Issue Position: Jobs & The Economy

Issue Position

More than three years after the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, we are still in the midst of a jobs crisis. As I travel all across the Commonwealth, I meet people who have been looking for work for months or even years. I meet young people who played by the rules, worked hard in college, and are now drowning in debt and moving home with their parents because they can't find a job.

We have both a short-term jobs problem and a long-term jobs problem. Right now, we need to put people to work. Without a job and a paycheck, people can't spend money, and that hurts businesses and depresses the economy. There's also plenty of work to do - rebuilding our roads, bridges, and water systems, work as teachers' aides, work weatherizing our homes and offices. The Senate has considered jobs bills that would have supported thousands of jobs here in the Commonwealth, paid for entirely by a small increase in taxes on those making more than $1 million dollars per year. Every Republican voted against these jobs bills. That's just wrong. The people of Massachusetts need jobs and need them now.

In the longer term, we need to invest in our future. We need to work together to invest in the things that create the conditions for our people to prosper and our economy to grow. We need:

- A level playing field. Self-employed workers and small businesses, and the community banks and credit unions that fund them, are drowning in complicated regulations. Long, complex rules create loopholes that the big companies can take advantage of, but they leave little guys out in the cold. Instead of complex regulations that take an army of lawyers to work through, we need straightforward rules that any small business can deal with. One example comes from the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that I worked to create. Complicated mortgage forms push up costs for community banks and credit unions, but they don't help borrowers understand the terms of the deal. We created a short, streamlined form that will soon replace the old forms - a win for business and a win for consumers.

- Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. If we invest now in 21st century energy, over time we can lower the costs of production for all of our businesses. Right now, renewable energy is forced to compete with old, dirty energy sources like oil and coal that get billions in special breaks from Washington. Massachusetts can lead the world in using green technology and increasing energy efficiency, and the benefits will help make our products competitive around the world. Again, we could do this right here, right now - and create jobs here in Massachusetts.

- Education. Good public schools, good public universities, and good technical training can give us a workforce better than any in the world. Well-trained workers give us a powerful competitive advantage in world markets. Investments in our people pay the highest dividends.

- Roads, Water, and Other Infrastructure. We need to upgrade our aging roads, bridges, mass transit and rail, water and sewage lines, broadband internet - the basic pieces it takes to manufacture goods and to get them to market. China spends 9% of its GDP on infrastructure, and Europe spends about 5% of GDP, while the US is spending 2.4% and looking for cuts. This is no way to build a competitive future. We could be making improvements right now - creating good jobs and investing in our future.

- Research. Massachusetts is a world leader in the research that produces new products and new industries - and creates the demand for new technical jobs, in addition to supporting non-technical jobs throughout the economy. Increasing our support for this kind of research helps Massachusetts and helps the country.

- Workers' rights. We need to make it easier for workers who want to organize together to have that chance. If people want to organize for better wages, for better health care, and for better working conditions, they should have the right to do so.

- Free and Fair Trade. We need to strengthen trade laws-and we need to back up those laws with meaningful enforcement. We need to make sure that the countries we compete with also respect workers' rights and environmental rules so that US companies are playing on a level playing field. And we need to get tough on intellectual property theft and knockoffs.

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