Does anyone in Washington listen to common people? While our leaders have wasted time debating the national debt to score points toward the next election, Gallup says the underemployment rate has climbed to 18.3%.

Though the unemployment rate has fallen to 8.7% from 9.2% this time last year, the number of part-time workers who want full-time jobs has jumped from 9.1% to 9.6%. Hello out there!

People who don’t make a living can’t buy necessities or pay taxes. Luxuries are out of the question. That’s bad news for an economy based on consumer spending.

The same groups who now blame each other helped create this mess. Some supported policies that sent jobs overseas where corporations pay employees slave wages for working long hours under unhealthy conditions. Others suppressed job creation by creating tax laws, business laws, and regulations only the wealthy can afford to obey or evade.

Now they focus on short-term costs while ignoring long-term effects on people. Current plans to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will only lead to the higher costs of treating uncontrolled chronic illnesses and slow death in the future. There are better alternatives.

1. Create jobs that pay enough for necessities, savings, and investments. We need jobs in both the public and private sectors. Neither sector can create jobs fast enough to reduce the escalating unemployment and public assistance rates. People who can support themselves have less need for public assistance. They’re also able to share with others who need help.
2. Simplify the tax code; write laws and regulations with businesses in mind; and give tax breaks to employers who pay fair wages, protect consumers and workers, and create jobs in this country. From 1950 until 2008, Toyota saved money during good times and avoided layoffs during down times by paying employees to upgrade skills and facilities. The company’s reputation for quality yielded legendary results. Toyota has topped U.S. auto sales since 2007 in spite of higher product prices. Massive recalls recently slowed that growth. Perhaps company leaders lost sight of what had put them on top as they tried to survive the recession while playing by the rules.
3. Stop allowing drug companies (Big Pharma) to run the health care industry. In her book Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher, ex-pharmaceutical sales representative Gwen Olsen seeks to educate the public on the dangers of prescription drugs. She says Big Pharma’s mission is to regulate illness, manage symptoms, and keep people trapped in a lethal cycle of chemical dependency. Cures are not an option. Drug companies also fund most clinical trials and continuing medical education, a clear conflict of interest.
4. Create a new agency to regulate dietary supplements, and make them available to people from all economic backgrounds. Former pharmaceutical industry executives often run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and work to protect Big Pharma’s mission. The agency suppressed valid health claims for proven vitamins until a recent court ruling found the practice unconstitutional. Their next trick is to use problems with isolated supplements or manufacturers to create expensive regulations that drive small, honest companies out of business or force them into mergers with pharmaceutical companies. In spite of all the media hype about the dangers of supplements, there are few reports that link them to death or damage. Prescription drugs are more dangerous. According to Melody Petersen, author of Our Daily Meds, 100,000 Americans die each year from prescription drugs. That’s 270 per day, more than twice as many who die in car accidents.

A deal to raise the debt ceiling with a deadline and mandate to reduce the debt over time is the only practical solution. When we have jobs and policies that support health, the debt will slowly die from natural causes. Our leaders can’t develop sensible solutions overnight.

This version has new information on points 1 and 2 and a new ending.

Sources:

Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment at 8.7% in June: Underemployment is at 18.3% — an improvement from May but the same as in June 2010

Where are the Jobs?For Many Companies, Overseas

Overseas Sweatshops Are a U.S. Responsibility

Economic Health Requires Revolutionary Change (Part 1)

Toyota Global Sales Up 8%

Learning from Toyota’s Snafu

Conflict Of Interest In Clinical Drug Trials:A Risk Factor For Scientific Misconduct

Doctors’ education: the invisible influence of drug company sponsorship

ANH-USA Wins Major Lawsuit on Qualified Health Claims

Herbal Medicine and Liver Damage

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