Robert Reich video

I'll reserve comment. Feel free to post what you think about this one.

I'm speechless.... really. To paraphrase....."Don't give the jobs to skilled white Male construction Workers"......

I guess we get the Freddie & Fannie Construction company now. Good luck driving over that bridge.

Isn't that just more racisim????? MLK would be sick. I dont think that was what he was looking for.

I wundr ifin I ken git me ona dem jobs?

The American people wanted "change". Now, they're going to get it.

Kunta Kinti: Chains ain't right for honkies, Fiddler!

I figured that this was doctored up for U-Tube just to get a rise out of the white workers but I looked up the actual C-Span tape and Reich really said it. I was and still am totally speachless

And he makes no apologies for it. I'd like to drop kick that little 4' ,nothing SOB. Welcome to Clintons' third term.

What do you think the reaction would have been if Reich had said Black construction worker instead of white??? I suspect that every mouthpiece from J Jackson to Faracamp to Rev Wright would be screaming. But because he said white there has been no mention except on these and other forums.

There's another word for long term unemployed-- lazy scum of the earth. Rangle is a crook with skeletons in his closet, Reich might make a good plant stand.
Come to New Jersey and check out any construction site. It's all going to low paid illegals. Most of them are hard working, blame the builders and contractors who hire them. I've seen nightmares.
The bums who put up my friend's addition are nothing more than coordinators of the cheapest subs they could find. Some of the work was acceptable, some was substandard. The siding crew did acceptable work, except where they went right over a dryer vent. Too lazy to cut out a 4" hole.
The roofers were definitely non-English speaking slaves. They put drip edge over roll roofing instead of under it.
The plumbers were barely English speaking Polish guys who left a bunch of leaks in the boiler; the american kid that put in the shower probably never built a fiberglass pan before.
The finish carpenters- non-English speaking butchers.
Painters- non English speaking imbeciles.
My extremely wealthy customers put an addition up, the builder was a hillbilly ham-and-egger; but a very wealthy one. His kitchen subs- non- English speaking Hispanics. I actually get work from this trend, straightening out the sub-standard work these people do. They attached a dishwasher in the hundred thousand dollar kitchen by running sheet rock screws through the gasket seals into the adjoining cabinets.
The builder resurfaced the lady's driveway and didn't bother to grade it- now it's a muddy mistake.
And on and on and on..............

Actually I think you can read into that there is no black skilled workers, Yes/No? Statements like this are truly racist IMO because not only is he stating we're going to deny workers based on their color but he's also implying there is no skilled black construction workers. If I was a black skilled construction worker I'd be pissed off as well becsue it will they will not be getting these jobs either I can assume.

Having said that since there is many skilled workers of all colors in many of these trades I think if you read between the lines what they are saying without actually coming out and saying it is they will give these jobs to black owned business's whether they are qualified to perform the work or not. Frankly it will turn into a mess if that is the case. Anybody here willing to commute across a bridge on daily basis built by some upstart company that has never built a bridge employing people that don't know which end of shovel you hold?

Most people in this country have no clue what is in store for them.

I take some solace that a minority (pun intended) are paying attention.

Nobody said not to give it to "white" and "highly skilled" workers; they said not to give ALL of it to them.

If you're going to stimulate the economy, it's not good policy to stimulate only a part of it. And that's all that was said.

The video has been edited and I'm not going to look up the context however the exact quote is:

I am concerned, as I'm sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers.

Frankly I think it's irrelevant whether it's "ALL" or not, you hire people for job based on their ability to do it. Why hire someone that has no clue if you have someone that knows how to do the job? That's ridiculous to even consider, a business would never do that because they wouldn't be in business for very long.

If you want to see the face of racism in the U.S. today you're looking right at it.

Edit: Stockingfull, if the statement was "...that these jobs not simply go to ..... male construction workers."

What would you call it?

What matters is that, if the gov't is going to artificially "stimulate" the economy, by definition we're not talking "meritocracy," we're talking "stimulus."

And the purpose of this or any "stimulus" is to reach the parts of the economy which have been hurt by the downturn and which therefore need to be stimulated. So, if you have information that only "white" or "highly skilled" workers have been affected by the current downturn, then I'd be more receptive to the idea that the stimulus should be directed to them. OTOH, if the downturn is broader than that (which IMO is a pretty safe statement), then the "stimulus" projects ideally should have a broader reach to match it.

The whole idea is that, to the extent possible, you create projects to match the parts of the population that you want to put back to work. Obviously, perfection is unattainable and some people inevitably will get more than their fair share of the dole and others less, but the idea is to put the medicine where the economic problem is, not to establish the same "bidding meritocracy" that you'd want in more desirable economic circumstances.