Economy
Jobs: The American Jobs Act and the Bring Jobs Home Act
Want jobs? Here's how. Jobs have been on the agenda for some time. Republicans filibustered both (and are campaigning that there are no jobs).
If you are reading, hearing or watching a report covering jobs and/or the campaign that does not include this information, you have a right to call up the reporter and ask why it was left out.
The American Jobs Act
The Only Grand Bargain We Need Is A Grand Bargain On Jobs
The August job numbers -- a disappointing 96,000 net new jobs for the month – only reinforce the need for greater action on jobs. At this rate, new job creation is not sufficient to cover the people coming into the jobs market.
Bernanke's Wake Up Call: It's a Jobs Cliff
Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke announced a dramatic new commitment of the Fed to keep long term interest rates low in the hope of boosting employment and economic growth.
In doing so, Bernanke issued a wake up call to the Congress and to both presidential campaigns. It’s a Jobs Cliff, not just a fiscal cliff.
Austerity Is The New Greek Tragedy
In my previous post this morning, I noted that the U.S. is starting to look a lot like Greece, at least in terms of austerity-driven suicides.
Jobs Are For We, The People. Budget Cuts Are For The Billionaires. Who Will Prevail?
We have millions unemployed with millions more underemployed or just gave up looking, our infrastructure is literally crumbling, our trade deficit is horrendous, our "safety net" has eroded below minimum acceptable standards, pensions are cut or gone, the climate is getting more and more unpredictable and dangerous, and how many other problems can you name?
Romney's Backers, Romney's Brain: The Money, The Thinking, The Plan
In a 1994 science-fiction novel called Interface, a Presidential candidate has an electronic chip in his brain that links his mind to real-time polling data. His words, deeds, even his thoughts are immediately responsive to the public mood. Mitt Romney seems a lot like that - except that Romney's chip is connected to money.
Rebuild The Middle Class With Jobs For Veterans
There's one thing I forgot to mention in my previous post, "10 Ways to Rebuild the Middle Class": We already know how to rebuild the middle class. We've done it before. One way we built the middle class was to "Give unemployed job seekers a real, fresh start," which is one of the ten steps in the report, "10 Ways To Rebuild The Middle Class For Hardworking Americans." Back then, those unemployed job seekers happened to be in uniform, and America gave them a real fresh start with something called the GI Bill.
Today, a chance to give unemployed veterans a real, fresh start is stalled out in the Senate and going nowhere in the House.
10 Ways to Rebuild the Middle Class
The middle class is the great engine of the American economy, but today that engine is sputtering. Our economic crisis is one half of a vicious cycle in which it and the unemployment crisis feed and perpetuate one another, hollowing out the middle-class in the process.
Middle-class wages are their lowest in 17 years. Too many workers are toiling in jobs that don’t pay enough to support families, and too many can’t find work at all. Meanwhile, the jobs that will grow the most in the next decade are expected to be low-wage and stripped of benefits. What passes as America's economic "recovery" is awash in low-wage jobs.
The Culture of Interdependence
First, let me be clear: I take no credit for the messaging or themes of first two nights of the Democratic convention. But in some of the most talked about speeches of the last two nights, I heard echoes of ideas I've been writing about for years. No, it doesn't lead me to think anyone in the White House or at the DNC has been reading my blog posts.
The Old Dawg Can Still Hunt
The old dawg can still hunt. At the top of his game, gaining energy from the crowd, Bill Clinton, the “old country boy from Arkansas” tore it up last night in Charlotte. Political junkies, pundits of all stripes, and Democratic activists were agog, watching the maestro at work.
