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The China Syndrome by Ian Welsh, openleft.com | July 28, 2009
The US/China talks are actually, in many respects more important than the healthcare debate. What China is willing to pay for may well be what the US can do, and what is being negotiated right now is what they'll pay for. Let's take a look at the issues. read more »Trade Adjustments and Stimulus Packages in the Global Recession and Recovery by Mark Weisbrot, Huffington Post | July 27, 2009
China will lead the world out of this economic recession due to a strong industrial policy that the United States lack. read more »The Stimulus In Real Time by William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | July 21, 2009
Recessions are tricky things. There are a zillion economic-textbook reasons why they come, why they stay and why they go. The most intangible factor in the depth and duration of any recession, however, cannot be quantified or predicted: mood. If people start to feel better about how things are going, whether or not their wallets actually show it, the economy improves. read more »GE Promotes Manufacturing Jobs in US … Then Ships 'Em Overseas by Mike Elk, OurFuture.org | July 21, 2009
Jeffery Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, has led the outsourcing charge in the past. So commentators were shocked last month when, speaking at the Detroit Economic Club, Immelt said that the United States needs to invest in American manufacturing in order to get out of our current economic crisis. read more »You Get The Recovery You Pay For by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | July 14, 2009
From the beginning of this economic crisis, policy makers seem to have forgotten (or perhaps learned too well) a basic economic rule. It's one I used to have paraphrased in a sign on my desk in a previous job: You can have it fast, you can have it cheap, or you can have quality. Pick any two. read more »Club Wagner by David Leonhardt, economix.blogs.nytimes.com | July 10, 2009
With this post, we announce the formation of Club Wagner. It’s a (fictional) organization of people willing to acknowledge a basic economic reality. read more »The Unemployed Will Roar by Marie Cocco, truthdig.com | July 9, 2009
Depending on which state and the sort of triggers that apply to benefits, hundreds of thousands of workers laid off early in the downturn are soon to be left without the basic sustenance of an unemployment check. Let’s stop kidding ourselves. In no contemporary economic crisis — not even those that unfolded on the Republicans’ watch — has Congress left the unemployed completely in the lurch. So some sort of spending package — call it stimulus, call it stopgap emergency aid, whatever works — is going to have to be passed. read more »The Blame Election by Mike Lux, openleft.com | June 10, 2009
People understand the depths of the mess George W. Bush left us with, and so perhaps they will be more patient with this charismatic young President than they were with the last one. But the similarities in circumstances between now and then are still keeping me up nights. Here's what needs to happen to avoid another 1994 for the Democrats. read more »Let Obama Accelerate Stimulus Funds by Rep. Mike Honda, Politico | June 9, 2009
Critics of the president’s credibility should unclench their fists, for their analysis must recognize the inherited policies from the previous president’s final 100 days and the potential yield of the forthcoming 100 days. Only then can an accurate accounting be cast. The president’s first 100 days laid the political and logistical foundation for the Recovery Act. Now the country is ready to reap the harvest of the second 100 days, wherein the rebuilding begins — and 600,000 jobs are realized. read more »Time for a New Round of Stimulus by Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation | June 8, 2009
In the absence of consumer spending and business investment, the government must step in and use these deficits in order to avert a depression. Our greatest deficit, after all, is our public investment deficit. But another stimulus won't pass without serious work. read more »
The Latest
Gridlock Sam: The Tea Party’s Bridge to Beyond Nowhere, pbs.org | October 19, 2010
The 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. more »
Obama can help free trade with tariffs, Financial Times | September 11, 2009
U.S. Economy Gets Lift From Stimulus, The Wall Street Journal | September 3, 2009
Government efforts to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy appear to be helping the U.S. climb out of the worst recession in decades. Much of the stimulus spending is just beginning to trickle through the economy, with spending expected to peak sometime later this year or in early 2010. more »
US Fares Poorly In Child Welfare Survey, Truthout | September 3, 2009
America has some of the industrial world's worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates. more »
Bleak Outlook For Struggling States in 2010, The Washington Post | August 11, 2009
As states across the country grapple with the worst economy in decades, most have cut services, forced workers to take unpaid days off, shut offices several days a month and scrambled to find new sources of revenue. more »
House Approves $7 Billion Highway Fund, Reuters | July 30, 2009
The U.S. House of Representatives approved $7 billion on to temporarily shore up a nearly empty federal trust that pays for road, bridge and transit projects. Supporters garnered the necessary two-thirds support to push through the stop-gap measure intended to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through September 30, the end of the fiscal year. The vote was 363 to 68. more »
Federal Aid Jump-Starts New Battery Plants, The Washington Post | July 27, 2009
The Energy Department is getting ready to hand out about $2 billion in grants to create a domestic industry for electric-car batteries, and 122 companies are scrambling to get pieces. The companies range from small niche firms to giants such as Dow Chemical and Johnson Controls. more »
Cities Lose Out on Road Funds From Federal Stimulus, The New York Times | July 9, 2009
Two-thirds of the country lives in large metropolitan areas, home to the nation’s worst traffic jams and some of its oldest roads and bridges. But cities and their surrounding regions are getting far less than two-thirds of federal transportation stimulus money. more »
D.C. Metro Crash Highlights Underfunded Transit Systems, Christian Science Monitor | June 29, 2009
More than one-third of assets in the nation's seven largest rail transit agencies, including the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), are in marginal or poor condition, according to an April report by the Federal Transit Administration. These include public rail systems in New York, Chicago, Boston, New Jersey, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. more »
Mayors Say Cities Need Direct Economic Help, Reuters | June 15, 2009
Without more direct aid to U.S. local governments, Washington may make matters worse for cities facing falling tax revenues and increased spending needs, the nation's mayors said at their annual meeting this weekend. Mayors said they bear the tough task of cutting services and jobs vital to U.S. cities, even with help from the $787 billion in stimulus funds Congress passed in February.
