REWIND - A Week of Quotes & Cartoons

SUNDAY

Quote of the Day
June 27, 2010

'Instead of supporting its youth, the government wants
to put us in competition with our grandparents for the
same jobs. It keeps them in employment longer and us
out of the job market.'

Sabrina Hamlaoui, a 25-year-old
graduate student from Seine-Saint
Denis, who has been jobless for
over a year after a stretch of
unpaid internships, one of thousands
of young workers who marched in
Paris yesterday under the banner
"Save our Pensions!" They were
protesting the government's plan
to raise the pension age.

Associated Press
June 27, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/24fhx24

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2aqn5zo
Another Snafu
Tony Auth - Philadelphia Inquirer

MONDAY

Quote of the Day
June 28, 2010

'...I don't think this is really about Greece, or
indeed about any realistic appreciation of the
tradeoffs between deficits and jobs. It is, instead,
the victory of an orthodoxy that has little to do with
rational analysis, whose main tenet is that imposing
suffering on other people is how you show leadership in
tough times.

'And who will pay the price for this triumph of
orthodoxy? The answer is, tens of millions of
unemployed workers, many of whom will go jobless for
years, and some of whom will never work again.'

Columnist Paul Krugman, on
'last weekend's deeply
discouraging G-20 meeting'
New York Times
June 28, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2br69h4

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/26c9cx3
Lithium
Ted Rall

TUESDAY

Quote of the Day
June 29, 2010

'Rather than being rewarded for its actions, though,
Ireland is being penalized. Its downturn has certainly
been sharper than if the government had spent more to
keep people working. Lacking stimulus money, the Irish
economy shrank 7.1 percent last year and remains in
recession.

'Joblessness in this country of 4.5 million is above 13
percent, and the ranks of the long-term unemployed -
those out of work for a year or more - have more than
doubled, to 5.3 percent.

'Now, the Irish are being warned of more pain to come.'

New York Times
June 29, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/35h7umo

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2g24o7l
Here's to You
Stuart Carlson

WEDNESDAY

Quote of the Day
June 30, 2010

'Ensuring there's enough money to pay for the war will
require reforming the country's entitlement system,
Boehner said. He said he'd favor increasing the Social
Security retirement age to 70 for people who have at
least 20 years until retirement, tying cost-of-living
increases to the consumer price index rather than wage
inflation and limiting payments to those who need them.

'"We need to look at the American people and explain to
them that we're broke," Boehner said. "If you have
substantial non-Social Security income while you're
retired, why are we paying you at a time when we're
broke? We just need to be honest with people".'

Interview in Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
with House Minority Leader
John Boehner (R - Ohio)

June 29, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/23n85u5

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/29p33bn
Spies?
Dan Wasserman - Boston Globe

THURSDAY

Quote of the Day
July 1, 2010

'In Cleveland, where I come from, unemployment is
devastating our community. People are demanding that
their government, our government, recognize the
suffering of families who have lost jobs and can't find
work.

'Will Washington tell my constituents and people like
them, all over America, "We have money for war but no
money for the unemployed? We have money for military
contractors but no money for the unemployed? We have
money, billions, for corrupt foreign governments but no
money for our unemployed in the United States? We have
money for tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans but
no money for the unemployed? Hundreds of billions for
Wall Street but no money for the unemployed?"

'Instead, the out-of-work, poor, and middle class get
lectures on balancing the budget, lectures on pay-fors.
What are people supposed to do when they don't have
budgets because they don't have money? When they can't
pay for food, shelter, and clothing? Yes, we need jobs,
but people out of work can't find a job and they have
to survive. People need unemployment benefits because
they have to pay for their mortgage, their rent, their
utility bills. So many Americans are hanging on by
their fingertips. Some exhort our constituents, "pull
yourselves up by your boot straps." What if you don't
have money to buy boots?'

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH),
statement on the floor of the
House in support of legislation
to extend emergency unemployment
benefits

July 1, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2wel2hk

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2bbmdtk
Scream
Tom Toles - Washington Post

FRIDAY

Quote of the Day
July 2, 2010

'In a treacherous economy, our leaders should share the
goal of creating sustainable, broadly shared
prosperity. Instead, it seems congressional Republicans
are determined to create a desperate workforce, willing
to take any jobs at any pay rate under any
circumstances. It's a dream come true for corporations
that have pushed for 30 years to turn America's middle
class into a demoralized, low-wage and submissive
workforce.

'How any member of Congress can head home for this July
4th recess and talk about the November election without
having voted for jobs and extended unemployment aid is
beyond me.'

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
Huffington Post
July 2, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2cfrhle

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2g4r2k5
Therapy
Tony Auth - Philadelphia Inquirer

SATURDAY

Quote of the Day
July 3, 2010

'We will be spending, in this fiscal year, $167 billion
on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is obvious to
any but the most obtuse that that expenditure is
killing our ability to finance a recovery of our own
economy.

'People need to ask themselves one question: Are they
interested in simply standing by and allowing teachers
to be fired day after day for the next three months all
around the country or are they willing to do something
about it?'

Representative David R. Obey (D)
of Wisconsin
New York Times
July 3, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2v6tejn

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2u6ksnf
Nation Building
Ben Sargent

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