"A Very Deep Hole" - Call for Strong Leadership on Jobs

Writing in the New York Times today, Bob Herbert reacts to the latest dismal employment data (see also our piece on the Majority Agenda Project website from last Friday). Before pointing to solutions, he writes starkly of the crisis: "Unemployment is crushing families and stifling the prospects of young people... Entire communities are going under." He continues, "The economy is sick, and all efforts to revive it that do not directly confront the staggering levels of joblessness are doomed."

Is there a solution is sight? No: "There is no plan that I can see to get us out of this fix. Drastic cuts in government spending would only compound the crisis...

"Policy makers have acted as if they are unaware of the magnitude of this crisis. They have behaved as though somehow, through some economic magic perhaps, or the power of prayer, this ocean of joblessness will just disappear. That’s a pipe dream."

So what does Herbert propose: "For all the money that has been spent so far, the Obama administration and Congress have not made the kinds of investments that would put large numbers of Americans back to work and lead to robust economic growth. What is needed are the same things that have been needed all along: a vast program of infrastructure repair and renewal; an enormous national investment in clean energy aimed at transforming the way we develop and use energy in this country; and a transformation of the public schools to guarantee every child a first-rate education in a first-rate facility.

"This would be a staggeringly expensive and difficult undertaking and would entail a great deal of shared sacrifice. (It would also require an end to our insane waste of resources on mindless and endless warfare.) The benefits over the long term would be enormous...

"Bold and effective leadership would have put us on this road to a sustainable future. Instead, we’re approaching a dead end."

This disappointment may not be entirely justified, especially from a progressive supporter of Barack Obama, but is certainly befits the author of "Promises Betrayed: Waking Up from the American Dream."

For the Majority Agenda Project and others sharing Herbert's approach, a difficult political challenge remains: How to move forward in an irrational political climate. Here's how one reader responded to Bob Herbert:

"You & Krugman & other smart people have been beating this drum for a long time. But the Tea Partiers -- many of whom, ironically, have time to tea-party because they're among the long-term unemployed -- are driving the no-new-taxes, reduce-the-deficit, small-government mantra. If you don't think Republicans & Democrats alike who are up for re-election this year (which is of course ALL of the House) are buckling to the angry white people's narrow, illogical worldview, you haven't been reading the Times' political coverage.

"Don't blame President Obama. I think he'd LOVE to increase appropriations for jobs creation. But the House just nixed a hefty increase in jobs funding & the Senate is looking forward to cutting even more than the House bill allows.

"Politicians are notoriously shortsighted, but they have never been more so than since suddenly last summer when the tea party noisemakers (& their Republican backers) drowned out rational discourse, a white-out that will remain in place for at least this election cycle & likely much longer."

This blog entry also appeared on the Majority Agenda Project website.