The Labor Department announced this morning that the measurable unemployment rate (essentially, those who are still eligible to collect unemployment benefits) shot up to 7.6% in January, after American businesses shed 600,000 jobs. The real unemployment rate (a combination of those collecting benefits and those who are no longer eligible for them) is closer to 14%.
This news should scare every congressional representative and senator, regardless of political party, to their very core. Alas, the Republicans still think that another round of their tired and worn-out ideas are the only thing that will fix this mess, never mind that time and time again their approach has failed.
As I said two posts below, the party of Hoover and Bush need not take part in this debate anymore. Despite overtures from the President to bring them into the process, despite meeting them half-way to construct a stimulus bill that would make everyone happy, the GOP are hell-bent on obstructing the process. They still don't get it: There was an election three months ago, and their philosophy was overwhelmingly rejected. And so the President should leave them in the dust and move this forward.
Judging from last night's speech to the House Democratic Retreat, Mr. Obama is beginning to see the light on that front...
The congressional Republicans would do well to look back at how congress approached the Reagan economic plan of 1981. After losing a ton of seats in the House, losing control of the Senate, and being tossed out of the White House in the 1980 elections, the Democrats were fully aware of what the American people thought of them. House Speaker Tip O'Neill went to President Reagan and promised to work with him on his economic agenda. They didn't bitch and whine over the fact that they weren't getting everything they wanted, but rather respected the voice of the American people in the previous election and worked with the winners of that election to get the job done.
The Republican Party of 2009, however, have their heads up the old elephant's ass. Until the extract themselves and do some serious soul-searching, they'll remain a regional minority party for a long, long time.
