Two million more people are about to run out of unemployment benefits.
The coalition of groups working on UI extensions and tax cuts have a call in day TODAY – two call in numbers: 888-340-6522 and 866-606-1189 or click to call www.usaction.org/call
Here’s what AFSCME is asking members to say:
I’m calling to urge you to stand up for regular people by supporting a year-long extension in unemployment benefits and by opposing more Bush tax cuts for the richest.
This is no time for Congress to turn its back on working families. Unemployment insurance serves as a critical lifeline for Americans struggling to get back to work. We should lend a hand to working families, but cutting taxes for the wealthiest is unnecessary and will choke off funding for critical government and community services.
Please stand up for regular people by supporting a year-long extension in unemployment insurance and opposing more Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
Well, the Austerians are calling the shots in Ireland and now unemployment is up, so lower tax revenues coming in, thus more austerity measure will be needed. Irish government officials have declared they do not need any EU assistance, as additional budget cuts will take place. Portugal is worried that skittishness about Ireland may affect their nation’s credit. And Greece (lower tax revenues than predicted) will probably need assistance, which all EU nations, including Great Britain, will pay for. But Irish officials say they need no assistance.
BBC’s Newshour (audio, about 14:45) covered the move to measure Gross National Happiness</a., instead of just GNP, along with the EU and Irish situation. A written article is here.
Ireland, Greece, and Portugal do not have sovereign currencies, so cannot devalue their currency to help them export more, among other possible remedies. The UK is still sovereign, as are we in the US; thus, we could very well manage our current problems without rigorous austerity measures.
One of the BBC Newshour guests notes that it is virtually impossible for nations such as Greece, Portugal, and Ireland to cut their way out of their current situations. So, what will happen? Eurozone collapse? Uh oh.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And we are wll on our way to doing so. Cameron and our own Obama-led Dems and the Repubs are seemingly entranced by the actions of Hoover and a move to further downturns…. Note to nitpickers: the repeats tend to rhyme, not be exact replicas.
A Guardian article notes the UK is, even with real time results apparent in Ireland, following it’s bad austerity steps.
People are leaving Ireland again, after returning home, and there are beggars in the streets, per Morning Edition segment this morning. Property bubble and now credit problems for the Irish banks….
There’s some terrible economic/political thinking coinciding to make things much worse.
And the banksters in the US? Rolling along very merrily and prosperously, eh?
Let us hope these 2 million people will get a continuance of the unemployment insurance, but, with these pols in DC? Good luck to us all.
As Susie noted earlier, Orszag is thrilled to see SocSec cut because it shows the pols have brass balls, not that it’s economically meaningful. This is our elites’ brains on Austerianism. Sheesh.