Despite jobs being by far the top issue with voters, the Republicans in Congress, in their rush for immediate austerity, have committed themselves to making the unemployment crisis worse. Among the many cuts in the House Republican’s continuing resolution are cuts to “excess spending in Labor Department job training programs” and eliminating funds for AmeriCorps. [...]

In retrospect, a significant policy and political mistake made by Democrats back in early 2009 was to ever start adopting only temporary extensions of unemployment. The result has been that, over the past two years, the need for a series of temporary extensions of unemployment. Eventually, these temporary extension become political footballs that suck up [...]

It’s been clear for some time that President Obama made the political calculation that he does not want any of the Bush tax cuts to expire.  He doesn’t want to be the guy in 2012 running for President on having “raised taxes during a time of recession.” But the President also doesn’t want the political [...]

Nancy Pelosi dug her heels in last night and told her caucus that the President wants no extension of the Bush tax cuts beyond the $250,000 threshold. She’s also signaled that she’ll put it up for a vote on the suspension calendar, which means Republicans can’t make amendments or the motion to recommit. But it also means she’ll have to get 290 votes in order to pass it, and there’s no way she can bring enough Republicans on board to do that.

So it’s a purely symbolic vote that will fail. But she’s asking members to take it anyway, because she says that’s what the President wants.

The most disturbing moment of Jon Stewart’s interview with President Obama was when Obama claimed the soon-to-exit director of the National Economic Council, Larry Summers, had done a “Heckuva Job.” It was a statement both profoundly wrong and politically stupid. On so many levels, it was an awful thing to say just days before the [...]

According to the new CBS News/New York Times poll, 38 percent of Americans think President Obama has a clear plan for creating jobs while 53 percent think he does not. Well, I, for one, desperately wish that those 38 percent would share with the rest of the country because as far as I can see, [...]

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has recently called on President Obama to fire Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers. Now I don’t know how Boehner’s mother raised him, but where I come from, that behavior would be considered downright rude. Where is the gratitude? I think John [...]

While collective deficit hysteria fully grips Washington, what the American people really care about is jobs and the economy. According to a new CBS News poll, 38 percent of Americans think the most important problem facing our country is the economy and jobs. Second is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at seven percent. Health [...]

One year out from the midterm election the Republican strategy for 2010 is starting to come into focus, and it looks like it might just work. The Republicans seem to have decided that they have no hope flipping the new “Obama voters.” The young people, African Americans, and Hispanics that don’t historically have not voted [...]

Wow, when unemployment jumps from 5 to 5.5% in a month, you might think Bushenomics/McCainenomics isn’t working.

Don’t worry though, it will all trickle down by 2083.

In any case, combine this with ridiculous gas prices, job cuts (Continental is the latest to shed jobs), healthcare concerns, and well, McCain may want to look beyond Phil Gramm for economic advice.