There is still time for a substantial shift in federal spending toward high-employment (but in all likelihood low-value) projects to reduce unemployment before the end of 2010 – if Congress acts quickly. And there is still time for a substantial temporary and incremental new-hire tax credit aimed at getting businesses to boost employment before the end of 2010.

"Two years ago, we set upon a strategy to make Tennessee a significant player in the solar industry," said Governor Bredesen. "Since then, we've seen more than two billion dollars in capital investment, more than a thousand jobs created, and, with the development of the Solar Farm and existing solar companies located in West Tennessee, we have truly created a statewide solar footprint. The announcement today by Confluence Solar is further proof that Tennessee is recognized as a leader in renewable energy and that a new economic engine is emerging in our state."

Technology jobs will not only see gains in the coming the coming year, but they are among the occupations that will realize the fastest growth over the next decade.  The number of  network systems and data communications analysts is expected to increase by 53 percent by 2018, while the number of computer software engineers expands by 34 percent, according to projections recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Now there is absolutely no way under the sun that these green energy jobs could ever match the productivity of power stations. And no matter how many tantrums greenies throw nothing will change that fact.

Midway through the first month of 2010, there are enough headwinds facing the economy to keep our expectations in check. That includes the dire trend in the tally of the long-term unemployed (out of work for 27 weeks or more), which hit the highest rate since 1948, when data on this series was launched. [...] “This is not your typical cyclical downturn where hiring is just postponed until business improves,” Richard DeKaser of Woodley Park Research tells the Christian Science Monitor. “This is really more about structural unemployment.”

... [T]he trends in orders, output, sales and employment have been far less robust than has been the case for big businesses, which have greater access to credit and exposure to the global consumer. On this basis, employment showed a massive 465,000 decline in December and down exactly three million in the second half of the year.

In light of all the tax-and-regulatory threats, it’s too expensive to hire right now. So get rid of all the so-called stimulus plans and social policies to transform the government’s relation to the private economy. Remove these obstacles.