Is this 1937 or 1929?

Its actually a great question but either one means bad news for the United States of America. Most people know about 1929 the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression. What many people dont know is that in the period from 1929 to 1937 the stock market rebounded, the economy looked good and everyone thinking we were out of any economic danger decided to put in place major budget cuts. Thats what happened in 1937, budgets were slashed, no more stimulus, people, some people thought the economy had recovered. But, it hadn’t. The budget cuts that were initiated in 1937 kept the Great Depression going until after World Ward 2. So where are we today, cutting budgets to continue the Depression we are in or just at the beginning? Its hard to tell. I am not an economist so keep that in mind while reading this. But, from what I have read from leading economists today we are in a situation of unprecedented long term unemployment as well as an economy thats shaky. Last quarter it basically broke even; this latest quarter the growth was below economists forecasts.

And, today we see our elected politicians looking for severe budget cuts. No cancer treatment for the poor? Is the U.S.A. a country where only the rich get medical care? The so called sequester is a disaster in the making. It cuts everything, from defending and protecting our country to cutting aid for education and medical care. Thats exactly what happened in 1937 which plunged the United States back into the Depression, which we had never gotten out of. What got us out of the Great Depression was WWII; during WWII we spent as a country 3 times the GDP; which today would mean $45Trillion per year. People attack Barack Obama for his stimulus not working as well as it should have. Well, in a $15 Trillion economy one push of $800 Billion wont do that much. Many economists predicted that at the time. And they were correct.

Today our economy is in a Depression. Hiring has been so slow that it cant keep up with populations growth. Last month 500,000 people stopped looking for work. These people didn’t stop because they wanted to stay home and watch TV, or they wanted to live off the government (their benefits had long run out). They stopped looking because their are no jobs out there and people got sick of applying and rejected. You hear lots of stories about the unemployed having a lack of marketable skills; this used to be called on the job training.

Speaking from experience I know that companies are not eager to hire people; they are not eager to take a well skilled worker and utilize their skills, no matter what the salary, they are more likely to over interview people and then not hire anyone at all. Its really an extreme disaster for both sides. For the unemployed it can be worse than a spouse dying; they are more likely to suffer ailments that employed people arent. For companies, they are trying to make do with less; have fewer employes, fewer expenses and more profit. But thats not the way it works in the big picture. Those that are fortunate enough to have jobs live in fear of losing them. You dont get the best work from people when they are walking scared and afraid of being unemployed. What you do get is higher profits and CEOs with extremely high pay, because this quarter did well. No one is looking at the big picture, as to what companies and people will look like a decade from now. High riding companies will likely lose their CEOs as they move on to a better paying job. Every day employees are left with the mess senior management makes and are often blamed for it.

So, 1937 or 1929? Austerity will kill all growth in this country and push us back into a deeper recession than we are already in. And its really a depression not a recession. If its more like 1929 we are in for a horrible ride. We are just at the beginning of a horrible economic mess.  Yes the wealthy will be fine and are protected. Where ever you fall on the economic scale do you want to see your fellow Americans suffering and possibly dying because they dont have income/cash?

Its time to learn from history. What we did in 1937 caused tremendous pain. President Obama should be out there pushing for stimulus and jobs bills; like he tried to do with gun control.  The GOP has been despicable in their obstructionism but that means Mr. Obama needs to work harder. We need more jobs for the 89 million people who are unemployed or who don’t earn enough to survive.

Today is the day, we need to all come together to put every American who wants a job back to work. The cost will be minimal compared to tje alternative.

The Jobs Crisis: It May Not Be “Breaking News,” But It’s Definitely “Broken News”

This is a must read article by Arinna Huffington; she is the only one talking about the jobs crisis as illustrated in her column:

 

BREAKING! This just in: the economy is terrible and the country is suffering its worst jobs crisis since the Depression… developing…

Of course, this isn’t actually breaking news — it’s aching news — and, before the tragic bombings in Boston, the most important story going on. But you wouldn’t know that if you watched any of the Sunday shows last week.

On CBS’ Face the Nation, the topics were the background check bill and immigration, with Senator Marco Rubio.

On ABC’s This Week we had the president’s budget, Jay-Z’s trip to Cuba, Ken Burns’ Jackie Robinson documentary and immigration, with Senator Marco Rubio.

On NBC’s Meet the Press, they went with the background check bill, the president’s budget, Ken Burns’ Jackie Robinson documentary, and immigration, with Senator Marco Rubio.

The piece continues http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/jobs-crisis-broken-news_b_3096331.html

http://huff.to/15e6IGP via @HuffPostMedia

“With Positions to Fill, Employers Wait for Perfection” A Must Read For Job Seekers and HR

This is a fantastic article from the New York Times that is a must read for anyone unemployed, interviewing, looking for a job or working for a hiring company. The article goes in depth about companies making candidates go through 20 interviews per job; and still not get hired. It really shows what many have told me directly, that candidates are in good faith applying for jobs and jumping through hoops and continuing to be unemployed for weeks, months and years. If you are going through this yourself, or know others who are, please read this article. It validates what you are going through and can help others understand what its like out there.

The full article is at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/business/economy/despite-job-vacancies-employers-shy-away-from-hiring.html?ref=todayspaper

I would also like to see an article or series of articles about the human toll of years of rejection. I have spoken to many therapists who say their clients, the ones that can afford to go, are in deep states of depression over the endless rejection and the endless days with no job to go to. Substance abuse is spiking and marriages are ending because of this crisis. In the meantime, start with this article, and the comments too.

So Much Going On Yet So Few Results

I feel like every time I turn on the tv or go online for news its like groundhog day. Crisis after crisis, each side pointing fingers at the other, lots of scare talk. Why is there no one who can really explain things so that people can understand the problems of the day and attempt to fix them. What we have now are a bunch of politicians who are posturing and posing; trying to keep their jobs and their power. While non of them is thinking about the American public. The American public overwhelmingly has stated job creation and the economy as their top priority. Congress and President Obama have completely ignored that. We still have a crisis of epic proportions with 25 million people unemployed; and what do we get from Washington? Guns and Immigration. While both are admirable and should be dealt with thats not what the people want as their top priority. What we want are more jobs. Even the employed people are very anxious about losing their jobs because they know finding another one is extremely difficult. Who do I hold responsible for all of this? All of the leaders in Washington. I will say that a good 80% of the blame goes to the GOP for their obstructing everything, not compromising and basically seeming like sore losers who just want to take the country down.

I agree our biggest crisis now is the tepid economy and the minimal job growth. We should have leaders who focus on this. As I have said many times on this blog we need more stimulus spending to create jobs. Its all about jobs. Jobs will bring in more tax revenue that will lower the debt and deficit. More jobs will raise consumer confidence, which will make consumers spend more. Consumers spending more is what fuels our economy and makes it grow. Instead we lurch from crisis to crisis. That makes everyone uneasy, companies hire fewer people, people put off spending, and the downward spiral keeps on going. Whats going on right now with the sequester is an absolutely absurd situation. All of these spending cuts will lead to many lay offs, higher unemployment, slowing of the economy. The economy has to be strong to institute cuts that will make our economy fiscally viable for the longterm. Let me be very clear; nothing has been done for job creation in years. There is nothing being proposed now, except a small ‘fix it’ program. What are they doing in DC instead of creating jobs, or working together for the good of the country? They, John McCain and his boys, are annihilating Hagel, going over everything he has ever said. Knowing all along he will be confirmed, but Hagel is already weakened by all of this; he is starting his job as a tainted Sec of Defense. Thats not the image we want for the most powerful nation on earth. John Boehner is in the news today, being told by his tea party coalition that if he offers any increase in taxes he will lose his speakership. So the fuck what? Boehner should do whats best for the country not cow tow to the tea party, which should be referred to as the American Taliban.

As disgusting as this situation is there is hope for the future. Today the GOP announced that many of them had signed a petition to legalize same sex marriage. I am sure it was done just for politics, but the example it sets for young people is excellent. Also, people under 30 are much more rational and much less prejudicial over matters of gay rights, rights for black people. The up and coming generation is not tied down to the narrow minded hateful talk and rhetoric of todays GOP. So there is hope for our future when our future arrives.

In a perfect world, or in one that someone backs me financially so I can do it, I’d like to see the media focus on what exactly is the impact of our $16.5 Trillion debt; whats the longterm impact of 25 million people not being able to afford to live; what exactly is the sequester; is it really spending more than last year? If so, why all the fuss. If not why are people saying that. I know there are opposing views but there are also proven facts that could be given to people so they know how to make a decision. If people knew that spending $400B on stimulus for job creation now would net us a savings of $4Trillion in 10 years then they’d know it was worth doing. The American public doesnt have the facts it needs to make decisions. And thats because they dont want the facts. They want to watch or read what reinforces the opinions they already have. I for one, hate that. I want all facts to make a clear decision.

Our country is headed in a bad direction. Are there any decent minded Koch brothers type people that could fund research and education to people? Is there anyone out there that wants to save the United States of America? If so, please contact me. I can do it, I need the backing. And our country needs to be saved.

President Obama Plays Small Ball

If the title of this post looks familiar its the same title Fareed Zakaria had on his op ed in today’s Washington Post. I would advise everyone to read it, it is excellent. Talking about the president and the State of the Union the other night has been an interesting situation to watch play out. On twitter where everyone has an immediate opinion most of the people were very happy with what Mr. Obama had to say. Immigration, Gun Control, Education, and some talk of job creation. To me, this speech was empty rhetoric. The biggest problem our country faces currently is unemployment and the lack of new jobs created. There are some 10 million people unemployed; 40% longterm unemployed and if you count the people who are under employed the number skyrockets to 25 million. Some say these estimates are extremely low and that the situation is much worse than reported. Some analysts say the unemployment rate is 23%. Unemployment and lack of jobs is a serious crisis on many levels. First off on the personal level, it can be personally devastating to lose your job and spend years looking for a new one. The psychological impact of that can be so harmful that people dont recover from it, they can fall into addictions, lose their marriages, have shorter life spans. Another huge impact is on the economy itself, the deficit and the long term debt. For each of these 25 million people they not all receive government assistance they also arent paying adding revenue through their paying taxes. These issues will have a tremendous long term effect on our economy. We need these people working so they can stabilize our debt and lower our deficit. What we are doing now, which is nothing, is lose/lose for everyone involved. This must change. Our economy is in a very precarious place right now. Job creation is such that it breaks even with population growth; meaning we are creating no new jobs. The number of people who are unemployed has not dropped in over 2 years. We havent seen this kind of situation since the Great Depression; and I am here to tell you we are in the midst of another Great Depression. The Euro Zone tried Austerity and is in the midst of an unheard of triple dip recession. The United States had contracted GDP in the 4th quarter of 2012 for the first time in almost 4 years. March 1st our government is set to have another trillion dollars in cuts, the sequester, which will mean more lay offs, more unemployment insurance paid out, more personal pain.

Americans have overwhelmingly said their biggest concern in job creation. Because its not only the unemployed that are suffering; many people are afraid of being unemployed; which is a horrible way to live. In my opinion president Obama fell completely short in the SOTU by not laying out a job creation plan. Something big, something bold. I have been attacked countless times on twitter for daring to criticize Obama and I am sick of it. If you cant look at a person and judge their good and bad qualities you are lacking in intellectual thinking. Many people say to me, well Obama tried getting a jobs bill passed but he has been obstructed by the GOP. Yes, thats true. So, does POTUS give up? Also, its important to note that the last time Obama put a jobs bill in front of congress was September 2011, almost 18 months ago. That to me is unacceptable. He spent the campaign season and the SOTU talking about creating jobs, but in reality has done absolutely nothing as far as laying out a plan to accomplish this. Immigration and Guns are valuable bills to go after. But they arent the driving problem in America today. Jobs, or lack of jobs, is the biggest issue we face.

Yes I know Mr. Obama cant create jobs or a stimulus to create jobs without congressional approval. Obama strong armed the GOP into ceding on the debt ceiling and the fiscal cliff. He certainly could do the same for jobs. In Fareed’s article today he talks about $2Trillion in spending on infrastructure. This is the kind of thing we need. Big and bold. The cost to borrow money is at record lows, so it is of very little cost to the government. We need more big and bold ideas. Like President Hoover in the 1st Great Depression used a tremendous amount of stimulus to build the dam that carries his name. Thats what we need today. Not some small ball kind of effort but something big, something futuristic, something to get people back to work. Americans say their biggest worry is jobs; being that that is the case they will surely go along with more deficit spending to create more jobs and to create a better America. Right now we spend so little on things our country is becoming a third world country instead of the beacon we used to be. Infrastructure, high speed rail, investing heavily in renewable energy, we can do it all. What would end up happening would be more growth, more revenue to lower the debt, more GDP growth.

Its time to play in the major leagues Mr. President. Go big go bold or go home!

Barack Obama And Job Creation

Let me say it simply, I dont like people who dont have open minds. In my opinion Barack Obama gets a failing grade on job creation and boosting the economy. I have tweeted this message and gotten so much flak from liberals and progressives; people accusing me of  being part of the tea party, a plutocrat, and not understanding how government works. Also, as if calling out the president is some sort of treason to the #p2 or whatever it is cause. I do think I am bringing up the right issues when people call me both a socialist liberal and a member of the GOP here to just criticize the president. Like I have written before, if you piss off both sides I think I am doing something right.

Yesterday while watching CNN Candy Crowley asked the question no one in the media ever asks: is Obama neglecting the economy and job creation by spending time on other (important) issues? She went on to say that Obama was heavily criticized in his first term for spending so much time on a healthcare bill, and not on job creation. This is the question I have been waiting for someone to ask; this is the question the media and other politicians completely ignore: What is the President of the United States doing about job creation and the tens of millions who are unemployed. The answer I sorry to say is absolutely nothing. To me that is unacceptable and could ruin his legacy. As everyone knows its congress that passes legislation, its the GOP in congress that blocked everything Obama tried to do for job creation and another stimulus. People who defend the president will say he has been blocked so what is he to do? Giving up is not the answer; ignoring the problem is not the answer.  The answer is keep fighting, use your bully pulpit to force congress into adding major stimulus to create jobs. Instead, the last jobs bill presented by Barack Obama to the congress was in September of 2011. Nothing since. That is unacceptable. There has not been a drop in the number of unemployed people in over 2 years; the current job creation is just enough to keep up with population growth. It isnt making a dent in the number of unemployed people.

Instead of saying the typical “the economy is recovering, just not fast enough” bullshit line; the president should be leading an effort to get the unemployed and longterm unemployed back to work. If he leaves office with the same number of unemployed people as when he came in history will look back at his presidency as a failure, as living through a second Great Depression with a president who did nothing about it. What can he do? He can talk about job creation every day, he can use his power and authority to set an agenda where job creation is the top priority of his administration; instead of just lip service. Where as gun control and immigration are important issues, having over 10 million people unemployed and 25 million under employed is a ticking time bomb that should have top priority.

It amazes me how people cant look at this unemployment situation and not see how dangerous it is and what a crisis it is. Democrats who are so behind Barack Obama cant see any of his short comings, and take anyone who calls them out to be a traitor. The world isnt black and white so people need to see things as they are. Or keep their minds open. Not always just point fingers at the GOP for obstructionism. What did Obama do with the debt ceiling? He said he would not negotiate. He does have the ability to stand up to the GOP and he should be using that ability now. Would Mitt Romney have been better? Of course not, he would have been much worse. That isnt an excuse though. Neither are other accomplishments that Obama has had. Yes, he has created millions of jobs, yes his stimulus saved us from a much more severe downturn; yes he has been excellent for minorities and civil rights for gays; yes he is the first president to talk about Climate Change being real. There many accomplishments Mr. Obama has had that have been fantastic for moving our country in a better way forward.

None of this excuses his lack of getting unemployed people back to work. He can do it, and he needs to.

Calling Out Rachel Maddow on Unemployment Info

When I first saw today’s Jobs Report I thought the same thing I have thought for at least the last year; not enough jobs created. For our economy to keep pace with population growth 150,000 to 160,000 new jobs need to be created every month. Seeing this month’s 157,000 says to me, break even. Whereas it is a good thing we are creating jobs rather than losing them the rate at which we are creating jobs it wont be until 2020 for us to have full employment. Soon after seeing the report a follower of mine tweeted me a link to Ms. Maddow’s blog, touting not only how great the jobs numbers were but also a revision showed an overall uptick in the number of jobs created in 2012. She went on to say that this amount, 2.1 million, was higher than many of the years of the Bush administration and implying Obama has been a better steward of the economy.

Rachel, you are missing the point and the bigger picture. The meager job growth we are seeing has not brought down the number of unemployed people in over 2 years. According to the Bureau  of Labor and Statistics there are 12.3 million unemployed people in the United States. That number has not lowered in years. The number of long-term unemployed is 4.7 million people, also unchanged; the employment – population ratio is at historic lows. We have a crisis on our hands and no one is talking about it. I usually enjoy watching your show, however, for you to paint a picture that todays numbers are good, and even compare them to Clinton and the Bushes is partisan, unnecessary and again missing the bigger picture. We need someone like you to bring to light the longterm unemployment problem. The public needs to be educated that the numbers we have seen over the last 2 or 3 years are just breaking even. Our main goal is to be getting the longterm unemployed back to work. I have a following on twitter of 26,000 or so and people around the world read my blog postings; you have a national voice that should be out there trying to help the needy. Unemployed people dont want another extension of unemployment insurance, unemployed people want work. My fear is whats going to happen to these people once they run out of money. There are millions who have passed the 99 weeks, what happens when their savings runs out. In a few years our country could face mass homelessness, a serious lack of demand which would further weaken the economy.

I want a national voice, like yours, to start a drive to get companies to start hiring again. We do need a major stimulus, tax incentives, creative thinking. But the public is not educated. People like you take todays dismal jobs figures and spin them into something that sounds good and go a step further for a partisan attack. I am glad President Obama was reelected since I think Mitt Romney would have been a horrible president. But I am deeply disappointed in Obama’s lack of a jobs initiative. To me its inexcusable. People like you, and the rest of the media, should be telling the whole story. The 12.3 million unemployed. If you take underemployment into the picture the figure is closer to 25 million people. And these figures havent changed in years. For you to say 2012 job growth of 2.1 million people is better than 7 out of  8 of the Bush years are you taking into account that the unemployment rate back then was around 4%? When the rate of unemployment is that low a smaller number of jobs being created doesnt seem like a big deal, the real question is how many jobs were there in 2005 and how many jobs are there now? What was the workforce participation back in those years; what was the number of unemployed people back then. Telling half a story and spinning it so it sounds like a win for Obama is not the way to educate your audience. Thats what Sean Hannity and the others at Fox News do. I didn’t expect this kind of misrepresentation and ignoring the crisis from you. Incidentally getting those 10 million people back to work will bring in a lot more revenue thus lowering the deficit.

This might be a ballsy thing for me to do, but I would like you to contact me personally so you and I can talk. I would like to draw as much attention as possible to getting people back to work, I would bet you have some great ideas and I’d love to hash them out with you. I’d also like you to take on the cause of the unemployed; did you know the longterm unemployed are discriminated against when they look for work?

With your help we could bring dignity and purpose back to millions of peoples lives and give them another chance. Please contact me.

The Truth About Jobs Openings and Unemployment ** Must See Chart

Why I Want a Strong Intelligent Thriving GOP And so Should DEMS

Think about it, right now, as I see it, we have one decent party and one party filled with extremist lunatics. Thats not good for our Country, how are we ever going to learn from each other, make better decisions and have a thriving America when these are the choices. We have so much going on, so many problems to solve, so much is at stake and yet we dont have anyone to turn to. When I was a kid and Reagan was president the Republicans were normal people; they had differing points of view but that just made the Democrats better. You need a good opponent to keep yourself in top form, and to produce top results for the Country. Like I have mentioned in the past on these pages, I never considered myself affiliated with any party, I wanted to hear the ideas from the best and the brightest. For about a decade or so the GOP has turned itself into a laughingstock, an anti logic, anti science, anti fact party. Thats such a travesty, a serious travesty for the our future. When you count out facts, science, and logic how is it that you think we can move forward and tackle the tough problems that we face. In addition to that I see the GOP as a party of haters, a party that excludes non whites, gays, hispanics, people in need. Now this might be political gold for Democrats but its not for everyone else. I want to hear competing visions of the best ways to solve our problems, the best ways to make a better future. Culture wars are boring and they are a distraction. The same people who are against gay marriage now are the ones who were against inter racial marriage in the past. We need to move past petty arguments and look at the big picture.

Today our biggest problems are unemployment, our ability to properly govern the U.S., and our long term debt and deficits. But what are our politicians doing? They are posturing, giving ultimatums, they are wasting time. All of these issues need immediate attention and they arent getting it because both sides seem more interested in winning the news cycle than actually making things better. This is only going to lead to more and more stagnation and a worsening of our economy. Seriously, the GOP threatened last year, and today, to have the United States of America, the worlds largest economy, default on its debt? Last year that threat caused tremendous harm: slowing the economy, slowing hiring, slowing consumer confidence, slowing consumer spending.

What I want to see is a smart thriving GOP that has good alternatives to todays problems. I want to hear their ideas, specifics, on how markets ail work themselves out about hiring, healthcare and cutting big government. I want to hear what they mean by big government. What exactly would be cut, what exactly would they get rid of? And how will getting rid of that help the Country to better days ahead. A strong GOP will make a stronger DEM party. Good ideas from both sides make for better thought process and better outcomes for the American people. I dont want to hear a GOP that runs on a message of anti gay issues, anti healthcare issues; I want to hear a strong solid GOP talk about how we get the longterm unemployed back to work, how we lower the deficit and debt without causing more fiscal harm, how we make our Country better. Instead we hear stalling, threats of going over the fiscal cliff, defaulting on our debt, cutting programs that help the needy. Thats not good for anyone. Instead present ideas that are win/win for the country, for the needy, for the unemployed, for the future growth of the Country.

We really shouldnt be divided as a Country like we are. We all want the same things, employment, safety, a prospering Country. I would like to see ideas from both sides of the isle that are actually good. I want an end to posturing, saying anything to keeping your job. I would like every member of Congress and the Executive branch to think nothing other than what will make our Country better. How will we get the 25 million un/under employed back to work, what can we do to secure the United States of America as the best place on earth to live or aspire to coming to.

Barack Obama has been a mediocre president in my view, what I want to see in the future is a GOP that can talk in facts, that can have good ideas everyone wants to hear about, not just the haters. This will not just make our Country better it will keep the DEMS on theirs toes and make them have better ideas too. The anti-fact thing, doesnt work.

Politicians, Media Turn Backs On Long Term Jobless

Read this outrageous and true look at how the long term unemployed  are being treated. Every American should be disgusted by this; the human suffering, the drain on government aid programs and if these people were working they would be paying taxes, lowering the deficit and debt.

The article is from the Huffington Post  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/long-term-unemployment-rate-99ers_n_2438353.html