Imagine a surgeon walking from the operating room to an anxious family in the waiting room and telling them that operation was a partial success.  He explains, "The patient died, but your insurance company agreed to pay my fee in full.  So, while your loved one is dead, at least the operation was not a total loss." 

Imagine a football coach consoling his team after a bitter loss at the Super Bowl, "Yeah, we lost the game but the national coverage I received with this game has meant lots of great offers for me to coach a better team and get paid a bigger salary.  So, I'd call this an acceptable loss, considering the results."

In each case, you would probably view the surgeon or coach as a cold hearted selfish bastard and you would be correct.  

Now consider the phrase, "Jobless Recovery".  What does it mean?  How could a recovery from an economic recession be called a recovery at all when labor does not recover?  This phrase could only be coined and communicated by the same sort of cold hearted selfish bastards as the previous examples.  Only this time, it’s not something we have to imagine.  It really happened and it’s happening every day.  

Now consider who is saying this.  It's Wall Street.  It's corporate America.  It's many people in our government.  Their message it clear: we don't give a damn about labor as long as we are doing well.  Remember this every time you hear it.  If you're like most people, you make a living with your labor - not your investments.  You've been busting your ass to make ends meet and to try and get ahead, but for the past 40 years, you've been swimming against a very strong tide.  

It started when President Reagan used the power of Big Government to attack labor unions, to the benefit of Wall Street and capital.  It’s no secret that capital wants cheap labor and unions do not deliver cheap labor. It continued when administration after administration entered into trade agreements with nations that had their people working in conditions reminiscent of Upton Sinclair’s Jungle.  It continues today when so many Americans accept at face value statements that unions are corrupt relics of the past and not necessary in today's Global Economy. 

If nothing else, acceptance of the term "Jobless Recovery" is proof that it is time to reconsider unions if the American Middle Class is to survive.