21st Century’s New Deal

It’s clear that the economy was the #1 issue for voters this year. It’s becoming painfully clear that the part of this issue that’s most important as President-elect Obama prepares to take office is job creation. Staggering layoffs have increased unemployment claims to a 14-year high. And the layoffs are far from over.

As discussed in an article in the Washington Post, Obama’s economic message was focused on reforming health care, energy, education, the tax code, and labor laws — not specifically on job creation. A lot happened during the last couple of week’s of the presidential campaign and a lot more has happened since the election. In a nutshell, what has happened is that job loss has continued, increased, and most people say if people aren’t put back to work quickly, nothing Obama promised matters too much.

Accordingly, a lot of people believe that Obama will begin by rolling out his version of FDR’s New Deal. There will be a push for new jobs: building bridges, public transit lines and port facilities — an infrastructure program that shadows the New Deal’s Works Progress.

What’s interesting is that there are some who believe the need for jobs doesn’t contradict the primary isssues Obama campaigned on. So, there will be more “green” jobs: building wind turbines and solar panels or retrofitting buildings to make them more efficient. Universal health care will be sold not only as a measure to lower health care costs but as a way to make employers more willing to hire, as well as creating new health care jobs.

Bill Samuels, the AFL-CIO’s legislative director, believes that there will be considerable popular support for another New Deal of sorts. Before you say that’s what you’d expect a union man to say, it may well be that much of Corporate America and the business community in general will wholeheartedly agree with Samuels’ sentiment: “The public is watching unemployment spike and has to be worried enough to try something bold. What’s exciting about Obama is that he’s willing to come in and take bold steps. The public is ready for that — and they’d be disappointed if he were not.”

Time will tell. But time is growing shorter by the day for employers and employees.