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In My Opinion: The State of the Union - for the Rich and Privileged
The president in his State of the Union address was describing an America that is far different from the reality facing millions of working people.
President Bush pointedly ignored the elephant looming in the room - the loss of nearly 3 million private sector jobs during his tenure and the failure of three years of tax cuts for the rich - which he has labeled a "Jobs and Growth" plan - to fulfill the promise of job creation.
Instead of acknowledging this fact, Mr. Bush brazenly dug a huge credibility gap by declaring, "jobs are on the rise." In fact, the administration badly missed its goal of 250,000 new jobs each month in 2003. Last month, the Labor Department reported a gain of just 1,000 jobs even as it admitted that tens of thousands of unemployed workers had given up their job search out of frustration.
The president's only nod to the problem of 9 million jobless Americans was the announcement of a new program to fund vocational training at community colleges. What he didn't mention was that his administration has slashed at least $800 million in federal funding for job training over the last three years, more than three times the level of his newly announced program.
The real question about programs like Bush's new "Jobs for the 21st Century" effort is, training for what? Jobs as burger chefs and non-union Wal-Mart clerks?
"The Job Training Charade" is the name of a new book by Prof. Gordon Lafer of the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon. Lafer commented after Bush's speech: "The president insists that 'much of our job growth will be found in high-skilled fields.' But the truth is just the opposite. The biggest growing occupations in our economy are jobs like fast-food preparation, customer service, cashiers and security guards."
Factory workers whose jobs have steadily vanished used to be told that all they had to do was learn computer skills and they'd be fine. Considering that programmers and network engineers with masters degrees today are seeing their jobs outsourced by the thousands to India, the promise of technical training for displaced workers is being exposed as a myth.
Zeynep Tufekci is a professor at the University of Texas who for the past three years has studied the impact of computer skill training for unemployed workers and those in menial jobs. These students are usually disappointed, because, "The problem is that the only available jobs that use computers are those for secretaries and receptionists," Tufekci wrote in an article for the Washington Post.
Somewhat ironically, the professor noted that computer skills sometimes can be helpful, describing the case of one trainee: "She now keeps her accounts on a spreadsheet and uses MapQuest.com to get directions to the houses that she cleans on her hands and knees, seven days a week, 12 hours a day, for a pittance."
People such as this woman, who clean houses for a living or do the many other hard jobs to make ends meet for low wages and few if any benefits, were unlikely to see themselves reflected in the State of the Union speech. President Bush did give some lip service to addressing health care costs, but his proposals showed that he doesn't really get it.
The centerpiece of Bush's health care "solution" is in providing modest tax credits to help individuals pay for health insurance. The problem is that individuals can't get reasonably priced health care unless they are part of a group, which is why most health coverage in America is employment based.
The 44 million (and growing) Americans who have no health coverage are largely working in marginal jobs and non-unionized sectors. Tax credits aren't going to help them pay the $700 to $1,000 a month needed for family medical premiums. And tax relief doesn't get at the root causes of medical inflation. The health care crisis has reached a magnitude that tinkering around the edges won't help - we need a bold national solution.
After jobs and health care, the other major concern that Americans express in every poll is education. President Bush apparently thinks he addressed that issue with his "No Child Left Behind Act;" however even Republican governors and state lawmakers are howling that the administration merely saddled our school systems with arbitrary testing standards but no funding to actually improve performance.
Meanwhile, the mounting Bush budget deficit resulting from the rich-man's tax cut has forced reductions in state revenues that have squeezed not only schools, but also law enforcement, health programs for poor children, job training, road construction and other needed infrastructure.
It was as if President Bush was laying out a State of the Union for an America populated by CEOs and Wall Street investors, but without resonance for the other America of working people struggling in a harsh, increasingly global economy.
Perhaps if the president started reading newspapers, as he says he doesn't, he would learn how the majority lives.
President Bush pointedly ignored the elephant looming in the room - the loss of nearly 3 million private sector jobs during his tenure and the failure of three years of tax cuts for the rich - which he has labeled a "Jobs and Growth" plan - to fulfill the promise of job creation.
Instead of acknowledging this fact, Mr. Bush brazenly dug a huge credibility gap by declaring, "jobs are on the rise." In fact, the administration badly missed its goal of 250,000 new jobs each month in 2003. Last month, the Labor Department reported a gain of just 1,000 jobs even as it admitted that tens of thousands of unemployed workers had given up their job search out of frustration.
The president's only nod to the problem of 9 million jobless Americans was the announcement of a new program to fund vocational training at community colleges. What he didn't mention was that his administration has slashed at least $800 million in federal funding for job training over the last three years, more than three times the level of his newly announced program.
The real question about programs like Bush's new "Jobs for the 21st Century" effort is, training for what? Jobs as burger chefs and non-union Wal-Mart clerks?
"The Job Training Charade" is the name of a new book by Prof. Gordon Lafer of the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon. Lafer commented after Bush's speech: "The president insists that 'much of our job growth will be found in high-skilled fields.' But the truth is just the opposite. The biggest growing occupations in our economy are jobs like fast-food preparation, customer service, cashiers and security guards."
Factory workers whose jobs have steadily vanished used to be told that all they had to do was learn computer skills and they'd be fine. Considering that programmers and network engineers with masters degrees today are seeing their jobs outsourced by the thousands to India, the promise of technical training for displaced workers is being exposed as a myth.
Zeynep Tufekci is a professor at the University of Texas who for the past three years has studied the impact of computer skill training for unemployed workers and those in menial jobs. These students are usually disappointed, because, "The problem is that the only available jobs that use computers are those for secretaries and receptionists," Tufekci wrote in an article for the Washington Post.
Somewhat ironically, the professor noted that computer skills sometimes can be helpful, describing the case of one trainee: "She now keeps her accounts on a spreadsheet and uses MapQuest.com to get directions to the houses that she cleans on her hands and knees, seven days a week, 12 hours a day, for a pittance."
People such as this woman, who clean houses for a living or do the many other hard jobs to make ends meet for low wages and few if any benefits, were unlikely to see themselves reflected in the State of the Union speech. President Bush did give some lip service to addressing health care costs, but his proposals showed that he doesn't really get it.
The centerpiece of Bush's health care "solution" is in providing modest tax credits to help individuals pay for health insurance. The problem is that individuals can't get reasonably priced health care unless they are part of a group, which is why most health coverage in America is employment based.
The 44 million (and growing) Americans who have no health coverage are largely working in marginal jobs and non-unionized sectors. Tax credits aren't going to help them pay the $700 to $1,000 a month needed for family medical premiums. And tax relief doesn't get at the root causes of medical inflation. The health care crisis has reached a magnitude that tinkering around the edges won't help - we need a bold national solution.
After jobs and health care, the other major concern that Americans express in every poll is education. President Bush apparently thinks he addressed that issue with his "No Child Left Behind Act;" however even Republican governors and state lawmakers are howling that the administration merely saddled our school systems with arbitrary testing standards but no funding to actually improve performance.
Meanwhile, the mounting Bush budget deficit resulting from the rich-man's tax cut has forced reductions in state revenues that have squeezed not only schools, but also law enforcement, health programs for poor children, job training, road construction and other needed infrastructure.
It was as if President Bush was laying out a State of the Union for an America populated by CEOs and Wall Street investors, but without resonance for the other America of working people struggling in a harsh, increasingly global economy.
Perhaps if the president started reading newspapers, as he says he doesn't, he would learn how the majority lives.