Democracy Corps/CAF Poll On Jobs And The Economy

The new Congress was elected by promising things to voters, but now in office they are doing different things. It is as if they said what they needed to say to get votes, but had a plan to do something else all along. more »

A national industrial/economic policy is a plan by a government to promote the growth of key strategic industries or sectors in a country. Examples: China has been developing their manufacturing sector and is now the largest exporter. India spent decades building up the components of an information technology industry and has reaped the rewards. more »

The latest Democracy Corps/Campaign For America's Future poll on jobs and the economy has a clear message for the President and his party: Stand up for jobs, and protect Social Security and Medicare. The results couldn't be clearer. Yet it's still rumored that the President's State of the Union will emphasize deficit reduction over job creation, and the White House has refused to assure worried Democrats that the President won't also propose cuts to Social Security.

How many polls will it take to convince the White House that this is political suicide? How many expert analyses will it take to persuade them that its premature to make deficits the priority when the country desperately needs jobs and economic growth?

The latest poll is based on interviews with 1,480 people who voted in 2008, and was conducted January 9 - 12. It strongly reinforces the findings of earlier polls: Voters overwhelmingly want their government to emphasize job creation and economic growth over deficit reduction, and they are opposed to cutting Social Security or Medicare. The bottom line? The President's in danger of moving in a direction that will lose everybody he needs. Literally every demographic group he and his party needs will be alienated by a right-leaning set of policies. more »

Mr. President, you moved a nation today with your words in Tucson. "Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame," you said, "let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together."

You also said this: "It's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds."

Two weeks from now the State of the Union address will be an opportunity to bring Americans together - Americans who have been bitterly divided by party loyalty and ideology, but who stand united in their support for the social programs that have improved our lives for the past seventy-five years. On that night, will they know that somebody has heard them? Will they feel that someone is talking to them? Will they feel they have a voice inside the Capitol rotunda, in a city where they sometimes seem to have been forgotten? more »

There isn't much cause for gloating in today's unemployment report, with the number of jobs created during December—103,000—being lower than most analysts expected. But, more critically, we're not even treading water on creating a sufficient number of "breadwinning jobs" needed to grow and sustain America's middle class. more »

Mike Konczal at Rortybomb makes an excellent observation in his post responding to Jonathan Bernsteins' query to liberals about what disappointed/surprised them the most about the Obama administration (which I answered more »

Polls consistently find that the vast majority of Americans oppose cutting Social Security, whether they're progressives or Tea Partiers or anything in between. And most real experts agree it's not necessary. We're supposed to have a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." So why does something most of us oppose look more likely with every passing day?

Republicans have been threatening to shut down the government unless the program is slashed, and the Administration's been sending out benefit reduction trial balloons ever since the Deficit Commission came to its ignominious end. Since Tea Partiers and progressives both oppose cutting Social Security, why shouldn't they work together to make sure it doesn't happen? Left and right joined forces to audit the Federal Reserve. Why can't they unite to protect America's retirement security? That's why I've written this letter. more »

Republicans are saying they are going to either gut the government or shut it down. They mean it. It's gut or shut, and they are not going to allow a third choice. This is not just posturing and they are not likely to engage in bipartisan bargaining. Their rhetoric has painted them into a corner with their base. We should take them at their word and prepare. more »

As Paul Krugman aptly summarizes, “recovery” is today's fool’s gold. Good news about the economy—higher holiday sales, lower unemployment filings—feeds a truly dangerous Beltway conventional wisdom: “We’re in recovery; now it is time to tighten our belts, cut spending, and reduce government deficits.” more »