As we previously noted; the Republican Party campaigned on putting America back to work and reducing the size of America’s debt. They promised to cut spending, reduce the size of government and reform the way Washington works. Thus far there has been little evidence of their neither capability nor desire to do any of the above. Republicans have been full of promises and rhetoric but weak on substance.
Since taking control of the House the Republicans have proposed three bills seeking to repeal a woman’s right to choose. They have proposed to defund NPR and reduce home heating oil assistance for the elderly. Oh, lest we forget, they withheld unemployment benefits for the needy as a bargaining chip to gain one trillion dollars in tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.
But their primary campaign promise was to bring us “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs”. Thus far they have delivered zero, zero and zero. In fact they have proposed cuts in domestic spending that will result in the loss of over 700,000 jobs. When pressed on the matter House Leader Boehner said: “so be it”. They won’t even talk specifically about developing jobs. Mr. Boehner now says that they are working to develop an “environment for growth” whatever that means.
The need to put America back to work has vanished from our political dialogue. It has been lost in all the noise about Egypt and Libya, earthquakes and tsunami’s nuclear meltdowns and, oh yes, Charlie Sheen.
America is hurting. For the first time in our history the average wage of the American worker has decreased over the past decade. The disparity in wealth between the wealthiest Americans and the middle class is greater than ever before. And nobody is talking about it.
So where are the jobs? While we appreciate all of the interest in current world events let us not forget that unemployment in the United States is hovering around 10%. And both parties promise to do something about it.
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