The state of the union is in need of repair
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr./NNPA Columnist
Issue date: 2/7/10 Section: Politics
(NNPA) - The state of America's union is stark. The economic collapse triggered by the bursting of the housing bubble continues to take its toll.
We know the statistics: nearly one in five American workers is unemployed or underemployed. That means wages are losing ground. One in three homes with a mortgage is under water. Millions of Americans are headed to losing their homes. That will leave families adrift, children displaced.
The desperate effort to keep the financial system from failing has succeeded. It has saved the big banks - leaving them more concentrated than ever - but not succeeded in removing the clot in financing. Small businesses can't get loans; homeowners can't get mortgages adjusted. Finance is like the blood of the economy. When there is a clot, the economy can't work and people suffer.
Republicans argue that the president's recovery plan has failed. Then they prescribe the same poison that created the breakdown in the first place. They want more top-end tax cuts, more breaks for business, more deregulation. We tried tax cuts under George W. Bush; it leads nowhere.
The reality is that the recovery plan created or saved millions of jobs. Aid to states and localities kept teachers and police from being laid off in large numbers. Spending on infrastructure helped put some to work. Investment in new energy created new jobs. Aid to the unemployed - extending unemployment benefits, subsidizing health care COBRA payments, and providing food stamps - put money into the pockets of those who need it most.
The problem with the president's plan - as any honest economist will tell you - is that it wasn't big enough. The collapse was far deeper than the president's economists predicted.
We need another big jobs program. Aid should go to states and localities that now face brutal cuts that will lay off teachers, police and professors. Public jobs programs - a green corps, an urban corps - should target hard-hit areas like the Midwest and urban centers. We should invest in infrastructure by repairing schools, weatherizing public buildings and creating the projects that will hire construction workers.
We know the statistics: nearly one in five American workers is unemployed or underemployed. That means wages are losing ground. One in three homes with a mortgage is under water. Millions of Americans are headed to losing their homes. That will leave families adrift, children displaced.
The desperate effort to keep the financial system from failing has succeeded. It has saved the big banks - leaving them more concentrated than ever - but not succeeded in removing the clot in financing. Small businesses can't get loans; homeowners can't get mortgages adjusted. Finance is like the blood of the economy. When there is a clot, the economy can't work and people suffer.
Republicans argue that the president's recovery plan has failed. Then they prescribe the same poison that created the breakdown in the first place. They want more top-end tax cuts, more breaks for business, more deregulation. We tried tax cuts under George W. Bush; it leads nowhere.
The reality is that the recovery plan created or saved millions of jobs. Aid to states and localities kept teachers and police from being laid off in large numbers. Spending on infrastructure helped put some to work. Investment in new energy created new jobs. Aid to the unemployed - extending unemployment benefits, subsidizing health care COBRA payments, and providing food stamps - put money into the pockets of those who need it most.
The problem with the president's plan - as any honest economist will tell you - is that it wasn't big enough. The collapse was far deeper than the president's economists predicted.
We need another big jobs program. Aid should go to states and localities that now face brutal cuts that will lay off teachers, police and professors. Public jobs programs - a green corps, an urban corps - should target hard-hit areas like the Midwest and urban centers. We should invest in infrastructure by repairing schools, weatherizing public buildings and creating the projects that will hire construction workers.
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