Sobering story: the new poor

My hope is that somehow, some way, the two parties can come together on the major issues of the day. Somehow.....some way. So far, that seems like a pipe dream.

An article in the Greensboro News and Record this morning speaks to the record high unemployment rate in America and the prognosis going forward. A "sobering story" indeed. This quote from that article tells it all, really:

The Obama administration says the recovery act has created or saved about 2 million jobs in the past year. But that figure might not be accurate, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
As of the end of September, projects funded under the stimulus bill had created or saved 640,000 jobs, the budget office said.
Up-to-date numbers are not yet available. But more folks are out of work locally and nationally every month.
In Greensboro, the city has drawn in about $23 million under the stimulus bill.
How many jobs has that created or saved? A grand total of 6.9, according to city accounting.

In my view, we cannot afford to just throw money into projects that cost millions to create just a few jobs (and many of these jobs that are actually being created are only for the term of "start-to-completion" projects). Legislators have to look at what must be done to actually boost economic activity that do, in fact, create long-term employment. That is going to take everyone in leadership positions not only in D.C. but here at home. By inserting massive amounts of money into mostly short term government-initiated projects that only create a small number of short term job positions is like a doctor treating the symtoms of cancer rather than doing what is necessary to cure the disease.

I do not think we have a solid handle on what it is going to take to get the economy going again thus creating those kinds of jobs that are sustainable and generate income that increases spending thus building an even stronger economy that realizes even more job creation. Small businesses and industry in America employ the vast majority of our workers. That is the sector that has to be boosted and that is the segment of our economy that has to be looked at for a resolution to our current economic woes. We need to get the biggest bang for our buck in utilizing the stimulus money and in making legislation.

Our country is in dire straights with our fiscal policy and our economic situation has us teetering on disaster IMO. The partisan bickering and backstabbing and one-upmanship etc. has to stop now less we go so far down the road we are on that we cannot turn back.

Sorry for the long rant and yeah, I am in a bit of a negative mood this morning. I guess I need to stay away from the newspapers and Internet news sources and blogs for a while.