This article raises a host of important questions, some obvious, some subtle. An obvious one, of course, is whether now is really the right moment for the government to go into austerity mode. (As I've written before, I believe in the short run the government should hit the gas with a FIRM commitment to hit the brakes in the medium run to bring down the national debt.) [NEW PARAGRAPH] A less obvious question which I believe is also important is just how do we workers position ourselves to retrain CONSTANTLY so that we can stay one step ahead of unemployment. I've been VERY lucky to have held several jobs which allowed me to pick up new useful skills just by doing my work. Even that, though, has not prevented me from experiencing a painful bout of unemployment in the past. What does fate hold in store for folks who don't have jobs with plentiful training opportunities?

Another indicator that Obama's policies are not working.

The Bush tax cuts have been in place for TEN years. Where are the jobs, oh Job creators.

Actually, most economists say that Obama's greatest achievement this first term was preventing another Great Depression, and that the current economic situation is nothing compared to what it would have been had he not stepped into office. People just don't realize what he prevented.

The Obama administration entered office with a tanking economy due to the financial crisis due to the housing bubble and its attendant effect on Wall Street and the overall economy. Obama says that he feels that his greatest achievement was preventing depression of catastrophic proportions. Most economists would agree.