Economic Gains Fizzle as Unemployment Stagnates

Before writing this post, I offer a disclaimer.  I am not a political pundit, nor do I aspire to be one.  However, I am a committed citizen, who reads prolifically on both sides of an issue.  In preparation for today's topic, I have read several articles by financial gurus and economists, and I have reached some conclusions of my own.  First, it seems the Republican Party has a schizophrenic approach to improving the economy.  They tout an austere method of balancing the budget that includes slashing budgets for education, police and fire protection, child welfare services, and existing health benefits.  In addition, some states, like Florida, have changed the retirement system so that public employees will contribute to their own retirement.  Some Republicans even suggest that we should wipe out the retirement system in its current form, and, instead, establish something akin to a 401 (k) so that workers will choose their investments.  Bad idea!  Even savvy investors were taken by the likes of Bernie Madoff.  Some instruments are so complex, the people who sell them don't truly understand what they're selling.  I know that for a fact, because it happened to me.  At the same time, Republicans insist on maintaining tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.  Does that make sense to you?

On what basis, then, does the Republican Party have grounds to criticize President Obama for the achingly slow economic recovery?  Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength are demanding to pay higher taxes.  They confess that they do not use the money saved by lower taxes to add jobs.  They spend it on themselves and their families.  This group does criticize Obams for capitulating to Republicans in 2010 and extending the cuts for two more years.  Hey, guys!  He was making little headway with Republicans firmly entrenched in keeping the cuts forever.  Let's place responsiblity where it lies.  President Bush touted this plan as a sitmulus for the economy.  Guess what?  It didn't work, and it won't for the very reason expressed a few sentences ago.  A line from Network, a movie released in 1976, seems appropriate for this situation.  "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more!"  Does that ring a bell?

I don't have enough data to call jobs creation a zero sum gain, but we will certainly not alleviate unemployment by cutting jobs that already exist.  Florida's esteemd governor turned down money for a high-speed rail, thereby eliminating the possiblity for approximately 20,000 well-paying jobs.  Some of that money went to Michigan, as one reader commented last week, where they celebrated its positive impact.  It seems to me that Republicans are focused not on jobs creation, but on preserving the class divide.  Many of their ideas affect poor people most adversely, and, surpise, the middle class, what's left of it, does not benefit from any of their economic proposals.  Readers owe it to themselves to research how the middle class has shrunk over the last thirty years, and, in turn, how much of the wealth in this country is now concentrated in the top 1% of our population.  Get ready for a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, if you haven't seen these figures before.!

On one topic, most pundits agree.  It will take years for the economy to rebound unless we stop budget cuts that hurt those who have already been sucker-punched by the econmic meltdown and the resulting mess that followed.  Wake up people!  We can't afford to do nothing.  Write your legislators, members of Congress, and the President, and then make plans to visit some of them personally, so that they can hear your voice.  Balancing the budget is important, but not at the expense of our most vulnerable citizens--children.  They have no voice, yet they will determine the future for all of us.  Isn't it time that we place them as our top priority?