"Slowly but surely we are moving in the right direction. We're on the right track." ~ Barack Obama, Aug. 18, 2010
President Obama's pollyanish comments coupled with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' outburst against "the professional left" reveal just how out of touch the Obama Administration is with the tens of millions of everyday Americans who are engulfed by the jobs crisis.
Obama and Gibbs are miffed at liberal pundits for complaining about the Administration's concessions on everything from health care and financial reform to jobs creation. But Obama's real problem isn't Arianna Huffington or Paul Krugman. For now, liberals have no place else to go--and they'll never cross over to the Republican Party.
Instead, the Administration should be very worried about the more than 29 million Americans who have lost their jobs or are forced into part-time work. Unemployment is stuck at 9.5 percent--and that's just the narrowest measure of joblessness. The more accurate Bureau of Labor Statistics jobless rate (U6) is over 16.5 percent. (This includes people who have stopped looking for jobs and those working part-time involuntarily.) Five workers are competing for every job opening while the average length of unemployment is over 35 weeks. If it weren't for unemployment insurance and food stamps, we'd have Depression era soup kitchen lines going round the block.
MORE...
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/19-3
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
