On Jobs, Tell It Like It Is

Soooo much smart, and outstanding journalism here. I will let you do the picking! 

AUGUST 30, 2011
ROBERT BOROSAGE
On Jobs, Tell It Like It IsNext week, the president has scheduled a big speech to propose new measures Big Ideas to Get America Working to create jobs and get the economy going. Reports are that the administration is still has not decided whether to put forth a politically bold plan or propose measures that might pass the Republican Congress. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka had it right when he told the president: "Do not look at what is possible — look at what is necessary." Republicans have already made this an easy choice.ISAIAH J. POOLE
Message To Obama: No Half-Measures On JobsToday 68 major progressive organizations have sent a letter to President Obama urging him to present a "big, bold" jobs program to the nation in his anticipated post-Labor Day address. Some of the organizations signing the letter, while praising the President for his return to an emphasis on jobs, are concerned that Obama’s plan may not be large enough to convince the nation that he is truly serious about the unemployment that has trapped millions of families – especially if he limits his proposals to what is acceptable to hostile Republicans in the Congress. They also express concern that the President’s intention to give equal weight to deficit reduction in his speech – along with the new “Super Committee’s” focus on deficits – will inevitably undermine whatever initial momentum the speech may create for job creation. A problem this serious needs a plan to match it in scope.DIGBY
Conservationist ConservatismIf there is a way to drill that guarantees there is no danger to these sensitive environments, I suppose a lot of people might be persuaded. The problem is, there isn't. But then I'm quite sure that Michele Bachman can dig up many "experts" who say there is. In fact, there are a bunch of them working for BP and the government right now, who guaranteed that there was no danger to the gulf if they were unable to cap a well for months on end. In fact, they said that couldn't ever happen. But it did. And look what's happening in the gulf today.DAVE JOHNSON
So You Want To Talk About Jobs?Before leaving on vacation President Obama said he is going to talk about creating jobs in September. The latest word is he will give this speech next week. Campaign for America's Future has put together some ideas for creating jobs. See our series Big Ideas To Get America Working.RICHARD ESKOW
Raising the Medicare Age: 8 Reasons It's the Worst Presidential "Bargain" Since 1854When it comes to the "Grand Bargain" they're pushing in Washington, the movie posters for The Fly said it best: Be afraid. Be very afraid. Other people are using our lives as bargaining chips. Whether it's the so-called Congressional "Super Committee" or the President's push for that grandé-sized deal, they want to look "grand" while we get stuck with the "bargain." The Capital's misplaced focus on austerity has led to plenty of bad ideas, but one of the worst is raising the Medicare retirement age to 67. It may be the most destructive deal to come out of Washington since the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. It's unfair, short-sighted, and will actually cost the economy more money than we're spending today. No Democratic President would accept an idea like that, right? Right? Be afraid. Be very afraid.SAM PIZZIGATI
Remembering the Moment Our CEOs Dug InForty years ago, U.S. corporate honchos saw their power ebbing away — to a ragtag mob of long-hairs and loony social reformers. So they did what corporate honchos always do. They asked for a memo.
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EUGENE ROBINSON
On Jobs, Time To Be Boldwashingtonpost.com — President Obama’s promised jobs plan needs to be unrealistic and unreasonable, at the very least. If he can crank it all the way up to unimaginable, that would be even better. This is a moment for the president to suppress his reflex for preemptive compromise. The unemployment crisis is so deep and self-perpetuating that only a big, surprising, over-the-top jobs initiative could have real impact. Such ambitious proposals would demonstrate that the president is willing to think big — that he is not willing to accept the Republican narrative of massive retrenchment and, by implication, inevitable decline. So Obama should go big, not small, with his jobs plan. It is hard to overstate how apprehensive most Americans are about the future. Boldness from the president may or may not get the nation’s mojo working again. Timidity surely won’t.JAMES KWAK
Ben Bernanke Doesn't Get the Messagebaselinescenario.com — I was on vacation last week when Ben Bernanke gave his widely anticipated speech. The media seemed to focus mainly on his criticisms of the political branches and economic policymaking, which were accurate enough. But in my opinion, Bernanke drew the wrong lessons from those observations. He was very clear that the problem today is unemployment, not inflation. He even said that we are in a situation where economic [stimulus] would improve the economy’s long-term performance. But what is Bernanke going to do about it? He declined to offer any new efforts to reduce unemployment. And mainly he relied on the political branches to solve the country’s problems. I don’t think it makes sense to criticize the political system for being dysfunctional and then rely on the political system to rescue the economy.KELI GOFF
What My Hurricane Irene Evacuation Taught Me About Povertyloop21.com — Nothing will force you to come to grips with what really matters to you and what doesn’t than being told you have to leave your home quickly and can only take so much — only what you truly can’t live without — and that you must accept that whatever you leave behind you may never see again. As I learned when I realized that my home fell within the dreaded New York City “Zone A," which meant I was under mandatory evacuation orders thanks to our friend Irene. Despite worrying as I write this that I may return home to find a pond of floating furniture and broken glass where my bed used to be, I’ve spent much of the last day or so counting my blessings, because I know that regardless of what happens, ultimately I will be okay. The reason? Because I am not one of the 43.6 million Americans living in poverty.CHRIS WEIGANT
Ron Paul Versus Governmenthuffingtonpost.com — To his supporters, one of Ron Paul's most endearing qualities is his forthrightness. Paul doesn't mince words, he tells you to your face exactly what he thinks. And, to give the man credit, he keeps to his positions even when it would be a lot easier for him to either fudge an answer or tone down his beliefs, the way most politicians do (at certain times). So it came as no surprise to anyone familiar with Congressman Paul's politics that he would appear this weekend on television — while Hurricane Irene was still churning up the East Coast — to reiterate his belief that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does more harm than good, and shouldn't be a function of the federal government in the first place. What is astonishing is that nobody seems to have noticed, at least not to the point of taking exception with Paul's stance on FEMA.GLENN GREENWALD
The Decade's Biggest Scamsalon.com — The Los Angeles Times examines the staggering sums of money expended on patently absurd domestic "homeland security" projects: $75 billion per year for things such as a Zodiac boat with side-scan sonar to respond to a potential attack on a lake in tiny Keith County, Nebraska, and hundreds of "9-ton BearCat armored vehicles, complete with turret" to guard against things like an attack on DreamWorks in Los Angeles. The LA Times, while skillfully highlighting these wasteful programs, depicts them as some sort of unintended inefficiencies. That is exactly what they are not. None of this is unintended or inefficient but is achieving exactly the purposes for which it is designed. That's true for two reasons.BEN JERVEY
State Department Buries Head in the (Tar) Sandsonearth.org — The U.S. State Department has released its final environmental assessment of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar sands crude from Canada, across the Great Plains (and much of the Midwest's drinking water) to oil refineries in Texas. How controversial is Keystone XL? Enough that hundreds of people have been arrested in front of the White House this week to protest it. Yet you wouldn't know that it's been called "a horror" or "a fifteen hundred mile fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the continent" from the State Department's environmental impact statement.DEEPAK CHOPRA
In 2012, the Issue Won't Just Be the Economyhuffingtonpost.com — Whereas the presidential prospects for the Republicans looked dim a few months ago, now we are told that the party is energized, thinks it can beat Obama, and only needs a stand-up candidate. With the recession nowhere near a robust turn-around, the president looks vulnerable to any serious challenge. So the conventional wisdom holds. I doubt it. The pundits have left leadership out of the equation, and specifically, they've ignored what a leader needs to do. Anger on the left is calling for Obama to pull a Gary Cooper in High Noon and run the bad guys out of town by standing up to them. But real leaders aren't sheriffs, and the right wing doesn't see itself as bad guys. From the beginning of his administration, facing very tough times ahead, Obama has seen, quite rightly, that a leader fulfills the needs of his followers.

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