Not Nearly Enough Jobs

Republican politicians, especially the rich Republicans running for president, are fond of saying the unemployed should just go get a job (inferring they are just being lazy and living off the government). This is an insult to both working and unemployed Americans. No one enjoys being on unemployment (or welfare or food stamps). In addition to being embarrassing, it pretty much insures you will be living in poverty (like many of the hard-working people lucky enough to still have a job).

It goes without saying that many of the current job openings are jobs that pay at or close to minimum wage and have no benefits. McDonald's recently hired 60,000 people nationwide, but had about a million people apply for those jobs. Those jobs are not jobs a family could be supported with, and yet people are desperate so they'll take nearly anything. That's the situation the Republicans have put Americans in.

As the chart above shows, there are at least four people for every single job opening in the country -- and it has been that way for at least 34 moths now (nearly three years). And we know that the government seriously undercounts the number of people out of work, so the real figure is probably much higher than four people for every available job. And the same people who are telling the unemployed to just get a job are the same politicians who helped to either destroy or outsource many millions of American jobs.

And what is their solution? To further cut the little bit of help we currently offer the poor and the unemployed so they can give more huge tax cuts to the rich. They have no shame or they couldn't even suggest such a policy. Just remember, a vote for a Republican is a vote for the people who caused this economic mess and want to continue it.