Job growth is slow.  And in some quarters, they’re blaming (1) high taxes, (2) the deficit, or (3) a socialist conspiracy.  But if you look at the numbers, it isn’t taxes or federal spending that’s keeping job growth low. Taxes are at their lowest since 1992 for the top bracket, and are pretty close to where they were in the Reagan years.  But during the economic boom of the 199os, taxes were higher for the top bracket earners, and there was much higher overall employment.

The deficit certainly is an issue for long-term economic stability. And yes, US government borrowing does soak up capital. But the bond rates that the US pays on debt are minuscule, and, in a perfect neoliberal capitalist world, investors would make capital available for businesses looking to grow from a position of strength because of the potential return on investment. Right?

Yeah, I know. Theory is boring, facts are boring.  And we still have 9% unemployment.   Why is that, if it isn’t because the government is weighing down business with taxes and its bloated debt?

Here’s why:

1) Higher labor productivity means that companies can make big profits off of smaller revenues, so there’s not as much incentive to grow them.  Take a look at the Bureau of Labor and Statistics‘ numbers on productivity, and you’ll see that productivity has grown in some sectors by more than 100% over the last 5 years (and is starting to reach a plateau).  The cost of labor has trailed productivity during that time, and real wages have dropped on average — because of the larger pool of unemployed, salary cuts and other factors.  So, companies can make more with fewer workers.  That would theoretically lead to profits that fuel big growth, but…

2) Energy costs are high because of speculation and huge demand from China and India, who have economies that are rapidly growing. So the non-labor costs of production, which are largely based on energy and other commodity costs, have gone up.  So instead of ramping up production, companies have found that they can produce the same or less, with fewer employees, and rake in profits while holding production costs down.  And if they do ramp up their production…

3) Manufacturing has been shifted overseas, so the increased production has a lesser impact on US hiring. So job growth remains low. Job growth could take off if companies in emerging areas were hiring here, but…

4) Congress cut funding of green tech.  And there could be big gains in efficiency in healthcare and a significant reduction in the financial burden on companies from health insurance premiums, but…

5) The Republicans want to rescind the Affordable Healthcare Act and kill Medicare just as they’re starting to pressure a change in the business model of healthcare that will shift to value versus volume.  And of course,  we bailed out the banks, but…

6) The glut of foreclosed housing from the mortgage disaster and other factors have depressed housing prices, and the construction industry, which was a major employer of semi-skilled labor, is still recovering. And it’s been living on corporate welfare life support for the last decade, at least.

After a long, nasty, cruel, heartless winter, here we are, the lion still gnawing at us and an hour of sleep lost to daylight savings.

For various reasons I couldn’t sleep last night. I sat up and stared out at the squatting cinderblock boxes with tarpaper roofs that pass for garages in this town, lining our alley in Siamese-twin pairs, and the false gloaming of the city lights diffused through the low-hanging clouds. And I cursed the grey night and laid back down, trying to block the alley street light’s amber glare with a wedged pillow.

I’ll be glad when this winter is dead and gone. The snow has finally thawed away from the shadows under the relentless rain, and the storm drains are clogged with urban jetsam and runoff with no place else to go, but there are still places where grey icebergs stand like Lot’s wife at street corners, like they’re waiting for the crossing light to change before they give up and melt into mud.

I know now why Brutus did in Caesar on the Ides. The goddamned Ides. It was the waiting for a change that drove him to do it. Something has to break, and let things start again.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in Baltimore who had a pet shark. She and the shark were best friends; they would play together all day long, and sleep together at night. The shark wasn’t like others of his kind–he was furry, and had soft vinyl teeth. And his favorite food was marshmallows.

One night, at three a.m., the little girl decided she was going to surprise the shark with marshmallows for breakfast in the morning. So she quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed downstairs to the pantry to make sure there were enough marshmallows around to feed the shark. But she couldn’t find any, so she tiptoed back upstairs and woke up her father.

“Daddy, where are the marshmallows?” she asked, as she jumped on her groggy father. He rolled over and said, half-asleep, “There are some packed with our camping equipment, I think.” As she scampered back down the stairs, he went back to sleep, thinking that it was all a dream.

The little girl went to the basement and found the box with the family’s camping gear in it. She pulled out the box, dug deep into and find a half-bag of Jet-Puft Marshmallows, just as her father had said. She brought the bag up to the kitchen and left them on the counter, happy that she would be able to surprise the shark in the morning.

Meanwhile, the shark had awaken while the little girl was away, and had followed the sound of her rummaging down to the basement, where he saw her pulling out the camping gear. “We must be going on a camping trip!” the shark thought excitedly. “Maybe I’ll get to go swimming and chase some dolphins.” He flopped back up the stairs to the little girl’s bedroom, and got back into bed, dreaming of campfires and marine mammal harrassment.

When the sun rose, the little girl woke the shark and said, “I have a surprise for you!” The shark, thinking he knew what the surprise was, jumped and squirmed excitedly after the girl as she ran downstairs, following her to the kitchen. As he slid onto the kitchen tiles behind her, he shouted with glee, “Oh boy oh boy! We’re going…” and stopped when he saw the little girl holding up the bag of marshmallows.

“I have marshmallows for you for breakfast!” she said with a smile. She reached into the bag and pulled one out.

Something did not look right about the marshmallows. They were flattened, and had black spots on them. The bag was old and dusty. And when the little girl pulled out one, a moth flew out of it.

The shark looked at the bottom of the bag. “Hey, the bag says, ‘Best if used by May 5, 1985!’ Those marshmallows are ancient!” Realizing that the little girl wasn’t taking him camping, and was actually planning on feeding him rancid marshmallows, the shark chomped on her piteously with his soft vinyl teeth (which are only any good for eating fresh marshmallows.

The moral of the story: never wake up your dad at 3 a.m. for marshmallows.

The End.