Tweet
Bob Herbert, in his column on June 7th said:
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. State and local governments, for example, are shedding workers as we speak.
And by July 26th he still hadn’t come up with a solution and began his column with:
The pain coursing through American families is all too real and no one seems to know what to do about it.
Bob continued with a discussion of a study by the Rockefeller Foundation using an economic security index to measure economic insecurity. the study headed by Jacob Hacker found:
. . . that more than 20 percent of Americans experienced a 25 percent or greater loss of household income (without a financial cushion) over the prior year — the highest in at least a quarter of a century.
After discussing this finding at some length and quoting Hacker, Bob concludes with:
Policy makers have dropped the ball completely in terms of dealing with this devastating long-term trend of ever-increasing economic insecurity for American families. Long-term solutions that have to do with extensive job creation and a strengthening of the safety net are required. But that doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s agenda.
Meaning, it seems that Bob Herbert may be someone who does know what to do how about it, who is playing the game of: "I’m no gonna say." So, my question is: Why don’t you propose something Bob?
In my reply to Bob’s June 7th post, I pointed to Warren Mosler’s three-part solution to the problem of unemployment including: a FICA Tax holiday; revenue sharing of $500 per person for the States; and a Federal Job Guarantee (FJG).
More recently, L. Randall Wray discusses the Federal Job Guarantee in a post explaining MMT to the Libertarian/Austrian School of thought and making it clear that an FJG doesn’t have to be an enormous Government program.
Also, Bill Mitchell has a recent post on a Job Guarantee proposal in the Australian context discussing in part how a program like this can be regionalized to benefit areas that need it most. And here’s a multi-part program from Marshall Auerback with a number of elements expanding Warren Mosler’s three-part program.
In short, there’s a lot of good work out there, Bob. If you read it, you’ll be able to write columns proposing solutions, and not just grieving over our problems. And you won’t have to say things like:
The pain coursing through American families is all too real and no one seems to know what to do about it . . .
anymore. Because, you’ll know what to do about it.
14 Comments
Yeah, that’s a slap in the face. It implies that those in a position to do something even care about this issue. It’s certainly not a lack of “knowing what to do” which is holding us back.
Hi cap, I don’t think it’s a slap in the face coming from Herbert. I think he’s honest when he says he doesn’t know. He just doesn’t know economics, but he’s the one guy at the Gray Lady, who consistently writes about how the people are getting screwed.
I find Bob Hebert’s musings on a LACK OF SOLUTIONS coming from our present administration to be spot on!
I’d say the devastation upon our citizens from a LACK of a solution implemented by this administration is pretty phrelling well evident!
And as to ‘solutions’ the diary author points to, so what? We HAVE our model, it was the WPA in The Depression.
And so far, this admin has bailed out the banks, the investment houses, Wall Street.
They’ve done NOTHING on the scale of necessity the joblessness situation demands and requires.
Frankly, taking a FICA holiday, and giving me $500 is worthless in terms of creating jobs or getting me employed.
There will be NO hiring until there’s demand for goods and services.
And there will be NO demand for goods and services until JOBS ARE CREATED! BY THE GOVERNMENT! FUNDED by the government, and deficit spending mythology be damned.
I’m sorry to readily disagree with the author of this diary on many points and posits.
But I disagree.
Look, you slam Hebert and take him to task in your diary as posted.
Now, you defend him?
I’m real, real confused as to your intent or focus on this one . . . .
“County jobless rate rose in June; it fell in other areas
By Dean Calbreath, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Friday, July 30, 2010 at 9:08 p.m.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY — Although unemployment in San Diego County rose last month, the jobless rate in a slim majority of other metropolitan areas fell, according to data released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Jobless rates fell in 185 of the 372 metropolitan areas tracked by the bureau, rose in 168 and remained unchanged in 19.
Twelve areas had jobless rates of at least 15 percent — including 10 in California — but six had rates below 5 percent.
The farm-dependent Imperial Valley, which often has double-digit unemployment even when the economy is doing well, had the worst jobless rate in the nation at 27.6 percent, followed by neighboring Yuma, Ariz., at 26.4 percent.
San Diego’s jobless rate rose from 10.1 percent in May to 10.5 percent in June, partly because of seasonal fluctuations and the layoffs of temporary workers collecting data for the U.S. census.”
Herbert is a good man and a good writer and he truly is concerned about the poor and powerless — just the fact he gets squeezed into the Times between Brooks and Dowd every now and again is a small miracle.
As a faithful reader of his, I noticed as early as the first month of the HCR fiasco that he was seeing what was up ahead better than many of his readers. He knows there are solutions but he also knows the window is closing, because of that corrupt circus we call a Senate, a sea shift coming in the House, and a blue dog in the White House.
He’s explained the easy to comprehend stuff and nobody pays any attention, I think he knows if he goes into the what to do, he’d just be wasting his time. If they aren’t listening to Krugman, Becker, Stiglitz, Voelcker and the people you mentioned, why would they listen to him?
Like most everything that goes on, things are like they are because some people want them that way and make immense profits from it. If the rest of us end up looking like Andersonville survivors, oh well.
And Bob Herbert knows that.
Thanks Larue. First let’s start here:
I couldn’t agree more with this and wonder why you thought I didn’t.
Going further. I was taking with Bob Herbert, because he seems to be claiming that he is included in the group of people who don’t know what the solution is. I don’t see him saying that they don’t seem to have a solution but he does and its solution X. For example, if he had said, let’s have the WPA program back, I wouldn’t have blogged this.
Still further, I think you’re not understanding some of the proposals offered by others. Let’s start with Mosler’s
1) the FJG program. That program would provide jobs as well as access to Medicare for anyone without a job who wants one. In that way it is like the WPA
2) The FICA tax Holiday would apply both to workers and employers. FICA would be credited to workers though even though they don’t pay it. Also, the proposal is not for a one pay period tax holiday. It is to eliminate FICA contributions until full employment is reached. So, this would create substantial aggregate demand for business to respond to. How much would depend on how long the recession lasts.
3) The State Revenue Sharing Grant proposal is there to prevent the loss of good State and local government jobs that is occurring right now. These are Government jobs, though not Federal. They are also higher paying jobs often in Law Enforcement and Education.
In short, this program will end the depression and in fairly short order too, since within six months everyone who wants to will be working.
So, with that explanation, do you still disagree, and if so, why?
Sorry to confuse. I’m a fan of Herbert’s. I just want him to put forward solutions in addition to grieving over the problems. I thought that was pretty clear from my post. But maybe not, if you became confused.
Thanks Bruce, for providing that good perspective.
We all know that. That’s why we have to keep complaining about and keep offering the solutions. I like Bob’s work. But I’m not disposed to excuse him. I want to him to tell his readers and real solutions and complain about the fact that the powers that be are not solving the problems.
“Long-term solutions that have to do with extensive job creation and a strengthening of the safety net are required”
Bob Herbert is the last voice of conscience at the NYT. It is a pity that Krugman does not share his vision. As cited above, Herbert points to what the priorities are, jobs and the safety net, that is people not banks.
Not that Obama and our corrupt elites are going to do it, but we need both short and long term solutions. We need to employ millions within months. And we need to sketch out and pursue a policy for sustainable re-industrialization of the country and its economy.
How to Make an American Job Before It’s Too Late: Andy Grove – Sr. Adviser and former CEO | Bloomberg http://bit.ly/dpx9iN
All True. But fiscal sustainability is not an issue. Only the sustainability of our way of life.
I couldn’t agree more with Andy Grove.