and right now the HELL with the deficit.
This country is spiraling and it is because lack of jobs for the many who have lost employment. The bickering and bantering over not extending unemployment benefits have many reeling right now.
This is not open for discussion. Why? Take a look at my state, Illinois. And you thought California was bad?
Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet. Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing memo.
He picks the papers off his desk and points to a figure in red: $5.01 billion.
"This is what the state owes right now to schools, rehabilitation centers, child care, the state university — and it’s getting worse every single day," he says in his downtown office.
Mr. Hynes shakes his head. "This is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services," he says. "That is obscene."
And the pension fund in Illinois?
Then there is the spectacularly mismanaged pension system, which is at least 50 percent underfunded and, analysts warn, could push Illinois into insolvency if the economy fails to pick up.
States cannot go bankrupt, technically, but signs of fiscal crackup are easy to see. Legislators left the capital this month without deciding how to pay 26 percent of the state budget.
The governor proposes to borrow $3.5 billion to cover a year’s worth of pension payments, a step that would cost about $1 billion in interest. And every major rating agency has downgraded the state; Illinois now pays millions of dollars more to insure its debt than any other state in the nation.
"Their pension is the most underfunded in the nation," said Karen S. Krop, a senior director at Fitch Ratings. "They have not made significant cuts or raised revenues. There’s no state out there like this. They can’t grow their way out of this."
The problem is this, Illinois is not the only state, as California teetering out here. The stimulus money given last year kept many jobs and did stunt bleeding, but if we don't get more stimulus money to these states look at massive unemployment, hard cuts across the board, your local policemen, firemen, state workers in the unemployment line and double digit unemployment. Barack Obama is asking for a 50M jobs program, but the reality is that this program will save the very jobs that are heading to the unemployment line, that were saved last year. While the Republicans in congress are arguing that the money should be spent from the stimulus package, the truth is this, if Barack Obama had 50B he would have spent it for this. There is no more money.
People need jobs out here. I don't care what you want to call it, but something must be done on a massive scale. Why? I don't see congress giving Obama 50B for the states, hell not even 25B, from this will be massive layoffs thrown on top of an economy that can not hold itself up right now.
President Obama highlights new programs like the broadband initiative and more public works programs, but these are PAID for and have been in the stimulus package from last year. These initiatives are nothing new, but were in the pipeline already.
"We still have a great deal of work to do to repair the economy and get the American people back to work," Mr. Obama said on Friday. Yet the steps he highlighted to show the government’s concern — some public works projects — are part of the two-year stimulus package he won a month after taking office, rather than new initiatives. Over the last few weeks, Democrats in the Senate have failed to muster enough votes to pass a new package of measures to address the economic weakness, reflecting what some of them see as the political perils of further deficit spending.
This is why the President will not get anymore money. And for unemployment extension? I am skeptical it will be passed if the Republicans and Republican-lite Ben Nelson continue to harp at the deficit when emergency funds need to be spent to keep millions of families off the street. By the end of July we are looking at over 2M people thrown off unemployment. Something must be done and action of concern must be seen from the Oval Office.
And this is why the White House don't know how to play this, because they are arguing over rallying for more stimulus or letting it tank and focus on the deficit:
Those pressing for more stimulus measures include Christina Romer, the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Jared Bernstein, economic adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; and the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, who took that message internationally to the Group of 20 summit meeting of developed nations last weekend in Canada. Lawrence H. Summers, who as director of the National Economic Council tries to broker what he calls the "brakes-versus-accelerator" debates, nonetheless makes the economic arguments for an additional stimulus, officials say.
More focused on deficits — or at least on positioning Mr. Obama to show his concern — are his chief strategist, David Axelrod, other political advisers and Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, according to Democrats. Their lone supporter among the top economic aides is Peter R. Orszag, the budget director, who will leave the administration this month.
Then Axelrod makes this extraordinary statement of his responsibility on reporting the mood of the nation:
Mr. Axelrod, in an interview, said he often argues for emphasizing deficit reduction in part because "it’s my job to report what the public mood is." He added, "I’ve made the point that as a matter of policy and a matter of politics that we need to focus on this, and the president certainly agrees with that."
Well, Mr. Axelrod, you have a shitty economic situation here. We have 9.5 unemployment rate which will most likely go up next month, we have 83K jobs created last month by private sector (you need minimum 100K to 125K just to keep up with inflation), we have more people who applied for unemployment last month, we have states going bankrupt (if not already), families loosing their homes in the catastrophic housing market that was created by greedy banks and WALL STREET, teenagers can not find employment, the fast food chains have "NO HIRING" on practically everyone you go to, and the public is concerned with the deficit?
Mind boggling. The public is concerned with it but they care more about JOBS. And if this White House and Congress had come up with a real jobs program in this country to help with unemployment we would not keep seeing larger band-aids being put on a sore continuing to ooze in puss. All this stuff is band-aids and does not tackle the source of what ails this economy. While we continue to cater to the very rich, bail out the crooks that crumbled this economy, what about Main Street? Wall Street and Rich Street will always be fine, but Main Street is suffering out here and the anger is mounting.
We need a real jobs program in this country and we needed it yesterday. That is bold, this other stuff is fluff for a soundbite that fixes absolutely, nothing.
New York Times