First came the drama over the government shutdown. Then the showdown over the debt ceiling. Now another round of negotiations on the budget deficit. Pardon me for asking, but when exactly will Washington begin to deal with the crisis of jobs, wages, and widening inequality? The Labor Department reports this morning that only 148,000 jobs were created in September, way down from the average of 207,000 new jobs a month in the first quarter of the year. Todays official unemployment rate of 7.2 percent reflects only those who are still looking. If the same percentage of Americans were working today as when Barack Obama took office, today’s unemployment rate would be 10.8 percent. And inequality keeps widening. Ninety-five percent of the economic gains since the recovery began in 2009 have gone to the top 1 percent. The real median household income continues to drop, and the number of Americans in poverty continues to increase. So what’s Washington doing? Less than nothing. Our real problem continues to be a dearth of good jobs, and widening inequality. Cutting the budget deficit anytime soon will make both worse -- by further reducing total demand for goods and services, and eliminating programs that lower and middle-income Americans depend on.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 15:32:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015