Listen to the president, his staff, and his supporters and you might be ready to believe that the economy is on a rocket ride to prosperity. More jobs, lower gas prices, increased consumer spending. So now, at last, we can afford to do away with sequestration and other implements of austerity. Time to grow and spend and prosper.

Yet, there are still a lot of people who are not in the labor force.  Many who are working who haven’t seen any improvement in their economic fortunes for the last six years, and longer.  A troubling number of young people who have more debt than prospects.