Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, is the author of Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer, and co-author (with Jared Bernstein) of Getting Back to Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People.
Dire warnings about the deficit don’t add up mathematically. But then, Fix the Debt is not really about the economy, it’s about gutting Medicare, Social Security and other social programs.
The median income of people over age 65 is less than $20,000. The solution is not to cut that further.
A second round of responses from economists and wonks to Thomas Geoghegan’s Nation essay “What Would Keynes Do?”
The market’s worst drop in two years may not signal a double-dip recession. But it certainly underscores the stupidity of Washington’s deficit/debt mania.
A financial activities tax (FAT) would encourage long-term investing and help plug budget deficits. Can states rally to pass them?
Developing policy solutions to reduce inequality is not difficult. Mustering political will to enact them is.