South By North Strategies, Ltd.

At CBS Money Watch, economist Mark Thoma worries that policymakers have forgotten the unemployed:

I’d be less worried if it looked like a meaningful job creation package was about to emerge from Congress, but the proposals under discussion don’t do nearly enough, and what little that has been proposed isn’t happening as fast as needed. The legislation should be in place place already, not still under discussion. And while it’s good that health care reform is coming back onto the front burner, that means that a job creation bill is unlikely to be the main priority for Congress in the near future. Unless Congress can learn to walk and chew gum at the same time, which it’s unlikely to do, a side effect of the renewed attention to health care reform may be less job creation and higher unemployment.