If Bloomberg can say it...
by David Atkins ("thereisnospoon")
New York City mayor and centrist third party favorite Michael Bloomberg today:
Mayor Bloomberg today warned there will be widespread rioting on the streets if more jobs are not created.
As it emerged the number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the U.S. jumped last week to the highest level in three months, the Mayor spoke out, insisting that if nothing is done Americans will start revolting.
'That's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid. You don't want those kinds of riots here.'
Mayor Bloomberg added: 'The damage to a generation that can't find jobs will go on for many, many years.
'At least he [Obama] has got some ideas on the table, whether you like those or not,' he said.
His comments were in reference to the recent uprising in Egypt, which toppled president Hosni Mubarak, and protests in Spain by people outraged their government was spending millions on a papal visit rather than on dealing with unemployment.
Bloomberg and I would doubtless disagree and probably quite strongly on many of the policies necessary to change the unemployment equation. Bloomberg thinks we need to do something about "the spending side" of the equation, which sounds a lot like more Grand Bargain talk to toss Medicare and Social Security into the jaws of Wall St. And he no doubt thinks that job-killing "free trade" agreements are lovely.
But at least somebody with "independent" media credibility is putting the jobs crisis in the stark emotional terms it deserves while supporting Obama's jobs program.
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