Laura Tyson on economic priorities

Over at Economix (see here), Laura Tyson has a good piece on what our economic priorities ought to be.  She says:

The economic and human costs associated with the jobs crisis are staggering. An extended period of unemployment means lower earnings: workers who return after long-term unemployment earn 20 percent less over the next 15 to 20 years than a worker who was continuously employed.

The primary cause of the jobs crisis is a lack of demand, the same problem that bedeviled the economy in the 1930s. Consumers, long the primary engine of economic growth in the United States, are in the midst of an unprecedented retrenchment.

So what are our elected officials doing?  They are taking seriously this issue of reduced demand and carefully considering ways to counteract.  NO!  They are trying to score political points with misinformation about the deficit.  Good grief, Charlie Brown.