There’s no real parallel to the economic recovery we’re living through.
With 22.2 million jobs lost during the pandemic and around 14 million regained since February 2020, a yawning gap remains between the pre-virus economy and where we are today.
Republicans desperately want the recovery to fizzle out. That’s all they’ve got in terms of policy these days.
That and mass voter disenfranchisement.
Now really is an opportune moment to look at the economic inequality in our nation and try to do something about it. When the billionaires can make enough money during the pandemic to send every American a check for $4000 without decreasing their wealth below what it was at the start of the pandemic, it’s clear that the system is heavily weighted towards the wealthy. Someone making $8 per hour can’t really afford to live on their own in America anymore, and it’s absurd to act like the US minimum wage is anywhere close to a living wage, especially in the big cities.
The Democrats get this, and are trying to do something about it, but the Republicans are the party of the plutocrats (despite their attempt to act like they are allies of the working class) and will stand in the way of anything that helps the poor. They also want Biden to fail, regardless of how many Americans that hurts…kinda goes along with their “patriotic” embrace of white supremacy and insurrection, and their work to stop free and fair elections.
The American people are receiving a clear lesson about the differences between the two parties, hopefully they pay attention and vote for the one that wants to build up the entire nation, not just the bank accounts of the wealthy.
Something that will be hard to factor when talking about employment statistics, etc. -
Someone currently has to work three jobs (83 hours a week) at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to equal the earnings of someone earning $15 an hour working 40 hours a week.
The labor force participation rate will become more important as an economic indicator as lower paying jobs go wanting as people seek positions offering more.
They haven’t had much more than that for over a decade.
With their decision to oppose a 1/6 commission on the grounds that it might cost them politically, it couldn’t become clearer that they place party over country.
Were that there were some way to make their essential lack of patriotism gain traction.
The biggest problem with the recovery in these parts seems to be a serious materials shortage. For example the domestic auto industry can’t produce cars to meet demand because microprocessors are in very short supply. Lumber and related building materials are in serious short supply. In addition to driving prices up the shortage has lead to many postponing new home construction and remodeling. I know my daughter’s friend, a real estate saleswoman, has all sorts of buyers lined up but homes in the local area just aren’t for sale… My son tells me that he knows of car dealers in our region with no cars to sell–new or used. A lot of car salesmen are standing around as are a lot of autoworkers. Once the materials problems are fixed, there will be nothing slowing down a robust recovery.
My point is the problems are the kind of problems that will be overcome as people go back to work. There is nothing in this recession that points to a lack of consumer confidence or money in their pockets.
Can someone refresh my memory, the $300 additional in UI is coming from the federal gov’t, right? So will the Treasury Dept. ask for that back? No really why should tax payers across the country pay for some boondoggle that Republican Governors and legislatures come up with.
Now if those states can show that they’ll use the money that went towards enhanced UI payments for computer upgrades, or other state government computer upgrades I could go for that.
What the Hell this is America! If you can’t take advantage of people to make buck in America, where can you? I for one am not willing to give up on America’s leadership.
People tend to blame the party “in power” for the state of the economy. Republican economic sabotage is their go-to strategy for making Dems unpopular.
Republican governors, already reluctant to go along with such programs, have argued that the higher unemployment insurance has made it more profitable to sit at home, causing a labor shortage.
Since these asshats don’t seem inclined to do their jobs either, we should try out their logic on them.
Here in Wisconsin the Republicans announced they can pass rules and changes for DWD (unemployment) that do not require the governor’s approval. So, the waiver on applying for jobs weekly has been eliminated. As many point out - jobs in their fields right now are limited, but the rule doesn’t give you an exemption if there’s nothing to apply for.
Interesting that they announce this now and act, when the entire system has been in shambles because for all of Scotty Walker’s time, he gutted their budget for upgrading their system, and they kept blaming a governor who had been in office for a year an had the budget items for this department cut out by the legislature.
“If it had been 1.4 million, a miss on the high side, every Republican governor would be saying, Christ, let’s get rid of UI,” Konczal said.
Article buries the lede here.
Everybody knows that current GOP doctrine prioritizes sabotaging the Biden administration. McConnell openly admitted that early this month. And, as we saw with the Medicaid expansion, they are willing to do this at the expense of their constituents.
ONE MORE TIME they are lying. They simply do not care about the collateral damage. They find a ‘meme’ and spin it. Their pet network spews MORE lies to bolster their claims…and then they ‘blame’ the Democrats which is simply another lie. Meanwhile, people are hurt but these governors don’t even care anymore about their own voters.
Bernie Sanders is exactly right (not something that’s easy for me to admit!). Employers want a return to a higher profit lower wage economy and potential workers are not going for it. They will have to raise wages to attract employees and return to normal and I think they mostly will. If so, by next year we could actually see not just a roaring economic recovery but one that does more than anything in recent memory to lift people out of poverty and near poverty.
All this over a single data point: the April jobs report. Guess what. The April report will likely get revised (they always are) and will probably have better numbers… but even if the revised numbers don’t improve, it’s a single month.
The U.S. economy can grow organically post-Covid, but only as much as the world economic situation – the supply lines – allow it. You see it in big and little things.
Big things: Car manufacturers are idling production lines because of a shortage of microchips. Chip manufacturers were able to meet demand because they had a surplus going into the lock-down and b/c sales slowed during the pandemic. That surplus is gone, but chip manufacturing lines are not back to full capacity.
Just the other day, a friend complained that there’s a shortage of canning lids - same situation as microchips but with the added demand coming from people who discovered home-canning and other old-school ways of doing things while during lock-down (and liked it).
Much of what we’re seeing is the result of the move to just-in-time inventories that are dependent on global supply lines.
Bottom line: we can expect the U.S. economy to continue to grow – but in fits and starts through the summer before things settle out. There’s probably somewhere around $1 trillion in pent-up demand sitting on the sidelines. I expect the real surge in economic growth will happen going into 2022 – which may have some implications on the mid-terms.
Always serving the people
Agree with everything except the clear lesson part. Should be clear, but so many are so uninformed or misinformed that the lesson goes right by them.
Cultural memes will override financial self-interest with the low-info voters every time. One of the most pitiable realities of US politics.
GOP pols know this well.