"Words that make actions speak louder."
Editor’s Note: We’re publishing a series of “Making Sense” fact sheets on key economic issues to help you win the debate on the core issues facing middle-class families. Each fact sheet contains information, talking points and resources you can use to make the case for progressive policies. Earlier: Curbing Wall Street, Social Security and Clean […]
America used to have a top tax rate of around 90%. This meant that after a person earned a lot of money in a year, additional income beyond that amount was taxed at the higher rate. Back then government worked a lot better. We didn’t have deficits, the schools and public universities were better, there […]
The September jobs report is out and conservatives got exactly what they wanted: less government, less stimulus, less aid to states, less help for small businesses, less infrastructure investment, less help for the unemployed and … a bad jobs report. Conservatives successfully watered down the first stimulus, defeated further stimulus, fought aid to state governments, […]
Just a short note here, to repeat and amplify what Krugman said: And right now, by any rational calculation, would be an especially good time to improve the nation’s infrastructure. We have the need: our roads, our rail lines, our water and sewer systems are antiquated and increasingly inadequate. We have the resources: a million-and-a-half […]
In the 1992 campaign the Clinton War Room had a famous sign that read, “It’s the economy, stupid!” This meant that the central theme of the campaign was the economy. President Obama’s downturn-fighting war room needs a sign, too. The sign should read, “It’s the demand, stupid.” And what that means is: businesses want customers, […]
President Lyndon Johnson is said to have commented that the press is like birds sitting on a telephone line. When one flies away, they all fly away. This week they are all flying around squawking “currency war!” But the world has been in a currency and trade war for some time, with only one side […]
Conservative economic policies just don’t work and it’s incredibly obvious right in front of our faces. Knowing that obvious things are right in front of our faces and knowing that conservatives really, really don’t want us to see those things, it’s instructive (and sometimes entertaining except for the tragic consequences) to watch how conservatives try […]
A new example today of the consensus that has formed on confronting China’s trade practices: At the America’s Fiscal Choices conference today economists Paul Krugman, Martin Feldstein and Jan Hatzius all agreed on the need for the dollar to fall. Last week, in Consensus Grows: Confront China On Trade, I wrote. Now that the beneficiaries […]
Is there a currency war going on? Yes, it has been going on for some time. It’s up to China to end it. China has taken a number of steps over recent years to boost and “protect” its economy, building industries and providing badly-needed jobs. Good for them. But they have succeeded and they need […]
Thomas Friedman, in a Sunday’s NYTimes op-ed, Third Party Rising, looks at our country’s political gridlock, gets is partially correct, then reaches the wrong conclusions. Friedman notes that DC is broken, can’t get a crucially-needed energy bill and other important tasks done, without noting that billionaire/corporate-funded obstruction is the problem. He plays the “centrist” tactic […]