New York Times Op-Ed columnist
Bob Herbert knows a story when he sees it. That's why he chaired the Pulitzer Prize jury for spot news back in 1993. As a 13-yr.-old, I was delivering the Newark Star-Ledger to about a quarter of Montclair, New Jersey back when he had just started his first reporting gig there. IMHO, Herbert does a better job of telling it like it is than almost anyone. He takes the
facts--and
just the facts--and tells the story.
Today, his New York Times column, "No Recovery In Sight," is exceptional, if for no other reason than Bob Herbert's style: elegant simplicity.
Then again, if you've been reading my diaries on the economy for the past 20 months, you'll notice some similarities between what Herbert's telling us--
far more concisely stated than anything I could ever write--and what I've been saying for almost two years.
With joblessness reaching record levels now, in terms of the record-breaking amounts of people unemployed and underemployed, anyone who puts forth the notion of a "recovery" being in sight is, simply, full of it. From a strictly political point of view, if nothing else, this is the truth. And, this is a political blog, right?
Again, here's the link; read what is, IMHO, the gospel: "No Recovery in Sight." Above all else--like the way all great news reporting should be when it's at its best--it is sublimely elegant in its simplicity.
No Recovery in Sight
By BOB HERBERT
Published: June 26, 2009
"...One of the great stories you'll be hearing over the next couple of years will be about the large number of Americans who were forced out of work in this recession and remained unable to find gainful employment after the recession ended. We're basically in denial about this.
"There are now more than five unemployed workers for every job opening in the United States. The ranks of the poor are growing, welfare rolls are rising and young American men on a broad front are falling into an abyss of joblessness.
"Some months ago, the Obama administration and various mainstream economists forecast a peak unemployment rate of roughly 8 percent this year. It has already reached 9.4 percent, and most analysts now expect it to hit 10 percent or higher. Economists are currently spreading the word that the recession may end sometime this year, but the unemployment rate will continue to climb. That's not a recovery. That's mumbo jumbo."
IMHO, Herbert always tells it like it is...the scope of the current jobless crisis is far worse than the media portrays it.
Here's the most striking fact...
"By May 2009," according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, "the total number of underutilized workers had increased dramatically from 15.63 million to 29.37 million -- a rise of 13.7 million, or 88 percent. Nearly 30 million working-age individuals were underutilized in May 2009, the largest number in our nation's history...
Bold type is diarist's emphasis...
Herbert speaks of a few more underreported realities: the unemployment crisis has been especially tough among men (80 percent of job losses have been incurred by this group since the recession/depression began back in December 2007) and those under 30. As Herbert tells us, it is the largest "...absolute and relative gender gap in unemployment rates in the post-World War II period."
Lastly, Herbert reiterates something I've been screaming about for a very long time, "The first step in dealing with a crisis is to recognize that it exists. "
I hope this will serve as a reminder for all who read the false meme about how we're turning into some sort of make-believe recovery in coming months. Those words mean nothing. They do a disservice to a reality which is really all that matters for those tens of millions of suffering folks now, and for quite a long time to come.