While he tries to coax the economy into producing more jobs with one hand, Obama has set in motion an inexorable process that will lead to more economic contraction.

If the state of American financial reform is unfinished and courting the next crisis, the view from Europe is even worse. Europe is bifurcating into chronic creditors and chronic debtors.

Can organized labor lead a movement to restore broad economic security? It's hard to imagine who else will.