Yep, that is what my cousin told me last night as I chatted on the phone with her.
Times are tough, but in the Black Community, it is more than tough but down right rough. Many don't have jobs, looking for jobs, and losing whatever dignity they have day by day.
Which is why my cousin asked me, "Why is D.C. talking about cutting stuff but not investing money in jobs out here?"
A damn good question.
There is no getting around it, the jobs report today is awful. Period. Unemployment ticked up to 9.2% and a paltry 18,000 jobs created once you do the math. There is no lipstick red enough or deep enough to put on this pig. And Barack Obama owns it. It is sad, but it is true.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, ticked up to 9.2 from 9.1% in the previous month and this year’s low of 8.8% in March. Many thousands of people in June dropped out of the labor force, some presumably because of the discouraging outlook.
Friday’s jobs report was remarkable in that there was nothing positive in it. Manufacturing, instead of bouncing back up as many had expected, added a meager 6,000 jobs. Hiring in construction remained dismal. The once-fast-growing temporary-help industry shed jobs for the third month in a row. And budget-strapped government offices eliminated an additional 39,000 jobs from their payrolls. Services remained weak.
Even for those with jobs in June, there was bad news. The average weekly work hours declined by 0.1 to 34.3. And the average hourly earnings for all private-sector employees dropped by one cent to $22.99.
"It's just an across-the-board retreat," said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute. So bad was the report, she found it hard to describe it and its portent for the future. "This is two months of really scary reports."
Which brings me to ask, "Why are we in deficit talks, when the public CLEARLY want talks about jobs and creating jobs in this country?" Is Washington, D.C. that far removed, in the bubble that they don't get it? I have to ask because even at President Obama's Twitter Town Hall the main questions to him was about jobs and this economy. Of course, he had his standard answer but it is like he is just trying to avoid the inevitable.
Last month's job report was bad, many thought it was a fluke, but this report today solidifies what many have been thinking, there is no way out of this any time soon. But in the Black Community there is a damn depression going on, and Washington, D.C., the White House is oblivious to it.
An often overlooked aspect of the U.S. jobs outlook is black unemployment. Black joblessness officially stands at 16.2 percent, including 17 percent for black men, 13.8 percent for black women, and 39.9 percent for black teens.
In New York City, in recent years, 34 percent for African-American men between 19 and 24 don't have a job. And in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the jobless rate for black men is also 34 percent. The reality is that black unemployment, typically double that of whites over the years, has now reached Depression-era levels.
I was in Chicago, yesterday on the South Side and all you saw was black men, walking around, hanging out, nothing to do. One 30 year old man rang my mother's doorbell and had his lawnmower, offering to cut grass for a fee. Flash mobs of young black and latino men have popped up all over the city. These groups are attacking folks, taking their money, beating them up and it is going on in the so-called "rich areas" of the city. (when in reality this has been going on in the poor neighborhoods for years) Even Chicago's Magnificent Mile can't get away from these groups, they are snatching, grabbing and running. The Louis Vuitton Store had a group bust in, snatch, grab and the group was on their way. That is what we are dealing with in Chicago, along with numerous other problems plaguing urban cities which is primarily lack of employment.
I am sure many have stories of their cities, towns, villages being dried up by lack of employment. While this is a crisis of the highest magnitude, we have pompous politicians who do not care what is happening out here, sitting around arguing about a deficit that the American Public could give 2 shits about. In fact, the public want taxes to be raised and the rich to pay their fair share, but these politicians just don't get it.
I don't understand the Democrats. I don't. Why we are talking about cutting Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security is political suicide!!! Why the President is not using his bully pulpit to talk about a jobs program to get folks back to work is unbelievable? Why the President is ready to cave and cut a deal for these services is mind blowing!!! But the moves by President Obama is totally understood if you read brooklynbadboy's diary. Which is why he may not be re-elected. And he can raise all the money he wants, take all the money from Wall Street that he wants, but in the end if this economy continues to be anemic and the unemployment number continues to tick up, next year for Barack Obama will be very difficult.
Here is President Obama's statement on the jobs report:
My take, he is not saying anything. Same old stuff. He states the job numbers are urgent, but the actions, in my opinion, are not urgent. Stating we have to reign in the deficit and live within our means, but need to start job creation. Whatever at this point on that deficit noise. The biggest elephant in the room is what we heard, read this morning from the jobs report.
Lastly, from Ed Schultz:
Is President Obama that far removed that he will continue on the path to cut these entitlements? I think he is.