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I'd love to jump into this discussion. If you've got specific questions about what I stand for, fire away. Generally, though, my campaign focuses on the issues

I'd love to jump into this discussion. If you've got specific questions about what I stand for, fire away. Generally, though, my campaign focuses on the issues of job creation and education, because those are the most pressing issues I see here where I grew up in South Jersey. Every family has a story about someone who lost a job, spent too long unemployed, maybe lost healthcare in the process, and had to settle for a less stable job without benefits, less pay, or an hourly schedule. And everyone knows someone saddled with $30k in student loan debt settling for a minimum wage job after a degree, because the entry level jobs are gone or filled by those with more experience. My district as a whole has not weathered the recession as well as many employed in our profession have. That's my top focus. I'm happy to engage a debate on how we do that or hear your thoughts. I am not diminishing the work developers do in any way. I think the article's mention of "downplaying" just serves to put that in context of the issues I'm focusing on. Being a developer, having had the chance to work with an incredible team and contribute to growing a new company, give me important experience and a novel perspective compared to those who usually run for office at this level. I've tried to capture that here: https://medium.com/p/ce7c0dc63aaa https://medium.com/p/ce7c0dc63aaa As for something unique, I have actually worked on government IT systems, as well as private sector ones. Go watch a Congressional hearing on a tech issue. Tell me you think more of us shouldn't be sitting in that room setting the record straight. Congress should represent all people, and include all professions like engineers and developers, not to mention people under 40. Also, we're just a few weeks into the campaign, but next week I'll be posting a more detailed policy platform on http://coleforcongress.com http://coleforcongress.com, so I hope you'll sign up and stay engaged. To the cynics, as I said in the comments of the article: > Yes, the influence of money in elections is corrupting, but I refuse to give up on the idea of representative democracy. I'm willing to fight for it, even if the deck seems stacked. I see no shame in giving it my all. > And it's a simple formula for how we win: less money from more people vs more money from less people. If people like you and me who recognize the system is broken put our necks on the line, work together, and contribute what we can, we will win. There are more of us who want to fix the system than those who benefit from it. > So why not join me? http://coleforcongress.com http://coleforcongress.com

dllthomas 13y ago
So, I'm sure you're aware there's not a magic "jobs" lever when you get to Capitol Hill that's just set in the wrong position. What kinds of proposals do you support that you hope might help solve the problem (or lessen the pain of it)?
- davecolenj 13y ago
  If only! Here's where I'm at now: - Raise the national minimum wage and index it to the cost of living increases - Extend unemployment benefits to workers who have lost their jobs and haven't been able to get back into the workforce - Provide tax incentives to businesses that hire long-term unemployed workers and prohibit discriminating against the long-term unemployed when hiring - Establish a work-sharing program that allows workers to collect unemployment assistance when employers choose to reduce hours instead of layoffs - Provide incentives to employers for hiring unemployed veterans - Support workers' rights to organize through the Employee Free Choice Act as well as trade laws that protect labor - End tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas - Fund school construction and modernization projects including urgent repairs, energy-efficient upgrades, and wiring for high-speed internet access - Establish a National Infrastructure Bank to invest in infrastructure repair and expansion projects that will create millions of jobs nationally and open new economic opportunities What do you think will work?
  - dllthomas 13y ago
    "Raise the national minimum wage and index it to the cost of living increases" If a minimum wage is appropriate, this seems right. I tend to think a minimum wage is appropriate in the current situation. It does risk eliminating jobs at the low end. "Extend unemployment benefits to workers who have lost their jobs and haven't been able to get back into the workforce" Probably also a good idea - I don't think "they need a kick in the pants" is a very good model of those people. "Provide tax incentives to businesses that hire long-term unemployed workers and prohibit discriminating against the long-term unemployed when hiring" I like the first half of that - and maybe go further and outright pay a portion of wages as companies retrain these people. We have to make it desirable to hire them. An actual cost-benefit analysis should be done, though... The second half worries me a bit. Trying to get companies to act outside of their interests is always messy (which certianly isn't to say it should never be done, mind...), and it's inviting litigation. I don't really think more work for lawyers is the kind of jobs program we want. "Establish a work-sharing program that allows workers to collect unemployment assistance when employers choose to reduce hours instead of layoffs" Interesting, and probably a good move making hours slightly closer to fungible for both parties. "Provide incentives to employers for hiring unemployed veterans" Probably not a bad thing (and probably easy to sell) but I'm curious what those incentives would look like. "Support workers' rights to organize through the Employee Free Choice Act as well as trade laws that protect labor" Interesting. We've definitely shifted away from organized labor as a country, for good and ill. I personally prefer employee ownership (startups and co-ops) to unions, where that makes sense... and would like to see unions made less necessary (like most concentrations of power) - but that isn't to say this couldn't be a good move. "End tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas" Also curious what that looks like. "Establish a National Infrastructure Bank to invest in infrastructure repair and expansion projects that will create millions of jobs nationally and open new economic opportunities" An interesting thought. Certainly, it makes sense to build infrastructure while money is cheap. "What do you think will work?" One thought I had on the international stage, which isn't really relevant to the House but I figure I'll mention it anyway, is that while I think the WTO's push to reduce trade barriers generally makes sense, we might want to globally (possibly in the context of the WTO) come up with a framework for permitting certain types/sizes/scopes of barriers based on the differences between countries in things like worker protections, environmental regulation, taxation, &c (including enforcement of same), with a goal of checking somewhat the downward pressure. Not anywhere near a trivial task, of course. I'm also a big fan of the idea of a low (~7k or so) basic income, but I'm not sure whether pushing that makes sense.

dllthomas 13y ago

So, I'm sure you're aware there's not a magic "jobs" lever when you get to Capitol Hill that's just set in the wrong position. What kinds of proposals do you support that you hope might help solve the problem (or lessen the pain of it)?

davecolenj 13y ago
If only! Here's where I'm at now: - Raise the national minimum wage and index it to the cost of living increases - Extend unemployment benefits to workers who have lost their jobs and haven't been able to get back into the workforce - Provide tax incentives to businesses that hire long-term unemployed workers and prohibit discriminating against the long-term unemployed when hiring - Establish a work-sharing program that allows workers to collect unemployment assistance when employers choose to reduce hours instead of layoffs - Provide incentives to employers for hiring unemployed veterans - Support workers' rights to organize through the Employee Free Choice Act as well as trade laws that protect labor - End tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas - Fund school construction and modernization projects including urgent repairs, energy-efficient upgrades, and wiring for high-speed internet access - Establish a National Infrastructure Bank to invest in infrastructure repair and expansion projects that will create millions of jobs nationally and open new economic opportunities What do you think will work?
- dllthomas 13y ago
  "Raise the national minimum wage and index it to the cost of living increases" If a minimum wage is appropriate, this seems right. I tend to think a minimum wage is appropriate in the current situation. It does risk eliminating jobs at the low end. "Extend unemployment benefits to workers who have lost their jobs and haven't been able to get back into the workforce" Probably also a good idea - I don't think "they need a kick in the pants" is a very good model of those people. "Provide tax incentives to businesses that hire long-term unemployed workers and prohibit discriminating against the long-term unemployed when hiring" I like the first half of that - and maybe go further and outright pay a portion of wages as companies retrain these people. We have to make it desirable to hire them. An actual cost-benefit analysis should be done, though... The second half worries me a bit. Trying to get companies to act outside of their interests is always messy (which certianly isn't to say it should never be done, mind...), and it's inviting litigation. I don't really think more work for lawyers is the kind of jobs program we want. "Establish a work-sharing program that allows workers to collect unemployment assistance when employers choose to reduce hours instead of layoffs" Interesting, and probably a good move making hours slightly closer to fungible for both parties. "Provide incentives to employers for hiring unemployed veterans" Probably not a bad thing (and probably easy to sell) but I'm curious what those incentives would look like. "Support workers' rights to organize through the Employee Free Choice Act as well as trade laws that protect labor" Interesting. We've definitely shifted away from organized labor as a country, for good and ill. I personally prefer employee ownership (startups and co-ops) to unions, where that makes sense... and would like to see unions made less necessary (like most concentrations of power) - but that isn't to say this couldn't be a good move. "End tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas" Also curious what that looks like. "Establish a National Infrastructure Bank to invest in infrastructure repair and expansion projects that will create millions of jobs nationally and open new economic opportunities" An interesting thought. Certainly, it makes sense to build infrastructure while money is cheap. "What do you think will work?" One thought I had on the international stage, which isn't really relevant to the House but I figure I'll mention it anyway, is that while I think the WTO's push to reduce trade barriers generally makes sense, we might want to globally (possibly in the context of the WTO) come up with a framework for permitting certain types/sizes/scopes of barriers based on the differences between countries in things like worker protections, environmental regulation, taxation, &c (including enforcement of same), with a goal of checking somewhat the downward pressure. Not anywhere near a trivial task, of course. I'm also a big fan of the idea of a low (~7k or so) basic income, but I'm not sure whether pushing that makes sense.