Economic Stimulus Package on Huffington Post

Laurence J. Kotlikoff: Krugman's Macroeconomic Rants

2012-05-14T09:25:23Z

Let's coordinate a mass rehiring of workers on a voluntary basis by asking all large and medium-sized employers to increase their employment by 5 percent.

Read more: Unemployment, Economic Stimulus Package, Coordination Failure, Great Recession, Hiring, Paul Krugman, Stimulus, Recession, Great Depression, Politics News

We Could Still Be In A Recession If Not For The Stimulus, Report Finds

2012-05-02T15:15:02Z

The recovery's been weak these last few years. But if the federal government hadn't reacted to the financial crisis the way it did, things would have ...

Read more: Tarp, Obama Stimulus, Troubled Asset Relief Program, Mitt Romney, Stimulus, Barack Obama, Recession, Video, Economic Stimulus Package, Gdp, Bailout, Stimulus Package, Great Recession, Financial Crisis, Economic Stimulus, Economic Growth, Business News

Dean Baker: The Son of the Housing Bubble: First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit

2012-04-18T21:04:08Z

It's often said that the difference between the powerful and the powerless is that the powerful get to walk away from their mistakes while the powerless suffer the consequences. The first-time homebuyers' tax credit, which was added to President Obama's original 2009 stimulus package, provides an excellent example of the privilege of the powerful. Many of the 11 million underwater homeowners in the country can blame the incentives created by the first-time homebuyers credit for their plight. This was really bad policy, which should have been apparent at the time. Unfortunately, it is only the victims who are suffering, not the promulgators of the policy. Welcome to Washington.

Read more: Mortgage Crisis, Economic Stimulus Package, Subprime Mortgages, Housing Crisis, Underwater Mortgages, First-Time Homebuyers' Tax Credit, Business News

Jason Stanford: A Smart Grid Utopia, Deep in the Heart of Texas

2012-04-18T16:22:55Z

Thanks to $10.5 million from the stimulus, Pecan Street is creating jobs and fighting global warming, Tejas style. The smart grid neighborhood acts as a real-world lab to get customer feedback on new technologies.

Read more: Chevy Volt, Economic Stimulus Package, Pecan-Street-Project, Solar Power, Brewster McCracken, Smart Grid, Video, Green News

Women's Jobs Axed By State Austerity Policies

2012-04-13T09:02:03Z

One Sunday last May, Cherine Akbari moved into her new townhouse in sunny Oakland Park, Fla. The next day, the 27-year-old went to work doing what she...

Read more: Teacher Layoffs, Women Unemployment, State Budget Cuts, Economic Stimulus Package, Childcare, Broward County Public Schools, Women Employment, Economic Recovery, Millionaires Tax, Womancession, Women Jobs, Recession, Politics News

Connie Mack Ad Attacks Bill Nelson For Supporting Monkey Study In Stimulus Bill

2012-04-11T16:24:24Z

In a new ad launched Wednesday, Florida Rep. Connie Mack (R) found a novel part of the 2009 stimulus package with which to attack incumbent Sen. Bill ...

Read more: Bill Nelson, Video, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Economic Stimulus Package, 2012 Elections, Bill Nelson 2012, Connie Mack, Election 2012 Blog, Florida Senate Race, Elections 2012, Connie Mack 2012, Politics News

Jared Bernstein: Stuck at Zero

2012-04-03T09:44:31Z

I've pretty much stopped exhorting policy makers to engage in deficit-financed fiscal stimulus, not because we no longer need it -- we do -- but because it feels like a waste of time. With the fading of the Recovery Act along with state and local budget cuts, U.S. fiscal policy has turned contractionary. Yes, the economy is getting better, and pretty consistently at that. But it's still a slog, and gas prices are pushing the other way, among other factors. So I'm going to briefly drag the idea of stimulus out of hiding for two reasons. First, there's been a spate of research on the bang from fiscal stimulus in certain situations. And second, because Europe is providing such a sad, natural experiment of this forgotten thesis.

Read more: U.S. Economy, Economic Stimulus Package, Obama Stimulus, Budget Cuts, Budget, Economy, Economic Crisis, Economic Stimulus, Stimulus, Business News

Richard (RJ) Eskow: The Democrats' Jobs Dilemma: Celebration vs. Call to Action

2012-03-12T05:01:34Z

The fastest growing category of employment is in temp work, followed by health care and "leisure" -- which is described as consisting primarily of "food service and drinking places." If it's "morning again in America," at least we know somebody's been hired to pour the coffee.

Read more: Unemployment, Barack Obama, Election, Jobs Crisis, Economic Stimulus Package, 2012 Election, Unemployment Crisis, Elections 2012, Jobs, Obama Administration, Democrats, Stimulus, Unemployment Rate, Obama Jobs Plan, Politics News

Mark Gongloff: Can We Please Stop Giving This Man Important Jobs Now?

2012-02-29T12:25:01Z

What exactly does Larry Summers have to do to stop being offered important jobs? Hold up a liquor store? Kill a guy?

That is the question many are as...

Read more: Economic Stimulus Package, Christine Romer, Economics, Barack Obama, Larry Summers, Obama White House, Larry Summers World Bank, President Obama, Economists, Obama Administration, Stimulus, Business News

The Memo that Larry Summers Didn't Want Obama to See

2012-02-22T12:25:07Z

For the past three years, Washington journalists and politicos have obsessed over a 57-page memo that Barack Obama's incoming economic team prepared f...

Read more: Larry Summers Stimulus, Christina Romer Stimulus, Barack Obama, Larry Summers, Larry Summers Obama Memo, Larry Summers Obama, Obama Stimulus Memo, Stimulus Package, Politics News

Michael Linden: Did the Stimulus Work?

2012-02-17T08:40:38Z

President Obama's political opponents insist that the stimulus did nothing to help the economy and some even claim that it made things worse. The numbers, and a newly released video, tell a very different story.

Read more: U.S. Economy, Video, Economic Stimulus Package, Economic Crisis, Great Recession, Stimulus Package, Economy, Financial Crisis, Recovery Act, Stimulus, Recession, US Economy, Barack Obama, President Obama, Obama Administration, Politics News

Matthew Maron: Talkin' 'Bout My Generation

2012-02-16T08:05:11Z

We as a nation need to think, act, and live smarter. If we don't, all that we have worked hard for over the past 236 years could be lost forever.

Read more: Economic Stimulus Package, Clean Air Act, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Economy, Deep Water Horizon, High School News

Darren Hutchinson: Firm at Center of Romney's Stimulus Critique Received Over $10.4 Million From Fed Projects

2012-02-09T10:56:00Z

Romney opposes the stimulus, but he needs to state legitimate reasons for doing so, rather than misrepresenting the experience of Springs Fabrication.

Read more: John McCain, Conservatives, Create Jobs, Stimulus Package, Mitt Romney, Jobs, Economic Stimulus, Springs Fabrication, Recession, Colorado, Republicans, Romney Obama Stimulus, Romney Stimulus, Politics News

Glenn C. Altschuler: Coked Up Stimulus Monkeys

2012-02-09T10:29:48Z

Richly detailed, judicious, thorough and timely, Money Well Spent? is a primer on how to evaluate this policy -- and all public policies -- in a highly partisan, polarized, paralyzed political climate.

Read more: Unemployment, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Solyndra, Job Creation, Stimulus Package, The Great Recession, Biden Jobs Summer, Money Well Spent Book, Books News

Jared Bernstein: What's Their Counterfactual?

2012-02-08T09:15:44Z

Mitt Romney's got real economists on his team. If he wants to make the case that things would be better if we followed his plan, which is explicitly anti-stimulus on jobs and would liquidate the housing market, let's see the economic model for how it would work.

Read more: Mitt Romney, U.S. Economy, Economic Stimulus Package, Stimulus, Barack Obama, Economy, Economic Crisis, Business News

Infrastructure Problems In U.S. Go Far Beyond Dollars

2012-02-02T16:39:29Z

NEW YORK -- When travelers from abroad come to this city, the financial and cultural capital of the world's richest nation, two dilapidated and depres...

Read more: Infrastructure Bank, Infrastructure, Obama Infrastructure, Toll Roads, Video, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Economic Stimulus Package, Asce, Chris Gregoire, Columbia River Crossing, Michael Mandel, Grand Parkway, User Fees, American Society of Civil Engineers, Politics News

Obama's Economic Team Was Divided Over Stimulus Spending

2012-01-23T15:30:14Z

When the newly elected President Obama took his place in the White House early in 2009, so too arrived a vocal economic team at odds over the politic...

Read more: Christina Romer, Larry Summers and Barack Obama, Video, Economic Stimulus Package, Rahm Emanuel, Stimulus Package, President Barack Obama, President Obama, Larry Summers, Peter Orszag, Stimulus, Barack Obama, Business News

Homeless Rate Ready To Rise

2012-01-18T16:02:00Z

Although the recession has officially been over for two years, the worst may be to come for many people.

Job losses rose during the last few years....

Read more: Foreclosure Crisis, Poverty, Homeowners, Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), Working Poor, Video, Unemployment, Rental Market, Economic Stimulus Package, Homelessness, Naeh, Homeless, Federal Budget Cuts, Foreclosure, Hprp, National Alliance to End Homelessness, Renters, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Business News

Jared Bernstein: Obama and the Economy: Then vs. Now

2011-12-31T09:00:11Z

I was recently asked how some of the key economic indicators are trending going into 2012 from the perspective of the president's record. When Obama took office in January 2009, employment was absolutely cratering. Now it's growing, and, in the private sector, has been since the spring of 2010. The swing from huge negatives to positives is notable and helpful to the president. So he has some strong trend reversals to point to, though while the trend is his friend, the sheer levels still bedevil. Current profits as a share of GDP signal the return of rising income inequality, a major concern for a lot of people today. But here Obama has a very strong case to make that the Republicans' game plan will only make that problem a lot worse.

Read more: U.S. Economy, Economic Recovery, Economic Stimulus Package, Stimulus, Economy, Economic Crisis, Business News

Jay Carney: Economists Didn't Know How Bad The Recession Would Get

2011-12-07T13:27:50Z

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney made a surprising assertion on MSNBC Wednesday, saying that in early 2009, as Barack Obama was taking office, t...

Read more: U.S. Economy, Jay Carney, James Galbraith, Stimulus, Congressional Budget Office, Recession, Barack Obama, Douglas Elmendorf, Video, Mark Zandi, Economic Stimulus Package, Martin Feldstein, Great Recession, Economists, Paul Krugman, Dean Baker, Great Depression, Business News

Clarence B. Jones: When Does the Preferential Treatment of Banks Become Obscene?

2011-11-30T15:42:30Z

How long will we permit the major banks to "game" our economic system? Or, maybe it's time to frankly acknowledge they have become the De facto fourth branch of our government, without any amendment to our Constitution.

Read more: Tarp, Bank Profits, Bank Bailout Profits, Bail Out Profits, Obama Stimulus Plan, Bank Bailout, Obama Stimulus Package, Politics News

Cleo Paskal: U.S. Military Undermined By Environmental Change

2011-11-21T18:13:23Z

Across the U.S., critical military installations are being put at risk by environmental change.

Read more: Environmental Change, Economic Stimulus Package, National Flood Insurance Program, National Security, Military Bases, Flooding, Keesler Air Force Base, Climate Change, Hurricane Katrina, Homested Airforce Base, Green News

One In Four Americans Would Be Poor Without Government Help: Study

2011-11-11T10:52:10Z

As rampant as poverty is in America, it would be much worse without government aid.

The Census Bureau estimates that last year a record 46 million ...

Read more: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Social Security, Government Assistance, Poverty, Third World America, US Poverty, Stimulus, Video, Super Committee, Unemployment, Veterans Benefits, Social Safety Nets, Stimulus Package, Unemployment Insurance, Poor, Medicare, Medicaid, Housing Assistance, Poverty in America, Business News

Peter S. Goodman: Adding Paychecks: Government Holds Power

2011-11-04T12:45:00Z

The government can't create jobs. Only the private sector can. So ditch the naïve talk that Uncle Sam can wade into this economic mess and do any...

Read more: Government Hiring, Government Jobs, Unemployment, Economic Stimulus Package, Government Unemployment, Job Creation, Long Term Unemployment, Business News

Jared Bernstein: Finding the Right Analogy for the Economy

2011-10-27T14:54:07Z

With the Super Committee meeting, it's time to determine how we should speak about the economy. Some commentators like to analogize government spending to a swimming pool, as if you can only take water from one end and dump it in the other end of the same pool. A dollar that the government spends on stimulus is a dollar someone else won't be spending, so there's no net gain. But this analogy is false. A better way to think of the economy is as a car, with fuel as the demand that propels the car forward. The gas tank is empty, but we've got a tank of gas sitting on the lawn next to the car. If we put the gas in the tank, the car can get started and go somewhere.

Read more: Keynesian Economics, U.S. Economy, Economic Recovery, Economic Stimulus Package, Stimulus, Economy, Economic Crisis, Business News