100 Days Forward

390 Years Minus 100 Days ... And Counting

Terrance Heath — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:27:52 -0400

In many ways, the discussion of race in America, particularly as it relates to today's issues (the economy, health care, education), brings to mind the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Different people have a firm grasp on part of the truth in the middle of the room — be it the tail, the trunk, an ear, or a leg — but no one seems able to look at the thing itself. Three examples of a similar phenomenon reveal some of the difficulties in our national discussion on race.

During the press conference concerning his first 100 days in office, BET reporter Andre Showell asked Obama about African American unemployment.

As the entire nation tries to climb out of this deep recession, in communities of color, the circumstances are far worse, the black unemployment rate, as you know, is in the double digits. And in New York City, for example, the black unemployment rate for men is near 50 percent. My question to you tonight is: given this unique and desperate circumstance, what specific policies can you point to that will target these communities and what’s the timetable for us to see tangible results?

And in his answer, Obama reached out and firmly grabbed hold of one part of the elephant in the room.

When we put in place additional dollars for community health centers to ensure that people are still getting the help that they need, or we expand health insurance to millions more children through the Children’s Health Insurance Program, again, those probably disproportionately impact African-American and Latino families simply because they’re the ones who are most vulnerable. They have got higher rates of uninsured in their communities.

So my general approach is that if the economy is strong, that will lift all boats as long as it is also supported by, for example, strategies around college affordability and job training, tax cuts for working families as opposed to the wealthiest that level the playing field and ensure bottom-up economic growth.

And I’m confident that that will help the African-American community live out the American dream at the same time that it’s helping communities all across the country.”

His answer echoed and expanded upon his video-taped message to the State of Black America forum a month earlier. He's not entirely wrong, though it depends on what one means by a strong economy. As pointed out in the State of Black America report, the "rising tide" of the so-called recovery during the Bush years did not lift all boats.

Most yachts, yes. But all boats? Not by a long shot. But an economic program focused on improving the circumstances of all Americans is likely to improve the lives of many African-Americans, because we live with the same overall economic realities. (A fact missed during the campaign, when it seemed working class whites lived in a completely different economic universe, where rising prices, stagnant wages, job loss, foreclosure, etc., weren't happening to anyone else, or anyone else that mattered.)

There is hope, however that stimulus funds, though not specifically targeted to African-American communities, will help. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, in response to an inquiry by the editor of The St. Louis American, outlined how portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

General: The majority of the provisions in this recovery and reinvestment plan will assist African-Americans, who have been dramatically impacted during these tough times, in making it through this period with tax cuts for 95 percent of families, programs including extension of unemployment benefits, COBRA healthcare benefits, and food stamps and temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), while also preparing them for new opportunities with training for new jobs in existing and emerging industries.

Tax Cuts: This plan seeks to put money in the hands of consumers as quickly as possible through tax cuts for 95 percent of families. This is especially important for African- Americans who have experienced a reversal of fortune in the gains in wages and salary reached during the 1990s compared to others in the workforce. This immediate infusion of resources will not only allow them to purchase the items they need for their families, but also help rebuild our economy.

Job Creation: The unemployment rate for African-Americans was 12.1 percent and had risen to 12.6 percent when new job numbers were announced Feb. 6. This plan will create jobs with its investments in rebuilding roads and bridges and retrofitting government buildings while also working to help prepare job seekers for the 21st century economy with training for new “green jobs” and other emerging industries. The key is ensuring that African-Americans have access to information about all of these opportunities.

Education: Right now 95 percent of African-American children rely on public schools in America, yet a great number of these systems lack the funding they need to deliver the education that our children deserve and the facilities themselves are generally inadequate. This plan makes a historic investment in school modernization sufficient to renovate and modernize 10,000 schools, which also saves or creates jobs.

Healthcare: African-Americans suffer from higher percentages of chronic diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes while also suffering from a lack of access to quality care. Therefore during a time when many who rely on receiving healthcare through their employers are losing jobs, access to quality healthcare is an even greater concern. This plan offers a new tax credit to help families keep their health insurance through COBRA as well as a new option in Medicaid for low-income people who lack access to COBRA. Adjustments will also be made in funding formulas for state Medicaid programs so that Medicaid and SCHIP are not impacted by state budget shortfalls, protecting 20 million people whose eligibility might be at risk.

Public Services: Local governments are threatened with budget cuts that could impair services, including support from police and fire departments. No community that relies on these services to protect them should have to endure cuts in these areas. This plan invests $4 billion for state and local law enforcement funding.

In addition, the stimulus would provide help to historically black colleges and universities hit hard by the economic downturn, in the form of funding for infrastructure projects on HBCU campuses, technology improvements, and increased federal grants for students from low income families.

Yet, even as the stimulus funds begin to flow into communities across the country, the governors of several southern states are rejecting or attempting to reject stimulus funds funds.

Governors across the country are clamoring for a piece of the stimulus, eager to avoid laying off state employees, hoping to put their unemployed citizens back to work and trying to avoid widespread furloughs as budgets bleed red ink. They know that their citizens want to keep libraries open, teachers in the classroom, cops on the beat and firefighters ready to protect people and property.

Except in the South. Southern governors—Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Haley Barbour of Mississippi—have been pressing the case that the federal stimulus bill is a mistake; they argue the emerging Republican orthodoxy that tax cuts are the only effective way to pull the country out of an economic black hole.

With 11 percent unemployment, South Carolina trails only hard-hit Michigan. Nonetheless, Governor Sanford plans to reject funds that would extend unemployment insurance, not to mention federal fiscal stabilization monies slated for schools and public safety, unless he receives assurance that he may use it instead to pay down the state's debt. As ProPublica reports, the state is about to lay off teachers in large numbers as a consequence.

This hardhearted pattern is not new. It is a replay of the Southern rejection of Roosevelt's New Deal. During the bleak years of the Depression, politicians below the Mason-Dixon line refused to provide relief to the poor and rebelled against federal intrusion into social policy. When most state governments were hemorrhaging, local and state governments across the South actually ran surpluses. How? They fired government workers and slashed funds for education and healthcare.

Their reasons, stemming from political philosophies and/or fiscal priorities, are perhaps not specifically related to race (at least not publicly). But according to census data, these states are among those with the largest African American populations. Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi and Georgia (where the governor has considered rejecting some stimulus funds, though his state would gain 106,000 jobs in the bargain) are all among the states with an estimated African-American population of 1 million or more. They also make the lists of states with the highest percentage of African-Americans in the population, and where blacks are the largest minority group.

In terms of joblessness, among the states in question, South Carolina had the highest unemployment rate in November 2008 at 8.9%, followed by Georgia (7.5%), and Mississippi (7.2%). All three were among the 20 states with the highest unemployment rates, with only Louisiana (5.3%) failing to make the cut. As of March 2009, South Carolina still held the lead with an unemployment rate of 11.4%, followed by Mississippi (9.4%), Georgia (9.2%) and Louisiana (5.8%).

Census data on poverty, reunites all four states in the top twenty, with Mississippi in the number one position with the largest percentage of people living below the poverty level (20.5), followed by Louisiana (18.6) in the number two spot, South Carolina (15.0) at no. 12, and Georgia (14.3) at no. 13. Breaking state poverty data down by ethnicity, reveals higher poverty rates among blacks than among whites in all four states. In Mississippi, the rate of poverty among African-Americans is 43.6%, compared to 16.1 % for whites. In Louisiana it's 42.1%, compared with 13.1% for whites. In Georgia it's 31.3%, compared with 10.7% for whites. In South Carolina it's 30.6%, compare with 12.5% for whites.

Taken together, the data suggests not only that southern Republican governors' refusal of stimulus funds (not to mention Republicans' opposition to and efforts to kill the stimulus) would have a devastating impact on the growing ranks of the unemployed and those living in poverty, but that African-Americans are likely to be disproportionately represented among in both categories, and therefore disproportionately impacted.

And African-Americans in these states know it, and experience a lot of anxiety as a result.

Almost two of every three black Southerners are worried they could lose their jobs this year in what they see as a deteriorating economy, according to a Winthrop University/ETV poll.

Just under 62 percent of black Southerners polled Feb. 6-22 in South Carolina and 10 other Southern states said they were very or somewhat concerned about the possibility of losing their job in the next year.

That concern is far higher than in the U.S. population as a whole.

...South Carolina’s unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in December, the most recent month for which figures are available.

The state’s unemployment rate is the third-highest in the country.

In 2008, South Carolina’s monthly unemployment rate averaged 6.7 percent. The black unemployment rate was higher, averaging 10.1 percent.

In each of the 11 states polled, the black jobless rate was significantly higher than the unemployment rate of the state as a whole.

From their communities, they hear America's economy coughing and sneezing, and know that whatever is ailing the overall economy, they're likely to catch it too — only much worse.

Despite all of the above, when Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) grabbed a handful of elephant, people were somewhat shocked when he announced that the huge, unseen/unrecognized creature in the room might be an elephant.

The highest-ranking black congressman said Thursday that opposition to the federal stimulus package by southern GOP governors is "a slap in the face of African-Americans." U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said he was insulted when the governors of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and his home state, which have large black populations, said they might not accept some of the money from the $787 billion stimulus package.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday he would accept the money, and none of the others has rejected it outright. The Republican governors of Idaho and Alaska also said they had reservations about whether the money would come with too many strings attached, but Clyburn said he was particularly taken aback by southern governors who said they might decline it.

"These four governors represent states that are in the proverbial black belt," Clyburn said.

The response, predictably, was swift. A spokesperson for South Carolina's Republican governor accused Clyburn of "playing the race card," which was followed similar responses from the governors of Mississippi and Louisiana (the latter, Bobby Jindall, is the son of Indian immigrants), that their opposition to the stimulus was not racially motivated. Other conservatives pointed out that Idaho governor Butch Otter and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, both states with very small African-American populations, refuted Clyburn's "black belt" statement.

Finally, Clyburn himself found it necessary to walk back from his earlier statements, telling the media (through a spokesperson) that he didn't mean that the governors' decisions were racially motivated, but that their opposition to the stimulus would hurt African-Americans in their states.

But Clyburn wasn't wrong. African American residents in those southern states are likely to be among those most in need of the services and opportunities stimulus funds might provide. The governors' decisions to refuse stimulus funds is to abandon both poor and African-American residents of their states in the face of an economic downturn that hits them harder than the general population, in the same way that victims of Katrina were abandoned in the hurricane's aftermath.

The decisions of those southern governors, may not have been directly motivated by race, but it's doubtful that those governors are completely ignorant of the data on race, joblessness, and poverty in their states, or the impact of their decisions on poor and African-American residents in their states. (Though a now-former Republican governor of Texas managed to remain unaware of, and to even deny the reality of hunger statistics in his state.) And their decisions are in keeping with a history of southern state governments' policy-making in matters just like the economic downturn and the stimulus, that — due to the demographics of their states — would have negative impacts on many African-Americans residents.

Not just that, but their decisions extend and perpetuate conditions that have deep, but too often unacknowledged, roots in the history of race in their states and in this country. And that's what Clyburn came dangerously close to addressing too openly.

Someone has been lifting their blindfold. You see, in some versions of the parable above, the men are not truly blind, but blinded, or blindfolded by their teacher before encountering the elephant. They need only remove their blindfolds to see it clearly.

But when the elephant in the room is race, our blindfolds usually stay pretty firmly in place. They had better, as another public figure found out when he grabbed a handful of elephant himself, and attempted to lift not just his blindfold, but everyone else's too.

390 Years Minus 100 Days, Pt. 2

Terrance Heath — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:02:10 -0400

National Urban League head Mark Morial recently described the state of black America today as "the best of times and the worst of times." He's right.

The inauguration of the first African-American president was a moment worth celebrating as an undeniable example of the progress we've made regarding race. Many African-Americans from communities across the county traveled to D.C. to witness the moment. Even more of us gathered around radios, television screens and computer monitors.

It was a brief respite, savored for as long as the day lasted, and then we all returned home, or turned off the television and returned to reality. For reality the day before and the day after was, and remains, an indicator of how far we are from "the Dream" so often referenced on that day. For just as much as "everything changed" for African Americans on that day, at the same time nothing changed, as one article noted days before Obama's inauguration.

Nothing will change for black Americans on Tuesday, when the first black president takes office. They will wake up in the same homes, go to work at the same jobs, face the same obstacles.

Just a month after Barack Obama's inauguration, the State of the Dream 2009 report revealed that Black Americans are, in this economy, experiencing a "Silent Depression," based on the following findings:

Almost 12% of Blacks are unemployed; this is expected to increase to nearly 20% by 2010. Among young Black males aged 16-19, the unemployment rate is 32.8%, while their white counterparts are at 18.3%.
Overall, 24% of Blacks and 21% of Latinos are in poverty, versus 8% of whites.
The median household incomes of Blacks and Latinos are $38,269 and $40,000, respectively, while the median household income of whites is $61,280.
Nearly 30% of Blacks have zero or negative worth, versus 15% of whites.
On the median, for every dollar of white wealth, people of color have 15 cents. On average, people of color have 8 cents for every dollar of white wealth.

Click the logo for more views on President Obama's first 100 days and the road ahead.

As the Obama administration neared its 100-day mark, the National Urban League published its State of Black America report, examining black progress in education, home ownership, entrepreneurship, health, other areas, and including a message to the president. The report features an Equality Index, a statistical measurement of the status of blacks compared with whites, and while the change in the index — from71.5% in 2008 to 71.1% in 2009 — reflects a continuation of the status quo, it is a status quo defined by disparity, as Morial mentioned in his remarks on the report.

Obama's historic election is a "story of accomplishment, prosperity and increased political power," Morial writes in the forward to the annual study. Yet the "other story is very different," and statistics bear that out.

Morial said the state of black America "is the best of times and the worst of times."

Fewer than 50 percent of African-Americans graduate from high school, prisons are disproportionately populated by black men and there are wide educational achievement gaps along racial lines.

"Taken together, these facts underscore the reality that the election of the first black president does not mean we can now all close up shop and go home," Morial writes.

The report also points that, ironically, that even as an African-American holds the highest office in the country, African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed, and three times more likely to live in poverty.

There are other disparities and signs that, as far as we've come, we've a ways yet to go, such as:

heavier jobs loses for black men, and employment rate has dropped 7.8% since November 2007;
the rise in school segregation, as black and Hispanic students are more separate from white students than at any point since the civil rights moment;
tougher economic times for black colleges , where many students require some form of financial aid continue their education, and
health issues such as racial disparities in cancer treatment, and higher rate of heart disease in young African-African Americans, both related in part to a lack of health insurance, less access to quality health care, and socioeconomic factors.

It's long been said that when the U.S. economy catches a cold, Black America gets pneumonia, and in the current economic downturn the diagnosis is more severe than the common cold, and the symptoms are hitting African Americans just a bit harder. Job loss is taking a greater toll among African Americans, causing many to lose ground only recently gained.

Nationally, the picture for blacks is even worse. The overall unemployment rate for blacks in February climbed to 13.4%, while the rate for black men reached 16.3%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Last hired, first fired" is an old adage in the African American community. Factory hands and the unskilled have long been whipsawed by the economy's downturns. Now layoffs are beginning to reach a once fast-growing cohort of black professionals, managers and government workers, including many who overcame discrimination and limited economic and educational opportunities to win quality jobs.

While the recession has touched virtually every industry, it has battered traditional strongholds of black employment and is threatening such secure bastions as public education and government services.

Nationally, the troubled auto industry, which has been particularly welcoming to African Americans, has slashed tens of thousands of high-paying, unionized positions. Retail, services and manufacturing, which disproportionately hire blacks, have slumped.

The growing layoffs among higher-paid African Americans and steep foreclosure rates in their neighborhoods are dealing a crippling blow to the nation's black middle class, community leaders say.

And this is in an economy where the first generation to achieve middle class status is having trouble passing the benefits on to their children.

Nearly half of African Americans born to middle-income parents in the late 1960s plunged into poverty or near-poverty as adults, according to a new study — a perplexing finding that analysts say highlights the fragile nature of middle-class life for many African Americans.

Overall, family incomes have risen for both blacks and whites over the past three decades. But in a society where the privileges of class and income most often perpetuate themselves from generation to generation, black Americans have had more difficulty than whites in transmitting those benefits to their children.

This troubling picture of black economic evolution is contained in a package of three reports being released today by the Pew Charitable Trusts that test the vitality of the American dream. Using a nationally representative data source that for nearly four decades has tracked people who were children in 1968, researchers attempted to answer two questions: Do Americans generally advance beyond their parents in terms of income? How much is that affected by race and gender?

The crisis in the auto industry, and the plight of African American dealers in particular illustrates the circumstances many African Americans are facing in this economy, as their first foothold in the American Middle class crumbles away.

Since the 1970s, General Motors has led the way in providing opportunities for minorities to own car dealerships. The automaker pioneered special training programs and put money behind candidates for new dealerships.

Now, after almost four decades of slow but steady progress, minority dealers are increasingly worried that the latest wave of GM cuts could erode any gains. As part of its latest restructuring, GM yesterday said it planned to slash about 2,600, or 40 percent, of its 6,200 dealerships. GM currently has about 240 minority dealers.

...Even during good times, minority dealers struggled. Their problems have centered around insufficient capital and being placed in poor locations by the companies. The recession has brought on plummeting sales and tight credit markets, exacerbating the dealers' troubles.

Peggy Cockerham, the African American owner of Franklin Pontiac-Buick-GMC outside Nashville, said minorities are having increasing difficulty finding capital to keep their businesses afloat through rocky economic periods.

"Minority dealers don't have the second-generation and third-generation dollars they can pull from," Cockerham said. "After all this is done, the opportunities will remain with the same group of old-line wealthy dealers. Unless we are very careful — unless we get manufacture support — we will eliminate our minority dealers."

So, what's to be done? How much can be done? How much should be done? And by whom? How these questions are answered depends upon everything from political philosophy to historical perspective, both of which collide at the present point, where the gains made by African-Americans since landing on this continent just shy of 400 years ago — from "boy" to Mr. President, from "girl" to "First Lady," and from owned assets to finally owning assets — are at once reflected in White House, and being reversed in African-American homes, neighborhoods and communities.

It's at that collision of politics, history and present reality that we'll have to answer these questions and create solutions to all of the above (and more), if we are to make it the rest of the way to the America that many have believed and many of us still do believe can be.

But first, we have to have a more honest discussion about race in America. And, if we are only part of the way towards being the kind of country that Martin Luther King and so many others dreamed of — believed in with an intensity that propelled towards being the kind of country that would elect a Barack Obama to the presidency — we are still clearly only part of the way towards having that most necessary discussion.

We're are further along than we were, but we haven't yet gone far enough. The question is: Why?

390 Years Minus 100 Days, Pt. 1

Terrance Heath — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:04:57 -0400

Many people — including the president himself — have mentioned the absurdity of judging Obama's success at cleaning up messes that were decades in the making, based on his first 100 days in office. It's equally absurd to expect the first 100 days in the administration of our first African American president to change 390 years of racial history in this country. But it's at least an opportunity to assess where we really are, where we're headed, and how far we've yet to go.

Racism and the social construct of race itself are much older than the United States, with deep roots European colonialism. But its beginnings in this continent can be traced back to August of 1619, when the first Africans in America — 20 or so, stolen from a Spanish ship — were traded for food by a ship's captain, upon arrival at the Jamestown colony, in Virginia. Categorized as "indentured servants," but without vital dates indicating the end of their bondage, some were almost certainly slaves. By 1640, as least one African was listed as a slave, and slavery was underway.

The space between here and there is covered by enough history books to fill entire libraries. Suffice it to say that the election of a person such as Barack Obama reflects much that has changed for the better since then. The spectacle of our first African-American president, though not a descendant of slaves himself, being sworn in on the Lincoln bible — held by his wife, who is a descendant of slaves — was a "pinch me" moment for many of us. Reality, on that day, took on a dreamlike quality.

Click the logo for more views on President Obama's first 100 days and the road ahead.

As I watched the inauguration from home, sitting on the carpet in our family room with our two sons — both African-American — I looked up at my bookshelf. There, pictures of my father and grandfather seemed be to looking down at the scene. I sensed a division in time was born at that moment. On one side was the America they'd known all their lives. On the other, my family and I — along with the everyone else — were carried along by history into an America forever changed by what was unfolding before our eyes.

The past 100 days in this new America revealed how much has changed. There have been a surprising number of moments, days, and even weeks — many of them consecutive — during which Obama was not "the black president" but just the president, whose policies don't necessarily satisfy everyone, and irritate some, but whose missteps or debatable decisions are not attributed to on his race.

Not even three months have passed since President Obama's historic inauguration, and already it tends to slip the nation's collective mind that the first black president of the United States is, in fact, black. There may be hope for us after all.

In the cacophonous commentary about the president — he's a breath of fresh air, he's too liberal, he's too moderate, he's being far too generous to the banks, he's some kind of closet socialist, he's restoring the nation to greatness, he's leading us to perdition — it's striking how seldom race is mentioned as an issue or even an attribute. That's only natural, since race could hardly be more irrelevant to the multitude of urgent problems Obama wrestles with every day. Watching him in action, as he shoves out the chief executive of General Motors or exchanges small talk with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, we witness a daily demonstration of the irrelevance of race. And that, potentially, is nothing short of transformative.

There's evidence that the transformation continues. Despite criticism that he hasn't engaged enough in or attempted to lead the "national discussion on race," Barack Obama has altered the course of that discussion, and altering the public perception of race relations — with nearly two thirds of Americans, and twice as many blacks saying race relations are good, according to a recent poll — simply by being the president. First Lady Michelle Obama has made an impression as well. Pegged as a potential "loose cannon," race-baited, and stereotyped as an "angry black woman" during the campaign, Michelle Obama proved one of the campaign's best assets and most popular surrogates. She now enjoys a higher approval rating (79%) than her husband (65%).

I get the sense that the Obamas know more will be conveyed by the way in which they carry out their new roles, than any amount of discussion. As Obama's campaign could not be about race neither can his presidency. At some point, he decided he was running to be president, not "the black president." What's most significant is that, finally, a candidate such as Obama could run for president, and not just to be "the black president."

Obama's candidacy and electoral victory both raised the bar for African Americans, and placed it within reach. My six-year-old son was excited about Obama's campaign from the moment I told him what it would mean if Obama won. The best I could do was to say that it would be the first time "someone who looks like you or like Daddy"" would be president. Fortunately, he didn't ask why it would be first time or what took so long, sparing me the task of having to explain racism to my child. For now. But Obama has changed that conversation already, because I can say to my son "You could be the president, if you want be," and point to Obama as an example.

For the record, Parker has no plans on a political career right now. He doesn't like being in the spotlight and having all eyes on him. He says he doesn't want to be president, because "the president has to give too many speeches in front of people." But then he considers his 15-month-old little brother and says "Dylan could be the president!" And maybe he could, now. The ceiling on my sons' aspirations was raised on January 20th, as it was for many African-Americans.

Nothing will change for black Americans on Tuesday, when the first black president takes office. They will wake up in the same homes, go to work at the same jobs, face the same obstacles.

And yet, some Triangle residents say, everything will be different. Many say that Obama's success has prompted them to re-examine what is possible in their own lives, or given them a nudge to pursue ambitious goals.

Many also say they have hopes that their children and grandchildren — whose history books will forever be changed — will see their horizons differently. They will never look at a black candidate for president and think that the color of his skin will assure loss.

Much changed for the better on day one of Obama's "first 100 days" as president. It was a brief respite. For reality the day before and the day after was, and remains, an indicator of how far we are from "The Dream" so often referenced on that day.

In the journey from the America that was to the America that will be, 390 years minus 100 days, is a good start. But only just a start.

Beyond Crisis Management: Obama's Next 1,361 Days

OurFuture.org Staff — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:53:20 -0400

President Obama passed the first 100 day mark this week with generally positive, or at least patient, reviews from the media, which has focused largely on his decisive handling the country's economic crisis. By signing the $787 billion stimulus bill and adopting other initiatives to restore a floor to the falling housing market, Obama provided tangible relief to millions of Americans who have lost, or are at risk of losing their jobs or their homes. At a time when comparisons to the Great Depression have become all too frequent, there's a lot to be said for that sort of response.

But it's important to note that the Obama administration's economic policy to date has been one of economic crisis management and not one that will achieve the deep structural change needed to provide sustained support to the average working American, whose earning power and job security has been eroding for decades. To make good on his campaign mantra of change, Obama still needs to create the framework for a progressive economy that will help Americans enjoy the fruits of their labor and reverse a trend of economic cycles defined by asset accumulation bubbles that have rewarded powerful corporate interests at the expense of the average worker.

Click the logo for more views on President Obama's first 100 days and the road ahead.

A lot of lip service has been paid in recent months to that average worker, yet most American workers were losing ground long before the current recession, suffering reduced earnings power even during periods of rapid economic growth. In 2007, the tail end of a seven-year growth cycle, some 26.4 percent of all U.S. workers earned poverty-level wages. The real incomes of middle-class families were lower at the end of the latest business cycle than they were when it started in 2000. That marks the first time since the Census Bureau began tracking this data in the 1940s, that real earnings power declined over the course of a business cycle, and provides sobering evidence that prosperity is eluding most workers even during times of strong growth in productivity. The Obama Administration should be commended for moving swiftly and aggressively to end the current recession but now it needs to it also needs to take steps to ensure that all Americans will benefit from the recovery.

That will require a sweeping change in a 30-year-trend of deregulating markets, which has proven to help powerful corporate interests claim bigger slices of our national pie. There are also substantial and achievable policy changes that can be implemented with bold action from the President and Congress that will lead to a progressive economy. Contrary to our current economic system,which leaves many workers out of the growth equation, our approach is for growth that is sustainable and broadly shared. Our vision links workers' increased productivity with enhanced living standards while they are working as well as after they retire. It means strengthening the social safety net to keep people out of poverty when jobs are not available to all. To achieve this vision, we need and a vibrant economy characterized by innovation and growth.

Labor Policy

The architecture of a progressive economy is built on the foundation of policy that empowers workers to equitably share in the income gains they help produce. Laws supporting workers who choose to organize is an essential tool in this effort.

Unions provide workers with a number of clear advantages, including a premium in wages and benefits that are especially significant for minority workers. But they also benefit management. Job security for workers translates into reduced turnover, more predictable costs, and less employee volatility. An organized work force can leads to greater productivity as well as higher wages, a classic "win-win" scenario.

Jobs

In addition to seeking to regain the millions of jobs lost in during this recession, we must also use the tools and resources of government to promote job creation. The goal of stimulus act is to create 3.5 million jobs, but that is less than half of what is needed just to return to December 2007 levels of unemployment -- and those levels were already too high. The Obama administration should commit to a full employment strategy, and this will require substantial investment in a public jobs program. Lowering interest rates, the typical policy tool for creating jobs, has been rendered ineffective as they currently close to zero.

And yet, at a time that so many people who have jobs are living in poverty, creating more jobs is not in itself enough to truly build a progressive economy. Those jobs must allow workers to earn adequate wages. EPI proposes that as a minimum, wages be at least 50 percent of the hourly wage for private, non-supervisory workers--and provide benefits including access to health care. Industries built around energy efficiency and renewable energy provide a unique opportunity to add an engine to the economy that will sustain growth that can be broadly shared.

Retirement Security

Americans are coming to terms with the insecurity they face in retirement with a system that subjects them to so much market risk. The Obama administration should seek to capture revenue lost from 401(k) tax breaks and fund a public retirement system that, combined with equal contributions from employees and employers, goes a long way to ensuring Americans have adequate income in retirement.

Justice

A big component of any progressive agenda is justice. Government's responsibility is to make sure it distributes resources and opportunities fairly. Trillions have been loaned or leveraged to help failing financial institutions and soften the fall for their investors, yet ordinary folks have seen no comparable government intervention despite their staggering losses.

Next Steps

The Obama budget, passed by Congress to the tune about $3.5 billion, plans for investments in education, health care and energy, which are all necessary first stems in creating a progressive economic agenda. But much more work remains to achieve comprehensive immigration reform, trade policy that promotes domestic manufacturing and supports workers, and a public investment program that endures beyond the stimulus.

As part of a progressive economic agenda, Obama must ensure adequate revenues for necessary expansion in federal spending. In the near-term, that means spending what is required to soften the brunt of this long and deep recession. Longer term, it will require new tax policies such as imposing a financial transactions tax, a social security tax on higher incomes and maintaining the estate tax at least at current levels.

Reviewing the President's first 100 days can be a useful way of gauging his early accomplishments. But the passing grades he has earned so far in managing the crisis he inherited should not take away focus from his longer-term agenda. At a time of short news cycles and even shorter attention spans, it can be easy to forget that the economic contraction we are now experiencing was thirty years in the making. President Obama is only guaranteed only 1,361 more days. We've all got to get to work.

Christian Dorsey is acting communications director at the Economic Policy Institute.

The Myth of 100 Days

OurFuture.org Staff — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:18:45 -0400

Obama at 100: The Slog Has Only Begun

OurFuture.org Staff — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:18:45 -0400

Obama's Green Achievements at 100 Days

OurFuture.org Staff — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:18:45 -0400

100 Days of Competence Versus Crazy

OurFuture.org Staff — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:06:53 -0400

GRITtv: A Hard Look at Obama's First 100 Days

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:44:33 -0400

On GritTV today, Laura Flanders led a discussion of President Obama's presidency so far with editor Hendrik Hertzberg, novelist Walter Mosley, feminist Faye Wattleton, and Miles Rappaport of Demos. The discussion is a frank assessment of how the administration has handled elements of the economic crisis and whether he has done enough to challenge the status quo in Washington.

Obama's Foreign Policy at 100

OurFuture.org Staff — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:22:55 -0400