Naked Capitalism has the article Robert Reich: In the New Economy, Workers Take on All the Risk.

The article highlights the less obvious ramifications of the changes in the employment environment.

For all these reasons, the upsurge in uncertain work makes the old economic measures – unemployment and income – look far better than Americans actually feel.

It also renders irrelevant many labor protections such as the minimum wage, worker safety, family and medical leave, and overtime – because there’s no clear “employer.”

And for the same reason eliminates employer-financed insurance – Social Security, workers compensation, unemployment benefits, and employer-provided health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

In the article, Reich identifies several government programs that will have to be adjusted in major ways in response to the changes in how people are employed. We need political leaders who are aware of the need for this major shift and what it says about the government programs that they enact and administer. It is not enough to talk about what we did in the past. We need new ideas.

We should judge people running for President in the upcoming election in 2016 by the boldness of their vision. Anything less will just not be enough to address our future needs.