The Observer

Issue date: 11/13/09 Section: Opinion

The 190,000 people who lost their jobs last month joined a further 4.85 million over the last fourteen months. Many of these newly unemployed people are from car companies or their suppliers, construction equipment manufacturers, or airplane factories. These people who clamor that they want their old jobs back, however, clearly do not read the news. On any news outlet, one could quickly determine that Ford, Caterpillar, and Boeing all very nearly went out of business in the past year. Considering the ink is barely dry on the cash handed over by the Treasury to save these companies, how could they be expected to rehire anyone yet?

The last person the unemployed should blame is Barack Obama. The federal government is not in the business of creating jobs for anyone. The last time the government created "busywork" jobs was in the 1930s; not only is busywork degrading to those it employs, it is an enraging waste of tax money that could be used for long-term economic solutions.

All sympathy can be afforded to anyone you know who has recently been laid off; as soon-to-be recent college graduates, we here at Case will all have to face this abysmal job market soon. It is important, though, to think critically about the job that was lost, and where it fits into the larger economy. Does it make sense to reopen a factory if it makes a terrible product? Should companies be penalized for cutting costs? Is there else anything we could be doing with the newly available labor?

As Americans, we are supposed to be resilient, skeptical, and resourceful. There are clearly opportunities in all sectors to hire excellent workers at discounted rates in this terrible economy. The worst possible use of this talent, be it from manufacturing, law, or a local coffeehouse, would be to reopen previous jobs unless they are absolutely essential; more so even than they were before the recession. We are at a defining moment in labor history, but to carry on with "business as usual"…well, that's what they do on Wall Street.

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