Three of them showed up after a reporter tweeted a pix of the one Senator present at the start, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
Then three more Dems showed up.
This is a hearing about solutions. 19 members of the committee. 1 cares to show up, three more, likely so they don't get embarrassed.
Now, maybe the other 15 have, by coincidence, entirely good reasons for not showing up. The flu, a niece's wedding, whatever. Still, if this isn't emblematic of how DC has been handling the massive jobs crisis -- the thing at the root of any deficit issue, at the root of any funding the safety-net issues -- ...well, damn, it IS emblematic.
More than 4.6 million Americans have been jobless for at least 27 weeks, according to the latest job figures, a rate of 3.0 percent. That's higher than at any point since World War II, including the 2.6-percent peak during the recession of the early 1980s. The official unemployment rate currently stands at 7.6 percent, down from 10.0 percent at the recession's darkest moments, although much of the reduction has been due to people leaving the workforce -- simply giving up hope of finding a job.
So what I'm talking about is exactly this: There is almost nobody in DC, almost nobody in our own Party who sees the unemployment issue as something urgent. As Top Priority Number One. More important than any other thing.
Which is inexplicable if Conventional Politics is actually the guiding frame in DC. Gallup polled that 72% of the people want a massive Federal Jobs Creation Program.
That's 91% Democrats, 76% Independents, and 56% Republicans. Now, if Conventional Politics were in play, you'd be seeing both parties vying with each other on Job Creation Ideas. And shouting their plan 24/7 from the rooftops -- and no other thing about the economy like deficits and cutting back Social Security.
That's a sure-fire vote-getter.
But the best we get is that some Trade Agreement, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or the EU Trade Agreements, being negotiated sub rosa, is a meaningful fix. When actually job and industry exporting follows them usually.
The DC Disconnect is something I'd hope we'd really start to discuss here at DKos, and in general.
Can anyone give me one plausible, sane, political sound, reason, that unemployment is not THE burning issue of the day?
Because I can't come up with one that is kind to our political class. Either we are seeing massively incompetent politicians, or there's something else more important to them than representing the interests of Americans and the nation. That's all I got for that.
Near 2 am ET. Off to bed. Thanks for commenting and rec'ing. Anybody wants to add statistics about unemployment, poverty, low-wages replacing high-wages, that would be appreciated. Might get to check back in around noon.