Wasteful spending

by Leigh Graham

Published February 07, 2009 @ 08:46AM PT

The number of people living in poverty rose under Bush and is expected to continue rising.  If you'd like some perspective on just how bad this recession is compared recent ones, check out this chart:

That's us in green: over 3 million jobs lost in 13 months.  That's almost 240,000 jobs per month, or like erasing the entire population of New Orleans or Norfolk, VA or Scottsdale, AZ or Birmingham, AL off the map, month after month after month.  Or eliminating the city of Chicago all at once.  In other words: BRUTAL.

And your Congress?

CALLOUS.

The NYT has a fascinating article about the prospect of women surpassing men in the labor force for the first time ever, as more men have lost their jobs in the current recession.  Because we lack equal opportunity and equality in responsibility between women and men, the potential for many households of women as the primary breadwinner is frightening, as women:

...tend to find it harder to support a family. For one thing, they work fewer overall hours than men. Women are much more likely to be in part-time jobs without health insurance or unemployment insurance. Even in full-time jobs, women earn 80 cents for each dollar of their male counterparts’ income, according to the government data.

Furthermore, there is an emotional and mental toll above and beyond that spurred by mens' job loss, as women continue to bear the bulk of the domestic burden:

Women like Ms. Mohammed find themselves at the head of once-separate spheres: work and household. While women appear to be sole breadwinners in greater numbers, they are likely to remain responsible for most domestic responsibilities at home.

On average, employed women devote much more time to child care and housework than employed men do...When women are unemployed and looking for a job, the time they spend daily taking care of children nearly doubles. Unemployed men’s child care duties, by contrast, are virtually identical to those of their working counterparts, and they instead spend more time sleeping, watching TV and looking for a job, along with other domestic activities...“It has definitely put a strain” on my marriage, says Debbie Harlan, an executive assistant at a hospital system in Sarasota, Fla.

It sure seems if there was ever a time for strengthening not just job creation but the social safety net to tide over families in poverty and those teetering on its edge, it's now.  Unfortunately, we have a government in D.C. that is completely devoid of human empathy or attachment to the realities of the lives we're living.  From dday:

Making the recovery bill safe for tax cuts and free of wasteful spending like $40 billion in aid to states which will now have to lay off hundreds of thousands of workers was "a very liberating process," [Senators] Nelson and Collins said before repairing to separate corners of the White House with their families. "It feels good to have that sense of accomplishment that comes with kicking firefighters and teachers out onto the street and seeing others slip into poverty," Nelson and Collins said in unison. "They said it couldn't be done!" [snip]

In addition to the large cut in state aid, the Senate agreement would cut nearly $20 billion proposed for school construction; $8 billion to refurbish federal buildings and make them more energy efficient; $1 billion for the early childhood program Head Start; and $2 billion from a plan to expand broadband data networks in rural and underserved areas.

And from the Times: "Even Mr. Obama’s signature tax cut for middle-class Americans was scaled back as part of the deal."(Not that tax cuts work.)

Compare our spending on the Iraq War to the proposed stimulus:

To make matters worse, the stimulus is now 42% tax cuts and only 58% stimulus spending on job creation, aid to states, education funding and expansion of key social programs.

As Chris Bowers writes at Open Left, "Let's fix this in the conference."  Fellow Change.org blogger Clay has an action to restore the education cuts here.  The National Low-Income Housing Coalition has an action calling for equitable funding for renters here.

I also encourage you to design your own stimulus package here.  I know I cajole through moral outrage and anger, and for those of you who weary of my rants, perhaps this interactive feature of trying to save yourself and your fellow Americans is more effective.

But there's a reason I love blogger Big Tent Democrat:

We needed an FDR to address this economic calamity and all we got were these lousy "Yes We Can" tee shirts.

No doubt, BTD, no doubt.