Kabuki
The headline ”Unemployment creeps up to 9.2%” reverberated through the Internet on Friday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy produced 18,000 jobs in June–fewer than the 25,000 jobs the previous month. In its article on the Labor Department report, “Job Growth Falters Badly, Clouding Hope for Recovery“, a startled New York Times wrote, “Economists were stunned. They had been expecting job growth to strengthen in June as oil prices eased and supply disruptions caused by the Japanese tsunami and earthquakes receded… .”
Either the economists are not very good at their job or they are reading from the same official script. The script being this: say anything as long as the real ills of the economy are not diagnosed properly. The media-designated experts chatter away but say nothing. It is all theatre.
The U.S. economy will not create enough jobs if
- So-called free trade agreements are not revised to have real reciprocity;
- Tax breaks continue to go to multinationals that ship jobs overseas;
- Tariffs are not imposed on countries with which the U.S. has substantial trade deficits through currency manipulation, tax subsidies and other mercantilist policies;
- People continue to do business with or buy products from large multinationals instead of small businesses;
- A steeply progressive tax system is not enacted;
- Antitrust prosecutions are not instituted against banking, insurance, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and media conglomerates; and
- The social contract is not rewritten to provide for decent wages and medical care for all workers.
The list can go on.
