I survived 50 tough minutes on the treadmill this morning, even with my still-injured leg and foot. And I was working hard and trying my best — but when I was finished I hadn’t moved forward one inch. Wonder if that is where we are at now with the economy and jobs?
The economy appears to be improving modestly, at least if you measure that in terms of projected growth and Wall Street profits. Government Sachs has emerged from the economic meltdown — fueled if you remember at least in part by greed and corruption by the Wizards on Wall Street — with profits that should bring tears to a capitalist’s eyes. What happened to my pitchfork? I digess.
But when it comes to jobs, it’s right now that people are starting to ask “Where’s the Beef?” We may be seeing the early stages of a recovery on Wall Street but not on Main Street — and that has some big implications for the future of our nation’s economic prosperity and for the Obama administration.
Unemployment north of 10 percent for months years to come? Could be. Here’s from a Washington Post article this morning, “Fed Sees Heightened Joblessness Drawing Out Recession”:
A new forecast raised fresh doubts yesterday about how strong any economic recovery might be, as the Federal Reserve projected that the unemployment rate may surpass 10 percent by year’s end and warned that the economy may not return to full health for at least five years.
Obama this week announced a major initiative to support community colleges as a way to help train — or retrain — workers or those who are looking for work. At the same time, he was candid in saying that unemployment would most likely get worse before getting better. And in states like Michigan (and Ohio and others) many of the manufacturing jobs that provided the foundation for middle class lifestyles are gone — and they ain’t coming back.
So I hope we can get off this treadmill of a jobless economic recovery soon.
And while Main Street continues to run in place, I would encourage the Wizards on Wall Street not to be flagrant in rewarding themselves with what many in this nation still believe to be bailout money that rightly belongs to Mom and Pop Taxpayer.
Hey, people can always jump of the treadmill and begin running on the roads — maybe even carrying pitchforks.
