the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Nov 9, 2009
At the end of October, the government announced the stimulus bill had “saved or created” 640,000 jobs. As soon as the announcement was made, government officials had to justify their fuzzy math. No matter how the numbers were sliced and diced, hundreds of thousands of dollars were used for each job “saved or created.” In addition, half the jobs discussed were in education, one job area in which almost every city has been laying off teachers.
In fact, between furlough days, cost increases and funding cuts, school districts already see cutbacks, even beyond those in Washington DC and California, where big layoffs were announced.
That’s not all. Unemployment has hit a record 10.2%–after taking into account the administration’s stimulus job count. If all those who have given up looking for jobs or are not eligible for unemployment benefits are counted, the figure for unemployment is more than one in five adults of working age, according to John Williams’ Shadow Statistics. Since the high point of employment in 2007, more than eight million people have lost jobs.
The stimulus bill–even if the administration’s wild claims were true–is not just a drop in the bucket. It is a slap in the face of all those desperately trying to find a job today.