10.07.2009

Franklin Delano Obama

Mr. President should stop channeling Abraham Lincoln and start giving us a little FDR

Various administration spokespersons keep trying to convince us that the recession is over...that the country has turned the corner.

However, I don't buy it and neither does anyone else for that matter, especially since unemployment continues to climb. The official number is just under 10% out of work.

In addition there has been an under count going on since the days of Ronald Reagan when he announced that the government was no longer going to count those he termed unemployable or chronically unemployed. That move by Reagan immediately cut the official unemployment figure in half, from 8% down to 4%, and made him look good in the eyes of the majority.

It was a quick way to hide the real story of minority unemployment or white refusal at the time to hire Blacks, specifically, Black men. Unemployment for Black men, then as now, hovers around 30-40%, putting the onus of breadwinner permanently onto the backs of Black women. That was 30 years ago and continues today.

So the real unemployment figure today is more like 25% of the population.

Today, recession fueled layoffs and furloughs have resulted in Black women being let go, losing the gains that they've made in the workforce. For us it's always been last hired and first fired. A cycle that we as a people still can't seem to break.

With nobody working it means nobody is paying bills, paying taxes, or buying goods to keep this consumer driven economy functioning.

That's why we need a stimulus for working people. It was a mistake to give it to Wall Street and the automakers. GM should have been allowed to fail. Wall Street, well, they are hoarding the money, refusing to use it to stimulate the economy. However, they are still stimulating themselves with massive bonuses.

This recession might have been over had the government just given every American about $30,000 to spend as they see fit. Talk about a stimulus! It wouldn't have cost as much as TARP either.

In lieu of money....we need jobs....right now....not next year...

States are failing....Cities are verging on bankruptcy....

Yes, America is deeply in debt..but at this point the government needs to spend a lot more money in order to put people back to work quickly.

On roads.....on highways....on bridges....on schools....on infrastructure.....on bullet trains and light rail....on alternative energy projects....

There is an old saying.....”study long....you study wrong”

Obama needs to stop studying, make a decision, and then get it done.

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