Bob Herbert has a column this morning, occasioned at least in part by Obama's visit to Wall Street. But A World Of Hurt remind us that
This recession, a full-blown economic horror, has left a gaping hole in the heart of working America that is unlikely to heal for years, if not decades.
I encourage you to read Herbert, and I am sure he will excerpted in the Pundit roundup. I want to focus on the part of his column I consider most essential, and then offer a few words of my own.
Herbert offers us some grim statistics:
.... 15 million officially unemployed
.... 1.3 jobless for more than 6 months
.... 13% of Latinos and 15% of Blacks, but as Herbert notes
hose are some of the official statistics. The reality is much worse.
Now consider the next two paragraphs, stark in what they tell us:
Consider this: Some 9.4 million new jobs would have to be created to get us back to the level of employment at the time that the recession began in December 2007. But last month, we lost 216,000 jobs. If the recession technically ends soon and we get to a point where some modest number of jobs are created — say, 100,000 or 150,000 a month — the politicians and the business commentators will celebrate like it’s New Year’s.
But think about how puny that level of job creation really is in an environment that needs nearly 10 million jobs just to get us back to the lean years of the George W. Bush administration.
Let me repeat the relevant words, that we are n an environment that needs nearly 10 million jobs just to get us back to the lean years of the George W. Bush administration.
Now the unemployed are often skill older workers who never expected to be unemployed. If you are over 60, the chances of again having meaningful employment seem ever slimmer. I remember when My father lost a job in his early 50s how hard it was for him to find new employment - no one wanted to hire such an older worker. He spent lots of time working with the peopl at 40+, and eventually was able to develop an independent consulting business which kept him occupied and earned him some money until he decided to retire. But not everyone has those options.
I asked in my title to Remember how we got here. We lived through 8 years of a massive transfer of wealth from the middle and working classes to the wealthy, in the forms of unpaid for tax breaks for the wealthy, in unregulated financial markets that repeatedly destroyed the life savings of hard-working people. It did not start with the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year ago. That was not the warning signal. Think back to the collapse of Enron. Think of what we learned about how that company had manipulated the energy market in California to the point where it cost Gray Davis his governorship and gave the state Arnie as his replacement.
Think of how the abuse of the mortage process was well underway, and perhaps already totally unrecoverable, by the time of Lehman's final collapse. Remember that Lehman was not the first such financial institution that seemed to implode. Think how many other formerly important names in finance and banking are no more. And in the process, remember how many American jobs, companies, and homes were lost as the financial irresponsibility that began with Reagan, which was not addressed under either Bush 41 or Clinton, and which accelerated into the massive debacle under Bush 43 was allowed to continue for too long with insufficient government oversight and little if any accountability for the actors.
Think how much treasure and productive capacity was wasted upon a war of choice that ultimately not only cost lives both in death and in PTSD that still continues for so many, but which aided in devouring what ever surpluses that might have been possible.
We got here because politicians of both parties, in the executive and legislative branches, failed to do due diligence, to use the powers of government to protect the people and the economy, because they were in thrall to campaign contributions, to visions of an economy that was not bound by the normal processes of the business cycle.
Remember also the speech that won Michael Douglas his Oscar - "Greed is Good." Think of the culture - "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" is but one example of the distortions of our society.
We got here because we did not care enough to ensure that our government worked as it should. We allowed ourselves to be drawn away from our responsibilities as citizens, we failed to remember that it is "We, the people" that is sovereign, not the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, whether his name be Clinton or two men named Bush who bracketed his presidency.
This World of Hurt - where a member of this community goes on GMA for a second time to illustrate the impact of the devastation of the economy.
So far the recovery is largely jobless, as we attempt to comfort ourselves that the rate of job loss has slowed. Herbert writes
At some point the unemployment crisis in America will have to be confronted head-on. Poverty rates are increasing. Tax revenues are plunging. State and local governments are in a terrible fiscal bind. Unemployment benefits for many are running out. Families are doubling up, and the number of homeless children is rising.
Also increasing are the number on foodstamps, the percentage of students who now qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch, or are suddenly eligible for various subsidized medical care. Only various levels of government - other than the Federal which can borrow with abandonment and print money to keep operating - bump up against the reality of continuing drops in their revenue sources while the demand for services heads in the other direction.
ARRA saved some local government jobs - there are teachers, cops,and firemen working today because of the stimulus dollars. But what happens when that money runs out, and the devastation of the tax base continues? What happens the next year? How many more will face the devastation of job lose with no hope of being rehired for anything in the foreseeable future?
Herbert warns about hope disappearing, with that loss now being increasingly felt even among well-educated suburbanites.
We hear words of economic encouragement from various officials. But note how Herbert concludes:
The recession may be ending for some.
Tell that to the unemployed.
We got here because we allowed government to operate without concern for the ordinary folk. As we continue to struggle with how we right the economic ship of state, may we remember that is not just statistics - it is the lives of families, it is the possible depression and despair as hope continues to disappear.
We ARE in a World of Hurt. The the political decision about which people argue in Washington have serious implications for many of our people. Those who concentrate on political advantage and gain at the expense of those they are supposed to represent betray their oaths of office, and we should terminate their services, regardless of party, at the earliest possible moment. For federal officials, we cannot gain that satisfaction until the next election. In the meantime, we can certainly by our words and actions hold them to account, if necessary publicly challenge and shame them, and look for those to challenge their failed leadership and lack of service, whether in Democratic primaries or general elections.
How we got here? We should remember. And also remember where we are not - a place we do not want to be, that we should not wish on anyone else. We are truly in a World of Hurt.
Peace.