Yes, we have a massive jobs crisis. I have been pretty clearly supporting the idea that we need far bigger stimulus and that the deficit is not our immediate problem (hat tip to McJoan who has been on the mark criticizing the undemocratic deficit-cutting commission–which would cut Medicare and Social Security)

  But, the real question is: what do we do to raise wages in this country? We can create all the jobs we want. But, it will not matter if people cannot make a decent living working at the jobs they have. To paraphrase Jesse Jackson, even slaves had jobs.

  The GDP numbers underscore this. The GDP went up for mainly because companies had slashed costs–that means workers–so deeply and had used up what they had already produced (inventories) that they had nowhere to go but up in terms of making things. Consumer spending–two-thirds of the economy–is still weak. Which is obvious–people don’t have jobs AND they do not have money, either in cash or credit.

  Wages. Wages. Wages.

  This isn’t just a crisis of the the past few years. This is a crisis that has gone on for 30 years, during which productivity has risen dramatically (only partly because of technology advances) but wages have been flat–at least for average Americans, not for CEOs.

  For that reason, I think it was of great concern that the words "labor union" did not pass the president’s lips during the State of the Union (not to mention the priority of passing the Employee Free Choice Act). Instead, he said this:

In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education. And in this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than on their potential.

  Respectfully, that is not correct. You can have all the education you want and all the potential–but if you cannot make a decent wage, it won’t matter. And the best anti-poverty program is the labor movement.

  As well, the president was vague about where he was going on the question of our failed trade policy. In a remark that drew huge ovations from Republicans but virtually no support from Democrats, the president said:

And that’s why we’ll continue to shape a Doha trade agreement that opens global markets, and why we will strengthen our trade relations in Asia and with key partners like South Korea and Panama and Colombia.

  It is my hope that the president understands that our so-called "free trade" agreements are directly connected to the decline in wages–both because they encourage the movement of high-wage jobs to lower-wage countries (though, let’s be clear that such movement can happen without these trade deals–the deals just make it easier) AND because so-called "free trade" is based on the fundamental principle of the race to the bottom on wages.

  I have pointed out for a very long time that the minimum wage is a scandal. It is a wage that obscures the deep poverty in America. For that reason, I believe the minimum wage must rise immediately to $10 an hour, and in a very short order, reach $15-$20 an hour. That is what hard-working Americans deserve: if the minimum wage truly reflected productivity gains over the past 30 years, the minimum wage would be, today, more than $19 an hour.

  To raise wages for seniors, we have to INCREASE Social Security benefits, not freeze or cut them. Unlike my opponent who supports a Commission that would clearly cut Social Security, I am advocating that we increase Social Security benefits by 15 percent for at least the next 20 years to make up for the trillions of dollars in wealth lost by average people in the recent financial and housing collapse. Over the next two decades, Social Security costs are expected to rise from 4 percent to 6 percent of Gross Domestic Product. So, by 2020, with a 15 percent hike, the cost would be $105 billion—-which we will pay for, in part, via the Financial Transactions Tax on Wall Street (which will raise at least $150 billion and perhaps as much as $200 billion per year)–a tax that I have advocated.

  So, without a serious rise in wages, which will only come with a larger, more powerful labor movement, all the rest of the numbers won’t matter much when we look at whether the American Dream will be a reality for our children and generations to come.