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The Labor Department reports this morning that the private sector added a measly 41,000 net new jobs in May. But at least 100,000 new jobs are needed every month just to keep up with population growth.
In other words, the labor market continues to deteriorate.
The average length of unemployment continues to rise -- now up to 34.4 weeks (up from 33 weeks in April). That's another record.
More Americans are too discouraged to look for a job than last year at this time (1.1 million in May, an increase of 291,000 from a year earlier).
Of the small number of jobs created by the private sector in May, many came from temporary help services.
Which is one reason why the median wage continues to drop.
Why are we having such a hard time getting free of the Great Recession? Because consumers, who constitute 70 percent of the economy, don't have the dough. They can't any longer treat their homes as ATMs, as they did before the Great Recession.
Businesses won't rehire if there's not enough demand for their goods and services.
The only reason the economy isn't in a double-dip recession already is because of three temporary boosts: the federal stimulus (of which 75 percent has been spent), near-zero interest rates (which can't continue much longer without igniting speculative bubbles), and replacements (consumers have had to replace worn-out cars and appliances, and businesses had to replace worn-down inventories). Oh, and, yes, all those Census workers (who will be out on their ears in a month or so).
But all these boosts will end soon. Then we're in the dip.
Retail sales are already down.
So what's the answer? In the short term, more stimulus -- especially extended unemployment benefits and aid to state and local governments that are whacking schools and social services because they can't run deficits.
But the deficit crazies in the Senate, who can't seem to differentiate between short-term stimulus (necessary) and long-term debt (bad) last week shot it down.
In the longer term, we need a new New Deal that will bolster America's floundering middle class. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and extend it up through the middle class. Finance that extension through higher marginal income taxes on the wealthy, who have never had it so good.
Why is that? What great improvement do you foresee and on whose decree?
The "improvement" will simply be eliminating the rubberstamp approval by the Senate and Congress for all the Obama insane spending. Republicans have been just as guilty as Democrats in the past for blowing money, but Obama brings government waste and spending to levels never seen before.
WE NEED TO CUT SPENDING EVERYWHERE. We are in a debt crisis. The wild spending is a culture of Washington politics as we know it for the last fifty years and must stop. What do we need?
1. One term term limits
2. Eject all the incumbents
3. Link spending for the current year to 75% previous year's revenues
4. cut all spending across the board 25% for starters (including medicare and social security)
5. Line item veto
6. make lobbying illegal
No politician wants this, as they are feeding off the government trough and want it to go on forever. Don't you think it is odd how every former president and senator becomes wealthy after leaving office? That is a little different from most people in the private sector.
I give the little commie half credit for not excluding white construction workers this time around.
But then he looses a full point for suggesting the federal gov take over B.P.
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