Robert Reich
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Robert Reich is the nation's 22nd Secretary of Labor and a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. His homepage is www.robertreich.org.

Blog Entries by Robert Reich

The Jobs Stall

(1239) Comments | Posted June 1, 2012 | 10:26 AM

The White House must be telling itself there are still five months between now and Election Day, so the jobs picture could brighten. After all, we went through a similar mid-year slump in 2011 but came out fine.

But however you look at today's jobs report, it's a stunning reminder...

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Romney-Trump in 2012!

(194) Comments | Posted May 30, 2012 | 2:43 PM

What could Romney's handlers be thinking when they hyped his connection with Donald Trump -- fundraising with Trump, offering supporters the possibility of a meal with Trump, relishing Trump's attention and endorsement?

Trump signifies everything Romney presumably doesn't want people to associate with himself -- conspicuous wealth, arrogance, hubris,...

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How to Avoid the Austerity Trap But Still Deal With the Budget Deficit

(142) Comments | Posted May 29, 2012 | 8:46 AM

We now know austerity economics is bad for weak economies facing large budget deficits. Much of Europe is in recession because of budget cuts demanded by Germany. And as Europe's economies shrink, their debts become proportionally larger, making a bad situation worse.

The way to avoid this austerity trap is...

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Memorial Day Thoughts on National Defense

(717) Comments | Posted May 27, 2012 | 8:50 PM

We can best honor those who have given their lives for this nation in combat by making sure our military might is proportional to what America needs.

The United States spends more on our military than do China, Russia, Britain, France, Japan, and Germany put together.

With the withdrawal of...

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Romney's Regressivism

(272) Comments | Posted May 25, 2012 | 9:29 AM

Fine to nail Romney with Bain capitalism. But let's not forget Romney's budget proposal, which mimics Paul Ryan's. Take a moment to make yourself aware of both, because they're eye-opening and scary.

Both would restore the military budget, slash Medicare (turning it into vouchers that shift costs to the...

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Obama Has to Explain Why Fairness Is Essential to Growth (and Why Some Democrats Have to Stop Believing Otherwise)

(767) Comments | Posted May 24, 2012 | 8:41 AM

The Cory Booker imbroglio has ignited a silly but potentially pernicious debate in the Democratic Party between so-called "pro-growth centrists" who want the president to focus on how well he's done getting the economy back on its feet after the Bush administration almost knocked it out, and "pro-fairness populists" who...

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Why Obama Should Be Attacking Casino Capitalism -- Both Romney's Bain and JPMorgan

(539) Comments | Posted May 22, 2012 | 5:11 PM

I wish President Obama would draw the obvious connection between Bain Capital and JPMorgan Chase.

That way his so-called "attack" on private equity is neither a personal attack on Mitt Romney nor a generalized attack on American business.

It's an attack on a particular kind of capitalism that Romney and...

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The Commencement Address That Won't Be Given

(987) Comments | Posted May 18, 2012 | 3:46 PM

Members of the Class of 2012,

As a former secretary of labor and current professor, I feel I owe it to you to tell you the truth about the pieces of parchment you're picking up today.

You're f*cked.

Well, not exactly. But you won't have it easy.

First, you're going...

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How Odd That Mitt's Smitten With Clinton

(434) Comments | Posted May 17, 2012 | 7:53 PM

Mitt Romney is full of praise for Bill Clinton even as he heaps scorn on Obama.

"Almost a generation ago, Bill Clinton announced that the era of big government was over," says Romney, "Clinton was signaling to his own party that Democrats should no longer try to govern...

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The Dog That Didn't Bark: Obama on JPMorgan

(318) Comments | Posted May 16, 2012 | 2:22 PM

The dog that didn't bark this week, let alone bite, was the president's response to JPMorgan Chase's bombshell admission of losing more than $2 billion in risky derivative trades that should never have been made.

"JPMorgan is one of the best-managed banks there is. Jamie Dimon, the head of it,...

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Romney Has Public and Private Morality Upside Down

(305) Comments | Posted May 15, 2012 | 6:24 PM

Mitt Romney's reaction to J.P. Morgan Chase's mounting losses from reckless trades is "the market will take care of it." His spokesman says "no taxpayer money was at risk" so we don't need more financial regulation. Romney has even promised to repeal Dodd-Frank if he's elected president.

Yet at...

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How J.P. Morgan Chase Has Made the Case for Breaking Up the Big Banks and Resurrecting Glass-Steagall

(559) Comments | Posted May 11, 2012 | 8:57 AM

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the nation's largest bank, whose chief executive, Jamie Dimon, has lead Wall Street's war against regulation, announced Thursday it had lost $2 billion in trades over the past six weeks and could face an additional $1 billion of losses, due to excessively risky bets.

The...

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Of Bedrooms and Boardrooms

(540) Comments | Posted May 10, 2012 | 9:20 AM

The 2012 election should be about what's going on in America's boardrooms, but Republicans would rather it be about America's bedrooms.

Mitt Romney says he's against same-sex marriage; President Obama just announced his support. North Carolina voters have approved a Republican-proposed amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage. Minnesota...

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A Question of Timing: What America Can Learn From the Revolt in Europe

(825) Comments | Posted May 7, 2012 | 12:14 PM

Who's an economy for? Voters in France and Greece have made it clear it's not for the bond traders.

Referring to his own electoral woes, Prime Minister David Cameron wrote Monday in an article in the conservative Daily Telegraph: "When people think about the economy they don't see...

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The Answer Isn't Socialism; It's Capitalism That Better Spreads the Benefits of the Productivity Revolution

(1315) Comments | Posted May 6, 2012 | 5:28 PM

Francois Hollande's victory doesn't and shouldn't mean a movement toward socialism in Europe or elsewhere. Socialism isn't the answer to the basic problem haunting all rich nations.

The answer is to reform capitalism. The world's productivity revolution is outpacing the political will of rich societies to fairly distribute its...

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The Stall Has Arrived

(1028) Comments | Posted May 4, 2012 | 11:17 AM

As I feared, the economy has stalled.

Friday's jobs report for April was even more disappointing than March. Employers added only 115,000 new jobs, down from March's number (the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised the March number upward to 154,000, but it's still abysmal relative to what's needed). At least...

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Why the Economy Is Heading for a Stall

(455) Comments | Posted May 3, 2012 | 9:38 PM

We'll know more tomorrow when the jobs report is announced, but today's report on America's massive service sector -- which make up about 90 percent of the economy -- is sobering to say the least.

The Institute of Supply Management's non-manufacturing index fell to a four-month low in April (53.5,...

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The Tinder-Box Society

(473) Comments | Posted May 1, 2012 | 3:27 PM

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 13,338 Tuesday, its highest since December, 2007. The S&P 500 added 16 points. Wall Street will remember May 1 as a great day.

But most of these gains are going to the richest 10 percent of Americans who own 90 percent of the shares...

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The GOP's Death Wish: Why Republicans Can't Stop Pissing Off Hispanics, Women, and Young People

(1850) Comments | Posted April 27, 2012 | 6:51 PM

What are the three demographic groups whose electoral impact is growing fastest? Hispanics, women, and young people. Who are Republicans pissing off the most? Latinos, women, and young people.

It's almost as if the GOP can't help itself.

Start with Hispanic voters, whose electoral heft keeps growing as they comprise...

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How Europe's Double Dip Could Become America's

(602) Comments | Posted April 25, 2012 | 1:41 PM

Europe is in recession.

Britain's Office for National Statistics confirmed today (Wednesday) that in the first quarter of this year Britain's economy shrank .2 percent, after having contracted .3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. (Officially, two quarters of shrinkage make a recession). On Monday Spain officially fell into...

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