Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

Edge City

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

by Dennis Green

Critics of the current administration say that health care, climate change, regulation of the finance industry — that all of these problems pale in the face of unemployment. “Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!” they say, are all that count.

So…fine. What have these critics done to create new jobs, or even to preserve existing ones? They voted against the Stimulus Package. They voted against “Cash for Clunkers.” They voted against the first time home buyer’s tax credit. So what are their big ideas for jobs, jobs, jobs?

“Infrastructure,” says Joe Scarborough, host of “Morning Joe.” Tom Friedman says, “We get sub-optimum solutions. We get a thousand page bill that isn’t a solution, but the reflection of all the special interests.” He adds, “We need nation-building here at home.”

Scarborough overlooks the fact that the Stimulus contains billions to repair infrastructure, dollars that are still being rolled out now to “shovel-ready projects”, and contracts being let out by the states to construction firms to repair bridges and freeways that have been neglected for many years. And not one Republican has come up with even one proposal for creating jobs. Mitch McConnell has even proposed diverting Stimulus funds to finance the War in Afghanistan. Sheesh!

“Mama’s got a squeezebox/Papa’s got a squeezebox too!” And the squeezebox and the squawkbox are the only voices left in the orchestra. Except that today, the “Nattering Nabobs of Negativity” are on the right side of the congressional noggin. In Congress, the GOP members just sit on their hands and let the Blue Dog Democrats gut real reform in health care, energy bills, regulation and economic stimulation.

And truly conservative principles are nowhere in sight. Republicans urge that the U.S. widen its occupation forces in Afghanistan, which Friedman says “Would be like going from baby-sitting a special needs child to adopting him.” And that such an adoption can only end badly. Nothing conservative about that!

Government can create jobs in only a few ways. It can hire people into the military, or as mercenary contractors. It can hire people into security agencies, both domestic and foreign-based. It can grow itself larger and hire bigger staffs for its members and federal agencies of all kinds. But without growing a huge deficit, it can’t indefinitely extend stimulus spending to make up for a faltering private sector.

The Bush-era TARP bailout has not resulted in a loosening of credit, loans to small business or an easing of foreclosures. Meanwhile, consumer retail spending has slowed, residential and commercial real estate remain depressed, and among gadgets, only the iPhone and Kindle continue to rock. American car makers continue to lag behind the Japanese, except in China, where Ford is a best seller. Meanwhile, it looks as though California is about to become a failed state, with 49 more close behind.

Fifty-seven years ago, Kurt Vonnegut published his first novel, Player Piano, which foresaw a United States of America where massive numbers of unemployed were put on the public payroll as “Reeks & Wrecks” — a kind of CCC of “Reconstruction and Recreation” workers put mainly to sweeping the streets with hand brooms. The cause in Vonnegut’s book? Automation. Robots on the assembly line, food service lines and even in the classrooms.

In 21^st Century America, the causes of unemployment are many. Automation, vastly increased productivity since the early 1990s, demographics, immigration and globalization. But Friedman points out that we have practiced situational ethics for so long — in our handling of the environment and the economy — rather than sustainable ethics, that our lack of long-range planning has caught up with us.

Global warming and leveraged buyouts, and a planet that is too big to fail…but when you’ve just lost your job and can’t pay the rent or put food on the table, you feel as if somebody has just failed you. Easier than feeling as if you’ve failed your family and yourself.

©2009 Dennis Green