The jobs crisis in America

[Hannah Bell]

Amid the worst mass unemployment in the United States since the 1930s, states throughout the country are cutting benefits to jobless workers....The Florida state legislature, meanwhile, has passed a law that would cut benefits to as low as 12 weeks, depending on the official unemployment level in the state.

Whatever the talk of an “economic recovery,” the jobs situation is disastrous. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia had official jobless rates of 9 percent or more in April, while real unemployment is much higher. There are currently 24 million people in the United States who either want to work but can’t find it, or are working part-time involuntarily. This figure is larger than the populations of Chile or the Netherlands, and is twice the population of Cuba.

The portion of working-age people who are employed is 58.5 percent, the lowest level since 1983. This means that the transformative effect of women entering the labor force over the past two-and-a-half decades has been fully counterbalanced by the disastrous rise in unemployment. The employment-population ratio for men is at its lowest level in records dating back 40 years, and no doubt longer.

In another period, such conditions would have been treated as a national scandal, and the political establishment would have felt some obligation to take government action. The entire direction of American policy today is toward the elimination of whatever remains of the reforms of the postwar period, including unemployment benefits. The political establishment has abandoned even the vaguest suggestion that people have the right to a job. This past week, the administration released the centerpiece of its new “jobs” policy—a program of corporate deregulation to eliminate existing constraints on corporate profit. The extra profit, Obama claimed, will be used to hire workers. This under conditions in which corporations are sitting on the largest cash hoard in history, refusing to hire, waiting for wages to come down even further.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/may2011/pers-m30.shtml

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Citizen Worker]

2. Employment in the US is moving toward a part time, contingent work force on standby. Pay will be

based on piece work. It's already happening.

[Hannah Bell]

3. similar to all the developed countries. something like 1/3 of japan's labor force, e.g.

is already contingent, & i'd bet we already have about the same here.

[raccoon]

15. I'd bet you're right about that. nt

[DCBob]

4. Have a link on that claim about the Obama jobs program that help corporations increase profits?

I just did a search on Google "Obama new jobs program" and this is what I got..

Obama assails GOP, promotes new jobs program
September 7, 2010

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A combative President Barack Obama rolled out a long-term jobs program Monday that would exceed $50 billion to rebuild roads, railways and runways, and coupled it with a blunt campaign-season assault on Republicans for causing Americans' hard economic times.

http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/117462/Obama-assails-GOP--promotes-new-jobs-program-.html?isap=1&nav=5012

Its a bit dated but suspect it is still in effect and being implemented.

[Hannah Bell]

5. here is the claim: "a program of corporate deregulation to eliminate existing constraints on

corporate profits"

and here are some links:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704590704576092531522658062.html

http://www.ombwatch.org/node/11458

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/79257-grassley-gop-in-complete-agreement-with-major-element-of-obama-jobs-plan

http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/changing-the-subject-where-are-the-jobs/

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/24933

[DCBob]

7. This is a good program to help small business and jobs.. nothing to do with corporate deregulation..

from one of your links..

"Jobs will be our number one focus in 2010," Obama will say, according to excerpts of prepared remarks released by the White House. "And we’re going to start where most new jobs do – with small businesses." The plan closely resembles a proposal floated by freshman Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) last winter, which will see the new fund would support lending to small businesses by smaller and community banks. The funds for the new proposals will be drawn from unspent leftovers of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/79167-obama-to-unveil-small-biz-lending-plan-drawn-from-bailout-funds

[Hannah Bell]

8. what don't you get about "recently announced deregulatory initiative"?

you keep linking to 2010 statements about a jobs program that never materialized. deregulation and tax cuts are what is materializing.

[DCBob]

12. it's a link from your link... what dont you get about that?

[Hannah Bell]

13. which link are you talking about? ps: see post 11.

[DCBob]

17. dont you even remember what you post??

your linked article:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/79257-grassley-gop-in-complete-agreement-with-major-element-of-obama-jobs-plan

The president has called for the capital gains tax cut, as well as a new jobs tax credit and a $30 billion small business lending fund, <link>which he's announcing today<link>, as part of his plan to spur U.S. job growth.

link in the article:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/79167-obama-to-unveil-small-biz-lending-plan-drawn-from-bailout-funds

I really dont have time to keep clarifying stuff for you.. especially stuff you've posted. Anyway gotta. Find someone else to play with.

[Hannah Bell]

18. again, from 2010. the part of the plan that remains in 2011 = tax cuts/dereg.

[hfojvt]

16. I always hate it when politicians and pundits talk about "small" businesses

but DCBob did include the same link you did http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/79167-...

But I had a small business, it employed one person - myself and that one person did not even make minimum wage. The official definition of "small" would include the satellite dish factory that I worked for, a place with 200 employees. Compared to Wal-mart or Pepsico that is small, but not compared to my business. From my perspective 200 employees is pretty darn big. It ought to be called a 'medium' sized business rather than a 'small' business.. That's why we call things like Wal-mart and Citibank 'Big' business - to differentiate between medium sized businesses.

It reminds me of people, even sometimes the residents themselves, of places like Joplin being called "small towns". Say what? I grew up in a city of 15,000 people, and that was the 4th LARGEST city in the state at the time. Compared to that, 50,000 people is not small.

[Hannah Bell]

19. agree. dc's "small business" initiatives typically don't benefit the layman's

"small biz". they have little use for tax credits, for example, as they don't make enough to benefit. not to mention that a lot of those "small biz" that do are arms of or suppliers of multinationals.

[eilen]

6. I don't see where that passed. nt

[girl gone mad]

11. He rolled it into his 2012 budget request..

and it died in committee over 2 months ago.

House Transportation Committee Rejects Obama’s 2012 Budget Request

by Tanya Snyder on March 22, 2011

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is having its say about the president’s ambitious – and unpaid-for – budget request for transportation.

“The (president’s) proposal assumes a ‘placeholder revenue increase’ of $435 billion over a 10-year period but does not identify how to pay for the revenue increase,” says the committee’s “Views and Estimates” document, which it submitted late last week, without much fanfare, to the House Budget Committee. It goes on to say the committee “cannot support the administration’s proposed reauthorization funding level” for that reason.

It’s another sign of the tough road ahead for the significant reforms outlined by the administration, like the $28 billion proposed for livability initiatives (over six years).

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/03/22/house-transportation-committee-rejects-president-obama%E2%80%99s-2012-budget-request

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. k&r

[Starry Messenger]

10. k&r

[onethatcares]

14. we have job crisis, healthcare crisis, energy crisis, education crisis

and no one that supposedly represents us, well maybe Dennis K and Bernie, are actually trying to do something.

With 400 people controlling more wealth than 150 million others, there will be nothing but crisis for us.

When it's all over we'll be happy to eat the stray crumbs from the mansions.