Top Democratic contenders want to guarantee a job for every American

Sens. Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand have all suggested they would support plans for the federal government to guarantee a job for every American, rapidly moving what was once a fringe, progressive vision closer to the mainstream of Democratic politics.

Sanders’ plan, announced today, would give a $15-an-hour public works job, plus health benefits, to anyone who wants it, a vision reminiscent of parts of Franklin Roosevelt’s Depression-era New Deal…

A federal jobs guarantee program has failed to pick up steam until recently, even among the most progressive Democratic lawmakers. It would be sprawling, perhaps the size and scope of Medicare, and expensive — though Sanders’ office hasn’t calculated a cost, an estimate of another version of the plan, similar to the one embraced by Booker, put the price tag at $543 billion per year, not much less than the annual defense budget.