Democrats are praying for an economic recovery they’ve done nothing to promote, and their complete unwillingness to put main street America ahead of Wall Street profits is going to lead to their downfall in the midterms.  The Democrats can’t say there was no warning.  Political scientists and economists have long documented the link between a worsening economy and the loss of seats in government for the incumbent/majority party.  The massive losses Democrats will sustain this fall will represent the just deserts of a party that long ago sold out the working public for a seat at the Wall Street gravy train of unchecked profits.
 
Economic growth averaged a meager 1.6 percent in the second quarter of 2010.  These numbers begin to look even less impressive when we understand the magnitude of unemployment.  Unemployment grew from 9.5 to 9.6 percent from May to August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Underemployment is closer to 20 percent.  Even these numbers mask the severity of the real problem, which is demonstrated by the average length of unemployment.  Business Week reports that the median duration of unemployment grew to an all time historical high of 34.4 months this summer, more than doubling since the onset of the recession in December of 2007 when the median duration of unemployment was 16.6 months.  To put this into better perspective, nearly half of all jobless Americans have been unemployed for more a whopping two years and three months.
 
The bad news doesn’t stop there.  The New York Times reports that private sector boasted that it created 54,000 jobs in August, but when one factors in the job loss among state and federal workers (due to neoliberal state budget cuts, mass layoffs, and the winding down of Census employment), job growth actually only covered “half the number of positions needed to accommodate population growth.”  At the same time, while corporate profitability has reached pre-recession (2007) levels, Americans are working longer hours for less money.  The average hours worked has actually increased in the private sector from 33.4 to 33.5 hours, while wages fell significantly.  The Economic Policy Institute reports that “economists generally assume that faster productivity growth generates higher living standards through increased average compensation.”  However, from 1995 through 2007, productivity grew by 11 percent nationally, while hourly compensation actually fell for high school and college graduates.  EPI reports that the median household income, adjusted for inflation, actually fell by $2,000 during this period.  This is to be expected, considering the following factors: 1. People are being forced to work longer hours, with fewer raises (translating into pay cuts due to the deterioration of wage purchasing power from inflation), and 2. Due to the fact that areas of the economy marked by significant job growth are overwhelmingly low-paying. 
 
Analysis from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Economic Policy Institute show that the areas that have seen job growth cannot be counted upon to return prosperity to Middle America and the working class.    EPI reports that, of the five fastest growing occupations over the last three years, four of five pay less than the national median wage of $15.95 an hour.  These four low paying areas include: Warehouse stock clerks, medical assistants, home health aides, and food preparation and serving.  Just one job – registered nurse – pays above the national median. 
 
A friend of mine is fond of repeating the famous saying: “jobs are easy to find, I’ve got three of them.”  Such is the way of things in the neoliberal economy, in which part time, low paying contingent labor is not all that hard to find, but well paying occupations that ensure a stable paycheck and benefits are increasingly difficult to come by.  The results of the growth of wage insecurity are entirely predictable.  More and more of the national income growth that does take place is monopolized by the rich, forcing everyone else to fend for a smaller share of the pie.  From 1989 to 2007, 56 percent of all income growth was monopolized by the richest one percent of American households.  A third of the national income was taken by the top .1 percent, leaving the bottom 90 percent to share half that – just 16 percent of all income growth. 
 
The problems America’s working and middle class face today are structural; they are the result of decades of growth of unchecked corporate power.  Unless Americans begin to pull their heads out of the sand, these problems are unlikely to reverse, and will actually escalate.  No amount of Obama “hope” and “change” is going to change the fact that this administration has been happy to defend Wall Street by ignoring the growth of inequality and the decline of sustainable work in the United States.  Tragically, growing inequality is also accompanied by a depression of political participation among most Americans.  This is entirely predictable, since Americans are forced to work longer and longer hours and find multiple jobs to make ends meet, leaving less time to become educated on political issues and engage in political activism (let alone to go out and vote). 
 
A staggering loss for the Democrats this fall will send a strong message to the party that it must either begin to fight for the working class, or sink further into irrelevance as the economy continues its downward slide.  The American public appears to be awakening from its coma, as many are beginning to reject the vacuous nature of “brand Obama” in terms of this administration’s complete disinterest in promoting the common good for the American worker.  The disillusionment could not have come at a better time.  Unfortunately, this disillusionment appears to be accompanied by a depression in voting by traditionally less represented groups, including the young and minorities (see my recent piece: http://www.media-ocracy.com/?p=1655).  Rather than coming out to vote for progressive Democrats in primaries or real left-leaning third party candidates, those who traditionally are more open to progressive views are increasingly tuning out when it comes to participating in the political process.  This participation crisis is all the more disturbing during an economic crisis, and must be reversed before progressive change can materialize in the ballot box and outside of it.
 
 
 
Anthony DiMaggiois the editor of media-ocracy (www.media-ocracy.com), a daily online magazine devoted to the study of media, public opinion, and current events.  He has taught U.S. and Global Politics at Illinois State University and North Central College, and is the author of When Media Goes to War(2010) and Mass Media, Mass Propaganda(2008). He can be reached at: [email protected]
 
 
 
 
 

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