Divide, Dominate, Demean, and Destroy Main Street
The NYTimes reports that "The unemployment rate ticked down to 8.9 percent, falling below 9 percent for the first time in nearly two years. The nation’s employers added 192,000 jobs in February, up from a gain of 63,000 the previous month....
Hold it! Cancel the band!
Even the Times casts some cold water on its Pollyanna story..."While February’s number represented the fastest growth in nearly a year, it was partly the result of a bounce back from unusually depressed hiring in January, when winter weather shuttered offices and factories around the country. Taken together, the job growth for the first two months of 2011 has not been much better than it was last fall."
Jonathan Tasini at Working Life takes aim at the economic Little Mary Sunshines: "The "economy is recovering" voices are clearly their throats again:
"Ahem, if I may clear my throat as well in dissent. The numbers are what they are. But, until we begin to see real jobs being created ALONG WITH real wage growth, I would guess that the only people feeling real economic security are those people who are the prognosticators with cushy jobs themselves. In fact, a lot of people don't even feel the enthusiasm to look for work:
"Right now the share of working-age population that is actively
involved in the work force — that is, either in a job or actively
looking for one — is at 64.2 percent. That is the lowest labor force participation rate in 25 years, an indication that many Americans are waiting for hiring to get better before resuming the job hunt.[emphasis added]"
Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute states: The further bad news is that even at February’s growth rate, it would still take until around 2019 to get back to the pre-recession unemployment rate, given the size of the jobs gap in the labor market.
".....the labor market remains 7.5 million payroll jobs below where it was at the official start of the recession three years and two months ago. And this number vastly understates the size of the gap in the labor market by failing to take into account the fact that simply keeping up with the growth in the working-age population would have required the addition of another 3.8 million jobs over this period. This means the labor market is now 11.3 million jobs below the level needed to restore the pre-recession unemployment rate (5.0% in December 2007)."
And Les Leopold at Huffington Post injects sobering reality about the economic recovery drivel.
"The February unemployment rate is 8.9 percent. The broader Bureau of Labor Statistics U6 jobless rate is 15.9 percent. The report shows a net increase of 192,000 jobs. However, we need 127,000 new jobs every month to keep up with population growth. At this rate it will take 11.2 years to get back to full employment.
"A Wall Street billionaire, a unionized public employee, and a Tea Party member are sitting at a table eying a plate of a dozen delicious cookies. The financier reaches across and takes 11 cookies, looks at the tea partier and says, "Watch out for that union guy. He wants your cookie."
"How did this happen? How did we get to the point where governors all over the place are blaming the economic crisis on working people?
"We're here because we didn't take the fight to Wall Street. The White House, Congress, and even trade unions let Wall Street off the hook. And now working people and the middle class all over the country are paying a heavy price.
And that story about the Wall Street billionaire, the labor unionist, and a Tea Bagger now making the rounds effectively explains the last thirty years of corporate controlled GOP and DINO government in Washington that has currently reached its zenith....divide, dominate, demean, and destroy Main Street.
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