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US, A Job-loss Economy Emerges
by
Seth Sandronsky
Dissident Voice
August
4, 2003
The
U.S. economy grew at a 2.4 percent annualized rate between April and June. It was the fastest expansion since the
July-August 2002 quarter.
Indebted
consumers spurred the second-quarter growth, increasing their spending at an
annual rate of 3.3 percent. However,
rising mortgage rates since mid-June suggest an end to the home refinancing
boom, a big boost for consumer spending.
The
U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq sparked a 44 percent jump in war spending
for April-June 2003. This Keynesian
stimulus from the Bush White House via the American taxpayer is helping U.S.
energy and military corporations.
Crucially,
the nearly $80 billion being spent by American taxpayers to invade and occupy
Iraq just through September 2003, is roughly equal to the total budget deficits
of all U.S. states. No state is more bankrupt than California, at the heart of
the national economy.
What
is striking is how few new private-sector jobs have been created by the
administration’s third tax cut (partially titled “jobs and growth”). The same
can be said for the Fed’s interest-rate cuts.
It
is unclear if the latter led to the 6.9 percent jump in new business spending
during April-June 2003. Neither fiscal
nor monetary policy are spurring a hiring boom.
The
jobless rate in July fell to 6.2 percent, or 9.1 million workers versus 6.4
percent, or 9.4 million workers in June, the Labor Department reported.
But
July’s fall in unemployment was due in part to the 556,000 people dropping out
of the job market.
Against
that backdrop 2,166,260 people are now being held in the nation's jails and
prisons. Significantly, these caged
human beings are not counted in the official jobless data.
One
group out of work gets little press versus that given to the rising second-quarter
GDP. Consider black teens.
For
African Americans, ages 16 to 19, the jobless rate in July 2003 was 36.0
percent, up from 27.1 percent in July 2002, the Labor Department reported.
White
teens of both genders had a 15.8 percent unemployment rate in July 2003, up
from a 15.6 percent rate the previous July.
According
to a group of academic economists, the 2001 recession (six straight months of
contracting gross domestic product) has officially ended. Yet post-recession times such as now
(“jobless recoveries”) need federal deficit spending to create jobs where the
private sector can’t.
As
the staid Financial Times editorialized on July 30, “Fiscal stimulus is the
federal government’s business.” Much
hangs in the balance for U.S. workers now.
And
for the future. The 2004 presidential
election is a case in point.
A
July 29 headline in the Financial Times read “Seeking employment: why economic
recovery without creating jobs spells electoral danger for George W.
Bush.” The analysis noted that “by actively
seeking to boost growth itself, this Bush administration has indelibly
identified itself with the performance of the economy.”
And
what a performance it isn’t for the U.S working class. They are living America’s new job-loss
economy.
To
them, Bush’s “jobs and growth” plan is a hollow promise, indeed. It is time for a new, “New Deal.”
Seth Sandronsky is a member of
Peace Action and co-editor with Because People Matter, Sacramento’s progressive
paper. He can be reached at: ssandron@hotmail.com.
Other Recent Articles by Seth Sandronsky
* For
Black Teens, Jobs Crisis Worsens
* A
New Day for Affirmative Action?
* In
California, A Racial Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
* In U.S.,
Slow Growth, Excess Inventory and Mounting Debt
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