Our Economic Recovery Plan

We must build a new economy out of the ruins of the old. Creating an economy of shared prosperity and sustainable growth will require fundamental changes in strategy, priorities and policies. Among other things, we need comprehensive financial reform to curb the financial casino, a new engine for economic growth to replace the bubble-bust economy of the past decades, sustained public investment in areas vital to our future, a revived manufacturing sector leading the new green industrial revolution, expanded but balanced global trade, and workers empowered to organize so that the blessings of future prosperity are widely shared.

Read our mainfesto: "Building The New Economy: The Challenge Ahead"

» Read the "Main Street Recovery Program" | List of endorsers | Podcast | Analysis and commentary | Discuss our Main Street Recovery Plan on Change.gov

What We Must Have

An economic stimulus must be substantial in order to succeed. Economists are coming to agreement that small measures won't budge America's $15 trillion economy. China recently announced a $586 billion stimulus program, planning to invest 7 percent of that country's gross domestic product a year for two years. To lift this economy, an American plan needs to invest at least 3 percent of gross domestic product, or $450 billion, a year for two years.

Public investments must be strategic to be effective. Both tax cuts and bailouts for the rich are ineffective means for stimulating our economy. We need to avert mass layoffs, create new jobs, and build infrastructure that will increase America's productivity. The most effective plan would:

  1. reduce dependence on foreign oil and address global warming,
  2. repair our crumbling bridges, roads, and levees,
  3. provide aid to states so they can avoid layoffs and continue to provide needed services,
  4. increase aid to education,
  5. expand research and development,
  6. tackle the health care crisis, and
  7. provide aid to those most in need.

Our recovery program must be sustained to build a strong economy. Lifting us out of recession is vital, but not sufficient. America needs a long-term effort to build an economy, not based on asset bubbles and rampant speculation, but on sustained, balanced growth.

The Latest: An Economy for All

  • Sharks

    By Mitchell Hirsch - Mar 20, 2010

    The following was originally published at Working America's "Main Street" blog read more »

  • The Growing Movement for Publicly Owned Banks

    By Ellen Brown - Mar 19, 2010

    “Hundreds of job-creating projects are still on hold because Michigan businesses and entrepreneurs cannot get bank financing. We can break the credit crunch and beat Wall Street at their own game by keeping our money right here in Michigan and investing it to retool our economy and create jobs.” read more »

  • Financial Reform Deserves a Great Bureaucracy (and There Are Great Bureaucracies)

    By Richard (RJ) Eskow - Mar 19, 2010
    Must Read: 
    An Economy for All

    Recently we wrote that Sen. Chris Dodd's draft financial reform bill would create a "cumbersome bureaucracy." That wasn't an endorsement of a conservative talking point: The operative word was "cumbersome." The Right likes to use ... read more »

  • The Fine Print on Financial Reform

    By Tim Fernholz - Mar 17, 2010
    From prospect.org
    On Monday, President Barack Obama released a complimentary statement about Sen. Chris Dodd's latest proposal for financial reform, singling out its creation of "a new consumer financial protection agency to set and enforce clear rules of the road." This is notable largely because it is not, in fact, true. What the bill actually creates is a Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection within the Federal Reserve, a move that has raised great concern among consumer advocates who note, with more accuracy, that the Fed's numerous consumer-protection failures played a large role in the recent crisis. But the rhetoric around the creation of a new consumer-protection agency illustrates the central pitfall of financial regulatory reform: telling real reform from the cosmetic.  read more »

  • Using Bank Interests to Help Students

    By George Kaiser - Mar 17, 2010
    From Politico
    What better way is there to use the current government giveaway to private lenders than to work toward restoring the promise of equal opportunity? And, high quality early education pays. Long-term studies have demonstrated that taxpayers actually save money from public investment in high-quality early childhood education through reduced special education and correctional system costs, a lower crime rate and a more skilled workforce. Why should taxpayers continue to give large student loan companies both high rates and a government guarantee? Let’s transfer those excess bank profits to students, especially our youngest, while we can still change the trajectory of their lives.  read more »

  • Basically, It's Over

    By Charles Munger - Mar 17, 2010
    From slate.com
    In the early 1700s, Europeans discovered in the Pacific Ocean a large, unpopulated island with a temperate climate, rich in all nature's bounty except coal, oil, and natural gas. Reflecting its lack of civilization, they named this island "Basicland." Today, Basicland is under new management, using a new governmental system. It also has a new nickname: Sorrowland.  read more »

  • The False Luxury of Time To Wait

    By Terrance Heath - Mar 17, 2010
    The choice is simple. The reform legislation we have doesn't far enough, but it's a step in the right direction, as opposed to standing still or moving backwards. But a step in the right direction, however small, builds momentum for the next step forward. By some estimates, progressives made this reform a great deal better than it would have been had we not engaged. When this reform bill is signed into law, progressive should — and I have every reason to believe we will — start the fight to expand it even before the ink dries on President Obama's signature. We can either take a step in the right direction, or we can take a huge step back. Standing still is not an option.  read more »

  • The African-American Community Needs A "Jobs Surge"

    By Isaiah J. Poole - Mar 17, 2010

    The nation is facing a jobs crisis, but “crisis” doesn’t begin to tell the story in the African-American community. “Five-alarm emergency” comes closer. read more »

More »