Investment in Quality Jobs, Sustainable Growth Is Key to Economic Recovery

CWA President Larry Cohen and leaders from labor, public policy, and other progressive groups are calling on the Obama Administration and Congress to focus on jobs and programs that support economic growth, not one-dimensional deficit reduction proposals that will actually hurt job creation.

Cohen and other members of the Citizen’s Commission on Jobs, Deficits and America’s Economic Future warned that many of the austerity measures recommended by deficit-reduction panels would choke economic recovery by restricting the government’s ability to create jobs. The commission was organized by the Campaign for America’s Future.

“We cannot slash and burn our way out of the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression. The only way out is to grow our way out of it,” the commission said. The report especially cited as misguided proposals to scale back Social Security and give a tax cut to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.

Three principles underscore the commission’s economic recovery plan:

• Growing the economy by investing in vital state and local services and infrastructure.
• Targeting the true causes of deficits, like health care costs, wasteful military spending and farm subsidies, not Social Security and programs that aren’t broken.
• Making long-term investments in programs aimed at promoting sustainable growth.

“Creating secure, sustainable jobs is the key to our nation’s economic recovery and future job growth,” said Cohen, noting that the United States lags behind the rest of the world in terms of 21^st century high speed broadband.

Other members of the 23-member Citizen’s Commission include SEIU, USAction, National Organization for Women and Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Read the report at http://www.ourfuture.org/report/citizenscommission.