By Marie Cocco, Washington Post Writers Group. Posted July 10, 2009.
Workers laid off early in the downturn are soon to be left without the basic sustenance of an unemployment check.
WASHINGTON -- When a virulent disease is ravaging you like a cancer, you don't want a cacophony of voices promoting different or contradictory cures. Yet that is what we're starting to hear about the economic crisis, not only from a politically divided -- and pretty scared -- capital, but from within the Obama administration itself. In just the past few days, Vice President Joe Biden has said the young administration misread the depth of the recession -- an honest account, since most private economists did as well. Laura Tyson, an outside economic adviser to the White House, said it's wise to start preparing another stimulus package.
Then President Barack Obama made everything perfectly muddy when he said in an ABC News interview that the seriousness of the downturn and how to attack it is "something we wrestle with constantly." Yet in the next breath, he expressed concern about the burgeoning deficit. But if anyone's looking for some clear voices, there are 650,000 of them just waiting to be heard. That is roughly the number of long-term unemployed who will begin losing their jobless benefits in September, according to the National Employment Law Project. Remember, the recession didn't start last fall when the government bailed out AIG and the financial system froze. It began in December 2007 -- and 6.5 million jobs have been lost since then. Depending on which state and the sort of triggers that apply to benefits, hundreds of thousands of workers laid off early in the downturn are soon to be left without the basic sustenance of an unemployment check.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department says, the number of unemployed people out of work for 27 weeks or longer continues to grow, reaching 4.4 million last month. In June, three out of 10 jobless workers had been out of work for at least six months, according to the department's data. The stimulus package the president signed soon after taking office did provide extended benefits, and boosted weekly payments. But even that extension runs out on Dec. 26, and would not apply to all the unemployed. Does anyone really believe that a significant portion of the unemployed will have found new work by then? Hardly. Both private and government economists now predict that unemployment will continue to rise at least through the end of this year.
"We can't ignore this moment when all these folks are running out (of benefits)," says Maurice Emsellem of the National Employment Law Project.
"That needs to be a top priority, to help these workers." Let's stop kidding ourselves. In no contemporary economic crisis -- not even those that unfolded on the Republicans' watch -- has Congress left the unemployed completely in the lurch. So some sort of spending package -- call it stimulus, call it stopgap emergency aid, whatever works -- is going to have to be passed.
The unemployment emergency helps feed another crisis Congress is going to be forced to address: the state budget disasters unfolding around the country. So far, 42 states have cut budgets that already had been enacted for fiscal 2009, according to the National Governors Association. More and deeper cuts are expected next year.
Already states have laid off and furloughed workers -- including, in some states, the very workers who process unemployment claims. Generally speaking, states are required to balance their budgets each year, a mandate that forces them to pull money out of the economy through spending reductions and tax hikes, counteracting the federal government's efforts to juice things up. "That is what happened during the Great Depression, we had states working against what the federal government was doing," says Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute. With red states and blue, Republican governors and Democrats, all struggling against the same relentless, recession-driven drops in tax revenue, an almost irresistible political coalition for more aid to states eventually will take shape. And with the fast-approaching September deadline for extending some unemployment benefits, there will likely emerge one of those must-pass measures that may or may not be called another stimulus bill.
Any hot air expended trying to stop it serves no purpose but to fuel political fires. Remember, that is the whole point of those now huffing and puffing most heartily. They don't want to figure a way out of this morass; they just want to figure out a way to unseat those now in office.
Marie Cocco's e-mail address is mariecocco(at)washpost.com.
(c) 2009, Washington Post Writers Group
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/141190/hundreds_of_thousands_of_workers_will_lose_unemployment_benefits_soon/
Monday, July 13, 2009
Summer Downsizing: 31 Ways to Jumpstart Your Local Economy
By Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine. Posted July 9, 2009.
Here's how to make more with less, put people before profits and cut down on waste.
AT HOME
1. Rent out a room in your home, or swap space for gardening, child or elder care, or carpentry.
2. Buy less so you can buy higher quality. Buy from companies that "internalize" costs by passing along to you the cost of living wages, low carbon footprints, or organic production.
3. Take your money out of predator banks and put it into a credit union, local bank, or an institution like Shorebank Pacific that supports sustainable businesses.
4. Pay off debts. Try life without credit cards.
5. Downsize your home and shrink your mortgage.
6. Fix things. Mend clothing, repair the vacuum, fix the car--instead of replacing them. Or give them away on Freecycle.org.
7. Invest with passion. Know where your money is and what it's up to. Go for a living return that builds your community. Or invest in tangible things like a prepaid college fund or a piece of land.
8. Shorten the supply chain. Pick the wild greens and extra fruit growing in your neighborhood. If you can't do that, then buy direct from a farmer. If you can't do that, then look for local produce in season at your locally owned grocers.
9. Support other people's local economies by urging your representatives in Congress to cancel debts to poor countries (see www.jubileeusa.org).
10. Find a place, put down roots, and stay put. Get to know people from other generations. Turn off the TV and talk to friends and neighbors.
11. Support local green businesses rather than distant energy conglomerates by insulating your house, upgrading windows, and installing solar.
TOGETHER WITH FRIENDS
12. Form a dinner club and hold a weekly potluck, or trade off cooking and hosting
13. Dip your toe in the barter economy. Check out Craigslist's "barter" category, and learn what WTT means (Willing To Trade). Even better, ask the guy at work who makes microbrews to trade a sixpack for a dozen of your chickens' eggs.
14. Get together with coworkers and start a list of things you can do at work. For example, buy fair trade coffee, change to energy-efficient lighting, or carpool.
15. Start a Common Security Club in your faith community or neighborhood to help folks cope in the crisis and act together to create the new economy (www.commonsecurityclub.org).
16. Exchange care of children and elders. Better yet, bring the generations together and support each in offering love and care to the others.
17. Pool funds with a group of friends for home repairs, greening projects, or emergencies.
18. Do home work parties. Each month, go to a different household to do major home greening, a garden upgrade, or some deferred maintenance.
19. Keep more people from becoming homeless by challenging evictions and occupying vacant homes.
20. Create a space at a farmers market to exchange or sell used clothes, electronics, games, CDs, plants, seeds, compost, and books. Encourage people to swap services, too, like haircuts, photography, or prepared dinners.
21. Reach out to groups that are organizing people on the frontlines of the crisis, like Jobs with Justice (www.jwj.org) and Right to the City (www.righttothecity.org).
IN YOUR COMMUNITY
22. Link up people looking for job skills with people who can offer apprenticeships.
23. Start a local currency or time dollar program to help link needs and offerings, those with time and those starved for time.
24. Use publicly owned lands for community gardens, farmers markets, business incubators, community land trusts (with affordable housing), community-rooted grocery stores.
25. Hold on to the local businesses you already have. Help retiring entrepreneurs sell to employees or other locals.
26. Create a car, kayak, and electric pick-up truck co-op to save money and carbon, and provide access to a variety of vehicles.
27. Create or join a chapter of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) or similar groups. Work together to find services or products you could substitute for imported ones, local assets you can build on, and ongoing institutions that could be serviced locally.
28. Start a community bank, loan fund, or credit union to invest in local well-being, or encourage existing ones to rethink their lending.
29. Declare an end to corporate personhood in your community. Barnstead, New Hampshire did, and, more recently, three communities in Maine have done it. You can too.
30. Hold a weekly dinner for the hungry. Ask those who attend to help serve food at subsequent dinners. (Having an opportunity to give is important for everyone's dignity).
31. Keep your energy dollars circulating locally. Launch a clean energy cooperative to install wind turbines or solar roofs, and to weatherize homes and businesses.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140979/summer_downsizing%3A_31_ways_to_jumpstart_your_local_economy/
Here's how to make more with less, put people before profits and cut down on waste.
AT HOME
1. Rent out a room in your home, or swap space for gardening, child or elder care, or carpentry.
2. Buy less so you can buy higher quality. Buy from companies that "internalize" costs by passing along to you the cost of living wages, low carbon footprints, or organic production.
3. Take your money out of predator banks and put it into a credit union, local bank, or an institution like Shorebank Pacific that supports sustainable businesses.
4. Pay off debts. Try life without credit cards.
5. Downsize your home and shrink your mortgage.
6. Fix things. Mend clothing, repair the vacuum, fix the car--instead of replacing them. Or give them away on Freecycle.org.
7. Invest with passion. Know where your money is and what it's up to. Go for a living return that builds your community. Or invest in tangible things like a prepaid college fund or a piece of land.
8. Shorten the supply chain. Pick the wild greens and extra fruit growing in your neighborhood. If you can't do that, then buy direct from a farmer. If you can't do that, then look for local produce in season at your locally owned grocers.
9. Support other people's local economies by urging your representatives in Congress to cancel debts to poor countries (see www.jubileeusa.org).
10. Find a place, put down roots, and stay put. Get to know people from other generations. Turn off the TV and talk to friends and neighbors.
11. Support local green businesses rather than distant energy conglomerates by insulating your house, upgrading windows, and installing solar.
TOGETHER WITH FRIENDS
12. Form a dinner club and hold a weekly potluck, or trade off cooking and hosting
13. Dip your toe in the barter economy. Check out Craigslist's "barter" category, and learn what WTT means (Willing To Trade). Even better, ask the guy at work who makes microbrews to trade a sixpack for a dozen of your chickens' eggs.
14. Get together with coworkers and start a list of things you can do at work. For example, buy fair trade coffee, change to energy-efficient lighting, or carpool.
15. Start a Common Security Club in your faith community or neighborhood to help folks cope in the crisis and act together to create the new economy (www.commonsecurityclub.org).
16. Exchange care of children and elders. Better yet, bring the generations together and support each in offering love and care to the others.
17. Pool funds with a group of friends for home repairs, greening projects, or emergencies.
18. Do home work parties. Each month, go to a different household to do major home greening, a garden upgrade, or some deferred maintenance.
19. Keep more people from becoming homeless by challenging evictions and occupying vacant homes.
20. Create a space at a farmers market to exchange or sell used clothes, electronics, games, CDs, plants, seeds, compost, and books. Encourage people to swap services, too, like haircuts, photography, or prepared dinners.
21. Reach out to groups that are organizing people on the frontlines of the crisis, like Jobs with Justice (www.jwj.org) and Right to the City (www.righttothecity.org).
IN YOUR COMMUNITY
22. Link up people looking for job skills with people who can offer apprenticeships.
23. Start a local currency or time dollar program to help link needs and offerings, those with time and those starved for time.
24. Use publicly owned lands for community gardens, farmers markets, business incubators, community land trusts (with affordable housing), community-rooted grocery stores.
25. Hold on to the local businesses you already have. Help retiring entrepreneurs sell to employees or other locals.
26. Create a car, kayak, and electric pick-up truck co-op to save money and carbon, and provide access to a variety of vehicles.
27. Create or join a chapter of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) or similar groups. Work together to find services or products you could substitute for imported ones, local assets you can build on, and ongoing institutions that could be serviced locally.
28. Start a community bank, loan fund, or credit union to invest in local well-being, or encourage existing ones to rethink their lending.
29. Declare an end to corporate personhood in your community. Barnstead, New Hampshire did, and, more recently, three communities in Maine have done it. You can too.
30. Hold a weekly dinner for the hungry. Ask those who attend to help serve food at subsequent dinners. (Having an opportunity to give is important for everyone's dignity).
31. Keep your energy dollars circulating locally. Launch a clean energy cooperative to install wind turbines or solar roofs, and to weatherize homes and businesses.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140979/summer_downsizing%3A_31_ways_to_jumpstart_your_local_economy/
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