The Agenda for 2010: Jobs, Jobs and More Jobs (Joe Rothstein's Commentary)

November 6, 2009

By Joe Rothstein
Editor, EINNEWS.com

What should the Obama agenda be for 2010? It's all in the message of the Virginia and New Jersey exit polls.

Eighty-five percent of Virginia's voters said they were worried about the economy. Of those, 53% said they were very worried. In New Jersey, comparable numbers were 89% and 56%.

These are astounding numbers, but they shouldn't be surprising.

Officially, 10.2% of the workforce is out of a job. Count those who are working part time, or underemployed, or have been out of work so long they've quit looking and the percentage doubles. That adds up to about 1 of every 5 Americans. For "people of color" the unofficial unemployment number exceeds 30%. An estimated 3 to 5 million young Americans (under 24) have never had a full time job.

I live in Washington, D.C., one of the cities least impacted by the downturn. Yet even here I'm astonished by the many closed storefronts I see---including a lot of old timers I always presumed to be permanent fixtures in the local landscape.

The Obama administration is right when it says it would all be worse without the stimulus money the Democrats in Congress appropriated last March. That money saved a million jobs, mostly those that would have been axed by state and local governments.

The problem----the huge problem---is that even with the stimulus 7+ million jobs have been lost since the recession began in 2007. With the growing U.S. population, at least 100,000 new jobs are needed each month just to keep up. That means the economy will have to create 20 million new jobs during the next 10 years just to get back to pre-recession levels---2 million jobs a year on average.

Everything currently on the table to help the economy recovery: easier loans to small business, extended unemployment benefits, more help for people struggling to keep up with their home mortgages----all of that is small change compared with what's really needed to get the economy back on track.

In my last column (Obama Promised Infrastructure Reform; Now's Time to Get Serious About it) I talked about the accelerated road and bridge program the U.S. House is ready to approve---but which has run into White House resistance. The New Jersey and Virginia election results and exit poll numbers should be reason enough for the White House to become the driver, not the anchor for this program.

The rebuilding of America---our roads, bridges, rail system, mass transit, water and sewer systems, waste disposal systems, waterways, dams and airports----should be the centerpiece of an ambitious new program President Obama lays before Congress in 2010.

That would be a good start. But so much more is needed.

The Economic Policy Institute has developed an innovative job creation tax credit plan that it estimates would create 2.8 million jobs in 2010 and another 2.3 million in 2011. EPI estimates the cost of the credit at $28 billion, much of which would be recouped through less spending on safety net programs. Even if these forecasts are off by a lot, there's enough reason to launch this credit early in 2010.

Another no-brainer should be a commitment that teachers, police, firemen, health workers and others on state and local payrolls won't lose their jobs because tax revenues collapsed. This year's stimulus bill allocated $17 billion to help keep them working. It wasn't enough. Congress should provide whatever it takes in federal support to keep these essential services going.

About a billion dollars each year goes to Americorps, a public-private partnership that fills in a lot of gaps in the social fabric: tutoring disadvantaged youth, fighting illiteracy, teaching computer skills, managing after school programs, cleaning parks and streams and the like. How about a major expansion of this program to scoop up people of all ages and let them perform needed services? And while we're at it, don't forget the Peace Corps.

Imagine a 2010 State of the Union address where President Obama puts on a full court press to wipe out unemployment----with infrastructure building, job tax credits, support for state and local governments, and new initiatives for Americorps and the Peace Corps. How much better would that be for the country, and the administration's standing with the American people, than the advice so far to be patient until sometime in the future.

The higher stock prices go on Wall Street, the more talk there is of million dollar bonuses and eight digit salaries, the more people see of huge bank profits---while jobs continue to disappear and the financial road gets steeper for everyone else----the more the Obama administration and the Democrats look like they are the "them" as in "them" against "us."

That's not where they want to be. That's not where they should be. That's not where all those passionate workers and voters who elected President Obama expect him to be. And that's certainly not where those who vote in the 2010 midterm elections will be.

President Obama has a chance to change all of that with some bold strokes. It could be his last chance.

(Joe Rothstein can be contacted at joe@einnews.com)