Posted on “Unemployeds” Forum

>As the economy recovers and employers increase hiring to meet the growing demand
>for goods and services, many currently unemployed workers will be able to find new
>jobs.

"The economy" will not recover. There will be no growing demand for goods and services. What we are experiencing is structural unemployment of the grandest scale. We are on the bust side of a thirty-year supply side boom that saw a major investment in foreign made products and domestic transportation and retail outlets. For a while, this boom supported a growth in professional business employees, exactly those whom the referenced article identifies as the long-term unemployed. The other jobs created by the supply side/retail boom were low paying retail and other non-living wage service sector jobs.

Together, the bust adds up to a permanent deficit in effective demand for the over-supply of junk that has been sold to the American consumer in the last thirty, fifty, one hundred years.

What we need to do is recognize that we are on the other side of a post-peak fossil fuel economy and organize ourselves into a collective union that works to rebuild relocalized economies in all communities, all regions.

It will take leadership that is foreign to the economic and political history of this country. It will take a solidarity that has never been seen before and is highly unlikely with the mindless hedonistic anarchy that is prevailing in our country today.

In the meantime, stick with the Dems., when it comes to safety-net issues.

Relative to Unemployment Compensation: to AFL-CIO Blog

I had a form of unemployment compensation (Private Disability), which paid 60% of my previous income.

After about one year, the Private Insurer insisted that I apply for Social Security, saying that they would cut off my benefits, if I did not.

After my Social Security came through, the application and approval process took about six months, but SSDI paid me back wages, the Private Insurer carved out the Social Security, making it approximately a 50-50 proposition for about another year.

Then the Privates dropped out. My income, however, did not halve, because in my particular situation the Social Security was not taxable.

Structural unemployment should be viewed as a disability (of the system).


In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,

Mike Morin
Peoples' Equity Union
Eugene, OR
(541) 343-3808