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

  • Ending The Tax Scams: The Path To Corporate Tax Reform

    By Isaiah J. Poole - Apr 22, 2013

    Corporate tax havens, a "territorial tax" proposal that would give corporations more legitimate ways to avoid U.S> taxes, and the way current tax laws encourage companies to move jobs and profits out of the country and proposed solutions are among the topics covered in this briefing for progressive bloggers and ... read more »

  • Rep. Keith Ellison on the Progressive Caucus Back to Work Budget

    By Isaiah J. Poole - Mar 14, 2013
    OurFuture.org interviews Rep. Keith Ellison on the Congressional Progressive Caucus' Back to Work Budget. The budget invests in a bold plan to rebuild our infrastructure, fund school modernization, provide aid to states to rehire teachers and cops, and target jobs corps for the most distressed communities. It would generate nearly  

  • Dave Johnson On Saving The Postal Service

    By Isaiah J. Poole - Feb 22, 2013

    Dave Johnson is interviewed by Matthew Filipowicz.

  • The Jobs Report, and Why the Recovery Has Stalled

    By Robert B. Reich - Feb 1, 2013
    From robertreich.org
    We are in the most anemic recovery in modern history, yet our political leaders in Washington aren’t doing squat about it. In fact, apart from the Fed – which continues to hold interest rates down in the quixotic hope that banks will begin lending again to average people – the government is heading in exactly the wrong direction: raising taxes on the middle class, and cutting spending.  read more »

  • New Poll: America's Workers Soundly Reject Social Security Benefit Cuts

    By Jackie Tortora - Feb 1, 2013
    From aflcio.org
    The "chained" CPI is a Social Security benefit cut (not an innocuous "adjustment"), and the majority of voters understand this, with 55% opposing this policy proposal. A new poll, Strengthening Social Security: What Do Americans Want? from the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), highlights working people's opposition to benefit cuts, including the "chained" CPI, which reduces the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). A large majority, 64%, thought the COLA should be increased to better protect seniors and other beneficiaries from inflation and rising prices of food, utilities and other necessities.  read more »

  • Looking for Mister Goodpain

    By Paul Krugman - Feb 1, 2013
    From The New York Times
    Three years ago, a terrible thing happened to economic policy, both here and in Europe. Although the worst of the financial crisis was over, economies on both sides of the Atlantic remained deeply depressed, with very high unemployment. Yet the Western world’s policy elite somehow decided en masse that unemployment was no longer a crucial concern, and that reducing budget deficits should be the overriding priority. In recent columns, I’ve argued that worries about the deficit are, in fact, greatly exaggerated. Today, however, I’d like to talk about a different but related kind of desperation: the frantic effort to find some example, somewhere, of austerity policies that succeeded. For the advocates of fiscal austerity — the austerians — made promises as well as threats: austerity, they claimed, would both avert crisis and lead to prosperity. And let nobody accuse the austerians of lacking a sense of romance; in fact, they’ve spent years looking for Mr. Goodpain.  read more »

  • Good News On Jobs: Growth Was Steady To Start The Year, And 2012 Was Better Than First Thought

    By Neil Irwin - Feb 1, 2013
    From The Washington Post
    The economy began the year with solid job creation, and the labor market was much stronger at the end of 2012 than previously thought, according to new data out Friday that indicated surprising momentum in the economy in the new year. Employers added 157,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department said, which was right in line with analyst expectations. The brightest news, though, was that revised estimates showed much higher job creation at the end of last year than first reported. The nation added a whopping 247,000 jobs in November and 196,000 in December, a combined 127,000 jobs above earlier estimates.  read more »

  • Jobs on Jobs on Jobs on Jobs

    By Jamelle Bouie - Feb 1, 2013
    From prospect.org
    According to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy created 157,000 jobs in January, a solid number, though behind what we need to see a robust recovery. More important, as always, are the revisions. November’s job growth was revised to 247,000 (up from 161,000) and December’s was revised to 196,000 (up from 155,000). These are big revisions, and when analyzed as part of a trend, it’s clear that the government was been underestimating job growth for most of 2012, to the tune of 28,000 jobs a month.  read more »

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