Being Jobless in America

No Republican in the House voted for the stimulus package as they insisted that it did not offer tax cuts that would stimulate the economy. But The Washington Post reports that there are tax cuts of "$275 billion, roughly a third of the package."

I guess it depends on which Americans you are referring to, even though those who make more than $150,000 yearly will benefit from a decrease in taxes too. (The latter was a concession.) President Obama appeared to want bipartisan support of the stimulus package.

It appears that President Obama called for cuts in the package that the Republicans balked at. But this did not seem to matter. No Republicans in the house voted for the stimulus package, though one of the banks who employs the spouse of a rising GOP star benefitted from TARP.

Some House Republicans are calling for a decrease in the deficit. This does not seem possible while Americans stand in long lines at the unemployment office all across the nation. We have, in fact, seen the greatest deficit increase in the past eight years after having been given a surplus by the previous administration. This is the largest increase of the deficit in any time in our history. Whose fault was this? Who led? Who followed?

The Labor Department announced today 588,000 new jobless benefit claims. "In the week ending Jan. 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 588,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 585,000. The 4-week moving average was 542,500, an increase of 24,250 from the previous week's revised average of 518,250."

I wonder what alternatives the Republicans have to offer jobless Americans now. Perhaps when unemployment reaches in the high double digits, we will see some real alternatives as opposed to talk. Then again, maybe not. They seem to be waiting for failure for a shot at the White House in 2012. But joblessness will not wait. Americans are losing jobs at record numbers.