Jobs Summit Invitations
This party is BYOITSMP (Bring Your Own Ideas To Save My Presidency)
The invitations went out just before Thanksgiving, but by the end of the holiday weekend the White House has confirmed that President Obama’s jobs summit on Thursday will include about 130 business leaders, union chiefs, academics, mayors and representatives of nonprofit groups.
The business leaders represent companies large and small, and both traditional and innovative. They include CEOs such as Eric E. Schmidt of Google, and Robert A. Iger of the Walt Disney Co., as well as David Ickert, an executive of Air Tractor Inc. of Olney, Texas, a small manufacturer of planes for agriculture and forest fire-firefighting, an administration official said on Sunday.
Among the mayors will be Ed Pawlowski of Allentown, Pa., where Mr. Obama will visit the following day in his kick-off “Main Street Tour” of cities struggling to save and create jobs in what so far seems to be shaping up as a jobless economic recovery.
Attendees also will include several liberal economists who have been critical of some administration policies, including Nobel laureates Joseph E. Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, the Times columnist, and Jeffrey Sachs of Colubmia. The labor leaders include representatives of unions for service industry employees, steel workers and teachers.
Gotta say, looks like a good cross section of leaders and agendas. Hopefully they can strike up some innovative ideas to help grow business and, more importantly, create jobs.
The participants will break into six groups - on innovative and green jobs, small business incentives, long-range infrastructure plans, encouraging export-oriented businesses, government and private sector partnerships and training for the jobs of the future, according to the NY Times - and so maybe things will actually be focused and productive.
I hope the groups setting will allow the unions, academics and liberal economists to have the same voice and impact as those representing big business. No doubt that big business has had the megaphone for the bulk of this administration (and the previous four) thus far, which we can safely say is why they’re having this summit in the first place. I’d certainly say it’s high time to listen to some other ideas for helping people get back on their feet. Ideas from, you know, those people themselves.
The good news is, this summit is a product of political pressure. My only fear is that if it fails, the pressure will come from the right, in all its masked neanderthal corporate populism. Stakes are high.
