Here Come The Jobs

HERE COME THE JOBS

The economists, pundits, media-types and every Republican lawmaker can say what they want but in the end, the President will receive the credit if the good news of JOBS keeping posting similar results in the months ahead.  Today’s job report was indeed good news not only for President Obama but for every American worker.  Nine percent unemployment has been like Groundhog Day for months and seeing it drop with November’s announcement is great news.  We all know that the official unemployment number is never truly an accurate one but nevertheless, we have finally broken free of the 9% level.

8.6% unemployment isn’t anything to write home about, as my father would say, but it’s a movement in the right direction.  The additional good news also was that September and October’s job growth was better than what was announced at the beginning of November.   Although these numbers are not significant when you consider the millions of Americans still out of work and the additional millions who have stopped looking for work, they are just one more sign that some of the current economic pressures are softening. 

Not out of the woods by any means but certainly a good step in the right direction.  Couple these numbers with the surprising Black Friday shopping spree that Americans went on, the sudden shift in the position of Republicans regarding the payroll tax cut and all of a sudden things look just a little brighter on the horizon for our economy.  If the jobs number continues to decrease incrementally over the course of the next eleven months, President Obama will easily win re-election.  Unemployment was at 7.8% when President Obama took office and the closer he gets to that number, the likelihood of his re-election becomes stronger. 

What was also appealing about the November jobs report was that most of the new jobs came from the private sector.   More have to be created going forward as state and local governments continue to cut back and eliminate workers from their payrolls.  Look for the President to take full advantage of this small decline in the unemployment rate to continue his rhetoric for parts of his Jobs bill, unemployment compensation and the payroll tax cut.  His message seems to be breaking through on some level as the Republicans are conceding that the payroll tax cut would make a difference for the economy and the American worker.       

With the Christmas season upon us, more good news ahead would be about the best present we all could receive. 

"Reasonable" - "Adult Conversation" How Stupid Do They Think We Are?

Reasonable.  That's the favorite new word shared by our legislators to describe their party's efforts for debt reduction.  If I've heard it once, I've heard it a hundred times by Debt Reduction Committee members and other lawmakers describing  their efforts.  Reasonable.  The word's simplest definition is moderate or fair.  Unreasonable seems to be more descriptive of their efforts.  Extreme and excessive are two words that are used in the dictionary to inform you of what reasonable isn't. 

Months ago, in the midst of the debt ceiling debate, these same legislators were talking about needing to have an "adult conversation".  At that time, there was nothing adult about their conversation.  Like today, there is nothing reasonable about their efforts.  Reasonable and adult conversation do indeed go together but they do not describe what our lawmakers are doing in Washington, D.C.  How stupid do these people think we are? 

My guess is that they think we are pretty stupid.  These meaningless phrases and words are so condescending.  They talk about the millions of Americans who are jobless.  They talk about the thousands and thousands of American families who have lost their homes.  They talk about our national debt and how we must make changes.   All empty words.  If any of these lawmakers were working side by side with you or me, accountable to the companies we work for, they would all lose their jobs for not performing.  When was the last time you told your boss that you were being "reasonable" but unfortunately your co-worker wasn't and as a result the job you were working on together isn't done.  How long would you have your job?

I describe our lawmakers as inept, incompetent, extreme, child-like and absolutely pathetic.  If they worked for you or me, we would fire them.  Let them file for unemployment.  Let them lose their health insurance.  Let them watch their homes be foreclosed.  Let them experience the hopelessness that so many of our American families are experiencing today.  Maybe then they would understand what reasonable really is.  Maybe then, they would understand what an adult conversation really is.  This Congress has accomplished very little.  They have passed very few acts of legislation.  They have failed us at a time when we have needed them to be reasonable and adult-like. 

The ironic thing is, these lawmakers do work for you and me.  We are the ones that put them in their positions of responsibility.  We can fire them.  Maybe not right away but we do have the power to fire them come election time.  Somehow we need to send them the message that doing nothing about job creation, reestablishing home values and paying down our national debt is not negotiable.  They need to get reasonable.  They need to start acting like adults.  They need to get something done.  If not, we need to fire them.