INTRODUCTION
Today NASA remembered the Space Shuttle Challenger, and President Obama responded.
Today the world witnessed the Egyptian people expressing their grievances, and President Obama responded.
Today this POTUS Fireside Chat blog was created and, with your assistance and participation, we will ask our President to respond.
This blog is intended to support and urge our President, Barak Obama, to have a fireside chat on unemployment. The information below was initially posted on a hash-tag site (#potusfiresidechat) and moved into this blog when it was created today.
* Whether you identify yourself with the Tea Party or as an Independent, a Republican, a Democrat, any other affiliation---or non at all, simply consider your status as an American as you think about supporting this effort.
* Whether you are young, middle-aged, a senior, employed or unemployed, or not looking for paid employment, America's high unemployment rate affects ALL of us.
If you support all or most of what is shared here, please contact your friends and colleagues through whatever social media you use, including e-mail, to spread the word and urge the President to have at least one fireside chat, and perhaps others as appropriate, to assist this nation as we strive to climb out of this unacceptable high unemployment situation. Perhaps the White House and the President will hear our collective voices and respond.
YOUR PARTICIPATION IS IMPORTANT
There are three main ways to participate with this effort for a POTUS Fireside Chat.
Feel free to join this blog, and you will be listed o the righthand side of the home page.
You may simply prefer to read the posts, and make an "anonymous" comment, and that's fine too!
1) Visit the Social Media/Press page (for useful links) and the Articles/Videos on Unemployment page (for useful information), which are still being created, and add your comments and suggestions for new links and information that will support this POTUS Fireside Chat. Please add your comments and information on the home page where comments are allowed.
2) Read the suggested POTUS Fireside Chat Agenda, and add your comments/suggestions on the home page where comments are allowed.
3) Most important, share this blog site and the message to anyone willing to consider joining this effort to urge the President to have a POTUS Fireside Chat about unemployment in America.
*** Please copy and use these two links when you send tweets ***
http://bit.ly/eMwQB5 #potusfiresidechat
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to Stevie Puckett and Pete Hubbard for their assistance with this effort and this blog.
PURPOSE of POTUS Fireside Chat
I believe that the President (POTUS) and Americans need to experience a "fireside chat" as soon as possible to allow the President to speak directly to us about the unemployment situation in America. This is not going to be solved quickly, and most economists and CEO's believe it will take several years for America's high unemployment to be significantly reduced.
Being unemployed and trying to raise a family, retain self-respect, and hold hope in one's heart, is very difficult these days. For many, the experience is about as close to experiencing "war" as they might ever imagine. They need their spirits lifted; they need to experience empathy; they need to hear that things are being done in Washington that somehow directly relate to their local communities and families; and they need to hear some specific ideas and action plans that will connect the dots towards better days. This is about the President connecting more intimately with Americans beyond his State of the Union (SOTU).
A 30-minute chat (repeated as appropriate with important updates over a several month period, perhaps every three months) until employment figures are once again strong, will raise efficacy beliefs, and inspire people to remain strong and innovative regarding dealing with seeking employment while our nation continues to grow this economy over the next few years.
President Obama can also urge small and large businesses to hire new employees and encourage all banks to start lending funds to foster business growth and facilitate home ownership in responsible and creative ways that many smaller community banks have traditionally done. Businesses and banks openly admit they have lots of money.
On the same day as the President's SOTU (State of the Union), CNNMONEY, Poppy Harlow, reported from Davos at the World Economic Forum, where leaders from government, business, and finance were meeting, that CEO's and their companies are sitting on over two trillion dollars but are reluctant to spend their money and hire new employees because of their uncertainty about regulations and wall street reforms.
CEO's believe, and many agree, there is a serious problem with our education system, especially as evidenced in the recent PISA Test, and addressing this is critical so graduates with both hard and soft skills can be competitive in our global market. The President and US Secretary of Education also agree and have important suggestions to change the situation. CEO's also believe that long term unemployment can't be fixed in the context of a long term deficit situation, and many agree that putting people back to work is necessary to immediately start shrinking the deficit.
The President can create an atmosphere of hope and initiate a dialogue about solutions and innovative ideas concerning many topics, including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) careers and "green revolution" careers, similar to what the Internet was in the 1980's. He can urge job seekers to review their skill sets to make certain they have the hard and soft skills to compete. He can encourage the unemployed to contact local One-Stop Career Centers for assistance with job-seeking activities and related career development topics. He can harness this nation's career development professionals (NCDA .org) to initiate important and creative activities that will assist people throughout America.
The President's leadership can inspire and help to stimulate increased confidence, and a healthier economic environment. He can set up a "Full Employment" hot-line/website at the White House to track ideas the public and private sectors will have regarding getting our economy growing more quickly. Such a website can also track and publicize businesses, banks, community agencies, and projects that are cooperating with innovative and effective ways to grow this economy.
A fireside chat will provide a personal connection between the President and Americans that most people desire but do not have, because most see him only during a 10-20 second sound bite on local or national news broadcasts. Because President Obama has the warmth, personality, and authenticity that is very well suited for this intimate sort of dialogue, A fireside chat will help Americans feel they are heard as he speaks to us, and this experience will help relieve some of the despair many people and families are experiencing during these challenging economic times.
I believe this fireside chat will increase individual self-efficacy beliefs, raise a national consciousness of hope, foster a stronger pride in America, including the possibility of encouraging entrepreneurship for some who might have never considered it, and awaken the spirit of each individual to take proactive steps to ensure their own career development and full employment. The American dream is still alive but in danger, and we must all come together to make important course corrections. Fareed Zakaria's article, How to Restore the American Dream, offers a valuable perspective.
This is a very difficult and complex and situation, requiring that all stakeholders come together and become involved to accomplish our nation's movement toward full employment. This includes all businesses, financial institutions, educators, the White House, Congress, others, and all of us, the American people. In Davos at the World Economic Conference, most reporters would agree with Richard Quest who shared in his CNN report, "there is value in people, who have the power to change things, coming together".
Through this coming together during a POTUS Fireside Chat, we ALL will harness the power to change things, because we are the daughters and sons of a most amazing group of people who started this great place we call America, our home, and the home many others seek to call their home.
As the President has indicated, this IS our Nation's Sputnik moment. His fireside chat can gather us all together, start a conversation, and initiate a flow of ideas and actions that will ripple forth a greatness that now exists within the hearts and minds of all Americans, waiting to be ignited.
We all yearn to be fulfilled, have a balanced life with the many roles we play as parents, workers, spouses, students, and even citizens who volunteer our time for others. Many Americans need jobs now, including the homeless and poor. Many others, presently employed, ideally, would love a career that perhaps they can be passionate about. Imagine having a job that makes you excited, living your "calling"! This is the stuff that grows ideas, increases productivity, and leads to a healthy economy. This is the stuff that inspires young people to dream about their great potential to make a difference. This is the stuff that grows a nation and moves it to its greater purpose, locally and globally.
Mr. President, please have this important fireside chat with Americans now. Your "Win The Future" vision can be a reality, and you can bring us together to accomplish this by speaking to us the way you did in this SOTU preview and by addressing some of the suggestions in this outline for the POTUS Fireside Chat.
** If you support all or most of what I have shared here, please contact your friends and colleagues to urge them to urge the President to have at least one fireside chat, and perhaps others as appropriate, to assist this nation as we strive to climb out of this unacceptable high unemployment situation.
Thank you. Ed Colozzi
