Ah yes the unemployed… the invisible… the forgotten.

Republican conventional wisdom would have you believe that these unfortunate Americans are hopelessly bitter, alienated, filled with fear and afflicted with all the moral failings of Mitt Romney’s 47 percent.

If these unemployed folks truly want to improve their situations, Romney told us, all they need to do is borrow money from their parents and start their own businesses. And to encourage them to move in this direction, the Republicans in Congress have tried repeatedly to terminate benefits for the middle- to long-term unemployed.

For the millions of Americans who have been and remain unemployed, the Republicans in Congress have no empathy — none at all.

Even worse, they have no fear of the unemployed. They are convinced that no matter what cruel, stupid policies they support, they’ll never have to pay politically.

In Republican circles, it is an article of faith that the unemployed mostly do not vote — and that those who do are as likely as not to be influenced by the likes of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.

At UCubed — the Union of the Unemployed — we set out during the 2012 election cycle to change things.

With support from the labor movement, we began to organize online, urging jobless households to BEE MAD @ THE GOP. Our Facebook-centric effort involved 35,000 fans daily. Those fans liked and shared our zany photos and micro-videos with their friends. So by the fall of 2012, UCubed was reaching over 835,000 viewers every day.

How does that measure up?

If you go to our landing page you can still see why the American Association of Political Consultants presented UCubed with a Poly Award for Best Use of Facebook in a Get-Out-The-Vote campaign. In key states, our ads moved the needle enough to help us win the White House and retain control of the United States Senate.

But that was then.

Now UCubed has embarked on a new campaign – Deep Six U-6 – that pokes fun at the callousness, intransigence and blatant ineptitude of the GOP Congressional leadership. Sure, they’re easy targets. But as our animated ads point out, it’s not so funny when you or a family member is still looking for a job.

U-6, by the way, is the broadest measure of unemployment. Nationally it stands at just under 14 percent, but in key Democratic states U-6 is even higher. And Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor and their entire crew have kept U-6 high by targeting their austerity policies at working and middle-class families.

In 2012, our animated Facebook campaign starred the Bee family — Buzz and Honey — and the hard-working members of their hive.

In the 2014 cycle, we’ll be out to sink McConnell’s Navy.

McConnell’s Navy — now there’s a baaaaaad outfit for you.

Think Wolf Packs — you know the German subs that, during the early years of World War II, preyed ruthlessly on Allied shipping in the North Atlantic.

For the last 50 months, McConnell’s Navy has fired torpedo after torpedo into the jobs initiatives launched by President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats.

They’ve used every trick in their arsenal to hold unemployment benefits hostage to tax cuts for the wealthy. They’ve attacked every program that might conceivably help a Democratic constituency.

So the Union of Unemployed is fighting back.

We’ve taken on McConnell’s Navy. And our Facebook fans are, once again, letting their friends know who’s on the side of the angels… and who’s just gunning for the weakest among us.

Last time out, we started from scratch and wound up having a very substantial impact.

This time, we’re starting out from a much stronger position.

We’ve learned how to empower this constituency.

We know how to talk effectively and persuasively about the issues. And this time, the right-wing Republicans are really going to feel the justified anger of the men and women they have tried to victimize.

I invite you to like and share our animated video with your friends.

And please — please help us spread the word. A dollar you give now is worth many dollars given later.

Any support that you can give to this effort of ours — be it $6… $12… $18 even $60 — will bring us closer to the glorious day when we sink McConnell’s Navy. Just click this link to contribute.

In Unity — Strength,

Rick

Rick Sloan
UCubed President

A bill introduced by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) would prevent the U.S. Census Bureau from conducting nearly all surveys except for a population count every 10 years. For the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which relies on the Census Bureau to help roll out hundreds of economic indicators every month, this is a huge problem.

So how will we know the country’s unemployment rate, or how the economy as a whole is doing if this bill passes?

“They simply wouldn’t exist. We won’t have an unemployment rate,” said Ken Prewitt, the former director of the U.S. Census.

And the “Census Reform Act” (H.R. 1638) doesn’t stop there; it explicitly puts a stop to the agricultural, economic, mid-decade and government censuses.

This isn’t the first time Republicans on the far right have attacked the census. In 2010, Tea Partiers organized boycotts against the count, even though the data plays an important role in federal funding.

The proposed legislation, which has 10 cosponsors, has been referred to committee in the House of Representatives.

“This depression has gone on too long. And its longevity is due entirely to the GOP’s obstructionism and its affinity for crippling austerity measures,” said UCubed President Rick Sloan. “McConnell’s Navy – Mitch, John Boehner and Eric Cantor – keeps torpedoing every attempt to revive our economy. They are directly responsible for the pain and suffering of millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans.”

“Deep Six U-6,” an animated cartoon, recalls the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest military campaign of World War II and one that pitted German U-boats against the Allied shipping. Today, America is being threatened by an equally ruthless enemy – the U-6, also known as the “real” unemployment rate, which currently sits at 13.8 percent.

“It’s time to fight back and sink McConnell’s Navy – before they sink us,” said Sloan.

Click here to view the first “Deep Six U-6” video.

“The BLS report of only 165,000 new jobs added last month underscores the pathetic response to this chronic jobs crisis by America’s political leaders,” said UCubed President Rick Sloan. “Before this new normal becomes fossilized, Congress must act to stimulate our economy.”

“America crossed a red line,” continues Sloan. “This morning the United States population stood at 315,787,766. According to the BLS, our civilian workforce in March numbered only 155,028,000. That means less than half of us are working – 49.1 percent to be exact.

“As our population continues to grow so must our workforce. And with 22.6 million under- and unemployed, getting folks working again must be our highest national priority.”

In April 2013:

• The number of Real Unemployed Persons increased by 216,000 to 21.9 million (i.e., the 11.7 mm unemployed persons BLS identified plus the 10.3 mm workers in total who are marginally attached or part-time-of-necessity), specifically as follows:

•  The Real Unemployment Rate increased by 0.1% to 13.9%.

• Note #1: The number of Real Unemployed Persons has declined by 4.6 million persons since February 2010 when this number was at its highest at 26.5 million, despite the fact that the adjusted civilian labor force is now 1.5 million persons larger.  In essence, an overall improvement of 6.1 million workers.

• Note #2: In addition to the total 21.9 million Real Unemployed Persons at April 30, there are another 4.0 million persons who, while also saying they want jobs, have, however, not looked for work in the past twelve months.  We exclude these persons from attachment #2; if they are included, then April’s Real Unemployment Rate of 13.9% increases to 16.0%.

The Union of Unemployed is taking on an entire political party. Again.

Last year our BEE MAD @ THE GOP campaign made a serious point with its zany videos. We pitted worker bees against PAC-a-derms in what seemed like a lost cause. And yet, we stung the s#!& out of them in the November election.

Each day over 35,000 of our Facebook fans “liked” and “shared” our posts and videos. UCubed reached over 835,000 “friends of fans” per day. We even won a Bronze Polly for the best use of Facebook in a Get Out The Vote campaign.

That’s the power you have to alter the political dynamics in this country. Now you need to use that power again.

This depression has gone on too damn long. And its longevity is due entirely to the GOP’s obstructionism and its affinity for crippling austerity measures.

McConnell’s Navy – Mitch, John Boehner and Eric Cantor – keeps torpedoing every attempt to revive our economy. They are directly responsible for the pain and suffering of millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans.

So help us get the word out. Go to www.facebook.com/UCubed to “like” and “share” our posts … and our new video.

Help us DEEP SIX U-6.

In Unity — Strength,

Rick Sloan
UCubed President

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?

Again, the GOP answer is CAN’T, as in we CAN’T do anything that might help our political enemies. Instead, they fill the airwaves with the CANT of austerity equals “jobs, jobs, jobs.”

That smokescreen covers a more devious strategy: unrestricted warfare against the most vulnerable in our society.

Just like during the Battle of the Atlantic, GOP leaders have embarked on a merciless campaign aimed at every ship carrying relief – medicine, food, fuel, passengers or consumer goods – to its foes.

So where does McConnell’s Navy aim its torpedoes, metaphorically speaking? It targets the programs and policies designed to help working folks and those no longer able to find full-time work.

But unrestricted warfare, as practiced by the U-boats during World War II, did not distinguish between non-combatant and combatant vessels. All were fair game for the wolf packs.

Ships carrying tanks, planes and troops were not as vulnerable; they sailed in convoys, with escorts and weapons. Still the U-boats wreaked havoc on them as well.

As sequestration demonstrates, McConnell’s Navy makes all the right noises under duress but still billions in defense spending are lost – $492 billion over the next decade to be exact – and sunk beneath the waves of GOP CANT.

Admittedly, I’m stretching the metaphor of the Battle of the Atlantic to the on going Battle of the Budget. But the strategy of McConnell’s Navy is clear: sink as many Democratic programs and policies as possible, as quickly as possible.

So, even as they wait for their ship to come in, Democratic constituents must realize that there’s a wolf pack waiting to ambush and destroy their deepest hopes.

McConnell’s Navy may be filled with loopy, looney-tune leaders. Its primary weapon – the laughable crew of the U-6 – may lurk beneath the waves. But its torpedoes have done – and can still do – enormous damage to our nation.

Until we deep six the U-6, the unrestricted war against the un- and underemployed will continue unabated. It is time to put an end to its trepidations.

In Unity — Strength,

Rick

Rick Sloan
UCubed President

“For many young people the promises of finding a good job, starting a family, or making a better life for themselves are all on hold as they struggle to locate any opportunity in an economy that is reluctant to provide the chances necessary for forward motion,” says the report entitled Stuck: Young America’s Persistent Jobs Crisis. “Instead, this generation of young adults spent 2012 striving for better positioning in a labor market that pushed them toward the sidelines, resulting in historically low labor force participation rates and more economic drag.”

According to the findings, young people are facing a jobs deficit of over 4 million jobs. If the economy continues to add jobs at the current rate it will be 2022 before the country recovers to full employment. Even then, workers under 25 will face unemployment rates double the national average.

Altogether, there are more than 5.6 million 18 to 34-year-olds who are willing and able to take a job and actively looking for work, but shut out of opportunities for employment, says the study. These young adults compose 45 percent of all unemployed Americans. An additional 4.7 million young people are underemployed—either working part time when they really want full-time positions or marginalized from the labor market altogether.

Young adult Hispanic workers are experiencing unemployment rates 25 percent higher than those of whites, while African American rates are approximately double.

Policy has the potential to reverse market failures and protect our collective future, concludes the report. Without it, “we risk a generation marked by the insecurities of the Great Recession for the rest of their working lives.”

For more on Stuck: Young America’s Persistent Jobs Crisis, click here.

Read all about these facts and more in the 2013 edition of the AFL-CIO’s Executive PayWatch. PayWatch not only shines a light on the “Fix the Debt” hypocrisy, but it also explores the huge wage gap between CEO pay and the average U.S. worker.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka notes that since 1982, the CEO versus worker pay gap has jumped from 42 times more than the average rank-and-file worker to 2012’s record 354 times greater. In real dollars, a CEO of a Standard and Poor’s 500 Index company averaged $12.3 million a year in total compensation, while the average rank-and-file worker earned $36,654.

“Runaway CEO pay is fueling economic inequality in the U.S. and undermining our shared prosperity,” says Trumka. “In addition, high levels of CEO pay can encourage excessive risk by CEOs, which hurts the long-term prospects of the companies they run.”

PayWatch unveils several new features this year, including the multimillion-dollar nest eggs of the leading Business Roundtable CEOs—the same group that wants to cut Social Security benefits, the records of 40 of the largest mutual funds and their votes on CEO pay proposals for the companies in which they invest, the CEO to worker pay gap around the world, and trends in CEO pay.

As in past years, visitors to PayWatch can compare their pay and benefit package to that of a CEO, search the CEO pay database and take action to rein-in CEO pay.

Click here to take a closer look.

Many of the domestic programs, administered by the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, have become prime subjects for severe budget cuts over the past few years. The time has come to rebuild, says the coalition in its joint letter to Congress, or risk further damage in areas such as job readiness, infant mortality and student achievement.

“Despite their profound impact on American health, educational and skills attainment, and productivity, these programs and services have been deeply cut since FY 2010,” reads the letter. “These and other discretionary programs have contributed $1.5 trillion in spending cuts from the FY 2011 Continuing Resolution, the Budget Control Act, and the American Taxpayer Relief Act. Under sequestration, these programs have been cut even deeper. The FY 2013 cuts to these programs alone total almost $9 billion.”

The coalition is urging the largest possible allocation to the bill providing funding to the key departments and related agencies for the 2014 fiscal year.

“We urge you to recognize the value of health, education, job training, and social services in improving the lives of American families and strengthening our global position,” continues the letter. “These discretionary programs should be protected from further cuts that will have profound consequences on our nation’s global competitiveness and our capacity to address the needs of the most vulnerable.”

For a copy of the full letter and a complete list of participating organizations, click here.