Jobs Program?
Robert Reich visits Washington D.C. and asks about a jobs program:
... I made the rounds of Washington Democrats, repeatedly asking why no bold jobs plan is emerging. Here’s a sample of their responses:
“Dead in the water. We’ll be lucky if we get votes to raise the debt ceiling without major spending cuts this year and next.”
“Are you kidding? It’s all budget deficit, budget deficit, budget deficit. Nobody’s thinking about anything else.”
“Republicans beat us up so bad over the first stimulus there’s no way we’re gonna try for a second.”
“We got [Republicans] cornered on Medicare. Now they want to change the subject to jobs. Forget it.”
“No need. We’ll see job growth in the second half of the year.”
“The President doesn’t want to put anything on the table he can’t get through Congress.”
And so it went. Not a shred of urgency. ...
Posted by Mark Thoma on Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 01:26 AM in Economics, Fiscal Policy, Politics, Unemployment |
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