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July 15, 2011 _NWLP 7/12/11 10:12 Am Page 2 Jobs Crisis Forum: The time for excuses is over; create jobs now By JAMES PARKS National AFL-CIO Shonda Sheen of Yellow Springs, Ohio, was laid off in December 2009 and is about to run out of unemploy- ment benefits. Because of state budget cuts, she also could soon lose the health care nurse who helps care for her mother who has dementia. At the last job she applied for, she was told 450 others had also applied for the same po- sition. Sheen and Bob Stein, a 60-year-old former salesman who has been out of work since May 2010, are two of the 14 million Americans who are unem- ployed — and their story is not being told in the midst of the debate over the deficit. Sheen and Stein, who are both members of Working America, spoke to a July 11 forum on “The Jobs Crisis — Moving to Action: A Dialogue Be- tween Workers and Policymakers” at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. “All I want is a decent job,” Sheen said. “I want to work. I love to work. I’m scared. I don’t know what’s going to happen to my mother. I have a home to pay off.” The forum, moderated by Bob Her- bert, distinguished fellow at Demos and an award-winning journalist, drew a sharp contrast between the policies that got the country in this economic crisis and are currently being advocated to get it out, and what is needed in order to spark a real economic recovery. Stein says it’s frustrating to try to find a job in an economy that generated only 18,000 jobs last month. “I was set to lose unemployment as of the second or third week of December, and [politi- cians] were fighting back and forth and it was predicated on the Bush tax cuts. I was caught right in the middle of that,” he said. “The thing that was so upsetting is when you heard about the number of people about to lose their unemployment check. I thought, ‘OK, I understand that you’re adamant about this Bush tax cut thing, but you’re hold- ing us all hostage. You’re playing poli- tics with people’s lives. People use their unemployment. This will stimulate and help the economy.’ ” The panel also included AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) and Heather Boushey, a sen- ior economist at the Center for Ameri- can Progress. Panelists noted that many in Wash- ington continue to push deregulation and tax cuts as the way out of the eco- nomic hole, without acknowledging the role that those policies played in creat- ing the current economic conditions. The strategy to encourage corporations to spend their billions of dollars in prof- its is doomed when politicians don’t first acknowledge the truth that work- ing people drive the economy as con- sumers. Without good jobs or shared prosperity, corporations won’t spend and our economy can’t prosper. Trumka said working people are frustrated with both political parties. “The time for excuses is over,” he said. “People don’t care about why it [creat- ing jobs] isn’t getting done. They just want to get it done. We can create jobs if we want to. It’s a matter of political will.” More and more economists are coming around to the idea that the economy is faltering because of a lack of demand, Boushey said. The best ways to increase demand, she said, is to invest in things that generate de- mand, like infrastructure aid to the states, education and long-term unem- ployment benefits. Noting that the middle class is the engine of our economy, Franken said retaining tax breaks and loopholes for the rich, as Republicans have proposed, won’t increase demand. Rich people can only buy so much stuff, Franken said, then they save their money. “The idea that those at the top who are richer than anyone has ever been in history — why they can’t pay a higher percentage in taxes is crazy,” Franken said. The forum was hosted by the AFL- CIO, Change To Win labor federation, Demos and the Economic Policy Insti- tute. Know Your Rights If your employer forces you to work in dangerous work conditions you can make a CONFIDENTIAL report to OSHA by calling (800) 922-2689. PAGE 2 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS JULY 15, 2011
