This week’s job numbers were not good. The nation created roughly zero jobs, which is actually worse (as Robert Reich correctly points out) because we need 125,000 new jobs in America just to keep up with population growth. So we are falling further behind.
The sad thing is that if the Obama Administration had listened to actual qualified economist like Paul Krugman and Jospeh Stiglitz, this might have been avoided. Both argued that the Stimulus package included too little government spending, and that the effects of the stimulus would fizzle right about now. Both men have earned my respect for how accurately their predictions have been over the years, and yet they are ignored by those who could truly benefit from their sagacity.
And this brings me to something that I realized recently while speaking to some new friends about our economic woes. When industry won’t or can’t step up and demand is insufficient to drive the economy, the government has to step up. It is the demand generator of last resort.
Of course, the low-octane intellects in government and the punditry will echo cries of “Socialism!” but let’s stop and consider that for a moment.
Most people on all sides of the debate agree that it was World War II that drove a stake through the heart of the Great Depression. But what is often left unsaid is what that meant for us as a nation. Most of the men between the ages of 18 and 35 were in a military force run by the government. They got their paychecks from Uncle Sam. If Socialism is “control of the means of production by the state”, consider that during the war most American manufacturers took their orders from the government. They were told what to manufacture, when to make it, how much, and what they would be paid for it. Government even told each civilian how much food or fuel were allowed to purchase. Everyone had ration books to ensure that nobody went without.
In other words, in order to win World War II, the United States essentially transformed itself into a socialist nation. And after the war, government spending on free college educations for GIs and excellent deals on home loans launched an unrivaled era of prosperity and economic growth.
Socialism works: just ask Wall Street.
This week President Obama is supposed to give a major speech on jobs. More and more economists see a double-dip in this ongoing Depression (I refuse to insult the intelligence of my readers by calling this a “recession”) and as far as I can see the only way out is to resurrect American jobs and restore our capacity to make things that put people to work. Sadly, my observations of this President do not give me cause for optimism. I hope I’m wrong. But if he doesn’t step up, then we must find ways to rebuild our communities ourselves, one co-op, one neighborhood, one town, one county and state at a time.
