Two liberal economists whom I trust when they write about the national economy are Robert Reich, Clinton’s Secretary of Labor and now a Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley; and Paul Krugman, longtime columnist with the New York Times and 2008 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Reich has a recent post in his blog with the lengthy, very descriptive title " Why No Amount of Fiscal or Monetary Stimulus Will Be Enough, Given How Small A Share of Total Income the Middle Now Receives " where he tells us what can’t happen and needs to happen to give the American economy some much-needed OOMPH. The Fed interest rate is near zero, so there’s both little room to lower it more, AND there’s no purposeful reason to lower it since businesses have money already they aren’t spending (and, thus, aren't looking for loans). [Consumers aren’t buying much, so there’s not an incentive for businesses to spend money by expanding.] The problem we have is consumption. And citize...
The fearless blog about homelessness that serves the city and county of Sacramento, CA. Written by Tom Armstrong