Current Events > Jobs-for-all program gaining traction among Democratic hopefuls

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https://theintercept.com/2018/04/01/federal-job-guaranteed-jobs-program/

THE CONSERVATIVE APPROACH to social programs has evolved in sophistication over the decades. With frontal assaults on Social Security and Medicaid having been badly beaten back, the GOP has repackaged its attempt to roll back these programs by putting recipients to work.

Work requirements were the cornerstone of the 1996 welfare reform, and each subsequent assault on public benefits has used them to kick in the door. Want food stamps? Work. Want Medicaid? Work. Want disability? Work.

After all, if a person is physically able to, why shouldnt they work just like everybody else?

But an approach catching fire among activists and even some high-level elected Democrats answers the question by turning it on its head, drawing on an idea with a storied history in American politics. If working is so important, then why shouldnt the government provide a job directly to somebody who cant find one?

For years considered the province of renegade economists, the idea that everyone should have a job if they want or need one and its the governments job to make that possible has begun once again to creep into mainstream conversation.

In the last week alone, rumored 2020 hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told The Nation that guaranteed jobs programs, creating floors for wages and benefits, and expanding the right to collectively bargain are exactly the type of roles that government must take to shift power back to workers and our communities.

And Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., another presumed 2020 aspirant, has begun looking closely at this issue, a source close to her told The Intercept. Senate aides have begun interoffice meetings to grapple with how to draft a workable bill, aides in two separate offices told The Intercept.

Another politician who many suspect has his eyes on another presidential run, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., hasnt endorsed guaranteed jobs, but recently invited one of the best known scholars on the subject, economist Darrick Hamilton, to speak alongside Warren and filmmaker Michael Moore at a livestreamed town hall that has drawn at least 3 million viewers.
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A federal job guarantee is exactly what it sounds like. The private sector, Hamilton tells me, does not absorb stigmatized workers those that are formerly incarcerated, black, disabled at the same rate that it does nonstigmatized workers. A job guarantee would enable workers, particularly at the lower end of the labor market, but throughout the labor market too. It would remove the threat of unemployment and of being destitute.

By making living-wage work available to anyone who wants it, the program would also establish a de facto wage floor, forcing private sector employers to match the kinds of wages, working conditions, and benefits available to workers through the public sector. It gets rid of involuntary unemployment altogether, Hamilton said.

Once a fixture of Democratic Party platforms, the ideas resurgence is evidence that a growing number of Democrats see their political fortunes tied to their embrace of the kind of big, expensive programs that used to be the partys bread and butter.
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As savvy politicians are starting to realize, embracing big spending could be an electoral boon. Accompanying Gillibrands quote to The Nation was new polling on the job guarantee from Data for Progress and Civis Analytics, which found that 52 percent of those surveyed support the idea of promising a job to every American adult, with the government providing jobs for people who cant find employment in the private sector, paid for by a 5 percent income tax increase on those making over $200,000 per year. Almost 7 in 10 Hillary Clinton voters support a job guarantee, which has 62 and 55 percent support among black and Latino voters, respectively.

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ban outsourcing to other countries. if a company must outsource, outsource within your own country.
next, raise minimum wage to a livable wage. no exceptions like "its a tipping job" (get rid of tipping while you're at it)
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That's silly, Bernie proved that Democrats do better on the "free stuff!!!1!" platform.

Rika_Furude posted...

ban outsourcing to other countries. if a company must outsource, outsource within your own coy tru

Ok so now all businesses will just move overseas.

Good going
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Rika_Furude posted...

ban outsourcing to other countries. if a company must outsource, outsource within your own coy tru

Ok so now all businesses will just move overseas.

Good going

good luck having a physical presence if you are overseas
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I'm all for a giant new deal program that puts huge amounts of people into fixing the crumbling infrastructure in this country.
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this is a terrible idea
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