GOP-Governed and Right-To-Work States Saved the Economy’s Bacon in 2011
What you have nicely documented, Mr. Blumer, is the “race to the bottom” that is occurring and has been occurring now for the past 30 – 40 years in the U.S. American jobs are paying less and less and the middle class is sinking into poverty. Lots of reasons for that put I’d but decline of unions and globalization (outsourcing of U.S. jobs) as the main driver. And much of the damage has been done by the shift of income to the highest earners who have made fortunes while the middle class has stagnated. Thank Republican “trickle down” economics (or Voodoo Economics as George H.W. Bush called it) for that.
Your jobs numbers would mean a whole lot more if they came with some indication of how well they pay. The red states with right-to-work (for less) laws that undermine unions are the ones with the lowest wages. So, your analysis is pretty much useless except to show that low-paying jobs are more abundant in red states. I guess America has fallen so low that we should all be grateful for a chance to have one or two low-paying jobs with no benefits or retirement.
You might make note in your next red state/blue state analysis that blue states are net EXPORTERS of their tax dollars to red states. So, your “high-flying economies” in red states with all their low-paying jobs end up sucking up tax dollars to subsidize themselves from their blue state neighbors.
Not very impressive. Not very impressive at all.
If you really want impressive – and a much better comparison of good vs. bad economics – take a look at Germany where unions are strong, the economy is flying high, education is solid, workers have vacations and maternity leave and universal health care, and they’re way ahead of us in building a green economy – the economy of the future that will guarantee future generations a clean environment and prosperity. Compared to them we’re in the dark ages of reich-wing ignorance.
Oh, wait, they’re SOCIALISTS, aren’t they? (Or, at least they’re EUROPEAN so that’s must be bad, right?)
P.S. I’m not now nor ever have been a union member nor am I a knee-jerk supporter of unions. I do recognize how helpful they’ve been to help workers gain better wages and safer work places.
