Charley James: Chairman Bernanke may well be boxed in by the Fed’s much-to-cautious ruling board of bank presidents but there’s no reason why he cannot use his very public platform to jawbone the governors into action.
A New Conversation about Public Spending Needed
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Tanya Acker: People who can’t read, however, are very easy to divide and even easier to command. No demagoguery can save us from that.
Government “Debt” Isn’t What You Think
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Worrying about government debt is like worrying about the monster under the bed. The issue isn’t debt, it’s power.
Greece Economy 2012: Why U.S. Politicians Are Quiet About Europe’s Meltdown
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Shamus Cooke: Working people in the U.S. need to learn to speak Greek, and adopt an increasingly popular slogan that rejects austerity measures: Tax the Rich!
War Nation: Military Keynesianism’s Iron Grip on Washington
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John R. Moffett: Our world-spanning military, paid for by American taxpayers, serves the interests of defense contractors and the government officials that funnel the money to them but it does not serve the American taxpayer.
Why Jobs Still Matter More Than Budget Deficits
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Robert Reich: Government should extend unemployment benefits, and not cut spending until the nation’s rate of unemployment is down to 5 percent. Then, and only then, should we move toward budget austerity.
Holiday Pall: Joblessness Crisis Intensifies
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Carl Bloice: The average period of unemployment now exceeds 26 weeks, well above the previous peak in July 1983 of just 21.2 weeks. This is critical because the longer that people of any age are out of work, the less likely they are to find another job.
The Jobs Report: Don’t Break Out the Champagne
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Robert Reich: When people ask me what Congress is likely to do I always say the same thing: The odds are in favor of nothing.
History and Double-Dip Recessions
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Iwan Morgan: If America does manage to avoid a new recession and achieve stronger growth, it will be a testimony to the underlying strength of its economy. At present its political leadership in both the executive and legislative branches does not appear to have the same reserves.
How to Create More Jobs By Lowering Wages: Texas and America
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Robert Reich: Perry and Romney can duke it out over who created the most jobs, but governors have as much influence over job growth in their states as roosters do over sunrises.
War: Fiscal Stimulus of Last Resort
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Ellen Brown: Diverting a portion of our massive war spending to peaceful use could add jobs, improve living standards, and add infrastructure, while reducing the national debt and balancing the government’s budget by increasing the tax base and government revenues.
Fed Policy Needs a U-Turn
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Brent Budowsky: America needs new thinking for monetary and fiscal policy. Fed policy has failed. Government policy is inadequate. Ron Paul has advanced an important debate.
Stock Tip: Be Worried. Workers are Consumers.
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Robert Reich: Every CEO of every company that continues to squeeze payrolls (Verizon, are you listening? Ford?) needs to understand they’re shooting themselves in the feet. Where do they expect demand for their products and services to come from?
Inflation — Fighting the Last War
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Steven Conn: For thirty years inflation has not been a serious threat to the American economy, yet politicians and pundits continually fret about it. The never-ending worry about inflation is like fighting the last war rather than the current one. What’s needed today is a war on unemployment and wage stagnation, not inflation.
Why Obama Can’t Pivot to Jobs
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Robert Reich: The nation and Oba,ma remain hostage to the ideology of right-wing Republicans who won’t let the government spend more money. Yet if the government can’t spend more – at least this year and next, until the pump is primed and the economy is growing again – we won’t see job growth. And without job growth, the economy will remain anemic.
7 Myths That Drive the Debt Ceiling Debate
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Adam Eran: The metaphors that frame the current Federal budget and debt ceiling debates are completely inaccurate, and if the media coverage is any indication, the public has swallowed them hook, line and sinker, too.
Vicious Cycles: Why Washington Is About to Make the Jobs Crisis Worse
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Robert Reich: The only way out of the vicious economic cycle is for government to adopt an expansionary fiscal policy — spending more in the short term in order to make up for the shortfall in consumer demand.
Don’t Let Doom Merchants Obscure True European Picture
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Steven Hill: Fearful headlines hide success stories such as Poland, which show Europe is taking the right steps to economic recovery.
Jobs Crisis Is About People’s Lives, Not the Next Election
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Carl Bloice: If one out of ten people seeking work can’t find any, it follows that the average person has a friend, relative or neighbor amongst them. All she or he has to do is look out the window or answer the phone to be scared.
Lost Decade?
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John Peeler: One of the most striking features of our current global economic morass is that many Third World economies are weathering the crisis rather well, while the supposed leaders of the world economy (the United States, the European Union, the Japanese) are in deep trouble that looks to get deeper.
We Need to Rethink the Morality of the Economy
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James Livingston: Why can’t the liberal Left answer the Right when budget deficits are the issue? Why are Democrats, Obama included, so eager to reduce spending on so-called entitlements?
Obama Needs Demand-Side Solutions
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Robert Reich: Businesses are reluctant to spend more and create more jobs because there aren’t enough consumers out there able and willing to buy what businesses have to sell.
Why Washington Isn’t Doing Squat About Jobs and Wages
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Robert Reich: The silence is deafening. While the rest of the nation is heading back toward a double dip, Washington continues to obsess about future budget deficits. Why?
How to Get Washington’s Attention
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Robert Reich: The leaders of the Street and big business may now have to wake up to a reality they’ve tried to avoid — that the central economic problem of our time isn’t the long-term budget deficit but the immediate deficit in aggregate demand.
Jobs: An Angry Dissent
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Brent Budowsky: Never before in American history has unemployment been so high, yet neither the president nor Congress pushes for a major jobs bill.
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