There are more than seven million fewer Americans with jobs today than when this recession began. That's a staggering figure and one that reflects not only the depths of the hole from which we must ascend, but also a continuing human tragedy. And it speaks to an urgent need to accelerate job growth in the short term while laying a new foundation for lasting economic growth.

President Obama spoke today about the need for more government action to spur job creation, but, our guests today note, the problems with unemployment and underemployment in this country aren't just results of this current recession, and they will not be fixed simply by returning to where we were. Maya Wiley of the Center for Social Inclusion, Tim Casey of Legal Momentum and author of the reportBattered by the Storm, Heather Boushey of the Center for American Progress, and Max Fraad Wolff of The New School for Social Research talk about the solutions, short and long-term, for creating jobs, spreading them more equitably through the population, and fixing the structural problems with the economy that led to this recession. As to how we got those structural problems in the first place, Thomas Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas? and The Wrecking Crew, has spent a lot of time thinking about conservatives. He points out that we've survived several terms of anti-government Republican dominance. Outsourcing, deregulating, ignoring infrastructure, and expecting the private sector to fill in the blanks led to the hole we're in. With a Democrat in charge in Washington, is there a way to fix the wreckage left behind? Frank sat down with Laura to discuss. We also bring you the second part of yesterday's video from  The Real News Network on the ongoing crisis in Honduras. After claiming victory in the heavily-boycotted election, what will the new government do to consolidate its power? Antonia Juhasz, author of The Tyranny of Oil and The Bu$h Agenda, stopped by the studio as well to discuss the “petroleum-filled smokescreen” keeping Obama from pushing for real action in Copenhagen, and to call for citizens to help get rid of it. Heading into Copenhagen, Kelly Rigg of Greenpeace explains how cooperation and action accomplished an impossible goal in Antarctica--and how it can happen again.