Critics say put the name “somebody else” on all ballots. If somebody else wins, it then starts another election with other previously listed candidates disqualified from running again.
The official unemployment numbers in the United States remained unchanged in May at 8.2%, while the number of long-term unemployed – without jobs for 27 weeks or more – increased another 300,000 to 5.4 million in May, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These unfortunate individuals – who tragically want jobs but are on the street because of globalization and the policies of their own government – now account for a breathtaking 43% of the 12.7 million officially unemployed.
The ‘no jobs’ Obama Administration said that a mere 69,000 jobs had been created during the month, far, far below the increases needed for the U.S. to work itself out of the Great Recession, which laughably has been ‘officially over’ since June of 2009 or for more than half of his term, and start increasing tax collections to pay down the deficit. It takes 100,000 new jobs each month, every month just to keep up with new entrants.
The words of Alan B. Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers or head Obama lackey on the economy, rang hollow in this ear: “There is much more work that remains to be done to repair the damage caused by the financial crisis and deep recession that began at the end of 2007. Just like last year at this time, our economy is facing serious headwinds, including the crisis in Europe and a spike in gas prices that hit American families’ finances over the past months.”
No kidding. The U.S. is in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the ruling elite of both parties have been unable and/or unwilling to change it. Worse, U.S. economy is increasingly imbalanced, with the ruling 1% holding more than 40% of the nation’s wealth and controlling both political parties. Moreover, American soldiers are fighting other people’s wars, propping up the economies and the corrupt ruling classes of 130 countries with our military spending.
The U.S. unemployment situation – as opposed to the political versions of wealthy politicians jockeying for lucrative, taxpayer-funded election positions this year – remains dire. The real unemployment rate is closer to 15%, and the real number of jobs needed – right now – to end the crisis is somewhere close to 12 million.
The looming choices facing voters are clearly unpalatable to many. At the top of the ticket, you have the demonstrably job-destroying Harvard-educated Republican party 1 percenter Mitt Romney running against the demonstrably non-job creating Harvard-educated Democratic party 1 percenter Barack Obama. Critics say it is time to put the name “somebody else” on all ballots, which if somebody else wins starts another election with the other previously listed candidates disqualified from running again.
Manufacturing employment is clearly a way out of this mess, but only 12,000 jobs were added in May, as the U.S. remains alone among all industrial nations – elected or totalitarian – without an industrial policy that forces the creation of jobs in a global economy. After losing millions upon million of good manufacturing jobs – with health care and retirement benefits – in the decades before and during the Great Recession, the economy has only added 495,000 manufacturing jobs since January 2010.
In a strong statement, not without enlightened self-interest, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka poised a question that should be explored in more detail – with specific policy recommendations – by all of the fat cat politicians running for election in November.
“The employment report’s hint of a renewed slowdown also tells a deeper story. Not only did the financial crash of 2008 trigger the deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, it also showed that the economic model we have been following for thirty years has profound flaws,” Trumka said.
