Recession Still Hurting Millions

The political and economic pundits are still trying to tell Americans that the recession (depression?) is over and things are now starting to get better. I wish that was true, but it's not. According to the Labor Department, after a couple of months in which a thimble-full of jobs were created, the United States again showed a net loss of jobs last month.

Some economists are crowing over the 83,000 jobs created in the private sector last month (a drop in the bucket alongside the 12-15 million jobs lost so far in this recession) and the drop in the unemployment rate edged down to 9.5% by government figures. But that only counts the people receiving unemployment or still periodically making the futile trip to the unemployment office. The real figure is probably upwards of 15% or 16% at least.

According to the government there are 14.6 million unemployed people. Then there are another 2.6 million people who are called "marginally attached" to the work force (they want and are available for work but have given up trying to find work). And the number of people who would like full-time work but have been forced into part-time jobs are 8.6 million. That means there are 25.8 million people in this country who would like a full-time job but cannot find one.

If the country were to add 100,000 jobs a month (which we are not doing), it would take 258 months (or 21.5 years) to put all these people to work, and that doesn't take into account the new people who enter the work search every year (college and high school graduates and drop-outs). And the truth of the matter is that there were 125,000 less jobs in June than the month before. We are making little to no headway on the jobs front.

Another part of the economy that economists have been bragging about lately is the weak rebound in housing. But it looks like that may be over too. All parts of the country show much weaker growth in sales of both new and used homes in May (a drop of at least 30% and the worst month in over a year).

And in the midst of all this misery the Republicans still think the deficit is the most important thing. They say everything will be all right if we just reduce the deficit. What nonsense! The truth is if we put massive amounts of people back to work the deficit will drop because of all the new taxes being paid, and if we don't the only people the deficit will matter to are the rich (who will be stuck with the bill).

As usual, the Republicans don't care about anyone but the rich, and seek to keep them from being taxed to help everyone else. They don't seem to care that millions of people are out of work and millions more are underemployed and underpaid. They recently killed a bill that would extend unemployment payments (an economic stimulator) and another that would help homeless veterans. They also oppose new job creation help from the government.

This recession is far from over, and if we follow the Republican policies it will take many more years to climb out of it (if ever). But they don't care. The rich are making money just like they did back during the Depression (the ones that survived the Crash). As workers lose houses and farms, they are there to snap them up at bargain prices.

If you like this recession, then you should vote Republican this Fall (because they'll keep it going for a long time). If you don't, then you should be doing your best to put even more Democrats in Congress (especially the Senate). Republican policies have put us well on the way to becoming a third-world country. We must elect enough Democrats to make sure those policies are eradicated.