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04
Apr
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Written by Jack Ebling
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Friday, 04 April 2008 |
“It’s the economy, stupid."
Bill Richardson’s former friend James Carville coined the phrase some 16 years ago.
Today, it’s just plain stupid.
As we remember the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King and recall where we were when he was slain in Memphis, Tenn., many things have changed in 40 years.
This much has not: King’s call for justice was more than a plea for fairness. It was a warning that nothing can change without increased economic opportunity.
As the chasm between haves and have-nots widens, there’s more disturbing news this morning in America.
An estimated 80,000 jobs were lost in March. Coupled with the 76,000
that disappeared in January and 76 thou that vanished in February,
we’re 232,000 jobs poorer that we were just 14 weeks ago.
Happy New Year, indeed.
With the unemployment rate hitting 5.1 percent and the underemployment
rate much higher, no wonder a record 81 percent of Americans are upset
with the direction of the country.
At a time when we needed at least 100,000 new jobs just to keep pace
with a growing workforce, it’s time for some simple accounting -
Eblingomics 101.
We can’t afford to fight a war that kills us all in so many ways.
Until this administration - or more likely, the next one - pulls its
collective head from its colon, things will only get worse.
Until we foreclose on Iraq, we’ll never have the fiscal clout to clobber our economic problems.
And until we commit to the future - education, energy, infrastructure
and health, in alphabetical order - we’ll always under-perform.
Dr. King realized that. He tried to warn us. He preached empowerment, not politics for the preservation of power.
That’s not a partisan whine. The “r” word is recession, not Republican. The “d” word is downturn, not Democratic.
It’s time to take off the blinders and accept the fact that we’re in
this together - blacks and whites, rich and poor, young and old.
Otherwise, we’ll keep spinning four-wheelers in a bog we refuse to
leave. We’ll keep blaming the other guy (or gal, Hillary) and
wondering why gas is $3.30 a gallon.
If you’re doing well this week, congratulations. You’ve probably had a break or 10 and pushed doors open along the way.
But take a look around you today. Then, realize you could become a victim, too.
If we don’t do that as a nation, if we sit back say, “What’s wrong?
Things aren’t that bad,” they could be worse before we know it.
This much, we do know: James Earl Ray or whoever shot Dr. King on that balcony couldn’t kill his dream.
We can, without pulling a single trigger.
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