Bleak Jobs Report Reinforces Need to Protect Safety Net - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Bleak Jobs Report Reinforces Need to Protect Safety Net
Peter S. Goodman - HuffPo
First Posted: 7/8/11 12:46 PM ET Updated: 7/8/11 12:56 PM ET

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By now, you need willful denial to miss the fact that the economy is in dreadful shape and showing no signs of meaningful improvement. For those inclined to explain away last month's terrible jobs report from the Labor Department as a case of statistical quirks, the latest snapshot of the employment picture released Friday essentially demolished that scenario: The paltry 54,000 jobs added to the economy in May was revised down to a mere 25,000. The June figure for net additions to American payrolls had been anticipated to come in around 125,000, but it landed at 18,000. The unemployment rate nudged up to 9.2 percent. Cue talk of double-dip recession, a Japan-style Lost Decade, and the grinding erosion of the traditional middle class American economic bargain, which used to promise a decent standard of living and the prospect of upward mobility for those willing to work. Not anymore.

You might reasonably conclude that such a troubling picture would provoke our elected leaders in Washington to remake their national priorities, lifting job creation and relief for those struggling to the top spots.

You would be wrong. What we are getting instead is a sustained lecture on the need for American society to "live within our means." This is the phrase of the moment in Washington, where those in power are either debating what vital pieces of the remaining social safety net to slash (Medicaid, Social Security) in the name of closing the federal budget deficit or pontificating about their unwillingness to raise taxes on the wealthy, the only strata of American life that has enjoyed meaningful progress over the last dozen years.

Living within our means: Who could possibly be against such a sensible sounding thing? As opposed to what, breaking out the credit cards to finance a Gatsby-like bacchanal? But given how this mantra has become the guiding force in the policy realm, it seems worth bearing in mind how we wound up living beyond our means in the first place.

The short answer: Under the leadership of President George W. Bush...

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More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/08/jobs-report-safety-net_n_893269.html

:kick:

[CrossChris]

1. Why do people still think our rep's are in DC to represent us, and not plot against us?

That's tooth-fairy talk!