Investment Economy

The question remains as to whether Democrats' 21st century vision will accord an appropriate role for the social insurance programs and protections that helped make America great in the 20th, as the President would like, or follow the oft-repeated Beltway truism that we must “invest, even as we cut,” which is code for investing in infrastructure at the expense of our modest social safety net. Rather than view the President's competitiveness framing as a threat, we progressives must seize it as an opportunity to elevate and expand our social insurance programs, as well as enforce our labor and trade laws. We have a very strong case to make that from both a substantive and a political perspective, America will achieve economic greatness because of a robust social safety net, rather than in spite of one.

Tom Friedman—and nearly every other Washington pundit obsessed with the idea of “cut and invest”—just does not get how basic social insurance actually makes our society stronger and wealthier. The case we progressives need to make emphatically is that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are more relevant to American competitiveness than ever. Compromising on them is compromising on innovation.

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Today’s unemployment data contain gloomy news. Gloomy, but expected. The interpretation of the data is even worse. more »

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Obama has introduced his budget, and people are hyperventilating about the deficit. With all the hyperventilating, we are forgetting what’s most important. Deficits aren’t necessarily bad. Sometimes deficits can be good.

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A Change of Financial Regimes Robert Wade, Development Studies Institute, LSE Speaking at the 2nd Workshop: "Developing Joint UK Policy Responses to the Financial and Economic Crisis" organized by the Bretton Woods Project and School of Oriental and African Studies, Research on Money and Finance, Dec 15th, 2008.

Wade makes the case for industrial planning on a global scale. more »

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Two things happened yesterday. First, I published this major post about the role prisons play in the U.S. economy. Later yesterday evening, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released new data about people in prison. Any surprise? more »

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China has opened a new subway system every y more »

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Not only is America's infrastructure is crumbling, but we are getting lapped by Europe and China when it comes to public investment.

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Stimulus plans don’t mean tax rebates worth a few tanks of gas and a restaurant dinner. Stimulus plans means new roads and bridges, aid to states so they won’t lay off nurses and teaching assistants, and a down payment on a new energy economy with windmills and commuter rail.

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