the blame game

While Robert Downey, Jr., a movie actor, is asking us to forgive someone, Herman Cain, an ex-CEO and president wannabe, is suggesting that we electrify anyone attempting to cross the U.S. border away from a port of entry . . .

Actually, Mr. Cain is full of ideas about who is to blame and who, like himself, are blameless . . . Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute explains why Mr. Cain is pointing in the wrong direction . . .

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain responded to a question about the Occupy Wall Street protests by saying, “Don’t blame the big banks. If you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself.”

Here are the facts: This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released new data from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showing that there were nearly 3.1 million job openings in August. However, we know from other BLS data that there were 14 million unemployed workers in August. In other words, there were nearly 11 million more job seekers than job openings.

The ratio of unemployed workers to job openings is now 4.6-to-1. A job seeker’s ratio of more than 4-to-1 means there are literally no jobs available for more than three out of four unemployed workers. In a given month in today’s labor market, the vast majority of the unemployed are not going to find a job no matter what they do.