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Dixieland Blues
April 21st, 2009
Governors across the country are clamoring for a piece of the stimulus, eager to avoid laying off state employees, hoping to put their unemployed citizens back to work and trying to avoid widespread furloughs as budgets bleed red ink. They know that their citizens want to keep libraries open, teachers in the classroom, cops on the beat and firefighters ready to protect people and property. Except in the South.
Featured Issues
'Green Stimulus' Gets $100 Billion Jolt
A short-term booster shot for the economy? Or a complete rethinking of the way businesses and individuals consume energy? Those are the crucial questions as Congress debates the more than $100 billion in initiatives that are currently part of the nearly $900 billion stimulus package. more »
The Case
Stranded On The Road for Cheap Political Points
Doing away with federal gasoline taxes for even a short period of time will do serious damage to the economy as we head into a recession and as high gas prices affect our commuting patterns. Federal gasoline tax dollars go into a trust fund that helps pay for roads, bridges and mass transit. According to the federal government's own calculations, every $1 billion spent of the gasoline tax revenues creates nearly 35,000 jobs. A summertime "gas tax holiday" could cost the nation almost 350,000 jobs and would halt work on vital improvements to roads and bridges, as well as mass transit systems stressed by new riders leaving their cars at home. According to the Congressional Budget Office, we're already falling behind in our ability to pay for our transportation needs. The bigger issue is this: An economy that depends on the efficient interstate movement of goods and services can't afford to continue starving the maintenance and growth of our transportation network. But that's what we've done under the Bush administration, which opposed moves even from within its own party to increase transportation spending enough to match actual needs. Dumping the burden on already-strapped and unevenly equipped states won't solve the problem. A transportation system that allows the economy to operate efficiently and save precious fuel is a national priority; we should all share in the costs and the benefits.more »
Rebuild Our Public Infrastructure
Conservatives have no legitimacy when they complain on one hand about pork-barrel spending while squandering money on “bridges to nowhere,” on crony corporations like Halliburton and on subsidies for their political contributors. Meanwhile, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates we need to spend $1.6 trillion over the next five years to fix our roads, bridges, water lines and other essential public resources. These are real needs, not "pork." Plus, it's a matter of global competitiveness: Countries like China and India are making massive investments in public transportation, schools and broadband, while too many of our children study in crumbling schools, workers lose productivity on crowded roads, and Internet commerce suffers under some of the slowest and most overpriced broadband connections in the industrialized world. The more-than-$100 billion a year spent on the war in Iraq would go a long way to funding these investments, which would enhance our economic security..more »
The News
Obama can help free trade with tariffs
September 11th, 2009
U.S. Economy Gets Lift From Stimulus
September 3rd, 2009
The Case
The Story Behind The Recovery Numbers
One number — 640,329 — figure represents the number of jobs that have been created or saved so far through the Recovery Act, according to a report released by the Obama administration. But the true significance of this number lies in the people behind it. Their stories show the true return on investment that America’s communities are reaping from Recovery Act funding.more »
Forging Recovery On The Assembly Line
It's not just that the United States uniquely lacks an industrial policy. It's that the United States uniquely has an anti-industrial policy. Turning that around could help the economy as well as convey some political rewards to an administration that could use some rewards just now.more »
Latest from our Bloggers
nov
6
2009
12:09 pm
12:09 pm
Today’s unemployment data contain gloomy news. Gloomy, but expected. The interpretation of the data is even worse. more »
oct
13
2009
10:51 am
10:51 am
New public opinion research by the Economic Policy Institute contains reassuring findings. The American people are smarter than they sometimes look on TV. more »
oct
7
2009
4:07 pm
4:07 pm
Yesterday, I looked at what Michael Moore's call for a democratic economy would mean at the national level. Today, I wanted to look at what it means at a smaller scale, at individual workplaces and for the values that each of us carries around. more »
oct
6
2009
5:53 pm
5:53 pm
Michael Moore's latest movie Capitalism: A Love Story, not only warns against greed and the love of money, but calls for a democratization of the economy. more »
sep
1
2009
4:52 pm
4:52 pm
For a long time, Corporate Democrats have taken advantage of organized labor to mobilize voters for them and fund their campaigns. However when big votes come up against powerful corporate interested, these Democrats continually abandon organized labor on key issues like the public option, Employee Free Choice Act, trade agreements, and other issues important for working people. more »
aug
27
2009
3:40 pm
3:40 pm
West Virginia shows us how we could easily win over this key segment of society, working class whites, with a New Deal-style industrial policy. more »
aug
14
2009
1:52 pm
1:52 pm
Trade policy may become a flash point in the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary, as both candidates at Netroots Nation sought to criticize the other as too supportive of unfair trade agreements. more »
aug
10
2009
4:12 am
4:12 am
As the International Trade Commission considers comments on its recommendation to impose tariffs on Chinese tire imports, President Obama stands at a crossroads in the fight to rebuild the American economy. more »
