Liberal, please explain to us all why an Administration that you claim is for the American worker has almost 16 million unemployed Americans today and has implemented more job killing legislation that prevents the creation of jobs.
What Republicans don't like and I agree is that special interest group called Unions claiming they represent the American worker when all they are doing is destroying the American worker. Unions were bailed out by the "stimulus" plan that has cost this country another 3 million workers and 3 trillion added to the debt. Obama had to develop a new term called "saved" jobs. Now if you can find any chart on BLS that provides the number of saved jobs then I will buy your rhetoric and apologize.
If you think Republicans are for workers, then please explain how this happened:
Median income rose as did poverty in 2007; 2000s have been extremely weak for living standards of most households
Why - with Republicans in control - was 2000 - 2007 the worst period in the last 40 years for income growth vs. inflation? The average family lost $324 over those 7 years while productivity rose an average of 2.5% per year. So the American worker was working harder than ever, but getting paid less. All the while the economy was growing. Where did the money go? Who got the money? Who got rich while workers were working harder?
I'll give the you answer: it went to the wealthiest Americans.
Trends in American Income Inequality Prior to the Recession-Becker - The Becker-Posner Blog
The problem - with BOTH parties, mind you - is that we have a huge structural problem in this nation that needs serious adjustment or we're going to become a South American nation - with a small, very wealth class - and a HUGE impoverished class. Growth must occur in all percentiles of the economic scale. That didn't happen in the 2000s under Republican leadership.
I don't see returning to them as a solution for the American worker. The only solution for the American worker is continued education, innovation in the entrepreneurial classes that actually address future needs instead of relying on the same old fossil fuels, modes of transportation, and energy infrastructure.
We suck. And we're stuck.
The wealthy were supposed to invest in things and it was supposed to trickle down. They didn't. They hoarded the advantages they got under the Bush tax cuts. Income inequality was at its all time high right before the collapse (it's back, by the way)
Wealth And Inequality In America
You have to have a tax structure that encourages spending amongst the upper classes instead of rewarding hoarding. The tax cuts could have worked, but they didn't. Because the wealthy hoard. The middle classes and the working poor spend their money. The wealthy were supposed to create jobs, but they didn't. Bush's recovery from the early 2000s recession never got back to the job levels that preceded it.
But the biggest issue was income. When people work harder and get more productive and don't get paid, it means the money is being held up top. If people would have been paid increasing wages to match productivity, the recession likely wouldn't have been so bad. But they forgot the lesson of Henry Ford, pay your employees enough to buy the products you sell.
In the 1990s, taxes were raised on the top classes. They told us awful things were going to happen. They didn't. The economy improved, more jobs were created than at any point in US history. And the rich also got richer. Why? Because people were buying as their status improved. When the lower and middle classes improve, the rich naturally get richer. When the rich get richer, it stalls out right there.
The jobs bill must be passed and Republicans have to stop holding it up with their filibuster.
Republicans don't care about workers. They care about capital and wealth and will skew the market to reward hoarding over hard work.