Rant: The Jobs!! Part II

Yesterday I had a blogsplosion. I erupted at the idiots in both parties and the media who claimed that the deficit was oh so very important. And who, at the same time, said that jobs, well they’re going to pivot to jobs (what a reptilian metaphor) someday once the flashing, beeping red-alert about the so-called national deficit emergency (NDE) has been extinguished. And who would slay this debt dragon? The legislation set up its own blue ribbon collection (BRC) of very well dressed, very nicely coifed people, all of whom flunked Econ. Deck chairs, meet the Titanic. And if the BRC fail? Ah. Then the NDE will be “solved” automatically on the backs and on the kitchen tables and hospital beds of the poorest Americans. This stick (is it really some else’s carrot?) assures that the BRC will work and negotiate and compromise and fix the NDE. What a pathetic, cynical joke. Repeating it is enough to make me explode (again). What kind of moron thought of this?

Today, after I calmed down a little bit (thank you PBR), I watched philosophically as the Stock Market fell 519.98 points to 10,719.79, reflecting my view, and the assessment of investors that the US economy was not in very good hands and that NDE wasn’t the big problem du jour. Nope. Nor was Europe the big problem de hoy. No. The big problem, the obvious, enormous, peanut breathed problem filling the entire room is that the economy is contracting, and Congress and the President are clearly taking steps to make it, wait for it, contract even faster. I suspect that Warren Buffet’s AAAAAAA rating of the US economy might need some serious revision. Maybe the President’s Economic Advisers should be given a D in macroeconomics. I also suspect that investors (many of whom passed Econ 101) know that the light at the end of this particular tunnel is really the looming double dip depression freight train highballing this way at full throttle. In fact, they probably know that the train is accelerating and is now way ahead of schedule for the next station stop because it’s not the NDE that’s the problem, it’s the lack of jobs. They know that there are no jobs. And they know that the Government is moving to contract the economy so that there will be even fewer jobs. And they know that persistent, long term unemployment is going to become a continued fact of life impoverishing the United States. Why? Because nobody in Government is moving to do what? To create jobs. They’re on a fool’s errand about NDE, something that is almost totally irrelevant. I hear my voice rising, I can tell that frogs and toads are again going to start leaping out of my mouth and that I’m going to make even great use of the 12-letter M curse. I know. I know. This is, after all, a “family blog.” Let me just repeat my point clearly and unemotionally and slowly: it’s jobs that are needed and the Government is taking steps that contract the economy and actually make there be fewer jobs.

I don’t want to obscure this next point by again dramatically setting my hair on fire and screaming curses and spinning my head all the way around as I did yesterday. No. I want to try to remain calm. Controlled. Analytical. Credible, if you will. While the commentators and bipartisan politicians are explaining how the BRC will fix the NDE, maybe you’ve noticed that there’s an important question that’s not being asked of them. That question is this:

“Let’s leave out the fuzzy math and talk about the concepts for a second. Assuming that the NDE is “fixed” by dramatic reductions in Government spending (or increased revenue or both), leading to a contraction in the size of Government, how exactly will fixing the NDE lead to more jobs? Can you explain to me how that will happen?”

Nothing said in response to this question will make any sense. I guarantee it. Why? Because ending the NDE will not create jobs. Not a single one. It will contract the economy and the result will be even fewer jobs. You think 9.2% official unemployment is high? Hah. You ain’t seen nothing yet. If the Government were trying to set a world record for unemployment stats, these policies are the very ones they should continue to follow.

I know. I know. It’s so dismal. It’s so depressing. There’s no hope here, no change. It’s a disaster. Don’t you feel like Chicken Little? There’s nothing that can be done. Wrong. There is something.

The President and the Congress have to pivot (their word, not mine) and say in words or substance,

“This isn’t working. We’re not doing what we need to do to grow the economy and to create jobs. And now we’re going to do it, even though we were embarked on a different course before now.”

Are they going to say that this week? Not likely. But that’s not the end of this either. Maybe you and I should be going all out to demand that they pass a real jobs bill, one with a real stimulus, one that will really bring jobs back. Maybe this is something worth fighting about. I think it is.

Rant: The Jobs!!

Please forgive me in advance for this rant. I am trying to “take care of my anger,” as Thich Nhat Hanh teaches, but I’m failing. My hair is totally on fire, and every time I open my mouth firey red toads and pimpled orange frogs jump out. I find myself shouting. At the radio, at the TV, at the computer. I find myself calling people defamatory names wrapped in vast streams of expletives and insults. This is not good, enlightened Buddhist behavior. I apologize for it. My frustration with the prevailing stupidity has taken my breath away and turned me at long last into a complete raving lunatic.

The short of this (if I can stop yelling and calm down at all): Unemployment is at 9.1 per cent this week, down from 9.2 per cent the week before. That is not an improvement because the .1% doesn’t keep up with population growth. You can package this .1% manure as a gift and cover it with whipped cream, but it’s never going to be a dessert. We need jobs. Badly. And we need to cut the barnyard excrement about that and focus on making jobs.

We need jobs. I turn on the television and I see the President and the commentators and the well dressed, nice haircut people of both parties linking arms and saying together that the big problem is the deficit. And that poor and middle class people need to do their fair share (what a joke) so that the deficit can be closed. And we'll have a "balance approach" to the deficit. If the deficit were eliminated, they sing, things would be so much better. What? Are you (expletive deleted) kidding me? They have to be kidding, don’t they? Evidently not. It’s a cruel, stupid, unpalatable, evil joke. And it is arrant stupidity. If spending is cut, the economy shrinks, and guess what, jobs are lost. Cutting the deficit is not job creation, it is just the opposite. Cutting the deficit does NOT create jobs. I curse the TV, turn it off, and stomp over to my faithful computer.

I turn to the Internet. I see that Sen. McCaskill (no, I’m not giving her a link) admits that there’s not going to be a jobs bill in Congress this year. Yeah, we need jobs, but we can’t do a jobs bill. Well, why not? Because spending money, any money, even money guaranteed to create jobs cannot pass the present Congress. No? Why not? Because the consensus is that the problem is the deficit, and since taxes cannot be raised (no, no, no) spending has to be cut. There you have it. How else, they question, are we going to fix the deficit? So, long story extra short, we cannot spend money to create jobs, because when we spend money it increases the deficit. Let me repeat: Cutting the deficit is not job creation, it is just the opposite. I push my chair away from the keyboard. I throw the wireless mouse on the floor. I use the all-purpose 12-letter M curse. Loudly. I mutter various obscenities. The dog hides under the table. I look in vain for a beer in the refrigerator.

I find myself yelling at the beerless refrigerator. The 12-letter M curse first. Loud. Again. Then more muttering: Did all of these (expletive deleted) people decide not to take Economics 101? Or did they just (expletive deleted) flunk it? Or are they in the thrall, the evil trance of the (many, many expletives deleted) Chicago School of Voodoo Economics? Look, I’m no Paul Krugman (you can sure as dung say that again), but it’s quite clear: the Government has to spend money, a lot of money if it is going to spur job creation. It’s that simple. In other words, the Government has to do exactly the opposite of what Obama and the Congress and the commentators and the media are all saying in unison needs to be done.

Forget the (expletive deleted) deficit. Just forget about it. Completely. Spend money, doesn’t matter where you get it, to create good jobs. I’m not trying to be contrarian. No. I’m just screaming at the world, at me, at the TV, the refrigerator and the computer, that if jobs are ever going to be increased in the US of A, the Government’s only effective, proven strategy is fiscal policy and that, amig@s, means spending money. All this hoo hah about the Fed, about monetary policy is all very nice. A day late, more than a dollar short. And far too weak to break the current phase of long term unemployment and economic contraction. The deficit and “fixing” it by slashing government spending is a sure way to increase unemployment. Did you hear that, I'm yelling? You're going to make it worse you (string of expletives deleted).

If the Government would spend enough money to stimulate the economy (as compared to the (expletive deleted) token barnyard excrement bills it has passed recently) and really get unemployment down to a couple of pathetic percentage points, that itself it would generate enough taxes to start closing the deficit. And we wouldn't have to continue this stupid debate about how to decrease the deficit: cut spending, increase taxes, balance approach, etc etc. We could focus on something that is urgently needed and will alleviate vast oceans of suffering. We could focus on jobs.

Please. I’m noticing that I’m starting to yell again. I have to breathe audibly to keep from shouting at the keyboard. Let me try. Put simply: job creation is how to fix the deficit. And to create jobs the Government needs to spend money. It is that simple. Anybody who contradicts this is quite simply and most assuredly wrong.

I feel my face turning red. I feel that my breathing is too fast. My hair is on fire. It’s as if I were in a room with 250 million people and I’m the only one who speaks only Spanish. All the other people speak other languages, but no Spanish. This is frustrating. I cannot understand why raising my voice and shouting and screaming and banging on the table doesn’t make what I’m saying comprehensible. Undeterred, I yell on. I’m well aware that this is the definition of insanity, but know what? I don’t know what else to do.

Look, Ma, No Spending!

Please excuse my brevity. Please riddle me this, if you can: if the US Government cannot raise taxes and has no additional money to spend for an economic stimulus program and/or job programs, how exactly can the government address the current chronic joblessness?

Maybe you have an answer. My tentative answer: it cannot. The unemployed and those who will soon be unemployed are screwed. The Government has made it impossible to spend its way to job creation. And there is no other job creation device.

I omit the stats that show how dire unemployment is in the US. That just makes this problem a quantitative one. It doesn’t address the lack of a program, the lack of a plan, the lack of an idea. Let’s focus, if we can stand to do so, on the concepts. This is really nothing more than Economics 101. The Government is cutting spending and is now committed to decreasing its spending. It is not raising taxes. Where, if anywhere, can it get the funds to spend to get people employed? Answer: sadly, it cannot.

John Maynard Keynes is rolling over in his grave. If the Government cannot spend funds to create a stimulus program, or a WPA or a CCC, or even to sustain unemployment insurance benefits to those who are chronically unemployed and will exhaust their benefits, and if interest rates are already really, really low so that monetary policy provides no solution whatsoever, exactly how does the US Government address unemployment? My answer: it cannot. It has emasculated itself.

You may disagree. You may think that somehow, remarkably, Democrats or economists in general have a silver bullet that will turn the unemployment statistic around. And create jobs. And end the suffering. I don’t believe that. What am I missing? My answer: not very much.

I hate to get ahead of myself. What’s the answer to the question I’m posing. And why aren’t unemployed people and their allies (namely, me) marching on Washington?