many of our brave veterans, they won't be getting the sort of homecoming they've earned. More than 11% of veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are unemployed. That number is tragic and shameful for us as a nation. And I'm afraid that number will only grow, with tens of thousands returning home to a terrible economy.
That is, unless we do something about it.
We should employ 100% of our veterans -- let me repeat that, 100% of our veterans. Every single person who has served overseas in the last decade deserves a chance at meaningful employment for the next decade. What better homecoming for our brave men and women than to make sure each and every one of them can provide for their family?
This should be a moment for all government, business, and labor leaders to stand shoulder to shoulder and make this commitment to our veterans. There are provisions in the stalled American Jobs Act that would directly add jobs for veterans and should be passed immediately -- by acclamation. President Obama has just announced a public/private Joining Forces partnership with Dr. Jill Biden and Gen. Stan McChrystal that would give 25,000 veterans jobs.
Howard Schultz, the Starbucks CEO, has taken great initiative for increasing employment and could be a great leader in the business community for veterans. And the Clinton Global Initiative has done some amazing work on improving jobs prospects for returning veterans. I know our labor unions and social justice organizations are ready to step up to the plate and do their part, too. All of these avenues should be pursued and more, until every last vet has a stable, good paying job.
With this war winding down, we have a chance as a nation to banish the word "homeless veteran" from our vocabulary.
I have a three-year-old and a seven-year-old. They've never known an America without troops fighting in Iraq. My hope is that they'll soon know a country that no longer has soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. And I'm going to advocate for an America where we don't have to explain to our children why a veteran is begging for change at an intersection.
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How about you weigh in with a comment and let us know what you think about these comments, and the degree to which you will grow toward a slightly altered thesis?
Would be brave and integrity full for you to do so. Step up to us. Take the heat. Push back as necessary. Acknowledge other views should they have merit.
I would love to see that from you.
Job-wise, I agree all veterans have the right to their own choice of careers but knowing veterans the way I do, most veterans are mature, have self-discipline, good at working as a team, diligent workers, etc. I think military veterans would make good CEOs or Entrepreneurs by starting and operating their own businesses together as teams.
Another benefit is if the veterans wages are monitored to make sure that they are fair wages, then their co-workers are more likely to also receive fair wages for their work.
Otherwise they will just add to the ranks of unemployed.
As an alternative, we can just discharge them so they can swell the ranks og the unemployed.
I wouldn't worry too much about returning soldiers being unemployed. Obama is opening new fronts in Africa on a monthly basis. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29461.htm
There are the covert wars in Pakistan and Yemen. Nobody's coming home from Afghanistan. There's Somalia, Columbia and plenty of opportunity to go back to Iraq as an 'advisor'.
On the horizon loom Syrian and Iran.
The reason that North Dakota has NO DEFICIT and 3% unemployment is that since 1920 they have had a State Bank. All revenues collected in State are deposited and processed by the publicly owned bank. Thess deposits are leveraged to provide loans to businesses and students. The money saved from costly processing fees (usually paid to banksters) and the income from loans are deposited into the State Treasury, providing revenue without taxation. Taxes stay in state instead of migrating to gambling tables on Wall Street.
The bank has a citizens oversight board and conservative management who did not invest in crappy derivatives and mortgage based securities. Farmers and other businesses were able to obtain the money they needed to expand, for inventory and other expensese during the meltdown so they didn't need to lay off workers or close their doors.
How about a State Bank in every one of the other 49 states?
How about replacing the felonious Fed with a National Bank that creates its own currency (as proscribed in the Constituion) instead of paying interest to private banks who charge us for using our own money?
If you don't like war, war and more war, we need to primary the heck out of him.
Those who were wounded and severely harmed deserve our sympathy and support. But not our thanks. They were willing agents in an evil enterprise.