It’s crucial that the forum President Bush is holding today in Waco, Texas, addresses the crisis facing America’s working families. Despite a much-touted but anemic “economic recovery,” working men and women increasingly are out of work, losing vast amounts of retirement savings, without health coverage and hard hit by growing trade deficits, especially in the manufacturing sector.
In fact, nearly 7,500 job cuts have been announced today—including 400 at Charles Schwab, one of the firms highlighted at the forum.
It’s important that we take a sober look at what’s happening to average working families and summon the national will to act on their urgent needs and priorities in a meaningful way, rather than trying to put a sheen on a cloudy picture.
Thus far, President Bush’s economic policies have not been good for America’s working men and women.
Unemployment has risen steadily throughout the Bush administration and is now 5.9 percent – – and people are out of work for longer periods. Altogether, 9.8 million people want to work but cannot find jobs – – and 1.5 million have been unemployed for at least six months.
Wages aren’t growing as fast as productivity. Over the past year, average hourly earning rose by 2.7 percent in real dollars – – labor productivity, meanwhile, is up 8.3 percent.
Working people are watching their retirement savings dry up due to the severe downturn in the stock market and low interest rates. President Bush’s threat to privatize Social Security will add to retirement insecurity for millions of workers if enacted.
Nearly 40 million Americans don’t have health insurance, but it’s not because they’re not working. The vast majority of the uninsured – – 80 percent – – live in a family with at least one worker.
Manufacturing – – a sector of the economy on which working people depend for good-paying, steady jobs – – has been decimated. Manufacturing employment is down 2 million since April 1998, and down by almost 1 million in the past 12 months alone. The trade deficit is soaring under the Bush administration. Between year-end 2000 and 2001, the U.S. net foreign debt soared by 45 percent.
States face nearly unprecedented budget crises: 43 states had budget shortfalls in fiscal year 2002, totaling $37.2 billion. In response, 22 states have cut health services, seven have cut social services and 25 have cut public safety.
Meanwhile, the president’s consistent efforts to free corporations from oversight and accountability – – whether it’s workplace safety, environmental responsibility or securities oversight – – and his reluctance to crack down on corporate crime until it was too late are not decisions that help working Americans.
And as working men and women struggle to pay the bills, the top one (1) percent of taxpayers stand to reap nearly one-half trillion dollars in tax breaks throughout the decade as a result of last year’s tax changes championed by the Bush administration. We certainly hope the Bush administration will use the opportunity of the Waco summit to focus efforts on improving the economic situation for America’s working families.
A new AFL-CIO economic summary – – which was released yesterday – – is available online at www.aflcio.org (link from this statement in the news release area) or by calling 202-637-5018.