Well, goddamn it, that’s a great Democrat policy plan that’s never gone anywhere, even when Obama had total control of the government!

When we allowed the two party system to dominate national politics we all but guaranteed that they would someday join forces against us. Tracking opinion polls and the voting records of our “representatives” shows that those we send to Washington actually only vote in sync with our wishes 15% of the time, doing the bidding of their donors the remaining 85%. We didn’t get to this point in one election and it would take more time to reverse it, if we can even muster the enthusiasm in the population to do so.

The most durable force in politics is the status quo, which explains why Congress has a sub 10% approval and sees incumbents re-elected at over 80%. The alternative is always a matter of choosing to be represented by the “evil other party” that is the source of all things horrible and the harbinger of the Apocalypse. If I was given an 80% guarantee of job security, probably higher than any other profession requiring less than a masters, and an electorate that can hardly be enticed to vote at higher than 50% I’d probably take the money also.

The bottom line is we need the government to be a facilitator for those who want to work and those that want better work (more money, more hours, more benefits) and employers who will hire them.

Those employers don’t exist within the capitalist system we have sworn “till death do us part” vows to. In fact, capitalism will seek efficiency (fewer employees) by definition. It must be as efficient as possible or it fails its responsibility to shareholders. The only thing that can turn this trend back toward the employee’s interest is competition in the labor market and that isn’t going to happen as a result of “free market” forces. We will have to come to the realization that another source of jobs is necessary and that the private sector isn’t the only employer that can provide that competition.

With a fiat currency that Congress can pull out of its backside at will America can afford anything for sale in dollars, including our labor. There is no reason for government not to purchase excess labor that is rejected by the market. Surely we are worth more than many of our crops and food animals that the government purchases or subsidizes exports of to facilitate price supports for, right?? A federally funded and locally administrated job guarantee available at the discretion of the worker and paying a livable wage with benefits would replace the minimum wage, so we wouldn’t have that bit of idiocy suppressing our economy. It would also replace much of the safety net, serving as the automatic stabilizer countercyclical to the business cycle, taking the envy based attack on the most vulnerable in society away from Republicans.