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Robert Reich

What's Ahead for the Economy and Politics in 2010

Robert Reich | Posted 01.05.2010 | Politics

Read More: Unemployment, 2010, Robert Reich, 2010 Elections, Politics News
Robert Reich

Just about everything you'll start hearing come out of Washington will really be about November's midterm election. The gravitational pull of the midterms was already apparent last year, as Republicans marched in perfect lockstep to vote against whatever the president and Democrats proposed, but you haven't seen anything yet. Issue number one will be unemployment, and there are a number of possible scenarios for where we're headed on that front.

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2009: The Year Wall Street Bounced Back and Main Street Got Shafted

Robert Reich | Posted 12.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Wall Street Bailout, Robert Reich, Unemployment, Bailout, Wall Street, Economy, Financial Crisis, Main Street, Barack Obama, Politics News
Robert Reich

If 2009 has proved anything, it's that the bailout of Wall Street didn't trickle down to Main Street. Mortgage delinquencies continue to rise. And people everywhere, it seems, are worried about losing their jobs.

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Healthcare: A Christmas Present of Epic Proportions

Philip Lee Miller | Posted 12.21.2009 | Politics

Read More: Marcia Angell, Jeffrey S. Flier, Howard Dean, Glenn Beck, Robert Reich, Health Insurance, Health Care, Dr. Andrew Weil, David Axelrod, Politics News
Philip Lee Miller

Here is your Christmas present -- a big lump of coal. You are ill and need help. You want the best. Whose wise counsel and help do you seek? You want someone who is sympathetic, skilled and competent.

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Slouching Toward Health Care Reform

Robert Reich | Posted 12.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Reform, Joe Lieberman, Medicare, Robert Reich, Public Option, Health Care, Barack Obama, Ben Nelson, Olympia Snowe, Politics News
Robert Reich

The Dems eventually will get a bill they can call "reform," but they will not be able to say with straight faces that the reform is a significant improvement over the terrible system we already have.

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How a Few Private Health Insurers Are on the Way to Controlling Health Care

Robert Reich | Posted 12.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Robert Reich, Public Option, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Insurance Companies, Healthcare Reform, Health Care, Healthcare, Politics News
Robert Reich

From the start, opponents of the public option have wanted to portray it as big government preying upon the market, and private insurers as the embodiment of the market. But it's just the reverse.

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The President's Jobs Initiative Doesn't Measure Up

Robert Reich | Posted 12.09.2009 | Business

Read More: Obama Jobs, Unemployment, Robert Reich, Unemployment Rate, Jobs, Barack Obama, Business News
Robert Reich

There is no reason to tolerate this degree of misery. We know exactly what to do. The government has the fiscal tools to do it. Start by bailing out state and local governments and spending on infrastructure.

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Pray to the Gods of Capital, Or Build a New Economy

Zack Exley | Posted 12.07.2009 | Business

Read More: Robert Reich, Globalization, Global Economy, Liberal Economists, Barack Obama Global Economy, Business News
Zack Exley

We need to start imagining and preparing for a global, coordinated economic transformation on the scale of a world war -- not only to restore jobs, but to restore means of making a sustainable living to everyone on Earth.

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The Economic Reality That No One Wants to Talk About

Robert Reich | Posted 12.02.2009 | Business

Read More: Financial Crisis, Robert Reich, Economic Stimulus Package, Unemployment, Jobs Summit, Business News
Robert Reich

The basic assumption that jobs will eventually return when the economy recovers is probably wrong. Some jobs will come back, of course. But righting the ship will take far-reaching systemic change.

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The Housing Crisis And Wall Street Shame (Or Lack Thereof)

Robert Reich | Posted 11.29.2009 | Business

Read More: Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Unemployment, Robert Reich, Wall Street, Aig, Financial Crisis, Timothy Geithner, Wall Street Bonuses, Housing Crisis, Glass-Steagall, Business News
Robert Reich

Shaming Wall Street won't work. Only political muscle and courage will. Congress and the Obama administration should give homeowners the right to go to a bankruptcy judge and have their mortgages modified.

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The Ersatz Public Option

Robert Reich | Posted 11.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Reform, Harry Reid, Robert Reich, Public Option, Health Care, Politics News
Robert Reich

Harry Reid's public option is a token public option -- a fleeting gesture toward the idea of a public option, so small and desiccated as to be barely worth mentioning except that it still contains the word "public."

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Obama, China, and Wishful Thinking About American Jobs

Robert Reich | Posted 11.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Unemployment, Robert Reich, Unemployment Rate, Jobs, China, Barack Obama, US China Relations, Politics News
Robert Reich

The dirty little secret on each side of the Pacific is that both America and China are capable of producing far more than their own consumers are capable of buying. The root of the problem is in domestic inequality.

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Geithner Is "Obama's Rumsfeld": Replace Him With Robert Reich

Paul Abrams | Posted 11.17.2009 | Business

Read More: Main Street, Larry Summers, Robert Reich, Wall Street, Tim Geithner, Treasury Secretary, Don Rumsfeld, Timothy Geithner, Business News
Paul Abrams

Geithner is a continuing liability for this President. By stepping down, he can rightly claim some successes, while also presenting an opportunity for Obama to appoint a Treasury Secretary who fights for Main Street.

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An Open Letter to Harry Reid on Controlling Health Care Costs

Robert Reich | Posted 11.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Robert Reich, Health Care Costs, Health, Health Care Reform, Harry Reid, Health Care, Politics News
Robert Reich

Nobody promised you this would be easy, Harry. But, hell, why are you there, anyway? Your responsibility is to do the right thing by the American people and bring down future health-care costs.

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Shahien Nasiripour

10 Years Ago Today, Congress Allowed For "Too Big To Fail"

HuffingtonPost.com | Shahien Nasiripour | Posted 11.05.2009 | Business

Read More: John S. Reed, Robert Reich, Brad Miller, Larry Summers, Paul Volcker, Lawrence Summers, Ed Perlmutter, Barney Frank, Paul Wellstone, Tbtf, Paul Kanjorski, Financial Crisis, Banks, Gramm Leach Bliley Act, Byron Dorgan, Too Big to Fail, Wall Street, Citigroup, Glass-Steagall, Business News

On the 10th anniversary of Congress voting to repeal the law that had long separated Main Street commercial banking from Wall Street investment bankin...

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Going Rouge Skewers Palin

Geoffrey Dunn | Posted 11.07.2009 | Books

Read More: John McCain, Republican Gomorrah, Robert Reich, Sarah Palin Going Rogue, McCain Palin, Rebecca Traister, Sarah Palin, Gloria Steinem, Sarah Palin Vice President, Akmuckraker, Shannyn Moore, Going Rogue, Max Blumenthal, Books News
Geoffrey Dunn

One thing is certain: You will read far more about the real Sarah Palin in Going Rouge than you ever will in her own memoirs, being published by (who else?) Rupert Murdoch.

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Breaking Up the Big Banks, and Why Congress Won't Do It

Robert Reich | Posted 10.27.2009 | Business

Read More: Treasury Department, Congress, Robert Reich, Too Big to Fail, Bank of America, Larry Summers, Paul Volcker, Barack Obama, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Wall Street, Financial Crisis, Banks, Glass-Steagall Act, Timothy Geithner, Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Break Up Big Banks, Breaking Up the Big Banks, Breaking Up Banks, Business News
Robert Reich

Two ideas are floating around Washington regarding how to handle 'too big to fail' banks, but only one is supported by the Treasury and the White House. Unfortunately, it's the wrong one.

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Why Wall Street Reform is Stuck in Reverse

Robert Reich | Posted 10.25.2009 | Politics

Read More: Goldman Sachs, Robert Reich, Wall Street Crisis, Wall Street, Financial Reform, Financial Crisis, Obama Financial Reform, Politics News
Robert Reich

Congress is struggling to produce even the tiniest shards of regulation that would at least give the appearance of doing something to rein in the Street.

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Lessons From Letterman in Health Reform

Robert Reich | Posted 10.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Big Pharma, Senate Finance Committee Health Care Bill, Robert Reich, Public Option, Middle Class, Health Insurance, Obama Big Pharma, Barack Obama, Ama, Nancy Pelosi, American Medical Association, Health Care, Health Insurance Reform, David Letterman, Politics News
Robert Reich

If Obama doesn't weigh in forcefully and say "no" to the hush money arranged in January for Big Pharma, big insurance, and the AMA, America's middle class will get walloped. And so will he in 2012.

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The Audacity of Greed

Robert Reich | Posted 10.14.2009 | Politics

Read More: Public Health Insurance Plan, Robert Reich, Public Option, Public Plan, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Health Care, Health Insurance Reform, Obama Public Option, Politics News
Robert Reich

Health insurers have just made the best argument yet about why a public insurance option is necessary.

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Going To Copenhagen Empty-Handed

Robert Reich | Posted 10.13.2009 | Green

Read More: Robert Reich, Copenhagen 2009, Waxman-Markey, Climate Change, Obama Climate Change, Waxman-Markey Climate Bill, Barack Obama, Obama Climate Policy, Cap and Trade, Green News
Robert Reich

There's no way between now and Copenhagen that Obama can get a strong climate bill through Congress. So here's my suggestion.

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Why Obama Should Not Have Received the Peace Prize -- Yet

Robert Reich | Posted 10.12.2009 | Politics

Read More: Nobel Prize, Robert Reich, Obama Nobel Prize, Obama Nobel Peace Prize, Obama Nobel, Nobel Peace Prize, Barack Obama, Politics News
Robert Reich

Giving the Peace Prize to the President before any of his goals have been attained only underscores the paradox of Obama at this early stage of his presidency.

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Hiring Tax Credit: Support Builds For Proposal Rewarding Employers For Hiring, More Hours

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/business/07tax.html | Catherine Rampell | Posted 10.07.2009 | Politics

Read More: Tax Credit for Hiring, Tax Credit, More Jobs, Robert Reich, House, Unemployment Rate, Washington, Economy, Hire, Bipartisan, Obama, Job Growth, Stimulus, D.C, Eric Cantor, Barack Obama, Economists, Employer Tax Credit, Unemployment, Hiring Tax Credit, What Is Hiring Tax Credit, Cantor, Senate, Tax Credit Incentives, Incentives for Employers, Incentives, Hiring Incentives, Politics News

The idea of a tax credit for companies that create new jobs, something the federal government has not tried since the 1970s, is gaining support among ...

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Brazil Beats America And Wins Olympic Gold; Republicans Dance In The Streets

Jackson Williams | Posted 12.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Msnbc, William Bennett, Cnn, Robert Reich, Chicago, Rio De Janeiro, Copenhagen, Keith Olbermann, Republican Party, Olympics, President Obama, Barack Obama, George Bush, George Bush Legacy, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Fox News, Gop, Politics News
Jackson Williams

You know we're in trouble when a major political party openly roots for its own country to lose, as Republicans did for President Obama's bid to win the 2016 Olympics for Chicago.

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The Public Option Lives On

Robert Reich | Posted 11.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Chuck Schumer, Jay Rockefeller, Robert Reich, Public Option, Kent Conrad, Olympia Snowe, Public Plan, Health Insurance, Robert Menendez, Insurance Companies, Tom Carper, Health Care Reform, Max Baucus, Health Care, Obama Public Option, Bill Nelson, Politics News
Robert Reich

The public option lives on. It's still in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension bill. It still headlines the House bills, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she's still committed to it.

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Why the Dow is Hitting 10,000 While Everyone Else is Cutting Back

Robert Reich | Posted 11.22.2009 | Business

Read More: Tarp, Robert Reich, Dow Jones, Wall Street, Stock Market, Economy, Cash for Clunkers, Economic Recovery, Health Care, Business News
Robert Reich

Regardless of what you call it -- Keynesianism, socialism, or just pragmatism -- government's expansion is doing wonders for business, especially big business and Wall Street.

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