president zero and the less-than-zero opposition

as the nation's economy recorded no net job gains in august, pressure is on the president to produce some effective PR initiatives to show that he cares enough about us peons to do something about it:

Job Growth Halts, Putting Washington Under Pressure - NYTimes.com: "The White House immediately seized on the report as evidence that bold action was needed, calling the unemployment rate “unacceptably high.” Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in an interview that she hoped the president’s proposals would be embraced by Congress. “If they’re not supported, then he’s going to take it out to the public,” she said.

Republicans, in turn, argued that the numbers were further proof that the policies of Mr. Obama, whom they quickly dubbed “President Zero,” were not working. The lack of growth in nonfarm payrolls was well below the consensus forecast by economists of a 60,000 increase, which itself was none too optimistic. It was a sharp decline from July, which the Labor Department on Friday revised to show a gain of 85,000 jobs."

and so we are back to the usual politics of standoff. the GOP is so determined that obama "fail" that they will not cooperate in any program that would make a substantial difference in the employment situation.

this would be a tragedy, if it meant that obama was going to be stymied in an attempt to make any substantive difference in the availability of jobs in the US. unfortunately, his financial backers have no interest in increasing employment in the US, so he's not committed to it, either.

there can be no substantial increase in employment until the US standard of living is reduced, and wages fall to the equivalent of the developing world's rates. that obviously will take a while, but it's an ongoing project among the oligarchy and the elites are committed to seeing it through.

the catfight amongst the parties is simply a part of the larger drama that pits large segments of the polity against one another as part of a divide-and-conquer strategy -- while we fight over gay marriage or immigration, the oligarchs continue to lock down control of the levers of power, consolidating their hold on the nation's resources through privatization and austerity.

i read somewhere today that one of obama's proposal will be modeled after an execrable program called "georgia works," which requires the jobless to work for free to gain "experience" -- and to qualify for unemployment benefits! it's kind of like singing for your supper, and of course it's demeaning and absurd. still, it resonates with the self-hating working-class idiots who vote republican, so it might gain some traction with the GOP in congress, so why wouldn't president zero try it?

this is what the future holds. and i can't stand it!