Bob Herbert: The White House and Congress have refused to recognize the severity of unemployment

Better Believe It

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-30-11 09:16 PM
Original message

Bob Herbert: The White House and Congress have refused to recognize the severity of unemployment

Edited on Tue Aug-30-11 09:17 PM by Better Believe It

Put America Back To Work
Bob Herbert
August 30, 2011

The biggest domestic policy failure has been the refusal of top officials in the White House and in Congress to recognize the severity of the employment crisis that has settled like a plague over American workers.

Politicians have given little more than lip service to this terrible turn of events. If there was but one message that I would try to get through to the nation�s leadership, it is that we cannot begin to get the United States back on track until we begin to put our people back to work.

And there is so much work to be done. Start with the crying need to rebuild the nation�s aging, deteriorating infrastructure � its bridges and highways, airports and air traffic control systems, its sewer and wastewater treatment facilities, the electrical grid, inland waterways, public transportation systems, levees and floodwalls and ports and dams, and on and on. Lawrence Summers, until recently President Obama�s top economic adviser, has pointed out that 75 percent of America�s public schools have structural deficiencies. Twelve percent of the nation�s bridges have been rated structurally deficient and another 15 percent are functionally obsolete.

Three to four trillion dollars worth of improvements will be needed over the next decade just to bring the infrastructure into a reasonable state of repair. Meanwhile, we�ve got legions of unemployed construction workers, manufacturing workers, engineers and others who are ready and eager to step into the breach, to take on jobs ranging from infrastructure maintenance and repair to infrastructure design and new construction. It shouldn�t require a genius to put together those two gigantic pieces of America�s economic puzzle � infrastructure and unemployment.

Please read the full article at:

http://www.policyshop.net/home/2011/8/30/put-america-back-to-work.html

--------------------------------------------

Back To Work Policy Brief
A Public Jobs Proposal For Economic Recovery
March 7, 2011 Philip Harvey

Today there are almost 29 million people in the United States for whom the economy has failed to perform its most important function: providing enough jobs to go around. This reality is dimming the lights on the American Dream. It threatens to steal from an entire generation the dignity that comes from a hard day�s work. Our political leaders have effectively accepted this situation, turning from the moderate job creation strategies of 2009-2010 to an austerity agenda that will cost as many as 1 million more jobs.

Meanwhile, the corporate sector has largely recovered from the recession�with profits at an all-time record of $1.659 trillion in the third quarter of 2010.2 The private sector is currently cash-rich, yet all indications are that businesses are still reluctant to begin hiring or investing in major capital improvements. Nearly a year and half past the official end of the Great Recession, it�s clear that the private sector is not going to provide jobs for everyone who needs them and wants to work.

In order to return unemployment to 4.5 percent and restore consumer demand, approximately 8.2 million additional jobs must be created. At the pace of current job creation, it would take at least 20 years to reach full employment. The toll joblessness has had already on communities and families has been severe. We can no longer afford to wait idly for recovery to happen. Instead, we must fuel a recovery by putting America back to work.

Our direct public jobs proposal is conceptually simple: the public sector can directly create jobs quickly, serve vital community needs and target those hurt most in this economy. The benefits are multiple. Americans without jobs get meaningful work until a true recovery takes place, and communities get urgent and long-ignored needs met. Our nation ensures that the talents and skills of our workers do not atrophy, and our families and communities recover from the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

Download and read the full report in PDF format at:

http://www.demos.org/publication.cfm?currentpublicationID=9068D8E5-3FF4-6C82-565B0694BCC851E6