Day 64
Dear Mr. President,
Tomorrow is Sunday and a ‘Do or Die’ day for you, the Presidency, and the Democrats, and Independents that sent you to the White House to do the ‘peoples’ work. Ostensibly it’s about whether to raise taxes or not… whether to end subsidies or not… and whether to cut Social Security or not and whether to raise the debt ceiling or go into default.
Supposedly all parties will come to the table ready to sacrifice and possibly give up something they have pledged not to give up. You’ve said that you are willing to put Social Security and Medicare on the table, but I haven’t heard one single Republican actually say they would favor raising taxes. I know and you know they won’t raise taxes and here’s why.
In facts are this, hundreds of Republicans have either signed or voiced their loyalty to Americans for Tax Reform President, Grover Norquist’s, The Pledge… The Pledge not to raise taxes under any circumstances. So my question is this… do you really think you are entering this final do or die phase on a level playing field? Because if you do, you’re sadly delusional, I’ve said it over and over again, “You cannot negotiate with Republicans.” Not under any circumstances!
But the deficit isn’t even the biggest problem facing this Nation, the core issue is clearly and unequivocally about unemployment! I know most of your economic advisors have left the White House and have not been replaced, leaving you extremely vulnerable to forces working against your every move. But that’s no excuse… many economists worry that the budget cuts will actually undermine the recovery process. Those budget cuts will affect the fiscal relief the states so desperately need to extend payroll cuts, spend on infrastructure, implement job creation, and get more money into the hands of the people.
With the bursting of the housing bubble and people losing their jobs, approximately $8 trillion dollars of ‘wealth’ simply disappeared and it hasn’t come back. So trillions of dollars that would have gone into the economy, has been lost, drying up the demand for goods and services. When the demand for goods and services drops more people lose their jobs and the vicious cycle continues. With more seniors unable to retire as originally planned, the jobs that would have become available to recent graduates, and young people, are not there.
The loss of public sector jobs is a huge obstacle, and 40% of private sector job gains have been canceled by job losses in the public sector, because the more government reduces spending on public jobs the greater the divide. While layoffs have slowed, new hiring is still 25% below the average in 2007. Many of the unemployed are no longer being counted and the unemployed periods per worker are lasting longer and longer. There is little improvement in part time worker status and wage growth remains low.
All of these things combined make for a ‘perfect storm’ that unless you change your focus from the debt ceiling/deficit to the unemployment issue, you’ll lose before you get in the door. The Republicans want to destroy you… they signed The Pledge, and they would rather plunge this country into a deeper depression than see you succeed. Those are the hard cold facts.
Most Respectfully,
Marcia Reimers
Your Gadfly Granny
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