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Jobs Now: States and Cities Need Our Help
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During an economic crisis like the one we’re in now, the squeeze on state and local budgets is brutal. Even as the revenues that are coming in from citizens and businesses decline, residents’ demands for services and assistance increase.
The resulting strain can result in even greater unemployment as teachers, firefighters, police officers and other essential public workers get laid off. To balance their budgets, states often turn to tax hikes or service cuts—at a time when working people can least afford them.
The AFL-CIO’s five-point plan for job creation includes a call for aid to state and local governments because the situation in our states, cities, counties and towns is dire. This year alone, state and local governments are looking at a $178 billion budget shortfall.
An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows the state budget crisis could blunt economic recovery, now and in years to come. The EPI report says:
Widening state and local budget shortfalls present a ticking time bomb for the economy. If they are not addressed, state and local governments will be forced to accelerate layoffs, reduce pay, reduce services and raise taxes and fees. These moves create a drag on the economy, weaken the recovery and result in the loss of millions of public and private-sector jobs.
EPI’s analysis shows the damage from state and local budget cutbacks affects public employees and private-sector businesses, as well as residents who make use of schools, health services, transportation systems and public safety agencies.
Aid to help states meet their budget needs—especially in education and Medicaid—was one of the most effective parts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act earlier this year. We need to renew and expand that vital assistance, so state and local governments can invest in their communities and meet the needs of their residents struggling with the economic crisis.
Otherwise, working families could find their difficult times compounded by higher state and local taxes, hundreds of thousands of more lost jobs and damage to the schools, transit systems, police and fire departments and health care facilities they need.
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A link to the full article:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/mayo-d10.shtml
US Conference of Mayors report:
Recession drives up hunger, homelessness in US cities
By Jerry White
10 December 2009
Over the course of the past year, urban areas in the US have seen the largest increase in demand for food assistance since 1991, as well as a sharp increase in family homelessness, according to a report issued Tuesday by the US Conference of Mayors.
The data, which was collected in 27 American cities between October 2008 and September 2009, provides a picture of the devastating human toll from the economic crisis and the growth of mass unemployment, foreclosures and evictions.
The report also points to a vast need for food and housing assistance, which city governments have no possibility of satisfying. The cities are being overwhelmed by demand, while receiving a relative pittance from the Obama administration.
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Cities also reported an increase in food requests from formerly stable “middle class” households that might have donated to food pantries in the past, as well as an increase in the frequency of repeat requests from those needing help.
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According to the mayors’ report, 92 percent of officials said unemployment was the main cause of hunger in their cities, followed by high housing costs and low wages.
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The growth of unemployment and poverty, coupled with a rise in foreclosures and the lack of affordable housing, has also driven up family homelessness, the mayors’ report explained.
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The report—issued by the largely Democratic-controlled US Conference of Mayors—asserts that the Obama administration’s Recovery Act has provided some measure of relief for the catastrophic situation. It points, for example, to the $1.5 billion in the stimulus package for the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program.
The trifle being spent on the homeless and hunger—or those losing their jobs and homes—only underscores the callousness and indifference of the Obama administration, which has handed over trillions to bail out Wall Street and fund its neo-colonial wars in the Middle East and Central Asia.
I am a retired Carpenter Local 916 I now live in Branson MO. I find it so hard seeing the people in Branson working two jobes and still not making enough to live on.
Not to say how bad they are treated by their employers WAL MART at the top of the list and to see carpenters working for $8.00-$10.00 an hour with all the building going on in Branson!
shame shame were are the UNIONS lets clean up the sweet shops
in Branson MO. PLEASE HELP THE PEOPLE OF BRANSON MO>