Latest Jobs Report Reveals Woeful Impact of US Austerity

[sad sally]

Published on Friday, August 3, 2012 by - Common Dreams staff

The US jobs report released Friday showed the creation of 172,000 private sector jobs in July. Despite those nominal gains, nearly 9,000 public sector jobs were lost, a trend that many observers argue reveals the negative impact austerity measures and public sector budget cuts have had on economic growth.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, Federal employment fell by 2,000 jobs, state government employment fell by 6,000, and local government employment fell by 1,000. Unemployment inched up to 8.3 per cent.

“The July jobs numbers highlight the folly of those who are demanding more cuts in government spending,” said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future. “They are bleeding an economy that is barely in recovery – and then blaming those who are trying to provide relief.”

“Americans have been badly served by a tea party Republican right that has departed from the traditional policies of both parties in recessions, and demanded austerity in a time of trouble. As we head towards the fiscal cliff in December, when the sequester calls for cutting some 10 percent from discretionary spending, legislators in both parties should reconsider inflicting more pain on this very weak economy.”

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/03-5

Remember the record pace at which Bush ADDED government jobs?



Public sector employment is now down 608,000 workers since January 2009, a 2.7 percent decline. At the same point in President Bush’s term, public sector employment was up 3.7 percent.

[blkmusclmachine]

1. Everything is going according to plan.

[fasttense]

2. There are 3 things that have created this federal debt

1. The bush tax give aways to the uber rich (including doing away with Paris Hilton's estate tax). Make the uber rich pay the exact same percentage in tax dollars as those making $25,000 a year and the debt will shrink.

2. Wars, and more wars. Wars are always how nations get themselves into financial troubles. Since the times of power hungry kings and queens, wars always, always lead to debt. Stop throwing away tax payer money on useless wars for oil and the debt pile of the federal government will decrease significantly.

3. The 2nd RepubliCON Great Depression. I know it's been named the Great Recession but current conditions mimic the 1930s depression even if the federal government has learned how to gerrymander the numbers to make it look less dire. But really, with the rich shirking their responsibility to pay their fair share of taxes, and the poor well, just too poor to pay taxes, that only leaves the middle class to pay taxes. But the middle class keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller. So, fewer and fewer people are paying taxes, which means more and more borrowing.

Austerity addresses none of these causes of the debt. No country has ever gotten itself out of debt by shrinking itself. In fact, eliminating government jobs and assistance to the needy is a hallmark of crumbling empires.