This article points to a troubling reality that even for those unemployed people fortunate to find a new job, that new job often means a decrease in wages and living standards.

This article describes how the entire annual increase in health care costs is being borne by employees with employer health insurance instead of being borne by the employers.  This is but one example of the skyrocketing cost of health care over the years has eaten away at any wages gains for the working class.

Finally, this extremely insighful op-ed by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich describes how the generation-long erosion of working class wages helped fuel the debt boom that ended in the Great Recession.  Unless and until serious measures are enacted to improve the wages of the working class, we will not experience a sustainable recovery or return to general prosperity.

On top of that, failure to pass the bills means states will not receive the much-needed $23 billion to pay for sharply rising Medicaid costs.  (The great recession has swelled the ranks of those eligible for health insurance through Medicaid.)  Without this money, states will be forced to impose even greater cut backs, which will mean lost jobs for teachers and other state employees.

Republicans say they oppose the bill on the grounds that it raises the deficit, but what they really oppose are the small tax increases (such as one on hedge fund managers) that would be used to pay for the bill.  Disappointingly, the NY Times notes that the “Obama administration has not fought aggressively for the legislation.”  It appears the President is not focusing on jobs, which should be his highest priority.