Job One

robertreich.blogspot.com — Barack Obama is trying once again for balance. No president in modern times walks a tightrope as exquisitely as this one. His balance is a thing of beauty. But when it comes to this economy right now — an economy fundamentally out of balance — we need a federal government that moves boldly and swiftly to counter-balance the huge recessionary forces still at large.

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dailykos.com — With the market up and the recession over for nearly a quarter, it sometimes seems that what we call the economy is impossibly detached from the lives of the people who live and work in that economy. It is. The question becomes, by measuring GDP are we measuring anything of worth? Are we measuring something that accurately reflects the economy? A growing number of economists think we need to change. Instead of measuring consumption as the mark of a strong economy, why not measure the quantity and quality of employment?

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newsweek.com — In the current economy, many Americans have had to lower their expectations for their career and work lives. They've taken pay cuts to secure new jobs. They've postponed retirement to help struggling family members, and millions of Americans remain underemployed, working part-time or low-wage jobs to pay the bills. All this makes the signs of mild economic recovery less comforting for the unemployed, and for anyone concerned about losing his or her job. Sure, companies have started hiring temporary workers, and there's been a small increase lately in manufacturing activity, but these are not immediate signs of relief. And asking people to bite the bullet and suck it up may not go over well, especially for job seekers searching for the tangible: the routine of a reliable paycheck and a steady workplace.

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mcclatchydc.com — Even the Scarecrow from the "Wizard of Oz" would know that this is a no-brainer. Of course we need a federal jobs program to get us out of the Great Recession. It's not just heartless conservative Republicans who can't acknowledge it; it is also cowardly Democrats who just can't face facts.

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washingtonmonthly.com — Arguably the single most farcical aspect of America's political discourse is listening to congressional Republicans talk about economic policy. We're talking about a group of people who've managed to be spectacularly wrong about practically every economic challenge in recent memory, but who are nevertheless convinced of their own self-righteous expertise. It's hard not to cringe. But yet, they keep talking, blissfully unaware of their track record of uninterrupted failure.

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grist.org — To the iconic image of a polar bear struggling onto a crumbling ice floe, or that of a condor chick peering from its human-made nest, we must add another image: that of an American worker at his or her trade. Endangered species are a concern to all environmentalists, and the plight of the worker should be no different.

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