Articles tagged with: economic stimulus

Here’s Tom Friedman, calling the financial crisis “the big one” and comparing it to “the morning after Pearl Harbor.” If he really believes that, he ought to consider, at least, endorsing Citizen Dividends, a guaranteed income for every adult American. Wielding his favorite weapon, colorful metaphors, he compares our financial system to the heart, money [...]

The big news today is neither new nor unexpected: Big job losses. Another 650,000 in February, on top of 600,000 in January. That puts total job losses at more than 4.4 million since December 2007. The unemployment rate is now 8.1 percent, which is higher than its been in more than 25 years. The numbers [...]

Some questions about President Obama’s budget, regarding each item and expenditure: Who benefits? Who, specifically, is getting our taxpayer money? Is that appropriate and cost-effective? Those are fairly obvious, though often not asked, and the answers typically come in a cloud of conventional assumptions and rhetoric. Here’s a fourth: Would that still make sense if [...]

The housing and home foreclosure “crisis” – that’s the word just about everyone is using – has been in the news a lot, with a surge of reporting in recent days. President Obama released his plan yesterday. Too bad almost no one’s talking about a BIG, the basic income guarantee, which would be much more [...]

Though Obama has not called for a guaranteed basic income, he said some things last night that clearly indicate the power and need for this idea: Our immediate job is to reduce the downward spiral. And that means putting money into consumers’ pockets. The bill he and Congress are working on, however, would put money [...]

Here’s some data from The Associated Press: “The country has seen sizable layoffs during the current recession, which began in December 2007. A net total of about 2.6 million jobs were lost last year.” “In another report, the government said that new jobless claims jumped far more than expected last week in an already dismal [...]

There’s lot’s of talk about what type of economic stimulus to pass, but not enough focus on what that phrase, “economic stimulus” really means. Stimulate who, specifically? How? When? And, most important, why? Stimulating “the economy,” we’re told, is necessary for creating jobs, thereby providing workers with an income. But a much better idea is [...]