This seems like Framing and Political Strategy 101 to me, but since few other people are talking in this way, let me just lay out a basic idea: all this talk about doing a stimulus package versus not doing a stimulus package is fundamentally besides the point. What we need is a comprehensive policy package that is very simply focused on one thing and one thing only: jobs.
I know the policy wonks on Capitol Hill may be confused by that paragraph because, they would say, well, a stimulus program would create jobs. Well, yeah, that is the idea of stimulus. But my point is this: the politics of a second stimulus package are a dead end. The politics of having a debate about a policy package that will create jobs is a helpful thing. Announcing a second stimulus package gets Democrats into a defensive crouch about why the first one failed, and gets us into that same "can we get to 60" dance with Ben Nelson, Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins that caused the first stimulus bill to be pared back and rendered less effective.
Voters don't know what it means to say you are going to stimulate the economy, but they do know what a job is. And right now, what we need is jobs sooner rather than later. My point here is not to just rename the stimulus bill the jobs bill. In fact, there are quite a few things the White House and Congress can do to focus on jobs that don't involve just spending more, although more money will certainly need to be spent. Here is what I would include in a comprehensive package:
So the United States lost to Brazil in the final of the FIFA Confederations cup, in that thrilling but painful tale of two halves, with the U.S. up 2-0 only to see Brazil roar back (or rather dance and prance and glide with balletic ferocity) and win 3-2. All I can say is, thank god.
For the past sixty years, the powerhouses of international soccer (a.k.a. football) either have been empires past their prime and on the decline or countries that dream fruitlessly of empire - England, France, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, and Spain. To bestride the world as a soccer power is to not bestride it as an economic or military power. In its period of global hegemony, the United States was manifestly not a global powerhouse in soccer. It was mighty in everything but the sport that is played by more people in every corner of the world than any other. And so if the United States had magically defied the odds and the gods and beaten Brazil, it would have been the final sign that American is indeed in decline.
by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Blogger
Now that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner isn't going to impose pay restrictions on bailed out Wall Street executives, it's critical to remember that severe economic inequality was a major factor in the financial meltdown. Our tax code funnels money into the hands of our wealthiest citizens, which means that our financial system protects the interests of the affluent—not the the average citizen. The broad divergence between our core democratic values and the existing U.S. economic structure must become part of the public debate over financial reform.
(Speaking of populist backlash, apparently Wall Streeters think there is too. - promoted by Mike Lux)
I hate the phrase "jobless recovery". If people are not getting decent employment, there is no such thing as a recovery. It doesn't matter if corporate profits go up, if the Dow Jones rebounds, if Goldman Sachs honchos got record bonuses, if the Gross National Product rises. What matters is whether regular folks are feeling any difference in their lives. And when you hear the phrase "but jobs are a lagging indicator", let's be clear: that's just another way of saying trickle-down economics.
About 20% of adult Americans are either officially unemployed, have given up looking for work, or are involuntarily working part-time or at temporary jobs. As long as that stays true, we can be very clear about what the consequences are:
Foreclosure rates will keep going up, and housing prices won't start to recover
State and local government will continue to be broke, and the federal deficit will continue to rise
Our manufacturing base will continue to be in desperate shape
In other words, our economy- the real economy- will not start getting better. I know that the big banks' executives will be getting huge bonuses, and I'm sure they will be spending that money around like manure, making things grow and all that. But the real economy will not be getting any better.
I hope the President understands that, and understands very keenly how much his fate is tied to real people getting real jobs. His political project will be dead in the water unless the real economy- not Wall Street profits, not the stock market, but real jobs for real people- starts to get better reasonably soon.
The American people like President Obama so far. They know he inherited a big mess, and they know he's working hard to fix it. They are willing to be patient for awhile. But they don't want to be the ones who are the lagging indicators.
There are some very specific things our government can do to create jobs: invest a lot more in infrastructure projects and green jobs, for example. Give the same kind of help to emerging industries that virtually every other industrialized country does. Negotiate tougher with China on currency manipulation. This ain't rocket science, and it needs to happen sooner rather than later.
There is a populist backlash brewing in this country. Folks are going to blame somebody for this economy. I would personally rather it be the banks than President Obama, but that will only be the case if President Obama is making real progress on jobs.
On Thursday, lawmakers bowed to pressure from the bank lobby and killed a crucial piece of anti-foreclosure legislation, poisoning the economy in an effort to keep money flowing to Wall Street. Meanwhile, jobs continue to disappear, retirement accounts are evaporating and families are struggling to cope with economic hardship.
Last week, President Obama announced his intention to address immigration reform in the next few months in a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The statement came as a relief to many, especially with recent reports of human rights abuses within the U.S. detention system. But, as most of the President's statements seem crafted to appeal to warring political constituencies, his actual intentions are still elusive.
It is March, again. Just as I have been for years, in this month I am haunted by the hate we, humans, propagate. March 19th is the sixth anniversary of "unnecessary wars". The phrase is not mine alone. Public servants, Ambassadors, and former Presidents have proclaimed as I have. Foreign Secretaries and domestic Diplomats deem the war was a mistake. Then there are the people.
The financial markets are again getting pummeled, both domestically and globally; the nearly $800 billion stimulus package signed with fanfare by President Obama has done little to alter the mood. In fact, if you read through financial websites and assorted blogs on politics, economics, or anything related to those, you will find a nearly endless sea of misery. The level of anger, pessimism, despair, and sheer hopelessness seems to reach new peaks every week, in inverse relation to the movement of global equity prices and the size of individual retirement accounts.
The nation's eyes are fixed upon a trembling economy. It affects our ability to survive, to thrive, and even think rationally. Today's economic crisis is also impacting the lives of immigrants and immigration reform on multiple levels, be it through provisions to the economic stimulus bill, individual lawmen exceeding the bounds of their office, or a scrambling Pentagonviewing immigrants as easy recruits.
It is good to be back here at OpenLeft. Thanks to the site's editors, I will be posting from time to time on ACORN's major campaigns and the work being done by progressives to push for the kind of policies we need to get America back on its feet and back to work. I'm starting with the work we are doing to address the foreclosure crisis at the heart of the economic meltdown. -- Bertha
Yesterday President Obama signed into law the economic recovery package that is a firm first step forward in getting America back on its feet in the midst of the economic devastation we are experiencing.
Today, President Obama announced his Administration's $75 billion plan for addressing the foreclosure crisis engulfing the country. This is a welcome initiative, especially in the wake of the 2 years of inactivity and neglect from the Bush Administration.
I would argue that in terms of addressing the specific genesis of our present crisis - the toxic assets crippling the financial sector - the announcement today is of greater magnitude. For without a plan to address the predicted 8-9 million foreclosures over the next 4 years, that's in addition to the 2.3 million that occurred in 2008 with a total estimated cost to the economy of over $850 billion, attempts to spur an economic recovery will fail. There can be no long-term solution without addressing the immediate foreclosure crisis.
I talk about the problem and what we can do about it in the extended entry.
by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Blogger
In this week's Audit, we're examining Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's thoroughly uninspiring bank bailout plan, which fails on almost every level. What's more, some of the most insightful (and stinging) critiques of the proposal are coming from progressive media
After months of confusion, we are about to close a painful chapter in the economic crisis of 2008-2009. With the imminent passage of the $800 billion stimulus package combined with the roll-out of the next stages of the government-orchestrated bank bailout and recapitalization, we are about to end the talking phase and enter the doing phase. While no one can say for sure whether these plans will work, it's certain that they will have an effect.
Many will debate the details endlessly, whether or not there is the right mix of spending and tax cuts, whether the plan to sequester and purchase "toxic assets" is aggressive enough and if the overall approach will serve to instill a modicum of confidence among hundreds of millions of consumers and hundreds of thousands of businesses that have little. But while the devil is sometimes in the details, this time perhaps not.
It's getting ugly out there. Right-wing business lobby outfit National Association of Manufacturer's laid off 10% of their staff about a month ago, the Family Research Council axes a bunch of staffers post-election, and now I'm hearing rumors that the big Daddy of the right-wing, the US Chamber of Commerce, is going to engage in mass layoffs. This is reflective of the trade association world in general, which is preparing for an abysmal 2009 While we often concentrate on the decline of union membership versus unorganized or disorganized workers, I've never heard anyone try to quantify the amount of 'organized business' versus 'unorganized business'. Newer ascendant lobbying outfits, like the tech lobby, are still ideologically conservative, but you can tell they just don't have it in their hearts yet to truly crush everyone in their path and steal everything in sight.
Regardless, the budget of the right-wing is going to take a serious hit. That's going to have an impact on the culture of these outfits, who will become more risk averse. For instance, it is not a good year for these kinds of meaningless but irritating scandals to break out.
Roughly 100 employees of the [US Chamber of Commerce] ran up an $8,204 tab this week at The Exchange, a sports bar just blocks away from its prime real estate opposite the White House.
The party was to celebrate the end of the "Chamber Bowl," the association's internal softball tournament.
It was certainly not a victory for the Chamber's top brass.
Chamber COO David Chavern sent out an email chiding the partiers for their spending spree.
"Fundamentally, this shows a lack of responsibility on a number of people's part including Chamber personnel and management at The Exchange," Chavern wrote in an e-mail to more 50 employees, including softball players and top managers. "I will have to reevaluate a post-Chamber Bowl celebration next year."
Chavern detailed where the money went: One-hundred-and-fifty-five pitchers of beer, 37 bottles of beer, 208 mixed drinks, 111 shots, 43 margaritas and 11 open bottles of liquor.
Sources who attended the party described it as something akin to a Cancun booze cruise. They reported that drinkers ordered multiple pitchers of vodka and Red Bull and full bottles that they drunkenly left behind at the end of the night.
The Chamber, they said, had set no limits on the open bar.
The bill, attached to Chavern's e-mail, was reportedly several pages long.
Party-goers put some of the blame on the bar, saying that the waiters who served them had - among other things - slapped an 18 percent gratuity on the bill.
Member organizations do not like the prospect of trade association employees partying on their hard earned dime. Not in 2009, though to be fair, it was the bar's fault, since the bar forced them to tip their serving staff.
The Picower Foundation, the 71st largest Foundation in the country according to the Council on Foundations, is closing its doors. Apparently, their money was invested with Bernie Madoff, and it's all gone. Lots of art studios, hospitals, universities, nonprofits, and theaters are going to hurt.
I never really liked the American model of social spending, where much of our safety net is done through privatized pensions and health care, and much of our social spending is done through Foundations. Here's where government expenditures through the trillion dollar economic recovery plan would actually make sense, replacing dying private revenue sources that fund health care, pensions, art, schools, and charity with public money.
Most of these problems are collective problems, they should be addressed collectively.
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