The Glade 4.0

Mayor Bloomberg warned Friday there would be riots in the streets if Washington doesn't get serious about generating jobs.

"We have a lot of kids graduating college, can't find jobs," Bloomberg said on his weekly WOR radio show.

"That's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid. You don't want those kinds of riots here."

Actually, what happened in Cairo was that angry Egyptians took out their frustrations with the ruling junta by attacking the Israeli embassy.

As for Madrid, the most recent street protests were sparked by widespread unhappiness that the Spanish government was spending millions on the visit of Pope Benedict instead of dealing with widespread unemployment.

Bloomberg's unusually alarmist pronouncement came as President Obama has been pressuring reluctant Republicans to pass his proposed job creation plan.

"The damage to a generation that can't find jobs will go on for many, many years," the normally-measured mayor said.

Bloomberg gave Obama kudos for coming up with a jobs plan.

"At least he's got some ideas on the table, whether you like those or not," he said. "Now everybody's got to sit down and say we're actually gonna do something and you have to do something on both the revenue and the expense side."

And everybody's got to share in the pain.


The streets of Cairo erupted in violence this spring. (AP Photo)

"When you start picking and choosing which groups do and do not, that's when it becomes unfair in a lot of people's minds," the mayor said. "But we're all in this together."

Obama didn't create this economic mess, it developed "over long periods of time," Bloomberg said.

Obama's approval rating has sunk along with the economy, but the ratings of the Republicans who have stymied his attempts repair the damage are even worse, most polls show.

Already, House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, has drawn a line on raising taxes on the rich to pay for Obama's proposed $447 billion jobs plan, which aims to help the middle class.

I always thought some people here were going too far with predictions of society crashing and burning due to the economy, but maybe there was some truth to it. Bloomberg agrees at least.

I'm sorry, my intentions weren't to disrespect either of them. I mainly found it interesting that a major politician is publicly voicing these concerns.

Actually, no, i'm fine with disrespecting them (not just them specifically, but just about anyone), and they're certainly a little crazy. Most people have that problem. I just take issue with the concept that agreement from a "major politician" makes something more credible and less crazy. I don't consider Michael Bloomberg to be more credible, than, say "Joe the Plumber." (Of course, now that Joe-the-plumber lucked into a lucritive political commentator gig, maybe he's an authority one can appeal to, as well!)