Further Reading

This morning’s release of the June 2011 Employment Situation report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a labor market in retreat. Virtually every single measure was weak: only 18,000 payroll jobs were added, nominal wages fell, unemployment was up in almost all age groups, more than 250,000 workers dropped out of the labor force altogether, and the public sector continued to bleed jobs. Furthermore, a downward revision to last month’s data means that this is the second month in a row with job growth at 25,000 or less. This is a remarkable, across-the-board backslide.

Politicians will face major voter backlash if they advocate cuts in Social Security benefits or choose deficit reduction over job creation, according to a poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner commissioned by the Campaign for America’s Future and Democracy Corps. This poll is based on interviews with 1,000 voters and is an in-depth look at how both conservative and progressive approaches toward federal spending resonate with likely voters.

With billions in profits on the line, banks have waged an intensive, multimillion-dollar political and lobbying campaign against changes in the federal student loan program that would end billions in subsidies for the banks. They have enlisted six Democratic senators to raise concerns about the reform effort with Senate leadership. This report documents the extensive ties between the six senators—Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.; Mark Warner, D-Va.; Tom Carper, D-Del.; Ben Nelson, D-Neb.; Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Jim Webb, D-Va.—and major players in the student loan industry.

We can’t go back to the economy of the past—a high-consumption, low-wage economy based on asset bubbles and foreign borrowing. Our response to the current crisis must plant the seeds for the economy of the future. America needs an industrial policy to shape that future. From workforce development to component manufacture, we need a strategic collaboration between the private sector and the government to reach our shared national goals. This report makes the case for that policy and explains what should be the key elements.