Forum Post: the private sector will not create the jobs By Mark Vorpahl

In contrast to the claims of both Obama and Romney — and both of them know better — the private sector will not create the jobs necessary to lift workers out of the Great Recession. No matter how many incentives big business is showered with, there will not be enough to overcome the limits the profit motive places on investment, given the concentration of wealth, growth in financial speculation, and the lack of demand resulting from workers' impoverishment.

The private sector is the problem, not the solution for the jobs crisis. It will take investment in the public sector to create full employment and lift up the economy. This investment can be funded by taxing corporations to the point where our nation is facing surpluses rather than deficits. Owners of immense wealth have for too long been let off the hook from paying their fair share.

There is no shortage of work that desperately needs to be done. Industries need to be retooled to reverse climate change. Our infrastructure needs to be maintained and, in many cases, rebuilt. Public education needs to be improved and expanded rather than privatized. Social services and health care need to be made available for everyone who needs them. Unfortunately, this is exactly the opposite of the approach of both presidential candidates and their corporate funded parties. Workers need to wrest control of the economy from the 1% by building a politically independent mass social movement to place our needs, such as a federal jobs program to create full employment, on the front stage.

All progressive changes that have benefited the vast majority have been the result of such struggles. Our salvation from the Great Recession lies in forging the necessary grass roots/workers unity to rediscover our power to set the political agenda.