The 2010 Political Timebomb Is Unemployment - The Nation

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/514394/the_2010_political_timebomb_is_unemployment

Since the fall of last year, the official jobless rate has been over ten percent, while the unofficial rate (taking in the severely underemployed and those who have given up looking) has been over 17 percent.

Analysts had predicted that December layoffs would number around 8,000. Instead, the figure was more than ten times higher: 85,000.

And, despite the ridiculous "green-shoots" speculation of the Obama administration and overblown "recovery" fantasies of the financial media that has blown every major economic story of recent years, the situation is getting worse.No issue, no concern, is more likely to shift the sentiments of the electorate than mounting joblessness and economic instability. And there is no rhetorical flourish, no diversionary tactic, sufficient to win forgiveness from unemployment remains in double digits come election day – let alone if it is still rising.

If the president or congressional allies think health care reforms that for the most part won't kick in for half a decade or mimicking George Bush's tough-on-terror blathering is going to make voters forget the fact that one in ten of them are jobless or that one in seven of them are in dire employment straits, then the Democrats are in for the rudest of all political awakenings.

[XemaSab]

1. This is a timebomb

Census recruiters in Northern California are having a hard time hiring people, in part because people make more on unemployment than they do working for $8.75 an hour.

I would also be curious to know how many people are not unemployed, but are making a fraction of what they made 2 or 3 years ago. :(

(I am personally employed full time, but I am making 1/3 of what I made at my last job.)

[Auggie]

2. If it puts an end to pattern voting then all the better

This is not support for unemployment. It's a plea for a wake-up call to vote other than by celebrity, convenience, familiarity, and -- yes -- even party.

[HughBeaumont]

3. It's a good wake up call . . . but . . .

. . . I'm not sure the situation is going to be helped by electing Republicans, who by and large got us into this giant unemployment hole in the first place. Joblessness isn't exactly a new phenomenon. We've had nearly zero net job growth in ten YEARS. That's not politics, that's an undertaxed and unregulated wealthy class and private sector hoarding cash and not hiring. Bewsh, of course, made it much . .. MUCH worse by not ever raising taxes on the rich even during periods of his strongest job creation (which were still relatively weak by historical standards).

[Donnachaidh]

6. this argument really chaps my ass, especially as we VOTED in the candidate of *CHANGE*

And what have we got?

Bailed out banks, backroom deals with Pharma and insurance, WAR -- so really, where is the DIFFERENCE? WHY subject the voices of dissent with this RIDICULOUS *well if you vote for a republican it will be worse* garbage.

CHANGE. WE voted for the RIGHT candidate -- and got bupkiss! A mandate to force you to buy insurance from the companies that CAUSED the problem in the first place. Bailed out the banks that CAUSED the economic problems in the FIRST PLACE.

An economic team in the White House that helped CAUSE the problem in the FIRST PLACE.

WHAT.THE.FUCK! Stop pulling the republican boogieman out every time someone questions how the government is running NOW. It does NOT pertain to the REALITY we are living through NOW.

[HughBeaumont]

8. I'm not really pulling anything out. I've known exactly who's been running this country since 1963.

The change you want can only come from ubiquitously holding the rich and powerful bossmen who do run this country hostage until they meet our demands. You'll of course get shot to death for your efforts, since the police and military aren't on our side. The nation and world economies will go into a tailspin. A situation ripe for the Totalitarians and martial law will arise.

Yet what is there to do? Voting doesn't matter, because corporate needs have to be met first. We have a Money Party disguised as "Democrat" and "Republican", otherwise known as "Bad" and "Much, MUCH worse". People fear arrest and their bellies are still full, which is why we'll never have a much-needed revolution or even mass demonstration. 80% of the people of this country are still largely unaffected by unemployment.

But I do know this - sitting out is almost equivalent to putting them IN. And with Republicans, you'll get more wars. You'll never have hope of the economy getting better; at least we now have that much going, if nothing else. You WILL have a Great Depression: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. You'll have a true fascist state. You'll have more intrusion. And after all of that, you might as well just leave the country, because it will be permanently destroyed.

I refuse to believe under this president, life is going to be bad until 2016. Progress takes time. I just don't want any, ANY chance of a goddamned Republican reversing and worsening things. We cannot have another "Reagan" and "Bewsh" in office again to fuck things up further.

[Tesha]

7. You keep acting as though "electing Republicans" is a choice we can make in 2010 and 2012.

It's not. So far, the Democrats have blown it and by all indications,
they are going to keep blowing it right up until the 2010 Congressional
elections. And Obama looks like he'll keep blowing it right up to 2012
(and the Republican Congress that will be elected in 2010 will certainly
help him blow it).

At both of those points, *THE RESULTS OF THE ELECTIONS* will be out
of the hands of DUers. The Democrats will be blown away politically
and it won't matter if every single DUer (of the 15x,000 of us) vote
for the Democrats or not 'cause millions who did in 2006 and 2008
won't.

It's almost a done deal.

Tesha

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. We have, "officially" 21% unemployment rate in my county.

Unfortunately, it is a Republican county, and state.Went for Obama about 43%.
No wake up call will happen, the Reds here blame Obama for everything as it is.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. Two friendly warnings for President Obama

First of all, as far as any politician should be concerned, there is no such thing as a jobless recovery. It does not befit a Democratic (democratic?) President to preside over one. Leave that to the next Republican President.

The other warning is to remember the fate of Jimmy Carter. The Republicans, as they wont to do, attempted to rewrite history as Carter was going down to defeat in 1980 and have us believe that he was handed a rosy economy by President Ford and did a number on it like the Frat Boy really did to the economy he was handed by President Clinton. We know that's not how it happened. Nevertheless, Carter was entirely ineffective at fixing the problem, and that's the only thing that mattered to voters in 1980.