Why Washington is About to Make the Jobs Crisis Worse by Robert Reich

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/25-7

We now live in parallel universes.

One universe is the one in which most Americans live. In it, almost 15 million people are unemployed, wages are declining (adjusted for inflation), and home values are still falling. The unsurprising result is consumers aren’t buying — which is causing employers to slow down their hiring and in many cases lay off more of their workers. In this universe, we’re locked in a vicious economic cycle that’s getting worse.

The other universe is the one in which Washington politicians live. They are now engaged in a bitter partisan battle over how, and by how much, to reduce the federal budget deficit in order to buy enough votes to lift the debt ceiling.

The two universes have nothing whatever to do with one another — except for one thing. If consumers can’t and won’t buy, and employers won’t hire without customers, the spender of last resort must be government. We’ve understood this since government spending on World War II catapulted America out of the Great Depression — reversing the most vicious of vicious cycles. We’ve understood it in every economic downturn since then.

More at the link --

[girl gone mad]

1. k & r

[OhioChick]

2. Rec n/t

[fivepennies]

3. Its not just politicians

who live in a different universe.

Last night I was listening to a local talk show - conservative because that's all there is here, and the host suggested that the best way to cut expenses was to cut out the departments of energy, education and agriculture. Of course his one little brain cell couldn't follow that thought through to the unemployment levels that would cause.

I seriously do not understand how these idiots get their shoes on the right feet in the morning. And the fact that people listen and call in to tell him he's a genius makes me want to hurl. Callers who try to correct the errors of his ways are invariably cut off and laughed at. This is not skewed ideology, its worse than that (I can't think of an appropriate term).

[4_TN_TITANS]

5. Well said....

"Of course his one little brain cell couldn't follow that thought through to the unemployment levels that would cause."

Typical conservative quick-fix, without fully understanding consequences.

[mmonk]

4. Yep. Welcome to the 4th dimension.