Jobs Numbers Cast Pall Over Recovery

The latest jobs numbers are in and they are horrific.

 The American economy generated an anemic 18,000 new jobs in June.  18,000!  Unemployment rose to 9.2%.  The news brought a collective gasp from the media.  It had been reported that the government expected a rather paltry 125,000 new jobs for the month.  The actual numbers placed a dark cloud over the politicians appearing on the morning talk shows.  The President will speak to the nation about the situation at 10:30 this morning.

This is not good.  The recovery has stalled.  We are in deep doo and our elected leaders continue to allow their ideology get in the way of doing what needs to be done to fix the problems.

The President held a twitter town hall meeting earlier this week.  Voters, politicians and media all weighed in with questions.  Even Speaker Boehner tweeted a question.   A review of the questions posed to the President demonstrated the clear disconnect between the American voters, their elected officials and the media members that cover them.

The questions from members of the media and the politicians focused on the debt, the deficit and raising the debt ceiling.  But the vast majority of the questions from the voters focused on jobs, jobs, jobs.

The American people have been pleading for new jobs for years.  All through the bank bailouts, auto industry bailouts, health care debates and war discussions the American people have been consistent in their message:  “We want jobs!”   But Washington isn’t listening.

The voters have spoken.  The want us out of Afghanistan and Iraq…now.  They understand that we need to curb spending but they don’t want to face spending cuts if millionaires and billionaires continue to get by without paying taxes.  And they want jobs.

Governing is hard.  And partisan politics are certainly a large part of governing.  But this isn’t about “can’t” it is about “won’t”.  This is about an ideological divide that has grown so vast and so hostile that it has taken the place of common sense and doing what is right for the American people.

There is a complete disconnect between the people that work inside the Washington beltway and the rest of the country; and the country is suffering greatly for it.