Time To Get Real
The Politics
As you know, the current political debate is too focused on phony solutions (e.g., offshore oil drilling) and irrelevancies (e.g., Paris Hilton). All of us in the progressive movement share a responsibility to move substance to the center stage. As in 1992, “it’s the economy, stupid.”
Pollster Celinda Lake tells us that 44 percent of Americans say they know someone who lost their job in the past 12 months—an astounding figure. Wages aren’t keeping up with the costs of basics, like food and gas. The economy has shed almost 500,000 jobs so far this year and conditions are going to get worse. The key issue in 2008, Lake reports, is clearly the economy. Although conservatives in Washington are still in denial, Americans strongly believe that our nation is now in a recession. MORE…
The Unemployment rate was 5.7 percent for the month of July, a four-year peak. The inflation rate for the 12 months ending in July was 5.6 percent, the highest rate in 17 years. Analysts at the Economic Policy Institute warn that both unemployment and inflation will increase.
There are four press opportunities in September and October to re-raise the issues of unemployment and inflation. New unemployment figures will be released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on September 5 and October 3. New inflation rates will be released by the same agency on September 16 and October 16.
New poverty statistics will be released by the U.S. Census Bureau on August 26. Because this data was collected in 2007, before the current economic misery, they’ll probably make the economy look a bit better than it really is. But the report will likely also show that even more Americans have become uninsured and that the median wage—which reflects the wages of most working people—is continuing to decline.
The State of Working America will be released by the Economic Policy Institute on Labor Day. It will provide a wealth of information to illustrate the serious flaws in the Bush-conservative economy. We will forward you a range of materials on that very soon.
Progressive Solutions
Challenge Conservative Denial on the Economy
As the New York Times pointed out yesterday and as Americans certainly agree, we can’t delay efforts to get the economy moving. Conservatives are posturing on oil drilling—which won’t have any effect for a decade or more—but they are standing in the way of a serious package to kick start the economy, saying it’s “premature.” They still won’t accept the fact that this economy is sinking.
Progressives should demand that Congress get real and start work immediately on an effective economic growth program. Instead of one-time rebates, our economic growth policy should put people to work, and keep people from being thrown out of work. That means investing billions in things we need here at home—repairing crumbling bridges and roads, fixing schools, and weatherizing buildings to save on energy. And it means providing resources to state and local governments to forestall the deep cuts in police, firefighters, teachers and state construction projects that would worsen the recession and spread unemployment even further. MORE…
It is time to stop the posturing on gambits that won’t work. It’s time to start working on the strategies that are vital to our economy. See the Economic Policy Institute’s A Plan to Revive the American Economy.
