Visual source: Newseum
Christopher S. Rugaber lays out shocking numbers that reveal the often-ignored underbelly of the unemployment crisis:
The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America’s unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.
Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent — a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment. Nearly one-third of America’s 14 million unemployed have had no job for a year or more.
The New York Times tears into Republicans for blocking the president's infrastructure jobs bill and foresees more cruelty from them in the upcoming debate over extending unemployment benefits:
Tragically, the more entrenched the jobs shortage becomes, the more paralyzed Congress becomes, with Republicans committed to doing nothing in the hopes that the faltering economy will cost President Obama his job in 2012. Last week, for instance, Senate Republicans filibustered a $60 billion proposal by Mr. Obama to create jobs by repairing and upgrading the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure. They were outraged that the bill would have been paid for by a 0.7 percent surtax on people making more than $1 million.
Things may be about to get worse.
Federal unemployment benefits, which generally kick in after 26 weeks of state-provided benefits, are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. That would be a disaster for many of the estimated 3.5 million Americans who get by on extended benefits — an average of $295 a week. It would also be a blow to the economy, because it would reduce consumer spending by about $50 billion in 2012 — which would mean slower economic growth and 275,000 lost jobs. Unfortunately, given Republicans’ demonstrated willingness to ignore human needs and economic logic, it is more likely than not that jobless benefits will be a major battle in the months ahead.
Dale McFeatters outlines Republican attempts to slash the federal workforce and add more Americans to the unemployment line:
[L]ast week, a House committee voted to require a 10 percent reduction in the federal civilian work force by late 2014. That would be about 180,000 out of work.
Unless the forecasters are horribly wrong, those workers cut adrift would not go charging into good-paying private-sector jobs, but more likely join the nearly 14 million Americans already unemployed.
Boldly calling for massive cuts in federal spending and employment is all good political fun until the time comes to face up to the consequences of doing so.
The Star-Ledger Editorial Board speaks the truth:
It’s the principle our country was founded on: With plenty of hard work, anyone can climb up in the ranks. Trouble is, Republicans have been doing everything in their power to subvert that.
They’ve shown hostility toward efforts to spur mobility, like union organizing and raising the minimum wage. They’ve opposed funding preschool for poor kids and Pell grants that help talented students who aren’t rich attend college.
And "justice for all" isn’t only about mobility. If we have a nation in which the top sliver has an inordinate portion of gains and everyone else lives on scraps, that offends American values, too — even if we all have a shot at joining the elite. Polls show Americans are disturbed by the extreme income inequality we have now.
Now, on to horserace politics. From the always insightful Rick Klein:
Three years after the politics of hope swept the nation, anger is President Obama’s new hope.
The outlook is decidedly grim going into the final year before the 2012 election. That applies, of course, to an incumbent who’s watching sagging approval ratings and a soaring unemployment rate certain that he faces significant challenges in securing a second term.
But Republicans are also suffering from the public’s ire a year out. Even as they relish the prospect of taking on a very beatable incumbent, they are grappling with an unsettled field that features weak frontrunners, and facing some of the same anger that’s frustrated the president. Despite economic indicators that leave him vulnerable, Obama runs strongly against all of his potential challengers in head-to-head polling.
Paul Krugman looks at what should be a green energy revolution in America:
We are, or at least we should be, on the cusp of an energy transformation, driven by the rapidly falling cost of solar power. That’s right, solar power.
If that surprises you, if you still think of solar power as some kind of hippie fantasy, blame our fossilized political system, in which fossil fuel producers have both powerful political allies and a powerful propaganda machine that denigrates alternatives.
On a final note, the AP provides a roundup of where the GOP presidential candidates stand on issues like abortion, education, debt and the economy. Check it out.