Fundamental problems in our economy. The ignored falling through the cracks.

[Savannahmann]

Last edited Fri Feb 28, 2014, 03:52 PM - Edit history (1)

There was a request to make this it's own thread. I don't know what else to add to the original, so here it is.

We are living in the age of propaganda. We talk about new jobs created, and ignore the jobs lost. We have a fundamental problem in our economy, and our solution is band aids on a patient that is bleeding out.

I know, someone here will accuse me of RW Talking points. Baloney. Most of the falling unemployment number has nothing to do with improving economy, it has far more to do with despair. People are just giving up after months of frustration trying to find a job.

http://bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t11.htm

Permanent Job Losers in January 2014. 3,341,000. Three and a third million permanent job losers.

http://bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t16.htm

Total not in the workforce? That is people we should consider unemployed, but we don't because they are not "Actively" seeking employment. 55 Million. Let me spell that out for you. 55,000,000 people are not in the workforce.

Minimum wage is a band aid. We have 3.4 million people who hold multiple jobs. These are people who are working themselves to death trying to provide for their families.

We have a fundamental problem with our economy, but we celebrate raising stock prices, while ignoring those who are not actively seeking employment. We have given up on them because they are inconvenient. If we recognize them, we have to admit that we are not doing well by a massive portion of our population. These are kids living with parents, parents who have moved in with their children. Brothers who are living with siblings. These are people who are homeless, hopeless, and forgotten by our political establishment.

There is a fundamental flaw in our economy, because we are determined to ignore the bad news, it might give our political opponents some sort of advantage. But what about those 55 million people we are ignoring? People living in storm drains in our cities.

I feel sick when I read celebratory posts on sites like this, cheering the "low unemployment" numbers as proof we're doing the right thing and we're awesome. Our unemployment numbers are down, but not because more people are working, but because more have surrendered to the despair and the depression.

So what is going on? Everyone in the economy is holding on waiting for someone else to do something that turns the fucking thing around. Money is not being invested in new jobs, it's being put into the stock market where it continues to hold itself high based upon psychology. People want to believe the good news, so the reports are great for the nation and the world.

We have a fundamental problem with our economy. The solution is not job killing trade agreements. The solution is not more band aid fixes and ways to fiddle with the numbers so it looks good. Look at those who are employed, in thousands. http://bls.gov/web/empsit/ceseeb1a.htm

We have more people in Government than we do in health care. 17.8 million working in health and social services. 21 million working in Government. Are you telling me that of those 21 million people working for the Government that none of them realizes how bad it is out here among us? Do they read the stories of homeless in storm drains? Do they realize that 55 million people have just given up?

America has been great in the past based upon the drive and determination of our people. We all strove to get to the moon. Everyone felt like a part of that drive. We all strove to win World War II. Everyone was a part of that effort. If we could get one more plane, one more tank, one more ship into the war, that was our duty. Even if we weren't building them, we planted gardens to grow our own food to make more available to those fighting because they needed it desperately.

Now, we have another war. The war of our economy. We denounce those who shout that things are fucked up. We ignore 1/6th of our population, and cheer when more of them give up and surrender to despair. That drives the unemployment numbers down.

[JaneyVee]

1. 55 million not in the workforce also doesn't account for those who are retired.

Some economists believe this is also due to mass retirement by the baby boomer generation, but I agree we need GOOD jobs, not just any jobs.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

4. you are correct. although the downturn slowed their exit

it will certainly pick up as their 401(k)'s and other retirement plans have picked up enough for them to convert to stable value funds and retire.

[JaneyVee]

6. Oddly, there is no metric to determine who retired and who stopped looking.

They get lumped in together.

[reformist2]

2. The unemployment numbers are crap. The Obama Administration needs to fix them to reflect reality.

It's pretty much an open secret that the official unemployment rate stops counting all the people who want work but have stopped looking. And yet, whenever the unemployment rate drops, Dems cheer the news? We're fooling nobody. The Repugs have every right to call us out on this, just as we did them.

[JaneyVee]

5. I don't know if they have EVERY right, being THEY single-handedly

Shot down about 5 jobs bills and left us in a Great Depression, but ok.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

3. fundamental

you need to do a better job of describing exactly what the theorized work force size is in this country and then discuss the reasons some are not seeking work (including those choosing to be stay at home moms or dads, those pursuing higher education, those who are retiring, etc.)

What is far more problematic is the people who are employed but at very low wage jobs. They are out of the "unemployed" picture out of their necessity to work even if it is a low quality and low wage job. That is far more disconcerting as a trend.

[stopbush]

7. We need a new WPA - fixing infrastructure around the country.

The job is waiting to be done. It isn't make work. The Feds are going to spend $ one way or the other to prop up the economy. Why not put it into something that shows tangible, needed results?

The young can do the grunt work. Those of us too old to lift a shovel can help with the paperwork, managing personnel and projects. It's a win-win for our economy. And give first dibs on these new jobs to the long-term unemployed! THAT would be a godsend for many.

In the end, it's a lot cheaper to pay for needed infrastructure maintenance than it is to replace collapsed bridges, not to mention the $ that goes to settling lawsuits brought on behalf of the dead and injured.

It worked for FDR - it got us out of the Depression. It would work now.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

8. As I said before when you mentioned it...I'd totally support it. But of course the Republicans won't

[stopbush]

10. Are the Ds even supporting such an idea?

Where are the Dem Lions? Where is our Ted Kennedy? Hell, where's Al D'Amato when you need him?

[Pretzel_Warrior]

12. they can't even get food stamps continued at same levels as prior years while handing billions to

Big Ag businesses.

[JaneyVee]

9. YES!

[woo me with science]

11. To the Greatest Page.

The cheerleading propaganda is not just annoying. It is malignant and enables the continued betrayal of Americans.

Thank you for this brutally honest, important post.

[KoKo]

13. Recommend!

[progressoid]

14. I Only Regret That I Have But One Rec to Give This Thread

[Sarah Ibarruri]

15. One of the biggest problems, in my opinion, *is* the free trade agreements

It's not the only problem, but it's one of the biggest, as it is the reason for the shutdown of entire industries in this nation, leaving so many towns and cities as ghost towns and ghost cities.

[CJCRANE]

16. Interesting OP but you don't offer a solution or even a rallying cry

to do something.

I just felt that the penultimate paragraph was building up to something, some kind of call to action, but the last paragraph doesn't go anywhere, it just falls flat.

[jtuck004]

17. They aren't ignored. They\we are puposely shunted aside, plundered, asked to serve

those with the power and money. And we consent far too often.

We aren't ignored by any means, any more than a rapist ignores his or her victim.