We Won't Climb Out of the Great Recession Until the Middle Class Has Money Again

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/147113/we_won%27t_climb_out_of_the_great_recession_until_the_middle_class_has_money_again

We need a new New Deal that will bolster America’s floundering middle class.

The Labor Department reports this morning that the private sector added a measly 41,000 net new jobs in May. (The vast bulk of new jobs in May were temporary government Census workers.) But at least 100,000 new jobs are needed every month just to keep up with population growth.

In other words, the labor market continues to deteriorate.

The average length of unemployment continues to rise – now up to 34.4 weeks (up from 33 weeks in April). That’s another record.

More Americans are too discouraged to look for a job than last year at this time (1.1 million in May, an increase of 291,000 from a year earlier.)

Of the small number of jobs created by the private sector in May, many came from temporary help services.

Which is one reason why the median wage continues to drop.

Why are we having such a hard time getting free of the Great Recession? Because consumers, who constitute 70 percent of the economy, don’t have the dough. They can’t any longer treat their homes as ATMs, as they did before the Great Recession.

Businesses won’t rehire if there’s not enough demand for their goods and services.


MORE at the link ---

[Scuba]

1. The corporate masters love slave labor.

[Mari333]

3. xactly.until the current admin cracks down on outsourcing and union busting

nothing will change.

[RKP5637]

4. +1000 +++ n/t

[NNN0LHI]

7. How does the administration crack down on union busting when our fellow citizens are glad to do it?

Top 10 cash for clunkers purchases

1. Toyota Corolla
2. Honda Civic
3. Ford Focus
4. Toyota Camry
5. Hyundai Elantra
6. Toyota Prius
7. Nissan Versa
8. Ford Escape FWD
9. Honda Fit
10. Honda CR-V AWD


Can't legislate against stupidity.

Don

[Donnachaidh]

12. umm, how do they crack down on union busting when in fact THEY are doing it themselves?

Case in point -- teachers across the country are losing jobs by the thousands.

???

[Mari333]

16. thats the truth. so I doubt any change will occur.

[Selatius]

2. We need not put the cart before the horse. We need a Square Deal first before a New Deal.

You've got to eliminate the sludge in DC so that the people can operate the levers of power once again. I'm not saying we can eliminate all of the conflicts of interests and the corruption, but we could get some traction on the ground, as opposed to spinning our wheels on crude oil and slipping.

Once you've removed some of the sludge out of DC, get somebody who isn't afraid to take a page out of Teddy Roosevelt's playbook. Smash the oligarchs. Anti-trust laws were put there to prevent corporations from becoming too powerful. We haven't been applying the laws like they should be applied.

Get the markets functioning again. A market dominated by a small few firms or just one firm is a broken market that bleeds jobs and saps the Middle Class.

A jobs program won't quite be as effective when you lay it upon an economy that is controlled by too few people.

[RKP5637]

5. Yep, root cause IMO = "an economy that is controlled by too few people." n/t

[Scuba]

6. As Lincoln Said...

..."Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. "

Funny, the Republicans don't often use this quote.

[senseandsensibility]

9. You're obviously a subversive

to quote that.(See below).:hi:

[Scuba]

11. Damned straight.

[1776Forever]

8. I posted this post this morning on Job Training from DOE - It's a tiny start but could go bigger!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8491504

[RKP5637]

10. Yep, it is a start. I hope it does go bigger. With all of the decaying infrastructure

in this country there is so much to be done, of course many don't want to pay the taxes to get things done.

[Donnachaidh]

13. not to knock your post, but 29 M isn't even a sweatball on a gnat's ass compared to the BILLIONS

given away to the banks with no strings attached.

It's almost insulting. It really is. This is a pr stunt. It in *no way* makes a dent in the tragedy happening RIGHT NOW to the poor and middle class in this country.

[1776Forever]

21. As I stated it is a "tiny" bit of light. I know it isn't much at all! n/t

[amborin]

14. K&R

[DailyGrind51]

15. Only when NAFTA and GAT are repealed and tariffs imposed on foreign products will the middle class

have a chance to recover and thrive again.

[Ardent15]

17. Not a Great "Recession"

It's a fucking depression now.

[Karmadillo]

18. Meaning we won't be climbing out anytime soon.

nt

[Quantess]

19. True.

:kick:

[MrScorpio]

20. Damn Skippy! N/T

[Juche]

22. There is money, just no security

Corporations are doing great. THey have 1.6 trillion cash reserves, profits have gone up by $280 billion a year since last year. Wall street paid themselves $145 billion in 2009.

But nobody wants to invest because nobody knows if there is going to be another collapse or if demand will exist. The real estate market hasn't stabilized yet (the commercial and residential markets are supposed to collapse again). And workers have no job security.

So there is money out there, but nobody wants to invest or spend it. We need security for both producers and consumers.

[phiddle]

23. we need a Demand Side economics--

one that values and taxes labor and capital equally.

[Fumesucker]

24. And the Middle Class won't have money until we climb out of the recession..

Rather like the worm Ouroboros, innit?