Dear UCubed Leader:

Why?

Why, with the broadest measure of unemployment – U-6 – stuck at 13.8 percent, aren’t we focusing on the massive damage being done to our country?

The answer, my friends, is the CANT of the Republican Party.

The Oxford Dictionary defines cant as “hypocritical and sanctimonious talk.” So, when GOP politicians speak about jobs, CANT works.

For GOP leaders, it is the height of hypocrisy for them to say they are creating jobs. They aren’t. They haven’t.  And since the first stimulus package passed four years ago, when all but three GOP Members of Congress voted nay, GOP leaders haven’t even really tried.

Instead they rely on sanctimonious speeches about “jobs, jobs, jobs.”  They authorize sanctimonious campaign ads about job losses and what their opponents didn’t do. And their sanctimonious promises about the jobs of the future, the very distant future, are not simply disingenuous. They are pure horse manure.

By pushing for more austerity measures, GOP politicians CAN’T create jobs. Their CANT destroys jobs.

The GOP CANT is framed so as to cloak sneak attacks on the frail, the long-forgotten and the out-of-the-workforce Americans. It is devious, despicable. And their CANT is sinking the hopes and dreams of millions.

As in the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II, the GOP leaders, metaphorically speaking, are conducting unrestricted warfare against their opponents’ logistics. Vessels carrying food, medicine, mail and passengers are seen as legitimate targets for their verbal and legislative torpedoes.

Who needs SNAP?  Democratic constituencies do. The hungry kids, their parents and our small farmers need food stamps.

Who needs Medicaid and Medicare? Democratic constituencies do. The poor and the elderly cannot live without them.

Who needs six-day mail and commuter rail service? Democratic constituencies do. The folks who work five days a week or take public transportation, they rely on those semi-governmental services.

Who needs better schools and safer neighborhoods? Democratic constituencies do. Blacks and Latinos demand great schools and better housing.

Who needs the FDA, the CPSC, OSHA or NIOSH? Democratic constituencies do. Our working families deserve safe drugs, safe products and safe workplaces.

But GOP austerity measures – the CANT of cut, cut more, cut faster, cut deep, cut across the board, cut entitlements – are not aimed at shared sacrifice. They are targeted at the traditional Democratic constituencies while the corporate welfare queens and income tax dodgers get to do what they do best: screw the little guys and gals as they laugh all the way to the nearest tax haven.

To be continued…
In Unity — Strength,

Rick

Rick Sloan
UCubed President

Dear UCubed Leader:

Why?

Why, with the broadest measure of unemployment – U-6 – stuck at 13.8 percent, aren’t we focusing on the massive damage being done to our country?

Why, if 21.7 million Americans are jobless or working part-time involuntarily and another 4.1 million stopped looking for work, are we are afraid to confront this jobs crisis?

Why, if we know that we are damning an entire generation of young Americans to decades of lower paychecks and reduced opportunities, are we not fighting this jobs crisis with everything we’ve got?

Why, if we know that millions of baby boomers are being prematurely retired in this no-growth economy, are we so lazy about pressuring Congress, state legislatures and city halls to act?

Why, if we have historical precedents for successful jobs programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration, wouldn’t we want to put millions of Americans to work, to give them back their pride and self-confidence, to let them earn a paycheck?

Why?

The answer boils down to one word: cant.

Spelled with or without an apostrophe, those four letters say it all.

We CAN’T use an all-of-government approach to the jobs crisis if half the government doesn’t give a damn about the un- and underemployed. And the other half suffers from attention deficit disorder, jumping issue after issue to the head of the queue.

We CAN’T address a crisis that we consciously and consistently choose to ignore. In spite of polls showing jobs and the economy as the most important issues facing this country, it has been half a decade since Congress and the White House agreed to act with any sense of urgency on jobs and then it was only to bail out the banks.

We CAN’T lift a nation weighted down with an oppressive, inescapable sense of failure. Our largest institutions – public, private and philanthropic – leave the impression that since nothing can be done, nothing should be tried.

We CAN’T put America back to work so long as one political party, its entire leadership, its financial supporters and its constituency bases are adamantly against jobs for their opponents’ constituents.

To be continued ….

In Unity — Strength,

Rick

Rick Sloan
UCubed President

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced this morning that based on its monthly survey of establishments, in March 2013 on a seasonally adjusted basis:

• U.S. employers added 88,000 non-farm jobs versus the 200,000 that were expected per the monthly WSJ survey of economists; this figure compares to February’s upward adjusted increase of 268,000 non-farm jobs (previously 236,000) and to January’s upward adjusted increase of 148,000 (previously 119,000).

• The BLS unemployment rate declined to 7.6% from February’s rate of 7.7%.

• There are now 11.7 million unemployed workers, based on BLS’s separate monthly survey of businesses.

However, as we note each month, BLS’s figures do not reflect Real Unemployment, since:

• BLS counts only those workers who are actively looking for employment, which can vary fairly widely month-to-month due to workers voluntarily removing themselves from the labor force.
• BLS does not include in the civilian labor force “marginally attached workers” (currently 2.3 mm workers) who, while wanting and available for jobs, have not searched for work in the past four weeks but have searched for work in the past 12 months. Included among marginally attached workers are 0.8 million “discouraged workers” who did not look for work specifically because “they believe there are no jobs available or none for which they would qualify.”
• BLS does not include among unemployed workers the 10.0 million workers in total who are marginally attached or “part-time-of-necessity” (i.e., the so-called “underemployed” who are unable to find full-time jobs or who’ve had their hours cut back; now 7.6 mm workers).

In contrast, the Summary of Real Unemployment Numbers makes these adjustments to the civilian labor force and BLS’s determination of unemployed workers, and calculates the number of Real Unemployed Workers.  In March 2013:

The number of Real Unemployed Workers decreased by 902,000 to 21.7 million (i.e., the 11.7 mm BLS Unemployed Workers plus the 10.0 mm workers who are marginally attached or part-time-of-necessity.

The Real Unemployment Rate declined by 0.5% to 13.8%.

Note #1: Since February 2010, when the number of Real Unemployed Workers was at its highest at 26.5 million, the number of Real Unemployed Workers has declined by 4.8 million workers despite the adjusted civilian labor force now being 1.1 million workers larger.

Note #2: In addition to the current 21.7 million Real Unemployed Workers, there are another 4.1 million workers who, while also saying they want jobs, have not looked for one in the past 12 months – if they are included, March’s Real Unemployment Rate of 13.8% increases to 16.0%.

Dear UCubed Leader,

Numbers mask the agonized face of fate. In world wars and global recessions, massive numbers dull the senses. How many months does it take for outrage to shift towards acceptance? How many years does it take for acceptance to turn into indifference?

For those still seeking work, half a decade has passed since the Great Recession began. The public, the media, the politicians moved from outrage to acceptance to indifference. Made senseless by the drip, drip, drip of monthly unemployment numbers, they see no solution to real unemployment.

We do.  Hire US, America, a 21-point jobs program crafted by the jobless themselves, is as relevant today as it was back in 2010 when jobless Americans put it together. But to opinion leaders the monthly unemployment numbers produce only a calculated indifference, one meant to hide their inability to formulate solutions.

During World War II, a similar indifference took hold. From 1939 to 1945, Great Britain and Russia’s war fighting capability relied on the supply ships that plied the North Atlantic. And yet, unlike in World War I when the sinking of the Lusitania provoked outrage, merchant ship losses from submarines seemed somehow acceptable.

During that seven year period, Hitler’s U-boats sank 3,600 ships, killed 72,000 Allied sailors and merchant seamen and destroyed 14.5 million tons of cargo. At the height of the Battle of the Atlantic, as Winston Churchill called it, German U-boats brought “Britain near to a ‘hand-to-mouth’ subsistence level.”

And yet, with each passing month, the level of indifference grew. Who cared if the British rationed food? Who knew what the Russians did with Lend-Lease materials?  If convoys were attacked and ships were sunk, what impact did it have? Even after Pearl Harbor, Americans remained so blithely unconcerned about the U-boat threat that they left city lights blazing along the Atlantic Seaboard. Merchant ships were silhouetted as perfect targets.

Numbered successively U-1 through U-4717, Hitler’s U-boats fought WWII without restraint. They attacked without warning, and seldom rescued survivors. Their captains and crews proved remorseless killing machines often operating in wolf packs to maximize the carnage.

Today, a new and equally remorseless machine is stalking and torpedoing our economy. It, too, goes by a number: U-6.  And it is the danger lurking below.

U-6 is the broadest gage of unemployment recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last month BLS counted 22.7 million Americans as unemployed, working part-time involuntarily and those who stopped looking for work in the last year.

U-6 peaked at 15.2% in November 2009. It dropped to 15% in November 2012. But fifteen states remained above that national average:

Nevada 21.4%, California 19.6%, Rhode Island 18.3%, Oregon 17.3%, Washington 17.1%, Michigan 17%, North Carolina 17%, Florida 16.4%, Illinois 16.3%, South Carolina 16.3%, Arizona 16.1%, Georgia 15.9%, New Jersey 15.6%, Mississippi 15.5% and Idaho 15.3%

Running silent and almost undetectable, U-6 keeps torpedoing our economy, sinking hospital ships, super tankers and container ships alike, and relegating nearly one-fifth of America’s workforce to a “hand-to-mouth” existence.

Leadership is the antidote to indifference. Laughter is the best medicine. And the Union of Unemployed plans to deploy both to defeat the danger that lurks below.

Bet on it.

In unity – strength,

Rick

Rick Sloan
UCubed President

Dear UCubed Leader:

Can The Washington Post win another Pulitzer Prize? I hope so.

Last Sunday and again today, the newspaper produced front-page stories about America’s jobs crisis. The Post took its readers to Woonsocket, Rhode Island and Tulsa, Oklahoma to see what it means to live on the edge of destitution and despair.

Perhaps by sheer chance, its reporters focused on two women with the same first name. Rebecka Ortiz, age 21 and the mother of two, and Rebecca Shorter, age 35 with two tours in Iraq, live worlds apart. Rebecka works at Stop & Shop while Rebecca works as a mall security guard. Both are involuntary part-time workers, part of the 22.6 million Americans who belong to the army of unemployed.

The articles – Food Stamps Put Rhode Island Town on Monthly Boom-and-Bust Cycle by Greg Jaffe and After Decade of War Troops Still Struggling to Find Work by Eli Saslow – make for compelling reading.  And they serve as an indictment of our government’s complacency towards, if not malign neglect of, America’s struggling young families and its returning warriors.

The Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service four times. Its coverage of Watergate in 1973, reckless gunplay by ill-trained police in 1999, abuse in the city’s group homes in 2000 and the treatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed in 2008 involved more than one or two stories. It won because of its reporters’ courage, consistency and persistence in uncovering the truth.

In each instance, The Washington Post’s articles and editorials led to action by the government.  So, it is my fervent hope that Greg Jaffe and Eli Saslow and others keep digging up the facts, keep writing about the lives of the unemployed and underemployed. Their work could persuade the White House and Congress to turn away from an austerity agenda and deal directly with the jobs crisis.

So, for Rebecka and Rebecca’s sake, take a couple minutes to comment on each story. Let the reporters, their editors and the publisher know that you think they deserve a Pulitzer Prize.

In Unity — Strength,

Rick

Rick Sloan
UCubed President

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C., March 8, 2013 – The Union of Unemployed (UCubed) welcomes today’s U.S. Department of Labor jobs report and renews its call for an ambitious, robust jobs program to accelerate the trend.

“Finally, we are seeing the kind of job growth numbers that unemployed Americans desperately need,” said UCubed President Rick Sloan. “Adding 236,000 new jobs will raise their spirits and encourage many to re-enter the workforce. Now America needs to focus on increasing that level of job growth.”

UCubed urges the White House and Congress to create a 21^st century Works Progress Administration (WPA) similar to the Franklin D. Roosevelt program that put more than 8.5 million Americans back to work during the Great Depression. A modern-day WPA would spark a new economic reality and the necessary sustained growth of 4 percent and the addition of 350,000 new jobs a month for the next three years.

With over 136,000 activists who regularly connect with nearly 37 million Facebook friends, UCubed represents a significantly rising demographic of unemployed and underemployed Americans. UCubed was created to provide a structure for jobless individuals to take political, economic and social advantage of their growing numbers. For more information, visit www.UnionofUnemployed.com.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced earlier this morning that based on its monthly survey of establishments, in February 2013:

•  U.S. employers added 236,000 non-farm jobs versus the 160,000 that were expected per the WSJ survey of economists; this figure compares to January’s adjusted increase of 119,000 (previously 157,000) and December’s adjusted increase of 219,000 (previously 196,000).

•  The BLS Unemployment Rate declined to 7.7% from January’s rate of 7.9%, and is the lowest since December 2008.

•  There are now 12.0 million Unemployed Workers, based on BLS’s separate monthly survey of businesses.

However, as we note each month, BLS’s figures do not reflect Real Unemployment, since:

1.  BLS counts only those workers who are actively looking for employment, which can vary fairly widely month-to-month due to workers voluntarily removing themselves from the labor force.

• BLS does not include in the BLS Civilian Labor Force either “discouraged workers” (now 0.9 mm) or “other marginally attached workers” (now 1.7 mm).

• BLS does not include among BLS Unemployed Workers the 10.6 million workers in total who are “part-time-of-necessity” (i.e., the so-called “underemployed” who are unable to find full-time jobs or who’ve had their hours cut back) (now 8.0 mm workers), discouraged or other marginally attached.

In contrast, our Summary of U.S. Real Unemployment makes these changes to the Adjusted Civilian Labor Force and in the number of Real Unemployed Workers.  In February 2013:

•  The number of Real Unemployed Workers decreased by 140,000 to 22.6 million (i.e., the 12.0 mm BLS Unemployed Workers plus the 10.6 mm workers who are part-time-of-necessity, discouraged or other marginally attached).  January’s increase in Real Unemployed Workers was an insignificant 10,000. 

• The Real Unemployment Rate is now 14.6%, compared to the BLS Unemployment Rate of 7.7%.

 

 

Dear UCubed Leaders:

Back in the day, Congress could not levy taxes, could not encourage commerce and economic development, could not approve treaties, could not protect manufacturing and could not defend its borders.

Sound familiar? It should. Sequestration takes effect today. And once again Congress could not act.

A post-war depression, a credit squeeze and austerity measures taken to resolve a debt crisis produced two very different reactions a little over two centuries ago.

Shays’ Rebellion started in western Massachusetts on August 29, 1786. Led by Daniel Shays, the protestors shut down local courts to prevent tax and debt collections. Five months later, Shays’ ragtag army marched on the Springfield Armory and was defeated by a militia force financed by Boston merchants. While thousands admitted to participating in the rebellion, only the ringleaders were tried. Two were hung. Shays escaped to Vermont and was, eventually, pardoned.

The Annapolis Convention met on September 11, 1786. There a dozen delegates decided to urge “the states to send delegates to a convention in Philadelphia the following May to amend the Articles of Confederation.”  Led by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, the Annapolis Convention began a three year march away from the Articles of Confederation and towards the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Two choices, made less than two weeks apart, offered America two distinct roads into an uncertain future.  Both choices were grounded in frustration over how the Congress had failed to address the Nation’s crises. And yet, given the 20/20 hindsight that comes with 227 years of history, one road seems far less sanguinary and far more productive.

Or, as the poet Robert Frost reminds us:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

Once again, it is time to “remedy defects of the federal government.”   A Second Annapolis Convention could – and should – initiate deep, thoughtful discussions on how to make our government far more responsive to We, The People.

In unity – strength,

Rick

Rick Sloan
UCubed President

WASHINGTON, Feb 13, 2013 — Union of Unemployed (UCubed) President Rick Sloan issued the following statement in response to President Barack Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address:

“Last night Americans who still seek work heard President Barack Obama speak directly to them. From its opening paragraphs, his State of the Union speech gave 22.7 million jobless Americans a renewed sense of hope.

“President Obama made prosperity, and not austerity, his driving theme. That prosperity would be built on manufacturing, high-tech skills and a fix-it-now approach. In many ways, it echoed the concepts advocated by the Union of Unemployed for the last 40 months.

“The Union of Unemployed stands ready to help advocate for this prosperity agenda. It is the only sure route to get millions and millions of Americans back to work.”

Dear UCubed Leader:

Is this your life?

• Nearly 8 in 10 Americans (79%) know at least someone who lost a job in the past four years.

•  23 percent of all those surveyed reported being laid off from either a full-time or part-time job over the past four years.

•  The data indicate one-third of American households – approximately 39 million – lost work as a result of the recession during the past three years.

• Of those who have found work, nearly half (48%) say their current job is a step down from the one they held before the recession hit.  A majority (54%) report lower pay in their new job compared to the job they held before being laid off.

• Among those reporting lower pay in their new job, a full third say their pay has been cut by more than 30 percent… another third say their pay has been reduced by 11 percent to 30 percent.

• 52 percent of those with a high school education or less… 41 percent of white/non-Hispanic and 41 percent of Black/Hispanic… 40 percent of those with some college were unemployed and looking for work or unemployed and not looking.

• 71 percent of those currently unemployed say they did NOT receive unemployment benefits from the government within the last 12 months.

• One-third of Americans think full recovery is three to five years away. The majority (54%) either think it will take between six and ten years (25%), or say that America will never fully recover from the Great Recession (29%).

• 58 percent feel the ability of young people to afford college education is a thing of the past… and 43 percent do not believe job security is possible in present day America.

• A paltry 18 percent of those currently employed feel extremely or very confident they could find another job.

• 57 percent of those unemployed and looking for work… report having lost a lot of their savings… and one-third of employed Americans report the same.

• Almost 4 in 10 say they loaned money to family or friends… and about 3 in 10 report borrowing money… 30 percent increased the amount of credit card debt they were carrying… and 2 in 10 received food stamps or food from a charity or religious organization.

• 57 percent cut back on health care… 46 percent reported taking a job that was below their skill/education level… 61 percent believe they will not fully recover from the recession.

The excerpts above were culled from a report released by the highly respected John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers. Diminished Lives and Futures: A Portrait of America in the Great-Recession Era paints a devastating picture of the life led by millions and millions of our countrymen and women.

If this is your life – or was your life – then stay ACTIVE. Stay ENGAGED. Stay ENRAGED.  You are not alone,

In unity – strength,

Rick

Rick Sloan
UCubed President