Yesterday the consequences of Barack Obama's first big mistake became obvious: depending on which set of numbers you use unemployment has risen to something like 9.5 to 16.5%.
What was Obama's first big mistake? He failed to include a genuine jobs program in his first hundred days' agenda.
The so-called stimulus package is not a jobs bill. It consists of tax cuts for people who already have jobs and small amount of infrastructure work that will most likely go to existing contracting companies. Much of the money will go the way of the Katrina funds: a big general contractor will win the bid, rake off a profit, and then hire several layers of sub-contractors to perform the work. Inevitably, much of the work will be performed by illegal aliens working for less than the minimum wage.
What was really needed was a bill designed to create new jobs for people who are currently jobless, not more ways of funneling public money to those who are already making it. It's not as though there's a shortage of work to be done. Indeed, our damaged society needs a massive amount of work. What is lacking is the will to package this needed work into actual jobs.
Just one example of this is our upcoming census. The census is always criticized for its perceived lack of accuracy. Why not take advantage of the huge pool of extra talent available and create additional census positions? Make the next census the best and most detailed in the history of our nation, and in doing so, give work to thousands who need it.
The policy of saving the banks and big corporations like AIG first and leaving ordinary Americans to crater is a failing one. Many bailed out banks will still end up in trouble when the wave of mortgage defaults begins this summer. Americans can't pay their bills without jobs. You can't save the top floors of a skyscraper by allowing the bottom floors to collapse.
Obama should have found a way to bail out ordinary Americans. If ordinary Americans could pay their bills, the banks would not be in any trouble. If ordinary Americans cannot pay their bills, than no amount of bailout will save the banks in the long run.
Obama's lack of a serious jobs program is dooming the middle class. Henceforth we will be a nation of a hyper-wealthy elite and the rest of us will belong to the under class.
So much for hope and change. The stimulus package has proven to be just more failed trickle down.