Robert Reich

engages in the usual stuff saying the jobs will "never" come back--not really because they can't, but because our bought-and-paid-for "elected officials" WON'T do a damned thing about it--and how a college education supposedly shields workers from the work force because I doubt the unemployment rate of college grads is "only" 5 percent. Anyway, he does make some good points:

These cost-cutting moves have allowed many companies to show profits notwithstanding relatively poor sales. Alcoa, for example, had $1.5 billion in cash at the end of last year, double what it had on hand at the end of 2008. It managed this largely by cutting 28,000 jobs, 32% of its work force. But for workers, there’s no return. Those who have lost their jobs to foreign outsourcing or labor-replacing technologies are unlikely ever to get them back. And they have little hope of finding new jobs that pay as well. More than 40% of today’s unemployed have been without work for over six months, a higher proportion than at any time in 60 years.

The only way many of today’s jobless are likely to retain their jobs or get new ones is by settling for much lower wages and benefits. The official unemployment numbers hide the extent to which American workers are already on this downward path. But if you look at income data you’ll see the drop.

Obama and "Democrats" cheer this shit on, of course.