A few things:
1. The jobless rate is creeping back up.
2. The Recovery Act's funding is running out.
3. Republicans are very unlikely to do anything at all to stimulate the economy, because they believe they can use the same "Blame Obama Fire Pelosi" strategy they used successfully in 2010.
So, what does that mean? Jump with me.
1. Federal job creation programs are not going to get through for at least until we elect a new Congress in 2012, and quite possibly almost certainly not even after that.
2. There will not be a New Deal 2.0 unless it's done at a local or state level.
3. We will need local and state-based solutions to stop unemployment, increase job creation, and improve wages.
4. Republicans know this, and that's why they're trying to stack the deck with ineffective, impotent, idiotic elected officials who just make ordinary Americans want to give up on government altogether.
5. That makes the Obama 2012 campaign's hyperlocal, grassroots strategy all the more essential to our success in the future.
So, where are the jobs to be created?
Health Reform and Healthcare IT (cost savings and efficiency, increased access, and increased focus on outcomes instead of procedures)
Information management (web content wins over the passive approach of watching TV or listening to the radio), which ties into
Broadband investment and competition
Green jobs and home energy efficiency
Sustainable agriculture and locally-grown food
Entertainment (quite possibly America's greatest export industry)