When Democracy Breaks Down

The point of a democratic political system is that those who are normally powerless get a chance from time to time to be the object of concern for their rulers. But as Paul Krugman points out, the current crop of Republican antediluvians, the elitist Obama, and most of the rich guy wannabes called Democrats have decided to pursue more personally lucrative political fields. They are busy currying favour with the ultra-rich and picking up money and promises of golden parachutes when they lose a future election.

Here are the sad facts from Paul Krugman's NY Times op-ed:

More than three years after we entered the worst economic slump since the 1930s, a strange and disturbing thing has happened to our political discourse: Washington has lost interest in the unemployed.

Jobs do get mentioned now and then — and a few political figures, notably Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, are still trying to get some kind of action. But no jobs bills have been introduced in Congress, no job-creation plans have been advanced by the White House and all the policy focus seems to be on spending cuts.

So one-sixth of America’s workers — all those who can’t find any job or are stuck with part-time work when they want a full-time job — have, in effect, been abandoned.

It might not be so bad if the jobless could expect to find new employment fairly soon. But unemployment has become a trap, one that’s very difficult to escape. There are almost five times as many unemployed workers as there are job openings; the average unemployed worker has been jobless for 37 weeks, a post-World War II record.

In short, we’re well on the way to creating a permanent underclass of the jobless. Why doesn’t Washington care?

Go read the original article to get more details.

Specifically Krugman puts his finger on the failure of American democracy:

Yet polls indicate that voters still care much more about jobs than they do about the budget deficit. So it’s quite remarkable that inside the Beltway, it’s just the opposite.

And here's the political reality:

... according to a new Pew Research Center poll, a majority of Americans see “not much difference” between Mr. Obama’s approach to the deficit and that of Republicans.