Posted on 12/30/2008 3:48:47 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
President-elect Barack Obama has been formulating plans for the stimulus package likely to be enacted shortly after he takes office. It is reputed to be in the area of $800 billion to $1.2 trillion, and he originally proposed to create 2.5 million jobs.
More recently, however, he has adjusted his goal to be 3 to 3.5 million jobs because of analyses that show the probability the economy will lose 3.5 million jobs in all of 2009.
Yet this goal should be juxtaposed against the size of the growing Black unemployment rate, estimated to be 12 percent at present, which would be viewed as a crisis if it were a national figure.
It has always mystified me why government officials and economists consider this as “normal” with respect to Blacks. The truth is that it has always been a crisis, but neither Democratic nor Republican officials have cared enough to enact special measures targeted to this population of 40 million to help it achieve employment parity.
So my question is, who will get those jobs? More directly, since the Black unemployment rate could reach 20 percent by the end of next year, and they have had difficulty accessing jobs in “normal” times, I ask whether this fact will be taken into consideration in the Obama administration.
Every one talks about education as the remedy, but education is a very long-range strategy and is not guaranteed to bring about employment parity when racism still influences who gets a job; when employers can detect that an African American is at the other end of the application process.
Studies still show that whites with prison records and high school educations are able to secure employment in a greater measure than Blacks with college degrees or those with Black-sounding names. For Blacks to get those jobs, the Obama administration will need to vigorously enforce the laws against employment discrimination.
Second, the announced targets for job creation by Obama in areas such as infrastructure, health care, environment and others create some doubt that the available jobs will be distributed equitably. For example, infrastructure jobs – Hispanics are poised to consume them, having “crowded out” African-Americans and others, to use a concept of some economists, in trades such as construction, landscaping and other pertinent employment categories. Then, African Americans are no better poised in the health-care industry to obtain jobs that have quickly been appropriated by immigrants from many countries, from the Caribbean and Latin America to the Middle East.
Finally, in the environmental industry, the increase of jobs from 1990 to 2006 was just over 440,000, so with this sector of the economy targeted for growth, Blacks could obtain a significant number of jobs with adequate training.
All of this means that since states can deploy workers in “shovel-ready” jobs in the low-wage category rather quickly, there should be an acute sensitivity to the fierce racial/ethnic competition that exists.
Otherwise, since increased employment in other sectors will require training, what could enable Blacks to become more competitive is the creation of a more powerful job-training model that encompasses features of the old CETA (Comprehensive Education and Training Act) and the currently ineffective JPTA (Job Partnership Training Act).
It should enable states to provide the funding to a variety of service providers (high schools, community colleges, churches, small businesses, social service organizations etc.) to re-establish a priority on training the most disadvantaged low-income American citizens for higher-paying jobs.
Many people have asked “What’s next?” now that we have a Black president, and many of the answers have been abstract. However, coming down the pike is the largest amount of social and economic funding to be invested in moving the economy and the country forward we have seen in a long time.
If Blacks are not poised to take advantage of it, they will not only lose one of the most important economic opportunities in history, but also fail to provide our own answer to the question of what it means to have Barack Obama in the White House. His job is to open the doors, ours is to fight to open them wide enough so we can obtain the equal benefits of American citizenship. – (NNPA)
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Ron Walters is the director of the African American Leadership Center and Professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland College Park. His latest book is: “The Price of Racial Reconciliation” (University of Michigan Press).
You can bet that the people who get those jobs don’t plan to work at them.
Illinois Dem politicians have bankrupted the state. Anecdotal evidence as far as our road system—when we travel across the country, there is an immediate drop-off in the condition of roads and highways when you enter our state. Obama’s infrastructure program will give Illinois Dem politicians a whole new bag of cash to divide up among their friends for construction of roads. They are also coveting an improved commuter rail system to facilitate the Olympics in Chicago. Thanks to all the voters all over the US, they will have lots of new cash to work with....
Your husband does so, because that is what a good manager does, if he wants to be successful.
The 'issue' that select minorities have made about discrimination based on race,color, or creed in job hiring is silly. The word discrimination is given a negative connotation, but back to the point. The real reason certain individuals are not hired for certain jobs is because of 'attitude', not 'aptitude'.
“It is reputed to be in the area of $800 billion to $1.2 trillion, and he originally proposed to create 2.5 million jobs.”
“That’s 320 thousand to 480 thousand per job.”
Can I get this in a ‘work-from-home’ position, and can I have direct deposit for the paycheck?
And all you have to do is promise to keep Obama President for life.
No. I don't think that is what he meant.
I think he meant retain 3 million in jobs. Period.
The other umpteen billion of us peasants will be jobless.
Dangit. There's always some wiseguy who spills the beans.
: )
And everyone with half a brain knows this will be about as popular as syphilis, and that handouts to notorious felons will only accelerate blight and decay, everywhere it is practiced.
Maybe not. If they move the Chicago model to D.C., it will mean tons of loyal Democrat patronage votes—the workers, their family members, etc. So many people will be getting something from “the system” that they will accept any downside. I’ve actually heard Cook County Dems say that we are better off with one party rule here—fewer crooks to rob the system. You look the other way and take things as they are cuz you got a job and your garbage is picked up. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.....
Blacks have been systematically betrayed by the cons and shysters they foolishly trust. Lucy. Football. Charlie Brown.
I bet that one is a real page-turner. Reparations anyone?Yeah, since seven trillion dollars, and counting, in Great Society "redistribution" and job training programs for fortyfive years have done squat for the underclass, let's do it some more, only bigger. That's bound to work. Idiots.
That post made my head hurt...
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What? You can’t understand that blacks are 12% of the population so their unemployment rate should be 12%? America is 80% white so 80% of whites should be unemployed, right?
Since OBama thinks he's FDR, the jobs will probably be like the WPA: We Putter Around.
No kidding. But I like how the buzz-phrase "shovel-ready" has spread among the goobermint and media pansies who have never so much as broken a nail much less a sweat doing serious physical labor.
Um. I believe that the Indian motel owners received grants to come to our country and manage hotels. I can’t get a motel grant. But if I were only an Indian....
From what I’ve read, many belong to the same large family. the “Patels” who bring over relatives to help out and then later finance their purchase of a motel. There are no grants for immigrants to buy a business that I’m aware of. I’ve been seeing that rumor since the Vietnamese came here as refugees in 1974.
If you truly want to start or buy a business, take a look at these SBA programs:
http://www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance/sbaloantopics/index.html
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