More is needed

Here's a description of a thing called a "Congressional virus" which could infect your computer:  The computer locks up, the screen splits erratically with a message appearing on each half blaming the other side for the problem.

That's a modestly funny comment on the nation's political and governing environment.  But the most entertaining thing about this is when I first saw it--in November 1995!  Political dysfunction in the US Congress at that time caused short-term shutdowns of certain parts of the Federal Government.

Our recent--and perhaps current--episode of similar dysfunction has not produced any similar events because the Congressional passage and Presidential signing of what is apparently being called the "Debt Bill" has avoided the near-term possibility of the US Federal Government defaulting on payments which it is obliged to make.

So far, so good.



But the "Debt Bill" doesn't seem to include anything in it about improving the employment situation.  The Bill's details are unclear at this point, but even with complete clarity it doesn't seem likely that it includes anything that helps to create jobs.

The only way to deal with our nation's long-term debt and fiscal issues is with more employment, and a consequently decreased unemployment rate.  Governmental fiscal austerity does nothing to improve employment, even if we assume that the conservative side of the political conversation is correct when it says that a too-big government sucks up too much of the economy's available capital, and takes it away from businesses; after all, we have been hearing for the last two years or so that the available cash on the balance sheets of America's largest companies is continually at all-time highs, and the amounts continue to increase.

So businesses are not using the capital that they already have in ways that create jobs in large enough numbers to meet the country's needs.