Calls for Stimulus Yield to Deficit Concerns

Guest blog post by Matt Erskine, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic DevelopmentOver the next two days, I will join several colleagues for a rural swing in North Carolina and Louisiana to promote jobs and innovation. Along with Deputy Under Secretary for USDA Rural Development Doug O’Brien, Appalachian Regional Commission Federal Co-Chair Earl F. Gohl, and Delta Regional Authority Federal Co-Chairman Christopher Masingill, I will attend events in rural America and tour two projects that were among the 13 winners of this year’s Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge. The Rural Jobs Accelerator—designed by the Taskforce for the Advancement of Regional Innovation Clusters and the White House Rural Council—is a joint effort of 13 federal agencies, working together to help accelerate economic and job growth across rural regions. It is a great example of collaboration across federal agencies to pool resources and identify new, innovative ways to create an economy built to last. Since taking office three and one-half years ago, President Obama has been deeply committed to strengthening rural economies all across America—helping to create jobs, support business growth, and expand opportunity for rural Americans. The administration has advanced new policies and initiatives and made significant investments in rural communities. The Rural Jobs Accelerator builds on those goals, seeking to foster job creation and business innovation in these communities.

Is anyone - and I mean anyone - surprised by this news: President Barack Obama's jobs plan has raised concerns in top trading partner Canada because of measures that would restrict foreign companies from participating in infrastructure projects....

In December, Max Richtman attended a meeting at the White House with other progressive groups during the negotiations to avert the fiscal cliff. As the president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Richtman only wanted to tell President Barack Obama one thing: No cuts in either of the two programs.

Obama should pick an Energy secretary, who can explain the benefits offered by natural gas development to a skeptical public Four years ago, President Barack Obama said his energy and environmental advisers would work to develop a “new hybrid economy” based on wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources.

Back on December 23, we presented one of the past year's most disturbing reports, the BCG's "Ending the Era of Ponzi Finance" which explained, quite succinctly, why the economy of the developed world, which is nothing but one big ponzi scheme, is approaching its inevitable end, in which existing principles will no longer be applicable nor available to kick the can down the road

Unprecedented initiative leverages resources of 16 federal agencies to create jobs and economic prosperity