Happy Labor Day

Monday is Labor Day, the "unofficial end of Summer". Hopefully we'll have plenty of good weather left, a beautiful Autumn and a mild Winter.

The US Department of Labor, states that Labor Day "is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country." http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm

We can still revel in "the social and economic achievements of American workers (and) the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country" and I suggest that we wholehearted do so.

We marvel at the accomplishments of labor… the soaring skyscrapers, expansive highways, fabulous cars and trucks, beautiful homes, etc., and appreciate those who built them. And we should remember and celebrate labor's and our own accomplishments. But let us also ponder labor's future. Hopefully, future generations will have cause to celebrate.

Yesterday (Friday, 9/2/11), that same USDOL pegged unemployment at 9.1 percent, capping a week which saw President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner 'negotiate' when the President could address a joint session of Congress concerning a jobs initiative.

Can we as a nation really celebrate Labor Day this year? We've seen certain members of Congress and many statehouses attempt to eviscerate unions and collective bargaining agreements and collective bargaining rights this past year. These contracts and rights do not matter to many elected officials throughout the land. Funny how these contracts don't enjoy the same sanctity that the Wall Street bonus contracts did. Remember the uproar when the bonuses were paid out and the defense of those contracts?

This year sees Labor Day sandwiched between an abysmal jobs report and a Presidential Address on job creation, with a Republican Presidential candidate debate thrown in for good measure. Hopefully, President Obama's proposal will not fall victim to gridlock we saw in the debt ceiling debacle a few weeks back.

The NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/business/economy/new-urgency-in-the-battle-for-stimulus.html?hp) reports that:

Now Mr. Obama has said he will seek those extensions and more, including proposals to put people to work repairing and retrofitting roads, bridges, schools, airports, rails and other public projects, and giving tax incentives to employers to hire additional workers.

That article also reports:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the Virginia Republican who has fostered a reputation as Mr. Obama’s nemesis, in a statement cited two proposals Mr. Obama was expected to make in his address — for infrastructure spending and for job training for the long-term unemployed — as “areas where we can work together to produce real results that will help job creators get people back to work.

President Obama must ensure that any job creation program does not come at a cost to the very segment of the population it intends to help, i.e. no reduction in government spending or tax hikes for the middle and lower classes.

A few weeks back, I'd written:

Studies have shown that our bridge and highway system is woefully in need of repair. Schools are also in need of repair. Bricks and mortar, concrete and steel, people working (sadly, much of the steel would be imported - "In May 2011, the steel trade deficit widened to -1.65 million metric tons, 20% more than the deficit in April 2011." What better a time to REBUILD AMERICA?? (DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO?? - August 11, 2011) *

Hopefully a jobs program that does just this will come to fruition soon. This would be cause for us to truly celebrate!

Pete Stenson

* I sincerely doubt that President Obama reads East Greenbush Talks, thus, I claim absolutely no credit for his rumored proposal.