Posted on 10/03/2009 8:51:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Unemployment will almost certainly in double-digits next year — and may remain there for some time. And for every person who shows up as unemployed in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey, you can bet there’s another either too discouraged to look for work or working part time who’d rather have a full-time job or else taking home less pay than before (I’m in the last category, now that the University of California has instituted pay cuts). And there’s yet another person who’s more fearful that he or she will be next to lose a job.
In other words, ten percent unemployment really means twenty percent underemployment or anxious employment. All of which translates directly into late payments on mortgages, credit cards, auto and student loans, and loss of health insurance. It also means sleeplessness for tens of millions of Americans. And, of course, fewer purchases (more on this in a moment).
Unemployment of this magnitude and duration also translates into ugly politics, because fear and anxiety are fertile grounds for demagogues weilding the politics of resentment against immigrants, blacks, the poor, government leaders, business leaders, Jews, and other easy targets. It’s already started. Next year is a mid-term election. Be prepared for worse.
So why is unemployment and underemployment so high, and why is it likely to remain high for some time? Because, as noted, people who are worried about their jobs or have no jobs, and who are also trying to get out from under a pile of debt, are not going do a lot of shopping. And businesses that don’t have customers aren’t going do a lot of new investing. And foreign nations also suffering high unemployment aren’t going to buy a lot of our goods and services.
And without customers, companies won’t hire. They’ll cut payrolls instead.
Which brings us to the obvious question: Who’s going to buy the stuff we make or the services we provide, and therefore bring jobs back? There’s only one buyer left: The government.
Let me say this as clearly and forcefully as I can: The federal government should be spending even more than it already is on roads and bridges and schools and parks and everything else we need. It should make up for cutbacks at the state level, and then some. This is the only way to put Americans back to work. We did it during the Depression. It was called the WPA.
Yes, I know. Our government is already deep in debt. But let me tell you something: When one out of six Americans is unemployed or underemployed, this is no time to worry about the debt.
When I was a small boy my father told me that I and my kids and my grand-kids would be paying down the debt created by Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Depression and World War II. I didn’t even know what a debt was, but it kept me up at night.
My father was right about a lot of things, but he was wrong about this. America paid down FDR’s debt in the 1950s, when Americans went back to work, when the economy was growing again, and when our incomes grew, too. We paid taxes, and in a few years that FDR debt had shrunk to almost nothing.
You see? The most important thing right now is getting the jobs back, and getting the economy growing again.
People who now obsess about government debt have it backwards. The problem isn’t the debt. The problem is just the opposite. It’s that at a time like this, when consumers and businesses and exports can’t do it, government has to spend more to get Americans back to work and recharge the economy. Then – after people are working and the economy is growing – we can pay down that debt.
But if government doesn’t spend more right now and get Americans back to work, we could be out of work for years. And the debt will be with us even longer. And politics could get much uglier.
Nah. All he's saying is that Obama should do more of the same--subsidize production for which there is no demand--"stimulate" those green shoots--wherever they are.
After the US buys everything his non-white untrained construction workers can turn out, and the dollar is cheap as dirt, what is the gubbermint going to do with all those cars, widgets, and asphalt plants?
Bigger government is always the answer for leftest.
It doesn’t occur to this moron that destroying the dollar and putting 10 generations deep into debt is totally self destructive in the longer run.
Yep. When Obama got elected my husband decided to get his social security early while there was still some in the pot.
The problem is that the government gave a trillion dollars to the banks so they could start giving loans to small business and folks to buy things and get the ball rolling again,
and then the government turned around and borrowed the trillion dollars itself, as a ‘stimulus’.
That really was the straw that;s turning this recession into a depression. If they add on business killer cap and trade and the debt of ‘public’ health care, our fate is sealed.
From the actual bombing survey - many moons ago.
MNJohnnie wrote:
Pass the Developing America’s Resources act to remove all bottlenecks and obstacles in Government regulation that is blocking development all US energy resources and commit the US Government to exploiting any and all US energy sources to end our dependency on imported energy.
Who has sponsored this? Do you have a bill number? I haven’t heard of that bill, at least not in the current Congress.
| From the desk of cc2k: |
During the 30’s, unemployment hit about 20% about 1933, and then went down to about 17%. It stayed at 17% throughout the 30s- never going down until we started ramping up for WWII in 1939-40.
Using the same employment definitions, the rate now is about 17%.
Reich is forgetting that business will NOT INVEST in more people until the situation with Energy prices (due to CapNTax fears) and Employee cost (due to health care taxes) is clarified. After that, they will be able to estimate demand, which is often dependent on employment and the general economy. Only after that, will they see if they can borrow for expansion, etc.
He IS right that we are years from a real recovery, and he might even be accurate that the govt should be rebuilding roads, bridges, and other such infrastructure. Adding to the govt debt simply to do that, though, will hurt the business borrowing for expansion, so it is not a panacea.
In the end, gov’t doesn’t expand the economy, business does.
People are taking weekend vacations up at the cabin, instead of flying to Vegas or Florida. Paring down their spending.
Oh so know we have Keynes II?
I sorry I stated that poorly. That is a bill of my own creation and exists only in my own mind. It is not a real bill.
You can sum all that up with:
When people have nothing (or little) left to lose, “Viva la Revolucion”.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2169462/posts
Wonder what this Be prepared for worse. means? Here is another liberal that babels out of both sides of his mouth while pointing an accusing finger.
As opposed to the constant all out assault against whites & Christians, no unemployment required?? I don't disagree about unemployment but Reich is a typical anti-white, anti-American, multicult Marxist AH.
“Yep. When Obama got elected my husband decided to get his social security early while there was still some in the pot.”
My wife and I have heard this from some early SS retirees.
Of what consumer goods?
Oh so know we have Keynes II?
Yep.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.