Jason Furman

Labor union officials and some liberal activists were seething Tuesday over Barack Obama's choice of centrist economist Jason Furman as the top economic advisor for the campaign. The critics say Furman, who was appointed to the post Monday, has overstated the potential benefits of globalization, Social Security private accounts and the low prices offered by Wal-Mart -- considered a corporate pariah by the labor movement.

President Obama preached a message of hope to factory workers on Wednesday as he began a sales pitch for his plan to boost U.S. manufacturing through changes to the tax code. Speaking to employees and owners of a conveyor belt plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Obama talked about the rising cost of doing business in China and predicted that more American companies will see the wisdom of setting up shop at home. "Wages are going up," Obama said of the Chinese economy, and it "starts becoming cost-prohibitive" to operate there.

President Obama preached a message of hope to factory workers on Wednesday as he began a sales pitch for his plan to boost U.S. manufacturing through changes to the tax code. Speaking to employees and owners of a conveyor belt plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Obama talked about the rising cost of doing business in China and predicted that more American companies will see the wisdom of setting up shop at home. "Wages are going up," Obama said of the Chinese economy, and it "starts becoming cost-prohibitive" to operate there.

As he sets out on a three-day bus tour of the Midwest focused on the economy, President Obama is coming under growing pressure from fellow Democrats to put forward a more aggressive strategy to create jobs than the one he has been touting for months. Obama has offered a jobs package crafted to win Republican support in a divided Congress. But he faces two distinct problems: Republicans say they won't vote for several pieces of the plan. And Democrats contend the program, even if enacted in full, would fall short of what's needed to boost job growth or revive Obama's political prospects.

As he sets out on a three-day bus tour of the Midwest focused on the economy, President Obama is coming under growing pressure from fellow Democrats to put forward a more aggressive strategy to create jobs than the one he has been touting for months. Obama has offered a jobs package crafted to win Republican support in a divided Congress. But he faces two distinct problems: Republicans say they won't vote for several pieces of the plan. And Democrats contend the program, even if enacted in full, would fall short of what's needed to boost job growth or revive Obama's political prospects.

With Tax Day a week away, President Obama is turning up the volume on his call for “tax fairness,” a central part of his campaign message and a weapon Democrats hope to use against Republicans in Congress. In a speech in Florida on Tuesday, Obama is slated to restate his argument that the rich should pay at least 30% of their income in taxes, a principle dubbed the “Buffett rule” after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has said that he pays a lower percentage in income taxes than his secretary.

Detailing his call for a "new American patriotism," Democratic presidential candidate Wesley K. Clark on Tuesday proposed to establish a "Civilian Reserves" that would mobilize millions of Americans for missions at home and abroad. "Today I want to offer a new call to service," Clark told an audience of college students in New York City, according to prepared remarks distributed by his campaign.

Microsoft Corp. would keep its Windows monopoly and the power to bully customers and competitors under the Bush administration's proposal to settle the government's 31/2-year-old antitrust case, opponents said. Industry groups that supported breaking up the world's biggest software company said its settlement with the Justice Department doesn't contain enough restrictions to restore competition to the market for personal computer operating software.

President Obama is expected to name a replacement this week for top economic advisor Lawrence H. Summers, and the top candidates have had ties to the financial industry, which the president has lambasted for its role in precipitating the Great Recession. Summers' last day as director of the National Economic Council was Friday. His deputy, Jason Furman, has taken over the job as the White House finishes a search that began when Summers announced his resignation in September. Candidates to replace Summers include Gene Sperling, a former economic advisor to President Clinton who has done consulting work for investment banker Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Roger Altman, chairman of investment banking firm Evercore Partners and a deputy Treasury secretary under Clinton.

The latest wrinkle in President Bush's plan to shore up Social Security's finances follows a familiar pattern: Bush and his opponents can't agree on the most basic facts. This time, the two sides are at loggerheads over whether the president, in his effort to guarantee the system's solvency, would cut retirees' benefits. Bush never uttered those words in his Saturday radio address, which focused on Social Security.

Labor union officials and some liberal activists were seething Tuesday over Barack Obama's choice of centrist economist Jason Furman as the top economic advisor for the campaign. The critics say Furman, who was appointed to the post Monday, has overstated the potential benefits of globalization, Social Security private accounts and the low prices offered by Wal-Mart -- considered a corporate pariah by the labor movement.

In an era when employers are retreating from the guaranteed benefits that once defined the American social safety net, should government accelerate or resist the trend? That's a critical question surrounding not only President Bush's proposal to restructure Social Security but also Republican plans to rethink the way the nation provides healthcare to the elderly (through Medicare) and the poor (through Medicaid).

Republican leaders in Congress on Monday backed away from a possible compromise with the Obama administration over expiring George W. Bush-era tax cuts, committing both sides to an election-year battle with significant stakes for the economy. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the party's conservative activists distanced themselves from comments by House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R- Ohio) on Sunday that he may agree to let tax relief for wealthy Americans expire if that was politically necessary to save middle-class tax cuts.