Comments on: Improving Job Quality Through High-Road Contracting

By: David Kaib

David Kaib — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:14:45 +0000

Glad to see people are finally paying more attention to this question. Here are more ideas about what the president can do right now. Any thoughts, Jared?

American Prospect’s Special Report: Jobs Well Done – What the Obama Administration can do for American Workers Right Now: http://prospect.org/cs/archive/view_report?reportId=102

Mike Elk, “Obama Has Power to Stop Unionbusting With a Stroke of His Pen” – http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/7287/proposed_executive_order_shows_obama_has_power_to_stop_union_busting_w/

Dean Baker on Right to Rent: http://www.cepr.net/index.php/component/option,com_issues/Itemid,22/issue,35/lang,en/task,view_issue/

Center for American Progress’ report, The Power of the President: Recommendations to Advance Progressive Change
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/11/executive_orders.html

Dean Baker, The End of Loser Liberalism, Chapter 7, Fulcrums of Power II: The Treasury and the Dollar http://deanbaker.net/images/stories/documents/End-of-Loser-Liberalism.pdf

By: Rick McGahey

Rick McGahey — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:19:26 +0000

Janice Nittoli, then at the Rockefeller Foundation, now heading the Century Foundation, put this idea forward in a New York Times op-ed this summer. Here’s the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/opinion/02nittoli.html

By: urban legend

urban legend — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:19:46 +0000

Anything that boosts middle class purchasing power is good for everyone else. (Conversely, anything that diminishes middle class purchasing power — think reducing Social Security benefits, state pension benefits, etc. — is profoundly stupid. That’s why the notion of “shared sacrifice” is absurd, unless it’s construed to mean, “It’s time the wealthy make their fair share of the sacrifice.” (I didn’t pick that up from the President.) 90-95% of Americans have been sacrificing for 30 years. Right now, on average, if they had been receiving their fair share of productivity growth, their income would be $10,000 higher. More than small change for over 100 million taxpayers.

What’s been devastated has been the discretionary income that drives the economy.