August 02, 2010

"So long as American corporations keep squeezing their work forces, there can be no real economic recovery."




Bob Herbert writes what should be obvious to everyone but instead has become all muddled thanks to Tea Baggers who simultaneously "think" there's too much government yet "think" the black man who's not really American should be creating jobs; Republicants who blame Obama for the lack of new jobs even though it's mainly because of Repulicants that the stimulus was not as big as it could've been not to mention the fact that they do everything they can to protect and defend American corporations; and the members of the "news" media who desperately want a horserace in November so they can have something to masturbate about:
The treatment of workers by American corporations has been worse — far more treacherous — than most of the population realizes. There was no need for so many men and women to be forced out of their jobs in the downturn known as the great recession.

Many of those workers were cashiered for no reason other than outright greed by corporate managers. And that cruel, irresponsible, shortsighted policy has resulted in widespread human suffering and is doing great harm to the economy.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Andrew Sum, an economics professor and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. “Not only did they throw all these people off the payrolls, they also cut back on the hours of the people who stayed on the job.”

(snip)

In short, the corporations are making out like bandits. Now they’re sitting on mountains of cash and they still are not interested in hiring to any significant degree, or strengthening workers’ paychecks.
Ah, let's hear it for The American Dream.