On Wednesday August 10th in the park on the corner of North 4th Street and Lincoln Hwy in DeKalb at 5pm there will be a rally of DeKalb County area citizens. They are citizens who are concerned about the lack of focus by elected officials on creating good quality jobs. This rally is part of a nation-wide effort. Similar rallies will be taking place all over the U.S. on the same day, many at the same time. These rallies are sponsored by the Rebuild the American Dream movement. The movement is sponsored by many citizen groups from all across the United States, with MoveOn.org being the avenue for bringing all who care about reclaiming the solid principle of liberty and justice for ALL, together.
The group organizing the event would like to invite all area residents who are concerned about unemployment, concerned about cuts to Medicare, worried about cuts to social security, who know someone facing foreclosure, and who are afraid of the economic future for themselves and their children are urged to attend the rally.
“We do not have a debt crisis in the United States, we have a jobs crisis.” said Dan Kenney one of the event organizers. “By entering into spending cuts when we are in a deep recession will only worsen unemployment. We want everyone who cares about the growing unemployment to come together in the town square and begin to discuss what we as citizens can do to create jobs in our county. When elected officials ignore what the citizens want, then it is time for the citizens to go about creating the communities they want to live in.”
The latest unemployment figures for DeKalb County show an increase of unemployment of over 10%. The lines at area food pantries are growing longer. The group hopes that anyone who is concerned about this will attend the rally. The silent majority is not going to continue to be silent. Bipartisan national polls show that when given the choice only 29% of Americans want Washington to focus on deficit reduction, while 67% favor a focus on job creation. The majority of voters who identify as Republicans, Democrats, Independents, or who align with the Tea Party, all favor putting jobs ahead of the deficit as what most concern them.
For more information visit the Rebuilding the American Dream website. For more information about the local event call: 815-793-0950
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17 Comments
32 MPG is pretty crappy, considering the auto industry had since at least the energy crisis of the Carter administration to do something about fuel efficiency.
I get better mileage in my car, and it has nothing extra power. My windows go down the old fashioned way, with a hand crank and the doors open with a key.
I had to look up what power folding windows are and I can safely say that no one in America *needs* them. If someone frequents bars or other areas where random drunken people might stagger around and vandalize the side mirrors by bumping into them, maybe I can see a use for them but there is no *need* for them. If people would learn how to park closer to the curb when they parallel park, they would not *need* them either.
I am very much in favor of local discussion of jobs and job creation, but find it most unfortunate that Move-on.org is said to be the outfit sponsoring these community events. Certainly jobs need to be pursued, but very clearly to me, Move-on.org is not the organization best situated to lead the charge in the pursuit of jobs. Some entity more toward center would be less divisive and draw more people.
Government programs of jobs like WPA (sorry Herb…and my grandfather was a WPA county supervisor!) is not in the country’s best interest. What we need immediately is more certainty (comes with leadership) in the marketplace and less government interference, so small businesses can be expanded and new ones established. Until that happens, we will see more and more entrepreneurs (job creators) leaving Illinois, and for that matter, the United States, going to less regulated and more profitable pastures elsewhere.
Of course as I have said elsewhere many times…we also need each family to take a long, hard look at what they really need (rather than want) and trim back their lifestyle. Forgoing wide screen TVs, cell phones for every family member, third cars, 3000ft plus homes for 4 or fewer people, multiple yearly distant vacations, fancy and excessive eating habits, every kid with a college education (and the debt that comes with it) and so many other excessive, unnecessary lifestyle choices…its no wonder we can’t afford to build automobiles and electronics in this country. The required wage for our lifestyle forces production offshore.
In fact, all this reminds me of a car ad I saw today while watching the news…it made a big deal of power folding mirrors and 32mpg. Like it would be so hard to reach out and fold the mirror with your hand! Just another example why we are struggling. We have lost sight of what is truly necessary, want everything dangled in front of our eyes, yet don’t have the means to pay for it all. If we would only realize we don’t actually need it all! Then we could live with lower wages and full employment.
I think we do need a WPA-like program to fund the workers needed to fix or replace roads, dams (and locks), bridges, etc. that in many cases were built by the FDR program. But the program needs to be tightly controlled by the federal government otherwise we would face the disastrous repeat of the American Recovery Act where local empire builders (and their taxpayers) fall as easy prey to the snake pit of government speculators.
Example of misuse: DeKalb loopholed CDBG-R (R is for Recovery) to purchase flood plain properties. On the grant fulfillment paperwork they claimed 1.5 full time equivalent jobs created. uggghhh. We need real jobs not FTE scams.
This federal program should not fund the retaining of state and local public service jobs. It should create living wage jobs for people who do not have them.
Funding should come from taxing loopholed double pensions and loopholed Last Four Year Big Raises pensions from the public sector AND from corporate bogus bonuses awarded on Wall Street.
I support Dan’s idea of a transaction tax IF it also serves to rein in the day trader scams out there — most notably the short sales on stocks.
Does it really matter what organization promotes Job creation? I mean, seriously, I don’t see the Tea Party, the Club for Growth or anyone on the right doing it.
Since the political “center” in this country has shifted decidedly to the right, due to conservative unwillingness to compromise and campaigns of lies on virtually every Democratic proposal spread with massive corporate ad monies.
So to suggest someone more “center” should do this is to suggest that conservatives should, which is impossible, since one of conservatism’s prime beliefs is that government does not create jobs — which is absolutely incorrect.
Move On, as a progressive organization that believes just the opposite is exactly the right group to champion jobs.
As for the WPA not being effective, what? You mean all those millions of people who had jobs as a result and were able to feed, cloth and shelter their families didn’t happen? That alone would make the WPA a success. However, in addition to providing jobs, the WPA and the various other New Deal jobs programs built and left this nation a legacy of Dams, levies, bridges, railways, hydroelectric plants and so much more that millions of Americans still use to day. It was one of the best investments in ourselves this nation has ever made!
Bill, I found your first four paragraphs uncompromisingly partisan. But I agree in general with your assessment of the WPA. Much of the WPA-built infrastructure is in use today and much of that is in need of replacement. If we applied modern technology with lessons learned in upgrading our locks, dams and levies we could fix a lot of flooding problems and avoid costly disasters.
There is research that suggests the Great Depression shared similar cause and effect of today’s brink of calamity. Drunken spending of the Roaring 20s resulted in the investors that make the economy go around waking up to a hangover of high national war debt, local empire building debt and suffocating taxes.
As always, in the grand scheme of “that’s the way we’ve always done it,” rewards trickle down to the masses. When it hits the fan the masses get the rug pulled out from under them. 24% unemployment was the norm.
The left/right division might have actually been sharper than today although that’s hard to imagine. But by going their separate ways, yet each side doing something, ultimately the Great Depression was turned around by an accidental bipartisan effort.
FDR’s federal program brought jobs, hope and dignity back to the working class in non-career occupations. The Tax Revolters brought fiscal responsibility back to state and local government. And they popped a cork on some good ol’ government social engineering, too.
Americans value freedom and opportunity. That’s intelligent patriotism. Partisanship attempts to put blinders on those values. I think that’s what Washington meant when he warned against party politics.
This rally is eliciting an interesting array of responses.
I’ve noticed Mark C is enthused, yet Mark tends to speak, from shall we say, the more politically conservative end of the spectrum.
I’ve received several notices of said rally, on-line from Move-on, that tends to speak from, shall we say the more politically liberal end of the spectrum. Also someone hand delivered a notice of the rally to my house.
Clearly jobs are crucial. But equally clearly to me at least jobs programs require money and the no new tax, cut back on federal expenditure factions have (for the moment) prevailed in DC.
Two questions: 1. where do the massive funds come from to trigger jobs programs. The larger companies are sitting on an immense amount of capital but (maybe wisely) don’t want to use that money to hire people for fear no one will buy more products. 2. What type of programs can both the left (as represented by Move-on that is pushing for federal jobs programs) and the right agree upon.
We do live in interesting times.
Assuming my schedule permits (late Wed. afternoon requires some real juggling) for Mark Charvat and people of the left such as myself (I am of the left, but far from the extreme) to show up at the same rally is of interest.
Herb
Soros and the Koch brothers, and others, are a lot alike. They finance and package partisanship. Somehow they they think they can invoke needed change through the very tactics that need changed.
I’ll try to attend this event as well but as an Independent I will not drink the partisan tea regardless of how it is packaged.
I hope folks from the private sector show up in numbers to this event. Real discussion is needed on the jobs crisis and those with varying viewpoints should listen to real people instead of swallowing guided statistics to shape public opinion.
64 percent of all the world’s statistics are made up right there on the spot
82.4 percent of people believe ’em whether they’re accurate statistics or not
I don’t know what you believe but I do know there’s no doubt
I need another double shot of something 90 proof
I got too much to think about — Todd Snider
Comparing Soros and the Kochs is probably one of the most insightful comments ever.
Wow.
One of the key purposes of the event is for people to tell their stories and the event is meant to be for discussing the issues related to the topic of jobs. I agree with the “partisan tea” comment. But until folks start meeting in the town square again to debate these issues, and decide together what we are going to do to solve the problem ourselves right here in our own communities, then the change needed may be too late in arriving. The people need to take the lead on this one.
A thought to consider on paying for the jobs program is with a very small financial transaction tax.(FTT) An FTT would be small, perhaps 0.25% or $1 on every $400 traded, on all trading in stocks, currencies, and debt products such as treasury bills and bonds. The tax would be paid by both buyers and sellers. England has seen an increase in trading since they instituted such a tax. This option was part of the HR 870, the Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act, put forth by Rep. Conyers of Michigan.
http://conyers.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.Home&Issue_id=05f968be-19b9-b4b1-1227-e5086c26def0
Dan
Many have been pushing for transaction taxes on stocks for quite some time, as way not simply or raising revenue but of calming the market against the pure speculators who go in and out at will and encouraging people to make longer term investments.
My question though needs to be rephrased: how when the House has refused to accept any tax increases and is heck bent on cutting programs left and right, and the President seems to lack any gumption, do we get support for the WPA type of program that many (including myself) so strongly feel is needed.
Hope to see you tomorrow, assuming schedule juggling works
Herb
Thanks, and Goodnight Gracie!
Dan!
Awesome idea! This is the kind of event our community needs
Hiya Maynard, The Steam Show and Threshing Bee is on our Local Events calendar here
I will be writing my article about it this coming week, before the event.
Like amen. Thanks Dan man.
What we Really need is to turn our attention FROM bricks to some solid INVESTMENT in our Sidewalk to Nowhere by Heating it, and adorning it with at least one statue to Cindy Crawford. I have some old notes and volunteers for a skeleton committee sans CCEC.
Excellent warmup to my FAVORITE, and always excellent, Sycamore Threshing Bee Thursday through Sunday. I may have missed the story about it here?
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Kay-I think the power folding mirrors on new car ad I saw was implying that the folding mirrors would improve mileage. I say that because in the same breath the ad mentioned 32 mpg. From an engineering point of view, its a cool concept, but from a cost effectiveness and simplicity/longevity perspective, its something that can easily be done by the driver and/or passenger. Technically, folding the mirrors would only truly help mileage at highway speeds. (But that’s when I would most like to have side mirrors!) It would do nothing for mpg around town (although one could argue you might not want to risk sticking your hand or your mirrors out in city traffic!). In the end, power folding mirrors are just another marketing trick to get people to needlessly spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need. Its this sort of mindset we must overcome in the process of recreating a viable economy.