Carl Gibson writes: "By simply creating a new WPA-style jobs program we could lower the unemployment rate by several points, rebuild 20th-century infrastructure and accommodate the needs of a 21st-century society. But until we come together to elect leaders that will take that step, all we can do is pray. Maybe Rick Perry can help out with that."
People wait in line at an unemployment office. (photo: Enid Alvarez)
America Is Crumbling: Hire Us to Fix It
19 August 11
Reader Supported News | Perspective
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he drought in Texas today is so severe that this month the city of Kemp shut off the city's water, leaving hundreds of people in the small North Texas town without a basic necessity for two days. Kemp's pipes haven't been updated since the 1930s. Consecutive weeks of 100-degree days have increased demand on the city's water system, making water more scarce as pipes break down. But as our public infrastructure crumbles, so does the spirit of the unemployed and underemployed as they face the harshest economy in memory.
Though this Great Recession lies on the verge of becoming a depression, the private sector has been growing jobs in line with normal expectations during an economic recovery. The real drag on job growth is in declining public sector employment. Our unemployment crisis is a direct result of budget cuts handed down by state and federal lawmakers.
Whether private or public sector, when more people are out of work in a consumer economy, demand for goods and services inevitably goes down. And with less demand, businesses have no choice but to lay off workers. We need jobs to fully recover, but jobs won't come about until demand picks up. Demand won't pick up until people have money to spend. So why are our leaders hell-bent on cutting public-sector jobs when we need them most?
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is being lauded as a job creator in the midst of recession. But as Paul Krugman pointed out this week, those jobs were a result of population growth, not Perry's anti-government economic philosophy. The same governor who told Glenn Beck that the government doesn't create jobs was in charge while 47% of all government jobs were added in his state. And the bulk of these jobs were in public education and healthcare - two sectors that will be forced to lay off tens of thousands due to Perry's draconian budget.
Rather than cut recklessly, Perry and other GOP leaders should recognize the necessity for public sector job growth, and put people back to work by rebuilding our cities. 75 years ago FDR put 8.5 million Americans to work rebuilding our cities with an $11 billion investment. The jobs created through the Works Progress Administration put nearly a quarter of America's unemployed back to work in the middle of a crippling depression. During the WPA's 8-year stint America's unemployment rate decreased from 20% to 4%. Adjusted for inflation, a similar investment today would be roughly $1.7 trillion. That sounds costly, but there are two easy solutions.
A financial speculation tax on Wall Street bankers who deal in risky, abstract financial instruments like credit default swaps and derivatives could raise $1.5 trillion in ten years. Closing tax loopholes that enable multinationals like Bank of America and GE to dodge billions in taxes every year could generate another $1 trillion in a decade. What better way to dig ourselves out of this recession than by taxing the same corrupt bankers and corporate tax-dodgers who caused this crisis in the first place?
By simply creating a new WPA-style jobs program we could lower the unemployment rate by several points, rebuild 20th-century infrastructure and accommodate the needs of a 21st-century society. But until we come together to elect leaders that will take that step, all we can do is pray. Maybe Rick Perry can help out with that.
Carl Gibson, 24, of Lexington, Kentucky, is a spokesman and organizer for US Uncut, a nonviolent, creative direct-action movement to stop budget cuts by getting corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. He graduated from Morehead State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Journalism before starting the first US Uncut group in Jackson, Mississippi, in February of 2011. Since then, over 20,000 US Uncut activists have carried out more than 300 actions in over 100 cities nationwide. You may contact Carl at carl@rsnorg.org.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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By the way, MainStreet, I always thought it was "Lush Rambo," but it doesn't matter. Shakespeare had it right, a Rush by any other name would still stink up the airwaves.
If Rush had a brain,..... instead of the drug mush, in his scull....He would know that if Lewis and the other marchers had guns, they would have been shot.
Rush would have liked that I think. He is always inciting to violence....Scu m.
Every time we respond to one of his insane dialogs we inadvertently fuel the fire.
I was warned about the danger of arguing with a lunatic, I was told that a third party might mistake me for a madman as well.
Let the fool stew in his own juices and pray for a heart attack.
John Lewis need not stoop to that level it is undignified.
Another must-read is "The Children" by David Halberstam. They knew that non-violence was the only viable approach. To have had guns would only have given the police an excuse for mass murder in "self defense."
Dr. King and those who followed him knew better. They knew they must not give anyone "an excuse". So they didn't. Who is more brave: the armed man who cracks an unarmed man's skull or the unarmed man who walks up to that armed man knowing his skull may well end up cracked?
Rush Limbaugh, please go away. You said you would go to Costa Rica. We'll take care of your airfare. Just go. Or at least put down that microphone.
It would appear that Lintball's purpose is to spread hate and divisiveness. He attacks this nation's heros. Where does he come from?
Costa Rica is too good for him (and has universal health care). More like Honduras, Colombia or better still Paraguay, next to e the Bush compound.
And he is wealthy enough to take care of his own airfare; agree with you but like a truly virulent virus, he is hard to budge and there are plenty others of his ilk in the US.
Rush, Get thee to the Jersey Shore for a swim.
Actually the Panthers were crushed and jailed, their lives destroyed.
Only because the Black Panthers were black.
There should be no argument whatsoever that that man doesn't contribute to the health of this country and that he should be held accountable. If there was a rebuttal after every show, or he would actually have someone with an opposing view on, where he lets them talk, it might be a different matter. But propaganda can't work with opposition.
From what I've listened of Limbaugh, he never even lets a caller that opposes him on the air for long, and when one slips through, he is vicious & crude. I don't think we can reason with someone like that. Someday Rush will be remembered as trash. (Rich, greedy trash, but trash.)
John Lewis should be treated like the national treasure that he is, and how he will be remembered, as a hero., not only that, but we should let him know how much we appreciate what he did for his people and the country.
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American mass media company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and B. J. "Red" McCombs, the company was taken private by Bain Capital, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners in a leveraged buyout in 2008; as a result, the company now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of CC Media Holdings, Inc.
Contrast this with a highly paid coward who hides behind a microphone in a nice, warm, safe studio and won't even DEBATE anybody with half a brain, never mind stand up and be counted in public against injustice but in fact helps to perpetrate it. And he gets heard on most of Clear Channels hundreds of robotic stations nationwide.
I've been jailed and beaten on protests and rallies quite a few times in my youth and not-so-youth but had a hot temper, no bloody sense and fought like Hell until either beaten unconscious or subdued by cops and cuffs. I just don't know how Rep Lewis, King and the others did it, and they had it a lot harder than I will ever know.
That's real strength, as is Leonard Peltier in Max security prison for F.B.I. revenge only, and still sane after 37 years.
These folks are the saints of our time.
Sorry, I hit the wrong thumbs button -meant it to be a green one. Aging is a bitch!
Any armed opposition by Blacks to change the society would have been seen as an uprising / riot and the perfect excuse for those in power and content on maintaining the status quo to gun them down.
was what started as a Racial March on downtown Tulsa. Some of the Blacks were armed some not and what started
as a peaceful march became a race riot and the National Guard was called out. Unarmed Blacks were shot and killed as well as armed and major parts of the city were burned.
It took close to 50 years for Race Relations to be somewhat mended.
What a class response from Rep. Lewis!
Any attempt to challenge them leads them to dig their heels in, and get angry. Fear does that to people.
LETTER to the EDITOR-- MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
Let's look at what we have learned from this election:
Twenty-one of 22 incumbent senators were re-elected, and 353 of 373 incumbent members of the House were re-elected. The American people have re-elected 94 percent of the incumbents who were running for re-election to an institution that has an approval rating of about 9 percent. This indicates, as an electorate, we are a nation of idiots. We're now stuck with the useless, dysfunctional government that we deserve.
You can't fix stupid......... ..........
Your assessment of the state of electoral politics is right on the mark, with this additional bit of crazy fact: only 50% of the eligible voters take the opportunity to vote. Can you imagine what would happen if 100% of eligible voters actually voted? I'm going for a 100% because I believe that if I'm going to imagine I'm going to imagine BIG!
We have been living the script of "1984" since January 1981 when the former host of "Death Vally Days" took on his finest role as B picture actor, in his longest running, best scripted, sublimely directed epic titled "POTUS."
I firmly believe that the free popcorn we were given to watch this saga was laced with something that was detrimental to our health and well-being, and enabled our national soul to be sold to the highest bidder.
The NRA, Limbaugh and much of the political/relig ious right wing of America are deluded if they really think guns would have been anything but incendiary. Not only are they dim witted in their literalist interpretation of Bible and Constitution but also they lack the creative imagination to foresee disaster - as in Vietnam, as in Iraq, even as in imagining the disaster of MLK with a gun.
The Black Panthers did exercise their Second-Amendmen t Rights, They sent carloads of riflemen to follow police cars on patrol to discourage racist brutality. They claimed the police were a foreign army of occupation and demanded to patrol their own streets as a volunteer militia.
But they did not gain much traction in the Black Community or the general public and their armed resistance position did not prevail over the use of nonviolent means of protest.
Haven't seen or heard him in years!
So I am fascinated by how a slave should have managed to buy a gun? Who would have sold it to him in the community he was enslaved in? Would his owner be so "liberal" as as to say to his slaves, "Go ahead and buy guns if you wish."
I am often told to stop insisting that right wingers were raised by their parents to ignorant fools. If that is true how did they get that way? How is it they are oblivious to the obvious disconnect between being a slave and being a gun owner? Would slavery have been possible? Should each slave have been issued a musket as soon as he set foot on noth American soil? Bah Humbug!
This is an incredibly crass, stupid and racist statement to make. Showing no understanding of history or humanity.
This walking talking malignant tumor of adipose tissue that masquerades as a quote human unquote being possesses neither the courage to appear at said bridge unarmed nor the intelligence to see its necessity.
Kick back and pop another oxy fatboy, it could only serve to widen your untelligence.
Rush is possibly all of the above, but he clearly provides entertainment/" truth" to any number of good folks in small towns and rural communities. Decent people, even, who believe in the dangers he spouts and his ideas. They don't know better - or just don't want to find out more. But some of us do end up "fact checking" and no longer listening.
This perhaps is the last true area that needs serious work, the rights of the POOR as to escape thebonds of poverty (and thus not be poor any longer)!
Our lack of gun control is definitely allowing guns to get into the wrong hands
Of parents preferring to be friends rather than disciplinarians and allowing the schools to treat their children as criminals & using the criminal justice system instead of parenting to discipline children who are only doing what children are suppose to do in the process of becoming adults, test the limits.
The economy is also at fault forcing parents to work instead of caring for their children.
We need to re think our nation determine what is important. Is it more important to fund drones attacks, assassinations, multiple war, militant terrorist mercenaries, colonizing of sovereign nation to enhance corporate profits, punish nation for refusing to follow USA policy or for overthrowing USA puppet government or should we be funding schools, health care, infrastructure, creating jobs in USA rebuilding our crumbling nation so that our children can have a home where at least 1 parent is available for advice & discipline when required.
It's time the 99% were given the choice in the direction of this nation not the 1% wealthy rulers.
It's time to end corporate USA & the militaries quest to conquer the world using our taxes to fund it.
How many more children must die or become murderers before we as a nation take action to return us to civility?
He will say what makes him look good, or, at least, doesn't make him look bad. As has been said, most people love the lie (or half-truth) that saves their pride, but never the unflattering truth.
His audience must be in need of having their egos stroked. Flattery would gain no traction with those listening were it not for the vanity and ignorance of the listener.
He is BEYOND mentaly ill, his brain (if one could conceivably call that grain of wheat size brown matter between his ears a 'brain', I suppose one is entitled to their opinion!) is decrepit, ailing, full of dementia, and simply out of order, a sad malfunctioning unit!
Really, he has no business ever to have been on the air in his pathetic but sad mental state.
Rush, PLEASE! You may leave the studio now -- uh... for good! Allow me to show you the soundproofed door! Thank you Rush for all the vile mental poisoning you have spewed out contributing to the air pollution out there over the years!
The mere thought gives me the strange, dual, simultaneous feeling of both disgust and glee. I could live with that...no problem!
Guns are not weapons of peace. Putting guns into the hands of more people will not stop gun violence.
Even the sanest person can snap. Family problems, job loss, financial problems, classroom of rowdy children, resentment, harassment,envy , illness or death can suddenly be to much to bear. Even the most devote religious person can snap. There is no way to predict who or when some one will lose it & choose a gun to solve the problem.
We need a national reset where violence & killing are not acceptable. We must return to a time of respect, where children are taught to respect their elders. Where parents are in charge & violence is punished not glorified.
We must change our governments approach to dissent. End drone attack, assassination, torture, funding of militant terrorist & wars for profit. We must end the dehumanizes peoples of different religions or national origins by our military.
The USA is not under threat if it has enemies it is due to the unjustified military actions to impose USA & USA corporate will on other nations. To replace the leadership & economic policy in order to expand USA corporate control over natural resources of the world.
It is time our taxes were spent at home rather than funding corporate expansion.
It's time to end the influence of Limbaugh & other like him replacing them with truth