Expanded public investment for job creation consumes 97 times its weight in excess political realism.
The high priests of financial austerity and tax cuts for the wealthy prefer private opulence and public squalor. They would rather let families languish in protracted unemployment while schools crumble, levees fail and bridges collapse.
Be realistic, demand the impossible -- living wage jobs for all!
"...5 million green jobs, national infrastructure bank, hybrid cars, solar panels, mass transit, energy-efficient housing, new Civilian Conservation Corps, universal broadband, pre-K, reading tutors, afterschool and home care for all."
"...In pointing out that we could be doing much more about unemployment, I recognize, of course, the political obstacles to actually pursuing any of the policies that might work. In the United States, in particular, any effort to tackle unemployment will run into a stone wall of Republican opposition. Yet that’s not a reason to stop talking about the issue. In fact, looking back at my own writings over the past year or so, it’s clear that I too have sinned: political realism is all very well, but I have said far too little about what we really should be doing to deal with our most important problem."
"As I see it, policy makers are sinking into a condition of learned helplessness on the jobs issue: the more they fail to do anything about the problem, the more they convince themselves that there’s nothing they could do. And those of us who know better should be doing all we can to break that vicious circle."
I am generally a fan of Ira Glass and "This American Life," but the recent piece they aired ("How to Create a Job"), that purported to answer whether government can create jobs, was pathetic and sad. And the reason seems to be that the NPR reporters seem so bracketed in by their oh-so-practical, centrist, neo-liberal Zeitgeist, they have drunk the Kool-Aid along with everyone else. They can't look outside the box, because they're in the box.
The teaser for the show says, "It seems like every politician has a plan for putting people back to work. But we and the Planet Money team couldn't help but wonder... how do you create a job? Can politicians truly create many jobs? Is it possible the whole thing is just well-intentioned hot air?"
Glass opens the piece by blowing off the idea of public investment in infrastructure -- without any analysis of whether it works or not.
“One of the big ways that politicians used to create jobs, the way FDR did it back in the 1930s, [was to] put more people on the payroll, build dams, build roads, spend and spend and spend – nobody, nobody with any power anyway, is talking about doing that..."
In the first segment, "Can Government Move My Cheese?" a Planet Money reporter examines the questionable claims of Gov. Scott Walker, who claims to be creating 250,000 jobs in the private sector.
This angle might be worthwhile, but the poor listener is left with the feeling that "government's" hands are tied when it comes to creating jobs. Reporter Chana Joffe-Walt winds up her piece by suggesting that there is little a governor can do to create jobs:
"...So in the meantime, politicians with a jobs number to achieve focus on the short-term. Republicans and Democrats hand out tax incentives to seduce employers into hiring. And of course, those goodies cost something. In Wisconsin, they account for $117 million in taxes, that will not be collected over Walker's first two year, and this in a state where they are fighting over every dollar. This leaves the government with less money to... spend on education so employers can hire smart people, to build good roads and infrastructure so businesses can transport goods, and innovate."
"If you go with tax cuts, you might seduce some employers to hire now, but you'll hurt future employers who needed you to spend on schools, so they can find educated workers to come up with great new ideas. If you go with long-term spending -- schools and Internet -- you have to increase taxes to pay for it, which can mean that businesses on that job-creation fence will be pushed to anti-job creating territory. In both cases, you've zeroed out your efforts. You've had some effect on the one side, but canceled it out with what you did on the other side."
"But that's the choice you have -- long-term or short-term. Whether the governor is Democrat or Republican, someone you love or someone you hate, politicians don't have a lot of options. At best, they'll get some jobs for the somersaults it took to get there. At worst, they had some impact, did something, but had no idea how to measure exactly what."
What's the problem here? Joffe-Walt isn't wrong to suggest that there are short-term vs. long-term tradeoffs, or that the value of public investment might take some time to be realized, such as she suggests, in the end of the governors' second term, or even later. But within the range of tax breaks, incentives and investments that are made by states in job creation, there is a wide variation in what actually works, and a lot of that actually could be measured -- something NPR might have learned about by talking to groups like Good Jobs First.
But an even bigger problem is that the overall piece is looking at the wrong end of the horse. With Glass' glib dismissal of the feasibility of infrastructure investment, Planet Money lets the Congress and the President off the hook for what the federal government actually can do to create jobs.
Within the spending choices that are made by Congress, there are direct tradeoffs made by deciding whether to fund military spending vs. education, or subsidies for oil companies vs. investments in clean energy. Those choices really could move the dial on whether we have jobs or not. For every $1 billion spent on the military, $1 billion spent on mass transit or education would create twice as many jobs. Spending $100 billion on clean energy and conservation investments would create 2 million jobs, and twice as many jobs as spending on investments in oil and fossil fuels. (Not to mention, the tradeoffs involved in granting tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, vs. making targeted infrastructure and social investments in a deep recession!) So that is point #1.
Second, the federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) did save and create many jobs, showing that expanded public investment in job creation does make a difference. A November 2010 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that as of the third quarter of 2010, the stimulus lowered the unemployment rate "by between 0.8 percentage points and 2.0 percentage points," and "[i]ncreased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.6 million. The stimulus bill has been criticized from the right as wasteful, but the truth is that broke the free fall of the economy and demonstrated that government can in fact save and create jobs.
Third, the problem for states right now is that because the state fiscal stabilization and Medicaid assistance funds in the ARRA are ending, they are collectively shouldering huge fiscal gaps that are actually leading to thousands of layoffs. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities reports that 44 states and the District of Columbia are projecting budget shortfalls totaling $112 billion for fiscal year 2012. One of the most important things that politicians could do to protect and grow jobs in this severe recession would be to extend financial aid to the states, to keep them from making deep cuts in education, health care and assistance for the unemployed. (You would think Planet Money might want to take note of this context, because the same governor they are reporting on, Scott Walker, who claims to be interested in creating jobs, is seeking to fire thousands of workers in the public sector.)
Fourth, direct public job creation by the federal government would likely be much more cost-effective than granting tax breaks or incentives to private companies. 1 million direct jobs a year could be created for a direct federal investment of $46 billion, according to Prof. Philip Harvey, author of Back to Work: A Public Jobs Proposal for Economic Recovery, published by Demos.
Fifth, why not interview Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, who are supporting Make It in America legislation to restore American manufacturing; or Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who has introduced a bill to create a federal infrastructure bank, or Rep. John Conyers, who has proposed establishing a national Full Employment Trust Fund by imposing a financial transactions tax on Wall Street; or Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who has proposed establishing a 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps. I guess they don't have any power... they're just members of Congress.
Or reach out to the Blue-Green Alliance, a coalition of obscure environmental and labor organizations like the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the United Steelworkers, and the United Auto Workers, which supports a ten-year program of federal investment in green energy and green manufacturing to create 5 million jobs. This is a program that would actually pay for itself through reduced costs for imported oil.
No, we'd rather look at the wrong end of the horse... and leave people with a sense that that there's nothing left for us but a fiscal crumb fight in the states, vague and unmeasurable statements by governors, and "well-intentioned hot air."
I like This American Life and think this report is worth listening to -- for all its flaws -- but it tells us something about how mainstream media is missing the boat about jobs. (Maybe, perhaps, because the reporters who work for NPR are in fact, not leftists.) And we're left with the implicit assumption that the role of government can only be to support the role of the private sector in job creation. It's all about education and human capital formation, never mind all the middle-aged, well-educated workers who have been spit out and left to twist in the wind by corporate America, and now -- public sector employers.
Almost comically, early on in this piece, Glass accuses Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research of engaging in "trope" by suggesting that job creation is more important that obsessing about the deficit.
"I mean, to my mind, it really is unconscionable just sit back and have people go, oh, we‘re worried about the deficit 10, 15, 20 years unite when we have 25 million people unemployed, underemployed or out of the labor force altogether... So, getting jobs in the economy really should be front and center."
Exactly right. Why not let Baker, or some other knowledgable economist like Joseph Stiglitz, make a full-throated defense of how public investment actually does create jobs? And how job creation actually is much more important than obsessing about the deficit?
Jobless recovery is an oxymoron, and at the current slow pace of job growth, we're unlikely to get out of it without some major initiative by government, -- yet this piece (which claims "we have answers") provides few ideas on how that could even conceivably take place.
Full disclosure: The writer of this post, Charles Bell, serves as vice chair for the National Jobs for All Coalition, which advocates a New Deal, FDR-style federal jobs program of exactly the type that Ira Glass thinks no one -- or at least no one with any power -- is willing to talk about.
While House Republicans have continued to focus on abortion-related legislation and the introduction of a 'JOBS Act' designed to make it easier for states to reduce U.I. benefits, Democrats in both chambers have re-launched the "Make It in America' domestic job-creation campaign.
'Make It in America', a phrase termed by House Minority Whip, Steny Hoyer (D-MD), is a comprehensive agenda that consists of multiple bills (several of w hich have already beens signed into law or bassed by the lower chamber) focusing on Trade, Taxes, Energy, Labor, Education, Intellectual Property (research & development) and Infrastructure.
Yesterday Colorado Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-7) released the following statement in support of 'Make It in America'.
"If We Make It in America, We Will Make it in America."
Washington, D.C.—Today, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) joined in support of the “Make It In America” agenda for the 112th Congress, a plan to support job creation today and in the future by encouraging businesses to make products and innovate in the US and sell them to the world through strengthening our infrastructure and supporting investments in key areas like energy and education innovation. This effort builds on House Democrats' actions to create jobs and continue growing the economy and focuses on investing in key priorities while cutting wasteful spending.
"If we make it in America, we will Make it in America," said Perlmutter. “Manufacturing continues to drive our economic recovery, and the best way to spur growth and reduce the debt is to get people back to work in good jobs making things in this country. I want to make sure we out-educate, out-innovate and out-build our competitors so we can strengthen American competitiveness, create jobs and ensure American workers can make it in America.”
Manufacturing supports an estimated 18.6 million jobs in the U.S. -- about one in six private sector jobs. This includes nearly 130,000 jobs in Colorado. The Make It In America agenda unveiled today encompasses a range of issues to help create an environment where manufacturers and small businesses can expand and create jobs here. The agenda:
Closes tax loopholes that encourage outsourcing U.S. jobs overseas;
Provides hometown tax credits to help small businesses hire new employees and sell their products and innovation overseas;
Boosts incentives to create American clean energy jobs like making state-of-the-art wind turbines and solar panels–paid for by ending corporate welfare to Big Oil;
Strengthens rules that U.S. and its contractors buy American, especially to build transportation, energy, and communications infrastructure;
Demands that China and other countries honor fair trade principles or lose American business;
Gives incentives to hire and retrain America’s returning veterans for new clean energy jobs;
Strengthens partnerships with businesses to retrain America’s workers for the jobs that are actually needed.
The plan is in stark contrast to the GOP jobs plan as Ray Medeiros of PoliticsUSA wrote in his article titled, 'GOP Ignores Jobs While Democrats Unveil Make It In America Agenda' yesterday:,
"After many many months of waiting, the Senate GOP has finally come forward with a “plan” to get our economy back on track. Initially, the first issue they take up is government spending, unusual right? I bet the next thing will be tax cuts and deregulation, yep, right again. If you look at the link I provided above it is a very predictable storyline, almost like Grimm’s fairy tales. Unfortunately for America we have been doing this very thing for the last 30 years, how has it helped?"
The 'Make It in America' agenda is endorsed by the Campaign for America's Future, a progressive coalition with representatives from the Economic Policy Institute, the NAACP, AFL-CIO, MoveOn.org and many other groups. house Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi waas among money who attended the 2010 America’s Future Now! conference in Washington, DC.
**The Democrats first introduced their 'Make It in America' agenda on March 15, when Representatives Paul Tonko (NY), Jan Schakowsky (IL), and Steny Hoyer (MD) outlined the plan on the House floor.
As the long-term unemployed continue to struggle with homelessness and unsuccessful job searches, the need for interim financial assistance is paramount. In the fight for passage of HR589 which would add 14 weeks of EUC benefits to Tier , please use this news, along with HR870 and other jobs bills that have been introduced a means to push the House Republicans into action on JOBS and passage of HR589. The Republicans are under pressure and have backed down from their push to 'reform' (eliminate) Medicare. Please use this opportunity to put more pressure on the Republican Leadership to act on jobs legislation along with HR589.
For a list of bills that have already been signed into law as well as those that have been passed in the House, please go here.
'Make It in America ' legislation for the 112th Congress includes:
National Manufacturing Strategy Act (Rep. Lipinski, H.R. 1366):Directs the president to work with industry, labor leaders, and other stakeholders to develop a national strategy to increase manufacturing.
Build a 21st Century Surface Transportation System: Enact a Surface Transportation Authorization bill to create a modern and efficient transportation system that facilitates trade and industry.
Build American Jobs Act (Rep. Levin, H.R. 922)/Build America Bonds to Create Jobs Now Act (Rep. Connolly, H.R. 11): Extends the Build America Bonds program, provides additional funding for the Recovery Zone bonds program, and makes improvements to existing bond and credit programs to help states and local governments leverage private capital to create jobs today and build the infrastructure that is the backbone of future economic growth.
National Infrastructure Development Bank Act (Rep. DeLauro, H.R. 402): Establishes a wholly-owned government corporation to facilitate efficient investments in and financing of infrastructure projects—from leading-edge broadband networks and energy delivery systems to modern ports—that foster economic development and keep America competitive.
The Airports, Highways, High-Speed Rail, Trains and Transit: Make it in America Act (Rep. Garamendi, H.R. 613): Increases domestic content provisions for airports and rolling stock and eliminates non-availability waivers.
One Global Internet Act (Rep. Lofgren):Establishes a government task force that would review, prioritize, and act on attempts by foreign governments to degrade or disrupt the flow of goods, services, and/or content on the Internet.
Permanent R&D Tax Credit (Rep. Carney): Make permanent and expand the Research and Development Tax Credit so research investments can draw capital that create tomorrow’s jobs.
Patent Reform: Improve the patent system to provide incentives for companies to continue innovating and manufacturing in the U.S.
Rare Earths Materials: Three bills have been introduced on this important issue. Rare Earths and Critical Materials Revitalization Act (Rep. Boswell, H.R. 618), Energy Critical Elements Renewal Act (Rep. Brad Miller, H.R. 952), and the Resource Assessment of Rare Earths (RARE) Act (Reps. Hank Johnson and Markey, H.R. 1314). These bills support the assessment and development of U.S. capacity in rare earth minerals critical to the manufacture of energy and other technologies.
Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (Reps. Levin and Tim Ryan, H.R. 639):Levels the trade playing field by holding accountable countries that create an unfair trade advantage by manipulating their currency.
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs: Ensure that the nation’s small, high-tech, and innovative businesses are a significant part of the federal government’s research and development efforts.
The Innovative Technologies Investment Incentives Act (Rep. Van Hollen, H.R. 1732): Accelerates innovation by providing a 25% tax credit for qualified equity investments in eligible high technology and biotechnology small businesses.
Small Business Start-up Savings Accounts (Rep. Sewell): Establishes tax-preferred savings accounts for small business start-up savings accounts.
Make It in America Block Grant Act (Rep. Cicilline): Establishes a grant program at the Commerce Department to provide small to medium-sized businesses in communities hardest hit by unemployment with the resources and strategies they need to retool and retrofit their operations and train their workforce in order to transition to the manufacturing of clean energy, high-technology, and advanced products.
Corporate Tax Reform: Our corporate tax system is far too confusing and inefficient. It causes economic distortions by forcing managers to make decisions based on tax consequences rather than on solid business principles. Many of these decisions, unfortunately, send investment and jobs overseas. Reform could lower the corporate tax rate and bring investment back to make American business and the American worker more competitive globally.
Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Act (Rep. Matsui, H.R. 502): Establishes a Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Fund, to be administered through the International Trade Administration, to ensure that U.S. clean energy technology firms have the information and assistance they need to be competitive and to create clean energy technology sector jobs.
Security in Energy and Manufacturing (SEAM) Act (Rep. Rothman, H.R. 724): This program, initially created in the Recovery Act, invested $2.3 billion in tax credits for advanced energy manufacturing facilities generating more than 17,000 jobs and incentivizing an additional $5.4 billion in private-sector investment.
New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions (NAT GAS) Act (Reps. Sullivan, Boren, Larson, and Brady, H.R. 1380): Provides incentives to encourage private investment in natural gas refueling infrastructure and the production and purchasing of natural gas vehicles and trucks.
Advanced Vehicle Technology Act (Rep. Peters, H.R. 1367): The bill reauthorizes the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies research programs (FreedomCar and the 21st Century Truck Partnership) so that the next generation of advanced vehicles can be built in America.
Energy Efficient Buildings and Homes: The Rural Energy Savings Program (Rep. Clyburn), along with the “Home Star” and “Building Star” programs, would support installation of American made energy efficient products.
Workforce Investment Act: Our economy is only as strong as the people who work to grow it. The American workforce investment system is supported by a partnership of educators, workforce development professionals and the business community who work together to ensure the vitality of local economies. A robust reauthorization of WIA will ensure that workers who seek opportunities in a new field or new opportunities within their own field have the support they need.
Job Opportunities Between our Shores (JOBS) Act (Whip Hoyer):Establishes a Workforce Investment Act pilot program to provide education and training programs in advanced manufacturing.
American Manufacturing Efficiency & Retraining Investment Collaboration (AMERICA Works) Act (Rep. Donnelly, H.R. 1325):Strengthens our workforce by helping American workers earn certifications, degrees, and qualifications for the jobs American industry needs to fill.
Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act (Rep. Loebsack, H.R. 1240): Forms partnerships between businesses, unions, and educators to train workers for some of the most needed 21st Century jobs.
STEM Education: To strengthen American innovation, create the industries of the future, and ensure that our kids have the skills they need to fill well-paying jobs in those industries, we must invest in outstanding science, technology, engineering, and math education.
Ensure that states develop rigorous core standards in science, to complement standards in math and reading
Help interested science, technology, engineering, and math professionals enter teaching careers
Build community partnerships to create externship opportunities for students
Promote careers in manufacturing for high school students
Fully fund STEM education provisions in the America COMPETES Act to strengthen manufacturing education, increase STEM career opportunities for women and minorities, and recruit STEM teachers from underrepresented groups
"...From G.D.P. to private-sector payrolls, from business surveys to new claims for unemployment insurance, key economic indicators suggest that the recovery may be sputtering.
And it wasn’t much of a recovery to start with. Employment has risen from its low point, but it has grown no faster than the adult population. And the plight of the unemployed continues to worsen: more than six million Americans have been out of work for six months or longer, and more than four million have been jobless for moe than a year.
It would be nice if someone in Washington actually cared..."
The National Jobs for All Coalition is committed to building a new movement for full employment at livable wages. The Drive for Decent Work blog highlights ways to create jobs by increasing public investment in needed infrastructure and public services.
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