Published in the Grand Forks Herald.
Published March 25, 2013, 05:15 AM
Alan Maki, Warroad, Minn. letters: U.S. needs a Full Employment Act
Alan Maki of Warroad Minnesota writes in about employmentWARROAD, Minnesota — If just one job was created every time a politician opened his or her mouth and started talking about “jobs, jobs, jobs,” we wouldn’t have any unemployment and everyone who wanted to work would have a decent, living wage job.
So, what is the main obstacle to full employment? Accountability from the very politicians who mouth the words “jobs, jobs, jobs.”
What we need in this country is a real “Full Employment Act” which mandates — by legislation and law — that the president and the Congress must maintain full employment with jobs at real living wages based on all cost-of-living factors as part of their responsibility to the American people.
A job and a decent standard of living is the most basic and fundamental human right for any worker. Workers without living wage jobs are going to be poor. What good is a government that gets us into war after war but can’t even assure full employment for the very people it taxes to pay for these dirty wars?
Wars cause government debt and deficits; peace and full employment eliminate debts and deficits.
We need the re-establishment of the Works Progress Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps and Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, not these dirty wars. Re-open under public ownership the thousands of mines, mills and factories abandoned by Wall Street “investors” who sought greater profits in the lower wages found overseas.
Alan Maki