Link turn--FJG increases bizcon because it preserves consumer confidence

Jerome Segal, Presidential candidate of the Bread and Roses Party, has called for the enactment of a Federal Employment Guarantee as a new structure within which the United States would respond to the 36 million unemployed Americans caused by the Pandemic. He issued this statement: “In 1978 Congress passed the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act. In its original form, but stripped from the Act, was a Federal Employment Guarantee, and this is what we need today, a legal entitlement of every American to either a job, or free education and job training to enable future employment.” “If we had had an Employment Guarantee in place when the pandemic hit, we could have kept unemployment under 4%. Everyone who was not in an essential industry or service and could not work from home, would have been put on extended vacation from their existing job. It would have been illegal, so long as America was under lock-down, for any company outside of bankruptcy to fire any worker. At the same time, the cost of the vacation-with-pay, would have been picked up by the Federal Government, with direct payments either to businesses or to workers themselves.” “Instead, we have had the utter chaos of underfunded, uncertain and limited paycheck protection efforts, and tens of millions of people seeking unemployment insurance after being needlessly fired from jobs they should have retained. The cost of direct vacation pay would have been less than the hodge-podge of programs that Congress enacted, well below the cost of the stimulus package.” “At the same time, a Jobs Guarantee, would have given Americans not actively engaged in work, not only the income they need, but the security that when the pandemic abates, their job would still be there. This means consumer confidence, and this in turn implies business confidence, all of which is necessary for a strong and sharp economic recovery. Instead we have today widespread uncertainty and insecurity that will weigh down the economy long after the worse of the pandemic is behind us.” “It is not too late to enact a jobs guarantee. Right now we can enact a program that will help reverse the errors we have made. With new legislation, we can provide powerful incentives for companies that have laid off workers, to immediately begin the rapid re-hiring of their work force. Those not put into active work, would still be re-hired, going from being unemployed to being on extended vacation. The Federal government would assume this cost until workers were actually back on the job. Immediately, unemployment status would be ended for millions of workers. This would provide the 36 million unemployed not only with income security but with confidence in the future. And this in turn would limit pressure to re-open the economy prematurely.” “Secondly, the process of bringing workers back to the active workplace should be done within the basic Job guarantee framework, which is that Americans share an equal right to be actively employed — this means that companies do not bring back 3 workers at 40 hours a week, when they can bring back 4 workers at 30 hours a week. Job sharing should become the national norm both for resuming active employment, and for any future steps towards work de-activization whether caused by pandemics or national recessions.” “Inevitably, because of the current pandemic and in future economic downturns, there will be businesses that will fail, even with ample efforts to protect them. We can expect this in the airlines, in cruise ships, in hotels and among restaurants. Thus, some permanent job elimination is inevitable. A Federal jobs guarantee responds to this in four ways.” “First, there is the guarantee of education and re-training. This means deepening human capital. Workers that lose their jobs and cannot find employment, would be entitled to free higher education and/or free vocational re-training so that they would be able to successfully navigate to higher tiers of the job market.” “Secondly, we would have powerful policies to expand employment in the non-profit sector to provide services of vital importance. Here we would provide through the tax system, a refundable tax credit to all tax payers, on a sliding scale, of contributions they make to vital non-profits organizations that directly provide social services. People most in need would be empowered to support and expand those non-profits that most adequately respond to their needs. We would empower the homeless, empower the poorest and weakest among us.” “Third we would stimulate private sector employment through Federal contracts and government grants to pursue the Green New Deal objectives of transitioning to a “Do No Harm” ecologically sound economy.” “And fourth, we would pair the Green New Deal with A Beauty New Deal, a nationwide program of grants for artists and writers and performers, and for starting theatre repertory companies in every mid-sized city, and for planting 330 million flowering fruit trees in every town and city in the land.” “The Pandemic has thrown this country on its heels. At the same time, it offers us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to re-think the basics of our economic life and of the social contract which holds us together. The most basic of these elements, though vital, is not the Safety-Net or The Basic Income Net which say, “No one will go hungry,” it is The Employment Net which says “Everyone has a right to make a productive contribution to our national life.”