Friday Reads
Posted: March 4, 2011 Filed under: GLBT Rights, jobs, Marriage Equality, morning reads, U.S. Economy | Tags: joblessness, marriage equality, retiring Democratic Senators 33 Comments
Good Morning!
I’ve turned into a bit of broken record on the inability of the U.S. economy to produce not only jobs, but well-paying jobs. This article at The Nation basically says a lot of the same things I’ve been saying and thinking for several years. It’s called ‘Why Washington Doesn’t Care About Jobs’.
This disconnect between the jobs crisis in the country and the blithe dismissal thereof in Washington is the most incomprehensible aspect of the political moment. But I think there are two numbers that go a long way toward explaining it.
The first is 4.2. That’s the percentage of Americans with a four-year college degree who are unemployed. It’s less than half the official unemployment rate of 9 percent for the labor force as a whole and one-fourth the underemployment rate (which counts those who have given up looking for work or are working part time but want full-time work) of 16.1 percent. So while the overall economy continues to suffer through the worst labor market since the Great Depression, the elite centers of power have recovered. For those of us fortunate enough to have graduated from college—and to have escaped foreclosure or an underwater mortgage—normalcy has returned.
The other number is 5.7 percent. That’s the unemployment rate for the Washington/Arlington/Alexandria metro area and just so happens to be lowest among large metropolitan areas in the entire country. In 2010 the DC metro area added 57,000 jobs, more than any in the nation, and now boasts the hottest market for commercial office space. In other words: DC is booming. You can see it in the restaurants opening all over North West, the high prices that condos fetch in the real estate market and the general placid sense of bourgeois comfort that suffuses the affluent upper- and upper-middle-class pockets of the region.
What these two numbers add up to is a governing elite that is profoundly alienated from the lived experiences of the millions of Americans who are barely surviving the ravages of the Great Recession. As much as the pernicious influence of big money and the plutocrats’ pseudo-obsession with budget deficits, it is this social distance between decision-makers and citizens that explains the almost surreal detachment of the current Washington political conversation from the economic realities working-class, middle-class and poor people face.
It is unbelievable we could be facing such a serious level of unemployment and underemployment at this time in our history. We have full knowledge of what it takes to deal with this problem and yet our policy makers do nothing. No less than Ronald Reagan would’ve found this situation intolerable who once said:
“Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery and personal indignity.”
Our economy is seriously under-performing. 
At the same time, our politicians are slashing both taxes and budgets which have been shown by nearly 70 years of economic data and history to be a short road to disaster. Our politicians are only responsive to their political donor base and to their own personal whims. Christopher Hayes’s continues this theme in his article cited above in The Nation.
In a 2007 paper titled “Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness in the United States,” Princeton political scientist Martin Gilens analyzed 2,000 survey questions from 1981 to 2002, looking for the relationship between public opinion and policy outcomes. He found that “when Americans with different income levels differ in their policy preferences, actual policy outcomes strongly reflect the preferences of the most affluent but bear little relationship to the preferences of poor or middle income Americans.”
There is only so much social distance a society can take. The social science literature shows that as social distance increases, trust declines and aberrant and predatory behavior increases. The basic mechanisms of representation erode, and the social fabric tears. “An imbalance between rich and poor,” Plutarch warned, “is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.”
I’ve posted a graph from FRBSF Economic Research that shows our ‘output’ gap and its trajectory. I don’t think you have to be a mathematical genius to extrapolate how many years it’s going to take before we close the gap and return to our potential. It looks at least between 6 -8 years just from eyeballing that graph. The output gap represents what our economy should be producing–implying more jobs–and our production shortfall. We not only have a huge output gap but a measurable and significant income gap between those who actually produce something and those that skim money off of transactions or gamble themselves into a profit via arbitrage. It is never a good sign when wealth goes to gamblers and third party payers who drive a wedge between buyers and sellers and distort market prices and quantities. I continue to be amazed at the callous disregard for history, economics, and people that characterize our policy makers. We have too many lawyers and not enough economists at the helm.
Agent Orange is promising “GOP cover” for slashing “entitlements”. I still hate the way that benefits that I have paid for since I was 14 years old and held my first job down as a docent at a museum could be called an “entitlement” . They spit that word out with the implication that only lazy and shiftless people collect THAT kind of money. We’re entitled to it because we paid for it dear Speaker! Anyway, raise you’re hand if you think this is a honey trap of sorts! This is from The Hill.
Moreover, Boehner has personally promised Obama that he will stand side-by-side with him to weather the strong political backlash expected from any proposal to cut entitlement costs.
So far, Obama has not taken Boehner up on the deal, as Democratic strategists have warned the White House not to cut payments from the Social Security trust fund or to reopen the acrimonious debate over healthcare.
Social Security reform has been prominent in behind-the-scenes talks about entitlement spending because it is relatively easy to reduce its cost projections — at least, compared to the complex morass of healthcare policy reform.
Social Security has been known traditionally as the “third rail” of politics, because grappling with the issue is considered as deadly as touching an electrified subway rail.
President George W. Bush saw his post-election political capital plummet in 2005 after Democrats led by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) excoriated his administration’s proposal to divert a portion of Social Security revenues into private retirement accounts.
Boehner has promised that Republicans will not exploit entitlement reform for political gains if Obama shows leadership on curbing the cost of Social Security and other mandatory spending programs, according to sources familiar with the offer.
An interesting post has shown up at Politico implying that many Democratic Senators have decided to retire. It’s a rather long bit but I’d like to concentrate on one senator I will not miss.
Five senators from the Democratic side of the aisle have already decided to hang ’em up after this term. Each has his own reasons, but it mostly boils down to this: For some senators, a job in the “most exclusive club” is not worth the hassle anymore.
“It’s about campaigns,” Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), a retiring member of the Democratic Caucus, told POLITICO. “It’s about both the unremitting — that’s a bad word to use — about the constant pressure to raise money and travel all over the country doing that and the nastiness of the campaign. … I have no second thoughts about it.”
Here’s the list of the five retirees: Kent Conrad (ND), Joe Lieberman (CT), Daniel Akaka (HI), Jeff Bingaham (NM), and Jim Webb (VA). Does this make life easy or difficult for Patty Murray who gets the job of funding and re-electing Democratic Senators?
“As Republicans face a brutal primary between a flawed Washington establishment candidate and a right-wing extremist who is raising money at a good clip, Democrats will field a strong candidate,” promised Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (Wash.). “The 2012 Virginia Senate race will be competitive but Democrats will prevail there just like we did in 2006 and 2008.”
Given Democrats’ near-certain difficulties in holding the North Dakota open seat and its incumbents representing Republican-leaning states like Nebraska, Missouri and Montana, the party has to hope Murray is right.
So, I’ve got one last item to leave you with before I turn the comments and the reading suggestions over to you. It comes from WAPO columnist Jonathan Capehart. It seems GLBT activists are having a difficult time holding on Congressman to his promise on the issue of marriage equality. Congressman Sam Arora from Maryland holds a key vote in the Judiciary Committee and is being noncommittal after accepting a lot of dollars and support from GLBT groups.
According to the Baltimore Sun, Arora has said he will vote for the marriage equality bill in the judiciary committee, but has yet to commit to voting for the measure when it hits the floor, possibly next week. “This bill deserves an up-or-down vote, so I’m voting to send it to the floor,” he told the Sun. That sudden reluctance to say he will vote for a bill he co-sponsored has friends mystified and former supporters fuming, at best, calling him a liar and demanding their donations back, at worst.
Even Arora’s friends from Democratic Party politics and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign are mystified. Democratic strategist Karen Finney called his apparent change of heart “[v]ery disappointing” in a post on Arora’s Facebook page. And Neera Tanden, policy director for Clinton’s campaign and then the domestic policy adviser on the Obama-Biden campaign, is among those who wants her contribution refunded.
This brings me back to my neighbor Antwoine’s sage advice on politicians. It doesn’t matter who they are or where they come from, you elect them and then they turn on you. That about sums it up for me.
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Thank you for the round-up, Dak.
I question that 4.2% unemployment rate among college graduates. Like most unemployment statistics, I think it is bogus. I know so many older people( age 50 and over ) with college degrees who are long-term unemployed. Some continue to apply for any job that becomes available, whether it requires a degree or not. Others have stopped looking. All of them are depressed and fear they will never work again.
Totally agree.
Most of the people I know who are unemployed are college graduates. That number seems low to me too. Beata, what you said about depression and fear, is completely true.
We can’t trust statistics, politicians, the press, or any other institutions to protect us any longer.
I have no doubt that President Indifferent, along with Mantan Boehner have already come to a “compromise” that will not be in our better interests as they each keep an eye on 2012.
That’s all they care about, the next election and how much they can gain by serving whatever special interest will load up their coffers.
It is too demoralizing to contemplate. Left between a choice of Zero v Zero, we seem to come up empty handed either way.
To those fools still holding out for Obama, they can go to hell.
Mantan, I like that.
“President Indifferent” is pretty good too.
“I’ve turned into a bit of broken record on the inability of the U.S. economy to produce not only jobs, but well-paying jobs.”
*******
A friend, 52 years old, was “let go” from his job 6 weeks ago. He had worked for this major retailer for more than 20 years and was a middle management, traveling trouble shooter for the IT dept. Visited him and his wife a few days ago and he was starting his new job; back to where he was in High School, delivering newspapers.
I read here that the unemployment rate got worse and not better. Why is it being reported that things are getting better?
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/04/news/economy/february_jobs_report/index.htm?hpt=T1
There’s several different measures and surveys. That’s the official measure from the bls. It dropped to 8.9. It depends on how you calculate the rates. You can work one hour a week and you’re considered employed on the bls survey.
It’s like the DC metro belongs to this other “country”, which is part of a set of elite watering holes scattered all over the world. That’s the “country” the money-class live in, and as long as that country is flush and green, there are no worries.
Last night, I indulged in one of my guilty pleasures – watching HGTV. My new favorite show on that network is “Selling New York”. Fabulously wealthy people ( most of whom have had WAY too much “work” done, btw ) search for the perfect home, which, alas, usually disappoints them. Yes, it is fun to watch someone tour a ten million dollar penthouse and then have them scream, “This is unacceptable! Everything must be redone!” It’s like watching science fiction. Do these people live on the same planet as the rest of us?
The people and places on that show are indeed from another world. It’s unbelievable to see how they live.
Lol! I was writing about HGTV before I read your post! The programing is now upper crust on parade…or survivor knock off , where neighbors will go at each other’s throat for a pittance.
Great post!
It’s interesting that the TV show Design to Sell ,their Washington based group are far more likely to have sold the house by the end of the show thses days, than the CA or Chicago group…every plane bring more lobbyists to the area after all
But even so that program has stopped being the flag ship show for HGTV..it’s now folks looking for a 2nd home in Tuscany,while complaing about the bathroom size. That must be nice
That collage educated unemployed statistic will balloon, even skewered as they undoubtedly are, when the state budgets hit and many thousands of collage educated public servants jobs are disappeared .
As a group they are always asked to be super educated and work for less..but that’s no long enough when the Government wants to kill of the public sector altogether
I spent 14 of the past 36 months with only a part-time singing job for income. If I were unmarried I don’t know what I would have done for money. And yet, I am not counted in the “4.2” figure because, being self-employed, I am not entitled to unemployment benefits – even though I pay the equivalent in self-employment tax. By the way, I am college-educated. I even have a Master’s degree. But according to the government, I “don’t exist” when it comes to the employment figures.
The whole system is set up for maximum dependence on corporations. You can’t get paid vacations, sick days, health benefits or unemployment unless you work full-time. It is a recipe for disaster, because as soon as the corporations can, they start maximizing their profits by cutting as many of those benefits as possible – including firing permanent workers and replacing them with temps.
….You can’t get paid vacations, sick days, health benefits
and look at all the industries impacted just in this part of your statement
For one, many area depends on tourism HA! Temps don’t tour, much less the unemployed….just one example of our 70 % consumer economy tree limb, the upper crust is sawing away at.
Excellent point about tourism…before I was married I never took a vacation. Couldn’t afford it!
“maximum dependence on corporations”–Exactly right, which underscores the incredible cruelty of the corporations that “downsize” their employees who are over 50 years old. You not only lose your income, you lose your health insurance, dental insurance, vision care insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and any other benefits you have earned as a result of your years of loyalty and hard work for your employer. Rather than risk such a huge loss, employees must bow to whatever demands are made of them and hope, hope, hope that they don’t get axed for no better reason than that the stockholders wanted a bigger dividend and the executives wanted bigger bonuses.
Exactly!
The thing is, corporations are not meant to have consciences. They are simply meant to make money. The less you constrain them, the more they will gravitate towards maximizing their profits, causing maximum pain to their “human resources.”
Unfortunately for the free market fanatics, there is no market force that can take the place of a balanced public/private sector relationship. Right now, we are all facing what happens when the public sector is starved of funding and support by the private sector. The balance tips towards the top 2% and our social safety net begins disappearing. And, we can’t get anyone to listen to our concerns, so our democracy becomes unresponsive to the needs of the majority, as Dak stated.
Deregulation of corporations is a very sneaky way to destroy a free and democratic society. The oligarchy/patriarchy would like nothing better than to re-institute a feudal system – as long as they are insulated from the effects of their financial shock and awe, that is. So far their plans are going swimmingly, I’m sorry to say.
I have many shameful confessions to make. My kitchen and bathroom counters are formica. The floors in those rooms are ( gasp ) linoleum. But, hey, they look like tile!
“My name is Beata and my kitchen cabinets and bathroom mirror are builder-grade….”
lol! There’s gotta be a 12 step program for that
Haha! That is funny – my NEWLY remodeled kitchen has laminate counters and vinyl flooring which looks like tile. I guess I need an intervention before I start on the bathroom remodel!
I’ve had both formica and granite counter tops, and I’d take the formica over the granite any day of the week. It’s much easier to keep clean and if it starts looking shabby, it’s cheaper and easier to replace. We have all been brainwashed into believing that we have to have granite counter tops and that they are the best. If you spill something on a formica counter top, you wipe it off, and you’re done. If you spill something on granite, you wipe it off, but then you have an ugly smear, so you have to get some glass cleaner or multi-surface cleaner to polish it up. As well, I would put a little bleach on my sponge occasionally to disinfect my formica tops, especially if I had been preparing raw meat or poultry. Not so with granite, you can’t use harsh cleaners or you’ll ruin the finish.
My name is janicen, and I hate granite counters.
I had Silestone countertops installed in our updated kitchen five years ago – I had never heard of it before. Silestone is made of crushed quartz – it is impervious, easy to clean, never needs special treatments and always looks good – I love it!!!
…and don’t even get me started on stainless steel appliances!
I read this in our regional paper this AM – Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday chided a key House committee for failing to approve a budget shift he says is needed urgently to protect troops in Afghanistan.
Three of the four primary defense spending committees in Congress have approved taking $900 million from funds set aside for AM General LLC Humvee vehicles the Army says it doesn’t want. Gates seeks to use the money for enhanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requested by General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
Appearing yesterday before the panel that has yet to act, Gates told the House defense appropriations subcommittee that the budget shift is “a matter of grave concern and urgency” for the safety of U.S. soldiers. “We should not put American lives at risk to protect specific programs or contractors,” Gates said.
Florida Republican Representative C.W. “Bill” Young, the subcommittee chairman, said the committee needs to examine the Pentagon’s rationale more closely before acting, because the Army previously said it needed the vehicles.
It seems our congress-critters are not willing to pull the plug on their biggest donor’s companies even if it’s for products our military doesn’t need or want. go here for more…
Allison Stanger was on the Daily Show the other night, discussing her book, One Nation Under Contract. I can’t wait to read her book. She said that roughly half of the “forces” in the two wars are private contractors who pay their troops much more than soldiers in the military. Of course, the private contractors are being paid with taxpayer dollars. It’s all part of the continuing effort to privatize everything. In order to keep the war going, we are funneling money to the taliban. It’s war that will never end because it would put these contractors out of business. In the meantime, our leaders are balancing the budget on the backs of the middle class in order to keep supporting the wars. Why waste money on schools and healthcare when we can better use that money to support Halliburton and the rest of them?
Things are progressing in Libya. Libya: Fierce day of raids and clashes signals shift to civil war | World news | The Guardian
Here are a few more links below. It looks like Gadaffi has been using children as soldiers. Which according to Save the Children, is itself a war crime. That info can be found on the live blog link below.
Live Blog – Libya March 4 | Al Jazeera Blogs
Fighting rages in Libya’s east – Africa – Al Jazeera English
And more on the war on women:
Texas Abortion Bill Advocates Think Women Are Idiots | The Stir
This seems encouraging.
Egypt’s new PM cheered in Tahrir Square – CSMonitor.com
That’s nice to know there’s some progress being made in Egypt.
There is some violent protests at the moment in Alexandria :
fouad_marei Fouad GM
by seisa85
Reports: #army intervening in Fara’ana between #SS HQ and protesters besieging the building #jan25 #egypt #alexandria. Any confirmation?
The SS stands for state security building. It’s a building with dubious history.