Quote on Unemployment from Krugman

It's been awhile since my last post.  Let's just say that my plate has been full.

In today's article Paul Krugman once again hit it out of the park.

I would only add that inventing reasons not to do anything about current unemployment isn’t just cruel and wasteful, it’s bad long-run policy, too. For there is growing evidence that the corrosive effects of high unemployment will cast a shadow over the economy for many years to come. Every time some self-important politician or pundit starts going on about how deficits are a burden on the next generation, remember that the biggest problem facing young Americans today isn’t the future burden of debt — a burden, by the way, that premature spending cuts probably make worse, not better. It is, rather, the lack of jobs, which is preventing many graduates from getting started on their working lives.

So true.

It's a shame that the right continues to try to dupe people into believing that by cutting taxes on the wealthy and cutting spending on the needy things will turn around.  This is what we've been doing for the last 12 years and it hasn't gotten us anywhere. 

The unemployment situation is a huge problem.  Much bigger than any politician understands.  It is particularly important to the youth of the country who are now entering the workforce but can't find jobs.  It is these kids who will be in catch up mode for the rest of their lives.  So when we hear about balancing the budget through strict spending cuts on the poor and the needy, or at the expense of education grants for our youth at a time when unemployment is still above 8% one can't help but fear that the agenda of the right is not in the interests of the country as a whole but rather the few who can afford to make their voices heard.