Weekly Audit: Stimulus Stagnation

by: The Media Consortium

Tue Feb 03, 2009 at 14:22

by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire blogger  

Despite a lofty launch last week, the good ship Bipartisan is sunk, at least so far as the economic stimulus is concerned. President Barack Obama and House Democrats bent over backwards to appease the GOP by including several tax breaks and excluding a major anti-foreclosure measure from the package, but when it came time to vote, zero House Republican backed the bill. Lawmakers who actually care about the fate of the U.S. economy are furious. Every day spent haggling with obstinate Republicans means heavier economic damage. What's more, many of the tax breaks the GOP insisted on are simply terrible policies, whatever the economic climate.  

Weekly Audit: Obama's Stimulus Plan Signals End of Era

by: The Media Consortium

Tue Jan 27, 2009 at 10:30

by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Bloggger

 Since the U.S. is officially in a recession, and the Congressional Budget Office has predicted the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, just about everybody acknowledges that times are tough.  

Weekly Audit: Curbing Decline in 2009

by: The Media Consortium

Tue Jan 06, 2009 at 10:29

In 2008, we witnessed the first serious fallout from deep structural flaws in the relationship between the nation's public and private sectors, a relationship which fell short in every conceivable area from Wall Street regulation to the basic social safety net. The biggest economic stories of 2009 will be about how President-elect Barack Obama's administration repairs-or fails to repair-that connection.

The first step in rebuilding a government that actually responds to problems before they reach the bailout stage will be Obama's highly anticipated economic recovery package. As Dean Baker notes for The Huffington Post, the failure to date of Congress to pass meaningful stimulus legislation has been beyond negligent. Several Congressional leaders are cautioning that a bill will not be ready until February, but with more than two weeks to go before Obama's inauguration, Congress has both the time and the public support necessary to pass a major bill before Obama takes up a chair in the Oval Office, as anyone who remembers the speed of Congressional action moved on the Wall Street bailout can attest.