Labor Losing To D.C. Elites Over Job Creation, Unemployment?

[marmar]

from In These Times:



Labor Losing To D.C. Elites Over Job Creation, Unemployment?

Thursday
July 8
9:59 am

By Art Levine


In a fight over paying for Social Security, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and his allies took on The Washington Post this week as part of a running battle against Washington insiders' drive for deficit cutting. The emerging political consensus, essentially supported by the White House, favors cutting spending over creating jobs or helping the unemployed, two million of whom have lost benefits so far because of the Senate's delay in passing an extension.

Even as the White House and Democratic leaders nominally support extending unemployment benefits, the conventional wisdom they share about the menace of deficits undercuts their ability to rally political support for the needed spending to create jobs or aid the unemployed. This consensus of most Washington elites can have deadly consequences: near-permanent unemployment or underemployment for millions, while the joblessness epidemic is fueling a sharp increase in calls to suicide hotlines, AOL News reports.

This latest skirmish over the deficit isn't as arcane or removed from the lives of working people as it might appear at first. It involves a snarky Ruth Marcus column in The Washington Post that took Richard Trumka to task for favoring increasing taxes on the rich and opposing raising the retirement age to qualify for Social Security—an essential, if meager, lifeline in tough economic times. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6207/labor_losing_to_dc_elites_over_deficits_unemployment/

[midnight]

1. K&R.

[madrchsod]

2. yes......