(ThyBlackMan.com) As the world has grown closer through the internet; our shared concerns as Americans, regardless of race, have also brought us closer together. With an Economic Downturn sitting on our doorstep, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, working class Americans have the same issues, in common; job security, money, housing, and health care cost, with money and income being the overriding worry.
With millions of Americans out of work and millions more suffering, we are fighting the same battle, and that battle is job and income insecurity. This battle doesn’t create divisions based on race, as it is a battle of the have and have-nots. Granted, blacks as a worker group, are affected disproportionately, as their unemployment rates are usually 5% or more, higher than the national rate, but this detail doesn’t negate the fact, whites are impacted, as well, by this Economic Downturn.
Therefore, the overriding question becomes, what should America and American workers support politically, that will advance America, economically and shorten this Economic Downturn. Keep in mind, results are important, when it comes to supporting any initiative, especially one of substantive change.
We, as loyal Democrats, who want to see Mr. Trump defeated, shouldn’t accept inadequate 3rd Party Programs from the Democratic Party, which have a spotty history of success, over the last 50 years, as the primary tool, to reduce our record unemployment numbers, as a result of this Downturn. There are conservatively 25 million or more Americans currently unemployed, as of the date of this and the linked article (https://www.marketplace.org/2020/08/06/how-many-americans-unemployed-right-now/).
Twenty five million, or more unemployed, out of an estimated national labor force of 160 million workers, is in line with the Bureau of Labor Statistics U-6 category of Alternative Measurements of Unemployment Rates. That rate, for July is 16.5%. This number, is accepted by most experts, as “the real national unemployment rate” (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm).
3rd Party and Infrastructure Repair Programs, are what the Democratic Party is pushing, as the primary plans, to put 25 million unemployed people back to work, expeditiously, in full-time jobs. This approach, which was previously adopted by the Obama administration took eight years to produce any real results, and is one of the reasons, Mr. Trump won the 2016 presidency. Considering, the COVID 19 Economic Downturn, is far worst than the 2008 Great Recession, as this Downturn is exceeded, only by the Great Depression, our expectations of a better approach to end this Downturn, is well grounded.
Let’s take a look at one 3rd Party Program, proposed by Mr. Biden and Democrats, where you go through a middle man/woman, to make the program work, that Mr. Biden is touting. Mr. Biden said, “We have to make the places we live, work, and learn healthier and more energy-efficient. That’s why my administration will upgrade 4 million buildings and weatherize 2 million homes across the country — creating over one million jobs in the process.” Such promises by Biden and Democrats, regarding the performance of 3rd Party Programs, come across, as great sound bites, as they are meant to, until you actually scrutinize them. Walmart, the nation’s largest employer, employs 1.5 million people. So, what is Mr. Biden and Democrats saying? Are they saying, they will literally create a business the size of Walmart, through a 3rd Party Program? You and I know that’s highly unlikely.
If they were really successful and even got close to employing a million or more workers, in a year or two, through a major contracting effort, would the pay be comparable, to middle class income? Even, if the claim of employing “over one million” workers is met, there will still be over 23 million unemployed American workers. Thus, the government would have to create many more 3rd Party Programs, in order to make this scheme work.
So, 3rd Party Programs alone, as you can see are inadequate, create large governmental bureaucracies and maybe short lived, depending on funding. What about Infrastructure Projects, as a secondary tool? Well, those projects would have to be “shovel ready,” to have any real impact and be located in areas, where you live. Additionally, the unemployed would have to have the right skill sets, when it comes to the specific infrastructure construction project.
These unprecedented times require great wisdom and understanding. We have a severe Economic Downturn and competing visions, of how to put our economy back on track. As with any problem, we find solutions, when we understand the cause. Therefore, the cause of this Economic Downturn contains its solution. Conclusively, this Economic Downturn, stripped to its core, which created the massive joblessness we are experiencing, is due to “A LACK OF CONSUMER DEMAND.” Hence, the solution or “The Fix This Time,” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M) then, calls for a Comprehensive Plan, to restore, that lost consumer demand.
Lost consumer demand due to COVID 19, can be restored with a strong Consumer Spending (Demand) initiative, which will lead to the solution of reducing and ending job losses. The needed tools are, in place to create such an initiative. The truth is, there’s no greater economic engine in the world, when it comes to creating millions of jobs, than U.S. Consumer Spending. U.S. Consumer Spending (Consumption) is responsible for creating 70% of the jobs, within our economy. Consumer Spending made the United States the #1 and the largest economy in the world.
In order to restore America economically, we urgently need to politically pressure Congress to restore Consumer Spending (Consumption/Demand). This can be accomplished by giving Consumers, a Tax Cut. Restore the Consumer with a 10%, $25,000 Tax Cut and you create millions of jobs, through Consumer Spending.
Baby Boomers, who will be the target of the Tax Cut, are responsible for 40% of all Consumer Spending (Consumption), nationally. Baby Boomers also, include an equitable number of blacks, as beneficiaries. Additionally, a 10%, $25,000 Consumer Tax Cut, will drop $254 to $300 million a day into our economy, for businesses, both large and small to compete for, over the next 10 years, which would be the duration of the Tax Cut. The cost of the Tax Cut, would be less than the $1.5 trillion cost of the Trump Tax Cut, to millionaires, billionaires and corporations, which was legislated to last for the same period of time, 10 years.
Once, the free market style Tax Cut is enacted, Consumer Spending will be unleashed, becoming the wind beneath the wings of high quality 3rd Party Programs and Infrastructure Projects. Consumer Spending, will carry the United States economy to new heights, creating millions of jobs and economic growth.
If Democrats really want to create jobs, then they should restore wealth to Consumers, by giving them, a Demand Side 10%, $25,000 Tax Cut, modeled after five Republican Tax Cuts to millionaires, billionaires and corporations, since 1980. Consumers, who are 70% of our economic activity, as stated above, will then create millions of jobs, “through Spending.” Democrats have never advocated a TAX CUT for CONSUMERS! Why?
Staff Writer; James Davis
Mr. Davis is a leading expert and consultant in Financial Analysis and Social Dynamics. He is a graduate of Florida A. and M. University (FAMU), a former stockbroker, and a human rights activist who resides in Sanford, Florida. He was awarded the prestigious Governor Haydon Burns Scholarship to attend FAMU and while at FAMU was awarded the first Martin Luther King Scholarship. He is the author of three books, among them is “The Fix This Time,” Boost Your Retirement Income! Simultaneously Create Jobs and Spur Economic Growth (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M).
Mr. Davis can be reached through his blog @ https://thefixthistime.com.