The Bush economy has made 2008 a tough year for working people - - and we’re just over half the way done. In total, we have lost 463,000 jobs since the year began, this month adding another 51,000. As working families will be the first to tell you, the job market is deteriorating rapidly and things are expected to get worse before they get better.
Everyone’s struggling these days to squeeze by. And there’s a reason the recession is hitting working people particularly hard. Wages haven’t recovered from the last recession, meaning that working people are starting off with less to lose. In fact, we’re on top of a generation-long stagnation of wages and rising financial insecurity.
The president and Congress must act now to help working people. We need further urgent action to keep more families from losing their homes. We must work to pass a second stimulus program which includes fiscal relief to state and cities and extended unemployment benefits, as well as funding for food stamps and ready-to-go construction to repair schools, roads and bridges -- construction that will to help create good, family-supporting jobs.
But immediate assistance is not enough. It’s past time to deal with the longer term, structural imbalances behind the current crisis. We must rebuild America’s manufacturing capacity and restore our nation’s competitiveness. We must reform our financial institutions to ensure the integrity of our capital markets. And, most importantly, we must enact the Employee Free Choice Act to ensure a fair process that gives workers the freedom to bargain for better wages and benefits and rebalance power between labor and management. America’s workers are the most productive in the world and should share in the benefit of their work.
Republicans in Congress, Pres. Bush, and Sen. McCain have hemmed and hawed their way through any kind of relief. Working class voters will look closely at who’s for good jobs and an economy that works for all - - and who has worked to block them.
Contact: Alison Omens (202) 637-5018
