How Can We Solve the Jobs Crisis?

At a time when millions of Americans are without work, the political debate has taken a bizarre turn. Instead of discussing how to make the public investments necessary to get Americans back to work, the political right has used the deficit "crisis" to push for cuts in workers' rights and pay, without explaining how the economy can recover if potential consumers are too poor to buy anything. The focus now is on draconian cuts in the social safety net that the unemployed and their families need more than ever and for even less regulation of the finance institutions that brought the economy to its knees.

There are millions of people with talents, skills, and the desire to work. There is a backlog of work that needs doing: people who need food, homes, and education; communities that need bike lanes, rapid transit, renewable and reliable sources of energy, and rebuilt bridges and water systems. There are empty factories and offices, natural resources, and skilled workers ready to pitch in.

But our economy no longer seems up to the task for putting these elements together.