http://bit.ly/o2tPPO Politics Uk: And finally...

And lastly, to total the 'Politics UK' series, here's one from the archive... in my television days, I created many programmes involving Harold Wilson (1916-95) - statistician, economist, politician, author, and Uk Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970, and 1974-76. Here am I briefing him in the studio shortly just before heading 'live' on air in 1980.

Harold Wilson's principal 'trade-mark' was his pipe, which he usually smoked in public - and even in this studio shot, that's what he is holding. He also carried with him a Ronson fuel lighter, which produced one helluva noise - and if he didn't care for the issue, he'd ignite his lighter just inches from the microphone, and as he lit his pipe, the roar of the gasoline flame would all but drown out the interviewer. But absent from the studios and the photographers, he smoked (and preferred) cigars.
Regardless of whether it really is Labor Day, the new elections period, or a reflection of Americans' priorities, absolutely everyone has a jobs proposal: from Obama and Boehner to Huntsman and Romney, the checklist goes on.
Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman just rolled out his agenda for creating US work. Mitt Romney is anticipated to do the same in coming days. And President Obama's deliberations over a new work plan – what to include and when to roll it out – have been in the news all week.
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That's a great deal of target on employment coverage.Oh, and the Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO are amongst the groups on the policymaking sidelines that are carrying out the exact same factor.Why now?It is not like unemployment is a new difficulty that is just been found out. The US jobless rate has been above 8 percent for 2-1/two years.

But, although the well being of the economic system and state of the task market rank continually as Americans' top worries in polls, Washington's consideration to the question of how to strengthen task development has ebbed and flowed.Many aspects explain the current resurgence, and most of them are not far too challenging to guess:• The election campaign for 2012 is ramping up. Candidates such as the present occupant of the White Residence are sensation the strong incentive to emphasis on what matters to voters. The latter group includes tons of men and women without having employment, individuals who get worried they could drop their career, and individuals who know their personal finances would be helped by a more robust, work-growing financial system.• Labor Day is coming this weekend. It can be an occasion that does not usually issue into the nation's policy calculus. But with the weak financial system, the getaway and the stop of summer time vacations supply a calendar prompt for task ideas to surface area right all around now.• The economic system is crying for help. Sure, unemployment has been a persistent dilemma for several a long time, but the feeling of economic emergency arguably is larger now than at any time given that the spring of 2009, when the Federal Reserve and Treasury had been nonetheless wielding monetary-crisis fire extinquishers. Economists in recent weeks shifted toward a heightened worry about the probability of a new economic downturn, and a flight to basic safety in fiscal markets has buoyed gold and US Treasury bonds. And this week a broadly watched index of customer confidence hit a two-yr reduced.• Employment have cycled increased relative to other priorities. The movement of Washington imperatives given that the fiscal crisis has at times observed employment get eclipsed. In 2009 Mr. Obama pivoted for months towards health-care reform. This yr Republicans have stored the spotlight on their goal of curbing federal spending and deficits. Obtaining signed a Finances Management Act final month, based mostly on a bipartisan deficit-reduction deal, Obama is keen to put the emphasis again on jobs.If Obama can win Republican assist for some policies that assist the economic system, that could help lift sagging approval ratings and bolster his reelection odds. If Republicans oppose his proposals, Obama can at least make that a campaign talking level, casting Republicans as obstructionists or obsessed soley with spending cuts.For Republican rivals who desire to unseat Obama, unveiling policies aimed at employment gives them a likelihood to contrast on their own with what they argue has been a presidency of financial failures. Exactly where Obama has emphasized efforts at short-term stimulus (a $ 787 billion Recovery Act, payroll-tax breaks, and a lot more), Mr. Huntsman's strategy, for instance, focuses on a proposed everlasting streamlining of the tax code and lowering regulatory burdens.In fairness to Obama, he and other Democrats might embrace long term tax reforms as nicely.




Sebastien Tellier - La Ritournelle