With House Republican Leader Eric Cantor calling the jobs bill dead, the drought in American jobs continues to keep our country and economy parched.

Last month, Gallup reported that underemployment is stuck around 18 percent, essentially where it was a year ago. And 46 percent of Americans believe the economy is worse than it was a year ago.

The economy was debated and dissected at Aspen Ideas. Following are short excerpts of what some of the speakers had to say about jobs and unemployment. Some offer specific solutions, while others talk about philosophical shifts.

Tom Friedman talks about the American Dream and how it is essential to the stability of our world, not just our country. He goes on to tell a story about China and its productivity and potential lessons we can learn from them.

David Axelrod discusses the need for improving infrastructure, which will create jobs, and how Obama's view differs from the Republicans'. How will this argument play out in the 2012 election?

Alan Simpson went into detail about how our current tax laws (specifically cuts and incentives) are unsustainable. (Watch full session here.)

In the session, the US and Its Manufacturing Future, Andrew McAfee and Eric Speigel discuss the downside of productivity and how it contributes to the "jobless recovery."

In The Future of Work, John Seely Brown and McAfee discuss the upsides of our gains in productivity.

From the archives, here's a 2010 session titled Where are the Jobs in America's Future. The panel includes Thomas Donohue, Jeffrey Pfeffer, Hilda Solis, Paul Solman, and Richard Trumka. Have me made any progress?