The Drive for Decent Work - Full Employment Now!

Constanza-Nomics

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:10:00 +0000

" If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."

-- Jerry Seinfeld

So, if you are an editorial writer at the Wall Street Journal, it's always a good time to chop wages, fire workers and ship jobs overseas.

On Friday (2/3), the WSJ chided Mitt Romney for trying to walk back from his blunt statements that he didn't particularly care about helping the poor.

"...If Mr. Romney wanted to help the poor and stay true to his free-market principles, he'd have cited the youth and minority jobless figures and proposed a special sub-minimum wage for teenagers. It's hardly a radical position, and it would get him back on the moral and political offensive."

Yes, that's right, the way to help young workers is by doing the opposite of what would help them. Perhaps if the minimum wage is reduced to a dime or a nickel, Apple will open FoxConn-style assembly plants here, so teenagers can have the privilege of assembling their own iPhones. Of course they would then hardly be able to afford an iPhone, their rent, or a meal at McDonald's (which would seem like a high-road job by comparison.) But who knows, maybe wages and prices will fall there as well, in a veritable orgy of Dickensian capitalism.

The lineage for this counterintuitive approach goes all the way back to laissez-faire and the invisible hand. But it really hit its stride in the 1980s, when Greed became Good, shareholder value became preeminent, and "lean and mean" became a badge of honor.

When you throw away a factory, you are ripping up social contracts and often squandering the public's co-investments in education and training, research and development, roads, bridges, and ports.

But, Earth to Wall Street Journal -- America tried your approach -- remember? You had your enterprize zones, and your subminimum wage in the maqiladoras along the border in Mexico, and many other satellite sweatshop republics -- and most of those jobs ended up going to China anyway.

Maybe the current conditions of mass unemployment and stagnant wages are a wake-up call to start doing the opposite of what the corporate raiders and corporate business heroes have been telling us. Why not do some things that actually help workers, like improving wages and benefits? This isn't rocket science. Investing in infrastructure, education, clean energy, and caregiving yields many more jobs per billion, when compared to investing in the Wall St. Journal's preferred industries -- finance, military spending, and oil and gas drilling.

Yes, let's do the opposite of what we've been told. Guarantee the right to a job for all, and develop good jobs that will stay here in the United States. Let's see how that turns out, for a change.

George does the Opposite (Seinfeld show script)

George : It's not working, Jerry. It's just not working.
Jerry : What is it that isn't working?
George : Why did it all turn out like this for me? I had so much promise. I was personable, I was bright. Oh, maybe not academically speaking, but ... I was perceptive. I always know when someone's uncomfortable at a party. It became very clear to me sitting out there today, that every decision I've ever made, in my entire life, has been wrong. My life is the opposite of everything I want it to be. Every instinct I have, in every of life, be it something to wear, something to eat ... It's all been wrong.

( A waitress comes up to George)

Waitress : Tuna on toast, coleslaw, cup of coffee.
George : Yeah. No, no, no, wait a minute, I always have tuna on toast. Nothing's ever worked out for me with tuna on toast. I want the complete opposite of tuna on toast. Chicken salad, on rye, untoasted ... and a cup of tea.
Elaine : Well, there's no telling what can happen from this.
Jerry : You know chicken salad is not the opposite of tuna, salmon is the opposite of tuna, 'cos salmon swim against the current, and the tuna swim with it.
George : Good for the tuna.

( A blonde woman looks at George )

Elaine : Ah, George, you know, that woman just looked at you.
George : So what? What am I supposed to do?
Elaine : Go talk to her.
George : Elaine, bald men, with no jobs, and no money, who live with their parents, don't approach strange women.
Jerry : Well here's your chance to try the opposite. Instead of tuna salad and being intimidated by women, chicken salad and going right up to them.
George : Yeah, I should do the opposite, I should.
Jerry : If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.
George : Yes, I will do the opposite. I used to sit here and do nothing, and regret it for the rest of the day, so now I will do the opposite, and I will do
something!
( He goes over to the woman )
George : Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice that you were looking in my direction.
Victoria : Oh, yes I was, you just ordered the same exact lunch as me.
( G takes a deep breath )
George : My name is George. I'm unemployed and I live with my parents.
Victoria : I'm Victoria. Hi!

Kids Testify about Homelessness

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 01:42:00 +0000

CNN: Kids Testify About Homelessness

12/15/11

Watch full hearing on C-SPAN

House Republican Unemployment Insurance Proposal Acts As If Economic Slump Is Over

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 01:34:00 +0000

The Party of No, having voted repeatedly to prevent investment in roads, bridges, mass transit and school construction, now wants to slash unemployment benefits and force the jobless to pee in a cup to get rent money.

House Republican Unemployment Insurance Proposal Acts As If Economic Slump Is Over

by Chad Stone, Chief Economist, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

cross posted from: Huffington Post, 12/14/11

"....House Republicans must think the job market is improving rapidly and that the Congressional Budget Office is way off base in projecting that the unemployment rate will average 8.7 percent in 2011 and 2012. How else can one explain their proposal to slash federal emergency unemployment insurance (UI) benefits?

The House Republican proposal -- part of their larger proposal to extend the payroll tax cut and UI benefits -- would slash, by 40, the number of weeks potentially available to unemployed workers who are struggling to find a job in some states that were hit the hardest by the jobs slump."

Read rest of article

The Domino Effect Between Housing & Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:15:00 +0000

Good infographic on "how a housing crisis becomes a jobs crisis" from Tim Logan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/94/c94dba1e-e692-11e0-9557-0019bb30f31a/4e7df2c10c730.pdf.pdf

"...The purchase of a house sets off a long chain of events. The money spent to buy it and to live in it ripples through the economy, creating jobs. From a locksmith on Main Street to an investment banker on Wall Street, furniture factories to City Hall, people earn a living off that one transaction."

"We’re now experiencing what happens when people don’t buy houses. Home sales in St. Louis have fallen by nearly one-third since before the recession. And the inability to change that has played a major role in an ongoing jobs crisis. Housing and jobs have become so intertwined that many experts say we will never enjoy a broad recovery until the housing market picks up. But without jobs, it’s hard to see how people can

start building and buying houses."

“THE RACE TO REBUILD: AMERICA’S INFRASTRUCTURE”

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:56:00 +0000

CNBC PRESENTS “THE RACE TO REBUILD: AMERICA’S INFRASTRUCTURE” - CNBC:

Thursday, November 17th at 10PM ET/PT

"...From California to Minnesota and Pennsylvania, states nationwide are grappling with crumbling infrastructure…600,000 bridges in need of repair, one-third of America’s major roads in dire condition, thousands of miles of old fuel lines stressed to their limits and billions of dollars needed to shore up the nations levees. It’s a crisis sweeping the nation. Is there a solution? Or is this our future?"

"The American Society of Civil Engineers has given our nation’s infrastructure a near failing grade of “D” overall. And, according to the Urban Land Institute, the U.S. needs to spend $2 trillion to rebuild roads, bridges and other critical pieces of public infrastructure that are reaching the end of their life spans, money that many believe just does not exist."

"On Thursday, November 17th at 10PM ET/PT, CNBC presents “The Race to Rebuild: America’s Infrastructure,” a CNBC Original reported by Correspondent Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, that takes viewers inside the infrastructure problems at hand and asks experts and policy makers what it will take to put the nation back on track."

Read rest of article

Schools brace for more budget cuts

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:46:00 +0000

The Associated Press: Schools brace for more budget cuts:

By KIMBERLY HEFLING, AP Education Writer -- Oct 24, 2011

"...[A]n estimated 294,000 jobs in the education sector have been lost since 2008, including those in higher education."

"The cuts are felt from Keller, Texas, where the district moved to a pay-for-ride transportation system rather than cut busing altogether, to Georgia, where 20 days were shaved off the calendar for pre-kindergarten classes. In California, a survey found that nearly half of all districts last year cut or reduced art, drama and music programs."

"Nationally, 120 districts — primarily in rural areas — have gone to a four-day school week to save on transportation and utility costs, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. Others are implementing fees to play sports, cutting field trips and ending after-school programs..."

"Recognizing the reality districts face, President Barack Obama included $30 billion in his $447 billion jobs creation package to save teachers' jobs. The Senate rejected the jobs package as well as a separate measure focused on saving the jobs of teachers and emergency responders."

Read rest of article

More than 1 in 4 homeowners 'underwater' on mortgages

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:45:00 +0000

More than 1 in 4 homeowners 'underwater' as U.S. housing market continues to sink | Mail Online:

By MICHAEL ZENNIE, The Daily Mail, 11/8/11

Walking away: The large number of houses 'underwater' could lead

to homeowners deciding it's no longer worth it to make mortgage payments

Nearly 30 percent of American homeowners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to a new report from the real estate website Zillow

Defaults and foreclosures are likely to increase as homeowners decide to walk away from their houses, rather than continuing to make mortgage payments on property they can't sell or refinance, analysts said.

Forecloses are already twice what they were this time last year and the number of homeowners who haven't made a mortgage payment in at least two months rose for the first time since 2009.

Read rest of article

Visualize Plutocracy!

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:40:00 +0000

How Rich are the Superrich?
A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.

More charts available at "It's the Ineqality, Stupid!":

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph

Joseph Stiglitz: How to put America back to work

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 05:49:00 +0000

Opinion: How to put America back to work - Joseph E. Stiglitz - POLITICO.com:

September 7, 2011

"The country is — or should be — focused on jobs. Some 25 million Americans who want a full-time job can’t get one. The youth unemployment rate is as much as twice that of the already unacceptable national average.

America has always thought of itself as a land of opportunity — but where is the opportunity for our youngsters who face such bleak prospects? Historically, those who lose their jobs quickly got another, but an increasingly large fraction of the unemployed — now more than 40 percent — have been out of work for more than six months."

Is there anything that anyone can really do -- given the country's looming debt and deficit? The answer from economics is: There is plenty we can do..."

Read rest of article

Poverty-Level Wages Common in US Labor Market

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:42:00 +0000

Yes, We Need Jobs. But What Kind?

by Paul Osterman, 9/5/11

The New York Times

"...ON Thursday, President Obama will deliver a major speech on America’s employment crisis. But too often, what is lost in the call for job creation is a clear idea of what jobs we want to create."

"I recently led a research team to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination, has advertised his track record of creating jobs. From January 2000 to January 2010, employment in the Valley grew by a remarkable 42 percent, compared with our nation’s anemic 1 percent job growth."

"But the median wage for adults in the Valley between 2005 and 2008 was a stunningly low $8.14 an hour (in 2008 dollars). One in four employed adults earned less than $6.19 an hour. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that the per capita income in the two metropolitan statistical areas spanning the Valley ranked lowest and second lowest in the nation."

Read Paul Osterman's op-ed

Good Jobs America -- new book by Paul Osterman and Beth Shulman

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:37:00 +0000

The Challenge of Creating Good Jobs - NYTimes.com:

Economix: Explaining the Science of Everyday Life

The New York Times, 9/7/11

By Steven Greenhouse

"...In their new book, “Good Jobs America: Making Work Better for Everyone,” Paul Osterman and Beth Shulman argue that the United States needs to worry about not just creating millions more jobs but also ensuring that the jobs are good ones.

By good jobs, the authors mean jobs that pay enough to support a family and provide decent, safe conditions. The authors voice concern that many middle-class jobs have disappeared or deteriorated into low-wage ones that cause families to fall below the poverty line.

Taking a view contrary to that of many economists and politicians, they argue that government can and should play a vigorous role in encouraging employers to create good jobs — perhaps by providing tax incentives that require employers to pay a living wage.

Read the review

WBAI City Watch Interview on the Unemployment Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:25:00 +0000

Chuck Bell, vice chair of the National Jobs for All Coalition, participated in a Labor Day weekend interview on WBAI City Watch, to discuss national job creation legislation

Listen to the interview in the WBAI City Watch archive

For more information about HR 870, the Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act, and the other bills discussed in the interview, visit http://www.PutAmericaToWork.net

Saturday September 3, 10-11am City Watch

City Watch is a watchdog for social, economic, political and cultural issues in New York City. Our September 3rd show will examine the status of American workers this Labor Day. Guests are:

-- Chuck Bell of the National Jobs for All Coalition, discussing full employment initiatives at the federal level. Jobs proposals include HR 870 (Conyers) The Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment & Training Act and Rep. Jan Schakowsky's Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act to create 2 million jobs.

-- Dal Lamagna, Co-Managing Partner of IceStone in Brooklyn, talking about why he agrees with Warren Buffet that rich people like them should pay more taxes. Lamagna is a member of Business for Shared Prosperity and Patriotic Millionaires

-- Stanley Aronowitz, CUNY professor, labor activist and former Green Party candidate for Governor. He discusses the status of the labor movement in the US and efforts to create jobs.

Direct links: http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/wbai_110903_100053citywatch.mp3
http://archive.wbai.org/

Workers and Sustainability

noreply@blogger.com (National Jobs for All) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:16:00 +0000

American Labor: A Sustainable Path by Joe Uehlein

This Labor Day, as union membership falls to a mere seven percent of private sector workers and bargaining and political clout shrink to match, two roads diverge for American labor. One is to attempt to find a niche within an economic-political system that is ever more shaped by short-term greed and is therefore ever more unsustainable economically, socially, and environmentally. The other is to align with the long-term interest of workers in transforming that system to provide for a sustainable future for the planet and its people. Organized labor will have a better future if it chooses the second road.
....

To have a future itself, organized labor needs to reorient itself around the objective of providing a sustainable future for all working people and the world we inhabit. That means putting millions of people to work creating a sustainable economy, society, and environment.

Nothing is more threatening to our long-term sustainability than climate change. It is affecting American workers here and now through forest fires, dust storms, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events like floods, droughts, tornados, blizzards and hurricanes. So far this year there have been an unprecedented eight weather-related disasters that have each done more than a billion dollars worth of damage to states from Texas to Maine.

The Great Recession represented the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Even during the so-called recovery, American workers continued to face unemployment rates unprecedented since the Great Depression. Now as that recovery falters, the private sector appears to have little to offer besides more unemployment, more insecurity, more wage cuts, and more misery.

It will take the labor of millions of people to reconstruct our economy on a climate safe basis. The solution for labor, as for America and indeed for the world, lies in a Green New Deal to mobilize our unused human resources to meet our increasingly desperate needs.

....read rest of article at http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/01-13

Joe Uehlein is the former secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO’s Industrial Union Department and former director of the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Campaigns. Joe is the Executive Director of Voices for a Sustainable Future. He spent over 30 years doing organizing, bargaining, and strategic campaign work in the labor movement. He also performs regularly with his roots-rock revival band The U-Liners.
[He is also on the Advisory Board of the National Jobs for All Coalition.--jz]

Rep. Jan Schakowsky Announces Bill to Create 2.2 Million Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:36:00 +0000

The Drive For Decent Work applauds Rep. Jan Schakowsky for her leadership in developing and proposing a comprehensive job creation bill. We expect that this bill will receive strong support from labor, religious, human needs and community-based advocacy organizations across the U.S. We urge other House members to sign on and help build a broad base of support for this and related jobs legislation.

You can help! Please write to your Representative and urge him/her to cosponsor the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act.

Cross-posted from Rep. Jan Schakowsky's web site:

Schakowsky Announces Bill to Create 2.2 Million Jobs

“Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act”

Estimated to Lower Unemployment Rate by 1.3%

CHICAGO, IL (August 10, 2011) – Today Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of President Obama’s 18-member Fiscal Commission, announced she will introduce the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act, a cost-effective plan to put over 2 million people to work for two years.

The time has come for Congress to focus like a laser on the most pressing crisis facing our country – the jobs crisis. With extended unemployment benefits scheduled to expire at the end of this year, 13.9 million people remain out of work. The average worker who is unemployed has been searching for a job for more than nine months and recent reports reveal that private sector employers largely refuse to hire those currently jobless. An additional 8.4 million are working part time because they cannot find a full-time job. In June 2007, 63 percent of adults were employed, now the percentage is 58.2 percent. Despite reports of a Congress immobilized and unable to address the jobs crisis– Congress can and must do something today.

“It begins with this simple idea: If we want to create jobs, then create jobs. I’m not talking about “incentivizing” companies in the hopes they’ll hire someone, or cutting taxes for the so-called job creators who have done nothing of the sort. My plan creates actual new jobs,” said Rep. Schakowsky. “The worst deficit this country faces, isn’t the budget deficit. It’s the jobs deficit. We need to get our people and our economy moving again.”

If enacted, the legislation would create 2.2 million jobs that will meet critical needs to improve and strengthen communities:

•The School Improvement Corps would create 400,000 construction and 250,000 maintenance jobs by funding positions created by public school districts to do needed school rehabilitation improvements.

•The Park Improvement Corps would create 100,000 jobs for youth between the ages of 16 and 25 through new funding to the Department of the Interior and the USDA Forest Service’s Public Lands Corps Act. Young people would work on conservation projects on public lands include restoration and rehabilitation of natural, cultural, and historic resources.

•The Student Jobs Corps would creates 250,000 more part-time, work study jobs for eligible college students through new funding for the Federal Work Study Program.

•The Neighborhood Heroes Corps would hire 300,000 teachers, 40,000 new police officers, and 12,000 firefighters.

•The Health Corps would hire at least 40,000 health care providers, including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and health care workers to expand access in underserved rural and urban areas.

•The Child Care Corps would create 100,000 jobs in early childhood care and education through additional funding for Early Head Start.

•The Community Corps would hire 750,000 individuals to do needed work in our communities, including housing rehab, weatherization, recycling, and rural conservation.

The legislation gives the unemployed priority for jobs, particularly those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits (the “99ers”), and veterans. The bill allocates a fair distribution of funding and jobs among states, with targeting based on high unemployment and need. The bill also ensures that jobs do not undercut the rights of other workers, lower wages, displace current workers or take business from small/local businesses.

The $227 billion cost of the bill ($113.5 billion over each of two years) can be fully paid for through separate legislation such as Rep. Schakowsky’s Fairness in Taxation Act, which creates higher tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires, and eliminating subsidies for Big Oil and tax loop holes for corporations that send American jobs overseas.

Click here for more information

###

CONTACT: Adjoa Adofo; 202.225.2111, adjoa.adofo [at] mail.house.gov

Underemployment a Growing Concern | United States

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:36:00 +0000

Underemployment a Growing Concern | United States | Epoch Times

by Paul Darin, 8/9/11

"...Should I give up? I’m looking into other things with a history degree, but I can’t afford to go back to school,” said 27-year-old Amanda Dovatte. She graduated from Lewis University with a History Education degree in December 2007, and is substitute teaching in Naperville, Ill., awaiting any instructional opening.

“I don’t know what to do. [We were told] go to school, get an education, and you’ll get a job. That’s not happening. Having a degree doesn’t matter anymore,” said Dovatte.

She wants the government to address the problems of jobs for educated people. “I want politicians to start worrying about creating jobs, and not just construction worker jobs, but firefighters, police, and teachers. I want them to start worrying about the people who went to school,” said Dovatte."

Read rest of article

A bold, new U.S. jobs bill would stop a double-dip recession

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:31:00 +0000

A bold, new U.S. jobs bill would stop a double-dip recession - KansasCity.com

by Robert Reich, 8/9/11

"...We’re now poised on the edge of a double-dip — and have our hands tied behind our back because of a phony debt crisis and a misleading view that the first stimulus failed.":

"The hope: voters tell their members of Congress — now on recess — to stop obsessing about future budget deficits and get to work on the real crisis of unemployment, falling wages and no growth. Demand a bold jobs bill to restart the economy."

Read rest of article

FAST: Fix America’s Schools Today

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Here's a good job creation idea, from former White House advisor Jared Bernstein, who now works at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

Cross-posted from Americans for Democratic Action
FAST: Fix America’s Schools Today

By: Bob Lucore
June 24, 2011

How about an economic stimulus that creates lots of jobs quickly, contributes to a greener environment, makes kids healthier and improves the lives of both students and teachers?

A national program to repair and improve public school buildings could do all this and more, at a tiny fraction of the cost of extending tax cuts for the mega-rich. It would be a short-term stimulus with long-term benefits.

Jared Bernstein—Vice President Biden’s former economic advisor, now at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities—has come up with a catchy name for it: FAST (Fix America’s Schools Today). There is a huge backlog of needed maintenance for America’s public schools. Students move their desks to dodge falling ceiling tiles, bathroom plumbing doesn’t function, roofs leak, and children suffer from asthma due to sick building syndrome. People Magazine says teachers are thwarted “by school buildings that are dirty, disheartening and dangerous.”

America’s public school infrastructure got a D grade on a recent report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Students are under continuous pressure to pass high-stakes tests and teachers get the blame if students fall short of ever rising performance goals. Don’t they both deserve clean, green, desirable facilities?

Spending to clean, repair, and insulate the schools could generate jobs rapidly. The money could be targeted since the schools most in need are tend to be in the areas with the highest rates of joblessness. Furthermore, many of the jobs created would not require formal training.

Bernstein puts it this way: “It’s a smart way to get a lot of people who really need jobs back to work, fix a critical part of our institutional infrastructure, save energy costs, provide kids with a better, healthier learning environment, and do so in way that everyone can see and feel good about each morning when they drop their kids at school.” Which would you rather spend public money on: better schools, or more tax cuts for the top 2%?

Link to original post

U.S. Jobs Agenda on C-SPAN

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:24:00 +0000

Senator Tom Harkin, Representative John Garamendi, and members of the Task Force on Job Creation talked about the reasons behind U.S. unemployment. Topics included U.S. manufacturing, the impact of spending cuts on jobs, and the role of China.

A copy of the Task Force's report is available from the New America Foundation and a video of the entire event can be viewed here. See also article by Leo Hindery on Huffington Post.

Right wing jobs plans push public workers out, unpaid prisoners in

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 11:52:00 +0000

Right wing jobs plans push public workers out, unpaid prisoners in | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal:

by Jim Hightower

July 23, 2011

"...[I]f you’re among the millions of long-term unemployed Americans who’ve been searching in vain for work, I have a hot tip for you: They’re hiring in Wisconsin!"

"There is one little catch, though. You have to be a Wisconsin jailbird to get one of these dandy jobs."

Read rest of article

"When You Hear Deficit, Think of Infrastructure"

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 11:08:00 +0000

Americans are known for such cheerful aphorisms as "whistle while you work" and "keep your eyes on the prize, hold on." So, I've got one for you:

"When you hear deficit, think of infrastructure."

That's right, think of all the things the deficit hawks tell you we can't afford.

For example, earlier this year the 21st Century School Fund issued a fact sheet on the dismal state of our public school buildings. The fact sheet reports:

What condition are our public school facilities in?

School districts have an estimated $271 billion of deferred building and grounds maintenance in their schools, excluding administrative facilities, which averages $4,883 per student.
In a 2010 state survey, 10 states (CO,DE,GA,HI,IL,KY,LA,ME,MT,NJ) reported needing an average of $4,400 per student for deferred maintenance.
Public school facility investment aligns with the wealth of the community the school is located in. Between 1995-2004 schools in low wealth zip codes had one third the funding for capital projects as schools in high wealth zip codes.

What difference does facility condition make to children and adults?

Teachers in Chicago and Washington, DC reported missing 4 days annually because of health problems caused by adverse building conditions (with poor indoor air quality being the biggest problem).
A national survey of school nurses found over 40% of the nurses knew children and staff adversely impacted by avoidable indoor pollutants.
Students from 95 New York City Public Schools attended fewer days on average in schools with poor facilities and had lower grades in English Language Arts and Math which could be correlated to lower attendance.
Schools that implement energy-saving strategies–from following green building design to using energy-efficient building components to behavioral change – can reduce energy use by as much as one-third, resulting in major environmental and cost-savings benefits.

Q. So, will our nation's crumbling schools be promptly fixed if the deficit hawks prevail? "Not bloody likely...!!"

So, you say, where's the "whistle while you work" in any of that? "When you hear deficit, think of infrastructure." The trick is to realize that infrastructure underspending is a deficit too.

The costs that we have deferred by refusing to pay for needed infrastructure pile up on top of our students and communities in one massive unpaid bill. It's a bill that Congress and the President -- and for that matter, the Bowles Deficit Commission -- have somehow decided not to think about.

So, when someone says they want to whack $3 trillion out of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and other federal spending -- in the worst, most wrenching recession since the Great Depression -- what we should say is the following:

Honestly, I think you should consider going to a therapist. A person who ignores the fundamental needs of his and her neighbors, when bridges and dams and schools are collapsing all around us, is not psychologically well.

The truth is, all these histrionics about the debt ceiling in Washington are a massive distraction from attending to the physical and human needs of the United States. Of course we should rein in wasteful spending and fraud and programs that don't work. But don't talk to me about that when you've just blown trillions on the protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the extension of tax cuts for the country's wealthiest citizens. You want to raise the eligibility age for Medicare to 67 when 55-year olds are being fired and downsized by the truckload? I advise you to seek professional help.*

So, when you shift your attention to infrastructure and unmet human needs, you are thinking about the things that truly matter -- such as the health, well-being and productivity of students in public schools.

Forget about the deficit. "Cheer yourself up" by thinking about the decaying and broken infrastructure that can provide the opportunity and strategic focus to get Americans back to work. Visualize the little kids in urban schools who are wheezing from asthma because our political leaders fail to act. (Leave no child behind, eh? But it's OK to warehouse them in a sick building?)

Then, visualize the many positive impacts that would flow from a national investment program to upgrade and replace crumbling, sick school buildings. Visualize construction workers going home from work with freshly cashed paychecks, and stopping off at the supermarket to pick up some groceries. Visualize cash registers ringing up higher totals, in turn creating jobs for other unemployed and worthy Americans. Visualize workers with full-time jobs, paying taxes again, and bringing down the deficit the right way -- by working our way out of it.

It looks like the world is collapsing around us, because politicians are implementing the equivalent of "a public capital strike," where they refuse to invest in the future of our country.

In that bleak landscape, the Drive for Decent Work urges you to protect your own mental health by engaging in wild, crazy, upside-down thinking. Forget about the deficit. When you hear deficit, think of infrastructure. Whistle while you work.

* In an article in the Nation, Kurt Vonnegut once pointed out that military spending is the worst addiction of them all, and that a 12-step program may be needed to wean addicts off their destructive habit. We may need a similar recovery program for deficit hawks, who are prone to destructive binges, and rob innocent bystanders more aggressively then any heroin or cocaine addict.

Former Gov. Ted Strickland Speaks Out on Deficit Hysteria

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:19:00 +0000

Great piece in Huffington Post

Ted Strickland: Dems' Concessions On Debt Debate Are 'Very Troubling':
Sam Stein, Huffington Post
7/14/11

"...A resolution to raise the nation's debt ceiling may remain far off. But the long-term framing of the debate over spending and debt is becoming slightly clearer, and it's causing philosophical fissures among Democrats.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D) aired his concern that the fiscal 'belt-tightening' President Obama and many Democrats have pursued has effectively diminished the party's brand. Democrats, he argued, have 'allowed the center of the political debate to be shifted so far to the right that we find ourselves debating on their territory and using Republican language.'

'It's very troubling,' he said."

"...You've got to create conflict, but it's got to be the right kind of conflict," he said. "The thing that bothers me is we allow ourselves to debate issues using their frame and we're doing it with this deficit issue. Everyone now, with the exception of maybe [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi, begins their first statement with, 'Oh, we've got to deal with the deficit.' Yes! But not in 2011. We've got to deal with job losses in 2011."

"You don't take a problem that has developed over decades, that may be structural in nature, and decide, 'Aha! Eureka! We've reached a conclusion -- we've got to solve this problem in the midst of the greatest recession,'" he said. "Of all the times to solve it."

Read rest of article

Green Jobs Can Put America Back to Work!

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:33:00 +0000

The Brookings Institution has just put together a report analyzing the impact of green jobs and the emerging "clean economy," looking in particular on the impact on metro areas. The report offers a detailed look how expanded investment in this sector could benefit urban areas and regional economies.

Among the the report's findings:

Sizing the Clean Economy: A Green Jobs Assessment - Brookings Institution:

"...The clean economy, which employs some 2.7 million workers, encompasses a significant number of jobs in establishments spread across a diverse group of industries. Though modest in size, the clean economy employs more workers than the fossil fuel industry and bulks larger than bioscience but remains smaller than the IT-producing sectors. Most clean economy jobs reside in mature segments that cover a wide swath of activities including manufacturing and the provision of public services such as wastewater and mass transit. A smaller portion of the clean economy encompasses newer segments that respond to energy-related challenges. These include the solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, fuel cell, smart grid, biofuel, and battery industries."

The clean economy grew more slowly in aggregate than the national economy between 2003 and 2010, but newer “cleantech” segments produced explosive job gains and the clean economy outperformed the nation during the recession. Overall, today’s clean economy establishments added half a million jobs between 2003 and 2010, expanding at an annual rate of 3.4 percent. This performance lagged the growth in the national economy, which grew by 4.2 percent annually over the period (if job losses from establishment closings are omitted to make the data comparable). However, this measured growth heavily reflected the fact that many longer-standing companies in the clean economy—especially those involved in housing- and building-related segments—laid off large numbers of workers during the real estate crash of 2007 and 2008, while sectors unrelated to the clean economy (mainly health care) created many more new jobs nationally. At the same time, newer clean economy establishments— especially those in young energy-related segments such as wind energy, solar PV, and smart grid—added jobs at a torrid pace, albeit from small bases.

The clean economy is manufacturing and export intensive. Roughly 26 percent of all clean economy jobs lie in manufacturing establishments, compared to just 9 percent in the broader economy. On a per job basis, establishments in the clean economy export roughly twice the value of a typical U.S. job ($20,000 versus $10,000). The electric vehicles (EV), green chemical products, and lighting segments are all especially manufacturing intensive while the biofuels, green chemicals, and EV industries are highly export intensive.

The clean economy offers more opportunities and better pay for low- and middle-skilled workers than the national economy as a whole. Median wages in the clean economy—meaning those in the middle of the distribution—are 13 percent higher than median U.S. wages. Yet a disproportionate percentage of jobs in the clean economy are staffed by workers with relatively little formal education in moderately well-paying “green collar” occupations.

Read the report

View the report's interactive indicator map

Watch video from the report's launch event

"The Age of Greed" interview with author Jeff Madrick (The Real News)

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:48:00 +0000

The Age of Greed, by Jeff Madrick

“Who’s responsible for the laying waste of our economy—making the rich far richer and everyone else economically insecure? Madrick does more than name names. He tells us who did what and how they did it—the ideologues, demagogues, corporate titans, and crooks.” —Robert B. Reich

Buy the eBook:

What About the Long-Term Unemployed?

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:38:00 +0000

What About the Long-Term Unemployed? - The Takeaway:
July 11, 2011

"....Friday produced another round of ugly job numbers as the country's unemployment rate inched up to 9.2 percent. Yet in Washington, the conversation remains fixed squarely on a compromise to raise the country's debt ceiling. Have lawmakers forgotten about the country's unemployed? And what about the '99'ers,' the individuals who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits and are left with no government assistance? Where do they fit into the picture?

One of those people who have been unemployed for a long period is Alexandra Jarrin. A veteran of corporate America, she has been unemployed since March 2008 and is currently living in a motel in Vermont. Dan Gross, economics editor and columnist for Yahoo! Finance, talks about how the government has responded."

"...I will be in the streets on Wednesday morning without anywhere to go. I have looked for jobs all over this country along with many, many other people." -- Alexandra Jarrin

Listen to the interview

No, We Can’t? Or Won’t?

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck Bell) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:17:00 +0000

Where's that can-do spirit, people? Put your remote down. Out of the cafes and into the streets!!

No, We Can’t? Or Won’t? - NYTimes.com:

By Paul Krugman

July 10, 2011

"...Our failure to create jobs is a choice, not a necessity — a choice rationalized by an ever-shifting set of excuses..."

Read the article