This is not a recovery. It’s a continuing jobs emergency and it demands action.

[FogerRox]

http://robertreich.org/post/2082971308

We now have over 15 million unemployed. plus another 1.3 million who have given up looking for work. U6 has been 16.5% to 17.3% for the last year or so. And we no longer have the infrastructure to replace those jobs, that infrastructure must be rebuilt. Tax breaks for the wealthy to build the factories that manufacture solar panels and wind turbines, start up incentives for installers, and incentives for the consumer to buy. But thats only a few million jobs, but its a start.

Just in the NYC area alone; mass transit connections from NJ to NYC, thru to Queens and Brooklyn, a southerly and a northerly route, 4 tunnels. High speed rail from Bangor Maine thru DC, a southerly route and a northern route to the west coast, link up to Chicago. Thats another few million jobs.

The CCC and the WPA was not just about infrastructure building as in bridges and roads and National parks. There was an educational component, getting high school degrees, building the buildings that became teachers schools, building new college campuses to be filled by the new teachers, and once the actual infrastructure for a University system was in place, filling them with students. Over the last 30 years financial services as a percent of GDP has risen from 10% to 22%, and it took University faculty to crank out the MBA's and such that made this possible. Our university system needs to be rebuilt, refocusing on science and emerging technologies and not how to scam the SEC.

6 tax brackets are just not cutting it, there is too much of a difference between someone who makes 250k and 2.7 million annually. 20 tax brackets would far better describe the arc that is an effective progressive tax. Think of it this way, do 6 pixels describe a curve on your computer very well? And wouldn't 20 pixels do a much better job? In the 1980's Reagan gave the wealthiest a 60% tax cut, and doubled payroll taxes. He also defunded Federal programs in schools - putting the burden on municipal tax systems to make up the difference. Federally mandated school programs used to be funded by the Feds, now its something on the order of 26% Federal funding. A 70% percent top individual rate can be used to pay for all these investments .. investments in the future of our country.



GNP in 1934 was 11%, 1935-9%, 1936-13.9%, thats what recovery looks like.

From 1933 to 1936 unemployment dropped from 25% to 14%, not a bad start to recovery. (Full employment did not come until the run up to WW2, and then there was an acute labor shortage by 1942.)

GNP in 1936 exceeded that of 1929. (103 billion compared to 96 billion.) Thats what recovery looks like.

In 1936 Chevy set a record for selling sedans, Louis Armstrong seta record for selling records.

Right now half the individuals in this country make 27k or less.......
Whats in your wallet?

[FogerRox]

1. Haven't been posting @ DU much recently.

Maybe some of you old timers will remember me?

[FogerRox]

4. 5 recs, thanks for the love DU

[WiffenPoof]

2. Excellent Post! n/t

[FogerRox]

3. Thank you.

[Hannah Bell]

5. kr

[FogerRox]

9. Thank you Hannah Bell.

Happy Holidays to you!

[rfranklin]

6. Yes, there has been entirely too much emphasis on saving banksters...

and protecting the ultra low tax rates for the wealthy. We have one of the lowest tax burdens among the developed nations and the high commitment to military aggression and the attendant costs. And, by and large, there is no discussion of these facts.

[FogerRox]

12. Top rate IIRC Germany 73%, UK 50%, USA, 35%

Robert Reich has been calling for a return to the 70% top rate.

[FogerRox]

15. IIRC last summer the UK tried to raise its top rate to 55%

dont know if it passed.

[The Wizard]

44. Great perspective on the source

of our national economic woes. Cut military spending in half ans stop squandering resources on foreign military adventures. That is what stopped the Roman, British, and Soviet empires.
Force Congress to read History books.

[jotsy]

7. For now it's enough for what I need, I've long forgotten how to indulge in what I want.

Excellent sig line.

Recommended.

[FogerRox]

8. My sig line, from a speech on farm foreclosures

FDr essentially went around Congress and the banks, he started an office to handle foreclosure complaints and then announced the office in a fireside chat, telling those about to lose their farm to send a telegraph to this office and we will put a stop to this.

Of course they ended up with bags of telegrams and FDR only had to point to that and then Congress acted, all the while the Banks were embarrassed nationally for this.

-thanks for the Rec, best to you and your family. Roj.

[EFerrari]

10. Good to see you, FogerRox.

Three of us out of work here and it's scary for months. So long, in fact, I hardly notice it any more.

Between the Bush-Obama tax cuts and Race to the Bottom, I won't be getting a teaching job any time soon. Maybe I should learn to play a portable instrument and hang out in tourist spots with a hat and a puppy. lol

[FogerRox]

11. Some NJ Love sent West

★Merry★* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★Christmas★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門｜ ˚And a happy new year:') ♥

[Le Taz Hot]

30. *Perk!*

I think I just found my new career path! 'Course, I'm not sure how many people out there would appreciate "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "Blowin' in the Wind" enough to make a meager donation, but what the hell? ;-)

Seriously. Two unemployed in my household and I am, honest-to-goddess, going to be selling my oranges to pay for groceries next month. With 4 college degrees between the two of us how the fuck sad is that?

[EFerrari]

43. It's pretty crazy, isn't it?

:grouphug:

[Wilms]

13. Good to see you, Mr. Rox.

And K&R for posting.

[FogerRox]

14. Mr Wilms, how the hell are you?

Best to you and your family this holiday season.

[jwirr]

16. I was the historian at a museum in this area and we had a lot of CCC

artifacts and photos. I was often approached by men who had worked in our local camps and they wanted to see the pictures and talk about what they had experienced. Above all they would mention the learning experience they got from the camps. Many of the young men were just off the farm and had little experience in anything else. They learned from the program but also from each other. I felt honored that they would share their lives with me. We might not need these camps everywhere but they should definitely exist in high unemployment areas like inner cities. One problem I see is that wages in these camps were very low and I am not they could be affordable if we paid really good wages today.

[davidthegnome]

17. What can we do?

I ask that question humbly and honestly. The people I speak to in my daily life either think I'm nuts for believing we're facing disaster, or they simply don't care. Not much I can do when I'm surrounded by complacency and apathy - and struggling against my own. Will they care when more local schools are closed and millions more are laid off in all sectors? I don't know. Maybe it will require another great depression to force us into action.

I write to my representatives, they ignore me. I talk to family and friends, they don't care or they call me cynical, tell me to be more optimistic. I'm just at a loss.

I think that, until the masses are really pissed off enough, we won't be able to accomplish much. As much as I despise this helplessness, I don't see an alternative.

[bluestate10]

19. And you hop in your foreign branded car and drive to Walmart, Macy's or the

local mall to shop. Then you eat at the mall food court, replete with it's corporate food pushers. Then you come back home, hold your head in your hands then come to the DU and other crying sites to purge your heart of your fear and uncertainty. Your answer is staring, no, slapping you in the face. Your wants and the buying decisions that you make are the base causes of your uncertainty. Do you ever search the web for the wonderful companies that manufacture all manner of products right here on the mainland USA? Do you buy drawers made in China, India, or Pakistan? Did you ever try to find there is a company in North Carolina that manufactures better drawers and sells them for less than what you pay for the imported drawers? I bet you did not, it is easier to feel confused and afraid and to share your confusion and fear with like minded souls. Type in the search string "USA made" for any item that you want and see how much there is out there being made by your fellow USA citizens. The crisis of jobs and confidence will change when WE take charge of our own well being and change it via our buying decisions.

[Fumesucker]

31. I don't have a car, I haven't been in a mall in quite literally years..

I do have a foreign branded motorcycle I use for transportation but it was made in 1980 and I resurrected it from the dead, if it wasn't for me it would be on the scrap heap.

Almost all my shopping for things other than food is at thrift stores or on Craigslist.

All my drawers were made in the USA in 1982 and are built into the camper I live in.

If I tighten my belt any further I'll fall into two distinct pieces.

[davidthegnome]

32. You are quick to judge

those you know nothing about.

First off, I don't have a car, foreign branded or otherwise - I can't afford one. I haven't shopped at Walmart in years and I don't believe I've ever shopped at Macy's. I don't eat the junk food at the food court in the mall, though I have sat in it while I waited for family members to finish their shopping.

As for shopping for American made products - I haven't been able to shop for much of anything personally in quite some time. You do make a good point there, when I can afford to buy drawers or anything else I will certainly look for USA made products.

There are plenty of your fellow USA citizens who can't buy squat right now.

In any event, I'm sure we weepers on this "crying site" are doing what we can. For many of us, however, there is little we can do without first having a job ourselves. All that being said, if I wanted to purge my heart of fear and uncertainty, I would not come here to DU to do so.

[FogerRox]

21. until the masses are really pissed off enough

says it well enough.

When you write your reps, jobs is number one. When you talk to your friends and family, Remember, "we need jobs". Maybe we can turn the corner, maybe it has to get worse, but we will find out. One way or another, we will find out.

[LongIslandGuy]

18. Action Plan, Man!

[bluestate10]

20. There is none. Easier for people to cry. Action involves actually

making actionable decisions and not just pointing a finger at "them".

[davidthegnome]

42. If people are crying

They have good reason to. If people are pointing the finger at "them" (by which I assume you are referring to government, or perhaps corporations, or perhaps the wealthy) then they also have a good reason to be pointing.

Your condescending and frankly, insulting manner is doing nothing to help. Maybe you had a bad day. I'm giving you the benefit of a doubt because it's Christmas Eve.

[jtuck004]

27. Some individuals have to figure out what they want.. Then organize.

If it is employment and to improve the economy...

1) We are going nowhere without demand. We create demand by getting income into the hands of the workers. You may call it trickle-forward.

(We think supply side has proven it doesn't work).

2) If we just put money into hands and don't educate them, it just becomes a stream to China. Facing reality it probably will be for some time, so we take it back 1 industry at a time. Say, those who use child labor.

(This ain't 1930, so protectionism probably won't work. Can try, but if business here starts losing, stop).

3) Employee-owned and managed business can compete, and market themselves as Americans. Existing business, where the CEO makes over 1700 times the pay of the average of all workers in the company, probably can't. They make good candidates for competition.

About 30 million people are unemployed, underemployed, or too dis-heartened to take more rejection right now, with only about 5 million real openings. In addition, about 125,000 new workers enter the workforce each month.

If we create 250,000 jobs every month until then, we will see 6% unemployment in about 13 years and 4 months.

(That has never happened in the history of the United States.

So you start organizing a neighborhood to offer training for the existing jobs, get a group together that can start a reasonable small manufacturing business, maybe figure out if how to live in a globalized society in a way that helps your country. Get contracts from the government, or come up with something that large numbers of people can use to make their life better. Look at trends.

It would be nice if the current Administration would take note of the 8.3 million jobs lost in 2008 and 2009 and invest, say, $4 trillion in people and the country, try to push some 22nd century work and training out there, maybe a few million $30,000/yr jobs for a bit. Don't hold your breath.

In the meantime you can read about Springfield Remanufacturing, how they lost their jobs 30 years ago, bought the factory, retrained everyone, and kept not only their jobs but created new businesses. (Info on their site @ http://www.srcreman.com/ look at the links for "The Great Game of Business".)

And when you know enough, organize. This may be the "union" of the future.

[davidthegnome]

33. Thank you

That was a very informative post. I'll do my best to help organize and promote community related job events. Small community, but we have to start somewhere.

[jtuck004]

34. Figure unions started with nothing, and got their heads handed

to them often.

this _probably_ won't be that ugly. As you said, we have to start somewhere.

[FogerRox]

22. wow 40 recs, not so many comments, but thank you !

[democracy1st]

24. thank you I think most people are at a lost for words when it comes to describing

the current state of politics/government

[emilyg]

39. Correct. The words I want

to use are unacceptable.

[area51]

23. I've been saying for awhile that we're in the 2nd Great Depression.

We need bold measures like a new WPA, as according to this article, we have 30½% unemployment. We have a barely surviving health care delivery system, and are running two wars of choice. Bring the troops home, close most of the bases, offer the returning troops training in fixing our crumbling infrastructure and in the medical professions so we can finally have enough doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. Make health care a basic human right, as if we were a first-world, non-barbaric country.

[DemReadingDU]

36. +++

[demandTheGoodLife.co]

25. we need income not jobs, we already have too many jobs!

55% of the work people do is a complete and total waste of human time and effort.

We already have too many jobs. People need an income, not some mindless job that serves no value whatsoever.

We employ 9 million people in producing things and then employ 14 million in trying to sell it. Our system of labor is dumb, backwards, out of date and inefficient.

Half of our jobs are already obsolete because they can be automated with existing technology. The last thing we need is to force people to work more useless jobs.

Jobs in office support, sales, transportation, food, etc. make up 67 million jobs, over half our jobs, and can be automated with existing technology.

We should strive for a HIGHER unemployment rate! People don't have to work jobs any more. People should have the opportunity to live a life of leisure instead.

We get more productivity from people doing leisure activities (where we get to have fun, express our creativity and apply our intellect) than jobs. Machines should do all the jobs and people should do all the leisure activities. We should use existing automation technology to immediately eliminate the need to do 70% of all the jobs we do and make working a job optional.

[StarsInHerHair]

26. k & r

nt

[Le Taz Hot]

28. Good to see you again!

Good post. :hi:

[sendero]

29. We shot our wad..

... bailing out the banks, there is nothing left for the proles. Too bad, and thanks a bunch Obama.

[Autumn]

35. K/R

Very good article and dead on the money.

[truckin]

37. Hey Foger Rox, good to hear from you and excellent post.

I was just thinking last week that it seems like a couple of years since I've seen one of your posts. Welcome back and I hope all is well.

[FogerRox]

40. Truckin! Older, Wiser, Bigger, Stronger, Better !

[emilyg]

38. Big K/R

[FogerRox]

41. Thanks Emily

[The Wizard]

45. Good one Foger

Hope to see more of your musings on this exchange.
You were there when Lindsey Graham's date winked at me in the hotel bar. Now that was funny, but not as good as making Frank Luntz run away in a panic mode. It was a memorable weekend.