Reply to the National Urban League announcing a meeting next week with the Congressional Black Caucus -- One blog down --

In the below blog announcent, President of the National Urban League Marc Morial, teaming up as the Congressional Black Caucus' grassroots liason, asked for our on the ground opinion -- specifically "share your challenges and experiences" -- in regards to the 16 percent unemployment (42 percent for teenagers) in the Black Community. Here is my opinion that was "shared" to NUL President Marc Morial on one of Marc's newly formed "I am empowered" websites:

I see despair. There is no 'one person or persons' that I will list. However amongst those without jobs, I get a sense that even if folks have a degree, I still see despair. I know skilled people with degrees or college experience and good diction, that have frankly given up. In most cases a person works for a certain pay for years, or decades, and in the age of lay offs as a way to keep up with the Wall Street game, their jobs have been eliminated.


The layed-off (fired) are somewhat blown away momentarily, they lay back for a certain amount of time while living on their savings from years on the job. When that savings dry up, they then look for a job. What they find in today's new business environment more often than not, are a high percentage of jobs that pay well below their monthly bills.

Intelligently these aforementioned folks are information gatherers. They routinely check their career trade websites and listening to the news, look in the paper, network, you know, go where the action is. 'What they see' are their career salaried with benefits jobs have been farmed out for an hourly wage with much less than standard pay. 'What they see' are restructured lay-offs galore as acceptable business practice with jobs never to return. 'What they see' are corporations closing shop, packing up, leaving the community dry, and going overseas with tax incentives from Uncle Sam. 'What they see' around them are associates, family, and friends by the dozens being laid off and job sites moving away from their communities. 'What they see' are the continued practices of Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush administrations that feed big corporations billions to build sweat shops in Singapore, while ignoring the American Labor force and busting Unions. 'What they see' is an Obama administration hell bent over Health Care that they do not qualify for because they have no job to "pay" the possible reformed Health Insurance Company.

Insofar as Health Care is concerned, it is viewed as something else that has to be paid for, versus moving towards a well-deserved 'free' Universal Health Care plan due to working their lives for this country. More times than not, bad health comes from the jobs they work -- both mentally and physically. Screw Health Care is the mandate amongst the 16 percent African-Americans and 42 percent of teenagers on the street.

Why is our focus on Health Care? Is it because the President is obsessed historically legacy-wise with "Reforming" Health Care or due to his own families' personal tragedies. We just saw this obsession with the previous President Bush obsessed with killing Saddam Hussein because Hussein made an assassination attempt on his father and mother in Kuwait.

HELLO, wake up master control!!! 'It's the Economy -- Jobs, Job Training, and Education -- Stupid'. Health Care means nothing to businesses nor individuals unless it is free, taxed equally amongst every American citizen. Congress and Mr. President, stopping the bleeding of Health Insurance hikes should not trump the more pressing issue of Lay-offs; busting Unions; companies' not offering any benefits; Jobs leaving the country; and College costs waaaay out of control.

Lastly, if Banks' assets are that toxic where they cannot give out loans unless you pay for the loan upfront (what's the use of a loan if you have to pay upfront), then deal with the eliminating toxic assets. Paying Wall Street's Big Banks hundreds of billions of dollars, whom then used the bailout funds to gain interest on the money sitting after paying out millions in bonuses to executives """again""" ripping off America, was ridiculous. How Government allow these loopholes, we'll never know. Dot your "i's" and cross your "t's" please, while you rush to give banks and multi-national corporations trillions.

Meanwhile Americans walk around discouraged without a job. Homeowners looking hard for a job are unable to find a salaried job that pays for the mortgage and "benefits". Teachers are now being layed off by the thousands in multiple education jurisdictions due to these toxic assets as regional governments are unable to collect property taxes on loan defaults and foreclosures. Banks cannot loan to a small business nor refinance business loans to prevent lay-offs, as they are feeling the affects of a decade of dishing out "No-Doc/No Money Down" mortgages to folks whom do not qualified to get a hundred dollars, let alone a 500-thousand dollar house.

Equities are going southward fast, a bottom-less cliff. It would seem obvious that our focus should have been on solving multible-economy problems over the past two years. Now the epidemic has turned into a major crisis that no one has cared about for decades since this is a minority problem. We hope that this President does not turn a blind eye as the previous four Presidents have. If he continues, then Americans, including all minorites, will be in search of a change to observant candidates that frankly GET IT!!!

Putting out a nominally financed Jobs Bill is too late and too little and too photo optic for me. A Jobs Bill too minute in dealing with the gravity of the problem. Thirty-Five Billion Dollars for the Jobs Bill, while Congress and the Executive Branch spends 2-Trillion dollars for Iraqis and Afghans, and One-Trillion dollars for the Big Banks that screwed both us Americans and -- surprise, surprise, surprise -- the US Government, with no contractual clauses to allocate money for these Big Banks toxic assets. The Government was steaming mad at that fatal flaw of their own doing and even spread the word to the American people that they "were really mad" at the banks for their improper allocations of the trillion dollars. Give me a break.

People I am sorry to take you down the roots and simple solutions road, but it is now up to you to do for yourselves as Big Businesses have dictated since Mr. Deregulation (deregulating banks inclusive) Ronald Reagan. Ain't nothing changed, you still are either un-employed, under-employed with no pension, or someone close to you is unable to find a decent paying job.

'Nothing has been done' yet to lift the current situation of Businesses freely leaving the country in search of slave wage workers. 'Nothing has been done' to bring down the price of a college education for your kids with exceptional grade point averages. 'Nothing has been done' to free up loans for Banks to help help pay for businesses salaries, buy homes, or start up businesses, as toxic assets are still the unresolvable 'major' problem, getting worse by the day.

The good news is that the National Urban League is stepping up to the plate today and making sure this never happens again. Good luck NUL on making this coming meeting with the CBC an action plan of competence and diligent legislation. Please this time bring contract lawyers that knows what the hell they are doing.

Do not give up on the President, as I am most certain that he gets it now. Move this half-cocked Health Care reform (that you will still have to pay for) behind us quickly, and move forward granting trillions of dollars to (not the insignificant war or sucking up to the Republicans' platforms), but to College Education, Job Training for new century jobs, and salaries that "pay the bills". Grant Incentives for Banks and Corporations to spend on financing businesses wages, new businesses, and job programs. The Economy will then move northward, where folks are buying to keep the economy afloat.

Sounds waaaay too simple for them though.