According to forecasts by the Federal Reserve, U.S. unemployment will stand at a horrendous 9.5% at the end of 2010. That’s just about where unemployment stands today at 9.7%.
So I certainly understand why U.S. Senators and Representatives will want to hear from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke on the issue when he testifies in front of the House and Senate today and tomorrow, February 24 and 25.
And I’m sure that some member of Congress will ask Bernanke what the Fed intends to do about unemployment.
I’m betting that Bernanke won’t blow his top at the question but I sure wish he would.
An honest response would run along the lines of “What are we going to do about unemployment? Hey, what are you going to do about unemployment? Do you think the bill that the Senate just passed, the one you’re all so busy praising as a rebirth of responsible bipartisanship, is anything other than a bad joke on the American people? $15 billion in a Social Security payroll tax holiday to companies that hire workers that have been jobless for at least 60 days? That’s your solution for a $14.3 trillion economy where the Great Recession put 8 million people out of work? I thought the House bill at $154 billion was too small. But $15 billion?”
Bernanke could say that and more. The $15 billion bill would give companies a $1,000 per worker bonus if a new hire stays for a year. But it would not extend the current subsidy COBRA health insurance subsidy for workers who have lost their health insurance when they lost their jobs. (That program is due to expire on February 28.) It would not extend unemployment benefits for millions of workers facing an end to their benefits because they’ve been unemployed for too long. And it would not give any aid to states that are about to layoff tens of thousands of workers because of state budget shortfalls. And it won’t provide a significant amount of money to infrastructure projects.
The estimates I’ve seen from economists say that, at best, the Senate bill might create 200,000 to 250,000 jobs.
Okay, if you think the Federal government shouldn’t be in the business of jobs creation or is supposed to stay on the sidelines in what amounts of an economic crisis for millions of unemployed and their families, just say so. And reap the reward from voters who agree with your position or take the heat. Fair enough.
But please don’t pretend you think government should be doing this job when you’re doing everything you can to make sure that the part of government you belong to is doing just about nothing. There’s enough blame to spread around both parties. After all if almost all Republicans voted against the $15 billion Senate bill, the larger House effort just squeaked through a chamber dominated by Democrats.
Actually there’s one thing Mr. Bernanke could do to put an end to unemployment and a few other problems.
He could open the Fed’s books to audit and prepare to admit that the whole smoke-and-mirrors game it’s playing w/ fiat money is the “great inflation tax”.
Transparency and disclosure from the Federal Reserve – there’s a radical idea! Next thing you know, they’d acknowledge that the Austrian school of thought was right all along…
Here is the correct answer. ” Unemployment is going nowhere in the US. Corporate america has been given an opportunity (recession) to dump nonproductive employees most of whom were hired to satisfy some previous wonderful government programs. The same mistakes will not be repeated. And if it is demanded of these companies again to hire specific peoples in place of proven productive peoples and to succumb to union demands, profits will again disappear.” (You will notice that among the companies that did the least about employee costs were Chrysler and General Motors).
C-span 2/25/10 Repesentative DeLauro-D Conn., (New Haven) asked why the recent family farmer program only addressed the black family farmer and not the woman family farmer or other ethnic grps. (I guess it is obvious the white family farmer can do for himself)
C-span 2/25/10 Representative Woolsey-D Calif. Supports a bill that somehow rectifies the VA’s lack of support for black veterans. The VA is responsible for the high unemployment and low quality of life for this group and unfairly does neglect their lot. (I have been using the VA for years and believe me you don’t have to be anyone special to be neglected by the VA).
And listen, I know you all have been worried about our turtles here in Fl. You can stop fretting. Your federal govt built a $3,500,000.00 turtle tunnel in Tallahassee so they may cross the road safely. (just think of all the full time jobs that created. I can picture armed guards at each end of the tunnell collecting tolls). Unemployment? Who cares? We will just throw money at that problem too.
Our government at work. PLEASE vote responsibly.
@Grindy2424–Thank you 1000 times over. Ideologues elect ideologues, who have created our problems and refuse to fix anything. Obviously, there are plenty ideologue know-it-alls here.
The tea-baggers aren’t saying “no”, they’re saying “enough is enough”, and “you can’t fix a problem by applying the same drugs that cause the problem”–there’s a big difference here, but for some reason it’s extremely hard for some to see.
The problems of the Great Depression were larger than Hoover and FDR to stop. Suggesting someone “learn” something by spewing your own ignorant version is the problem. We can fight Keynes vs. Friedman all day long, or, we can see that the GD was decades in the making, and pretty much nothing was going to stop a global collapse. We can also decry the virtually meaningless Smoot-Hawley protectionism, or we can see the real protectionism was country after country debasing their currencies.
Hopefully, at the end of the day, we can finally place our biases aside and get back to our roots by seeing why America truly is great.
We’ll come out of the other side of this stronger and wealthier than ever if we don’t squander everything we have by digging a deeper hole that is to hard to climb back out of.
Carpe Diem.
One huge difference between then and now is that then, millions of people were marching in the streets demanding unemployment insurance and more government aid. Now, the people making a lot of noise are the tea-baggers, saying no to just about everything.
The US standard of living will be and is being affected. People need to spend less and save more. I know one needs to have a job to do so; but one didn’t when one could. People are sending money out of the US left and right because they know the $$ is going to loose value in about 1 to 2 years IF the jobs don’t come back. Also, Capito-socialism will be an outcome.
An interesting side comment on this debate…. Lot’s of disagreement between parties and arguing what is best. How about some research on the subject without pre-biases? Without that we become no better than the leaders we elect.
I think what we are seeing is a real arrogance of we know everything and the other side doesn’t. It isn’t so much a crisis of leadership, but our political system has destroyed something else…. Our ability to follow…. This is the real crisis…. When will we rally together? Honestly???? Before it’s too late?
We have so many great things that we don’t even realize. We have so many contradictions… The best of things and the worst of things.
People get frustrated about jobs…… But the very reason we have cheap supplies is because we have lost those jobs…. Want more jobs? Pay more for products… Will that make you happy? No….. What happened to America’s competitive advantage? Cause/effect….
bsvgd great post… I believe those are great works to start at understanding. The problem is in my opinion politics were much “cleaner” back then. Now there is more self interest.
Jim,
Keep stepping up to the plate and writing these articles.
Private industry is good at “baking the pie” called economic activity. Governments specialize in cutting the pie. Governments typically are clumsy bakers. But, if you want to get a bigger slice of the already baked pie, the place to go is the person holding the knife, not the rolling pin. Unfortunately, if the baker doesn’t get a big enough slice for himself, after a while he quits baking.
Since it’s very hard to find an American in Congress, is it any wonder that ‘ordinary’ americans are ignored and no solution provided?
Second, with Wall Street’s paradigm being ‘Greed is good.’ or ‘We’re doing god’s work.”, don’t look to the bankers for any solutions either.
specialcraig, good that you “wouldn’t hire any of the corporate bankers to fix the economy”, since they are not interested in fixing it, but in fat bonuses.
One Rooseveltian way to help people out of this dire situation, would be to see to it that most of them get a health coverage, on top of soup.