News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
American Manufacturers Ask President To Address Currency In Trade Agreements by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | May 22, 2012
A number of groups representing American manufacturing companies and industries have asked the Obama administration for clear language that bans currency manipulation to be included in any new trade bills. read more »Will Conservatives Support American Companies ... or Chinese? by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | May 18, 2012
Which is better for an economy: millions of future jobs and trillions of future dollars, or a few people making a quick buck today by selling out their country? read more »The Human Disaster of Unemployment by Dean Baker and Kevin Hassett, cepr.net | May 14, 2012
The American economy is experiencing a crisis in long-term unemployment that has enormous human and economic costs. In 2007, before the Great Recession, people who were looking for work for more than six months — the definition of long-term unemployment — accounted for just 0.8 percent of the labor force. The recession has radically changed this picture. In 2010, the long-term unemployed accounted for 4.2 percent of the work force. That figure would be 50 percent higher if we added the people who gave up looking for work. Long-term unemployment is experienced disproportionately by the young, the old, the less educated, and African-American and Latino workers. The result is nothing short of a national emergency. Millions of workers have been disconnected from the work force, and possibly even from society. If they are not reconnected, the costs to them and to society will be grim. read more »The Trade Deficit Keeps Draining Money From Our Economy by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | May 11, 2012
Another month and another terrible trade deficit report. Why is it that DC elites who profess to care so much about deficits say so little about our worst deficit? The trade deficit drains money from our economy, lowers our wages and forces us into an ever-lower standard of living. read more »If Governments Weren't Firing People by Michael Tomasky, thedailybeast.com | May 10, 2012
One of my pet issues, as you may recall, is the things the Republicans are doing to wreck the economy intentionally, and one of the main things they're doing, in my view, is enforcing these massive budget cuts to states and localities that in turn force large layoffs. I wrote a column about this last week, but the computer ate it. But now comes fresh information that I didn't have last week that is more dramatic than even I expected. The Wall Street Journal has done some cyphering and arrived at what the unemployment rate would be if there weren't such huge public-sector layoffs. read more »Trade Alert! Is Another Job-Killing Trade Agreement Heading Our Way? by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | May 8, 2012
The trade agreements we have entered into over the last few decades have greatly enriched the already-wealthy 1% but not worked for the benefit of most of us. They have created massive trade deficits that drain our economy. They have cost millions of manufacturing, textile and other jobs. They have empowered huge, multi-national corporations to break unions and force pay and benefit cuts. read more »The Stall Has Arrived by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | May 4, 2012
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 that’s still abysmal relative to what’s needed). We need well over 250,000 new jobs per month in order to begin to whittle down the vast number of jobs lost in the Great Recession. At least 125,000 new jobs are necessary each month just to keep up with an expanding population of working-age people. With only 115,000 jobs in April, the hole is getting even deeper. What does all this mean? Together with other recent data showing slower economic growth during the first quarter of this year, it’s safe to say the economy has stalled.This is bad news for millions of Americans. read more »We Have More Parasites, Looters And Moochers Every Day by Digby , OurFuture.org | May 4, 2012
The unemployment rate is now officially higher than it was when President Obama took office. That's a slow recovery, but still good. Here is the bad news. read more »How to End Apple's Offshore Tax Shenanigans by Robert McIntyre, ctj.org | May 4, 2012
In its latest annual report, Apple said that as of last September, it had a staggering $54 billion parked offshore (since grown, as the New York Times points out, to $74 billion). Almost all of this huge hoard is accumulated in tax havens and has never been taxed by any government. More to the point, most of these untaxed profits are almost certainly United States profits that Apple has artificially shifted offshore to avoid its United States tax responsibilities. There’s a simple way to curb this kind of corporate tax dodging, of which Apple is only one prominent example: repeal the tax rule that indefinitely exempts offshore profits from United States corporate income tax. Congressional scorekeepers estimate that ending the offshore corporate tax exemption would increase overall federal revenues by about $600 billion over the next decade. That’s money that could be put to good use in these times of strained budgets. read more »Snapshots of Austerity: Detachment by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | May 3, 2012
What's end of the line for austerity? We've gone through despair, desperation, and indifference. The latter feeds the first two, creating what Robert Reich calls "a tinderbox society," as "those collecting capital gains" demand austerity, resulting in "rising frustration over the inability of most people to get ahead. That frustration, Reich notes, is fanning the flames of public anger in Europe, fueling student revolts in Chile, and could plunge China into turmoil. Where austerity goes, violence and unrest follow. The danger lies in the unpredictable nature of public anger, once ignited. When sparks fly, there's no telling where they catch fire or who will get burned. It's a combustible concoction wherever it occurs: Increasing productivity, widening inequality, and rising unemployment create tinder-box societies. Public anger and frustration can ignite in two very different ways. One is toward reforms that more broadly share the productivity gains. The other is toward demagogues that turn people against one another. To borrow a line from Bonnie Tyler's 1983 hit single, austerity means "we're living in a powder keg, and giving off sparks. Except there is no more "we," anymore. As austerity-engineered scarcity makes day-to-day survival, people see their fates as divorced from one another. Solidarity gives way to detachment, an "everyone for him or herself" becomes the general , if you want to survive. read more »
The Latest
TARP expected to cost U.S. only $25 billion, CBO says, The Washington Post | November 30, 2010
The Troubled Assets Relief Program, which was widely reviled as a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street titans, is now expected to cost the federal government a mere $25 billion - the equivalent of less than six months of emergency jobless benefits. read more »
If GOP wins, Expect More Obstruction, The Washington Post | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/19/2010I'm cautious about the conventional wisdom that the Democratic Party is about to get flattened by a Republican steamroller. Pollsters are less certain than they'd like you to believe about who's a "likely voter" and who isn't. read more »
Banks Restart Foreclosures, The Wall Street Journal | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/19/2010Bank of America Corp. reopened more than 100,000 foreclosure actions, declaring that it had found no significant problems in its procedures for seizing homes. GMAC Mortgage, a lender and loan servicer, said that it also is pushing ahead with an unspecified number of foreclosures that came under intense pressure.
Geithner Weak Dollar Seen as U.S. Recovery Route Versus BRICs, bloomberg.com | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/19/2010The dollar has dropped more than 7 percent since Aug. 27, when Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled the Federal Reserve is prepared to ease monetary policy. Where once such a decline may have been met with resistance from the U.S., Geithner may now be tolerating it as a way of bolstering the recovery.
Gridlock Sam: The Tea Party’s Bridge to Beyond Nowhere, pbs.org | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/18/2010The Tea Party has captured the imagination and spirit of many Americans and may very well turn that into a powerful voting bloc come November. But, that bloc may not have a leg or girder to stand on as our nation’s infrastructure continues to crumble. read more »
Administration Assures Pelosi on Restoration of Renewables Aid, thehill.com | August 11, 2010
The Obama administration has “assured” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that $3.5 billion in renewable energy loan guarantees diverted for other policy priorities will be restored this year. read more »
S. Carolina Takes Stimulus Money, The New York Times | August 11, 2010
State Aid Bill Breezes Into Law, dyn.politico.com | August 11, 2010
Included is $10 billion to preserve teaching jobs in the new school year, and $16.1 billion to help states cover their Medicaid payments for the first six months of 2011. read more »
$26-Billion Aid Package for States Becomes Law, Los Angeles Times | August 11, 2010
House Democrats return from brief recess for unfinished business, thehill.com | August 10, 2010
House Democrats are set to approve $26 billion in emergency state aid, fight off a lame-duck lockout and pass a border-security bill before they wrap up their work period Tuesday and repack their bags for home. read more »
