If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
A majority of both parties supported the JOBS Act and leaders in both parties claim credit for the accomplishment. You would think they would want to implement the Act as soon as possible, but except for a few members in either chamber, the Congress is oblivious too.
The cultural hegemony of the moneyed classes enables them to use the mass media and elite institutions as a transmission belt for these economic ideas.
The Long Depression isn't hitting us all at once. It's taking pieces out of us over the course of years. That's allowed people to define previously unacceptable economic conditions as "The New Normal."
Why are liberals falling down the rabbit hole? Oh woe is me, bemoan liberals far and wide across this country. The president is not doing this or that...
What can we learn from Europe's misery? For our political leaders the answer seems to be: nothing. In fact, Washington seems determined to follow in Europe's footsteps.
If our economic model is working for a decreasing share of the population over time, democratic pressures will ultimately demand not just changes to the system of measurement, but to the system itself.
Even if you're struggling to overcome a major financial crisis at the moment, remember that your transition to recovery can eventually lead to a more sustainable, financially secure future.
It is very harmful to the nation that MSNBC has led people to believe that there is only one, presumably hopelessly weird, economist in the world who opposes austerity as a response to the Great Recession.
As a healthy counter to the creepy insular jingoism of CPAC, I offer here fresh view of the world from the liberal perspective. Here is my liberal manifesto.
Take, for example, the Fed's willingness to purchase toxic real estate assets -- using your money to acquire securities which are now shunned by the market. Or take the Bank of England's efforts to shove easy money at banks making corporate loans. What happened to good old-fashioned faith in markets?
We all know that times are hard. But we also know that even before the Great Recession, the number of people who had no residence was high. So why do so many people in the United States have no homes? And what can we do about it?
If ever there was a time to come together and remind ourselves that Peace Through (Economic) Strength is a virtue still embraced, it is now.
How many economists does it take -- to make the Congress and the president and the media pay attention? Paul Krugman has been warning of the dangers of austerity for a long time. But the media treats him as an outlier.
The private sector became a net borrower against the rest of the world. Sound familiar? These weren't the only issues underlying the Greek crisis, of course. To tick a few more linked fundamentals off the list: A problematic effective exchange rate was propelling a deterioration in the trade balance.
The unintended consequence of the giant chain stores' victories was the total destruction of local economic networks, that is, Main Streets and downtowns, in effect destroying many of their own livelihoods. We can get that all back, but it won't be a bargain.
The problem is how to create enough new jobs to generate more demand for goods and services. And only government is in a position to do that at present. Nothing else will generate the growth we need.
