Most people want to have a job. Certainly, there are people who don't want to 'work', but it's a fact that if you have a job where the working conditions are safe and fair, and you are being treated well and paid a living wage, working is better than not.
There is no reason why a working person, no matter what job they are doing, shouldn't be treated with respect. But they do need a job.
If you’re serious about ending the disinterest and the dissatisfaction of many in our country, the best beginning would be to provide good jobs to anyone who wants one.
If you want to get people off government assistance, and get them earning enough so they are paying taxes instead, provide them with good jobs.
If you want more grocery stores and hardware stores and pharmacies built in the inner cities across the country, provide good jobs to the people who are living there.
You probably already guessed that I have the answer to all of the above!
Infrastructure!!
It’s staring all of us in the face! We have enough essential work that badly needs to be done in this country to drop our unemployment rate to the lowest it’s ever been, and keep it there for years. The only thing holding back the flood of work and workers is the Republican Congress and Senate.
If they would give up their program of “Obama Annihilation” and focus instead on improving the country they were hired to work for, all this could be done!
(And, hey, they would even make themselves look good in the process. In fact, they would be friggin hero’s to everyone! They could certainly find some way to take all the credit. After all, there are still people suffering from the Obama Derangement Syndrome. They can't look like they are doing anything "his" way.)
Jobs lead to self-respect. When you have a proper job with a living wage, you finally have a feeling of belonging. You feel that you have a future. Something to look forward to. The stability you need to form a family and start building a future for them.
How satisfying would it be to begin tearing down those vacant apartments and houses in your own neighborhood and start building new homes? To gut the crumbling school buildings and put up new, clean structures? Because, when huge numbers of people are no longer living on federal taxes, but paying them instead, you have more money coming in to continue the improvements.
How elated would you be to be opening a new grocery store in your own neighborhood and hiring local folks to work there? Or a hardware store, or a restaurant?
It’s not hard to imagine the differences in personal outlooks and neighborhood pride. Or, neighborhood outlooks and personal pride!
Maybe the best thing about this sort of building is that plenty of unskilled workers will be needed. The work could start tomorrow instead of waiting for the training to be complete. Construction offers lots of on-the-job training opportunities! You need lots of experienced carpenters, and then you need someone to clean up after them!
Infrastructure building should be a plank in the Democratic platform. The Democratic candidates should take the same firm stand on this that Hillary has already taken on immigration. Challenge the Republicans to withhold the jobs that would be made available. When they cry that “we shouldn’t borrow money from China to rebuild America”, ask them why not? With interest rates lower than dirt, there is just no better time to do it! And, once again, the return on the investment would be realized in a few years, within a single presidential cycle! Remember, when poor people get better wages, they spend every penny on food and rent and clothes. It all goes right back into circulation.
This link to the Brookings Institute research on the subject makes a compelling argument, but just the first page summary is pretty convincing:
http://www.brookings.edu/...
Of course, if the Republicans aren’t willing to do their jobs, we can wait another 17 months and kick them out of office!